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[Core Xii]

Is that a Goomba?

Yep. And the turtles are Koopas.

If you've played Super Mario World on the SNES, you've probably seen that Yoshi comes with shoes and a saddle/skin/shell thing on it's back fresh out of an egg.

That's not birth, though. the story of SMW goes that Bowser trapped Yoshi and his friends inside eggs. Well... don't quote me on that.

[SirNiko]

Kamek is a guy?!    Apparently I am not a very good judge of video game character.

In Paper Mario, Bowser's magikoopa second in command was a female instead. You can use that as a baseline.

Most Mario characters are so gender indistinct that the only way to tell the females was to look for pink or a ribbon in their hair.

Except for Birdo. Man, that was a needlessly confusing character.

And then in Mario RPG, they had Valentina, who not only had some obvious assets, but they wiggled in a wholly unnatural way when she took damage. My only explanation was she was padded with live goombas.

-SirNiko

[Zaratustra]

That's not a saddle. Yoshi just have a naturally occuring brown lump in the middle of their backs.

The boots are the thing I can't explain.

-SirNiko

Edit: On closer inspection, it really looks more like a malformed shell than a saddle. Possibly they are distant relatives of the koopa???

The Mushroom Kingdom, like the Galapagos Islands, is a biome with a limited fauna, where turtles have evolved to fill all niches.

So you have Koopas as plains-dwelling grazers, Yoshis as faster omnivorous predators suited for hilly terrain, Spinies in a symbiotic relation with Lakitus, and Bowser as the apex predator.

As for the boots? Modified hooves.

[ThemsAllTook]

That's not birth, though. the story of SMW goes that Bowser trapped Yoshi and his friends inside eggs. Well... don't quote me on that.

That brings up a good point... Yoshi eggs are a pretty strange thing if you think about it. Yoshis can produce them endlessly as long as they have things to eat, and male yoshis appear to produce as many as females. Maybe they're not actually eggs, but egg-shaped excrement?

Speaking of Yoshi genders, though, are there any yoshis that have been referred to specifically as being female? I thought I remembered the yoshi in Super Mario World being referred to as male (though I'm not 100% sure), but I can't think of any unambiguously female yoshi. Maybe they're asexually-reproducing creatures, or hermaphrodites?

[ITS_Mike]

I have always thought Yoshi was male (although the laying eggs bit has always been a real puzzler), but I think that is based solely on how "he" looks.  In light of my previous findings though, I wouldn't be surprised if I am completely wrong.  I don't remember Yoshi ever being referred to as male in Super Mario World, and I played it quite a bit.

[Brother Android]

I still can't conceive of "Yoshi" as a species. To me there is a species called the Yoshis, and then there is one specific individual who is called Yoshi, as well. It seems more personal that way. Please no one disabuse me, I would be so sad.


(Yoshi is my favorite in N64 Super Smash, by the way)

[laserghost]

Yeah, I think he's "Yoshi of the Yoshis."

Kind of like Mario of the Mario Bros.

The Mushroom Kingdom must have some weird naming convention we don't know about.

[Alevice]

Well, Bowser is actually called King Koopa.SO everything is named after him. Unless it turns out to just be a title.

[William Broom]

That's not birth, though. the story of SMW goes that Bowser trapped Yoshi and his friends inside eggs. Well... don't quote me on that.

That brings up a good point... Yoshi eggs are a pretty strange thing if you think about it. Yoshis can produce them endlessly as long as they have things to eat, and male yoshis appear to produce as many as females. Maybe they're not actually eggs, but egg-shaped excrement?

Ah, so maybe the Yoshis have evolved a camouflage mechanism whereby their feces perfectly resembles their eggs. The shit-eggs act as decoys to keep predators away from the real eggs. Perhaps Yoshi's throwing ability is an extension of that: predators associate Yoshi eggs with pain and danger because they are often used as projectiles. This means they will also avoid the real eggs (which could not be used as projectiles without killing the unborn Yoshi inside).

[Lon]

That's not birth, though. the story of SMW goes that Bowser trapped Yoshi and his friends inside eggs. Well... don't quote me on that.

That brings up a good point... Yoshi eggs are a pretty strange thing if you think about it. Yoshis can produce them endlessly as long as they have things to eat, and male yoshis appear to produce as many as females. Maybe they're not actually eggs, but egg-shaped excrement?

Ah, so maybe the Yoshis have evolved a camouflage mechanism whereby their feces perfectly resembles their eggs. The shit-eggs act as decoys to keep predators away from the real eggs. Perhaps Yoshi's throwing ability is an extension of that: predators associate Yoshi eggs with pain and danger because they are often used as projectiles. This means they will also avoid the real eggs (which could not be used as projectiles without killing the unborn Yoshi inside).

Sounds like an excellent explanation to me.  The Mario games are starting to make a lot more sense now. XD

[Hangedman]

All Yoshis are female.

Which is really weird, because Birdo is male

[inkBot]

So now yoshis are reptilian monkeys huh? 

[Calabi]

This is a great thread, I never knew the mario world made so much sense.

[Brother Android]

All Yoshis are female.

B. S.

Prove it.

[Ben_Hurr]

So the million dollar question is this:

  What is behind a shyguy's mask?

[team_q]

Why are green Yoshi's growth accelerated, but the other colored ones take food to grow, unless they eat a star.

[Hangedman]

So the million dollar question is this:

  What is behind a shyguy's mask?

Supposedly? Nothing. They're shadowy little bastards.

B. S.

Prove it.

They lay eggs.
Not spitting eggs like Birdo. Lay eggs. Constantly. Also 1280000 beats 887000.

[Core Xii]

Yeah, I think he's "Yoshi of the Yoshis."

Kind of like Mario of the Mario Bros.

More like Toad of the Toads.

[Seth]

Well Toad of the Toads makes more sense because presumably Toad is some sort of humanoid fungus ergo he reproduces asexually ergo all Toads are copies of some other original Toad.  Perhaps Yoshi is also reproduces asexually as I believe some species of vertebrates are even documented to do so on occasion and so thus the gender question is a moot point and we just revert to "he" when referring to yoshi instead of "it" because "it" refers to something lacking character where Yoshis are indeed strongly personified.

[Dexiro]

There is a lot of question that can be answer easily by seeing that they show us only the interesting and teen ready part. We never really get a peak of their normal life.

Bowsers in on the whole thing!
Between each release they just sit around thinking of a new way for the princess to be stolen, just so they have something to do.