Yoshi No Tamago

Yoshi’s first starring role in a puzzling debut

Yoshi no Tamago (or Yoshi’s Egg) introduced Mario’s friendly dinosaur companion in a whole new way. Released for the Famicom in 1991, this falling-block puzzle game challenged players to clear the screen by matching and hatching eggs, all while keeping the board from overflowing.

A fresh take on tile-matching

Unlike traditional puzzle games of the time, Yoshi no Tamago let players stack pieces between top and bottom halves of Yoshi eggs. Successfully sandwiching them together would hatch a baby Yoshi, rewarding players with points and adding a unique twist to the genre. Mario himself acted as the piece-swapping assistant at the bottom of the screen.

An early Game Freak creation

While published by Nintendo, this game was actually developed by Game Freak—years before they became famous for Pokémon. It also received different names across regions, with Mario & Yoshi in Europe and Yoshi in North America, making it one of the earliest puzzle titles linked to the Mario series.

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