The 'Shroom:Issue 153/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

December has eaten me alive, readers dear. Save yourself before it's too late.

Seriously, between school, my birthday, Madrigal, getting sick right before said Madrigal, and now with Christmas coming up, I've barely had time to do much anything else. Thankfully, next month will not be near as hectic!!

To the readers, I hope you have a lovely holiday season and an even batter New Year's. I have nothing else to say so enjoy the last Pipe Plaza of 2019!

Section of the Month

Interview
Written by:

Hello, 'Shroom readers! All good things must come to an end at some point. And that is true of the interview, which ends here! I hope you've enjoyed them, as I finish it off by interviewing Shy Guy on Wheels, a young lad who's been around here since 2017. Without further ado, off we go! The Interview: maroon Hello, 'Shroom readers! I'm here for my final interview EVER or unless I come back in a few years a third time! maroon And I've decided to interview Shy Guy on Wheels. Say hi to the people! navy hello maroon So, as always, we gotta start at the beginning. How'd you first find the Super Mario Wiki community, way back in the day? navy I think it was a year or two after I got back into Nintendo games navy I'm not sure how specifically I found the wiki, probably just trying to find information on Mario games navy and I noticed a typo on an article and decided to make an account to fix it maroon Heroic and powerful. What article? navy The list of boss arenas in Mario Kart DS maroon I keep forgetting Mario Kart DS is a game that happened, for some reason. Despite having no reason to forget it. navy I'm not sure why I returned to the wiki later, but it caused my to find out about the forums navy I ended up joining it to play forum games maroon like mafia, perhaps? navy I haven't played many Mafia games navy Awards and both of Roserade's Mafia games navy Awards Mafia 6 to be precise maroon Awards Mafia was a good way for Mafia to end, I feel. maroon Wild game, solid ending, lots of nonsense. navy Mafia's been replaced by Killing Game in a way maroon Pretty much. I think with regards to Killing Game it helps that they're so few and far between. maroon A KG every month and it'd already have died off. maroon So what made these forum games keep you around? navy I eventually started using boards besides Forum Games, and eventually stopped using Forum Games entirely navy because I got discussion about things I enjoyed maroon Neat! That's the best reason. navy which is surprisingly hard to get in real life maroon Hmm, just don't know people with the same interests, or something else? navy it's mostly that I can't find other people with similar interests navy I have a few friends who also play video games, but they mostly talk about games such as Rainbow Six Siege maroon It happens, unfortunately. But hey, you get the chance to talk here, so that helps! Mario, Metroid, F-Zero once everyone knows all about it thanks to me... maroon So you only joined in 2017 - does it ever feel weird, coming into a forum that's been around for so long? navy sometimes navy the internet is old, some of it older then me navy so I expect a lot of things on the internet to have existed before I started using it maroon We've had a new user who is officially younger than the Wiki itself. maroon It's wild. navy no not the wiki navy oh waiy you're referring to another user maroon yeah maroon just the fact that someone has joined who was born after the wiki was founded makes me feel like time is an illusion navy the fact that there's always new users joining makes it feel less weird that I joined more recently then most members navy though it it is weird to see old threads maroon That's a good point. The influx is less these days, but we still get some! maroon Old threads in general or old threads with active people? navy old threads in general maroon Huh, why's that? navy it's seeing these people that I've never seen before, and don't know anything about just having a discussion dated back to before I even knew the forum existed navy it's mysterious in a way maroon Oh, that makes sense. Sort of a "wow, this place really IS old" feeling. maroon Reminds me of how I thought your name might possibly be a reference to ancient forum history when you signed up initially and I didn't know who you were yet. navy I assume your referring to Willy on Wheels maroon Yep yep maroon And then it turned out no you were a perfectly normal new user. maroon Why did you pick the username, anyway? navy I was playing Mario Kart 8 once, and I just said when I passed someone "Shy Guy on Wheels coming through" navy the "on Wheels" part referring to the kart maroon And it stuck as a moniker, I take it? navy yes maroon Well, trust me when I say I highly approve, Shy Guys are good. maroon Give them their own game, Nintendo. navy stop relegating to the equivalent of Goomba's in Yoshi games maroon At least there were like maroon 20 different varieties of Shy Guy in Yoshi's Island. I always found that neat! navy that is a good part of them appearing in Yoshi's Island navy Goomba's only ever get variants in RPG's and obscure spin-offs that people have forgotten maroon the legendary Rhinestone Goomba... navy I've learnt about a new Mario