Yoyos in Video Games
Today’s topic that nobody asked for – Yoyos in video games. I love yoyos. The magic of yoyos comes from that playful feeling of momentum and flow as you swing the yoyo around, trying to nail a difficult trick. Yoyos are a classic 90s kid toy, evoking images of a bright-eyed kid in a baseball cap, chewing bubble gum and “walking the dog”. Gnarly.
Yoyos made several appearances in 90s video games attempting to appeal to the popular trend. Some of those yoyo kids are grown-up game developers today, inserting their childhood hobby into their creations. Most of the time, yoyos appear as merely a named item with no actual yoyo-like function. Rarely do they actually behave like real-life yoyos in the game mechanics. Here are some prominent examples.
Penny’s Big Breakaway (2024)
Penny’s Big Breakaway is a 3D platformer fully themed around yoyos. Penny aspires to win a talent show and confronts a colorful cast of street performers, including a diabolo (aka chinese yoyo), a pool shark, and a puppeteer. Penny uses her yoyo to roll, spin, and swing her away around platforming challenges. Momentum plays a huge role; your speed from a standstill is quite limited, but if you can build up momentum and maintain it, you can fly through levels like a yoyo hurling through the air. Additionally, the combo system encourages you to string together movement tricks as long as possible. Penny effectively captures the essence of yoyo as you build up momentum and maintain your flow while trying to avoid dropping your trick combo.
Admittedly the yoyo functions more like a grappling hook combined with a skateboard rather than a literal yoyo. The whole experience is reminiscent of skateboarding games, somewhere between Tony Hawk’s arcadey power fantasy and Skate’s precision technique. Radical.
The developer Evening Star previously made Sonic Mania (the only well-received Sonic game in recent memory) and draws on that expertise here. Sonic and Penny levels are very easy if you go through them slowly and cautiously, but that misses out on the heart of the game. The surrounding structure from the level design to the combo system are designed to encourage you to take risks and fly through to experience those highs.
Ness in Smash Bros (1999-2018)
Ness is best known from Smash Bros but originates from the little-known RPG Earthbound (1994). In his game of origin, Ness is a prototypical American boy, living in the suburbs and wearing a baseball cap while fighting enemies with a bat. (Ironically, Ness’ voice actor in Smash has a thick Japanese accent). Yoyos were equipable weapons in Earthbound though they had little significance within the game. Smash Bros, drawing on limited source material, brought Ness’ yoyo to the forefront with his “around the world” and “walk the dog” smash attacks.
Yoyos in Smash have a unique property where, while charging, the yoyo “sleeps” to create a persistent weak attack. Sleeping the yoyo allows for a variety of tricks, such as dangling the yoyo over the ledge to edgeguard, or pressuring and breaking shields. Out of this list, Ness’ sleeping yoyo is the most similar mechanic to real life yoyos.
This sleeper yoyo was first introduced in the second installment, Melee (2001), which was notoriously filled with bugs. The “Yoyo glitch” allowed for all sorts of zaniness, like grabbing opponents from miles away or attaching an explosion to your body. These glitches give the yoyo a playful quality, allowing a skilled player to show off to their friends. “Check out this crazy trick I can do!” Siiiick.
Bridget in Guilty Gear (2002-2021)
Bridget was born a twin boy but raised as a girl to hide her from a village superstition and practice of drowning twin boys. To disprove the superstition and establish her manhood, Bridget left and became a successful bounty hunter. This however left her feeling empty, and she eventually came to embrace her identity as a girl. Also she dresses like a nun and wears a giant handcuff as a belt. Wild.
Bridget fights with her yoyos, which are potent weapons at mid-range. She can throw the yoyo out and then fly towards it like some kind of mid-air magnet. This allows Bridget to zip through the air with all sorts of tricky and unpredictable acrobatics. Metal. While this certainly isn’t how real yoyos work, it does capture the spirit of skillfully maneuvering the yoyo to perform dazzling tricks. Or, in fighting game terms, put them in the blender.
Honorable Mentions
Kirby Super Star (1996)
Of course Kirby, the malleable pink puffball, has a yoyo. Adorbs. Masahiro Sakurai created Kirby Super Star prior to working on Smash Bros, and likely drew inspiration from this yoyo when designing Ness.
Chousoku Spinner (1998)
Based on a Japanese Manga by the same name, Chousoku Spinner is a Game Boy game that actually taught how to use a yoyo. The game was only released in Japan, and I’ve never heard of it before researching this article.
Terraria (2011)
Terraria’s designer, Andrew Spinks, brought his childhood hobby of yoyos into the game of Terraria. Yoyos are equipable weapons that can be upgraded with a yoyo glove, yoyo bag, and string to extend its range.
Spinks even collaborated with the yoyo brand One Drop to create a high-end yoyo dubbed the “Terrarian”, priced at $80. Yes, there are high-end yoyo brands. Bourgie.
Frankly, I was a bit surprised not to find more notable instances of yoyos in games while doing research for this article. Yoyos make minor appearances in many more games, but rarely do they actually function like a yoyo. Even among this list, Ness’ sleeping yoyo in Smash Bros is the only real-life yoyo mechanic adapted to games. The rest merely capture the spirit or theme of yoyo play.
Flipping butterfly knives is another favorite hobby of mine, and I’m still hoping to see butterfly knives in games. Plenty of shooters like Call of Duty and Counter-Strike have them as cosmetic reskins of basic knives, but I have yet to see an instance that captures their spirit as flippable skill toys. But butterfly knives are even more niche than yoyos, so maybe there’s not much hope.