The 'Shroom:Issue 137/Strategy Wing

Director Notes
Written by:

Hey there everyone and welcome to Strategy Wing! I have a lot of announcements to make. Firstly, a big thank you to everyone for making last night's Awards Ceremonies special. They were a joy to be a part of, and I implore everyone to go read the presentations if you missed it. In terms of Strategy Wing, I am here to say that has decided to switch to a bi-monthly schedule. In addition, has returned with a new Mario Kart section! Please go check it out.

Finally, and this is probably the biggest announcement, but I am resigning from Strategy Wing Director. I will pass the reins onto someone starting next issue. It has been a pleasure running this team for the past 2 years, but as I get older, responsibilities grow, and I inevitably won't have time to run this team. Thank you all for supporting me and this team, and I wish the new Strategy Wing Director the best of luck, whoever it may be.

Section of the Month

It looks like the final expedition went up to the top last month! Thanks everyone who voted for me, and a big thanks to for his section as well.

Racing Like the Staff
Written By:

Hello readers and welcome to Racing like the Staff, a new section where I do 150cc on different Mario Kart games, but the twist is, I take on the Grand Prix by using the combination that a staff and expert staff member used in that Cup. If you're still a little confused, by this I mean if the track is in the Mushroom Cup, then that's the Cup that I race in. Unfortunately, I don't have copies of the Mario Kart games before Mario Kart 7, so it's only that, 8 and Deluxe that will be getting this treatment.

For this debut section, I have gone for the first circuit in my available games. We will be using the combinations that the staff used on Toad Circuit in Mario Kart 7. The normal staff for this track uses the incredibly boring set of Toad with standard parts across the board. The expert staff doesn't really change this up, but they do use Monster tyres instead of the Normal ones.

The stats for Toad with the Standard Kart, Normal tyres and Super Glider are as follows:
 * Speed – Three bars
 * Acceleration – Four bars
 * Weight – Just over 2 bars
 * Handling – Three bars
 * Off-road – Four bars

So, with that out of the way, how did I fare?

Toad Circuit It will probably be no surprise to anyone that we started out on Toad Circuit. Like with any Grand Prix, I started in last place, but following a good Rocket Start I was up into about fifth by the first Item Boxes. I was then able to overtake both fifth and fourth place on that long corner. But after that, I got nowhere. No matter what I was doing, the set-up that I had just wasn't gaining on second or first place. As we entered into the second lap, I managed to get a Triple Mushroom from the Item Boxes, and that allowed me to overtake Peach, who was in second place. But much like with the first lap, no matter what I did I could not gain any ground on first place, who was Wario. This changed on the final lap, maybe I took the long corner at the start better than him, but by the end of the lap I wasn't far behind him. I had the opportunity to overtake Wario, but sadly I missed with both of my Green Shells, and as a result, I only managed second place.

Daisy Hills As much as I would love to write a long piece here about a long fought battle, kind of like on Toad Circuit, that didn't happen. Thanks to some slipstreaming, I quickly got myself into first place, and after that I was able to keep ahead for the rest of the race. In fact, when I finished my closest competitor wasn't even on my mini-map.

Cheep Cheep Cape This track was a bit more challenging than the last one. Larger weights meant that despite my decent start I was down to third place before the first Item Boxes, and by the time we reached the jump to go underwater I was down to fifth. However, I was able to recover and by the end of the first lap, although I was only fourth place, I was quickly into third. I then got Triple Mushrooms from the Item Box and using that I was able to use the shortcut in Cheep Cheep Cape, and by the end of the clam section I was back into first. And much like with Daisy Hills, after getting back into first place it was just plain sailing from there.

Shy Guy Bazaar Shy Guy Bazaar is probably one of my favourite courses in Mario Kart 7, but I didn't get off to the best of starts. The first corner went well, but then I got bashed around a lot and by the time I reached the first Item Box I was down to sixth. Thankfully, I excelled in the market section, and the twisty area at end of that section and I quickly got into third place. During the flying section, I managed to get into second place, and by the end of the market section of the second lap I was back into first place. And then, like with the two previous tracks I stayed in the lead and didn't face any real challenges.

