Supreme Overlord
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
- Pronouns
- he/him
Within Nintendo’s colorful and playful worlds, there is yet another section of games that brings joy to many. Serving as a crossgrain against certain perceived industry trends, this subset has been a strengthening backstitch within Nintendo’s catalogue, adding a new motif into the video game giant’s patchwork collage of offerings.
I refer, of course, to Nintendo’s Crafted Worlds, an interfranchise mosaic of games patterned after various types of crafts, be that clay, diorama, crochet, papercraft, or otherwise. This is a cheerful universe bursting with creativity, joy, and fine art style, a universe where the only limit is imagination, eager to be explored.
We begin with a delve into a realm of fabrics in Yoshi’s Woolly World on Wii U, a well-regarded 2015 release with the misfortune of trying to piece together a life on a doomed console. This iteration of Yoshi deserved a much better canvas than it received. Wooly World was given a new chance at life when it released on 3DS in 2017 as Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World, now with the added support of a crocheted Poochy, a lovable dog duck creature chimera thing. Yarn Yoshi, as is our hero's incarnation in these games, continues to make an impression with an adorable design.
Where first we had fabric, now we add paper and diorama to the 2019 Switch followup, Yoshi’s Crafted World, wherein our amigurumi buddy make their way through a beautiful and charmingly crafted world. While Woolly World is largely upheld as the superior experience, the handicraft atmosphere of Crafted World is a marvel itself, and both contribute to our wondrous crafted universe.
Following the seams slightly farther back to the Wii, circa 2010, we find the precursor to our GoodFeel-developed Yoshi, with Kirby’s Epic Yarn, a pleasant and cozy tale that unravels as its titular hero is patched into a strange place called Patch Land, a realm of yarn and fabric, as well as many buttons and zippers to manipulate. And manipulate them Kirby shall, gifted with powers both raveling and unraveling in his new yarn-based form.
The game, before it was knitted together into the end result we all know and adore, began spooled around the concept of a World of Yarn; Keito no Fluff, as it was then called, was set to star the then-eponymous Fluff, who would appear in the released story as the prince of Patch Land and serve as a second player character when co-op was involved.
A yarnover to 3DS would also await Kirby in 2019, where unto him would be grafted new powers, in addition to new modes and even sub-games starring his rivalish allies Meta Knight and King Dedede.
As this yarn is spun, it provides such a good feel to experience, even as it also just feels like pants.
And Kirby doesn’t stop there. 2015 saw him continue on Wii U, accumulating another curse after his paint-themed Canvas Curse, this time molded by HAL Laboratory into the form of clay as part of Kirby’s Rainbow Curse as he sets out on a piebald adventure through a lovingly sculpted world. The curse saw players guide Kirby by painting tracks along which he would roll. Unfortunately, the player might often see their view of the variegated obscured in the act of drawing the aforementioned tracks, detracting from an appreciation of the craft exhibited in this particular world.
All of this is without folding in Nintendo’s largest Crafting Material series, that which once might have been proclaimed a cut above the rest but which has fallen on more controversial times of late: Paper Mario, which builds itself further around its papercrafted worlds as time has unfolds. Some such elements, such as increased reliance on paper-related puns, might leave some players in stitches but are denigrated by many die-cut fans.
Even the likes of Yoshi’s Island, back on the SNES, charmed audiences with its own pastel crayon style.
It seems likely that the tapestry of crafted worlds will be knit further in the future, with endless possibilities regarding what aesthetic theme games will have to come, whether they continue to work with the same series or bring new characters into the fold, whether new varieties of craft are introduced or the current styles prevail. An obvious possibility is that of the Mother series, which could be cast into the clay style of its old advertisements, or some resurrection of the felt-based take once proposed by MonolithSoft’s Honne.
And this crafted universe isn’t confined only to Nintendo. From ClayFighter on SNES and Genesis to Tearaway Unfolded on PS4, there are untold crafted worlds out there to unfold and unravel.
So what have you, Fam? What are some elements of the crafted aesthetic or theme that fire you up with delight or throw you into a kiln of despair and harden your very heart and soul? What hand-crafted touches have drawn your eye and what has appeared only half-baked?
