When I saw the trailer for Kirby's Epic Yarn at Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference, I couldn't help but smile. When I got my hands on this platform game at Nintendo's booth, my heart fluttered. Yeah, I sound like a big softy right about now, but I'm just being honest. Kirby's Epic Yarn is just an utterly charming game that lures you in with its super cute art and keeps you engaged with its clever gameplay.

The characters in the game look like yarn outlines, while the levels look like swatches of cloth. In addition to being simple and stylish (as well as compensating for the Wii's lack of graphical horsepower), the yarn-and-cloth combo is part of the gameplay. Kirby looks like a pink yarn outline. He can extend the thread of his being as a whip. The whip can hit enemies, latch onto objects, sling Kirby to distant platforms, and more. Since the levels are cloth, Kirby can use his thread to rip certain areas in each level to reveal various secrets and shortcuts.

Although I didn't get to try it, I'm really looking forward to the game's cooperative multiplayer mode. It combines the unique platform action of the single-player mode and adds a throw-your-ally component. Video clips show cooperative players throwing each other to reach otherwise inaccessible areas and joining together for tandem attacks. Hopefully you can hurl your companion to his or her death too. That's always a fun way to punish a friend for not playing well.

If I saw you on Sunday, June 13 and you said, "Raymond, I'm from the future. Your favorite game of E3 2010 will be a Kirby game for Wii," I would have called you insane (and phoned the police). Kirby's Epic Yarn is just so much fun and easily the best thing I've played at the show so far. I'm completely enamored with the game and try to sneak in play sessions between E3 appointments. It's completely charming for minutes at a time, but will it hold up for hours? I'm not sure, but I can't wait to find out!