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Is Yoshi's Island A Super Mario World Game?
The first Yoshi's Island game's full title is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island – but is it really the true sequel to Super Mario World? We asked the game's creators.
Shigeru Miyamoto is Mario's creator, and served as producer on Yoshi's Island, which released 20 years ago today. Here's what Miyamoto had to say about the game's place in the Super Mario series of games when we asked him back in 2012.
When we first made Yoshi's Island, we considered it part of the Mario series. After that, the Yoshi series continued on its own. As developers, do we consider it to be part of the core Mario series? The answer is yes.
A few years later, we had the opportunity to ask one of the game's director's and long-time Mario collaborator Takashi Tezuka. Tezuka is producer on the upcoming Yoshi's Woolly World and at E3 2015 we asked him the same question: Is Yoshi's Island a Super Mario World game?
I consider it as part of the Mario series.
We followed up asking if the Super Mario World 2 prefix was fully embraced by the team.
That was so long ago that I don't fully remember. I don't think I made that decision alone – I don't think I could have. When that game debuted, I wanted people to understand that Yoshi was part of the Mario world, and that be conveyed whether through title or gameplay. To me, it's part of the Mario series, but today's Yoshi games? They've changed from those origins, so I think it's okay to think of Yoshi living in in his own universe. You can think of it separately from Mario's world.
To hear former editors Dan Ryckert and Bryan Vore debate Yoshi's Island's place in the Super Mario series, check out this episode of our Yoshi's Island Super Replay. For our full Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Super Replay, head here.
What do you think? Is Yoshi's Island a Super Mario World game? Or does it stand on its own?
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