The 'Shroom:Issue 175/Awards Analysis

Awards Analysis

Written by the 12th Poll Committee

I AM RAY TRACE AND THIS IS MY HANDSOME GOOSE.

HELLO THERE, YOU READERS WHO DECIDED TO READ THE BEST SECTION ON THE SHROOM. The name is Ray Trace and I plan ON TAKING OVER THE-I mean, I'm here to finally present to you Awards Analysis, as BRAND NEW POLL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN OF THE 12TH! We have started this year off excellently, with I, me, myself, Ray Trace, Luigi 64DD (talk), and my wonderful team of six who have all been great collaborators so far! My fabulous team has wonderfully compiled results of our Awards (if you haven't yet seen our presentations, I implore you to do so) and has analyzed them, giving them some insight and commentary on the results, specifically the top three winners.

Also, here is the unveiling of the banner (finally!) that will go on MarioWiki: Polls!

I, Ray Trace, have amazing artistic talents and have rendered our current members with a rock. That's what they call these tools to draw with if you don't have a wacom? There's nothing totally conspicuous about our location where we do polls, so there's nothing to ask about!

ANYWAY go read my section okay please do it now distract yourselves with nice poll stuff.

Mario Awards

M1 - Best Sound Design (Luigi 64DD)

Hey there 'Shroom readers, it's me, Luigi 64DD (talk), here to start off the analyses with M1 - Best Sound Design! The Mario franchise has some great tunes that really capture the spirit of their games as well as good sound effects to go along with the gameplay. This award celebrates the best of the best in this area. Let's see which games sounded off at the top of the poll.

M1 - Best Sound Design
Super Mario Galaxy - 351 - (19.28%)
Super Mario Odyssey - 235 - (12.90%)
Paper Mario: The Origami King - 158 - (8.68%)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury - 124 - (6.81%)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 111 - (6.10%)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 105 - (5.77%)
Super Mario 64 - 84 - (4.61%)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - 81 - (4.45%)
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - 78 - (4.28%)
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - 69 - (3.79%)
Total votes: 1821

Flying in at the top is Super Mario Galaxy with 351 votes. This game's beautiful orchestrated soundtrack has taken the top spot in this award for the third year in a row, although with a slightly lower percentage compared to last year due to a few other great games that we'll hear about it in a bit. Galaxy is the traditional winner of this award, only being dethroned in recent years once in 2018 by the at-the-time all-new Super Mario Odyssey. The grand and awe-inspiring themes of this game continue to be some of the most popular in the franchise. I predict it will continue to make the top spot until a new 3D Mario platformer game comes out, at which point it will be temporarily beaten before assuming its cosmic throne again

Journeying into second place, we have Super Mario Odyssey with 235 votes. Mario's most recent platforming escapade has a great variety of adventurous tunes of many different genres, highlighting its globetrotting theme. This game's music continues to be popular with the fandom as seen by this result. However, it did see a bit of a decrease from last year, going down from about 17 1/2% of the vote to a little under 13% of the vote. Could this be the novelty of the new game factor wearing away? Or is it perhaps because of the new games that have come out in the past year taking a slice of its popularity? It's hard to say, but I think it's safe to assume this game will continue to chart high on the list in the future even if it may lose its second place status with the coming of new games yet to come.

Next up, we have an all-new entry to the award as well as an old one that has been given new life: Paper Mario: The Origami King has come in third with 158 votes and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury in fourth with 124 votes. Origami King has made a royal debut on the list, instantly shooting up all the way to the top 3. This is no shocker as this game continues on the legacy of great jams that the Paper Mario games have come to be known for. I can see why it got so high up as it's got some great songs, especially some of those boss fights. Meanwhile, the new Switch port of Super Mario 3D World has caused it to go up from fifth last year to fourth this year. Not a huge jump, but it's still interesting to see how re-releases of older titles can affect the polls.

Beyond that, the list is mostly the same as last years with a few ups and downs. Super Mario Galaxy 2 has returned to the list with full force by taking fifth place with 111 votes. I'd say its re-addition was quite well-deserved. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe took quite a dip from last year, going from third place last year to sixth place with 105 votes this year. A shame, really, I quite like its soundtrack, but perhaps we'll see it rise up again in the future. Super Mario 64 had a similar fate, going from fourth to seventh with 84 votes this year. It's quite clear that some of new games this year as pushed these two games down to the list. Other than that, the next few are mostly the same few games with slight placement alterations, although one interesting thing you can't quite see from this table is that Luigi's Mansion 3 took a huge dive from sixth place all the way to eleventh place. Luigi just can't catch a break, can he?

And that's all for this award! My prediction is that this award will mostly stay the same in the future with only mild alterations, but you can always expect new releases to come in and make a splash. We'll have to stay tuned and find out what happens with this award going forward!

M2 - Favourite Mario Kart Game (BBQ Turtle)

Hello everyone! BBQ Turtle here to deliver some analysis on M2 - Favourite Mario Kart Game, starting with the results for this award:

M2 - Favourite Mario Kart Game
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 824 (42.06%)
Mario Kart Wii - 465 (23.74%)
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - 208 (10.62%)
Mario Kart DS - 154 (7.86%)
Mario Kart 7 - 92 (4.70%)
Mario Kart 64 - 80 (4.08%)
Mario Kart Tour - 60 (3.06%)
Super Mario Kart - 18 (0.92%)
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit - 17 (0.87%)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit - 16 (0.82%)
Total votes: 1959

