We received an announcement about a new Yoshi title in development for the Nintendo Switch and today we got a chance to look at some gameplay. Yoshi is the working title, meaning we’ll likely have a more in-depth name once the title is closer to release.
Right of the bat, you can see some of the similarities to Yoshi’s Woolly World. One thing that appears to be new in this title is the ability to shoot your eggs at things in the background. As we saw from the stream, you are able to launch eggs at cardboard looking houses, bushes and even shoot Shy Guys. The art style appears to be entirely created with cardboard and hand drawn graphics. It looks like an elementary school project, which gives it that cutesy feel. It looks like nearly everything in the game, both in the foreground and background, are able to be interacted with so trying to hit everything with eggs will be rewarding.
All stages contain two sides, a front and a back side. Using each side of the stage will help reveal new paths that you would’ve missed if you only played one side. Yoshi’s main way of attack are his use of eggs, which isn’t uncommon, but it looks like you won’t have to rely as much on eating enemies since eggs appear to be so readily available in floating boxes. As with all Yoshi games, there are a lot of secrets to find. Exploration is big in this game so make sure to try everything.
Playing the flip-side of the stage will start you from the opposite side so it will feel like you are playing the games backwards. The flip-side of the stage revealed the game, at least the stage we saw, takes place inside somebody’s house. The flip-side reveals that many of the butterflies you saw floating behind bushes were actually being held up by Shy Guys. We also got a look at a house that contained many coins that you could not see from the normal side. This means you can go back to normal side to get the coins since you know they are there.
Like most Yoshi games in the past, the game also features a multiplayer mode that is playable with one set of Joy-Cons. The multiplayer stage showed us a jungle-themed level where we had some puzzles that definitely became easier with two players. Simultaneously ground pounding with both Yoshi will cause the stage to flip. This is a feature that is unique to the multiplayer mode as it requires two players to accomplish it.
The multiplayer stage showed us a cardboard rhino that was required to progress though the level. One Yoshi caught the attention of the rhino and used it to pop balloons to get further in the level. When players die, they turn into a floating egg that has to be hit in order to bring the Yoshi back to life. The egg can float into both the foreground and the background so it can be difficult to hit at times. All the enemies, such as the piranha plants and Shy Guys, still look normal while the rest of the game looks arts and crafty.
Yoshi for the Nintendo Switch is currently in development and no release date but we know it’s coming in 2018. You can watch the official trailer below.
