Yoshi games have always revelled in bringing new and distinctive art styles to the table, not to mention exploring different styles of platforming game, and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is no different. Taking place within the magical pages of Mister Encyclopaedia, there’s a lovely pencil art tone to the visuals, but also more of an educational and exploratory tone to the adventure.
Mister Encyclopedia has found himself in a spot of bother, after an encounter with the endlessly cheeky Baby Bowser and Kamek. Thankfully, he’s found by the tribe of multicoloured Yoshi dinosaurs, who are more than happy to help Mr. E explore his own pages and rediscover what’s inside. Of course, being a magical book, those pages are both gorgeously drawn and adorably animated, with little creatures ambling around in their native habitats. Moving a magnifying glass around the page lets you pick out a creature and then take your chosen Yoshi into the page to find out more about them.
This is very much as a journey of exploration, rather than being a traditional left-to-right platformer. As you encounter each creature within their level, you’ll have to figure out how Yoshi can interact with them. Are they tasty? Will they turn into eggs? What’s their special quirk or ability? It carries on until you’re feeding them spicy peppers, retrieving special hula hoops, using them as a watery jetpack, and so, so much more. Instead of having a finish line to reach, each level has you trying to figure out something to do or a place to reach that’s special to these creatures, or a little boss battle to conclude.
Early highlights include the musical leaf frogs, where you bounce from head to head and try to construct the tune in turn, or the bubble blowing frog that you use to create bubbles to reach higher places in, or even just Mushroom Kingdom staple Shy Guys, who will run away from you until you catch them, and will then point to where their nearest friend is in a game of hide and seek.
Once you’ve completed a level and returned to Yoshi Island to pour through Mr. E’s pages, they fill themselves with all the discoveries that you made while playing, but there will always be blank spaces left for you to fill. It might be that the creature will reappear in another level with new combinations to find, or you can take a hint that will nudge you in the direction of another solution – you’ve played the frog music in one direction, but what about in reverse? A little shadow being can also lead you to recommended solutions, and as you meet more creatures in their respective levels, they can filter back to alter those of others. It’s a quite lovely way for this game to evolve and keep on inviting inquisitive minds to return.
Oh, but most importantly, you get to name all of the creatures that you meet – even the Shy Guys. A sensible word filter is in effect for this, and you’ve only got 10 characters to play with, but you can still have some Spoonerist fun, if you mow what I knean.
The thorn in Mr. E’s side remains Baby Bowser and Kamek, who you’ll run into multiple times through his pages. You can’t be seriously hurt through the main levels, and even falling into an abyss will simply zip you back to the last spot of ground you stood on, and the same is true for these boss encounters. Instead, they’re almost as thoroughly wholesome as the rest of the game, typically introducing you to a large creature, not to battle against, but to learn to harness to foil Baby Bowser’s plotting
But it’s not all sunshine and rebranded walking daisies. As charming as the discoveries can be, and as diverse and strange the creatures that you meet are, some levels are just too woolly in how they’re crafted, coming across as being unstructured and vague as you amble around and just do… stuff until the ending just drops into your lap. These levels lack a sense of accomplishment. A handful of others then have surprise failure states for the main ending – like needing to rescue little dudes from spiky balls that want to eat them – and the only option is to restart the level for another go.
This game skews to a younger audience with its gameplay – the lack of peril, the endless flutter jumping – and while it manages to sketch out an engaging world and fascinating array of creatures to delight inquisitive minds, it’s a slight shame that there are those occasional annoyances and weaker stages.
