Ah yes, I know Yoshi well. I can remember when he was just an edge that I found on one of my childhood adventures. We’ve grown up together. After all, he was my second choice for Smash64, and he’s been my first choice for Mario Strikers, Mario Tennis, and Mario Kart. I can’t tell you how many times I flew up to the top of Peach’s Castle in Mario64 just to see my green buddy (and to collect all those 1up’s). But Yoshi has been done a great disservice. Yoshi currently lives in the bottom tier. Why? Who’s to blame? That doesn’t matter. Playing the blame game isn’t a good idea because of it has poor multiplayer. It’s about time that we do the only thing we can do. Reflect on what went wrong, and hope for what can make him better.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg" title="yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg" alt="yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg" height="343" width="374" /></a></p>
Because Yoshi has been a part of so many games, he’s picked up quite a few moves and techniques. But there has been one thing that Yoshi has always been about. Eggs. I believe the title of one of the first stages from Super Mario World: Yoshi’s Island is… ahem …. “Make eggs. Throw eggs.” This will be the pivot point of my suggestions for Yoshi’s B moves.<!--more-->
<strong>Egg Lay</strong>: Yoshi sticks out his tongue, which is far to short. If it hits an opponent, they’re swallowed up and turned into an egg. While in this egg opponents can struggle to break free. During this time, the opponents are vulnerable to attacks. Hit the edge all you want, it’ll just sit there in place. When they burst out, opponents can enjoy a moment of invincibility, which makes hitting enemies when they pop out of the egg a failing strategy. There are so many things about this attack that don’t make much sense that leads me to believe that this move in particular was changed a lot in last minute “balancing.” Regardless, this move should be simply called “tongue,” but I’ll get to that in the list.
<ol>
<li>First, take away the opponents invincibility when exiting the egg. This move is hard enough to pull off as it is. There’s nothing wrong with Yoshi trying to set up a decent strike.</li>
<li>The eggs should be able to be punched, kicked, grabbed, and knocked around. This are still balanced because the time opponents spend in the egg can be reduced dramatically in the hands of a <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=dY334774PGM" target="_blank">good wiggler</a>. If Yoshi can pull this move off, he should be able to wack it clear off the stage. This will give Yoshi a decent kill move set up.</li>
<li>The move should be called tongue because it should have multiple stages like Kirby’s swallow attack.</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Stage 1: The tongue shoots out grabbing an enemy character or time and retracts the target into Yoshi’s mouth.</li>
<li>Stage 2: Yoshi can choose to spit whatever is in his mouth out. While still holding on to the target Yoshi should have limited mobility (like Kirby). Depending on what Yoshi has, determines what comes out of his mouth. If Yoshi has an opponent, they’ll be spit out similar to Yoshi’s forward throw. If Yoshi holds an item, he can use special moves. If it’s a red shell for example, Yoshi would be able to shoot out fire balls just like from Super Mario world.</li>
<li>Stage 3: If Yoshi chooses to make an egg, he can choose between making many eggs or one egg. If he makes many eggs, the opponent will be “set free” with minimal damage, knockback, and stun (similar to when Kirby absorbs opponents). The remaining eggs will trail behind Yoshi in classic fashion. If he makes one egg, then it’ll be like what we’re already used to. Like I said, Make eggs.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Egg Throw:</strong> This attack allows Yoshi to awkwardly throw eggs around. All of his eggs travel in arcs making aiming more difficult. What’s unique about this projectile is that they can be fired at different speeds/strengths and arcs above, in front, and slightly behind Yoshi’s head. Not many characters have this kind of control over their moves. It’s too bad these eggs don’t pack more of a punch. Lets see what we can do.