And to noone's surprise if you've been following these awards for the last few years, the top four has stayed the exact same as it has been for a while, with Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe taking the top spot, Mario Kart Wii following in second, Double Dash!! in third and Mario Kart DS rounding out the top four. There's also a huge jump in the voter numbers here as well, with each of these top four having about half as many voters as the result that placed above it. I imagine these results of this award will stay mostly the same for the foreseeable future, unless we either get a proper new Mario Kart game or Nintendo does a big push for one of the older titles on a Virtual Console equivalent or similar re-release thing. Though past this top four, there has been a bit of movement going on- Mario Kart 7 has managed to snatch fifth place back from Mario Kart 64, which has found itself down in sixth place. Tour has slipped a little from last year to the still-too-high-for-it seventh place, while Super Mario Kart has managed to make it up to eighth. I'd guess Tour's popularity is beginning to wane now that it's not so new, while I wonder if Super managed to get a boost from new players of it on Nintendo Switch Online. In ninth place is this year's newcomer, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit- I have a feeling this one might be a case of recency bias though, as from what I've heard this one hasn't had a lot of longevity. I think we'll have to see if it holds its placement next year- assuming there isn't some sort of big update right before the Awards next year to bring it back to the front of people's minds. And taking up tenth place on the award is Super Circuit, which has dropped a few places from recent years- while the new contenders obviously would displace something, it does seem strange that this would be the one to go. I'd wager it might have something to do with the current lack of easy accessibility to it though- I wouldn't be surprised if the placement shot up again if that was remedied at some point. Anyway, I think that just about wraps up everything that's worth saying about this award, there haven't really been any big surprises but a number of smaller factors have shown that they can offset the less popular results. I imagine this'll remain mostly true until something big happens in the world of Mario Kart. And with that, I'll let you move onto the next award!

M3 - Favorite Mario Platformer (Goombuigi)

Greetings, one and all! I'm Goombuigi, the green-hatted Goomba who can be confused with Goombario at first, but make no mistake, we're completely different! For starters, Goombario doesn't write for the 'Shroom, now does he? Anyway, I'll be looking at the results for the favorite platformer from the Mario series.

M3 - Favorite Mario Platformer
Super Mario Odyssey 22.55% (431 votes)
Super Mario Galaxy 15.33% (294 votes)
Super Mario 3D World Bowser's Fury 10.68% (204 votes)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 9.47% (181 votes)
Super Mario 64/Super Mario 64 DS 7.01% (134 votes)
Super Mario Sunshine 6.59% (128 votes)
Super Mario World 6.12% (117 votes)
Super Mario Maker 2 5.29% (101 votes)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii 4.08% (78 votes)
Super Mario Bros. 3 3.77% (72 votes)
Total votes: 1911

At the top of the podium is Super Mario Odyssey, which isn't a particularly big surprise, because not only is it one of the most recent and one of the best-selling Mario platformers (with 21.40 million copies sold), it's also been a winner of this award since 2018. Super Mario Galaxy has the silver, which also remains consistent with past results, as it has scored second in every award since 2018 as well. Presumably, this is due to the scope of the game, with the theme of space shaping not only the gameplay, but the story as well. The game even has a direct sequel, that's how successful it was! The game in third place is more of a surprise, and it's Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Super Mario 3D World itself scored quite high from 2014 until 2016, after which it fell into the depths of mediocrity (for reference, it placed eighth last year). Although this jump is a big one, it's not too surprising due to the Switch port, which was released in February of this year. It also came with a side game, titled Bowser's Fury, which is wrapped in this place as well. This campaign was likely what boosted this game so far up, as it experimented with elements from 3D Mario games past (such as Super Mario Sunshine with Bowser Jr., Super Mario Odyssey in terms of certain gameplay parts, and of course, Super Mario 3D World), while adding its own spin in the form of one large setting on which the entire game takes place. No travelling to entirely different locations, all takes place on Lake Lapcat's various islands.

Fourth place is reserved by Super Mario Galaxy 2. It's essentially more of Super Mario Galaxy (it was originally planned to be added as an update before it spurred into its own game), which is likely why it scored well, but its impact wasn't as significant as its predecessor, which is why it isn't placed higher. In fifth place are Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, the first 3D Mario game and the first 3D Mario port/remake respectively. Super Mario 64 had a huge impact at the time, essentially establishing the genre of 3D platformers. It was also one of two launch titles for the Nintendo 64, which likely played a large role in the game's impact. Similarly, Super Mario 64 DS was a launch title for the Nintendo DS, and at the time, was one of the first fully 3D games on a Nintendo handheld (as previous games, such as Mario Kart: Super Circuit used Mode 7 to create the illusion of 3D). Neither of the games have aged particularly well, which is probably why they aren't placed any higher. Super Mario Sunshine is in sixth place, since while it's generally praised for its distinct beach-themed environment, locations, and characters, it is criticized for being rushed, thus riddled with glitches and imperfections, as well as some poor level design (look no further the infamous Pachinko Machine and the Lilypad Ride levels to see what I mean).

The first of Mario's 2-dimensional adventures on this list is Super Mario World, in seventh place. This is likely due to the long-lasting impact of the game, particularly since it was the last 2D platformer game on a home console (despite Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins coming afterwards, it wasn't particularly revolutionary, hence it isn't brought up often), and due to the introduction of Yoshi, a staple of the present-day franchise. In eighth is Super Mario Maker 2 (a personal favorite). While it is game with a wealth of content, with millions of levels to play, the game was likely brought down due to the impact of it being smaller than the first Super Mario Maker, which is understandable since it's a direct sequel. Nintendo Switch Online limited the reach of the game (since to play any of the online content, you'd have to purchase it), so it could have been a factor as well. In ninth place is New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a game with a large install base, but a game that isn't brought up nowadays, likely due to many growing tired of the New Super Mario Bros. after the next few games. Personally, I was surprised that New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS didn't make the top 10, considering it had more sales (30.8 million compared to the Wii's 30.2 million), and it had an arguably larger impact, being the first original 2D Mario game in about 15 years. My guess as to why New Super Mario Bros. Wii overtook the DS game is because it's on a home console (after all, none of the games in the top 10 are strictly handheld games, showing a clear trend). The tenth and final game that I will mention is Super Mario Bros. 3. Although an NES game, it rivals Super Mario World in terms of innovation - it adds multiple new power-ups to the roster, with an inventory for them, it features a world map, and introduces the now-unpopular Koopalings. It's likely lower on the list than Super Mario World is due to it having more limitations due to it being an NES game, and the cracks of the NES's technology were beginning to show when the game was released in 1988.

