The 'Shroom:Issue 152/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

Hello my dear readers, and welcome to November! We're about halfway through the month and the amount of stuff that's been on my plate has beaten, battered, and broiled me alive. The combination of a fall show, senior government, and college comp has been rough to say the least. But that first thing is over with and the second is nearly done! And on top of that, it's already snowed here so that's been my cue to start breaking out the Christmas music. (despite many people I know yelling at me that "It's Thanksgiving first!!" But what good are Christmas songs if you can only listen to them one month of the year, anyways?? Most of them are really good!)

My deal aside, 'Shroom Recap has returned after a lengthy absence! Be sure to check it out! And remember that we're always looking for new writers, so head on over to the Sign Up page if you're interested!

To the American readers, I hope your Thanksgiving goes splendidly and may you not be trampled in your Black Friday adventures. To everyone else, enjoy what the rest of the month has to offer. Without further ado, the offerings of this month's Pipe Plaza awaits!

Section of the Month

Interview
Written by:

Hello, 'Shroom readers! It's me, Perch! Here with yet another interview - my second to last, actually. Just this month and December, and then I'm out. Can you blame me, though? It feels like two years is about how long I can handle doing this section at a time. Don't worry, I'll still be around writing other things! But in the meantime, we've got two more to go, and one of them's with IcicleRain. That one you're getting right now, so go ahead and give it a good read!

