Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (titled Super Mario: Yossy Island スーパーマリオ　ヨッシーアイランド Sūpā Mario: Yosshī Airando in Japan, and sometimes referred to as Yoshi's Island) is a video game developed by the Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Although its English title suggests that it was intended to be a sequel to the 1990 video game Super Mario World, it is a prequel and its Japanese title may indicate that it belongs to a separate lineage. It stars Yoshi and his Yoshi clan who, while carrying Baby Mario, travel across Yoshi's Island to reclaim the kidnapped Baby Luigi from Baby Bowser's Magikoopa minion/caretaker, Kamek.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is the first platform game in the Yoshi series, and the fourth entry overall. It was followed by a loose sequel, Yoshi's Story, in 1998 for the Nintendo 64. In 2002, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was remade as part of the Super Mario Advance series for the Game Boy Advance as Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3. In 2006, a sequel, Yoshi's Island DS, was released for the Nintendo DS. An upcoming sequel for Nintendo 3DS is planned for 2014. Tetris Attack, Yoshi Touch & Go, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl borrowed the characters and settings from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was one of three completed games to use the Super FX 2 chip, which handled sprite scaling and rotation (advertised as "Morphmation" technology), basic polygonal rendering, and advanced parallax scrolling.

The music was composed by Koji Kondo and was released in Japan on November 25, 1995, in compact disc format as Super Mario: Yoshi Island Original Sound Version.

Plot
From the first cinematic of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: A long, long time ago. . . This is a story about Baby Mario and Yoshi. A stork hurries across the dusky, pre-dawn sky. In his bill, he supports a pair of twins. Suddenly, a shadow appears in a gap between the clouds and races towards the stork with blinding speed. "SCRREEEECH!!!" "THE BABIES ARE MINE!"  WOW!!! Snatching only one baby, the creature vanishes into the darkness from whence it came. The second baby falls undetected towards the open sea. . . OH NO. . . Meanwhile, here is Yoshi's Island, home to all Yoshis. It's a lovely day, and Yoshi is taking a walk. HUH?!? Suddenly, a baby drops in onto his back. The baby seems to be fine. This is very fortunate! Wha-? Something else fell with the baby. . . Let's take a peek. . . It looks like a map. Maybe the stork was using it? But Yoshi can't figure it out. Yoshi decides to talk to his friends. AAAKK!!! Kamek, the evil Magikoopa, and kidnapper of the baby, quickly dispatches his toadies, when he discovers that he missed the other baby! Yoshi heads leisurely back to the other Yoshis, unaware of the danger at hand. Kamek's forces are actively searching the island. Will these two children ever reach their parents safely? From the second cinematic of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: This paradise is Yoshi's Island, where all the Yoshis live. They are all in an uproar over the baby that fell from the sky. Wait! The baby seems to know where he wants to go. . . The bond between the twins informs each of them where the other one is. The Yoshis decide to carry the baby to his destination via a relay system. Now begins a new adventures for the Yoshis and baby Mario.

Gameplay
Like previous entries in the Mario series, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a two-dimensional, side-scrolling platform game. In addition to the typical run and jump controls, the Yoshis can also ingest enemies and manipulate objects using their tongue. After ingesting an enemy, the Yoshi can either eject or swallow them. Swallowing them allows the Yoshi to lay a Yoshi Egg, which he can carry up to six of; eating another enemy results in the egg at the front of the line to be discarded. While Yoshi has some eggs, the player can aim and throw them to damage enemies, ricochet them off solid surfaces, and skim them across water. If the Yoshi comes into contact with a Super Star, Baby Mario will transform into Superstar Mario, granting him temporary invincibility. Also scattered throughout the island are Morph Bubbles, which allow the Yoshi's to temporarily assume one of several different forms.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island introduces the concept of time-based health, a mechanic that is reused in future Yoshi's Island games. When the Yoshi comes into contact with an enemy, Baby Mario becomes separated from Yoshi, encased in a bubble and floating around in the air. While Baby Mario is in this state, a Countdown Timer appears, counting down in seconds until it reaches zero, in which time Yoshi must recover Baby Mario or Kamek's Toadies take Baby Mario, and the player loses a life. The timer starts at ten seconds at the beginning of each level, and can be increased to a maximum of thirty by collecting starmen, using 10-Point Stars and 20-Point Stars, and entering Middle Rings. If the timer falls below ten, it increases back up to ten slowly after recovering Baby Mario. Entering a Middle Ring also marks the point where the Yoshi can continue from if it loses a life.

