Yoshi and the Mysterious Book review: A charming page-turner

Yoshi's return to the spotlight is a cute platformer with plenty of interesting creatures.

For the first time this decade, Yoshi is back as the star of his own video game. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book takes the green dinosaur (and his multicolored dinosaur friends) on a zoological journey throughout a book’s immersive pages. It’s a creative spin on the Yoshi series that inspired me to experiment with all of its unique gameplay systems.

Book club

The titular tome in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is Mr. E, which is short for Mr. Encyclopedia. After strangely appearing on Yoshi’s Island, the species of dinosaurs embark to restore Mr. E’s pages. To do this, they’ll enter the book to register data about various creatures, filling out Mr. E’s pages with information about their traits and behaviors.

It’s a clever conceit for a game that’s essentially about meeting and studying creatures. There’s a wide range of critters to be found on each level, and they all have unique personalities that shine whenever you interact with them or leave them to their own devices. Mr. E is sort of like the Pokedex here, storing all of the information that you gather throughout the journey.

The decision to make the game about an encyclopedia also inspired the gorgeous storybook art style on display. Vibrant colors, soft lighting, and hand-drawn backgrounds give Yoshi and the Mysterious Book a warm and cozy aesthetic. I loved all of the cute idle animations that characters would do, or how new discoveries would appear on-screen as if someone was drawing them.

There’s a good deal to see, too. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book features familiar creatures like Crazee Dayzees and Shy Guys, as well as new ones like Floofly or Casterway. Classic Mario universe antagonist Bowser Jr. is here too as a recurring villain.

Colorful ink

By selecting a creature in Mr. E’s pages, Yoshi is transported into a level based on it. Here, the dinosaur can explore a 2D world, studying the creature's behaviors by swallowing it, jumping on it, throwing it at things, throwing things at it, and performing other interactions. Each discovered behavior is saved as an entry in the encyclopedia, and while you only need to accomplish a base objective to “finish” a level, you can stick around and 100 percent it by discovering other things that the creature can do.

However, the completionists out there will need to eventually move on, as a lot of creature behaviors require them to interact with other species. This encourages the player to get creative, using creatures in random combinations just to see what happens. I laughed out loud when I realized that ground-pounding a Crazee Dayzee would actually bury them in the ground, and had a eureka moment when I discovered that the large singing creatures would start bouncing around if I fed them a spicy pepper.

As you discover new creatures, Mr. E will actually allow you to name them yourself. Once you choose a name, the game will treat it as law and refer to them as that name moving forward. It’s a small but cool detail that personalizes the experience in a fun way. When I discovered the bubble-blowing frog creatures, I named them Frogadier after the Water-Type Pokemon. Taggits, a new species introduced in this game, were called “Amogus” in my playthrough, because they reminded me of the crewmates in Innersloth’s Among Us.

Each chapter in the encyclopedia features a unique biome with a fresh set of creatures to interact with. Chapters are unlocked with stars, which players will earn by making discoveries in previous levels. At some point or another, you’ll find yourself returning to levels you’ve already played in order to tidy up some extra objectives to net you more stars.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book isn’t all that interested in being a challenging platformer. While you do navigate 2D levels, the actual challenge comes from discovery. Even if it's by design, I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t many tests of my platforming abilities. It’s clearly a game designed to be enjoyed thoroughly by younger audiences, which is most evident in the fact that the yoshis don’t take damage. You’ll get bumped to the side or have an action disrupted if a hostile enemy “hits” you, but there aren’t any hearts or a health bar that you need to worry about. No game over screen. This made some segments feel a bit monotonous as I just wandered aimlessly, waiting to uncover the last thing I needed to move on.

A novel idea

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a charming and welcome return for one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters. Mario fans looking for a new 2D platformer to chew on may bounce off quickly, but those who buy into the game’s concept will surely be delighted by Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

This review is based on a code provided by the publisher. Yoshi and the Mysterious book launches on May 21, 2026, for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Shacknews staff does not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their content. Shacknews strictly prohibits the use of its content for AI training or to generate text, including text in the style or format used for this publication. Shacknews reserves all rights to this work.

Review for
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
8
Pros

• Charming art style
• Creative gameplay hook
• Encourages experimentation

Cons

• Practically devoid of any challenge
• Platforming takes a backseat