Yoshi's Cookie

Overview

Yoshi's Cookie is a 1992 tile-matching puzzle video game developed by Tose and published by Nintendo for the NES and Game Boy platforms in 1992. A SNES version was released the following year, developed and published by Bullet-Proof Software. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its simple but addictive gameplay and its presentation.

Yoshi's Cookie is a tile-matching video game in which the player is given a playing field populated with cookies of several types, arranged in a rectangular grid. The main objective of each level is to clear the playing field of all the cookies. The player mixes and matches the cookies such that entire rows or columns consist only of cookies of the same type. The player controls a cursor on the grid that is used to rotate individual lines in a manner similar to a Rubik's Cube. When a single row or column contains all matching cookies, the row is cleared from the grid.

Yoshi's Cookie originally began development as an arcade game called Hermetica, which was being produced by game developer Home Data. The arcade game did poorly at the location test, so Home Data sold the Hermetica rights to Bullet-Proof Software. Bullet-Proof Software then produced an SNES version, designed by David Nolte. This version was shown at the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show. Nintendo obtained the licenses for the 8-bit (NES and Game Boy) versions of Hermetica, and developed the game into Yoshi's Cookie, which now featured Mario characters.

Yoshi's Cookie was first released in Japan on November 21, 1992, for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. Five months later, it was released in North America in April 1993, and in Europe on April 28, 1994.

From contemporary reviews, the four reviewers in Weekly Famicom Tsūshin commented positively on the Famicom version of the game with one reviewer saying it was similarly addictive as single player gamer like Dr. Mario while another said it was not as strong as addictive as Tetris. The reviewers found it most fun as a two-player game with the ability to cause disruptions to the other player. Reviewing the version for the Game Boy, the reviewers said the cookies were harder to decipher on the Game Boy screen, but it was superior to the Famicom version as a multiplayer game as it allowed up to four players and the fact that players couldn't see each other's screens made it more intense.

Official trailer

Gameplay video. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

Yoshis Cookie Gameboy Classic Gameplay/Longplay | 1992 | Nintendo Game Boy, Witali. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Puzzle

Developer

Nintendo R&D1

Publisher

Nintendo

Series

Yoshi's Cookie

Platforms

Game Boy

Age rating

ESRB E

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

Yes

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

USK

0

CERO

A

PEGI

3

ACB

G

ESRB

E

GRAC

ALL

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Space and patches

Update patchNo patch

DLC

No DLC. Game Boy games had no downloadable content.

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

No online features; every mode works today on the cartridge. The cartridge runs on any Game Boy, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Reception

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Famitsu	29	40

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Developer	Tose
Publisher	Nintendo
Producer	Gunpei Yokoi
Designers	David Nolte, Alexey Pajitnov (puzzles)
Artists	Shigefumi Hino, Chieko Matsumoto, Mika Inoue

Notes for collectors

• Began as an arcade game, Hermetica, by Home Data, which tested poorly and was sold to Bullet-Proof Software.
• Tose made the NES and Game Boy versions for Nintendo; both came out in Japan on 21 November 1992.
• Rows and columns slide like a Rubik's Cube; a Yoshi cookie works as a wild card.
• Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, designed puzzles for it.

Credits

Publisher

Nintendo

Developer

Tose

Released

1993-04-07

Age rating

Not rated (pre-ESRB, before 1994)

Region

US

Time to beat

about 2.1 hours