After more than six years of waiting, Yoshi finally has a brand-new solo platformer. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book launches today, May 21, 2026, as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive — the ninth main installment in the Yoshi series and the first since 2019's Yoshi's Crafted World. With Yoshi's recent prominence in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the timing for a new game starring the green dinosaur could hardly be better.
Reviews have landed mostly positive, with critics calling it charming, family-friendly, and quietly experimental. Here's the complete breakdown of platforms, pricing, gameplay, story, and what reviewers think.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a side-scrolling platformer developed by Good-Feel using Unreal Engine and published by Nintendo. First revealed during the September 2025 Nintendo Direct, the game centers on a mysterious talking book called Mister Encyclopedia — nicknamed Mr. E — which Yoshi enters to discover various creatures hiding in its pages.
Each chapter of the living book introduces a different creature, and Yoshi uses their unique abilities as exploration tools to solve puzzles and traverse levels. The art style blends 3D cinematic cutscenes with classic 2D platforming, marking a stylistic shift from Crafted World's yarn-and-craft aesthetic while keeping the franchise's signature cuteness and colour-rich animations intact.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. Pricing reflects Nintendo's new differential pricing strategy for first-party games:
Digital (Nintendo eShop): $84.99 USD
Physical retail (Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, GameStop): $99.99 USD
The $15 gap between the Nintendo eShop and physical retail pricing reflects Nintendo's broader push toward digital sales on Switch 2. Buyers who prefer physical media pay a premium for the cartridge, packaging, and retail availability — a controversial decision among collectors but one that lines up with Nintendo's strategy to make the eShop the default purchase channel.
This is the first of three Switch 2 first-party exclusives launching this summer. Star Fox follows in June 2026, and Splatoon Raiders arrives in July. Nintendo's strategy is clear: pack the Switch 2's first full year with high-profile exclusives to justify the premium price point.
No original Switch version has been announced or is planned — this is Switch 2 only.
Gameplay in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book centers on a journey of discovery through Mr. E's pages. Each level introduces new creatures — including the Bewilder Bird, the Crayzee Dayzee, and others hiding throughout the book's own pages — and Yoshi gains the ability to use their attributes as exploration tools. For example, a slug-like critter doubles as a grass-mowing boomerang when spit out, while other creatures unlock new traversal paths.
The structure leans heavily into experimentation. Instead of racing to the goal, the objective of the level often revolves around investigation, with each new chapter rewarding players with a big discovery and additional creature lore. Hidden tokens scattered across each stage reward completionist play with extra content and unlock new chapters of Mr. E's encyclopedia.
The 2D platforming is classic Yoshi, complete with the franchise's signature flutter jump, egg-throwing, and ground-pound mechanics. One family-friendly feature aimed at young kids: save files are tied to individual Nintendo user profiles, making it easy for siblings or family members to share a single Switch 2 without overwriting each other's progress.
Reviews for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book dropped two days before launch and have been largely positive, though with clear caveats. Highlights:
The Verge: Generally positive, praising the storybook framing and creature mechanics
IGN: Positive review highlighting the relaxed pace and charm
Polygon: Approached the title as an unusually contemplative platformer
CGMagazine: Highly positive — praised the "unique sense of challenge" and discovery-focused design
ComicBook: Praised the charm but flagged the campaign as "surprisingly short"
MobileSyrup: Called it a "fascinating experimental kid's game"
The most common critique across reviews is a lower frame rate than some critics expected from a Switch 2 exclusive, paired with a short main campaign. The consensus: it's a charming, kid-friendly platformer with a uniquely calm tone. Some reviewers love the laid-back atmosphere; others wanted more meat on the bones for completionists.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is the most experimental Yoshi title in over a decade. Where Yoshi's Crafted World (2019) leaned hard into the textile-craft aesthetic and Yoshi's Woolly World (2015) into the yarn theme, Mysterious Book uses the storybook conceit to justify a more open-ended, sandbox-like creature-collection format.
The franchise's roots trace back to Super Mario World in 1990 — Yoshi's debut — and the beloved Yoshi's Island in 1995 set the template for the spin-off series. Mysterious Book builds on that template while pushing into new territory. Yoshi also typically appears alongside Mario, Bowser, Kamek, and Bowser Jr in other video games across the broader Mario universe, but this entry is firmly Yoshi-centric — Mr. E and his creatures take the spotlight.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book does not currently have a dedicated collector's or limited edition. Nintendo released the game in two standard versions: a digital edition through the Nintendo eShop for $84.99 USD and a physical retail edition for $99.99 USD, available through Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and GameStop.
Select retailers ran small launch promotions during release week, including free in-store demos of the game running on Switch 2 kiosks at select GameStop and Best Buy locations. No retailer-exclusive cosmetic content, alternate covers, or bonus in-game items have been announced. The standard physical edition includes the game cartridge with no additional bonuses.
The main worlds in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book are presented as chapters within Mr. E (Mister Encyclopedia), with each chapter serving as a distinct level themed around the habitat of a specific creature. Players unlock new chapters as they progress, with each containing platforming challenges, hidden tokens, and creatures to discover.
Nintendo has not published a complete world list, but confirmed creatures featured across the chapters include the Bewilder Bird, the Crayzee Dayzee, and a slug-like grass-eating critter that doubles as a thrown projectile. Each creature defines the visual theme and traversal mechanics of its respective chapter, so the worlds vary widely in look and feel — from natural habitats to more abstract storybook environments.
Yoshi can revisit completed chapters at any time to gather missed collectibles or unlock alternate paths, making each world feel more like a small sandbox of exploration rather than a strict linear stage.
No, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book does not support multiplayer or co-op gameplay. The game is single-player only, with no online or local multiplayer modes. Nintendo's user profile system lets family members maintain separate save files on one Switch 2, but only one Yoshi appears on screen at a time.
This is a notable departure from some earlier Yoshi titles like Yoshi's Woolly World and Yoshi's Crafted World, both of which offered local two-player co-op modes. The decision to make Yoshi and the Mysterious Book single-player only appears tied to its discovery-focused design, where each player's journey through Mr. E's chapters and creatures is meant to feel personal and self-paced.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is exactly what its title promises: a quiet, charming, exploratory platformer wrapped in a storybook framing. It's not the most ambitious Yoshi adventure ever made, but it's one of the most distinct. For Switch 2 owners — especially families with younger players — it's an easy day-one purchase.
If you're still on the fence, demo footage from the original September 2025 Nintendo Direct and post-launch trailers are widely available on Nintendo's official channels. Yoshi's first solo outing in six years is officially here. Time to grab a copy and dive into Mr. E's pages.
Emerson Gray · Editor
Editor
