Yoshi Topsy-Turvy

Yoshi Topsy-Turvy (released as Yoshi's Universal Gravitation in Europe and Australia) is a title for the Game Boy Advance developed by Artoon and published by Nintendo. It takes place in the present, unlike many other games in the Yoshi series. It was released on 2004 in Japan, and a year later in the United States. This was one of only a few Nintendo games to feature gyroscopic controls, some others being WarioWare: Twisted! and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble.

Story
Bowser and his armies were attacking Yoshi Island, causing chaos and disorder. In response to this, a spirit named Hongo attempts to seal Bowser and his minions in his book named Forbidden Pop-Up Book, but Hongo fails and accidently seals the entire island in the book. Yoshi starts panicking, but a spirit named Spirit Who Loves Surprises explains to Yoshi that he must talk with Hongo and convince him to bring Yoshi Island back to normal, because spirits doesn't have enough power to defeat Bowser, which was hiding in a cave at the final chapter of the book, The Tale of Bowser's Cave. He also says that he was fired because he didn't know how to keep secrets. Yoshi gets mad, and has a proof of his apology, the Spirit Who Loves Surprises gives to Yoshi the power to tilt the entire world and explains how to use it, but Yoshi accidentally hit the spirit with a boulder. Yoshi manages to convince Hongo to restore Yoshi Island under the conditions that Yoshi must defeat Bowser, because if he restore Yoshi Island with Bowser, he will attack Yoshi Island again. Now Yoshi must satisfy each one of the Yoshi Island Spirits. By doing this, he will receive Happiness Medals and the spirits will allow him to battle with Bowser.

Yoshi finds the Spirit of Cuteness, which explains to Yoshi that Bowser attacked Eggland and transformed every Eggling into apples. When Yoshi swallow a apple, it is revealed that the apple is really a Eggling. After satisfying some spirits, Yoshi must complete the Tale of the Spirit of Kindness, and after completing this chapter, Yoshi must complete a level while a Fake Bowser try to attack him, which is later revealed that is the Spirit Who Love Surprises who was controling the Fake Bowser. Yoshi gets mad, but the Spirit Who Love Surprises apologizes for frightening him, and says that he was just testing him to see if he is ready to battle with Bowser. Yoshi now must complete the Tale of the Spirit of Fright, and after satisfying every spirit of Yoshi Island, Yoshi now can battle with Bowser.

After satisfying the spirits, rescuing the Eggling and defeating Bowser, the spirits celebrate Yoshi's victory, and Hongo gets very grateful for Yoshi's heroism. He makes a meal for Yoshi, but Yoshi still wasn't happy. He then uses his magic to bring Yoshi Island back to normal and Yoshi back to its original state. Yoshi eats the meal with the Egglings, which will never forgot Yoshi's deeds. At the end, the Spirit Who Love Surprises return to work with Hongo.

Gameplay
Yoshi Topsy-Turvy proved very different from other Yoshi games. Although it retained a similar art style and the basic moves from Yoshi's Story, there was important changes.

This is the first Mario and Yoshi game that gravity has a important role. By tilting the Game Boy Advance left or right, the world tilt accordingly. There is only three levels of tilt total: normal, left, and right. Fine tuning of the level of tilt was not present. When the world is tilted, Yoshi can walk at walls and many items such as Chime Balls and enemies like Spikeballs roll to the accordingly direction. Many items such as Cannons and apples tilt to the accordingly direction.

To go to the next area, Yoshi must touch a ring made of stars. If Yoshi touches one, he cannot go back to the previous area because there is no ring to take him there. At the end of the level, Yoshi must touch a large star to win a Hapiness Medal and go to the next level. Some areas require Yoshi to transform to a different form to collect items and reach the finish of the level.

Depending on what level of the game players are at, the spirit who give the mission and the requirements for finishing the level change. Every level has a task given by one or two spirits, to increase the difficulty.

The game features a Bonus Games mode, which Shuffle Mode, Shuffle Mode EX and Minigames can be played, and a Eggling Book. At the end of every level, there's a Bonus Chance!, which is a chance to play a Bonus Mission!. If Yoshi completes a Bonus Mission!, he wins 50 Coins, and a 1-Up if he reach 100 Coins.

