Whilst Yoshi’s Island (1995) was one of the SNES’ finest moments, Yoshi’s outing with the Super Scope peripheral was a bit different. Bang!

The History of Yoshi’s Safari (and the Super Scope)

Right, so there’s the game in action. Yoshi’s Safari is a light gun romp that takes advantage of a SNES peripheral.

Yes, the Super Scope! We never did own one, but Nintendo made a semi big deal of it on Yoshi’s Safari’s release in 1993.

Plus, the whole shebang came bundled with six games. All yours for under $60! We guess the advert below probably means $59.99.

Can you imagine buying your kid this? “Let’s prep little Johnny for his future career as an army vet, sweetheart!”

Thrillingly, the contraption looks like a bloody bazooka nestling on your shoulder. Nintendo did get the cool factor right for young lads with this thing.

At least getting Yoshi’s Safari for the device is more palatable for the old moral standards.

Developed by Nintendo, the game involves a first-person perspective where you go about gunning down Goombas and Koopas.

Over 12 levels, it’s your responsibility to go on a crazed and cutesy killing spree—gun down any mother that gets in your way!

These sort of shooty games aren’t uncommon. They’re very popular in arcades, such as with titles like Virtua Cop and House of the Dead.

Nintendo just happened to put a family-friendly spin on the endearing Yoshi character. Because who doesn’t love Yoshi? Even when he’s going postal he’s adorable.

However, the game was criticised for its short length and how easy it is.

It’s not overly surprising as there’s an obvious kid-friendly nature to it. But this did mean the game received little attention and was a commercial failure.

So, Nintendo misjudged this one and should have made it into more of a “proper” title aimed at all gamers.

But to this day it has a kind of cult following. Gaming publication IGN continues to champion it, for example, claiming Yoshi’s Safari was ahead of its time.

Well, we never did play it. Nor did we own a Super Scope. It just didn’t appeal, even as die-heard SNES fanatics.

The game has never been re-released, so we guess it’s destined to obscurity. Unless you happen upon this post 100 years from now!