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[Review] Yoshi’s Woolly World

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Vincent Ward in Reviews, Wii U

System: Wii U
Release date: October 16, 2015
Developer: Good-Feel
Publisher Nintendo

Author: Vincent

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never fully played through a Yoshi game. I’ve always wanted to, but I just never really got around to it. Sure, the cutesy visual style of the Yoshi titles should appeal to someone like myself, but because of the seemingly simplistic gameplay, the series was never quite at the top of my list. With Yoshi’s Woolly World, however, Nintendo brought the cuteness the series is known for to a whole new level, finally pulling me in enough to try one of these games out to the fullest. Having played through what most of Yoshi’s Woolly World has to offer, I can now say that calling this game adorable is an understatement.

If you’ve played a previous Yoshi game, you’re probably more than aware of the iconic egg-throwing mechanic which has been with this franchise since its inception. No worries: it’s still here, and it works just as well as it ever has. But this time around, instead of actually throwing eggs, you throw around little balls of yarn. These allow Yoshi to wrap up and knock out enemies, fill in platforms, and bounce them all over the walls to collect various items. Other basic mechanics were changed to fit the yarn aesthetic, and every single one works.

Yoshi's Woolly World - 5137 shaders Complete UPDATE: Just completed the full game (did only not unlock 2 out of all the yoshis), all flowers collected, all stages cleared, the Boss Tent as well which appears once everything is completed and got a total of 5228 shaders out of it after all.

Transformations, which last appeared in Yoshi’s New Island, also make a return. In this game, Yoshi uses his new yarn body to transform into all new kinds of objects, such as a parasol, a motorbike, and even a mermaid. The creators really thought of some interesting ideas here, although they don’t really feel in place since they’re sectioned off away from the rest of the level.

Yoshi’s transformation isn’t the only element the developers paid careful attention to, as the world around Yoshi is just as precious as he is. The environments are where the whole yarn and fabric concept is imagined to its full potential, as everything you see is made out of some sort of material. The trees are little yarn balls with needles stuck through them, the platforms are folded yarn cloths, and even the water is just different shades of blue strings waving in synchronization. However, the little details really make the world feel alive, like how the ground moves under Yoshi’s feet as if he’s actually walking through the world. It goes a long way. It just feels like the worlds are bursting at the seams with creativity, and even when you think they’ve done it all, they showcase a new and adorable new way to show off their creativity.

Once you’ve stopped admiring the game’s visual style, you can finally play through the levels, and most of the time, you’ll be just as impressed with their design as you would be with the art style. The courses are littered with smart idea after smart idea. One neat level has you spending nearly the whole time hopping on and off various velcro sticks which Yoshi would stick to and having to dodge all the enemies sticking as well. Another has you leaping across the sky as you travel across rainbows that are being created with long, colorful scarfs. On the flip-side, when a level doesn’t quite work, it feels as if they drag on forever and really halt the game’s progress. It’s not too often when you’ll find one like this, but they’re thankfully combated by being filled to the brim with collectibles, which are actually useful.

The most interesting collectible players can gather on their journey through Craft Island are little spools of yarn. There are five of these scattered across each course, and when all are collected, you’ll be gifted with a new skin for Yoshi that are, yup, you guessed it, adorable. Along with those are flowers that you can also grab, which can unlock a secret level inside each world when all are collected. Finally, there are shiny little beads that are quite literally all over the world that earn you Miiverse Stamps once you reach a certain amount. They also act as in-game currency, allowing you to purchase different badges to help Yoshi by increasing his abilities in any way they’re applied.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t throw a compliment for the music in Yoshi’s Woolly World. The various pieces are incredible, providing appropriate sounds to the levels and completing the atmosphere very well. Each song has its own distinctive vibe, and since they are rarely reused, they’re made that much more memorable. I have spent more time than I’d like to admit sitting in the music room listening to the great music this game had to offer.

While everything in Yoshi’s Woolly World can be a great experience by yourself, the multiplayer can be a bit of a mixed bag. You can play through the same levels with an additional friend at any time, and unfortunately, therein lies the problem. You play through the same levels, which feel as if they were specifically designed to fit a one-player game. Often times I found myself frustrated when one of us was moving a bit too slowly only to have ourselves killed by being off-screen and forced to float back to the other player, losing all of our yarn in the process. Of course, there’s a Mellow Mode option which gives both Yoshi’s full health and the ability to float through a course, but because the game itself never really gets too difficult, what’s the fun in that?

The final product of Yoshi’s Woolly World is a great one. Mixed in with the beautiful and cute visuals are a plethora of incredible platforming ideas and tons of content that all come together with the great soundtrack and charm. I should also mention that Yoshi has an additional skin tied to almost every amiibo out there (Pokemon are the exceptions), so just when you think the game couldn’t get any cuter, it does. Aside from some of the odd levels and the multiplayer that doesn’t quite work the way you’d like it to, there’s a lot to love in this game. It’s finally here: the Yoshi we’ve all been yarn-ing for.

Yoshi’s Woolly World has a little something for everyone. Cute visuals and fun platforming are sure enough to keep you enticed during the holiday season. If you’re looking for a story-driven platformer, you won’t find it here. But what you will find is a game as charming as it is creative, so it’s definitely worth your time.

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Yoshi's Woolly World is the first Yoshi game to be on a home console since the Nintendo 64. This game has a yarn art style, similar to Kirby's Epic Yarn. The gameplay is very similar to the Yoshi's Island games, but without any whiny babies to carry and chase after. Thank goodness!

