Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Review: Don’t judge this by its cover

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is Nintendo’s most unique 2D platformer in a long time.

The dinosaur’s expedition through a magical, anthropomorphic book powers along with the kind of breathless imagination typically associated with mainline Super Mario adventures, with new ideas and gameplay mechanics stretching across the margins of its pages until they run out of paper.

It’s a brilliant, creatively rich sidescroller that will appeal to young children, while simultaneously offering depth and nostalgia – if not much raw challenge – to older players who remember Yoshi’s solo debut on the Super NES. As a member of the latter camp, Mysterious Book kept me grinning from ear to ear until well after its epilogue.

As its name suggests, the game revolves around the titular Mysterious Book, an enchanted encyclopedia called Mr. E, whose magical pages are filled with fantastical creatures that the Yoshis must investigate by exploring their habitats and interacting with them in the only ways they know how: licking, stomping, and carrying.

Every level introduces a new creature that challenges the player and subverts the platforming gameplay in unique ways, with the bestiary often becoming power-ups themselves. Early on, you’ll discover a slug that can be thrown like a boomerang, then a big-mouthed plant that can be swung like a bug net, or a googly-eyed surfboard Yoshi can ride on the waves and through treasure-filled shipwrecks.

As soon as you think developer Good Feel is going to run out of ideas and recycle old creature ideas, it introduces even more, and just like the best Mario platformers, Mysterious Book moves on to a new invention well before the last outstays its welcome. One moment you’ll be casting off with an anthropomorphic fisherman, before riding a glider through the sky, then blasting though scenery like a pinball through the jaws of a bus-sized beast.

The most important reason Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is such a joy to play is because of its genuine sense of discovery. Unlike typical platformers, the Switch 2 game is less about getting from Point A to B, and more about exploring the world around you.

There’s little peril here in the form of dangerous enemies or obstacles (in fact, you can’t ‘die’ at all, and there’s no game over screen). Instead, each level is presented as its own sidescroller sandbox, with Yoshi tasked with interacting with the increasingly odd cast of critters, in order to achieve an objective and ‘complete’ the stage.

“As soon as you think developer Good Feel is going to run out of ideas and recycle old creature ideas, it intorudces even more”

You might have to reunite a group of abducted Shy Guys, throw dart-beaked birds at a series of giant dartboards, or water a beanstalk plant until it reaches the clouds.

As Yoshi learns more about each creature – whether they can be eaten, or any unique properties they have, like a bouncy head or an aversion to mud – these learnings will be physically scribbled onto the level scenery, providing a permanent knowledge base. You can then carry this knowledge into the late game, using what you’ve learned to hunt out every hidden collectible.

For example, you might learn that a static creature Yoshi can bounce from will get up and move around if you locate and feed it a chili, allowing you to reach previously inaccessible areas. Other creatures might be able to absorb water, grow plants, or smash hard rock depending on how you interact with them, clearing new paths.

Notably, because levels are presented as systemic sandboxes, like a platformer Breath of the Wild, many challenges can be solved in multiple ways, and creatures might interact with each other, leading to unexpected results, or change states.

The pages of the Mysterious Book are dynamic playgrounds that track things like weight, temperature, and water quality, which players will need to account for when revisiting stages to hunt out every discovery. So while kids will love the hand-drawn beauty of the game’s levels, the high interactivity of its world, and the ability to name each creature (which is sure to lead to some viral media sharing, as Yoshi takes on ‘Mr. Brexit’), there’s great appeal here for older players too.

While it’s definitely not a technically challenging platformer, players are often left pondering how to solve challenges, and the solutions you come up with are frequently satisfying and raise a smile. At its best, The Mysterious Book made me feel smart and respected my autonomy in ways reminiscent of the best classic Mario platformers.

Yoshi’s adventures have been hit-and-miss since his sublime solo debut in 1995’s Yoshi’s Island, but The Mysterious Book shouldn’t be judged by its cover. Instead of retreading past formulas, the Switch 2 game presents a truly unique framework, full of invention and compelling platforming for all ages, finally allowing Yoshi to escape the shadow of his plumber-carrying past with a blueprint all of his own. A brilliant, unique 2D platformer I loved playing.