Game Info
Game Name: Yoshi’s Woolly World
Developer(s): Good-Feel
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Platform(s): Wii U
Genre(s): Platformer/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): June 6, 2015 (Australia)/October 16, 2015 (USA)
ESRB Rating: E
Stay in the dark?
Kamek has vowed to make his master Baby Bowser more powerful…by collecting yarn from Yoshi’s island! With his people in threads and his island threatened, Yoshi must knit his world back together before it is too late. Yoshi can save his people by traversing the island and collecting yarn, but Kamek doesn’t intend to let Yoshi get by that easy…and there is danger around every corner!
Yoshi’s Woolly World is a sidescrolling action-adventure platformer for the Wii U. Following Yoshi’s New Island for the 3DS in 2006, the all-ages game was released to mixed to positive reviews and a port for the 3DS called Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World was released in 2017.
I don’t always love Yoshi games. I find the controls of Yoshi frustrating and some of games often tedious. That being said, Yoshi’s Woolly World is maybe the best entry in the Yoshi series…but it still has problems.
Ride ’em curtain!!!
On the surface the game seems short. There are six worlds with eight levels…and unlimited continues (or even the basic walkthrough mode). However, each level is really long and expansive with collectibles (flowers, yarn, stamps, and life) leading to multiple replay. By getting the collectables, you open up more worlds for exploration, but the exhaustive process will probably bore you after a while. Yoshi’s Woolly World is best served in small pieces.
The game does feature fantastic graphics. The yarn style was played with in Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii in 2010, but this game gets it completely right. The cut scenes are obviously better, but the actual gameplay does maintain a high level of visuals…plus you can get a bunch of different Yoshi’s to play with (they all play the same however).
Baby Bowser has met his match!
Yoshi moves pretty effortlessly through the great looking world. The controls are virtually the same from previous entries, and that can either be reassuring or frustrating. Yoshi has a strange floaty nature to his movements and it comes off as an easier version of Mario (Yoshi games generally don’t have the high intensity timing that make Mario games nearly impossible at points).
Yoshi’s Woolly World gets Yoshi right, but it also suffers from the same problems that the previous entries have. You might have a ton of gameplay and some really unique level designs, but you’ll be really ready to put the game to bed by the time you finish it. If you want to play a solid Yoshi game, this might be your best choice. Yoshi’s Woolly World is followed by Yoshi’s Crafted World for the Switch in 2019.
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