Whenever something becomes popular, especially if it's innovative, it spawns many knock-offs.
With this in mind, have any video games ever had a character created in response to the Mario character Yoshi? I can't really think of any game characters who are similar enough, yet I would think companies would want some kind of ridable character like that.
The closest I can think of, possibly, is Tails from Sonic. If the second controller isn't being used, Tail is following Sonic around, if he gets injurred or appears to die, he'll come back soon (like how if Mario loses Yoshi, he can get another). Tails can't really die, getting hit while riding Yoshi causes him to run loose but Yoshi is basically an extra hit point. And I believe that there are times when Tails can carry Sonic while flying, much like how you ride Yoshi (or even have him fly).