Yoshi (species)
Yoshis are a species of dinosaur-like creatures that were first featured in Super Mario World. Their main home is Yoshi's Island in Dinosaur Land, although they've been seen in places like Yoshi Village and on the Excess Express.
Biology
A Yoshi's dominating feature is its nose, taking up most of its head. They are very sensitive when smelling out fruit or secrets that could be buried underground. They probably locate family and friends by smell, along with skin color. Even though they have teeth, these are rarely seen or used. The Fighting Polygons version of a Yoshi shows three pointy teeth, even though in the game Yoshi didn't show teeth. Yoshis' teeth were also seen in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island death scenes and the Flutter Jump animation in Yoshi Topsy-Turvy. They have long, adhesive tongues that can cling to most enemies, allowing a Yoshi to swallow it whole. They can either swallow whatever they eat, or encase it in an egg. The eggs can be used as projectile weapons to defeat enemies and bosses.
Skin Pigment
Their skin color can be anything, even black and white. They can change skin color in Super Mario Sunshine by eating different fruit, and yet their colors are determined by hatching time in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In Super Mario World they had abilities depending on their color and Koopa Shells. If a Blue Yoshi eats Koopa Shell, it could grow wings. If a Red Yoshi eats a Koopa Shell, it could spit Fireballs. Their shoes' color is in conjunction with their skin; a green Yoshi has red shoes, a red Yoshi has blue shoes, etc. (It should be noted that this shoe color denomination was not set up until Yoshi's Story.)
Yoshi Colors
Green Yoshi
Green Yoshis are the most common color pigment of the Yoshis. The Yoshi character is also a Green Yoshi (although he can change his color on some occasions). They are shown to have no distinctive abilities from the other Yoshi colors and are the most generic type of Yoshi. Strangely in Super Mario Sunshine, the Yoshis start out as green but change to a different color once they eat a Fruit. They also turn green if they are about to dissipate from not eating another Fruit for a long time or going into the water.
Speech
Most Yoshis can speak English, as proved by Yoshi in Super Mario World and Super Mario 64, as well as various Yoshis in games like Yoshi's Story, Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and others. In older games (starting with Super Mario World), the Yoshis' only "voice" was an odd sound created by a backwards record scratching. In Yoshi's Story, the Yoshis are voiced by Nintendo musician Kazumi Totaka, who mutters the word "Yoshi" and unintelligible words (such as "gong" and "hup"); it is also worth noting that his voice was sped up to create the squeaky, childish voice of the Yoshis in this game. Even though the game was by no means a favorite, because of it many people assume Yoshis can only say "Yoshi", especially since Yoshi Story voice clips are being reused even today.
Yoshis also have their own language. The Yoshi language is still very much unknown to gamers, but in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Yoshi had to translate the other Yoshis language. Oddly, in the Mario & Luigi Series, Yoshis still speak with Super Mario RPG-style translation parenthesis, suggesting that Mario may have learned the language. As a final note on language, the Super Mario Adventures comic showed that, much like would be repeated years later with Yoshi's Story, Yoshis could only speak the word "Yoshi" with various marks of punctuation (and therefore implied accent), although this comic series is considerate alternate canon.
Gender
Perhaps strangely, little is known about the gender of Yoshis. All Yoshis would appear to have the ability to lay eggs, which makes it a common fan theory that male and female Yoshis lay eggs, and only those of the females will hatch as newborn Yoshis; however, such a theory is disproved in games such as Game & Watch Gallery 2 and Game and Watch Gallery 4, which features a Chef minigame where the main Yoshi is actually seen laying eggs that hatch, in addition to the fact that Yoshi revealed that live Yoshi Eggs could be produced even without parents (by correct lining of enemies). The Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Melee states (in Yoshi's trophy) that Yoshis are asexual, meaning that they reproduce without a mate, and are neither male nor female. The validity of this quote is often disputed because male pronouns are often applied to Yoshi, though this can be debunked since male pronouns can be given to someone of unknown sex, and it is far more respectful than saying "it" all the time. Also note that the Japanese rarely use gender-specific pronouns, and have never used it on Yoshi. Despite what fans may want to believe, this may be the most official word Nintendo may say on it, and it has no real contradictions.
Diet
Yoshis eat mostly fruit, and in the case in Yoshi's Story, they become happy when eating fruit their own skin color. Melons are their favorite, and only the Black and White Yoshis could digest Peppers (which hurt any other Yoshi). All Yoshis can eat enemies of various kinds, from large Koopas to plants.
Other Notes
- Yoshis are the originator of the "Ground Pound", a move in which a creature jumps into the air, flips and then slams into the ground. Yoshis first performed the move in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The move has been performed by many characters in later games, such as Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and various entries in the Mario Party franchise.
- The plural for Yoshi has often come up in debates. Some argue that "Yoshis" is the proper term, while others argue that "Yoshies" is correct. Japanese plurals have no indicative marks, meaning that "Yoshi" is another (unlikely) possibility. Nintendo of America has used both "Yoshies" and "Yoshis" in the Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance versions of Yoshi's Island, respectively. It could be that both versions are valid.
- In the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance 4 adaptations of Super Mario Bros. 3, the king in the castle of World seven is transformed into a Green Yoshi by Ludwig Von Koopa (whereas in the NES version of the game, predating Yoshi's, the king was transformed into a Piranha Plant).
- Strangely, a Green Yoshi can sometimes be seen on the Excess Express in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, making it the only cameo of a Yoshi in the game (although a Yoshi Kid joins Mario's party and has a stampede attack, both of which give extra Yoshi appearances).
- In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, it confirmed that Yoshies tend to travel in very large herds (consisting of thousands) and cause stampedes similar to the real world animal Wildebeests.
Appearances in Other Media
Though Yoshi himself appeared in the Super Mario World animated series and Nintendo Adventure Books, the only other Mario-related media adaptation to feature Yoshis was in Nintendo Power's Super Mario Adventures comic.
In Super Mario Adventures, it is revealed that Bowser and his his minions had been kidnapping Yoshis, hypnotizing them, and using them as slaves to prepare Bowser's wedding to a brainwashed Princess Peach. Eventually, these Yoshis were freed from the eggs they were sealed in by Yoshi and Luigi and aided them in crashing Bowser's wedding to Princess Toadstool and in defeating Bowser.
Trivia
- Yoshis can use Full Eggs to restore all their eggs.
Notable Yoshis
- Yoshi – Super Mario World
- Yoshi (kid) – Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
- Boshi – Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
- Little Yoshi – Tetris Attack
- Yoob – Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
- Green Yoshi – Super Mario World
- Red Yoshi – Super Mario World
- Pink Yoshi – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Yellow Yoshi – Super Mario World
- Cyan Yoshi – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Blue Yoshi – Super Mario World
- Brown Yoshi – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Purple Yoshi – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Orange Yoshi – Super Mario Sunshine
- Black Yoshi – Yoshi's Story
- White Yoshi – Yoshi's Story
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| Baby Yoshi | |||||||||||
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| Boshi | Fearsome 5 | Little Yoshi | Village Leader | Yoob | Yoshi | Yoshi Kid | |||||
