Video Game Blog 028: Time For a Yoshi Break

One of my all-time favorite video games is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island on the Super Nintendo. (Not the awful Gameboy Advance port that was also ported to the Wii U… don’t get me started on that one.) This game makes me think of my childhood and brings back happy memories every time I revisit it. The bouncy, cheerful music, the cute characters, the creative crayon-esque graphics… and most of all, the challenge of finding all the secrets and hidden collectibles to get 100% on every level. Even the annoying and panic-inducing crying of Baby Mario floating to sure death in his bubble adds to the experience.

Basically I love everything about this game and it’s one of those I can replay every few years without getting tired of it. It’s one of my go-to games when I need comfort or just a chill play session to unwind. Today’s game, while it doesn’t quite reach that level of legendary regard inside me, does bring back some of those fond memories and has been providing a fun diversion over the busy holiday season. Today we’re talking about Yoshi’s Crafted World.

Get ready for some cuteness! (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Yoshi’s Crafted World was developed by Good-Feel and released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. I managed to pick this up recently on sale, which is rare for Mario-adjacent titles. Although I am way behind on Yoshi games (I haven’t played Yoshi’s New Island or Woolly World yet, but I have both on my 3DS) I had a free evening, so I tried it out, quickly becoming hooked.

Yoshi cosplaying as Mario. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

This game follows the spirit and much of the gameplay of the original Yoshi title. Just as with most Mario titles, the story is simple and bare-bones. Baby Bowser and his wizard Kamek invade the forest and wreck the little dinosaur’s shrine. The Sundream Stone has the power to grant wishes, and of course Bowser wants that power. The gems that power the stone are scattered around the world and it’s up to the Yoshis to go find them.

The gameplay is familiar, consisting of short 2.5D platforming levels. Yoshi has his usual moves, snaring enemies with his tongue, pooping them out as eggs that can be thrown at other enemies or at the background, and his ground pound maneuver. He can also float-flutter for a brief time.

The hook of this game is the hand-crafted aesthetic. Like Yoshi’s Woolly World was yarn-themed, this one makes everything look like it was put together in someone’s craft room. Yoshi himself looks plush or foam, and much of the scenery is made up of cardboard, paper, ribbons, tin cans, and other materials. The animation style has a slightly jerky quality to it with is reminiscent of stop motion.

Happy flowers. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Just as in the original, there are collectibles to find in every level. The Smiley Flower count has been expanded from five to up to 8 in some levels. Instead of giving extra lives, the golden coins count as an objective, with each level requiring 100 to be collected. You can also find 20 red coins hidden in the level. The hit point system again is depicted by little anthropomorphic bouncing heart-guys, but only 20 instead of 30. Rather than giving a percentage at the end of the level, additional flowers are granted for these items. The flowers are used as currency to advance on the world map. The coins are used in the gatcha capsule machines.

Capsule collector. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Each new area has a prize machine and feeding coins into it unlocks new costumes for Yoshi to wear. The costumes range from items in the scenery, animals, Mario characters, and more. Many of them take on the appearance of sandwich-board signs. They’re not just for aesthetics or novelty, however. The costumes also serve as bonus armor, granting you up to 5 additional hit points before the costume is wrecked and you start losing your heart-guys. (One of the annoying aspects of the game is that once your costume is wrecked, you have to manually go into the menu in between levels to put it back on. I always forgot to do that, leaving my Yoshi naked for several levels before remembering.) One nice thing about the capsule machines is there are no duplicates, so you can get all the prizes easily. (I still get annoyed thinking about the prize machine in Zelda: Minish Cap.)

Everyone should be asking “Where’s Poochy?” (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Every level has a flip side where you walk from the goal to the beginning and see what’s in the background of the levels. The objective of the flip-side levels are to seek out and collect the Poochy puppies. They’re often wandering around in the background or hidden under objects. Once found, they follow you around like eggs— and can be thrown like them too. You have to bring the Poochys to the beginning of the level within a time limit to reunite them with their Poochy mom before she gets bored and leaves. This rewards you with up to four Smiley Flowers.

Good life advice. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Once you’ve completed all the levels in an area, you can also run errands for the robots on the map. They ask for various souvenirs from the levels, which are all background items you may have seen on your initial playthroughs. (Like cow standees, signs, rocks, and the like.) You collect these by throwing eggs at them and bring them back to the robot for more Smiley Flowers.

Gah, even the villains are cute. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

So that’s the basics of the game. As of the writing I’m maybe halfway through. (I got distracted by Pokémon and Mario Kart 8 for the longest time.) So for my review, while I am enjoying the game immensely, I can say it probably isn’t for everyone.

The biggest downside is that it can get a bit repetitive if you’re trying to get everything— you often have to replay levels to get the coins or flowers you missed. Then again on the flip side to get the dogs, which can take a couple of tries if you miss one or take too long hunting them out. And then several more times to get the souvenirs for the robot requests. Replaying can be annoying on the more complicated levels, such as the one where you have to use magnets to proceed, and ride a slow train across the countryside.

Some levels provide a bit of challenge (I’m looking at you Skelesaurus Wrecks) but overall the game is fairly easy, with all the collectibles readily found in 2-3 playthroughs. For comparison I found myself stuck on several levels of Yoshi’s Island missing just one more flower and 2 or 3 red coins.

Choo choooo! (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

For the upsides, aside from the creative design, bouncy music, and gameplay that I’ve mentioned, I can also count the cons as pros. Although you have to play through the levels over and over, the levels are at least short. The aesthetic and vibe never got old for me. The ease of play was a positive for me, since some of the Mario games can get annoying with their difficulty. (Some of the levels in Sunshine especially frustrated me.) It’s been nice to have a low-impact no-stakes game to put on after my blog-work was done to unwind for a few minutes before clocking in at my paid job.

Hey look, it’s a train on a train. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Bottom line, Yoshi’s Crafted World is fluff, but enjoyable fluff. It’s cute, soothing, fun, and surprisingly challenging in spots, super easy in others. While it doesn’t have the same nostalgic draw and fond memories of the original Yoshi’s Island, I’m having a lot of fun with the game and can see myself revisiting it in a few years when I need some pleasant dinosaur adventures.

This game has style. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)

Thank you for reading my short review of Yoshi’s Crafted World. I appreciate you all. I know I haven’t been updating all that often, but I have several posts in the pipeline before the end of the year. I hope to see you at the next one!

I love Yoshi’s little dance. (Credits: Nintendo, Good-Feel)