The Interview: maroon Hello, 'Shroom readers! Welcome to the penultimate interview I'll do unless for some reason I come back in 2023 to do even more interviews! Probably not, though. maroon And for this month, I've decided to extract information through intense interrogation from IcicleRain! navy oh no navy thats not what i was told navy also: 2023 is really far away navy spooky maroon It is, and yet it's entirely possible I'll still be writing Mach Speed Mayhem in 2023. Depends on what Nintendo does! maroon (This is where I'd tell you to go vote, but there's no voting this month) navy (what if i vote anyway) maroon then you've DEFIED THE NATURAL ORDER navy years of not voting only to finally vote navy when theres no voting maroon it's preparation for making everyone vote harder later maroon So! Speaking of years, you've been around a while. What brought you to the boards in the beginning! navy oh boy that was a while ago navy im pretty sure i was just exploring links on the wiki navy and found the boards navy i do remember i liked the boards because i liked the idea of putting pictures in my signature navy so i guess peoples' cool sigs brought me to the boards! maroon Well, how'd you find the wiki, then? navy ah, that i do remember navy i was trying to find green stars in mario galaxy 2 navy and i decided to cheat a bit and google them lol navy and i ended up on a wiki page for one of the galaxies! maroon wow maroon how COULD you maroon you cheated yourself navy i think it was yoshi falls navy i did cheat myself maroon So that explains what brought you here - our encyclopedic knowledge. But what made you stay around? navy but it turns out cheating pays because i 100%ed it navy well, i admit ive never been very active on the wiki. but i definitely stuck around the boards for a while navy mostly it was just the cool people i met maroon Like me, naturally! navy i dont think a lot of those people are still around but i remember having lots of fun playing games like bgo and draw it maroon But yeah, you were part of what I like to call the 2015 Crew navy very much like you maroon NEX, LN1, Star, that whole gang navy yeah exactly maroon i am perpetual and transcend time gaps navy i think i really joined about 2014 but thats definitely when i was most active maroon It feels like most of those people are still around, just not on the boards themselves... which applies to a bunch of people. navy i have large time gaps but just when you think im gone for good....i come back maroon It's an interesting observation in the way the community shifted venues while remaining relatively cohesive navy yeah, i think a lot of people have moved from the boards to other parts of the community, including me! maroon And yet i drag you back to the boards for voting. Truly, I am a monster. navy i guess thats the nature of the internet, right? maroon Pretty much! navy im pretty sure all of my most recent posts are indeed voting maroon I've seen a lot of communities move off message boards in the recent years but stay firm. navy there are definitely lots of people who i've become friends with here that i would find it hard to just totally cut ties with, even if im not on the boards navy so its good that its such a varied community! maroon I've never quite understood how people are just able to go "nah, bye everyone" and drop all connections like a hot potato. I don't think I ever will, honestly navy im definitely a bit guilty of that. i dont 100% remember why/when i left, but i think i just became so busy i couldnt be active for a few weeks and just...stayed inactive navy definitely do not advise maroon Ghosting people is the woooorst. maroon At least say goodbye navy yeah, ghosting sucks maroon but then you came back! maroon What made you remember the place? navy i did indeed navy oh boy navy i got discord and like a fool i linked my skype account navy my skype account that was in that old mwiki skype chat navy am i even allowed to talk about that anymore maroon I mean, you can, but it doesn't change that the skype chat was a horrible mistake. navy anyway, discord recommended me a lot of mwiki people due to the skype account navy so i guess you have internet big brother to thank! maroon Fond memories of the time people discussed how they were going to bait someone they didn't like into getting banned, right in front of multiple people in authority maroon thanks, NSA maroon i know you're reading this navy i think i left before it got too bad navy hi eu nsa maroon Then you lucked out! It got pretty bad. navy so yeah, that was what triggered me coming back! i think i found it easier to be active on discord because i could have it on my phone maroon Honestly having a wider range of people in the discord chats probably helped a lot with avoiding some of the circlejerking from the skype days maroon M O B I L E F I R S T navy yes, from what i remember the skype group i was in was extremely 2015 gang navy okay perch i have a question for you navy is there a 2019 gang maroon Yes, actually! navy thats good maroon But they've basically stuck to the boards entirely navy yeah, that makes sense navy i dont think i strayed far from the boards too much back then either navy a bit of irc i guess maroon so they probably feel nonexistent due to not trying to join the discords and talk to the older people more active on there navy i definitely wouldnt know them, yeah maroon So, speaking of the community, what's your personal view on the 'Shroom? maroon Feel free to needle us in our own paper maroon Nobody will mind because nobody reads the interviews HEYO navy i admit i dont read the shroom too much, probably as a result of not being that active off discord navy but i know that it is immensely high quality maroon You should!! maroon Everyone should!! navy and its a very important part of the community navy i know i should maroon We've got over 150 issues to read and by that I mean don't read all of them the early ones are very 2007. navy ill read the 2015 ones maroon valid maroon also read my MSMs navy yes i will navy next time i have a break im probably gonna sit down and read the last few issues navy i remember i used to read fun stuff back around 2015 actually! navy or the equivalent of fun stuff maroon That was fun stuff, we haven't changed the teams at all since Issue 100 maroon Kinda wild to think about that, really navy thats about 4 years ago, that was 2015 navy but yeah, i like all the puzzly stuff navy good fun maroon Is a good team, though I feel it tends to get overlooked maroon I still don't get why Fake News has such a massive audience in SOTM votes compared to everything else. maroon It's real weird. navy people prefer fiction to non-fiction i guess maroon *shrug* maroon Anyhow! maroon Any other comments on the community or your personal history you feel like making? navy hmmm navy oh one thing in particular is that i never know if im using the right name when im talking to older community members navy i still always have to check before i call you perch maroon Luckily, I consider all five or six of my names valid navy so if i ever use the wrong name for somebody please forgive me! maroon Will do! navy my mwiki brain is stuck in 2015 maroon You could call me Silver Waddle Dee and i'd just be confused as to how you learned that name navy so it will never accept name changes navy i hadnt heard that one actually navy can i call you dee maroon I mean, if you want! maroon But yeah it was my Userpedia name maroon From like 2008-2013 when Userpedia was actually, y'know, alive in some capacity navy now thats a throwback navy yeah, i missed out on userpedia mostly maroon The rise of the boards as a community hub meant that most community fiction was generated there instead navy i think potentially there is still a page for me there maroon And these days people don't really focus hard on it, most comics and stories appear for the Awards navy that makes sense about things being generated on the boards navy if thats where the community is, thats where you want to put things navy ah, i checked. im listed as a user but i dont have a page maroon And you NEVER WILL navy i know navy i think i tried