My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (105-101)

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105. Resident Evil 4 (GameCube)

I do not have the religious reverence for Resident Evil 4 that many have, but I definitely recognize the game’s impact and it’s certainly a memorable experience. RE4 was a huge deal back when it first released in 2005 as a GameCube exclusive (yeah, remember that?). Many of my friends were playing it and talking about at the time, so much so that I kind of…got sick of it. Also, a good chunk of the game was spoiled for me as well because of my constant exposure to it before playing it myself. Despite all this, I still remember my first time with the early village sequence as one of the tensest and most harrowing sections in a game I’d ever experienced. I love the game’s atmosphere, its environments, its self-aware camp, and its ridiculous characters and varied bosses. RE4 is a game that just keeps one-upping itself and surprising the player with one exciting, nail-biting, interesting sequence after the next. Just when you get comfortable with a certain scenario and think you know the rules, the game throws a wacky curveball at you, or perhaps a chainsaw.

104. Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Wii)

Epic Yarn is my favorite of the “experimental” Kirby games, which include a game where you control a spherical Kirby with magic paintbrush strokes (actually there are two of those) and one where the pink cream-puff is split into a swarm of ten mini-Kirbys. I like Epic Yarn because unlike these other alterna-Kirbys, it’s still a traditional platformer; it just gives Kirby a new aesthetic and set of mechanics within its fabric framework to play around with. The word that always comes to mind when I think of Epic Yarn is “delightful”. It will charm the pants right off of you…which Kirby will probably then unravel and turn into a sled or something.

103. Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U)

The third and final title on this list from the booming “yarn genre” is Yoshi’s Woolly World, a special game that surprised me with not only its creative level design, but also an intimate and emotional adventure that I could feel was created with a  lot of love and effort. There’s something inherently nostalgic about Woolly World. Simply put, it is the video game equivalent of wrapping myself up in one of my Nana’s hand-knitted blankets and sipping a cup of tea on a cool autumn night.

102. Pikmin 2 (GameCube)

Pikmin 2, which I actually played on Wii, is special to me because it helped bring me fulfillment during a time when all I felt like doing was lying in bed in the dark, but it’s also a delightfully unique experience with an indescribable atmosphere. There’s something about venturing further and further down into the depths of one of Pikmin 2’s many underground labyrinths, not really knowing what’s going to be on each new floor, that’s intoxicating. This is only compounded by the game’s uniquely bizarre soundtrack, which drew me into a world that felt like a dream. The main goal of Pikmin 2 is to discover and collect “treasures”, a bunch of human junk ranging from Duracell batteries to bottle caps to references to Nintendo’s history, in order to pay off a debt. Discovering each treasure and seeing what extravagant name Olimar and Louie’s wonderfully characterized spaceship comes up with for these mundane objects is simply a delight and one of my favorite aspects of the experience. If you seek to complete it thoroughly, Pikmin 2 is a long game, and it can be both challenging and exhausting, but while it’s not a game I’m likely to return to that often or at all, it is a treasured experience for me and one that felt immensely gratifying to journey through and complete.

101. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land (Wii)

I fondly remember the day that Kirby’s Return to Dream Land released in late October of 2011. After getting out of work and visiting two different GameStops before I was able to buy the game, I brought it home and found myself transported back to being a little kid with a Game Boy, playing Kirby’s Dream Land for the first time; back to the summer of 2000 when I first played Kirby 64. The so appropriately-titled Return to Dream Land, the first traditional Kirby game on a home console since Kirby 64, was a very welcome return to form for the series. This game is just good. It feels so artfully and perfectly traditional in so many ways, yet doesn’t feel stale or recycle too many old staples. In fact, I sort of wish one or two more classic bosses showed up even, as most are brand new. Even only five years later, I already find myself feeling a bit nostalgic when I listen to the soundtrack. Return to Dream Land is simply a joyful video game, elegant in its traditional design, and nearly unmatched in its level of polish.

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Check back again next time for #100-96!

Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U) Review

I have a nostalgic attachment to yarn and knitted woolen blankets. My Nana loved to knit. I have fond childhood memories of giant bundles of colorful yarn that she used to knit me blankets; handcrafted tapestries of dark blue and light blue and green. There’s a level in Yoshi’s Woolly World called “Up Shuttlethread Pass” which features a backdrop of knitted blankets woven together to form of a patchwork of pale blue and green intermixed with snowflake and sequin decorations. A light fluffy snow falls and the whole scene is accompanied by a profoundly emotional piece of music. I was immediately struck by this level upon starting it, but it wasn’t until I was about halfway through it that a certain chord in the music stopped me in my tracks and I simply stopped and stared at the screen: the knitted surroundings, the colors, the snow, the music…I was immediately struck with images of my Nana (who passed away just a few years ago) and all the Christmases we shared together. I suddenly felt the need to rub my eyes and a pervasive sense of tranquility embraced me throughout the rest of the level.