That concludes the list of the best Mario platformer games, according to the community. There are two trends that I've noticed, for one, 3D Mario games dominate in the list due to being more technically impressive, more impactful, and due to the fact that many of them have aged better than the 2D Mario games (hence why games such as Super Mario Bros. aren't featured here). The second trend is the aforementioned home console bias, which is likely the reason why Super Mario 3D Land is the only original 3D platformer not in the list. As for the future, Super Mario Odyssey will likely reign supreme until the next mainline 3D Mario game arrives.

M4 - Favourite Mario Kart Course (BBQ Turtle)

Hello again everyone, here I am, back again, with another set of Mario Kart-themed results to take a look at- this time, it's the courses that are up! To kick thing off, let's take a look at the top ten:

M4 - Favourite Mario Kart Course
Waluigi Pinball - 281 (15.20%)
Coconut Mall - 190 (10.28%)
N64 Rainbow Road (MK8) - 136 (7.36%)
Mount Wario - 133 (7.19%)
Rainbow Road (MK7) - 121 (6.54%)
Electrodrome - 90 (4.87%)
Koopa City - 90 (4.87%)
Maple Treeway - 88 (4.76%)
Rainbow Road (MKW) - 73 (3.95%)
Airship Fortress - 70 (3.79%)
Total votes: 1849

And Waluigi Pinball is continuing to hold strong as the first placed nominee yet again! I've never quite understood what it is about that course that everyone likes so much... but everyone does seem to like it, so I guess that's why it's there. Coconut Mall has also managed to hold onto its second place spot that it managed to get last year, though I don't know what has exactly prompted its recent bump in popularity- not that I'm complaining of course, Coconut Mall is one of my two favourite courses in the series. N64 Rainbow Road has stayed in roughly the same place for third, as has Mount Wario taking fourth. People seem to have a liking for these three-part courses, as fifth place is taken by 3DS Rainbow Road- though this has fallen a few places from previous years. I've never really liked it myself, but I wonder what could have caused all of those other voters to fall off- maybe when it was brought back in Mario Kart Tour they particularly butchered it and caused people to lose fondness? Hard to say really. Moving onto sixth place, we have a tie! Seems like people like neon-filled courses just about equally, as Electrodrome and Koopa City have taken the spot. Electrodrome has held its popularity for a good while, though Koopa City has taken a very sudden upswing in voters- I wonder if AKG4 has anything to do with those big changes? :P Maple Treeway has also seen a bit of a pick up to make it to eighth place compared to previous years, so perhaps Mario Kart Tour did a better job of it compared to 3DS Rainbow Road? Or perhaps the use of its music in that one Origami King level caused a lot of nostalgia for the course? Long story short, it has more voters this year. Wii Rainbow Road has taken a little bit of a knock this year, but it's a big improvement on its results historically- given from my experience most people really seem to hate this one, I don't know where this big voter turnout has come from. It's nice to see my personal favourite Rainbow Road getting some love though. And rounding out the top ten with another bit of a drop is Airship Fortress- OK I know Tour screwed this one up (remind me why adding that lava was necessary again?). But aside from that I can't really make any guesses why, people for the most part still seem to like that one. As for this result going forward, I think the results will depend on a proper new Mario Kart coming out- the new courses from Tour haven't made much of an impact and we aren't seeing a lot of favour for people's houses from Live: Home Circuit either. Though a new game could also have some negative effects on the current results aside from new entries too, as a bad retro course can really turn the voters away- and of course Tour may still have some impact on that front too. But I think that' all there is to say for that one, so onto the next award!

M5 - Favorite DK Music Track (Hooded Pitohui)

Hello, all you readers of The 'Shroom, it's me, Hooded Pitohui, ruining a joke I make about being unmasked in a later section because I'm picking this up after I wrote my other analyses. Donkey Kong games have some pretty memorable music, but we should take a look and see what the voters out there consider the most memorable.

We should also take a look at these results so we can figure out why so few of you wrote in Seashore War from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

M5 - Favorite DK Music Track
DK Rap (Donkey Kong 64) 21.86% (332 votes)
Gang-Plank Galleon (Donkey Kong Country) 12.97% (197 votes)
Stickerbrush Symphony (Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest) 12.77% (194 votes)
Aquatic Ambience (Donkey Kong Country) 6.65% (101 votes)
DK Island Swing (Donkey Kong Country) 4.94% (75 votes)
Homecoming Hijinxs (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) 4.28% (65 votes)
Forest Interlude (Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest) 4.21% (64 votes)
Jungle Japes (Donkey Kong 64) 3.95% (60 votes)
Punch Bowl/Bashmaster Battle (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) 2.76% (42 votes)
Fear Factory (Donkey Kong Country) 2.63% (40 votes)
Total votes: 1,519

Looking at the results, I can't help but immediately notice the sharp drop-off between the top three and the rest of the top ten, with the three podium-placing nominees each taking over ten percent of the vote. I think there's a fairly obvious explanation as to why these three tracks performed so well, and that explanation is Smash Bros.

Now, admittedly, the "DK Rap" is a fairly memetic song even without the Smash Bros. popularity boost, and is beloved enough for its cheesy nature that it managed to take second place in last year's "Favorite Lyrical Song" award. Incidentally, it also was well-known enough that Goombuigi made a parody of it to present C3 - Favorite Artist this year at the awards ceremonies, and you should look at that if you haven't already. Tangents aside, though, the "DK Rap" seems like it has a lasting appeal, so cheesy that it has become memorable and easy to use for meme remixes that, say, reorder the song so its lyrics are in alphabetical order. I doubt its popularity will decline anytime soon, so I suspect it will continue to perform well when pitted against other Donkey Kong music tracks or lyrical songs from across the Mario franchise.