to make a page before it closed but anton deleted it navy very sad times maroon oh yeah, wasn't it like maroon a five word joke page navy yep navy to be fair navy my history here is basically a five word joke page navy but i fully understand not wanting that immortalised on userpedia, haha maroon "who is iciclerain even lol" navy thats worse than i remember navy i thought it just said 'iciclerain is a user' maroon Oh yeah, it did! Which... yeah, no need to leave that on userpedia when you're archiving it. navy true navy like i said, i do understand deleting it navy at least my name is in the records navy hey, and now there'll be proof of me in the 'shroom! maroon Yeah, when you agree to sign up for a section once your schedule clears up some navy honestly, i have often talked about writing for the 'shroom, and i definitely would like to navy but my life is perpetually busy navy 'things will get less busy when i finish school! things will be less busy at university!' navy all lies maroon Maybe try your hand at a special section? maroon We've got a special issue next month and it'd be a good non-committed one-off to practice navy yeah, thats probably the best idea, but not next month im afraid navy got lots of deadlines coming up navy i was talking with people about it last summer, so hopefully this summer navy if you've got any ideas of something for me to write, and you have a way to contact me, let me know! maroon Sounds like a plan! maroon So all in all maroon Are you glad you came back, even on the edges? navy yeah, definitely navy theres a very strong sense of community around mwiki, even with users im not especially close to navy and ive also met lots of new users who ive become good friends with! maroon I've seen some negativity about the future of the community, buuut I think we've collectively got a few years in us yet! navy absolutely navy i think its inevitable that the community will change forms navy but i find it hard to imagine it ever dying out completely maroon Same here yo maroon it'll be 2050 and the community will be alive, having completely abandoned text for instantaneous thought transmission maroon With the exception of two people still on IRC. maroon (and I'll be one of them, just in case) navy imagine trying to moderate instantaneous thought transmission maroon the fools maroon i can now moderate them at the SPEED OF THOUGHT navy oh no navy it backfired horribly maroon at last i will rule with the iron fist i have always dreamed of navy you won't have to tell anyone who to vote for - you can just see who they want to vote for straight away navy oh, i just meant tell anyone to vote navy its been a long day haha maroon That's the matter of timezones. At least you're not in Australia maroon or Malaysia maroon I've had some exciting interviews navy but then it would be the morning! i would have had a short day navy you certainly have, i read up on a few so i knew what to expect maroon I've done, let's see... maroon this is my 44th interview maroon wow navy oh wow navy you're a real pro by now then! navy that explains why its such high quality content maroon Pretty much! maroon It's like the oft-mentioned MSM, it improves over time maroon I look at my debut Captain Falcon article and I'm like "wow this is very clearly before I got my groove" navy yeah, writing is definitely helped by experience maroon I'd also say go look at my old 2007 writing for comparison, but better yet: maroon Don't. navy haha, okay, i won't. navy i'll find some that are slightly more recent navy 2008? maroon jokes on you maroon it took me five years to write for the shroom again navy oh no, i really have been fooled maroon i wrote for like 3 issues in 2007 and then completely ditched writing for the paper until 2012 navy and live on the internet too maroon You really think someone would do that? maroon Just go on the internet and fool people? navy not until today :< maroon I'm sorry for shattering your now-lost innocence navy oh well navy it had to happen eventually maroon So, circling back to Mario games maroon Would you say Galaxy's among your favorites? It did bring you here after all! navy yes, the first one definitely navy i actually replayed it over the summer and it still really holds up! maroon Oh, nice! navy i was surprised by how much better 2 was compared to how i remember it actually maroon Yeah, I personally preferred the first one, primarily due to enjoying the more open levels maroon Dusty Dune, Freezeflame, and so on maroon reminded me in a good way of Sunshine, which is still my favorite 3D mario navy yes, thats a good point. two's levels felt a lot more linear navy potentially im just a little bit biased since one was the original navy so it was in my heart first, haha maroon Makes sense to me, I've got a couple games that I keep around and replay because of nostalgia value navy i will say playing it now it seemed a lot easier than 9 year old me remembered as well maroon Luckily for me, some of my big nostalgiaburgers hold up just fine - oh I know, right!? navy but maybe thats just because i remembered the levels maroon For me I think it's because like maroon take Yoshi's Island GBA, it was super difficult for me in 2008 maroon then i spent the intervening six years playing a bunch of ridiculous Platform Hell games maroon and then I come back and blitz through YI maroon it's all in the training navy ah, true navy its all my gaming experience maroon soon you will be invincible navy the best navy there were still a few levels that were very rage inducing, though. so i guess that comes after i get good at them maroon Any other big standout Mario games for you? navy hm. i really loved bowser's inside story! navy but i never actually beat it. i got to the final boss and it was just too hard. and then the game ended up being sold at some point navy which is a shame. but i loved the humour in it! maroon Perhaps you can save the day with the remake! SAVE ALPHADREAM except too late they're dead navy i was always more into rpgs than platformers navy yeah, im definitely interested in the remake navy ive been keeping an eye out for sales/pre-owned copies maroon I think it's a shame because it feels like the remakes lost out hard, especially BiS, due to being remakes maroon but AlphaDream probably couldn't afford to make fully new games navy yeah, thats a good point navy i just didnt use my 3ds enough to justify buying it when it came out, sadly navy and now im not sure id have time at all to really commit to it maroon It happens, yo. maroon I have such a goddamn backlog navy but! definitely would recommend on the off chance anyway on mwiki hasnt played it navy same perch maroon At least better organization has helped me make a real start on it! navy i think i have a steam backlog of like...100 maroon As it turns out, all I needed on steam was an indicator of "i beat this game" and "i didn't" navy haha, that sounds like a good idea! maroon and now despite the imposing size I've already cleared like 15 games off of it in one year maroon with plenty linedu p next navy i bought dark souls a couple months ago so im trying to hold off buying anything until i beat that maroon Whch doesn't SOUND like much, but when you consider my usual was 3 or 4 on steam a year... navy no, thats definitely a big achievement navy forget reading 7 books a year. try beating 7 games a year! maroon I probably read like 70 books a year. maroon I'm a fast reader. navy i'm a pretty fast reader, but again, i lack the free time navy i think i've read about 3 or 4 this year so far. maroon What I do is make time! Commute, bathroom, mealtimes, anything with a spare moment can be used for reading! navy i think i would get a lot of strange looks if i was reading while i walked to university, haha navy and probably some angry people after i walk into them maroon It takes practice, but eventually you learn how to detect people approaching and adjust accordingly maroon Source: personal experience navy hey, do you know what was very useful to help me finishing a book this year? maroon My first guess for some reason is "hospital stay" navy haha, no thankfully. navy not yet at least! navy i spent