One thing that has bothered me in all the years I’ve been a gamer is when software releases are trapped behind expensive or hard to obtain peripherals. You’ve already spent fifty to seventy bucks on a game, and are then somehow required to double that for a piece of plastic attached to a wire? I was a kid, and Christmas/Birthdays only came once a year. The Super Scope 6 was one of these such peripherals, and during the height of Mario mania Nintendo released a light gun shooter based on the franchise. Unfortunately Yoshi’s Safari required this oversized hunk of plastic, and so I was left wanting. Now that I’m an adult and have disposable income I can seek out these old games that were simply not feasible in my childhood, and Yoshi’s Safari was at the top of my list. It didn’t live up to the hype I had built up, but it’s still a fun and unique light gun shooter nonetheless. I wish I had played it during my childhood.
Yoshi’s Safari is quite a bit different from your typical Mario title. Instead of taking place in the Mushroom Kingdom or Dinosaur Land the setting here is a new place called Jewelry Land. Uninspired sure, but this is a spin-off title so I’m willing to cut it a little slack. Apparently Bowser, his koopa kids, and army of henchmen have kidnapped the king and prince of this kingdom as well as stolen several magical jewels. It’s up to Mario, with the aid of his trusty oversized gun (fashioned like a Super Scope 6) and Yoshi to defeat Bowser, his koopa kids, and his horde of henchmen. Gameplay is very non-traditional by franchise standards. You play as Mario who rides atop Yoshi’s back, and you view the action from a first person viewpoint. Yoshi moves you automatically through each environment, and your job is to shoot incoming enemies using the Super Scope which fires ball-like projectiles. The only other input you have is that you can make Yoshi jump by pressing the cursor button. This is used to clear chasms or avoid enemies that shake the ground and throw Yoshi off balance. The ability to jump allows for more interesting level designs.
The game is pretty decent by light gun standards. There are several different enemies which include series mainstays such as goombas, koopa troopas, cheep cheeps, boos, and bloopers. All have different attack patterns, and when defeated many of them leave behind coins which can be used to save you after falling off a cliff. Yoshi has limited health measured by a bar at the top of the screen that depletes with each hit you take, but you can recover this by finding super mushrooms. The gun Mario is equipped with is capable of rapid fire by holding down the button, but a small power gauge rapidly depletes as you do so and when it runs out you’re defenseless for a short while. This meter can be increased by finding fire flowers left by enemies or found within flying item blocks in each stage. You’ve also got the typical 1-ups, but the most significant power-up is the super star which grants temporary invulnerability. The power-ups do a great job of mixing things up, but it just doesn’t add enough variety to the game in my humble opinion.
There are twelve stages in Yoshi’s Safari, but outside of the backgrounds and color of terrain they’re all very similar to one another. The levels are all flat, and enemies approach in similar formations with the same attack patterns from start to finish. In certain areas you can choose between two routes by shooting a barrier in the path. The only areas I thought were interesting at all was one sequence that takes place completely underwater, and another atop the clouds. Some of the scenery is nice, and the graphic artists did a good job, but it’s a real bummer that each course is so similar in terrain. The boss encounters at the end of each stage try to mix the gameplay up, but they fall into the same trap and are very similar to one another. Each one of these major enemies has weak target points that frequently move out of range, and they generally fire projectiles at Mario and Yoshi. Not even the last encounter with Bowser is particularly interesting. Yoshi’s Safari can be completed in under an hour and it’s extremely easy, but even this feels too long with so little variety. There’s so much untapped potential here; it’s sad there was no sequel.
Yoshi’s Safari is a really good looking game and one of the smoothest 3D titles of its time. This is thanks to the mode 7 graphics made famous in more popular games such as Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings, but somehow the engine runs better in this case. The developers did an excellent job of translating over the typical Mario style, and it makes the atmosphere a whole lot more fun. The only problem is the fact that all of the terrain is so completely flat. The framerate stays very steady, but the enemies kind of warp around the screen making their animations look more like shuddering. It’s a minor complaint, but an issue nonetheless, and can make them difficult to hit sometimes. The soundtrack is one of my least favorites across all Mario games. It’s pretty obvious that Nintendo didn’t hire their usual composer because the tracks here are largely uninspired and don’t fit the franchise motif very well. What they should have done is simply remade a few tracks from past Mario titles and called it a day. This soundtrack is weak.
It’s unfortunate that this game was held back by being stuck behind the expensive Super Scope because it’s actually pretty decent. It was also released in a time when the Super Nintendo was lacking in light gun shooters and would have made an excellent addition to the line-up had it required or been packaged with a cheaper peripheral. Yoshi’s Safari has been long forgotten, but in my opinion it’s worth seeking out and the original cartridge is the only means by which to play it even now. It’s unfortunate that there’s no sequel.
