Mario Maker 2 Yoshi's Island

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  • Aug 19, 2017 This is a longplay of the game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, released in Japan in August 1995 and October 1995 in the North America.
  • Nov 18, 2015 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Glitches (SNES) - Son Of A Glitch - Episode 37 - Duration: 14:41. A+Start 2,551,217 views.

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This is a list of glitches in the game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

  • 1Glitches
  • 2Minor glitches

Glitches

NOTE: All names are conjectural unless otherwise specified.

Bowser glitch

This glitch is hard to execute. When fighting the final boss, if Bowser gets close enough and breaks all the platforms, he flips and heads in reverse. He duplicates a lot of times, and returns later. This glitch has a somewhat extremely slow progression. Also, if all the platforms have been destroyed when Bowser is defeated, the game freezes due to Bowser not landing on a platform.[1]

Eating Baby Mario

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 helicopterbubble. 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 helicopterbubble. Once Purple Yoshi has already transformed, the Toadies 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. Yoshi is able to eat Baby Mario if he grabs him with his tongue. Even though Baby Mario is still missing, the game does not freeze, but the level is rendered impossible to complete.[2]

In World 2-7: Lakitu's Wall, the player can do the same glitch; after keeping Baby Mario in Yoshi's mouth, he must hit the Message Block to cause Baby Mario to reappear in the air. After doing this two or three times, he should be able to hop back on Yoshi's back; however, his sprite animation while moving Yoshi becomes unstable. The player can fix this by popping a carbubble.[3]

In Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, the Toadies will ignore Baby Mario while he is in his bubble if attempting this glitch.

Glitchy screen

NOTE: This glitch occurs on the console and not the game, and is not present on all SNES consoles.

This glitch occurs during specific areas where the graphics are rendered incorrectly. It seems to occur where translucent and transparent objects are. The screen becomes filled with various twitching objects, and Yoshi as well as all other enemies and objects disappear. Since the player cannot see anything but the terrain, this glitch makes the game nigh unplayable. The screen momentarily returns to normal when the game is paused, although it is only visible for a fraction of a second. This glitch appears to be a flaw in the SNES's rendering capabilities as opposed to the game's, as it only occurs on specific consoles and not specific cartridges.

Giant Egg in other stages

Giant Eggs cannot be carried into other stages as soon the player passes by the goal roulette; however, this can be bypassed by going into one of the stages that can make Giant Eggs (for example, World 2-7). At the end of the level, Yoshi must go to the far right of the goal roulette, jump and throw a Giant Egg in the air. As soon as the Giant Egg lands, Yoshi must tongue-grab the egg and it should stand on the ground. Next, Yoshi must jump into the goal roulette, and the next Yoshi should be able to pickup the egg and carry it into another level. Like the Huffin Puffin chicks, the egg becomes glitchy but can still function correctly.[4]

In Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Yoshi can no longer tongue-grab the Giant Egg, making it impossible to perform this glitch.

No Auto-scroll in Poochy Ain't Stupid

At the start of World 1-Extra, Poochy Ain't Stupid, Yoshi will encounter some Fang enemies continuously being spawned. Without advancing too far to the right (thus causing the auto-scroll to begin and cancel out this glitch), the player has to jump on the Fangs until Yoshi is off-screen. From there, they have to Flutter Jump to the right and land on the high floor. If Yoshi drops down, he will be able to play the rest of the level without the screen automatically scrolling. However, if the player goes too far to the left after dropping down from the high floor, the level will begin auto-scrolling, and the screen won't be able to scroll manually again without clearing or exiting the level, or losing a life.

