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Yooka is one of two main protagonists of the game Yooka-Laylee and Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. He appears as a playable character alongside Laylee in Brief Battles, and Brawlout as well as a findable character in Tracky Train. He's a green chameleon who carries his bat friend, Laylee on his head.

Name Origin[]

The name Yooka is a two-name pun with Laylee, as both words are being used to form the musical string instrument known as the ukulele (although it is more of a mis-pronunciation, as ukulele is a Hawaiian word and is meant to be pronounced "ooh-kooh-leh-leh" literally meaning "jumping fleas").

According to Steve Mayles, Yooka's name has a second meaning. Yooka's name was based off of the Hawaiian word "uku", which means "small brained person" or simply flea.[1]

Ironically, the name "Yooka" is a homophone with a real life male human name: Luca.

Appearance[]

Protagonist Yooka is described as "a green bloke with no pants". The character is a lime-green colored, male chameleon. He is further described as having eyes that are blue in color, and these are surrounded in arched, dark-green markings. He also has a long curled tail, pronged casque upon his head, and even scarlet-red markings and spikes upon his back, eyelids, hands, toes, and tail. He has a round yellow patch on his torso.

Personality[]

Yooka is the easy-going, adventure-craving half of the buddy-duo.[2] Always having a calm attitude and keeping Laylee at bay, he is an affable, intelligent and relaxed chameleon.

Abilities[]

Abilities only used by Yooka[]

  • Slurp Shot - Yooka shoots out his tongue to eat objects like berries and butterflies and is used for other abilities.
  • Tail Twirl - An attack that can be used while moving, hitting any nearby enemy.
  • Double Jump - After jumping, Yooka can jump one more time.
  • Slurp State - Yooka gains an elemental property when licking a certain object
  • Lizard Leap - Yooka uses his tail to give an extra jump boost.
  • Lizard Lash - Yooka grabs onto an object by using lick, and his tongue pulls him forward towards the object.
  • Buddy Bubble- A bubble made of flatulence used underwater that allows the duo to breathe, and use their normal abilities underwater.

Abilities shared with Laylee[]

  • Air Attack - An aerial attack that deals one damage to any enemy it contacts.
  • Flappy Flight - Allows the duo to fly for a certain amount of time.
  • Buddy Slam - Yooka jumps and Laylee hits Yooka downward in mid-air to hit the ground hard.
  • Glide - Slows down the falling speed of the duo.
  • Camo Cloak - The duo becomes light-refractive. While being light-refractive, the duo will be able to evade detection from Corplet Security and Security Cameras, and the duo will also be able to refract light to activate light-activated switches.
  • Reptile Roll - Laylee uses Yooka as a wheel to go up steep hills and travel fast.

Quotes[]

Development[]

Steve Mayles originally designed a tiger, but this was changed to make him appear more like an underdog, as tigers are usually seen as strong creatures. Steve Mayles then went with a frog, but decided to scrap that idea. At one point, Playtonic Games even experimented with insects as well.[3] A friend of Steve Mayles told Steve to check out the game Chameleon Twist 2 on the Nintendo 64, and Steve Mayles got the idea of a Chameleon as the main character.[4]

Gallery[]

Artwork[]

Screenshots[]

Animated[]

Trivia[]

  • Yooka was mostly inspired by Banjo from the Banjo-Kazooie series.
  • The internal names for "Yooka" and "Laylee" in various files are "Cam" (likely short for Chameleon or camera) and "Batty" respectively.
  • During the official reveal of the game before the Yooka-Laylee Kickstarter, many fans mistook Yooka as a female.
  • Despite clearly being a chameleon, Yooka is often stated to be an unidentified reptilian species.
  • While intentional or not, Yooka has two tongues- one that is in his mouth normally on the character model and a second that sticks out to eat butterflies or berries. They can often be seen at the same time, if the player looks closely.
    • Sometimes it seems like his second tongue is gone, however this is just a case of certain areas being shaded in a specific way to the point where the inside of his mouth is very dark.

References[]

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