The 'Shroom:Issue 200/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

Well, it's been a heck of a journey but we made it! Issue 200 at last!! I hope you've all been enjoying this jam-packed issue of fun and goodness so far, because there's a lot more where that came from!

It's crazy to think how different things are in my life when comparing now to the time when Issue 100 came out. When Issue 100 came out, I was a cheeky little middle schooler, still fairly fresh-faced in the community, who didn't really know what they were doing in life. Now that it's Issue 200, I'm currently in the middle of my last year of college, currently directing a team in a newspaper I've always admired and enjoyed, and I still don't really know what I'm doing in my life but I can certainly look and act like I do. Some things never change I guess ^^;; My point is, it's been a long road to get from then to now, but I can say with absolute certainty that I'd have it no other way for 200 issues of The 'Shroom.

I want to also take a moment and say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to write something special for this issue. You bet I'm going to read them all before the year's end because I know just how much love and care was put into each one of them.

With that being said, I want all of you reading now to realize that yes, it is very possible to write a section over just about anything. Just take a look at what Pipe Plaza has in store this month! We have triangles, tea, 'Shroom history, and everything in between on top of our usual stuff. If you're looking for a sign to finally write a section about that thing you're really passionate about, this is it. The sign up page is always a click away.

Now, let's ce-ce-celebrate!

Section of the Month

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st Poll Committee Discussion 10 50.00% Fun With Despair (talk)
2nd Community Report 4 20.00% Waluigi Time (talk)
3rd What's in a Campaign? 3 15.00% Shoey (talk)
3rd Mario Calendar 3 15.00% GPM1000 (talk)
News and information
Community Report
Waluigi Time and Hooded Pitohui
The month gone by in promotions and proposals.
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
Fun With Despair (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Mario Calendar
GPM1000 (talk)
Find out all about this month's Super Mario releases.
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
It's a party, let's Razer the roof!
read more
Editing Tips
Mario jc (talk)
Some helpful tips for wiki editing.
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
The 'Shroom Recap
Hooded Pitohui (talk)
Analysis of The 'Shroom's history and the achievements of its writers.
read more
Forgotten Stars of a Golden Age
Shoey (talk)
Featuring characters of animation history!
read more
An Overview of Triangles
Meta Knight (talk)
Who doesn't love a good triangle??
read more
Dogs in Nintendo Games
HedgehogGaming (talk)
More than just Nintendogs
read more
And That's the Tea: An Intro to the Loaded Tea Craze
Zange (talk)
Combating multi-level marketing companies one drink at a time!
read more

Community Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk) and Hooded Pitohui (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! Welcome back to Community Report, that chunk of the paper where proposals and featured articles get reported on. I'd like to thank Hooded Pitohui for helping me out with the proposal coverage this month (the 200 grind is real), and Lakituthequick for optimizing this section's coding last month. Most of you probably won't notice, but it feels nice to be efficient. Alright, let's get cracking!

All information is accurate as of November 17, 2023. Proposals marked with an asterisk are updates on ones that were ongoing and covered in the previous issue.

