Throwback Thursday: “Yoshi’s Story”

Isabella Loskutoff ’15 / Emertainment Monthly Editor

This week’s Throwback Thursday article will focus on an editor’s favorite, Yoshi’s Story. Originally released in December of 1997, this side-scrolling puzzle game allows players to fall into the adorable, happy world of the Yoshis.

The Yoshis live in peace and happiness given to them by the Super Happy Tree. Baby Bowser sees their joy and out of jealousy he steals their tree and turns their world into a six chapter pop-up story book. All but six Yoshi eggs were destroyed, and it is up to one of these colorful Yoshis to regain the Super Happy Tree in order to rescue them from misery. It is up to the player to choose the color of Yoshi he or she will play as in order to restore harmony in the Yoshi world.

Players can choose from either Story Mode or Trial Mode upon start-up of the game, but Trial Mode can only be accessed after the player has accomplished a course in one of the game’s chapters. At the beginning of each page, the player must select a Favorite Fruit. This Favorite Fruit, when eaten, will allow the Yoshi to regain petals in the Smile Meter (Yoshi’s health) and earn more points. In order to reach the end of each course, Yoshi must eat a total of 30 pieces of fruit (any fruit, not just Favorite Fruit).

However, the point of the game is not to simply rush through and eat every fruit in sight, but to walk, swim, run, crouch, stomp enemies, lay eggs, throw eggs, ground pound, sniff and perform flutter jumps (“Ddrrroooooovvvveee,” Yoshi) through the beginning and end of each puzzle in order to find hidden items. For example, if Yoshi comes across a white or black egg and can safely carry it throughout a course, then the black or white Yoshi will become an available character. These two hidden Yoshis have stronger ground pounds and every fruit is their Favorite Fruit resulting in more points for the player.

If six pieces of the same fruit are eaten, a Heart Fruit will come parachuting across the page. When eaten, the player’s Yoshi will become Super Happy for a limited time resulting in stronger ground pounds, an extended tongue, invincibility, and unlimited eggs. Kazumi Totaka, the voice of Yoshi and the composer of the soundtrack, made the music interactive so that when Yoshi is Super Happy the music will turn into a rock song. Also, when Yoshi is on his last petal in his Smile Meter, the music will drag and droop with Yoshi’s mood. If a Yoshi only has one petal left on the Smile Meter, it will only take one hit from a Shy Guy to knock him out. The Yoshi is then kidnapped and taken to Baby Bowser’s castle where he will only be freed if the player finds a white Shy Guy and completes the course with him.

Each page has the option of four puzzle courses unless the player rushes through the game only completing one course per page (which is sufficient, but ultimately cheats you out of the full experience). After a page is completed, a short narrative appears at the bottom of the screen and the Yoshis are able to move closer to their goal of defeating Baby Bowser. Once a final course on the sixth page is beaten, the chosen Yoshi will face Baby Bowser in a final boss battle. The final narration, after Baby Bowser is defeated, will depict the story Yoshi told while journeying through each page of the story, and end with all of the Yoshis together in harmony surrounding the Super Happy Tree.

There are so many memorable parts to Yoshi’s Story that it is difficult to cover them all. From the catchy theme song to the ever faithful Poochy who gives you hints and bonuses in each course, it is hard to see how players could ever forget this game.