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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

Happy May my lovelies!!! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful month so far. I'm very excited because I have recently accepted an offer for what will be my first theatre job! I'll be working at a theatre festival near my hometown as a carpenter (aka I help build the sets) and as part of the show run crews (aka I make the things happen when they need to happen in the show) for the last week of May and all of June. They're fixing something in my contract before I sign it but as soon as I do, it'll be official! I can't wait ^^

We have a fabulous special section appearing in Pipe Plaza this month! Yoshi18 (talk) is giving us a little sneak peak of Mario Kart World in Yoshi18 Previews. So, if you haven't been keeping up with all of Nintendo's teasers for the game (I am certainly guilty of this - whoops!) be sure to check it out! We've also got all our awesome and amazing regular sections as well! Remember that you, dear reader, can become a part of fabulous Pipe Plaza at any time, simply by going to the sign up page to learn more! Write a section telling us about why more companies need to use environmentally degradable glitter if you so wish!!

That's all I've got for you this month, have a lovely time here in Pipe Plaza ^^

Section of the Month

I'd like to thank everyone who voted A Section of Muppetational Origins to first place this month! Additionally, congratulations are in order to the rest of the podium! Coming in second, we have Shoey (talk) with What's in a Campaign?! Tying for bronze is Paper Plumm (talk) with Poll Committee Discussion and Camwoodstock (talk) with To-Do Tracker! Be sure to show some love to all our sections this month! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st A Section of Muppetational Origins 9 69.23% Zange (talk)
2nd What's in a Campaign? 2 15.38% Shoey (talk)
3rd Poll Committee Discussion 1 7.69% Paper Plumm (talk)
3rd To-Do Tracker 1 7.69% Camwoodstock (talk)
News and information
Mario Calendar
GPM1000 (talk)
Find out all about this month's Super Mario releases.
read more
To-Do Tracker
Camwoodstock (talk)
No clue what to do? Join the fun and see what's been done!
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
Hooded Pitohui (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Anniversary Announcements
Lakituthequick (talk)
The ongoings of the Mario Awards.
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
You will be judged and shredded for your crimes...
read more
Yoshi18 Previews
Yoshi18 (talk)
Get your first look of Mario Kart World right here!
read more

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Hey everyone, and welcome to May's edition of Mario Calendar! I apologize for missing last month - these past few weeks have been pretty busy for me, so I just wasn't able to get it in. But we're back!! And I'm ready to regale you all with the wonderful world of Mario history! Shall we jump in?

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

Well, it's official… This segment marks the last time I will be writing Mario Calendar in the Nintendo Switch era! The Nintendo Switch 2 comes out in just a few weeks, and it is going to completely transform the world of Mario games. We already have really cool-looking games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza set to release in the first few months of the Switch's life cycle, and I'm super excited to see how they turn out. We haven't had a 3D Donkey Kong game since Donkey Kong 64, and we've obviously NEVER had a Mario Kart game like Mario Kart World. So I'm really excited to see how they turn out!

This month itself is solid, but nothing too special. The major standouts for me are the original Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Galaxy 2, which are both fantastic games. These themselves are probably enough to make this month at least okay. However, beyond that, there's nothing that impressive. Some good stuff for sure, but these two standouts take place in the last few days of the month, and they do a lot of the heavy lifting.

Anyways, I hope you have a great rest of your month, and that you enjoy a fantastic Nintendo Switch 2 launch! I'll see you then :)

To-Do Tracker

Written by: Cam / Tori / Cecil / Claire / Macy (talk)

Hello there! How has the past month treated you? It's been... Uh... Eventful, for us, to say the least. (Look, how else do you describe finding out there's a whole fifth of you? ;P) But, the more things have changed, the more they've stayed the same; the to-do bar has remained consistently inconsistent, and we're here to report the details for you! It's been a fairly active month with plenty of success stories to boot, so get ready!

Note: All dates here were taken fairly late at night in EST; around 1-3 AM EST.

April & May To-Do Items
To-Do Item Apr 16, 2025 Apr 23, 2025 Apr 30, 2025 May 7, 2025 May 14, 2025
Spotlight focuses 2 3 2 2 2
Ongoing TPPs 19 21 17 18 27
Unimplemented Proposals 30+ 30+ 30+ 30+ 30+
Unresolved Discussions 261 265 257 251 252
Construction Projects 145 145 146 149 105
Rewrites Needed 114 114 119 120 120
Sourcing Issues 20,044 20,014 20,030 20,036 19,991
Stub Articles 609 631 632 633 656
Wanted Articles 1000+ 1000+ 1000+ 1000+ 1000+
Requested Deletions 7 8 11 3 3
Suggested Moves 57 58 58 58 56
Suggested Merges 70 70 74 76 76
Suggested Splits 30 33 32 35 36
Deprecated parameters N/A N/A 3,531 3,188 2,418
Descriptions needed 6,786 4,216 1,955 777 N/A
Reference error N/A 1 N/A N/A N/A
Incomplete tag N/A N/A 1 N/A N/A
Duplicate argument N/A N/A N/A 1 N/A
Missing romanizations N/A N/A N/A N/A 36
Unknown Meanings 2 2 2 N/A 237
Upload issues 4 N/A N/A N/A 1
Image Quality 3,900 3,905 3,914 3,915 3,925
Images Needed 713 715 714 724 725
Media Needed 207 209 210 215 217
Media Quality 9 10 10 7 6
Unused Files 200+ 200+ 200+ 200+ 200+

