The Yoshi series, like Kirby, has seen its fair share of visual styles and shake-ups to the formula. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is the next chapter in the different ways Yoshi/s can explore different arts and crafts mediums. Nintendo invited Vooks to a preview session to explore this upcoming hardcover adventure. 

It’s not the first time that something has fallen out of the sky for the Yoshi’s to help. In Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, it is a…mysterious book, called Mr. E. This fancy-looking book with a luxurious moustache appears to be some kind of encyclopedia about all kinds of creatures, only they all seem to be missing. Yoshi, being the ever-helpful dinosaurs, jump into Mr. E’s pages and help to find and catalogue all the creatures. They aren’t the only presence in the book, with Bowser Jr making his way around the chapters (though the demo didn’t delve into that). The main purpose is to help out Mr. E and find more creatures within his pages.

Instead of traditional levels, you choose a creature that has come out of hiding, with the first being a familiar-looking flower. As with the trailers shown so far, the goal initially seems to be helping to fill Mr. E’s pages with knowledge about the creatures within the landscape.

I played through two chapters of the mysterious book, uncovering a variety of cute creatures. Some creature entries felt more like traditional level structures. While some entries were more like open areas for you to accomplish a goal, like finding and catching multiple Shy Guys. While still uncovering many other observations about the different creatures within the entry. The observation structure feels like a game version of a nature documentary, as the book notes on the screen, the different observations and discoveries about the nature and abilities of the creatures amongst Mr. E’s pages. At the end of each page/level/area, you get to name the creature you’ve discovered in the spirit of research and observations. I was more than happy to let Mr. E name them though! 

Yoshi can also pick up creatures and other items around on their backs. I imagine it would be a pretty short game if you could only turn everything into an egg and that’s it. It is a fun addition; it means Yoshi can ferry around creatures as you test out their abilities, or take them to different areas of the page to see how they affect the environment or if they do anything cool. One of the main things I found with a few creatures was that the flower (called Crazee Dayzee) would make flowers bloom around the environment as you carry it nearby.  At times this served a purpose, other times it was maybe more decorative. 

Within the first chapter, you come across  a dandelion-looking creature (called Scatterpuff if you don’t name it yourself). It lets off puffs of seeds or spores that spread around the environment. Turning it into an egg doesn’t help anything, so for the sake of science, Yoshi needs to carry around the creature and test how its puffs affect the world around it. On the surface level, all the creatures have one main function within the book. It doesn’t take long to make other discoveries about the creature. Is it affected by eating different foods around the area? How does it react going in the water? In some mud? How will the creature respond and be affected by other creatures and their own abilities? Going back to Scatterpuff, their puffs can weaken rock, making it breakable, but when other creatures or items are exposed to it, they can be sapped of energy. 

At a glance, it may feel like it’s quick to get all the discoveries, but it’s not that straightforward. It felt like I had uncovered a lot of information about the creatures, but hints would still pop up that there was more to find. I had to really poke and prod around the page to uncover everything I could, and while it will definitely be more fun when getting to check it all out at a more relaxed pace, I enjoyed being able to try and see if I could make something work and be rewarded with an unexpected discovery. While I am in my 40s, and I might be somewhat outside of the main target audience for this game, Yoshi games are generally a joy in their own different ways for everyone.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book has plenty for younger players, which is helped by a surprising addition to the game. Initially, I didn’t notice straight away that Yoshi can’t really be hurt, letting you focus on carrying around creatures and making discoveries. That doesn’t mean there are no obstacles in your way, or that Yoshi isn’t affected by being hit by creatures, but from what I saw, there’s nothing that stops you from playing the page through to the end. From the two chapters I played through, it didn’t feel like it is going to be a cakewalk either, if you want to find everything.   

The storybook art style does not disappoint here, with a hand-drawn picture book visual style. Going from woolly to crafty, it is always a delight to see what Nintendo will do with the Yoshi series. Of course, with a Yoshi game, most of the world’s inhabitants are pretty cute. Even with the more aggressive creatures, there’s nothing that looks scary or intimidating. It’s a neat approach, turning  the game into exploration-focused fun.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be out in a matter of weeks. I’m looking forward to getting a much better read of this book and seeing what discoveries are in store! 

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book launches of May 21st, 2026 and is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2.