At the end of the cup, I only got a 2-star rating, probably owing to the second place that I had on Toad Circuit. This combination is not a great combination for actually catching other racers, most of the time I had to use Triple Mushrooms to actually get back ahead of other racers. It corners really well, and you can overtake through the corners, but when you're on straights it is practically impossible to gain ground, I genuinely have no idea how I managed to catch Wario on the final lap of Toad Circuit, but when I did the only way I would have overtaken him is if I had accurately used the Green Shell.

So now, onto the next part of this section: using the combination that the expert staff used. They didn't make many changes to the set-up, other than using the Monster tyres instead of the Normal ones. The stats are as follows:


 * Speed – Just under four bars
 * Acceleration – Just over three bars
 * Weight – Just over three bars
 * Handling – Just under two bars
 * Off-road – Just over five bars

Toad Circuit I was expecting this to be an easier ride than with the full Standard set, mainly because the speed was great and the acceleration wasn't half-bad. However, I fared worse off the start, and was only able to get into sixth place. However, thanks to some Triple Mushrooms, I quickly got myself into first place. Koopa was able to stay quite close to me, and thanks to some Lightning and a Blue Shell he was able to overtake me just as we exited the tunnel on the second lap. But, my Speed stat was on show as I overtook him just after the first set of Item Boxes. The lead wasn't to last, as I was hit by another Blue Shell by the exit of the tunnel, and this time I was overtaken by Koopa, Peach, Rosalina and Wiggler, although the latter only got me because of a Bullet Bill. But, my Speed prevailed and I was able to overtake Wiggler and Rosalina before the flag. But I didn't get the others, so I finished third.

Daisy Hills Daisy Hills didn't get off to the best of starts as I accidentally hit accelerate too quickly, and so I blew my engine up. However, by the time we reached the second set of Item Boxes I was up to fifth. I got Triple Mushrooms from this Item Box, so I was able to use the shortcut and propel myself into second place. However, by the time I finished the first lap, Peach had a substantial lead. But the speed of this combination was again not to be underestimated, and I was able to get the lead by the end of the second lap, although a Mushroom and a Red Shell did help. And once I was in the lead, I didn't have to worry about the rest of the competition, although had Wiggler used his Blue Shell earlier, this might have been a different story.

Cheep Cheep Cape Unlike most starts from the previous combination, for the most part I was able to keep my lead, although Koopa flew over the Boost Pad into the water and overtook me. The rest of the lap went fairly well, but Honey Queen pushed me when I was on the narrow path in the cave, and I fell off demoting me into fifth place. Things got worse, as I soon fell into sixth place during the second lap, but a Golden Mushroom from the final Item Box helped me get into second. I was then gaining on Koopa, but a shove from Rosaline massively slowed me down. We all used the Glide Pad, and then Koopa and Rosalina gifted me the win by flying into the stalactites. Oh well, a win is a win after all.

Shy Guy Bazaar Unlike my start in Cheep Cheep Cape, this one didn't go smoothly, as I was down to sixth by the first set of Item Boxes, but by the end of the twisty section I was back into first. My lead started to grow, but I was hit by a Blue Shell just before entering into the market section, and this pushed me down to third place. I was able to get back to second by the end of the twisty section, and then overtook first before the first set of Item Boxes on the final lap. After that it was smooth sailing, when I checked the map that shows all of the racers, it looked like even if I got hit by a Blue Shell I'd still have the lead. Thankfully, I didn't need to test my theory, and I won by a good margin.

The Monster tyres certainly gave me a good speed boost and this was noticeable as I was able to overtake many racers without the use of items. And had I not been hit by the Blue Shell on Toad Circuit, I probably would have one that race as well. Although the handling is incredibly low, I didn't find this to be an issue and I was able to corner almost identically to the first combination. Overall, this combination was better than the full standard set, just because you actually have the speed to gain on opponents. Unfortunately, neither combination got me a three-star rating at the end.

I hope you enjoyed this section, and I'll see you next month where I'll take a look at a combination from Mario Kart 8. If you've got a combination you'd like me to review next, feel free to private message me on the forums.

Mario Calendar
Written by:

Hey, what's up! GPM here with another Mario Calendar! This section lists all the games that have come out in history during the month of publication. This means that today, I'll be listing the Mario games that have come out in August. So, let's go!

