Memory Museum: Yoshi’s Safari

A featured series on LadiesGamers.com: Memory Museum. Our earliest gaming memories to the backdrop of what was happening in our personal life. Plus, what was happening in the gaming world back then! 

It’s the year 1993. Nintendo releases a smaller redesigned NES, which allows cartridges to be inserted at the top of the console, instead of the front. They also bring us The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on the GameBoy. Square releases Secret of Mana, and hasn’t yet joined forces with Enix. 

Over in America, Brandi  gets a Super Scope peripheral to play a very special game.  

Going on Safari with the Super Scope

There are many significant gaming memories I have throughout my life. After all, I started gaming at a very young age! When originally approached with the idea for this article, my first instinct was to write about Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. I have a great love for that game (and the series as a whole), and I have so many childhood memories tied to it! However, I’ve previously written blog posts about the game, and I wanted to write about something a little different for this article. I looked through my Super Nintendo games and came across one that holds special significance for me: Yoshi’s Safari.

Yoshi’s Safari was a game that came out in 1993 for the Super Nintendo. This game was pretty unique in the fact that it required the Super Scope peripheral to play. I could go into the details of the Super Scope, but maybe we’ll save that for a different post! If you are unfamiliar, the Super Scope was basically a light gun peripheral that you rested on your shoulder. You aimed at the tv and looked through the scope of the gun, and that was how you played! Naturally, most of the games that were played using the Super Scope were shooters. Hence, Yoshi’s Safari was classified as a rail shooter.

When the Super Scope came out, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I got a few games for it, but the one that stood out to me the most was Yoshi’s Safari. According to Wikipedia, the plot of the game is as follows: “In this game, Mario and Yoshi have to save King Fret and his son Prince Pine of Jewellery Land from Bowser and his Koopalings.” Haha… I definitely don’t remember anything about that! Anyway, you ride on Yoshi’s back for the duration of the game, and you shoot at enemies with the Scope. It’s not horribly complex due to the fact that the levels automatically scroll, so almost anyone can pick up and play a few levels!

Yoshi’s Safari even appealed to non-gamers

So why is this game so special to me? Well, growing up, no one in my household really wanted to play video games with me. I would always beg my mom to play, but she just wasn’t into it. Same goes for my aunt, uncle, and grandparents. But something about Yoshi’s Safari drew interest from my mom and my uncle, and to my surprise, they actually wanted to play the game! I was thrilled to sit there and watch them play as they tried to make it to the end of the game! Of course, this meant that sometimes when I really wanted to play my Super Nintendo, it was occupied… but I digress!

One memory in particular stands out to me. I was staying at a friend’s house for a sleepover, but around 11p.m. I got sick and wanted to come home. She lived right across the street, so my mom walked over and brought me back home. I couldn’t believe it when I went to my room and found my uncle sitting there, playing Yoshi’s Safari! My mom told me they had snuck into my room to play while I was gone. Apparently it took them a few minutes to figure out how to hook everything up, but since they really wanted to play, they figured it out! I think they were pretty bummed that I came home…

Haven’t played Yoshi’s Safari in many years, though I still own it (and the Super Scope too!). I remember it fondly for its unique gameplay and the fact that this game was one of the few games I was able to convince members of my family to play. Because of this, Yoshi’s Safari will always hold a special place in my heart!