Null egg

The 'null egg' is an invisible egg that can crash the game, and performing this glitch is very precise. To begin the glitch, the player needs to carry six eggs and eat the Little Skull Mouser, and jump as soon as the Little Mouser holding the egg falls to hopefully trigger the null egg. Next, Yoshi should go up to the hill and pan the camera upwards to reveal another Little Skull Mouser, and fire two eggs and make Yoshi go to the end of the stage. As the player does so, if Yoshi still has the Little Skull Mouser and spit it out as soon as Yoshi is near the goal and then jump into the goal roulette the glitch is preformed successfully. Failure to do the glitch without despawning some sprites can crash the game as the player touches the goal roulette. The Little Skull Mouser has an ID of 10, which is the same as the null egg; the player can get rid of the glitched Little Skull Mouser so another sprite can take its place.[5]

The null egg can do various amounts of glitches depending if the ID number is 10:

  • Loads flowers from each exit room.
  • Load exit sprites: Plays a screen exit and upon entering an exit sprite. This can warp Yoshi to World 1-1.
  • Using the world key: After the player defeats the castle boss without throwing the null egg, the key will appear and is stored to the null egg. This causes a cutscene to play automatically each time the player enters a level; this will go as far as the screen goes and all the sprites will pass by Yoshi as he goes forward; however, some levels where a Ukiki captures Baby Mario can still kidnap him. This will work on any level except World 6-8 and causes the cutscene to be unplayable.
  • Carry a goal ring: The player needs to have some real eggs, a null egg, and a key. At the end of World 2-1, Yoshi should enter the minigame Popping Balloons and win the game. The player should have at least one balloon and then collect the prize. As soon as Yoshi exits the minigame, the Little Skull Mouser will damage him. Yoshi must flutter to the left to load three falling platforms, then fire off some eggs and the null egg at the goal roulette and it will stop. The player can now pick up the goal roulette and carry it around the stage.

Message Block's hidden power

In World 2-7, Lakitu's Wall, Yoshi can eat a Fat Guy for a Giant Egg. When Yoshi arrives to the part with a carbubble, he should hit the Message Block with the Giant Egg to make every thing freeze for a little while. When that is over, the stars from above will fall to the ground and Yoshi becomes invisible. Yoshi can still walk around while unseen. If Yoshi jumps through the goal roulette while invisible, the whole game freezes and the player must reset their Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In the Japanese version, the controller becomes unresponsive after the Message Block text appears, requiring a reset.

In Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, hitting the Message Block with an Egg or Giant Egg goes through them, making it impossible to perform this glitch.

Nothing in Yoshi's mouth

In places like World 3-1, there may be situations where it looks like Yoshi has something in his mouth, but he really does not. First, the player must have Yoshi eat a Grinder and keep it in his mouth until he reaches the checkpoint. Then, as soon as the player touches the ring, he must spit the Grinder out (the player must hold up while spitting it out). The Grinder that Yoshi spits out turns into a star, but before it even does that, the player can see that the spat out Grinder is invisible. When the checkpoint sequence ends, the star from the Grinder can be collected, but Yoshi also has an invisible object in his mouth. He can still stick his tongue out, but he can't eat enemies. When the player presses down with the invisible object still in Yoshi's mouth, he produces an invisible egg.

This glitch can also be performed in World 3-3. The player can either use a Giant Egg or a POW Block power-up. After performing the glitch correctly, the player can use Yoshi's glitched state to break the game, reach the Stretch and defeat the small green Shy Guy, then turn and hold left and take damage with Yoshi's tongue sticking out. He will turn invisible, and once he does grab Baby Mario and start fluttering to the right, he must reach the morph bubble before the game crashes. This causes the stage to become unstable (though this can be fixed by touching a Middle Ring and purposely losing a life), and failing to grab the morph bubble crashes the game. By touching the bubble, this can prevent the game from crashing and function somewhat normally. As the result of using the glitch, after beating the World 3 boss Naval Piranha, the cutscenes throughout the rest of the game (including the ending cutscene) are broken, and all of the sprites on Yoshi's Island are placed at random locations as the cutscene plays out.[6]

Warp glitch

This glitch is possible in the SNES version. There are several levels where this glitch can be performed, and all of them rely on Yoshi entering a warp from multiple coordinates. In the Game Boy Advance version, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, it causes the game to freeze.

In 1-4: Burt The Bashful's Fort, Yellow Yoshi must go into the second room where the locked door is located and enter the pipe. He must then face right and aim an egg shot, wait for a moment, and hop backwards to be damaged by a Piro Dangle. Once Baby Mario is floating and just about near Yoshi, he should keep fluttering up to the exit until he grabs him. This causes Yoshi warp out of the fortress and skip the miniboss.

In 2-4: Bigger Boo's Fort, before Yellow Yoshi leaves the second section through the Warp Pipe, the player must let the lower Boo Blah go towards Yoshi and the pipe. When the Boo Blah meets the pipe, Yoshi must jump on it and enter the Warp Pipe at the same time. That way, Yellow Yoshi enters the pipe, but overhead. This causes the game to warp Yoshi out of the fortress and skip the miniboss.

In 3-1: Welcome To Monkey World!, when Green Yoshi meets the secret passage to the bonus area, he must simply jump in the water on the left overhead wall and dive in towards the left. Then, the player must press Pause before doing it, making sure to go towards the left and then quickly get back to the warp. If done correctly, Yoshi is warped out of the level.

In 4-7: Ride Like The Wind, Red Yoshi must have used the hidden spring ball towards the platform before the bonus area. Before Red Yoshi enters the bonus area, he must spring off the spring ball and touch the left wall at the same time. If done right, Red Yoshi touches the left wall and be warped out of the stage. Yoshi can also bring Huffin Puffin chicks into World 1-1; however, if they are taken to another stage, their sprite becomes glitchy and turns into a red cloud texture, though they still function correctly.[7]

In 5-4: Sluggy The Unshaven's Fort, Yellow Yoshi must grab a Shy Guy in his mouth with some eggs with him. Once he reaches the pipe, he should get rid of the thorns on the floor to reveal a pit. Yellow Yoshi must then stand to the left of the pipe and spit out the Shy Guy so it can land on the floor, then step on it and fall to the pit. As soon as Yoshi is off-screen, he should flutter to the left and trigger the exit. This glitch is very difficult and precise to perform.

In each case, Yoshi is warped to coordinate (0, 0): the top-left corner of Make Eggs, Throw Eggs; he must then flutter around nine times while holding right on in order to reach solid ground. Clearing the stage causes the game to think that Yoshi had cleared the stage he had originally warped from, and the score he obtained upon completion carries over to the starting stage as well.

Zombie Yoshi

This glitch must be done in King Bowser's Castle, in 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 performs a last jump, since he burned himself. If done right, Yoshi hits the switch, and comes 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 one life left, he has zero lives, as shown in the pause screen. However, if the player repeats this process, Yoshi instantly gets 999 lives.[8]

This glitch can still be preformed in Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3.

Airsickness

Attempting to use a melon's effects while riding a Lakitu's Cloud, at least on 5-1: BLIZZARD!!! where both watermelons and Lakitus occur naturally but may happen elsewhere with the use of items, causes Yoshi to use up all of the watermelon's effects uncontrolled. Yoshi spits out all watermelon seeds, and if he destroys the cloud while riding it with the red or blue watermelon, he uncontrollably spams his watermelon and then tongue afterwards, freezing the player in place until death or reset.

Blue Yoshi on World 6 map

When the player arrives on the World 6 and get to at least 6-6, they can see Blue Yoshi, despite Green Yoshi being playable in the last level. The color is fixed upon reaching 6-8 or pressing right on the D-Pad to reset the Yoshi's positions.

Minor glitches

NOTE: Some minor glitches are normal and may be easy to execute.

Wall clipping

In World 1-1, if the Piranha Plant after passing by the third Flower eats Yoshi facing the wall, he will spit Yoshi out being clipped into the wall. The wall will push Yoshi backwards correcting the glitch.

A similar result can be achieved in World 1-5: when Purple Yoshi rides the green platform as far as it goes, he should stand on top of the platform and duck down. If the player waits for the autoscrolling screen to push Purple Yoshi, he should be able to clip into the wall.[9]

Blocky map

In some stages with Fuzzies (for example, World 1-7), as soon as the Fuzzy touches the player and the screen changes, the player should quickly press and at the same time to return to the map section. This will make everything on the map blocky. The player can fix this by entering another level and completing it.[10]

In Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, the pause menu is slightly different, in which the player cannot quickly press and at the same time.

Red Koopa Troopa stuck inside a wall

In World 4-5, at the final big hill, a Red Koopa Troopa will appear. Yoshi should jump on it to cause it to come out of its shell, then wait for it to hop back in. When the shell is shaking, Yoshi should jump on the shell again. The player should repeat this one more time, and if the shell is taken away or destroyed, the Red Koopa Troopa will get stuck inside the wall.[11]

Blocks spawning at the same time

In World 2-1, after going through the falling blocks, Yoshi should enter the secret ! Switch room. After exiting the room, he should head back to where the blocks fell and they will all spawn and fall at the same time, clipping through each other and creating a huge quake.[12]

In Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, a Flipper has been added after going through the falling blocks, making it impossible to go back to trigger falling blocks.

Hootie the Blue Fish softlock

In some stages where Hooties appear (e.g. World 3-8), if the player aims an egg shot and throws it at the same time when Blue Yoshi enters a Hootie's mouth, Blue Yoshi will get stuck in the air unable to move. If the Hootie leaves the screen during this time, the game will be softlocked.

Super jump

In World 3-3, after Yoshi steps on a Stretch and it becomes flat, he should aim an egg shot and jump at the right timing to perform a super jump. This happens by holding the and buttons in quick succession.[13]

In World 4-8, a similar glitch occurs during the Hookbill the Koopa boss fight. If the player ground pounds on the final hit before Hookbill lands on his back, Yoshi will go up into the air and off-screen. This also makes Hookbill slide across the stage and stopping to the edge of the wall, and also affects the key cutscene that plays out afterwards; however, if Hookbill is facing right instead of left of the edge of the wall, the game will freeze, forcing the player to reset the game.[14]

Super Star Softlock

In World 4-1, there is a Super Star on a platform that is blocked by a destructible wall. Yoshi can actually bring a Shy Guy to this area and use the extra height from bouncing off of its head to get on the platform behind the destructible wall and collect the Super Star. If Yoshi did not have any eggs before doing this, the player will be trapped because Superstar Mario cannot destroy the wall, nor can Yoshi without the use of eggs. The only way to get out is by either resetting the game, using a power-up item from bonus games, or exiting the level if it has been completed.[15]

Bridge out

This glitch only works in the Game Boy Advance version, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, due to the recoded pause screen. In the level Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, there are red and yellow bridges at the end that break into pieces if Yoshi pounds the ground. If the player pauses the game while ground pounding the bridge but before hitting the water, Yoshi and the bridge pieces will continue to fall, with the pieces soon warping to the top of the screen. If the player unpauses after Yoshi drops under the water, a life will be lost.

References

  1. ^YouTube video of 'Bowser Glitch' and some unlisted ones.
  2. ^YouTube video of 'Eating Baby Mario'
  3. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=527
  4. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=296
  5. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=576
  6. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=329
  7. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=99
  8. ^YouTube video of 'Zombie Yoshi'
  9. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=153
  10. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=197
  11. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=211
  12. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=223
  13. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=245
  14. ^https://youtu.be/kLn2FqOhvFQ?t=256
  15. ^https://youtu.be/V7uO1FgdcLg?list=WL&t=704
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Hello, everyone! I'm Akinori Sao, a writer in Kyoto. This is the fifth installment in a series of interviews commemorating the release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition system. The topic this time is Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Super Mario World was a launch title for Super NES, and it marked the first appearance of Yoshi. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, which was released four years later, was the memorable first game that starred Yoshi as the main character. For that reason, I will be talking today with Takashi Tezuka, Shigefumi Hino and Hisashi Nogami with a focus on Yoshi.

And now for Tezuka-san, Hino-san and Nogami-san!

Nogami-san, you've been involved with Animal Crossing1 and Splatoon.2 Super Mario World is one of the games we're discussing today, but you hadn't yet joined the company when it came out.

1. Animal Crossing : The first game in this series of community-simulation games was originally released in Japan for the Nintendo 64 system in April 2001. A total of six games have been released in the series, including installments for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS systems.

2. Splatoon : The first game in this series of shooting games was released for the Wii U system in May 2015, and a second game was released for the Nintendo Switch system in July 2017.

Nogami: That's right. My first job was Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Mario
When Super NES released, were you a college student?

Nogami: Yes. I think I was a freshman in college.

You encountered Super Mario World as just a player. Later, I'll ask you what you thought about it.

Nogami: All right.

Hino-san, you've been involved with most of the games in the Pikmin3 series.

3. Pikmin : The first game in this series of puzzle-strategy games was originally released in Japan for the Nintendo GameCube system in October 2001. The latest game, Hey! PIKMIN , was released for Nintendo 3DS in July 2017.

Nogami: That's right. I've been involved with the series from the first game through Pikmin 3 for Wii U. Later, for development of Super Mario Maker4, I was involved with implementing art I had done for Super Mario World.

4. Super Mario Maker : This game was released for Wii U in September 2015. Players enjoy making Super Mario courses and playing courses that others have made. Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS was released in December 2016.

In other words, pixel art that you had done a long time ago returned in Super Mario Maker.

Hino: Yes. I had done that art about 26 years ago, so it really brought back memories.

Hino: It was my second year at the company, and it was the first game I worked on that went out into the world.

Does that mean there were games that didn't go out into the world?

Hino: Yes. As a designer, I worked on a sequel to Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race5 for the Family Computer Disk System.

Kazunobu Shimizu6 was the director of that racing game, wasn't he?

5. Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race: A racing game released for the Family Computer Disk System in October 1987.

6. Kazunobu Shimizu: This developer has been involved in the development of such games as F-ZERO and F-ZERO: Maximum Velocity. He participated in the interview in this series that covered F-Zero.

Hino: Yes, that's right.

When I did the interview for this series regarding F-ZERO, I heard that the sequel couldn't be released because it got bashed when it was shown to staff at Nintendo of America. (laughs)

Hino: Oh, I didn't know that. I thought it was pretty good…

However, that was how F-ZERO7 came to be. In your second year at the company, you came to be involved with Super Mario, Nintendo's top series. How did that feel?

7. F-ZERO : A racing game set in the future. It was originally released in Japan in November 1990 and is also included in Super NES Classic Edition .

Hino: I felt a great deal of pressure. It was a launch title for Super NES, and the previous game, Super Mario Bros. 38, was really well-made, so it was intimidating to know it would be compared to that. For that reason, I worried a lot over how we could present Super Mario in a fresh way on Super NES.

8. Super Mario Bros. 3: A platform game originally released in Japan for the Famicom system in October 1988. This game was discussed in the interview covering Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES Classic Edition system.

Tezuka-san, you were the director of Super Mario World. When did development start?

Tezuka: That was a long time ago, so my memory isn't that great… (laughs) I think we started in 1988.

That would mean you made the game in less than two years.

Tezuka: Development was shorter than for Super Mario Bros. 3.

During my interview for NES Classic Edition covering Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3, I heard that development for Super Mario Bros. 3 wandered a little and took two and a half years.

Tezuka: That's right. For Super Mario Bros. 3, while I was director, I also did the visuals.

Tezuka: Yes. But I didn't think it was good to take on too much, so when we made Super Mario World, I left the visuals to Hino.

