The 'Shroom:Issue 113/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

Thank you so much for voting in the Awards. I know we didn't win the overall Best Sub-Team Award, but to have gotten third with only one vote off of Critic Corner is amazing! And we will definitely be aiming for that second spot next year.

Monthly Report
Written by:

Hi everyone, and welcome to another issue of Monthly Report!! No news on this section just yet, so it's time to check what has changed in the wiki stats since July!

(Credit goes to, , and for the table coding (I based this on Stooben's coding, which was later modified by SMB, myself, and Viper26 when each one of us wrote this section)

*All times EST.

Featured
Written by:

Hello 'Shroom readers and welcome back to another edition of Featured, the only place this side of the Mario Wiki where you'll get news about the Mario Wiki Featured Articles.

Featured Articles
No new articles have been featured in the past month.

Re-Featured Articles
No new articles have become re-featured.

FA Nominations
There is one ongoing Featured Article Nomination.
 * Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was nominated on 9 July 2016. The current oppose on it deals with its tense and lack of a development section.

Failed FA Nominations
One new article has failed the featuring process.
 * Rocket Start failed on the 30 July 2016. It failed due to its organization and length.

Unfeatured Articles
No new articles have been unfeatured in the past month.

Unfeaturing Nominations
There are no ongoing Unfeature nominations.

Failed Unfeaturing Nominations
No new articles have failed the unfeaturing process in the past month.

Thanks for reading see you next month, for more Featured Articles news.

Tip of the Month
Written by:

When writing an article on the wiki, be sure to stay objective while you're writing. On the forums or for the 'Shroom is one thing, but when you're working on an article, you're basically writing an encyclopedia entry. Here's an example:

"Peach returns the serve across the court to Bowser, who hits the ball with a Power-Up shot."
 * Unbiased, objective view

"Princess Peach hits Bowser's impossible shot and he hits it back while totally cheating with a Power-Shot."
 * Biased view

Community Report
Written by:

Hi readers and welcome back to the Community Report. It shows our the latest goings-ons around the Super Mario Wiki – the promotions, the demotions, the recently passed and ongoing proposals.

(credit to for previously developing this coded table system and to  for the alterations made)

RECENTLY PASSED PROPOSALS:

RECENT TALK PAGE PROPOSALS:

ONGOING PROPOSALS:

ONGOING TALK PAGE PROPOSALS:

NOTE:All stats and figures included in this section were correct as of August 14th.

That’s all for this issue of the Community Report. Thanks readers to take your time to read this section and remember to participate to ongoing proposals. See you again in September.

Projects Seeking Contributors
Written by:

G'day 'shroomers, YoshiKong here. I would like to welcome you to a new and improved series of Pipe Plaza's Projects Seeking Contributors, a monthly section which summarises the latest projects, collaborations and important discussions which concern the MarioWiki. All readers, regardless of experience or position within our community, are invited to share their opinions and valuable input on the following projects and discussions.

I am making some changes to how the section was written in the past, designed to make it easier for you to quickly identify different types of available projects. We will now organise all projects under three different headers, as presented below. Each header contains a neat table which provides the name of the topic concerned, with a brief summary of what that topic is about and what you can do to help. The sections are further split into projects being discussed on the wiki or forum respectively. Well, here we go!

Projects Seeking Contributors
The following are a selection of projects or special requests which are taking place on wiki talk pages. Please see here for a complete list.

The following have been taken from the Wiki Collaborations forum board.

Discussions Seeking Input
The following are a selection of discussions on the wiki which are in need of input from users. Please see here for a complete list.

The following have been taken from the Wiki Collaborations forum board.

Pinned Projects [[File:Post Sticky Icon.png]]
These are long-running projects, areas of discussion or collaborations which are continuously being worked on towards achievement. They will feature in this section every month.

And that concludes the first of a brand new series of Projects Seeking Contributors. I hoped you enjoyed viewing the section. I want to know what you thought of the design and reorganisation in how projects are presented, so therefore I invite all readers to leave me feedback. You can send me a, or simply fill out this form (external website). My goal is to continuously improve the section's presentation.

Thank you! – YK

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:

HI, wonderful readers! I'm your analytical Poll Chairman, Tucayo, here with the first Poll Committee Discussion of the Seventh Poll Committee! And there are some news to cover; since the last time we talked, and I chose the seven members we needed to complete the Seventh Poll Committee, out from the MILLIONS of applications we received. They are:



We have a great combination of experience and fresh ideas and I'm confident we'll have an excellent year! And now, it's time to take a look at the polls we had since last issue's release. (August 14th's poll will be included in next issue since it locks after this issue's release).

