Yoshi: Battle Mount

A species of friendly dinosaurs and longtime friends of Mario and Luigi, Yoshi can be mounted by and carry any companion... provided they're the same weight or lighter.  This is huge benefit to his companion character, as Yoshi are fast, strong, and can pelt ranged opponents with their eggs. However, when mounted, Yoshi cannot perform critical hits.  When defeating an enemy, Yoshi can consume them to replenish his HP and slightly boost a random stat. They come in many colors, with varying stats dependent on those. 
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Artist comments: 
This is Yoshi as they would appear in an RPG/medieval-fantasy setting. (Think Super Smash Bros X Fire Emblem).  I drew influences Final Fantasy.
Now there's a story that goes along with the Mario project, I suppose this is a continuation of that.
Basically, I wanted to keep the design and integrity of Yoshi as a character; he is cute, friendly, and round. There are many interpretations which depict Yoshi as a gritty velociraptor with a chameleon tongue. And those are so boring and... stupid. They're as bad as the Super Mario Bros. MOVIE Yoshi. 
So I looked towards the Final Fantasy for  inspiration. See, they can take a character as cute and cartoonish as the Chocobo (and the Mog) and make them semi-realistic. However, it doesn't change the original integrity of a chocobo : they're still cute! You can look at both iterations and tell that those are chocobo. Most realistic iterations of Yoshi just look... well, NOT like Yoshi.  
So I made sure to keep his rounded features. Even though I gave him 'realistic', anatomically-correct legs, I made sure they were thick, muscular, and armored (as many of his strengths come from his feet). His arms are also human-like and his digits round, seeing as he can use them to grab, throw, and wield items. His beak is also  more similar to that of a baby yoshi.

This is part 6 of my RPG Smash Bros project
Part 1:Samus Aran: Mystic Knight
Part 2:Princess Peach: War Cleric
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:

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