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VOOZH | about |
|
VOOZH | about |
| Yoshi | |
|---|---|
👁 YoshiSymbol.svg Official artwork of Yoshi from Mario Party 10 and Yoshi's Crafted World. | |
| Universe | Yoshi |
| Debut | Super Mario World (1990) |
| Smash Bros. appearances | SSB Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate |
| Most recent non-Smash appearance | Mario Tennis Fever (2026) |
| Console/platform of origin | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Species | Yoshi |
| Gender | Male (Yoshi) Varies (Species) |
| Place of origin | Yoshi's Island |
| Created by | Shigefumi Hino[1] Takashi Tezuka[1] |
| Designed by | Shigefumi Hino[1] |
| Voice actor | Kazumi Totaka |
| Article on Super Mario Wiki | Yoshi |
Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yoshi) is a species featured as the central characters in the Yoshi series and major characters in the Mario series. Since their debut in Super Mario World as allies of Mario and Luigi, the Yoshis' popularity has resulted in them starring in their own series. In the Mario series and a select few Yoshi games, there is also an individual character known just as Yoshi, who is a close friend of Mario, colored green, and is implied to be the Yoshi featured in Smash.
As a member of the "perfect-attendance crew", Yoshi has been featured as a playable character throughout the entire Super Smash Bros. series.
Shigeru Miyamoto considered giving Mario some kind of companion as far back as the planning stages of Super Mario Bros., but the concept was scrapped due to hardware limitations. During the development of Super Mario Bros. 3, Miyamoto had drawn a picture of Mario riding a horse. Taking note of the picture, Takashi Tezuka came to the conclusion that Miyamoto desired Mario to ride something, and implemented that idea into the development of Super Mario World.[1]
Due to Dinosaur Land being the setting of Super Mario World, Tezuka had Shigefumi Hino draw artwork for a kind of reptile. According to Hino, he took "horse" as a keyword and designed a large lizard similar to a crocodile in order to better integrate the concept.[1] After reconsidering this design, Hino and Tezuka instead decided to use a rough sketch drawn by Tezuka, which was refined by Hino into what would become Yoshi's finalized design.[1]
Yoshi is the most recurring member of the sapient and friendly reptilian species of the same name. The Yoshi species possesses an amalgamation of reptilian characteristics: the physique of a theropod dinosaur, a turtle-like shell that functions as a saddle,[1] and a chameleon-like tongue. On a related note, a chameleon's ability to change their skin coloration could be referenced by the variety of color schemes present among the various other Yoshis.
The Yoshi species debuted in Super Mario World, where Mario or Luigi would be able to find Yoshi Eggs, which would hatch automatically to reveal a fully grown Yoshi. Later in the game, Baby Yoshis could also be found. Baby Yoshis can be held, thrown, and matured into fully grown Yoshis. In order to do the latter, a Baby Yoshi must eat five enemies.
Alongside Yoshi himself, three differently colored Yoshis also appear, each of which has a distinct special ability that can be used so long as they have a Koopa Troopa shell in their mouths. Blue Yoshi can fly, Red Yoshi can spit out Fireballs, and Yellow Yoshi can emit a sand cloud after landing a jump. While Yoshi himself does not have any distinct special abilities, he can use each of the three other Yoshis' abilities by holding a shell of the same color as the respective Yoshi, such as a red shell allowing him to spit out Fireballs. By extension, the other three Yoshis can do the same.
Yoshi has reprised his steed roles in later Mario titles, both in 2D games such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Maker, and in 3D games such as Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Yoshi has, on three occasions, also been playable on his own in Mario platformer titles - in Super Mario 64 DS, where he is the starter character and is tasked with rescuing Mario, in Super Mario Run, where a variety of colors can be unlocked by recruiting Toads in the "Toad Rally" mode, and in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, where he can be used both as a playable character and a steed.
Yoshi has long been a popular staple of the multiplayer Mario spin-off games, where he has typically been a speedy character and is often paired with fellow dinosaur Birdo from the American Super Mario Bros. 2 (implied in certain titles to be his girlfriend). Many games also let players choose from a variety of different Yoshi colors.
