Yoshi's Island probably seems like a strange choice for this list. It didn't introduce any kind of new technology and didn't really push the Super Nintendo to its limits like similar games at the time did. But what Yoshi's Island did was help introduce an entirely new philosophy when it came to gaming graphics. Rather than try to make a huge technological leap forward from what came before, the designers of Yoshi's Island decided to implement an art style that didn't look like anything else at the time. They chose to be artistically innovative over technologically innovative and the result is a game that stands the test of time over other titles from the era. That noble commitment to artistic integrity at a time when such a thing wasn't really popular would prove to be forebearer for a generation of indie games yet to come, as well as future Nintendo classics like The Wind Waker.
