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Yoshi’s Woolly World has three big things in its favour: it feels fabulous to play, it looks sumptuous and it sometimes makes you feel like a genius. Even amongst the generous array of mega.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Yoshi’s New Island. The 3DS platformer was the most blatant attempt yet to reclaim the glory of Yoshi’s Island, but fell short to me because of a quirky hitch to the targeting reticule for egg throwing, middling graphics, and a score that bordered on atrocious. Yoshi’s Woolly World largely avoids all of those pitfalls, as the game confidently plays with the established Yoshi formula while also injecting new life into the series by adapting elements from Kirby’s Epic Yarn and improving upon them. Woolly World is a delightful return to form for the franchise.

Yarn is everywhere in Woolly World. Visually, the environment and its cast are all lovingly rendered in the fuzzy wool, along with sheets of fabric, sequins, buttons, and more. Developer Good-Feel’s design makes the entire adventure feel like a traipse through a legitimately handcrafted world as a result, but it’s made all the more special by the clever mixing of materials to mimic things like water and lava. The yarn water in particular is quite a sight, and a testament to the ingenuity and creativity of the title’s creators. It’s widely accepted that graphics are second to gameplay in regard to how “good” a game is, but when the visuals are as luscious and brilliant as what’s found in Woolly World, they become an integral part of the experience that can’t be glazed over. The yarn, in every way, makes this game.

This is especially true given how closely the gameplay is intertwined with the environment itself; the yarn isn’t just window dressing. Yoshi’s established move set returns, with the usual flutter-jumping, ground-pounding, and throwing on offer. Good-Feel made the wise decision to jettison Baby Mario, a move I was more than welcoming of; I’m not opposed to seeing the pairing again down the road, but without the youngster in tow it freed the design team to try something new. Good-Feel might have brought some familiar moves along for the ride, but the ever present yarn genuinely spices things up by playing with the staple mechanics that so many fans have grown accustomed to. First off, eggs are gone and replaced with yarn balls. Functionally, they’re lobbed and ricocheted much like eggs usually are, but they also provide new abilities to exploit, too. Yarn balls can build platforms out of thin air, entangle foes, and when players get their hands on an oversized bundle of the spun thread, it will split into two balls and hit multiple targets. Some of the most clever puzzle mechanics in Woolly World revolve around using yarn balls or tugging on pieces of yarn sticking out of the floors and walls to alter the environment. Woolly World is littered with clever mechanics like these that come one after the other, and each is fun and well-implemented.

Good-Feel, despite the adorable visual direction of the game, didn’t skimp on the difficulty level. Woolly World isn’t up there with the likes of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but it’s a stiff enough challenge that even veteran players will take pause at times. The level designs are varied, with some stages focusing on vertical progression and others sending Yoshi through labyrinthine cave networks. Interspersed throughout are Yoshi’s signature transformation segments, which provide a change of pace at just the right times. The boss fights, on the other hand, were a mixed bag to me, unfortunately. As a whole, they’re visually arresting and among the best-looking moments in the game. In terms of gameplay, however, some encounters left me wanting, with overly simplistic “three-and-done” fights that took a matter of seconds to complete. It’s the one real blemish on an otherwise superb platformer.

Newer players aren’t left in the wind, as there are ample safety nets in place to help them through, including Mellow Mode (which can be turned on and off at will), which sticks a pair of wings on Yoshi and lets him fly through the level with minimal resistance. There’s also a two-player co-op that plays very smoothly and offers less-skilled players yet another opportunity to progress through the game with the assistance of someone else. Longtime players who still aren’t taxed by Woolly World‘s difficulty and want even more of a challenge will be satiated by scouring the environment to gather each stage’s hidden Wonder Wools and Smiley Flowers. The former serves to unlock new body patterns for Yoshi, while the latter unlocks a bonus stage to complete (which are way more difficult than the majority of regular ones!). Speaking of body patterns, as someone who owns a ton of Amiibo, I can verify that a lot of them unlock new designs for Yoshi in-game, so be sure to whip out your favorites and see if it’s compatible! Yarn Yoshi Amiibo also plop a duplicate Yoshi into single player who will follow around and help facilitate some of the actions that are normally only available in co-op, which is a nice, optional bonus.

