Tezuka on Good-Feel working with yarn again, Yoshi’s New Island reception, Mario/Yoshi connection
A new round of quotes from Nintendo’s Takashi Tezuka have been published by Game Informer. Tezuka tackled three main topics: how Good-Feel is working with yarn for a second time, the reception of Yoshi’s New Island, and whether or not Yoshi is still considered a part of the Mario universe.
For Tezuka’s comments, head past the break. You can also check out Game Informer’s original article here.
On any fear of confusion between Kirby’s Epic’s Epic Yarn and Yoshi’s Woolly World…
Takashi Tezuka: No, we’re not really worried about this being seen as like a sequel or something, because honestly, we didn’t create Woolly World as a way to create an Epic Yarn sequel – it was just an idea we had. The idea of creating a Yoshi platformer came first, and then we thought that it might be interested to see his world represented with yarn.
On whether the yarn theme is just a coincidence…
No, it’s not a coincidence. We were aware of the work that Good-Feel did with Epic Yarn, and we thought it looked amazing. We weren’t trying to create a Yoshi version of that. We just thought, “They’re good at doing textures and things – what can they do for us?” So we asked Good-Feel to create a Yoshi experience.
On the reception of Yoshi’s New Island…
There was one thought I had after Yoshi’s New Island, and that’s that Yoshi fans span many different groups, and that includes some hardcore gamers. When I set off to create this game, I knew Yoshi’s Woolly World had to appeal to both sets of groups. So while the graphics are adorable and of course kids are going to like it, I know that people who love the classic Yoshi gameplay style and challenge are going to be looking for that, too. So that was my goal from the start – to incorporate both. With that in mind, we created two different modes: Classic mode and mellow mode.
On whether he consider’s Yoshi’s Island for the SNES a standalone franchise or if it’s Super Mario World 2…
I consider it as part of the Mario series.
On why the Super Mario World 2 prefix was used…
That was so long ago that I don’t fully remember. I don’t think I made that decision alone – I don’t think I could have. When that game debuted, I wanted people to understand that Yoshi was part of the Mario world, and that be conveyed whether through title or gameplay. To me, it’s part of the Mario series, but today’s Yoshi games? They’ve changed from those origins, so I think it’s okay to think of Yoshi living in in his own universe. You can think of it separately from Mario’s world.
