Friday, January 30, 2015

My Super Smash Bros. 4 Rankings: #45 Yoshi

Ranking at #45 on my Super Smash Bros. 4 fighter rankings is Yoshi, who is chronologically the sixth member of the original 12. He made his debut in the 1990 SNES launch title Super Mario World. His original role was Mario's steed. In that game, he was trapped in an egg by Bowser, but he was freed by Mario. He was on a quest to rescue the seven baby Yoshis, who were abducted by the Koopalings. Yoshi is the second most popular Nintendo character in Japan, second only to Mario. I am certainly not a big fan of Yoshi for several reasons. Most of his games have very childish presentations. He reminds me of Lip from Panel de Pon, my least favorite Nintendo character. He symbolizes fertility, as the Yoshi franchise insignia suggests. Yoshi has appeared in a huge number of video games. He is the cutest Nintendo character ever. In the Super Smash Bros. series, he is not recommended for Super Smash Bros. novices.

The Yoshi species goes all the back before Mario's time. The prequel, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island focuses on the Yoshi species' past. Yoshis come in different colors, with green being the most common, and white being the rarest. Green, red, yellow, and blue Yoshis were the original four Yoshi colors, introduced in Super Mario World. Pink, cyan, brown, and purple Yoshi were introduced in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Orange, black, and white Yoshi were introduced in Yoshi's Story, where video game musician Kazumi Totaka provided the voice for the Yoshi species.

The creation of Yoshi was triggered shortly after the original release of NES classic Super Mario Bros., a true classic (selling over 300 million copies). Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Yoshi was created, the Nintendo staff wanted Mario to ride a dinosaur. That feat was technically impossible until the SNES was developed.

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