Nintendo is dropping a slew of Mario-related announcements this morning as part of the franchise’s 40th anniversary, including a new game starring his dinosaur companion. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is coming out for Switch 2 in the Spring of 2026 and the brief bit of gameplay we saw plants it squarely in the cutesy yet intriguing tradition of past Yoshi platformers.
The game’s worlds and levels appear to be part of a book named Mr. Encyclopedia (or Mr. E for short) that Yoshi can jump into and explore. The game’s main hook is traveling through those worlds and documenting the creatures you meet along the way, whose special abilities are what let you progress. For example, there’s a little yellow walking flower that feels quite familiar from past Yoshi games; finding it and letting it ride on Yoshi makes other flowers bloom in the level. Presumably, that’s a component to getting to where you need to go. In another level, dandelions that you can scatter will make rocks brittle so you can pound them and proceed.
As with most Yoshi games, there’s a cute and distinctive art style on display here — the gameplay will be recognizable to anyone who has played games going all the way back to Yoshi’s Island on the SNES, but obviously with more modern tweaks. It’s not the same aesthetic as the yarn- and craft-based things we’ve seen on games like Yoshi’s Crafted World and Yoshi’s Wooly World (which introduced the absolutely adorable yarn-based Yoshi) but it’s in the ballpark.
While Yoshi and the Mysterious World continues the kid-friendly aesthetics of those earlier games, I’m hoping it brings some of the challenge found in old-school titles like Yoshi’s Island. We’ll find out next year.