Analysis

 * Which of the Mario sports series do you like the most?: With the Rio 2016 Olympic Games taking place at the same time this poll was running, it's probably no surprise they took the gold medal. This poll proved to be particularly interesting in the country breakdown: baseball took the top spot in the US (and it performed rather poorly everywhere else), soccer came in first in Colombia, and the Olympics topped the poll in most other countries - even winning over 40% of the total vote in Brazil.
 * Which Nintendo home console controller is your favorite?: It's no secret the GameCube's controller is very much liked, and this poll just goes to prove it; it got exactly the same amount of votes as the Wiimote and the Wii U Gamepad combined. I don't like seeing the N64 Controller in third-to-last, but older options always have the problem of not having reached as much of our audience as more recent options.
 * After the success of Miitomo and Pokémon GO, what would you like to see in a Mario smartphone app?: The big surprise in this poll was seeing almost one fifth of voters don't want Mario on their phones. Sadly, Nintendo is not stupid and they'll want to take advantage of their biggest selling series in any way they can, so my bet is before end of year there will be an official announcement of a Mario smartphone game or app. I'd personally prefer a port of a classic game, because I love classic games, but the poll shows our users would prefer a new, full-fledged game; however, I think option #2 is the most plausible one, since that type of games lend themselves so well for casual play and the infamous microtran$action$.

That's all from me! Next month you'll be in Freakworld's very capable hands, he has notable experience in analyzing polls, so I hope you read us then!

Forum Report
Written by: Hello, and welcome back to the Forum Update! I'm still MCD, and this month we're looking back at July!

News
The "Where are the rules?" section of the FAQ was updated.

Statistics
In July, 30 members joined - the highest amount so far this year. 169 topics were created and 8915 posts were made. The most users and guests online at once was 210.

(Bold means new entry and Italics mean inactive for at least the past month.)

Thread of the Month
July's Thread of the Month is SiFi's SiFi tries to move on from Grand Dad, which documents his unsuccessful attempts to curb his thoughts of Grand Dad.

Runners-up include Javelin's ignore terrible capitalist threads, Lord Bowser's what were the people who registered around you like? and Lord Bowser's what is your sexual orientation?.

Quotes

 * "they just invented indigo to distract us from real colors, like chartreuse" - Nabber
 * "My town is Schrödinger's settlement right now. As long as I don't look at it, nobody will have moved out." - Mr. Edo, on Animal Crossing
 * "You know you're slowly drifting into adulthood when 95% of your gifts are clothes. And you're cool with that." - Tucayo
 * "I don't know anything about music. I know there are instruments and that is how much I know about music." - Pi

Mafia
The only game currently ongoing is still BMB's Steven Universe Mafia.


 * GBAToad's LyLo Mafia (Lounge) (Lynch or Lose Mafia) was won 3-0 by the Mafia.

Thanks for reading.

Retro Feature
Written by:

    First article: Fake Characters, Fake TV, Issue XLII Last article: N/A  Sections Written: Main Team: 22 Fake News: 97 Positions held: Contributor; Fakes News Director

Hello, readers! I'm your Spotlight manager and Pipe Plaza Director, Yoshi876. Welcome to Retro Feature, a section in which I delve deep into the archives to bring you the best blasts from the past. This time I bring you a section from our Fake News Director: MrConcreteDonkey.

Before I delve into MCD's past with The 'Shroom, there is a small tale I must tell first. Back when I was an unregistered user, and the thought of registering hadn't even crossed my mind I saw in the bottom corner of the screen something called The 'Shroom, now whilst I didn't take the biggest interest in it there was something that grabbed my attention: Should Have Been. I read it and loved it, and waited diligently every month just so I could read the next section. Eventually, I started looking into other sections before reading through the entirety of The 'Shroom's history, therefore it should be no surprise that when I applied it was his sub-team that I first wrote for. Essentially, it was MCD who got me interested in The 'Shroom. So blame him for having to put up with all my sections :P

Anyway onto the man himself. MCD joined The 'Shroom in Issue XLII writing both Fake Characters and Fake TV. He would write Fake Characters eleven more times and Fake TV thirteen more times. But those weren't his only Fake News sections; not only does is he Director of the team he writes legendary editorials as well as a Game Corner section, two Headline News sections, a Hot Records section, four Shop Scouts and a Weather Forecast. He's also dabbled in the Main Team, helping out in Director Elections and End of Year Award sections, a Feedback Survey, the Satoru Iwata memorial, a Scavenger Hunt, a Section of the Month, thirteen Should Have Beens and five Special Sections alongside a Special Travel Guide.

He's also found fame elsewhere, not only is he a Patroller on the wiki, but he's also a Chatroom Operator and a Global Moderator on the forum. Not bad going for someone who registered on 15 May 2010.

Anyway, you're not here to hear about the history of MrConcreteDonkey or me, so instead I'll just have you enjoy one of his Should Have Been sections, more specifically the one from Issue LII.

