Nintendo Shows Off What Yoshi Originally Looked Like

As part of the ongoing Super Famicom interview series leading up to the launch of the Super Nintendo: Classic Edition, Nintendo continues to drop more gems. This time around, we're getting a look at Yoshi's original design in Super Mario World, care of director Takashi Tezuka and designer Shigefumi Hino, with additional commentary by Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island character designer Hisashi Nogami.

Apparently, Yoshi's early look was something more resembling a dinosaur of some sort. And odd off-shot of a parasaurolophus or something? What is clear is that this design bridges the gap between the Yoshi we all know and love, and the original Yoshi first proposed for Super Mario Bros.

This comes from the same interview where we found out that Mario was punching Yoshi all this time. So while you lament the treatment of poor Yoshi, take solace in the fact that he could've looked worse.