For some observations for how the numbers have progressed, and some potential targets:

  • The biggest success story has got to be Descriptions needed, taken from about 6,750 last month, to absolutely 0 on May 7th, 2025! Major congratulations to all involved, and this would simply not have been possible without the dedicated coordinated efforts over on the Discord!
  • Likewise, Missing Parameters is because of a recent proposal about considering the absence of a meaning parameter altogether as "unknown meaning"s. This actually ties in with how Unknown Meanings skyrocketed; as Missing Parameters have been sifted through, it's revealed more and more unknown meanings. Good for revealing issues that were previously undetected... Bad for Unknown Meanings, because it had only just taken care of the 2 items that it's been holding onto since late March. How Sisyphean!
  • You may have noticed the sudden addition of Deprecated parameters; that's thanks to a proposal that reworks how level progression is depicted in level infoboxes. You--yes, you, right now--can help implement this, and cut down on that specific number!
  • Out of the trifecta of moves/merges/splits, moves held mostly steady, while merges and splits slightly increased. Not much to say about that trio this time around, sorry.
  • In contrast to its absolutely pathetic showing last month, being completely static for a whole month straight, Media Quality finally saw some action... initially, only in the form of seeing a spike. We're so proud of it...? Luckily, it not only went back down, but extremely luckily, it actually went down a bit lower! We're so proud of it!! It's very close to being taken care of altogether, with only two samples from Donkey Kong 64 needing trimming, two songs featured in the DiC Cartoons needing better, more representative samples, and three odd-balls; one quote from the Koopa General demanding a higher quality, and a video/audio syncing issue with a trailer for Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance). You could probably resolve all of these in about a week with some dedication!
  • Your eyes don't deceive you... That is sourcing issues under 20,000. A few valiant people have taken to trying to fill out the unsourced foreign names, and it sits at a comfortable 17,586 as of writing. Still a long way to go, but the fact the category as a whole has sunk below the 20k mark for the first time since April 2nd, 2025, is something to be celebrated. Can we get it as low as the 19,771 we started the year on by Summer's start? Only time will tell.

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Hooded Pitohui (talk)

Hello there, all you readers of The 'Shroom! Just when I think I'm out... they drag me back in. All joking aside, this bird returns to Pipe Plaza, this time on behalf of the 15th Poll Committee with Paper Plumm (talk) at the helm.

News

The first month of the new committee's term has proven a productive one, I'm pleased to report. With a lot of first-timers on the PC this term, there's plenty of enthusiasm and fresh ideas, and the committee's group chat has seen consistent activity. Who all is on the new committee, though? In case you haven't seen the announcements or the poll page, your 15th Poll Committee consists of Paper Plumm, Sparks (talk), TheBlueCatMenace (talk), Boo1268 (talk), DryBonesBandit (talk), MightyMario (talk), Waluigi Time (talk), and myself!

So far, Paper Plumm has invited other committee members to get experience posting and archiving polls, and Waluigi Time has started work on a banner to be completed and unveiled at a later date. Those are all the big news items, so let's jump into the analysis!

Archives

If there were official in-person live events for the Super Mario franchise, what type would you most prefer? (Hooded Pitohui (talk), April 27, 2025)

If there were official in-person live events for the Super Mario franchise, what type would you most prefer?

Concerts or other performances of music from the Mario franchise 25.71% (407 votes)
Casual gaming events where players can freely play various Mario titles like Party, Kart, etc. together 23.06% (365 votes)
Conferences by game developers discussing how Mario games are made 15.92% (252 votes)
Conventions emphasising sharing creative works (writing, art, cosplay, etc.) themed around the Mario franchise. 13.83% (219 votes)
I have no opinion. 8.72% (138 votes)
Competitive gaming events where players try to outdo each other in Mario games (e.g, by completing a level the fastest) 8.28% (131 votes)
I do not want Mario themed in-person live events at all. 2.97% (47 votes)
I would prefer a live in-person event of a type not listed here. 1.52% (24 votes)
Total votes: 1,583

How do you feel about the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and the games announced within? (Sparks (talk), April 13th, 2025)

How do you feel about the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and the games announced within?

The Direct looks fantastic and I plan on getting some of its games. 53.11% (1,674 votes)
The Direct looks fine, but I do not plan on getting a Switch 2. 18.62% (587 votes)
I will get a Switch 2 and its exclusive games, but not for expansions of previous Switch games. 15.04% (474 votes)
I have no opinion. 3.62% (114 votes)
I did not like the Direct, but I will still get a Nintendo Switch 2. 3.14% (99 votes)
I have not seen the Direct. 2.89% (91 votes)
The Direct was awful and I do not plan on getting a Nintendo Switch 2. 2.32% (73 votes)
I will get a Switch 2, but only for enhancements/extra content for existing Switch games. 1.27% (40 votes)
Total votes: 3,162

Analysis

If there were official in-person live events for the Super Mario franchise, what type would you most prefer?

Super Mario Orchestra Concert promotion
What the people want, apparently!