enemy today maroon Reminder that Elvis is Mario canon thanks to the Super Show. maroon As well as Mikhael Gorbachev, Dr. Frankenstein, and Albert Einstein navy with how weird early Mario related media that wasn't made by Nintendo was, I can see why Nintendo isn't very willing to let other developers use their ips maroon I think in some ways it's a tragic loss maroon the movie was bad but it was very very fun navy I've never seen the movie, and I don't think I want to maroon It's... a ride. maroon You should, trust me. navy I'll consider watching it then navy though I'm not fully convinced it's a good idea maroon It's not! maroon Do it anyway! navy I assume it's one of those 'it's so bad it's good' type of films maroon Very very much so. maroon Oh, circling back to the wiki for a bit, I'm curious. maroon Do you still edit regularly, or not these days? navy my activity has pretty much halted navy I may edit if I notice something while browsing the wiki, but I rarely do that navy I've made about seven edits this year navy one of which was on the presentation sign up page maroon Any particular reason, or are you just busy or not REALLY FEELING IT these days? navy I just don't feel like editing the wiki maroon Fair enough. It's definitely a unique group who do it these days. navy editing the wiki is still an important task navy you have to admire the dedication some users have, such as trying to find obscure and lost media maroon It's wild how many trivial aspects of Mario are lying somewhere on one person's shelf and nowhere else in the world navy I hope that person, uses the wiki or the internet and has published their findings online maroon I wish. Nobody talks about the 1999 F-Zero site... alas. maroon But then again, that's not Mario, and Mario's a biiig deal. navy it's kind of hard to find obscure information for games that aren't Mario, Pokemon or Smash navy they have huge communities dedicated to them maroon Or Zelda. I've read all abotu those weird CYOA books from the 90s maroon good old not actually independent NIWA navy Zelda is also a popular series navy though I often end up forgetting about it maroon well it's not like you're Moblin on Wheels, to be fair navy I think I often forget about it because I rarely see discussion about it navy it's really easy to find people who are big fans of Pokemon or Fire Emblem maroon that's pretty fair, Zelda feels like it's more low-key fandom in most cases navy but Zelda fans seem to be harder to find navy it is popular, and it has its fans navy but dedicated fans aren't common maroon but what are you a dedicated fan of??? navy I'm not too sure actually navy I wouldn't say Mario maroon i think a lot of people here wouldn't say Mario maroon it's nice, but it;s not many people's favorite navy maybe Smash navy I really enjoy the games, and try to keep up with speculation and leaks maroon good ol' grinch maroon THAT was a ride navy I can't believe I fell for that maroon i can believe it, it was a surprisingly high quality leak with manufactured evidence most of them don't go for navy I was expecting a character to be announced at TGA navy not sure how I feel about potentially waiting until January/Febuary for the final character of the fighter's pass navy I can see Nintendo announcing and releasing them on the same day maroon that'd be a wild way to do it maroon any particular hopes for you? navy nothing realistic navy I do want Hornet from Daytona USA navy I'd also like to see the playable character from Hollow Knight navy though I don't see either of them happening maroon at this point i could potentially buy anything if the case was made well enough navy after TGA almost all trust in leakers has just disappeared navy so I don't think there's any characters that are considered to be likely maroon I forget, did the big names stake their claims on "yep, happening at TGA"? navy most of them did maroon rest in peace navy Sabi was vague about it, as expected from them maroon well yeah maroon sabi's strategy is basicaly maroon "be so vague it can be interpreted fifteen ways, then pick the one that actually happened" navy I think people were getting tired of Sabi before The Game Awards maroon so what's your favorite aspect of leak culture, anyway? navy just speculating on what could be in Smash navy the leaks help to create this idea of who the next character could be navy I like it when I have an idea what's happening maroon Ah, that's interesting! I've known people who prefer not to have any idea what could happen next. Why do you prefer an idea? navy It just makes it easier to understand what's going to happen navy rather then being left in the dark and having no idea whats going on maroon I see! Interesting view. maroon Actually, speaking of Smash, which one's your favorite? navy game? maroon Yep navy probably Ultimate navy there's so much to do navy especially with spirits navy and almost the characters are fun to play navy which is probably helped by the gameplay navy also Stage Builder is really good in this game maroon I really need to branch out and try more characters sometime maroon I just main Falcon for everything navy I have the opposite problem navy I just can't decide on my favourite character navy I'm always picking up new characters, and then dropping them maroon Any particular