Yoshi's abilities were never quite as versatile as Kirby, but with the addition of Super Mario Galaxy 2 to the Mario library, his list of special moves and power-ups continues to grow. Yoshi's repertoire has increased substantially since his Super Mario World debut, and while his long, sticky tongue, combined with egg-making and egg-throwing, is still his most useful and prominent fighting mechanism, it is also a means to facilitate his ability to acquire the moves listed below. In most cases, these special abilities only last for a limited time, so you have to enjoy the fun while it lasts (though you can repeat quite often).
Here are my 10 favorite abilities, all of which originate from the following three games:
Super Mario World (SNES, 1991), Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES, 1995), Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010)
My ranking is based mostly on the moves that I found quite enjoyable to use and how well they were integrated into the gameplay.
03/07/12, 05:40 Edited: 06/08/12, 01:31
Mole Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
A useful Yoshi power-up acquired by touching a Morph Bubble, Yoshi could dig through the dirt and get… dirty. He can fit in narrow spaces and even get vertical!
Look out for wild Diglett, Yoshi!
Blimp Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Yoshi inflates himself, just like a balloon (this crazy Kon... oops, wrong game!). He must have learned this trick from his buddy Mario! In Super Mario World, Mario could inflate with the P-Balloon. I guess even Mario needed a break from the hot air, perhaps due to his altered physical state being in outer space.
Anyway, all Yoshi has to do is eat a Blimp Fruit, resulting in his color changing to light blue, and he inflates, similar to Mario's ability to become Balloon Mario when getting the P-Balloon in Super Mario World.
Yoshi learns from the best
Bulb Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Yoshi becomes Mario's guiding light, illuminating the path before them as they traverse dizzying heights and tricky platforms, with the darkness engulfing them ever so slowly. The clock is always ticking toward Mario and Yoshi's demise, meaning you better hurry up and find that next Bulb Berry.
Ah! It burns-a my eyes, mama mia.
Car Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
A Yoshi transformation built for for cruising and maneuverability. The funny aspect of this ability is when Yoshi stretches his legs but his wheels stay on the ground, enabling him to bypass enemies and obstacles. Apparently only the body is susceptible to damage!
See ya suckers!
Train Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
I loved how this train ability was brought into the game: As you're playing Yoshi's Island, you see train tracks scribbled on the walls in the background. When you transform, you shrink a little bit and can ride those tracks. Meanwhile, some of the enemy sketches also come to life and begin their red hot pursuit, while you are limited to only being able to move on the rails. Challenging!
Baby Mario, welcome to the sooouuuull train...
Submarine Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Yoshi was diving deep in the ocean and blasting enemies long before Steel Diver ever showed up. Yoshi's torpedoes of destruction… very cool indeed.
The latest naval fleet prepares for war. Are you shaking in your boots, oh lil baby Bowser? Be afraid.
Dash Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Seemingly faster than his car form, Yoshi gulps down a Dash Pepper and… and… he's on fire! Yoshi's incredible speed allows him to run up steep slopes and even run on water. His red color is very flamboyant!
On land, on water… it doesn't matter when you're this fast.
Helicopter Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Yoshi can fly around the level, gathering the precious treasures that brings the best players closer to the coveted 100%. Ah, the things we do to keep Baby Mario happy.
The sky's the limit. And the timer too.
Dizzy Yoshi
Found in: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Yoshi's most insane 'ability.' Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy. You can argue this is not really a special ability, but it's too ridiculous for me to leave off the list. Truly, this is the only 'ability' listed that does not even help the player but rather impedes progress. Yoshi gets doped… uh, I mean, 'dizzy,' gets a huge smile plastered on his glazed look of a face, and fights desperately not to tip over as the world around him shifts in and out, morphing into wonderful colors and shapes. Baby Mario, you're in trouble now!
Perhaps alluding to the creative process involved in conjuring up the Mushroom Kingdom in the first place?
In Yoshi's video game debut, he was able to acquire three different abilities depending on what color Koopa Troopa shell he was holding in his mouth (or you could use a non-green Yoshi whose color dictated what ability he would have regardless of the color shell in its mouth).
But there was a special enemy in this game called the Kamikaze Koopa, a type of Koopa Troopa created when a naked Koopa (no shell!) climbs into an empty yellow Shell. The Koopa becomes invincible with its shell flashing rainbow colors, thus becoming a Kamikaze Koopa. After its transformation, the Kamikaze Koopa attempts to hit Mario or Luigi by spinning around in its shell and dashing towards them. It becomes impossible to separate the Koopa from the shell.
Naked Koopa. Troopa's lost his shell, oh no!
However, if Yoshi holds the shell in his mouth, he now has all three special abilities at the same time: flying, spitting out fire, and causing small earthquakes. Unfortunately spitting out the fire results in losing all the abilities. Ultimate Yoshi was the gamer's first look at Yoshi's versatility and his potential to tap into mysterious powers, paying the way forward for future games.
Behold the power of Yoshi!
The Super Smash Bros. Brawl version of this ability was an awesome tribute to Super Mario World and a powerful Final Smash. Yoshi's moves were not quite exactly the same as the SNES game, but the way he flies around breathing fire begs the question if Yoshi truly is dinosaur, dragon, or something else.
I have to add a 'Dishonorable mention:' Juice spitting/ barfing Yoshi in Super Mario Sunshine. He dissolves in water. Weak.
That's my list. Are you a Yoshi fan? Do you like his abilities so far? Will the green guy continue to play a major part in Mario's upcoming adventures? Here's hoping we continue seeing more Yoshi for years to come!
Thanks to MarioWiki.com for much of the Mario information!
That's a cruel one! Funny, but cruel. I considered it, I really did, and in the end it did not make the list. Though if you think about it, giving up your life for your friend is the best power-up one could hope for. Well, not really, considering it's Mario's choice to drop the dino.
They'd probably slip around a lot though. I don't know if comfy boots would be feasible with their body weights. They seem like they'd need to be much more secure. Hmmmm..
I would have liked to have seen Yoshi's skiing ability noted in the list, though. I'm pretty sure it only happened like, once (maybe twice?) during the entirety of Yoshi's Island, but man! Sliding down the slopes on skis (and Baby Mario in the longer winter hat) was awesome.
A nice list. Yoshi's powerups in Super Mario Galaxy 2 were pretty fun, I wanted them to be used more. It's funny, but I always felt that the abilities, transformations, and even visual style in Kirby's Epic Yarn was much more in line with Yoshi's Island than it is with Kirby games. Yoshi's Epic Yarn would have made a lot more sense.
I disagree with the last entry, though. Yoshi's overall design in Super Smash Brothers Brawl is pretty terrible, though it was pretty weird in SSBMelee too.
Great and original top ten! I'm a big fan of the Dash Pepper and Bulb Berry from SMG2 in particular, both creative and challenging power-ups that were a testament to the game's strong design. Car Yoshi was good fun too, would've liked to see more of him in YI.
I think there's a small inaccuracy though--the Kamikaze Koopa would only show up in a shell-less Koopa jumped into an empty yellow shell, not just a shell of any color. The Super Dragon ability sure was fun though.