about two hours in a customs queue when i visited the us. navy so it was quite handy to be able to pull my book out and read it in the queue! navy not quite how i imagined reading on my holiday maroon Hey, it works!. navy oh, definitely maroon Whenever you visit I'll be sure to accidentally break your leg to ensure more reading maroon Because that's what friends do navy oh no! not with us healthcare prices! maroon Damn, you're right maroon Okay, I'll visit you overseas, and THEN break your leg maroon Problem solved! navy that sounds a lot better navy thank you for the thought! maroon Have you ever had any Mario games that just Did Not Work for you? navy so for some reason navy i was never able to get into mario and luigi dream team! navy was that what it was called? im sure you know the one maroon i do because i had the EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE navy even thought it was an m and l rpg, my favourite genre maroon like maroon i love the original M&L trilogy to bits navy yeah, im really not sure what it was. i think i just wasnt very captivated by the story maroon superstar saga, partners in time, and bowser's inside story maroon and then dream team just... didn't work navy yeah, i loved BiS maroon I eventually sold it off and I almost never do that with my games navy in a more literal sense navy i had uh...super paper mario? the wii one navy and at one point the game just kept freezing! maroon Oh yeah, I heard of that navy i learned after that it was a bug, but id already taken it back to the shop maroon apparently it's a very rare glitch with the disc is - yep navy but i got to trade it in for strikers charged instead maroon did you feel HARDCORE navy which is still a game i enjoy playing when i have access to my wii navy haha, not especially i dont think navy i thought it was a bit goofy tbh maroon It's definitely got a unique aesthetic though navy yeah, it was quite unique. i liked the style a lot, but just in the context of mario i thought it was quite goofy navy but other than that i think i've enjoyed all the mario games i've played! maroon Somebody sure isn't picky. navy well, i haven't played them in a long time. going back now it might be a different story! maroon Very true, very true. maroon Anything exceptional with regards to other series game-wise? maroon Good or bad! navy hmmm, i have to admit ive never been too loyal to many series navy wait, do you mean any mario series navy or just any game series maroon Oh, any games series in general. You talked about your big good and bad Marios. navy yeah, okay! navy i played all the original mass effect games. navy i thought they were all pretty good tbh navy oh, and I've played all the recent animal crossings maroon Did 3's infamous ending bother you? navy yes, i hated the end of animal crossing 3. navy no, i didn't actually think me3 had that bad of an ending navy it was anticlimatic, yes, but I think the end of anything that big is more than likely going to be pretty anticlimatic maroon Huh, interesting! navy by big, i just mean dramatic more than anything maroon I remember seeing the controversity live navy yeah, i remember it too navy to be fair, i played through all 3 of them in the space of about a year navy whereas i can imagine if you'd been playing them all in real time, waiting years for each one to come out navy then it would be a lot more annoying navy of course, there is also my one true love navy Sid Meier's Civilization maroon Which I have also never played! navy I've only really been around to be properly interested in V and VI maroon We have much different tastes in games. navy yeah, i think that's true navy but in a way that's good navy having a community with lots of varied interests keeps things exciting! maroon It does! Other people can write about the series I would never cover, for example navy yeah, exactly navy haha, i often get told I should write for the Shroom about civilization maroon See? People understaaaand. navy i guess that would go in strategy wing, right? maroon Pretty much, unless you go hard on the review side, in which case Critic Corner. navy ah yes, of course navy hmm, i'm trying to think of other game series navy but i think im much more into standalones maroon A valid decision! maroon Standalones include some of my favorite vidya maroon especially when it comes to steam navy yeah, definitely navy pc is a good home for stand-alones, especially for indie devs navy oh, i play the sims a lot! navy thats another series navy and another one that's not too common around here, haha maroon It's interesting to think about how much PC pulled away the hidden esoteric games that you used to see on stuff like GBA and DS navy i had to google esoteric but yeah i agree navy i guess it makes sense, especially for games that need less power to run maroon Pretty much. Especially with Nintendo phrasing out the handheld line, now your choices are either big consoles or PC navy a lot of people who would be interested in games would own at least a slightly below average pc, right maroon yep! navy yeah, they stopped making games for the 3ds range now didnt they? maroon Yep navy and with that, my nintendo journey has been stopped at least temporarily maroon I think the UTTER FAILURE of the BiS remake and the fact it straight up finished AlphaDream was a big part in that maroon just "it's clearly no longer sustainable" navy yeah, i heard almost nothing about that after it was announced navy it makes sense - the switch has done pretty well, hasnt it maroon pretty much! maroon switch has taken off like a rocket maroon revived dead series maroon gotten all sorts of big titles maroon (IT'S F-ZERO TIME I STILL BELIEVE) navy i wouldnt be that surprised by a new f-zero navy i still say that ill get a switch when they announce mk9' navy or maybe when they release it maroon See my hope is, no offense, that they don't put out a new MK9 for a while maroon Because if they do F-Zero's screwed with the ONE RACING GAME policy :V navy i can understand that navy ah, i see maroon Also I got a switch when they announced Metroid Prime 4!! maroon ...Yeah. navy i was moreso thinking that it ultimately probably wont be a huge step up from mk8 at this point navy i've never actually really played any metroid games! maroon That's also true, they'd have to overhaul with gimmicks navy and yet i main zss in smash maroon You should! They're good. navy yeah, i really should navy are the prime games platformers? navy i always forget navy ah okay i googled it and i was correct in thinking they weren't navy if i was going to play metroid games i think i would play the prime series, but right now i dont think i really have a way of playing them maroon No Wii? navy not with me, no navy back at home with my parents navy so maybe a game for next summer! maroon perhaps!! maroon So, besides gaming. maroon Any other habits you've developed? navy like hobbies? or do you want to hear about my terrible nail-biting habit navy in my free time, i play hockey and i like running maroon Hobbies, though good luck with the nails! maroon Took me years to handle that. navy and more relaxing, i like to read as much as i can, but otherwise i like to just game and/or watch youtube/netflix navy i do some coding outside of my uni work as well, but i'm not very good and i don't have too much time to learn, haha maroon Someday! That's what I always tell myself. maroon I've got 60 more years, time to learn stuff navy haha, exactly navy time to learn stuff when im learning stuff all day every day navy when i'm NOT learning stuff all day, i mean maroon Pretty much. Just gotta find the tiiime. navy yep! navy lately i've been trying to get into livestreaming as well. but again, where's the time? maroon Beyond the horizon......... navy hopefully! maroon So, I'm curious maroon Would you say this is the last question? navy is it cheating if i've seen this question in other interviews navy because i think it might be the last question maroon A litttttle. maroon But you came to Mariowiki by cheating, so... navy true, it's very in-character for me! maroon Makes sense. maroon Thanks for the interview! navy No, thank you!