<ol>
<li>If the only way Yoshi can get a collection of eggs is by swallowing players or physical items on the stage, reaching this stage has it’s limitations. In this way, gathering an collection of eggs can be controlled/balanced by opposing players. Therefore, we can give a higher level of versatility to throwing eggs. When Yoshi has a trail of eggs behind him, he should be able to fire them off fairly quickly like he does in Yoshi’s island. I think Yoshi should also have the same aiming system from Yoshi’s Island. To put it simply, when aiming a little ‘x’ rotates around Yoshi indicating the trajectory of the potential throw. The ‘x” can start swinging from the up, forward, or down directions. Because the ‘x’ moves at a set speed, aiming diagonally will take additional time per throw. This would help reduce some of the spam when opponents approach Yoshi or try to recover. If you’re still confused… <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=op3TwYe6Iro" target="_blank">watch this</a>.</li>
<li>Yoshi’s eggs should bounce off the of the ground and walls. When they do this, Yoshi will have a chance to use his tongue and lick them back into his possession just like from Yoshi’s Island. With each bounce they should increase in strength and change colors. The order goes from green, to yellow, to red. The red would cause the most damage and knock back.</li>
<li>If the red shells hit the ground or wall, they break revealing some kind of item from a limited set of items. This is similar to how Peach can pull bob-ombs, Mr. Saturn, and Beam sabers, or how Mr. Game&Watch can produce food from one of his judgment attacks. Yoshi’s item egg abilities are reminiscent of Yoshi’s Island and Mario Kart: Double Dash.</li>
<li> To keep things balanced, the eggs should be more like Links bombs. Opponents would be able to grab them and throw them back at Yoshi just like some of the enemies from his games.</li>
<li>Yoshi should be able to grab and throw eggs that hold trapped opponents inside too. This would rarely happen because the opponent should be wiggling, but it would be quite interesting to have this ability.</li>
<li>To keep things fair, like with most charge attacks in Melee, the right kind of hit in the right place will cause Yoshi to lose all of his eggs. Where and how to hit this sweet spot is up to balancing.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Yoshi Bomb</strong>: Yoshi plummets out of the air tail end first. Thought this move isn’t too strong, it does get Yoshi moving. Being able to grab the edge from it is a plus, as well as the little stars that pop out upon landing on the ground. This is a fairly good move, so there’s not much to say about it…. unless….
<ol>
<li>Instead of little stars, Yoshi should send out a small shockwave like he does in Yoshi’s Island when <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=b4zgvNH7I3g" target="_blank">fighting Bowser Jr</a>.</li>
<li>Yoshi should be able to footstool jump off of enemies after using this attack. If he times the jump just right he’ll hit the enemy out and down while jumping up and out.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Egg Roll: </strong>This is one of Yoshi’s worst moves. It’s hard to control and often gets Yoshi killed when he runs off the edge. I’m not sure why the developers thought Yoshi should lose the ability to recover after un-egging in the air. On the plus side, this move can be used to help Yoshi return to the stage, but now that he has a more traditional up+B in Brawl, this move might be obsolete. I would prefer if this move were replaced by something else, but that’s not the name of the game.
Because Yoshi’s Shield and this attack are so similar, perhaps these moves can be linked together. Yoshi’s has one of the most unique shields in the game: he covers himself in an egg shell. Though very unique, it’s not very practical because Yoshi can’t jump out of this shield like all the other characters can. Why they did this, I don’t know. It seems just as plausible for Yoshi to break out of the egg on the ground as it does for him to jump out of his shell. Also, when this shield is hit, it doesn’t roll around, it slides. This strange attribute is probably due to time constraints when developing Melee. And if you look at one of the E3 videos of Melee before the game had ever come out, you’ll see that when shielding Yoshi could jump or bounce around as if the egg were made out of rubber. Clearly this feature is out. Let’s put some of those attributes back in.