RECENT PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
The Case of Donkey Kong 64 Sub-Areas* A proposal for determining how to cover sub-areas in Donkey Kong 64 levels to address inconsistency. The proposal had four options to split sub-areas with official names, split all sub-areas with conjectural names as needed, merge all sub-areas, or do nothing. The option to not split any of them won by a single vote. Following this, the two that had articles (Temple with Five Doors and Llama Temple) were merged to the main Angry Aztec article. DON'T SPLIT 4-0-5-0
(read more) 		October 10, 2023
Rename "Latest portrayal" section in character infobox to "Notable portrayals" A proposal to expand the portrayal section in infoboxes to include all notable portrayals of the character, inspired by the recent recasting of Mario and Luigi. It proved to be controversial, and the opposition pointed out that what would be considered notable would be very subjective. Ultimately, it failed and no change was made. FAILED 7-1-10
(read more) 		October 20, 2023
Remove Creeper Launcher link from Princess Daisy's page A proposal to remove the link to the Daisy enemy variant from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon from the links at the top of Princess Daisy's page. The proposer argued that it should be removed because the enemy was obscure and doesn't have anything to do with Daisy herself. The rest of the voters opposed on the basis that it was working as intended for readers. FAILED 1-7
(read more) 		October 21, 2023
Reconsider mainline status of Super Mario Maker, Super Mario Maker 2, and Super Mario Run A proposal to no longer consider some games as part of the main Super Mario series. The proposal was mainly based an interview for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, where the developers said it was the first new 2D Super Mario Bros. game in 11 years. Options were also provided which would have only excluded Run or the Maker games. The majority of voters opposed making any changes, arguing that Super Mario Bros. is a specific subseries of the mainline games which the developers were referring to. FAILED 5-16-0-10
(read more) 		November 7, 2023
Make coverage of playable Toads and playable Yoshis consistent with each other A proposal for consistency between colored playable characters by splitting the Yoshis or merging Blue and Yellow Toad. Various options were provided, including merging the Toads to the article for the Toad character or species. The majority of voters opted for merging the Toads into a shared Blue and Yellow Toad article, but the change has not yet been made. MERGE TOADS TO A SHARED ARTICLE 2-9-13-1-3
(read more) 		November 7, 2023
Clarify and expand coverage of recurring musical themes A proposal to expand the criteria for when a recurring theme is eligible for an article. Under the proposal, reuse of the original theme in a new game would count towards eligibility, rather than requiring a new arrangement. Additionally, media other than games that is directly related to the franchise, such as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, would count as well. The majority of voters supported the change, although there was some contention over remakes counting. PASSED 10-2
(read more) 		November 7, 2023
RECENT TALK PAGE PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
De-recreate Junior (II) "agresivelly"* A proposal to merge Pink Donkey Kong Jr. with his non-pink counterpart, overturning the 2015 proposal that split them. The proposer argued that his appearances in singleplayer are still more akin to multiplayer, and that the distinction between the two in the manual is not as concrete as once believed. The proposal had near-unanimous support, some reluctant and some very impassioned. The page has since been merged into the Donkey Kong Jr. Math section of DK Jr.'s page. PASSED 16-1
(read more) 		October 11, 2023
Merge Super Soda to Fresh Juice* A proposal to merge Super Soda from Paper Mario with Fresh Juice from The Thousand-Year Door, following an earlier attempt in 2020 that failed to reach consensus. The proposer argued for the merge based on the many identical characteristics, including the same Japanese name. Some voters opposed in case of changes made by the upcoming The Thousand-Year Door remake that may affect coverage, but the proposal was still able to pass. No changes have been made yet. PASSED 11-5
(read more) 		October 20, 2023
Split the VS. System and Game Boy versions of Golf* A proposal to split the re-releases of Golf from the original NES version based on sizeable version differences. It passed with unanimous support. Golf now only covers the original NES game, while Stroke & Match Golf and Golf (Game Boy) cover the Vs. System and Game Boy versions. PASSED 7-0
(read more) 		October 21, 2023
Move Homing Chomp back to Silver Chomp* A proposal to rename Homing Chomp from Super Mario Galaxy 2 back to the Silver Chomp name. The proposer argued that the Silver Chomp name should take priority because it comes from an in-game source, while Homing Chomp comes from the Mario Portal website. The opposition argued that Silver Chomp is not a proper name, but a generic description of the enemy from a mission title. By the end of the proposal, the opposition gained the majority, leaving the page at its current title. FAILED 4-8
(read more) 		October 21, 2023
Decide what infobox images to use for Mario Party minigames A multi-option proposal meant to address the issue of minigames in the Mario Party series having up to four different versions across the franchise. Previous informal discussions had decided to use only an image of the original iteration of a minigame in the infobox, but the proposer argued that this policy does not align with the newest-takes-priority style of the Wiki's naming policy. A number of options were provided, including using only the most recent variant, the original variant, or all variants, as well as making exceptions in certain cases, but ultimately the option to present all iterations in separate infobox tabs gained the most support. Changes have been made to allow for this, but the proposal has yet to be implemented. HAVE EACH IN A SEPARATE TAB 2-3-0-2-1-6
(read more) 		October 21, 2023
Merge Giant Wiggler with Big Wiggler A proposal to merge the article for the Giant Wiggler from New Super Mario Bros. for the DS into the Big Wiggler article. The proposer argues that the Giant Wiggler is, effectively, only a generically-described Big Wiggler, and that, with it already having a section on the Big Wiggler article, the information presented is redundant. Discussion was had over whether the Giant Wiggler's role as an ally, rather than an enemy, or its number of segments, were reason to keep it separate, but it was decided that these are too inconsistent across games and large Wigglers to support keeping the article split. PASSED 9-1
(read more) 		October 30, 2023
Merge Yoshi Racing with List of unreleased media A proposal to merge the article on Yoshi Racing, a rejected pitch and prototype by Argonaut Games, with the List of unreleased media. The proposer argued there is little likelihood of finding images of the prototype other than a leaked 3D model, and consensus had it that there is not enough available information on the prototype to justify having it on a separate article, leading to a unanimous vote to merge. PASSED 4-0
(read more) 		November 4, 2023
Expand scope of Paah and/or rename it A multi-option proposal to refine the scope covered by the "Paah" article, which documents a mechanic in recent Super Mario titles (most prominently the New Super Mario Bros. titles) in which enemies react to certain musical cues. The proposed argued that an article on the "Paah" sound effect and mechanic should not also cover cues which use different instruments, and suggested means to rectify this. Discussion held that the various cues were similar enough in effect to not merit splitting, and that "Paah", as the most well-known cue, adequately covers similar cues created with different instruments, and the option to do nothing won out. FAILED 1-0-1-6
(read more) 		November 7, 2023
Split Dustmen from Bin A proposal to split the Dust Men, also known as Bucket Men, enemies in the Game Boy Donkey Kong and the GBA Mario vs. Donkey Kong games from the article for Bins. The proposer argues that Dust Men are enemies, while Bins are objects. The proposal passed with unanimous support. PASSED 10-0
(read more) 		November 9, 2023
ONGOING PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
Add tabbers to race/battle course articles A proposal to use the tabber template on courses from the Mario Kart series, to allow multiple images that demonstrate the course's iterations throughout the series to appear in the infobox. The proposal's supporters cite a recent TPP on Mario Party minigame infobox images as precedent for this approach. The opposition objects on the grounds that tabs may be unusable by visitors without JavaScript support or with low-bandwidth connections and on aesthetic grounds. At the time of this writing, support leads opposition by 6-4. Read more November 18, 2023
Add playable appearance of a character in their infobox A proposal to add the first (and possibly latest) playable appearance of a character to the information listed in their infobox. The proposer argues that "firsts", including first playable appearance, are important information for a wiki to present. The opposition cites ambiguity and different interpretations around what counts as a "playable" appearance and argues that noting this information in the body of the page is sufficient. At the time of this writing, opposition leads the options to include only first playable appearance or to include the first and latest playable appearances. Read more November 21, 2023
