Yoshi

This article is about the Nintendo character. For other uses, see Yoshi (disambiguation).

Yoshi
''Mario/Yoshi/Super Smash Bros. character
File:Yoshi3.jpg Yoshi as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
First game	Super Mario World (1991)
Created by	Shigefumi Hino

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yosshī, sometimes romanized Yossy in earlier Japanese materials) (IPA: /ˈjəʊ.ʃi/) is a fictional Dinosaur and also one of Nintendo's most popular creations. His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario's accomplice, and he later established his own series with several platform and puzzle games, including Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. He has also appeared in many of the spin-off Mario games, such as the Mario Party, the Mario Kart, and the Super Smash Bros. series, as well as in other various Mario sports titles. Yoshis come in many different colors, but his original and most common color is green. Yoshi is set to appear in the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Conception and creation

Shigeru Miyamoto stated that they wanted Mario to have a dinosaur companion ever since Super Mario Bros., however it was not possible because of the limitations of the NES. He said that "we were finally able to get Yoshi off the drawing boards with Super Mario World for the SNES".

Appearances

Yoshi made his debut in Super Mario World as a native dinosaur that Mario could ride on in order to eat enemies and otherwise navigate the island quicker. This game spawned a prequel entitled Yoshi's Island for the Super Nintendo on which the player could control Yoshi in order to protect Baby Mario from harm's way as they advanced through the game. This led to a spin-off series of games including Yoshi's Story for the Nintendo 64, Yoshi's Universal Gravitation for the Game Boy Advance, and a number of games for the Nintendo DS, including Yoshi Touch & Go, and Yoshi's Island DS. Although he was introduced on the SNES in 1991, Yoshi was also the star of two self-titled games for the original NES released in '92 and '93: Yoshi (known as Yoshi's Egg in Japan and Mario & Yoshi in Europe) and Yoshi's Cookie, respectively. Both of these games were released for the Game Boy as well, and Yoshi's Cookie received an update for its port to the SNES. In 1993 Yoshi was given a cameo in the SNES remake of Super Mario Bros. 3 that was part of the Super Mario All-Stars compilation. In the original NES/Famicom version, the king of world 7 had been transformed into a piranha plant, but in the SNES remake, he is now transformed into a Yoshi. His 3D Mario platformer appearances include Super Mario 64 as a hidden, but not playable, character. Super Mario 64 DS, the port of the previously mentioned game but now as a playable character, and Super Mario Sunshine where he could be ridden on in the same fashion as in Super Mario World, but could not enter any bodies of water and could harm villains by spitting out fruit juice that he had swallowed. Yoshi is also featured in the Mario Party games, where he is a playable character.

Other appearances

Yoshi has appeared in nearly all of the Mario sports and spin-off games. He appears in every game of the Mario Kart series as a playable character, where he drives karts that are usually bright green in color. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, the kart he usually drives resembles himself. One of the tracks in Mario Kart Double Dash!!, Yoshi Circuit (brought back in Mario Kart DS), actually resembles Yoshi himself when seen from above. He also appears in every Mario Party game to date as a playable character, as well as in Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64 (where he makes a variety of noises when the four C Buttons are pressed), and in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games alongside characters from both the Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games.

Yoshi is a playable character in the original Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros., and its sequels Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. In the Subspace Emissary mode of Super Smash Bros Brawl, Yoshi and Link team up against a group of the Primid that invade the forest. Mario is also seen riding him later when the Yoshi & Link team team up with the Mario & Pit team.

Yoshi appears at the top of the castle in the original N64 version of Super Mario 64. The castle rooftop can be accessed a variety of ways (most of which involve a hack or glitch of some kind), however by collecting all 120 power stars, a cannon nearby the castle will open, allowing Mario to reach the rooftop.

Yoshi has a few cameo appearances in Super Mario Galaxy; an image of his head appears as a wooden planet that Mario can visit in the Space Junk Galaxy, and his head is also able to be used as a marker for one of 6 playable files for the game. Yoshi also made a few cameo appearances in the Legend of Zelda series, specifically in Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (alongside Mario). In the former game, he appeared as a doll item that Link must bring to a baby at the first town in Koholint Island. In the latter game, he was seen in a portrait hung in Hyrule Castle, next to the painting of Mario, in a room that is not accessible to the player and located near the room where Link meets Zelda.

