The 'Shroom:Issue 130/Fun Stuff

Staff Notes
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Hey, welcome to a new year of Fun Stuff! I'd like to welcome our three new staff members, , and onto the team! I'm glad to have them on board and I hope they do well in their respective positions. I'd also like to point out that all three of them have written for Fun Stuff in the past; truly this is a sign that Fun Stuff is the best team, seeing as three of our alumni have risen up the ranks and why you all should aggressively apply for every single section!!!!!!! Come on, it's fun... stuff!

As a short followup to last issue's scavenger hunt, won first place and found all 12 Power Moons within roughly an hour; congratulations to him! He was followed by  in second place, and then by  in third place; great job to everyone! I'd also like to thank the rest of you for your participation in the hunt, and especially thanks to for his invaluable assistance in putting it together! I hope to do more large-scale events like this in the future, so stay tuned!

I don't have much else to say here other than the fact that Splatoon 2 has taken me over lately. 35 hours and 18 levels in 10 days is... an accomplishment? But yeah, custom splat jr and #comedybros for life tbh fam youre a kid squid woomy etc. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this month's Fun Stuff!

Section of the Month Quiz hit #1 again in December, followed very closely behind by Where in the Marioverse is Carmen Sandiego?. It's aMAZEing also scored a nice sum of votes. Congratulations to all winners and thank you to everyone for writing!

Trivia
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Hey look it’s me Shoey actually doing the section i was hired to write...anyways did you know?
 * 1) That despite being a de-aged Donkey Kong, Baby Kong appears in multiple episodes of the Donkey Kong cartoon.
 * 2) That according to Donkey Kong Country 2 Klingers are the only Kremlings who can climb ropes and they had to learn this skill?
 * 3) That Doki Doki Panic was originally thought of as a Mario game?
 * 4) That Birdo was the first transgender video game character?
 * 5) That in Wario Land II the thing that activates Crazy Wario is actually a mug of beer?
 * 6) That Bullies were originally supposed to be in Super Mario Galaxy?
 * 7) That in the Mario Mania guide to Super Mario World each Chargin Chuck attack is given an individual name?

Anagrams
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Hello all! This month I've decided to make you a bunch of anagrams that are Mario Kart: Double Dash!! themed, partly on account that I got it for Christmas, and partly because... well, I felt like it! And again, so far as I know, next month's issue isn't anything-themed yet, so feel free so send me any suggestions for themes or funny anagrams you found on my talk page or through the forums, and I'll see what I can do!

How it works...

Basically, this puzzle consists of solving the anagrams. Each month has a specific theme, which will give you a clue about what sort of words or phrases the anagrams will be. I've also included the boxes that the anagrams will fit into, so you'll be able to tell how many words it will solve to be and how many letters will be in each word, which should give you a hand too. You'll also notice that within each set of boxes, one of the squares are yellow. As you solve each anagram, note down the letter which appears in the yellow squares, and if you can solve all of the anagrams, you'll also get a bonus anagram to solve from completing all of the others. I've included the letter configuration for this one at the bottom too, just to give you an extra helping hand. Best of luck!

1. TOTE DATE

2. BAGGY TURTLE

3. MOO COURSE WAILS

4. BOBS TOMB LAB

5. I SCURRY ASIDE

6. SPUR CAT

7. HAIKU FLITS IN

8. REEF REIGN

9. CLOAKED ION

10. HELLO BREWS

11. A BEECH CHAP

12. OH COLA COMB

Bonus Anagram:

Picross
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Ho, dear, this past month has been... something. Without going too personal, I have seven cavities(!) in my teeth. Thankfully, by the time this issue goes live, the former should be fixed... but they'll have to put me under anasthetia (if I spelled it right) 'cuz I'm a wimp. BUT, on a more positive note, I've had a BLAST with Christmas! I got a Nintendo Switch, so I've been having a LOT of fun with Splatoon 2 (Salmon Run eternally best mode, and Comedy is eternally best film genre), and I finally achieved a life dream of mine and became 132nd Skywatcher--meaning I got the good ending to what is arguably one of the hardest puzzle games of all time.

In addition, last month I said that there was one puzzle--the last one--that i was keeping its source a secret to see if anybody would know where it came from, and said on the Mario Boards that if anyone could answer, they'd get a shout-out. However, nobody correctly guessed... or really, guessed at all. The answer was that it's a roach from DROD: Architect's Edition, or version 1.6. DROD, by the way, is the best puzzle game I've played and arguably one of the hardest puzzle games of all time. So, tl;dr, nobody guessed its origin so no shoutouts.