Remove Conjectural treasure names from Wario Land stage articles A proposal to remove the conjectural names given to treasures in Wario Land II stages (initially Wario Land 3 as well, but the option has been withdrawn due to the treasures being named in the Shogakukan guide). The proposer argues that the conjectural names serve no purpose, as the collectible treasures are functionally identical and minor enough that they do not receive their own articles. Supporters argue that these names can be replaced with basic descriptions, and, at the time of this writing, there is unanimous support for removing the names. Read more November 17, 2023
On merging and/or splitting Super Paper Mario's implied characters A proposal to address an inconsistency in how characters who only appear posthumously in artwork in Super Paper Mario, the proposer notes that three members of the Tribe of the Ancients are merged onto a single page, but three members of the Croacus line have their own articles. Three options are suggested, these being to either merge the articles on the implied Croacus family members into one page, to split off the implied members of the Tribe of the Ancients, or to merge all implied Super Paper Mario characters to the List of implied characters. At the time of this writing, there is a 4-3-1 vote across those three options. Read more November 19, 2023
ONGOING TALK PAGE PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
Move Big Magikoopa to Giant Magikoopa A proposal to rename Big Magikoopa based on the name used in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Another option to split the Sparks of Hope Giant Magikoopa instead has been provided, which currently holds the majority of votes. Read more November 17, 2023
Create a table subpage template for Mario Kart 8 navbox A proposal to add a table subpage to the navbox of Mario Kart 8. The proposer argues that, due to content appearing in multiple versions of Mario Kart 8 (Wii U base game, Wii U DLC, Deluxe base game, Deluxe DLC, it is helpful to indicate which version(s) content appears in through the use of colored icons. Opponents argue that this system does not work effectively for this game due to content "stacking" between each version, and bring up accessibility concerns. Read more November 17, 2023
Move Toad Minister to Chancellor A proposal to move "Toad Minister" to "Chancellor". The proposal argues that, due to the name Chancellor being retained in the Super Mario RPG remake, it is the most recent name for the article's subject. At the time of this writing, the proposal has unanimous support. Read more November 19, 2023
Split Wizakoopa from Kamek A proposal to split the Magikoopa boss in Super Mario RPG from Kamek's article, on the basis that the remake's English localization renamed the character to Wizakoopa, distancing the character (who always had a unique Japanese name) from Kamek. Supporters argue that this suggests Wizakoopa is meant to be a distinct individual from Kamek, while the opposition holds that the character's Thought Peek quote is evidence he is intended to be Kamek and cites inconsistent Japanese naming as possibly indicating Wizakoopa is an all-new character to the remake. Read more November 20, 2023
Split Bat-Wario from Vampire Wario and merge it to Bat Wario A proposal to split Wario Land 3's Bat-Wario form from its linked Vampire Wario form and to merge it with the Bat Wario form from Wario Land 4. The proposer and supporters argue that the Bat-Wario and Bat Wario forms are functionally identical outside of a differing garlic weakness and the ability to transform into Vampire Wario. The opposition argues that Bat Wario is instead a refinement of the Vampire Wario and Bat-Wario forms, and suggest re-merging Bat Wario. Read more November 20, 2023
Expand the scope of or nix the Hip Koopa filmography A proposal to determine what to do with an article covering Lemmy's appearances in the DiC cartoons more in-depth. Possible options include expanding the article, replacing it with a similar category, or deleting it. The proposal is currently on its second extension due to lack of votes. Read more November 22, 2023
Merge Kannonball to Cannonball and Kannon (cannon) to Cannon A proposal to merge objects from Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Land 2 with the articles for cannons and cannonballs in the broader Mario franchise. The proposer argues that the spelling with a "k" is a stylistic choice and that there are no inherent or functional differences separating these from other cannons and cannonballs. At the time of this writing, the proposal has unanimous support. Read more November 22, 2023
Merge Metal Ball to Iron Ball Following up on a proposal which saw Big Steelies renamed to "iron balls", this proposal seeks to merge the various generic iron balls and metal balls which appear across the franchise into one page. Options are provided to merge to metal ball or to merge to iron ball, with the former currently leading and supporters of the option arguing that "metal ball" is the most recent name. There is no opposition as of the time of this writing. Read more November 22, 2023
Standardize formatting of Super Mario Bros. Wonder course names A proposal to determine how course supertitles (e.g., "Badge Challenge") in Super Mario Bros. Wonder should be handled and formatted, with options to consider them a part of the course name and use em dashes to represent line breaks, to consider them a part of the course name and indicate their status through a different means, or to not consider them part of the course name. At the time of this writing, there is unanimous support for considering the titles as part of the course name, with the majority of that support preferring formatting with methods other than an em dash. Read more November 25, 2023
Clean up Category:Worms and move it to Category:Annelids Recognizing that "worm" is a generic descriptor that is applied to many categories of creatures, and recognizing that the category currently includes both creatures similar to segmented worms and creatures similar to caterpillars, which are better classified under the existing "Butterflies and caterpillars" category, this proposal suggests moving caterpillars out of the category and renaming it to "annelids" to make its scope clearer. At the time of this writing, the proposal has unanimous support. Read more November 25, 2023
Split Legendary treasure, or merge with other relevant article(s) A proposal to change how the Legendary treasure from Wario Land 4 is handled. The proposer argues that the treasures taken as a whole amount to a plot point to motivate Wario, and have a generic name taken from the in-game newspaper headline. The proposal also notes that it is unclear if the term refers to the treasures obtained from the game's bosses, to the golden treasures also obtained through the course of the game, or both. The proposal offers options for either merging both the boss treasures and golden treasures into the Wario Land series' treasure article, merging both treasure types into the Wario Land 4 article, splitting the boss treasures while merging the golden treasures with the aforementioned treasure article, merging the boss treasures into Wario Land 4 while merging the others into the aforementioned article, or doing nothing. At the time of this writing, the option to merge both types into the broader treasure article has the most support. Read more November 24, 2023
Merge Fiery Dino Piranha to Dino Piranha or move it to Dino Piranha (Black) A proposal to merge Fiery Dino Piranha with its regular counterpart. The proposer argues that both bosses are too similar to warrant separate articles, with additional evidence such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the Mario Portal website. Alternatively, the page could be moved to an identifier based on the Mario Portal. The proposal proved to be controversial, with the opposition currently holding a slight lead. Read more November 29, 2023
Merge Mecha Bowser (the statue from the Mario Kart games, not the robot) to Bowser Statue A proposal to merge the large, stone Bowser statue which menaces racers in the Mario Kart series into Bowser statue. The proposer argues that the object in question has been referred to as being made of stone on multiple occasions and that it should be considered a continuation of the Bowser statues from Mario Kart 64, rather than a distinct, mechanical entity. Read more November 29, 2023
Merge Gobblegut (Black) to Gobblegut A similar proposal for Fiery Dino Piranha, this time for Gobblegut's fiery counterpart. Despite the controversy on the former, the proposal currently has unanimous support. Read more November 30, 2023
Merge Lakitu in a Pipe with Lakitu A proposal to merge Lakitu in a Pipe, an article referring to certain pipe-dwelling Lakitu in Super Mario World with the general Lakitu article. The proposal builds upon a previous discussion in which it was noted that the Mario Portal treats Lakitu in a Pipe merely as a Lakitu in a different position, rather than a separate enemy. At the time of this writing, there is unanimous support for the proposal - though multiple voters have expressed that they feel the name Lakitu in a Pipe is humorous, and it has been suggested the article be preserved on BJAODN. Read more December 1, 2023
RECENT FEATURE NOMINATIONS
ARTICLE SUMMARY OUTCOME DATE
Edge Sparks (talk) nominated the article to be featured after expanding the article. Additional work took place during the nomination, and it received enough support to become featured within less than two weeks of the initial nomination. PASSED 5-0
(read more) 		October 20, 2023
RECENT UNFEATURE NOMINATIONS
ARTICLE SUMMARY OUTCOME DATE
Diddy Kong Racing A second attempt to unfeature the article by TheUndescribableGhost (talk), following an attempt earlier this year which failed due to insufficient support. Multiple unresolved issues involving missing or poorly presented content were brought up. This time, the nomination had no opposition and received enough voters to pass. PASSED 5-0
(read more) 		November 14, 2023