Throughout North America, Australia, and Japan in recent years, Nintendo has held or planned to hold various "Nintendo Live" events. These events encouraged fans and those with an interest in Nintendo games to turn out in-person to get hands-on experiences with various titles, meet others, take photos, and attend a variety of live events ranging from concerts to tournaments. While these events and others like them have included Mario games, music, and characters, they haven't exclusively focused on the plumber and his world, so we thought to ask what kind of events our audience would like to see if the House of Mario gave the Mushroom Kingdom a live event of its own.

Unsurprisingly, the top three options here are the most accessible of the bunch. Unlike tournaments, there's no need for anyone to hone their skills, and unlike a showcase of Mario fan content, there's no obligation to try and draw or write or compose while figuring out the logistics of sharing one's creations at the event. All three of our top options are the chill kind of events anyone could show up at with minimal planning. Within that top three, it's likewise not a surprise that the most technical and potentially dry of the bunch sits at the bottom. Just about anyone can show up for a round of Mario Kart or bask in a performance of the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme, but it takes a particular interest in game design to appreciate a developer's conference.

Taking a granular view, at the very top, just over a quarter of respondents indicated they'd most like to see concerts, and, well, I can't blame 'em! The greater Mario franchise had produced some iconic music. From a Ground Theme deemed significant enough to get added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry to beloved tracks like Stickerbush Symphony, I can see the appeal of hearing live performances of the music which has backed the adventures of Mario and company. Nintendo and its partners aren't strangers to concert events, either! Beyond the performances at their Nintendo Live events, there were series of Legend of Zelda and Pokémon orchestral concerts held to great success a decade or so ago, and various Splatoon concerts were held independently of Nintendo Live in the past. Our poll results seem to indicate a Mario concert in the same style would be a resounding success!

As for the folks who don't have an interest in these kinds of live events, one commenter on the forum noted that the crowds and lines could deter her from attending, a sentiment I can certainly understand. There's something to be said for enjoying these games and music from the comfort of home, rather than venturing out into noisy crowds packed into hot spaces. I'd like to know what the voters who wanted an event not covered by the poll were looking for, but with only 24 of them, I doubt we'll get an answer.

Regardless, it's clear that our voters are interested in some kind of casual gaming or music-focused event, so here's to hoping we see some crop up in the future!

How do you feel about the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and the games announced within?

Footage of Mario Kart World shown on the Nintendo Switch 2 in TV mode
Mario Kart World admittedly looks spectacular.

Our first poll of the term ran less than two weeks after the Switch 2 made its proper debut alongside Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and a slew of third-party titles. So, after digesting the news and sitting with those prices, what'd folks think? Well, spoiler alert, the people visiting the Mario website liked the new system and its shiny new Mario titles. A clean majority rated the Switch 2 and its games highly and planned to get their hands on the console. I, ah, I wish you good luck... The sentiment of our voters seems to reflect sentiment at large, as, despite a high price point attracting complaints online, the system is in high demand and projected to follow its predecessor's sales closely. Whether consumers sustain that demand and those projects prove true, we shall see!

Not everyone is sold on the system, though. What I find most interesting here is that, as loud as the clamor has been over prices, most of our voters who aren't trying to get their hands on a Switch 2 still felt the Direct was fine. Albeit, I suppose the prices weren't in the Direct itself, so perhaps people weren't factoring them in while voting? Or perhaps consumers don't see them as that much of an obstacle! Either way, once they're excluded, yeah, I mean, there's not a lot to say against the Direct itself... aside from it freezing for a spell, that is. A few major first-party titles, a new game in Drag x Drive, a beefy lineup of third-party games, it seemed pretty solid.

The most consistent post-Direct complaint I found regarded charging for upgraded editions of Switch 1 games and confusion around Game Key Cards. Which... the messaging around Game Key Cards was rather frustratingly muddled. The complaint surrounding paid upgrades also aligns with our poll results, with fifteen percent of voters wanting a Switch 2 for its exclusive titles but feeling unswayed by expanded and upgraded Switch 1 titles. I guess it goes to show just how much of a hook a good exclusive can be. I'm in this camp, myself. Most Switch games already run well enough and have enough content for my purposes, so the Switch 2's draw for me is entirely its exclusives.

Votes fall off fairly hard from here onwards, which I would attribute in part to this site's audience being fairly friendly to Nintendo. The "just okay" crowd was a little larger in Nintendo Life's poll, with the average and poor options each attracting 7% of their voters, whereas this ResetEra poll tended towards seeing the Direct as middling, and this GameFAQs poll was relatively even across the board. Even in these other reaction threads and polls, there aren't many people calling this an abysmal or dreadful direct compared to those calling it good or middling, so, on the whole, I suppose folks were pleased by this one, and at the worst indifferent to it!

Does that mean the Switch 2 has a bright future ahead of it? Only time will tell!

Conclusion

With that, we reach the end of this slate of polls. If there's any takeaway from these two side-by-side, I suppose it's that things are looking sunny for Nintendo. Their new console is in demand and their biggest IP is well-liked enough that people want to see it get live events. Next month, former Chairperson MightyMario will be here with a fresh set of polls, including one looking backwards rather than forwards, so be sure to check back in June!

