The 'Shroom:Issue 146/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

Welcome to May, home to World Bee Day (May 20), National Paper Airplane Day (May 26), and the Day of Geek Pride (May 25). Right now, the only events I'm prepared to take part in are the regular bouts of hayfever I find myself subjected to. Nevertheless, here I am, presenting another month of the cold hard facts. This news is REAL. Speaking of news, is taking the back seat this month to rest and recover from health problems. Get well soon, and stay safe! The bi-monthly section Shroom Recap has also momentarily become tri-monthly- that is to say, it'll be taking a quick hiatus this month and will resume as normal in June.

This month, and perhaps the one to follow, is universally recognised as the month of exams. I, myself, have got a couple hanging around. Just more boxes to tick off. The little things. Exams. Love 'em. While I tinker away at my academic studies, make sure you have a good day and read all this good stuff below.

Section of the Month

Anniversary Announcements
Written by:

Hi again and welcome to the May 2019 edition of Anniversary Announcements!

The Piranhabon
Parakoopa144 was unfortunately removed from the committee, for not having any input in ongoing discussions.

Tournaments
Tournaments are slowly starting to appear! In the table below, you'll find some info about the tournaments which are open for sign-ups and those that are being planned.

If you are interested in any of the tournaments that are currently gauging interest, let yourself be heard in the respective topics.

Ideas have been coined for ', or another Hint Hunt for a different game than last year's Super Mario Odyssey such as ' or Luigi's Mansion. None of these are set in stone yet.

Awards
To make sure all voters know what the awards are about, a short description of each award will be added under their respective names on the voting page.

M10 Favorite Song was explicitly split in vocal and instrumental musical pieces, following discussion of last year's results. Although intended as only for songs last year, many write-ins were instrumental pieces, so the distinction had to be made clear while still allowing all genres to be represented.

The Community Awards have been overhauled, merging several awards and reducing the total awards in this category from 15 to 10 in the process.

I will list the additions, removals and other changes, and then a complete list of the nominees for that award.

Refer to this document for a full list of nominees.

That was all the information for this month! Be sure to come back next month for all the latest news, and the first Committee Interviews of the season! Good day!

All information above was correct as of 2019-05-16.

Interview
Written by:

Hello, 'Shroom readers! I don't have much time this month - I had to pull things together at the last section. But I did find enough time to bring you Mariofan169, fresh for the interviewing! He's been around a few years, but he's not that old compared to others. What's he gotta say? Read on to find out!

