Yoshis Story (Nintendo 64, 1998)

Yoshi's Story is a side-scrolling platform game that involves controlling one of six young Yoshis as they explore their home island in two play modes: Story and Trial. In addition to the unusual visual style, designed to replicate a picture book, what sets this game apart from similar platform titles is the lack of a specific "end" to reach on a level. Yoshi's Story spans six "pages," with each page representing one of four possible courses. While the game offers a total of 24 levels spread across six worlds, a game only consists of one page per world. To see all the levels, you'll have to keep playing new games while trying to improve your score. 

Yoshi's task within each page is to find 30 pieces of fruit. It doesn't matter where he finds them or in what order -- once he gobbles up the last piece of fruit, he's ready to turn the page. To obtain these pieces of fruit, Yoshi can walk, run, swim, push items, jump, stomp on enemies, and pound the ground. The "pound the ground" technique allows you to reveal hidden fruit to add to your score or "happiness" level. As in previous games, Yoshi can still use his tongue to grab any fruit or enemy character he comes into contact with, but this time color is important: each Yoshi has a certain color preference that keeps him happy and increases your score. 

Swallowing an enemy turns the rival into an egg ready to be thrown anywhere on the screen. Eggs can be launched to reveal hidden platforms, items, or secrets. Yoshi can also sniff the ground (like a bloodhound) to uncover tasty snacks. The game automatically keeps track of your name, high score, and progress for each Yoshi, so you have something to shoot for if you decide to play again. You can collect 30 melons on each page to reveal a secret, or find the three Special Hearts in each course to open up more pages. Cleared courses in Story Mode can then be played in Trial Mode, where the goal is to achieve the highest score possible.