{| border="1px solid black" align="center" Should Have Been by

Hey, everybody, it's your worst enemy everyday, tacky, friendly neighbourhood super-villain MrConcreteDonkey here, to present to you Should Have Been. Sorry there was no Should Have Been last month. There should have been, (haha) but I had exams which just consumed everything else like a chicken club sandwich.

This and last month I received no PMs about the thingy I'm doing. I can't remember what it is— oh yeah this. If you have a suggestion for a game I should cover, or want to suggest something that should have been in the game I am covering, just send cuttlefishCuller a personal message (PM) on the MarioWiki Forum.

So, let's-a-go! This month, with Mario Kart 3DS being announced at E3, I'm going to do Mario Kart Wii!

Without any further ado...

Any second now..

...

I'm going to start writing it in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

SQUIRREL

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/13320_380062113230_314298658230_3943908_142668_n.jpg

What should have been in this game?
Starting off, I really enjoyed Mario Kart Wii. It had a great range of playable characters, fun tracks, cool features, great online capabilities, and smooth graphics. It was great to see Funky Kong making his Mario debut, among other cool things. Therefore, there isn't too much I think could have been improved on this game. But don't worry, because there's also some pretty cool beta elements! And I'll also nitpick like the fussy teenager that's inside us all!

Well, first, I find some of the unlockables a little too hard to achieve, especially if you go by number of races. Unlocking Toadette and Birdo is really easy via Time Trial, and hard via number of Vs. races, so, even though this is a pretty pointless complaint, I think that could have been a bit more balanced. Sometimes, when I try to go into an online race, I, being the klutz that I am, forget that I didn't turn on the internet. Which means for several minutes I just have to wait until I get an error. This is particularly annoying, so I think there should have been some kind of way to stop trying to connect. That might not have been possible, however, but I still believe something could have been done to improve that.

I find team racing fun. It adds an element of teamwork to the game, among other things. But with the maximum amount of racers in one race increased to 12, why not expand from the bland red and blue that have forever swept over the Mario Kart land? I think having at least 3 teams for team races and battles would have been much more competitive and much more chaotic, which is what Mario Kart is all about. Yes, racing has nothing to do with anything.

The Competitions are great; racing on tracks reversed and the like is fun. But one kind of Competition really hasn't been presented enough: bosses. There has only been two bosses in the whole history of the Competitions: number one was against a Spiked Topman on Galaxy Arena, a never-seen-anywhere-else, awesome arena. Complete with epic music. Then against a huge Pokey in Thwomp Desert. There should have been more of these new boss battles, especially with the world record time up for grabs. But that's it, just two. All Nintendo does now is repeat some of the old competitions. But I want new competitions, with more boss battles, and I hope some of you do too.

On the topic of online world records, hackers undeservedly hold world record titles by hacking a race to win almost instantly. For example, once on Toad's Factory, I watched a replay of a hacker just zooming into a wall and winning a race. I think Nintendo should have done something where they kind of patrol the online world records, taking away those of hackers and giving them to those who really deserve the title. Now onto a small side topic: '''WHY THE HECK DOES THE THUNDER CLOUD EXIST?! Okay, I've just found out it was all ''Mario Kart Arcade GPs fault, but come on! Why bring it back? There's loads of better items from the Arcade GP games. There should have been one of them...like...uh...

A thing I find disappointing about Mario Kart is that it never crosses over series. There's no cameos, if I remember correctly, from any other series. It's sad, really. Maybe there could have been a course based on another Nintendo series, or a character from said series (why did we have to get MII x2 COMBO?), or even a cameo. Sticking with Mario for the lose! Another thing related to that the series lacks is Easter Eggs. If you read my special section in Issue L, you'd know how keen I am on these things. The best secret this can present to us is some bland shortcuts and a bucketload of unlockables.

Beta elements
FINALLY. THE BEST PART.

Okay, there's not as much here as usual. First, there are some unused character icons for four characters: Paratroopa, Petey Piranha, Hammer Bro. and *grumble* Mii Outfit C (gets a C for originality). Paratroopa and Petey were both playable in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and, if I remember correctly, were the only characters not to return from that game. How sad, because they were two of the most awesome too.

Where's Mii Outfit C, you say?

...

Moving on, there were also some items that never made it out of the beta. Looking at the image nearby, you can see four beta items. The instantly recognizable one is the Chain Chomp, two others later being revealed as the Fireball and the Wiggler, which were apparently available in some special event or something? The fourth, however, remains unknown. The beta logo was different to the final one, as was the HUD. The design of the Standard Karts (S, M and L) was changed slightly.

