Yoshi is arguably one of the cutest characters in the Mario universe and I was really happy that I got the chance to play through the demo of one of Yoshi’s latest adventures. This version of Yoshi’s Wooly World is a direct port of Yoshi’s Wooly World on the Wii U which I’ve never had the chance to play so I’m glad Nintendo finally decided to bring it over to the Nintendo 3DS.

As you load up the demo, you are given a choice of two sample levels as well as choosing what difficulty (mellow or classic) you want the game to be on. The easier difficulty basically gives Yoshi a pair of wings to breeze through the courses and of course the harder difficulty has the wings removed which I think is the recommended way to play as most Yoshi adventure games aren’t that difficult to navigate through at the start.

Look at those mountains of wool.
Even Shy Guys can take a day off…for now.

As in many other Yoshi games, you play as Yoshi and explore each level and get to the end while trying to obtain a variety of collectibles. In this game you have the customary flowers and hidden red coins as well as new yarn bundles to collect to obtain a perfect score on the level. While collecting items seems like a simple premise for a game, the challenge is exploring the level well enough to find some of these items. Some of these items are hidden by certain enemies or in underground pipes or in areas that can be literally unraveled using Yoshi’s tongue which encourages you to look at every nook and cranny to get all of them. To access a lot of the hidden collectibles and to progress through the level you will have to use the customary Yoshi eggs which in this game have been turned into Yarn balls. You get the Yarn balls by swallowing enemies or hitting the boxes that drop the Yarn balls scattered throughout the levels.

yoshis-wooly-world-interface-demo
The standard interface which shows the amount of collectibles left to obtain. Handy!
The mighty power of Yoshi’s tongue!

One thing that stood out to me about this game is the unique game design and music. The developers built their levels based around yarn and in some cases you have to build the levels yourself by using the Yarn balls to create platforms for Yoshi to walk on. The levels themselves are littered with buttons and mountains that are basically balls of wool in a variety of different colours which adds a distinctly vibrant feel to the game. As you play through the levels there is nice relaxing music playing in the background which encourages you to sit back and enjoy your journey through the yarn-filled levels. Even subtle things like the drum sound you get when you jump on top of an enemy add to the atmosphere of the game.

Magic balls of wool.

Overall, I really enjoyed playing through this delightful snippet of Poochy and Yoshi’s Wooly World and I look forward to seeing what the levels look like in the full version of the game when it comes out this week.