The second and third place results are not, in my opinion, surprises, but they are interesting in light of past results. Looking at the complete results for 2020's ceremonies, when all instrumental tracks from the Mario franchise and its sub-series were combined into one category, Aquatic Ambience, in fourth this year, received one write-in vote, while Stickerbrush Symphony and Gang-Plank Galleon received no write-in votes! This can't be explained by Smash Bros., since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been out for years. If I'm being honest, I don't think this can be explained at all. I don't think there's really a reason behind this shift in support away from Aquatic Ambience to the other two tracks; instead, I would chalk it up to write-in votes requiring more effort than clicking the box for an existing nominee and casting a vote. You almost always see a write-in that gets upgraded to a nominee get a surge in votes. I imagine that the other two tracks simply didn't cross any voters' minds last year, or that they opted to write-in other tracks, having the entire Mario franchise to draw upon. Thus, this is just neat trivia, more than something to be explained.

So why did Gang-Plank Galleon and Stickerbrush Symphony do so much better than Aquatic Ambience and the tracks which placed below it? Anecdotal evidence (that is to say, what I've personally heard over the years) would suggest that Stickerbrush Symphony and Aquatic Ambience are both beloved tracks, so what gave the former the edge? Simply put, Stickerbrush Symphony has appeared in Super Smash Bros. and Aquatic Ambience has not. To be honest, I had never heard anyone talk about Gang-Plank Galleon until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate boosted its popularity, though, I can't say for certain that it wasn't previously well-regarded. I would still guess, however, that Smash Bros. played a big role in putting it in second place this year.

Of course, there's DK tracks which have appeared in Smash Bros. that didn't do as well as the top three in this award. Between that and the "DK Rap" outperforming the two instrumental tracks which have also appeared in Smash Bros, it's clear there are other factors in play here. The biggest takeaway, though, is that an already-popular track appearing in Smash Bros. almost ensures it will perform well in these polls.

Next year, we'll most likely see these lyrical and instrumental tracks collapsed back into two Mario franchise-wide awards. Will any of these DK tracks be able to compete in the instrumental track award? I doubt it, honestly. The "DK" rap probably has a decent chance of rising high in the favorite lyrical song award again, though. We'll see what happens. More importantly, while you vote P for F7 next year, join me in four years when I start "Vote Seashore War for M5"!

M6 - Favorite Wario Music Track (Hooded Pitohui)

A pleasure.

Welcome to our Awards Analysis. Are you finding everything that you need? Who am I, you ask? My name is Morris, acting regional manager for the Joja Corporation, and it is my pleasure to serve you. Why am I here, you ask? Allow me to answer you. I received a call from Mr. Trace requesting a consultant on an Awards Analysis project. I have no doubt that he came around after recognizing our success rate with our ventures. Our projects are always completed ahead of schedule and under their projected budget!

I was able to clear time in my schedule to assist Mr. Trace, so I have prepared a report on sales of singles produced by the small videogame company WarioWare Incorporated. Please, consider it a free sample. I'm certain you will find the information in the report satisfactory and thorough, and it's my pleasure to give you a sample of our quality analyses.

M6 - Favorite Wario Music Track
Ashley's Theme (WarioWare: Touched!) 22.05% (295 votes)
Greenhorn Forest (Wario World) 8.89% (119 votes)
Hurry Up!! (Wario Land 4) 8.37% (112 votes)
Mona Pizza's Song (WarioWare: Twisted!) 8.30% (111 votes)
Stonecarving City (Wario Land: Shake It!) 6.50% (87 votes_
Body Rock (WarioWare: D.I.Y.) 5.75% (77 votes)
Title song (Wario Land 4) 5.53% (74 votes)
Tomorrow Hill (WarioWare: Smooth Moves) 5.53% (74 votes)
Greenhorn Ruins (Wario World) 4.56% (61 votes)
Neon City (Wario Land: Shake It!) 4.41% (59 votes)
Total votes: 1338

It appears that no firms had committed the resources to researching the success of WarioWare Incorporated's musical productions until this year. In other words, these musical tracks were previously considered in the context of the broader industry, compared to lyrical songs and instrumental tracks released by other firms. This narrowing of the scope of this report has changed the results considerably, and we can clearly see this by focusing on the most popular track from WarioWare Incorporated.

"Ashley's Theme," accounts for nearly a quarter of the sales of WarioWare Incorporated's musical tracks, with over double the number of sales of the next best-selling track. This isn't unexpected. Last year, a report on the musical industry saw "Ashley's Theme" ranked sixth among the top ten best-selling lyrical songs throughout the Mushroom World, placing it above every other lyrical song produced by WarioWare Incorporated. What could explain this song's enduring popularity? The power of marketing is responsible! As I understand it, Mr. Wario and Young Miss Ashley signed a deal to have this song play in the wildly popular Super Smash Bros. series of tournaments. I have no doubt that the song remains widely-known and popular because Super Smash. Bros introduced its sizeable audience to the piece.

Why, then, does "Ashley's Theme" perform so much better than the fourth best-selling track, "Mona Pizza's Song," when both have appeared in Super Smash Bros.? The individual associated with the song may be a factor here. Young Miss Ashley seems to command a great amount of popularity. A report in 2019 ranked her second only to Wario as the most popular figure from WarioWare Incorporated. Young Miss Ashley has built up her brand more than Miss Mona has, and it is likely that her popularity buoys the popularity of her signature song.

