Let’s give it up for the Mario universe’s most underrated weirdo |
If you were to conduct a survey that asks players to pick the best enemies from the extended Mario universe, I reckon you wouldn’t find many surprises there. Goombas and Koopas are too iconic to ignore. Shy Guys are so lovable that it feels wrong to defeat them. Even baddies like Dry Bones have stood the test of time long enough to appear on the silver screen. Each of those classic monsters deserves their spot on any list.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, however, reminds us that there are so many Nintendo critters beyond the household names, and many of them are overdue for their flowers. Just look at one of gaming’s great weirdos: Raphael the Raven.
First introduced in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Raphael the Raven is a black bird with big feet and a thousand-yard stare that can burn a hole through your chest. He, or at least a Raven like him, gets a moment to shine in Yoshi’s latest adventure, appearing in the game’s outer space biome. (Big year for moon.) In his habitat, Yoshi can use Raphael to hop between small moons, Super Mario Galaxy-style. He’s a sort of cosmic entity who has mastered the dark art of gravity, which begs a........