Region Abbreviations Console Abbreviations


 * August 1
 * 1983 (NA): Rain Shower (G&W)
 * 1993 (NA): Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)


 * August 2
 * 2018 (JP): WarioWare Gold (3DS)


 * August 3
 * 2018 (NA): WarioWare Gold (3DS)


 * August 9
 * 2007 (JP): DK: Jungle Climber (DS)


 * August 10
 * 1989 (EU): Donkey Kong Classics (NES)
 * 1994 (JP): Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (GB)
 * 1999 (JP): Mario Golf (GBC)
 * 2004 (JP): Famicom Mini: Super Mario Bros. 2 (GBA)


 * August 11
 * 2000 (JP): Paper Mario (N64)
 * 2013 (NA): Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)


 * August 13
 * 1991 (NA): Super Mario World (SNES)


 * August 15
 * 1995 (JP): Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)


 * August 17
 * 2012 (EU): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)


 * August 18
 * 2012 (AU): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)


 * August 19
 * 2009 (JP):
 * Game & Watch: Manhole (DSiWare)
 * Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. (DSiWare)
 * Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory (DSiWare)
 * 2012 (NA): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)


 * August 20
 * 1984 (NA): Donkey Kong 3 (G&W)


 * August 21
 * 2001 (JP): Wario Land 4 (GBA)


 * August 24
 * 1995 (EU): Donkey Kong Land (GB)


 * August 25
 * 2008 (NA): Mario Super Sluggers (Wii)
 * 2013 (NA): New Super Luigi U (Wii U)


 * August 26
 * 2002 (NA): Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
 * 2004 (JP): Mario Pinball Land (GBA)


 * August 27
 * 1986 (JP): I Am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater (Famicom)
 * 1992 (JP): Super Mario Kart (SNES)
 * 1993 (JP): Mario & Wario (SNES)
 * 2001 (NA): Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)
 * 2015 (JP): Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)


 * August 28
 * 1996 (NA): Tetris Attack (SNES)
 * 1997 (EU): Game & Watch Gallery (GB)
 * 2000 (NA): Mario Tennis (N64)
 * 2008 (JP): Captain Rainbow (Wii)


 * August 29
 * 1991 (EU/AU): Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
 * 2000 (JP): Mario Artist: Polygon Studio (64DD)
 * 2005 (NA): Mario Superstar Baseball (GC)
 * 2017 (NA/EU/AU): Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)

Pokédex Power
Written by:

Hello everyone, it's me, Yoshi876 again with a new edition of Pokédex Power, the section written by the person who wonders why Pokémon based off of mushrooms are usually quite creepy.

I mean there's Foongus and Amoonguss which disguise themselves as Poké Balls for whatever reasons, and then there's Morelull and of course Shiinotic, who we'll be examining this month, and those Pokedex entries are just creepy. Come to think of it, a lot of Grass-type Pokémon are kinda weird, obviously, there's the Bellsprout line that's based on carnivorous plants, and as is Carnivine. The Oddish line is also pretty… odd. But Grass do have some pretty cool Pokémon like Tropius and the Deerling line.

As for this month's Pokémon, Shiinotic I have never used it. I haven't played a lot of Moon, so I haven't yet even caught a Morelull. I don't tend to go for Grass or Fairy types, and as I chose Rowlet as a starter, I doubt I'll be needing another Grass-type Pokémon on my team, so I probably won't use Shiinotic.

Generation VII

I have mixed emotions in regard to Shiinotic's Pokédex entries. They certainly give out a whole host of information, and I definitely feel like I understand this Pokémon, but at the same time, there are many questions. Starting with the positives, Ultra Moon is an amazing entry, I love seeing interactions with different Pokémon in entries. And plus I can totally picture a spore-covered area because of its fights with Parasect. The entries for Moon and Ultra Sun bounce off of each other, with them both confirming that Shiinotic sends its prey to sleep before draining them, that said it would at least be nice to know what Shiinotic preys on, smaller Pokémon, or perhaps travelers lost in the forest? However, there is a question that arises from Ultra Sun and that's how Shiinotic transfers the vitality to a weakened one? Is it a physical thing, or can Shiinotic send vitality to a weakened one from a distance? Sun also brings up its own set of questions, and that's mainly why can't people go home after looking at its lights? The only way this would make sense is if Shiinotic fed on the travelers. That said the Sun entry does get bonus points for making me think of some of Victrebel's entries, and Victrebel is one of my favorite Gen I Pokémon.

Conclusion I wouldn't say that Shiinotic has bad Pokédex entries, but they're not exactly stellar ones. That said, all that needs to be done is to answer the questions that their entries leave behind, and then Shiinotic would have a decent set of entries.