Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Introduction
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island was developed and published by Nintendo, released on the SNES in Japan in August 1995 as a platformer that shifted the spotlight from Mario onto Yoshi, tasked with carrying baby Mario safely across a series of stages after the two are separated from Baby Luigi by the sorcerer Kamek. Rather than jumping directly on enemies, Yoshi primarily attacks by swallowing foes with his tongue and turning them into eggs, which can then be thrown at other enemies or objects, adding a distinct puzzle-and-precision layer to what was otherwise a traditional side-scrolling platformer. The game’s hand-drawn, crayon-and-watercolor art style was a deliberate departure from typical SNES sprite work, made possible by the Super FX2 chip built into the cartridge, giving it a visual identity unlike almost anything else on the console. Its inventive mechanics, distinctive presentation, and genuinely challenging collectible-hunting design earned it widespread critical acclaim on release, and it remains frequently cited as one of the finest platformers of the 16-bit era.