And that's everything for this month! Everyone's been pretty busy, it seems. There's going to be another longer than usual gap between issues so we can recharge from Issue 200, so uh... prepare for another long Community Report in December!

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Fun With Despair (talk)

13th Poll Committee Banner

This time around, I'm not even going to joke about doing the Poll Committee Discussion yet again. Part of it is because I just like doing these, but the other part? Well, it's Issue 200! 200... Isn't that completely wild? That's a ridiculous amount of issues, so much content from so many people over so many years. It's kind of mind-boggling to think about, right? The sense of community needed to keep this kind of thing rolling for so long, I love to see it, and I couldn't be prouder of almost literally everyone I'm close with for making this a reality. I'll fully admit, I haven't really been writing for the 'Shroom very long besides these articles (and that time that (Hypnotoad (talk) let me write a Half-Baked Reviews), mostly for lack of ideas, but as a member of the community, it's brought me great joy over the years, and I hope it continues for a hundred more issues - if not even more.

There's something to be said for a community like this. I say this as a former member of the Awards Committee, and as the Chairperson of the Poll Committee, a position that I admit I probably would have done better with in the long run had I known what I know now. Still, I've seen first-hand the amount of effort that goes into projects like this, like Issue 200, like Awards, and even like every poll that goes live within our own committee. From every random poll, to massive events like Scribble or the Killing Games too, the passion here is unreal. Enough to crack even my own cold, dead heart and make me smile. I love you guys.

