Yokoi Kids – January: Mario's Picross | February: Spanky's Quest

A Spankin’ Good Quest on Game Boy? – Lord Reptile

Much like how Pyramid Head once punished strange creatures in front of James for avoiding his guilt, Spanky the Monkey has arrived on Game Boy to punish the odd enemies in Spanky’s Quest. Spanky lives up to his title as a punisher and is well equipped for the job with his unique ability to make an entrance with his long tail and to produce bouncing bubbles of death. Tapping the B button while facing in one direction will allow Spanky to produce an orb of punishment that will immobilize the monster, but in order to truly finish the job one must hold the B button and add one extra bounce of the projectile, turning it into an orb of death. The doom orb, now complete, will hurl itself into Spanky’s foe, obliterating it and any of Q-Bert’s extended family that are in its way. Not a bad day’s work for a little monkey.

As Spanky advances through the towers some of the monster formations will require a bit of innovation from the player, wether it be expanding the bubble with successive bounces or jumping to extend the range of the bubble, Spanky’s Quest will put your puzzle platformer chops to the test. As for how long it will stay that way, that largely depends on how long you, the player, can withstand the punishment of the looping music that will not change from one level to the next. If you’ve played Adventures of Lolo you know exactly what I mean. Luckily each tower contains its own unique tune, so if you grow weary you can just change the tower when Spanky runs out of lives.

Spanky’s Quest isn’t a particularly engaging or unique Game Boy title, your mileage with those one may vary. It’s not for everyone, but you might as well give it a try if you love a little monkey hero solving puzzles and you’re tired of the same old platformers aping Super Mario Land.

Witness the return of Reptile, or Lord Reptile if you’re not into the brevity thing. Their favorite genres are fighting and survival horror but they’ll play anything on the Game Boy. @lrd_frgsht

Illustration by Rick V. itsmerickv.com

Yokoi Kids Nonogram Game!?

picross.net/yokoi/

This is a quick and dirty nonogram game/editor built over the course of three weeks. Left click to fill tiles, right click to mark them. The goal will be to have a puzzle for every game covered by Yokoi Kids over the years.

Please share your links to your creations if you build any fun puzzles!

Also feel free to send any bugs/comments/improvement suggestions my way.
– Nolen

Marios Picross: Frame by Frame -Jeff Brown

Mario’s Picross is an interesting game because it’s something that could have been a big success in America but never really caught on. When you see something like Tetris become a sensation, which was an early pillar for the Game Boy, it’s easy to think that Picross could follow in its footsteps. Heck, Dr. Mario was a massive hit, so Mario working with puzzles should have been another victory. Even later on, the DS games like Brain Age were very popular with all types of people. Released in 1995, Mario’s Picross is a grid puzzle game that is a bit like Minesweeper in that there is a learning curve with the logic and rules. That could be a major factor; the pace is slower, and you likely won’t have an instant grasp right out of the box, so it is perhaps down to patience or lack thereof in Western markets. However, in Japan, Picross was a hit, so much so that it got a few sequels that did not make it out to the West. A North American copy of the game is not that common and is not a cheap title on the vintage market. Conversely, in Japan the Mario’s Picross franchise (especially the original) is ubiquitous and goes for very little. Just the fact that it was a franchise in Japan while a mere blip on the radar in America tells you a lot. My personal experience is that recently I saw copies in Japanese shops going for about 900-1200 yen, and the copy I picked up at a Hard Off was 300 yen. Now my copy is in need of a new battery, so it doesn’t save, and that is likely the reason for the 300 yen price tag. It’s not the type of game that was in need of saving data in regard to doing a review, so the new battery can wait until I get home to my own stash of parts and components.

Do I really understand Picross? Kind of, I have a basic grasp of the game and really enjoy puzzle games. I can breeze through the easy puzzles; you are given a grid along with numerical hints, sort of like Sudoku, but not exactly either. Trying to explain the game is probably why it’s only reached cult status in the US; I have trouble trying to sell it to a person unfamiliar with it. I’m not an expert, so that shouldn’t condemn the game to the hall of shame or trash bin; if you give it some time and play it, you’ll likely get some joy from it. They are not stressful, are semi-low-stakes affairs, and are good for just sitting down for a relaxing session with the Game Boy. That’s really the ethos of the system; you settle in for a fun and enjoyable experience as Mario chisels away at a fun little picture to be revealed. There are things like a timer and penalties for wrong guesses, but it never feels too tense. Game Boy games can be fast-paced, stressful button mashing, but the overall vibe is more passive and inviting. The music in the game also lends to the atmosphere (well, the opening title music is ominous and a bit out of place) of whittling away an evening working on some puzzles. Leisure, not competition, is how I’ve always felt when picking up my Game Boy.The final verdict is that it should be filed away in the “your mileage may vary” section, but again, I think it’s worth a try. The idea of hanging out with Mario and using logic to reveal pictures of dollar signs, letters of the alphabet, diamonds, music notes, and a coffee maker maybe sounds quaint, but it’s something we could all use now more than ever.

