The Mysteries of Yoshi's Island

[Indigo]

I know there's already a topic covering a couple aspects of Yoshi's Island, but I'd figure I'd just start a new one since the old one is pretty dead.

Okay, so something that's rather bothersome is the multiple incarnations of Yoshi's Island that have appeared throughout the series. Let's go through them:

Super Mario World - The Island's first appearance revealed it to be a smallish, forested island, with some distinctive blue hills and a large mountain (Kappa Mountain?). It was shown to be a part of a greater nation, Dinosaur Land.

Super Mario World 2 - In many of its appearances, the island is portrayed to be an enormous landmass housing a huge variety of landscapes; plains, forested plateaus, jungles, dry valleys, and even snowcapped peaks. Dinosaur Land, or any surrounding land for that matter, is nowhere to be seen.

Super Mario RPG - "Yoshi's Island" apparently translates to "Yo'ster Isle" (or something similar) in Japanese, so it's safe to assume that the two are one and the same. Yo'ster Isle is rather small and beachy, but it's likely that we're only seeing a small part of the island.

Paper Mario - Whether Lavalava Island is in fact Yoshi's Island is up for debate, but it seems to fit the bill. Lavalava is jungle-jammed, complete with a massive volcano in its center. The island is now Mushroom Kingdom territory.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - In this game, the Island's geography is unique in that the land (which was heavily forested) was very rocky, angular and squarish, and seemed to be more like a mountain floating in the sea. It seemed to be comprised of numerous smaller islands attached by bridges. Ruins dotted the area. It's once again part of the Mushroom Kingdom.

So, my question is: What are all these different islands? Are they really all the same area? I mean, of course they probably are, but how could the island's appearance change so drastically over the course of time?

[SMBBQ]

SMW: So far as I know Koopalmier and I agree it's actually Yoster Isle.

SMW2: Different island entirely.

SMRPG: same from SMW

PM: I don't think it's actually part of the Mushroom Kingdom,considering Sushie's never heard of it

PiT: Yoster Island

Now, the reasoning for the theory about seperate islands comes from the Japanese names. I'm not the expert on this, so please point out any holes in this reasoning.

[Sarisa]

This topic needs more Nihongo.

SMW: Yōsutā-tō
YI series: Yosshī Airando
SMRPG: Yōsutā-tō
PM: Jangaru-tō
PiT: Yōsutā-tō

So, in Japanese, SMW, SMRPG, and PiT all refer to the same location, a small, beachy, mountainous island. The YI series references a different island, and PM1 references a different island altogether that has never been conflated with Yoshi's Island.

[Artemendo]

This is all fine and dandy, but even the three locations where it's the same island in name look almost nothing alike except them being a tropical island. Like Kappa Mountain, I haven't seen that since, and it's supposedly the biggest landmark.
And Jangaru-tō, I mean Lavalava Island, was supposed to be Yosshī Airando, I mean Yoshi's Island, in the beta of Paper Mario.
I think the translators did a good job making them all "Yoshi's Island", after all, this doesn't even specify a location, just an island that belongs to the Yoshis (or is at least inhabited by them). As we know, they do prefer islands, so just as you can say "the local Chinese/Russian/Italian quarter", so I imagine there are several local Yoshi's Islands.

[Sarisa]

Aug 24, 2010 22:11:32 GMT -5 Artemendo said:

I think the translators did a good job making them all "Yoshi's Island", after all, this doesn't even specify a location, just an island that belongs to the Yoshis (or is at least inhabited by them).

Incredibly nitpicky - and not negating your theory - but English-language placenames do have a fair number of possessives, so the more natural interpretation is "Yoshi's Island" as a specific place. A generic place would probably be called "Yoshi island".

That said, translation is an inexact science, and Mario translation adds force to the Italian saying "Traduttore, traditore" (Translator, traitor).

