Super Mario Maker is a wonderful conglomeration of various elements from the series' rich history and one of the elements included is Yoshi, Mario's faithful dinosaur companion. Though he's gone on to successfully star in his own series – most recently in Yoshi's Woolly World – and is very much his own character at this point, Yoshi still appears occasionally in a main series Super Mario game. However, it seems that he almost didn't make it in to Super Mario Maker.
Takashi Tezuka and Yosuke Oshino – the Producer and Director, respectively – recently spoke a bit with Nintendo Dream. Yoshi was eventually brought up in the conversation and it was revealed that the character caused some controversy on the team. Tezuka was adamant that they ensure he appear in the game, but the team had to think through how he would behave in certain situations, such as how he responds to Boos and what he could and couldn't eat. Here's the quote:
Oshino: We decided to put in characteristic actions like Raccoon Mario, Caped Mario and Propeller Mario during the first phases of development. But Yoshi had much controversy…
Tezuka: I was a bit pushy in requesting to have Yoshi. There were reasons like being responsible for the Wii U game Yoshi's Woolly World, wanting to use the Yoshi amiibo, and wanting to have some kind of collaboration as it is also Yoshi's 25th anniversary.
Oshino: But adding Yoshi was complicated, so we discussed what should we do. In Super Mario World, you couldn't enter a Ghost House with Yoshi for example. As you can freely arrange things in this title, there were many occasions in which it was required to think about how to apply things that you couldn't do in the original game, like whether or not Yoshi can step on a Boo and what Yoshi can eat and what he can't.
What do you think? Were you glad that they included Yoshi in the end? How have you implemented him in stages you've made? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source gonintendo.com]
Comments 33
yes just purrfect.
I love yoshi. yoshi on yoshi costume is the best combo tough.. lol
I think it would have been a bad idea not to add Yoshi.
Thank goodness Yoshi made it in.
I would have been really sad if Yoshi didn't appear in the game. Not only because he's one of my favorite Mario charaters but also because I've been working on my level called "Yoshi in the Frozen Fortress" for a long time now. I think his tongue can serve as the basis of many puzzles.
Now I actually haven't used Yoshi yet, but how could you not add him? He's iconic to the series! I mean if kuribo got in Yoshi must as well.
@Uberchu But yoshi isn't available in the SMB theme...
I feel like Yoshi was kind of nerfed from his SMW glory days, but I'd still rather have an imperfect Yoshi than no Yoshi.
Slopes.
Thank god Yoshi was included.
On an unrelated note, it looks like Bravely Second is getting censored. Note: NoA is NOT responsible for the localization of the game. That's on Binari Sonori and Square Enix. Nintendo's only publishing it here.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1144280&page=4
Heh, it's nice to bend the rules sometimes.
Yoshi is a great addition. He adds a lot more variety to the levels and all of the new mechanics such as how he interacts in ghost houses seem natural.
Yoshi's easily my favorite Nintendo character, I would not have been happy if he was omitted.
Sometimes, limits are meant to be broken.
@MasterWario I'm pretty sure they put in Goomba's Shoe after Yoshi. I mean Yoshi was present pretty much everywhere both in SMW and NSMBU... The Goomba's Shoe was only in a single level in all of SMB and SMB3 combined. Plus you can step on the same things with it as Yoshi, so I guess they had decided on all of that when they added the shoe.
I'm so glad he stuck to his guns. Nothing this great comes very easily.
@IceClimbers Localisation changes is not censorship. Otherwise you must hate Dragon Ball Z.
Very happy that they included Yoshi after all, so thank you Tezuka for pushing for everyone's favourite green dinosaur!
Speaking of Yoshi's 25th anniversary though, I kinda wish they would have done a little special something for him too. But I guess it's not really realistic, seeing how a lot of their franchises don't even get such a treatment in the first place, so oh well.
ohhh, didn't realise he was in it yet. Guess I need to get some more hours in
Funny how the article doesn't mention all the fans crossing their fingers for Yoshi to be in the game during development. Only Tezuka's opinion mattered in the end.
Really strange how Nintendo can be a Top 5 (Top 3 to me, maybe even top 1) developer, yet seemingly have such difficulty with things other programmers take for granted. They other give these long, winded, almost philosophical answers for something that could be answered along the lines of "Since ______ is important in the game, we made it a top goal to make sure the action had lots of depth to it".
How difficult was it to decide if Yoshi can look at boo's and what he can eat, I mean, geez.. These guys seem to lose touch more and more everyday.
@AlexSora89 I don't know. I'd always taken the idea that games are produced by Game Producers for granted. Clearly, the audience is considered, but the games are shaped by an internal team, and not by some focus group of enthusiasts.
@LetsGoRetro
With regards to 'whether Yoshi would be included' seeming like a bit of a non-question, it's worth keeping in mind that this problem was faced at a very early point in development, when (I assume) only the bare bones of the game were assembled, and designers weren't sure of what the eventual scale of the game would be.
Given all the other stuff that has come to be in the game, I assume Yoshi would have been added eventually (tweaking an existing mechanic would probably have been easier than developing several of the new ones), but I can understand that "during the first phases of development", Mr. Tezuka's request to simply 'put Yoshi in!', would have been met with the response 'it's not that straightforward!'. At least, not as straightforward as "actions like Raccoon Mario, Caped Mario and Propeller Mario", which don't really react to the environment in any way more sophisticated than the Fire Flower. Aside from spinning to break blocks and hurt enemies etc., the mechanics are relatively self-contained.
I think article's claim that "it seems that [Yoshi] almost didn't make it in to Super Mario Maker" is probably stretching the truth a bit. I think a more accurate summary would be, "during the first phases of development, the prospect of adding Yoshi seemed like a bit of a tall order compared to adding actions like Raccoon Mario, Caped Mario and Propeller Mario. It was considered how Yoshi would interact with many elements that he didn't come into contact with in the original games, which was a lot more complex to implement than the other items".
You could go further and stick words directly into their mouths like:
"Oshino: Looking back now, Yoshi seems like one of the simpler additions to the game, but at the time, he caused much controversy. laughs
Tezuka: laughs
Interviewer: laughs
Bystander: laughs"
Feel free to add any extra laughs.
These excuses makes no sense. So this is how Nintendo people decide what goes in the final version and what doesn't: personal tastes.
Had to have Yoshi in the game. Now, can we get some Super Mario Bros 2 DLC? That would be fantastic.
Favorite game character ever. I've used him in several levels as well. Glad they didn't leave him out. Nintendo has been a bit guilty of putting the bare minimum in some games as of recent, but this has been pretty well done.
@rushiosan They DO make sense.
"Adding Yoshi" was more "complicated" than adding "characteristic actions like Raccoon Mario, Caped Mario and Propeller Mario during the first phases of development", so they had to sit down and "discuss what [they] should do" and consider how Yoshi would interact with new gameplay elements.
That's basically all the interview boils down to. People are completely ignoring the context and acting as though Yoshi was a last minute addition that barely made it. The interview implies he was actually one of the FIRST things to be decided on including in the game, albeit one of the more complicated and controversial ones at that stage.
I'm seriously glad that Yoshi made it in despite what @Marxz said. Just imagine SMM WITHOUT Yoshi... good grief...
@Calllack I'm seriously glad too! I think the game would feel bereft without him. I'm just saying, I think it's unlikely that the game would have made it into its current form without Yoshi being added somewhere along the line. I think the interview is just saying that his addition posed a bit of a problem at the beginning of development.
I think Yoshi is fantastic, both as a Mario mechanic and a character in his own right!
Without Yoshi, Panga's levels would maybe be easier.
So in that respect...
@Maxz
Birdo laughs
Kuribo laughs
Bowser laughs
Kid laughs
Squid laughs
Kid - wait, squid - wait kid - wait, squid - wait, kid...
They mention Yoshi's 25th Anniversary and I'm still here waiting for Metroid's 25th...D:
They never acknowledged it.
It must've been a challenge adding yoshi in MM. It would also be good to get some features like connecting pipes , themes , angry sun, more enemies from the original games and slopes.@McGuire and mario bros 2 designer in MM would be the icing on the cake.
It simply would not have been a true Super Mario World toolset without everyone's favorite green dinosaur! I am glad they decided to put him in because there have been some pretty creative puzzle levels that utilize Yoshi as a mechanic.
Considering yoshi was the main focus of super mario world I'm glad they took on the challenge of adding him to super mario maker. It just wouldn't be the same without him.
Only Nintendo programmers would find it difficult to add a character to a game.
May God help them on the NX.
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