Anniversary Announcements

Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)

“Awards committee picking their favorites/what's popular and the write-ins telling us how dumb we are is also a tried and true method.”
—Waluigi Time (talk · Boards)

Hello again and welcome to Anniversary Announcements! It is May, so may you have a great day. I'll let myself out.

Tournaments

In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.

Scribble Labs 2 - Double Vision!!
This experimental event has concluded! The winning teams is Team Double Agents, consisting of Kright and Fun With Despair, congratulations!
A bonus round with custom matches and rules has also completed, and a feedback survey and conclusions have also been posted with the lab findings.

The events and games thread can be used to discuss and gauge interest for future activities.

The awards

The following lists all discussed awards and notable changes and reasoning. Check out the full list for a complete overview of all additions and removals, and also check out the meeting logs and summaries for a more detailed insight in the changes.

New awards

These awards are brand new, or sometimes return from two or more years ago.

Favorite Mario Kart World Newcomer (new)
A new award to highlight the wacky character roster in the upcoming new Mario Kart game.
Favorite Mario Party Minigame (new)
A positive counterpart to the "Worst Mario Party Minigame" award we used to have, celebrating the minigames in the Mario Party series.
Most Unremarkable Game (new)
A rebranding of the "Most Forgettable Game" award, highlighting games that are not necessarily bad, but are not groundbreaking either.
Wiki Contributor Award 2024-2025 (new)
A returning award as interest between wiki and community folks has increased, celebrating excellent contributors to the Super Mario Wiki.
Favorite 'Shroom Guest Section 2024-2025 (new)
An award to highlight section submissions that aren't part of the monthly writing cycle.
Favorite Scribble Round (new)
As the Scribble series of games has become a stable, an award to celebrate great rounds over the years is in order.

Updated awards

Awards that existed last year and have been updated based on recent releases or with high-ranking write-in votes from last year.

M5. Favorite Enemy
This award was reconsidered and kept, and subsequently updated. Although it was opted to expand this to include species in general instead of just enemies, this was not done due to overlap with "Favorite Mario Kart World Newcomer".
M18. Favorite Game (N64/GBC and older) (renamed)
Renamed from "Favorite Retro Game", this award was renamed to be adjectiveless as people have varying standpoints on what "retro" and "classic" mean.
M19. Favorite Game (GCN/GBA through Wii/DS) (renamed)
Renamed from "Favorite Classic Game", this award was renamed to be adjectiveless as people have varying standpoints on what "retro" and "classic" mean.
M20. Favorite Game (Wii U/3DS and newer) (renamed)
Renamed from "Favorite Modern Game", this award was renamed to be adjectiveless to follow the naming scheme of the previous two awards. It was otherwise updated with new releases and high-ranking write-ins.
F4. Worst Obstacle
This award was kept and updated.
F5. Worst Level Concept
This award was kept without changes.
F6. Worst Game Mechanic
This award was kept and updated.
F7. Worst Boss Battle
This award was kept and updated.
F8. Worst Mario Kart Course Remake
This award was kept and updated.
F9. Worst Remake
This award was kept and amended.
F10. Most Shameless Business Decision
This award was kept and updated.
C1. Favorite Active 'Shroom Writer
This award was kept, and its list of nominees recreated from scratch.
C2. Favorite 'Shroom Section Design
This award was kept and updated.
C3. Favorite Written 'Shroom Section 2024-2025 (renamed)
Renamed from "Favorite Written 'Shroom Section of the Past Year", the nominees of this award have been renewed from scratch.
C4. Favorite Retired 'Shroom Section
This award was kept and updated.
C6. Favorite 'Shroom Special Issue
This award was kept and updated.
C9. Favorite Artist
This award was kept, and the nominees have been renewed from scratch.
C10. Favorite 2024 Awards Presentation
This award was kept, and a new list of nominees was created by forum thread.
C11. Favorite BJAODN Entry
This award was kept and updated.
C12. Favorite Wiki April Fool's Event
This award was kept and amended.
C13. Favorite Community Character
This award was kept, and a new list of nominees created by forum thread.
C14. Favorite Community Event 2024-2025
This award was kept, and a new list of nominees created by forum thread. A year identifier was additionally added to the name of this award.
C15. Outstanding Community Achievement Award
This award was kept and the list of nominees recreated.

The bins

The blue bin contains awards that may have potential left, but will only be considered to be kept to fill up necessary awards spots. The red bin contains awards that have been removed entirely.

F1. Most Forgettable Game (removed)
The definition of "forgettable" is a bit fuzzy, so this award was rebranded, see "Most Unremarkable Game" above.
F2. Worst Power-up (removed)
This award was removed due to stale results. The addition of items from Super Mario Bros. Wonder last year did not noticeably shake up the results.
F3. Worst Enemy (to be considered)
This award is a staple, but what qualifies as "worst" is debatable, and results have been influenced by large YouTubers over the last couple of years.
C5. Favorite 'Shroom Team (removed)
Although initially kept, this award was replaced due to having fairly stable results, with better new awards available.
C7. Favorite Issue 200 Guest Section (removed)
This award was intended as a one-off to celebrate the release of Issue 200 in the last cycle.
C8. Favorite Issue 200 Special Feature (removed)
This award was intended as a one-off to celebrate the release of Issue 200 in the last cycle.