But that's not Picross. This, is Picross. We have 2 new puzzles. Sadly, I don't have much for this one--most of my time has been absorbed by real life. That doesn't mean I don't have 2 puzzles, though! Our first puzzle is simply something to realize our new year, and the other... I wanted to do something regarding the fact I had 7 cavities with a teeth-related puzzle (after all, 7 is my favorite number so of course I would use 7 as an excuse to make it personal), but there's a surprising LACK of Mario-related teeth things (you'd think that there'd be a Mario toothbrush, but I couldn't find one, and that wouldn't be very good for a picross puzzle that's black/white anyhow.) So, I decided I'd pick the playable character of a microgame from the Gamer mode of Game & Wario; no, he doesn't have a name, but I'll just give him a conjectural name for now.

Don't know how to play? No issue; just read these rules from the last few issues. If you want to know how to play, simply take any program you can edit images with (MS paint is... more than an option), or even print it out if you're so inclined, and you can shade in the symbols. As for the rules...
 * Each number on a given row or column (which are referred to as "hints" in Picross) Represents a line of filled-in squares (or tiles/cells, as I prefer calling them) on that particular row or column; for instance, a row starting with "3" would have a row of three filled-in squares with no white/blank squares inbetween them.
 * There can be multiple lines in a single column, however. (For example, a row of 7, then a row of 4. In this case, there'd be 7 in a row, then a gap, then a row of 4.)
 * A gap between two "rows" is defined as one white/blank square between two rows.
 * Each square is filled with either black or white. You can fill the white squares you know of with a different color, such as gray, to keep track easier.
 * It's way, was easier to start off with rows that have few gaps, and ESPECIALLY easier to start with rows with large numbers.
 * I recommend playing Pokemon Picross on the 3DS (it's free, yo!); the tutorial will explain things a lot better than I ever could.

Without further ado, here come the puzzles in two! ...C'mon, I found it clever!

It's aMAZEing
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Good day people and welcome to this month's It's aMAZEing!

This month we have a decoration depicting Lakitu's Cloud from the walls of Dragon Driftway in Mario Kart 8 and Dragon Palace in Deluxe! This was a request from Koops, which he sent when was still in charge of It's aMAZEing.

Do you have an idea for a maze you'd like to see? Leave a message on my talkpage or find me on the forums and send me a personal message, and your idea and name may be featured in a future episode!

How to play:
 * Copy the image into your favourite art program (like Paint, Photoshop, GIMP, etc.)
 * Click the line, pencil or brush tool and adjust the size as needed
 * Draw your line though the maze from start to finish
 * Zoom in and out as needed



To view the answer, click here!

Where in the Marioverse is Carmen Sandiego?
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"You've got another case to solve, cadet! Carmen has pulled a Kremling trick and swiped Donkey Kong's entire banana hoard! The big ape is on the verge of going ape, so make like a banana and split! We've narrowed down our list of suspects to Carmen's favorite tuxedo pal, Starchie Archie, and it's up to you to track him down and bring those bananas back!"

Quiz
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Howdy 'Shroom readers, welcome to the Quiz!. As you may have figured out from the name, this is a section where I quiz your Mario knowledge.

Let me be (probably not) the first to welcome you into this new year. And as it's a new year, what better time than to quiz you on the New Super Mario Bros. series. Let's get started!

Easy
 * 1) Who is the first end of world boss in New Super Mario Bros.?
 * 2) What New Super Mario Bros. theme appears in Super Mario Maker?
 * 3) How many coins do you need to collect in New Super Mario Bros. 2?

Medium
 * 1) How do you unlock levels in World 9 in New Super Mario Bros. Wii?
 * 2) What are the names of the secret worlds in New Super Mario Bros. 2?
 * 3) What are the names of the worlds in New Super Mario Bros. U''?

Hard
 * 1) What two levels does the Snailicorn (pictured right) appear in?
 * 2) Instead of a penguin, what bird appeared in concept art as a power-up in New Super Mario Bros. Wii?
 * 3) In the tech demo, New Super Mario Bros. Mii, there were five courses. All of these made an appearance in New Super Mario Bros. U. What courses were they?

Answers: