The 'Shroom:Issue L

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Issue L May 21st, 2011 About

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Staff Notes Fake News Fun Stuff
Music & Artwork Pipe Plaza Review Corner
Ralphfan
Entertainment Section
SKmarioman
Interview
New Super Mario
Should Have Been
MrConcreteDonkey
Mario Kart:Wheel Tips Corner
Coincollector
Fading Into Obscurity
Marioguy1
Character Reviews
Marioguy1
Brawl Tactics
FunkyK38
Mafia Game
Tucayo
The 'Shroom Spotlight
Marioguy1
Feedback Survey Section of the Month
Special Sections
MrConcreteDonkey Turboo Tucayo
Xzealio Neurario Xpike
Ralphfan


Director's Notes

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Oh wow, look at that awesome artwork that Edofenrir (talk) made for Issue L! This is a picture taken of how the planning for this Special Issue went for about the past month. No, seriously, it was crazy and hectic (but extremely fun) to get the issue out this month. Anyway, on to what I need to tell you all. This month, I have a lot of news to share.

I will start off with the Feedback Survey: it has started! This survey was produced with piles of effort and time from the Core Staff poured into it, because we feel that our users should get the best that we can serve. So please help us to improve the quality of the paper and take the survey! We will assess the results next month after the release of Issue LI, so we should start implementing whatever changes need to made starting then. A link has also been added to the {{Shroomfooter}}, so you do not necessarily need to go back to the Front Page every single time you want to view the article about it. If you need assistance with something on the survey, be sure to check in with Ralphfan (talk), who is in charge of this particular project.

To bring an update on the status of our pending affiliates, I must announce that Stooben Rooben (talk) is the new Affiliates Manager! From now on, he has the duty of representing the interests of the Core Staff to those projects and websites that are interested in affiliating with us. So if you feel you want to suggest some affiliations for The 'Shroom, he is the man to contact. He has already started carrying out the functions of his position by contacting the sites that we are considering for affiliation, so I am certain he will continue his great job.

The Section of the Month project has begun! Congratulations to Gamefreak75 (talk) for being the first writer to ever have their section receive the award, as well as Marioguy1 (talk) and MrConcreteDonkey (talk) for getting Honorable Mentions. It was a tough choice for the staff to choose between the three, quite honestly. But yes, for those who did not get this award: do not be discouraged! Now that this process has started, it will continue for every single issue from this point on. You will have many chances to achieve this.

Also, we have a new project that has come along for the paper: The 'Shroom Spotlight! The purpose of the project is to help increase user productivity on articles that cover the games in the Mario-series. This project will run independently from the monthly release schedule that the newspaper follows and will be managed by Xzelion (talk) (who pretty much fathered the concept behind the project), although there will be a monthly section in the paper that covers month-to-month updates on the Spotlight that Xzelion will also be in charge of writing. So if you have any questions about this, contact him!

As you can probably tell by now, the chat party that was in the planning stages as of last month ended up being cancelled. However, do not worry: in lieu of this chat party, the Core Staff is planning on investing time into a debate for the Poll Chairperson Election (information on the election itself can be found below). The date and time of this event is not exactly known as of now, but an update will be brought to you next month on the topic.

Some news on the 'Shroom Mafia II game: it will begin during the first week of June. This is so that Stooben's game will be able to run its course a bit longer, and so that a little extra time can go into planning our game. Tucayo (talk) is in charge of the game and also has taken up the responsibility of writing a section about the game. So if you want to sign up, be sure to head on over to the forum and make a post clearly stating that you are interested!

Another superb update to be brought forth: the Awards Committee has agreed to include ten 'Shroom Awards in this year's ceremony! It was after a lot of talking and bringing up suggestions that the idea was approved, and I am certain that this expansion will be in the best interests of both The 'Shroom and the Awards Show. So when the time comes next month: be sure to vote on all of the awards! This change will only remain for 'Shroom Awards III (which takes place in the 2012 Anniversary) if the additions prove to be beneficial!

Coming up next month is the Poll Chairperson Election! For those of you who were around last year during the first Chairperson election, you will probably remember how this process goes. For those who were not around, the Poll Committee is the group of users that decides which polls go on the Main Page every two weeks. The members of the Committee are selected by the Poll Committee Chairperson, who is elected by the users of the wiki in an annual election. The first election happened in June last year, and so it will have been a year when June of this year rolls around. The current Chairperson (who just so happens to be me) will have the option of running again. Although I have already determined whether or not I will run for a second term, I will not announce my decision until the Issue LI comes out (which also happens to be when the election starts).

Anyway, back to the topic of this issue. I am highly, highly impressed by everybody that helped make Issue L what it is, and I thank everybody that contributed to the project. An extreme amount of thanks and appreciation to the Core Staff, for putting in a painstaking amount of time, work, and effort into making sure everything got done and for helping me in what I needed to do. I thank the writers, for sending in their well-prepared and awesome sections this month. A special thanks to the Special Guest Writers, for taking the time to produce high-quality, significant sections for the issue. And a high amount of thanks to the readers, for who the entire newspaper is for. I feel that this is the best issue of The 'Shroom of all time, thanks to all of the participants.

The next issue will be released on June 18th, 2011. Be sure to come back and read Issue LI, which will contain updates on topics which will have updates in store, as well as some of the other various projects and events listed above.

Until next month,

Super Mario Bros. (talk)

Sub-director Notes

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Fake News

Editorial

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Hello there, readers.

I am pleased to see you found your way to this place. This is the Jubilee Fake News, here to celebrate the ’Shroom’s special month. From when the general idea was born in 2006 until now, fifty issues have been planned, produced, and submitted, thanks to a lot of ambitious people who decided to channel their craziness into something that people might find enjoyable. There were times when this worked out pretty well, and other times when it flopped horribly and left a somewhat embarrassing aftertaste. But all of this shall not bug us now. Did you know that, while there were indeed fifty issues of the ’Shroom, not every one of those issues had Fake News? This means that “Jubilee Fake News” is a huge misnomer, since this is not the fiftieth Fake News at all. Now, some of you will now say that this is lame. I say it is perfect. Because if you think about it, what is better suited for the Fake News than a fake jubilee?

Anyway, we have a huge number of various doodads and distractions around for this issue, some of which are a Mafia/Werewolf/Whatever‐you‐wanna‐call‐it on the Forums, a survey, and all that other stuff that SMB probably talked about earlier. And while all of that is nice, it cannot replace the things that make a strong issue, and what allowed us to last this long: the content itself. That’s what we’re here for this month: Good old‐fashioned writing.

If you browsed over this site already, you may have noticed a few things that are different. My personal objective in the past month was to give the Fake News a cosmetic makeover. It is not much, but I hope it will serve to make our issues a bit more colorful, as well as more appealing for both readers and writers. I have also assigned new names to most of our current sections, to give us the opportunity for a fresh start into the next fifty issues of the ’Shroom (that might or might not exist). I also substituted as a writer for some sections that currently have no writers, to make this incarnation of the Fake News as rich as possible.

So, to summarize everything I just said in a short statement, which I admittedly could have done in the first place to go easy on your nerves, although I have no idea what you’re doing here if you’re afraid of reading: This issue is gonna be big. Really big. We hope you will enjoy reading it. And a happy ’Shroobilee to everyone.

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Written by: FakeIco GF75.png Gamefreak75 (talk)

Things are heating up inside the kitchen…

On Thursday, 5/XX/20XX, Gourmet Guy held his first annual cook‐off, sponsored by Bowser’s 2011 Spring Vacation Getaway (tickets are still on sale). Many cooks, legends and amateurs, participated, but only three chefs made it to the final round. Before we continue, let’s get some background information on the finalists:

  • Chef Kawasaki
    • Age: Unknown
    • Residence: Dreamland
    • Hobbies: Cooking
  • Chef Goomba
    • Age: 35 years old
    • Residence: Currently unknown
    • Hobbies: Cooking, fighting bad guys, saving the Mushroom Kingdom from danger

The judges for the finals were hand‐picked off the street gourmet connoisseurs. Wario, that one bean seller guy outside of Zora’s River or whatever the heck it’s called, and Louie were the perfect judges, as quoted by Gourmet Guy himself. The contestants were given five hours to prepare a three‐course meal: one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert. After five hours, the chefs had to stop and present the food to the judge. They were judged on taste of the meal and its general appearance.

First up was Tayce T. and her world‐famous Hot Shroom for the appetizer, a Shroom Steak for the main course, and a delicious Shroom Cake to top it off. The judges’ responses were rather positive.

Wario: The variety of the food is limited, but the taste is marvelous. It could’ve used some garlic. I give you an 8.
Bean Seller Guy: I agree with fatty on this one. I give you an 8.
Louie: This is a lot better than the crap they server on my planet. I give you a 10.
Gourmet Guy: And with that, we add the score, giving Tayce T a 26/30. Well done!

Second, was Chef Kawasaki of Dreamland. His appetizer was some mashed potatoes topped with curry. For the entrée, he created what appears to be ramen with some… rather off‐putting miscellaneous objects inside… and for dessert, he created what he claims to be pie, but it looks more like he scooped out sewage from the sewers and plopped it onto a pie tin. Is that even real pie crust he was using?! The judges’ comments… went about as well as you’d expect them to…

Wario: I should have you thrown into the dungeon for this crap! I give you a 1.
Bean Seller: Is this… is this pie even edible? Is this sludge not poisonous? Is this pie crust not fake? Is giving you a 1 justifiable? The answer to all those questions is “YES”.
Louie: YUCK! GROSS! NASTY! TASTELESS! TREEEEEASON!!!! I give you a 0.
Gourmet Guy: What a disappointment. Kawasaki finishes with only a measly 2/30 points.

Congrats, Solid Chef Goomba.

And now for the final contestant: Chef Goomba. For the first dish, he created a lavish onion blossom. What talent! For the main dish, he made some lobster, served with a plate of fries and some lemon butter. And for dessert, the masterful chef created an extravagant tiramisu. The judges’ jaws dropped in such astonishment, it’s as if they could break a column of bricks. The judges’ opinions were…

Wario: Talk about showy. I don’t even have to try the food to know it’s going to taste good. I’ll have a taste anyways! Definitely a 10.
Bean Seller: What fatso to my right said. A well‐deserved 10.
Louie: DAMMIT! GIVE ME YOUR RECIPES!!!! A 10.
Gourmet Guy: Adding up the score, Chef Goomba gets a… wow… a PERFECT SCORE!

Chef Goomba was awarded 5000 coins for his win as well as a blue ribbon. The two losers got 100 coins for being good sports, though.

And thus, that concluded Gourmet Guy’s First Annual Cook‐Off. We hope to see you all next year.

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Written by: FakeIco Edo.png Edofenrir (talk)

On Wednesday the 11th, around 10:30 am, a young boy was sentenced to three years of prison. The charge: Leaving his home. Little Prince Mallow, son of the ruler of Nimbus Land, was running a shopping errand when the police force arrived and immediately arrested the cloud prince for copyright infringement. A Japanese entertainment company called Square Enix had apparently filed a lawsuit against him. According to property laws, Square Enix seems to be the copyright holder regarding Mallow’s entire existence, and as such, showing his face in public equals a severe contractual violation. The accused was quoted upon his apprehension saying: “I— I just went to the store across the street to buy a pack of bubble gum!! I didn’t know that was bad!! I was… I did… I… I… ” A more detailed statement could not be recorded due to a violent rainstorm that suddenly started. Unfortunately, some complications occurred while the prince was carried off to jail. The police car was attacked by Mallow’s acquaintance and fellow notorious copyright violator Geno. Together they managed to get away.

Both escapees are currently on the run. The public is advised to be extremely cautious, as they are both dangerous. Prince Mallow is known for his magical prowess that makes the weather bend to his will, and even more so for his infamous ability to detach his body from his pants. Keep him away from your frail old grandma. His accomplice, Geno, is a possessed doll, which is already unsettling on its own. He can also transform into a cannon and shoot the sun at you. Note: While both criminals are certainly threats, it should also be known that their level caps at 30. If you are not a character from Super Mario RPG or the first installment of Paper Mario, you can be at ease.

The police ask for the assistance of the public in apprehending the escaped criminals. If you come across any leads that hint at their whereabouts, please contact the authorities. Don’t engage in any vigilante activities, no matter how tempting the experience points may seem. Life offers much more precious things than stats, such as… and… uhm… bubble gum… Just don’t do it, ok? That’s all.

Due to copyright regulations, we were not allowed to depict the faces of the escapees. Nevertheless we tried to get as close as legally possible.

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Written by: FakeIco Edo.png Edofenrir (talk)

Welcome, readers, to the fake weather forecast, where nothing actually is fake except our apparent perpetual happiness! This month, though, we will also be the bearer of some grave news: The sun, beloved by millions, has stopped shining during the day, and is now lighting the sky exclusively at night. Expert Shine scholars have determined that the problem at hand has nothing to do with Shine Sprites at all. This leaves expert Shine scholars completely clueless, since they are only able to recognize problems that are related to Shine Sprites, and are otherwise utterly useless. A Toad mother later reported to the police that her daughter was to blame. The kid hadn’t finished her dinner and, according to her mother, might have enraged the sun that way. The police, rational as usual, immediately ordered their men to arrest every child whose plate hadn’t been emptied properly the previous day. Soon someone pointed out that the disobedient children theory did not explain why the sun would shine at night. The people, having run out of insane ways to make abysmally false but still somewhat entertaining assumptions, gave up investigating and just went and asked the sun. The sun then explained that it had a talk with the moon, the moon was angry, and it expressed its jealousy of the sun because there was nothing good on TV to watch at night. The sun then assured the moon that there wasn’t anything good on TV during the day either, and opted the two to change shifts to prove it. Their arrangement is set to expire at the end of the month, and things will presumably return to normal then.

