There has been a prevailing narrative that the first Yoshi's Island was the only great Yoshi game. It's certainly been a series with highs and lows even amongst the games in the series I've played, however, the (supposed) worst of the series is a depth I have yet to plumb. They are, however, on my list. More in the middle-of-the-road, Yoshi's Wooly World received a pretty subdued reaction both times it released, firstly on the wildy unpopular WiiU and then on the 3DS in its final years of relevance.
Despite how old this game now is (over 9 years, ye gods) it remains one of the most unqiue art styles used in a video game. It's also cute as heck. Wooly World is best known for its unique art style, where the characters and most of the elements of the world are made from yarn, fabric and other crafting materials.
Amigurumi is the Japanese art of small stuffed toys made knitting or crochet, which served as the main inspiration for the game's art style. Check out this hot dog!
It's a surprisingly flexible art medium! So it's easy to imagine why someone would have the idea of using it as the art design for a video game.
I owned the original game on the WiiU, but never got around to completing it. However, with this portable version I managed to find the time to play it through to completion, far more than the 1 hour minimum for this blog! It wasn't terrible!
The central mechanic in most Yoshi games is perhaps one of the most biologically challenging in the world of Nintendo. Yoshi can eat most enemies, and then, within seconds, convert them into an egg, which can then be thrown as a weapon.
This proposes many challenging questions: if the process is this rapid, how could a Yoshi possibly gain any sustenance from the eating process? Are these eggs part of the Yoshi reproductive process? If so, why would a Yoshi be so willing to throw them? Are they doomed as a species if they are so reckless with their unhatched offspring? Has this tangent gone too far into the extremely tiresome "what if game mechanic was in real life" bit?
On top of using eggs to defeat enemies and solve simple puzzles, there are also a series of doo-dads hidden throughout each level which contribute towards 100% completion. However, unlike other Yoshi games, some of these result in fun immediate rewards: if you collect all 5 yarn skeins that are hidden throughout the level, you unlock a new yoshi to play as, with a pattern related to the theme of the level.
Moo Moo Yoshi alone justifies the entire game
What Yoshi's Wooly World does not have that most in the Yoshi series do is Baby Mario. In Yoshi's Island, Baby Mario sits on the back of Yoshi. If Yoshi ever takes any damage, Baby Mario is flung from Yoshi's back and wails until rescued. The noise Baby Mario makes when demanding rescue has been likened to nails on a chalkboard, so this not being in the game is not something many people are likely to miss.
ASMR | Infant Plumber is distressed 17 seconds
After finishing the game for the first time, I can say this is probably the best game developed by Good Feel I've played. The level design is quite thoughtful, with each having unique aspects that are introduced with a gentle difficulty curve that by the end is testing your understanding of them. The game itself, while starting with a very easy difficulty, becomes quite challenging by the time you reach the final world. This might be surprising to someone unfamiliar with the series, but even the original game had some downright mean sections in it.
I would definately recommend this game to anyone who enjoys 2D platformers. I would not recommend the 3DS version if you already have it on the WiiU however, as the extras that make this the "and Poochy" version are rather meagre. In terms of extra game content, there are three extra levels that can be unlocked where you play as Yoshi's canine friend, Poochy. These are simple auto-running levels, with challenge coming from collecting specific items. However, once you've worked out the correct path, you'll have completed all there is to these extra levels.
However, there is one other extra that is pretty great: every day you play the game, you will unlock a stop-motion video made using Yoshi and Poochy amiibo. These are invariably adorable.
Look at this little guy.
However... when viewed on the 3DS screen they're in a poor resolution and not even in 3D, so you're much better off finding these online.
The final aspect of the game worth discussing is amiibo. So... I'm an amiibo guy. I have a few of those little plastic fellas.
Nobody tell Griffin McElroy
This game is unique regarding amiibo in two ways: firstly, when scanned, amiibo actually do something interesting in the game! For each compatible amiibo, a yoshi costume is unlocked, many of which are quite well done.
Oh no his eyes are green! Do the sonic fans still care about that?
Secondly, the amiibo created for the game are the only amiibo that need to be kept away from moths.
...it is no longer on my list to buy one day!
A very normal youtube video
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