The objective of each level is to reach the GOAL! Ring. The GOAL! Ring is also a roulette. There are ten spots on the roulette. Five of the spots can be made winning spots by collecting the five flowers dispersed in each level. Landing on one of the flower spots allows the player to play a Bonus Challenge.

Scattered throughout each level are three types of collectibles: thirty Stars, twenty Red Coins, and five Flowers. At the end of each level, the player's score is tallied, with flowers worth ten points each, Red Coins one point each, and Stars one point each. Attaining a perfect one hundred points in all eight levels in a world unlocks a Bonus Challenge and an extra level on the level selection map.

Controls
There are two controller configurations: Patient and Hasty. By default, Patient is selected. The control setup can be swapped at any time on the world map by scrolling over to the button with the Super Nintendo controller next to the "Score" option and selecting it; additionally, at some points, there are Hint Blocks that allow the player to swap control configurations. The only difference between the "Hasty" and "Patient" settings is that with "Patient" the player must press to target and press it again to throw an egg, while with "Hasty" the player must hold  to target and release it to toss an egg.

World 0
World 0 consists solely of a short and basic tutorial level, and is only playable after starting a new file.

World 1
World 1 takes place in a grassy plain, and gives a taste of the different types of stages in the game.
 * 1) Make Eggs, Throw Eggs
 * 2) Watch Out Below!
 * 3) The Cave of Chomp Rock
 * 4) Burt the Bashful's Fort
 * 5) Hop! Hop! Donut Lifts
 * 6) Shy Guys on Stilts
 * 7) Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy
 * 8) Salvo the Slime's Castle
 * Extra: Poochy Ain't Stupid

World 2
World 2 is a forested mountainous region in the uplands. It boasts more complex levels and more enemies.
 * 1) Visit Koopa and Para-Koopa
 * 2) The Baseball Boys
 * 3) What's Gusty Taste Like?
 * 4) The Bigger Boo's Fort
 * 5) Watch Out for Lakitu
 * 6) The Cave of the Mystery Maze
 * 7) Lakitu's Wall
 * 8) The Potted Ghost's Castle
 * Extra: Hit That Switch!!

World 3
World 3 is located in a steamy jungle, and contains a lot of water sections.
 * 1) Welcome to Monkey World!
 * 2) Jungle Rhythm...
 * 3) Nep-Enut's Domain
 * 4) Prince Froggy's Fort
 * 5) Jammin' Through the Trees
 * 6) The Cave of Harry Hedgehog
 * 7) Monkeys' Favorite Lake
 * 8) Naval Piranha's Castle
 * Extra: More Monkey Madness

World 4
World 4 takes place in a sunset landscape.
 * 1) GO! GO! MARIO!!
 * 2) The Cave of the Lakitus
 * 3) Don't Look Back!
 * 4) Marching Milde's Fort
 * 5) Chomp Rock Zone
 * 6) Lake Shore Paradise
 * 7) Ride Like the Wind
 * 8) Hookbill the Koopa's Castle
 * Extra: The Impossible? Maze

World 5
World 5 takes place on an icy mountain. The first three stages take place on the mountain, while the other five stages are in the sky.
 * 1) BLIZZARD!!!
 * 2) Ride the Ski Lifts
 * 3) Danger - Icy Conditions Ahead
 * 4) Sluggy the Unshaven's Fort
 * 5) Goonie Rides!
 * 6) Welcome to Cloud World
 * 7) Shifting Platforms Ahead
 * 8) Raphael the Raven's Castle
 * Extra: Kamek's Revenge

