Yoshi (game)
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''Yoshi'', known as ''Mario & Yoshi'' in
PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
regions, is a
puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...
developed by
Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self- ...
and published by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
. It was released for the
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
and
Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
platforms. Both versions were first released simultaneously in Japan on December 14, 1991, and released in all other regions the following year. In ''Yoshi'', the player is tasked with clearing monsters from the on-screen playing field. The monsters fall in from the top of the screen to build vertical stacks; the player must prevent a stack from growing too high such that it exits the play field. In order to do so, the player swaps and moves the stacks about such that falling monsters collide with identical monsters stationed atop the stacks, causing them to be removed from play. ''Yoshi'' offers both a
scoring SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...
-focused
single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...
mode and a competitive
two-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode.


Gameplay

''Yoshi'' is a falling block game in which the player is given a playing field that is divided into four columns. The objective is to match Yoshi egg shells to hatch them and prevent the four stacks, which pile up from the falling monsters, from growing too tall. The
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...
,
Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...
, swaps the stacks around such that the falling monsters will be eliminated by coming into contact with the blocks they match. Monsters, which consist of various ''
Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...
'' enemies, appear at the top of the screen and fall into each the columns, turning into blocks as they land and creating stacks that incrementally grow in height. The main objective is to prevent the four stacks from growing too high by eliminating blocks from the field; a
game over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...
occurs when any of the stacks crosses the black line drawn across the top of the play field. A stack can hold up to eight objects in the NES version or seven in the Game Boy version. To eliminate a block from the top of a stack, it must come in contact with a falling monster that matches it. For example, if a
Goomba Goombas (), known in Japan as and originally Little Goomba, are a fictional species from Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise. They first appeared in the NES video game ''Super Mario Bros.'' as the first enemy players encounter, part of Bowser's ...
falls directly onto a Goomba block, both will be removed. The player controls Mario, who resides below the playing field and has the ability to swap the positions of any two adjacent stacks at a time. Thus, the player is required to switch around the stacks to ensure that the monsters fall into the correct places.
Points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...
are awarded for each set of monsters that are eliminated. In addition to the four different types of monsters, two halves of a
Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in '' Super Mario World'' (1990) on the SNES as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Throughout the mainline '' Super Mario'' series, Yoshi typically serves ...
eggshell An eggshell is the outer covering of a hard-shelled egg (biology), egg and of some forms of eggs with soft outer coats. Worm eggs Nematode eggs present a two layered structure: an external vitellin layer made of chitin that confers mechanical ...
will also fall. The bottom eggshell half behaves like a monster: it disappears when it comes into contact with another bottom half. However, if a falling top half comes into contact with a bottom half, the two will join and hatch a Yoshi, earning the player bonus points. Furthermore, if a stack of monsters grows atop a bottom half and a top half is then added, all monsters between the halves will be encased and eliminated. Larger Yoshi characters will hatch depending on the number of monsters encased, which also increases the number of bonus points awarded. If a falling top half does not have any bottom half to join to in the stack it touches, it is automatically removed and no points are awarded. The
single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...
mode has two variations: A-Type and B-Type. In A-Type, the game is played indefinitely until the player receives a game over. In B-Type, the player plays a series of
level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...
s in which the player is required to completely clear the playing field of all the blocks. The initial number of blocks inside the playing field grows as the player progresses. In
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode, a second player controls
Luigi Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...
. The two players play simultaneously in separate playing fields using the traditional rules. A player wins the match by clearing all the blocks in the field or when the other receives a game over; the first player to win three matches wins overall.


Development

''Yoshi'' was the first collaboration between developer
Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self- ...
and publisher
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
. Nintendo had previously passed on publishing Game Freak's first title, '' Mendel Palace'' for the
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
. After the smaller company incorporated and began work on its second release, '' Smart Ball'' for the
SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...
, Nintendo made Game Freak the offer to develop ''Yoshi''. It was suggested by
Tsunekazu Ishihara is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and businessman who is the president and Chief executive officer of The Pokémon Company. Prior to working with the ''Pokémon'' franchise, Ishihara was part of Ape Inc. and worked on tit ...
, an associate of Game Freak co-founder
Satoshi Tajiri is a Japanese video game designer and Creative director, director who is the creator of the ''Pokémon'' franchise and the co-founder and president of video game developer Game Freak. A fan of arcade games in his youth, Tajiri wrote for and ed ...
, that they develop smaller games like ''Yoshi'' in order to give the company the financial backing to eventually realize its larger-scale project, the
RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
series ''
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
''. ''Yoshi'' was developed in six months with Tajiri as its director.
Ken Sugimori is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, mangaka, manga artist, and Video game director (disambiguation), director. He is best known as the primary character designer and art director for the ''Pokémon'' franchise. Sugimori is also credi ...
came up with the gameplay concept. Ishihara and Yoshi creator
Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...
served as
producers Producer(s), The Producer(s), or co-producer(s) may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *Producer, a stakeholder of economic production * Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes t ...
. Tajiri explained that it was during the development of ''Yoshi'' that he learned the "wave" design of
game difficulty Game balance is a branch of game design with the intention of improving gameplay and user experience by balancing difficulty and fairness. Game balance consists of adjusting rewards, challenges, and/or elements of a game to create the intended pla ...
in which the player is presented with an easy
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directly after a challenging one to allow them to savor their accomplishment.
Junichi Masuda is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the ''Pokémon'' franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company s ...
composed the game's music and sound. Masuda stated that he spent an extensive amount of time programming the movement of the game's menu items to its music. Game Freak had also wanted to add in a realistic-sounding Yoshi voice, but Nintendo disapproved of it. In 2024, a prototype of an unreleased
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
remake was discovered as part of the October 2024 Game Freak leak, hidden in the source code of ''
Pokémon Black and White and are 2010 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fifth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. First rel ...
''; evidence led some to believe that the prototype may have been based on an unreleased
Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
version.