You know what else I love though? Our one, singular poll for this term. So enjoy, because short as it may be this discussion wouldn't even be possible without the culminative efforts of everyone who made the 'Shroom what it is today, and everyone who continues to work to put out a quality newsletter every month.

Archives

How do you feel about certain playable characters being relegated to "Easy Mode" (Funky Kong, Yoshi, Nabbit, Toadette, etc.)? - (Fun With Despair (talk), October 11th, 2023)

How do you feel about certain playable characters being relegated to "Easy Mode" (Funky Kong, Yoshi, Nabbit, Toadette, etc.)?

I do not like that some characters are easier than others, because I would like to play as the character I want without compromising the game's challenge. 28.01% (1814 votes)
I am okay with some characters being easier than others, because it provides gameplay variety and/or allows everyone to play the game. 25.68% (1663 votes)
I am glad that some characters are easier than others, as they allow me to just play the game without getting frustrated. 12.83% (831 votes)
I think that different characters should have different mechanics, but that they should not be objectively easier than others by a significant degree. 11.56% (749 votes)
I do not care if some characters are easier to play than others, as long as no one is forced to use them in multiplayer content (Nabbit, Toadette, etc.) 9.73% (630 votes)
I am okay with some characters being easier than others, because I would rather just play as the main protagonist, with other characters playing differently. 5.23% (339 votes)
I have no opinion. 4.96% (321 votes)
I do not like that some characters are easier than others, because I do not believe that the game should have an easy mode in any form. 2.01% (130 votes)
Total votes: 6,477

Analysis

How do you feel about certain playable characters being relegated to "Easy Mode" (Funky Kong, Yoshi, Nabbit, Toadette, etc.)?

Yoshi and Goomba.
Behold. An immortal. A god. Turn your gaze upon his visage, and know the definition of infinity.

Oh boy, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Again. Yeah, not a surprise that this game is showing up again so soon, it's basically the only real big release of the franchise in forever, at least until the Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars remake that came out a couple days ago. I find this one kind of interesting, because to be honest, it's just a weird kind of subject. People have wanted to play as Yoshi alone for a long time, arguably since Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island back on the SNES, his first real debut appearance in the mainline series, which rather than make him a mainline series mainstay, instead led to a spinoff series consisting of a bunch of mediocre games and then also Yoshi's Woolly World. I've always liked the idea of a mainline platformer having a huge amount of characters to play as, and Wonder delivers.

Or does it?

See, Wonder's got an issue, an issue that 28.01% of our voters agree with: Nintendo's approach to Easy Mode is bad, really bad. For the uninformed, rather than having an easy mode toggleable, or have it work like the historic example of Super Guide where it becomes an option if you die enough, it instead relegates certain characters to the role of "Easy Characters" akin to Nabbit in New Super Luigi U or Toadettein New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, a category that happens to also include both of these characters in the new game, as well as poor old Yoshi himself. While I haven't met a whole lot of Toadette or Nabbit stans over the years, it is important to note that typically players who play these games enjoy being able to play as their favorite characters without having a worse experience because of it, and voters for our top option aren't happy with Nintendo making fan favorites like Yoshi or Funky Kong stuck as the Easy Mode characters, largely invulnerable colossi who can sweep through the entire level with little resistance, despite (at least in Yoshi's case), having a strong gameplay gimmick (unique moveset instead of power-up usage) that could make him a great way to play through the game normally, which is something appreciated in and of itself by 11.56% of our voters who appreciate these unique mechanics while condemning the changes in damage or platforming that comes with them.

Interestingly though, it's a rather close race here, with 25.68% of people actually appreciating the easy mode mechanics due to the increased accessibility that comes with them allowing more people to experience the game, and another 11.56% of people appreciating the easy mode entirely because it lets them play without having a rough time. When combined, you'll find these two opposing factions pretty close, though I have to wonder as to whether the pro-easy-mode audience actually cares about the characters in question being easy, or whether they just appreciate having an easy mode in general, which is something I'd like to hear from our readers about actually. It's relatable in a sense, there's definitely some games that have pissed me off enough to where I just wish I could toggle on an option to not get hit. Regardless, with this in mind I think there's definitely a discussion to be had here, and I think universally a more flexible Easy Mode would be welcome - provided the option exists for those players who just want to to chill.

Of course, this is all well and good, but what if you wanted to play multiplayer games, but a full party was forced to relegate one player or more to the easy character? While this isn't much of an issue with Wonder - having at least four "default-playing" characters available, it did plague older games such as the later New Super Mario Bros. (disambiguation) games, something that 9.73% of players think kind of sucks. I don't really blame them though. I think it's super lame that you're forced to play as an objectively easier character in some scenarios, with invulnerability or other perks, especially as a player who enjoys a challenge, with friends who also enjoy a challenge. It kind of sticks you in a corner, with little options if you just want to play the game your way. Or maybe you just don't care because you play alone primarily, and you're one of the 5.23% who just want to play as Mario and don't care about the rest. You know what though? That's an honest choice. If you just want to pick Mario, who am I to stop you?

Oh, and for the 2.01% who don't think there should be an easy mode at all, just go play Bloodborne or something. Elden Ring came out last year and has a DLC on the way. These are games for little kids man, the real Dark Souls does NOT start here.

