Game Theory - Bowser's LOST Child...Yoshi!

Episode Date: June 18, 2023

Join Game Theory Host MatPat as he figures out what kind of creature Yoshi REALLY is! Credits: Writers: Matthew Patrick, Hannah Malek (HgMercury73) and Tom Robinson Editors: Dan "Cybert" Seibert, Jerika (NekoOnigiri), Pedro Freitas, and Shannon (Bomb0i) Assistant Editor: Caitie Turner (Caiterpillart) Sound Editor: Yosi Berman

Alright gang listen up we need a new video idea looking for something fun upbeat mainstream just a hint of nostalgia Something that's appreciate the enthusiasm there Yoshi, but we already did a theory about you. We need something fresh something hit Yoshi I told you we've already been over this you're related to a monolithosaurus and a story What a dragon coin can't seriously think that just because you're on something called a dragon coin it makes you a dragon Okay, fair point. I guess I'll, um, take another look. Poo! Internet, welcome to game theory, the coolest place to learn about taxonomic classifications. Which brings me to the exciting topic for today's episode,

Yoshi, the sticky tongue devoid of death that's always ready to sacrifice his life so that you can get that much closer to once again missing the jump over the lava. Yoshi is such an iconic part of the Mario series at this point that it only made sense to do a theory on him, which is exactly what I did back in 2020. In that video, I tried to figure out what Yoshi actually is using prominent physical features, like his face shape and this random red frill down his back. All of it led me to determine that Yoshi was most likely related to the monolithosaurus, a medium-sized bipedal dinosaur that has the same round face shape, the same height,

and lived in roughly the same environments as Yoshi. All in all, it felt like a slam dunk to me. Science at its finest. And it was extra cool because it turned out to be a dinosaur that not many people would have heard of. However, not everyone was totally happy with that theory, because right at the start of the episode, I gloss over what is one of the biggest parts of the Yoshi debate online, is Yoshi a dinosaur, or is he actually a dragon? Which may feel like a ridiculous question. Yoshi is clearly a dinosaur. Not only did we prove what kind he is, but he lives in dinosaur land.

At least according to Super Mario World 1 and 2, why would you name the land after dinosaurs if the main animal that lives there isn't a dinosaur? In the Nintendo official guidebook of Super Mario World, Yoshi is referred to as a, uh, editor's, translation magic. There we go, quote, Glutony Dinosaur Yoshi, who eats the minions of the Demon King Bowser, is a powerful ally to Mario. And in most of his other appearances, like Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, he is referred to explicitly as a dinosaur.

How? How is this even a discussion? Well, when you've appeared in as many games as Yoshi has, it's easy for a few contradictions to slip through the cracks. In our previous episode, I was only able to find two occurrences of Yoshi being called a dragon, both of them within the same game. In Super Mario World, despite living in Dinosaurland, Yoshi refers to himself as Super Dragon Yoshi, at least according to this sign outside of his house. He also appears on that game's Dragon Coins. So I just chalked it up to a translation error

and I moved on. However, going deeper into original Japanese source materials, you start to see that the word dragon appears more and more. For instance, the manual for Super Mario World Super Mario Advance 2 introduces Yoshi by saying, quote, a dragon named Yoshi, or a dragon calling himself Yoshi. All right, so maybe the dragon thing only appears in older games? Well, wrong again. He also refers to himself as a dragon as recently as Super Mario Galaxy 2, where on a sign he explicitly says,

Yoshi, the space dragon. Then you have things like his final smash called Super Dragon and Smash Brothers Brawl in 4 Wii U, which causes him to sprout wings and breathe fire. So what gives? There's tons of evidence suggesting that he's a dinosaur, and yet there are plenty of instances of him being classified as a dragon as well. And it doesn't appear to be as simple as, oh, it was just a translation thing, or, oh, those were just the older games.

It seems like we're back at Square One. So, which is it, Nintendo? I don't think this could be more convoluted if you tried. What do you think you are? The Fnaf series? Well, having exhausted all the direct evidence that I can see, I think it's time we look to other sources. Indirect sources. See, throughout the Mario games, Yoshi isn't the only dinosaur-like creature that we encounter.

