The 'Shroom:Issue 108/Strategy Wing

Director's Notes
Written by:

''Patients zhink zhat I try too hard to be funny, but zhe truth is, zhey don't understand zhe punchlines. I vork in Internal Medicine...all my vone-liners are inside jokes.''

Heyo, 'Shroom peeps! Welcome to another edition of Strategy Wing. This month's edition is rather small, featuring only three sections &mdash; they are all still high-quality though, so you better check 'em out!

In the news this month, has resigned from his post at Insider 64 in order to reallocate his focus towards school. From the Mushroom Vaults will be returning next month. I...think that's it for March headlines.

'Shroom Mafia III is finally nearing its end! I plan to write a section that recaps the entire game and people's thoughts on it; it will either be published in the April or May issue, depending on when the game finishes.

With that, on to the rest of Strategy Wing! I hope you enjoy this month's material.

Section of the Month
Tied for first place, with an impressive 10 votes each are Strategy Wing mainstays and. Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner was impressively written in a way that seamlessly fit in with Issue 107's overarching Zelda theme, while Pocket Handbook delved deep into the inner-machinations of the deceitful Pokémon, Mawile. received the remaining votes for last month &mdash; his Mario Calendar section was tediously arranged and highly informative, as per his usual efforts.

Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner
Written by:

Hello, 'Shroom racers! Welcome to Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner. Here, I plan to give you just some extra tips to help you with your racing, or just some changes in a track that might catch you off guard if you aren't prepared for them. So, the lights are out. Let's start racing.

Kool Karts
You can't race if you don't have a Kart to do it in, so in this section I'll give you some facts about a Kart, Bike, ATV or even tyres and gliders that you can use hopefully for racing success.

This month's Kool Kart is the ROB-BLS. This robotic Kart offers one of the best speed stats in the whole of Mario Kart DS. However, as a result of this, it does suffer in the drift and items stats.

As mentioned above, the ROB-BLS features one of the best speed stats in the game, but to be more specific, it offers the best speed stat in the game, alongside the Hurricane. So, obviously, you'll be going quite fast with this Kart. You won't have to wait a long time to get to that top speed either, because whilst the acceleration stat isn't the best, it's by no means the worst, seeing as it's a 5/10. The handling and weight are also other good stats for you, meaning that you can get around tight corners, as well as knocking your competition out of the way. However, as mentioned above there are issues with the drift and items stats, as they are both low, and this is especially bad with the items stat, because if you are at the back, then you're going to have to rely solely on your speed to get back up, because you likely won't be getting Triple Mushrooms for a boost.

What's Changed?
Retro tracks are now a huge portion of the Mario Kart games, typically amounting to half the courses in the game. But usually these courses change some things up, so in this section I'll help you find out "What's Changed" in the retro tracks.

This time, I'm looking at Mario Circuit 2. This track first appeared right back in Super Mario Kart, before reappearing in Mario Kart 7. Now, as you can tell by the picture the biggest change is that the ramp has now been changed into a gliding panel, meaning that once you cross it, you are in the air. A trick ramp has also been placed so gliders can trick off of it. Other than that, the main changes are the straights getting lengthened, especially around the final corners, because otherwise gliders could just cut the corner. As a result of this, the finish line has also been pushed back a bit.

Ace Shortcut
In this small section, I give you a way to shave a few seconds off your time, whether you know about it or not. Be warned, most of these shortcuts will require a Mushroom.

This issue I bring you a shortcut from Coconut Mall.

Whilst this might be one of the more well-known shortcuts, I have decided to cover this one for us today. Just after the first escalator portion of the track, on the right, is a shop with an open door. If you use a Mushroom or a Star, you can drive right through the shop, cutting a corner.

Pocket Handbook
Written by:

''Well here we are again, it's always such a pleasure. Do you remember when you killed me twice?''

Oh wait, that was just a fever dream from eating too many hot cross buns. Easter's come early this year, mofos, and I'm deeply regretting it! I have never said all the decisions I've made were good ones, just that I made them all with the utmost confidence! Speaking of confidence, this issue happens to land on the same month as International Women's Day, which took place on March 8th, a lovely holiday founded by those filthy communists the Australian government loves to deride so much, which focuses on the accomplishments of brilliant women throughout history... such as yours truly. To that end, I wanted to cover a Pokémon that was exclusively female, but also packed enough of a competitive punch to honour all the ass-kicking women around the world... so of course, I settled on the pink puffball, Chansey. Because nurses are some of the most hardcore gals you'll ever meet, trust me.