1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week
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And now for the tv show weather forecast:

The quality drought of our overall program proves itself to be persistent and continues to hold our televisions in a fast stranglehold. The general climate is composed of old game show reruns, with the occasional soap opera precipitation. It is advised to keep an umbrella in close proximity (to switch channels in emergency situations when the remote control stops working). The clouds in the east still refuse to leave and yield reality shows about people like you and me that nobody wants to see. A morality low is coming in from the west and brings along a wave of TV scams and call-in shows. Please hold on to your purse and stay away from any telephone. As for the south: a huge talk show storm is brewing over Yoshi's Island. The whole place has therefore been put under quarantine. If you planned to go there, please don't, cancel your trip, stay at home, and don't look directly into your TV. That will be all.

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Written by: FakeIco Ralph.png Ralphfan (talk)

Introducing a new sport that’s gripping the nation … Guntherball!

  • audience claps*
  • Gamefreak glares angrily*

The game, named after its original champion, consists of ten players. It is an individual competition in which one player tries to hit a football with a hockey stick and run around the four bases while the other nine players try to pick up the ball and throw it at the baserunner. The baserunner has to kick a soccer ball into a goal at first base, dunk a basketball at second base and roll a strike at third base while dodging sand traps and water hazards. Upon arriving at home plate, they must consume one (1) churro.

At this year’s world championship, held in the Forest of Illusion, Gunther once again advanced to the finals, hoping to win a third consecutive title. The championship match was a thriller, as Gunther outscored Wario, Yoshi, DK, Daisy, Toadsworth, Kamek and Waluigi, but there was one man that stood in his path, a man so glorious that nobody could defeat him…



We’re making a dramatic pause…



Kim Jong‐il! The Dear Leader is the champion!

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Written by: FakeIco MCD.png MrConcreteDonkey (talk)

Deep in the sewers of Mushroom City are four crime‐fighting, pizza‐delivering, teenage Koopa Troopas, who somehow have a show – yes, I’m talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Koopa Troopas.

The show has four main stars:

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  • Beethoven – The blue one. He is the leader of the team. He is described by many as “stuck in the 80s”, possibly related to the fact that he’s been sent back in time to the 80s (by a cursed radio program nobody from this time period likes), where he shared a house with Michael Jackson for six months. Look in the music video for Smooth Criminal, because he’s not there. He’s the third strongest of the team.
  • Mozart – The red one. Worked for NASA in the past, performed MiRaClEs :o), blah blah. You probably don’t want to hear about that, keep moving people. Oh yeah he’s the third strongest.
  • Tchaikovsky – The orange one. Picked on by the others due to his long name, which he finds unfair as the real composer, Tchaikovsky, never had this problem. Bullied by five‐year‐olds, to the extent that his mother had to write a complaint to Playhouse Disney. He isn’t the first, second or fourth strongest. And if you think he’s the fifth, you probably don’t even know the meaning of the word ‘math’.
  • Debussy – The purple one. Often described as the ‘geek’ of the group, he is an avid collector of Star Wars figures and Star Trek episodes with no mention of the word ‘yellow’. He is between the fourth and second strongest.

In the most recent episode, an evil plumber has been jumping on the Shellcreepers and Sidesteppers in the sewers, so the Koopa Troopas decide to show him who’s boss. The show is shown on the channel that shows many other kids’ shows, Mushroom Kids, and is shown at 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00, being shown inbetween a couple of other shows on this channel that shows many shows. Don’t miss it, or else your name is entered into a competition and you could become the next villain the Koopas fight, and that will somehow bring humiliation. Thanks for reading, and see you next month.

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Written by: FakeIco Edo.png Edofenrir (talk)

After Mementoot – Death of a Trumpet and Low Blow, we are now about to witness the release of the latest album of known wonder musician Hully Bully. His new album is called There He Blows. Once again the musician's stunning performance with his iconic trumpet will bewitch you, and then haunt you day and night. Especially night. Song for song, the album tells a story about a young country bumpkin called Buck Blowhard, whose carefree life ends abruptly when a whale driving a tank waltzes through his farm and kidnaps his wife. Grieving over the loss, Buck decides to become Captain Blowbuck, a whaler who travels the seven seas and who hunts whales with his trumpet music instead of a harpoon. It just blows your mind.

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This album comes with 13 unique songs for everyone who loves getting blasted into the ear by wind instruments.

  1. Peace Under the Hills with Silly Ol' Eyebrows
  2. One of Us Must Blow
  3. Hay Lady Hay
  4. Is It Blowing, Buck?
  5. If Whales Were Tanks
  6. Broken Blow Shuffle
  7. I Was the Boozer
  8. Blow Bird
  9. Ain't Got No Blow
  10. I'm Blowing On
  11. Four Whales
  12. We Need a Whole Lot More of Trumpets
  13. Commotion

So in conclusion there is only one last thing to say about this experience: It certainly blows.

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Written by: Qrs22 (talk)

DISCLAIMER: Before you cry Never Say Die, the game is already E 10+ for implying it.)

Hi, qrs22 here, with a new title for the 3DS – “Save Luigi”!

The story:
Lately, Luigi’s lack of love has left him lonely. (Try saying that five times fast.) To him, it seems as if no one pays him any attention – or would care if he never existed. One day, while Mario is napping, Luigi leaves him a notes and goes out for a walk. Later, Mario wakes up and reads the note.

Dear Bro,
I have decided to take a long walk – off a short pier. I’ll be hearing from you in that great Italian restaurant in the sky.
Love, Your Bro

Mario’s eyes fill with tears as he heads out to, well, save Luigi.

The game:
You (Mario) have to go through the original Super Mario Bros game from 1‐1 to 8‐4 with a different objective: protecting Luigi from, ahem, letting himself go. There are different cutscenes for different, erm, passings away. For example, when Bowser “does away” with Luigi with one of his fireballs, the cutscene shows Mario giving Bowser a dirty look, but Bowser claims to just be “doing his job.”

The end:
Luigi ― Wow, you went all that way to save my life?
Mario ― Mm‐hmm.
Luigi ― Oh, I love you, man!
*Luigi hugs Mario and starts to cry*
Mario ― Ha ha!

Well, that’s it for this month! See you next time!

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Written by: FakeIco GF75.png Gamefreak75 (talk)

We have three special guests today who will be showing you three different meals! Allow me to introduce, Tayce T., Chef Kawasaki, and Chef Goomba! Let us first begin with Tayce T’s demonstration.

A delicious Shroom Steak.

First, you’ll need:

  1. It is recommended that the mushroom is as tender as possible. The more tender it is, the juicier it will be.
  2. Preheat the oven to 425 and place the shroom in it for approximately 30 minutes.
  3. While it is cooking, place the berries in a bowl and mash them until they form a smooth, non‐pulpy, mix.
  4. Simmer the berry puree in a pan for 10 minutes or until it is warm.
  5. Once the Shroom Steak is out of the oven, pour the berry sauce on it and viola, a delicious meal is ready for consumption.


Uhh… it’s colorful, at least…

Kawasaki will show us how to make his, uh, delicious(?) ramen:

First, you’ll need:

  • Noodles
  • Hot water
  • Hot sauce
  • A large bowl
  • Seaweed
  • Mushrooms
  • Crab claw
  • Onions
  • Chicken
  • Pineapple
  • Any other items you see lying around in your fridge or pantry
  1. First, you should heat the water until it comes to a boil.
  2. Add the noodles and stir for a few minutes
  3. Add hot sauce for extra flavor
  4. Throw in everything you can find, it doesn’t matter what crap is in there
  5. Mix all the ingredients for a good 5 minutes until the noodles absorb the plethora of flavors
  6. Pour all the contents in a large bowl and serve with chopsticks
  7. Add a note to enlighten those who are insane enough to eat your food: 貴様よ、そのラーメンをお楽しみください。


A decadent lobster served with lemon butter and fries! >:O~

And finally, we have Chef Goomba showing us how to make his dish.

You’ll need:

  • A lobster
  • A lemon
  • Some butter
  • Potatoes
  • Seasonings
  • A knife
  • Boiling hot water
  • A large saucepan
  • An oven
  1. First, make sure the water is boiling hot and that the oven is preheated to 400. Add the lobster into the water once it is boiling.
  2. While the lobster is being boiled, cut the potato(es) into small fries.
  3. Once the oven is ready, add some seasoning onto the potatoes and stuff them in the oven. Set the timer for 30 minutes.
  4. When the fries are almost done, melt some butter.
  5. After the butter has been melted, add a dash of lemon into it to give it that lemon‐butter taste (this should be fairly obvious)
  6. Once the lobster is done, place it on a large plate, along with the fries and the lemon butter.
  7. Voila. A fantastic meal has been prepared.


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Written by: FakeIco GF75.png Gamefreak75 (talk)


These items pack quite a punch.

Hello, my faithful customers.

There is no better way to kick of the ’Shroom’s birthday with a bang than with Bob‐ombs. These small explosives are easy to carry and come in many different sizes.

Using the bob‐omb is very simple. All you need to do is light it and then chuck it at a designated object. It’s not rocket science, so even the most brain‐dead of creatures can use this versatile item.

As you can see, these spherical explosives pack quite a punch and can demolish nearly anything!

Is there a swarm of enemies that need to be taught a lesson? Rodents in your cannons? Are there some foes that need to be taught a lesson? What better way than to accomplish all these worthless tasks than with a Bob‐Omb!

Supplies are limited, so order them while you can.

Helpful Advice:

  • Do not leave near any flammable objects.
  • It is recommended children below the age of 18 do not play with these objects.
  • Do not hold in front of face when lit.
  • Do not place in microwave or oven.
  • Do not try to cook the bob‐omb.
  • The bob‐omb is not a toy.
  • Use bombs wisely.
  • Do a barrel roll.

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Written by: FakeIco PG6.png PyroGuy6 (talk)

Hey, everybody. This is PyroGuy6 with the next interview. This month, we will be interviewing Shy Ranger! ……………………… …………………………………………………………………………Get out here, now. Yeah, I know you’re rare. WILL YOU JUST GET OUT HERE?!?

Pyro: Finally. What were you doing in there?

Shy Ranger: Putting my camouflage on.

Pyro: Speaking of camouflage, why do you wear camouflage?

Shy Ranger: Back when I was just a boy in the Pipe Vault…my mom told me to wear camouflage in public for no apparent reason.

Pyro: Please, interviews are not supposed to include emo stories.

Shy Ranger: Sorry.

Pyro: Why do you usually run away from battle?

Shy Ranger: My worst fear is Geno. He’s crazy, man. He’s the whole reason us Shy Rangers are endangered.

Pyro: Endangered?

Shy Ranger: Yeah, endangered. Everyone beats us up to level up and learn Ultra Flame.

Pyro: What happens if you attack?

Shy Ranger: I’ve taken a lot of classes on rock firing, so I never miss. Want me to show you?

Pyro: That won’t be necessary, thank you.

Shy Ranger: Aww, I wanted to hit that annoying Goomba over there in the audience.

Pyro: How are you immune to Yoshi Cookies?

Shy Ranger: If I take my camouflage off, there’s metal. But that’s my private part.

Pyro: Why do you have such low magic defense?

Shy Ranger: It’s complicated. I usually took classes on special defense.

Pyro: Other Shy Rangers think “Transmitting information. Over and out”. Explanation?

Shy Ranger: Recent Shy Rangers have wires in them. No Shy Ranger is organic.

Pyro: You’re a robot?

Shy Ranger: Yeah.

Pyro: Well, that’s about it. I’m PyroGuy6, and this is Shy Ranger. See you next month, everyone.

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Written by: FakeIco MCD.png MrConcreteDonkey (talk)

Toad Town, 200 years ago, was filled to the brim with criminals. Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Lakitus… these criminals were led by none other than the rogue cowboy, Plumpbody Wario, and his sidekick, Lanky Waluigi. A hero was needed to free the Toads in the town from these evil men…

Then, a man called Luigi came to town, and, due to a long series of events, became Sheriff Luigi.

When he arrived in the town, Sheriff Luigi was a lonely man. He rode in bravely on his Yoshi, and, being an alcoholic, decided to go to the pub. Little did he know that he was in the middle of a large robbery by the Wario & Waluigi enemy party van honk evil yellow whatever…… in other words, there were a couple of Goombas and a Shy Guy. The future sheriff, really in need of his beer, decided to jump on the three evil… thingies… the town then regarded him as a hero, despite having to clean up flattened Goombas and a man riding a Shy Guy.

Soon, Wario learned about Luigi’s interfering, grabbed his trusty shotgun, and ate it. Luigi then got a pair of trick handcuffs, went to Wario and handcuffed him to a post. Wario didn’t figure out how to get out, so he was there when Luigi got back, drunk, and freed him. But then Wario was transported to another dimension along with all his consorts and Waluigi. Luigi was then awarded Sheriff because of his fantastic Shy Guy riding skills giving him national fame.

Thank you for reading my section; I’m hoping to resign from Fake Characters, so this may well be the last time you see me writing it. Don’t worry, I’ll still be writing Fake TV and Should Have Been, and will still be around on the Wiki, forum and chat.


Font ShopScout.png

Written by: FakeIco Edo.png Edofenrir (talk)

An example of Wall-Mart's unique customer service.

For this month, we from the ’Shroom Fake News are throwing our glance at a quirky shop somewhere along the confusing maze of streets and alleys that is Mushroom City: The Wall‐Mart. Here at the Wall‐Mart, one can find anything you need for your daily life at low prices. That is, if you are a Thwomp. If you’re not, most of the stuff they sell will be useless to you.

