Yoshi and the Mysterious Book preview: how cute can a game be?

Domagoj Belancic

22.4.2026

Translation: Elicia Payne

Yoshi’s back! In his latest adventure, the little dinosaur finds himself in a colourful picture book. I had the chance to play the cute game before release.

I haven’t really been able to make heads or tails of the material shown so far for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. What I have been able to piece together so far is that Yoshi plays the lead role (duh!). The game world’s set inside a magical book (duh – it’s right there in the title). And it’s all about exploring strange creatures. How does the game play, and what do you do in the levels? It’s a mystery.

About a month before the launch on 21 May, I had the chance to get a sneak peek at this sweet adventure at Nintendo. Many of my most pressing questions have been answered – but some remain unanswered.

**What’s the game about?

On their idyllic island, the Yoshis come across a talking picture book. In it, the little dinosaurs find lively illustrations of strange creatures. The book asks the Yoshis for help – it wants to learn more about the creatures that live inside it. As naivehelpful as the Yoshis are, they agree and travel into the picture book to investigate the strange creatures.

To say the presentation was cute would be a massive understatement. The level selection, with its colourful pages and funny creatures, is reminiscent of lovingly illustrated children’s books. The levels also look like drawings that have come to life. Everything seems so cheerful, childlike, and innocent.

It reminds me of one of my favourite games on the N64: «Yoshi’s Story». For that reason alone, I’m looking forward to the release. Nostalgia’s a sweet drug.

What kind of game is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book?

After playing for about an hour and a half, I’ve got a good sense of the gameplay loop. The game is a mix of different genres. If I were part of Nintendo’s Marketing team, I’d have immediately come up with a new genre name: «cosy platformer-sandbox with creature-collecting elements».

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Let me explain.

«Cosy» because its story and audiovisual presentation create a cosy atmosphere. There are no real villains – even the enemies are cute. Nothing but feel-good vibes. The relaxing music perfectly complements the innocent, picture-book atmosphere. Plus, the difficulty level is very low – at least in the two chapters I’ve played so far. If you’re looking for a challenge, Yoshi’s picture-book world isn’t the place for you. The game mainly invites you to relax and explore, without any pressure.

At its core, the game is a 2D platformer. I run, jump, and float with Yoshi from left to right through the levels, eating all sorts of things (Yoshi is always hungry – which makes him very likeable). However, the goal isn’t to get from A to B as quickly as possible. The game sections are sandboxes that invite you to experiment with Yoshi’s abilities.

I keep finding funny little creatures that the dinosaur can swallow or carry on its back. With these little creatures, I temporarily unlock new abilities and reach new sections. To complete a level, I usually have to accomplish a hidden main objective that involves the creatures in the game environment.

The creature-collector elements stem from the game’s basic structure. In the chapter select, I’m looking through the pages of the book for cute little creatures. When I select one of them with a magnifying glass, it transports me to its habitat.

The goal is to find out as much as possible about the creature. Where does it live? What does it taste like? What happens if I put it on my back? How does it react when it gets wet? Will it survive if I slam it into the ground with a stomp attack? Every new insight is recorded in the book. After completing a level, the book tells me if there are certain aspects of a creature that I haven’t discovered yet.

I like this two-part collection (creatures and their characteristics). With this gameplay structure and objective, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book clearly stands out from other 2D platformers.

What kinds of creatures are there, and what abilities do they have?

In the two chapters I tested, I already discovered lots of cute little animals. I don’t know how many chapters, levels, and creatures there will be in the finished game, but my first impression has me feeling optimistic thanks to all the creative ideas. Some of my favourites:

Glubbits are a cross between frog-like creatures and a bubble wand. I wouldn’t recommend eating them. They taste like soap. Yuck. What they are handy for? Producing soap bubbles that allow Yoshi to float for a short time. If I strap a Glubbit to my back and run around with it, I create whole strings of soap bubbles that let me reach higher areas.

And now the experimentation begins. What happens if I feed an apple to a Glubbit? It creates even bigger bubbles, which let me fly even farther. If I make a Glubbit dirty, it creates mud bubbles that float downward. I wonder what that’s for?

With my fluffy Scatterpuffs, I can cause absolute chaos in the levels. This plant creature spreads pollen, allowing it to reproduce extremely quickly. If I put it on Yoshi’s back, I can clear the whole level in no time.

It’s fascinating to see what happens when pollen lands on different surfaces. In grass, they grow into huge plants that I can bounce on like a trampoline. If I scatter them on rocks, the rocks become brittle, and I can shatter them with a stomp attack.

My favourite creature of all is Croakaoke. I’d kill for Croakaoke. This chubby creature lives underground and… just goes about its business. When Yoshi jumps on its head, it jumps higher and the Croakaoke sings a note. That’s it. That’s all this creature can do. And I guess it doesn’t have to do anything else. Check it out. Croakaoke is perfect.

I particularly like the fact that the creatures aren’t limited to their own habitats. This opens up even more room for experimentation. For example, what happens if I combine Scatterpuff’s pollen with Glubbit’s bubbles? The more creatures I get to know, the more exciting the experiments become.

Are there any more difficult sections?

All the levels I played in the two chapters were kept very simple. I don’t think the difficulty level will escalate in the finished game.

The hardest part was a level with the Croakaokes, where I had to jump on 25 of these creatures one after another to play the song «Mary Had a Little Lamb». But Yoshi’s hovering ability also makes it easy to improve imprecise jumps.

I was surprised by the final level of the demo. In this one, I climb onto a wild Hauger – a kind of pig with a drill for a nose. With this creature, I burrow through the earth. It reminds me of the excellent indie game Pepper Grinder. Finally, I take on a boss battle against Bowser Jr inside his UFO.

The Hauger level isn’t really difficult either – but I’m surprised at how fast-paced and action-packed it is compared to the otherwise very simple gameplay. I’m curious to see if the finished game will feature even more large creatures with special abilities.

Is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book a game for children?

To answer this, there’s a few things I need to explain first. Nintendo generally doesn’t make games specifically for children, but rather games aimed at as broad an audience as possible, from young to old. Games that are easy to pick up but difficult to master. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book seems to be an exception to this rule.

With its visual presentation and stress-free gameplay, the game appeals primarily to a very young audience – it’s easy and simple to get started, and the game remains easy and simple throughout. It reminds me of Princess Peach: Showtime!. Another simple, stress-free, and light-hearted game that I’d describe as a «kids game».

That’s not to be disrespectful – quite the opposite, in fact. I think it’s great that Nintendo comes out with stuff like this every now and then to appeal to its youngest fans. That doesn’t mean adult players can’t enjoy the colourful, picture-book world – you should just be aware of what you’re getting into and not expect a masterpiece like «Super Mario Bros. Wonder».

Does the game take advantage of the Switch 2’s new functions?

Visually, I’m not taken aback by Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. The game looks like a picture book – pretty, but unspectacular. I’m sure Yoshi’s Adventure would even run on the Switch 1 at a lower resolution. It’s possible that the game will ramp up in the later chapters and really push Nintendo’s new console to its limits – but I doubt it. Other than that, I didn’t notice any other special Switch 2 functions in the demo. No mouse control, no special use of HD Rumble, no microphone, no camera.

Too bad. Still, I’m looking forward to the finished game and can’t wait to see what other strange creatures I’ll find.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be released on 21 May for the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo invited me to a preview event for the game.

Video games

Nintendo Yoshi and the Mysterious Book

Switch 2, DE, FR, IT

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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