1995 video game

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a 1995 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The player controls Yoshi dinosaurs on their quest to reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by the wizard Kamek. Yoshi runs and jumps to reach the end of each level while solving puzzles and collecting items with Mario's help.

Having introduced the character in the previous Super Mario game, Super Mario World (1990), Nintendo decided to develop a game starring Yoshi, with the aim of making it more accessible. Yoshi's Island introduced his signature flutter jump and egg-spawning abilities. The marker-drawn art style was created by scanning hand-drawn pictures and approximating them pixel-by-pixel. Some special effects were powered by a new Super FX2 microchip.

After four years of development, Yoshi's Island was released in Japan in August 1995 and worldwide two months later. It sold more than four million copies. Critics described it as one of the greatest video games of all time, praising the art, sound, level design and gameplay. The art style and Yoshi's signature characteristics established the Yoshi series of spin-offs and sequels.

Yoshi's Island was the last Super Mario platformer before the series' transition to 3D gameplay, with no further 2D entries for over a decade. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance as Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 in 2002; this version was rereleased for the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U's Virtual Console. The original version was also released for the Super NES Classic Edition, and both versions for the Nintendo Classics service.

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