World 6
The last world is located on Bowser's Kingdom. It has lots of barren landscape and caverns, as well as lava, spikes, and many obstacles.
 * 1) Scary Skeleton Goonies!
 * 2) The Cave of the Bandits
 * 3) Beware the Spinning Logs
 * 4) Tap-Tap the Red Nose's Fort
 * 5) The Very Loooooong Cave
 * 6) The Deep, Underground Maze
 * 7) KEEP MOVING!!!!
 * 8) King Bowser's Castle
 * Extra: Castles - Masterpiece Set

Enemies
Enemies marked with * are exclusive to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and the Game Boy Advance remake. Italic enemies are invincible, and Bold enemies are almost invincible (can be defeated under certain conditions).

Bosses
Each world features a midway fort and an end-world castle (the fourth and eighth levels of each world, respectively), both with their own boss. Every boss is just an enlarged version of a basic enemy that Kamek super-sizes with his magic. The only exception is Prince Froggy, who remains at his normal size while Yoshi and Mario are shrunk; he then eats them and the battle is located in his stomach.


 * World 1
 * Burt the Bashful (Fort)
 * Salvo the Slime (Castle)
 * World 2
 * Bigger Boo (Fort)
 * Roger the Potted Ghost (Castle)
 * World 3
 * Prince Froggy (Fort)
 * Naval Piranha (Castle)
 * World 4
 * Marching Milde (Fort)
 * Hookbill the Koopa (Castle)
 * World 5
 * Sluggy the Unshaven (Fort)
 * Raphael the Raven (Castle)
 * World 6
 * Tap-Tap the Red Nose (Fort)
 * Tap-Tap the Golden (Castle, Door 3)
 * Baby Bowser (Castle)
 * He is then transformed into a giant Baby Bowser by Kamek for the true final boss battle.

Transformations
Entering a Morph Bubble causes Yoshi to be transformed into one of several different types of vehicles, each with their own unique capabilities. While in this state, Yoshi is allowed to move around as the vehicle without Baby Mario for a limited time before being pulled back to the Morph Bubble and being turned back to normal. If the player is able to hit a Yoshi Block while transformed, the transformation is automatically reversed at that location. Not shown below is Ski Yoshi, which is attained upon entering a house in certain snow levels; if the player hits an obstacle fails a jump as Ski Yoshi, they are turned into Snowball Yoshi.

Special Items
By winning Bonus Challenges and Mini Battles, the player's prize is one of several items. These items can be used at any time during a level (except during boss battles) by going to the pause menu and selecting one of them with. Up to 22 of these items can be carried at a time.

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was later ported to the handheld Game Boy Advance as part of the Super Mario Advance series, a series of updated remakes of classic Mario games. Known as Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, it was the third in the series, and boasted new levels and slightly altered graphics and dialogue from the original, as well as various other minor changes.

Development
An early version of the game was demoed to Nintendo's marketing department, which rejected it due to the visuals "lacking punch" in comparison to Donkey Kong Country's pre-rendered 3D sprites. In response, Shigeru Miyamoto developed a more stylized and "cartoony" art direction, which was accepted.

In an interview with game journalist Steven Kent, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that he wanted to make a game starring Yoshi as far back as Super Mario World's development. Miyamoto disliked previous Yoshi games (specifically mentioning Yoshi's Cookie, Yoshi's Egg and Yoshi's Safari, the later being mistranslated as "Yoshi's World Hunters" in the interview) and wanted to make one more authentic to the Yoshi character.

Version differences
The NTSC box containing the game shows Yoshi carrying Baby Mario next to a Nep-Enut.

The Pal version of the game was distributed in three types of boxes. The first type of box was released only in New Zealand and Australia. It is identical to the NTSC version of the box, except with yellow borders instead of black. The second box is much larger and includes the both the official Nintendo Power guide and the aforementioned box. The last of the PAL version, was the one released in Europe, that featured the same cover art as the NTSC version, but without any yellow borders on the box or on the cartridge.



The Japanese box art shows a group of Yoshis and Baby Mario floating in a bubble.



Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was also included with an SNS-101 model of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in NTSC regions.

The game also came bundled with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in PAL regions as part of the "Super NES Control Set". Curiously, the large box art used the foreground from the NTSC box art and the background from the Japanese box art.

Promotional event
An event was held in front of a Toys "R" Us in Culver City, California on October 5, 1995 at 3:00 PM to promote the North American release of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

At the event, there were a trailer and a large model Yoshi Egg surrounded by hay. The trailer held a banner with the words "Play It Loud" and stock art of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The Yoshi Egg held a banner with the word "Nintendo".

The organizers of the event pledged to donate five hundred dollars to local schools on the condition that the principals of these schools sit on top of the Yoshi Egg for fifteen minutes. A person in a one-piece Mario and Yoshi costume also was seated on top of the Yoshi Egg. Participants could go on and off the egg by means of a forklift.

The event centered around "hatching" the Yoshi Egg. After the hosts interacted with the idle audience, children were lined up and given small, green hammers which they used to break open a designated area at the bottom of the egg. The Yoshi Egg, when breached, yielded stringed paper and a large model of the Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island cartridge. Group photos were then taken of the children with the cartridge.

A raffle was then held with one winner receiving a Super Nintendo Entertainment System which includes a copy of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Other winners may have won t-shirts.

Discount coupons were also distributed.

At least two flyers promoting the event are known to exist.

Promotional material
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was the cover feature of Volume 77 of Nintendo Power.

Nintendo Power also distributed eight promotional cards, each featuring a different boss as part of their collectible Super Power Club series of cards which began in October 1992 with Volume 44 of Nintendo Power. The front of each card has an in-game image of the character and the reverse had a brief description of the character. These cards included:


 * Raphael the Raven
 * Roger the Potted Ghost (titled "The Potted Ghost")
 * Bigger Boo
 * Burt the Bashful (erroneously titled "Bashful Burt")
 * Hookbill the Koopa
 * Sluggy the Unshaven
 * Tap-Tap the Red Nose (erroneously titled "Tap Tap the Red Nose")
 * Naval Piranha

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was also the subject of volumes 14 and 15 of Super Mario-Kun. It was also made into a three-volume manga series titled Super Mario: Yoshi Island by Kazuki Motoyama, who had previously written a manga based on the game Yoshi, and published by Kodansha Limited. The game was also adapted into the 4-Koma Gag Battle series of mangas.

The website for Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 was created by White Runkle Advertising.

There are also a large amount of figurines, plushies, keychains, stickers, guides, comics, and jigsaw puzzles featuring the characters from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Promotional videos
Nintendo of America distributed Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: A Magical Tour of Yoshi's Island, a six minute-long promotional VHS. The video featured Ken Lobb and the same person who narrated the Donkey Kong Country: Exposed promotional VHS. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was also featured in the The Invasion of Nintendo VHS. The video also featured Ken Lobb.

Another promotional video, titled 'The Invasion of Nintendo', was included with a copy of Nintendo Power. The video featured Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island along with some other video games. Ken Lobb made another appearance.

There exists another untitled promotional video that was likely shown on monitors in video game stores. It is about fifty seconds long and consists of clips of the game along with some narration. Most notably, however, the clips are from a beta version of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island that has some differences from the released game.

There are two televised commercials for Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: one in English, and one in Japanese.

There are two televised commercials for its remake, also one in English and the other in Japanese.

Beta elements
According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the marketing department at Nintendo originally wanted him to use pre-rendered 3D sprites like in Donkey Kong Country for the game, rather than stylized 2D sprites. Additionally, found in the game's data are several sprites that go unused, such as several Super Mario All-Stars sprites and three unused Yoshi forms. In addition, there are three Mini Battles that can be seen in the game's code that are unused.

