Yoshi's Story

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Yoshi's Story

Developer(s)	Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Takashi Tezuka
Release date(s)	December 21, 1997 March 12, 1998 April 9, 1998
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64, Nintendo iQue, Virtual Console
Media	128-megabit cartridge

Yoshi's Story (ヨッシーストーリー, Yosshī Sutōrī^?, released simply as Yoshi Story in Japan) is the Nintendo 64 sequel to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It was released on December 21, 1997 in Japan, March 12, 1998 in North America and April 9, 1998 in Europe. Originally titled Yoshi's Island 64, in analogy with Super Mario 64, it was renamed Yoshi's Story in August 1997. At the same time, the size of the game was changed to 128 megabits from an initially planned 96.

The platformer was developed by the Yoshi's Island team, and directed by Hideki Konno and produced by Takashi Tezuka. This was one of the first EAD developed titles that was not produced by Shigeru Miyamoto.

The game was released in 1998, and was among the first generation of games to support the Rumble Pak. Like most Yoshi games, it is a 2D platformer. It features digitized 2D graphics of high res 3D models (similar to Donkey Kong Country), which resemble patchworks of fabric and other materials, giving it a unique look. In interviews and previews, this was dubbed 2½-D.

1 Story
2 Gameplay
3 Spin-off
4 Other Appearances
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Story

Baby Bowser casts a spell on Yoshi's Island that turns the island into a storybook. The Super Happy Tree, the "elixir of life" for the Yoshis, was also stolen. Luckily for the Yoshis, six eggs survived and hatched. The Baby Yoshis were confused, as the island should have been happy instead of gloomy. They decided that if they were all Super Happy, they would thwart Baby Bowser and save the island and the Super Happy Tree.

The Yoshis travel across six different "pages", or worlds, with four levels each. Players can unlock the levels by collecting hearts in the page before it (Page 1 has all four levels unlocked from the start). Collecting one heart would unlock the second level, two hearts would unlock the third, and all three hearts would unlock the fourth. This makes a branching storyline of sorts.

[edit] Gameplay

Yoshi can eat fruit by throwing eggs at fruit trapped inside a bubble. The bubble will explode, and the fruit will drop. Alternatively, Yoshi can continuously bounce into the bubble so it will weaken and eventually burst.

The main aim of each level is for Yoshi to eat 30 pieces of fruit, while avoiding enemies and obstacles. Yoshi's health is portrayed by a flower with petals. Eating fruit gives you petals, but taking damage makes the flower lose petals. At the beginning of each game, a Lucky Fruit is chosen. The Lucky Fruit, when eaten, gives Yoshi more health than a regular fruit. Plus, if a Yoshi eats a fruit that is the same color as itself, the Yoshi gains full health. Eating melons also adds more petals to the flower than a normal fruit would, but not as much as a Lucky Fruit or same-color fruit.

If Yoshi's flower runs out of petals, or he is eaten by a giant fish or falls down a hole, he is abducted by Kamek's helpers, which are called Toadies. Unless the player chooses to leave the level and choose another one, however, progress so far in that level is not lost and another Yoshi can be selected to continue.

Throughout the game, Yoshi is aided by Poochy, who in this game can sniff out hidden melons and other such valuable items. The game's most common enemy is the Shy Guy, most of which can be eaten or stomped on. Shy Guys are seen in many different ways, from walking on the ground to on stilts and pogo sticks.

In addition to six basic colors (green, red, pink, yellow, blue, and cyan), two hidden black and white eggs can be found that allow up to eight Yoshis to be chosen from. The black and white Yoshis are wildcards in that they like more fruit varieties than other colors, which means the player can get higher scores. There is also a white Shy Guy hidden on many levels. If Yoshi finds it, it follows him around the level, and if he finishes the level with it, it appears on the Select a Yoshi screen, despite not being a Yoshi. If selected, it rescues one of the abducted Yoshis from Baby Bowser's tower. The Yoshis' abilities include eating with its tongue, throwing eggs, jumping and pounding.

The game has a built in "trial mode" where the player can aim to get the highest score. Good scores usually range from 5-7000 points depending on the level. Eating nothing but melons boosts your score considerably. In the story mode, scores are even higher (mainly because of the black and white Yoshis) and a good player can score over 40,000 points.

Another aspect of the game is the 'melon quest'. There are exactly 30 melons in each level, which offers the more difficult goal of eating nothing but melons within the level. Completing a level with nothing but melons not only boosts your score, but a melon will be displayed at level end instead of a heart as would be normal, suggesting that you haven't really finished the level until you complete the 'melon quest' - in this 'mode' of play the game can be more difficult and even unfair, as you have to get perfect runs in some minigames, like the melon race, and if you miss out on one melon you must start the level over.

[edit] Spin-off

A Game Boy Advance tech demo based on the game was created to better show the capabilities of the Game Boy Advance. Despite expectations, it was eventually revealed that this was merely a tech demo. However, the game has seen a Game Boy Advance spin-off called Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, which is unrelated in basic gameplay but features similar pre-rendered graphics.

[edit] Other Appearances

An arena called "Yoshi's Story" is playable in the game Super Smash Bros Melee for the Nintendo GameCube.

[edit] Trivia

The voices of the Baby Yoshis (provided by Kazumi Totaka) used in this game became the voices for Yoshi in all future games, with the exception of Mario Golf and several games in the Mario Party series, even though Yoshi is no longer a baby.

This is the first Mario related game to use the Rumble Pak.

A long-time rumor ran claiming that a special playable Purple Yoshi could be unlocked if a player collects every coin in a level. However, this is nothing more than a rumor.

Yoshi's Story is one of the very few Mario-related games to not have Mario in it. However, he's mentioned two times during the game.

Totaka's Song can be found in this game. To hear it select Trial Mode from the main menu, and wait at the level selection screen. After you hear the theme song eight times Totaka's Song will be playing.