Conclusion

While this may have only been a single poll, I'm mostly just happy I could get something - anything - in for Issue 200. In truth, I had greater ideas, flames of ambition that were quickly snuffed out by the weight of reality. Reality, of course, being the insane amount of ball-busting work going into my own Killing Game which I'm hoping to host soon. It's unrelated to the polls, of course, but I'm hoping I can get some people from here to join, provided they are over the age of 18. Not that I really feel the need to shill it in the Poll Committee Discussion of all things, it's just been a long couple of months, long and busy.

I'm just glad I could get something in for Issue 200 in the end, even if it's just a Poll Committee Discussion. I'll see you guys in... 8? 9? years for Issue 300, but until then, I'll probably also see you in several issues between then and now - or at least early next year, when we debut our new and improved Awards Analysis. It's been a long time coming, but what else would be more fitting for the 13th Committee's last hurrah than that, hm? Besides, with how hard several people in this committee have been working on their own Issue 200 articles, it'd be a real scummy move to have anyone dedicate their time to Awards Analysis when such a special issue is on the way.

If you've stuck with me for this long... go read someone else's article already. They deserve it. They all do.

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy issue 200 everyone!! I can’t believe we finally made it here - 200 issues is an absolutely insane amount. Thinking about the countless hours of work that are put into every single issue of The ‘Shroom is crazy enough, but it’s even crazier to conceptualize the fact that those hours have been put in 200 times. It’s an honor to be part of such an amazing production. Anyways, here is Mario Calendar for issue 200!!

Region Abbreviations

Abb. Region
ALL All Regions (JP/NA/EU/AU)
JP Japan
NA North America
EU Europe
AU Oceania/Australia
SK South Korea
CHN China
UK United Kingdom

Console Abbreviations

Abb. Console
NES Nintendo Entertainment System
Famicom Family Computer Disk System
SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System
N64 Nintendo 64
GC Nintendo GameCube
GB Game Boy
GBC Game Boy Color
GBA Game Boy Advance
DS Nintendo DS
3DS Nintendo 3DS
Switch Nintendo Switch
Wii VC Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
3DS VC Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
Wii U VC Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console
VB Virtual Boy
G&W Game and Watch
64DD Nintendo 64 Disk Drive
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
CD-i Philips CD-i
IQ iQue Player
NVS Nvidia Shield
ACPC Amstrad CPC
ZX ZX Spectrum
Coleco Colecovision
TI-99 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

And that’s it for November! This seems like a good time to mention that I wrote a special section for the 200th issue of The ‘Shroom, and I would really appreciate you checking it out and reading it. If you like Mario Calendar, I have a feeling you’re going to like my special section even more. It breaks down the whole year month-by-month and analyzes what makes some months so special in the world of Mario, while others aren’t so much.

I bring this up here because this month is VERY SPECIAL in the world of Mario. I don’t want to say exactly where it falls in my ranking, as that might spoil my special section depending on what order you read them in, but I have no shortage of praise for this month. I don’t want to sound too repetitive, as I go over this month’s releases in detail in my other section, but this is a crazy month. Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Kart DS, Super Mario World, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario 3D World AND a whole lot more all came out this month. Wow.

Not to mention we have two new releases to the Mario family this month! WarioWare: Move It! came out on November 3rd, and Super Mario RPG for the Nintendo Switch came out on the 17th. I haven’t gotten the chance to play either of these, but these are both super special franchises and it makes me very happy to see them release. Anyways, thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next month! Happy 200!

What's in a Campaign?

By: Shoey (talk)

Hello 'Shroom readers, and welcome to a very special What's In a Campaign?! Why is it special, you ask? Because it's the 200th issue of The 'Shroom! And since this is a very special issue of pomp and grandeur, I figured I needed to cover a robot of significant grandeur. So for this month, we're going to be covering the biggest icon in the history of Robot Wars, the Series 5 run of the hydraulic crushing beak of Razer.

The robotic icons of icons

Created by Ian Lewis and Simon Scott, with a third team member named Vincent Blood joining in Series 3, Razer is one of the most dazzling competitors in the history of Robot Wars. Armored with steel and aluminum, Razer was powered by two 24-volt motors, weighed 96 kg, and had a top speed of 11 mph. The wheels, custom-made of aluminum with frames made from titanium, not only gave it increased control, but lowered the already-low ground clearance around the wheels. For this series, the team would also introduce new wheel guards at the front to lower the chance robots pinned by Razer damaging its wheels. But of course, there is also the piece de resistance, that beautiful iconic crushing claw. A hydraulic claw with a pump powered by a 12-volt motor, the claw of Razer had 9 tonnes of crushing power. To put it more simply, at its peak, the claw of Razer could tear through anything. The toughest armor would crack like a lobster shell as the claw tore through its opponents innards. Not only that, but Razer was powerful enough that, when the claw fully tore into an opponent, Razer could lift its opponent off the ground. Once that claw enters its opponent, there's nothing they can do! They're at the mercy of the mighty Razer!