Yoshi’s Woolly World is a warm knitted blanket on a cool autumn day. It’s a very comforting game, and that’s not just because it’s made out of blankets. When one boots it up from the Wii U’s main menu, they are greeted with an image of Yoshi and his lovable canine pal Poochy embracing each other while a lovely and inviting acoustic guitar melody plays. To me, this start-up screen is saying “It’s gonna be all right” and “See? Not everything in the world is so bad”. Between its endlessly charming handcrafted aesthetic, pleasing control scheme, and inventive challenges, Woolly World is a heart-warming, endearing experience that is as relaxing or as taxing as you want it to be. And it reminds me of my Nana. And it makes me a little teary.

I can’t call Woolly World’s aesthetic entirely unique because it is a spiritual successor to the delightful Kirby’s Epic Yarn for Wii after all (which was also developed by Good-Feel, the most appropriately-named video game developer in the world), but Woolly World’s visual design still stands apart from that game, presenting a more three-dimensional and all in all different take on the whole “handcraft” look than Epic Yarn presented. I love this game’s art direction and it is clear a huge amount of effort went into it; in fact I suspect it’s the main reason for the game’s rather lengthy development time. Besides nailing the look and feel of yarn and fabric throughout, so much so that I feel like I can reach out and touch this game and my TV screen would feel soft to my hand, I love how much creativity went into representing a world made out of handcraft. Windmills appear as giant wool socks adorned with buttons, lava flowing down a volcano is represented by a scarf slowly unraveling from a giant spool, and my favorite: distant hills in the snow world are representing by giant smiling winter hats. That the game subtly simulates flowing water with simply a few strands of yarn, some sequins, and some shadows is nothing short of genius artistic design. Sure, Woolly World may contain many of the clichéd environmental themes that Nintendo loves to overuse like grass land, desert land, and snow land, but I’m not even mad because the wonderful visual design breathes new life into these tired tropes. If the endearing art design doesn’t draw you in, perhaps the pleasing and varied (if at times a bit understated) soundtrack, another area of the game that clearly had a lot of effort put into it, will.

Even though some of the environmental themes are familiar, the original and inspired level designs that appear throughout the entire game all the way up to the final level were a consistent surprise. Some of my favorites include a level where the player “walks” a wireframe Chain Chomp, knitting it up into a roll-able ball that can pounce baddies and be used to solve puzzles and unraveling it so it can follow Yoshi to new places; a rollercoaster ride of sorts involving giant curtains sliding down curtain rods (just try to imagine it); and a festive nighttime snowscape where Yoshi must knock piles of cottony snow out of knitted trees to progress. The yarn motif is more than just aesthetic; the artistic choice is woven into the game design at every step, from the way enemies and obstacles behave to the way Yoshi unravels and knits the world around him, to a parade of clever level gimmicks that make great use of the theming.

Despite so many fresh elements that have been newly acquired, the main framework of Woolly World is mostly a hand-me-down from the original Yoshi’s Island for Super Nintendo. This isn’t necessarily a negative, as that original game is a brilliant, inspired platformer and Woolly World inherits its springy, responsive control and engaging, exploratory level design. That said, perhaps the influence is a bit too transparent at times and this does lend of sense of banality to certain aspects like the very familiar progression structure of the game. This can’t hurt an experience as otherwise creative and endearing as Woolly World too much, but I do wish the Yoshi platformer series wouldn’t be so afraid to tear the traditional fabric of the original SNES classic every once in a while.

I will say that going for 100% completion in Woolly World is a lot more tolerable than in the original Yoshi’s Island, which is important considering the game is chiefly designed with exploration and collection in mind. Some tedium occurs when missing “that one thing” in a level and some of the bonus levels are pretty annoying, but there’s nothing here that I found to be as screamingly frustrating as attempting 100% in the original. Woolly World is ultimately whatever you want it to be though: want to float through the game care-free? Turn on “Mellow Mode”. Want to simply see all the levels? Just go for collecting all of the flowers. Or you can go for everything like me, which was a fair and satisfying challenge. Woolly World’s design is smart. There’s no intrusive timer rushing me along, there are no useless “lives” here, the “Mellow Mode” option is probably the least intrusive “Super Guide” option I’ve seen Nintendo implement yet, and there’s just all in all freedom here to do what one wants.

Put plainly, Yoshi’s Woolly World is a warm and inviting experience you are almost guaranteed to enjoy no matter how you play it. Play it with a friend. Play it with a lover. Play it by yourself with a blanket and a warm cup of tea. It will make you smile. It will make you feel cozy. It will remind you of your Nana.