The 'Shroom:Issue 112/Strategy Wing

Director Notes
Written by:

Greetings 'Shroom readers, I'm your new host of Strategy Wing, Meta Knight! Man do I have quite a bit of news for you all. First off, I would like to give off dearest thanks to, , , and the rest of the 'Shroom Staff for being ever so helpful in helping integrate me to this new position. Additionally, I want to wish the best of luck to, , and Stooben. You all have helped make the 'Shroom what it was today, and I can't imagine how much work you all have inserted into the project. Finally, I want to thank, ,, and all of those who have written for Strategy Wing. I hope to do what I can to bring this sub-team to new heights.

I have some other news as well. I am introducing two new sections here in Strategy Wing. The first is called Galactic Expedition and will be centered around Metroid. The other will focus around Mario Party and is titled Party Trick! Be sure to check them out if you do so desire. We are looking for writers for this sub-team, and it doesn't have to be limited to just Mario either! If you have a strong passion for a franchise such as Pokémon, Zelda, Kirby, etc. or even a popular Steam game, consider writing for us and share some of your gaming knowledge. Our sign-up page has plenty of options as well.

This shift of ideas will also be applied to the Beyond 120 Stars section that is listed on the sign up page. I am aware that it may be difficult to consistently come up with extra challenges to do in the 3D Mario titles alone, so I wish to announce that this section is no longer limited to Mario! If you wanted to write for this section but were afraid of running out of content, fear no more! I decided to keep the name because it's intriguing for an article title, but there will certainly be more than stars.

With all that out of the way, please enjoy this issue. Once again, thank you to all who have been supporting me, and I wish you all the best.

Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner
Written By:

Hello 'Shroom racers, and 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 Honeycoupe. The Kart excels in its Weight, Drift and Mini-Turbo stats, but starts to fall behind in its Acceleration, Handling and Off-Road stats.

This means that at the start of the race you'll find it hard to get up to your top speed, but with a fairly middle Speed stat, it won't take too long to get there. The issue is more with the corners, however, whilst the Drift stat might help you to take the corners tighter, you will be flung out due to the outside drift that the Kart has, but this may be a secret advantage, because with a low Off-Road stat, you will struggle if you do go out onto the grass and most corners have the off-road portions on the inside.

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 we're going to take a look at Sky Garden; this track first appeared in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, before making its reappearance in Mario Kart DS. Now, other than the usual graphics update there is only one other change, and that is an added shortcut. The player can get over a large cloud gap (after the boost ramp to an item) by using a Mushroom and hopping over it. In the original game no matter what happened the player always fell off.

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 Rock Rock Mountain, or for PAL regions: Alpine Pass.

This shortcut is just before the large uphill section. On the corner before you get there, through the trees is a ramp. If you use a Mushroom, you can get to the ramp. Simples.

Galactic Expedition
Written By:

Greetings fellow space explorers! Prepare for your tour across the galaxy! In this section, I will be taking you through the many wonders of the Metroid series. Each issue we'll go step by step different paths to take, and go through different sectors to try and help you complete your mission. To start us off, we have the original Metroid. In this game, there is no map system, so in order to get through the labyrinth-like tunnels of Planet Zebes, you will have to be exemplary and keep track of where you are headed to. Either that or you can look at this guide. Keep in mind that while I will cover many different tricks, there may be a Missile Tank missing or something like that. So without further ado, let's get started.

Our goal for today is to obtain the Morph Ball, some Missiles, and Bombs. When you first start a save file, you will appear on a platform with two ways to choose from. You want to head to the left, because the Morph Ball is right there. To use it, simply press the down button. It might seem silly that I'm explaining simple controls like that, but believe me there will be many hidden techniques in the future that can be tricky to pull off. Once you have the Morph Ball, carefully proceed to the right. Go through the door, and you will be in a room with two Zoomers (the beetle looking creatures). We can't do anything special here, so just continue through the door on the right. The next room is standard. Just keep moving and avoid getting hit by the enemies. You have the Morph Ball, so you will be able to get under the little cranny. Go the door.

At this point, you should be in what appears to be a vertical room. Carefully move your way up by jumping on the platforms, and dodging Rippers (the fish looking creatures that move horizontally). As you climb the shaft, you will eventually see a door on the right. While it appears you can climb some more, for now just go through the door and the room that follows. You should be in another vertical room except this one is yellow. No worries. There are 3 doors from here, one on the middle (that you see as soon as you enter this shaft), one on the bottom, and another by climbing to the top. For now, fall down to the bottom and take that door. Continue your way through the corridor until you reach the first Missile Tank. You now have some Missiles, which is good. Go back the way you came so that you are in the large yellow vertical room. Climb the platforms above so that you get to the door that is on the middle level (you will know it is the middle door because you will see a door on the left as well). Continue your way through the following chambers all the way until you reach another yellow vertical room.