Two beta courses were found, but both are pretty boring. One is called "old_mario_gc_b", and is basically just GCN Mario Circuit without the Chain Chomp, and there are no Warp Pipes (yet still there are Piranha Plants). The other is "draw_demo" - Mario Circuit with no lap or route data and completely trippy graphics. Scrapped sprites include a view of Mario in a Kart, the American flag, a Mii, a single Wii Remote (surprisingly not turned on its side), a Wii Wheel, a couple of lights and a retro Coin.

That's all, folks! See you next month! If you have a suggestion for a game for me to cover, or something that should have been in Mario Kart Wii, just PM cuttlefishCuller on the MarioWiki Forum. Bye!


 * }

The 'Shroom Report
Written by:

HI, everyone! I'm your tactful Stats Manager, Tucayo, here with another installment of The 'Shroom Report! Let's get right to it; as a general reminder, in the Milestones section, writers will get mentioned every 10 sub-team sections and every 50 all-time sections, teams will get mentioned every 100 sections, and The 'Shroom will get mentioned every 500 sections. All information is based off our Historical Sheets. By the way, if you encounter any problem in the sheets please let me know in that thread! This section will cover Issue 112.

Tables are based off the End-of-the-Year Awards tables, so credit goes out to.

For the first time since I started writing this section we have a change here. has tied with the most Fake News sections written! And adding this issue (113), MCD has actually taken the lead, so congratulations to him!

Anniversary Announcements
Written by:

Thanks for tuning in to the Double A News Outlet. I'm Lakituthequick, and I'll be your host for tonight.

We would like to thank everyone involved in and attending the Awards Ceremony, which was held on 12 August! If you haven't had the chance to read them yet, or somehow haven't heard about them being that day, or elseway, please do so now! I'll wait!

And you're back! Just in time for a quick peek at the tournaments. Let's see how things go in that department.

Art Contest
Host: Hypnotoad Finished • Forum Topic

Voting for the submissions has finished and we can say that we have winners! Congratulations to Uniju for winning the Beginner tier, Turboo for winning the Amateur tier and Mr. Edo for winning the Experienced tier! More details are in this issue's special section.

Awards Mafia VI
Hosts: Stooben Rooben and Superchao Date: TBA Forum Topic

The sign-ups have closed last month, but you can still sign up as a replacement. If someone drops out for any reason, you can then replace them in the game. The game is in final planning stages and will start soon.

Guess the Results
Hosts: Awards and Staff Closed • Forum Topic

The Awards have happened, and you can't edit your predictions after the start! The results are still being tallied as of writing this, but you can compare your own or other's guesses with the results of the Awards in the meantime.

Mario Kart 7
Host: Stargazing Date: July - August Forum Topic

The preliminaries have been raced and currently, only the finals have to be raced between Cirdec, NSY, Nyrie and Turboo.

Mario Kart 8
Host: Lakituthequick Finished • Forum Topic

The tournament has finished and has resulted in a winner! Congratulations to Cirdec! Tied runner-ups are Nyrie and Turboo.

Minecraft
Hosts: Uniju and Toadbert101 Date: TBD Forum Topic

There is no news for this tournament. Description: A set of (mini)games on a Minecraft map, including classics like Capture the Flag, Spleef and building contests, as well as fishing and racing competitions, and others.

Pokémon
Hosts: Crocodile Dippy and Palkia47 Date: 1 July to 31 July Forum Topic

Five rounds have been finished and the sixth and final round is currently going. Currently leading is Timmy.

Splatoon
Host: The Pyro Guy Date: August Forum Topic

The tournament is currently waiting for its participants to friend each other on Nintendo Network.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Host: Groden Date: 1 July to early August Forum Topic

Three rounds have been finished and the fourth is currently going. Currently leading is Timmy.

Yu-Gi-Oh
Host: DragonFreak Finished • Forum Topic

This tournament has finished and we can congratulate DragonFreak with her win! Running up are Vocal Beat and Yoshin.

Now for a quick word from our sponsor about prizes. For every tournament, you can earn tokens, which you can then later exchange for prizes. These don't come out of Yoshi Eggs, so if you are interested in donating such prizes, please contact Hypnotoad, Mr. Edo or Twentytwofiftyseven on the Boards. Recommended items include all sorts of gift cards and Steam items. We are grateful for any donations! Keep in mind that certain items impose a region lock, but you can buy most items for another region. Past years have pointed out that there are mostly North America gift cards, but European cards are welcomed as well!

Also, if you don't want to exchange your tokens for prizes, because none of prizes interest you, you have an excess of them or for any other reason, you may also donate your tokens to a special pool, which will then be converted to a monetary value and donated to the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station, where late bureaucrat and friend Walkazo volunteered to study and protect birds. You can also directly donate to Hypnotoad via PayPal to help fund this. Please contact him for information on this.

Which brings us to the end of this month's Double A News. Thanks for reading, and maybe till next month, or next year! Auf Wiedersehen!

All information above was correct as of 2016-08-18.