Nintendo 64: December 21, 1997 March 9, 1998[1] or February 20, 1998[2] May 10, 1998 May 11, 1998 March 25, 2004 (iQue) Virtual Console (Wii): September 17, 2007 October 26, 2007 October 26, 2007 October 30, 2007 Virtual Console (Wii U): February 17, 2016 March 24, 2016 April 14, 2016 April 15, 2016 Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online: October 25, 2021[3] October 26, 2021[4] October 26, 2021[5] October 26, 2021[6] October 26, 2021[7] October 26, 2021[8]
Language(s)
English (United States) French (France) German Japanese Chinese (Simplified)
An unnamed Yoshi tech demo was unveiled at the time of the Game Boy Advance's first announcement. The title was seemingly either a port or a direct sequel to Yoshi's Story, but it is unknown if it was simply meant as a demo or was canceled. Years later, a spin-off title called Yoshi Topsy-Turvy was released, which featured the same art style and mechanics as Yoshi's Story and was perceived as a sequel. Yoshi's Story was also the first Mario/Yoshi game on the Nintendo 64 released in North America to be rated E for everyone due to the changeover by the ESRB from the previously used K–A "Kids to Adults" rating in 1998. The game sold 1.28 million copies in the Americas and 2.85 million worldwide.
Yoshis live in harmony at Yoshi's Island, and their ultimate source of happiness is provided by the Super Happy Tree. Baby Bowser becomes jealous of their happiness and steals the Super Happy Tree, crushing their happiness, and then performs a spell to turn the entire island into a pop-up picture book.
Six Baby Yoshis hatch into the island and learn of what Baby Bowser has done, and thus, they set out to retrieve the tree. They venture through six "pages" of the island, until eventually fighting him at the end and retrieving the Super Happy Tree.
A gameplay screenshot from Rail Lift, one of the levels from Yoshi's Story
Yoshi's Story is played much like Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, although a few aspects were tweaked or removed, such as the timer that counted down for Baby Mario when Yoshi was hit or Yoshi's ability to morph. To complete a level, the Baby Yoshis have to eat exactly 30 fruits scattered through the level. Before starting a level, the player has to select a Baby Yoshi. Each Yoshi has different taste when it comes to fruits and Shy Guys and will recover more health (and score more points) if it eats a fruit or a Shy Guy that is of its own color. The top left corner of the screen has a flower that serves as the life bar; the flower's petals will fall off as a Yoshi loses more health, and its facial expression will also change accordingly (happy when full, sad when dying). Certain characters aid the Yoshis in various ways, including Miss Warp, who can teleport the Yoshis to different parts of the level, and Poochy, who can find hidden objects from far away.
If a Baby Yoshi is defeated within the level, that Baby Yoshi will be taken to Bowser's Castle by Baby Bowser's Toadies. If all of the Baby Yoshis are kidnapped, the game is over. However, any lost Baby Yoshi (aside from the secret, unlockable Black and White Yoshis) can be saved by finding a White Shy Guy and finishing the level with it. When the player starts a game on either Story Mode or Trial Mode, the game will randomly select a "Lucky Fruit." Said Lucky Fruit automatically heals all of the Yoshi's life, even if the Yoshi is not supposed to like the fruit.
Each world has four different levels to choose from; once a level is beaten, the player moves on to the next world without visiting the other three levels. This means to play through every single level, the player must play through the game at least four different times, going to the unvisited levels in each world. The game has four different difficulty levels: novice, easy, medium, and hard.
The Baby Yoshis can perform various moves to complete their adventure. Most of these moves were taken from Yoshi's Island, although some were tweaked or now have a new function.
By pressing , the player can make a Yoshi jump; by pressing again and holding it, the player can make a Yoshi flutter-jump. This helps the player get to higher places. It is possible to flutter longer by holding after a Yoshi grunts.
To swallow an object, the Baby Yoshis have to lick with their tongues. It is possible to control the direction of the tongue with the Control Stick. Unlike in Yoshi's Island, a Yoshi automatically ingests the things he eats with his tongue.
When a Yoshi eats an enemy, it can turn into an egg. By pressing or , a Yoshi can aim the egg he made at various things, and throw it by releasing the button.
To utilize this move, a Baby Yoshi must jump and quickly press Down on the Control Stick. The Yoshi will pound the ground. A Ground Pound can be used to reveal a few items hidden in the ground or to defeat enemies.
A move exclusive to this game, sniffing is helpful in finding objects hidden in the ground. To execute it, the player must press . If a Baby Yoshi is near an object, a "!" will appear next to the Baby Yoshi's head. If the Baby Yoshi is standing on a hidden item, he will wave at the player. Any objects hidden in the ground can be revealed by ground-pounding them. Poochy can be found in a few levels and will sniff for the Yoshi clan.
The main cast of Yoshi's Story, featuring the eight Yoshis that appear in the game as well as Poochy
The main portion of the game, Story Mode contains 24 levels (four per world), but only six can be played during a single playthrough (the game jumps directly to the next world after a level is completed). The player can choose which of the four levels in page one they wish to start on. However, the choice of levels in later worlds is determined by the number of Special Hearts collected in the previous level. To finish each level, the Yoshis must eat 30 different fruits scattered throughout the level. Whenever a level is completed, the Baby Yoshis start singing and a text appears to explain what happened in the level.