Jeff Brown is from the Seattle area and is a lifelong fan of video games. Jeff’s parents got the Atari 5200 and him in 1982; both of them were troublesome on day one and maybe regretful. He is a musician who leans towards ambient and noise, via synths and guitars (jeffbrown1.bandcamp.com). He also writes about music and stage plays at Teppen! (teppen.life). The previous few years he’s covered Joshi extensively, including interviewing Starlight Kid, Sareee, AZM, Nao Kakuta, Act Yasukawa, and many more.

Illustration by Robin Enrico, a cartoonist from New York. Check him out at robinenrico.com or on Bluesky @robinhoodie.bsky.social

February 2026: Spanky’s Quest (1992)

IT’S GAME 100! That’s…

::calculator::

8.33333 repeating years’ worth of slacker coverage!

We aren’t slackers, though. Truly! We’re just three dads (one canonically and two spiritually) getting older and busier with families, homes, etc. I’ve grown to enjoy the monthly check-ins, the games to play, and the basic idea of Yokoi Kids more as time passes, even if my presence is less apparent.

So, yeah. Game 100? Spanky’s Quest.

Your expectations have been shattered.

A monkey stands atop the mountain.

AND

we’re putting a wrapper on a wrapper. Take it away Rick! Then Nolen! Then Rick again! Then me one more time!

Have we really attempted to cover a hundred games? When Ian and I brainstormed Yokoi Kids as a Game-Of-The-Month thing back in 2017, I never imagined myself being in my forties and still participating. It’s a very silly concept and it’s even sillier that we have stuck to for a hundred different games.

We never broke into the online world of retro video gaming coverage and that was never the intention. We have definitely had some past contributors who very obviously tried to use Yokoi Kids as a stepping stone to that status (sorry). But we have always been fine with very half-assedly running this program. Hell, I’m writing this the day before we announce “Game 100”. Yokoi Kids has always been on the back burner of our busy adult lives and I think we collectively think that’s A-okay.

But maybe we shouldn’t. It would be nice to have some weekly content on our cheaply put together website. It would be nice if we put out another volume of the zine at a timely fashion. It would be nice if we promised to stay on top of the queue of contributors to pick games. But we can’t really do that without YOU! We need more contributors. That was the only idea of Yokoi Kids in the first place. We want your doodles, writing, what-have-you’s in our inbox. Please?

But it’s also totally cool that you folks are playing along and commenting on the Bluesky and Discord (we also have an Instagram that nobody seems to look at). So keep on keeping on!

Which brings us to our hundredth game. Some people were hoping for a high profile game like Pokemon or Link’s Awakening. Nope, you’re getting Spanky’s Quest, a game about a lovable little monkey and his ever growing balls…

Hit them with that info, Nolen…

Spanky’s Quest is a weird game with a wacky game mechanic. You bounce a ball on your head until your little monkey hands touch it, effectively turning it into a murder ball for your enemies. It gives arcade platformer vibes, similar to Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, or Tumble Pop. Clear all the enemies in the level to progress to the next. It’s pretty difficult, due to the whole ball-bouncing shtick, but it’s got a lot of charm and is worth a play! –Nolen

And I know how some of us go on and on about how we don’t like folks picking games that are just console ports. But Spanky’s Quest actually predates the SNES version by eight months! Besides, the SNES version may have the same game mechanics but it is a very different game.

Ian and I once had a slightly heated debate about this game in a car with our spouses present. They could not care less. But this is what Yokoi Kids is for, baby!

So, hell yeah to making it to a hundred. Let’s hope we don’t burn out at 112.

–Rick

I agree with Rick’s sentiments above. We’d love contributions and we’d love them to be outside of the normal reviews and impressions. Does a game make you want to paint something? Did you take a picture that reminds you of a game? Did you play something else that reminds you of the game of the month? Compare them and recommend something! Make it you. Relate it to your life or other interests. Represent it in your favorite medium. Take a deep breath and submit that idea you’ve got. Have a blast.

