Yoshi (game)

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This article is about the game entitled Yoshi. For other uses of the name Yoshi, see Yoshi (disambiguation). For information about the character referred to as Yoshi, see Yoshi. For the upcoming Nintendo Switch title, tentatively just named Yoshi, see Yoshi (Nintendo Switch).

Template:Infobox Yoshi, known in Europe and Australia as Mario & Yoshi and in Japan as Yoshi no Tamago (ヨッシーのたまご, lit. "Yoshi's Egg"), is a puzzle game for the NES featuring the title character. In this game, enemies from past Mario games fall and the player must 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, Nintendo 3DS's, and Wii U's Virtual Console.

Game modes

1-Player Mode

File:MarioYGB.PNG

Game Boy version.

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 //// and //// Buttons to make two plates switch places.

A-Type

A screenshot of A Type.

Mario must match the 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 Yoshis 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.

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 their 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.

Characters

• Mario (Playable)
• Luigi (Playable)
• Yoshi
• Baby Yoshi
• Goomba
• Blooper
• Boo
• Piranha Plant

Appearances in other media

Yoshi was the subject of a manga called Yoshi's Egg by Kazuki Motoyama, who later went on to write a manga based on Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It has two different stories. The first story involves Yoshi opening a restaurant called Yossy's Pizza (note that the Yossy in the name was how Yoshi's name was anglicized in Japan at the time). And the second story (divided into three separate parts) involves Yoshi, Mario, Luigi and Peach embarking on a journey to find his mother.

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Reception

Yoshi received mixed to negative reviews for its repetitive and luck-based gameplay. Brett Alan Weiss of Allgame said that Yoshi was a "surprisingly dull game" and he noted that the controls were unique, but he also added; "the novelty wears off after a while."

The Virtual Console re-release also received negative reviews. GameSpot's Frank Provo and IGN's Lucas M. Thomas both gave the game 5 of 10 stars, with Thomas commenting the game's "slow" gameplay and the "cumbersome" controls.

Several video game websites said that players should refrain from buying Yoshi on the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo World Report said; "There was too much luck and chance in the game to make playing it satisfying." Joystiq said; "While [the gameplay is] admittedly a pretty interesting way to spend an afternoon, it still feels kind of a ripoff."

1UP.com's Jeremy Parish stated that the gameplay was "not enough to justify the asking price" (500 points), but he later stated that, compared to Yoshi's Cookie, it was "decent and actually had some relationship to the Mario series."

N-Force gave the game a positive review saying that in a preview for the game that it was "basically the game is great. The fun of Tetris, but with colour and sound effects. Just as hard, maybe harder - definitely just as addictive." They later rated the game 4/5 stars in the Buyer's Guide for the Jan. 1993 issue saying that "Yoshi is great fun. Gameplay's nothing new - Tetris all over again! Graphics are a treat. Lots of fun - in short bursts."

Despite the negative reviews, the game sold well and helped Game Freak create the Game Boy Pokemon games.

References to other games

• Super Mario Bros. 3: Mario's sprite from this game appears on the high score board. All of the enemies look identical to their sprites from Super Mario Bros. 3 (with the exception of Piranha Plants)
• Super Mario World: Yoshi's many forms and the Piranha Plants' design are from this game.

References to later games

• Super Mario Bros. Deluxe: The image that appears when Yoshi is brought to Toad after hatching him is similar to the image in the title screen of the NES version.
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: A demo of the game can be played after beating Classic Mode with Yoshi in Intensity 2.0 or higher.

Pre-release and unused content

An unused title screen graphic (pictured at the left) depicting a Baby Yoshi is found in the game files.

Gallery

Box arts and logos

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  North American NES box art

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  North American Game Boy box art

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  Japanese Famicom box art

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  The reverse of the Japanese Famicom box art

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  Japanese Game Boy box art

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  Japanese logo

Artwork

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  Mario with several objects and enemies

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  Yoshi with several objects and enemies

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  Yoshi

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  Little Yoshi

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  Winged Yoshi

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  Star Yoshi

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  Star Yoshi

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  Yoshi Egg

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  Blooper

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  Boo

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  Goomba

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  Piranha Plant

NES Title Screens

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  Japanese

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  North American

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  European

GB Title Screens

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  Japanese

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  North American

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  European

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ヨッシーのたまご[?] Yoshi no Tamago	Yoshi's Egg
Dutch	Mario en Yoshi[?]	Mario and Yoshi
German	Mario und Yoshi[?]	Mario and Yoshi
Italian	Mario e Yoshi[?]	Mario and Yoshi
Korean	요시의 알[?] Yosi ui al	Yoshi's Egg
Portuguese	Mario e Yoshi[?]	Mario and Yoshi
Russian	Марио и Йоши[?] Mario i Yoshi	Mario and Yoshi
Spanish	Mario y Yoshi[?]	Mario and Yoshi