The Terrifying Yoshi Secret You Probably Didn't Know About

Although Nintendo brands itself as being family-friendly, there have been a handful of instances in which the company backpedaled on this value. While IPs like Animal Crossing have yet to tread into Resident Evil territory (although that hasn't stopped it from having some creepy moments), there are some dark secrets hiding in a bunch of Nintendo titles. Surprisingly, this rule also applies to Super Mario in regards to the origins of one of its popular characters, Yoshi. 

While Yoshi's sinister origins aren't the same level of edgy as the infamous Lavender Town rumor in Pokemon, the character's roots are definitely not what you'd expect. Yoshi's debut was technically in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo in 1990, but the beloved dinosaur's first appearance goes back even further. Despite his adorable demeanor, Yoshi's origins are actually far darker than most fans could ever imagine. In fact, some might even argue that Yoshi's beginnings may have even been demonic.

The original design for Yoshi could very well be inspired by a monster known as Tamagon in the NES maze game Devil World. The game was designed by Takashi Tezuka and Shigeru Miyamoto, who, incidentally, also worked on Super Mario World. The game was heavily inspired by Pac-Man, but on top of collecting dots, the player controls Tamagon, a green dragon who needs to traverse a variety of mazes to find crosses and Bibles in order to defeat the Devil. Devil World never saw a release outside of Japan due to Nintendo of America's restrictions against religious iconography appearing in games.

Although there haven't been any confirmations from Miyamoto or Tezuka about Tamagon being the inspiration for Yoshi, the two definitely share similar qualities. For starters, they have the same color palette, and both creatures are able to shoot out fireballs. Additionally, both Tamagon and Yoshi are hatched from eggs, further cementing their similarities. Yes, Tamagon might technically be a dragon, but are dinosaurs really that far off? At the end of the day, they're both reptile-like creatures, and Tamagon's resemblance to Yoshi is definitely uncanny.