Twelve frames for a single second

To produce stop-motion animation, you position models by hand, take a photo, move them a bit, take another photo, and so on. You have to keep track of how Yoshi and the objects around him should be moving as you photograph frame by frame, so it’s a pretty painstaking process.

Mar 02, 2017  A wonderful world of wool. Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World is a dyed-in-the-wool platformer that’s bursting with colour and texture, only on Nintendo 3DS family systems.Explore a material world with Yoshi and Yoshi's adorable friend Poochy! Woolly World is a stage that appears in Super Smash Bros. The course is based on Yoshi's Woolly World and combines the ground from the beginning of the second course in the E3 2014 demo, and the sky from the third course. According to developer Masahiro Sakurai, the stage was added late into development.

12 photos are needed to create one second’s worth of animation. Put the above photos together and what do you get?

Behind the scenes

Let’s take a look at what happens during the animation process. This is the set where the animation takes place. With all the tools and equipment around, it gets kind of cluttered.

If you look closely at the photos, you’ll see that Yoshi and his pals are held in place by metal clamps. These are called “rigs,” and they’re used to keep objects in the positions they need to be.

The many faces of Yoshi

Yoshi Woolly World For Mac

During the shorts, you may have noticed how Yoshi has all sorts of different facial expressions. How do they do that?

Here are some of the parts used for Yoshi’s eyes. These can be switched in-between frames to let Yoshi blink, change expressions, and more.

Yoshi Woolly World For Mac

The Yoshi featured in the shorts looks a lot like the Yarn Yoshi amiibo figure, but it’s actually a little different.

See how the arms and legs are longer? Plus, there are metal joints embedded inside the stop-motion Yoshi model, which makes it stiff and heavy. Thanks to these joints, the animators are able to make Yoshi hold poses and move with precision.

Photographing frames, rigs and all

Yoshi

Check out the difference between the original photos and the versions used in the animation. The rigs used to keep things in place stay in the shot and are then edited out later. That’s right – stop motion may seem like an old-fashioned method of animation, but it actually involve some pretty state-of-the-art image editing.

Here’s a behind the scenes clip we got our hands on to show you what the animation looked like during production.

A message from the production team

Here’s a message from Mr. Minegishi at dwarf, the animation studio, who lent his expertise to producing these animations:

“Stop motion Yoshi acts in his own special way, a way that’s different to the Yoshi you typically see in games. We hope that players will enjoy seeing Yoshi in a brand new light.”

In-game features

The game contains 30 different animated shorts. Each day you can watch a new one, so you’ll probably want to try to play at least once a day. You’ll also get quizzed on the movies you watch. You can try to answer the questions correctly to get Beads that are sure to help Yoshi along the way!

The lovable Poochy, who appears in the shorts, will also be getting his very own amiibo figure (sold separately or as part of a special bundle with Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World). It doesn’t move like Poochy does in the animated videos, but by scanning it at any time during a course you can call Poochy to your side, letting you continue the adventure with a faithful companion.

So if you ever need a little break from platforming in Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World, you can check out the stop-motion animated shorts! You can check out some of the videos and learn more about the game at the official Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World website.

Figures shown not actual size. Visit nintendo.com/amiibo for details on amiibo functionality.

ESRB Rating: Everyone with Mild Cartoon Violence

“Yoshi’s Woolly World” is a classic platform game developed by Good-Feel and published by Nintendo.

Yoshi Woolly World For Mac 2

This is the seventh game in the Yoshi series, but although many elements are similar to previous games, this is a sequel with exceptionally much charm and enjoyment.

The game reminds a lot of “Kirby’s Epic Yarn” from the same developer, which also has a relatively high kiss factor.

But do not misunderstand – even though the kiss factor is cloudy, it does not mean that the game does not offer challenges. Many of the boards are simply not easy and can even get the most experienced platform veterinarian to pull their hair.

Classic charm in new and solder costume

Compared with previous Yoshi games, there are many famous items in “Yoshi’s Woolly World” .

The main difference is that we now find ourselves in a world that consists solely of wool and other soft fabrics, including all the living creatures, which are also knitted together in different patterns and colors.

The main enemy, Kamek, is the same as in previous Yoshi games, but there is no baby Mario Yoshi must watch.

Instead, Kamek has raked up virtually all Yoshi’s on the Yoshi Island, which has spread across the various boards. Only two Yoshi’s escaped this cruel fate, and their goal is to trace and knock together the rebellious Yoshiene again.

In practice, this means collecting five small yarns per board, then knitted into a new, unique Yoshi at the end of the board.

Varied Yoshi bouquet

In each part world there are nine unique Yoshiers you can find, and with six worlds, you’ll end up with 54 (plus the two starting with) different Yoshi’s to choose from just in the base game.

Each Yoshi has its own color theme: Chocolate Milk-Yoshi, Flame-Yoshi and Citrus Yoshi are just a few examples of the Yoshi diversity that you can access.

In addition, there are support for a variety of Amiibo characters, giving Yoshi the color and pattern accordingly. You can, for example, play Mario-Yoshi, Link-Yoshi, or Sonic-Yoshi, if you have Amiibo characters available.

The Yoshi selection makes the game chopped more personally, and it’s quickly made to be linked to its favorite. In a game where everything is already awesome, this is the dot of the i-one, or the shower of the lua, or whatever it’s getting out of the box.

Soft but challenging

As mentioned earlier, “Yoshi’s Woolly World” is not just a dance of loyal roses. Even though you are familiar with many of the game mechanics of previous Yoshi games, there are also new concepts that you will have to cope with.

A steady stream of new concepts for the player is introduced, such as moving behind clay courts where only shadow images of themselves and enemies are seen.

Should it be too difficult, you can always switch to a so-called mellow mode. Then Yoshi gets a pair of wings that make it possible to sail through the board without too much trouble. We are familiar with this from previous Yoshi games, such as in “Yoshi’s New Island” for Nintendo 3DS.

Yoshi Woolly World Walkthrough

The game also suggests this mode for you if you die many times in a row. This is very nice in theory, but in practice a reminder of how bad you are to play. Salt in the wound, simply.

No nonsense with wool

The wool theme is highly implemented and works well. Where Yoshiene in previous games put eggs that could be used to shoot things or activate switches, they now add yarn nuts instead. The enemies are no longer armed with spears, but with crochet sticks.

On the boards you can find loose threads in the landscape and pull in those that shave off walls and uncover secret spaces.

The game is well balanced between the cozy and the challenging. This is not a game for the smallest, although it looks like this.

Absolutely everything in the game gives associations to the soft and the close, and a childish joy one can hardly see the way in everyday life otherwise.

“Yoshi’s Woolly World” is basically a soft cuddle and a good hug on a rainy day.

Also see: New Code Vein images show promising combat and atmosphere