Thanks again for reading our section to the end! Or, if you skipped to the end, thanks for reading the outro anyway. Enjoy Mario Kart World, if you managed to pre-order it, and we'll see you next month!

The 'Shroom Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! Did you know that if you added up all the words ever written in every edition of The 'Shroom Report, you would have a significant quantity of words? Well, today I'm going to add even more words to that by covering all the details for Issue 217. Thanks to Meta Knight as always!

For new readers or anyone needing a refresher, please open the box below.

​
  • First-Time Writers lists everyone who wrote their first section for The 'Shroom in the previous issue.
  • New Sections lists recurring sections that started their run in the previous issue. This includes returning sections that previously went inactive.
  • Guest Sections lists one-off submissions from the previous issue.
  • Milestones covers certain section numbers reached in the previous issue. Writers are mentioned for every 10 sections written in a team and every 50 sections written overall, teams are mentioned for every 100 sections, and The 'Shroom itself is mentioned for every 500 sections.
  • Most Sections Written lists the current all-time record holders.
First-Time Writers
Writer Section
Sentient freedom (talk) Completion Centre
Riddle Moves
Yoshi18 (talk) Yoshi18 Reviews
New Sections
Section Writer
Pixel Personas Sparks (talk)
Riddle Moves Sentient freedom (talk)
Completion Centre Sentient freedom (talk)
Elemental Enemies Boo1268
Yoshi18 Reviews Yoshi18 (talk)
Guest Sections
Section Writer
Character Parade ClawgripFan9001
News Flush Waluigi Time (talk)
Police Blotter Technetium (talk)
Passion of the WAH! ClawgripFan9001
A Golden Sun Gameplay Review Paper Plumm (talk)
Movie Review Waluigi Time (talk)
Milestones
Writer Milestone
Boo1268 20 Fake News sections
RHG1951 (talk) 20 Main/Staff sections
winstein (talk) 60 Palette Swap sections
Most Sections Written
Team Writer Number of Sections
Main/Staff Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) 142
Fake News Waluigi Time (talk) 158
Fun Stuff Shoey (talk) 155
Palette Swap FunkyK38 (talk) 207
Pipe Plaza Yoshi876 (talk) 128
Critic Corner Hypnotoad (talk) 206
Strategy Wing Hooded Pitohui (talk) 146
Overall Yoshi876 (talk) 747
'Shroom Trivia
Superchao was the eighth user to become Director of The 'Shroom, as well as the eighth user to become its Sub-Director. This currently makes him the only user to hold the same number in both sequences.

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign?, a section where I take a look at various competitors from the hit robot combat show Robot Wars. Last month, we took a look at not only one of the most famous robots in the history of Robot Wars, Diotoir, but also one of the most famous moments in the history of Robot Wars - their victory over Tornado in the Heat Semi-Final. This month, we're looking at a robot that's, you know, just a little bit less famous, that robot being Judge Shred 3.

Court is now in session!

Built by Alan Blakeman and Paul Blakeman, with Michael Blakeman joining the team for Series 7, Judge Shred was a longstanding competitor in Robot Wars, having competed in every series of Robot Wars since the third wars. The Judge Shred team, who often appeared wearing the traditional powdered wig of a British judge, had built various different models of Judge Shred. The first was a very strange blob-looking robot with what appeared to be lifting forks at the back and, because it was Series 3, you know there had to be a worthless back weapon! That weapon was a thin-looking axe that I'm not sure would do much damage to a person let alone a bot!

What the hell am I looking at?

In Series 4, they entered with Judge Shred 2, a very square wedge lifter-flipper with an axe at the back built less for axing stuff and more for self-righting purposes. Sadly, because they were overweight, they had to remove one of the motors powering the axe, meaning that they were unable to self-right.

In Extreme 1/Series 5/Series 6, the team's new robot Judge Shred 2½ , a robot that has a ½ written on it, is a fully-upgraded machine with a standard flipper and a lifting arm to self-right with. Funnily enough, despite being a total upgrade to the other sub-par Judge Shred machines, Judge Shred 2 ½ actually failed to qualify for Series 5. It was allowed to compete in Extreme 1, where it got dominated in its Mayhem by Atomic before losing both of its fights in Series 6 (including getting destroyed by 259)!

Despite appearing a lot in Robot Wars, the Judge Shred team had very little success, only winning its first-round match in Series 3 against Mr. Punch, a robot that was hit with the notorious radio interference that plagued competitors in Series 3 which was caused at least in part by somebody bringing an unauthorized antweight to the arena. Then, in Series 4, Judge Shred 2 won its first-round melee – but that was a fight that featured a walkerbot. And as we discussed in our Anarchy review, walkerbots are basically free wins! Despite being the best of the Judge Shred models, Judge Shred 2 ½ actually never won a televised fight, instead going 0-3 throughout its 3 matches! Somewhat strangely, despite going 0-3 in televised fights, we've covered every Judge Shred 2 ½ fight in past editions for some reason!

