 IGN's Jared Petty wrote that "Yoshi's Island" bested "the test of time far better than many of its contemporaries".Levi Buchanan of IGN thought Nintendo took a risk with "Yoshi's Island" by making Mario passive and giving Yoshi new abilities.Christian Donlan of "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die" wrote that the game was a testament to the Mario team's "staggering confidence" in its development ability.