When Bowser and the remnants of his army fled the scene of their rout at the hands of the Mario Brothers, they left not only the country, but the entire continent. The Koopa clan boarded the one remaining airship in their armada and crash landed on an uncharted tropical island. Bowser and company cannibalized their fallen airship to build homes and farms, slowly creating the socialist paradise that the former Koopa king had envisioned. In the new Koopa nation, all the workers, whether they were Troopas, Hammer Brothers or Goombas, were treated equal. Thanks to Bowser's new policy of equality, the formerly aggressive turtle tribe had become a peaceful and prosperous people.

Shortly after their arrival, the Koopas found out that their island was not completely uninhabited. A small tribe of dinosaurs calling themselves Yoshis also called this island their home. It seems obvious that conflict would be just around the corner, right? Wrong!

The Yoshis were not a violent race. Their only interests were eating, sleeping, eating, frolicking, and eating some more. Their biggest worry was that the expanding Koopa industrial sphere would cause the food supply to dwindle. However, Bowser showed the Yoshis the massive new farming projects the State was constructing and won over the hearts and minds of the native inhabitants. Yoshis from all over the island rushed to join the Koopa work gangs, eager to help comrade Bowser make the island more bountiful.

Of course, no good things last forever, and tensions began to simmer within the Yoshi population. The Yoshi species was broken up into a number of different colored tribes, each with their own unique natural abilities. The most common variety was the Green Yoshi, which had no special abilities. Other tribes included Red Yoshis, which can breathe fire, Yellow Yoshis, which cause earthquakes when they stomp the ground, and the rare Blue Yoshis, who can fly.

Before the Koopas arrived, not much was made of these racial differences. But now, the special abilities of some of the Yoshi population become very valuable. The Blue, Yellow, and Red Yoshis were given special responsibilities and were considered integral to the success of Bowser's massive public works projects.

Although the rules and traditions of the Koopa Socialist Republic did not call for any special treatment of workers with important abilities, the Red, Yellow, and Blue Yoshis were held in higher regard than their common Green cousins. Green Yoshis were often passed over for high profile jobs on Cookie Mountatin and Valley of Bowser, and were instead usually stuck in the dangerous quarries of the Vanilla Dome or the gloomy Forest of Illusion.

Many Green Yoshis started to become disillusioned with the new "paradise" they were helping create. They were jealous of the attention and praise their Red, Blue, and Yellow cousins got. Some Greens started to agitate for work stoppages and even violence. Soon, tragic "accidents" and acts of sabotage began to cripple work in the Republic. Red, Yellow, and Blue Yoshis were being hurt, or in some cases killed, under suspicious circumstances. Koopa authorities investigating these incidents uncovered a shadowy group of Green conspirators who had orchestrated the acts of sabotage.

When word got out about the murderous Greens, violence exploded throughout the Yoshi population. Red, Yellow, and Blue Yoshis carried out revenge attacks against Greens, and Greens retaliated in kind. Faced with the violent collapse of Yoshi society, Bowser and his lieutenants appealed for calm and understanding, but the racial violence continued to rage. With no other choice, Bowser sent out the police and army to forcibly break up the riots. Scores of Yoshis were arrested and imprisoned in egg-like cells. Although the Koopa crackdown helped quell the violence against other Yoshis, it made enemies of many of the militant leaders of the warring factions. Soon, the Koopas found themselves targets of attacks by angry Yoshis of all colors.

The Koopas were increasingly under siege by packs of roving Yoshis who threatened to undo all the good work that had been accomplished. Seeing no other choice, Bowser expelled the dinosaur race from his nation. The Koopas fortified their cities, building castles to protect their population. The socialist paradise that Bowser had worked so hard to create had collapsed, turning into a paranoid militarized state.

Just when it was thought that the situation couldn't get any worse, Bowser's scouts brought word that the Mario Brothers and Princess Peach had landed on the island. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, Bowser prepares for the worst.

What Bowser did not know was that this sudden outbreak of violence was not a spontaneous event. Before Peach and Mario had left for the island, an advance party had gone ahead of them for reconnaissance. Instead of finding a deserted paradise, they found the Koopas and Yoshis living together in harmony. When word got back to the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach became worried. If Bowser became too powerful, he might slip back into his old ways and attempt another invasion of her Kingdom. And with an army of Yoshis at his side, he might actually win.

Peach saw an opportunity in the racial divisions of the Yoshis and sought to exploit it. She sent spies to spread rumors and to stir up trouble. She recruited a small circle of particularly angry and disruptive Green Yoshis and fanned the flames of their rage. Peach supplied the Greens with tools of sabotage and told them how to hurt their enemies the most. While the Green Yoshis were causing trouble, Mushroom Kingdom agents found the leaders of the Reds, Blues, and Yellows and gave them weapons and information.

Once the conflagration had started and the Koopa State tried to stop the violence, Peach's agents egged on the Yoshi militants, encouraging them to attack Koopa civilians as well as opposing Yoshis. As the violence raged, heavy weapons imported from the Mushroom Kingdom wreaked havoc on Koopa civilian targets. Once the Koopas pulled back their civilians into their hastily constructed castles, Peach's agents swarmed the countryside, gathering information and plundering the abandoned towns and villages.

Peach believed that now was the time to finish off a weakened Bowser for good. She decided to go ahead with her original plan of flying to the island for a "romantic vacation". Little did Mario and Luigi know what they were really flying into a war zone. Peach arranged for a special guest to meet them at their landing site, the leader of the most violent Green Yoshi militia. The Green Yoshi was to convince Mario that the peaceful dinosaurs had suffered an unprovoked attack at the hands of the evil Koopas and gain his cooperation. Peach would then disappear, the apparent victim of yet another Bowser "kidnapping". Mario and Luigi would then heroically plunge into the Koopa empire yet again to stop him. Without a way off the island, Bowser would be trapped and finished off!

Peach, Mario and Luigi landed on a deserted part of the Island with the two brothers believing that they were on a relaxing vacation. A few hours later, Mario happened across a green prison egg while exploring. Mario, sensing something was wrong, opened the egg and found a scared green dinosaur. He then heard a sad story of a race of dinosaurs who had been enslaved by conquering turtles and their vile leader Bowser. Mario and the dinosaur, who called himself Yoshi, ran back to their camp to tell Peach what had happened. However, when he returned he found a dazed Luigi, who had been attacked by vicious reptiles. Luigi then told Mario that the Princess had been kidnapped.

Mario and Luigi were now alone on an unknown island, surrounded by hostile Koopas who had found their hiding place and were now swarming towards them. Bowser wanted the troublesome plumbers eliminated and was taking advantage of their momentary confusion. The Koopa king then turned his attention to a special guest, the captive Princess Peach. A division of Troopas had found the Princess being rushed away from the battle site by a small group of Green Yoshi militants. The turtles had overwhelmed the Yoshis and taken Peach back to Bowser, who was starting to sense that more was going on than met the eye.

Peach's overreaching had led to her own capture and impending doom for the Mario Brothers. Will the plumbers survive the Koopa onslaught? What will Bowser do to his new prisoner? And what's the deal with those giant caterpillars? Find out the answers to this and more in Mario and Peach: Part 5: 16-Bits of Peril!

Previous Mario and Peach stuff:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 3.5