But you know what? The past doesn't matter! As we've seen before with robots like S3, it doesn't matter what happened in the past; with the right upgrades, any robot can be competitive. And really, this is kind of the best series to attempt a breakout. As we've discussed before, Series 7 was a real changing of the guard series of Robot Wars, with a lot of the old veterans either skipping the series of retiring outright. Built off the chassis of Judge Shred 2 ½, the team entered Judge Shred 3, which had several quality improvements. The flipper has been upgraded to have a 1000 psi capacity, meaning that not only can it now throw robots out of the arena, but Judge Shred 3, unlike Judge Shred 2 ½, can actually self-right itself using its flipper, whereas Judge Shred 2 ½ needed a separate lifting arm. The removal of a lifting arm meant that the team could use that weight in other places such as a more powerful flipper and improving the armor to steel and sluminum! New and improved, Judge Shred 3 was here looking to make a statement!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. If you'd like to watch any of these fights, check out this video. Timestamps are provided in the section.

How Judge Shred 3 qualified for Series 7 isn't known, but it was probably through the qualifiers, as they weren't given a seed. Judge Shred 3 was placed in Heat L, where they faced off against a fellow new-and-improved-veteran Corkscrew 2, Extreme 2 New Blood runner-up Mute, and… Demolition Man… Look, they can't all be winners! The fight starts with Mute pushing Demolition Man, the construction-themed robot, into the CPZ as our boy Judge Shred 3 does, uh, nothing? After a single push, Demolition Man is having trouble driving… Are they dead already? Maybe? Who cares?! Mute and Judge Shred 3 then double-team Corkscrew 2, which is very dangerous. After all, Corkscrew 2's blade spins so fast it looks like it's not spinning at all! Oh, wait, it's not spinning at all, is it…? Huh… Judge Shred 3 easily flips over Corkscrew 2 because their weapon is broken, making them basically a sitting duck. Corkscrew 2 then drives around the arena and they're very fast, I'll give them that.

The only Outta ever performed by a robot with a losing record!

But again, I mean, their weapon burnt up the second the fight started, so Judge Shred 3 easily flips over the flat, weaponless sphere. There's a lot of driving around as Corkscrew 2 drives up and over the flipper of Mute then right into another flip from Judge Shred 3!!! Bored of chasing Corkscrew 2 around the arena, Judge Shred decides to attack Demolition Man, who did in fact die from being lightly pushed by Mute. Judge Shred 3 flips the corpse of the blue-collar dream.

A whole lot of nothing then happens until, as Demolition Man is being counted out, Corkscrew 2 stupidly drives near the arena wall. Judge Shred 3 pounces on this fool's judgement and gets under Corkscrew 2, hurling it out of the arena for its first ever Outta! This sends Judge Shred 3 and Mute to the Heat Semi-Final, with Judge Shred 3 already matching the successes of all the other Judge Shreds!

After I guess what you could legally call a dominating victory, Judge Shred 3 would move onto the Heat Semi-Final, where it would face off against fellow flipper UFO. The fight (33:12) starts with Judge Shred 3 getting a little bump on the side of UFO before missing a flip. The two robots drive around a little bit as UFO drives on top of Judge Shred 3's flipper, but Judge Shred 3 misses a golden opportunity by not firing the flipper until UFO is off of its flipper. As Johnathan Pearce yells "boooooring" over the robots not doing anything, the two finally lock flippers, with Judge Shred 3 getting the better of the exchange and flipping UFO onto its back. Luckily for UFO, their unreliable flipper is actually working in this fight, allowing UFO to self-right. But not for long! After missing a flip on UFO, Judge Shred 3 lands another successful flip onto UFO near the arena wall. Judge Shred 3 then nearly flips UFO out of the arena, but in the process accidentally puts UFO back on its wheels.

So close to a second Outta!

The two robots meet in the middle of the arena again as the camera pans away to a shot of one of the UFO team members, a shot during which you can hear a flipper being fired in the background. When we go back to the fight, UFO is now under Judge Shred 3 and pushes it into the arena wall. A better flipper probably wins the fight right here for UFO, but unfortunately instead of throwing Judge Shred 3 out of the arena, UFO can only push them up against the wall. UFO gives Judge Shred 3 a few good rams into the wall before Judge Shred 3 is able to escape. In reverse now, UFO manages to push Judge Shred 3 for a little bit as Judge Shred 3 tries to get its bearings.

A smart play by the honorable Judge Shred 3

Judge Shred 3 gets away and gets to the side of UFO, giving it a pretty weak flip (because I'm pretty sure Judge Shred 3 was starting to run out of CO2). But that actually worked to Judge Shred 3's advantage because the flip left UFO on its side, where it was unable to self-right from. Judge Shred 3 then smartly stays away from UFO, allowing them to be counted out and sending Judge Shred 3 to the team's first ever Heat Final!

In the Heat Final, Judge Shred 3 again faced off against Mute, a robot with one of the most powerful flippers in the history of Robot Wars, a robot who scored a huge upset victory against Behemoth in the Heat Semi-Final to qualify for the Heat Final. The only thing stopping Judge Shred 3 from making a Semi-Final is this upstart! Don't they realize Judge Shred 3 deserves to win this Heat?! They've put the time in! They deserve this! The fight starts with both robots zippy and full of energy, dancing around the arena and looking for an opening. Judge Shred 3 fires their flipper first, missing a flip. Judge Shred 3 then charges the side of Mute, getting a successful lift on the side that, while not flipping Mute over, scored some sweet, sweet aggression points! Mute then tries to go on the offensive after some dancing around, getting to the side of Judge Shred 3, but they don't fire their flipper. I never understand why this happens with flippers. I assume it involves mechanics and radio stuff, but, like, fire the flipper, damn it! This allows Judge Shred 3 to escape and the two robots meet flipper-to-flipper.