Yoshi also appears prominently in Mario is Missing! for the NES. Yoshi is also found in secret locations in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

Yoshi is set to appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2, where he can gain different abilities from eating certain things (such as the ability to inflate like a balloon and float, as well as speed boosts). He will also appear in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Appearances in other media

An animated series followed Super Mario World, bearing the same name, and was similar in plotline to the previous series, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario Brothers Super Show, but with a different setting. The show featured Yoshi as a regular character, voiced by Andrew Sabiston (who later provided the voice of Diddy Kong in the Donkey Kong Country cartoons). The cartoon portrays Yoshi with the personality of a very young child, and, therefore, he speaks like one, often in third person. It is often afraid of many things that young children would be afraid of, such as Boos and water. This may be based on his reactions to attacks by enemies in Super Mario World (he runs off when hit and will even run off of a cliff if Mario fails to chase after him) and/or the fact that Yoshi refuses to enter Ghost Houses, fortresses, or castles.

Yoshi was not featured in the Super Mario Bros. comic books published by Valiant Comics. He was featured in the Nintendo Adventure Books, which were based on them. There, his dialogue consists of words that rhyme with "orp", as he does not speak English there like in the cartoon. The games however, consists of some Yoshi that can speak English (including the main Yoshi himself), and others that only understand their native tongue. Yoshi is also featured prominently in the Super Mario Adventures comic serial printed in Nintendo Power. There, his dialogue consists mainly of his own name. Incidentally, he talks this way in most Mario games since Yoshi's Story in 1998. However, in a Japanese Mario Paint advertisement, he does speak. According to these comics, Yoshi is the Chairman of the Yoshi Chamber of Commerce, who is searching for a group of missing Yoshi Villagers whom Bowser has captured. Yoshi also appears in the Super Mario Bros. movie. In the movie, Yoshi took the form of a realistic animatronic dinosaur, very much like a smaller version of Jurassic Park's velociraptors, instead of a live-action animated character. Although extremely different in appearance than his video game counterpart, he still shares some resemblance with a long tongue, friendliness and courage. He is also downsized to the point that he could not support Mario at all.

Characteristics

Yoshi's main trademarks are his long-reaching tongue, the green-dotted egg, his weird 'speech', the flutter jump, and sometimes a rainbow (used in games like Mario Tennis, Mario Golf and Mario Hoops 3-on-3, leaving a rainbow trail behind the ball when using a special or power shots), as well as the colors variety in which Yoshis appear. While green is considered the standard color for Yoshi, his brethren appear in different colors, including blue, red, yellow, pink, light blue, and more rarely, black and white. Black and white Yoshis in the Nintendo 64 game Yoshi's Story have the distinct ability to digest chili peppers, which other Yoshis cannot. Black and white Yoshis also appear in the unlockable levels of Yoshi's Island DS. Yoshi's Island features both a purple and an orange Yoshi (because of the color palette of the game, some often mistake the orange Yoshi as being brown), though neither of the Yoshis have appeared in many Nintendo games afterwards, save for more recent games. Generally, a Yoshi's shoe color is dependent on its color; red Yoshis wear blue shoes, for example. In Super Mario World for the SNES, different colors of Yoshi had different abilities, such as fire-breathing and flying. In Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshi's color can be changed by eating different fruits into the colors purple, orange, and pink. Yoshis are shown in multiple games (including Yoshi's Story, Super Mario RPG, and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) living in villages with a few wooden constructions, implying that they are technologically undeveloped. Their social structure, however, is shown as developed and organized, as they are shown as living together in organized settlements, having meetings, working together, and even creating floor plans. Yoshis inhabit many areas of the world, from the Mushroom Kingdom to Isle Delfino.

During the localization of Panel de Pon for the U.S., when the game was renamed Tetris Attack, Nintendo of America replaced the fairy-like characters with characters from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, with Yoshi stepping in for the Pon main character Lip.

