- Not to be confused with A Beam in the Dark.
A Light in the Dark is the secret stage of World 3 in Yoshi's Island DS, a Black Yoshi takes control in this level. This level is unlocked after At Last, Bowser's Castle! is completed. This level is split into three different major sections all three are dark areas only lighted up by the many torches scattered throughout the area. The level's first section takes place in a warehouse filled with enemies and other traps such as Spikes and Thorns. The second area takes place on a snowy mountain where Yoshi must ski down a hill in the dark, the way down also has many Ice Rocks as well. The third area takes place above the island at night with a nice view of the sea. The level makes use of many gimmicks Yoshi has used with to most common being lighting unlit torches by swallowing lit ones.
Walkthrough[]
Warehouse Foyer[]
Starting off the level, advance to the right and walk up the stairs (there is a Stork Stop below the stairs which can be used to switch babies if you want), up here, you will see a couple Shy Guys, beat them and then toss your eggs upward where the arrows are pointing, you should hit some dirt blocks and drop a Large Spring Ball on the left and a Spring Ball on the right. Use these to reach the high roof sectors and collect the Coins on either side of the parting roof, there are two Red Coins here so be sure to collect them. Drop back down and continue onward (you can also drop down to the ledge (or climb the chain with Baby DK) and tag the Middle Ring by the Lantern Ghost but it's recommended to make some progress in the level and collect some more items throughout before tagging the Middle Ring). Advance to the right and down the stairs (you should see a locked door (this door lead's to the level's next major area). Advance to the left and collect the Coin stash below the stairs, from here, advance to the right and hop across the Spikes, at the end, collect the Coins and Red Coin and enter through the door.
Piranha Plant Melee[]
This next room contains several ledges and four niches on each corner of the room. There are Piranha Plants in each of these corners, use your eggs or the fire from the torches to kill these Piranha Plants (but watch out for the moving stone blocks as they will crush you if you're not quick enough), once you've disposed of the Piranha Plants in each corner, a Smiley Flower will appear at the room's top, jump up the ledges to obtain it and then exit the room through the door below.
Upon returning to the foyer, advance to the left, climb the stairs and then hop to the right and climb the second set of stairs and from here, collect the Coins and enter the door at the end of the corridor.
The Enemy Gauntlet[]
Upon entering the next area, advance to the left and hop to the upper ledge, there is a Stork Stop here if you want to switch out your baby, from here, grab the three Coins in the corner because two of them are Red Coins. From here, drop down into the pathway below, watch out for Lantern Ghosts and Tap-Taps as you follow the path collecting Coins (the Tap-Taps can be pushed into the step-drops at the path's bottom). Exit the pathway tunnel through the niche to the right of the halfway sector and advance to the right (be sure to hop up the ledges in the niche above the hallway as there is a Middle Ring here), and hop up the ledges in the narrow upward niche, upon reaching the upper level again, advance to the right, there are two paths here, an upper and lower path, the lower path has Piranha Plants and Lantern Ghosts while the upper path has Fleepers, take the upper path as there are nine Coins here and two of them are Red Coins, once done, advance to the right and hop across the Spikes but watch out for the Fleepers, grab the Coins here as one is a Red Coin then go down the stairs, advance to the left and push the Vase off the ledge here to get the Key (be careful of the Tap-Tap here as well) and advance to the right and through the Flippers, at the Stork Stop, switch to Baby Mario as his dash ability ensures you will make it across the small tunnel of Spikes, after the long leap, flutter and grab the Smiley Flower as you slide into the Flippers, from here, you will walk across a series of hallways each divided by Flippers, there are five niches above and each have hidden Winged Clouds which contain either Stars, Coins, or 1-Ups. Once you've cleared this area, jump to the upper ledge and hit the ! Switch to activate the switch blocks above the Spikes, they're only temporary so make a dash across them, swallow the Lantern Ghost here, collect the Coins, and climb up the stairs to exit through the upper door.
Once back in the foyer, advance to the right and climb the stairs (now would also be good time to tag the Middle Ring in the foyer if you haven't already), beat the Shy Guys in this upper corridor and grab the four Coins here as one is a Red Coin (be sure to make very low jumps as there are Spikes on the roof above and they're not too high up (if you're in doubt, toss an egg to get the Coins instead), once done, enter the door on the corridor's end.