So maybe by looking more closely at creatures in the games that share resemblances to Yoshi, we might be able to get closer to the answer we seek. Let's start by looking at Dori, a Pleasiosaur that first appears in Super Mario 64. Back then, Dory was nowhere close to resembling a Yoshi. However, as time has gone on, she has more and more taken on Yoshi-like characteristics. Fast forward to new Super Mario Brothers in 2006, and suddenly you can see that Dori is looking a lot more familiar. There's also Plessy from Super Mario 3D World in 2013, who,

despite the name Plessy is ironically enough, not a pleasaur. Seriously, Nintendo, you've got to get a handle on your dinosaur knowledge. It's just embarrassing at this point. Like Yoshi, Plessy is bipedal, making it more likely based on the Nothasaur, an ancestor to the pleasaur. So, looking at these creatures and the real-world family tree, it's likely the semi-aquatic Plessy gave rise to a branching pathway.

One half went fully aquatic, that became Dori. The other half went fully terrestrial and we got Yoshi. And if the physical similarities aren't enough, Yoshi, Plessy, and Dori's names all have a connection. Not the English names, the Japanese ones. All of their Japanese names are specifically marked with the ending Shi. Dori's official Japanese name is Doshi, and Plesi's is Pureshi.

Yoshi is the only one who got to keep his name in the Western release. So, between the name similarities and the physical similarities, it feels like we're building a family tree. So, then this would seem to confirm that Yoshi is a dinosaur, right? Ah, no. Neither Pleasiosaurus nor Nothosaurs are technically considered dinosaurs. Instead, they're referred to as Surapturigian reptiles, ancient marine reptiles that ruled the oceans while dinosaurs roamed the land. They're thought to be the ancestors to dinosaurs.

So, Yoshi is a descendant of the ancient marine reptiles that we've seen in the games, making him pretty darn close to dinosaur status, right? Well, no, because there's one teeny tiny fire-breathing problem, Bahamut. No idea who I'm talking about? Honestly, not surprised. He only appeared in one game back in 1996. Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars. Brilliant game. Actually might be my favorite Mario game of all time. Anyway, in it, Bahamut is a massive ancient dragon who serves as one of the enemies.

But just like Plessy, he shares the same bulbous head, the same color pattern, he's even bipedal. Looking at him, other than the wings, it's hard to deny that Bahamut looks more similar to Yoshi than either Plessy or Dori. However, what's more important than his appearance is the fact that his Japanese name is the same as Dori's. Doshi. He heard that right, Bahamut. The ancient aggressive fire-breathing dragon shares the same Japanese name with a peaceful friendly water taxi. And thus, some sort of lineage with Yoshi. All of this means that, uh, that, uh, honestly, we're no closer to solving the mystery. Darn it, Nintendo, no matter what way you slice it, Yoshi doesn't fit cleanly into either category. He's bipedal like Bahamut and Plessy. He can

swim, just like Plessy and Dory. We've seen him grow wings to make him even more closely resemble Bahamut, and he shares the same head and color patterns of all three. How am I supposed to be able to put him into one category? But that's when it hit me. What if we didn't have to choose? What if the reason Yoshi doesn't fit into one or the other is because he's both. What if Yoshi is a hybrid? I know this sounds like a cop-out, but it's actually a really fascinating part of the biological world. A common hybrid that we all just accept at this point is the mule, the offspring of a female horse and a male donkey. These creatures were often bred because they were stronger than a horse of a similar size, but also had the endurance of a donkey. But mules aren't the only example of a hybrid animal. There are literally hundreds like the Liger, the Pizzley bear, the Wolpen. All of this is possible because despite the animals being from different species, they come from the same genus, meaning that their DNA is similar enough for their offspring to still be viable. It's also, sadly, why we'll never see a monkey eagle anytime soon. As you might expect, these hybrids inherit the traits of both parents, both in terms of appearance, but also in terms of the behaviors that have been coded into their DNA. For example, a hybrid of two migrating birds might develop a third, unique migration route that combines the ones of both of its parents.