standouts either way? navy Wolf navy and K. Rool navy I've used them since the beginning of Ultimate and have yet to drop them maroon nice maroon so you're THE BAD GUY navy Banjo and Kazooie are also fun navy bad guys are often cooler then heroes maroon just listen to the DKC songs! maroon k. rool has a bunch of good ones navy Gangplank Galleon and Crocodile Cacophony are great navy they should bring him back maroon i remember hearing somewhere that rare DID consider bringing him back for the tropical freeze remake, but they were asked not to so his big return could be smash. i could be wrong though navy I think that's just a theory navy no solid evidence pointing towards it navy though it does make sense maroon it does maroon NOW IS HIS FINEST HOUR navy hopefully navy if Ultimate wasn't just a one off maroon i don't know why on earth they made a donkey kong cartoon a musical maroon but i'm glad they did. navy at least we got songs such as "I'm Leo Luster" maroon but ARE you leo luster? navy no navy but I wish I was maroon just do what bluster did maroon and find your inner Leo navy didn't he drink a potion first maroon not the second time navy true navy but the potion could've given him the power maroon the power to BELIEVE IN HIMSELF maroon all you gotta do is be so hip that it hurts navy maybe one day I can be just like Leo Luster navy a far off happening cat maroon So, do you like Mario games in general, or more just specific ones? navy I think it's in general navy though I do have specific interest in Mario Kart maroon Oh, neat. Why's that? navy I just like racing game in general navy I grew up with Super Circuit, DS and Wii navy and there some of my favourite on there consoles navy and in the series maroon is this when I recommend that you play F-Zero navy so I think nostalgia plays a role in my enjoyment of Mario Kart navy yes maroon excellent maroon you should play F-Zero maroon especially GX, incredible game navy I tried the original navy on the SNES Classic and the Switch maroon SNES F-Zero is practically a different franchise from GX, the game system is totally different and it being 3D changes a lot maroon but what'd you think? navy it was ok maroon that's how i feel too maroon SNES F-Zero didn't age as well as GX did navy trying to master the tracks at high speeds was fun maroon and that + GBA is the limit of my experience lol navy but it's dated maroon anyhow, recommendations of getting the gamecube game if you ever can aside maroon do you have a particular least favorite Mario Kart? i felt that'd be more interesting to lead off with navy Super is dated, but as I have explained many times in the past, 7 and 8 are my least favourite games navy just no room for experimentation or learning maroon See, that's really interesting to me - the newest games being in your view the weakest! maroon What squeezes out the room for learning? navy I assume they did that after the "disaster" that was Wii's online maroon Having never played Mario Kart outside of Double Dash, i have little firsthand knowledge. navy take my opinion with a grain of salt then navy the games are worth checking out navy but I just don't like them navy anyway, Wii's online was Funky Kong on Bowser Bike navy there were also a ton of 'Ultra Shortcuts' navy I assume that casual players felt left out navy so Nintendo try to fix this problem by making players play the game the intended way maroon and the intended way was heavy-handed regulation? navy pretty much what they did navy you won't notice when playing it normally navy but try to do something even remotely unusual, such as say drive backwards navy Lakitu will pick you up and tell you to stop navy you can also see this mentality in Deluxe navy where they patched out techniques such as fire hopping maroon huh, interesting maroon i would not have guessed if i had played casually, but it reminds me of how F-Zero GX just blows you up if you try to skip too much of the track navy I didn't know it did that navy I watched a speedrun once it was literally the vehicle flying off the track and doing whatever maroon yeah, you gotta pass certain invisible checkpoints on the track, but they can be tricked if you do the right things maroon so as long as you know where you have to be, you can indeed just fly off the track and into bullshit land navy that's pretty much what ultra shortcuts are in Wii navy except the lap doesn't count if you fail navy rather then you vehicle exploding maroon mario kart is slightly more forgiving than F-Zero maroon one fall done... navy that's pretty much difference between arcade and kart racing games navy ones a casual experience designed for everyone to enjoy navy the other is unforgiving that you need spend ages trying to master maroon So besides Mario Kart, any other specific Mario games that are really among your top favorites? navy Odyssey was good, and I also liked World maroon The modern AND the classic! Always a good sign, in my view. navy the gameplay in Odyssey is good, especially with the use of Cappy navy and the Kingdom's are just fun to explore navy World has good level design navy it's levels are around the right length navy 3 often felt like its levels were to short maroon Having never played 3, I'll have to take your word for it. What about something like YI? navy I'm not a