Editing Yoshi's Story (section)

==Development==
Originally titled ''Yoshi's Island 64'' for the [[64DD]] floppy drive and then moved to cartridge instead,<ref name="Q&A" /><ref name="Electronic Gaming Monthly" /> the game was developed by the ''[[Yoshi's Island]]'' team, directed by [[Hideki Konno]] and produced by [[Takashi Tezuka]]. With the first promotional video clip from the game being revealed at [[Nintendo Space World]] in November 1996, ''Yoshi's Island 64'' presented lush, colorful worlds of pre-rendered 3D graphics and polygonal animations, also demonstrating the Nintendo 64's ability to run 2D games.<ref name=shoshinkai /> [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] said the 2D format was necessary to create the artistic style of graphics the development team wanted.<ref name="What's Next for Shigeru Miyamoto" /> Nintendo described the game as "[[2.5D]]".<ref name="NG Alphas: Yoshi's Story" /> The game's title was eventually changed to ''Yoshi's Story'', being announced in August 1997, with a release of promotional screenshots from upcoming games.<ref name=nameofthegame /> Shortly after, the game was noted to be getting a memory expansion, extending from 96 to 128 megabits.<ref name=EGM100 /><ref name=gamesize /> The completed game was unveiled at [[Nintendo Space World]] in November 1997.<ref name=EGM103/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Nintendo's Space World 1997 |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=38|publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |date=February 1998|pages=22–23}}</ref> 

With the game's initial release hitting Japan on December 21, 1997, the international release was delayed from the fourth quarter of 1997 to February 9, 1998.<ref name="Holiday Surprise" /> Reviews from the press said the game was too easy and little rewarding. Nintendo of America would thus demand the difficulty bar of the game to be raised. With extra time to polish the game, several changes were made to the international release, including graphical cleanup; the addition of white fences on cardboard courses; Egg Blocks with colors matching the Yoshi in play; new locations for some items; a slightly different ending when the player finishes a course with only melons; and additional secrets, including hidden coin formations that spell out letters. Furthermore, the updated version also added a save feature to Story Mode, allowing the player to continue the game from the last page reached.<ref name="IGN" />

===Audio===
The game's overall sound effects were designed by Hajime Wakai<ref name="Wakai" /> and the palette of vocal expressions for Yoshi were recorded by [[Kazumi Totaka]].<ref name="Totaka" /> The recorded samples have since been constituting the official voice for Yoshi, making a second appearance in the 1999 game ''[[Super Smash Bros. (video game)|Super Smash Bros.]]'', to further be recycled in succeeding games that Yoshi appeared in. This trend was eventually interrupted in 2009 with the release of ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'', which used the original Yoshi cry from ''[[Super Mario World]]'' in homage to that game.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Aside from providing the voice for Yoshi, Kazumi Totaka composed the music.<ref name="Totaka" /> The game features an interactive soundtrack, where the music will change dynamically. For example, if Yoshi is harmed to the point where the Smile Meter has no remaining petals, the music will sweep down to a lower pitch and tempo, reflecting his dreary mood. But if Yoshi eats a Heart Fruit and becomes Super Happy, the music will instantly switch to a rock version of the currently playing theme. Totaka has hidden his 19-note signature melody in the game, which may be heard on the Trial Mode course select screen, after the background music has looped eight times.<ref name="totakas-song" />

Prior to the game's release, a promotional soundtrack was released in North America, titled ''Music to Pound the Ground To: Yoshi's Story Game Soundtrack''. Published by The Original Shape CD, Inc., the 15-track CD had the characteristic trait of being shaped to outline the print on the disc, illustrating Yoshi's head. However, as an asymmetrically [[Shaped Compact Disc|shaped CD]], it raises compatibility issues with most non-portable CD players.<ref name="soundtrackNA" /><ref name="soundtrackNA2" /> The full soundtrack was released in Japan on February 4, 1998, published by Pony Canyon.<ref name="soundtrackJAP" /> The third and last issue of the soundtrack, ''Love, Peace & Happiness: The Original Yoshi's Story Soundtrack'', contained 28 tracks, and was released in Germany by Nintendo of Europe on April 9, 1998.<ref name="soundtrackEU" />

===Game Boy Advance tech demo===
When Nintendo unveiled the [[Game Boy Advance]] to U.S. game developers on April 10, 2000, one of the available demonstrations was a [[tech demo]] derived from ''Yoshi's Story''.<ref name="techdemo00" /> It was specifically developed to show off the Game Boy Advance's graphical capacity, featuring an opening [[Demo (computer programming)|demo]] and a single looping course. The opening displayed a pre-rendered rotating island, resembling the shape of a Yoshi, taking advantage of the system's affine rotate-and-zoom feature (akin to the Super Nintendo's [[Mode 7]]) to render a seascape in perspective.<ref name="techdemo01" /> The demo's level design was based on the colorful cardboard theme of ''Yoshi's Story''. However, the gameplay differed significantly from the original game. For instance, Yoshi was unable to use his tongue; nor could he throw eggs, in spite of being able to obtain them. Screenshots from the demo show the presence of giant Shy Guys, that were primarily designed to demonstrate system's advancement from the [[Game Boy Color]]'s 10-pixel sprite limit.<ref name="techdemo03" /> In spite of the fact that Nintendo had published a promotional image of a Game Boy Advance with the tech demo running on it, it was never released as a completed game. The tech demo has been salvaged and showcased its functionality as a game.<ref name="(UNRELEASED) Yoshi's Story 2: GBA Tech Demo" />

===Re-releases===
''Yoshi's Story'' was re-released on the [[Wii]]'s [[Virtual Console]] service in October 2007,<ref name="release2"/> and for the [[Wii U]]'s Virtual Console in early 2016.<ref name="NLifeWiiU1">{{cite web |last1=Whitehead |first1=Thomas |title=Nintendo Download: 24th March (North America) |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/03/nintendo_download_24th_march_north_america |website=[[Nintendo Life]] |publisher=[[Hookshot Media]] |access-date=8 July 2024 |date=24 March 2016 |archive-date=8 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708235604/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/03/nintendo_download_24th_march_north_america |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NLifeWiiU2">{{cite web |last1=Whitehead |first1=Thomas |title=Nintendo Download: 14th April (Europe) |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/04/nintendo_download_14th_april_europe |website=[[Nintendo Life]] |publisher=[[Hookshot Media]] |access-date=8 July 2024 |date=11 April 2016 |archive-date=8 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708235605/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/04/nintendo_download_14th_april_europe |url-status=live }}</ref> It was also re-released on the [[Nintendo Classics]] service in October 2021.<ref name="PocketGamerSwitch">{{cite web |last1=Orr |first1=Aaron |title=Nintendo introduces additional tier to Nintendo Switch Online |url=https://www.pocketgamer.biz/nintendo-introduces-additional-tier-to-nintendo-switch-online/ |website=[[Pocket Gamer]] |publisher=Steel Media |access-date=8 July 2024 |date=24 September 2021 |archive-date=8 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708235605/https://www.pocketgamer.biz/nintendo-introduces-additional-tier-to-nintendo-switch-online/ |url-status=live }}</ref>