<ol>
<li>Now, Yoshi should be able to jump out of his egg shield when stationary, but not when he’s rolling. Yoshi should also be able to go from shield to egg roll seemlessly. Also, instead of the egg roll breaking when struck by an attack, it’ll act like Yoshi’s egg shield. The egg roll attack is weak enough so that this new combination wouldn’t be too powerful or versatile. To balance things out, because the shield and the rolling egg are one, they share the same damage. If you attack either the shield or the rolling egg, you can cause enough damage to break it. The shield won’t be able to heal when Yoshi is rolling around.</li>
</ol>
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg" title="three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg" alt="three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg" height="393" width="328" /></a></p>
With moves like these, this dino-lizard-dragon has what it takes to really be a Yoshi instead of a karate wielding spotted sitting duck when shielding. Now, get a taste for these unsavory <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnwDlircP2c&mode=related&search=" target="_blank">(fumi)</a> letters<a href="http://http://youtube.com/watch?v=bpTRwrBWf0c" target="_blank"> (fumi)</a>.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg" title="yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg" alt="yoshi__s_story_by_clouded_ambition.jpg" height="343" width="374" /></a></p>
Because Yoshi has been a part of so many games, he’s picked up quite a few moves and techniques. But there has been one thing that Yoshi has always been about. Eggs. I believe the title of one of the first stages from Super Mario World: Yoshi’s Island is… ahem …. “Make eggs. Throw eggs.” This will be the pivot point of my suggestions for Yoshi’s B moves.<!--more-->
<strong>Egg Lay</strong>: Yoshi sticks out his tongue, which is far to short. If it hits an opponent, they’re swallowed up and turned into an egg. While in this egg opponents can struggle to break free. During this time, the opponents are vulnerable to attacks. Hit the edge all you want, it’ll just sit there in place. When they burst out, opponents can enjoy a moment of invincibility, which makes hitting enemies when they pop out of the egg a failing strategy. There are so many things about this attack that don’t make much sense that leads me to believe that this move in particular was changed a lot in last minute “balancing.” Regardless, this move should be simply called “tongue,” but I’ll get to that in the list.
<ol>
<li>First, take away the opponents invincibility when exiting the egg. This move is hard enough to pull off as it is. There’s nothing wrong with Yoshi trying to set up a decent strike.</li>
<li>The eggs should be able to be punched, kicked, grabbed, and knocked around. This are still balanced because the time opponents spend in the egg can be reduced dramatically in the hands of a <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=dY334774PGM" target="_blank">good wiggler</a>. If Yoshi can pull this move off, he should be able to wack it clear off the stage. This will give Yoshi a decent kill move set up.</li>
<li>The move should be called tongue because it should have multiple stages like Kirby’s swallow attack.</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Stage 1: The tongue shoots out grabbing an enemy character or time and retracts the target into Yoshi’s mouth.</li>
<li>Stage 2: Yoshi can choose to spit whatever is in his mouth out. While still holding on to the target Yoshi should have limited mobility (like Kirby). Depending on what Yoshi has, determines what comes out of his mouth. If Yoshi has an opponent, they’ll be spit out similar to Yoshi’s forward throw. If Yoshi holds an item, he can use special moves. If it’s a red shell for example, Yoshi would be able to shoot out fire balls just like from Super Mario world.</li>
<li>Stage 3: If Yoshi chooses to make an egg, he can choose between making many eggs or one egg. If he makes many eggs, the opponent will be “set free” with minimal damage, knockback, and stun (similar to when Kirby absorbs opponents). The remaining eggs will trail behind Yoshi in classic fashion. If he makes one egg, then it’ll be like what we’re already used to. Like I said, Make eggs.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Egg Throw:</strong> This attack allows Yoshi to awkwardly throw eggs around. All of his eggs travel in arcs making aiming more difficult. What’s unique about this projectile is that they can be fired at different speeds/strengths and arcs above, in front, and slightly behind Yoshi’s head. Not many characters have this kind of control over their moves. It’s too bad these eggs don’t pack more of a punch. Lets see what we can do.