This concept of inheriting partial traits from parents of related species would explain why Yoshi doesn't fit neatly with either the dragon or the dinosaur category. Like all hybrids, he's adopted abilities from both sides. He's taken on the main form of the dragon Bahamut, but lost the wings thanks to the mixing of the flightless Dorian Plessy. We've actually seen an example of this type of hybrid in the games

already. Loyal theorists, I present to you, Rex, a dinosaur-like creature with the dragon wings that looks like a cross between Bahamut and Plessy. So there you have it, friends. The reason Nintendo can't make up their minds about whether Yoshi is a dinosaur or a dragon is because he's technically both. Trust me guys, just make

answer canon means that you never have to be wrong again because this time I did not miss a single piece of evidence at all. Stop. Nope. Stop looking at that. Nope. Nope. Turn the camera away. Stop it. Stop it. Yes, I know. I know. There's still the thing on his back. Is it a saddle? How does this affect our overall explanation? Well, in the original art from 1993, it labels the thing on Yoshi's back, a saddle. And its flat appearance, coupled with the use of it as a place for Mario to sit while riding Yoshi supports that statement. However, in more modern appearances, that thing on Yoshi's back has started to change shapes, become raised, smaller, more rounded. The official Nintendo Japan website currently refers to it as a shell. Quote, even though there's a shell on his back, we actually don't know whether Yoshi's a dinosaur

or a turtle. Turtle! Screw you Nintendo! Just throw another reptile in the mix, why don't you? Why not add snake in there too for good measure? And annoyingly, it's not a translate. issue either, as the word they use for shell is the same one that they use for the shells that we see during Mario Kart, which opens us up not just to real-life animal comparisons, but an in-game one, because the shells in Mario Kart are confirmed to belong to one of the franchise's most notable villains, the Kupa Troopers. And that's not where the similarities end either. If you compare Dry Bones' example of a Kupa skeleton to the faces of freshly hatched Yoshi sores, they both have a tooth-like bump in the mouth that seems to disappear as both species eat and grow.

Cupas also have major species variations. Boom Booms, Hammer Brothers, Lacketoo's, even Bowser and the Kupa Ling's, all of which are visibly distinguishable from each other. Yoshi would have had plenty of different Kupa ancestor options for hybrid. Maybe the shell of a Kupa shrank due to being a hybrid, or maybe he started with a Kupa like Spike, whose shell doesn't wrap around his whole torso. Hybridization with Kupas would also explain why, despite being related to the dinosaurs and dragons we've discussed, Yoshi is so much smaller than everyone else. And here's the thing. You don't even have to take my word for it. In the 2010 Super Mario history book, Takashi Tizuka states that, quote, Yoshi was originally supposed to be a type of cupa. That saddle you see on his back was actually his shell. Turns out, Tzuca has been Team Turtle from the start.

But honestly, it all makes sense. I don't really know how I couldn't put this one together sooner. I literally gave myself the biggest clue possible in the previous episode. Nintendo's official name for the Yoshi dinosaur, his scientific name, is T. Yoshisor Munchakupas. And that is coming from the official 1993 Nintendo. character guide, by the way. They literally put Kupa in Yoshi's name. Should have been obvious. No matter how you slice it, though, all of it is putting one of Mario's closest allies into a bit of a compromising position.

The interviews about the Shell being a shell and not a saddle are quite recent. The design clearly changed towards Shell later on, and with more and more interviews bringing up the Kupa connection specifically, is Nintendo trying to tell us something? Bowser may have almost caused the extinction of the Yoshis back in Yoshi's Island, but Mario hasn't always been the best of friends to Yoshis either. How long until Yoshi has had enough? How long until those evil Bahamut and Kupa roots come up to the surface? Maybe one day will drop Yoshi into a pit for that little extra jump, that'll be the final straw. He'll betray us, as we've done to him so many times before,

finally taking his rightful place at Bowser's side. But hey, that's just a theory. A game theory. Thanks for watching.