Number Ball Special is the extra stage of World 3 in Yoshi's Island DS, a White Yoshi takes control in this level. This level is unlocked by scoring 800 total points in World 3. Most of this level takes place in a cave with sparkling waterfalls and rivers in the background, the cave itself consists of a maze where Yoshi must venture through many different rooms in the cave to find five Number Balls and place them in their respective slots to exit the cavern. Yoshi must use the respective abilities of Baby Mario, Baby Peach, Baby DK, and Baby Wario to obtain the Number Balls and then reach their slots to place them.
Walkthrough[]
Island Sunset[]
Starting off the level, advance to the right and before entering the Pipe, jump to the right of the Pipe to reveal a hidden Winged Cloud, pelt it with an egg to get some easy Stars (if you're running low on eggs, just wait for the Nipper Spores blown by the Windbag above to become Nipper Plants (upon landing) and then swallow them). Once done, enter the Pipe.
Number Ball Caves[]
Upon entering the cave, tag the Stork Stop to the right to switch out your baby (if need be), from here, advance to the left and collect the Coins along the way, drop down by the M Blocks (hit these if you're using Baby Mario to make a permanent pathway back up (if you're not using him, use the Stork Stop below)). Hop to the left and smash the soft stone blocking the tunnel, there are vines here which you can use Baby DK's abilities to climb down, the door here leads to Number Ball 4 but be sure to come back to this later, for now, drop down the passageway with the Coins as two of the Coins here are Red Coins, from here, advance to the right and hit the Winged Cloud to form a staircase which allows you to reach the Key on the ledge above which unlocks the nearby door (which is now blocked by the stairs, don't panic though, the stairs and Winged Cloud will reset if you leave the room and come back), climb to the top of the stairs, flutter-hop through the narrow passageway above and toss an egg diagonally to the left to snag the Smiley Flower, from here, advance to the left and climb up the upward pathways by the Pipe to the left (which spawns Lantern Ghosts), collect the Coins and use Baby Mario to hit the M Blocks (if you haven’t already) and climb them (there is also a Middle Ring on the ledge to the left but it's recommended to leave this until you've inserted some of the Number Balls), upon reaching the top again, you can ground pound the dirt (another Middle Ring is seen in the niche on the way down) which acts as a pathway to reach the door that leads to Number Ball 3 (there are two Flippers by it to exit), on the upper path (where the cave entrance is), you can also advance to the right, collect the Coins and drop down collecting the Coins as you go (just watch out for the Piranha Plants below the roofs of the walls though), upon reaching the bottom, there is a Stork Stop here which you can use to switch to Baby Peach to glide back up, there is an Arrow Block here which changes where the wind blows from, the left one leads you back up to the entrance while the right leads up upward, to a path with a line of Coins and a Red Coin as well as the door leading to the Number 4 Ball's slot, at the bottom where the wind blows, don't forget to check the niche to the right as there is a stash of Coins and a Red Coin here, once done, use the left wind gust to glide back up to the cave's entrance and start the hunt for the Number Balls.
Number Ball 1 Location and Slot[]
At the cave's entrance by the Stork Stop, enter the door, upon entering this room, you will immediately see the Number 1 Ball. Grab it along with the Coins around it as two of these are Red Coins, from here, exit through the door to the right and in this next room, toss the Number 1 Ball into it's slot. Being the first one, this Number Ball's location and slot was easy but the complexity of the rest of the Number Balls and Slots is higher.
Number Ball 2 Location and Slot[]
At the Stork Stop at the cave's entrance, switch to Baby Mario and ground pound the dirt passageway down, from here, clear the dirt blocking the left path and hit the M Block here to reveal a Spring Ball, use it to leap up to the ledge with the door and enter. Upon entering, collect the Coins to the right as well as the ones along the path to the left, hit the Egg Block here to fill up your egg supply and once done, climb up the track above, as you hop up to the rounded ledge above, watch out for the spinning Ball 'n' Chain as it can hit you if you're not careful, be sure to collect all the Coins around the ledge as three of them are Red Coins, there is also a Smiley Flower here as well. At the end, grab the Number 2 Ball and follow the path back and exit the door, from here, drop back down through the passageway to the right and drop down, from here, exit through the Flippers to the right, switch to Baby Peach with the Stork Stop, glide the left wind gust back to the cave's entrance and switch to Baby Wario, from here, drop down the dirt blockage and use Baby Wario's magnet to pull the Magnet Block to the left allowing you to access through the tunnel and reach the door, enter the door and toss the Number 2 Ball in it's slot.
Number Ball 3 Location and Slot[]
At the Stork Stop at the cave's entrance, switch to Baby DK and ground pound the dirt blocks at the passageway all the way down until you reach the door at the bottom in between the two Flippers, enter the door. In this room, advance to the right and climb the ledges upward but be careful as Flightless Skeleton Goonies are following this very path and can become a nuisance if you don't beat them, climb up and grab the Number 3 Ball, before leaving the room, take not of the arrows. Notice how they're pointing at specific cracked stone blocks (you will need Baby DK to smash these as other babies' egg tosses aren't powerful enough to break cracked stone blocks), you are going to need to hit only the stones that are indicated by the arrows (avoid the others), the first one to the right of the room is simple, just launch an egg at it to smash it, the next two are rather tricky, they're both next to a cracked stone block that isn't indicated, you're going to want to make sure you hit the two beside it a few feet away and make sure the cracked stone blocks are hit by the shockwave from Baby DK's egg tosses, the final one is rather tricky as it's directly next to the other one, use the DK Dash Attack to smash away this stone and just like that, the suspicious metal gate near the room's entrance moves upward, jump up at the space the gate covered to reveal a hidden Winged Cloud, toss an egg at it to reveal a Smiley Flower for you to collect (if you hit one of the non-indicated cracked stone blocks after opening the metal gate, it will close again). Once done, exit the room through the door.
