Does Yoshi have a saddle or a shell on his back?

Question

In most older incarnations of Yoshi, he had what appeared to be a saddle on his back, which Mario would ride on in games like Super Mario World. Now newer 3D renditions show this to actually be a red shell. Do we know for sure whether it was meant to be a saddle or a shell?

Yoshi on the right is younger than Yoshi on the left. Yoshi on the left has clearly been through a few too many of Mario's ground-pounds. — Casey Kuball, Jun 24 '16 at 23:09
In Mario Kart Tour, Yoshi counts as a "driver wearing a shell" for challenges that have such a character as a requirement. — M. Justin, Apr 13 '22 at 06:33

Rogue Jedi · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-08T18:55:11.083

32

According to Super Mario History, it's a saddle that was originally a shell during development.

Yoshi was originally supposed to be a type of Koopa. That saddle you see on his back was actually his shell. - Takashi Tezuka

The official German Club Nintendo magazine apparently also refered to it as a saddle, but I can't confirm it.

Translated from German:

He's wearing jump boots and he has a saddle on his back. He's green and very hungry. He's a dinosaur and Mario's best friend. He's good, because he's YOSHI!!!

edited Apr 08 '17 at 18:55

answered Jun 24 '16 at 16:10

Rogue Jedi

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"He's good, because he's YOSHI!!!" Quite possibly the video game quote of the decade! – RLH Jun 24 '16 at 16:26
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@RLH And then Luigi reads the "best friend" part and does a spit-take. – Rogue Jedi Jun 24 '16 at 16:54
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Good point, but Luigi IS his brother. Blood tends to be thicker than water, as they say, so Luigi may not be that offended. He's seems pretty cool. B-) – RLH Jun 24 '16 at 17:04
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@RLH "Fun" fact! The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb originally meant exactly the opposite of what the shorter version means today. – Engineer Toast Jun 24 '16 at 17:53
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@EngineerToast, fun fact, every time someone mentions the blood and water thing, there will always be at least one person there to mention the supposedly original quote and its inverse meaning. – Arturo Torres Sánchez Jun 24 '16 at 18:00
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@ArturoTorresSánchez This is the first I've heard either fun fact. – Reinstate Monica -- notmaynard Jun 24 '16 at 18:14
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@RLH "He's good, because he's YOSHI!" is because "yosh" is a Japanese expression of excitement meaning "okay!" or "all right!". – Gorchestopher H Jun 24 '16 at 18:18
Yoshi is a she.. – Gnemlock Jun 25 '16 at 04:47
Could you add the original German from which it's translated? – Christian Jun 25 '16 at 09:10
@christian The source I found didn't have it, unfortunately. – Rogue Jedi Jun 25 '16 at 10:22
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@RogueJedi Could you reference the source from which you took the claim? – Christian Jun 25 '16 at 10:35
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@ArturoTorresSánchez All the more fun given there's no evidence the English idiom is in fact derived from that "full" version; rather our earliest sources on the latter present it as a contrasting view. – Darael Jun 25 '16 at 13:01

Does Yoshi have a saddle or a shell on his back?

1 Answers1