Conclusion: I know I've said this many times, but it remains solidly true - just because someone doesn't have any special ranks or isn't the most active ever, doesn't mean they aren't worth learning about! In fact, I think only a handful of people I interviewed in this entire run of last year and this year have any sort of significant rank or position. Most people this time around have been just regular users who I thought were worth putting the spotlight on. I'll see you next month as I do that one last time!

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:

Hello, 'Shroom readers! It's everyone's favorite unelected Director, Superchao! I'm doing Poll Committee Discussion this month, so... time for some discussing of the polls!

Poll Committee News
Not much to say here! We've got some plans in the works, but no need to spill the beans just yet. More importantly, we'll soon be opening a new position in the Poll Committee! Get those applications ready!

Analysis

 * Are you interested in the upcoming game, Luigi's Mansion 3?: If there's one takeaway I can make from this, it's that people are on the whole really interested in LM3. Not only do we have about 72% of our voters just flat-out saying they're interested, another 12% are reserving judgement entirely. Between those two, over four-fifths of respondents confirm that they aren't negative about it! What's interesting to me is how evenly the rest of the voters are split. Whether they're not interested but thinking LM3 looks good, interested but thinking LM3 looks bad, or just don't care at all about it. It seems like Luigi's Mansion 3 has done a good job of winning people over - it'll be interesting to see how people feel about it after it's been out for a while.


 * Nintendo recently added 20 SNES games to the Nintendo Switch Online service. How do these games affect your opinion of the service?: The addition of the SNES games resulted in some surprisingly varied opinions! But the main two are "this improves my already positive opinion of the service" and "this is not enough to make me want to commit" - pretty much the exact opposite viewpoints, interestingly enough. The other viewpoints aren't as strong, though we do have some blocks in terms of no opinion, as well as people wanting them separately like VC, which I really can't blame them at all for. We know NSO will go down someday in the future, so what if you wanna keep playing then? Can't keep it around like Virtual Console could on Wiis. We've also got people who think the SNES games are carrying the service to begin with! What really interests me is how little anyone voted for "I dislike it because it stops Nintendo from making the other parts better". A simple rejection of the theory that they could repartition time elsewhere, or just a preference for different poll choices? It's always hard to tell.


 * How important is a Mario game's soundtrack to your enjoyment of the game?: Music! Game music has been memorable since the days of the NES and arcade... though not really before that. Pretty sure Magnavox didn't even have music... anyhow, quite a lot of people agree good music's very significant! Between the 36% saying the soundtrack is the most important aspect, and the 45% saying that a quality soundtrack is significant though not the most important, we've got four-fifths of respondents saying Music Matters. And I mean, look at Yoshi's New Island - absolutely infamous for its soundtrack issues. What's interesting to me is the 10% of people saying it depends on the different Mario series. I'd really like to hear more about this - is it RPGs where the music matters? Platformers? What is it, my mysterious voters? Regardless, as the tiny, tiny portion of votes at the bottom shows, soundtracks matter to almost everyone on some level. Better get those composers some paychecks, Ninty, because they're raking in some cash for you!

And that's all the polls I have the info to discuss this month! Next month, expect an extra-large poll analysis!

'Shroom Recap
Written by:

After an extended hiatus, I'm overjoyed to welcome you back to The 'Shroom Recap! Raregold has, for personal reasons, elected to step away from this section, so, for the foreseeable future, the Section Feature will no longer be a part of this section. If anyone out there happens to have in interest in digging into the history of The 'Shroom, though, it can certainly make a return.

That said, the User Feature is making its return this month. For this month, we'll see if we can't strike a chord with one of The 'Shroom's prominent writers from the paper's early days. Yes, remarkable towards the end of his tenure for his music, Stooben Rooben has a long history with The 'Shroom as both a writer and a staff member. So, what did this musician do for the paper?

Early History: Real Tips and Tricks and Fake News

If you've been reading The 'Shroom for some time, you might be aware that Stooben Rooben was the first Strategy Wing Director, taking the helm of The 'Shroom's gaming-centric team and creating a platform for those looking to share tips, tricks, and histories for games of all kinds. Would you believe, though, that Stooben sowed the seeds for that major development with his very first section? Stooben first joined The 'Shroom all the way back in issue XI, where he debuted From the Mushroom Vaults, a section which explained its purpose rather succinctly with its tagline of "Tips, Secrets, Hints, and Cheats for Mario's games!" That description wouldn't sound too out of place for the team he would eventually go on to direct, would it? In his first edition, he quickly established the section's usual structure by divulging some secrets for The Thousand Year Door, providing hints for Super Mario Galaxy, sharing some cheats for Super Princess Peach, and sharing some tips for how to best make use of items to win at Double Dash!!