Upon exiting, return to the cave's entrance either through the left or right Flippers and enter the door here, you will return back to the Number 1 Ball's room, climb the vines here (and beat the Piranha Plants here too) and enter the door on the ledge to the left, in this room, toss the Number Ball into it's slot.
Number 4 Ball Location and Slot[]
From the cave's entrance, switch to Baby DK at the Stork Stop (if you haven't already) then advance to the left, go down the M Blocks and through the small passageway to the left blocked by the soft stone, smash it and climb down the vines here and enter the door. Upon entering this room, you will see a Wild Ptooie Piranha above spitting Needlenoses at you from above, watch out for these along with the Fangs that are constantly flying about in this room. Upon hopping up the ledge, beat the Nipper Plants that come at you as you get the Coins along the path, climb the Hanging Blow Hard's rope above (whilst watching out for the Needlenoses it spits) and swing to the ledge above and get the Coins as well as the Number 4 Ball, kill the Piranha Plant and Wild Ptooie Piranha blocking the ledge to the entrance's right to get the Coins and four Red Coins they were guarding, once done, exit the room through the door you entered from.
Upon exiting, drop down the passageway to the right and advance to the right climbing up the ledge pathways to the right, from here, tag the Stork Stop and switch to Baby Mario to reveal the M Blocks, walk across them and you should be back at the cave's entrance, here, tag the Stork Stop and switch to Baby Peach and either ground pound the dirt blocks blocking the downward passageway or drop down through the drop to the right, from here, beat the Piranha Plants and hit the Arrow Block to switch the wind gusts to the right side, ride the wind upward and enter the door on the ledge to the right, upon entering, place the Number Ball in it's slot.
Number Ball 5 Location and Slot[]
From the cave's entrance, switch to Baby Wario at the Stork Stop and ground pound the dirt blockages all the way down, exit through the left Flippers and enter the locked door here (you will need to obtain the nearby Key to unlock it so if you haven't got it yet, activate the staircase via the Winged Cloud to reach it then return back to the door via the M Block route). In this room, you will end up in a lava cave, hop onto the stone platforms and collect the Coins as you go along (there are three Red Coins in this room) as you move along however, a Crusher Blargg will emerge from the lava and destroy the rock platforms, be sure to grab the Smiley Flower on the log to the room's right and pelt that Crusher Blargg with an egg as it will knock you in the lava if you're not careful (if the Crusher Blargg destroys too much of the stone platforms, exit the room then come back) climb the stones until you reach the door at the top ledge (where the Crusher Blargg cannot reach you).
In this next room, pull the Magnet Block to the left with Baby Wario's magnet below the passageway above and hop on the Spring Ball to grab the Smiley Flower and reach the ledge to the left where the door is, enter the door to enter a golden cavern filled with Coins, use Baby Wario's magnet to collect all the Coins as you make your way to the bottom of the room where the Number 5 Ball is waiting, there are only two Red Coins in this room but they're rather easy to obtain, watch out for the Fangs as you traverse the room and be sure to make use of the Magnet Platforms when climbing back up the room to the top, upon exiting, drop back down the passageway and enter the door below, flutter back to the left (to avoid any encounters with the Crusher Blargg) and exit through the door, from here, advance to the left and enter the Pipe the Lantern Ghosts are popping out from, in this room, beat the Lantern Ghosts and collect the Coins and enter the door below, this door will lead you to the Number 5 slot, toss your Number 5 Ball in the slot.
Exiting the Cave[]
Once all five Number Balls are placed in their respective slots, the stone divider in the room's center will slide down allowing you to reach the door at the room's bottom right (as well as easy access around the cave (before entering, be sure to check that you have 30 Stars, 18 Red Coins, and all five Smiley Flowers because once you enter this door, there's no going back)). Upon entering this door, beat the Lantern Ghosts here and collect the Coins in this room as two of them are Red Coins, jump up the passageway at the room's to to exit the cave.
Yoshi's Island at Night[]
Upon exiting the cave, you will see that night has fallen, advance to the right and jump through the GOAL! Ring to finish the level.
Enemies Encountered[]
- Windbags
- Nipper Plants
- Nipper Spores
- Nipper Dandelions
- Piranha Plants
- Lantern Ghosts
- Ball 'n' Chains
- Crusher Blarggs
- Flightless Skeleton Goonies
- Fangs
- Wild Ptooie Piranhas
- Needlenoses
- Hanging Blow Hards
Trivia[]
- Unlike the secret stage of World 3, Baby Wario is playable in this stage.
- This is the only secret/extra stage in the game where Baby Wario is playable.
- This is the only level in the game to have all five Number Balls, most other levels in the game that feature Number Balls usually have three or four.
- The rooms containing the Number Balls are shaped like the number of the Number Ball found in the room.
- If a Number Ball is lost anywhere in this level (either by tossing it somewhere and leaving the room or dropping it in the lava), it will return to it's original location.
- This level is considered to be a more advanced version of Find the Number Ball! from World 5 as it has more Number Balls to find and the slot locations are more complex in nature.