 The Interview:  maroon Hello, 'Shroom readers! Welcome to everyone's third favorite Pipe Plaza section, the Interview! maroon This month, I have brought you a man with one of the most impressively generic names on the wiki, Mariofan169! navy I was a genius namer at 10 years old navy also how much am I being paid for this again maroon And you will live with that stigma for the rest of your days! maroon Oh, don't worry. It's the high salary of not having to suffer me hounding your door, outside of mach speed mayhem votes. navy whatever satisfies the landlord maroon So! Once upon a time in the days of yore, how did you find the wiki? navy well I was a curious 7-year old you know, always wanting to stuff knowledge into my brain navy I can’t remember exactly how I came upon the wiki, but what I can tell you is that I ate this stuff up immediately navy it even got to the point where I discovered userpedia and read up on the lore, making every user a celebrity in my mind maroon Including me, of course, as I am the one true icon of this website. navy not many other users would freak out upon seeing paper jorge for the first time in irc navy yes, I’m sure that living legends discount must be doing wonders maroon It is. I get free donuts! maroon What made Userpedia so engaging? It's super rare to learn about it doing much, after all. navy it wasn’t so much the user biographies that were gripping (besides yours of course, cough cough) navy I was more hooked by all of the user fiction the place hosted maroon Imagine if it had the legendary lost fiction from 2008... that would probably scare you off. navy hard to remember it now, but I remember eating up jorge in the family, friday night live, user soup in particular navy things 85% of the readers have never even heard of, wew I’m old navy those comics and stories haven’t exactly...aged well, to say the least maroon I think a few of them have in some way, but... yeah. maroon User Soup is the most wild to look back on, that's for sure. navy buf they were pretty useful for familiarizing myself with a big chunk of the userbase navy not in a creepy obsessive stalker way I swear navy it is a shame to see the place locked up now but tbh it’s probably for the best maroon Too late. The truth comes out!! navy I mean who even has a user oc nowadays good god maroon HEROMARIO, maybe? navy I need to stop being narcissistic and learn more about other people who have mario in their name navy no idea in the slightest who that is lol navy anyway, after I joined the wiki I mainly stuck to the community side of things navy I still do to this day, I still don’t have a single edit to my name maroon You will once we forcibly impose you as 'Shroom director. navy unlimited powerrrr etc etc navy but nah I’m uh navy quite content with my one section I only do for half the year navy (will I get the chance to do a shameless self-plug in for that) maroon Later navy I thought you would never eventually ask maroon So, we know how you found the wiki now. Why did you make the greatest mistake of your life and join it? navy it’s like I said earlier, I thought it would be nice to immerse myself into this community I was studying for so long navy ...well sort of navy I wasn’t able to get to know the mainstays, or the “legends” for the risk of idolizing them, for a long time maroon So easier stalking and obsession, got it thanks navy digging my own grave aren’t I navy instead for my first few years of my time at the wiki I stuck to some smaller chatrooms, keeping to myself kind of navy I knew the boards existed, I just put off for the longest time because navy well navy my young mind thought it was an eyesore to navigate maroon You liked watching them from afar while breathing heavily maroon okay no that's even worse maroon how??? maroon they're completely simple??? navy with the giant signatures and the jarring avatars navy but like I was a kid and wasn’t used to forum culture navy but eventually I warmed up to the place and made an account there a year later navy which is when I started making several of the friends I still have today maroon Ah. That explains so much. Just... so much. maroon like who? navy let’s see, shout outs to stargazing. icemario, chibiki daisy, icicle rain, etc navy a bunch of people I wouldn’t otherwise know if it weren’t for stuff like mindless junk and mafia and whatnot navy which were....certainly more booming a few years back, yikes maroon And they're all still here! Tied by the eternal bonds I have unleashed to bind voters for MSM! maroon Shroom Mafia. that's all I'll say. navy I’m not mad at killing game for taking its place, I’ll tell you that much maroon Killing Game definitely benefits from the sheer length between installments, imo navy no kidding, plus much more freedom and the roleplaying and hhhhhh maroon Hhhhh? did you touch a doorknob someone already touched navy I could gush about it for hours but it’s super hecking late in my neck of the woods maroon 11 PM isn't late unless you're old. navy I’m certainly old for being like “the forums aren’t like the good old days” navy but yeah, it certainly is a shame that the forums’s aren’t as active as they were in say, 2015 maroon To some degree, I don't mind. navy well, anywhere besides the marioverse and forum games anyway maroon Especially considering part of the reason for the decrease in activity is the removal of Certain Elements from the community. navy the discord argument’s a sore spot for a lot of people but I can definitely see how it’s more convenient than the forums or even irc navy I guess the community hasn’t shrunk that much with the shift to discord so idk why I’m being as lamenting as I am now maroon Because you are unable to see the way that the community remains strong in the face of change? navy again, being part of this community for...seven years does things to a man navy seven years wth maroon bitch i've been here for thirteen maroon you don't get to claim age maroon my account is a teenager navy congrats on the upcoming mariowiki bar mitzvah navy anyway it’s not like I don’t see the community as growing weaker or anything navy ah whatever let’s move on, getting too philosophical up in here maroon So, what's been the best result of you sticking around this community? navy time to shove out philosophy for even more philosophy navy this has the potential to get a bit too personal but basically, I haven’t had the best social life outside of this community navy in school, I’ve had troubles fitting in and constantly moving schools and finding someone with the same interests as me navy so this community has always been something for me to lean on, because here I’m constantly surrounded by people who like the same stuff I do navy (even if between you and me I haven’t played a mario game in about a year but I digress) maroon it's okay maroon very few people here play mario anymore navy I’m disgracing my name, I’m better off moving to something like...jojofan, idk maroon That leads well into my next question: maroon How did you become such a gigantic weeb? navy oh god where do I begin maroon At the start, silly! maroon Like all interviews! navy so one day in 5th grade I decided to get this dragon ball z game with almost 200 characters, because I have a frightening obsession with fighting games with obscene amounts of characters navy I had no idea what was going on when I got it, but I was intrigued in these characters with spiky hair and top-of-the-lung yelling navy so soon after I started watching the actual dbz anime and dbz abridged with it, and I fell in love maroon That's the most entry-level story I've ever heard. As entry-level as my own! maroon I'm proud of you. navy once I got into 8th grade I started absorbing whatever anime series I could find, starting with the classics and working my way down navy including, you guessed it navy jojo’s bizarre adventure navy my life has never recovered