I made a reference to this game in the last comic, and then I got to thinking – does anyone besides me even remember this was a thing?
Yoshi’s Safari was one of only 12 games produced to support the Super Nintendo’s “Super Scope” light gun peripheral. It was a rail shooter in which you controlled Mario, riding atop Yoshi, as he mowed down Koopas with a large gun. Yes, it is that kind of safari.
Watch some footage and see how quickly the charm of the Mario series sloughs off of this hot mess. My favorite part is the way they gave a nod to the central mechanic of jumping in the Mario series… by including Mario Kart style ramps that have NO EFFECT ON GAMEPLAY. The only really bright spot in this game for me is the tripped-out mech suits they distributed to the Koopa Kids. EXAMPLE: Morton Koopa Jr. rides inside of a giant blue frog with a top hat. Yes! Of course. Of course he does that.
Nintendo has a long history of pairing off their best IP’s with new/experimental hardware. I struggle to think of a time when this bore a fouler fruit than Yoshi’s Safari. I mean, at least Link’s Crossbow Training has some kernel of logic to it.
Was there something worse than this that I’m forgetting? Was there, like, a Kirby game you could only control using the Gameboy Printer?
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