Once again, climb up these platforms. Soon enough, you'll find that the room continues up, and there are some more Rippers above you, but don't worry about that, you can't do anything to them yet. For now, go through the door on the left. The music will change, and I recommend keeping an ear out for this tune, as it generally means something is nearby. Keep moving left, and you'll notice a red door. Red doors can only be opened with Missiles, and it requires 5 of them. To select the missile, use the select button. Then blast open the door. When you enter the room, you'll see a Chozo Statue holding an orb. Shoot the orb (you can use your regular beam), and you will be able to grab Bombs! To use your bombs, you have to be in Morph Ball mode and use the fire button. Bombs are useful for destroying certain kinds of surfaces, and this will open up many more hidden paths. For now though, I think that's a good place to wrap up this pilot section. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have some exciting adventures.

Party Trick!
Written By:

Did somebody say party? That can only mean one thing. That's right, we're going to be talking about Mario Party! Here we will be looking at different things in the Mario Party series, and figuring out different things you can do to increase your chances of winning. While the Party Mode can be fun depending on what the game, the board, and luck in general, many minigames are more reliant on skill. What kinds of things can we expect from a minigame? What can you expect from a certain space on the board? Stay tuned, and I'll show you a Party Trick! To start off this new series, lets take a look at a few mini-games from the original Mario Party.

Mario Bandstand is quite musical. 3 players pick up instruments, and one player is the conductor. It's extremely important that players remember what role they are playing. There will be a cursor on the screen indicating when the players need to play, and when the conductor needs to keep their time. It's a pretty simple minigame. You just follow the tempo of the song, and push the button at the right moment (or if you're the conductor, move the control stick). Interestingly enough, there's a similar version in Mario Party 2. You'll become a master maestro in no time once you get the beat.

Another popular mini-game featured in the first game is Bombs Away. In this game, players move around on a small island, and a boat in the background shoots bombs. The island can tilt around a lot, so it might be useful to stay away from the edges, to lessen the chance of you falling off. Additionally, it might be a good idea to watch the shadows of the falling cannonballs, to avoid getting hit. Finally, you may want to stay away from the other players. There's always a possibility that someone will try to push you off. In Mario Party 2 Bombs Away makes a return. The only difference is now, at the final 5 seconds, there will be a giant green Bullet Bill shot at the island. This may be the only time where staying away from the center isn't such a bad idea. No matter which one you play though, be careful to not fall off, or you will get grabbed by a Blooper. This minigame is fairly simple as well, but if you aren't careful you could be in trouble.

Finally, let's take a look at Mushroom Mix-Up. In this game, players are on a bunch of mushrooms, and Toad is on a nearby unconnected safe zone. He will hold up a flag of a particular color, and every mushroom platform that isn't that color will sink. You have to run to this color as soon as possible, or else you will get dragged away by a Blooper. It is possible to prevent your opponents from getting on the platform. If you get to the correct space before anyone else, you can try to wait on the edge, and do some jumps to block the other players from getting on. This does have a risk though, as if you jump while you're on the platform, other players can try to bump you off as well. If more than one player survive long enough, the platforms will drop so fast, that there will be no time to run to the color. At that point, you will have to repeatedly Ground Pound with pitch perfect timing. This mini-game is pretty fun to mess around in. The developers must have thought so as well, because it returned in Mario Party 2 under the name Hexagon Heat.

Mario Calendar
Written By:

Hello, and welcome to this month's Mario Calendar! I still have no news for you regarding this section, so let's take a look at all the Mario, Yoshi, Wario and DK games released sometime during July, which are the following:


 * July 1st
 * 1987 (AU): Super Mario Bros. (NES)
 * 1992 (AU): Super Mario World (SNES)
 * 1999 (EU/AU): Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (GBC)
 * 2004 (JP):
 * Donkey Konga 2 (GCN)
 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (GBA)
 * 2010 (AU): Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
 * July 2nd, 2007 (NA): Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES-WiiVC)
 * July 3rd
 * 2010 (HK/TW): New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
 * 2014 (NA): Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA-WiiUVC)
 * July 4th
 * 1984 (JP): Donkey Kong 3 (NES)
 * 2005 (CN): WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (iQue GBA)
 * July 5th, 2012 (NA): NES Open Tournament Golf (NES-3DSVC)
 * July 8th
 * 2010 (KO): Mario & Luigi RPG: Partners in Time (NDS)
 * 2015 (JP): Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber (NDS-WiiUVC)
 * July 9th
 * 1993 (JP): Yoshi no Cookie (SNES)
 * 2007 (NA): Yoshi (NES-WiiVC)
 * 2015 (NA): Mario Tennis (N64-WiiUVC)
 * July 10th
 * 2004 (EU):
 * Classic NES Series: Donkey Kong (GBA)
 * Classic NES Series: Super Mario Bros. (GBA)
 * 2007 (JP): Mario Story (N64-WiiVC)
 * July 11th
 * 2003 (JP): Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA)
 * 2013 (NA): Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES-3DSVC)
 * July 12th, 2013 (EU): Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. (3DS)
 * July 13th
 * 2007 (EU/AU): Paper Mario (N64-WiiVC)
 * 2013:
 * (JP): New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
 * (AU): Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. (3DS)
 * July 14th
 * 1992 (JP): Mario Paint (SNES)
 * 1993 (JP):
 * Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)
 * Yoshi's Safari (SNES)
 * 2005 (JP): Dance Dance Revolution with Mario (GCN)
 * 2007 (KO): WarioWare: Touched! (NDS)
 * 2008 (NA): Donkey Kong 3 (NES-WiiVC)
 * 2011:
 * (EU/AU): Mario's Picross (GB-3DSVC)
 * (NA): Game & Watch Gallery (GB-3DSVC)
 * July 15th
 * 1983 (JP):
 * Donkey Kong (NES)
 * Donkey Kong Jr. (NES)
 * 2013:
 * (JP/NA/EU): Donkey Kong (NES-WiiUVC)
 * (JP): Donkey Kong Jr. (NES-WiiUVC)
 * 2015 (JP): Mario Story (N64-WiiUVC)
 * July 16th
 * 2007 (NA): Paper Mario (N64-WiiVC)
 * 2014 (JP): Super Mario Advance (GBA-WiiUVC)
 * 2015:
 * (JP): Yoshi Wool World (Wii U)
 * (EU): Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (NDS-WiiUVC)
 * July 17th, 2008 (KO): Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES-WiiVC)
 * July 18th, 2013:
 * (JP): Mario & Luigi RPG 4: Dream Adventure (3DS)
 * (KO): Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
 * July 19th
 * 2002 (JP): Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
 * 2007 (AU): Mario Party 8 (Wii)
 * 2009 (CN): New Super Mario Bros. (iQue DS)
 * 2012 (EU/AU): Wario Land II (GBC-3DSVC)
 * July 21st
 * 2000 (JP): Mario Tennis 64 (N64)
 * 2001 (JP): Mario Kart Advance (GBA)
 * 2005 (JP): Mario Superstar Baseball (GCN)
 * 2011 (EU/AU): Game & Watch Gallery (GB-3DSVC)
 * July 22nd (JP):
 * Paper Mario RPG (GCN)
 * Mario Kart Advance (GBA-WiiUVC)
 * July 23rd:
 * 2008 (JP): Donkey Kong 3 (NES-WiiVC)
 * 2014 (JP): Mario vs. Donkey Kong (GBA-WiiUVC)
 * 2015:
 * (NA): DK: Jungle Climber (NDS-WiiUVC)
 * (EU): Yoshi Touch & Go (NDS-WiiUVC)
 * July 24th:
 * 2007 (JP): Mario Open Golf (NES-WiiVC)
 * 2008 (JP): Wario Land Shake (Wii)
 * 2013 (JP): Mario & Donkey Kong: Mini Mini Carnival (3DS) – Nintendo eShop
 * 2014 (JP): Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
 * 2015 (AU): Yoshi Touch & Go (NDS-WiiUVC)
 * July 25th, 2012 (JP): Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES-3DSVC)
 * July 26th
 * 1999 (NA): Mario Golf (N64)
 * 2007:
 * (JP): Mario Party 8 (Wii)
 * (KO): Super Mario 64 DS (NDS)
 * 2012 (NA): Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB-3DSVC)
 * 2013:
 * (EU): New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
 * (HK/TW): Luigi Mansion 2 (3DS)
 * July 27th
 * 1990 (JP): Dr. Mario (NES & GB)
 * 1995:
 * (JP): Donkey Kong Land (GB)
 * (EU): Mario's Picross (GB)
 * 2006 (JP): Mario Basketball 3on3 (NDS)
 * 2011 (JP): Dr. Mario (GB-3DSVC)
 * 2013 (AU): New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
 * July 28th
 * 2003 (NA): Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GCN)
 * 2006 (JP): Game & Watch Collection (NDS)
 * 2012 (JP): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
 * July 30th, 2007 (NA): Mario Strikers Charged (Wii)
 * July 1992 (NA): Yoshi (GB)

That's all for now, everyone!! See you in August!!