After the success of Super Mario World and the positive reception of Yoshi, Nintendo capitalized by releasing several spinoff entries at a rapid pace. These include the puzzle games Yoshi and Yoshi's Cookie, the light gun game Yoshi's Safari compatible with the Super Scope. Due to Shigeru Miyamoto's dislike of these games, he aimed to make a game starring Yoshi that was authentic to his character.[2] This game would come to be known as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, which saw a myriad of differently colored members of the species appear. The Yoshis' ability to eat virtually anything was expanded to include the ability to create Yoshi Eggs capable of being thrown. In addition, Yellow Yoshi's sand cloud-generating jump was modified into a Ground Pound usable by all other Yoshis. Outside of these updated abilities, the Yoshis also gained the ability to Flutter Jump[1] and transform into vehicles. Following this, Panel de Pon would be reskinned as Tetris Attack for international markets, featuring Yoshi, the many new characters introduced in Yoshi's Island, and the first Yoshi series appearance of the adult Bowser. This localization of the game would be translated back into Japanese under the name Yoshi no PanePon, receiving a limited release on the Satellaview service for the Super Famicom and a wide release as a Game Boy cartridge.
In addition to being the first installment of the Yoshi's Island sub-series, Super Mario World 2 is the first installment in the Mario series' in-universe timeline: it details Baby Luigi being captured by Kamek and his Toadies while being delivered by a stork, while a group of Yoshis discover the missing Baby Mario and work to rejoin him with his twin brother. After being rescued by the Yoshis, the stork resumes its journey to deliver the newly reunited baby Mario Bros. to their parents. This same plotline would be retold in the endless runner game, Yoshi Touch & Go.
That is followed by the next event in the Yoshi canon, Yoshi's New Island, where upon arriving at its supposed destination, the stork discovers that the family living there were not expecting children. This mishap results in the stork once again being attacked by Kamek and his Toadies, who recapture Baby Luigi while Baby Mario falls to the floating Egg Island, which is home to another group of Yoshis. Much like their counterparts on Yoshi's Island, this group of Yoshis bands together to reunite the baby Mario Bros. and stop Baby Bowser from turning Egg Island into his own personal resort - with adult Bowser travelling back in time to serve as a secret final boss for players who don't use the Flutter Wings. Should the player beat him, it will also be revealed that adult Mario has travelled back in time under the guise of the helpful Mr. Pipe.
Despite the stork successfully delivering the baby Mario Bros. to their proper parents, Kamek and his Toadies nevertheless kidnap several babies from across the Mushroom Kingdom as part of their search for the seven star children, thus leading to the events in Yoshi's Island DS. Unlike the previous two instances, the stork fights back against Kamek and the Toadies, thus resulting in Baby Mario and Baby Peach being dropped onto Yoshi's Island during the scuffle. Upon reuniting with Baby Mario, the Yoshis decide to save not only Baby Luigi, but also any other babies that were kidnapped. During their journey, they ally with three other star children: Baby Peach, Baby Donkey Kong and Baby Wario.
Meanwhile, it is revealed that the adult Bowser traveled back in time once more to extract the star children's stars in order to use their power to rule the universe. By extension, it is also revealed that the Kamek and Toadies that kidnapped the babies were not from the past, but rather came from the present, alongside Bowser. However, a squabble between the baby and present day Bowsers results in Bowser inadvertently causing his infant self to fall out of his castle, land on a Yoshi's back, and thus create an uneasy alliance between Baby Bowser (who is a star child himself) and his longtime foes.
Despite Baby Wario and Baby Bowser leaving the group because of a desire for money and a retrieval by present day Kamek, respectively, the Yoshis nevertheless arrive at Baby Bowser's castle. Upon doing so, they reunite with Baby Wario, who sought Baby Bowser's treasure. Together, the green, pink, yellow and purple Yoshis band together with the remaining four babies to defeat Baby Bowser and then adult Bowser, thus foiling Bowser's plan and saving Baby Luigi and the rest of the kidnapped babies. Although the seventh and final star child is not encountered by the Yoshis, Bowser or Kamek, the ending reveals the final star child to be a newly hatched green Baby Yoshi, thus strongly implying him to be the very same Yoshi character that the grown up Mario Bros. would go on to rescue and ally with in Super Mario World and subsequent Mario games.
Several other Yoshi platformer games have also been released, seemingly outside of the main Yoshi's Island series. Yoshi's Story tells the story of a group of Yoshi hatchlings who must retrieve the Super Happy Tree that provides their adult counterparts with their undying optimism from Baby Bowser, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, a gyrometer-based game, introduces a set of mostly human-like characters known as the Yoshi Island Spirits, who Yoshi must complete missions from to prove he is worthy of taking on the adult Bowser, Yoshi's Woolly World features a group of Yoshis made of wool who work together to rescue one another after being scattered as bundles of yarn by Kamek and Baby Bowser, Yoshi's Crafted World has the Yoshis recover pieces of the wish-granting Sundream Stone from Baby Bowser and Kamek, and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book features Yoshis as taxonomists documenting the abilities of new creatures on behalf of the talking encyclopedia Mr. E. These titles typically take place in worlds made to appear homemade out of materials such as cardboard and wool. The only baby character shown in these particular games is Baby Bowser. While the Mario series features an individual "Yoshi" character, the Yoshi games do not, instead having the player control a variety of members of a given tribe, typically a different tribe of Yoshis from the last game - with Topsy-Turvy and Tetris Attack as exceptions, both featuring a singular green Yoshi.
