I'll always stand by Kirby's Epic Yarn being one of the most misunderstood games in the series. Most people look at the game's difficulty from a very binary "death=losing" point of view, which is a shame since the collection element of the game feels like it opens up a whole new world of challenge to it. It's not the hardest out there, the design of the game is really clever with how it makes you be careful if you're going for gold medals. That said, I think this version compromises the game's design by letting you basically brute force your way through various puzzles that gate away collectibles. The way they're implemented is also pretty haphazard, with a lot of instances where a Waddle Dee is just standing still holding the power up. I think the ones where Prince Fluff jumps in to provide power ups are really cute, though.
The new inclusions in general are pretty superfluous. Devilish mode is more annoying than anything else, far from the best solution they could've used to address criticisms of the game's difficulty. The side games with Meta Knight and Dedede are decently fun, even if they kind of rubbed me the wrong way in how they'd spoil the surprise of them showing up in the game. (Especially since that very surprise left a strong impression on me when I first played the game) They still gave me the vibe of "this doesn't need to be here", especially since Epic Yarn on its own is already pretty packed with content.
I usually hate having this sentiment with 3DS games, since I think DS/3DS games usually make really good use of their two screens, but I consistently had a feeling of "why wasn't this put on the Switch?" as I went through it. Aside from using the touch screen to place objects in the apartments, it doesn't take advantage of the two screens at all, even in places where it could've. Making this for the Switch would've also helped with its framerate, where even on a New 3DS it's locked at 30FPS compared to the Wii's 60 and TANKS during certain boss fights. So much of this release feels like a waste, which is a serious shame since the game on it's own is a really great time. I appreciate it giving me an excuse to use my 3DS again, though. I've been meaning to get around to games I have stockpiled on it.
The new inclusions in general are pretty superfluous. Devilish mode is more annoying than anything else, far from the best solution they could've used to address criticisms of the game's difficulty. The side games with Meta Knight and Dedede are decently fun, even if they kind of rubbed me the wrong way in how they'd spoil the surprise of them showing up in the game. (Especially since that very surprise left a strong impression on me when I first played the game) They still gave me the vibe of "this doesn't need to be here", especially since Epic Yarn on its own is already pretty packed with content.
I usually hate having this sentiment with 3DS games, since I think DS/3DS games usually make really good use of their two screens, but I consistently had a feeling of "why wasn't this put on the Switch?" as I went through it. Aside from using the touch screen to place objects in the apartments, it doesn't take advantage of the two screens at all, even in places where it could've. Making this for the Switch would've also helped with its framerate, where even on a New 3DS it's locked at 30FPS compared to the Wii's 60 and TANKS during certain boss fights. So much of this release feels like a waste, which is a serious shame since the game on it's own is a really great time. I appreciate it giving me an excuse to use my 3DS again, though. I've been meaning to get around to games I have stockpiled on it.