But here's the thing. Other robots, especially after Razer's success, would try out the crushing claw (looking at you Ming 3), but none of them found much success (except Tiberius 3). Why is that? You might ask, and it's good to ask. Well, you see, Razer had a secret weapon: its wedge. We're talking a wedge almost completely on the ground, a wedge narrow enough that, if you accidentally drove up it, you couldn't drive down it. This is a wedge so long that it allowed Razer to scoop up any robot that tried to flee. Razer had what no other crusher would ever feature, a truly unstoppable wedge. If you ended up on the wedge, Razer would punish you severely. But what about the sides, you ask? Aren't they exposed? Yes, you might be thinking that you'll just attack the sides, but that's where Razer's final secret weapon came into play, that of driver Ian Lewis!

Amongst the halls of great drivers, Ian Lewis was one of the best. With him controlling Razer, the robot never exposed its weaknesses. Ian Lewis was a nearly flawless driver and Razer itself controlled so smoothly that landing a single attack on Razer's side was nearly impossible and landing multiple just wasn't going to happen. Finally, rounding out this truly fantastic design, for a self-righter Razer had two wings that would open to right the robot (they would also open them in celebration of great victories)

First appearing in Series 2, Razer hit the ground running, collecting trophies everywhere it went. It started in Series 2 where Razer would be given the Best Design Award. Then in Series 3 Razer would again be given Best Design, but this time they would also add a Pinball Championship to their trophy case. Then they won a combat trophy in the very confusing and bad International League Championship, which was intended to be a pilot episode they show would use to branch into wider market. Before you ask, no, I don't know why they would pick this tournament considering they actually had the First World Championship tournament which was legitimately good and that this one had zero good robots outside of Razer and I guess Diotoir.

Funnily enough, despite the commonly-held narrative that the International League Championship was created to give Razer a combat trophy, that's actually not true. It was actually created to give Cassius a combat trophy, but they pulled out after a safety incident that we've discussed previously, and Razer was placed in instead.

Razer claiming its first combat championship!

In the International League Tournament, Razer would dominate Diotoir in the finals to capture the crown. Then, in the First World Championship (one of the best tournaments in the history of Robot Wars), Razer started by destroying the UK Champion Chaos 2. They chewed apart top eight finisher 101, and, finally, they defeated Behemoth in a split decision, in a very close fight that's still debated to this day (side note: I think Razer did win the fight simply because the judges' formula at the time heavily weighted damage), to become World Champions. If not for the aforementioned safety incident, Razer would have picked up another trophy. There was supposed to be a Tag Team Terror Tournament, and one of the teams was going to be Panic Attack and Razer, which, yeah, you might as well just have given them the trophy. Finally, in the Series 4 Northern Annihilator, Razer would outlast the axe-lifter combo of Vercingetorix, the piercing spike of Spawn of Scutter, the scoop of Behemoth, the spinning drum of Atila the Drum, and, finally, the lifter of the tiny-but-tough Onslaught to claim the Northern Annihilator championship.

Poor Matilda

During the final, Razer would even take on the tusks of Matilda, tearing apart the poor House Robot. The point is this that everywhere Razer went, championships followed.

But despite claiming trophies in every tournament they entered, one trophy eluded them, that being the UK Championship. Despite their dominance in every other tournament, Razer had yet to claim a UK Championship. In fact, as of Series 5, Razer hadn't even won a Heat yet! In Series 2, during Razer's first combat fight against Inquisitor, Razer would dominate the fight. But then Razer, with the fight in hand, just kind of broke down! Then, in Series 3, during their Heat Semi-Final match with Aggrobot, a very big, oddly-shaped robot. Razer would again dominate. but because of the shape of Aggrobot, Razer wasn't able to fully get the claw into them. Then its crusher malfunctioned and it lifted Razer's own wheels off the ground. Once again, Razer went out in a fight it was dominating. Then in Series 4, thanks to some late seed shuffling, Razer would be placed in the same Heat as Pussycat. During the Heat Final, the pyramid-shaped Pussycat would tear Razer to pieces, dominating it and giving Razer its first earned combat loss.

Some of us are gentleman...

This fight against Pussycat would also feature Ian Lewis's famous "Some of us are gentleman" speech, where Ian Lewis would complain about the excessive damage Pussycat did to Razer. Now, this is a speech that I think is hypocritical bullshit. In this exact same Heat, Razer literally pulls the wheels off of Milly Ann Bug one-by-one, and does it long after Milly Ann Bug was eliminated, no less. Regardless, once again Razer has crashed out in the Heats, and once again the UK Championship has eluded them.

Before we continue our story in Series 5, as a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. This month, if you'd like to watch along, we have a full compilation of Razer's Series 5.

Returning in Series 5, Razer was granted the number four seed on the back of their numerous tournament wins throughout the year. Placed into Heat K, Razer's first fight was against the debuting Big Nipper and its unique lifter/crushing claws. The fight (1:57) would start off poorly for Razer. Razer and Big Nipper charge at each other, with Big Nipper getting the immediate advantage, breaking off a piece of Razer's self-righting wings. But from here the fight is all Razer. As Razer has done so many times before, through excellent driving Razer gets to the side of Big Nipper and plunge the crusher deep within the innards of the lifting machine. Razer never lets up on Big Nipper; even when it lets go, it's just so that Razer can get a better position.

Razer hoists Big Nipper.