While it is easy to explain why "Ashley's Theme" and "Mona Pizza's Theme" are popular among those who listen to the music produced by WarioWare Incorporated, explaining how Greenhorn Forest and Hurry Up!! beat out "Mona Pizza's Theme," to become the second best-selling and third best-selling, respectively, musical tracks produced by Mr. Wario is… more challenging. I suspect nostalgia may be a factor, with Wario Land 4 and Wario World, some of the last titles released by WarioWare Incorporated before the company followed market trends and began to focus on producing Microgame compilations, but, were recency and nostalgia a factor, one would expect tracks from Wario Land: Shake It! to have performed better. The success of these two tracks comes as a surprise, and I can think of no other explanation than Wario World and Wario Land 4 being fondly remembered by gamers who associate the titles with their childhoods or who long for a return to the old Wario Land style of gameplay.

It could also be that these tracks are considered, subjectively, "better music". With so many having access to music on the Internet these days, it isn't impossible that prospective buyers of these tracks listen to a few of the tracks before making a purchase. There may be no deeper meaning. It could be that customers like the beat and style of these tracks better than other tracks.

By narrowing its scope, this report revealed that musical tracks such as Greenhorn Forest and Hurry Up!! remain popular, but reports in coming years will once again combine the music released by WarioWare Incorporated with competition in the broader music industry. I doubt these tracks will be able to claim much market share when they face more competition, but we should continue to pay attention to Ashley's Theme. Will it remain popular enough to make appearances in future reports even when faced with greater competition? It does appear to be a case study in marketing and branding, so I believe it will!

M7 - Favorite Yoshi Music Track (Hooded Pitohui)

Hello, ravenous dinosaurs! It's Hooded Pitohui, certified Toady, here to finish off this trio of awards for the instrumental tracks of Mario sub-series. Now, we'll take a look at the only sub-series besides Mario Party which remembers that Toadies exist and are super cute!

M7 - Favorite Yoshi Music Track
Athletic Theme (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 19.84% (293 votes)
Final Boss (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 16.32% (241 votes)
Flower Garden (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 10.02% (148 votes)
Yo-Yo-Yoshi (Yoshi's Story) 6.70% (99 votes)
Underground (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 5.62% (83 votes)
Castle/Fortress (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 4.94% (73 votes)
Map (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 4.54% (67 votes)
Knitty-Knotty Windmill Hill (Yoshi's Woolly World) 3.86% (57 votes)
Space (Yoshi's Crafted World) 3.52% (52 votes)
Ending (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) 3.39% (50 votes)
Total votes: 1,477

As best as I can tell, the Yoshi series has a reputation as a series that hasn't ever been able to fully recapture the magic of its first outing. While Yoshi's Story, Yoshi's Woolly World, and Yoshi's Crafted World are accepted and enjoyed to some degree, other titles like Yoshi's Island DS and Yoshi's New Island are regarded as hollow imitations of the original Yoshi's Island, and others yet languish in obscurity like Yoshi's Touch & Go and Yoshi's Universal Gravitation. Whether this is an accurate assessment or is colored by my personal opinions, the results of this award seem to support the idea that fans consider the original Yoshi's Island, with its odd Super Mario World 2 title, the best game of the bunch. It swept the top ten, with its tracks taking seven of the ten spots, and with it completely locking down the top three.

Flower Garden performing so well most likely has something to do with it being the theme of the first level (Make Eggs, Throw Eggs) in the original game. Like 1-1 of Super Mario Bros., this opening level has probably been played and replayed countless times by many gamers, by young children who, stuck on a late level in the game, restart the game, and by older gamers returning to the game for a dose of nostalgia. Honestly, were it not for the fact that the Yoshi's Island athletic theme had been popular enough to be a nominee on the combined instrumental track poll last year while Flower Garden was left as a write-in, I'd be surprised Flower Garden didn't take first.

While Flower Garden no doubt remains memorable because it's the theme of the first level in a beloved classic game, Final Boss (what a creative name) presumably earns votes for being remembered as the theme attached to a climactic moment in a beloved classic game. Perhaps gamers don't experience the final fight with Baby Bowser as many times as they do a stroll through "Make Eggs, Throw Eggs," but it ends up balanced out by the emotion of the moment. A narrative masterpiece, Yoshi's Island is not, but, look, as a little kid, having Baby Bowser charging at you after becoming giant-sized, threatening to destroy the very floor upon which you stand, it feels intense! Little wonder people remember that fight and the tension that came with it.

The winner this year, though, is not associated with the game's beginning or its end. Yes, Athletic Theme, already popular enough to make it onto last year's combined instrumental track award as a proper nominee, and likely boosted by its appearance in Super Smash Bros. under the name Obstacle Course, represents some of those most action-packed moments of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It's called the "Athletic" theme for a reason, appearing in the most platformer-action oriented stages! I can imagine players remember it appearing throughout the game, and, thanks to the kinds of stages it appears on being memorable, fun, challenges, adopting it as the de facto "main theme" of this well-regarded childhood classic that holds up even to this day.

Clearly, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island continues to reign supreme among fans of the Yoshi series, and I suspect its music will continue to have some presence when the instrumental track polls recombine next year. Will we ever see tracks displace its top-performing tracks? I wouldn't bet on it until a game that can finally match the original comes out and captures the hearts of fans!

M8 - Favorite Art Style (Goombuigi)

It's-a me, Goombuigi! This time, I'm here to analyze the poll of the favorite art styles, voted by the community.

