I had occasion to play a bit of Yoshi’s Island DS yesterday, trying to beat the last few secret levels (what a slog!). It reminded me of a post I started a while ago then abandoned. This is v2 of the Yoshi series overview.

So the Yoshi series is distinct from the Mario series, but maybe not distinct enough to get the recognition it deserves. It shares secondary protagonists (Mario, in baby form), primary protagonists (Yoshi, but a bit different), primary/secondary antagonists (Kamek, Baby Bowser, and Bowser). It also shares several enemies, although with a different art style and there are many unique ones as well. These elements are good to tie the series together, but perhaps hold the Yoshi series back a bit. Of course, the other problem it has is its splintered identity.

There are three incarnations of the Yoshi series, separated by recurring elements and characters and by very different art styles. They are (in order of personal preference) the Yoshi’s Island style, the Yoshi’s Story style, and the Super Mario World style (aka generic Mario series style). You can classify games in these categories, and also Yoshi appearances in spinoff games by which one they most closely resemble or draw inspiration from.

Chronologically, of course Super Mario World came first. The art style is “normal”, “generic”, in the early days simple line drawings, and later the weird plasticky 3D CG Mario renders that are so recycled and overused in promotional material and new spinoff games. Yoshi’s proportions featured a longer neck, smaller head, and smaller arms. Yoshi was very popular as a character and appeared in many games and other media, such as cartoons, comics, etc. Several spinoff games were produced to capitalise on his popularity, and are classified as “Yoshi series” games despite appearing before Yoshi’s Island, the first “true” Yoshi series main game. They belong here as they feature the Yoshi before the redesign in YI, and before the time jump too (more about that later).

-Mario & Yoshi (also known as Yoshi’s Egg in Japan and the laconic “Yoshi” in America) is a puzzle game for NES and Game Boy. You play as adult Mario and trap Super Mario Bros. 3 enemies between egg halves to hatch a Yoshi.

-Yoshi’s Cookie involves adult Mario baking cookies and Yoshi eating them in another puzzle game for NES, GB, and SNES. A later re-release for the SNES, Yoshi’s Cookie: Kuruppon Oven de Cookie, added a mode with a world map, controllable Yoshi and recipes for your own Kuruppon Oven (a Japanese oven brand). It was also featured in the Japan-only Nintendo Puzzle Collection for GCN, with a new story mode. This story mode had (mostly) Super Mario World enemies. So there are 5 versions of this game. The cookies also make cameos in several other games, and the game inspired the Puzzle Mode of Tetris DS. The modern versions of Egg in Game & Watch Gallery 3 and Mario’s Cement Factory in G&WG 4 were also inspired by this game.

-Yoshi’s Safari, the greater Mario series’ only rail shooter, used the Super Scope in an adventure with adult Mario riding Yoshi, shooting SMB3 and SMW enemies.

The other class of games in this category is any which have Yoshi as rideable, as a callback to SMW in which you play Mario but ride Yoshi. These also usually use the “generic” Yoshi appearance, which was altered slightly after the release of Yoshi’s Story and has since been fairly constant. These consist of Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and NSMBU. The former two seem to use the unique character of the major green Yoshi, known as “Yoshi”. Ergh. The latter two have several Yoshis in different colours. Pretty much every Mario spinoff is also here (and Super Mario 64 DS), as the featured Yoshi is supposed to be the same one who is friends with adult Mario. However, many contain elements of YI and YS. Basically, specific elements of SMW-style Yoshi appearances are edible berries, adult Mario, little frog-like Baby Yoshis, enemies of “Mario” games, and Yoshi being a supporting character. The proportions and art style are also characteristic.

The Yoshi’s Island style came next, with the first game YI being marketed in English as Super Mario World 2, even though it had very little to do with SMW. Yoshi was the protagonist and main playable character, and he had to protect baby Mario. You actually play as 8 different coloured Yoshis, but they all played the same. This game had many new enemies, but some came over from the Mario series with new appearances. The whole style of the game was hand-drawn, a crayon look, sort of a storybook feel without the more literal storybook elements of later Yoshi’s Story. It was just a really nice look, with pastels and soft colours but also very characterful pixel art for the characters and enemies (unlike SMW’s pixel art, which I think is a bit lifeless). Yoshi took on a shorter neck, larger head, bigger arms, a much more animated appearance, and more colours. The games in this series:

-Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. Established many new design elements for the Yoshi series. The plot involved Kamek (caretaker of Baby Bowser) kidnapping baby Mario and Luigi, who were being delivered by the Stork. The Yoshis (led by a certain green Yoshi) take baby Mario and then go to rescue baby Luigi.

-Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3. A remake of YI on GBA. It replaced Yoshi’s voice effects with Totaka’s voice samples from Yoshi’s Story and added some extra levels, but was otherwise pretty much the same. Oh and it didn’t have the Super FX chip so couldn’t handle some of the EXTREME graphical effects (eg. screen-warping) the SNES original had.

