Before the God of war reload and The last of us, there was Yoshi’s Island. At first, there may not be much comparison: the first two are notable for their brutal violence, the latter being a 1995 Super Nintendo game that looks like a coloring book. But the core of all three lies in a clear thematic similarity: raising a child.
The opening film of Yoshi’s Island shows that Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are carried by a literal stork (after their vaguely defined parents) when an attack naturally drives him, and Mario ends up on Yoshi Island. Yoshis’ society then works together to reunite Baby Mario with his brother. This is the kind of arc that can easily fit into a grim post-apocalyptic adventure today.
Yoshi was first developed for Super Mario World, driven by developer Shigeru Miyamoto’s desire for Mario to ride a horse. First considered a giant lizard, then a turtle and finally a dinosaur, Yoshi became a beloved member of the Mario family. More than just a ride, the character developers have allowed a variety of new moves, most notably Yoshi’s Kirby-like ability to swallow and spit out enemies.
In a retrospective speech, Shigefumi Hino, who eventually turned the lizard-Yoshi into what it is today, said that after Super Mario World, the fourth in the legendary side-scrolling series, he feels like the developers at Nintendo ‘did everything we could with a side-scrolling jumping game.’ Hino wanted to explore the idea of a ‘side-scrolling platform game’, and Yoshi offered the perfect opportunity. If the Yoshi of Super Mario World exploring new game mechanics, Yoshi’s world explode the idea of what a side-scrolling game can do.
None of the Yoshis really “die” in Yoshi’s Island. The player is rather forced to always watch Baby Mario. When Yoshi is hit, Baby Mario flies away and cries, and Yoshi has a limited amount of time to pick him up. This time becomes especially urgent while we wait for Yoshi to recover by being broken by a door or hit by a Piranha plant. Although there is no time mode on a level, the sudden launch of a timer to find Baby Mario matches the anxiety of a parent whose newborn baby is out of sight even for the briefest moment.
Watching Baby Mario is a powerful dynamic that changes the game, but Yoshi’s Island do not stop there. There is also the fluttering leap, which director Takashi Tezuka thought ‘will help people struggling with platform players’. Gaming needed another launch for most players at the time, and Tezuka says in the Nintendo retrospective that the effort is to “devise new actions that will enable newcomers to play,” he said. Yoshi’s Island.
The game’s “scribbled chalk” art style, which Hino describes as a revolt against the computer-generated style of Donkey Kong Country, may be enough to attract new players. But here are enough challenges for even the most experienced gamer to go deep into. By expanding the swallow of Yoshi, the swallow allows it to be swallowed into eggs that Yoshi follows, after which he can aim and shoot. For all intents and purposes, Yoshi turns into a gun.
The hand-drawn feel of the style of play has also prevented it from getting older than a game from 1995 should have at this point. To push the boundaries of a system that will soon end for the Nintendo 64’s 3D world, Yoshi’s Island With the Super FX2 card, sprites can be scaled, meaning enemies can jump from the background of the game to the foreground, causing some shocks in the game.
If there is a single disadvantage Yoshi’s Island, it can be overwhelmed by the different tactics and mechanics available. It can be a dizzying experience to learn how to master the fluttering leap, shoot eggs and save Baby Mario at the same time. Yoshi’s Island keep the player on their toes, and make any fight worthwhile.