fan of Yoshi's Island navy having to explore the levels for all of these rather useless collectibles can become tedious maroon But don't you want the self-satisfaction of 6000 points??? navy when it's so annoying to get, not really maroon Fair, fair. Odyssey has the variety to keep you going, then? navy Odyssey's challenges feel liked they have variety, alongside the game being fun to play navy plus the little jingle every time a moon is collected makes them feel more important maroon Musical tones are very important! maroon I really need to play Odyssey, yeesh. I'm so behind the times... navy collectibles in Yoshi's Island are more like Regional Coins navy except they're the main collectible navy and the don't give you cool costumes maroon and you can lose some of them if you get hit navy I do find it annoying how the game expects you to not get hit in levels navy despite the fact it's one of the harder Mario games maroon At least they let you cheese it in non-boss levels. That's always a help! navy how do you do that? maroon you can get +10 and +20 star items in bonus stages, pop one right before the goal ring and watch your stars shoot up to 30 navy that helps navy though the red coins and sunflowers are still rather annoying to collect maroon That they are. maroon Out of curiosity, though. You've discussed 7 and 8 quite well. maroon Any other Mario games you just actively disliked? navy Super Mario Bros. 2 is also a game I don't like navy the game feels rather slippery, and the jump physics are weird maroon USA, or LL? navy plus some of the level design isn't the best, but that's to be expected of a game so old navy USA navy though I'm also not a fan of the original SMB maroon It's always interesting to me how much of that stuff got worked into Mario long-term when it didn't start as Mario navy like Shy Guys navy I also don't like 3D World maroon imagine where you'd be without USA maroon Dry Bones on Wheels? navy probably maroon What's the issue with 3D World? navy I do like Dry Bones navy I'm not a fan of how it controls in eight directions navy also doing precise platforming in 3D isn't fun navy most games that do have precise platforming have some sort of back up option to correct your jump navy such as double jump navy or Cappy navy but 3D World doesn't have anything maroon It has your belief in yourself to get it right the first time, clearly!!! navy I think it's also partially that I'm bad at video games and I'm blaming the game for my faults navy but every time I replay I don't enjoy it maroon I think if you replay and don't enjoy it... yeah, that's a problem with that game and you and the interaction thereof. maroon I've written off games for the same reason. maroon Why bother when I could just pull out one of the many games I do enjoy? navy sometimes it's just hard to explain why I dislike a game, and 3D World is one of those games maroon It's okay, I've legitimately been there. If anyone ever interviews me, ask me about Ocarina of Time! navy that's also another game that I don't like that much navy but that also applies to the entire Zelda series navy BotW is my favourite and I think it's okay maroon Huh, for some reason I'd always thought you were a low-key Zelda fan. See, this is why I interview! maroon I have learned. navy BotW does deserve the praise it gets navy but it's just not the sort of game I like maroon Fair enough! Can't like every game. maroon What non-Mario games do appeal to you a lot? Sonic is one, I imagine. navy I've had a lot of fun with the classic style games navy Mania was brilliant navy and more people need to talk about the advance series maroon I played one Advance a whole lot and it helped encourage me to get a Gamecube navy but I've never actually played a 3D Sonic game maroon Adventure 2 is still fun, imo, even if it only holds up imperfectly navy I'd have to play most Sonic games myself to get an idea of how good they idea navy considering how split the opinion is on almost every game in the series maroon sonic is an amazing franchise maroon somehow he survives anything maroon you could give him the world's worst game and he'd power through at the speed of sound navy they already did that navy twice maroon exactly! navy it's nice when he gets past the bad games navy it makes the great games feel even better navy and plus those bad games still have good sountracks navy White Acropolis is probably one of my favourite songs in the series navy and it's from Sonic '06 maroon It seems like it's really rare for a game to have an actually bad soundtrack? maroon Even some of the most iconic bad games are notable for having good music. maroon Which makes the exceptions, where they botched the music, stand out even more! maroon See: Sonic Chronicles. navy don't do that navy don't remind me of the music of Sonic Chronicles maroon we must remember the past so we never repeat it maroon but hey if you think about it maroon isn't horrible compression just BLAST PROCESSING? navy after all these years we finally figured out why the Genesis is better then the SNES navy bad compression maroon So, I'm gonna take a wild guess that Eggman's your top guy from the franchise. navy how did you know maroon just a hunch based on all the time you're him on the boards navy I do like Eggman a lot maroon What draws you to