-Yoshi Touch & Go. Basically an early DS game that was built around the hardware capabilities. It’s a sort of retelling of YI in a way, but as a score attack marathon game. Yoshi runs along, you tap to fire eggs. There’s also a mode with baby Mario falling and you draw things to help him, which was adapted from a GCN/DS tech demo called Balloon Trip. I’m not sure if it actually represents a new chapter in the YI saga, but if not then it’s the third game based on the same events.

-Yoshi’s Island DS. The only “true” sequel to YI, it directly follows many of its conventions and styles, unlike Yoshi’s Story. The graphical style is the same, but it introduces more babies for the Yoshis to rescue, including Peach, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser in addition to Mario. The story is weirder, adult Bowser and Kamek travel back in time to capture the babies to stop them thwarting their plans in the future. Also apparently all the babies, including Luigi and a final newly hatched Yoshi, are “Star Children” with DESTINY or something.

-Yoshi’s Panepon (aka Tetris Attack). A spinoff on the SNES, this game was a reskin of the Japanese Panel de Pon with fairies and flowers replaced by Yoshi. It was later released in Japan too. Being released soon after the original YI, it featured many enemies from that game and Yoshi’s design, although it also included the SMW-derived baby Yoshis. So you see how some games mix and match elements. Still, on the whole taking most of its cues from YI puts it here.

To figure out which spinoffs are taking inspiration from the YI style, one of the giveaways is the crayon-style art and soft pastel colours. For example, the Yoshi’s Island stage in Brawl or the board in Itadaki Street DS. Any game with babies is also derived from this, as YI games are the only ones with baby versions, who are regulars in sport games now. Yoshi making and throwing eggs was introduced here, although YS shares this trait. Mainly it’s enemy types, as there are lots of unique baddies or familiar ones with a specific style. This style lent itself well to the Paper Mario series, so you’ll see some guys turning up there. Similarly, Mario Party Advance is a haven for forgotten minor enemies, as is Super Princess Peach. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is also linked as it involves time travel to the same period, babies and Kamek. You also get elements in certain modern remakes in the Game & Watch Galleries, such as a YI-proportioned Yoshi in G&WG2’s Vermin, Goonies in G&WG3’s Turtle Bridge, etc. Oh and I almost forgot, WarioWare DIY has a YI-based microgame called Yoshi.

Yoshi’s Story was a big redesign for the Yoshi series that greatly affected Yoshi’s portrayal afterwards. Interestingly, the childish art style of YI is said to be a response by Miyamoto to pressure he received to make the game like Donkey Kong Country’s pre-rendered art. Instead of the “modern” 3D computer-rendered graphics, he went for a simplistic hand-drawn style. It’s ironic, then, that YS on the 64 went all out with 3D rendered character models and backgrounds, and ended up being (in my opinion) pretty ugly, and not as well received. It’s still very cutesy, but the colours are brighter, and everything is very rounded and shiny. Unfortunately the game is pretty awkward to play too, but it has unique mechanics that stood it apart from YI from the directional tongue and analogue egg aiming to the non-linear structure of levels. The style’s not just generic 3D models, though. The game has a storybook conceit in the menus and everything looks crafted, such as knitted stuff, newspaper and cardboard, wooden blocks, pop-ups, clay, etc. It is this aesthetic, and the proportions of the squatter, rounder baby Yoshis, that characterises any game or element in the YS style. It spawned a few sequel-type games too.

-Yoshi’s Story. Baby Bowser has turned the island into a pop-up book, put all the adults to sleep, and stolen the Super Happy Tree. Some newly hatched baby Yoshis have to eat a lot of stuff to become really happy and then beat baby Bowser.

-Yoshi’s Universal Gravitation (aka Yoshi Topsy-Turvy in America). Using the 3D-type art style of YS but an older-looking Yoshi, this game used a GBA title sensor for Yoshi to interact with stuff. No egg-throwing but a fair bit of eating, it’s the art style that places this here. It mixes some painted stylings with lots of cardboard and constructed scenery. Not to mention the story in which adult Bowser is causing trouble, so this time the spirit deity thing of the island turns it into a picture book (again). The structure’s different though, it involves little mission-type things in a level, you have to please different spirits by doing various things.

-Yoshi Demo. This unnamed tech demo for the GBA was based very heavily on Yoshi’s Story. It featured an endless level in the style of YS’s first level, with some of the same enemies but also some new ones. It may have represented a close sequel to YS on the GBA but nothing ever came of it. It’s playable though, so it kinda counts as a game.

-Yarn Yoshi. This recently announced game for the Wii U is looking like a sequel to Yoshi’s Story (and Kirby’s Epic Yarn). The knitted and crafted aesthetic and 2.5D levels certainly place it in this category. Also, no babies.