[EpicGyllynn]

I always assumed Yoshi's Island from SMW, SMW2, and PiT were the same. And thay Yo'ster and Lavalava Island were the same. I could be wrong, though.

[Koopalmier]

Lavalava Island (Jambol Island, mah friendz) is completely different from Yoster Island and Yoshi Island. Here, let's analyze further:

Yoster Island - Small-ish island. Main landmark is Kappa Mountain. There are no volcanoes or anything, though. Is part of a greater island - Dinosaur Island (as it was named in the GBA remake, I think). Yoshi lived there before "moving" to the Sky Station Galaxy (Japanese: Sky Island Galaxy) (because of the Big Bang at the end of SMG ?). Is at the south-west of the Mushroom Kingdom. Appeared in: Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG, Yoshi's Story (probably), Mario & Luigi 2

Yoshi Island - Very big island. Main landmark is the three blue mountains at the center of the island. There's a volcano or two. Is apparently quite far from any continent and may thus be in the middle of nowhere. Baby Mario was saved there long ago. Also, the island is protected by a bunch of spirits for some reason. Appeared in: Yoshi's Island, Mario Golf, Itadaki Street DS, Yoshi's Universal Gravitation, Yoshi's Island DS

Jambol Island - Very small island. Main landmark is the volcano to the north of the island, and the only one with that. Is quite near of the Mushroom Kingdom (unlike Yoster Island, which is separated by Dinosaur Island and probably a small sea). The inhabitants of the island never met Mario before. Is at the south of the Mushroom Kingdom. Appeared only in Paper Mario.

Thinking that Yoshi Island and Yoster Island are the same place - or even that all 3 islands are the same place - is a bit nonsensical to me, but heh, I'm not the intelligent guy here.

[Artemendo]

Again, I am not claiming that Lavalava is Yoshi's Island, but in the beta, and surely in the original concepts, it was SUPPOSED to be. There was Poochy and Nep-Enuts and other things.
This has influenced Lavalava Island, for example they still left the Ravens in. Normally, Ravens were restricted to Yoshi's Island, the big one from YI and YS, until they appeared on Lavalava out of nowhere.

[PDoogan]

Lavalava island and Yoshi's Island are obviously different. They aren't even part of the same country (Lavalava is in the MK Yoshi's Island in in Dinosaur Land)

The Yoshi's Island in SMW2 is defiantly large enough to be able to host all the different environments seen in the other games. As far as Yoster Isle goes, I think it's just another name for Yoshi's Island (or perhaps a particular part of it)

[Artemendo]

www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/

[PDoogan]

Aug 25, 2010 11:00:14 GMT -5 Artemendo said:

www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/

....That's odd. I wonder why firefox didn't pick up on that?

[Artemendo]

Because the way you spelled it, "defiantly", is also a word.
defiantly; characterized by defiance; in a boldly resistant or challenging manner: he stood up to his superiors defiantly.

[Sarisa]

Without a compass rose, do we know that the Dinosaur (Is)land map is oriented to the north? If south is at the top, it's easy to reconcile SMW and SMRPG.

[Koopalmier]

We know Toad Town is facing south, and that Kappa Mountain is at the "up" of Yoster Island. In M&L2, you see both Toad Town and Yoster Island on the map. Toad Town is facing south, so the map is in the right direction. And Kappa Mountain is still at the "up" of the island. So the SMW map is indeed in the right direction.

[iYoshi]

Aug 25, 2010 10:31:38 GMT -5 PDoogan said:

As far as Yoster Isle goes, I think it's just another name for Yoshi's Island (or perhaps a particular part of it)

Yo'ster Isle is actually a localization error. It's the Japanese name for Yoshi's Island.

[kingkoopa]

*record stops* wait what

[Clive Koopa]

I always wondered whether Yoshi's Island and Yos'ter Isle are the same thing. I think they are just like iYoshi says. Kappa Mountain is probably the same mountain what holds the Yellow Switch Palace in SMW.

[EpicGyllynn]

^This