Yoshi almost had an egg-throwing ability in Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Yoshi first burst onto the scene in Super Mario World on Super Nintendo, providing players with all-new mechanics for the franchise. Not only could Mario ride on Yoshi, players could also gobble up tons of enemies in the way with Yoshi’s tongue. Those were certainly exciting additions, but it was Yoshi’s follow-up game that really took gameplay to the next level.

In Yoshi’s Island, Nintendo introduced the ability for Yoshi to turn swallowed enemies into eggs, and then those eggs could be tossed at enemies or other objects. This feature instantly proved popular and became a regular part of Yoshi’s repertoire in multiple games going forward. Now we know that this beloved feature almost made the cut in Super Mario Bros. Wonder as well.

Famitsu magazine spoke to Super Mario Bros. Wonder Producer Takashi Tezuka to get new insight on the game, and part of the discussion centered on Yoshi. Tezuka revealed that he believed Yoshi should utilize his egg-throwing mechanic from previous games, so the team got to work on adding it. After messing around with a prototype that reintroduced this gameplay element, the team felt it was simply too difficult to control, especially for first-time players. This led to the idea being left on the cutting room floor.