So, Chansey. Chansey was introduced in Generation I as a standalone Pokémon that was most famous for being a massive pain in the bloody ass to catch, being an extremely rare encounter exclusively in the Safari Zone, where it was very likely to just toss its little arms up and shout "fuck it, this isn't getting me anywhere in life," whereupon it would promptly run away. It was seen as largely a useless Pokémon in standard play back then, despite dominating the competitive scene (as all Normal-type Pokémon did in Generation I), but Game Freak decided it would be best to remedy that by introducing an evolution for it in Generation II called Blissey, more on that later. Evidently, Game Freak wasn't satisfied leaving things at just that, and decided to introduce yet another stage in the Chansey line in Generation IV with a pre-evolution called Happiny... the less said about that little twerp, the better. All three of them are noted for their strong empathetic and caring nature, going out of their way to make friends, give hugs, and nurse injured people and Pokémon to health, with Chansey and Blissey laying highly nutritious eggs that bring happiness to anyone that consumes them. It's all very cutesy-wutesy and saccharine, but their actual competitive performance is anything but.

As I said before, Chansey dominated the competitive scene in its introduction, but fell off with the Special stat split in Generation II and the introduction of its far more durable sister, Blissey. However, Blissey held on as a mainstay in the top tiers consistently in every generation since its creation... until this generation, where it ended up falling off in comparison to the sister it overshadowed all those years ago. Karma is a bitch, ain't it? Nothing necessarily changed that much in terms of skillsets or anything, but one single item changed everything; Eviolite. What this does is grant a staggering Defense and Special Defense boost to the holder if they still have another evolutionary stage ahead of them, which Chansey does, elevating its already staggering Special Defense stat and its otherwise pathetic Defense stat by another additional 50%, shooting it far above that of its sister, Blissey. It becomes capable of actually dealing with physical attacks, while making it damn near undefeatable by special moves. Its offenses are still piss poor, but Chansey is not being used for raw damage in any form, so that's really not a concern in any way. There's a lot that can be done with Chansey's moveset due to how durable it is, allowing it to run supportive and disruptive duties wonderfully without having to fear common wallbreakers, but the most common moveset you'll find and the one I have for my Chansey &mdash; affectionately nicknamed Florence after the most important figure in nursing history, Florence Nightingale &mdash; would be the following:

Now what we have here is a very easy way to piss your opponent off, if they have no means to break you down. It's actually kind of hilarious. Soft-Boiled is there simply for being a potent heal based on max health percentage, while Heal Bell will cure you or your teammates of any debilitating status debuffs that may be putting a dent in your team's performance. If it's more convenient for you, you can breed her with Aromatherapy instead of Heal Bell since it literally does the same thing, so just food for thought. Seismic Toss is to circumvent Chansey's pitiful offensive stats as it's a set-damage move that will hurt the opponent for whatever their level number is, which will invariably be 100 in most competitive circles, which is a great way to infuriate Pokémon with a really low HP stat such as Hitmontop, Alakazam, or even Deoxys. Finally, we have Toxic, which you should know by now is just a staple on any defensive and stalling Pokémon, since it'll rack up ever-increasing residual damage on your opponent, placing them on a timer if they don't have any status heals on their team.

If you're worried about raw damage dealers, you can opt for Thunder Wave to cripple your opponents, especially if you're worried about a particular threat towards another one of your Pokémon. Wish is a great supportive move that allows Chansey to run as a medic for the rest of your team, allowing her to set up a potent heal for a teammate she can switch to. Reflect or Light Screen can be employed if you want to boost her defensive capabilities even further, and Substitute can be used to stall out your opponent even further if you're simply trying to whittle them down. Counter is the ultimate dickmove for any opposing physical damage dealers that have to play their cards carefully to avoid being OHKO'd by a ridiculous recoil of Counter damage. Trust me, it's incredible.

Chansey has three possible abilities, with her standard options being Natural Cure and Serene Grace, and her hidden ability being Healer. Serene Grace is really not viable on Chansey at all due to her not being an offensive Pokémon, so skip on that one completely, while Healer is more of a double or triple battle ability as it'll grant her a %30 chance of curing one of her allies of a status condition, although you'd probably be better off just using Heal Bell or Aromatherapy if the condition needs urgent attention. So that leaves Natural Cure as the most consistent ability, allowing Chansey to cure its own status conditions without having to waste Heal Bells or Aromatherapies, and it's probably the easiest one to obtain as well. There is but one item Chansey can run to meet her full potential, and that's Eviolite, for without this item she's just a poor man's Blissey. Seriously, Chansey is a Pokémon that is insanely reliant upon her held item, putting her at a great deal of risk if her opponents run Knock Off or Trick, since that'll weaken her defenses to such a point that she'll just be a liability. This lack of Leftovers does a lot to harm her in the long-term, damaging her sustainability especially in the face of potent wallbreakers such as Mega Gardevoir (with Psyshock), Mega Heracross, or Mega Lucario. This isn't helped by her terrible defensive typing, granting her a glaring weakness to Fighting, no resistances, and an immunity to Ghost... a very uncommon attacking type. Chansey struggles against set-up sweepers like Gliscor, Landorus or Mega Scizor, or set-up walls like Clefable, Forretress or Mega Sableye that are either immune to her status conditions or just don't care much about them will use her as set-up fodder, at which point there's really nothing she can do. As stated before, she's hugely vulnerable to losing her Eviolite, and being unable to hold Leftovers leaves her easily whittled down by raw damage dealers, since she can only spam Soft-Boiled for so long before you're no longer able to heal more than they can dish out. Probably her biggest nuisance is Gengar (and its mega evolution, of course) with Taunt, since it'll literally wall every single move Chansey has whilst whittling her down considerably. But play to your defensive strengths, work around your opponents' counters, and you'll have yourself one of the toughest gals in the PokéWorld.

