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Yoshi

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This article is about the Nintendo character. For other uses, see Yoshi (disambiguation).
Yoshi
'Mario/Yoshi' character
File:SMWYoshi.jpg
Yoshi as he appears in Super Mario 64 DS (2004).
First gameSuper Mario World (1990)
Created byShigefumi Hino

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yosshī, sometimes romanized Yossy in earlier Japanese materials)[2][3] (IPA: /ˈjoʊʃi/) is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo.[4] His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System[5] as Mario's accomplice (a role he has often reprised), 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. Yoshi also appears in New Super Mario Bros. Wii as the characters' accomplice, similar to his original debut role in Super Mario World.[6] Like several other charcters in the Mario series, Yoshi is named after his species of the same name. The little known proper name for his species is Wazhon (sometimes written as Wazon). Yoshi is actually a nickname that has been used so much for his species that now almost everybody uses it instead of their proper name. Yoshis come in many different colors, though his original and most common color is green.[5] Yoshi's latest appearance is in Super Mario Galaxy 2.[7]

Concept and creation

Considered after the development of Super Mario Bros., Yoshi's early design differs greatly from the finished appearance[8]

Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo had wanted Mario to have a dinosaur companion ever since Super Mario Bros.; however, it was not possible because of the limitations of the NES. During the development of Super Mario Bros. 3, Miyamoto had a number of sketches around his desk, including an image of Mario riding a dinosaur. Takashi Tezuka, a Mario series developer, speculated that Miyamoto's love of horse riding as well as country and western influenced Yoshi's creation. The concept of Mario riding a dinosaur also came from the NES video game Excitebike, which featured people riding motorcycles. He again wanted to feature Yoshi in Super Mario Bros. 3, but was still unable to. Tezuka designed two power-ups to make up for this limitation, the raccoon and frog power-ups. Once the more powerful Super NES was released, Miyamoto was finally able to implement Yoshi into the series, putting him into the video game Super Mario World.[9] Yoshi proved to be popular in his debut, which caused the next game in the series, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, to focus on his species.[10]

The version of Yoshi seen in the Super Mario Bros. film was made using a three foot tall animatronic dinosaur. He was designed in the film by Dave Nelson. It had nearly 200 feet of cable and hundreds of moving parts inside of it, and was controlled by nine puppeteers. The body is cable-controlled, while the head is radio-controlled. Nelson described the overall process as being "difficult."[11] The creation of Yoshi was handled by a company independent from the filmmakers.[12]

Characteristics

Yoshi's trademarks are his long sticky tongue, his green-dotted egg, his speech, and his jump. Yoshis can come in a variety of colors, though the most prominently featured Yoshis are almost always green.[5] The character's debut appearance in Super Mario World featured blue, red, and yellow variations. Later games included additional colors such as pink, black, and orange. In Super Mario World for the SNES, different colors of Yoshi had different abilities, such as fire-breathing and flying. Yoshis are often shown living in villages with a few wooden constructions. Their social structure is developed and organized, as they are shown living together in settlements, having meetings and working together. Yoshi has many different abilities which are useful whenever Mario or another hero is riding him. Yoshi's special jump, called the flutter jump (first introduced in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island), allows him to kick wildly in the air to stay afloat, making his jumps longer and higher. His long tongue allows him to swallow many things (particularly small enemies) and use them to lay eggs which he can throw. If he eats something that is too big to swallow, such as a Koopa shell, he can spit it out.[5] In Super Mario Galaxy 2, his tongue has further uses, such as pulling handles or swinging in midair. Yoshi can eat one of three special fruits to give him a special ability (represented by a temporary color change): a blue fruit that allows him to blow air to fly upwards; a red fruit that causes him to run fast and scale up walls; and a yellow fruit that causes him to glow, lighting platforms that are only tangible when visible.

Appearances

File:Yoshi.jpg
Yoshi carrying Baby Mario as seen in Yoshi's Island DS. The aspect of protecting Baby Mario from enemies is an important part of the Yoshi's Island games.

Yoshi made his debut in Super Mario World as a native dinosaur that Mario or Luigi could ride on in order to eat enemies and otherwise navigate Dinosaur Land more quickly and easily. This game spawned a prequel entitled Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island for the Super Nintendo in which the player could control Yoshi in order to keep Baby Mario out of harm's way as they advanced through the game. This led to a spin-off series of games including Yoshi's Safari for the SNES , 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, and Super Mario 64 DS.