Release

The NES version of ''Yoshi'' was made available for purchase on the
Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...
for the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
in 2007. The game was then re-released on September 1, 2011, as a downloadable title on the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
, available only to members of the Nintendo Ambassador program. ''Yoshi'' was made available for purchase in the
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on August 22, 2012, in Japan, on February 21, 2013, in North America and on May 2, 2013, in Europe. It was also released for the
Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...
on June 12, 2013, as the part of the 30th anniversary of the Famicom with the price of 30 cents which become the regular price starting on July 12, 2013. The NES version was also released via the
Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...
service on September 18, 2018.


Reception


Contemporary

''Yoshi'' sold 500,000 copies in Japan on its first day on sale. In the United States, the game topped
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NES sales charts for two months in 1992, from August to September. In the United Kingdom, the Game Boy version still sold 100,000 copies in 1997, years after release. Upon release, the game received a positive review from the
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gaming magazine ''N-Force'', which stated in a preview for the game in its September 1992 issue that "basically
he game He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
is great. The fun of
Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...
, but with colour and sound effects. Just as hard, maybe harder – definitely just as addictive." It later rated the game 4 out of 5 in the Buyers' Guide for its January 1993 issue, summarizing that "Yoshi is great fun. Gameplay's nothing new – Tetris all over again! Graphics are a treat. Lots of fun – in short bursts."


Retrospective

''Yoshi'' received mixed reviews from retrospective critics, with common criticism directed towards its perceived repetitive gameplay and dependence on luck, which led to insufficient
replay value Replay value (or, colloquially, replayability) is the potential of a video game or other media products for continued play value after its first completion. Factors that can influence perceived replay value include the game's extra characters, se ...
. Brett Alan Weiss of ''
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'' called ''Yoshi'' a "surprisingly dull game," noting that while the game's controls are unique, "the novelty wears off after a while." Reviews of ''Yoshi''s
Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...
release on
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
in 2007 were also mixed. Both Frank Provo of ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' and Lucas M. Thomas of ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' rated ''Yoshi'' 5 out of 10. Thomas regarded the gameplay as "slow" and the controls "cumbersome," and concluded that the game is a "beginner's puzzler, holding little appeal for experienced players". While Provo complimented both the game's graphics and music, he stated that the gameplay did not involve much strategy, inciting little reason to play more than a few minutes. ''Nintendo Life'' felt that ''Yoshi'' was "uninspired", rating the game 4 out of 10. Several websites that covered recent Virtual Console releases recommended that players refrain from purchasing ''Yoshi''. Nintendo World Report stated that "there's too much luck and chance in the game to make playing it satisfying," and ''
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'' also stated that "while he gameplay isadmittedly a pretty interesting way to spend an afternoon, it still feels like kind of a ripoff." Jeremy Parish of ''
1UP.com ''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conte ...
'' stated that the gameplay in ''Yoshi'' was "not enough to justify the asking price
points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...
]," though he later stated that, compared to the "uninspired" ''Yoshi's Cookie'', ''Yoshi'' was "decent and actually had some relationship to the Mario series." ''Gamer Network#Partnered, Nintendo Life'' placed ''Yoshi'' last in its ranking of 13 ''Yoshi'' games, writing: "''Yoshi'' is hardly the most scintillating of puzzlers, but we've played worse tile-matching games in our time and it does have a relatively unique plate/column switching mechanic."


Notes


References


External links


''Yoshi''
o
NinDB
(archived June 26, 2010 at the
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...
)
''Yoshi's Egg''
on the
Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
40th Anniversary page {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshi's Egg (Video Game) 1991 video games Falling block puzzle games Game Boy games Game Freak games Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games for Wii Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console games for Wii U Yoshi video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Mario puzzle games Video games scored by Junichi Masuda Nintendo Classics games Video games directed by Satoshi Tajiri