Yoshi makes his first appearance in a fighting game in Super Smash Bros. as a starting playable character. His design is based on his appearance from Super Mario World. In comparison to the rest of the roster, Yoshi is arguably the most unique. His shield is a Yoshi Egg instead of a standard bubble that shrinks, which makes him immune to shield stabbing.
Another noticeable distinction Yoshi possesses is his lack of a recovery move. Instead, he makes up for this with a long-distanced and generally safe double jump. Although Yoshi's unique traits make him rather difficult for beginners to learn, his very versatile combo options, most notably his double jump canceled aerials, are very useful for combos, pressuring and KOing. Thanks to his strengths, Yoshi is ranked 5th on the current tier list, placing him in the A tier.
Yoshi's in-game description reads:
Yoshi returns in Melee as a starting playable character. His design is still based on his appearance from Super Mario World. Yoshi stays relatively unchanged, but is given a few new visual properties, such as a more dinosaur-like posture. He has also received several new and unique techniques, such as edge-canceled eggs.
Although Yoshi can continue to double jump cancel, he was somewhat nerfed; he is now unable to jump out of his shield and continues to lack a vertical recovery, two distinct traits that must be adapted to in order to bypass their drawbacks. However, Yoshi's unique shield physics, powerful attacks and status as an agile heavyweight nonetheless make him a capable character.
While Yoshi was initially regarded poorly, his position in the current metagame has improved significantly thanks to some Yoshi professionals, most notably aMSa. As a result, Yoshi is ranked 10th on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier.
As a playable character, Yoshi has three trophies - a normal trophy won beating the Classic Mode with Yoshi on any difficulty, and "Smash Red" and "Smash Blue" trophies are acquired by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively. He is also present in the "Mario & Yoshi" trophy, which can only be acquired in the NTSC and PAL versions via hacking device, whereas it could only be acquired in the Japanese version via a special Japanese events or by using a hacking device.[3]
Yoshi once again returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Unlike in SSB and Melee, he now sports his design since Yoshi's Story, Super Mario Sunshine, and Mario Party 4. His moves are relatively unchanged from his Melee moveset, except for the fact that Egg Toss can now function as a makeshift third jump when used in mid-air. This is a welcome change for Yoshi, especially since his already fast air speed has become even faster, and the directional air dodge that aided his recovery in Melee has been removed. Yoshi also boasts a much better grab game, thanks to receiving grab release follow-ups.
However, alterations to Yoshi's double jump and aerial Egg Roll's momentum have significantly harmed his recovery, while his new grab release follow-ups do not fully compensate for the loss of his double jump canceled combos. Like other characters, Yoshi has received a Final Smash; in his case, it is Super Dragon. Super Dragon involves him growing angelic wings that allow him to fly and gaining the ability to breathe fire either as a powerful Fireball or a stream of flames, while he is rendered invincible throughout its duration.
As a result of the severity of his nerfs, Yoshi is ranked 27th on the current tier list, placing him in the D tier.
| Name | Game | Effect | Fighter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car Yoshi | Yoshi's Island | AttackTail+007👁 Tail (type) Attack +7 |
Yoshi👁 Yoshi (SSBB) |
| Eight Yoshis | Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island | AttackArmLeg+018👁 Hand (type) 👁 Foot (type) Attack +18 |
All characters👁 RandomHeadSSBB.png |
| Yoshi | Mario Party 2 | SpecialLaunchResistance+035👁 StickerIconLaunchResistance.png +35 |
Mario Yoshi Luigi Bowser Peach👁 Mario (SSBB) 👁 Yoshi (SSBB) 👁 Luigi (SSBB) 👁 Bowser (SSBB) 👁 Peach (SSBB) |
| Yoshi | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door | AttackThrowing+005👁 Throwing (type) Attack +5 |
Mario Yoshi Luigi Bowser Peach👁 Mario (SSBB) 👁 Yoshi (SSBB) 👁 Luigi (SSBB) 👁 Bowser (SSBB) 👁 Peach (SSBB) |
| Yoshi | Yoshi Touch & Go | AttackArmLeg+008👁 Hand (type) 👁 Foot (type) Attack +8 |
Mario Yoshi Luigi Bowser Peach👁 Mario (SSBB) 👁 Yoshi (SSBB) 👁 Luigi (SSBB) 👁 Bowser (SSBB) 👁 Peach (SSBB) |
| Yoshi Ship | Yoshi Topsy-Turvy | AttackThrowing+032👁 Throwing (type) Attack +32 |
All characters👁 RandomHeadSSBB.png |
| 👁 Brawl Sticker Car Yoshi (Yoshi's Island).png Car Yoshi (Yoshi's Island) |
| 👁 Brawl Sticker Eight Yoshis (SMA 3 Yoshi's Island).png Eight Yoshis (SMA 3: Yoshi's Island) |
| 👁 Brawl Sticker Yoshi (Mario Party 2).png Yoshi (Mario Party 2) |
| 👁 Brawl Sticker Yoshi (Paper Mario TTYD).png Yoshi (Paper Mario TTYD) |
| 👁 Brawl Sticker Yoshi (Yoshi Touch & Go).png Yoshi (Yoshi Touch & Go) |
| 👁 Brawl Sticker Yoshi Ship (Yoshi Topsy-Turvy).png Yoshi Ship (Yoshi Topsy-Turvy) |
Yoshi returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. In addition to a more upright posture, SSB4's aesthetic has resulted in Yoshi's overall color scheme being considerably more vibrant and his design being more cartoony. Altogether, these changes make him appear much more in line with his appearances in the latest Mario and Yoshi games. He also has two new alternate costumes: Purple Yoshi and Black Yoshi.