First strike goes to Judge Shred 3!

Judge Shred 3 then does a sick spin move to get its flipper under Mute, throwing it over and scoring what I hope are both aggression and style points for that spin move! Mute attempts to self-right, but remember how I said they have the world's most powerful flipper? Well, turns out that having the world's most powerful flipper kind of sucks! Because instead of just self-righting like a normal robot, Mute instead flips itself high in the air, doing somersaults before landing back on its back! It takes Mute like four attempts to self-right but, finally they do land back on their wheels.

So stupid...

Mute then, to use a technical term, scatters as Judge Shred 3 attempts to pursue it. Mute manages to get under Judge Shred 3 but can only lift them up limply with the world's most powerful flipper as Judge Shred 3 escapes unscathed. Judge Shred 3 then rams Mute at the side as the two robots pull apart. The two robots dance around each other, looking for an advantage which comes to Judge Shred 3, who manages to get another lift onto Mute.

Judge Shred 3 hurling Mute

The two robots then again lock flippers and, again, Judge Shred 3 has the better flipper, flipping Mute onto its back. Mute somersaults several times, attempting to land back on its wheels. When it does finally land on its wheels, it lands right on top of Judge Shred 3's flipper! The honorable judge again throws them in the air, but this time, luckily for Mute, they land back on their wheels. Quickly though, Judge Shred 3 gets to the side of Mute and flips them over yet again!

Mute attempts to self-right but lands on top of Judge Shred 3, but luckily for Judge Shred 3, this doesn't lock them into forward drive like it did Behemoth. Realizing they're behind on points, Mute charges at Judge Shred 3 and again the two lock flippers. This time Judge Shred 3 misses its flip, allowing Mute to get under it and throw Judge 3, who still manages to land on its wheels. This is the last notable thing that happens in the fight, which ends with the two robots driving around each other. Also, Sir Killalot hits the pit release button for some reason, which, like, get back in your hole, House Robot! So the fight goes to the judges, but it's just a formality. I mean, Judge Shred 3 dominated that fight. So, after looking at style, damage, control, and aggression, the judges award the fight to Mute! …wait? WHAT THE FUCK!!?

So, story time! This was actually one of the episodes of Robot Wars I saw as a kid. I would have been somewhere between 10-11 when I saw this episode one fateful presumably summer day, and, fun fact, I think this was the maddest I'd ever been at Robot Wars. I was furious with the judges! This decision ranked right up there with The Hassocks Hog being declared retroactively immobile in Series 6 because it was spinning in circles on tiny Shoey's bullshit meter!

Spinning is still movement! #Justiceforthehog!

I mean, Judge Shred 3 kicked the shit out of Mute! Mute got like one flip and it didn't even flip Judge Shred 3 over, so what the hell is going on? Well, it turns out this is actually the worst edit job in the history of Robot Wars. So, remember how these are 5-minute fights condensed down into TV edits? It turns out the producers decided to put all their focus on the fun, silly "Mute attempts to self-right" moments at the expense of the actual action. Apparently, according to multiple people who saw the fight live, the fight was actually much closer and Mute landed several attacks that just weren't shown on camera. In addition, one detail that's easy to overlook because it happened so late in the fight is that the one flip that Mute did get on Judge Shred 3 severely damaged Judge Shred 3's drive system to the point where Judge Shred 3 was barely moving by the end of the fight. So, while to the TV viewer this fight looks like an absolute asskicking by Judge Shred 3, in reality, when you combine what we didn't see with the fact that Mute would have scored the only significant damage points by damaging Judge Shred 3's drive system, you can see how the fight was actually won by Mute. Regardless, in the post-match interview, Craig Charles comments about how, after that performance, Judge Shred 3 might get a seed next year and the team vows to return for the next series. Well, about that, boys…

What could have been

Judge Shred 3 is a story of perseverance. The team, despite having little success throughout their time in Robot Wars, continued to try to make upgrades and to make a better robot. By the end, they'd made a very solid machine, a machine that absolutely could have made the Semi-Final and probably would have had it not been for a last-second attack damaging their drive system. That's a very solid flipper, and even at the end of the wars, the team didn't stop. Anticipating a Series 8, the team continued making improvements by building Judge Shred 4, a robot with improved armor and a superior raised wedge flipper.

You see so many teams that just keep building bad robots, so it's so nice to see a team continuously improve its robot. I mean, Judge Shred 2 ½ wasn't a bad machine by any stretch, and it was stuck with some tough draws that kept it from doing anything. Then Judge Shred 3 was a Top 16 (AKA Semi-Final)-caliber robot that I think would have struggled to get into the Top 8, but I think it would have made the Heat Final in most Heats. Then Judge Shred 4 looks super solid. That raised flipper concept is where the flipper meta ends up going, so Judge Shred 4 might have been a genuine Grand Final contender. Unfortunately, Judge Shred 4 like so many robots that could have broken out as stars in this new era of Robot Wars, never got that chance because the series ended after Series 7. But, you know, I'm glad that, while they didn't win their Heat, they still had that breakout performance that really showed how good of a robot they could build!

