Yoshi's Universal Gravitation

Did You Know?

• When Bowser wreaks havoc on Yoshi's Island, a book spirit named Hongo traps the island within the pages of a storybook.
• Only by locking Bowser away can Yoshi convince Hongo to release the rest of the island.
• Yoshi sets out to progress through the chapters of the book.

Gameplay

Each course is governed by a spirit with a specific obsession, such as money, speed, friendliness, or strength. These spirits set objectives like collecting fruit to free Egglings, finishing within a time limit, finding coins, or defeating—or sparing—enemies. Yoshi can jump and use his tongue to eat fruit or enemies; after eating an enemy, he produces a puff of air instead of an egg. The tilt mechanic lets players shift the world by moving the Game Boy Advance side to side, causing enemies to roll, swinging ships and pendulums, and bouncing items. An impassable wall may become a climbable slope, or a rolled-up carpet a long platform. Players must master both button presses and tilt movements to progress.

Reception

Most critics at the time considered Yoshi's Universal Gravitation a mediocre title. Craig Harris of IGN found it too short, and many reviewers felt that WarioWare: Twisted! used tilt-sensing technology more effectively. 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish described the tilt controls as graceless and clumsy and the character animations as choppy, calling the game mediocre and boring. GameSpot's Justin Calvert thought the tilting worked adequately and praised the graphics and difficulty curve, but found the game repetitive and disappointingly short. Game Informer enjoyed the tilt sensing as a neat and inventive mechanic that breathed new life into the platformer genre, but was disappointed by the mostly standard level designs.