Yoshi (game)

Yoshi (Mario & Yoshi in Europe) is a puzzle game featuring the title dinosaur. In this game, enemies from past Mario games fall and it's the player's job to get two of the same enemy to stack on top of one another. If the enemies are the same, they'll disappear. If they're different, they'll just stay where they are. If too many stack up, the player loses the game. The concept of the game was inspired by Tetris.

The NES version of this game is available on the Wii's Virtual Console.

Modes of the Game

1-Player Mode

In this mode, only one player (who controls Mario) plays the game. There are two "types" of game to play, the A Type, and B Type. Before each game, the player sets the type of game, level of difficulty, speed of falling enemies, and in-game music for the game ahead. A board is made out of four "plates" which enemies fall onto. Mario uses left and right on the D-Pad to move about, and the A and B Buttons to make two plates switch places.

A Type

A screenshot of A Type.

Mario must match enemy icons to earn points and, hopefully, make a high score. Any two enemies placed together vertically make a match, earning Mario five points. A very handy way of clearing excess enemies from the board are egg halves. There are two halves that stack together to make a full egg, thus hatching a baby Yoshi and getting fifty points for Mario! When a top half is placed by itself on the board, it will dissipate. But if a bottom piece is placed, there it will stay until another falls on top of it for an ordinary match, or a top piece stacks onto it.

A handy little tip is that no matter how many enemies are on top of the bottom egg piece, if the top piece is placed on the same stack as the bottom, it will plow through the entire stack until it reaches its other half! This is also a big point boost, as any enemy inside the stack equals fifty points! It will also result in a larger Yoshi hatching from the egg. The levels of Yoshi are as follows:

• Small Yoshi: No enemies in the egg.
• Tall Yoshi: One to four enemies in the egg.
• Winged Yoshi: Five or six enemies in the egg.
• Star Yoshi: Seven enemies in the egg.

As the game progresses, more and more enemies come down, faster and faster. The game never ends, though. The only point is to make a high score, beat it, then beat it again!

B-Type

Exactly like the A-Type, but now games are timed. When the board is completed, not only is the score recorded, but also the amount of time spent on that game.

2-Player Mode

Before a player face-off, each one picks his/her own level and speed. The game plays just the same, but the board is now split in half, right half for Player 1, Mario, left half for Player 2, Luigi. If a player loses, he gains an "X", while the winning player (whoever was still alive when his opponent lost) gains an "O". An "X" simply signifies a lost game, and "O", one won. Won games are recorded on the upper part of each player board by Yoshi eggs. If a player has three eggs, he wins.

References to Other Games

• Super Mario Bros. 3: Mario's sprite from this game appears on the high score board.
• Super Mario World: Many of the enemies from this game reappare in Yoshi in identical apperance to Super Mario World. Yoshi himself also returns.