 I know it's the end of April and I'm releasing a review of a game that came out at the end of March. A game I remind you by the way that sold 1.1 million copies in just two days according to Nintendo for Yoshi. Yeah, somebody pinch me. Ah! Look, you're getting the review anyways because I do monthly reviews thanks to reaching a stretch goal on Patreon. Thanks Patreons! And because it took me all month, all month, to find the 10 plus hours I needed to fully evaluate this game. I know, all right, that sounds kind of bad, right? Like, I get it. But hey, at least the review is happening. This could have been another let's go Pikachu, let's go Eevee situation. This is my review of Yoshi's Crafted World. By now, I am sure all of you are aware of Yoshi's Crafted World. And fairly or not, it's sort of as this weird connection to last year's Kirby game. Both games were announced around the same time and slated to release last year. But with Yoshi being delayed to 2019, the similarities sort of stayed the same with both being Nintendo's flagship early year exclusive release for Nintendo Switch. Last year, Kirby seemed to mostly underwhelm many players who complained about difficulty seriously in a Kirby game and game length. I guess those are fair points, but I'll never forget you friend circle. Yoshi's Crafted World is one of these side dish games Nintendo throws out yearly, it feels like, and it often goes overlooked by a majority of Nintendo fans. Yoshi's Crafted World is a self-contained adventure that lets you control basically any color Yoshi you want. And hey, I went with Nintendo Prime colors for obvious reasons. Duh. And then you embark on an adventure through a world that literally looks like displays of art projects by little kids at the local fair. I'm not actually kidding here. If there is one word you can describe this game as, it's cute. Just going through the levels themselves and enjoying the scenery and artistry of it all is fun in that of itself. But like Kirby last year, I wouldn't call just playing through the base game that difficult. Granted, Yoshi games aren't known for their difficulty like a Donkey Kong Country is. And to be fair, there are some rather tricky platforming at certain points in this game. The thing is, almost all of this tricky platforming is completely optional. Yoshi has been and will likely always remain as a collectathon style platforming game. That means beating the base story is cool and all, but it's the collectibles that give you the bragging rights. While I spent roughly 12 hours in this adventure, I could easily have spent another dozen or more 100% each level. And let's not forget a bonus boss rush mode and a hidden world that is only available after beating the main story. In fact, that hidden world contains the toughest platforming in the entire game. But since I truly find that world to be a complete treasure, I don't want to show it off here. It is best experienced, rather than explained. Speaking of collecting things, there is so much to do. The main item to collect is flowers, which are used to unlock new areas in the game. Each level has a set amount of flowers you can find in the world and obtain through exploration, tricky platforming, some nice egg throws, or even just solving a time puzzle quickly. There are additional flowers earned per level for collecting at least 100 coins. There are also heart and red coin collections as well. That, if completed, give you another flower for each task. You can then replay through the levels backwards to collect three pooches, which also give you a flower each, with a fourth bonus flower coming from completing the level backwards within a set time limit. The collecting doesn't stop there. Each area of the game has a robot at the entrance, and said robot will give you even more tasks for collecting things. Rather, it's finding sheep or random items on an ocean floor. The game goes on and on like this, giving every level almost infinite replayability. This is where Yoshi really shines. Well, it may not be the longest game. Unlike Kirby, it offers a lot of replayability, and going back through each level backwards sometimes makes the level feel completely fresh all over again. Oh, there is one other overarching collectathon item in this game too. There are vending machines at the end of each area, where you can insert the coins you have earned to get up to 10 balls or eggs per area. Each ball contains a costume you can optionally wear that essentially increases your health pool based on the costume's ranking. And while these different rankings do exist, to be honest, I just wore whatever I thought looked cool at the time. The game contains two difficulty modes. One that is classic Yoshi, or the other literally gives you wings. I also noticed you take much less damage when you're in the wing mode. And when you fall, you almost always come back with a ton of hearts. This makes passing through what I feel is already an easy platforming game even easier. And my 5 year old son definitely enjoyed this method of play more than the standard mode. I was surprised since in Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, he refuses to use the easier Funky Kong and would rather use Donkey Kong I guess even my son realizes the joy in this game isn't from the challenge, but from the world itself. Yoshi is just a beautiful looking game. With a cutesy story about Bowser Jr, that is for the most part pretty forgettable. He just acts like a little brat the whole game as you easily defeat the challenges laid before you. The boss fights are clever combinations of seemingly random art supplies that just work, but they offer little resistance to the player. Yoshi's Crafted World is just that, a world crafted perfectly for the player. It's not a hard game unless going completionist style, and even then it's still not going to present much of a challenge until you get to the bonus world. You could tell a lot of care went into this game with how well it is put together, and some of the original thoughts presented throughout the many stages where Kirby last year felt like just another Kirby game. Slap together with a friend mechanic. Yoshi's Crafted World truly feels unique in its own right. And it's definitely a purchase I do not regret. If you enjoy difficult platforming games like Celeste and Donkey Kong, this isn't for you. But if you want a game that is just pure unadulterated joy to play and great in smaller doses when on the go, this really is a perfect fit for just that. Oh, and the co-op mode? Yeah, it's not very great. I basically didn't use it and have zero gameplay of it captured, but of the one time I did play around with it, it's basically just a way to drag your kids through stages they might struggle with on their own. I like it when these sorts of games make it more engaging, but really nothing about the stages actually changes. At least it's better than the completely tacked on and practically useless co-op we got last year with Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. So yeah, there's my Yoshi's Crafted World review. If you have played this game, let me know your thoughts about it down in the comment section below. To be honest, I can understand why this game may be a tough sell for many people at $60. But for the enjoyment I got from it, combined with the smile across my kids' faces every time they play, I consider it one of my best purchases of 2019. I'm not really sure what this game could have done to be an even better version of itself because it's kind of perfect for what it is. The game just owns what it is, just the way a game should. I guess I can give it 3.5 Regi heads out of 5, but remember my 3.5 out of 5 isn't mediocre. It's just not a game I consider must own. It's just a fun romp, which is great if that's exactly what you're into. Oh yeah, by the way, I gotta thank some patrons here. One moment. The following patrons are producers of this Yoshi's Crafted World review. Bear with me, there's quite a few. We have Bucks Bomber, Joe Prosko, Marindar, Adam Kozianak, Kelly Hallovecco, Thomas Maynard, Matthew Campos, Corey Spaulding, Alexander Walford, Josh Walker, Eric Levitt, Sharum Ali, Alex Boyer, TraumaLove87, Chris Palmer, James Fazzle, Nick Garcia, T.T, K. Joe Malley, Lewis Rivera, Edward Norton, Eric Wolfe, Torna Prince, Zenith, Joshua Farrington, Fulva Tuck, Mark Wuhager, Roy Elmer, Lord Platypus, Ninten Dog, Colo Nojapayo, Corey Bohm, Andrew243Aberg, Be Righteous, Neil Willis, Robert D. Smith, The Fourth, and Two Homes. I want to thank all of our producers of this episode for making this review possible. I want to thank all of you guys for tuning in, and I will catch each and every one of you in the next video.