Mario Lists

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island Game Facts and Trivia

February 8, 2015 by Timby No Comments

Today we are heading back to 1995 and the colourful landscapes of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. So grab hold of your green dinosaurs and don’t lose your eggs as we explore 9 facts and trivia from the game that sold around 4 million copies and is often considered one of the best Nintendo games ever made!

yoshi-island_jurassic_park

Don’t miss out on anything, make sure you check out the video at the end!

Number 9

According to the book “The Ultimate History of Video Games” an internal evaluation committee in Nintendo originally wanted Yoshi’s Island to feature pre-rendered visuals along the lines of Donkey Kong country. Mr. Miyamoto thankfully disagreed however and rebelled against their pencil pushing ways and instead re-worked the original art to make the world appear as if it was drawn in crayon.

This however does leave him to answer for what appears to be a topless woman’s torso in the background of world 4-1…

smw2_world_4_1_female_torso

Number 8

Hiding unused in the game’s graphics is this Monkey sprite! Presumably once planned as an enemy he has a striking resemblance to Donkey Kong if he was Yoshi’s Island-a-fied and he even has a barrel ready to throw too! It’s unknown why he was removed!

smw2_dk2_transparent

Number 7

A couple of Shy Guy sprites and also a Tweeter sprite are also hiding unused in the games data. These sprites are actually left over from Super Mario all Stars and It’s possible that the Shy Guys were left there as reference for the graphic artists. The presence of the Tweeter sprite however has spurred rumour that they were once planned as enemies for the game but it’s more likely that they were probably a place holder enemy during development or something of that sort.

SMW2AllStars_left_overs

Number 6

In the extra unlockable stage in world 3 known as “More Monkey Madness” there is actually a 21^st Red Coin hiding in the level. It’s quite hard to get as there are monkeys everywhere, a paddle wheel is rotating and even a tap tap is on top of it. I died so many times getting this footage (refer to video) so I hope this helps someone. This additional red coin was removed in the Game Boy advance port of the game suggesting either a glitch on the SNES or someone at Nintendo spotted their mistake.

Number 5

The level “Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy” has always been suspected of drug influences and the German name for the level only furthers this suspicion. Known as “Lustiges Sporen Drama” in German this abbreviates to LSD, supposedly referencing the psychedelic nature of the level. But it could just be a coincidence too as the name translates to “Funny Spore Drama” in English.

lustiges_sporen_drama(touch_fuzzy_get_dizzy)

Number 4

Hiding in the games data are these 3 unused Yoshi Transformations! It would have been quite an interesting change to the game if Yoshi was able to transform into a plane, a tree or a Mushroom! You have to wonder what the special abilities would be for the tree and ‘shroom too!

un_used_yoshi_transformations

Although not as exciting as hidden transformations, there is also an unused sprite for Yoshi spitting watermelon seeds. It’s pretty close to the one used in the final cut only his cheeks aren’t quite as full of watermelon.

SMW2YoshiSpitEarly

Number 3

Also hiding are some unused enemies such as this Red Bullet Bill, this double swap platform and also this Boo Blah holding a Piro Dangle. There is also some unused enemy behaviours that are in the code but aren’t implemented, these include Egg plants spitting bubbles at set intervals and also three Cactus Jacks falling down and stacking on top of each other.

Number 2

If you carefully approach the boss Navel Piranha of level 3 you can actually fire an egg to take him out before the battle even begins! If you manage to get him Kamek even fly’s in and expresses his surprise before jetting off.

Interestingly in the German version of Yoshi’s Island this boss is actually called “Audrey” in reference to the Little Shop of Horrors.

Number 1

The first boss in Yoshi’s Island looks a lot like the character Obelix from “Astrerix and Obelix” fame! Although in the English version of the game this enemy is known as “Burt the Bashful”, this similarity to Obelix is highlighted in some international releases. The French version of the game calls him “Belixo” which is an anagram of Obelix and the German version calls this Boss Xilebo which is Obelix backwards.

burt_the_bashful_and_obelix