maroon What draws you to anime stuff in general? navy I’m just a big animation nut in general, how it’s capable of expressing ideas and concepts that are harder and downright impossible in other mediums navy anime is the epitome of that, as I was just overwhelmed by all of these different genres and stories spanning decades navy all of which I had no idea existed for the longest time navy my school friends might not let me live it down but I am more than glad that I took the jump navy which led me to my first shroom section navy I figured since I was mainly just watching series I could do something with that at least, so I decided to do a review section on it maroon I only judge you because you don't watch everything I tell you to watch. maroon Stop disobeying your elders, boy navy I’ll get to the big o eventually, mark my words maroon I have like 10 shows you need to watch, so get on it navy but mah free time maroon WHo needs free time when you have ANIME navy Rising Sun Reviews is still pretty new, about to have my third review out this weekend (something you’ll certainly get a kick out of blocky, wink wink) maroon Oh, I already read it. Rank has its privileges. navy but it’s helped me a lot I’d say, I’ve always had a knack for creative writing and this is doing nothing but helping me improve maroon Can't wait for you to do it monthly! navy and of course, I always enjoy the chance to get other people into the cult-er I mean industry navy make it faster to watch 50+ episode shows in one month and I’ll get back to you on that maroon Alternate watching them. It worked for me to switch episode to episode! maroon When are you watching the F-Zero anime btw navy I feel like it’s cheating if I haven’t played any of the games maroon >actually considering watching the f-zero anime maroon pls no navy assuming it won’t cost me an arm and a leg gx will be one of the first games I get when I buy a gamecube maroon if you ever read mach speed mayhem you will know what i think of the anime maroon GX is worth it though!! navy I’ve definitely heard yeah maroon Why a Gamecube and not a Wii, anyway? navy You Got Me There.jpeg navy I had a wii for a while until it bricked navy before I could even try that copy of Pac Man Party given to me for a birthday, real shame maroon what if the wii bricked itself to save you navy :thinking: navy contrary to my name I haven’t played an nintendo system in months navy possibly even a year maroon Maybe even... 169 years? navy it’s like I don’t deserve to be on this wiki or something maroon i mean maroon it took me an entire year to get a switch navy I asked for a switch for christmas but no dice navy not being able to play smash ultimate is one of the greatest pains of my life navy probably going to sell my wii u for it, that old dust collector maroon WHy did you buy a wii u, you wii FOOL navy smash bros makes the race of man do foolish things navy plus the gamepad works wonders for watching anime navy so it wasn’t completely useless, just 99% navy your next line is, “So what was your first video game?” maroon So what was your- NANI!? navy my first actual game was cars for the ps2 (just goes to show how much of a youngling I am) navy but the story behind my first nintendo game, wew navy a friend back in elementary school wanted to trade his copy of pokemon emerald for my copy of, of all games navy spongebob squarepants: creature from the krusty krab navy that poor poor soul maroon And you robbed him blind, I take it. navy I’m pretty sure 6-year old me thought “cool, new game!” and went on with it navy I had no quality distinction between a pokemon game and a cheap spongebob game lmao navy but lucky for me I absolutely adored pokemon emerald, and that’s how my interest in the pokemon series started maroon No, it's too late, you're a devious criminal maroon Sorry man I don't make the rules. navy I have 5 generations and to this day I’ve only completed one of them navy I’m a true fan indeed maroon Not yet! maroon First you have to get the other two generations, and then not complete those navy don’t underestimate my dedication navy I will buy a switch just to get sword and shield navy which I’ll also not complete maroon truly, you are a fan to aspire to be like navy a mariofan navy thank you and goodnight /s maroon So why DID ten year old you think that was a good name? navy my thought process was: navy “well, I’m going to the mario wiki navy “which I’m a fan of navy “add some numbers that will become unfortunate later to make myself look cool navy “and there, we’re golden” maroon golden wind, even navy thank god I wasn’t into anime back then, something tells me “jojosbizarreadventurefan” doesn’t roll off the tongue maroon So, I've got a few more questions. maroon First: what is your least favorite anime? navy I don’t have that many I downright hate but navy ...danganronpa 3 is pretty garbage maroon Feel free to go on... not that you can go on much without spoilers, but still. navy let’s see, how to describe this to people who aren’t in the dr cult navy so dr3 is actually two shows navy one has a villain plot that makes no bloody sense and is full of original characters that are super freaking unlikeable maroon Or likeable but almost immediately dead! navy and the other shoves out the cast of characters from one of the games, a cast that’s full of fun and compelling characters, and shoves them aside for just a select few of them navy can’t remember much else about it since I’m forced it out of my mind but navy it’s basically what not to do with an anime series navy having a cavity filled for every tooth is a more enjoyable experience navy without anesthesia maroon What about your favorite video game? navy it’s fairly-but-not-really obvious from what I said that I absolutely love super smash bros navy I have hundreds of hours in every game starting from brawl navy plus it’s easier to convince people to play it with me than some of the more weebish fighting games I have maroon Hiding your power level etc navy The world must never know my true identity...etc. maroon What about non-Nintendo games? navy binding of isaac is a game I have a straight up concerning addiction for navy I think I have...400 hours in it at this point? and that’s not going to stop going up anytime soon maroon I look forward to you 100% perfecting it navy it’s a kid friendly version of gambling where 90% of the time I bite the dust but I keep going anyway for that 10% navy it’s a dangerous game, blocky, dangerous game maroon Just like interviewing you maroon ohhhhh navy after I 100% it, I’ll stop playing it, settle down... navy ...and immediately start workimg on the next version coming out this year navy like I said, bit the dust maroon Why DO you like Mr. Bites The Dust so much? navy (for those at home he means yoshikage kira) navy he’s my favorite jojo character for too many reasons navy first of all the man has a fantastic sense of style navy and he’s not like other villains who do evil crap to take over the world or some nonsense like that navy the dude just wants to live a quiet and peaceful life navy can’t help but respect that navy I roleplayed as him in one killing game and ended up skewering a shark and cooking it, twas fun maroon Truly, roleplaying in a KG is the highest form of admiration. navy surely you’d love to see hades brought back after his last game navy ; ) maroon i would navy (you know, after I killed your dupe and whatnot) maroon jokes on you maroon Angie didn't want to live navy hades did her a favor by sending her to atua navy (shoutout to the audience who has no clue what this is about) maroon The best part of all interviews. maroon So! maroon Is this the last question? navy nyes navy I mean yno navy will this be on the test maroon Yes. navy just in time to not study and procrastinate maroon good man! navy but yeah, it was an honor to have you interview me maroon Pleasure's all yours!

