10 Best Video Game Prequels
3. Super Mario World: Yoshi’s Island
When it comes to timelines for their games, Nintendo is a company of two extremes. In some cases we get intense, sometimes confusing and often hotly debated messes like the Zelda timeline.
In others, we get something like the Mario franchise where all of its games seem to just take place in a timeless void. It’s sort of inconsequential which Mario games go where. After all, “Mario saves the Princess again” isn’t exactly the sort of story that impacts a deep, canonical lore.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is a rare exception to the rule however, and in doing so establishes a lot of truths about many Mario characters.
Clearly Mario has known Yoshi since essentially his birth and, at the end of the game, we even get a shrouded look at an adolescent Bowser. Whilst it's never made clear why Bowser kidnaps Baby Luigi, this encounter must be the first time that all these famous characters have interacted.
As for the game itself, whilst the original Super Mario World is the plumber's beloved first jump to 16bit, the prequel's gorgeous hand-drawn aesthetic make it a timeless classic in its own right. It is largely considered a masterpiece in the Super Nintendo’s already strong library and one of the best 2D platformers of all time.