Stooben would continue following this strategy of providing one example of each category in the section's tagline every month until he reached issue XVII, at which point the section's structure became more variable from month to month. After one more month of a random smattering of games in issue XII, he took to giving each month's edition a theme, announcing the month's theme right next to his name in the upper right corner of the page. In the following months, Stooben would theme the section around retro games of the time, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario RPGs, Paper Mario, DS titles, Nintendo 64 titles, obscure Mario titles, DS Yoshi titles, and the outgoing Director Blitzwing as he produced a new edition month after month. The first major change came to the section in issue XXIII. Theming the edition around the Famicom, Stooben announced that, from this point on, the section would feature only one, slightly more extensive cheat so that he could focus more on his duties as Director of The 'Shroom. Beyond that point, the section slowly began to dwindle away. It was absent in issue XXIV, so Stooben showcased two cheats in his SNES month in issue XV. The section covered Wario Land 4 in its final edition, before disappearing once more in issue XXVII. The section's story comes to an end with the Director's Notes in issue XXVIII, where Stooben promises From the Mushroom Vaults will return the following month. Unfortunately, that promise would not come to fruition… in the near future, at least. Even though the section unfortunately came to an end without a proper conclusion at the time, it remains notable as Stooben's first endeavor with The 'Shroom, one which lasted two years.

From the Mushroom Vaults wasn't Stooben's only section during this time period, though. Stooben juggled three Fake News sections around 2008 and 2009. He made his Fake News debut in issue XII, writing Obituaries. He had a simple take on the section, keeping to the core idea of providing humorous accounts of the deaths of various Super Mario characters ranging from Don Pianta to Bowser Jr. He stuck with the section through issue XVIII, only skipping issue XIII and XVII in that time. Simultaneously, he briefly wrote Local News from issue XIV to issue XVI, coming up with absurd news stories about various community members, including on about his own mysterious disappearance. Fittingly, that edition brought an end to his time with the section. He returned as a Fake News writer to write a single edition of Poll in issue XXIII before completely moving away from his early work with Fake News, though. Of course, he had a rather good reason to be invested in Fake News during this period. He was the Fake News Director from issue XIII to XVIII. Records list him as Fake News Director in issue XXII, as well, but as far as I'm able to tell, there is no Fake News in issue XXII. Normally, I'd have something to say about Stooben's work as Fake News Director, or I could at least give a nod to his Director's Notes for the team, but, looking through old editions of the paper, it's difficult enough to even verify that he held the position at the time. There's little indication of Stooben's activity in the position beyond The 'Shroom's historical records.

Stooben's early work may not have always been the most organized or predictable, but whether a long-runner like From the Mushroom Vaults or miscellaneous sections like the two editions of Monthly Report he added to issue XXIII and issue XXVI, his numerous contributions added a significant amount to the publication as it found its footing. He didn't limit himself to writing in this period, however. He would soon aim for a much more substantial position within the paper…

(Sub?) Directorship and Interviews: Stooben's Middle Years

In the middle of this busy period of writing, Stooben ran for the Directorship at the end of 2008, ultimately winning issue XXII's Director Election with forty-seven voters endorsing his leadership. Tucayo, who took second place in the election, with five votes, would go on to become Stooben's Sub-Director when he officially stepped into the role of Director in issue XXIII. In that very same issue's Director's Notes, Stooben lays out some ambitious plans for the paper. From that issue onwards, Fun Stuff is formalized as its own team. In order to improve the quality of the paper, Stooben also introduced a rule stating that any writer who is at least one month late with their sections must be fired from The 'Shroom. Stooben also promised two new sections which he planned to debut in issue XXIV. The second of these two sections, Fan Fiction Monthly, was intended to be a showcase of an user-created content which members of the community wanted to share. It never materialized as a formal section, but similar concepts have been used in Palette Swap and its precursor Music and Artwork. The first proposed section is a bit more unique, and nothing quite like it has since arisen. As Stooben puts it, "Additional Commentary allows users to PM or e-mail 'Shroom staff members questions, comments, or suggestions." The staff member who users reached out to with their commentary was expected to provide a publishable response to Stooben. Unfortunately, this unique idea never truly materialized as a regular section either. There were instructions in the Director's Notes of issue XXIV letting users know they could contact any staff member to offer their commentary, but no commentary was ever published. When issue XXV came out, the idea was scrapped in favor of providing a "Contact Us" link on the Main Page.

Why did those ambitious plans get derailed? Well, as it turns out, Stooben went inactive a month into his tenure as Director. Though he was still considered the Director in issue XXIV, Tucayo had to step in to write that issue's Director's Notes and put The 'Shroom together that month. By the time issue XXV released, Stooben had swapped positions with Tucayo, becoming the Sub-Director. Given his circumstances at the time, Stooben decided that Tucayo could better serve as the paper's Director, and settled into the Sub-Directorship to aid him as he could. Stooben continued to serve in his new role through issue XXVI and XXVII, before again swapping places with Tucayo and resuming his Directorship in issue XXVIII. The wild up-and-down ride continued in the following issue, as Stooben resigned and Tucayo once again rose to the occasion and filled the Director position. At that time, Tucayo expressed his uncertainty as to whether Stooben had resigned completely or had elected to return to the Sub-Directorship. As it would turn out, Stooben had chosen the latter route, and would once again serve as Sub-Director under Tucayo from issue XXIX to issue XXXIV. As it turns out, Stooben would remain a significant force during this second tenure as Sub-Director. In response to arguments about the quality of The 'Shroom and the future of the paper in the wake of the proposal which reconstructed the Wiki's Pipe Plaza project as a team in The 'Shroom, Stooben proposed some major revisions to The 'Shroom in The Director's Notes of issue XXXII. As he explains:

"Let's face it. The 'Shroom has reached an all-time low in quality that I never even fathomed possible. The paper's quality is poor, our sections are far too short, our 'funny' sections are anything but, and we've done NOTHING to stop this. (I include myself in the blame.)"