Conclusion: There's not a lot to say down here, especially in a time crunch. So I just hope you enjoyed!

NIWA Spotlight
Written by: Hello everyone! Welcome to NIWA Spotlight, a focused list that covers one article from each of our partnered wikis that need help. These can range from articles that need more information or created to images that need replacing or uploaded. Notice something on a different wiki you can't fix or aren't sure how to and want to get the word out? Let me know on my talk page or in this forum topic and it will be added to a future issue. For our Mario-related topics, check out the current The 'Shroom Spotlight!

Abcboy made Miracle Twin (TCG) point to where it's supposed to, DekuNut improved Dart's page to cover more of his role, Torchickens deleted The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World since it apparently didn't fall within Nintendo Wiki's coverage (it happens), and Anthony1996 uploaded a clearer image of. Good work!


 * The F-Zero Wiki is undergoing an update, so editing is restricted for the time being.
 * I updated the colors, felt like it was time for a change.

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:

Another month, another set of polls. Like death, taxes, and Thanos this section is inevitable. Now prepare as we dive into the latest set of queries into the community which covers everything from business strategy in the handheld market to Nintendo's overall method of game news delivery. Enjoy!

Archives Super Mario Party has only received one minor update since its release. Would you want to see more updates in the future? ( and, April 7, 2019)

With the Nintendo 3DS family of products being eight years old now, what should be Nintendo's next step with handheld systems? ( and, April 14, 2019)

What is your opinion on the Nintendo Direct format of announcements? ( and, April 21, 2019)

Now that Joker has been released as DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, how do you feel about the character's inclusion? (, April 30, 2019)

Do you think Nintendo should move towards replacing the Mario Kart series with a crossover Nintendo Kart racing game? (, May 6, 2019)

Analysis Given the 1,125 votes for updates out of the 1,385 total votes, the consensus is that the Super Mario Party is missing something. Now what that something is, remains debatable. It does appear that fans want some sort of major shakeup of the game as roughly ⅔ of the positive responders chose options one and three.
 * Super Mario Party has only received one minor update since its release. Would you want to see more updates in the future?