Throughout the game, Yoshi will find twelve different enemies which drain Yoshi's health meter if he touch one of them. Yoshi can swallow hearts to restore one point of his health meter. A variation of these hearts completely restore Yoshi's health meter. These enemies have a important role at the game, because missions given by Spirit of Power include defeating a certain number of enemies, and missions given by Spirit of Kindness include avoiding defeating enemies. Different from other Yoshi games, Yoshi farts after eating an enemy instead of making eggs.

Some areas require to Yoshi ride in a Ferris Wheel to collect Coins, and some areas require Yoshi to ride in a platform which rise in a rail, and after reaching the top, start to fall down and the player can tilt the platform to the left or the right by tilting the console. Some areas also have snow, which makes Yoshi slip in the ground, and he can use this to his advantage. If the console is tilted, Yoshi slide to the accordingly direction, and he can jump higher using small round holes found in the ground. Some areas takes place in a snowy mountain. The player must tilt the console to the right, making Yoshi to slide down the mountain. A minigame very similar to this called Yoshi's Big Jump can be played at the Bonus Games mode.

If Yoshi complete the task given by the spirit, he wins a Happiness Medal. If Yoshi completes the level with a much better score than the required, he wins a Gold Medal. If Yoshi gets a score near the required, he wins a Silver Medal.

Chapters

 * Tale of the Spirit of Cuteness
 * Tale of the Spirit of Money
 * Tale of the Spirit of Power
 * Tale of the Spirit of Speed
 * The Tale of Fake Bowser's Field
 * Tale of the Spirit of Kindness
 * Tale of the Spirit of Fright
 * The Tale of Bowser's Cave

Characters

 * Yoshi
 * Hongo
 * Spirit of Cuteness
 * Spirit of Greed
 * Spirit of Power
 * Spirit of Kindness
 * Spirit of Fright
 * Spirit Who Loves Surprises
 * Spirit of Speed
 * Bowser

Single player
At this mode, Yoshi must travel trough eight chapters, thirty-seven levels, a mid-boss and defeat Bowser at the final chapter. Yoshi must avoid twelve different enemies that drain Yoshi's health meter when touched, and can swallow hearts to restore his health meter. If Yoshi loses all his health meter, he loses a life. Yoshi gets a Happiness Medals at the end of every level if he complete the tasks given by the spirits, and he can swallow apples to free the Egglings from Bowser's curse.

Bonus Games
At this mode, three Minigames can be played to obtain scores and save the score in the scoreboard. The minigames that can be played are:

Eggling Book
The Eggling Book is a book with seven pages with every Eggling that Yoshi has rescued. At this book, the player can see the name and the class of every Eggling.

Yoshi's Transformations
Throughout the game, Yoshi may transform into a unique object. These transformations are obligatory to complete certain areas and to collect certain items.

Enemies
Instead of making eggs, Yoshi farts after eating an enemy.

Critical Reception
Trying to innovate, Nintendo and Artoon produced what is regarded as a mediocre title by critics. As of August 8, 2006, the game’s overall review score was 6.2/10 based on Gamerankings.com collection of reviews.

IGN.com’s Craig Harris noted that the use of the star rings to travel trough areas made the game seem rigid as some areas only lasted for seconds. He said that the characters were irritating, the storyline was stupid and the gameplay barely resembled other Yoshi games. They also caused the reviewer frustration when used in ways that made it seem like the developers were making sure players learned to pay attention. He give the game a 5/10.

Gamespot.com’s Justin Calvert stated that the adventure was fun and clever when it began, but after a while, the graphics, sound and game play mechanics became repetitive. He also commented that the game was too short. He had little reason to keep playing after meeting the bare requirements for beating the game. He give the game a 6.6/10.

1up.com’s Jeremy Parish stated that the game felt like it had been designed around the motion sensor, unlike WarioWare: Twisted! where it felt like the sensor was designed to fit the game. He feels that the game is just a sub-par game with choppy tilt-sensing technology thrown in. He give the game a 4/10.