We spoke to the founder of the Wall‐Mart company, a Thwomp who goes by the name of Slam Fallton. We asked him what inspired him to create this project. “Grack! Thanks for asking, puny little water bag. When I was a little pebble, no kid ever wanted to play with me. Well, ok, some did, but then there were those accidents when we played leapfrog, and… anyway. My only real friend was a coin. He was always there for me, listened when I talked to him, and he didn’t mind me crashing down on him because he was already flat. But then there was that one day, I was very hungry, and so… I… I used him to… buy a sandwich… This is the one thing in my life I regret the most… And so, to atone for what I did, I decided to liberate all the coins that are currently forced into slavery by greedy people who shamelessly use them as currency! I can and I will not stand for this madness! Therefore, I created this shop where we sell useless trash to idiots who report stuff for newspapers! I will collect all the coins in the world to make them free! All of them! By the way, do you fancy buying something?”

Here is a random assortment of some of Wall‐Mart’s iconic articles:

Image Item Name Cost Description
FakeShop 001.png Rust Shroom 30 Coins This metallic fungus is ideal for situations where a light meal just is not enough. It comes in a unique flavor and provides your body with a healthy portion of iron. Dental consultation is recommended after ingestion.
FakeShop 002.png Concrete Flower 25 Coins Also known as “Flora of the Street”, this rock‐hard plant is a favorite among people with allergies and construction workers alike. It is not as wimpy as those other plants that succumb to frost, but it doesn’t smell as nicely either.
FakeShop 003.png Crack‐a Cola 60 Coins A dark, sugary beverage that comes in stylish cans and is popular among the young. Its distinct color and texture comes from its secret ingredient: Coal.
FakeShop 004.png Sandwich 105 Coins A tasty snack that goes along well with other delicacies such as sand cakes, sand pies, and sand castles. It originally cost less than that, but recent amendments by the princess have put taxes on all groan‐inducing puns in product names.
FakeShop 005.png Brick Block 10 Coins I have no idea why we ordered these… A strange scrawny man wearing a silly hat and a yellow cape sold them to us about a year ago, claiming it as a big business opportunity. They have been here ever since…


Font TravelGuide.png

Written by: FakeIco Edo.png Edofenrir (talk)

FakeTG 002.png

As you may have noticed, it is slowly getting warmer lately. In the near future, the sun will most likely intensify its light, the streets will fill with the sound of happy children, and Zingers will be all over your dinner. Indeed, summer is coming. As everyone should agree, summer is a most vile and merciless season who likes nothing more than torturing us because it is jealous of winter’s serene beauty and undeniable coolness.

For all those coldness enthusiasts who just can’t stand that hideous drought in between two perfect winters, we from the ’Shroom have checked out a lovely vacation spot on the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom: Fahr Outpost! In this lovely estate, temperature hardly ever rises above the freezing point. You can engage in fun activities, like building snowmen, hiding in self‐made igloos, or eating space food from the local hotel. Speaking of the hotel, the beds are exquisite and comfy. You will sleep like a frozen turkey on them. They are so comfortable, not even an obese man repeatedly stepping on your face will be able to wake you up, or at least unless he tried several times.

All in all, this is a unique vacation opportunity right here. In the words of one of the locals: “Huh. Oh, da, da, this is Fahr Outpost. Very boring. What? Travel? Tourism? Here? Nyet, nothing here for tourists. Why come to this place? It’s too cold. You would be mad to come here if you’re used to much sun. We also don’t like outsiders. Go away. This is Fahr Outpost and there is nothing here. Especially no giant cannon, nyet.”

Book your flight now, and you will receive your very own “Ice is Nice” t‐shirt for free. Nothing is more intense than standing in a blizzard while wearing nothing but this shirt.

Font Ask3K.png

Written by: FakeIco 3K.png MST3K (talk) (usually)

MST3K did not receive any questions this month and was therefore unable to submit anything.

If you have a forum account, please help the Fake News by sending questions to MST3K via PM


Fun Stuff


Director Notes

by Gamefreak75 (talk)

Hey guys! Today is the Shroom’s 50th issue! :O

I would like to thank everyone who added the extra time and effort in their sections for the 50th issue. I would also like to thank Edofenrir (talk) for his help and contributions to this month’s issue. Surprisingly, considering how lazy I am, I decided to do some fun sections as well. Can you solve all the puzzles and games without cheating? :o

Mystery Images

By Tucayo (talk)

Hello awesome readers! I am your also-awesome writer, Tucayo! I have some issues I would like to address this month too. First of all, I want to thank everyone for their undying support towards me and the Mystery Images section. Why am I thanking you now? Well, because 3 years ago (May 8th) I signed up for this section, and since then I have gladly brought it to you for 36 consecutive issues. Thanks. And the other thing is a small apology, because my Paint acted weird and didn’t let me remove transparency from image 2 and on. Oh, almost forgot to mention this… This month we have 10 Mystery Images to celebrate the 50th Issue of the Super Mario Wiki’s ’Shroom!

mi-2.png

Answers

Trivia

by Mario Fan 123 (talk)

The cake Princess Peach sends Bowser at the end of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.
Looks yummy.

Hello again, dear readers! This issue, we are celebrating The Shroom’s 50th birthday, yippee! It’s an honor to contribute on this lovely day. Now, to the trivia, this time in 10 parts instead of 5!

Did you know that…

See you next-a time!

Quiz

by Fawfulfury65 (talk)

ChuckQuizmo PM.png

This month’s quiz questions are from a variety of games! Good luck!

  1. What planet is Xananab, a character who appears in DK: Jungle Climber, from?
  2. What item does Mario need to access the third floor of Boo’s Mansion in Paper Mario?
  3. Who is the boss of the Beanstalk Way area in Wario World?
  4. What is the name of the boss that the Mario Bros. fight in the Teehee Valley area of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga?
  5. What item must the Kongs give Björn in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! in order to access a new Banana Bird Cave?
  6. What is the first level in Super Mario World to have fences that Mario or Luigi can climb along?
  7. What is the name of the Mario Power Tennis (GameCube version) mini-game that involves the player defeating Mecha-Bowser?
  8. After beating the boss of Nimbus Land in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, what area does Mario and his team gain access to?
  9. What is the name of the fly-swatting game in Mario Paint?
  10. What is Bowser’s alias during the Western Land board in Mario Party 2?

Guess Who

by Reversinator (talk)

One

I was created by a great inventor
I became a partner to the protagonist
I could be considered a counterpart of another hero’s tool
I had four different and useful modes
I was a replacement in a crossover
Who am I?

Two

My only appearance is in a spin-off
I am an ally, yet I am fought multiple times
I have a couple of students under my care
You could ignore me, or you could confront me
I am the most powerful opponent in the game
Who am I?

Three

I am the final boss
I bring life to all the characters
I link two worlds together
I became an unwitting puppet
I was demoted to a mini-boss in a game unrelated to my series
Who am I?

Four

I am a phantom
My former name referenced a former star
I hide when seen, and strike if I am not seen
My king once captured the main hero
Though not common, I have shown compassion to the good guys
Who am I?

Five

I come from another planet
I am a former villain
I lead an entire ship
I once acquired two magical artifacts
A poll voted me as the most popular character
Who am I?

Crossword Puzzle

by Gamefreak75 (talk)

crossword52011.png

SOLUTION!

Word Search

by Edofenrir (talk)

wordgrid01.jpg

ANSWERS!

by Gamefreak75 (talk)

wordsearch52011.png

ANSWERS!

Find the Difference

by Edofenrir (talk)

findthedifferences511bq.jpg

Answers:

[1]


Hiding Koopa

By General bob-omb (talk)
To celebrate the Shroom's 50th anniversary, I have hidden fifty koopas in this picture. Have fun finding them. Hint: Five of the fifty are well hidden.

HideKoopaspecial.jpg

Answer: [2]


Music & Artwork

Director’s Notes (Fawfulfury65)

Hello everyone! If you haven’t noticed already, this month’s ’Shroom is the 50th issue. Therefore, to make Music & Artwork extra special, every section in it is filled in, even if no particular user has been hired for the writing position! So, take a look at all of the sections and enjoy!

If you would like to write for the ’Shroom, don’t hesitate to look on the sign up page. The vacant sections for Music & Art include: Character Artwork of the Month, Soundtrack of the Month, Box-Art of the Month, and Photoshopped Image of the Month. If you would like to write for one of these sections, please contact me about it.

Also, from now on, I am allowing anyone to write for the Sketch Related to Mario! If you send me a Mario-related drawing or sketch of yours, I will put it in the Sketch Related to Mario section. This way, you can find several different artworks from a variety of users each month!

Hope you enjoy the 50th issue!

Character Artwork of the Month (Fawfulfury65)

Mario, Luigi, and Starlow

This month’s Character Artwork is a picture of Mario, Luigi, and Starlow during the events of Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. In this artwork, Luigi is mounted on Mario’s back, while Starlow is apparently startled at something. Ever since I first saw this artwork, I’ve liked it quite a lot. It has a cool art style and the characters are drawn exceptionally well. It seems to be extremely difficult to draw. I also like how colorful it is and how well shaded the characters are. The file is also very high quality and pretty big. This is definitely a great artwork for this month’s issue!

Boxart of the Month (Fawfulfury65)

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!

This month’s Box-Art of the Month is from the North American version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! As the game’s name suggests, it is the third game in the Donkey Kong Country series, which features Dixie Kong and her little cousin, Kiddy Kong, who both go on an adventure across the Northern Kremisphere. These two characters can be seen in the very front of the box-art, alongside a few enemies, a Banana Bird, and Funky Kong. Not only are a handful of characters on this fantastic box-art, but there is also a lot of detail and colors. You can see a few of the areas from the game on it too, such as a Brothers Bear cabin and Funky’s Rentals. Additionally, the picture is very big and high-quality. To sum everything up, this box-art is absolutely fantastic and is very fitting for such a great game.

Sketches Related to Mario (Fawfulfury65)

This month’s Sketch Related to Mario will now feature several drawings from a variety of users. If you would like your drawing to appear in the next issue, send it to me in a PM!

Artwork 1 by: Edofenrir (talk)
RexDoodle400.png

Artwork 2 by: Chivi-chivik (talk)
This is a Super Paper Mario related sketch. It shows Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser looking and talking about the Trial Stew.
tsstrialstew.png

Artwork 3 by: MST3K (talk)
Here’s a little something I doodled a while back.
BowserJrandSheepMan.jpg

Screenshot of the Month (Fawfulfury65)

SMG2 Luigi.png

Welcome back to the ’Shroom’s Screenshot of the Month, with your host, Fawfulfury65! Since this month’s ’Shroom is issue L, I decided to pick an image with Luigi in it. This picture displays the mustached sidekick hero standing on a grassy planet during the events of Super Mario Galaxy 2. In the background, one can see a canopy and large amounts of sunlight that pass through it. The sunlight makes the image very flashy and cool. Along with these several neat aspects of the image, it is also very high in quality and big. Well, that’s about it. Tune it next month for another great Screenshot of the Month!

Soundtrack of the Month (Fawfulfury65)


For the 50th issue of the ’Shroom, I chose a piece of music from the recent Nintendo DS game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! This is one of my favorite video game themes, which plays in the final world of the game. I find it to be very unique compared to the other themes in Mini Land Mayhem!, as it is a little slower and uses a lot of band instruments. I especially like the sound of the brass instrument (I’m assuming it’s a tuba or another low brass instrument) in the background that plays the bass part. It is a very exciting piece of music and fits the setting perfectly.

Sprite of the Month (FunkyK38)

For the ’Shroom’s 50th issue, I thought it would be good to go back in time to an era where 8-bit gaming was the latest technology… Here’s Super Mario from Super Mario Bros. 3. Super Mario SMB3.png Sometimes it might seem that Mario’s gone so far forward from where he once was, but it’s always good to see a classic picture of him.

Music Factoid (SimeaMorgana)

Now, for the 50th issue of the ’Shroom, I present you the best of Super Mario music, with an impression of the old traditional Japanese/ Chinese music style! Here are six wonderful, master-rendered pieces!

1. Super Mario Land, Chai Kingdom


We all know it, we all love it. This is one of the Mario ‘classics’, it perfectly reflects the glory and majesty of the Chinese Empire! Just take your time, listen to it carefully and dive into the most intense feelings of nostalgia!

2. Paper Mario, The Master


A true martial arts master also needs epic oriental-themed fight music!

3. Wario Land: Shake it! , Mount Bighill


One of my favourite levels in Wario Land: Shake it! I just love the percussion that goes along with the melody. It becomes more intense as it progresses. Don’t you feel some kind of sadness and melancholy, yet related to strength and joy?

4. Mario Party 7, Pagoda Peak


I just love this board. This kind of music just makes you cheerful and gives you the resolve to climb up that mountain.

5. Super Paper Mario, Sammer’s Kingdom


Yet an another great oriental-themed song. You must feel the harmony, the peace, the calmness of the music.

6.Super Paper Mario, Sammer’s Kingdom battle theme


This music plays while you are facing and fighting the 100 sammer guys. You never get bored when listening to it, yet you are glad when you have finished the trail.

I hope you enjoyed this article. (:

Photoshopped Image of the Month (Edofenrir)

Shoopbella.png

Hey there, everyone. This is Edofenrir, and I will be supplying May’s Photoshopped Image of the Month. Although I have to admit, the title is somewhat of a misnomer; I don’t own Photoshop, so I used The GIMP instead, which works out just as well.

Pictured above is Goombella, a major character from my favorite Mario game ever, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. She is one of my favorite characters from that game and the proof that Goombas do not always have to be pushovers. Respect the Goombas, or else… well, Goombella’s Tattle Log knows where you live…

I used normal Goomba artwork from New Super Mario Bros. as the base for my image. Then I recolored some parts, and added some things from other images as well to compose a Goombella. The final image is composed of a Goomba, and parts of Mario, Spooky Speedster, FLUDD, Princess Peach, and Princess Daisy. All in all it ended up being a pretty crazy mixture.