For the most part besides single game mechanics, the Mario Party series has been mostly the same. You and your soon to be ex-friends play a cutthroat game abusing gimmicks and playing wacky minigames to see who can win the most coins and stars. One of the staples of the series is all the players play on the same system with limited functionality much to the chagrin of others. So when its online mode was added people were expecting to be able to play with friends far and wide, the reality came as a disappointment.

Nintendo failed to even include boards which serve as the backbone of the series into this new online mode. Seeing this it is no wonder the fans are starved for more content after being given the possibility of new updates. An extended online mode does appear to be what a sizeable portion of the fandom wants. Either that or something to freshen up an otherwise stale series. No matter how you look at it the series needs to be shaken, maybe not to its foundations, but more than a dice block with motion controls.

The results here while having an overall positive opinion of the 3DS are quite varied in nature when it comes to the nature of the overall ideas. There is an agreement though on the overall place of the Switch no matter what happens to the 3DS. While 41.39% would like to see it continued others wish to see the handhelds evolve or the resources diverted in some manner whether to the switch or other gaming platforms.
 * With the Nintendo 3DS family of products being eight years old now, what should be Nintendo's next step with handheld systems?

Again the remaining population seems to be fairly divided here. Roughly 46% of the remaining responders would like to see the 3DS done away with while 47% (switch/3ds successor and 3ds successor responses) would like to see the handheld line continued in some way. This is not surprising considering that the handheld market has always dominated much of Nintendo’s system based sales though perhaps with the play options available on the Switch people are seeing the handhelds as less of a necessity.

Nintendo has lost much of its competition in the market too with the PS Vita selling 13 million compared to the Nintendo 3DS’s 75 million. With the market now empty and home consoles being the primary state of gaming people seem ready for Nintendo to possibly change up its focus. What can be agreed upon is only time will tell what Nintendo’s next move in the market it dominates will be.

Overall the opinions of the Directs are vastly positive coming out to 81.9% of the total vote. While the majority do enjoy them with no caveats it is important to note some of the other responses, as well as the other 29% of responses, which are somewhat conditional.
 * What is your opinion on the Nintendo Direct format of announcements?

The main gripes with it appear to be that the directs are overused. This can be with there being 20 to 40-minute presentations dedicated to specific games/genres or just a general lack of announcements outside of them. Personally, the only announcements of a game outside of them I remember are Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee and Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. It seems Nintendo’s approach has become to give us all the information we can handle at once. While this is good and all it is coming at people too often for some of their tastes, especially if like me you are looking for only specific games to be announced. While it is cool seeing a bunch of cool gameplay, in the end a sizeable portion though not just a majority are looking for specific games. Whether they are in the Directs or people have to wait as there is a dedicated presentation there appears to be a noticeable wish for Nintendo to make like Donkey Kong Country and freeze up a little.

The response to Joker has been very positive after his release which bodes well for Nintendo with DLC. Joker’s positive votes made up 72% of the total responses and many seem to think he is a fun character even without having purchased his DLC. The negative or neutral responses to Joker were a lot more varied, however.
 * Now that Joker has been released as DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, how do you feel about the character's inclusion?

14.98% of the responders overall found him full with 9.28 making the comment because of his background. So out of the negative responses nearly ⅓ do prioritize series of origin. The others however either did not buy the DLC out of principle or did not want him in smash for an unstated reason which is likely to be incredibly varied.

In response to the note on series origin from the negative perspective, overall it appears to be inconsequential with 42.07% of the overall responses stating they have not played the Persona series but did enjoy the character which will likely result in positive marketing for the series. People seem to care less overall about background and more of how the character plays in a game.

It appears overall Nintendo fans agree on the place Mario Kart has within their line of games with only 14.65% outright voting to replace the series. The main agreement is that either there should be new content added to current Mario Kart games or that there should be side series not really tied into Mario Kart. Like F-Zero. But hopefully relevant. Those that did not outright support the creation of Nintendo Kart series, but commented upon other aspects such as the role of characters from other series were rather divided. 7.55% wished to see more DLC and with 8.01% being against DLC, either wishing to stop it in its tracks or eliminate it entirely. This may be a good debate to look further into with another poll.
 * Do you think Nintendo should move towards replacing the Mario Kart series with a crossover Nintendo Kart racing game?

Well, the concludes this months Poll Committee Discussion. Please tune in next month for another edition from your friendly neighborhood Poll Committee