Yoshi's Cookie

Yoshi's Cookie (also known in Japan as Yoshi no Cookie) is a puzzle game similar to Tetris developed by Bullet-Proof Software and released by Nintendo in 1992 for the NES, SNES, and Game Boy. It was later re-released for the Nintendo GameCube alongside Dr. Mario 64 (labeled Dr. Mario) and Panel de Pon (the original version of Tetris Attack) in the Japan-only game Nintendo Puzzle Collection in which a story mode is added. Though it is not a puzzle game, the minigame Egg found in Game & Watch Gallery 3 is somewhat similar to Yoshi's Cookie as it also involves Yoshi eating cookies falling from the sky. Also bearing similarity to it is the minigame Mario's Cement Factory found in Game & Watch Gallery 4, where Mario creates the Yoshi's Cookie cookies instead of cement in the modern version. The stage from the game also makes an appearance in Tetris DS.

Gameplay
The objective of the game is to clear the stage of cookies, which appear from the top and the right of the screen. To clear cookies, the player needs an entire row of the same cookies either horizontally or vertically. To move the cookies, the player has to press // on a cookie and press a direction on the directional pad. Depending on the direction the player presses, the row the cookie is on is then moved either vertically or horizontally. There are six types of cookies: heart cookies, sunflower cookies, green cookies, checkered cookies, donuts, and Yoshi Cookies (shaped like Yoshi's head). The game consists of three modes: Action, VS, and Puzzle.

Action Mode is a game consisting of 10 rounds, with each round containing 10 stages. Before the game starts, the player can set the round which who wants to play in, the falling speed of the blocks and the music. After the player beats a certain stage, who can view a short, humorous cutscene with Mario. Rounds 11-99 are also unlockable, and within them the cookies are replaced by Mario enemies (except for the Yoshi Cookie).

VS Mode is a simple 2 player/1 player vs. COM game. The player starts off by picking one of four characters: Mario, Peach, Yoshi, or Bowser. The goal of the game is to keep a lit fuse higher or it runs out and all the player's pieces go away. To keep the fuse higher, the player have to consistently clear rows of 5 against the player's opponent. Getting 5 Yoshi cookie's in a row would often give the player a special, such as the players covering up the player's opponent's screen with question mark blocks or taking control of the opponent field.

The objective of Puzzle Mode is to clear the field with a limited number of moves. The puzzles range from simple to complex.

The Nintendo Puzzle Collection version adds a story mode to the game, wherein Mario and Yoshi get exhausted from countless cookie deliveries, and Bowser steals their cookies while they sleep. The first five stages offer different opponents depending on the difficulty:


 * Easy
 * Goomba
 * Cheep Cheep
 * Paratroopa
 * Boo
 * Spiny
 * Normal
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Blooper
 * Bullet Bill
 * Eerie
 * Piranha Plant
 * Hard
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Rip Van Fish
 * Lakitu
 * Fishin' Boo
 * Hammer Bro

Regardless of the difficulty, the final two stages offer the same opponents, though their skill differs between each difficulty. Stage 6 lets the player face off against Thwomp, followed by Magikoopa. Stage 7 is a best-three-out-of-five match against Bowser himself.

Staff
The Game Boy and NES versions were developed by Nintendo R&D 1, with Gunpei Yokoi acting as the producer.

The SNES version was developed by Bullet-Proof Software. Alexey Pajitnov, creator of Tetris, designed the puzzles.

Reception
Yoshi's Cookie received mixed to positive reviews.

Trivia

 * In the NES and Game Boy versions, there was a cutscene at the title screen where Mario would walk onto a screen with a jar of cookies. He would then try to open it, to no avail. He then gets an idea and walks off the screen. Yoshi comes up soon afterward and eats the jar whole. Mario then reappears with a hammer and begins chasing Yoshi off the screen. Later, he returns back on screen holding the cookie jar, which was empty to begin with. This, however, bears no influence on the game itself. This intro was made for the SNES prototype of the game, but was taken out for final release.
 * The SNES version of Yoshi's Cookie featured a slightly-updated version of Yoshi's appearance, in which he has a bigger head and shorter neck.
 * All of the opponents in the Nintendo Puzzle Collection version's story mode are taken from Super Mario World, with the exception of Blooper and Hammer Bro.
 * The cookies used in Yoshi's Cookie are also used in the modern version of Egg from Game & Watch Gallery 3.