Yoshi’s Island Is Officially A Yoshi Game, Not A Mario Game
The Nintendo Museum is preparing to open in Kyoto, Japan, and it looks to be an incredible collection of Nintendo ephemera. But it is also, perhaps inadvertently, a way to settle age-old internet disputes, and it has already supplied a definitive answer to the question: Is Yoshi’s Island (aka Super Mario World 2) a Yoshi game or a Mario game?
According to Dan Ryckert’s impressions from a special press preview of the museum, one exhibition room has space dedicated to specific franchises, separated into individual categories. The Mario franchise display was by far the largest, encompassing not just the plumber’s solo adventures but also the various spin-offs like kart racers and sports games. But he also noticed that Yoshi’s Island is not actually in the Mario display, and is rather included in a separate Yoshi franchise display.
So there you have it. According to Nintendo’s official categorization, in a space dedicated to careful cultivation of its own history, Yoshi’s Island is not a Mario game. If you had $20 riding on this very unlikely bet, now is your time to collect.