M8 - Favorite Art Style
Main series 3D style 19.22% (353 votes)
Paper Mario style 18.07% (332 votes)
Mario & Luigi style 16.60% (305 votes)
2D promotional artwork style 10.94% (201 votes)
Super Mario Strikers style 5.99% (110 votes)
Handcrafted Yoshi style 4.68% (86 votes)
Retro style sprites 4.03% (74 votes)
Wario Land: Shake It! style 3.92% (72 votes)
WarioWare style 3.59% (66 votes)
Donkey Kong Country style 3.54% (65 votes)
Total votes: 1837

The art style in first place is none other than the mainline 3D style. It's remained in first place since 2016, which is likely due to the fact that it's the most recognizable style. It's the style that's used most often for the games, such as the Super Mario series, the Mario Kart series, and the Mario sports games, and the style is also used in most of the games' artworks. If one thinks of Mario, this is most likely the incarnation that they will think of. The style in second is the Paper Mario style, likely because it's a distinct style which a whole series is associated with. Plus, the style became more graphically impressive as the series progressed, particularly with Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash. As disliked as those games may be, the papercraft style made the visuals pop in comparison to past games. In third is the Mario & Luigi style, for similar reasons. It's likely one place lower than the Paper Mario style due to it being somewhat more similar to the main series style. Both the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi styles have been in these spots since 2016, so no drastic changes have occurred this year.

Just missing out on the top three is the 2D promotional artwork style. While it hasn't been the focus in any games to date, it has been used to a limited extent (such as in recent Mario Party games), but it has been used often in game artwork, such as in Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Odyssey. In the following places are the Super Mario Strikers style, the handcrafted style in Yoshi's Woolly World, retro styled sprites (such as Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World sprites, which, along with modified or new sprites, were used in certain recent games such as Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Odyssey), and the Wario Land: Shake It! style. These styles are all from a certain game or group of games, which is probably why they didn't perform too well compared to the top four art styles. In addition, while the WarioWare and Donkey Kong Country styles are used all throughout their respective series, those series aren't as well-known, and they aren't as strongly associated with Mario, which is likely why they earned ninth and tenth places respectively. In addition, the percentage of votes for fifth place and lower is much smaller (6% to 3.5%) compared to the first four (which all received more than 10% of the votes).

And that concludes my analysis of the favorite art styles. It seems that the results of this poll won't change anytime soon, but that might not be a bad thing.

M9 - Favourite Add-on Content (BBQ Turtle)

Hello everyone, here I am again, this time to take a look at the results for the Favourite Add-on Content Award. Let's kick this off by taking a look at the results:

M9 - Favourite Add-on Content
World Maker Update (version 3.0) (SMM2) - 307 (17.65%)
New Super Luigi U - 227 (13.05%)
Piranha Plant (SSBU) - 217 (12.48%)
The Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8 - 144 (8.28%)
Super Mario Mash-Up Pack (Minecraft) - 143 (8.22%)
Luigi's Balloon World (SMO) - 111 (6.38%)
Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 - 105 (6.04%)
A Legendary Update (version 2.0) (SMM2) - 86 (4.95%)
e-Reader content (SMA4:SMB3) - 78 (4.49%)
Mercedes-Benz × Mario Kart 8 - 67 (3.85%)
Total votes: 1739

It looks like the World Builder Update for Super Mario Maker 2 has managed to hold its first place from its addition last year again, though I suspect recency bias is still somewhat at play for this one. Though the Legend of Zelda update still managed to stay in the exact same (although notably lower) eighth place as last year, so perhaps these have more staying power than it might initially seem? Perhaps these two will move if something else overshadows it. New Super Luigi U has managed to climb a place since last year though, perhaps pushed up by more people playing it in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Piranha Plant in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the other hand has fallen another place his year- Piranha Plant usually isn't brought up alongside the other DLC characters from the game, and perhaps has been overshadowed a bit by the other characters released since- after all, since the last awards, the Minecraft characters, Sephiroth, Pyra and Mythra and Kazuya have all been released. The Legend of Zelda content for Mario Kart 8 has managed to hold strong in fourth, though the Animal Crossing pack has fallen to seventh. It's a bit odd really, as usually those two are no more than one place away from each other but this year there's more of a gap between them. I'm not really sure what would turn people away from the Animal Crossing on either, particularly as the franchise has some increased relevancy at the moment. The Mercedes-Benz pack for the game stayed in a solid tenth place as well, so goodness knows what's going on with Animal Crossing. Sixth place is a big jump for Luigi's Balloon World though, which was down in ninth last year- perhaps some people have been rediscovering Super Mario Odyssey recently? Or maybe last year's low voter turnout was just a fluke. Rounding out the top ten nominees is Super Mario Bros. 3's e-reader content, which has had a slight fall compared to last year. I believe the most recent re-releases of the game haven't had this content packaged in, so perhaps not as many people are aware of it as before? Anyway, going forward, the main thing that'll cause a change in these results is new add-on content being released. From what I can see, the trends in this award are a little all-over-the-place, so it's hard to predict if something will go up, down or stay in the same place. Maybe next year the trends can point to something more?

M10 - Favorite Mario Lyrical Song (BabyLuigiOnFire)

Yeah.

Hello. This is Ultra Violet here. For some reason, Ray Trace is a Poll Committee chairman, whatever that is, and he wanted all of us to write something for this thing called The 'Shroom? I don't know what Ray Trace is doing in his spare time. Not sure how our Commander got onboard with this so...

At least here, you get some results of some great tunes here. I enjoy writing about music you see, I listen to a lot of it in my spare time and it's a hobby I engage in, so it's only fitting that I decided to write about some of the songs the Mario series has to offer (called "lyrical songs" for clarity here, since not everyone knows that song = music that uses the human voice as its melodies, usually with lyrics, and that's...fair enough I guess).

