Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

THE LEGEND OF MARIO: TEARS OF THE INFANT

» SNES » 1995 » NINTENDO EAD

I used to do a fair bit of babysitting as a teenager, mostly because I’d already left secondary school when my youngest sisters were born. I never minded this, but it’s always possible that something will go wrong when kids are involved, and for some reason they seemed to view me being in charge as an open invitation to be sick. The youngest was the worst – she’d been in her cot and threw up all over her own face, then became completely inconsolable after I got her in the bath. I would genuinely have preferred her to vomit in my face than have to make an emergency phone call, but the relentless crying ultimately wore me down and I summoned my dad and stepmum back from their night out.

If you’ve played Yoshi’s Island, you’ll know why I can’t help but remember that experience whenever I play it. You’ve got to carry Baby Mario to the goal on Yoshi’s back, and if he gets hit along the way, he’ll drop the baby and have a few seconds to recover him before he disappears and a life is lost. I always saw that cycle of dropping and recovery as a neat twist on the concept of Sonic’s rings, but some people hate the mechanic because Baby Mario cries as long as Yoshi is separated from his infant charge.

On one hand, I get it – the sound of babies crying is annoying. But isn’t that the entire point? We’re wired to recognise it as a distress signal, a noise to be heard as little as possible and resolved quickly whenever encountered, because hearing it means something is wrong. In a game where getting hit doesn’t carry a particularly heavy gameplay penalty, Baby Mario’s cries serve as the emotional incentive to avoid it. Either way, I’m fine with it – if only because quietening Baby Mario isn’t impossible like calming my little sister was.