And I guess that is all I have to offer. Thank you for the attention.

Random Image of the Month (Ralphfan)

MT64 Daisy Third Alternate Artwork.png

Welcome to Issue L’s Random Image of the Month! This is a screenshot of Daisy from the Nintendo 64 game Mario Tennis. Daisy was one of the five Technique style characters. Waluigi, one of the other Technique players, made his first appearance in the game.

Well, that was kinda underwhelming. I was hoping I’d come up with a better image but that’s what I got. I guess all that’s left to say is that the first 50 issues have been great, and I’m sure the next 50 will as well! Keep on ’Shroomin’! (Oh, cool. That word started and ended with apostrophes.)


Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes (Marioguy1 (talk))

Hey guys! Welcome to Issue L’s Pipe Plaza! This month is a great one for The ’Shroom, with the Spotlights, the Section of the Month and the feedback survey; lots of new stuff going around! More related to the Pipe Plaza, a new section – Anniversary Announcements (written by Ralphfan) – has been created, make sure to read it to stay up to date on the MarioWiki’s Sixth Anniversary!

Now please take time to enjoy this picture!

Anyways, we still have a few spots open in the Pipe Plaza so make sure to sign up: as always, my Pipe Plaza description page is still up – it has many interesting facts about the Pipe Plaza that you may not know. Aside from that, have a great Issue L!

Mario Calendar (WigglerWhoopin'Warrior135 (talk))

Tip of the Month (FunkyK38 (talk))

Tip of the Month: Always try to get involved with the community! If you’re an active member of the wiki with good contributions, it will help you gain credibility with the administrators so they know they can trust you.

Upcoming Games (Paper Yoshi (talk))

First of all, I apologize for not writing my section last month. I was very busy with homework both from school and German course, aside from personal stuff. I’d also like to say I won’t be able to include the letter “L” in my section, since Iwata did not announce a new Luigi’s Mansion game. WHY NOT, IWATA? :'( I’ll sort of deviate from my original plan and write not only about Mario Kart 3DS and Paper Mario 3DS but also about the newly announced Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (yay for the letter L :D)!

E3 2010 screenshot of Mario and Luigi racing in Wuhu Loop in Mario Kart 7.
Players will be able to race in Wuhu Island

Mario Kart 3DS

Mario Kart 3DS will be the ninth Mario Kart game overall, third on a handheld. Not many details about it are known at the moment, since more will be revealed at this year’s E3, in June.

It is scheduled to be released sometime in 2011 with, as Nintendo says, many elements new to the Mario Kart series. Only two characters have been confirmed to appear in MK3DS. As with most games, those are the well-known brothers Mario and Luigi.

The screenshots reveal three tracks: an unnamed course featuring Peach’s Castle, a mountainous course with pipes, boulders and a forest and Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort.

Paper Mario 3DS marks the debut of Whomps in the series

Paper Mario 3DS

Paper Mario 3DS, the fourth Paper Mario game, will bring back the original RPG gameplay from the N64 and GCN installments. It will also be the first title of its series to be released for a handheld.

Partners will return, replacing the Pixls from Super Paper Mario. One of them is assumed to be a Chain Chomp, as seen in the game’s screenshots. Confirmed enemies include Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Pokey and a crowned Monty Mole. A screenshot shows Mario and a Wiggler walking together in a forest, indicating the Wiggler may help Mario instead of fighting him.

According to the Official Nintendo Magazine in Europe, “stickers” are a major element in gameplay. They will appear in puzzles and will also give power-ups to Mario. One can be seen outlined in another screenshot, suggesting players will be able to move them using the stylus.

Confirmed locations include a town similar to Toad Town, a volcano similar to Mt. Lavalava and an area similar to Pleasant Path from the first Paper Mario.

English logo for Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, for use on white backgrounds
The game’s logo

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

M&S London 2012, the third installment of the Mario & Sonic series, will be released for the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo 3DS. It has been confirmed that many sports, such as football/soccer and equestrian, will debut in this game, while the 3DS version is expected to feature over 50 Olympic themed events. While twenty characters will be playable in the game, only three have been confirmed to appear until now: Mario, Luigi and Sonic.


Starting next month, I’ll just write updates on the games currently in development until Nintendo announces another game.

Also, as you may know, the E3 will be held in Los Angeles from June 7th to June 9th. Considering the deadline for sending ’Shroom sections will probably be June 11th (one week before it’s released), I will try to delay writing my section as much as I need (and can) so that I can include E3 info about the four games I’ve covered here until now (excluding Sports Mix, which was already released).

And that’s all for May! I hope you all enjoyed this month’s section!

PipeProjects Seeking Contributors (Yoshiwaker (talk))

There are quite a few new PipeProjects this month that need more people to join. I’m here to draw your attention to them and see if you can help!

  • First, the Super Paper Mario PipeProject, started by JayRed2486. This will add more information to articles pertaining to Super Paper Mario. This PipeProject currently has 3 contributors.
  • Next, the Mario Racing PipeProject, by MARIOMAN. This will add information to articles such as karts, tracks, etc. This PipeProject currently has 2 contributors.
  • Third, the Mario Page PipeProject, started by Superfiremario. This will expand and clean up the Mario Page. This PipeProject currently has 2 contributors.
  • Last, but not least, the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Page Construction PipeProject(what a long name!), started by Al24136. This will make the Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door article eligible to become a Featured Article. This PipeProject currently has only 1 contributor.

NIWA News (Marioguy1 (talk))

Hey guys! RAP (talk) is taking the month off, so I’m filling in for him instead!

The last month has been a pretty successful one for NIWA – a few notable things happened:

  • NIWA welcomes the addition of not one, but two new members – wikis dedicated to two Japanese Nintendo series; Fire Emblem and Starfy.
    • The first wiki is the Fire Emblem Wiki! This wiki, with fewer than 500 articles on the entire Fire Emblem series, joined NIWA on April 20th becoming the 17th member! Visit them here!
    • 8 days after the Fire Emblem Wiki, NIWA welcomed a new member; the Starfy Wiki (with over 600 articles on The Legendary Starfy series)! The Starfy Wiki became the 18th member on April 28th, and can be visited here.
  • Sadly, several NIWA staff members have retired. Make sure to wish them bon voyage over at the NIWA forums.

And that’s all the news for NIWA this month!

Forum Update (Ralphfan (talk))

Current ongoing Mafia games: MW Werewolf: Take III – Stooben Rooben Nintendo Mafia – New Super Mario Super Mario Sunshine Mafia – Yoshiwaker

SIGN UP FOR THIS GAME

AND THIS ONE TOO

Anniversary Announcements (Ralphfan (talk))

Welcome to the first edition of our newest section, Anniversary Announcements! The Mario Awards are an annual festival held in August to celebrate our Wiki’s anniversary. We are currently in the planning stages of our fifth awards show. Each year, we form an Awards Committee of 11 to 15 members in late March. The committee then meets every Friday night in the chatroom for two hours to pick the awards that users will be able to vote on as well as the nominees. This year, we have 30 awards for the Mario series. We also have 15 Fail Awards that showcase the worst of the Mario series. We have 10 ’Shroom Awards to celebrate the newspaper you are reading right now and we also have 5 Userpedia Awards for our fanon site.

Here is the list of the awards we have chosen for this year.

You can get involved by visiting this board (yes, this one) on the forums. It includes all sorts of info and announcements. You’ll definitely want to check here as we go through the next few months because there will be lots of surprises!

General calendar: June 13 – Polls open July 1 – Sign-ups open to present awards July 13 – Polls close, results tallied and sent to presenters August 5 – Presentations due August 12 – Awards show!

Over the next few months, you’ll be hearing a lot about presentations. Users can sign up for presentations beginning on July 1. In a presentation, a user reveals the results of an award by either writing a story, making a comic or using some other digital medium. Last year included a slideshow and a playable game!

There will be lots of info released in the coming months to be sure to check back next issue!

Featured (Marioguy1 (talk))

Hello everyone, welcome to Featured!

This month has been an excellent one – the first two articles of the year have been featured! What could these articles be, you ask? Well, none other than:

Unfeatured recently were:

And there have been no failed nominations. Anyways, thanks for reading Issue L of the Pipe Plaza and have a great month!

Review Corner

by Ralphfan (talk)

This month I will be reviewing another favorite, Super Mario Sunshine! This game was released in 2002 for the Gamecube and was the second 3D platformer in the Mario series after Super Mario 64.

Story

Peach doesn’t get kidnapped. At least, not initially. Mario arrives at Isle Delfino and is accused of vandalism that was actually caused by a shadowy look-alike. Bowser Jr. makes his first appearance here in the form of Shadow Mario. Mario is declared guilty and is forced to clean all of this goop up. He enlists in the help of a water-squirting companion, F.L.U.D.D. After he cleans up a lot of goop and defeats a boss, he earns a Shine Sprite. There are 120 of these to collect. Mario traverses Isle Delfino and visits its many neighborhoods on the way to collecting the Shine Sprites before finally defeating Bowser and Bowser Jr. You only need 49 of the 120 before the final fight, which sounds like a small challenge, but Sunshine is widely regarded as one of the toughest games in the Mario series.

Graphics

Good graphics. It improved on what Super Mario 64 had and gave some of the best the Gamecube had to offer. Some of the levels were a bit dark and some of the layout affected how far into corners Mario could move, but they were generally good. Camera angles were a bit annoying to deal with, though. In many places, the camera was off-center or couldn’t get a good view of the area.

Overall

Since there are no other modes, I’ll skip ahead to this! Sunshine was and still is a fun game to play with good replay value, but some of the camera angles and the lack of any minigames are small drawbacks. I give this game a 9/10.


Entertainment Section

by SKmarioman (talk)

Hey everybody! It’s SKmarioman here with this month’s issue of the Entertainment Section! Let me ask you something. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for the villains in the Mushroom World? Well, now you’ll know! With Bowser's Kingdom by Andrew Raskin, you can know everything that goes through the Koopa brutes’ heads all day!

Bowser's Kingdom Cast.png

Warning: Almost every episode is rated M +17. Unless you are very mature, you should be over 17 years old.

Bowser’s Kingdom: Episode 1

Newgrounds Description: The world of Mario through the eyes of the bad guys.

This is a starter episode that introduces Jeff, the smart-ish Goomba; Hal, the Koopa Troopa who doesn’t get paid; Steve, the annoyingly cheerful Piranha Plant; and the incredibly weird Shy Guys. There isn’t too much of a story in this episode, instead it just tries to give viewers an idea of what the whole series is going to be about. It should also be noted that this is the only episode that sensors out swears in the subtitles.

Bowser’s Kingdom: Episode 2

Newgrounds Description: Jeff and Hal are still trying to be villains, and are still failing.

This episode starts out at Yoshi’s Island 3, where Jeff and Hal are just talking when Raccoon Mario randomly flies by. Jeff and Hal start talking about how it doesn’t make sense. Like, since when could raccoons fly, let alone a Maple Leaf making someone turn into one? Hal then notes that Jeff’s a talking evil mushroom and Hal’s a turtle standing on its hind legs eating a Red Mushroom that makes you ten feet tall. And they’re trying to fight a fat Italian guy created by a Japanese guy. There is really not much sense there.

What are you… gay?!

Jeff says he wishes he could fly, and remembers that him and Hal once took flying lessons from Kamek. Here, Kamek is a Magikoopa who always calls Jeff and Hal gay. They both agree it was a waste of time, but talking about a waste of time, what was Mario doing at Yoshi’s Island 3 again? He had already finished the level. Jeff says he was looking for secrets, like this: a block with Yoshi’s Wings in it. Hal thinks about Kamek’s Flying Lessons, so he quickly grabs the wings and flys up. Jeff takes a pair of wings, but it isn’t working right, and he is just spinning around a circle. Of course, it isn’t long before Mario shows up, and he stomps on both of them.

The Shy Guys’ plan.

They both fall to some flower fields below, and Jeff has been crushed. Hal gets really close to him and starts crying, when a 1-Up Mushroom comes and revives Jeff. Jeff suddenly calls Hal gay for being so close to him. Hal suddenly tries to make an excuse by saying he’s ‘lamenting’. Jeff says that it must be some kind of gay sex position, but then Hal tries to say that it’s something to do with breasts. They both notice a bunch of Shy Guys having a meeting. They’re talking about how Bowser fired them, and are wondering how to get revenge on him. A black Shy Guy says he should be their new leader, and in order to get revenge, they would take over the Mushroom Kingdom, and then Bowser’s Kingdom, and they will rule once more. Steve suddenly pops out of a Pipe with a Shy Guy mask on and asks if he can join them.

Typical Shy Guys. They’ll believe anyone wearing a mask is one of them. Hal thinks about this, so he gets a Bob-omb and puts a Shy Guy mask on it, tosses it over where the Shy Guys are and blows them up. So Jeff and Hal saved the day, sort of.

Bowser’s Kingdom: Episode 3

Newgrounds Description: Jeff and Hal get assigned to castle guard duty, but find out it’s already been beaten.

This episode starts out with Hal driving a car with Jeff – who has been crushed – in the back seat. Hal is trying to find a docter, but Jeff randomly says “I’m okay Larry”. Wait, who’s Larry?

Lineup.png

Okay, let’s see how Jeff got crushed in the first place. A scene shows six people walking, in order from right to left: Jeff, Hal, a red Koopa Troopa, a Fat Guy, Lemmy Koopa, and a purple Shy Guy.

The new cast.

This episode introduces Lemmy Koopa, the Inaudible Thwomp, and a Big Boo that has appeared throughout the series. And don’t forget the Karate Duo Number 1!

