Yoshi

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Yoshi

Yoshi as he appears in the Yoshi's Island series.
Series	Mario/Yoshi
First game	Super Mario World (1990)
Created by	Shigefumi Hino
Designed by	Shigefumi Hino Masanori Sato (artwork) Akiko Hirono
Voiced by (English)	Andrew Sabiston (Super Mario World television series) Frank Welker (Super Mario Bros. film)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Chika Sakamoto (Super Mario World: Mario to Yoshhi no Bōken Land, red) Ikue Ōtani (Super Mario World: Mario to Yoshi no Bōken Land, green) Keiko Yamamoto (Yoshi's Egg commercial) Satomi Kōrogi (commercials) Kazumi Totaka (video games) Frank Welker (2010)
Information

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yosshī^?, sometimes romanized Yossy in earlier Japanese materials)^[1][2] (IPA: /ˈjəʊ.ʃi/) is a fictional dinosaur. 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. Most recently, Yoshi appears in New Super Mario Bros. Wii as the characters' accomplice, similar to his original debut role in Super Mario World. Yoshis come in many different colors, but his original and most common color is green. Yoshi is set to appear in the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Conception and creation

Line art of Yoshi.

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. He said that "we were finally able to get Yoshi off the drawing boards with Super Mario World for the Super NES".^[3] 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.^[4]

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."^[5] The creation of Yoshi was handled by company independent from the filmmakers.^[6]

Characteristics

Yoshi's main trademarks are his long sticky tongue, the green-dotted egg, his speech, and his jump. Yoshis can come in a variety of colors, though they are primarily seen as green. Other common colors include blue, red, pink, and yellow. In Super Mario World for the SNES, different colors of Yoshi had different abilities, such as fire-breathing and flying. Yoshis are shown in multiple games living in villages with a few wooden constructions. 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.^{[citation needed]} Yoshis inhabit many areas of the world, from the Mushroom Kingdom to Isle Delfino however they are apparently endangered in some areas.

Abilities

Yoshi is shown to have many different abilities which provide usefulness whenever Mario or another hero is riding him. Yoshi's special jump called the Flutter jump allows him to kick wildly in the air to stay afloat in the air making his jumps longer.Another abilities he possesses is the rainbow. His long tongue allows him to swallow many types of things and then lay them into eggs which he can throw. It is possible that these eggs might hatch to young Yoshis if the eggs are left alone.

Yoshi is also shown to change color when he eats different types of fruit as seen in Mario Sunshine, ranging from orange to pink to purple and to regular green if he is defeated. He is also seen to breathe fire when he eats a fire flower. In Super Mario 64 DS, Yoshi can breathe fire for a short time as his special ability. If Yoshi wears one of the hero's hats (Mario, Luigi, Wario), he will become one of them in appearance and moves. In his first few appearances, Yoshi had no real voice and he just made sound effects like whistling and stranger noises. However in the newer games, Yoshi was given a cuter voice by saying his name repeatedly in a high pitch like a baby dinosaur. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii however, Yoshi has his original voice from Super Mario World consisting of the various sound effects. Yoshi's Island series

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 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 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 and Yoshi's Cookie, respectively. Both of these games were released for the Game Boy as well. His 3D Mario platformer appearances include Super Mario 64 as a hidden, but not playable, character;^{[citation needed]} 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. However in this game, he is referred to as a tropical yoshi which changes to different colors after eating different fruit. Most recently, Yoshi appears in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. His role in New Super Mario Bros. Wii is very similar to his original role in Super Mario World. A number of different colored Yoshi's can be obtained by hitting question mark blocks throughout the game. He can then be ridden by characters in the game in an almost identical manor as in Super Mario World. Yoshi is also slated to appear in the upcoming game Super Mario Galaxy 2, where he can also be ridden by the characters in the game.

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. Yoshi is mostly featured as a middle weight in the series however he is sometimes shown as a light 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, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.^[7]

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 and with his egg like moves he is a force to be reckoned with. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Yoshi's final smash is called the "Super Dragon" and once using it, he grows wings and is able to breathe fire and fly for a short time. This has deepened the thought on whether Yoshi is in fact a dinosaur or a dragon. In the Subspace Emissary, Yoshi is first seen sleeping in the forest until various subspace enemies rudely awaken his slumber. To defeat them, Yoshi teams up with Link and eventually the 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.^[8] In the movie, Yoshi was Koopa's pet and isn't referred to as a Yoshi but as a raptor, however he joined sides with Daisy and when she is about to be attacked, Yoshi saves her but he gets stabbed in her place. In the end however, he is seen alive and with Princess Daisy and the Goomba turned Toad, they bid the Mario Bros goodbye as the bros leave to their human world.

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 promotion of Mario toys which only starred Mario, Donkey Kong and Yoshi himself.^[9] 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.^[10]

References

External links

• Description of Yoshi