I played through the main game! I mostly enjoyed it, so I'd like to share my thoughts on it.
Spoilerless stuff:
I really enjoyed playing as Yoshi in this episode. I've played only a bit of SMW2, something I was never interested in was trying to find all the red coins. This episode features them, but I'm glad it doesn't force the player to get them, so I'm glad I got to play it that way
The zoomed in camera at first thought doesn't sound very good, but the levels (mostly[1]) are designed with it in mind, so it results in a quite elegant experience where you only see what you need to see (unlike many levels where, for instance, you have the bottom half of the screen reserved for the entire level, and the top half of the level filled with sky nothingness).
Speaking with level design, they also seem to be (mostly[2]) designed very well with Yoshi in mind. In fact for many times I forgot I was playing a SMBX episode, rather than actual fangame made in any other engine.
Spoiler stuff:
[1] That certainly wouldn't be the Snow Mountain level, that due to the great gaps in platformers, it's quite easy to either jump to your doom or not being sure if you want to jump the other side, due to how much you can see on your screen at a time/how the level was designed. I think a good solution would be to, in some platforming sections, zoom the screen out (just like in that one section of the ship level! Why is this feature only there?)
[2] There's this specific part also in the mountain where you are using an elevator and there's a wall on the left side to, were you to be damaged, Baby Mario shall go to the other side, and due to knockback, you may fall down. This almost certainly signs you death as the bubble will take long to either each a point where you can see it on the screen, or on the right side of the wall for you to pick it up. This leads to some very frustrating moments.
Despite my disliking for stuff in this level, I really like its high moments, such as the precise jumps needed to take the Snow Snifts down.
The school themed level is a very creative theme, and I loved the boss fight that accompanied it! Certainly my favorite
The snow cave has to be the most frustrating level however, mostly because of the chase sequence that happens there. It's very easy to die at the start because you don't see the first fire enemy incoming, and you mess everything up and have to start over all from the previous checkpoint which is a little too far. I think a checkpoint just before this moment would have been desirable. Moreover, the spikes on this level kills you instantly. Why? It's fair to have instant kill elements that aren't endless pits (even desirable), but them being spikes is a little deceptive without prior information, giving the player a bit of a false sense of security).
On the matter of music, the song that plays in the ship level seems to have a lot of strange noise on it that makes it a bit unpleasant to play through. I think that changing it to a version without it or any other song would truly increase the quality of the level.
At the ruined castle I thought the battle was going for too long, until I realized it was actually a final boss! There was not much indicating that, as there was some kind of cannon which in my head it would take me to the final battle once I got there. But in any case, even knowing this now it still feels like it was a little too long, although thankfully the game gives you a lot of opportunities to get hit (it's still very possible to lose that battle however, if you are not careful).
Overall an interesting episode, I quite enjoyed it despite everything and will be revisiting it for the bonus content sometime soon