Razer, with its claw plunged deep within Big Nipper, lifts up the machine and drags it over the flame pit, hoping to burn out its electronics. Razer lets Big Nipper go, because (I'm pretty sure). at this point in time, you could only pin your opponent for 30 seconds before you needed to let them go. Big Nipper charges Razer with its lifting claws in the air, hoping to block the crushing claw of Razer and push it around, but Razer's claw is just so well designed that it can get into and buckle even the smallest opening in a robot. Razer pushes Big Nipper into the angle grinder, causing sparks to fly (I don't really know what else the angle grinder does, lol). Big Nipper continues to try desperately to use its lifter to block Razer, but Razer manages to get its crusher into the left front wheel hull of Big Nipper, causing it to buckle. Fully in control of the newcomer, Razer drives them into Shunt, who drives his axe into the rookie robot. Big Nipper, by this point, is fully broken down, and Razer goes through to the second round in a dominating effort!

In the second round, Razer faces off with Widow's Revenge in a matchup with some of the worst storytelling in the history of the show. Widow's Revenge was alleged to have been built by the wives and girlfriends of Team Razer, who were upset about how much time the team had spent building robots. This is nonsense! Of the three original members of the team, only Gillie Blood (now Gillie Lewis) was connected to Team Razer, being the fiancé of Ian Lewis and the sister of Vincent Blood. The other two original members, Fiona Mason and Jenny Smith, have nothing to do with team Razer. Although, onscreen, Jenny Smith was ill and was replaced by Vinnie Blood's then girlfriend Emily Cathcart, at least giving them some kind of connect This is some Robot Wars Extreme bullshit!

This is stupid and I hate it.

There's even a skit of the Widow's Revenge team calling out the Razer team with classic marital nonsense. This does nothing for this episode and is just super cringy! It doesn't help that Widow's Revenge is a really bad robot and is probably one of the three worst robots in Series 5 to win a battle! To make matters worse, the bot it beat was, sadly, personal favorite bot Sumpthing ☹. It's a dumb flat box with what looks like a pizza cutter on the front of it, and a rear mounted "rolling pin" spinner on the back. This robot would not have qualified for Series 5 if it didn't have this "storyline" the producers could use.

This fight (7:13), if you can call it one, is all Razer. Razer gets to the side of Widow's Revenge and, on the very first crush, just destroys one of the top armor panels of Widow's Revenge. They don't crush it, mind you; no, they pop it out of place and then crush it!

Get this garbage out of here!

Razer completely destroys the top armor of Widow's Revenge in two attacks, and, at the same time, these attacks completely immobilize Widow's Revenge. Then there are like two more minutes of Razer and the House Robots destroying this stupid machine as the Widow's Revenge team holds up "anti"-Razer signs and Johnathan Pierce makes marital jokes. Mercifully, this eventually comes to an end and Razer goes through to the Heat Final.

In the Heat Final, Razer would face off against future Nickelodeon Robot Wars Tag Team Terror Champion, Rick, who was honestly very lucky to get this far. Rick actually lost its first fight to Suicidal Tendencies, and only got back into the tournament because Suicidal Tendencies broke down in the pits, allowing Rick to be reinstated into the tournament. A decent little flipper, Rick was an adequate flipper but lacked the power of the truly great flippers. In this Heat Final, Rick is an absolute underdog against the might of Razer, and this is Razer's best chance to finally make it to the Series' Semi-Final.

The fight (12:11) begins with both robots charging at each other. Rick attempts to flip, but Razer has almost zero ground clearance, so the flip doesn't work at all. Razer takes advantage of this failed attack by snagging the left side tire of Rick, plugging its beak deep into Rick's left side. Rick attempts to spin away, but Razer catches them in the right side! Razer just barely misses the tire but tears into the gap between the tire and the body.

It was never going to be close.

Rick attempts to flee, but Razer pursues, getting at the back of Rick and shoving the flipper bot into the wall while driving the crushing claw into the important electronics located in Rick's back. Razer pulls off a plexiglass frame on Rick's back before getting to the front of Rick and digging into Rick's flipper. Rick gets away, but nearly makes a huge error.

Wow, look at Rick, actually doing something!

Rick fires its flipper and Razer drives in under the open flipper, but can't quite plunge the claw into the exposed electronics. Rick drives into Shunt, who lays axe blows into the back of Rick as Razer goes for the flipper again. Razer drives the claw into the front side of Rick, and it's just so impressive how the crusher claw goes through metal like a knife through butter. Rick can take no more, breaking down on the flame pit as the Refbot counts it out. For the first time in its illustrious career, Razer has made it out of the heats and into the Semi-Finals.

So that was a dominating Heat even if it wasn't against particularly great opponents, which was the style of the original Robot Wars runs. Often, the top 5-6 seeds got placed in Heats full of jobber robots to ensure they'd make it to the Semi-Finals. Placed in Semi-Final 1, Razer's first Semi-Final match was against a much higher breed of competition, the prototypical Brit Flipper and ever present Semi-Finalist, Spawn Again.

In this fight (17:43), Razer has a number of advantages over Spawn Again. Spawn Again is a big robot, so there's a lot of area for Razer to crush. Spawn Again is also a pretty standard wedge flipper, which mostly relies on getting under robots, and, well, Razer has almost zero ground clearance, so it's going to be hard for Spawn Again to get under them. Finally, Spawn Again is famous for breaking down at the drop of the hat, which isn't going to bode well against a robot with damage potential of Razer!