Yoshi

Yoshi appears as a playable character in every game in the Mario Kart series. As such, he made his first appearance in Super Mario Kart. Yoshi typically is a lightweight driver (with the exception of Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart Wii, and Mario Kart 8), meaning he has high acceleration, but low top speed. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Yoshi was partners with Birdo, and his special item was the Yoshi Egg as well as his personal kart, Turbo Yoshi. While the relationship between Birdo and Yoshi was merely implied in English versions, the Japanese website of Mario Kart: Double Dash confirms it. On Birdo's profile, it says "Appears to be Yoshi's girlfriend... or is that boyfriend?!"[2]

In Mario Kart DS, Yoshi's personal karts are Cucumber and Egg 1. He has his own course, Yoshi Falls, which is the second course in Mushroom Cup. In Mission mode, he must fight Big Bully.

In Mario Kart Wii, Yoshi was a medium-sized racer, and featured a fairly good off-road bonus. He also had a small weight and drift boost.

Yoshi later returns in Mario Kart 7 as a light racer.

Yoshi returns in Mario Kart 8. While the official website classifies him as a middleweight, Yoshi is actually a lighter middleweight, focusing a little more on acceleration, handling, and grip than with speed and weight. By purchasing both DLC packs, the buyer is awarded Light Blue, White, Red, Yellow, Black, Blue, Pink and Orange alternate colors. They all handle exactly like the original Yoshi but have different colors for karts that change their color.

Yoshi's racing courses are Yoshi Valley, Yoshi Desert, Yoshi Circuit, and Yoshi Falls. In Mario Kart Wii, his emblem is seen in Dry Dry Ruins along with a Yoshi statue resembling a Sphinx similar to Yoshi Desert. In Mario Kart 8, multi-colored Yoshis can be found on Sweet Sweet Canyon, Donut Plains 3, and Super Bell Subway. He is the sixth worst Mario Kart character of all time.