Though it's been out for a while in Europe, Yoshi's Woolly World is still sort of new over in North America. The adorable and colorful new entry in the Yoshi's Island series is certainly a worthwhile experience; we awarded it a 9/10, praising the visual design and creative gameplay. In order to learn a bit more about the game's development, Game Informer recently did an interview with Emi Watanabe and Takashi Tezuka – the Lead Designer and Producer, respectively – and many interesting tidbits were brought up.
One of the questions asked was why they chose to drop the divisive Baby Mario mechanic that has been present in most of the previous entries in the series. It seems the answer is that the team was focused wholly on the yarn aesthetic and maximizing its potential, so Baby Mario was omitted from the very start.
Tezuka: The concept of Yoshi's Woolly World was that we wanted to do a yarn take on the series, so we didn't have plans for Baby Mario from the start.
Another question asked was how the team came up with all the different designs for Yoshi. It seems that they were inspired by the designs of the levels themselves and began to think how they could apply that diversity to Yoshi. Initially, they considered giving the different versions special abilities, but this limited how many designs they could put in.
Watanabe: We actually started with just the standard, green Yoshi that is the main playable character, and as we developed the game and came up with all these gorgeous backgrounds, we decided that maybe we could play around a bit with Yoshi himself too. With knitted scarfs and sweaters and things like that, you can have a bunch of different colors mixed in there. We played a bit around with him and made a bunch of unique designs and when we asked around for feedback, people were really divided on what they liked and had their ideas of what we should make. So we decided to throw them all in and put in a bunch of different kinds of designs.
Tezuka: And for me, just changing Yoshi's designs, like the pattern, it was really fun and it made me really happy. At first, we also considered having abilities to go with some of these patterns, but I found that just the aesthetic itself was so fun and pleasurable. So rather than limiting the number of designs based on different abilities we could think of, we decided to focus on kind of the visual aspect and the joy that the colors and things brought.
For the full interview, read here.
What do you think? Did you appreciate Baby Mario's absence? How did you like Yoshi's Woolly World? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 22
I am so happy that Yoshi doesn't have to carry Mario around this time. I never liked that aspect one bit.
Eww Baby Mario. Soooo not cool.
Fantastic game,not quite up there with Yoshi's Island.though. The original is in my opinion the greatest platformer ever made where as WW isn't even the best on Wii U.There's no shame in coming second behind Tropical Freeze and ahead of Rayman Legends though.WW's 'good' levels outnumbered the 'great levels' I thought where in the original Yoshi and DKTF the level of quality and creativity was pretty consistent throughout.The bosses in WW were also a bit of a let down.Overall though,an amazing platformer that will be fondly remembered and talked about by the small audience who experienced it in years to come.
@OorWullie I actually think it is better than DKTF. I think DKTF is quite overrated, DKCr was far better IMHO.
I don't see the hate for baby mario.
I never got bothered by it.
It was really easy to get baby mario back almost instantly.
I hated more when I had 30 stars just to get hit near the goal.
@FierceRagnar I agree. It was a neat mechanic, but I don't think it's integral to the series. This game proved that a Yoshi game without babies can be crafted that's just as good as, if not better than, the original.
Great game, greatest since Yoshi's Island.
"We took a whole load of crack, then came up with the most nightmare inducing Yoshi designs our chemically enhanced brains could imagine"
Yoshi's Story is one of my all time favourite games..very under rated. I like it even better than Yoshi's Island. It's available on wii VC
Good game, but compared to the original, the bosses are really uninspired.
I really want to get a woolly Poochy!
@Toadsfriend
Wow, I wouldn't say it's better than Yoshi's Island, but yeah it's a great, underrated game.
I felt Woolly World was somewhere between the 2 gameplay wise.
@OorWullie I never really thought much about it but those 3 games really are AMAZING platform games. You take it for granted sometimes I guess but they are in the top 5 I've ever played!! Dktf is top of the stack for me, just so creative and fun with bags of charm. Rayman pips yoshi because of the variety of ideas and the music levels being brilliant. I'm playing yoshi right now, just unlocked bronze yoshi, so its nearly done I'm going to be hard pushed to go back to 'boring' Mario after these.....
@ULTRA-64 Yep,we definitely do take them for granted.Yoshi's Island and Super Mario World will always be my top 2,i can't see them ever being topped,that's not even based on nostalgia as I never played either of them till years after their original release.DK TF would certainly follow them though,magical game.Rayman Legends I loved and for creativity and variety it definitely rivals Nintendo's best but there's just something about the feel of the character for me that stops it just short of being one of the greats.
@OorWullie I'd say Mario land is my nostalgia trip. I had Nintendo handhelds as a kid but never a home console until the n64. Of course by then everything had gone all 3d platform game crazy, meaning that is cemented as my favourite genre overall. I got REALLY into the 2d revolution on the Wii and since true 3d platform games are harder to find than a beer in a nunnery now for some reason. I have more time to try all the 2d franchises i missed out in depth. I do think the more difficult ones appeal more for some sado-masochist reason, yoshi maybe a little too easy maybe. Getting to 100% in dk:tf is one of my proudest gaming moments tbh!!
I appreciate the absence of Baby Mario. I still find Yoshi's Island a lot of fun but no need to retell the story with new visuals. Mario grew up.
I'm currently playing this. It's awesome. I didn't think it would be that great but when I actually gave it a chance, it's tough to put down.
I think it beats out the original, because whiny Baby Mario was just too divisive. I'm one who didn't care for that aspect. But those who liked Baby Mario will likely prefer the original.
If they make a sequel with Baby Mario, I hope it works differently than in the original.
Lack of baby Mario and the wool aesthetic is the main reason I prefer this entry over the original Yoshi's Island. Everything just looks so soft and cuddly! It brings out my inner 2 year old and makes me want to roll on the soft ground.
Thankfully, the game design is also excellent and doesn't play like it was meant for a 2 year old, like Kirby's Epic Yarn did.
To me this is the best platformer on the Wii u ... I like tropical freeze but not better than country or yarn yoshi...
The visuals in this game and the overall controls are spot on for me ..
I loved yoshi story, the controls were superb, just that the game had almost no real challenge unless you were melon hunting.
If they would've included baby Mario the game would've had something extra. More cutscenes etc. It's a loss for Nintendo not putting that on. That's what made Super Mario World 2 aka yoshis island 2 on super nintendo
@Therad,
I think I'll agree with you!
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