Poochy

Poochy (Japanese name: Pochi) is a dog that appears in Yoshi games. Poochy's name is sometimes mispelled "Poochie" or "Poochey".

Poochy is spotted with a long and thick red tongue and thick lips. He doesn't have ears nor a nose, but still can help Yoshi with no problems. He has a red ball in the end of his tail similar to a poodle. He barks constantly while he walks.

Yoshis can ride him in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. He can run at high speeds on yellow spikes, lava, and many other hazardous forms of terrain, and can also run over any enemies in his path. To ride Poochy the player must jump on his head and look in the direction he or she wants to go. If Poochy hits a wall he'll try to jump over it, which can give the Yoshi a boost. Sometimes there will be a small gap that Poochy will run through, unfortunately the gap will be too small for the Yoshi. Ever faithful the mutt will follow the Yoshi anywhere he goes except through a pipe or door. He can also swim through water carrying Yoshi. To distract him the player can throw an egg at his head. He'll play with it and won't pay attention to anything else.

Poochy is in World 1's extra level "Poochy Ain't Stupid", where he's required to get across many fiery stretches of cave, and World 2-1's "Visit Koopa and Para-Koopa".

Poochy shows up in several levels of Yoshi's Story. Yoshi can't ride him but he helps by sniffing out hidden items, melons, ect. This is the first game (and only) where Poochy is shown to have a sense of smell.

Poochy also appears in Tetris Attack, allied with a Grinder. He appears as a character that Yoshi must initially beat in a one-on-one match of the game's panel-flipping puzzles, due to Bowser's and Kamek's magic spell, that made him work for them. After Yoshi beats him, the player can select to play as Poochy, though the difference ultimately amounts to cheerful barks as opposed to Yoshi's mutterings. Poochy replaces the earth fairy Thiana from Panel de Pon, the Japanese title that Nintendo remade to create Tetris Attack.

In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Poochy makes an easily missable cameo in the background decor of the "Baby Park" racetrack. All of the amusement park rides in the background are themed with characters from the Yoshi games, and Poochy is no exception.

A gaddget named Poochy Pal appears in Mario Party Advance. This Gaddget involves the character "raising" a virtual dog, who (although never directly addressed or named) looks exactly like Poochy (the fact that the Gaddgets name is Poochy Pal hints that this is more than a mere coincidence).

Trivia

 * Poochy's name is similar to that of Poochie, a real dog that appears in a Super Mario Bros. Super Show live action segment.
 * Poochy was originally going to appear in Paper Mario but was for some unknown reason, dropped from the final cut.