 According to The NPD Group, "Yoshi's Story" was the 16th best selling video game in the U.S. in 1998.Upon its initial release, Metacritic gave "Yoshi's Story" a 65 out of 100 rating based on eight reviews, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".Joe Fielder of GameSpot noted that "Yoshi's Story" "was obviously designed so that younger players could play through quickly and feel some sense of accomplishment", and called it "good for a rental at best."