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5 /5

If Super Mario World romhacking is a bustling city, Yoshi’s Island hacking is a wild frontier, largely unexplored and teeming with possibilities. Inspired by pioneering works such as Isocitration’s SMW2 Hack and pinnor’s Trouble in Paradise, we set out to dive headfirst into all of YI’s wonderful and silly possibilities. The result of our collective labor is Flutter! - a 30 stage hack that shifts between traditional and classic YI design, Kaizo style platforming, and puzzles that explore and abuse the game’s unusual mechanics.

The original YI was a game centered around exploration, but we've molded it to fit the type of game we wanted to make. Red coins and the star counter have been abolished, resulting in flowers being the only collectible. Additionally, baby Mario has been left at home, allowing Yoshi to enjoy his own adventure without the constant threat of ear-splitting crying noises. Lastly, the game has a quick instant-retry system upon death, which also saves flowers upon collection, so you only have to collect each flower once.

As a result, Flutter! is a lot more streamlined, focusing on both platforming and the exploration of unusual ideas. Enthusiasts of the original YI will still find plenty of facets of the original that they should enjoy. Adventurers should be warned, however - to collect every flower and 100% the game, you will need a healthy appetite for challenging puzzles and setups that require you to stop and think critically.