I'd like to ask about Yoshi. Super Mario World has several noteworthy characteristics. One is that it marks Yoshi's debut.

Tezuka: Uh-huh.

Tezuka: Shigeru Miyamoto said he wanted Mario to ride a horse!

A horse? (laughs)

Tezuka: I think he likes horses. (laughs) When we were making Super Mario Bros. 3, he had drawn a picture of Mario on a horse, and hung it on a wall near where he used to sit. I would look at that and think, 'I think he wants Mario to ride something.' When we started making Super Mario World, we were working with the concept of a dinosaur land, so I had Hino do art for a kind of reptile.

Hino: The first keyword was horse, so I imagined something rather large and first drew up a creature like a large lizard.

Tezuka: It was like a crocodile. (laughs)

Yoshi is quite different from a crocodile! (laughs)

Tezuka: Yeah. It felt out of place to have a reptile suddenly appear in Mario's world, so we went back and talked about how maybe it shouldn't be like a crocodile.

In other words, the two of you consulted each other as you searched for the prototype for Yoshi. How did that croc-like creature shape up into Yoshi?

Hino: Tezuka had done a rough sketch and it was cute and pretty good, so I polished up Yoshi into its current form based on that.

Tezuka: That happened relatively quickly. I kind of forced the design though, saying, 'It's related to turtles.' (laughs)

That's why, instead of a saddle, what's on Yoshi's back is...

Nogami: A shell. Even after I joined the company, Tezuka kept insisting that it was a shell. (laughs)

(laughs) And that's how Super Mario World, which debuted Yoshi as kin to turtles, became the top-selling title worldwide for Super NES.

Tezuka: Really…?

Tezuka: (laughs) Launch titles are the first games that let players try the new hardware's features, so they benefit in being able to surprise many players who are experiencing those features for the first time.

Oh, I see. Nogami-san, you were just a regular player at the time. What surprised you when you played Super Mario World?

Nogami: A lot of things surprised me. For example, there's a foreground and background with overlapped scrolling. It introduced things that made me say, 'Super NES can even do this!'

It surprised you with visuals that NES didn't have.

Nogami: Yes. Another thing that made an impression was the action of the fence flipping around, and how characters that were in front of the fence would go behind it. Those were things that couldn't have been done with NES, so I thought they were very interesting.

You were still a student, but you looked at it like a pro! (laughs)

Nogami: No, not at all! (laughs)

Had you decided by that time that you wanted to make video games?

Nogami: I loved video games, so I did think that I wanted to make them someday.

Tezuka: Nogami was part of the inaugural class of the Game Seminar.9

9. Game Seminar = Nintendo Dentsu Game Seminar: A practical game development course held for students. The seminar was held three times, beginning in 1990. From 2003, the seminar was then renamed to Nintendo Game seminar. The seminars are currently suspended.

Nogami: Yes, but I actually played Super Mario World before joining the seminar!

Now I'd like to discuss Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It was released in 1995. That's four years after Super Mario World.

Tezuka: Yes.

How did you come to make a platform game with Yoshi as the main character?

Hino: After development of Super Mario World ended, I had some downtime, and Miyamoto said, 'How long are you going to be doing visuals?'

Hino: At Nintendo back then, designers would just do visuals for a few years after entering the company. After that, it was generally understood that you would move on to become a director or planner.

So Miyamoto-san was trying to say that you should stop with the art and come up with a project.

Hino: Yeah. So then I entered a period of thinking up all sorts of projects, experimenting with them, and canning them over and over. It got to the point where I thought if the next project fell through, I couldn't stay at the company.

You were prepared for the worst.

Hino: Yeah. Just then, I had the idea of making Yoshi the main character in a game. I began by starting to think about making the game a sort of spin-off of the Super Mario series.

Hino: I started thinking about it myself, but I discussed it with Tezuka for the longest time.

What were you doing at that time, Tezuka-san?