I truly believe that the only way through is by creating.

Emulate, have fun, tell your friends you love them.

-IF

Into the Parsley Woods by Rick V.

The themed-level is a trope in old platformer games that are almost expected. The snow level, the water level, the space level, and so on. We always see them coming but aren’t ever that delighted to see them. Except for the ol’ spooky level. Every person jumps for joy and savors every Halloweeny moment of those stages. I can only imagine the people who don’t like those kinds of stages as scaredy-cat wimps. And I am sorry for whatever happened to you that made you that way.

I love a good spooky stage. When I was small, I used to rent Disney’s Adventures in the Magic Kingdom JUST to play the Haunted Mansion level. Every game should have one. All of them! Even racing and fishing games.

In Super Mario Land 2 there is series of courses (we don’t call them “levels” in Mario Land games) in the Pumpkin Zone full of ghosts, graves, witches, those umbrella demons, draculas, and little hockey masks with legs with a butcher knife sticking out of their heads. It’s great and you kinda want the Pumpkin Zone to never end.

Which brings us to Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land. After I was playing for a while I finally got to Parsley Woods. Oooh baby! The map shows trees with scary faces, a pit to nowhere and has some eerie music. We’ve finally arrived to Wario Land’s spooky land. Or so I thought…

Parsley woods is not filled with ghosts, goblins, zombies, and cries of lost souls. It just has the same enemies on every other map and some trains. It actually has a lot of trains . More than I actually wanted. And surprisingly not that many woods.

Of all the games to skip the spooky level, why Wario Land? Maybe it’s because Wario may come from a spooky level? Like, why show Wario’s home turf (they wouldn’t do that until Wario Land 2)?

The Parsley Woods have a somewhat redeeming moment with the giant ghost who serves as the boss. You fight it in an area with a big skull formation in the background. It throws out coins that turn into little ghosts, that Wario tosses right back at big boy. Papa Ghost is carrying something and you can’t quite tell what it is. After perusing The Cutting Room Floor I found out it’s a coin purse and it originally had an animation of the coins coming out of it.

So, yeah. Wario Land fully mostly disappointed me in the spooky stage department. Otherwise, pretty good game. I just wish there could have been at least one dracula in there. –RV

January 2026: Mario’s Picross (1995)

We’ve gathered up the ticker tape at Yokoi HQ and put away the lights. The candles are burnt, the tree is outside by the dumpster. It’s time for a deep breath. January’s game is a sleeper hit of a puzzle game, Mario’s Picross.

We thought it might be nice to unwind with a game that is easy to learn, but stretches your brain by the later stages. Picross is a brand name for Nonogram Puzzles. The player is provided with a grid surrounded by numbers. The goal is to fill in the correct spaces by studying the numbers. If you do it right, you get a little picture! It’s cute, and I always feel accomplished after finishing a tough one. It’s a little bit like Minesweeper, but not annoying? It’s available on Nintendo Switch Online! Emulation is always right there, too!

I hope everyone has a calm January and can ease into the new year. I’m ready for my weeks to have structure again!

-IF

——-

In 2017 or so, I was visiting a friend in Colorado who took me to their local game store. That friend saw Mario’s Picross and told me I absolutely had to have that game and that I would love it. I trusted my friend and the game was under $10, so I went for it.

I booted it up, didn’t understand it, and then took it to my local game shop and received a $3 trade-in for it. I still visit that copy of Mario’s Picross in it’s display case marked up 83% more than what was given to me. And that’s probably why it’s still in that display case.

Anywho, I need to give this game another shot and due to the advances in emulation, I don’t have to plan a heist at a locally owned game shop.

-RV

Wario Land: Where Being Bad is Good – Jeff Brown

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is the third and final entry in the Super Mario Land series on the Game Boy. Wario himself debuted in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the new bad guy for Mario. He was a wild-eyed lunatic who stole Mario’s castle and was the evil or bizarro version of Mario. For the sequel, Wario became the game’s star, and while he is no longer the villain, he is still rough around the edges. It’s akin to pro wrestling when the heel is so beloved that the fans take to rooting them on.

It’s usually done when a very charismatic rule breaker bursts onto the scene; think back to the NWO or DX, or in Japan in the Joshi world, Oedo Tai with Act Yasukawa (see also her modern AWG factions BE∀STZ REBELLION and Actwres killer’Z), or an even more apt comparison is Mayumi Ozaki and her promotion OZ Academy. The fans expect her and Ozaki-gun to cheat and stack the odds against the babyfaces.