M10 - Favorite Mario Lyrical Song
Jump Up, Super Star! (Super Mario Odyssey) 39.58% (724 votes)
Break Free (Lead the Way) (Super Mario Odyssey) 18.26% (334 votes)
Do the Mario (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!) 16.13% (295 votes)
Phantom of the Bwahpera (Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle) 8.69% (159 votes)
The Mario Rap (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!) 6.01% (110 votes)
Ignorance is Bliss (White Knuckle Scorin') 3.94% (72 votes)
Galantis ft. Charli XCX - WE ARE BORN TO PLAY (Super Nintendo World Japan promo) 2.79% (51 votes)
The Mario Drawing Song (Flipnote Studio) 2.30% (42 votes)
Intro (Super Mario World cartoon) 2.02% (37 votes)
Total votes: 1829

In first place in an overwhelming victory is "Jump Up, Super Star!" from Super Mario Odyssey, which I don't think is the least bit surprising. It was the first song to appear in a main Mario franchise game (other songs and pieces with voice samples have been used in smaller Mario spin-offs, but never in a Mario platformer like this, certainly not in the 2D and 3D platformers before), so it was a breath of fresh air to see to multiple fans, and it was a rather bold move to do, in which I say has been pulled of spectacularly. The song was performed by The Super Mario Players and Kate Higgins, who lends her rather beautiful voice to great effect, and the result of the song is an energetic, big band-styled piece. Reminds me of classy jazz times when the likes of Benny Goodman rocked the era. Second place is another Super Mario Odyssey song, "Break Free (Lead the Way)", which is also performed by The Super Mario Players, but it doesn't quite pack a punch as "Jump Up, Super Star!", likely because it's not the song that was the one first revealed in a first-look trailer of the game. That final level of the game still left quite a big of an impact on the voters here, sure, enough that it's number two out of all picks.

Third is...an extremely cheesy credits song from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! called Do the Mario. I guess it has a certain memetic quality to it, especially combined with the campy feel of Lou Albano singing and being awkwardly plastered and segued onto the storyboard. I will not "Do the Mario" for any of you, before you ask, not in a million years. Not even if Dark Light asks me to perform it.

The rest of the list starts to get a bit more obscure and niche, some of these I haven't quite heard before (such as Galantis ft. Charli XCX - WE ARE BORN TO PLAY, which requires you to tune into a Japan promo for a theme park that is yet to be opened). Some of the write-ins are quite fascinating though, such as Always Smiling from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, an electronic cover version of the Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka sung by a female singer, predating "Jump Up, Super Star!" while some of them barely qualify as a "song" at all, just because they use a few voice samples in a beginning of a piece. Yes, I'm looking at you, DK Summit.

Anyway. I don't know how to end this. So...Ultra Violet out.

M11 - Favorite Major Character (Goombuigi)

I'm running out of good intros already, and we're just at M11! Well, let's look at the favorite major character, voted by the community.

M11 - Favorite Major Character
Luigi 23.48% (492 votes)
Mario 15.75% (330 votes)
Yoshi 15.27% (320 votes)
Bowser Jr. 9.93% (208 votes)
Bowser 9.26% (194 votes)
Wario 8.35% (175 votes)
Toad 6.97% (146 votes)
Princess Peach 6.92% (145 votes)
Donkey Kong 4.06% (85 votes)
Total votes: 2095

Of course, Luigi is in first place, as he should be. He won by a significant margin, too, receiving nearly a quarter of the total votes. It seems that an over-shadowed underdog is more interesting compared to a hero. However, Mario himself isn't far behind, as he is in second place. Considering that he's essentially Nintendo's mascot, in addition to being playable in a plethora of games, not to mention the franchise being named after him, he has perhaps the farthest outreach, which would explain why he has second place. Yoshi is in bronze, probably because not only is he a staple of the Mario franchise, but he also has his own set of platformers. In the past, Mario and Yoshi have swapped places quite frequently (last year, for example, Yoshi was second and Mario was third).

Interestingly, Bowser Jr. is one place above his father in this list. Perhaps it's because he's easier to defeat? Or because he's cuter? Otherwise, I'm not too sure. In sixth place is Wario, another character who has games of his own, but doesn't seem too popular due to his hygiene. Third from last is Toad, likely due to his infamous reputation in the Paper Mario series. Peach is second to last, likely because of her role as a damsel in distress, meaning that we don't get to see much of her in the Super Mario series. And finally, Donkey Kong concludes the list. He's probably the most obscure of this group, since he only appears in spin-offs and the Donkey Kong Country games nowadays, plus he generally doesn't seem too popular of a character.

That concludes the Favorite Major Character award. It looks like Luigi will remain in first for a while yet, which I'm sure we can agree is a good thing.

M12 - Favorite Supporting Character (Waluigi Time)

Expecting someone else to analyze this award? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME. That's right, I'm here to talk about which supporting characters in the Mario franchise have the most adoring fans! I bet you can't guess who I voted for.

M12 - Favorite Supporting Character
Waluigi 16.01% (315 votes)
Rosalina 15.96% (314 votes)
Princess Daisy 9.65% (190 votes)
Captain Toad 7.42% (146 votes)
Kamek 6.96% (137 votes)
Cappy 6.20% (122 votes)
Professor E. Gadd 6.05% (119 votes)
King Boo 5.44% (107 votes)
Toadette 5.44% (107 votes)
Diddy Kong 5.34% (105 votes)
Total votes: 1968

In first place, we have objectively the best supporting character, Waluigi, continuing his winning streak which started back in 2015. Clearly, he still captures the hearts of the Mario fanbase, but then again, how could he not? However, he usually takes a commanding lead in this poll, and that didn't happen thanks to some new competition.

In second place is Rosalina, a newcomer to M12 after being moved off of Favorite Major Character this year. The space princess seems to have quite a bit of pull around here, being only a single vote shy of a first place tie! Get it? Pull? Like gravitational pull?

Trailing in third place is Princess Daisy, who has historically taken second place every year since 2016, with the exception of 2018 when that spot instead went to franchise newcomer Cappy. Looks like Rosalina is the more popular princess, sorry Daisy.

Interestingly, Professor E. Gadd, who took third place in 2019 and 2020, has suffered a substantial drop in popularity, now placing all the way down in seventh. Most likely this is because Luigi's Mansion 3 is fading from recent memory, though it is also very possible that Rosalina took a chunk of his previous voters away this year.