the eggman, that's what he is? I've noticed he often gets a lot of evil is cool support, so... navy he has a great personality, and Mike Pollock does the role of Eggman very well navy I don't think I'd enjoy Eggman as much as I do if I grew up during the adventure era maroon Oh, Pollock's performance is that big a draw? That's interesting. navy a good voice actor helps to bring the character to life navy I do also like Metal Sonic and Omega, but that's mostly because I really like robot character in media maroon Ooh, neat! What's the big bot draw? navy I'm not too sure navy I've just always liked them navy Metal is also an evil version of the main character navy which is another aspect I like maroon It happens. Robots are neat, after all! navy especially when they feel distinct from their good counterpart maroon so not Metal Mario and Gold Mario, then navy no navy earlier Mario games made Metal feel more menacing navy the lack of Mario defining features navy the steps navy and the lack of a voice navy it just felt mysterious in a way navy like Metal Mario is a cold creature that's out to stop the player, just like Metal Sonic maroon Smash 64 probably encouraged that impression, I'd imagine navy definitely, Metal Mario hasn't really appeared like that in many other games navy maybe Melee maroon it was interesting to me when i learned that it actually wasn't potentially everyone who could be in Melee's classic mode maroon i had always thought the pool was just "anyone can show up" navy doesn't that happen in Brawl maroon Yep, but I never played Brawl classic that much compared to Melee maroon so it's that one that sticks in my head navy I didn't touch Classic Mode that much in Brawl navy though I didn't play Brawl a lot in general maroon I wish i could replay Brawl, but my Wii stopped reading the disc navy that's happened to my Mario Kart Wii disc navy but if I try enough times it might work navy this doesn't happen on Wii U or any other game however navy they just work perfectly fine maroon Weird. Maybe I just need to dissemble my Wii, this can't possibly backfire. navy it depends on how well you understand what you're doing navy if you don't understand at all, then what could possibly go wrong navy otherwise I'd be careful maroon exactly! achievements in ignorance will win the day! maroon Have you branched out of Nintendo consoles, or fine with just Ninty for now? navy I actually spent most of my time on XBox navy playing Skylanders, Minecraft and Lego games navy then in 2014 this person that I watch on Youtube made a video on MK8 navy and from there I discovered Smash and the Wii U, which I eventually got alongside Mario Kart 8 for the christmas of that year navy I still do use the XBox, especially now that it has Game Pass maroon Huh, that's neat! Well, I'm glad you didn't limit yourself. maroon I've had plenty of new fun experiences by not limiting myself game-wise. navy there's a lot of games and genres out there navy so sticking to one can cut of a lot of potential fun from other games navy there's always new experiences out there maroon It's true. It's always annoying to me, a little, when I see people on the forum who go "well it's not Nintendo, so why would I like it?" navy especially now that Indie games are so accessible navy that annoys about Smash navy "Third-Party bad, obscure Nintendo character good" maroon yes, because Mike Jones is more deserving navy correct navy Mike Jones is very deserving navy I just wish less people would write off Third Party characters as bad maroon Saaame. All my remaining wants are third party at this point. navy I think Smash is in an awkward situation navy it wants to be a big crossover navy but it still wants to pay respect to its start as Nintendo crossover series maroon Personally, I think it's got so many Nintendo big names, I have a hard time thinking of major ones who need focus! maroon So I'm happy with making it video games in general these days. navy same, but I do feel it is bit weird trying to make a series with so much Nintendo in it, into a crossover about everything video game related navy it just feels a little weird to have the representation so lopsided towards Nintendo maroon And yet some people complain there are too many third parties... navy you've got have Mike Jones in Smash before all of these nobodies navy Sonic? navy Pac-Man? navy who? maroon Sonic maroon more like maroon Sonotrelevantic navy gottem maroon Besides video games, any other big hobbies you've got? navy reading? navy I'm not too sure really maroon you'll figure it out with time, i'm sure navy I did recently finish all five of the books in The Hitchiker's Guide to Galaxy series maroon Did you enjoy it? navy absolutely maroon nice, then it worked out maroon So, would you say... this is the last question? navy I think so maroon Sounds like it is. Thanks for being here. Conclusion: And so it ends, with me interviewing one of the newest active users I've interviewed. What a way to go out on top, huh? I hope that the past twenty-four interviews have helped you learn about the many interesting people who contribute to making up this community of ours, and if you're interested in interviewing - or, hell, re-interviewing - feel free to take up the baton. I'm not taking it back any time soon! Thanks for reading!