Tezuka: I was involved with development of the Legend of Zelda series, like development of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past10 and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.11

10. The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past : An action-adventure game included in Super NES Classic Edition. Originally released in Japan in November 1991.

11. The Legend of Zelda : Link's Awakening : An action-adventure game released for the Game Boy system. Originally released in Japan in June 1993.

So between development work, you consulted with Hino-san.

Tezuka: Yes.

Why did you want to make Yoshi the main character?

Hino: It's just my personal opinion, but I felt like, with Super Mario World, we had done everything we could with a side-scrolling jumping game.

Oh, I see. After that, Super Mario 6412 came out and for a while the focus was on more three-dimensional action and not side-scrolling.

12. Super Mario 64 : A platform game released for the Nintendo 64 system. Originally released in Japan in June 1996.

Hino: Right. I wondered what kind of side-scrolling platform game we could make and thought we could create new gameplay if Yoshi were the main character. I think I started with the idea of having Yoshi carry something to the goal.

Making Yoshi the main character would give birth to new actions.

Tezuka: Right. We made new actions, and one I thought was good was the Flutter Jump. Mario can't do an action like that and it would help people who have difficulty with platformers.

You wanted to make it enjoyable for people who were gaming for the first time.

Tezuka: Yeah! So when you make contact with an enemy, instead of just bumming out, there's a mechanism for not losing a life.We tried to think of new actions that would allow newcomers to enjoy playing.

Nogami-san, it's time to bring you into the conversation! (laughs)

Nogami: Okay! (laughs)

When you entered the company, what was the state of the development of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island?

Nogami: I joined the company about one and a half years before release, so it had already been decided that Yoshi would be the main character.

Nogami: I remember Miyamoto making precise adjustments to the Flutter Jump after I entered the company, so I must have joined about that time.

As the new guy, how did you become involved?

Nogami: I started as a designer, but the concept of making it with graphics in a hand-drawn style had already been decided on, so I began by trying to figure out how to do that.

Hino: We had decided on a hand-drawn approach before Nogami joined, but we hadn't yet determined a direction for the exact style. Soon after joining, Nogami showed us something in a marker style.

Nogami: First, I used markers to draw a background with something like a pointed Mount Fuji and scanned it. Then I spent about two weeks in trial and error figuring out how to use it in the game.

Hino: When we saw that, we decided that was the direction to go. That was a turning point for the visual style of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Why did you decide on a hand-drawn style?

Tezuka: Immediately after Nogami entered the company, Donkey Kong Country13 was released.

Hino: The company that developed that game was Rare14 in Britain, and it made an impression within Nintendo. The graphics were such as we had never seen for Super NES.

13. Donkey Kong Country : A platform game included in Super NES Classic Edition. Originally released in November 1994.

14. Rare: A British video game developer that has, in addition to Donkey Kong Country, developed such games as GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie for the Nintendo 64 system.

Tezuka: Some within the company were wondering if we could do visuals like the ones in Donkey Kong Country, but…

Hino: But development of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island had already progressed past the point where we could adopt that style of graphics.

In other words, it was too late to turn back.

Hino: Right. So we decided to take up the challenge with visuals that were the exact opposite of the style in Donkey Kong Country.

Hino: Yeah. And instead of doing it halfway, we wanted to fight back by thoroughly pursuing a hand-drawn style. But then something horrible happened.

Something horrible?

Hino: Nintendo 64 was on standby for release the next year, so our director, Tezuka, and Hideki Konno15 began devoting their attention to Super Mario 64 and so forth.

15. Hideki Konno: In addition to primarily being involved with development of the Super Mario Kart series, this developer was map director of Super Mario World. He participated in the interview in this series that covered Super Mario Kart ( link).

That's quite a problem! So who was left on the team?

Hino: We could still consult them while they were off supporting other projects, but basically Nogami and I and one other designer forged on – just the three of us.

Hino: We asked SRD16 to do the programming, and they had a background with the series, so we could leave it to them without worrying. But for a time, we three designers did planning while also doing the actual work on the project.

16. SRD Co., Ltd.: A company established in 1979 that contracts to develop video game software programs and develops and sells CAD packages. Its head office is in Kyoto and its Kyoto office is inside the development wing of the Nintendo headquarters.

Nogami-san, didn't you think that was awful so soon after entering the company?

Nogami: No. I was able to work on a lot of things, so it was fun.

Nogami: Yes. I received all kinds of opportunities. I rendered backgrounds, thought up enemies, and did some of the art myself.

Hino: Including some silly enemies! (laughs)

Nogami: Like goonies! Most of the silly ones were mine. (laughs) At the end, I got to handle a boss character, which thrilled me.

Hino: By the time Tezuka and Konno skipped out, the framework of the game was in place, but we still had to produce a lot of game components.

Nogami: And we sure made a lot! Each day, I would illustrate a character in the morning, put in an order to the programmer at noon, check it at night, and then give the okay.

Hino: There was also a time when each day we would brainstorm ideas. Partway through development, we showed it to those involved with sales and distribution to get some feedback. It got a favorable evaluation, and we were able to get the other staff members to come back! (laughs)

It got a good review, so everyone decided to finish it up properly?

Nogami: That's right. At that point, it had filled in pretty well, but it didn't have any balance game-wise. Thus, in order to polish it up as a product, help from Tezuka, Konno and Miyamoto was absolutely necessary.

Now for my final question. If there is anything about Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island that you would like players to pay attention to on Super NES Classic Edition, please tell me.

Hino: As far as visuals go, Super Mario World is the first time Mario's eyes have a white part.

Hino: Miyamoto was intent on that and was very strict in checking it! (laughs)

(laughs)

Hino: Nonetheless, I personally thought his black eyes in Super Mario Bros. 3 had character, so I left Small Mario's eyes black.

So you want people to pay attention to Mario's eyes. (laughs) Anything else?

Hino: During development of Super Mario Maker, we began to wonder why Mario's hand moves when Yoshi sticks out its tongue in Super Mario World. Many people thought Mario was pointing forward and saying, 'Go!' and that's why Yoshi sticks out its tongue.

Hino: Actually, we did the animation with the idea that Mario is hitting Yoshi on the head and Yoshi is sticking out its tongue in surprise.

Oh, really? (laughs)

Hino: There's even a bonk! sound. (laughs) But we thought people would feel sorry for Yoshi, so we decided to pass it off as Mario saying, 'Go!' (laughs)

Nogami: I'd also like people to pay attention to the sound. Koji Kondo17 was in charge of the sound for both of these games. When we were making Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, we asked him to do the sound for bosses and the first thing he did was a fairly laidback tune! Hino and I spoke with him about it, and the result was some really cool music, which really impressed me. I never expected less! (laughs)

17. Koji Kondo: This developer has been involved with the sound for many games such as games in the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda series. He participated in the interview covering Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES Classic Edition.

Hino: When it comes to sound, you usually can't compose the music until the game has come together to a certain extent, but we were behind and I think Kondo was really chomping at the bit. But the rush at the end was insane, so I was quite moved when the ending background music came in.

Nogami: It truly was moving.

Hino: And…is it okay if I say this? We did something wrong in Super Mario World.

Hino: When we were making Super Mario Maker, we noticed that Bowser had the wrong color! His hide is green when it should have been orange!

In other words, you noticed that mistake after 25 years had passed?! (laughs)

Hino: That's right! (laughs) He's a central character, so I feel bad for him…

Mario Maker 2 Yoshi's Island Game

People who read this can check Bowser's color on Super NES Classic Edition! (laughs)

Tezuka: We often get out Super NES cartridges to check things.

Mario Maker 2 Download

Tezuka: Yes. But with Super NES Classic Edition… (laughs)

Tezuka: And that's a big help! (laughs)

(Look forward to Volume 6: Kirby Super Star!)