Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (NS2) Review

Our first review of this potentially busy month is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book for the Nintendo Switch 2, which also celebrated an anniversary on June 5th (though a one-year anniversary as opposed to our site's 18th anniversary). The game's a bit of a creature feature, but the best kind, at that! See why by reading on with the SPC review!

 Take a look, Yoshi's in a book: a discovery rainbow!

Yoshi's platforming debut in Yoshi's Island back in 1995 on the Super Nintendo is one that Nintendo's green dinosaur just can't escape the shadow of. Essentially, every platformer since is held to its high standard, and most of the time the comparisons aren't flattering. Now, my love and preference for Yoshi's Woolly World notwithstanding, it's safe to say that most other successors in the Yoshi franchise to Yoshi's Island have failed to live up to its rather esteemed reputation. 

Thus, it's interesting that Nintendo went in an entirely new direction with the Yoshi franchise. Yes, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is still a 2D platformer, but its structure and gameplay are quite different from the bog-standard, well-tread Yoshi's Island formula. Fortunately, for the Yoshi franchise, this is a direction that greatly succeeds at what it sets out to do!

Upon originally seeing the debut trailer for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book from Nintendo of America and all subsequent marketing, I was led to believe the game was going to be a charming, yes, but also an ultimately breezy adventure to play through, made more for younger audiences. While there's certainly some truth to that, overall, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book delivers enough challenges in its unique gameplay hooks that it kept me routinely coming back--enough so, that I happily 100%'d the game!

So, what IS Yoshi and the Mysterious Book if not yet another follow-up to Yoshi's Island? Well, it takes that game's foundations, but also expands greatly upon it to form something wholly original. The Yoshis stumble upon Mr. E (har-har), a talkative tome whose pages are incomplete. He requests that the Yoshis fill out and fill up his pages by entering inside and charting various creatures within. The Yoshis agree, and thus, the adventure begins. There's of course some story friction involved, such as Bowser Jr. and Kamek wandering through the pages, the former feverishly searching for a creature called the Bewilder Bird, but for the most part, the game is all about exploration and discovery.

Each "level" in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a contained experience focused on one new creature. Levels are usually not too expansive, but some can be, nor are they overly linear. Instead, they offer plenty of passages, rooms, areas, and for certain, secret areas to find. Immediately upon entering a level, the specific creature to be examined in its native habitat is there.

From there, it's all about examining the creature and using its abilities to further explore the level. The main "collectible"--for lack of a better term--is that of creature discoveries. Take the very first creature introduced in what amounts to the tutorial level, the Crazee Dayzee. Some discoveries are as simple as having Yoshi gobble up the flower with his tongue or bash it with an egg. Simple interactions that don't require much thinking to uncover. However, more complicated and involved discoveries are also available. These could be things like dunking a Dayzee in some water to make it sprout, using said creature to bloom an arch of flowers once it passes by it, or more interestingly, using differently colored Crazee Dayzees to create a remarkable rainbow of bloomed flowers of varying hues. 

Looks like a new discovery is in bloom! Well done, Yoshi!

Each discovery is worth a certain amount of stars, from one to three, with the more complex and complicated discoveries earning three. With 30-40 discoveries for a given creature's habitat, there's a lot of stars to go around. The stars are used to unlock further chapters, so in this sense, it's similar to Super Mario Odyssey's Power Moons in that casual, inexperienced, or younger players can still enjoy the majority of the game's content just by playing and finding the minimal amount of creature discoveries, whereas more skilled, veterans players can seek out as many discoveries per level as possible, fully completing and exhausting each creature's lineup of discoveries, and also collecting the trickily hidden Smiley Flowers, as well.

Some creatures live on land, some in the sky, and some in the sea such as this one.

What makes Yoshi and the Mysterious Book so fascinating and fun on a design level is how each creature Yoshi stumbles across has its own unique hook--its own gameplay mechanic--and so many of these could be fleshed out for their own game! You get such a steady amount of new, innovative, mostly intuitive ideas and concepts that get iterated on within the same level. From riding a giant boar that rushes and can dig through rock and sand, to using a spider creature's web to swing across the stage like Spider-Man, to bouncing off seeds like a gigantic bouncy playground to reach new heights, to retreating from a pursuing hand of grass while encouraging it to interact with the environment in different ways, there's just so much on offer--and that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. 

Ingenuity, imagination, and creativity are three things important to have for making discoveries in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

Heck, one level features a spore-like creature that literally can engulf an entire environment, spread on other creatures, and infest the whole level--which the latter is an actual discovery that Mr. E encourages Yoshi to attempt! That's one discovery of Yoshi's tasked by the book, yes, but it's also recommended by Mr. E to essentially exterminate an entire species from a totally different level, too! ...This book has some serious, unresolved problems!   

