Yoshi Wholly World on 3DS is Important

It’s not often that I say a video game is incredibly important, unless it touches on specific social issues or world injustices, but purely from a video game stand point, I think the release of Poochy and Yoshi’s Wholly World on the 3DS is incredibly important for Nintendo in three specific ways: first, it highlights the desire from fans to see popular Wii U games get ported to the 3DS; second, it shows that Nintendo still has plans for the 3DS in 2017; and finally, that there are still inherent benefits of owning the NEW 3DS system over the original.

People Want Ports

Although I’ve never been a fan of a company over doing it on the ports, I strongly believe that Nintendo should be the exception. They have so many great games that deserve to be revived on newer systems – Super Mario Sunshine and Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door for example. I really enjoy seeing Nintendo port popular Wii U titles to their handheld systems, which not only allows previous fans to enjoy their titles on the go, but also brings quality products to a whole new consumer base.

I would argue that Nintendo has been really great at this yet, since ports from Wii U to the 3DS often come with missing features. See our Super Mario Maker 3DS review for more on that. However, in the case of Yoshi’s Wholly World, it appears as if Nintendo is putting in the extra effort and bringing MORE content to the 3DS version. Here is a breakdown:

• Poochy will be introduced in the 3DS game, allowing players to engage in a specific Poochy Run mini game; a Poochy amiibo can also be used to bring Poochy into one of Yoshi’s levels.
• Because of the gap in releases, more amiibo will be compatible with the 3DS version of Yoshi’s Wholly World; there will also be a feature that will allow you to move amiibo data between two sysems.

It’s not all rosy in Nintendo Land however, as there has yet to be any mention of a multiplayer experience. Still, the demand is there and Ninendo is filling it; I’m ok with that.

3DS in 2017 is Still Alive

Whether or not the Nintendo Switch is suppose to be the 3DS killer won’t really be a factor in 2017 since Nintendo has a great launch lineup of titles for the system this year. It begins in a few weeks with Poochy and Yoshi’s Wholly World, and is followed up by a Mario Sports title, and later – as announced yesterday – a Fire Emblem titles as well. People love their 3DS systems, and for the time being, it appears as if Nintendo will continue to support them. I am in favour of that!

Still Reasons to Purchase a New 3DS XL

Very few games have taken advantage of the New 3DS XL system; while a few games have been new system specific, most offer minimal benefits – generally, just faster load times. It appears that with Poochy and Yoshi’s Wholly World, the differences will be very drastic. Porting a fast paced and highly detailed title from the Wii U to the 3DS cannot be the easiest task, especially when comparing the power of the two systems. Nintendo has announced that the game will run much smoother and at 60 frames per second on the NEW 3DS as opposed to the regular 3DS, which will see a frame rate of 30 frames per second. This is a big difference, and for anyone wanting the ultimate Wholly World experience, an upgrade might be the option right now.
What do you think about Poochy and Yoshi’s Wholly World? Will you pick it up on launch day?