Rosalina being added to this poll certainly shook things up quite a bit this year, both booting the previous runner-up Daisy down to third place and giving the historical winner Waluigi an extremely close run for his money! It will definitely be interesting to see how she performs in the future. Will she be the one to to finally wrestle the winner's trophy away from Waluigi, or will she stay in second place for the forseeable future, and how close will the vote counts between them be?

M13 - Favorite Level Theme (Waluigi Time)

Hey, wasn't I just here? Well, looks like I'm back again to discuss the results of Favorite Level Theme! The New Super Mario Bros. games may be criticized for using the same level themes over and over, but the franchise as a whole certainly has no shortage of interesting locations. Let's take a look at which ones were the most popular this year.

M13 - Favorite Level Theme
Space/Moon 11.10% (201 votes)
City/Town 9.39% (170 votes)
Feudal Japan 9.39% (170 votes)
Beach 7.23% (131 votes)
Factory/Industrial 7.07% (128 votes)
Grassland 6.57% (119 votes)
Food/Sweets 6.13% (111 votes)
Snow/Ice 5.58% (101 votes)
Ghost House 5.30% (96 votes)
Carnival 5.02% (91 votes)
Total votes: 1811

In first place, we have Space/Moon for the second year in a row. This theme has had an impressive showing every year since this award's inception in 2016, placing in first or second every time. While I'm sure we can give Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel most of the credit here, I wouldn't be surprised if Super Mario Odyssey had some influence in this theme's popularity.

In second place, we actually have a two-way tie! The first runner-up is City/Town, which also won second place last year. Like Space/Moon, this is a popular one, placing in at least second every year since 2017, no doubt thanks to the Metro Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. The second runner-up is Feudal Japan, a brand new addition this year! Given that this is a pretty uncommon level theme in the Mario franchise and could be seen as a breath of fresh air, and, once again, appeared in Super Mario Odyssey thanks to Bowser's Kingdom, I think it's easy to see why it did so well. Interestingly, despite Feudal Japan's performance, both Space/Moon and City/Town didn't see too much of a drastic reduction in votes.

The Beach theme, which took third place for the past three years, still holds quite a bit of popularity, only being bumped down to fourth place, and still having a similar proportion of the vote as it did then. Although there was a beach level in Odyssey, this theme is pretty common in the franchise, going back as far as Super Mario Bros. 3, so an explanation for exactly what sources are responsible for its popularity here are anyone's guess. But hey, who doesn't like the beach?

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like Super Mario Odyssey really cleaned up the award here, having kingdoms with each of the top four level themes. Additionally, with Space/Moon, City/Town, and Feudal Japan all being level themes that aren't typically seen in Mario games, it would definitely seem that the majority of voters prefer themes that are more varied and not just the same old themes that keep popping up in the New Super Mario Bros. games.

M14 - Favorite Species (BabyLuigiOnFire)

My friend Pleima can't write all that well, ¡but she'll be pleased to know the poll results!

¡Hola! My name is Blueshift. I'm very closely affiliated with the Protectors, but I'm not quite part of them; I don't have the same gear that they do. If you see Redshift around here, tell him I said, hi, ¡'cause I'm his younger sister! I journey in the cosmos with my Luma friend, Pleima, so I don't have much time for this Protector stuff, but that doesn't mean I don't chip in and help them out every now and then. I've heard that Sergeant Ray Trace got this poll thing going and I'm glad to write this. The section I picked was Favorite Species. The Mario series sure has its large share of varied and diverse species, and ¡we're here to explore you guys's faves!

M14 - Favorite Species
Yoshis 18.85% (354 votes)
Shy Guys 10.22% (192 votes)
Toads 9.42% (177 votes)
Lumas 7.45% (140 votes)
Boos 7.29% (137 votes)
Koopa Troopas 5.75% (108 votes)
Kongs 5.22% (98 votes)
Humans 5.11% (96 votes)
Goombas 4.37% (82 votes)
Dry Bones 3.89% (73 votes)
Hammer Bros. 3.67% (69 votes)
Bob-ombs 3.25% (61 votes)
Piranha Plants 3.04% (57 votes)
Magikoopas 2.50% (47 votes)
Chain Chomps 2.02% (38 votes)
Wigglers 1.65% (31 votes)
Lakitus 1.38% (26 votes)
Toadies 1.28% (24 votes)
Total votes: 1878

Topping the list are our cute, friendly dinosaurs the Yoshis from their eponymous island once again, having a consistent win record across the years. ¿And who couldn't resist them? They come in all colors, including two types of blue, they're soooooo cute when they're flutter jumping, and best of all, they are very heroic, helping both Baby Mario and Baby Luigi out. Their long tongues can deal with most threats and their aim is top-notch, always hitting their eggs where it needs to be thrown at. They do have some less than savory characteristics such as their insatiable appetite, but fortunately, most of them keep it under control and prefer to eat fruits over people anyway. I'd like to ride on a Yoshi someday, experience how it was like to be Baby Mario on an adventure. Sometimes, it's great to use low-tech methods of traveling once in a while...

Number 2 are Shy Guys, little masked cuties who don't really like Yoshis because of their tendency to gobble them up, though to be fair, much of these Shy Guys work for Kamek and the Yoshis are simply a response to that. They consistently win second place, barring one year where Toads managed to beat them. No matter if some are bad or not, these little guys are very talented and come with a large amount of varieties, whether they are Fly Guys, Sky Guys, Spear Guys, and what have you. Just like Yoshis, they come in all sorts of colors, some of them just directly matching Yoshis, ¡but it's nice to see the different color variations hang around! Both Pleima and I sometimes ponder what's behind those masks...hey...¿they aren't just their faces are they? Maybe we will never know.

We then have Toads, our most common resident in the Mushroom Kingdom, who are also a consistent face on the polling. ¿Aren't they just about the most innocent citizens around? They always seem to be care