Despite what many deemed a lackluster E3 conference, Nintendo still has a solid lineup for 2015. One of their best titles at the show this year is Yoshi’s Woolly World. Developed by Good-Feel, the same company that brought us Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Wario Land: Shake It!, and the Streetpass games Mii Force and Battleground: Z, Woolly World brings the same family-friendly story, gorgeously creative visuals and adorable characters we’ve come to expect from a Yoshi title, along with solid platforming, exploration and collecting.
One of this game’s most fun features is it’s multi-player aspect (1-2 players). I’m always looking for games with a solid local multi-player with a good challenge such as Donkey Kong: Country Returns or Donkey Kong:Tropical Freeze. That being said, this game definitely fits the bill, with some surprisingly difficult stages to enjoy with a friend, (or a Yoshi amiibo if human interaction isn’t your thing, but more on that later.)
I was able to run through a stage of coop with our very own Josh Jackson. Fans familiar with previous games featuring Yoshi will recognize the feel of the control scheme right off the bat. You have your usual tongue abilities; eating enemies and throwing them or creating balls of yarn that vary in size and strength (like the eggs in previous games), throwing said balls of yarn, and the ever-useful flutter jump and ground-pound abilities. One of the main aspects of the game is to create the world around you by gathering yarn from blocks and by eating enemies and using them to fill in the gaps in the stage to create platforms and discover secrets. You have the ability to eat some of the world around you to uncover more coins, lives and secrets.
The stage we played was pretty straight forward, classic platforming. You can throw the yarn balls at blank outlines to fill them in and create the stage around you to progress. You also have the ability to use your teammate as an impromptu projectile by eating them and making them into an egg to hit far-off buttons and such. If you enjoy playing as fast-paced as we like to, some of the most fun bits will come from near falls and saves using your yarn on the fly. However, keep in mind that friendly fire is on, so watch where you shoot! Also, if you leave each other behind, the slower teammate will be teleported to the other, which makes active team work an important piece of effective gameplay. Flutter-jump mastery is also the key to finding secrets that may be out of reach and maneuvering around the woolly world efficiently.
On top of the game’s very own woven, plush amiibo, there will be an array of amiibo support for characters from other games. The Yoshi amiibo create a CPU controlled partner for coop stages. In addition, Nintendo has teased that you can use all of your other amiibo besides the Pokemon to outfit your Yoshi with different patterns based on the chosen amiibo.
Yoshi’s Woolly World will be available on the Wii U October 16th in America. Feel free to check out our preview of last year’s demo, and make sure to check out the trailer below!