Yoshi's appearances in video games, usually Mario sports games, typically portray him as an agile character. In the Mario Kart games, Yoshi has excellent acceleration, but is more likely to skid off the track than other characters. In Mario Golf, his shot is straight and average in height. In Mario Tennis and Mario Power Tennis, he is the fastest tennis player. In Mario Superstar Baseball,and Mario Super Sluggers Yoshi is the speediest runner and can use his tongue to catch faraway balls. In Super Mario Strikers, Yoshi is a balanced captain. When he performs his Super Strike, green and yellow bubbles surround him as he kicks the ball into the back of the net, usually hitting the goalie in the stomach and taking him into the net with it. In the recent sequel, Mario Strikers Charged, he is once again a balanced captain. This time when he performs his Mega Strike, he flies up into the air, sprouting wings as he could have in Super Mario World if he held a blue shell in his mouth. He then draws in a lot of breath and as he breathes out, it creates a considerable force on the ball causing it to be fired into the net. In Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Yoshi is an all-around character, in contrast to his speedy nature in other sports games. His Special Shot is the "Flutter Dunk", performed by tapping an "M" pattern on the touch screen twice. At close range, he holds the ball as he hovers toward the hoop in typical Yoshi style, leaving a rainbow trail. When he is outside the three-point line, he throws the ball to another teammate, with another rainbow trail behind the ball. In most of these games, Yoshi is mostly teamed up with Birdo, although their relationship is unclear. In Mario and Sonic and the Olympic Games, Yoshi is a speed-type character.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Yoshi is somewhat of an anomaly, not fitting into a specific class, though he is fast and rather heavy. His signature attacks, usually involving eggs, are kept, and his trademark "flutter jump" is also present. His down-A attack can be useful against bosses in Brawl.

Physical appearance

File:Yoshi.jpg

Yoshi from Yoshi's Island DS (2006) carrying Baby Mario on his back.

Although having the same general appearance, Yoshi's appearance has slightly changed over the years. Originally, his features more resembled a dinosaur, with a long neck, small arms, and a wider back (conveniently for Mario to ride on) with small scales running down it from head to tail.

The first game to have Yoshi's appearance altered was the SNES version of Yoshi's Cookie, with him being much shorter, chubbier, with larger arms and hands and a rounder snout. It is possible that this new look was originally intended to be his "younger" form. This theory is supported by the fact that in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Kamek makes a reference to the young age of the Yoshi carrying Baby Mario when he and Kamek encounter each other for the first time in Burt The Bashful's fort ("So you're still on the baby's side, Yoshi-baby? Then take THIS!"). This design was used again in Yoshi's Story, which had much more noticeable changes to his new look due to the game being 3-D, as well as the addition of infantile hatchings. Since Yoshi's Story, he is depicted having much more human-like features (i.e., standing up straight instead of curved, swinging his arms while running.) Over time, Yoshi's scales would become smaller and blunter.

This new look for Yoshi has been used for the remaining Mario games ever since. Games such as the Mario Party series, the Mario Sports series, and even the Paper Mario series used this new appearance, likely making this his permanent design. Yoshi's design was changed for Super Mario 64 DS from his original "dino" look to his new shorter look (so that he looked similar to the other characters). He also inherited hovering and egg-throwing from the previous games, but he could only keep one egg with him as opposed to being able to carry many more (in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, for example, he was able to carry up to six eggs at once). But in some games, like Yoshi's Story, the color of the Shy Guy that Yoshi swallows is the color of the egg. Also the color of the egg can depend on the color of the Yoshi that swallowed the enemy.

One key anomaly about Yoshi is the red bump on his back. In Super Mario World, it was a saddle for Mario to sit on while he was riding Yoshi. However, Yoshi kept this saddle even in games where Mario didn't ride him, so it became a fundamental feature of Yoshi as well as a sort of trademark, and as seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl stitch marks are seen on the saddle when you pause and zoom in on Yoshi

In Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshi's fruit-eating ability made him a valuable asset to Mario in his quest to recover all 120 Shine Sprites. Many challenges in this game would require a team of Mario and Yoshi to have to spray juice or eat fruit in order to satisfy the requirements of that particular challenge. For example, in Ricco Harbor, Yoshi must first be fed a fruit that causes him to spray purple juice, as that makes platforms travel sideways, but later in the same level, he is required to eat a fruit that causes him to spray pink juice, as that will cause the platform to travel up. Without these specific requirements being met, the Shine Sprite at the top of the highest platform cannot be retrieved.

Special abilities

In Super Mario World, not all Yoshis are created equal. Some have super, special powers. For instance, blue Yoshi had the ability to fly when a shell was in mouth. Yellow Yoshi could indiscriminately stomp things, generating a cloud of dust when he landed on the ground. Red Yoshi would spit shells out of his mouth into a tri-pod of flaming fire. Green Yoshi did not have any special power of its own, but while he had a blue, yellow, or red shell in his mouth, he gained the corresponding ability.