So all of the enemies and Lemmy are in a castle discussing what they were going to to once Mario gets there, when they are interrupted by Mario knocking on the door. He smashes inside and destroys two Dry Bones. Then he sees a door and the Inaudible Thwomp. He just says a bunch of gibberish. “HEY COME UNDER ?????? STAND HERE ?????? IT WON’T BE SO BAD BUDDABING-BUDDABOOM ??????? CHRISTOPHER WALKEN?”

Of course Mario’s smart and goes in the door, and after venturing through the castle and getting a Fire Flower he finds the Karate Duo Number 1. Mario kills them instantly with his Fire Flower. After that Lemmy Koopa is shocked that Mario was already there so quickly, so he chucks a Bob-omb at him to make him loose his firepower.

Then there is a huge fight in freefall after that; Mario vs. Lemmy Koopa! Everything seems to be neck and neck, until they land on a tilting platform floating on lava. Mario kills Lemmy with one punch and throws him into the lava. Mario saves the Yoshi Egg and destroys the castle (by riding a Banzai Bill into it).

Remember how Jeff got crushed at the start? Well, here’s how he got crushed: all the debris from the castle landed on him!

Okay, I hope you liked this month’s edition of the Entertainment Section. I’ll see you next month!


Interview

by New Super Mario (talk)

Hello interview lovers! This time we will be interviewing Marioguy1.

<New Super Mario> When did you join the wiki?

<Marioguy1> I joined the wiki about two years ago, on the 11th of June, 2009. However I only starting contributing about a month later, in July.

<New Super Mario> Do you have, or had any special rankings on the wiki?

<Marioguy1> Um… well a while ago, I had the ranking of autopatrol, and now I’m a patroller.

<New Super Mario> Do you have any positions in The ’Shroom?

<Marioguy1> I used to be the Pipe Plaza co-director, but with SMB’s promotion to director I became the solo director of the Pipe Plaza. I also write Featured for the Pipe Plaza and Character Reviews / Fading into Obscurity for the Main section.

<New Super Mario> What do you think The ’Shroom could improve on?

<Marioguy1> The ’Shroom started out very low and non-successful, but over the years it has expanded into something very good; I don’t think there’s much to improve on. We’ve finally reached Issue L (50) so that’s something to be proud of. And the new SotM concept is bound to be fun!
<Marioguy1> But one thing that I think could be improved on is getting sections in on time; partly it is the fault of the core staff, partly it is the fault of the users, but somehow there are always sections late. I think if that problem is fixed, The ’Shroom will truly be perfect.

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Community Polls?

<Marioguy1> The poll system is awesome! They were a great idea, in my opinion. One thought that sticks out in particular for me is that users can always go to this page and suggest a poll; we are always looking for suggestions!

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Did you Know?

<Marioguy1> I think it’s an interesting eye-catch on the main page. I definitely read it myself whenever I see new comments in it – it’s very interesting.

<New Super Mario> What do you think about the upcoming awards?

<Marioguy1> I’m sure that these awards will be great, I’ve attended two awards ceremonies so far and they were both extremely fun, I’m sure the third one will be the best of all!

<New Super Mario> Are you on Chat?

<Marioguy1> Yes, my nickname is MG1 and when my internet connection gets better, I plan to start going on daily. As it is, I go on a couple times per week.

<New Super Mario> Who do you think writes the best article in The ’Shroom?

<Marioguy1> Me of course! Well users write their sections with varying degrees of skill; it depends on how hard they try. I’ve seen awesome sections by Gamefreak, Edofenrir, MCD, FK38 and more users, but I’ve also seen not-so-great sections from those users. So it all depends on how much effort they put in.

<New Super Mario> Are you on Userpedia?

<Marioguy1> Yes, I am, my username is Marioguy1.

<New Super Mario> What would be your favorite Non-Mario game?

<Marioguy1> Non-Mario game… well, if you had asked at any different time, my answer may have been different, but right now I’m definitely going to say Pokémon White; I can’t put that game down right now!

<New Super Mario> What would be your favorite Mario game?

<Marioguy1> The ultimate question, Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Galaxy 2. I really love the Galaxy series overall.

<New Super Mario> What would be your least favorite Mario game?

<Marioguy1> Hotel Mario My least favorite Mario game… out of all the games I have, the one I don’t really like playing is Mario Power Tennis but I don’t hate that game; it’s just my least favorite.

<New Super Mario> What is the easiest Mario game you’ve played?

<Marioguy1> Gonna go with Super Mario Galaxy – the hardest part was the Prankster Comets.

<New Super Mario> What is the hardest Mario game you’ve played?

<Marioguy1> Um… Donkey Kong – I just can’t get to the top of that building D':

<New Super Mario> What game consoles do you own?

<Marioguy1> You didn’t say Nintendo consoles, so I own a PS2, PS3, Wii and I have come in contact with a GameCube before but… don’t have that right now.

<New Super Mario> What handhelds do you own?

<Marioguy1> Personally I only own two DS Lites (one broken, one fixed). But my brother has a PSP and a DSi XL which he lets me play.

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on the 3DS?

<Marioguy1> Sounds so awesome! I am totally getting one, as soon as the rush to get them is over.

<New Super Mario> What 3DS color do you want?

<Marioguy1> Reeeedddddd!!!!! <3<3<3<3

<New Super Mario> What do you think is the 3DS’s best feature, besides the 3D?

<Marioguy1> Definitely the fact that it comes with new games that don’t work on the DS(i) Lite/XL.

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Mario Sports Mix?

<Marioguy1> Sounds like an awesome game; my brother really wants it so I think I’ll be getting it soon.

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Mario Kart 3DS?

<Marioguy1> I love Mario Kart games and one in 3D sounds pretty fun!

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Paper Mario 3DS?

<Marioguy1> Paper Mario is definitely my second-favorite Mario series; I’m glad they’re releasing another game for it.

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Super Mario 3D?

<Marioguy1> The first thought that comes to mind: “what on earth are these name designers thinking”, the second thought: “That should be fun.”

<New Super Mario> Thoughts on Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games?

<Marioguy1> YES. I love the Mario & Sonic series; not necessarily the Mario & Sonic part, but the concept of Olympic Games is so much fun!

<New Super Mario> Who is your favorite Mario character?

<Marioguy1> Most people would think I like Mario, but actually my favorite character is Iggy Koopa; though he isn’t too far behind the other Koopalings.

<New Super Mario> Who is your favorite Nintendo character, besides a Mario character?

<Marioguy1> Ice Climbers B)

<New Super Mario> What Mario character is your least favorite?

<Marioguy1> I may get hate for this, but I really don’t like Baby Bowser, or any of the Baby characters; I find their concept very “meh”.

<New Super Mario> Mario or Luigi? Choose one, and explain why:

<Marioguy1> Mario because he’s in my username!

<New Super Mario> Which Paper Mario game do you like the most?

<Marioguy1> Thousand-Year Door, hands down. I just love the concept of the storyline!

<New Super Mario> Which Mario & Luigi game do you like the most?

<Marioguy1> I’d have to say Superstar Saga, as I don’t follow that series very intensely – all I know is that Superstar Saga has some awesome characters.

<New Super Mario> Which Mario Kart do you like the most?

<Marioguy1> The only one I have is the Wii version (and it hooked me) so I’m gonna say Mario Kart Wii.

<New Super Mario> Name some of your hobbies:

<Marioguy1> I like reading, and swimming :3

<New Super Mario> Can you play an instrument?

<Marioguy1> I play multiple instruments, but the one I play the best, and the most, is the Piano.

<New Super Mario> What is your favorite food?

<Marioguy1> The answer to this used to be Pie, without question, but now I don’t know really.

<New Super Mario> Do you have any pets?

<Marioguy1> Yes, I have a beautiful cat named Tiger.

<New Super Mario> Anything else you would like to say to the readers?:

<Marioguy1> Sign up for the Pipe Plaza today! That’s our interview! Tune in next month for the next one :3

Thanks for a great interview MG1! I had a lot of fun with this one.


Should Have Been

by MrConcreteDonkey (talk)
Boxart for Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Déja vu?

Hey everyone, and welcome to my Nightmare Should Have Been section! This month, I received not one, but TWO PMs about my section!!

I’m popular!!

So, uh, this is where you’d expect me to put some kind of image, huh? Well, not today!

Anyway, the first PM was from New Super Mario (talk) (known as Beagle on the MarioWiki Forum), who was suggesting that I do:

  1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
  2. Mario Sports Mix
  3. A Mario Part game.


Well, I’ve already done Super Mario Galaxy 2, so this is suddenly becoming a little bit awkward… uh, yeah… then, despite having tons of bad things to say about it, I don’t have
North American box art for Mario Party DS
Another pesky Nintendo DS game has slipped into my schedule!
Mario Sports Mix, and I just did Mario Hoops 3-on-3, so no, I can’t do either of those. Then, finally, I have not played this interesting Mario Part series, nor have I heard of it. Perhaps some brave contributor will create a page on this interesting series, riding on some brave horse/centaur thingy just to show how much they love being STRONG. Yes, I know he means the Mario Party series, but the problem is, I’ll just be ranting on about how separate minigames suck and stuff like that… though I think it would be a good idea to do Mario Party 8 sometime.

Then, Count Bonsula (talk) (known as apocalypseArisen on the Forum) requested I do a Mario & Luigi game. I guess I have a better chance of doing that than a Mario Part game, but I only own Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and I’m not exactly far in that.

But then I remembered that Paper Yoshi (talk) (a.k.a. Deutschland) also requested that I do Mario PKart Wii, which I turned down originally due to having done a Mario Kart game just before that. After a lot of consideration, I’ve decided to do a Mario Party game – Mario Party DS.

What should have been in this game?

4-player mode for Cyber Scamper in Mario Party DS
The controls here (Cyber Scamper) are pretty bad – it would have been much better on a console.
I believe this game was a pretty good game, with fun minigames, thoughtful boards and cool collectibles, but there is still lots of room for improvement. Starting off, as I said before, I did enjoy the minigames. Certain minigames, like Dust Buddies and Camera Shy, I find to be very fun and addictive. The game’s minigames – and basically everything else about it – is much better than Mario Party 8 (at least). And Mario Party DS isn’t even on a console, so it can’t fit in as much. Anyway, back to the minigame topic, I did find it annoying that some minigames had
Artwork of Dry Bones in Mario Party 7 (also used in Mario Party DS, Mario Kart Wii and Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games)
I GOT THE POWER! to transform an ape into a statue and place him in the middle of a jungle with a lot of red and blue circles and rocks and other weird things around him while his friend is just like 0_0
unnecessarily long introductions/endings, and I think that some of them could have been a bit shorter, or if not, simpler.

Also, some of the minigames really don’t work well for the Nintendo DS – a prime example of this is the minigame Cyber Scamper, where you have to get the end of a… well, cyber kind of stage. The course itself is diagonal relative to the characters and camera, meaning that you basically have to hold two direction keys at once, or rapidly switch between two of them (really annoying) plus press ‘A’ occasionally to jump, sometimes even moving while doing that, all while the course is flashing different trippy colors— @_@. This would be much easier and less awkward with a control stick, plus a broader console to make pressing the jump button easier.

Moving on, there were eight playable characters in this game: everyone from Mario Party 3 and Mario Party 4, minus Donkey Kong and plus Toad. Now, I understand that eight is a fine number, this is a handheld game and too many characters (Mario Party 8)
Bowser's Pinball Machine
I didn’t like Bowser’s Pinball Machine.
is not good, but I’m pretty sure there could have been more than eight. Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to bring Donkey Kong back to the party, because his role in this game was completely dismal (a Dry Bones somehow conjured up the power to turn him into a stone statue – yeah, a Dry Bones…). I mean, a DK Space would have even been better than that. Perhaps Koopa Kid and Boo could also make a return, as Koopa Kid just disappeared, and Boo, well he’s cool. So, I think there could have been more characters. After all, Mario Kart DS had… uh… eight plus four, I think… which is seven… ? Right, onto boards. As the game went, I thought the boards were pretty good. The ? Spaces and the other board quirks and events were pretty good. However, I felt that compared to previous boards in the series, Mario Party DS's boards were much smaller and enclosed, and much more linear. This was a little bit boring, especially considering that
Princess Daisy approaching a Hex in Mario Party DS, from the board Wiggler's Garden.
Daisy’s picking up a Hex? I ALWAYS KNEW SHE WAS A WITCH! Disclaimer: I mean no offense to any witches who are reading this, as I know you are not all hex-using, three-eyed freaks.
A figure of a beaten Dry Bones.
It appears he does not have the power.
games tend to last a long time. I mean, I thought the time predictions were exaggerating, but they weren’t in the slightest. Also, there is a lot of unused space in the scenery of the boards that could be used up. I didn’t like the board Bowser’s Pinball Machine in the slightest. The board is way too linear, and gets boring easily.

The boss stages are either too easy or too hard – the Kamek boss is too hard, and the Piranha Plant is WAY too hard – perhaps even harder than the final boss, who, strangely enough, is the only one with an appropriate level of difficulty. Dry Bones and Hammer Bro. are so easy it’s sad. I think they should have followed a less random difficulty curve. Finally, I thought the Hexes were a pretty good addition to the game. Though I would have preferred Orbs or Capsules, I’m thankful to see anything but Candy (brought to you by the one, the only, Mario Party 8). Also glad to see Items back from their Mario Party 8-related absence

Beta elements

Unlike Mario Hoops 3-on-3, this game has beta elements!