Well, that is kind of what Wario Land is; Wario is after coins, but unlike Mario, this is purely for greed, as he wants to buy a castle (after his failed attempt at stealing Mario’s in the last game). Heck, even the ads had Wario hypnotizing the viewers, commanding them to be bad and greedy in a world where that is championed. He gets an assortment of power-ups, like a jetpack, fire breathing, and a bull helmet that increases his strength. He can stun his enemies and throw them or hit them with a shoulder block. You collect coins as well to spend for save spots and to exit the levels.

It has the same early Game Boy feel and charm. I got my Game Boy in the early 90s, and it just had a comfy atmosphere to its games. Perhaps that’s because it was portable and you could sit anywhere, no longer confined to the living room. I got Super Mario Land 2 along with my Game Boy, and it was a quirky departure from the NES games. All three in the series take risks and deviate from established rules and just experiment, with this game not even having Mario (well, not playable). The music and the creature designs are more fun in the handheld world; there is just a whimsy to everything for this system. The Game Boy really felt like a fun experiment; the system design was understated, with small little cartridges. You could stretch out on your bed or on the couch and escape into these imaginative worlds (look at Link’s Awakening andKirby’s Dreamland) that made video games feel fresh.

Back to Wario Land, you are a big bully knocking around Sugar Pirates on Kitchen Island, and that just makes sense for an early 90s Game Boy title. The gameplay is pretty smooth, and it’s not just clouded memories from the often deceitful nostalgia; even today this is a blast to just sit down with and treasure hunt with Wario. A lot of GB games are inexpensive and not really a focus for a lot of collectors, so you can build up a neat pile of little carts. I suppose if you are reading this, none of this is news, and I’m preaching to the choir. Anyways, this was a fun game to revisit and relive Wario’s first thunderous steps on his own.

Jeff Brown is from the Seattle area and is a lifelong fan of video games. Jeff’s parents got the Atari 5200 and him in 1982; both of them were troublesome on day one and maybe regretful. He is a musician who leans towards ambient and noise, via synths and guitars (https://jeffbrown1.bandcamp.com). He also writes about music and stage plays at Teppen! (https://teppen.life). The previous few years he’s covered Joshi extensively, including interviewing Starlight Kid, Sareee, AZM, Nao Kakuta, Act Yasukawa, and many more.

Illustration by Nolen Tabner. nolentabner.com/

December 2025 – Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land

It’s the holidays! What better way to celebrate the season than with a greedy protagonist in the acquisition of coins? Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land is December’s game! This was Nolen’s pick and, in the spirit of the snowy times, he’s ready to give it a second chance.

“As a kid, I was very confused by the numbering and naming of the Wario games. Super Mario Land 3 is the final game in the Super Mario Land Trilogy but it’s also the first game in the Wario Land series (which released the sequel on two different consoles). I recall playing a demo at a Funcoland and not liking how heavy Wario felt. Playing a “Mario” platformer where you don’t play as Mario was WRONG in my kid mind.

Decades have passed. The ignorance of my youth has been washed away and now I love me a chunky platformer. Let’s grab some garlic and roll up those sleeves, time to give Wario Land a chance.

Wario Land plays a lot like Super Mario Land 2 but with various changes. Wario has a different move-set than Mario and there is a mechanic of gambling/earning coins that affects the final ending. Lots of Wario charm, even from this initial outing as a protagonist.”

I love this one and think it’s a hoot and a holler. It’ll be a great game to get lazy with this month!

-IF

November 2025 – Great Greed (1993)

It’s very rare to find a Game Boy game I haven’t heard of, but that’s exactly what the boys-in-the-backroom have dug up for November! We’re playing Namco’s Great Greed, a lesser known RPG!

This looks like a fun one! There’s a food themed world, odd monsters, and a unique battle system that seems to combine turn based battle with button presses instead of being menu driven. I tend to be a fan of Namco games, so I’m looking forward to it!

This one’s harder to find and a bit expensive so remember to use your favorite emulators and join us in discovering Great Greed!

-IF

It’s Slime Time: Ghostbusters II – Paul Palmer

Paul wrote a blog post about Ghostbusters II. READ IT HERE!

Paul is a librarian who spends most of his time thinking about retro games, and thinking he should be playing more instead of thinking about them. He likes to make 3D prints of pixel art. You can find him on his website, or follow his various socials through his linktree.