Mario originally WAS punching Yoshi in the head in Super Mario World

The following comes from Nintendo's Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino...

TT: “I think he (Miyamoto) likes horses. When we were making [Super Mario Bros. 3], he drew a picture of Mario riding a horse and had put it up on wall next to where he sits. When I saw that, I thought, ‘I guess he wants Mario to ride something.’ So, when we were making Super Mario World, we had this ‘dinosaur land’ concept, and I had Hino draw reptile type art.”

HH: “Initially the keyword that I had was ‘horse,’ so I imagined something quite later and, for the time being, drew a large lizard type creature.”

TT: “It looked like a crocodile.”

HH: “Lots of people think that while Mario is pointing his finger foreward, he’s saying ‘Go,’ and Yoshi’s tongue comes out. However, the set up that I drew was that when Mario punches Yoshi in the head, the character’s tongue shoots out in surprise. What’s more, there’s an added ‘bop’ sound. However, it seemed like people would say ‘Poor Yoshi,’ so that’s why it became that Mario is saying ‘Go.’”

Man, learning this and combining it with the weird Yoshi design from earlier tonight, my whole childhood has been torn apart. The strange Yoshi was funny, but this news of Mario punching Yoshi in the back of the head is too much for my heart!