The 'Shroom:Issue 126/Palette Swap

Director's Notes
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Greetings, readers! I hope your September has been good so far! Mine certainly has, with that latest Nintendo Direct.

Not much for me to say this month, just the usual "if you'd like to write for us" spiel. Send a completed application to Tucayo on the forums, or if you have any questions, you can send them to me on the forums as well. Palette Swap is also open to fan art as well, so if you have a piece of fan art that you'd like us to feature, send it in! will also be taking up Ongoing Fan Projects.

Anyways, please enjoy all of the wonderful sections we have this month! ~FunkyK38 Section of the Month

This month was pretty close, but is our big winner this month for his review of the soundtrack of Bowser's Inside Story! Thank you so much for voting, and please keep it up!

What's on the Box?
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Hello readers, and welcome back to What's on the Box.

In case none of you realised, I'm actually writing this section before I've eaten anything, which is probably why I've chosen this game's boxart to examine. For those of you not in the know, Yoshi's Cookie is a puzzle game for the NES, SNES and the Game Boy. We'll be looking at the Game Boy version's boxart, but they're all the same, so think of this as three sections in one!

It's a very basic boxart, featuring only Yoshi and the titular Yoshi Cookies, although sadly we don't have the one shaped like Yoshi's head. There's not a whole lot more to talk about, as the only action taking place on the boxart is Yoshi gleefully about to eat one, which let's be honest, who wouldn't be?

That leaves only little details left to look at, and there's really only one of those as well. The "o" in Yoshi's is actually an upside down Yoshi Egg. Other than that, all there is is a tagline box, and a box saying that the game is compatible with the game link.

As basic as it is, however, there's not really a lot that can be done with this boxart. Puzzle games don't really have great ones, barring the Professor Layton series, and seeing as this is a Tetris-esque game, featuring what are the blocks is pretty much all you can do. The only thing I could see working is to run with the multiplayer aspect, and maybe had four different coloured Yoshis battling it out over the cookies.

Featured Character Artwork
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Oh hey look! It’s issue 126 and I’m still here! Hooray! Anyway, welcome back to Featured Character Artwork, where I look at artwork I think is amazing (and I guess I’ll tell you, the reader, why). Last month, we looked at a spooky ghost carrot from one of my favorite games, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This month, I’ll be looking at a character from another SNES game I love; Swanky Kong, the minigame host from Donkey Kong Country 3.

Right off the bat, I love this new design for Swanky Kong. He looks so much fancier then he did in Donkey Kong Country 2, where he just wore a blue shirt, some rings, and had bad hair. I love how much effort they put into Swanky’s outfit to make him look like a fancy game show host, from the dress shoes (that I think our Critic Corner director Anton would love) to the way he holds his cane (he looks like he’s inviting us to come on down). I think my favorite detail is the way is teeth sparkle in his smile, which I think gives him a real conman-style look. One detail I think is easy to overlook is that the way this artwork is made gives Swanky a real glossy look, which I think helps bring the total look together. I’m also a really big fan of his stupid yellow checkered shirt combined with his long-sleeved undershirt and dress pants. Throw in some nice dress shoes and I think you’ve got yourself the most dapper Kong on all of Donkey Kong Island. I just love the fact that Rare went out of their way to provide such good-looking artwork to even the most minor of the Kongs, a character so unimportant that you can go the entire game without seeing him. But regardless of that fact, I’m glad they made it, because he looks like the perfect minigame host. 10/10, would look at again.

Ongoing Fan Projects
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Take Cover!
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HI, everyone! I'm your optimistic Statistics Manager, Tucayo, here with your monthly dose of Take Cover! Remember your suggestions for songs to cover (heh) are more than welcome, just head to the forum and either directly suggest a cover, or tell me a song or artist you would like to see featured! I will try to work every suggestion into the section.

To get us started we have a suggestion by ; it's a song we have all danced to — whether sober or drunk, that's entirely up to you — but there's no denying this 1978 dance mega-hit by the makes everyone at least want to move their arms. By now it's probably unnecessary to say the name of the song, but it's, a tune inspired by the (YMCA, if you are not good with acronyms). This organization, while religious in principle, partakes in a wide array of charitable activities around the world, and has done so for the past 170+ years. Now, the YMCA did have its reputation as a place to casually hookup with other members, and since women were not allowed in the facilities until the 1970's, you can see why this song was and still is heralded as a gay anthem (here's some trivia: any clothing was banned in the swimming pools until said decade, as swimsuits messed with the filtration systems). The Village People have denied the song being written as a gay anthem, but the truth is it doesn't matter what they had in mind, it was adopted as such and it has even lead the organization to stand up for a very important issue, which is marriage equality. This is part of the #whynot? campaign by YMCA Australia (if you have a moment, please consider signing up), along with youth unemployment and youth mental health, and to promote it they partnered with for a stripped back cover of the song. Unbelievably, this is the first time that the organization has used the song in any manner (they even threatened with a lawsuit back in 1978). This is a great cover for a great cause.

Up next we have a suggestion by, and it's a song as different from our first song as you can imagine. Think of the 1983 song  by. The is already groovy enough, but there is an even groovier cover, and to be honest I prefer it to the original. Who's the artist covering it? It's a group well known in the "" genre (or Nintendo rock, which is clearer),. Their work began by telling their own, dystopic story based in the universe; so far they have released   of this intended trilogy, but their work doesn't end there, they recorded a live album comprised entirely of  covers, of which my favorite track is  of . In 2015 they released The Cover Up, the LP from which the song to your left is taken; this album includes 14 other covers ranging from 's to 's. You can listen to the full album, it's definitely quite enjoyable.

Natural disasters have been unfortunately very present these past days; as of the writing of this section, Hurricane Irma is set to impact the Caribbean and Florida shortly, and Hurricane Katia is threatening the Gulf of Mexico. This adds to the devastating effects of, the first Category 3 or higher hurricane to touch ground in the continental US in the past 12 years. And in my own Mexico and Central America, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit pretty badly this week, taking several dozens of lives and destroying entire towns. Please stay safe, and if you were a victim of any of these, I wish from the bottom of my heart you and your loved ones are well. And for everyone out there, please consider donating whatever you can to help the victims of these terrible tragedies. Food, clothing, money, anything. Go to your nearest donation center and ask what you can give. To your right you can see and  with an acoustic and heartfelt cover of ' for the ' telethon that took place this week.