Yoshi’s Island
Best SNES Franchises
Releasing in North America in 1995 as a numbered sequel to Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island served as a dramatic departure to the main Mario platformers seen prior to the game. For one, it starred Yoshi and had an infant Mario in a supporting role, along for a literal ride to help rescue Baby Luigi from the clutches of Baby Bowser and Kamek.
Levels were much more about exploration than in mainline Mario games. The objective was still similar: reach the goal, but this time around players could do plenty of optional exploring for collectables in the form of 20 red coins and five smiley flowers. This is all the while avoiding taking damage, as when this happened, Baby Mario would eject from Yoshi’s saddle, crying relentlessly until saved. If the countdown to rescue him reached zero, Kamek’s forces would nab Baby Mario, and the player would lose a life.
Like Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (which would be a vehicle for Wario to star in his own series without the SML branding), with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, the Yoshi series would take on a personality and identity of its own. Yoshi would see himself star in a multitude of new entries of varying qualities with and without Baby Mario, such as Yoshi’s Island DS, New Yoshi’s Island, and Yoshi’s Island games in all but name, Yoshi’s Woolly World and Yoshi’s Crafted World.
