Even though Nintendo’s “Super Mario Galaxy” movie has amassed nearly $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales, the Japanese company still relies on games as its bread and butter. Three of its releases this year caught my attention, including Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which was released this week.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
To the strains of a creepy harpsichord, the turtle-ish Bowser Jr. steals an unusual talking book from the top of a gigantic heap of tomes in a dark library. But this single-fanged creature’s airborne vehicle crashes near a group of Yoshis, who discover that this leather-bound book contains multitudes of worlds.
The white-mustachioed Mister Encyclopedia (Mr. E), an anthropomorphic tome wearing a rainbow-hued monocle, asks you to solve the many mysteries within this fascinating 2-D sidescroller. The first chapter, featuring an animated map, places the friendly dinosaur in Wildwoods. It’s full of that staple of Nintendo games, a giant tree and a walking flower that looks as though it needs your help.
Yoshi examines this forested milieu as a researcher, enlarging part of the pages with the magic monocle, which also pulls him into these worlds like Alice through the looking glass. Each two-page spread boasts a handful of wonderfully imaginative, odd creatures. It’s your job to investigate all of them, a riff on the Pokémon phrase, “Gotta catch ’em all.”
Generally I liked the names Mr. E’s gave to the creatures, especially when they seemed straight out of “Jabberwocky.” It was fun to say Loopdeecoop out loud. But I sometimes came up with my own, as if T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas — yes, really — were a taxonomist.
The animals and bugs I encountered were imaginative. A Croakaoke, for instance, is a fidgeting duck-like fowl with a leaf on its head. As Yoshi jumps on it, his leap is amplified, as if on a spring. Croakaokes can emit musical notes and let you play “Baa Baa Black Sheep” as you jump from one to the other.
Yes, each level can be viewed as a short experience made for children. But that take can be deceiving. The more you rummage around, the more happy astonishments there are to be found, a gratification which even the most cynical of adults will enjoy. With each discovery, more fauna appear on the chapter’s main pages.
In a region that reminded me of the bucolic shire of “The Lord of the Rings” because of its squat Hobbit-like dwellings, masked and hooded Shy Guys must be captured. Once you jump on them and loft them onto your back, they point to collectibles in the area.
While there is a feeling of repetition, the later chapters unfold with generally compelling changes; some creatures become giant antagonists. The third chapter, Seaside, was a favorite that reminded me of the pleasure I felt as a child when watching ancient, animated cartoons like Fleischer Studio’s “Twenty Legs Under the Sea.”
Seaside focuses on fishes large and small, and let me place a fisherman on my back, cast toward an apple, and then use that fruit to reel in an aquatic being many times Yoshi’s size. A snail-like Weewoo emitted a trumpet’s notes, jazzing up the journey with sound that made giant flowers smile and dance. One even spread its wide leaves to act like seesaws, allowing ascent to more unusual revelations.
Mario Tennis Fever
Princess Daisy is terribly ill and the brothers Mario and Luigi must find a rare fruit on a strange islet to restore her health. But somehow, the siblings become babies as they initiate their frantic search in a game that could be subtitled “Honey, I Shrunk the Tennis Brothers.”
Baby Mario and Baby Luigi may be miniaturized and cute, but this latest edition of Nintendo’s long-running tennis series is all about 30 magic rackets, most of which must be unlocked. One emits sloppy, brown mud at the moment your serve bounces on the court. Another places a small volcano spewing lava. The arguable best one spawns a random character to help defeat an opponent.
Such environmental obstacles make rivals slip or burn and, ultimately, miss the return shot. They fall with a satisfying look of angry shock on their faces.
I mostly enjoyed Mario Tennis Fever in competition with friends and in single-player mode. However, the adventure portion, which took the babies through the Mushroom Tennis Academy, wasn’t particularly thrilling.
Movement through the levels was mildly challenging, especially the moments against opponents that took place on very slippery ice. But by the time the brothers made their way to Foggy Swamp, I noted that the environs around the purple reptile King Hisstocrat were somewhat barren and lacking in detail.
Even though using two controller buttons to pull off topspins and drop shots was hit and miss, I enjoyed employing Fever Shots once a gauge began to glow onscreen. In the finals of a doubles tournament, the brothers were lifted high over the net, one whacking the ball with such ferocity that even Carlos Alcaraz would miss the return.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
What I believed to be a glitch in this mash-up of The Sims and Animal Crossing changed the way I created my characters. Each large-headed Mii avatar I customized in this life simulator spoke with a distinctly British accent, even though I tweaked the game’s settings to my North American location. After creating look-alikes for my wife and a friend, I went with the flow.
Celebrity singers who are British, like Paul McCartney and Lola Young, were among the residents on my tropical island, which I called Lazsloland, after a beloved cat. Later, I was told that I could invent characters who speak American English, but only by changing settings on the Switch 2 console (strangely, not within the game itself). This was not intuitive.
The communication of characters continued even while I was away. When I was around, I watched their varied interactions, like walking together on the beach. It was surprising, in a fun way, when my version of Olivia Rodrigo had an argument with McCartney. But then, the old school music legend George Clinton confessed to me that he had a crush on Olivia. As their overseer, I thought George should focus on a relationship with someone his age. I told him so.
While Miis can fight or make jokes, there’s only so much intricacy that Tomodachi Life can handle as far as creation goes. While the dozens of facial features can mimic what a real-life person looks like in cartoon form, I couldn’t add flawed or complex personalities.
Some minor drama occurred. When a new restaurant opened, my wife reported it as important breaking news while sitting at the anchor desk of MNN, the Mii News Network.
Similarities to Nintendo’s Animal Crossing series abound. I added and decorated homes for Miis and purchased a variety of their outfits at retail outlets. I don’t have to feed my residents daily. But when I do and they have a food aversion, they make a gagging expression.
It’s not easy overseeing so many virtual lives. When they tripped and fell, I had to pick them up. That made sense. Their affable natures often picked up my spirit, too.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Mario Tennis Fever and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream were reviewed on the Switch 2. Tomodachi Life is also available on the Switch.
The post Traveling Through the Looking Glass With a Green Dinosaur appeared first on New York Times.
