Yooka & Laylee

Hey Laylee, we seem to have ended up in a totally different game altogether. Some kind of fighting game with other animals. Oh and that one guy who offered us a quest that one time. Oh, and a bunch of other characters from other video games as well as some hamburger chucking clown god.

I bet this game sucks!

It seems kind of familiar, don’t you think? Haven’t we been here before?

That wasn’t us, that was some low quality pathetic mod that was pretending to be us, this is the real us.

You mean like how our first game was bang average and the second was a considerable improvement?

Exactly!

Well, should we explain to the people how to play us?

Why? They should figure it out for themselves, its not that hard!

Our signature move is the Boost Roll. Although we did call it the Reptile Roll in the first game. This move has a unique property. If you hit someone then you can continue to roll by either mashing or holding the attack button down. You can even jump cancel the move and we gain additional height by doing so!

Wow, that sounds broken!

I use my tail to attack and Laylee likes to blast enemies with her sonar waves.

My sonar waves are the strongest attack in the game, nothing comes close.

Not sure about that one Laylee. But anyway, we bring over a lot of moves from both games we were in, even that one other fighting game we were both in together. Brawlout was it?

That one? That wasn’t a very good game so I forgot we were even in it.

This even includes our Buddy Slam. It was useful to get to places in our adventures and its useful here as an attack. In here its our down aerial. Not only does it serve well as an attack but it has an additional functionality that we can use.

Well, onto the specials!

I have a very long tongue; it comes in handy from trying to reach things. I can use my tongue to grab opponents from afar and pull them in. Once I have grabbed an opponent we have five attacks we can do. Press up, down, left or right to throw the foe in any direction.

Alternatively, press any attack button and I can blast them with sonar waves.

Its good to have options. But if you successfully grab someone then after throwing them you have to wait a bit before you can grab again.

Pathetic. They should put infinite combos in every game.

I don’t know about that one Laylee..

Ah yes, I remember this move from the Impossible Lair. In that game I could only do it with Laylee around.

Good thing I’m always around you in this game huh?

This move puts us into pratfall if we start it in the air and during the move at any point we can cancel it into the endlag, forcing a premature end.

Mixups huh? That sounds pretty cool!

Its also good for hitting the opponent multiple times.

Wait, that’s it? Aren’t all the other Specials super complicated or something?

Laylee and I get into a boom bloom and fire in any one of eight directions. Hold the button down during the start to delay the launch, you can freely rotate during this startup too. Release the button to fire.

But this move has extra utility.

Yeah, the bloom stays behind on stage until we use the move again. While the bloom is on the stage, any player who comes into contact with it will be launched in that direction. We can even use Buddy Slam to rotate the blooms and change the direction it shoots, it rotates based on where the bloom is on stage related to us.

Doesn’t that sound like exactly the same gimmick as a certain banana monkey?

Ours has a unique twist to it.

Say what?

We summon a Grand Tome that springs forth a berry tree from its world which we can then eat. Those berries were really useful in the first game.

That sounds awfully contrived and grasping at strings to bring berries into this game!

There are four berries, Scorch, Frost, Splash and Bomb. We select one by turning the pages of the book and then by pressing attack I eat one in order to temporarily gain the powers of that berry. With Scorch berries I gain a flamethrower, with Frost berries I can use Slurp shot to rapid fire at enemies, with Splash berries I can squirt water to push foes towards the edge of the stage and with Bomb berries I can use bouncing projectiles to intercept opponents. Shielding during the berries cancels them instantly but they run out after a while.

Isn’t there another factor to all this?

Ah yes, if you shoot a berry at a boom bloom you can do different things. Scorch sets the bloom on fire and turns it into a stage hazard, Frost freezes the bloom and sends it plummeting to the ground until it shatters, Splash doubles the size of the bloom increasing its potency as well as making the Scorch and Frost berries better and Bombs are fired out of the bloom and redirected to hit unsuspecting opponents.

Man characters these days are WAY too complex!

A more powerful version of my Sonar Splosion which has a large blast radius, you don’t want to get hit by it.

Check out the forums for a list of all mods that we are compatible with. Also Laylee can talk after the match depending on who we fight.

Yeah, somehow you get a say in what I say after games, check the forums.

Credits:
Sprites, coding and design: Aperson
Portrait: Omelette
Testing: ATalksToSelf, Reaver of Souls, Bulldoger, Specter240

Yooka and Laylee are voiced by Chris Sutherland and are copyright of Playtonic Games. This is a fanwork not for profit.

"The closest thing to Banjo and Kazooie on Workshop right now"