On October 15, Nintendo released the newest edition of the Yoshi franchise, Yoshi’s Woolly World. Based off of a real life Yarn Yoshi, this new game features a very unique stylization and smooth gameplay, making it a solid entry in the series.

In 1990, Mario’s fourth home console adventure, Super Mario World, brought the famous plumber to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, raising graphic quality as well as processing speed. Games on the SNES ran smoother and faster. With this new power to play with, Mario was able to able to explore a new world with new creatures and better power-ups. Among those power-ups was Yoshi, a green dinosaur that Mario could ride that also served as a layer of protection. Yoshi proved to be a popular addition to the Mario franchise, leading him to receive his own game in the form of the 1995 SNES classic, Yoshi’s Island. Today, Yoshi hasn’t quite been getting the recognition he deserves as he’s had two lackluster games on handheld consoles before this latest venture.

In this new Wii U adventure, Yoshi’s world becomes significantly woolly as he attempts to reunite all of the various Yoshi creatures and defeat Kamek, an evil turtle-like warlock who has access to many forms of dark magic and has turned all but one Yoshi into a bundle of wool in order to appease his dark lord’s cherished spawn, Bowser Jr. However, as many Nintendo fans know, the story doesn’t mean much in Mario games because it’s all about the gameplay, which has been given a cute and cuddly exterior. Everything in this game is stylized to look like wool. Every character, enemy, background, and obstacle has a very plush and stitched look. This isn’t the first game to use this style as 2010’s Kirby’s Epic Yarn as well as other franchises like Little Big Planet have art styles similar to this. This game, however, makes the best use of the art style. Every single thing in each level was given time to develop color and texture to make it compliment the backgrounds and characters. Plus, the next-gen graphics make items in the game almost lifelike as if human hands crafted each of the assets, then placed them directly into the game.

The gameplay is very smooth and satisfying. Yoshi’s main gimmick is that he can eat enemies, trap them in eggs, and then use said eggs as weapons. In Woolly World, the eggs come in the form of balls of yarn as each enemy can be unwound since, after all, each enemy is just a yarn plush. Yoshi can use yarn balls to defeat enemies or for other puzzle-oriented uses like creating platforms to stand on or to reach something that is far away. New to the game are power badges which are basically paid-for power-ups the players can buy using collectable beads which function like the coins from other Mario games. Each level is delightful in its own right and plays off of the main theme of this knitted world. Some levels feature Velcro that Yoshi becomes stuck on when touched. Other levels feature Chomp Rocks which are enemies that can be manipulated into tools to solve puzzles using yarn balls. Each level presents new puzzles and challenges to the player, but all in all, the game is very easy yet enjoyable. What’s not easy about the game is collecting yarn bundles. As mentioned earlier, Kamek turned each yarn Yoshi into a yarn bundle. In each level, there are five to be found and collected. Completing a level with all five in hand rewards the player with a new Yoshi design. It may not be a huge deal, but this small little detail serves as a nice reward for the player who has already beaten the game but still wants to go back for enjoyment’s sake. Plus, each individual design is too adorable to miss out on.

Yoshi’s Woolly World is available only for the Wii U. It’s a fun, little game with a quirky art style and very well designed gameplay. It’s a delight for the mind as well as for the eyes. Its low-difficulty nature means that it is suitable for any player, whether it be a casual player looking for a good time or a longtime fan of the series. Out of all of the games of the Yoshi franchise, Yoshi’s Island is still my personal favorite, but this one comes in at a close second. It is very fun and a joy to play through. Definitely pick this game up if you are a fan of the series or if you just need something cute and adorable to stare at for a few hours.