March 2019 LIVE Magazine

On top of this, there’s the return of a 2 player
dying, especially when donning a costume.
co-op mode, which allows a player to jump in
as a different colored Yoshi of their choice and
provide assistance. While this usually proved
amusing, it’s quite easy to get in the way of
eachother, sometimes impeding or disrupting
progress more than helping towards it. Since
you’re on a limited 2D plane, accidentally
lapping up your partner, clocking them with
an egg/turtle shell, or hopping on their back
will likely be a common occurrence. In a
wise NSMB-esque inclusion, though, a Yoshi
You’re sometimes given a lack of eggs, which
can make things a bit hairy, though being
smart about egg use usually mitigates any
issues here. The bosses, while granting some
exciting and amusing moments, usually go
down in 3 well-placed hits with little sweat.
Then you’ve got the return of “Mellow Mode”,
which allows you to quite literally drift across
a stage, and grants a drastic increase in hits
before dying.
dropping out of frame will morph into an
egg, which will simply float towards the other
player and drop back into the action.
Aside from its relative simplicity and
occasionally touchy co-op bits, the latest Yoshi
installment really is a well-crafted platformer -
Collect-a-thons notwithstanding, most of
Yoshi’s Crafted World is a breeze to get
through. The main game can ideally be
finished in a handful of hours and with few
deaths, for those looking to get right to
business. This might be off-putting to some,
though there certainly is a place for the “sit
back and relax” style Good-Feel’s become
notorious for. Most of the various enemies
creeping about don’t pose too much of a
challenge, as you can gobble them up and
if you’ll excuse the pun. It offers an impressive
variety of innovative concepts that keep things
feeling fresh. At the same time, it adheres to
the crisp and familiar mechanics - along with
other cool nostalgic nods - found in the classic
Yoshi’s Island. It’s quite the artistic marvel
too, with its imaginative atmosphere and fine
detail, making it one of the prettier games to
grace a Nintendo platform. Yoshi’s Crafted
World is a pleasant, enduring experience that
platforming fans on the Switch shouldn’t miss.
convert them to egg ammo rather simply.
You’re also typically granted several hits before
By Stephen LaGioia