Yoshi’s Woolly World is the cutest, most incredibly adorable game ever made, bar none.
I’m 25 years old, and I had no idea that a Yoshi made out of wool could have such such an intense effect on me. From the very second that I tapped the Yoshi Woolly World icon on my Wii U gamepad, I had an irrevocable, painful, exhausting smile on my face until the moment that I turned the console off.
Seriously. Sure, I watched the trailers, read Josh Jackson and Megan Haley‘s preview articles, and obsessed over the Yarn Yoshi Amiibo figures (just like I do over every Amiibo figure), but I really had no idea what I was getting myself into with this game.
See, it’s not just the yarn-style graphics that make this game adorable, but the incredible effort and attention to detail that developer Good-Feel and Nintendo have put into every single byte of Woolly World. From the sheer quantity of differently styled Yarn Yoshi’s (including one based on every single Amiibo that’s been released thus far), to the soft blur from the fuzziness of Yoshi’s wool, to the way that Yoshi’s legs turn into wheels when you’re running fast, a propeller when you hover jump, and a hammer when you ground pound, to the way that many of your enemies unravel when they’re destroyed, to the way that direction arrows are actually ‘pinned’ into the levels, and even the skeumorphic stitching and linen patterning … I could go on and on, but frankly, its beauty needs to be experienced, and each and every time I saw a visual element that I was unfamiliar with, I couldn’t help but laugh at how freaking cute it was.
Oh, and some of the Shy Guy’s hold crocheting hooks. Freaking adorable.
How’s the audio? Just as good. Composers Tomoya Tomita and Misaki Asada have ensured that every track in the game’s expansive soundtrack is toe-tappingly catchy, and Kazumi Totaka’s main theme is playing on repeat in my head all the freaking time. I can play Carly Ray Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’, Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’, Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, or any other catchy-as-hell song, and the second that audio goes silent, Yoshi’s Woolly World‘s theme begins again. Gah.
https://youtu.be/zcXAzTtnagU
The game actually begins with a fairly somber moment. Craft Island is a place where a myriad of Yarn Yoshi’s live and laze around until one fateful day when Kamek comes and essentially destroys most of them. These creatures go from Yoshis to actual bundles of yarn, which Kamek puts in a sack and tries to make off with. Kamek’s pretty greedy apparently, as he fills his sack of former Yoshis too full, and proceeds to drop the newly-formed bundles of yarn all across the land.
Luckily, two of the Yoshi avoid being turned into bundles of yarn (had they not, I don’t think we’d be playing the game), and set out on a mission to find Kamek, and to save their friends. It’s actually pretty interesting just how quickly Nintendo can make you feel for its characters, as after a less than two-minute long cutscene, I just needed to save my friends.
Having the bundled yarn strewn throughout each level actually makes for a far more interesting mechanic than the typical stars and coins that you find in most Mario titles. See, these are chunks of your friends, and if you find all five bundles in a given level, one of your friends once again becomes a colourful, patterned Yarn Yoshi. It actually makes me legitimately feel bad if I complete a level without obtaining all five bundles, as sure, I passed the course, but if I don’t find all of the bundles, one of my fellow Yoshi is doomed to never be whole again. It’s pretty heavy stuff.
And there are a lot of Yoshi to save. Once you save one, you have the ability to switch up the Yoshi you’re playing as, so you’re very likely to at some point find a favourite and abandon our classic green friend. Or, you’ll obsessively open you’re complete Amiibo collection just so you can see what each of the Amiibo-themed Yoshi look like… No, I didn’t actually do that, but I did have a blast tapping all of my open Amiibo and playing as the various characters. It’s an essentially useless, but pretty fantastic bonus to owning Nintendo’s little plastic figurines. Check out just a few of the amazing Amiibo-themed Yoshi right here:
Again, freaking adorable.
Most of the game’s many stages are a blast to run through (and as mentioned, all of them look spectacular), and the level variety is exactly what you’d expect from a Nintendo title. The amount of collectibles in the game are astronomical, albeit to the point of feeling like too much. There are bundles of yarn, daisies, beads, and stamps, and if you’re looking to find everything, the game’s many out of sight and secret areas are bound to take you hours upon hours to discover. The collectables, Are optional, so if you just feel like perusing through the levels, you don’t have to go secret-seeking, at all.
Obtaining collectibles will also unlock bonus mini games that are a pleasure to play through. From having a giant Yoshi rampage through a stage, taking out enemies and blocks in its path and swinging its tail to destruct obstacles, to having a motorbike Yoshi speed through a hilly, jump-filled stage against the clock, it was seriously tough not to get giddy each time I had the opportunity to play a bonus stage.
Another notable aspect of the game is just how accessible it is. This is clearly a title that’s been developed for all ages, and the game’s ‘Mellow’ difficulty mode ensures that gamers of all ages will be able to have just as much fun with it as I did. I could actually see Yoshi’s Woolly World, with its soft edges and incredible cuteness being the very first video game (or first non-mobile video game) that many kids will play, so the fact that I had so much fun with the game that’s just as friendly to children is a testament to the quality and care the Nintendo puts into its titles. The game also, as usual with Nintendo titles, but too rare in this generation, features some great local multiplayer (and supports most of the company’s current controller types), so it could even be the very first game that you and your kids play together. How cute is that?
Nintendo tends to be a company that releases its games in a relatively short time frame after announcing them. Aside from a couple of notable delays in Zelda Wii U and Star Fox Zero earlier this year, we’ll commonly see the company announce a game in one of its beloved (and missed) Direct presentations, or at E3, or another tradeshow, only to release them at retail just months later. That being said, the fact that this game was announced back in January of 2013 only to receive a release date in 2015, was slightly worrisome. I’m truly happy to say that Yoshi’s Woolly World, is an absolute blast, and is just as polished said you’d expect a AAA Nintendo title to be. It might even be more polished than we’re used to, as the attention to detail in the title is bewildering, and each element that developer Good-Feel added certainly adds to the heart of the title.
My only worry for Yoshi’s Woolly World is that it’s releasing so soon after September’s Super Mario Maker it will simply be overlooked for the time being. Super Mario Maker‘s incredibly active community are extremely dedicated to the phenomenal title, and the sheer amount of user created levels coming out of that game are truly impressive. That said, Yoshi’s Woolly World is definitely a title that is deserving of your attention, and even if it wasn’t the most adorable game ever made, its solid mechanics, worthy level design, and deployability would certainly still make it worthwhile.
Whether you’re 5 years old, 25, 50, or 100, you’ll find a lot to love with Yoshi’s Woolly World, and I can’t wait to see it top the ‘Most Adorable Video Games Of All Time Lists’ for years to come.
Yoshi’s Woolly World scores a 4.5 out of 5.