Have you ever come across a game that blows your mind? Yoshi’s Crafted World did exactly that when I played. Developer Good-Feel put a lot of creativity in to this side-scrolling platformer. Yoshi is an all time favorite among gamers and the best part is you get to see all of the Yoshis together on this adventure, among other fun characters too.
In the plot, Yoshi’s Island where the Yoshis live, are having a good grand time and have a Sundream stone that holds multiple gems. The stone is said to make anyone’s dreams come true, making it super desirable. Baby Bowser and Kamek make a trip to try and steal the stone but cause the stone to scatter its gems across the land. The Yoshis must find the gems first in order to restore balance. As usual, Kamek and Baby Bowswer make many appearances to stop you. This means the Yoshis must search the lands area by area.
Being someone that is very creative, looking at the overall style of the game was fascinating. Although the setting looks like it may have been created by a young child, there really is a lot that goes in to each stage. Quilling is the art of using thin strips of paper to make images such as flowers and is an old hobby. The skill of quilling isn’t completely dead however and this can be seen throughout the different stages of your journey. How everything is tied together is simply another spectacle. You might catch yourself gazing at the background and not even paying attention to the enemies right in front of you.
During the different stages, a level could easily have 5 or more things in the background that you can hit from a distance with your eggs. This gives you coins and other items needed to be the best at the level. At some point after the initial playthrough of the level, the stage becomes available to be flipped. When played again, you play the same area from the back of the set. You see the backs of cardboard boxes and containers which offers a new viewpoint and surprises.
Along the journey Yoshi will come across robots stationed at each new area. These robots require flowers in order to pass. To collect them all you have to hit every available item in a level and look in the hard to reach places. Somehow this task is like playing the old i-Spy picture book games. Once you’ve cleared an area, the robots will suddenly ask you to go back and collect specific items for them and their collections. Doing this is really for the completionist player but once you start you will be addicted.
As far as the controls of the game, the basic buttons are used. Basically the common buttons of the Super Nintendo are still in effect. Walk with the joystick, then use A, B and X to jump, eat and fire at items. Not much too the difficulty on this. For the levels themselves, some challenges are to be had but the difficulty isn’t too hard or too easy. If a younger person is playing, there is an option to make the levels slightly easier.
Overall, this game is amazing. Looking at the characters and detail is so much fun on its own. Yoshi’s Crafted World is also a casual game where you can sit back and just enjoy doing the challenges. The replayability here is off the charts too. There are still things I haven’t found yet but I keep going back for more. Definitely a game I would recommend for families and friends.
9.5/10
Available on: Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/yoshis-crafted-world-switch