The game received a port for the Nintendo 3DS, aptly titled Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, which added even more amiibo and the ability to create custom Yarn Yoshi skins, among other extras.

• 1Unused Map Data
• 2Test Levels
• 3Test Folder
• 7Early Pause Menu
• 8Unused Color Correction Parameter Scripts
• 13Regional Differences

Unused Map Data

Test Map Data

mapdata has 42 archives for test maps. This seems to be used to test out various things such as engine rendering.

Epic Yarn Map Data

In mapdataepic_yarn_kirby, there are 78 stages which quite obviously belong to Kirby's Epic Yarn. However, these might be the files that contain the coordinates of certain map objects à la Super Mario 3D World, or XML-styled formatting.

Test Levels

TESTMAP004

TEST_MORI

A simple stage with a few objects placed around. The stage appears impossible to complete, due to missing objects being replaced with placeholders.

TEST_UV_REGULATION_X4

This stage appears to be a slightly different version of the stage that was shown in Nintendo Direct 23 January 2013. Objects are missing from the stage and are instead replaced with placeholders, most likely due to the object data being missing from the game. It's not possible to complete the stage, as you can't travel to the other side. The level may also lack a goal ring entirely.

MAP001_MARUTA_MASTER

One of the more detailed unused stages in the game. It appears that Yoshi would have been able to switch between the foreground and background at least once during this stage, but due to missing objects, it's impossible to do so, and as such not possible to complete the stage.

TESTMAP009_SHADERTEST01

Test Folder

In the root of the game, there is a test folder full of objects, shaders, and some Miiverse stamps. Shaders and Miiverse stamps are split into two different folders called shader and body_memo_sample.

Shader

There are three test shaders within this directory.

• simple.gsh
• simple_fragment.gsh
• simple_vertex.gsh

body_memo_sample

This directory seems to have been used for testing out the Miiverse features, such as stamps. While the final game does have stamps, these are done in a very different style. The folder also has .tga and.gtx versions of the stamps, along with an SDK tool for converting .tga images to .gtx called tga2gtxTEstTool.bat (sic). There is also a very humorous drawing of a Swapnote envelope with a body saying 'Hi'.

memo.tga

stamp_73.tga and stamp_73.gtx

stamp_80.tga and stamp_80.gtx

Character Test Data

Yoshi's Woolly World Online Game

In charatest, there is leftover data for a test character. It may have been used for animation testing of some sort according to the archive size of TESTANIM00.gfa being around 2.4mb in size.

Coins

Located at /test/tr_coin_yellow and /test/tr_coin_red are models for the coins and the red coins like the ones found in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Sequenced sounds exist for the objects in the bfsar.

120 - SD_REDCOIN01 to 129 - SD_REDCOIN10

194 - SD_COIN1

There are no other SD_COIN_x sounds.

Unused Jingles

There are two unused sequenced jingles.

108 - WSD_StageClrDemo

An early stage clear jingle.

109 - WSD_LODING

An early loading theme.

Early Pause Menu

Contained in env/in_game/pause_old.gfa is an older version of the in-level pause menu. This older variant contains a few early versions of existing graphics used in-game.

Bead Patch

Flower Patch

Stamp Patch

Interestingly, according to Merino.msbt (the game's text archive), Stamp Patches were once called Mii Beads.

Wool Patch

Unused Color Correction Parameter Scripts

TEST_KURAOKA_000.txt

Used for testing, it does not use a texture for filter.

Yoshi's Woolly World Reddit 2017

TEST_KURAOKA_001.txt

Used for testing, it uses LutTest.gtx.

Unused Light Parameters Scripts

There is a hefty batch of 25 unused light parameter scripts for various test levels. Ranging from environment mapping, stages with UV scrolling, and other render methods such as photo realism.

Revision

Yoshi's Woolly World Walkthrough

Present in debug/buildRevision.txt.

Boot Config

Present in bootConfig.txt.sample.

Present in bootConfig.txt.viewer_sample.

Other Text Files

data_gfa_convert.bat in the game root is a batch file probably used by Good-Feel to create a .gfa file, in this case, data.gfa.

Present in env/convert_in_game_gfp.bat.

Present in test/body_memo_sample/tga2gtxTEstTool.bat.

sound/SoundDisableCallFrame.bson has text in it. The single kanji in this file (found on line 6) simply means 'Wednesday'.

Regional Differences

Despite the fact that the American version was released four months after all other versions and unlike more recent Nintendo games which had two completely different English translations, the American and Australian/European versions have only minor textual differences.

Text

This change was necessary because 'pants' refers to outerwear in American English and underwear in British English. Even though the American meaning is used in Australia, the British English version of the line is still used; however, 'trousers' is technically still not incorrect.

Yoshi Design Names

A handful of Yoshi Design names differ between the American and European versions:

Scrapbook

The scrapbook option has different names across regions.

Yoshi's Woolly World Reddit Youtube

In addition to all the enemies except Kamek having separate names for the Japanese localization, one entry was altered even in English.

The red and blue variations of this enemy were previously translated as Gargantua Blargg and simply Nep-Enut respectively in English localizations of the Yoshi's Island series. The European localizers apparently didn't notice that no small version of a Nep-Enut exists in this game, or in any Yoshi game for that matter. This was caught by the North American release.

Yoshi Wooly World Video

Internal Project Name

Yoshi's Woolly World's project name is Merino according to the game's text archive. Merino is a sheep breed that is commonly used for their wool.

Yoshi's Woolly World Review