On that ending note of perseverance, that's all for this month. Join me next month when I go over another robot!

Yoshi18 Previews

Written by: Yoshi18 (talk)

Welcome to the first episode of the Pipe Plaza equivalent of Yoshi18 Reviews, which I decided to name almost the exact same because I have no creative mind whatsoever. Anyway, in today's episode I think it would be important to make a Mario Kart World preview for the whole wiki to know what's coming!

Preview before the World Tour!

North American box art for Mario Kart World

I think you guys already know this, but races now have 24 racers! Doubling the amount of racers from Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8/Deluxe and even tripling the amount from other games! This game goes more on the Diddy Kong Racing tour when we talk about the mechanics. They've redone the gliders of the Mario Kart games since Mario Kart 7, to instead use retractable wings, like an airplane, which is easier to fly with! Underwater driving got a revamp as well! Now you drive on top of water, instead of under it. Tracks like Wario Shipyard (Wario's Galleon in Commonwealth English) are adjusted to fit this change. By far my favorite new thing is Grindrails! By going to the starting point of the rail or Charge Jumping on normal height rails, automatically makes you grind on them! I had much fun with this at the Switch 2 Experience I went to last week Friday! You can also use Charge Jumping to cling onto a wall. You are only able to do this if you're fast enough. Coming back from Nintendo Switch Online is a Rewind feature, although this time it isn't exactly like in Nintendo Switch Online games. When you rewind, the others won't, so if you rewind too far, you could suddenly go from 1st to 24th place! It also can only be used in solo races and Free Roam. What people may see as the most boring part of Mario Kart World is probably the intermissions, which connect two distant courses with each other. After the first race of a cup, instead of spawning at the second course, you'll be starting behind that intermission and drive to it yourself! In those intermissions, trucks will be driving, which you can then enter and take control of! This game gets the award of being the first ever Super Mario game to be in 4K 120fps!

If we move onto the modes, we of course have four returning ones (Grand Prix, Time Trails, VS Race and Battle Mode). Due to the increase of the amount of players, the point spread is now also different. While 1st-4th place remains the same (with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place getting +15, +12, +10 and +9 points respectively), all the other positions change and now many positions will get the same amount. For example, 4th and 5th both get nine points now (instead of 5th getting eight points like in Mario Kart 8/Deluxe). So if you get 4th and the other gets 5th, but then you get 5th and the other gets 4th, you both will have the same amount of points. VS Race this time around has something special, which is intermissions that aren't in Grand Prix or Knockout Tour. Talking about Knockout Tour, I think most of us already know how it works: You drive through the world and at every checkpoint you need to be a certain position to move onto the next checkpoint. There are six checkpoints and here is a list of the amount of players that are able to go through every checkpoint:

Checkpoint Max Players
0 24
1 20
2 16
3 12
4 8
5 4
6 1

That's a classic knockout right there! When we have such an open-world game, a Free Roam mode of course can't miss! The ability to freely explore the map! A fun fact is that CPU drivers can also be encountered driving (on-road) in this mode!

Now let's move onto the items, we have three newcomers (two if we include non-mainline Mario Kart games): the Coin Shell (or Gold Shell, as I like to call it), the Ice Flower and Kamek. These are all items you can get from normal Item Boxes. Just like in Mario Kart Tour, the items (like shells) are now automatically held behind the racers. I made a list of how all the new items work:

Item Ability
The icon for the Coin Shell from Mario Kart World
Coin Shell 		Travels along the track and leaves a trail of coins behind before exploding, leaving eight coins in a ring shape on the track.
The icon for the Ice Flower in Mario Kart World
Ice Flower 		Allows the player to throw up to eight ice balls for a short time that cause other karts to temporarily lose control on impact.
The Kamek item as it appears in the roulette wheel in Mario Kart World
Kamek 		A crystal ball with Kamek's magic symbols on it that summons him, who then proceeds to summon many of a certain type of enemy ahead of all the racers in front of the player who used it, as well as turning them into that enemy temporarily.

Last but not least, we have the characters! 50 have been confirmed for now, including 30 returning ones (including Mario, totally didn't expect him to be around in this one) and 20 new ones. All new ones are enemies from the Super Mario series, like Goomba and Coin Coffer. Characters (mainly the veteran ones) now get outfits (similar to Mario Kart Tour), which are all seen to be separate slots on the character slot. None of the new enemy characters (with some exceptions) seem to have any outfit. As in many footages of the game, it is seen that when (for example) Cow eats a hamburger (cannibalism), Cow only gets a boost, whereas for example Yoshi gets a boost and a new skin. Most of the characters that do have outfits, have a Pro Racer one (called different for some characters). An outfit can be unlocked by making a pit stop at Yoshi's. Whether it's the drive-throughs, food trucks. Whether it's in a Grand Prix, VS Race or just in Free Roam. You can get Dash Food! And while you're there (at the drive-through), the Yoshi that operates it will wave at you! That's a nice and cute little detail!

And that's all! That's all you need to know about Mario Kart World! This took me much time to write so thank you for reading and stay safe!

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The 'Shroom: Issue 218
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • 'Shroomfest Highlights • Credits
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
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