NOTE: Yoshi must have the 10 Stars or 20 Stars item to activate this glitch.

In World 5-5: Goonie Rides!, the player should go to the area with the Helicopter Morph Bubble. The player should hit a Goonie and wait until the counter reaches zero. While the Toadies are taking Baby Mario away, the player should quickly hit him with Yoshi's tongue and touch the Helicopter Morph Bubble. Once Purple Yoshi has already transformed, the Toadies will try to take Baby Mario again. When they pop Baby Mario's bubble, the player must open their inventory and select the 10 Stars or 20 stars item. When the Toadies are gone, the player must wait until Yoshi transforms back to normal. The player is able to eat Mario if Yoshi licks him. Even though Baby Mario still missing, the game won't freeze, but the level is rendered impossible to complete.

This glitch must be done in Bowser's Castle, in the Door 1. The Player must go to an area where a ! Switch near a long lava pit can be found. The player would normally have to hit the switch in order to get across the lava, activating the Dotted Line Blocks. If the player jumps in the lava, in the direction of the switch, Yoshi will perform a last jump, since he burned himself. If done right, Yoshi will hit the switch, and come back to life. The music stops, and the player controls Yoshi normally, even though he was supposed to lose a life. If the player attempts this glitch while Yoshi only has 1 life left, he will have 0 lives, as shown in the pause screen. However, if the player repeats this process, Yoshi will instantly get 999 lives.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: This game's "end of level" fanfare is remixed at the end of the credits. Also, Kamek states in Yoshi's Island that the Mario brothers will eventually foil the Koopa Tribe's plans, referring to how they'd indeed do it in Super Mario Bros. and actually the whole series.
 * Super Mario Bros. 2: Part of this game's "character select" theme is part of Yoshi's Island's "Athletic" theme. Shy Guys and Snifits originated in this game.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: World 6 looks a lot like Dark Land, and even has giant mushrooms near Bowser's Castle. Yoshi's sprite is based on the All-Stars version of the game.
 * Super Mario World: Baby Mario rides Yoshi, similarly to how Mario could ride him in Super Mario World. Additionally, the American and European versions of the game are sold as Super Mario World's second installment (although the game actually happens first in the Mario series' timeline).

References in later games

 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: The character of the Magikoopa has a Psychopath thought that strongly implies it is Kamek; while he is clearly familiar with Bowser in the English translation, the Japanese version of the line indicates that he recognizes Mario as the baby.
 * Paper Mario: Raphael the Raven returns, and Lava Piranha is similar to Naval Piranha. Additionally, One of Parakarry's attacks is similar to the Targeting system.
 * Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: Yoshi's Island's events are mentioned by Kamek.
 * Yoshi Story: This game was originally titled Yoshi's Island 64.
 * Mario Golf (Nintendo 64): Yoshi Island (the SMW2 version of Yoshi's Island in the Japanese continuity) re-appears, and the Yoshi who's playable may be Yoshi's Island's green Yoshi due to his size and the fact he's carrying Baby Mario.
 * Mario Party Advance: Naval Piranha returns, alongside Goonies and other species.
 * Yoshi Touch & Go: This game is a retelling of Yoshi's Island's events.
 * Yoshi's Island DS: Yoshi's Island's events are mentioned at the start of the game, and the whole game is a direct sequel of Yoshi's Island story-wise.
 * Itadaki Street DS: This game features the map of Yoshi's Island.

Trivia

 * The game was placed 18th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.
 * While the English version is called "Super Mario World 2", the original Japanese title is "Super Mario: Yoshi's Island". This was to draw a connection to Nintendo's earlier SNES success, Super Mario World. However, this also generated a lot of confusion as to whether to call it a sequel or not, even if it is clearly a prequel to the entire series. Similarly, Super Mario World was also known as Super Mario Bros. 4 in Japan.
 * The game placed 185th in the 200th Issue of Game Informer's "Top 200 Games of All Times", the lowest ranked Mario series game.
 * This is the first Mario game with French and German localizations.