Although he was introduced on the SNES in 1990, Yoshi was also the star of two self-titled games for the original NES released in '92 and '93: Yoshi and Yoshi's Cookie, respectively. Both of these games were released for the Game Boy as well. He also appeared as a supporting cast member in Mario is Missing for NES, SNES and MS-DOS in 1993.[13] Yoshi appeared in Super Mario 64 as a non-playable character who could be seen upon completion of the game. He also appeared in the DS remake as a playable character, and in Super Mario Sunshine where he could be ridden on by Mario in the same fashion as in Super Mario World. However in this game, he is portrayed as a tropical Yoshi who changes to different colors after eating different fruits. Yoshi appears in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and his role in the game is very similar to his original role in Super Mario World. A number of different colored Yoshis can be obtained by hitting ? blocks throughout the game. He can then be ridden by characters in the game, though his color no longer represents special abilities. Yoshi also appears in the game Super Mario Galaxy 2, where he can also be ridden by the characters in the game. In this game, his tongue has further uses, such as pulling handles or swinging in midair. Yoshi can eat one of three special fruits to give him a special ability (represented by a temporary color change): a blue fruit that allows him to blow air to fly upwards; a red fruit that causes him to run fast and scale up walls; and a yellow fruit that causes him to glow, lighting platforms that are only tangible when visible.

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 (usually with a medium weight). He also appears in every Mario Party game to date as a playable character. He has also made appearances in multiple Mario sports titles, including Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Super Sluggers, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Super Mario Strikers.[14]

Yoshi is a playable character in all three titles in the Super Smash Bros. series; he is also the subject of collectible items in them. Yoshi is featured as a heavy character who has excellent speed and jumps. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Yoshi's final smash is called the "Super Dragon" and by using it, he grows wings and is able to breathe fire and fly for a short time. In the Subspace Emissary, Yoshi is awakened from his sleep by various subspace enemies and teams up with Link and other Smash Bros. characters to defeat Tabuu and save the world.

Yoshi has made cameo appearances in other video games. In Super Mario Galaxy, an image of his head appears as a wooden planet that Mario can visit in the Space Junk Galaxy. He also made a few cameo appearances in The Legend of Zelda series, specifically in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.[citation needed]

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 The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, but with a different setting. The show featured Yoshi as a regular character, voiced by Andrew Sabiston. Yoshi was featured as a young dinosaur who often talked in 3rd person. He was also featured in the Nintendo Adventure Books. He is also featured prominently in the Super Mario Adventures comic serial printed in Nintendo Power. 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.[15] In the movie, Yoshi was King Koopa's pet and is referred to as a "Throw-Back" by Koopa; he joined Daisy's side and eventually protected her with his own body against a stabbing. In the end, he is seen alive with Princess Daisy and Toad.

Reception

Yoshi is one of the more recognizable characters in the Mario series. Yoshi is also featured heavily in Mario merchandise; he is the subject of toys, shirts, and figures. Yoshi also appeared in two of the McDonald's Happy Meal promotions of Mario toys which only starred Mario, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi himself.[16] In a poll conducted in 2008, Yoshi was voted as the third-favorite video game character in Japan, with Cloud Strife and Mario placing second and first, respectively.[17] Gametrailers has created a special tribute video for Yoshi for the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2.[18]

References

  1. ^ Mario Kart 64's profile on IMDB
  2. ^ MobyGames, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - SNES Cover Art
  3. ^ Nintendo, Yossy Cookie
  4. ^ "Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii". Nintendo. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  5. ^ a b c d "Yoshi Biography". IGN. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  6. ^ "New Super Mario Bros. Wii Official Website". Nintendo.com. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  7. ^ "Super Mario Galaxy 2". IGN. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  8. ^ Pam Sather, Scott Pelland; et al. (1991), Mario Mania Player’s Guide, Nintendo Power, p. 32, ISBN 0-450-49606-6 {{citation}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
  9. ^ Wii.com - Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
  10. ^ "IGN Presents The History of Super Mario Bros". Kotaku. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
  11. ^ Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive
  12. ^ Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive
  13. ^ Mario is Missing! for NES - MobyGames
  14. ^ IGN: Mario and Sonic Together at Last
  15. ^ X-Entertainment - Super Mario Bros. Movie Review In Another Castle
  16. ^ McDonald's: Take the Mario Challenge - Raving Toy Maniac
  17. ^ "And Japan's Favorite Video Game Characters Are...?". Kotaku. 2008-08-12. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
  18. ^ http://www.gametrailers.com/video/life-and-super-mario/100394
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