Stooben's proposals included a section limit on users, keeping writers limited to only actively writing two sections at a time. He advocated for increased standards for grammar, formatting, spelling, and content. As part of this, he proposed the requirement that a section should have a minimum of seven-hundred characters (excluding coding). This suggestion remains a part of The 'Shroom Manual of Style to this day, albeit in a modified form. He proposed that trusted users be put in charge of overseeing teams and sections to ensure they met standards of quality, proposed creating a position for an Editor-in-Chief who would proofread and edit issues before release, proposed an overhauled method of handling situations where writers could not submit their sections on time, and advocated for the abolition of multiple sign-up pages for different sub-teams. That there is currently only one centralized page for anyone interested in writing for The 'Shroom reflects the influence Stooben's suggestions had on the evolution of the paper. Of course, not all of his proposals remain relevant. He suggested that the paper be split between Wiki news and entertainment, with Wiki news being The 'Shroom's priority. As the paper's six varied teams show, subsequent developments have taken The 'Shroom in a different direction.

At the end of 2009, Stooben once again tossed himself into the fray in issue XXXIII's Director Election. While the results were more divided than they were in his first election, Stooben won with 21 votes with a campaign in which he continued to promote the reforms he introduced during his time as Sub-Director and promised that, with his recent retirement from Userpedia, he would have more time to devote to The 'Shroom. Stooben assumed the Directorship in issue XXXIV, and, with Tucayo once again at his side as Sub-Director, started his term off with a short survey for all readers and an outline of his ambitious plans to expand The 'Shroom's team of writers and create new systems of rewards and surprises. This second tenure as Director proved much more stable than his first, and The 'Shroom made some major advancements in this period. By issue XXXVI, Stooben had already overseen aesthetic improvements, with Tucayo making new banners for the paper's teams to give them extra personality and visual appeal and Super Mario Bros. introducing the paper's new seasonal backgrounds. Though he contributed nothing but his signature to them in issue XXXVII and almost completely ceased writing the Director's Notes starting in issue XXXIX, Stooben's second term as Director proved much more stable than his first term. Stooben remains the Director for his entire term, seeing the position through all the way to issue XLVI. In that time, the paper continued to grow and improve. One notable leap forward came in issue issue XL, where Stooben briefly resumed writing Director's Notes to announce the creation of an Awards system for The 'Shroom (the precursor to the current End of the Year Awards) and to update the community on his plans to overhaul The 'Shroom Sign-up page. Unfortunately, Stooben did disappear for a short spell when issue XLII released. With Stooben missing and Tucayo unavailable, Super Mario Bros. stepped up as a substitute director and put the issue together that month. Thankfully, Stooben returned the following month to see out the end of his term.

Stooben didn't leave The 'Shroom just because his time as Director came to an end, though. While he was still Director, he conducted his first interview' with Super Mario Bros. in issue XXVI. Though it would be a short while before Stooben fully committed to writing the section, this early experience helped him to establish his style of providing a short summary of his interviewee's history with the community before moving on to an extensive interview. His first regular edition of the section debuted in issue LX, where his interviews with Master Crash and Crocodile Dippy snagged him the Section of the Month Award and set the stage for a series of regularly-published interviews. He would go on to interview Superchao, Smasher, Ralphfan, Tucayo, Anton, and New Super Mario before conducting his last interview with Edofenrir in issue LXIX.

Outside of Interview, Stooben's engagement with The 'Shroom was limited during this period. He assumed the now-defunct position of Affiliates Manager for a brief time, taking the position up in issue L and holding it through issue LVIII. Of course, no one would ever know that without looking at The 'Shroom's historical records. As far as I can tell, his tenure in that position is never once mentioned in The 'Shroom itself. He also contributed an extensive reflection to issue LXVI's Awards Committee Commentaries, sharing detailed thoughts on his experience as a member of the Committee that removed Ralphfan from the directing staff, his experience hosting a Team Fortress 2'' tournament and co-hosting Awards Mafia with Smasher, and his overall impressions on making presentations and watching the ceremonies come together. Stooben ended this period of his time with The 'Shroom with his special contribution to Palette Swap in issue LXIX. Yes, Christmas in the Key of 2012 both referenced the popular notion that the world would end in December of 2012 and showcased Stooben's musical talent by presenting to readers an original edgy Christmas song about the apocalypse. As it would turn out, though, music and Team Fortress 2 would go on to be significant factors in his grand return to The 'Shroom…

Stooben's Big Finale

After an extended absence, Stooben Rooben makes a grand return in issue 100, where, in The 'Shroom's largest issue to date, he contributes a Rare Crossword themed around the game development studio Rare and celebrating the then-upcoming Yooka-Laylee, an introduction fo his upcoming 'Shroom Mafia III game, a special Police Blotter honoring The 'Shroom's beloved mascot, the first edition of two new regular sections, and a brand new team with himself at the helm. In addition, he worked with the rest of the staff to produce a tribute to Satoru Iwata in the form of Please Understand: A Satoru Iwata Memorial. We'll return to Strategy Wing and Stooben's efforts there in a moment. Before we dive into that, it's worth looking at what Stooben was up to in other sections of the paper during this busy period.

