Nintendo had a big showing at E3 2021 with new entries in multiple first-party franchises including Metroid Dread, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, WarioWare: Get it Together!, and Mario Party Superstars. The upcoming 2D Metroid game developed by MercurySteam, known for Metroid: Samus Returns in 2017, was arguably the biggest surprise of the bunch given it serves as the official "Metroid 5" coming over 19 years after Fusion released. It's also potentially good news for other Nintendo franchises like Pikmin, or perhaps Yoshi's Island.
One reason Metroid Dread excites fans is it shows Nintendo's willingness to release multiple games in the long-running but traditionally less active franchise within a short time frame. Metroid Prime 4 is also in development for Switch, having restarted under Retro Studios a few years ago. If the company is open to putting out a traditional, mainline Metroid game and a new entry in its popular first-person spin-off series on the same console, it may be up to doing something similar for Yoshi's Island even though Yoshi's Crafted World hit the hybrid console in 2019.
The Two Sides of Yoshi's Island
While technically a sequel to the SNES launch title Super Mario World, 1995's Yoshi's Island stood out for its unique playroom aesthetic and whimsical music. It also defined how the general populace would imagine Yoshi for the foreseeable future, turning the character from just a dinosaur Mario rides into its own platforming beast with a flutter jump and ricocheting egg toss. Yoshi maintains this general move set even though the character continues to appear in mainline Mario games like Super Mario Odyssey, spin-offs like Mario Golf: Super Rush, and crossovers like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the original Yoshi's Island in its SNES debut and as a part of the Super Mario Advance series, its sequels have not been nearly as acclaimed. Yoshi's Island DS (2006) was direct follow-up that introduced numerous additional baby characters with unique abilities, and Yoshi's New Island (2014) brought the series up to the 3DS using a claymation art style and "Mega Eggdozer" attacks to try and stand out. That's not to mention more gimmick-y titles like Yoshi Topsy-Turvy and Yoshi Touch and Go (2005).
Both Yoshi games developed by Good-Feel, Yoshi's Woolly World (2015) and Yoshi's Crafted World, retain similar platforming gameplay to main Yoshi's Island entries, but largely feel like their own series contiguous with the developer's previous endeavor Kirby's Epic Yarn. Woolly and Crafted World focus more on hand-built craft universes, and though this is appealing in its own right it doesn't provide for the same kind of experience and world design as traditional Yoshi's Island games.
That's where the connection with Metroid Dread comes into play. The Metroid Prime Trilogy is arguably as beloved as 2D Metroid games, but it's hard to say the 3D first-person shooters offer the same experience. Both branches of the franchise have Metroidvania designs that encourage players to acquire new skills for Samus so she can make the worlds she explores more accessible, but the change in perspective also changes how players absorb and interact with their environments.
Thus, if Nintendo is willing to give fans both a 2D and 3D Metroid game on Switch, it should do the same for those who would like to play a Yoshi's Island game more focused on its uniquely charming, child-like world than Good-Feel's arts-and-crafts style. There's clearly room for both on the hybrid console, and a game with Yoshi's Island aesthetics would be a great selling point for the Switch OLED model's more vibrant screen. Nintendo has had a few years to learn from what fans didn't enjoy about Yoshi's Island DS and New Island, so it should take advantage of that to make a truly beloved follow-up to the SNES classic.