Mario was originally punching Yoshi in Super Mario World
Other than some concept art, the Super Mario World interview on Nintendo’s Japanese website with some of its original developers also reveals some fascinating tidbits about the game. One especially interesting part is about Mario and Yoshi – specifically, what exactly is Mario doing with his hand just before Yoshi sticks his tongue out?
Due to the graphical limitations of the SNES, it was never really clear if Mario points at something and tells Yoshi to go get it – or if he hits him on the head, which causes Yoshi to stick his tongue out in surprise. Turns out it was originally the latter, but it was officially changed to the former via some official artwork (though it’s still ambiguous with the in-game sprites). Here’s what Shigefumi Hino, who was the Character Graphic Designer on Super Mario World and who created Yoshi, had to say about it:
“Lots of people think that while Mario is pointing his finger foreward, he’s saying ‘Go,’ and Yoshi’s tongue comes out. However, the set up that I drew was that when Mario punches Yoshi in the head, the character’s tongue shoots out in surprise.
What’s more, there’s an added ‘bop’ sound. However, it seemed like people would say ‘Poor Yoshi,’ so that’s why it became that Mario is saying ‘Go.”