<ol>
<li>If the only way Yoshi can get a collection of eggs is by swallowing players or physical items on the stage, reaching this stage has it’s limitations. In this way, gathering an collection of eggs can be controlled/balanced by opposing players. Therefore, we can give a higher level of versatility to throwing eggs. When Yoshi has a trail of eggs behind him, he should be able to fire them off fairly quickly like he does in Yoshi’s island. I think Yoshi should also have the same aiming system from Yoshi’s Island. To put it simply, when aiming a little ‘x’ rotates around Yoshi indicating the trajectory of the potential throw. The ‘x” can start swinging from the up, forward, or down directions. Because the ‘x’ moves at a set speed, aiming diagonally will take additional time per throw. This would help reduce some of the spam when opponents approach Yoshi or try to recover. If you’re still confused… <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=op3TwYe6Iro" target="_blank">watch this</a>.</li>
<li>Yoshi’s eggs should bounce off the of the ground and walls. When they do this, Yoshi will have a chance to use his tongue and lick them back into his possession just like from Yoshi’s Island. With each bounce they should increase in strength and change colors. The order goes from green, to yellow, to red. The red would cause the most damage and knock back.</li>
<li>If the red shells hit the ground or wall, they break revealing some kind of item from a limited set of items. This is similar to how Peach can pull bob-ombs, Mr. Saturn, and Beam sabers, or how Mr. Game&Watch can produce food from one of his judgment attacks. Yoshi’s item egg abilities are reminiscent of Yoshi’s Island and Mario Kart: Double Dash.</li>
<li> To keep things balanced, the eggs should be more like Links bombs. Opponents would be able to grab them and throw them back at Yoshi just like some of the enemies from his games.</li>
<li>Yoshi should be able to grab and throw eggs that hold trapped opponents inside too. This would rarely happen because the opponent should be wiggling, but it would be quite interesting to have this ability.</li>
<li>To keep things fair, like with most charge attacks in Melee, the right kind of hit in the right place will cause Yoshi to lose all of his eggs. Where and how to hit this sweet spot is up to balancing.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Yoshi Bomb</strong>: Yoshi plummets out of the air tail end first. Thought this move isn’t too strong, it does get Yoshi moving. Being able to grab the edge from it is a plus, as well as the little stars that pop out upon landing on the ground. This is a fairly good move, so there’s not much to say about it…. unless….
<ol>
<li>Instead of little stars, Yoshi should send out a small shockwave like he does in Yoshi’s Island when <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=b4zgvNH7I3g" target="_blank">fighting Bowser Jr</a>.</li>
<li>Yoshi should be able to footstool jump off of enemies after using this attack. If he times the jump just right he’ll hit the enemy out and down while jumping up and out.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Egg Roll: </strong>This is one of Yoshi’s worst moves. It’s hard to control and often gets Yoshi killed when he runs off the edge. I’m not sure why the developers thought Yoshi should lose the ability to recover after un-egging in the air. On the plus side, this move can be used to help Yoshi return to the stage, but now that he has a more traditional up+B in Brawl, this move might be obsolete. I would prefer if this move were replaced by something else, but that’s not the name of the game.
Because Yoshi’s Shield and this attack are so similar, perhaps these moves can be linked together. Yoshi’s has one of the most unique shields in the game: he covers himself in an egg shell. Though very unique, it’s not very practical because Yoshi can’t jump out of this shield like all the other characters can. Why they did this, I don’t know. It seems just as plausible for Yoshi to break out of the egg on the ground as it does for him to jump out of his shell. Also, when this shield is hit, it doesn’t roll around, it slides. This strange attribute is probably due to time constraints when developing Melee. And if you look at one of the E3 videos of Melee before the game had ever come out, you’ll see that when shielding Yoshi could jump or bounce around as if the egg were made out of rubber. Clearly this feature is out. Let’s put some of those attributes back in.
<ol>
<li>Now, Yoshi should be able to jump out of his egg shield when stationary, but not when he’s rolling. Yoshi should also be able to go from shield to egg roll seemlessly. Also, instead of the egg roll breaking when struck by an attack, it’ll act like Yoshi’s egg shield. The egg roll attack is weak enough so that this new combination wouldn’t be too powerful or versatile. To balance things out, because the shield and the rolling egg are one, they share the same damage. If you attack either the shield or the rolling egg, you can cause enough damage to break it. The shield won’t be able to heal when Yoshi is rolling around.</li>
</ol>
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg" title="three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg" alt="three_and_one_yoshi_by_imson.jpg" height="393" width="328" /></a></p>
With moves like these, this dino-lizard-dragon has what it takes to really be a Yoshi instead of a karate wielding spotted sitting duck when shielding. Now, get a taste for these unsavory <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnwDlircP2c&mode=related&search=" target="_blank">(fumi)</a> letters<a href="http://http://youtube.com/watch?v=bpTRwrBWf0c" target="_blank"> (fumi)</a>.
artners in time, and she survived