Are there particular forms of craft you would like to see, certain franchises you would mold to the creative crafty whims, or perhaps some combination thereof you would sew together?
How do you feel about the craft behind these crafted worlds?
I refer, of course, to Nintendo’s Crafted Worlds, an interfranchise mosaic of games patterned after various types of crafts, be that clay, diorama, crochet, papercraft, or otherwise. This is a cheerful universe bursting with creativity, joy, and fine art style, a universe where the only limit is imagination, eager to be explored.
Into the Crafted Worlds
We begin with a delve into a realm of fabrics in Yoshi’s Woolly World on Wii U, a well-regarded 2015 release with the misfortune of trying to piece together a life on a doomed console. This iteration of Yoshi deserved a much better canvas than it received. Wooly World was given a new chance at life when it released on 3DS in 2017 as Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World, now with the added support of a crocheted Poochy, a lovable dog duck creature chimera thing. Yarn Yoshi, as is our hero's incarnation in these games, continues to make an impression with an adorable design.
Where first we had fabric, now we add paper and diorama to the 2019 Switch followup, Yoshi’s Crafted World, wherein our amigurumi buddy make their way through a beautiful and charmingly crafted world. While Woolly World is largely upheld as the superior experience, the handicraft atmosphere of Crafted World is a marvel itself, and both contribute to our wondrous crafted universe.
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Following the seams slightly farther back to the Wii, circa 2010, we find the precursor to our GoodFeel-developed Yoshi, with Kirby’s Epic Yarn, a pleasant and cozy tale that unravels as its titular hero is patched into a strange place called Patch Land, a realm of yarn and fabric, as well as many buttons and zippers to manipulate. And manipulate them Kirby shall, gifted with powers both raveling and unraveling in his new yarn-based form.
The game, before it was knitted together into the end result we all know and adore, began spooled around the concept of a World of Yarn; Keito no Fluff, as it was then called, was set to star the then-eponymous Fluff, who would appear in the released story as the prince of Patch Land and serve as a second player character when co-op was involved.
A yarnover to 3DS would also await Kirby in 2019, where unto him would be grafted new powers, in addition to new modes and even sub-games starring his rivalish allies Meta Knight and King Dedede.
As this yarn is spun, it provides such a good feel to experience, even as it also just feels like pants.
And Kirby doesn’t stop there. 2015 saw him continue on Wii U, accumulating another curse after his paint-themed Canvas Curse, this time molded by HAL Laboratory into the form of clay as part of Kirby’s Rainbow Curse as he sets out on a piebald adventure through a lovingly sculpted world. The curse saw players guide Kirby by painting tracks along which he would roll. Unfortunately, the player might often see their view of the variegated obscured in the act of drawing the aforementioned tracks, detracting from an appreciation of the craft exhibited in this particular world.
| 
| 
|
All of this is without folding in Nintendo’s largest Crafting Material series, that which once might have been proclaimed a cut above the rest but which has fallen on more controversial times of late: Paper Mario, which builds itself further around its papercrafted worlds as time has unfolds. Some such elements, such as increased reliance on paper-related puns, might leave some players in stitches but are denigrated by many die-cut fans.
Even the likes of Yoshi’s Island, back on the SNES, charmed audiences with its own pastel crayon style.
| 
| 
|
It seems likely that the tapestry of crafted worlds will be knit further in the future, with endless possibilities regarding what aesthetic theme games will have to come, whether they continue to work with the same series or bring new characters into the fold, whether new varieties of craft are introduced or the current styles prevail. An obvious possibility is that of the Mother series, which could be cast into the clay style of its old advertisements, or some resurrection of the felt-based take once proposed by MonolithSoft’s Honne.
| 
|
And this crafted universe isn’t confined only to Nintendo. From ClayFighter on SNES and Genesis to Tearaway Unfolded on PS4, there are untold crafted worlds out there to unfold and unravel.
So what have you, Fam? What are some elements of the crafted aesthetic or theme that fire you up with delight or throw you into a kiln of despair and harden your very heart and soul? What hand-crafted touches have drawn your eye and what has appeared only half-baked?
Are there particular forms of craft you would like to see, certain franchises you would mold to the creative crafty whims, or perhaps some combination thereof you would sew together?
How do you feel about the craft behind these crafted worlds?
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