Yoshi’s Crafted World

Yoshi’s Crafted World is a 2019 platform video game developed by Good-Feel and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The eighth main installment in the Yoshi franchise, it is the spiritual successor to Yoshi’s Woolly World. The game was revealed at E3 2017, and was released worldwide on March 29, 2019. Yoshi’s Crafted World follows the Yoshis as they venture to collect the scattered gems of the Sundream Stone, which has the ability to grant wishes, before Kamek and Baby Bowser can. The story opens on the Yoshis, who live peacefully on the eponymous Yoshi’s Island.

At the topmost peak of the island sits an artifact known as the Sundream Stone, which possesses the power to “make anyone’s wildest dreams come true” using its five Dream Gems. One day, Kamek and Baby Bowser attempt to steal the stone, causing its gems to be sent flying across multiple worlds and leaving Yoshi and his friends to recover them. For most of the game, the Sundream Stone rests in a dark forest, guarded by the Yoshis not exploring. Each time the Yoshis reattach a Dream Gem, the forest becomes brighter and the Stone regains the color of the gem.

In the final level, the Yoshis find the last Dream Gem, only for Kamek and Baby Bowser to steal it along with the Sundream Stone and the four other gems. Baby Bowser then uses the stone to create The Great King Bowser, a giant robot that serves as the penultimate boss. After the robot is defeated, Kamek uses the stone to enlarge Baby Bowser, leading to the final boss fight against Mega Baby Bowser. Following Baby Bowser’s defeat, the Yoshis reattach the Dream Gems (which were detached once again after the battle against Mega Baby Bowser) to fully restore the Sundream Stone, which, with the Yoshis’ dreams, creates an airship that is used to fly all of them back to Yoshi’s Island.

The game is a side-scrolling platformer where 3D characters are moved on a 2.5D plane. The player is also able to move and interact in a third dimension, with travel forwards and backwards enabled in sections of levels, and the ability to throw eggs at scenery and other elements of the foreground and background. Outside of this new mechanic, the game plays similar to prior Yoshi games, in which the player may use Yoshi’s tongue to eat enemies or other objects, turn them into eggs, and throw them outwardly into the level. As in previous Yoshi games, flowers can be found in levels, which can be used to unlock paths on the world map.

In addition to the frontside, each level also has a backside, which can be played after completion. Players must find up to three Poochy Pups there and bring them to the finish line, for which they receive one flower per returned Poochy Pup. If they succeed in doing so within the given time period, they receive another flower. Each level has a variety of collectibles to obtain, each requiring different conditions to find. In addition to the Smiley Flowers strewn about each level, obtaining all of the collectibles of another type will give the player another Smiley Flower.

Players do not need to collect all the collectibles in one run; previously obtained Smiley Flowers and Red Coins will remain translucent upon replays. Some collectibles are found in presents in the background. Smiley Flowers are used to unlock new subworlds by paying a “toll” to the Blockafeller resting in front of it. Once all of them are collected, they can be paid to the big Blockafeller in Hidden Hills to unlock the Sundream Stone costume. Getting all the Smiley Flowers in a subworld will adorn the diorama with festive pinwheel flowers. The game features a two-player multiplayer mode, where each player maneuvers their own Yoshi through the game’s levels.