But not too many. D:

Anyway, starting off, Wiggler’s Garden was originally going to be Petey’s Greenhouse, the story being that a Piranha Plant had betrayed Petey (I kind of fail to see how that’s possible, as all they do is move up and down while going “NOMNOMNOM”). Toadsworth was originally in the Item Shops instead of Monty Mole, which kind of wouldn’t have suited Toadsworth because I can’t really imagine why he’d be six feet underground (unless he has kicked the bucket), so I’m pretty glad they changed that. There were also ‘X’s in the Coin and Star counters; removed because you can have over 100 of each, and the colors of the counters were gold instead of red or blue.


Well, that’s everything for Issue L. Here’s to another L issues of the ’Shroom! Look out for my special section, and, if you have a suggestion, PM Clover on the MarioWiki Forum. Bye guys, see you next month, and remember: don’t talk to Smasher.


Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner

by Coincollector (talk)

Hey Paisanos! This is Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner. Your friend Coincollector is here to tell you, not the tip of this month, but THREE tips this month. Why? because the ’Shroom forced me to is celebrating its special issue this month, and therefore I’ve made the biggest Mario Kart tip ever. I call this the Triple-Mega-Combo-Mario-Kart-Tips-Pack. I don’t want to talk more, so go ahead, take a look by yourselves.

Item of the Month

Artwork of a Golden Mushroom in Mario Kart Wii
All hail the Golden Mushroom.

The item that I’m gonna talk in this month is the Golden Muushroom. This golden and regal toadstool is an upgrade of the normal mushroom. What I mean by upgrade is that it works better than its ordinary counterpart. If a single Mushroom is able to give you one momentary speed boost when you use it, then a single Gold Mushroom is able to give you infinite speed boosts when you use it. That’s right, infinite. After you use this item, you’re still able to use it again and again, making your way to first place. However, once you use it for first time, the Golden Mushroom is only available to be used again for a brief period of time; once that time is up the item vanishes and can no longer be used. In some games where it appears, the Gold Mushroom can be used for a second time within eight seconds.

Basically the mushroom makes you go faster, but sure, you can also use the golden mushroom to take shortcuts and then keep using it to steal your opponents’ places. Nonetheless, in some games where it appears, the golden mushroom has other, not notable, but interesting uses. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, the golden mushroom is a special item that only Toad, Toadette, and King Boo and Petey Piranha can get. If you use a golden mushroom and ram another racer in your way, the opponent will suffer a brief lag and drop the item they’re holding. The mushroom also be used to steal the opponent’s item, but this requires accurate timing. That is, you must time it so that you ram the opponents after the Golden Mushroom has vanished, so there is room for it in the item slot. In Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, the golden mushroom lost this feature. In these games if you use a golden mushroom, you can push other vehicles out of your way. This becomes more useful for medium-to-heavy weight vehicles and characters as they can push other karts very far.

The item can be obtained if you are in a low position, especially if you go from sixth to last place. In Mario Kart Double Dash, Toad and Toadette regularly obtain a golden mushroom if they are in a place that is not first.

The golden mushroom can also be used in battle mode. In Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, the item tends to appear when a player is very disadvantaged. The golden mushroom can be used to steal a balloon from the opponent in balloon battles, Shine Sprites in Shine Thief (MKDD) & Shine Runners (MKDS), or Coins in Coin Runners (MKW). In my opinion, the item is not really useful during battles. The main problem is when having this on hand, the player is open to any opponent’s attack. The best way to avoid this muddle and risk oneself just for stealing something is getting rid of the item at once.

Course of the Month

Screenshot of SNES Mario Circuit 1 featured in Mario Kart DS
Good memories come back to me. Oh no! It’s that catchy tune!

The course of the month is SNES Mario Circuit 1. Regarded by many as one of the shortest courses in the Mario Kart series (only beaten by Baby Park), Mario Circuit 1 is just a flat raceway without many notable hallmarks. The track starts near to an abrupt bend to the left that becomes a long straightaway. After that, the road turns to the left and a bit later, another turn to the left. The curve leads the racers to a short straightaway followed by a turn to the right. The road makes a U-turn to the left that sends the racers back to the starting line to complete the lap. The road is surrounded by a extensive zone of rough terrain that makes any kart that runs over it go slow. Pipes serve as obstacles in some curves of the track, specially the second and third ones. Right after the third curve, the player will see a large area of loose ground to the right of the track. As I said before, this ground makes vehicles slow, but using a mushroom, jet propulsion or a star, you don’t need to worry. Here there is a shortcut to reach the last bit of the course and finish the race. As curious note, this is the only course that has a single set of item Boxes.

Another Tip of the Month

Artwork of the Green Fire from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Yeah, it’s just the Red fire without red.

For my next tip, I’ll talk of a kart that appeared in Mario Kart Double Dash!!. It’s green, has a letter L on its hood, and is Luigi’s personal vehicle. Did you get it? Yup, it’s the Green Fire. In order to get and use the Green Fire, you must complete the Mushroom Cup in 50cc – a very easy task to complete if I do say so. The kart can only be driven by putting together two middleweight characters or a middleweight with a light character. As seen in the game, these are the Green Fire’s stats:

  • Speed: Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.
  • Acceleration:Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.
  • Weight: Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.Power Star icon from Super Mario Galaxy 2.

As you can see, the Green Fire’s highlight is speed, a characteristic not very common in karts of this weight class. On the other hand, its acceleration is low, as is its weight. In truth, the Green Fire shows bizarre traits; it has great speed that can be compared to many karts of the heavyweight class that are also speedy. However the kart is very light, so it’s susceptible to being pushed around by heavier vehicles. Curiously, the kart is the heaviest within its level, as karts that have the same number of stars (these are the Koopa Dasher, the Para Wing and The Bloom Coach) are lighter. Besides, Its acceleration is quite low for a middleweight kart. Last, the kart shows good traction, which is very unusual in speedy karts seen in the game. This prevents the Green Fire from going off road if it slips out of control. In my personal experience, the Green Fire is certainly suited for advanced players. The only thing an expert would look for in this kart is its speed. Although its other stats seem very unusual, it may be no problem to those who know how to handle it regardless of its less-conventional aspects.

And that’s all Shy Guys, hope you enjoyed the Triple-Mega-Combo-Mario-Kart-tips-Pack that I made for you for this month, and always remember to look both ways before crossing the road or else the Green Fire will run over you.


Fading Into Obscurity

by Marioguy1 (talk)
Sea Side King
The King of Water Land in Kappa form.

Welcome to Issue L of Fading into Obsucurity! This issue I decided to talk about a character from the most special Mario game in history, or rather, seven characters: the Mushroom Kings!

These seven glorious characters ruled over the seven lands of the Mushroom Kingdom: Grass Land, Desert Hill, Sea Side, Big Island, The Sky, Iced Land and Pipe Maze. Very few of them are named, but I saw great promise for these seven when I first heard of them. They debuted in Super Mario Bros. 3, where the main objective of the game was to rescue them from the clutches of some awesome other characters. Unfortunately, these monarchs did not reappear in the game’s remakes New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii (and don’t try to tell me that the Koopalings in a cake story was better than one involving the kings).

Four of the Kings have also appeared in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 in four different episodes. These kings are the Sultan (Desert Hill), Prince Hugo (Giant Land), Emperor Ed (Sky Land) and King Windbag (Ice Land). This was the most recent appearance of the kings. With the release of many games since then, including sequels where they did not appear, the Kings have simply faded away; into obscurity.


Character Reviews

by Marioguy1 (talk)

Hello everybody! Welcome to another Character Reviews – for the magnificent Issue L! This week, for this big issue, I have some pretty big characters to review; Rawk Hawk and Macho Grubba!

Rawk Hawk

Rawk Hawk's artwork from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
It’s a giant bird!

First off, we have Rawk Hawk, a very big bird. He is two to three times as tall as Mario and was the champion of the Glitz Pit when Mario first went there. Rawk Hawk is a mutant bird, to explain him briefly. I don’t quite like his design personally (if they wanted to make a fighter-boss, why did they have to make it a bird), but I suppose Hawk rhymes with Rock and Rock Rawk is one of his key phrases…

Anyways, I don’t really find him too funny, and I think his incorporation in the storyline has nothing special. Sorry if I’m offending anyone, but I just think Rawk Hawk could be replaced by… well, any other character.

Macho Grubba

Macho Grubba
GIF image D:

Macho Grubba is the first sign that this game is failing in its end-boss design. Grubba is a twisted announcer for the Glitz Pit who uses his wealth to attract all of the strongest fighters, and then captures them and uses their power for himself. Macho Grubba is his form after absorbing the power of the Gold Star. I don’t find it very exciting; I suppose he could be a kind of Frankenstein monster, but it’s not exactly “end-boss” material.

His design is very similar to that of his previous form, but it just seems like Macho Grubba should be being controlled by a greater power. Oh well, that’s just my opinion.

Total

Overall, it doesn’t look like I liked Chapter 3. It was actually one of my favourite chapters, but for some reason, its bosses just didn’t “click” with me.

Quite disappointed with these ratings… oh well…

Additional Note

I’d also like to use this opportunity to give a shout-out to one of the new features that The ’Shroom is introducing this issue; The ’Shroom Spotlight! This new feature will review a game every month, focusing on expanding that game’s content. For more info, check out the article.

This month they’re doing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door which coincides very nicely with my runthrough. Next month, I’ll be sure to give my opinion on how the TTYD info improved in the articles. Make sure you sign up and help out!

Now, MG1, out!


Brawl Tactics

by FunkyK38 (talk)

Hello, Brawlers! Welcome to the 50th issue of the ’Shroom! For Brawl Tactics this month, I will be covering the Shroomiest part of Brawl: Mushroomy Kingdom!

Mushroomy Kingdom is a side-scrolling level, but don’t think for a second that you can take your time like in Super Mario Bros. This stage will go by faster than you’re expecting, so always keep moving.

This stage has two different backgrounds. First, Level 1-1. This is the above-ground level. Like any good Mario level, it has a variety of item boxes that you can hit for items such as food, Assist Trophies, Pokéballs, and weapons. Because of the item blocks, items don’t drop from above as often as they do on other stages. So whenever you see an item brick, be sure to hit it. And, particularly with the blocks that have food, hit them more than once. Like in Mario games with boxes that contain multiple coins, the Mushroomy Kingdom item blocks often contain multiple items. The landscape isn’t very challenging, but be careful when the brick and pipes stack up, because it can be hard to get out of there once you’re stuck.

Next, Level 1-2. This is the underground portion. The landscape here is vastly different. There are bricks everywhere, and their layout can make it especially hard for larger characters like Bowser to get around. Some of these bricks are much harder than others, so if you’re playing with a character that doesn’t have a lot of power they will have a very hard time getting through all those bricks. The good thing all those blocks is that there’s a straight top layer that you can walk right on. If you can get your opponent up there, you can KO them easier. The higher row makes it easy to launch. So, if your favorite character has a Final Smash that has a lot of launch power, it’s a good strategy to corner your opponent on top. Even Final Smashes like Galaxia Darkness or Triforce Slash that need some damage done to the opponent in order to be an effective KO will work if you’re up top. I find that you can even hit your opponent right after they get off the recovery pad after losing a life, with no damage, and it’ll still be a KO. One other thing I must warn about are the lifts in the middle of the level. There are two girder lifts– one that goes up and one that goes down. They may not look like they pose a threat, but they move faster than is apparent. Additionally, where they go off the screen is a really shallow place, and you will be KO’ed faster than you can say “I’m-a goin’ to rescue the Princess-a!”

Hope this makes the Mushroomy Kingdom a safe place to brawl! Good luck and happy brawling!


Mafia Game

by Tucayo (talk)

Hello awesome readers! I am your sexy-Koopa-writer Tucayo, and I am writing this special section to explain – and invite you – to a special event to celebrate the 50th Issue of The Super Mario Wiki’s ’Shroom!!

I don’t know if you remember that some months ago, in December IIRC, we had a Mafia Game (which the Mafia won, BTW). Well, this time SMB contacted me and asked me if I would like to host a Take II version of the game, which I gladly accepted. It has a slight difference, in that this game will be Werewolf instead of Mafia, but it’s the same concept. You can find a quick explanation, courtesy of Stooby, in this thread.

The first ’Shroom Mafia was a great game, gathered many players and had a great ending, so I can guarantee you that this Werewolf game will be awesome too and feature things you have never seen! But of course, for it to be awesome we need players. If you want to play, please say so in this topic. Tentative date of its start is first weeks of June. Thanks!


'Shroom Spotlight

by Marioguy1 (talk)
Main article: The 'Shroom:Spotlight

Hello everyone! This is Marioguy1 (talk) here! We have a special new treat for everyone this month! For the release of Issue L, the 'Shroom Staff, in conjunction with the MarioWiki admins (notably Xzelion), have created a brand new project – The 'Shroom Spotlight!

The point of this project is to create and expand articles on one game every month. A different game will be selected every month to be expanded, and a review of progress will be in this section every month! Anyone can sign up for the project by adding their name to the list on this page.

The project will be led by Xzelion (talk), who will write this section in the future, and this month he has selected the game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door! So go on and expand all articles on that game to improve the wiki!


Feedback Survey

Hello readers of The 'Shroom. The Core Staff has promised the 'Shroom readers the ability to make suggestions and give input on things going on in The 'Shroom in a survey that was dubbed the "Feedback Survey" (for obvious reasons). This will be the first of three surveys that will be available to the userbase that will enable everybody to get their thoughts to the Core Staff in an organized fashion.

There are eight categories in this survey:

  • General – General questions about The 'Shroom.
  • Issue L – Questions about the fiftieth issue, which (at the time of the start of this survey) is the current issue.
  • Main Team – Questions about sections in the Main team of 'Shroom writers (which doesn't include Fake News, Fun Stuff, Music & Artwork, or Pipe Plaza; each get their own category).
  • Fake News – Questions about sections in the Fake News team of The 'Shroom.
  • Fun Stuff – Questions about sections in the Fun Stuff team of The 'Shroom.
  • Music & Artwork – Questions about sections in the Music & Artwork team of The 'Shroom.
  • Pipe Plaza – Questions about sections in the Pipe Plaza team of The 'Shroom.
  • Survey – Questions about the quality of the survey itself.