Yoshi can spread these spores all around the stage. ...Wasn't this the start of a certain Naughty Dog series?

So much of the joy found in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is experimenting with the environment and its creatures in ways that go off the beaten path and tests the limits of your imagination. The most worthwhile and rewarding discoveries are the ones that make you think, "there's no way the developers or designers thought to include THIS or would make me do THAT" and lo and behold, you accomplish that task and boom! A new discovery gets written onto the page/level. 

A fun little touch is that each discovery you find through exploration, experimentation, and so forth gets written onto the background of the level at the exact place you discovered it. Sure, the background can get a bit crowded and claustrophobic when myriad discoveries are written on the page, but they never overlap to make for a visual mess, thankfully. 

Chart all of your discoveries for each access in Mr. E's readable pages.
You can also name/rename each creature you come across in Yoshi's adventures.

If you feel you've exhausted your imagination and creativity, and have zero idea on how to squeeze more discoveries out of a given creature's level, Mr. E has helpful hints. With the press of the L button, Mr. E will give some semblance of guidance. Some are less obvious than others, but for more obvious hints, you can spend tokens collected in levels to gets new discovery recommendations and further hints, too. Tokens are practically given away in levels, so you'll pretty never be having to grind for them to get hints when needed.    

This creature is of note, both figuratively and literally, for being quite musical.

Of course, levels aren't just built around minor creature discoveries. Each level or creature habitat has its own major goal or objective that opens up the "exit' to the level. You can of course continue charting discoveries long after the exit reveals itself, and you can easily start a level over or end your exploration directly from the pause menu. The former--the Start Over option--is important as a fair number of discoveries can be missed and you can get "locked out of" in a given expedition. Starting the level over puts most everything back where it was, with all your current discoveries, of course, logged in already.

Like the discoveries and the creatures within Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, the major goal of each level has a massive variety, all of them different depending on the creature and the level. For instance, the tutorial creature, the Crazee Dayzee, is all about blooming three giant buds at the end of the level by having Yoshi carry the creature to the buds to bloom them. Another, feature the Shy Guy, has you searching a settlement for elusive, hidden, hiding Shy Guys, and taking them back to the settlement's center. Whereas another creature requires you to win an aerial race to unlock the level's exit.

For example, the main objective of this stage is to fully grow this plant by routinely watering its head.

Some levels, generally the sixth and final one in each chapter, have a boss battle to take on. Now, Yoshi does not a health bar or anything like that in this game. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking when "damaged". The boss battles are not about surviving, but these also serve as opportunities to chart even more creature discoveries in how you go about the battle. As the Hauger, that previously mentioned giant boar, you can actually juggle the boss you battle against multiple times in the air, and in doing so, you unlock a discovery. Needless to say, this is easier said than done, which is a testament to some of the skill-based challenges that some discoveries demand of the player. Also, something that not a typical younger player would be able to do, either! 

Creatures come in all shapes and sizes within Mr. E's colorful pages.

Not every creature's habitat can be exhausted of discoveries in Yoshi's first visit. Some creatures have second "acts" to their specific levels, usually designed around interacting with a second creature. These second acts have far fewer discoveries to find, as they usually require Yoshi to hash out the means to clear the level's main goal and open the exit. Some of the later objectives can be immensely challenging. 

So many discoveries and especially stuff in the post-game, requires a level of play that not many in the inexperienced camp will be able to accomplish easily. Heck, even my gamer self of 35+ years struggled with so many of them. Part of this is because some creatures possess unwieldy, somewhat non-intuitive controls which leads to some frustration, but also another part is that some of the discoveries require such careful precision or specifically ordered steps that they can be challenging to achieve.  

Speaking of the post-game, it was curious to me that I rolled the credits after the sixth chapter was beaten. That's because there's still more story-related content in the following four chapters that unlock after. You're not really done with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book's story until you roll the second set of credits and unlock the literal post-game from there. It makes me wonder how many potential players will roll the first credits and assume they're done, despite so many loose ends with the story, unique creatures, and chapters are available afterwards. 

There are many familiar creatures from Yoshi's past games (like these Goonies),
 but more often than not, you'll discover many brand-new ones.

Switching gears to more a mechanical level, Yoshi himself controls pretty much better than ever in his latest game. He basically has all of the skills he's learned from his Yoshi's Island days: egg-throwing, flutter-jumping, ground-pounding, to assist in examining creatures and making discoveries, and he also has a tail whip that can send smaller to medium-sized creatures riding his saddle. This offers even more in the way of interacting with creatures, such as one that will blow out ride-able bubbles when saddled on Yoshi, or again, the Crazee Dayzee, which will bloom flower buds when the creature passes over them while riding on Yoshi.

