Kids today have their Call of Duty and Fallout, their Grand Theft Auto and Battlefield. But gamers of a certain generation emerged into a different gaming space. Their free time was filled with simpler characters.

We’re talking James Bond here, or WWE Wrestling, or Lemmings (S/O to everyone who remembers Lemmings).

But eclipsing everything then, and arguably still is the world of Mario. And one character looms a little larger than everyone in that game and his (its? hers?) name is Yoshi.

Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the creators of Super Mario, stated that the title character was originally supposed to have a green dragon as either a steed or a companion for Mario, but the studio was prevented by the limitations of the design software. Early inspirations also include the character of Tamagon in the 1984 game Devil World. Once a more powerful software was created, Yoshi was born, and officially graced the Nintendo-driven screen in Super Mario World. He has been an iconic figure ever since.

Yoshi is simply out there. His abilities are stranger than any other Mario character. We’re still puzzled over the whole tongue-grab to swallow to egg-laying process. Yoshi is a downright definitive character of the early gaming culture. Memorialize your love of this beautiful green dinosaur/dragon with a Yoshi tattoo design.