Trial Mode select stage screen with all stages unlocked
Trial Mode is a mode that allows the player to play any stage that they have beaten in Story Mode. In order to unlock all the stages, the player must play Story Mode at least four times and get all the Special Hearts from the stage that they were playing. This mode was created to save the player's highest score of the levels. To quit a stage, the + buttons should be pressed together. Also, the player cannot use Black Yoshi and White Yoshi; they are playable only in Story Mode.
Eating nothing but melons is a great method of increasing one's high score, although it can be really difficult to perform in some stages. If this is done, a marker appears at the end of the level. In order to eat all the melons from the stage, the player will need to sniff all the time to find hidden objects in the ground.
Also, if the player waits for two minutes and ten seconds, Totaka's Song is heard.
Practice Mode consists of an exclusive level in which the various controls and techniques of the games are explained. This level is the only one that does not have 30 melons in it.
All the following Yoshis are playable. Their name is listed next to what their favorite fruit in the game is (since when a Yoshi eats one of its favorite food, the life bar heals more than it usually would). Eating melons will also have this effect, no matter which Yoshi color it is. They also serve as lives.
A ghost enemy that stops moving when looked at and follows a Yoshi when facing away. It can be defeated only by looking away from it and bouncing an egg off a wall to hit it.
A three-headed skeletal dragon that shoots flames. The Yoshis must defeat each head either by throwing two eggs at each head or by ground-pounding each head two times.
The final boss, Baby Bowser first rides around on his pet while throwing bombs. Said bombs must be sent back to damage him. Afterwards, the remainder of the battle is on foot.
The game was first revealed in Shoshinkai 1996 as Yoshi's Island 64. The early logo looks similar to the SNES game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island logo, implying that Yoshi's Story was originally planned as a sequel to said game, be more complex, and would have been a title in the Yoshi's Island series. However, after the health meter was chosen, the game was considered the first miscellaneous title in the Yoshi series of platformers for Nintendo consoles.[citation needed]
"Story will most definitely sell many many copies based on the reputation of its predecessor. But there will be a lot of unhappy gamers once they discover that Nintendo's mantra seems to have changed to Quality over Quantity of Levels. Trust us: You'll love it when you rent the game, but don't buy it. You'll finish it in a weekend -- but don't quit playing until you have seen the fourth level on each page..."
"Yoshi's Story doesn't provide lots of motivation to make you want to pull this off or really even play the game for more than 20 minutes. After a while, you realize it's the same trick over and over: find a piece of fruit, find a heart, find a piece of fruit, find a heart. Altogether, it's just not a lot of fun. The slight changes that Nintendo made to the game from the Japanese version (such as an unnoticeable increase in difficulty and the addition of letters that you must collect for the best ending) didn't really seem to improve the title at all. In the end, Yoshi's Story is good for a rental at best."
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Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island – Yoshi's Story was originally to be called Yoshi's Island 64. Many of the elements from this game return in Yoshi's Story, and the two games share very similar gameplay. Also, a small portion of the "Flower Garden" track can be heard 43 seconds into "Games of Happiness."
Mario Kart 64 – Yoshi's design sprites for Yoshi's Story use Yoshi's same design from this game.
In the Japanese version, all baby Yoshis have the same vocal range used for Green and Yellow Yoshi.
In the Japanese version, the color of the Egg Blocks are green regardless of the color Yoshi being used. IN the localizations, the Egg Block color matches that of the Yoshi being used.
Cloudjin flashes red when hurt in the Japanese version.
The Japanese version's intro is written in a rainbow pastel font, while in the localizations, it was replaced with a normal font colored with a two-toned gradient.
In the localizations, eating 30 of the same fruit shows an image of said fruit instead of a heart on the "Level Complete" screen. In the Japanese version, only the heart is used.
It is not possible to save a Story Mode game in the Japanese version.
In the NTSC version, the game is able to switch between Japanese and English text. In the PAL version, the Japanese option was replaced with German and French.
The international version cancels all momentum when eating a fruit on the ground.
The Japanese version of Blargg's Boiler has two bubbled melons above the second-to-last bone bridge. In the international version, only one is found there.[9]
The international versions of Shy Guy Limbo contain a music track for the sections where Bamboo Dancers appear, which is absent in the Japanese version.[10]
In the fight with Baby Bowser, the Yoshis start slightly farther away from him in the Japanese version.
The European version contains an additional sound effect in the Game Over screen.[11]
Vine Slimes replace some of the Ghost Stream sections from the original Japanese version of the game.
Super Smash Bros. – A stage called Yoshi's Island is based off Yoshi's Story. Yoshi's moves, animations, and voice clips are the same as in Yoshi's Story.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – The same arrangement of the ending theme from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the 3DS version as well as the arrangement used for the Yoshi's Story stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee play on the Woolly World stage, while the arrangement used for the Yoshi's Island stage in Super Smash Bros. plays on the Yoshi's Island stage.
Mario Super Sluggers – The Super Happy Tree can be found in Yoshi Park again. The park plays an arrangement of the theme music.
Nintendo Land – The Yoshi's Fruit Cart attraction requires the player to collect fruits. Also, Treasure Hunt's level theme and the ending theme appear here.
Yoshi's Woolly World – Some of the elements from this game were borrowed from and inspired by Yoshi's Story, and it also stars Yoshi without Mario similarly to that game as well.
- Everyone
- Three years and older
- All ages
- General
- All ages
Game Pak
Digital download
Yoshi's Story - Title Screen Theme