The Arrow Wheel Gauntlet[]
In this next room, you will find an Arrow Wheel, you can either use it to take the path to the right and follow the Spike gauntlet or go straight to the top through the left path, while trickier, the right path contains the key collectibles so take the right path, there are Coins along the horizontal right path but none are Red Coins, continue moving until the Thorned roof gives way, from here, steer the Arrow Wheel upward and collect all the Coins, toss an egg at the Winged Cloud to get some Stars and continue collecting the Coins as you go up, there is a Red Coin near the roof-point of this sector, from here, jump to the ledge (and take the Arrow Wheel with you by swallowing it) and advance to the left collecting two more Red Coins and a Smiley Flower here, from here, use the Arrow Wheel to reach the upper ledge and advance to the right, watch out for the many Cloud Drops here and beat them as you go along, once you've made it through, this area, hop up to the upper ledge, and proceed through the Flippers and tag the Middle Ring. From here, hop on the Arrow Wheel and proceed to the right watching out for the Spikes below and the Thorns above. Below the Thorns are two rows of four Coins, the second row of four has a Red Coin the end of this short path is a large open space (which you must remain on the Arrow Wheel as there are Spikes below), search around the unlit torches as there are hidden Winged Clouds by all three of them, the bottom left one contains Stars, the bottom right one contains a 1-Up while the top middle one contains a Smiley Flower, once all these have been collected, spin you Arrow Wheel back to the left and once you return back to the Middle Ring's area, guide it upward collecting the Coins as you go, once you reach the top, move to the right and continue, avoid or beat the Cloud Drops as you go along and take either the upper path or lower path as the middle consists of a square cluster of Thorns (although Baby DK's egg throws can clear these up easily), continue to the right and once you reach the ledge, hop up the pillar and push the Vase off to earn your second Key, with both Keys obtained now, drop down the narrow Coin-filled drop to the right and once you reach the bottom, advance to the left slurping the Cloud Drops in your way as you go. Once you reach the end, hop up and grab the Arrow Wheel and steer it down and then to the left till you reach the door you entered the room from.
Upon returning to the foyer, advance to the right and underneath the stairs to the right where the locked door is an use one of the Keys you obtained to unlock the door and enter it (you should have 13 Red Coins and 4 Smiley Flowers by this point).
Warehouse Exit[]
Upon reaching the exit, tag the Middle Ring and clear away the Thorns that are blocking the Spring Ball below, once these are cleared, you should safely bounce to the upper ledge with the Spring Ball, collect the Coins below the staircase and use the staircase to reach the second locked door, use your second Key to unlock this door and exit the warehouse.
Dark Snow Mountain Ski[]
Upon exiting, you will arrive at a snowy mountain with several torches lighting up the darkened path, tag the Middle Ring here and enter the door. Upon exiting, Yoshi dons his skis and starts sledding down the snowy hill, collect the Coins as you slide down and jump over the gap, on the next area, jump over the Ice Rock (as these will turn you into a snowball temporarily causing you to lose control and likely fall off the edge), hop up the next ledge as you continue skiing along the next hill, at the end, hop onto the block platform and collect the Red Coin on it and from there, hop to the other side and slide down the snow to enter the next area.
In the next area, continue sledding down the snowy hill and watch out for the Ice Rock and then hop across to the other snow ledge and continue your slide whilst avoiding the next Ice Rock, hop to the next snow slide and keep going, from here, hop and be sure to grab the Coins in this line whilst jumping to the next track as the third of these is a Red Coin, keep sledding and hop over the Ice Rock at the end and grab the Coins by it (the third is a Red Coin), continue sledding until you reach the next area.
In the third area, you will slide down an even longer and steeper snow hill, as you sled down, hop and grab the Coins in the hump just before the next downhill as one is a Red Coin (but you will have to time the jump just right to ensure that you hop to grab the Red Coin while at the same time not losing any speed), continue sledding and then at the next uphill drop (near this snow slide's end before the drop), do a jump and time it just right to ensure that you not only get the Smiley Flower but the two Red Coins by it (this may take a few tries but with enough practice, you should get all three in one shot), once this is done, keep sledding down the next snow slide and as the slide arcs upward jump across the chasm to reach the other side, slide down this final slide to exit the snow mountain (you should have 19 Red Coins and all five Smiley Flowers by this point).
Yoshi's Island at Night[]
Upon reaching the level's final section, you are back at the Island mainland, tag the Middle Ring and swallow the torch, you will need the fire from this torch to light the many unlit torches in this area to use their flames to not only light up more torches but to defeat the enemies up ahead, hop across the Flatbed Ferries (being sure not to fall off due to the mass of Spikes below (Thorns are also above as well so be careful of these)) and lighting up the torches, upon reaching the ledge, use the torches to scorch the slow-moving Crabbles in your way (they block the various tunnels and can be a nuisance if you're not prepared), be sure to light up the rest of the torches to eliminate the rest of the Crabbles as you progress. Once you make it to the Stork Stop, you can switch out your baby (if you want to), and follow the path down, the area gets darker here, beat the Woozy Guys in this small area and grab the three Coins as the middle one is the final Red Coin, toss an egg at the Winged Cloud in the narrow alcove above for a 1-Up and then as you jump to the level's end, the way brightens up, jump through the GOAL! Ring to finish the level.
Enemies[]
Trivia[]
- The Nintendo Player's Guide erroneously labels a Ball 'n' Chain in the Enemy Gauntlet's ! Switch sector on the map despite no Ball 'n' Chains appearing in this level in-game, this was most likely either an error or a beta element.
- This is one of the few levels in the game to be split into three unrelated and unconnected themes.
- Despite the traditional Castle/Warehouse theme playing in most rooms of the Warehouse section of the level, the Underground theme plays in the Warehouse's smaller rooms (the Piranha Plant room and the locked room), it's also notable that these two rooms are darker than the others.
- The Underground theme also plays in the level's final section too despite it taking place on the Island mainland.
- Fans consider this level to be one of the hardest in the game due to the complexity of finding the Keys as well as the skiing section.