Mario Calendar
Written by:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to March's Mario Calendar! I still have no news on this section, so it's time to see which Mario-related games were released during March in the past!


 * March 1st
 * 1997 (EU/AU): Super Mario 64 (N64)
 * 1998 (NA): Wario Land II (GB)
 * 2012:
 * (JP): Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (3DS)
 * (EU/AU): Super Mario Bros. (NES-3DSVC)
 * March 2nd, 2012 (EU): Mario Party 9 (Wii)
 * March 5th
 * 2007 (NA): Wario: Master of Disguise (NDS)
 * 2015 (NA): Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (Wii U & 3DS)
 * March 6th
 * 2007 (JP): Yoshi no Tamago (NES-WiiVC)
 * 2009 (EU): New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Wii)
 * 2014 (NA): NES Open Tournament Golf (NES-WiiUVC)
 * March 7th, 2013 (NA): Wrecking Crew (NES-3DSVC)
 * March 8th
 * 2007:
 * (JP): Yoshi's Island DS (NDS)
 * (KO): New Super Mario Bros. (NDS)
 * 2012 (AU): Mario Party 9 (Wii)
 * March 9th
 * 1996 (JP): Super Mario RPG (SNES)
 * 1999 (EU/AU): Mario Party (N64)
 * 2007 (EU): Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (NDS)
 * 2008 (NA): Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
 * 2009 (NA): New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Wii)
 * March 10th, 1998 (NA): Yoshi's Story (N64)
 * March 11th
 * 2005 (EU):
 * Super Mario 64 DS (NDS)
 * WarioWare: Touched! (NDS)
 * 2010 (CN): WarioWare: Snapped! (DSiWare)
 * 2012 (NA): Mario Party 9 (Wii)
 * March 12th, 2015 (JP): Mario Party 10 (Wii U)
 * March 14th
 * 1995 (JP): Mario's Picross (GB)
 * 2005 (NA):
 * Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN)
 * Yoshi Touch & Go (NDS)
 * 2014 (NA/EU): Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
 * March 15th, 2014 (AU): Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
 * March 17th
 * 2005:
 * (AU): Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN)
 * (JP)" Donkey Konga 3: Tabe-houdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku (GCN)
 * March 18th
 * 2005 (EU): Mario Party 6 (GCN)
 * 2010 (KO): Mario Power Soccer (Wii)
 * March 19th (JP)
 * 2014: Super Mario USA (NES-WiiUVC)
 * 2015: Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Everyone in Mini-Land (Wii U & 3DS)
 * March 20th
 * 2013 (JP): Luigi Mansion 2 (3DS)
 * 2014:
 * (JP/KO): Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS)
 * (BR): Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U)
 * 2015:
 * (NA/EU): Mario Party 10 (Wii U)
 * (EU): Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (Wii U & 3DS)
 * March 21st:
 * 2000 (JP): Wario Land 3: Fushigi na Orgel (GBC)
 * 2001 (JP): Super Mario Advance (GBA)
 * 2003 (JP): Made in Wario (GBA)
 * 2012 (JP): Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GBC-3DSVC)
 * 2015 (AU):
 * Mario Party 10 (Wii U)
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (Wii U & 3DS)
 * March 24th, 2013 (NA): Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
 * March 25th, 2008 (JP): Dr. Mario & Saikin Bokumetsu (WiiWare)
 * March 26th
 * 1998 (EU): Wario Land II (GB)
 * 2009 (AU): New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Wii)
 * March 27th:
 * 2007 (JP): Donkey Kong Jr. Math (NES-WiiVC)
 * 2013 (JP): Donkey Kong 3 (NES-3DSVC)
 * 2014 (NA): Dr. Mario (NES-WiiUVC)
 * March 28th
 * 2005 (NA): Mario Party Advance (GBA)
 * 2010 (NA): WarioWare: D.I.Y. (NDS)
 * 2013:
 * (EU/AU): Luigi's Mansion 2 (3DS)
 * (JP): Game & Wario (Wii U)
 * March 29th, 2010 (NA): WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase (WiiWare)
 * March 30th, 2006 (AU): Super Princess Peach (NDS)
 * March 31st
 * 2005 (JP): Yakuman DS (NDS)
 * 2009 (NA): Game & Watch Collection 2 (NDS)
 * March 1995 (NA): Mario's Picross (GB)

And that concludes this month's list!! We'll meet again in April!!