In Nintendo’s vast catalogue of characters, there’s no better example of a figure that represents constant reinvention than good ol’ Kirby. Not only has the little chap changed colour since his (monochrome, let’s not forget) debut, he’s also gone on to try his hand – if that’s what those odd flipper things even are – at just about anything going.

This is awesome!

Not uncommon, sure, with characters like Sonic and Mario also moonlighting in a variety of genres over the years, but the key difference here is that the ‘traditional’ games that introduced us to Kirby were hardly been traditional at all, and represented the same eclectic, scattershot approach as other heroes’ spin-off titles. Transforming with the same ease and sweeping variety as Kirby himself, the adventures of Nintendo’s pink blob now take a somewhat woolier turn than many expected.

The beautiful sewn aesthetic stretches far beyond simple visual flourishes too, with both the lovable fabric world and the hand-stitched hero affected on a gameplay level by this bizarre twist. It’s most noticeable on Kirby himself, for whom an extendable stringy appendage replaces the usual suck/transform mechanic. But rather than meaning a farewell to transformations, this enables Kirby’s wiggly outline to be altered in all number of ways on the fly, seamlessly and more organically.

Use the tether to attach him to a button and he’ll become an odd little bell thing as he swings, while distances can be covered quicker by having Kirby drop down and become a stunted little car. There are all kinds of other forms the versatile hero can take on, some of which seem situational and integral to the levels they feature in, and we’re sure the final game will expand on what we’ve seen with a good number of additional ways for Kirby to use and abuse his stringy form as well.

Toasty

But it’s the way all of this works with the levels themselves that has impressed us most so far. On a basic level, this can be something as simple as having Kirby disappear behind a layer of fabric as you take control of a bulge beneath the cloth. Then there are things like the zips that appear in levels and can be undone to reveal hidden areas, and even cleverer uses of the concept of having woven stages - one example we saw had Kirby latch onto a button in the background and yank on it to bunch up the fabric and get rid of a gap in the landscape. How prescribed this element’s use will be remains to be seen, though you have to assume that you won’t be able to do it at will – Kirby games have always been easy, but that would be taking things one step too far as players bunched up entire levels and stepped on to the goal.

Still, it’s not like Epic Yarn is a difficult game by any stretch. Super Mario Galaxy 2 was as hardcore a game as Nintendo has ever put out but. Here, platforming returns to its simplistic roots in a game that literally anyone can play and enjoy. Similar to the Lego games, there’s doesn’t seem to be any way to actually fail in Kirby’s latest adventure, with poor performances garnering meagre scores, while perfect runs and thorough exploration earn you far more respectable tallies. Epic Yarn is attracting a lot of attention, both for its Yoshi’s Story-style presentation and for the unique effects of design on gameplay.

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