- JP release: 21st December 1997
- NA release: 10th March 1998
- PAL release: 10th May 1998
- Developer: Nintendo
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: 86%


Yoshi’s Story is an incredibly cute game that just oozes charm. On a quest to save their magical fruit tree from Baby Bowser, the Yoshi’s journey across a book across six worlds, eating a lot of fruit along the way.

In each level, your goal isn’t to make it to the end, it’s to eat 30 fruit. Fruit is also health – apart from chillies, which the Yoshis hate (shame, they’re delicious). Getting the 30th one ends the level no matter where you are, so if you’re after finding the super hearts or just more points, you’ll want to hold off. The platforming is great (other than some blind jumps) and there are lots of little secrets to discover.

The biggest issue with Yoshi’s Story is the game’s structure. In a similar style to Star Fox 64, you only play a portion of the levels – one from each of the six worlds. So reaching the Baby Bowser (who is ridiculously easy to defeat) does not take long at all if you’re munching up fruit whenever you see it. I feel like it does Yoshi’s Story a massive disservice, and many people will miss a lot of the game due to this.

In order to unlock more levels, you need to search the levels for giant hearts – needing to find three each time if you want the fourth stage in each world. There’s also an additional challenge of only eating melons – there are exactly 30 in each level. This all adds to the replayability, but as much as I love the game, I just really hate its structure.

Great
But those appreciative of the art that is game development will rightly sit back, look at Yoshi’s Story and admit that it’s incredibly good fun. And that, at the end of the day, is what it’s all about.
Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #15
Remake or remaster?
A remake would be amazing. The different graphical styles (craft, wool, inflatables) would pop even more with added detail and they could provide different ways to play to change the structure of the game.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no way to buy a new copy of Yoshi’s Story, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.
Re-releases
2007: Wii Virtual Console
2016: Wii U Virtual Console
2021: Nintendo Switch Online (Subscription Only)
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
This game gets a really unfair bum rap, usually being reviewed for what it isn’t (A straightforward sequel to Yoshi’s Island) rather than what it is (A score attack focused action platformer).
For better or worse, it’s a very experimental game; with some outright strange level design and gameplay structure. It was probably the wrong game at the wrong time, and I don’t just mean that because it’s Nintendo’s one and only sprite-based game released for their shiny new polygon pushing 3D powerhouse; but because it was seen as a slight game when Nintendo desperately needed a sprawling and meaty adventure title to impress their early 1998 audiences (it only squeaks into 1997 in Japan on a pure technicality).
When playing this game, you can tell that it was viewed by its developers as a bit of a game design playground of sorts, it’s gameplay structure is outright bizzare, with its stages not even having a defined ending; only being completed whenever Yoshi has had his fill of fruit (though there are always exactly 30 melons to find; eat melons only for the best score!). Even the basic controls can be described as experimental, with a lot of focus being placed on what the N64’s analog stick can bring to the table with very fine and granular movement and aiming controls (the d-pad goes completely unused here), while the enemy designs and level gimmicks come across as drug fuelled nightmare spawn… I mean…
8IFJiLt.jpeg
Just LOOK at this menagerie of monstrous designs
…:shakehead:shakehead:shakeheadUGH!!:shakehead:shakehead:shakehead
This bizzaro world concept also spreads to the music too, as Kazumi Totaka decided to coke up and thrust out some… experimental stuff…
… oh shit! That’s a fan mashup, how did that one slip in there!? Lemme try that one again…
… some smooth Wave Race 64 vibes goin’ on with that last one there… I see what you did Totaka 😉
Anyway. I can dig Yoshi’s Story. It’s a weird game that came out at an unfortunate time, where people wanted something grander and more contemporary, but I still have a soft spot for it 🙂
If I do have any critisism to level at this game, it’s that it doesn’t have a huge amount of depth as a score attack game. There’s a simple and obvious critical path to achieving a perfect score (eat 30 melons) and once you’ve done that? The game is clocked; there’s no further capacity to chase higher scores. It’s still enjoyable despite this, but there isn’t much longevity as a pure score-attack game. Its DS follow-up (Yoshi’s Touch N’ Go) would end up being a far more compelling pure score-attack game, probably in response to the scoring limitations seen in its N64 predecessor.
Despite the above, the game still stands out as being totally unique, both within the N64’s library and within Nintendo’s catalogue as a whole. And despite its gameplay structure never making a return, it would ironically end up being perhaps the most influential game within the entire Yoshi series (indeed, it’s the game that turned what was once considered to be “Super Mario World 2” into its own entire franchise!)