スーパーマリオ ヨッシーアイランド © 1995 Nintendo Company, Limited.
(Super Mario - Yossy Island)
Super Mario World 2: Yossy Island stands as one of the most distinct and artistically ambitious titles in the entire Super Mario franchise. Eschewing the traditional sprite-based aesthetic of Super Mario World, this sequel utilizes a unique, hand-drawn storybook art style that remains visually iconic today. Mechanically, the game shifts focus from Mario to his Yoshi companions, introducing a protective gameplay loop where the player must keep Baby Mario safe from damage, effectively managing a "crying timer" if separated. This title serves as a direct, gameplay-focused evolution of the platforming genre, integrating complex environmental interactions and massive, non-linear level design.
![Goodies for Super Mario - Yossy Island [Model SHVC-YI]](images/covermini160/62362_1.jpg)
CART ID: SHVC-YI
Super FX 2 Power: This title is a technical landmark, being one of the rare games to utilize the Super FX 2 (GSU-2) chip. While the original Super FX chip (used in Star Fox) enabled basic 3D polygons, the FX 2 chip in Yoshi's Island was primarily leveraged for advanced 2D sprite manipulation, allowing for complex scaling, rotation, and morphing effects that were far beyond the standard capability of the Super Famicom's stock hardware.
Technical Specifications: The cartridge is a hardware showcase. Because of the inclusion of the Super FX 2 coprocessor, the PCB design is significantly more complex than standard titles, requiring additional power and board space, which is why it remains a sought-after title for PCB preservation and hardware analysis.
Released on August 5, 1995 (Saturday) in Japan at a retail price of 9,800 JPY.
The "Peripheral Guard": The game includes a robust hardware check. If it detects any non-standard input device (like the Super Famicom Mouse or third-party programmable controllers) connected to the controller ports upon startup, it will refuse to boot and display an error message. This was implemented to prevent potential input conflicts or "speed-run" manipulation of the complex sprite engines used by the FX 2 chip.
The Long Gestation: Development began on February 1, 1992, immediately following the launch of the Super Famicom. This lengthy three-year development cycle allowed the team to refine the "crayon" aesthetic and the physics-heavy engine, resulting in a game that felt like a cohesive, living illustration rather than a traditional digitized sprite game.
Genre-Defining Mechanics: The "Egg" mechanic—allowing players to aim and throw projectiles—along with the specialized transformations (helicopter, mole, submarine) introduced a level of variety that pushed the platformer genre toward a more "Action-Adventure" feel, influencing subsequent entries like Yoshi's Story and beyond.
Export releases:
[US] Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island [Model SNS-YI-USA]
[EU] Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island [Model SNSP-YI-NOE]
[EU] Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island [Model SNSP-YI-FAH]
Nintendo GBA (2002) "Super Mario Advance 3 - Yoshi's Island + Mario Brothers [Model AGB-A3AJ-JPN]"