We tried out for you a preview of the next exclusive coming soon on Nintendo Switch 2 (NSW2) on May 21, 2026. During our two-hour demo, we delved into the first moments of the game world, which is essentially punctuated by the stories of Enzo, a talking encyclopedia who narrates the adventures of the various characters who populate his world. We were therefore able to test the first chapter and, in part, a few levels of the fourth chapter.
A Yoshi game that proposes an "original" artistic direction“
The public's reception after the first two trailers was marked by a mix of nostalgia and curiosity. Online, many fans enthusiastically welcomed the film. the return to an aesthetic that pays homage to the hand drawings of Yoshi's Island, interpreting it as Nintendo's desire to return to the more artistic roots of the series (after the wool and cardboard interludes). On social media and specialized forums, however, there are doubts regarding the level structure itself: while vertical exploration and the page system seem to make good use of the new console's processing power to manage depth of field, some of the community fears that excessive backtracking could weigh down the franchise's typically relaxed pace. There's still great anticipation to see how the power of NSW2 will impact the interactivity of the environments, with many users hoping for book physics that go beyond mere aesthetics. The game, from our brief hands-on, seemed to run smoothly at 4K.
The enemies, already visible in the trailers released so far, are all well-characterized and mostly come from Yoshi's world, such as the Flower in the first levels of the game, or the iconic Shy Guy, whom we could nickname whatever we wanted throughout the adventure at the end of each stage (with which they are the protagonists). What impressed us most, but which will be examined in depth in the review, is the book-like exploration, in which the player is not limited to going horizontally from point A to point B, but moves across a level organized on multiple vertical planes. In this context, Yoshi must unlock, so to speak, events with the enemy (or companion) protagonist of the level. Essentially, in addition to the classic collectibles, the player must be resourceful to unlock new pages from Enzo during exploration, as briefly mentioned in the previous paragraph. On the first playthrough, it will no longer be possible to discover all the secrets of a stage. This inevitably causes some backtracking, but not necessarily in a negative sense. It's not yet clear how backtracking will be handled as you progress through Enzo's chapters. However, it's immediately apparent that many of the discoveries are ingenious and thoughtfully placed, representing the quality platforming level design we've come to expect from Nintendo. What certainly surprised us is the sheer number of secrets (even in the simplest early levels) to reveal. This is even more convincing in terms of both longevity and the quality of the design, which seems much deeper than the initial trailers suggested.