Between completing each chapter by logging all creature discoveries and collecting all Smiley Flowers, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book took me just over 40 hours to fully beat. It was mostly an enjoyable time, too, save for some struggles with controlling creatures here and there, trying to make heads or tails of the in-game hints, attempting to successfully clear certain, challenging discoveries, and the incredibly occasional (like, once every five hours) frame-rate freezes and hits. 

Yoshi takes some time to stop and smell (and say hi to) a flowery friend.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is very much a thumping good read--or rather, play. It presents so many unique ideas within each of its 50-60 creatures that it approaches Super Mario Galaxy-levels of "new stage, new concept". Such a feat is no small task, and it's certainly no small comparison either. Yoshi's latest absolutely floored me with its exponential amount of fresh ideas, stellar level design, myriad methods the game's systems interact with each other (in almost a "how does this game not break?!" kind of way), and how it constantly rewarded me for thinking outside of the box. It's not Yoshi's Island, nor does the game even itself set out to be, which may disappoint some, but for those who give Yoshi and the Mysterious Book an honest chance, you'll immensely enthralled, much like reading an exceptional page-turner of an actual book. Good-Feel and Nintendo authored an amazing game here.

[SPC Says: A-] 

BAKERU (NSW, PC) Review

This Sunday evening review closes this weekend out on a positive note. We do love a positive review here, don't we? That said, I shouldn't say any more, as I don't want to entirely spoil why BAKERU is such a good game! Instead, I'll let the actual SuperPhillip Central review do that!

Drumming up some big time fun

Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru: Oracle Saitarou no Sainan!! is developer Good-Feel's latest independent game project. For those who might not be familiar with the developer, Good-Feel is best known for its work with Nintendo as a development partner, working on such games as Kirby's Epic Yarn, Wario Land: Shake It!, Yoshi's Woolly World, and most recently, Princess Peach: Showtime!

While those aforementioned games used Nintendo's help and support to make and publish them, Mameda no Bakeru was a self-published game at least in Japan, which begged the question if anyone would pick up the proverbial slack to publish it outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. For someone like myself who loves platformers and feels the gaming world needs more of the 3D variety at any point in time, I eagerly anticipated any news towards a proper localization.

Well, needless to say, the game finally was brought over to the West in due time (specifically, almost a year wait) and in North America by none other than Spike Chunsoft. Now simply titled BAKERU in the West, the game saw its release last year and most recently, a physical Nintendo Switch version two months ago. Was the wait of myself and others (there were more than dozens of us, I'm sure!) really worth it?

A little girl from the Issun Clan named Sun stumbles upon a tanuki boy named Bakeru while being chased by the evil Oracle Saitaro's troops. After being saved by Bakeru, Sun relays information about the Oracle, expressing that Saitaro's scheme of turning all of Japan into a giant dance party is underway. In order to stop this, Sun suggests that together, her and Bakeru should head to and get the aid from various legendary Japanese heroes to thwart Oracle Saitaro's master plan. What follows is a charming, cute, and crazy (in the best ways) adventure that takes Bakeru and Sun all across and over fairytale Japan.

Oracle Saitaro's troops are all over Japan causing a ruckus,
so it's up to Bakeru and Sun to crash their party!

BAKERU is a 3D platformer with lots of heart and lots of drumming, too. Bakeru's main form of attacking is with his two taiko drumsticks, one in his left hand and one in his right, using the left and right bumpers respectively. Both can be used together or alternated to strike enemies or one or both bumpers can be held down to unleash more powerful attacks. The drumsticks aren't just for warding off and beating down foes, either. They're used for drumming on gears and other mechanisms to spin platforms, open doors, and much more. 

Here, Bakeru strikes these gears with his drumsticks in order to move this green platform along its attached rail.

Early on in his journey, Bakeru learns various Henge powers, four to be exact across the adventure. Each one possesses unique abilities and has contextual uses for when they're best used. One allows Bakeru to shrink to fun-size, Sun's size, entering into small alcoves, doors, and passageways that he otherwise wouldn't be able to fit into. Another is an absolute powerhouse of a Henge ability, offering immense strength in exchange for the Henge meter depleting at a super swift pace. The final two Henge powers grant fishing lines that can rapidly attacks foes with light strikes from faraway, while the other allows Bakeru to skate around while firing off pellets from a pair of guns. Switching between forms is as simple as holding down the shoulder button and selecting from the menu with the corresponding face button for the Henge power you want. Returning to normal Bakeru form is easy peasy--a tap of both shoulder buttons at once.

In this Henge form, Bakeru wants his enemies to talk to his hands, because the drum does not understand!

One of the most impressive aspects to me of BAKERU is that the game is constantly throwing new gameplay ideas and mechanics at the player, all the while spreading itself across over 60 levels. There is of course your standard 3D action-platforming where Bakeru runs, jumps, and drums through areas, beating down enemies, evading obstacles, and exploring the relatively lengthy levels for collectibles. More on those in a little bit. However, there are also races, literal dogfights in the air (if only because your vessel is a block-shaped pupper of a dog), and even giant mecha robot boss battles, apart from the typical on-foot-as-Bakeru boss fights. 