Woolly World was a delight to play, and one that I think any platformer fan will enjoy. It’s reminiscent of Yoshi Story with its fabric-focused art design, but the addition of yarn has almost reinvented what a Yoshi game can be. The new puzzle types and mechanics that the thread has allowed for are among the best that I’ve ever experienced in any Yoshi title, and that includes Yoshi’s Island. The difficulty level is hovering right in that Goldilocks-zone of “just right,” leaning enough toward the hard end of the spectrum that experienced players don’t have to depend on item-gathering to feel challenged, while offering safety nets for newer players who might otherwise be intimidated away. Wii U’s library continues to grow and be populated by top-tier, AAA games, and Woolly World is the latest gem added to the pile.

Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U) Review

by Daan Koopman - June 22, 2015, 7:00 am PDT
Total comments: 15

A flawed masterpiece, but the best Yoshi game in ages.

With Yoshi's Woolly World, I never knew for sure how much I was going to like it. Even with the pedigree developer Good-Feel has, it feels like it has been in development forever. Besides that, the recent Yoshi outings haven't been anything to shout about. 'How is this Yoshi game going to be different?', I asked myself. The answers started to unravel one by one and things were pretty clear by the end of the experience. Yoshi's Woolly World still has still a few unfortunate issues here and there, but it remains one of the dinosaurs most solid adventures to date.

The story of Yoshi's Woolly World is not very deep, but it is still quite adorable. It takes place on Craft Island, which is a small island in the Handmade Ocean. A clan of Yoshi live peacefully here and enjoy each other's company. Their peace comes abruptly to an end as Kamek shows up and turns most of the dinosaurs into various sets of yarn. Two of the wily Yoshi manage to escape and pursue the trickster with all their might. As Kamek finally manages to escape, he drops yarn everywhere and now it is up to these two Yoshis to set forth at once to save their friends.

If you ever toyed around with a Yoshi's Island game before, the basics will hold no mysteries to you. You move Yoshi about a 2D platforming landscape, deal with a variety of obstacles and enemies and try to snatch a large number of collectibles throughout. Where Yoshi's Woolly World differs, however, is that it resents giving you a whole lot of stress. Baby Mario is gone, and in his place there is a more traditional health bar. This allows you to solely focus on the platforming challenges ahead, which are accompanied by perfect controls.

While the game is totally suitable to be played with a variety of controllers, the best option out there is the Wii Remote in the sideways position. Most of the options go for more a traditional Yoshi feel and what you choose really depends if you like that option or not. The previous games had a large emphasis on throwing eggs, and with the new yarn balls that doesn't change. You will need to attack enemies, destroy question bubbles and even use them for some brand new tricks like creating platforms. The Wii Remote scheme understands the tasks at hand and allows you to tilt the controller for more precision. It changes the game entirely and allowed me to react at any given moment. Flutter jumping while you aim and press the A-button works like a dream and it makes that perfect run even more possible.

Next to throwing the yarn, the fabric aesthetic can be seen everywhere you look. You will find bows in the environments, which you can pull with Yoshi's tongue. It might not be always easy to spot them, but you can find some pretty cool secrets if you do. You will also climb on yarn strings, knit the skeletons of Boos and Chain Chomps together, hang tight to curtains, jump on trees with springs and so much more. The concepts and elements that are found in the more than 50 stages here are amazing and it makes for the most entertaining platforming sections in a while.

What helps is that the game is very elegantly designed and there is a nice progression curve. Over the course of the six worlds, the skills really grow with you and it all leads up to a very satisfying finale. I am not embarrassed to say that I died quite a bunch of times throughout the journey, mostly due to being unprepared for what is ahead. You're not going through the motions like in Yoshi's New Island, but performing them with grace for the best possible results. That made the game never lose its charm, even if I felt challenged at times. What will lessen the frustration is that there are frequent checkpoints, so you will never go too far back. In the worst case scenario, you could always activate Mellow Mode and worry less about the enemies ahead.

Yoshi games are also made out of transformations, bosses and collectibles. While the transformations are still a key element in the game, there are used a bit less than you might expect. I honestly don't mind that though, as it keeps the moments that they do pop up special and there are stellar ones in this title. Our cuddly dino friend will change into a motorcycle for example, which changes the stage to an endless runner with pretty tight controls. The bosses are fair play in Yoshi's Woolly World, though the mid-world ones are way too recycled for their own good. They all pop up more than once and that lessens the impact of them in a major way. Next to that, boss fights are over before you know it and those battles make it the least exciting part of the ride. They aren't bad, but the level designs do clearly reign supreme. Finally, the collectibles are staggering. With five Smiley Flowers, twenty Stamp Patches, five Wonder Wools and many beads is there enough to keep coming back. Not only serve all of them a functional purpose, they snag you pretty great rewards too!

