For years the Yoshi series has been trying to make a successor to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, but Nintendo hasn’t made a game that is as good. Yoshi’s Story got rid of the aggravating Baby Mario, but used too many gameplay methods to the point where some people thought of it as a pain to play.
Yoshi’s Island DS and Yoshi’s New Island attempted to recreate the magic and joy that Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island had, but had Baby Mario make a comeback, and along with the gameplay, it made for an overall ‘ok’ experience and left fans wanting something to fill the original’s ingenuity and charm. Could Yoshi’s Woolly World be the game we’ve been waiting for?
The most obvious thing about this Yoshi game is that it has a somewhat unique art style. Everything in the world is made out of wool, except for some elements and harder enemies. Many of the smaller, standard enemies are veterans of the Yoshi series, with enemies such as Lakitu, Shy Guy, Gusty, and Nipper Plant; Each and every one of them have been rendered to reflect the artistic style whilst retaining the look we’ve come to know and love. The game is bursting with with detail and color. The style greatly resembles the Wii title, Kirby’s Epic Yarn.
Everyone who plays the game will most likely be overjoyed with Baby Marios absence. Instead, Yoshi has a more standard health bar and can recover health by collecting hearts that have a resemblance to the jumping star collectibles that are in previous Yoshi games. Surprisingly, Yoshi doesn’t swallows enemies and turn them into eggs. In this game he unravels them and turns them into balls of wool.
This adds so much more to the game. The mechanic works like eggs, except can be used to bind larger enemies made of materials other than wool, create warp pipes, boxes, platforms, and many other parts of the world to help Yoshi achieve his goal.
Another gameplay mechanic is that Yoshi has the ability to transform into an umbrella, a mole, a giant version of himself, and a motorbike and more. These transformations happens a few times during each level and can help you reach your goal.
Another new feature making its way into the game is Mellow Mode. It makes the game a bit easier by letting you control Winged Yoshi whose Flutter Jump is replaced by the ability to float at Yoshi’s current height indefinitely. If you still find the game a pit challenging you can have friend join in as a second Yoshi. You both run around in an effort to reach the goal, and if both of you run out of balls of wool, one Yoshi can be used as thrown at a short range.
Yoshi Woolly World is shaping up to be a fantastic addition to the Yoshi series. Its ditching all of the unwanted gameplay mechanics and adding new ones to keep the game alive and fresh. And with the adorable Yarn Yoshi amiibos, its hard to turn this game down.