Most of these questions cannot be skipped: this is because we expect that if you are willing to participate in the survey, you will give the full extent of your opinion! If you do not have an opinion on one of the topics covered, most of the questions will either have a "No opinion" option or a write-in box in which you can type "No opinion". However, if you do have extra comments to give in the write-in boxes, please be sure to explain them understandably and in detail: we want to hear you out!

In any case, here is a link to the survey form:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFRiTE1kaF9XTzRzcHpiYjdVS0JPM1E6MQ

This survey will close on June 18th, 2011 at whatever time Issue LI is released. Thank you for helping us!


Section of the Month

Section of the Month
Month Issue Section Writer
April 2011 Issue XLIX Fake Ads Gamefreak75 (talk)

At some day back in 2006, The 'Shroom was created. It was envisioned as a community project, and ever since then users combined their creativity to provide the community with an issue every month. A few of these users showed themselves to be very ambitious and as a result, they produced memorable contributions. About a little more than a year ago, the staff began asking themselves how it would be possible to reward those people for their efforts. These thoughts eventually culminated in the establishment of a writer award: The Section of the Month, a special tribute to those who put the most effort into their creation. And this special will mark the first instance of a writer receiving this tribute.

The receiver of April 2011's Section of the Month is Fake Ads, an overall excellent contribution to the Fake News written by Gamefreak75. Gamefreak75 has been a writer for Fake Ads since January 2010, meaning he has been a part of the writing team for more than a whole year, which is respectable for a writer of the 'Shroom. His first contribution was relatively simplistic; trying to advertise a Question Mark Block to the readers. Gamefreak75 has come a long way since then. His contributions steadily grew larger, more distinct, and he eventually started creating images for them as well. His contribution for April 2011 was overall the largest of his works up to that point. The section was planned out well in advance, and it becomes apparent that he poured a lot of effort into making it. The section has images to go along with it, one of them being a self-created animated gif. In general, April's Fake Ads were a positively surprising contribution; an excellent section received perfectly on time and without complications. Therefore, we from the 'Shroom Core Staff think this is worthy of being Section of the Month April 2011.

But of course this is not the only excellent section April had to offer. Along with Fake Ads, two other sections were brought up while we decided for the tribute receiver. One of these sections is Fading Into Obscurity, written by Marioguy1. The section is fluently written and provides excellent information about an obscure character (just like it's supposed to be), Stanley the Bugman. The other section who almost but not quite made it is Fake Characters, written for the Fake News by MrConcreteDonkey who will unfortunately quit after this month. It is quite sad, because his writing is not bad at all, and maybe his section could have made it eventually. Maybe he will get a shot with one of his other sections, though.

And that concludes the Section of the Month for April 2011. Until next time, do your best. :3


Special Sections

Special Section I

by MrConcreteDonkey (talk)

Hey everyone, and welcome to my special section on this beautifully L issue of the ’Shroom.

This special section is going to be on EASTER EGGS!

ostereier1600_middle-thumb.jpg

No, not those easter eggs…

Then what do you mean by ‘easter egg’?

Ask nicely.

*sigh*, please would you tell me what you meant when you used the term ‘easter eggs’ back there?

That’s more like it… anyway, an easter egg is basically a hidden feature in a piece of software that cannot be found by normal means. The programmers purposely put this secret content in the game, waiting for the really bored lifeless devoted people to stumble across. They can be found in many ways; by tapping certain buttons in a certain order, waiting on a screen, entering a code, going to a certain place in the game, or looking at something pretty closely and having knowledge on the subject (in the case of things that aren’t video games), and that’s just a small few. Lots of software and other things have this: it generally isn’t always programmers who put them in: for example, they can be found in movies, music, art, video games, tv shows, TVTropes, board games, me, the list is almost ENDLESS. Also see Easter Egg, because I was way too incompetent to find that page before this.

So, I guess you still don’t know what they are, right?

…okay, I’ll go prepare my notes. I was half expe— oh, you do get it? Okay. Well, I’m going to go and prepare my notes anyway. I like to prepare my notes. >:(

So, let’s look at some examples:

An easter egg that is widely hidden across many Nintendo games is Kazumi Totaka’s Song. This song is a small 19-note tune hidden in a bunch of Nintendo games. The thing that connects them together is that Totaka composed the music for each of these games, and therefore is the person who put the song in. Currently, the earliest game the song has been found in is X, where you could find it at a “Thank you…” screen after rescuing a fake scientist. Sadly for non-Japanese players, this was only released in Japan, but you never know what the 3DS e-Shop has in store…

Here are the Mario games the song can be found in.

  • Luigi’s Mansion – Go to the Training Room and let the screen sit on the controller configuration for 3 1/2 minutes.
  • Mario Artist: Talent Studio – I’m not too sure on this one, but it’s definitely in here. I think in some movies there’s scenes with a slow man walking – the song plays in the scenes with this slow man.
  • Mario Paint – Easy one – just click on the ‘O’ in the title screen.
  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins – Wait on the game over screen for 2 1/2 minutes.
  • Virtual Boy Wario Land – Wait (becoming a recurring theme here…) on the ‘END’ screen at the end of the game for a minute and a quarter. Especially hard ’cause you have to put up with looking at the Virtual Boy. @_@
  • Yoshi’s Story – Wait 2m 10s on the Trial Mode level select screen.
  • Yoshi Touch & Go – When you get to an area where winds blow away the clouds you draw, pause the game and (guess what) wait for 3m 45s.

See here for more info. Totaka is also the voice of Yoshi and the namesake for Totakeke, otherwise known as K.K. Slider.

Apart from Totaka’s Song, outside Mario games, there’s some more cool easter eggs out there in video games. I’ll show you two: one pretty well-known one and one more obscure one.

The Chris Houlihan Room is a very secret room full of Rupees in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. There are many obscure ways of getting to this room, and it was left undiscovered for many, many years. This video shows five complex ways of getting to this room, but just who is Chris Houlihan? Chris was the winner of a contest in the gaming magazine Nintendo Power, and, as the winner, got the room named after him. Cool, huh?

Now, we move onto Wave Race: Blue Storm – this egg is very little known everywhere, so this may well be the first time you hear of this, but fiddling around with the sound settings (from what it looks like, cycling through song numbers one and forty-nine, then selecting one) changes the commentator into a bored, mean… uh, commentator. See this video for more info – the commentator makes some pretty funny comments, and it’s very well hidden.

“Your wins are like diamonds, kid. Very rare.”

But now our reach stretches across to the world of MOVIES… andotherstuff.

  • In loads of Pixar movies, the number/code A113 can be found:
    • In Toy Story, it can be seen on a car numberplate.
    • In Cars, it can be seen on a train.
    • In Wall-E, it can be seen in the robot Auto’s eye – a view is shown from the robot’s point of view, and the number can be seen, along with lots of other stuff.
    • Et cetera, et cetera.
  • In Microsoft Excel ’95, go down to the 95th row on a worksheet. Select the whole row, and then tab over to column ‘B’. Open Help/About next. Finally, hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click the tech support button. You are now in the HALL OF TORTURED SOULS!! You can walk around this hall with really creepy colours, flashing lights, narrow pathways, and random names everywhere. Then, do a 180 degree turn at the start and walk through the wall – you see a picture of a few people. These are the tortured souls, and shall remain tortured… FOREVE— nah, just kidding. The truth is much more lighthearted, as these are all the programmers of Excel. Microsoft really loves easter eggs like this.
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a great album by The Beatles, has quite a few easter eggs. During the song A Day in the Life, in the crescendo at the end, continuing till the very end, there is a dog whistle being blown. Who added the dog whistle? Why, none other than the late George Harrison. The reason? He thought it’d be funny “if a bloke was sitting there listening and his dog was going crazy.”

Well, there you have lots of easter eggs. The internet is a great way to find out more, and, who knows, if you look hard, you could even discover a new one.

tl;dr version: OMG I’VE BEEN SELECTED TO WRITE A SPECIAL SECTION FOR THE FIFTIETH ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!

Bye, thanks for reading, and enjoy this issue of the ’Shroom – now with extra L!


Special Section II

by Turboo (talk)

HI I’M TURB AND THIS IS MY SECTION MY FRIEND PERSUADED FORCED THREATENED ENCOURAGED ME TO WRITE

I first found the wiki in 2007; I’m not sure if I was looking up any kind of Mario information, or just happened to stumble upon it, but nevertheless, I was still incredibly excited about this find. I only spent a short amount of time looking at the actual wiki, and directed my attention more towards the forum; I suppose I was fascinated by it at the time. I held off on making an account on either one of them, though.

After a few months of browsing the forum, I found Userpedia. I was very interested in it, as usual; perhaps moreso than the forum. The amount of activity struck me as amazing, and so did the decent amount of content. I still held off on making an account, until the middle of August 2008, when I decided to enter the chatroom and meet the community first.

Everyone there made a rather positive impression on me, so I decided to enter the main channel at the time, #mariowiki. The activity was much higher than #userpedia, and I stayed in there for around the rest of the day. I kept visiting every day, and then decided to finally make accounts on the wiki, forum, and Userpedia. Unfortunately, Scribblewiki crashed about a month or so after I joined. Not much happened after that; I did, however, take over the unregistered awards channel, not knowing what it was, for quite a while.

Early 2009 wasn’t very different from 2008; everyone seemed to be a bit crazier (or depressed, depending on the person), though. In the middle of the year, a plan to temporarily shut down #mariowiki was proposed, since basically everyone was out of control at that point (maybe myself included; I can’t actually remember), although we ended up not going through with the plan. Things proceeded as normal (as in, everyone trolling each other and starting flamewars) until early October, when Paper Jorge and I, fed up with Tabuuownsall132x2, decided to use NukeDPL on Userpedia by guessing the password to his account. After I helped clean it up a bit, Jorge ended up banned for a while, and my ban was contested many times, though I was eventually just banned for a few months (I believe it expired in June of last year) after telling Moofle and the at-the-time unbanned Jorge to spam the wiki a while after the incident; Jorge ended up permabanned after that, though.

In early 2010, a discussion about making #mariowiki an unofficial channel was brought up, after a post in a thread about a user’s ban from the forums. It spanned an 8-page thread, which eventually devolved into everyone bashing Ralphfan. They did, however, go through with the idea this time, and make new channels for the wiki (#mwchat and #mwikitalk). A bit after this, a reform attempt for the old channel was suggested by Super Mario Bros., but was declined. The new channels were then set up and organized with a new op team being picked out, and, for once, the chat was fairly normal, although it no longer had the activity it did back in ’08–’09.

Since nothing really notable has happened in 2011 yet, I suppose those were all of the important events I can sum up (that I’ve experienced, at least). The wiki will be turning 5 this year, and I’ll be turning 3 once August rolls around. Although the wiki has had its share of problems (mostly ones related to chat, heh), my experience here has been pretty good; I don’t plan to leave any time soon!


Special Section III

by Tucayo (talk)
Stooben Rooben
Spirit_Lies_-_Stooben_Rooben_Official_Artwork.PNG
Favorite Food: Cinnamon Rolls
Favorite Music Genre: Progressive Rock
Favorite non-Mario Game: Rock Band 3
Favorite Number: 328
SMW Article you feel proud of: Super Mario Bros. Deluxe