Yoshi's Woolly World looks amazing on the platform. Even when you look at the overworld, there is sense of detail there that is not found in every Wii U game. The stages and characters really show that they are made out of craft and it looks better than any other Good-Feel game. The backgrounds are sometimes curtains or the clouds are hanging with a string from the ceiling. Every aspect of it was really well thought through and Good-Feel tells the world once again how they perfected this craft of making games look like crafts. The game is bright and overly atmospheric, which made it a joy to gander upon. The soundtrack doesn't play second fiddle and there are some terrific songs in there. There are certainly Yoshi touches in there, but it features more piano strokes and deeper sound bits. Nothing wrong with that I say!

The only thing that really annoyed about me about the presentation were the loading times. While I wouldn't say that they are the worst I have seen in a Wii U game, it does take forever to get a level going. Loading even occurs when you go to a boss, which is a pretty inexcusable all things considered. I can only hope that a patch can address this in the future, but we will have to see and wait on that.

Yoshi's Woolly World is the best Yoshi game I have ever played. The controls feel extremely solid and the gameplay quirks just keep coming that makes it a unique experience. With over 50 levels to explore and many secrets to undercover, the game will keep you going for quite a while too. While I wish that the bosses and loading times were better, that shouldn't stop you from playing the game. If you play it alone or with a friend, you will have a blast looking in every nook and cranny that the world offers. It was an adventure that I didn't want to miss for the world.

Summary

Pros

• Art style just really pops out
• Combines the best bits from Yoshi platform titles
• Level concepts are very creative
• Many collectibles to obtain
• Wii Remote controls are amazing

Cons

• Bosses are somewhat underwhelming
• Loading times could have been better

Talkback

Nice review.
It's interesting to see the range of criticisms on this game. While some have thought of Woolly World highly, others found it dull. One lamenting take is that the game only presents a challenge to experienced platforming players with collecting all of its collectibles.

Gotta give Nintendo that 85 rating on Metacritic yo #moneyhats

It's interesting to see the range of criticisms on this game. While some have thought of Woolly World highly, others found it dull. One lamenting take is that the game only presents a challenge to experienced platforming players with collecting all of its collectibles.

It's Wario Land Shake all over again which isn't a surprise since Good Feel made that game as well. All the positive reviews are from people who actually played the whole game while the negatives are from the usual lazy suspects who just rushed through the game as quickly as possible and then called it quits after the credits play.
Of course in the case of Yoshi, this argument is even sillier since the original Yoshi's Island literally invented this style of gameplay. The original Yoshi's Island is extremely short and easy if you just run through the main game without bothering to 100% the levels, but becomes a much longer and harder experience if you do. This is why many including myself thought Good Feel would be a perfect fit for a Yoshi game after Shake It, since they pulled off this style of game so well, which after 7 years, are finally going to get our wish.

It's Wario Land Shake all over again which isn't a surprise since Good Feel made that game as well. All the positive reviews are from people who actually played the whole game while the negatives are from the usual lazy suspects who just rushed through the game as quickly as possible and then called it quits after the credits play.
Of course in the case of Yoshi, this argument is even sillier since the original Yoshi's Island literally invented this style of gameplay. The original Yoshi's Island is extremely short and easy if you just run through the main game without bothering to 100% the levels, but becomes a much longer and harder experience if you do. This is why many including myself thought Good Feel would be a perfect fit for a Yoshi game after Shake It, since they pulled off this style of game so well, which after 7 years, are finally going to get our wish.

If 100%ing a game were a requirement for reviewing it, no RPG would ever be reviewed ever again, nor for that matter any simulation game or most Adventure games.

Yoshi Woolly World Review

If 100%ing a game were a requirement for reviewing it, no RPG would ever be reviewed ever again, nor for that matter any simulation game or most Adventure games.