Species

Yoshis are described as dinosaurs, and sometimes dragons. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Yoshi grows angel-like wings and spits out fire. However, since their native home is Yoshi's island, it could be assumed that they are in fact their own species and not a type of dinosaur or dragon. Yoshis have long, sticky tongues which they use eat items or capture enemies. The captured enemy can be either spat out or encased in an egg. They are omnivorous and seem to enjoy tropical fruits. Each Yoshi has its favorite, but they all especially love melons as depicted in the game Yoshi's Story. Green Yoshi's favorite fruit is watermelon. In Yoshi's Island for the SNES, eating a watermelon allows Yoshi to spit seeds. In Super Mario Sunshine Yoshis can only be awoken by feeding them such fruits. In Super Mario World, he can eat berries off the bushes. These berries are known as donut fruit, as one of the informational boxes describes.

Their noses can detect fruit and other secrets buried underground as seen in Yoshi's Story. While the main Yoshi himself is depicted as green, they come in a variety of colors, spanning many colors, with black and white depicted as rare variants with special abilities in some games.

Some Yoshis have the ability to fly, breathe fire, and cause earthquakes by eating a Koopa shell in Super Mario World. In the game Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshis can squirt out a variety of fruit juices based on their colour which he needs to survive. Different fruits change the color of the Yoshi. If a Yoshi enters a body of water, some will disappear and return back to his egg, as they do in Super Mario Sunshine, but in other games like Yoshi's Story, Yoshi can swim as long as needed and even eat things underwater. In many games, one of Yoshi's trademark abilities is that of swallowing enemies and encasing them in a Yoshi egg. Both in the Super Smash Bros. series and Yoshi's Island, Yoshi is also able to throw similar eggs at enemies to subdue them.

In the more recent Mario sports games such as Mario Superstar Baseball and the Mario Tennis series, Yoshi is known for his speed and tongue capability. It is assumed by many that all other Yoshis are just as capable as this Yoshi, supported by the Yoshi's Island games, where different colored Yoshis have the same abilities throughout the game. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Yoshi's Final Smash is the "Super Dragon", where he grows wings, breathes fire and spits fireballs for a short time, a reference to past abilities from Super Mario World.

Speech

File:SMA-YoshiTranslation.jpg

A "translation" for Yoshi's language is given in Super Mario Adventures.

In most games, Yoshi does not actually talk. Either he has no voice or he only says 'Yoshi!' (e.g. in Super Mario World, although in the old Mario titles, he makes a "pat-pern" sound), says colors, or simply makes unintelligible noises such as "Wah!" when he throws an egg (in a Yoshi's Story) and says his name whenever he wins a minigame (Mario Party 4-7), or the word "Nintendo" (in the beginning intro of Yoshi's Story and the Yoshi's Island series). In other games, he makes a high pitched squeal or an enthusiastic "hurf durf". In instances where he is touched by an enemy or pricks himself on spikes, he will make an "owowowowowowow" screech. In some Mario Party games, Yoshi would say 'Yah-ooo' when he was happy.

There have been a few instances, however, where he actually had a speaking part. In the Super Mario World cartoons, he is given a speaking part, as well as in the Paper Mario series. In these games, the Yoshi species in general possesses the ability to speak. More recently, Yoshi has been given speech in the game Super Mario Strikers, its sequel Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Super Sluggers, and Mario Kart Wii. For example in Mario Kart Wii he says words that sound like "wahoo" when he does a trick or gets a boost.

In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Yoshi is the only one of his kind to be able to communicate with Mario, and acted as an interpreter so Mario could speak to other Yoshis. At the end of Super Mario 64, after the player has collected all 120 stars, Mario can talk to Yoshi, who is standing at the top the castle. After this, he gives Mario 100 lives and an upgraded triple jump. This is one of the few instances that Yoshi actually speaks normally like other characters.

In some games, various buttons can be pressed to make Yoshi talk. For example, in Mario Golf (for Nintendo 64) the four C Buttons can be pressed to make him taunt his opponents, and in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the 1 and 2 buttons on the Wii Remote make Yoshi do a variety of things, including talk. Also, in Mario Party 8, Yoshi taunts his opponents. Yoshi speaks two things when the Wii Remote is shaken or pushed while others are playing on the party board.

In Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door, a Yoshi is provided as a partner. He is able to speak seconds after hatching, and refers to Mario as Gonzales, after Mario's nickname at the Glitz Pit. He strangely has a scrappy personality.

External links

• Description of Yoshi