Spiked stone

The dreaded anvil was a weapon of old used once by the Koopa Troop. A horrid device, it was used as a graphic, gorey execution device atop Yoshi's Island by the Black Shy Guys. Anything crushed was either highly injured, or killed immediately. It was the precursor to the guillotine.

The Anvil first appears not in Yoshi's Story, but surprisingly in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins! Near the end of Wario's Castle, the anvil fall and raise from the ceiling.

Anvils made their only other appearance in the final page in Yoshi's Story, where they were carried menacingly by the Black Shy Guys inside Bowser's Castle. If a Yoshi should wander near the anvil-carrying Shy Guys, the Black Shy Guy would drop the giant, spiked anvil and crush whatever was beneath it. They starred in the Lift Castle and Ghost Castle, although they did appear in the Mecha Castle.

Anvils have yet to reappear in a game.