Wario and Yoshi games don't take 100+ hours to 100% though. The reviewers have no excuse not to play the optional content in these games since the biggest problem they're telling people is the games are too easy and short.
That's my problem with those reviews is the reviewers are blatantly lying and spreading false info by saying it's an easy game with only 5-8 hours worth of gameplay when the reality is both games contain a lot more hours worth of content and offer plenty of challenges for players that want it which all the positive reviews actually mention.

If 100%ing a game were a requirement for reviewing it, no RPG would ever be reviewed ever again, nor for that matter any simulation game or most Adventure games.

Wario and Yoshi games don't take 100+ hours to 100% though. The reviewers have no excuse not to play the optional content in these games since the biggest problem they're telling people is the games are too easy and short.
That's my problem with those reviews is the reviewers are blatantly lying and spreading false info by saying it's an easy game with only 5-8 hours worth of gameplay when the reality is both games contain a lot more hours worth of content and offer plenty of challenges for players that want it which all the positive reviews actually mention.

It would be irresponsible if they didn't mention the fact that it's a short, not very challenging game if you don't want to collect every single thing. That's their job; they need to inform people about what they're getting into. Most of the reviews I've read acknowledge the fact that the longevity and the challenge in the game is collecting everything, so I don't think they're lying or spreading misinformation. They're just saying that's not fun or particularly appealing, which is a perfectly fine stance to take. Maybe that's what the original Yoshi's Island was, but that doesn't mean people are still going to enjoy the same thing in 2015. It's been 20 years. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to expect them to add more of an actual platforming challenge to go along with the collecting, rather than rehashing the same game with a different (admittedly stunning) aesthetic.
The past day and these reviews have lowered my expectations somewhat, but that's fine, because they were pretty high to begin with. Better to find all this out beforehand than to be disappointed when I actually play and not be able to properly appreciate the game because it's merely good and not great.

My wife and I are looking to scratch our Kriby's Epic Yarn itch with this game. To me, the important parts are:
Does the game (mostly) let you move at your own pace?
Are the enemies not terribly difficult?
Is the soundtrack to the game as wonderfully composed as Kirby's Epic Yarn? I could literally listen to the soundtrack of that game by itself.
How inventive/fun are the transformations?
I guess i'm in the minority here...I just want this game to be a fun visit into the world where I get to see beautiful levels, listen to amazing music, and have a little light-hearted adventure with my wife.

I think this sentence may need some clarifying:

Not only serve all of them a functional purpose, they snag you pretty great rewards too!

From the review though, it does sound like this has a lot of similarities to Epic Yarn but will play a bit closer to a Yoshi Island game. I can live that and after the great experience of Epic Yarn, I'm really looking forward to this.

If your game needs to be played a certain way in order to truly appreciate it then it has some issues. Some players are going to want to just play through the levels, others will want to 100% all the collectable stuff. If it would only be worth the money for one of those audiences that's a legitimate complaint. Personally I don't give two shits about collecting stuff. I like how something like SMW has you looking for multiple exits to unlock new levels. The levels are the content so that's what I'm playing the game for. But if the extra gameplay is a glorified high score it doesn't interest me. Sometimes collecting unlocks cool stuff and other levels but the work needs to be worth it. To use SMW as an example again I get one new level for each alternate exit I find. It's 1:1. In Yoshi's Island, which I love, I still have levels I've never unlocked because each unlockable level requires you to 100% every level in the same world. That's too much tedium for a minimal reward.
To me stuff like collecting everything 100% is for devoted enthusiasts to get some extra replay out of the title. If it is expected for me to partake in that, then the game is pretty short. A short game isn't a dealbreaker by itself but it can affect what price I'm willing to pay.

Why was this game DELAYED in NA? When Ubisoft delayed Rayman Legends WII U the internet explodes but NoA is doing the exact same sh!t and nobody bats an eyelash about it.

Nintendo of America never had a release date for Yoshi. Thus, it isn't technically delayed. It's just coming out much later than every other region.

Because NA gets 2/3 of Amiibo production and the one person who makes the yarn ones needs more time.

Why was this game DELAYED in NA? When Ubisoft delayed Rayman Legends WII U the internet explodes but NoA is doing the exact same sh!t and nobody bats an eyelash about it.

Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World 3ds Review

It's to not take attention way from... uh... what the hell else is being released right now? Maybe they think it's too close to Splatoon? You got me.

This is just simple payback for all the years of delayed/never-even-released games in Europe, please understand.

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