Yoshi Racing

Yoshi Racing[1] is a rejected pitch for a 3D game in the Yoshi franchise. The game was revealed an article by Eurogamer detailing Argonaut Game's involvement in the development of Star Fox[2] where the game was described as a 3D platformer and left unnamed, while a message board post by an Argonaut employee named the game "Yoshi Racing" and described it as a character racing game.[1]

Following their successful collaboration with Nintendo on Star Fox, British game developer Argonaut Games pitched a 3D game starring Yoshi and made a prototype for it.[2] However, Nintendo did not follow on the offer, with one Argonaut employee speculating this was because the company did not want to let third-parties use its characters.[3] Following this setback, Argonaut decided to retool the prototype as an original IP, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.

Argonaut's Jez San believes that the refusal to pick up the Yoshi pitch was the final blow to Nintendo and Argonaut's relationship, which was previously damaged by the cancellation of the nearly completed Star Fox 2.[3][4] San further claims that the prototype influenced Super Mario 64, stating that "Miyamoto-sanwent on to make Mario 64, which had the look and feel of our Yoshi game - but with the Mariocharacter, of course". Jez San also recalls an occurrence where Shigeru Miyamoto came to him and apologized for not picking up the Yoshi game.[4]

Here's proof