-Yoshi Cart, a sub game in Nintendo Land. Much of Nintendo Land features a crafty-type art style, with knitted material and handmade costumes and whatnot, so Yoshi’s game in it fits in here. Also, the point of it is to eat fruits, based on the YS fruit types. It contains music from YS and YI, but the fruit and style put it here.

-Picross NP vol. 2. This Japan-only Picross game came in instalments, each of which featured a particular game that was current. Vol. 2 has a series of Yoshi’s Story-themed puzzles, although being pixelated sprites they could arguably fit with YI too. The theme though is YS, and there are some characters here unique to YS.

As I said, many games following the release of Yoshi’s Story incorporated elements such as fruit (bananas, grapes, apple, musk melon, watermelon) and the general proportions of Yoshi shifted slightly to the rounder body shape. His voice is another thing that stuck around in most places, although you still get the old vocalisations in Mario Kart 64 and NSMBWii. Basically, if there’s fruits, no Mario, round-looking enemies in 3D, bright colours, and the Super Happy Tree, it’s based on this game. An interesting part of this category is that the aesthetic is not just a visual choice for the game, it’s part of the story too. The two main games so far have had the island becoming a literal book, and if Yarn Yoshi is anything like the Kirby game, the plot will follow similar lines. Yoshi Cart is also a recreation in Nintendo Land.

The Smash Bros. series is cool because it is such a big crossover. It happens to cover all three categories separately. There are three stages, all called “Yoshi’s Island”, that uniquely belong to one of these. The first instalment’s stage was YS-based, with cardboard and wood stage and the Super Happy Tree. There were also 3D-rendered Fly Guys carrying fruits. Melee had a SMW-based stage with the blocks and pipes from that game, as well as Lakitu and berry bushes. Brawl had the YI-inspired stage, with 2D Fly Guys, a Support Ghost, and watercolour-style graphics.

Now, I mentioned baby Yoshis in YS. I’d now like to present a way for all these games to fit together cohesively. Throughout all, three stages of Yoshi growth are shown. The first is the newborn babies, which are very squat, frog-looking guys that grow up after eating stuff. They first appear in SMW, then in Tetris Attack and more recently in NSMBU. However, this contrasts with the “baby Yoshis” seen in Yoshi’s Story. So YS’s version must be more grown up, as they have more definition and independent ability, although their proportions are shorter than other incarnations. These are then “infant Yoshis”, which grow into “adult Yoshis” with the more familiar proportions that, while the design has changed over the years, are fairly consistent. These infants are, however, seen several times emerging directly from eggs, (black and white Yoshi in YS, baby green Yoshi in YIDS’s end) but mostly from very large eggs. So Yoshis have chance to develop while still in the egg, which can grow to accommodate this. If the egg hatches while still small, the little frog “baby Yoshis” are born.

Now as for individuals, my theory goes like this. The primary Yoshi that is such a big part of the Mario series, is playable independently in SM64DS, appears in many sports games and also SMW, SMS, and SMG2, is now an adult. At the time of Yoshi’s Island he wasn’t yet born. The star of YI, Touch & Go, and YIDS is an older Yoshi, perhaps the father/mother of Mario’s Yoshi. At the end of YIDS, the green Star Yoshi is born. This same one then is the star of Yoshi’s Story, along with some other infants. Baby Bowser knows that this one will grow up to help Mario and hinder him, due to Future Kamek telling him in YIDS. This is why he calls him Mario’s pet, even though this Yoshi has never met Mario before. Later on, he grows up and even becomes the new protector of the island, taking over from his ageing father (the ringleader of YI and YIDS), filling this role when a grown-up Bowser attacks in YUG. Then, Mario visits one of the Yoshi Islands (don’t ask) and meets this Yoshi, in a fateful meeting between Star Children in SMW. Yoshi’s Egg is part of the aftermath of Bowser trapping Yoshis in eggs in SMW, as Mario has to now hatch some more. From there they have many adventures together, including baking cookies and shooting Koopas. Sometimes Yoshi’s different coloured friends from his island come along too.

And that’s the story of Mario’s Yoshi and his father. Ah, but what happened to his father? Another theory I heard goes that the Yoshi Village Leader on Lavalava Island in Paper Mario is that father, older and wiser (and fatter). He has a feather on his head and a brown Yoshi friend who he had adventures with. The evidence is not exactly overwhelming, but it’s the best theory I’ve heard as to what happened to him. (I haven’t played that bit yet, so I don’t know what he says to Mario either).

Well, that was altogether too long. I haven’t said too much about Yoshi before though so I wanted to get out some of the differences between his portrayals, and the styles seem to fall along one of these three lines. Looking at different interpretations of characters is always interesting to me, especially characters I love. I could say a lot more on this subject but I really have to stop. Thanks for reading (or skimming).