In this post, I’m returning to the Mario series to look at a rather obscure character, Poochy. First appearing in Yoshi’s Island, he’s a dog big enough that a dinosaur can ride on his back, and who is invulnerable to pretty much anything.
Poochy can walk on spikes and magma and run right through enemies. It’s a shame he only appears in one level, isn’t it? He appears again in Yoshi’s Story, but here he just sniffs out fruit. And in Tetris Attack, Yoshi has to save him from Kamek‘s hypnosis. So far, that’s been Poochy’s entire oeuvre. It kind of seems like they wanted him to be a more significant character, but he never had the chance. The interesting thing is that early screenshots of Paper Mario have Poochy in them, indicating that he was originally going to be included in the game, but was cut out for some reason to which we’re not privy.
I’d like to see more of him, but is there any obscure Mario character for which that isn’t the case?
It’s also important not to confuse this Poochy with a certain proactive cartoon dog with the voice of one Homer Simpson. Just remember, this Poochy ain’t stupid.
This Poochie, on the other hand, is.
Catch you on the flip side, dudemeisters! NOT!