The first of the two regular sections Stooben debuted in issue 100, 8-Bit Amphitheater put Stooben's musical talents on full display. The premise of the section is simple. Every month, Stooben shares a number of chiptune versions of popular songs and songs from videogames that he created himself. These chiptunes are neatly displayed in a compact table packed with information and links so that readers can listen to Stooben's music through whatever medium they prefer. He then goes on to explain his reasons for selecting the songs to, share some general thoughts on each song, and gives readers some insights on the process of creating these chiptune versions. He dutifully kept chipping away at his chiptunes through issues 101, 102, 103, 104 105, and, after switching to a bi-monthly schedule in issue 106, issue 107. The decision to put the section on a more relaxed schedule helped to alleviate the time crunch that led to issue 105's edition lacking the usual videogame music chiptunes. It might have allowed for the section to continue on past issue 107, but unfortunate circumstances intervened to bring the section to a premature end. There will be more to say on that in a moment, though. Before moving on completely, though, it's worth noting that Stooben put his musical talents to work with one other special section during this time period. Stooben worked with Crocodile Dippy to create the 12 Days of 'Shroom Christmas, the two of them not only coming up with the lyrics, but actually performing and recording the song so readers can listen to it. It's easier to just listen to the song and read the lyrics than to read about it, but the highly unusual holiday piece does an excellent job of celebrating The 'Shroom's staff from the time it was written.

Stooben wasn't just making music, though. He also put together a Halloween-themed Super Mario crossword puzzle in issue 103, an issue in which he also debuted the new bi-monthly Critic Corner section The Stoob Tube. The section's tagline puts it best, asking with characteristic charm "[y]ou say you need a TV junkie to review TV junk?" He starts off with a review of Supernatural in issue 103. Though he misses issue 105 due to computer issues, he makes up for it with his Bojack Horseman review in issue 106 and immediately follows up with a review ofThe X-Files in issue 108 as he tries to get back on schedule. Once again, the section came to an early end after issue 108 because of unfortunate circumstances, but we're still not quite there. We still need to discuss Strategy Wing!

Yes, in issue 100, Stooben becomes the first Director of the newly-created Strategy Wing team. Month after month all the way through issue 111, Stooben leads the fledgling team through a major debut followed by a period of fewer sections marked by a struggle to attract new writers. Even though it was not the largest of teams, Strategy Wing found its footing under Stooben with a selection of consistently high-quality sections. He was able to celebrate as he finally attracted his first new writer in issue 105, and he gave his Director's Notes a bit of flair each month by including nods to Team Fortress 2's Medic in his notes and his staff portrait. It only seems fitting that the writer who so long ago had his start with The 'Shroom writing From the Mushroom Vaults and covering the hidden secrets and strategies which could help readers beat various videogames should go on to oversee the creation of The 'Shroom's videogame-focused team.

Speaking of From the Mushroom Vaults, actually, it must be noted that the section made its grand return in issue 100 as a cornerstone section of Strategy Wing! Yes, after a hiatus which spanned more than seventy issues, the section even returned with the same tagline of "tips, secrets, hints and cheats from Mario's games!" The section kept the same simple premise it had been built around during its original run, though it now emphasized quality over quantity. Rather than aim to have one example of each category in its tagline, it now focused on one or two extensive examples. In issue 100, it covered Donkey Kong Land and Yoshi's Woolly World. After skipping issue 101 due to technical difficulties, the section continued with an overview of all of the secret exits in New Super Mario Bros.2 in issue 102 and a look at the locations of all the Speedy Spirits in Luigi's Mansion in issue 103. Stooben missed issue 104, but kept the section going into issue 105 with cheats from Donkey Kong Country 3. He skipped out on issue 106, and forewent the section in issue 107 in favor of putting together the Zelda Calendar and the Pokémon Calendar in order to showcase how much had come from those two franchises in their respective thirty years and twenty years. While Stooben would continue promising the section would continue in his Director's Notes through issue 109, it unfortunately never returned with Stooben as a writer. Like Stooben's other sections during this period, From The Mushroom Vaults came to a premature end with the changes in staff and the changes in the community which resulted from the tragic death of Walkazo.

The 'Shroom's tribute to Walkazo, issue 111, would turn out to be Stooben's final issue with the publication. As he explains in his final edition of Strategy Wing's Director's Notes, Stooben decided to leave all of his positions with The 'Shroom in order to focus more on his personal life. He may have left in this issue, but he did not leave quietly. In this single issue, he shared his retrospective on 'Shroom Mafia III, worked with Crocodile Dippy to create an annotated list of the best one-hundred songs of the decade, wrote a fever dream of a Cooking Guide with Dippy, Packy, and Super Mario Bros., joined the community in sharing his memories of Walkazo, and created one last chiptune for a special 8-Bit Amphitheater as a farewell to Walkazo. With that final song, Stooben Rooben's long history with The 'Shroom came to an end.

All in all, Stooben's work with The 'Shroom continues to echo in the structure of the paper and its policies today. He's no longer with the publication, but dig deep enough and you can find his traces of his proposals which continue to shape The 'Shroom. It seems unlikely he'll return, but he's left a legacy behind nonetheless.

Thanks are offered to Crocodile Dippy (talk) for the tables and LudwigVon (talk) for allowing us to modify them. All information is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of issue 151.