These epic mecha robot battles play out similarly to boxing matches--complete with knockout counts!

Each level contains eight collectibles players can opt to find, and these are rather rewarding. Not just because they encourage exploration and are sometimes in some truly tricky spots, but also because they provide information and trivia to the player. Five of these collectibles are Scoop's trivia. Scoop is character, also a member of the Issun clan that when found in levels, provides interesting trivia and imparts his knowledge onto the player. From learning aspects of Japanese geography and culture, to learning the difference between "clouds and fog" or better yet, where farts go (yes, really), Scoop is fountain of fun information. Other than the five "scoops" from Scoop in each level, there are three Souvenirs based on the areas and prefectures of Japan that each level in BAKERU are based off.

Don't worry, Bakeru. That's no piece of poop--that's none other than Scoop!

The platforming stages within BAKERU have a wide amount of variety all in themselves. There are verdant forests, bright beaches, lush gardens, bustling cities, chaotic construction sites, tall mountains, fiery volcanoes, snowy slopes, underwater amusement parks, gigantic bridges, traditional Japanese temples, and so much more within the game to discover and platform through. 

The amount of enemies in BAKERU is impressive, as well, offering lots of unique foes to take on, some requiring skillful dodging, evading, or better yet, timing in order to parry their attacks to leave them wide open to an offensive onslaught of Bakeru's own. No doubt a skill check early on within the game are the enemies dressed in armor and wielding kendo sticks. Trying to take them on as Bakeru with but simple drumstick strikes is a fool's errand. They'll simply block each and every attempt to attack them. And then there's when their eyes light up bright red, ready to make their move, dash forth, and strike Bakeru. These enemies gave me quite a bit of trouble starting off in the game when they were introduced, but as Bakeru learns additional Henge powers, they go down with relative ease as more and more tools and tricks are learned.

Bakeru hasn't exactly gone fishin', but he does "cast" some lines of pain onto these projectile-firing foes!

One of these tools is that of helpful items from the tanuki shopkeeper Uriko, who frequents levels at checkpoints throughout the game. For an amount of gold found readily throughout levels, not only does she sell food that can instantly heal Bakeru when needed, but passive, temporary buffs like increased speed or attack, as well as items that can be saved for a rainy day (or in BAKERU's case, a difficult boss or challenging level) like an item that instantly replenishes Bakeru's Henge energy, or even a shield that guards against any and all attacks for 30 seconds. There are also premium items like crackers in the shape of hearts that permanently boost Bakeru's maximum health. Truly helpful in the long term.

While BAKERU is by no means the most arduous adventure around, it does have some challenging points to it, whether when Bakeru faces more-fiendish boss battles, trickier platforming trials, or even searching for hidden Tanuki disguised as objects in some stages, where only feint occasional movement or a tanuki stamp reveals their locations. That said, it's overall a relatively breezy experience if you're a seasoned gamer, but at the same time, BAKERU as a game is not something you can simply sleepwalk through and expect to easily complete it. Finding all 200+ Scoops, all 150+ Souvenirs, all 20-something hidden Tanuki, and securing all the game's achievements will certainly take some effort. For me, this process to 100% the game took about 20 hours.

In most sections of BAKERU, you'll have fully free 360 degree
camera movement available to you. ...Not exactly here, though.

BAKERU is a gorgeous game, and depending on the platform you play it on, it will be more or less a technically sound experience. While the lesser-powered Nintendo Switch does sometimes simply struggle to hold a steady framerate--this is most apparent in the hot springs level--it does an admirable job of running well. The Steam version is understandably more capable and consistent in performance, seldom showing signs of FPS drops. Both versions I did not encounter much in the way of bugs nor glitches, which really impressed me, as when a game has over 60 levels, I would think something would have to give somewhere. This is thankfully not the case with BAKERU. The game features voice acting, though this is Japanese-only, which works for the game since it's set in Japan and stays authentic. 

Time for some construction destruction, courtesy of Bakeru!

If you're looking for another charming and well-designed game from Good-Feel, well, you certainly have one with BAKERU. The developer once again shows with BAKERU that it doesn't necessarily need Nintendo's supervision in order to create a fantastic game. That's not to discredit either Good-Feel or Nintendo here, of course, as together, they do create some awesome gaming experiences. Between BAKERU's colorful and engaging levels to explore--each based off a Japanese prefecture--a multitude of secrets housed within these said levels, an astonishing amount of gameplay variety, entertaining boss battles, cute and charming humor, and gorgeous graphics, BAKERU marches to the beat of its own drum and is a great, original game for doing so.

[SPC Says: A-]