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:

Hey there, look who's here for the last Poll Committee Discussion for 2019! It's none other than your Poll Chairperson himself. Ready for analysis of our latest polls? Whether you answer yes or no, as long as long as your are reading this section, the rest doesn't matter to me. So, let's go!

Poll Committee News
The committee's work to provide you with new surveys is still ongoing. Other than that, in the upcoming weeks (after the holidays), we are going to start the second big project of the term which is the creation of a Feedback Survey which will take place in spring 2020. This will be an opportunity for us to see in general how the Mario Wiki performs right now by the community and the visitors.

Also, there is currently a vacant position in the Poll Committee. The application process will take place at the beginning of January 2020 in order to fill this position. So, if you are interested in becoming a member of the Poll Committee, be sure to look at the forum for more details regarding this in the upcoming weeks.

To conclude, we are always open to suggestions regarding ideas for polls. If you have one or even more, be sure to send them .

Analysis

 * How do you feel about companies/corporations other than Nintendo using Mario in their advertising (such as Arby's)?: One thing for sure is that at least 60% of our voters seems to appreciate to see Mario in advertisement for other companies other than Nintendo, but from that 23% of it prefer to know if corporations have permission from Nintendo, and it's still understandable. Think about it, you have a company, you create characters that belong to you, and then, you see another company using those characters for advertisement purpose without your permission. Would you like that?
 * Which level style do you prefer the most in Super Mario Maker 2?: Looking at this poll, Super Mario Maker 2's new level styles already seems to be among the favorites of many players, along with the classic ground level style. As for me, as an owner of this game, I must say that I appreciate the Forest level style. I can adjust the water level or… poison, if you choose the night setting. I can make secret hideouts, where everything is flooded, or level where you need avoid the poison pond at all costs.
 * Nintendo has offered their paid DLC under season pass or as standalone format for their games. How do you prefer them?: The question that seems to divide. DLC is a somewhat controversial practice and that is all depending on how a company manages them. At least 30% of our voters don't care about the DLC format, and will prefer to look at quality content, and I must say that I almost do the same with DLC.
 * The Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda series was recently added in Super Mario Maker 2. Do you want more items from other Nintendo franchises to be added?: Looks like our voters really enjoy having elements other than from the Mario franchise in Super Mario Maker 2, and I totally agree with the majority here. That being said, I would really appreciate having these elements in the other game styles as well, since I'm not really a fan of the original Super Mario Bros. game style. I found it a bit boring compared to Super Mario World or 3D World. I think it might be for this reason, that it is exclusive to Super Mario Bros., for making it more enjoyable. Maybe it is simply easier to program? I don’t know. In any case, I will not complain, since I really like any kind of additions that makes Super Mario Maker 2 more enjoyable and creative. However, at least 8% of our voters, would only like Mario elements to be added in Super Mario Maker 2. Well, after all, it's still a Mario game, right?

That's it for this edition of Poll Committee Discussion. Come back in 2020 for more poll analysis from your friendly Poll Committee!