Yoshi has been buffed in the transition from Brawl to SSB4, with increased speed and utility to his moveset, while his decent dashing speed has become considerably faster. His aforementioned altered posture is also a buff, as it makes his hurtbox's positioning less awkward. Yoshi's KOing options and set-ups were also improved, while he also regained the ability to jump out of shield, something he could not do since SSB. His shield was further buffed by his shield drop becoming much quicker.
However, Yoshi also received nerfs to his overall damage output. His grab game has been also drastically nerfed, as the removal of chain grabbing removed his useful grab release follow-ups. Despite his improved shield, Yoshi's rolls are still slow and short-distanced, limiting his ability to escape from pressure.
Overall, Yoshi's buffs are significant enough to have noticeably improved his viability from Brawl. To reflect this, Yoshi is currently ranked 34th on the tier list, placing him in the D tier. While Yoshi has a minimal presence in competitive play despite his strengths, he has achieved varying degrees of success regardless. This includes winning a few local tournaments in both singles and doubles play, and achieving several top 50 placings (some of which are top 10 placings) at regional and national tournaments.
Yoshi returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He now sports an alternate costume based on his appearance in Yoshi's Crafted World, which replaces Black Yoshi. In addition, Super Dragon has been replaced by Stampede!, which is based on Yoshi's appearance during the intro of Melee.
A Mii Costume based on Yoshi's appearance from Yoshi's Woolly World is available for Mii Brawlers.
| No. | Image | Name | Type | Class | Slots | Base 👁 Power |
Max 👁 Power |
Base 👁 Attack |
Max 👁 Attack |
Base 👁 Defense |
Max 👁 Defense |
Ability | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 321 | Yarn Yoshi | ★★★ | 3 | 2657 | 8010 | 1303 | 3928 | 1252 | 3774 | Weight ↓ | Yoshi Series |
| No. | Image | Name | Class | Cost | Ability | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | Starship Mario | ★★ | 1 | Jump ↑ | Super Mario Series | |
| 319 | Mega Eggdozer | ★★ | 1 | Strong Throw | Yoshi Series | |
| 1,301 | River Survival | ★★ | 1 | Falling Immunity | Super Mario Series |
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| 👁 Japan Japanese |
ヨッシー, Yoshi |
| 👁 UK English |
Yoshi |
| 👁 France French |
Yoshi |
| 👁 Germany German |
Yoshi |
| 👁 Spain Spanish |
Yoshi |
| 👁 Italy Italian |
Yoshi |
| 👁 China Chinese |
耀西, Yoshi |
| 👁 South Korea Korean |
요시, Yoshi |
| 👁 Netherlands Dutch |
Yoshi |
| 👁 Russia Russian |
Йоши |
| 👁 Portugal Portuguese |
Yoshi |
|
👁 Yoshi (universe) Yoshi universe | |
|---|---|
| Fighter | (SSB · SSBM · SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) |
| Stages | Super Happy Tree · Yoshi's Story · Yoshi's Island (SSBM) · Yoshi's Island (SSBB) · Woolly World |
| Enemies | Shy Guy · Fly Guy |
| Other | Kamek |
| Trophies, Stickers, and Spirits | Trophies (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4) · Stickers · Spirits |
| Music | Brawl · SSB4 · Ultimate |
| Masterpiece | Yoshi |
| Related content | Mario (universe) · Bowser · Birdo · Egg |
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