Yoshi's Safari

About This Game

Gameplay

Yoshi's Safari is a light gun shooter viewed from a first-person perspective. The game features 12 levels and requires the Super Scope, a light gun peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), to be played. The player views gameplay from the perspective of Mario riding on his pet dinosaur Yoshi's back and uses the Super Scope to shoot enemies, which include the Mario franchise's traditional Goombas, Koopas, and Cheep-Cheeps. As the player fires the Super Scope, a power gauge will drop; firing too rapidly will deplete it and cause long pauses between shots, making players more vulnerable to enemy attacks. The game features a multiplayer mode in which one player controls Mario using the Super Scope and another controls Yoshi using an SNES controller. In the single-player mode, Yoshi is controlled automatically. After selecting a level from the overworld, the player must clear it within a time limit. In addition to enemies, the player shoots blocks with question marks to earn coins, and will earn an extra life by collecting 60.

History

In February 1992, Nintendo released the Super Scope, a successor to its popular NES Zapper for the Nintendo Entertainment System. At the time, Nintendo was in fierce competition with Sega, a company known for its "cool" games and advertising, and needed an edge over this new rival. Unlike its predecessor, the Super Scope was only a moderate success and by 1993 risked fading into obscurity. Nintendo management realized the peripheral's relevance was waning and commissioned the company's R&D1 department to develop a Super Scope game featuring Mario. The future of the Super Scope depended on the performance of this game.