Yoshi’s Story

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Developer: Nintendo EAD Publisher: Nintendo

Released: March 10, 1998 Rated: E 7/10

Somewhere way down on the totem pole of Nintendo’s platforming franchises sits the Yoshi series. While the character/species is beloved and integral to Mario games, both mainline and spinoffs, Yoshi’s starring roles have been spent working off of the touchstone release of Yoshi’s Island on Super Nintendo, but have also carried some other inherent baggage that limits its overall appeal. Sticking exclusively to side-scrolling, Yoshi platformers have become synonymous with forgiving, simplistic platforming that innovates much more in its presentation than in mechanics. And while this is a perfectly valid role to fill in a company like Nintendo that has, frankly, more franchises than it often knows what to do with, it does temper expectations on what players can expect from the franchise, just as Nintendo themselves can probably do the same for sales figures relative to some other characters. 

Of course, Yoshi’s Story does have the distinction of being the first follow-up to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, and so it carried with it, at least at the time, some level of expectations different from what the last handful of Yoshi titles might have faced upon release. Add in the fact that the N64 had already seen massive leaps forward in style and technological capability from the likes of Mario, Star Fox, and Mario Kart compared to their respective SNES entries, and Yoshi’s Story does seem to set the bar a little lower by comparison with a 2D platformer that shares a lot of the same moves and mechanics with its predecessor. The Yoshis, free from the responsibility of child supervision this time around, use their familiar skills of egg-laying, egg-throwing, flutter jumps, and ground pounds to set forth on a grand adventure across their island home to defeat Baby Bowser, who has robbed them of their Super Happy Tree and the joy-giving fruit that it bears. 

The last six Yoshis’ trek to Baby Bowser’s castle to save the entire Yoshi race is recounted across six chapters in a pop-up storybook, thereby determining the presentation and graphical style of the aptly named Yoshi’s Story. This charming and colorful look achieved via some lovely pre-rendered graphics is an excellent choice to follow up the crayon and pastel look of Yoshi’s Island, and while the connection isn’t necessarily common knowledge, the recent trend of Yoshi titles utilizing an arts and crafts aesthetic with materials like yarn and papercraft can be traced back to the mixed-material look seen here. It’s actually the exact type of advancement in 2D graphics that we should have gotten more of during this generation if the market had allowed for it more, but at least we would see this graphical trend for the series returned to eventually. 

While many of the controls will be familiar to those who have played Yoshi’s Island, Yoshi’s Story uses a unique approach to its progression that admittedly may be a big reason why it doesn’t make the same impact as its predecessor. A typical playthrough of Yoshi’s Story spans only six individual levels and can be done in about an hour. It’s instead variety of routes and the process of unlocking access to them that provides relatability and variety, not unlike Star Fox 64 from the year prior. Finding each of the three hearts in each stage opens up a new stage that can be selected in the next page of the storybook. Additionally, instead of a traditional linear level exit, each stage ends when the player has collected 30 pieces of fruit throughout the current stage, with the idea being that specific fruit will garner more points for your run, with high scores admittedly being much more of the endgame than in most platforming titles. 

Losing a life means losing that color Yoshi and well, who’s to say what happens to them when they get taken away like this? Very dark aspect of an otherwise cheery game.

Admittedly a lot of what Yoshi’s Story fails at isn’t relevant in a vacuum, rather they are the result of changing public tastes during its console generation and the expectations of the series continuing on from one of the greatest platformers of all time in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. Its controls are sound and familiar to those who have controlled Yoshi before, even if the momentum can be a little unwieldy at times, particularly due to the analog stick being the only option in a game that clearly wants to use the d-pad. Its presentation is tremendously charming, owing both to the visuals and the lovely soundtrack by Kazumi Totaka, who really plays up the cozy storybook vibe with soft woodwinds, melodic percussion, and, of course, a Yoshi chorus in a soundtrack that thrives on familiarity with its many renditions of the main theme. The main failing really is that the structure is neither immediately clear nor all that rewarding compared to a somewhat traditional linear progression à la Donkey Kong Country or Super Mario World. 

Having Kazumi Totaka as composer does mean you can find Totaka’s Song in the game. Wait on the Trial Mode menu for two minutes and 30 seconds to hear it.

Yoshi’s Story is a lovely little platformer featuring our favorite video game dinosaurs, and as we have come to expect from adventures with them, you’re unlikely to find a cozier interpretation of the genre outside of this or a Kirby title. Its refusal to reinvent the wheel is hard to criticize, though it does feel it could benefit from something other than the paint job and the destination going forward. It should be no surprise that Nintendo’s first-party offerings on the N64 have a high floor, even if Yoshi’s Story isn’t as iconic or impressive as most in that category. 

Continuing Legacy

Yoshi as a franchise largely migrated to handheld offerings for a while after this generation, but has reliably made at least one featured appearance on each Nintendo Platform since Yoshi’s Story. Recently the series has done most of its experimenting with its visual style, a gimmick it occasionally shares with Kirby, with the last three Yoshi games: Woolly World, Crafted World, and The Mysterious Book each utilizing some type of real-world material as the basis for its visual style. 

Additional Information

Saves: Cartridge

Players: 1

Compatible With: Rumble Pak

Print Guides: Nintendo Power, Sandwich Islands, BradyGames

Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 62.74%, based on 7 reviews

Other Releases: JP, December 21, 1997

EU, May 10, 1998

AU, May 10, 1998

My Streams

Commercials and Print Ads

Featured in Nintendo Power Volume 104-105 (January-February 1998)
A 2D platformer seems like an odd choice to tout the power of your console at the time but it certainly seems to be how the release schedule lined up
One of the few games to get a separate promotional mailer from Nintendo of America at the time
Spanish language and overall EU marketing seems to have been fairly strong for this one, likely helped by Yoshi as a strong mascot character
The disconnect between character/level design and American marketing philosophy of the late ‘90s must be studied
This Japanese commercial is mostly gameplay, but does highlight the unique embroidery-style packaging of the Japanese release, as well as the delightful overall visual style
Australia splitting the difference
I can personally recall Yoshi’s Story being a featured title along with the system when it was featured in a variety of giveaways and Nickelodeon game shows.
This doesn’t go anywhere else but it has to be acknowledged: the official soundtrack CD for Yoshi’s Story, an unplayable shaped CD modeled after Yoshi’s head. Diddy Kong Racing has a similar promo item.

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