When a Yoshi hits a Winged Cloud with any projectile, such as a Yoshi's Egg, it disappears and reveals its contents or triggers an effect. Winged Clouds can contain objects such as flowers, five stars, extra lives, and ! Switches, but they sometimes also create stairs or bridges or make coins appear instead of revealing an item. There are Winged Clouds that contain even Bandits. When being hit, a Bandit pops out and chases a Yoshi around to steal Baby Mario. Due to their function, Winged Clouds can be considered Yoshi's Island's equivalent to ? Blocks. There also exists a Special Item in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island called a Winged Cloud Maker, which turns enemies into Winged Clouds.
Winged Clouds appear in volume 14 of Super Mario-kun, also providing items when they are hit, such as a blue watermelon. Unlike in the games, however, Yoshi does not need to hit them with an egg to make them spawn items.