Tucayo: Hello amazing readers, I am your special interviewer, Tucayo! And I am interviewing for Issue L none other than one of the most beloved users in the site, the one and only… Stooben Rooben!! Hello Stooby!
Stooby: Hello!
Stooby: *waves handkerchief*
Tucayo: Most of us know your wiki history, how you got here and all that, so I won’t ask that, but in case anyone doesn’t know, could you tell us a little bit about your arrival to the wiki?
Stooby: ...Wait, I'm supposed to do that when saying goodbye...I'm already messing this up.  :(
Tucayo: Don't worry, we can cut the handkerchief  :)
Stooby: Hooray!
Tucayo: Most of us know your wiki history, how you got here and all that, so I won’t ask that, but in case anyone doesn’t know, could you tell us a little bit about your arrival to the wiki?
Stooby: Well, it was almost four years ago when I first arrived here. It was my first time being on a wiki, so I wasn't entirely sure what to do.
Stooby: I ended up starting off making simple articles about some of the cars/enemies in MKDD.
Stooby: ...And then Wayoshi and Cobold came along and told me I was doing things wrong, lol.
Tucayo: Lol, what was it that you were doing wrong?
Stooby: They weren't mean or anything (and they didn't give me any warnings, thankfully). They certainly did help me get the hang of the wiki, though. Especially Cobold.
Stooby: I wasn't formatting the articles right.
Stooby: I didn't know how to even put an image in an article without it taking up half the page. :P
Stooby: I think there were a few other problems, but I can't really remember what. It was a pretty long time ago.
Tucayo: Yeah, it was a long time ago, you are one of the oldest (wiki-age-wise) active users. When you joined 4 years ago did you ever expect you would be where you are now when you joined the wiki? Did you ever have in mind becoming ‘crat, Forum Admin and ‘Shroom Director, among other?
Stooby: I definitely did not expect to be where I am today. My main goal back then was just to fix up articles on games that I liked, and to make some friends.
Stooby: Of course, the thought of being a Sysop was always exciting to me, but I never really expected to reach that position. I thought I was too...well, noobish.
Stooby: But then lots of people began to say I should be a Sysop, which leveled up my confidence. I eventually started trying harder to improve the wiki and help out the community, and it paid off greatly.  :)
Stooby: I have no idea how I ended up being such an important part of The 'Shroom, tho.
Stooby: (that sounded more arrogant that I intended it to...)
Tucayo: Probably it all started with you writing FTMV.
Tucayo: lol
Tucayo: You have mentioned in past times that both Lemonface and Stooben Rooben are nicknames from your childhood. Could you share the story of those nicknames with us?
Stooby: Oh, there's not much of a story, really.
Stooby: My Dad has a completely goofy sense of humor, so, he was the one who came up with the nicknames.
Stooby: "Lemonface" was created within 10 minutes of me being born. Apparently, I was screaming my head off after being born, and my dad thought that my face "looked like a lemon".
Stooby: Have no idea how he made that connection.
Tucayo: Wow, that is an ancient nickname
Stooby: "Stooben Rooben" was something that just came out of nowhere when I was around 4 years old.
Stooby: Hey, I'm not /that/ old. >:(
Tucayo: XD I didn't mean that  :)
Stooby: Lol.
Tucayo: Talking about your nicks, I recall you saying that you didn’t like it when someone called you Rooby. Why is that?
Stooby: Because it sounds like "Ruby", which is a girls' name. :P
Stooby: But then Pokemon DP/Black Hole Sun/My Bloody Valentine/whatever his name is now started calling me "Ruby" CONSTANTLY.
Stooby: He did it to annoy me at first, but after a while, it stopped irking me. Now, I don't mind it so much.
Tucayo: Now that you mention it... I have an aunt named Ruby....
Tucayo: Next question! You depict yourself as a blue Yoshi Kid with a guitar, why did you choose that specific character?
Stooby: I absolutely love TTYD as a game. My favorite character from the game is the little Yoshi partner you get in the game. I guess it's his attitude that I like so much.
Stooby: Blue is my favorite color, and it was also the color of Yoshi I got the most in that game.
Stooby: And, I play guitar in real life (among several other instruments), which is why I decided to go with that character combo.  :)
Tucayo: A design that has sure become famous in the SMW community. Now, talking about the SMW; You have been a very important piece of the wiki, forum, Shroom, and practically everything related to the MW. I bet you have learnt some things during all the time you have served the wiki, is there anything you have learnt that you want to share with the readers?
Stooby: Oh wow. I've definitely learned a lot of things in my time here.
Stooby: I'm definitely far more adversed with coding than I used to be...but that would be boring to talk about. :P
Stooby: As cheesy as this may sound, I think the most important thing I've learned around here is how silly it is to fight amongst one another.
Stooby: Anyway, I've seen A LOT of people fight with each other around here. Whether it's a petty rivalry with another user, insulting/making fun of another user in order to fit in with "friends", or just general trolling, it always has a bad outcome.
Stooby: I get that people are going to fight, and that people are going to troll/flame; there's nothing that will ever change that. But I do think we could all make an effort to not...well, purposely hurt one another.
Stooby: The other majorly important thing I've learned around here is how to prioritize. While I wouldn't recommend piling on the responsibilities like some people around here have a bad tendency to do, I think that it's important to find at least one responsibility around here.
Stooby: Whether it's actively editing, working with The 'Shroom, taking part in a project around the wiki, or something like administrating, I think people can learn a lot about prioritization.
Stooby: Plus, having responsibilities just generally feels cool...it makes you feel important...at least, in my opinion. :P
Stooby: </wall of text>
Tucayo: Yeah, I have the same opinion. It's good to have responsibilities.
Tucayo: Is there anything you would like to see changed in the SMW?
Stooby: Hard to say. Off the top of my head, I can't really think of anything that could use a lot of changing. But I'm always interested in the changes around the site that other people propose (whether it's a proposal, or something going on in the Admin board).
Stooby: Maybe seeing our article quality improve a bit, but that's something that requires steady effort from the entire community.
Tucayo: Yeah, it has been tried some times by the admins but that is something everyone has to cooperate with. How have you seen the wiki change during all this time?
Stooby: I think it's safe to say that most of the changes I've seen around the wiki have been for the better.
Stooby: There's been a lot of changes, so it's hard to remember them all.
Stooby: Then again, my parents are yakking in my ear right now, so that might be why. o_o
Tucayo: XD any particular change you remember? something big?
Stooby: Well, one that sticks out in my head is when Son of Suns proposed changing the titles of game articles to be their first offical English name.
Stooby: I originally wasn't fond of the idea (I found it kind of...confusing), but I think in the long run, it's made the wiki seem less biased and more professional.
Stooby: Also, if it counts, all the changes that have been made to the Mario Awards over the past few years are wonderful, imo.
Tucayo: Yeah, up to this day one of the most important policies on articles naming. And the Mario Award have certainly grown, we'll get to them later on. You have made many decisions and actions for the wiki, forums, Shroom, chat, UP and even NIWA. Is there anything you regret doing?
Stooby: On the wiki and forums, I can't really say that I've done anything I regret.
Stooby: With The 'Shroom, my main regret is that I wasn't more active as a Director. I had a lot of changes and improvements planned, but I never went through with them.
Stooby: On chat, too many to list. Most of all, though, I feel like I contributed to making #mariowiki the "bad channel" everyone seems to feel it is. Mostly because of all the rules and changes I tried to make that failed horribly.
Stooby: On NIWA, I wish I would have been more active when the project initially started.
Tucayo: Earlier on you mentioned the Awards as one of the biggest changes the wiki has had, and they will celebrate its 5th edition this year. You collaborated greatly with them in the past, but there is one question many people ask themselves; after what happened last year, can we hope to see you present an award this year?
Stooby: Yes. Ralph and I are (slowly) working out the details of a nice little event for the Awards. I also plan to do a presentation this year, despite what happened last year.
Tucayo: Great to hear! In the time you have been here many users have come and gone (not trying to make you feel old!), did any of those users leave a mark in you? Who inspired you when you joined the wiki?
Stooby: Xzelion definitely left a huge mark on me when I first came to the wiki, and it was sad to see him leave...and then come back and leave...and then do the same thing again... It's definitely been nice to see him being active again and doing what he does best around here, though.
Stooby: Stumpers and Time Q also inspired me a lot. Their overall attitudes towards everyone in the wiki, their amazing writing capabilities... They were definitely the ones who inspired me to become a better editor.
Tucayo: All three of them great editors and users. And it really is awesome Xz is back! Too bad we can't say the same about Stumpers and Time Q...
Stooby: Glowsquid and Ninji were also pretty inspiring to me, especially when it came to being a firm admin.
Stooby: Yes, it's definitely sad that good ol' Stumps and Time Q aren't around anymore.  :(
Tucayo: Glowsquid was too one of my inspirations  :)
Tucayo: How do you manage to participate in so many projects online? Because from my own experience I can tell it’s no easy job.
Stooby: Eh, it was fairly easy to keep track of everything when I had lots of free time. Like I said earlier, it just required some prioritization.
Stooby: Although, now that I work two jobs in real life, it would be practically impossible for me to manage everything I used to. It's one reason why I've had to give up a lot of the responsibilities I used to have around here.
Tucayo: Any random facts about you that you would like to share? People love random facts
Stooby: Sure! Here's five random facts for ya:

  1. One of my hobbies is cartography. I love to create maps of all kinds: road maps, treasure maps, and even maps of places that don't even exist.
  2. I graduated high school at the age of 16.
  3. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. I love being in the kitchen, making all sorts of tasty dishes. <3
  4. I write, compose, and record my own original music. I'm planning to release my debut album sometime this year.
  5. I like ripping sprites and textures from games. I've even contributed quite a few rips to The Spriters Resource, including the majority of the TTYD rips they have.


Tucayo: Well, that's it for our Special Interview with Stooben Rooben! Thanks a lot Stooby, good night! Well, I don't know if it's night but let's just pretend it is, K?


Special Section IV

by Xzealio (talk)

Horoscopes

  • Aries 3/21–4/19
The sun shines favorably in your direction this month, unless of course you decided to wake up on the left side of your bed. If you did do so, I would avoid making eye contact with the gorilla next to your window.
  • Leo 7/23–8/22
The best things in life you have to wait for, unless of course you don't want to to be eaten by the lion that is waiting for you. If so, you might want to stop waiting, and start running....very fast.
  • Sagittarius 11/22–12/21
You have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, you are gonna feel like you accomplished a lot this month. The bad news is, it's only a feeling. What you do this month will actually set you back two months. Good Luck.
  • Taurus 4/20–5/20
Life is full of lemons, and life has decided to give you some. Unfortunately for you, they will crush you. Fortunately, you can prevent this however by moving into space, where lemons cannot follow you.
  • Virgo 8/23–9/22
There is nothing more you could possibly want in life, except for that giant spider under your bed to just leave. (You know it's there!) Fortunately, this month you can get rid of it. All you have to do is get the even bigger spider hiding in your closet to go get it for you.
  • Capricorn 12/22–1/19
Sometime this month you will find yourself trapped with a crocodile with three ways to run. You will at first think that running down the straight path is a good idea, but crocodiles run much faster than you. Then you will think climbing the tree is a good idea, but crocodiles can climb trees. Then you will jump into the water to try and swim away. At that point you just weren't thinking anymore.
  • Gemini 5/21–6/21
You are the luckiest person on the planet this month. Unfortunately, getting this prediction just used up all of that luck.
  • Libra 9/23–10/22
Walk backwards all day and you will be fortunate, until you slam into a wall. Hop on one foot all day and you will be seen as a champion, until you fall down the stairs. On second thought, maybe you should just stay in bed today.
  • Aquarius 1/20–2/18
Nothing can stop you this month! You are the king of your own world! Unfortunately, the people are getting annoyed and will start a rebellion, if the army attacking your city doesn't get to you first.
  • Cancer 6/22–7/22
You have a chance to do what you always wanted to do! Wait....that's what you wanted to do? That is just inhumane, sick and twisted. Get out. No seriously, why would you want to do that?
  • Scorpio 10/23–11/21
You will be surrounded by so many people who care about you this month. Unfortunately, by people, I mean scorpions, and by care about you, I mean want to kill you. The good news is, if you like scorpions, you will have so much fun!
  • Pisces 2/19–3/20
You will find yourself trapped in a box and the only way out of the box is to find your true self. Just a hint, your true self has nothing to do with the device labled C4 in the box with you. Managing to find your true self will grant you your freedom and a new found happiness.


Special Section V

by Neurario (talk)

Before January 2008, the only knowledge I had of the Mario Wiki is that it was a site that Porplemontage owned apart from his own site. (Also, that he and Porple Studios contributor Zach had joked about it in a podcast.) At the time Porplemontage Studios also had an IRC channel, and I was usually the only one on it.

One day, three people came to visit while I was idling, including wiki veterans Jorge and Uniju. Jorge later came back and advertised the wiki channel. And from there, well, the rest is history.

<Jorge> umm guys
<Jorge> this is someone from somewhere else
<Jorge> :)
<Neurario> DUN DUN DUUUUUUN
<Neurario> ah well
<Neurario> Hey
<Jorge> He's a visitor from another dimension!

I loved socialising with the many people of the Mario Wiki's IRC channel, and eventually got into contributing to the wiki. Before long I also got involved in the “Fanstuff Wiki” equivalent, Userpedia.

I don't regret anything about being a wiki contributor at both sites. Well, except my episode. (Oldbies, you know what I mean.) And perhaps devoting so much time to it that I fell behind in school. :-)

Still, I've met so many great people as a result of coming to the site, many that I would consider friends. And I'm happy that I've been able to do my part for the community, as a former patroller and Chat Operator for the Mario Wiki, and managing the FTP side of Userpedia.

In a way, the event of this 50th Shroom issue makes me confident for the community surrounding the Mario Wiki, that there will be many more opportunities to help out and bring users together.


Special Section VI

by Xpike (talk)
Article for a place I’m retired from.
Destroying fanboyisms and stereotypes

I made this special article with one topic in mind: stereotypes. As some of you may know, I’m Xpike, a retired User and ex-Fake News director who lives in the mountains of West England hunting bears. But A (SMB?) contacted me with a special request: write a special article for the Anniversary of The ‘Shroom. I couldn’t refuse, being the nice guy I am, so I decided to make an article about the biased comments video gamers make these days. This is just my opinions on these topics, so don’t go making a flame war because of it. So let’s start, shall we?

This is the best selling PS3 game. Not a shooter.
  1. Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are full of shooters and/or “let’s see how many you kill” games
    This one is probably caused by the mainstream media, and it’s retarded coverage of games. Let me make one thing clear: if you believe this, you are a fanboy, no ifs, buts or ors. Just check the best-selling games for both consoles: The 360’s best selling games are... shooters... except for Fable 2... well crap. So the Playstation 3... best sellings games... good, there’s only 3 shooters. So now you know, the 360 IS filled with shooters, but the Playstation 3 isn’t filled as much (but it’s filled with racing games and Final Fantasy).
  2. The Wii is filled with kiddy and “casual” games
    Clearly the 16+ label means it's for kiddies.

    This one, as most of this wiki can back up, is really fake. Just see games like MadWorld and No More Heroes and tell me they’re kiddy. Now if they sell well... that’s another history.

Those are the only ones I’m going to touch, because they’re the ones that bother me the most, but trust me, I could write a 10,000 word essay on this topic, because fanboys are more retarded with each passing generation. Fin :)


Special Section VII

by Ralphfan (talk)

Well, The 'Shroom is commemorating its 50th issue!  To celebrate, many of the members of the Core Staff put together something special.  I decided to go back through all of the first 49 issues and then compiled records of all the writers, sections, and elections.  Every writer who has ever worked for The 'Shroom is included in this collection of spreadsheets.  This project will be updated after the release of every issue.  Here it is and here's to the next 50 issues!