Yoshi's Story is a bit of a hard game to unwrap when it comes to its goals.
On one hand, it's pretty much known as "the baby game" by Nintendo fans because of how easy it is to complete a playthrough if one has as the main goal to merely get to the final boss and beat it.
On the other hand, reaching a 100% completion rate on it is one of the most cryptic, difficult times any gamer would have with a Nintendo title.
The premise is pretty simple, with Baby Bowser stealing the Happiness Tree from the Yoshis and a group of young ones taking off to rescue their precious tree and save the adult Yoshis.
The main goal of the game is pretty simple, just collecting fruits around the levels until you have enough to be granted access to the next stage. it's the perfect game for a young kid, with the main goal being so easy that one won't even be able to see a level to the end if focusing on just picking any fruit they run into.
But let's say you want to reach the biggest possible score/grade on every stage, OR unluck the access to the other stages of each world and things get quite more complicated. Yoshi's Story is pretty much meant to be played more than once, with every playthrough being fairly short and giving you only one level per "world", or page, following the storybook motif of the game, but you'll be able to have the full choice only by finding all three hearts in each level you face.
Some of them are especially cryptic when it comes to understanding what you'll need to do to make them pop up, but overall, it can be a good time exploring all the levels, especially since it also gives a way better challenge than either just picking up any fruit or going for the grueling task of picking up only melons in every stage. Trust me, not only it's not worth it reward-wise, but it's also just very easy to fuck up, with an entire level run ruined if you happen to hit the wrong target with Yoshi's tongue.
The platforming can also be a bit wonky in places, with the jumps being especially hard to aim due to the slightly floaty physics. Despite this, the level design is pretty varied, with every stage feeling completely different, even in the same page world and most of the boss fights are short but sweet in execution.
The artstyle is also quite striking, with the pre-rendered sprites of the Yoshis being downright adorable in their animations and every stage aiming to recreate different kinds of artificial looks, with entire levels being made out of fabric, inflatable objects or toy blocks.
The soundtrack was a surprise to me because, despite most stages pretty much just remixing the main theme of the game, the composers were very creative in making them stand out in style, even with a sort of rap remix, which has to be one of my faves for how crazy and shamelessly earnest it is.
Yoshi's Story is a weird game because of how it doesn't seem to have a clear goal in mind with its goals, but it certainly won't be a bad time either, as long as you keep an open mind when it comes with dealing with a game that's very off-the-grid with its systems.
It's not Yoshi's Island. But it clearly had a lot of love poured into it and it shows in its details.
On one hand, it's pretty much known as "the baby game" by Nintendo fans because of how easy it is to complete a playthrough if one has as the main goal to merely get to the final boss and beat it.
On the other hand, reaching a 100% completion rate on it is one of the most cryptic, difficult times any gamer would have with a Nintendo title.
The premise is pretty simple, with Baby Bowser stealing the Happiness Tree from the Yoshis and a group of young ones taking off to rescue their precious tree and save the adult Yoshis.
The main goal of the game is pretty simple, just collecting fruits around the levels until you have enough to be granted access to the next stage. it's the perfect game for a young kid, with the main goal being so easy that one won't even be able to see a level to the end if focusing on just picking any fruit they run into.
But let's say you want to reach the biggest possible score/grade on every stage, OR unluck the access to the other stages of each world and things get quite more complicated. Yoshi's Story is pretty much meant to be played more than once, with every playthrough being fairly short and giving you only one level per "world", or page, following the storybook motif of the game, but you'll be able to have the full choice only by finding all three hearts in each level you face.
Some of them are especially cryptic when it comes to understanding what you'll need to do to make them pop up, but overall, it can be a good time exploring all the levels, especially since it also gives a way better challenge than either just picking up any fruit or going for the grueling task of picking up only melons in every stage. Trust me, not only it's not worth it reward-wise, but it's also just very easy to fuck up, with an entire level run ruined if you happen to hit the wrong target with Yoshi's tongue.
The platforming can also be a bit wonky in places, with the jumps being especially hard to aim due to the slightly floaty physics. Despite this, the level design is pretty varied, with every stage feeling completely different, even in the same page world and most of the boss fights are short but sweet in execution.
The artstyle is also quite striking, with the pre-rendered sprites of the Yoshis being downright adorable in their animations and every stage aiming to recreate different kinds of artificial looks, with entire levels being made out of fabric, inflatable objects or toy blocks.
The soundtrack was a surprise to me because, despite most stages pretty much just remixing the main theme of the game, the composers were very creative in making them stand out in style, even with a sort of rap remix, which has to be one of my faves for how crazy and shamelessly earnest it is.
Yoshi's Story is a weird game because of how it doesn't seem to have a clear goal in mind with its goals, but it certainly won't be a bad time either, as long as you keep an open mind when it comes with dealing with a game that's very off-the-grid with its systems.
It's not Yoshi's Island. But it clearly had a lot of love poured into it and it shows in its details.