The 'Shroom:Issue 222/Pipe Plaza
Director's Notes
Hello hello and happy September!! Not gonna lie, the shorter gap between releases this time kinda gave me whiplash in a way I'm not used to ^^;; But there's a shiny new 'Shroom issue on your computer screen and you're reading it right now, which is pretty great!
Storytime from the latest Nintendo Direct: I was at a friend's place watching it while writing Rhythm Review, and I do not remember the exact wording of it, but the teaser tagline that pops up on the screen was something something Killer Paradise, to which I immediately said "Danganronpa??" as a joke... and then I ended up being RIGHT!!! I was kinda mad about it (but in a silly way) because I LITERALLY DID NOT THINK that my stupid throwaway comment would ACTUALLY be the game they teased. Like what the hell... Anyways, I still think about it sometimes and I just laugh.
Awards Analysis makes its return this month now that Awards have ended! Additionally, Waluigi Time (talk) has written a little special section about the forgotten winners of previous Mario Awards! What a good lineup of Awards-flavored sections we have this month... But we are always on the lookout for sections of many other flavors, and you can help by writing them! Just head to the sign up page to get started.
That's all from me this month, enjoy your time here in lovely Pipe Plaza ^^
Section of the Month
Congratulations to this month's winners! In first place, we have Shoey (talk) with What's in a Campaign?! Second place is Lakituthequick (talk) with Anniversary Announcements! Tying for third is Waluigi Time (talk) with The 'Shroom Report and Camwoodstock (talk) with To-Do Tracker! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.
| PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | What's in a Campaign? | 4 | 44.44% | Shoey (talk) |
| 2nd | Anniversary Announcements | 3 | 33.33% | Lakituthequick (talk) |
| 3rd | The 'Shroom Report | 1 | 11.11% | Waluigi Time (talk) |
| 3rd | To-Do Tracker | 1 | 11.11% | Camwoodstock (talk) |
To-Do Tracker
Written by: Cam / Tori / Cecil / Claire / Macy (talk)
Howdy! Feels like it hasn't been that long since we last wrote, huh? Well... One look at the table, you can imagine why. Last month's issue came in LATE, so, we have a whole four weeks to cover. And sure, that four weeks contains... An honest-to-god Baby Waluigi in it, which still doesn't feel real, but this isn't about him. As a result of this smaller turn-around, there isn't too much to say about the to-do bar... but, well, "isn't too much" doesn't mean "none at all", so we wouldn't be doing our due diligence if we weren't here to provide the current state of things!
Note: All dates here, unless otherwise noted, were taken fairly late at night in EST; around 1-3 AM EST. In this case, the outlier is August 27th, 2025, which was taken around 8PM EST.
| To-Do Item | Aug 27, 2025 | Sep 3, 2025 | Sep 10, 2025 | Sep 17, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spotlight focuses | 6 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
| Ongoing TPPs | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| Unimplemented Proposals | 30+ | 30+ | 30+ | 30+ |
| Unresolved Discussions | 283 | 283 | 283 | 286 |
| Construction Projects | 125 | 128 | 126 | 134 |
| Rewrites Needed | 139 | 138 | 141 | 151 |
| Sourcing Issues | 19,606 | 19,617 | 19,548 | 19,541 |
| Stub Articles | 758 | 754 | 752 | 756 |
| Wanted Articles | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ |
| Requested Deletions | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Suggested Moves | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 |
| Suggested Merges | 61 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Suggested Splits | 62 | 62 | 62 | 63 |
| Deprecated Templates | N/A | 47 | 36 | 36 |
| Unknown Meanings | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A |
| Image Quality | 3,887 | 3,885 | 3,902 | 3,898 |
| Images Needed | 735 | 726 | 726 | 729 |
| Media Needed | 412 | 414 | 415 | 418 |
| Media Quality | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Unused Files | 100+ | 400+ | 400+ | 400+ |
| Files To Be Used | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 |
For some observations for how the numbers have progressed, and some potential targets:
- First of all. That METEORIC rise for Unused Files... is technically nothing new. In short, um, this entire time, that's meant to have been manually updated, and it's been left untouched as it's always been "around" 100+ give-or-take. However, we've taken the opportunity to provide a more accurate reading, especially as the files that are actually sticking around for longer start to make themselves more apparent... (though, not if a proposal that's ongoing as of writing has anything to say about it. ;P)
- Naturally, in the deluge of new stuff, Construction projects saw a small spike. Weirdly, Stub articles went down.
- Sourcing issues has mostly been kept in check, even in the wake of the recent direct, even managing to retain a net decrease. Nice going keeping on top of things!
- It's been a quiet month for moves, merges, and splits--makes sense, as there haven't been too many Talk Page Proposals as of late, and those usually handle some of those move/merges/splits. (June 2025, this isn't!) They all hovered around 60 entries, only ever changing in increments/decrements of 1.
- Media Needed, while certainly slowing down, is still continuing its grim ascent. While a 500 by the end of the year looks unlikely, it's *still* over doubled since a few months ago.
- And then, there were two... Media quality entries left! The only ones left are File:Koopa General.oga and File:DKC3-GBA-E3-2005-Trailer.ogv. Do we have any videographers in the house? If we have anyone that has a Blu-ray copy of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, or someone that can figure out how to fix the audio desync in the Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance) trailer, we could eliminate this item altogether!
Poll Committee Discussion
Written by: Paper Plumm (talk)
(Paper Plumm) Hello Yello! I'm currently being held hostage in a bank right now and this imminent reminder of my own mortality made me think I probably should make my poll review! We got some lovely ones today by TheBlueCatMenace, Boo1268 and Sparks! Without further ado! Let's review some polls!
The Paper Mario series' art style has kept a papercraft look since Paper Mario: Sticker Star. What is your opinion on this look? (TheBlueCatMenace, July 5th, 2025)
| The Paper Mario series' art style has kept a papercraft look since Paper Mario: Sticker Star. What is your opinion on this look?
|
|---|
| I enjoy this style. 39.85% (946 votes) |
| I like this new style equally to the old style. 20.64% (490 votes) |
| I enjoy the new style, but prefer the old style. 19.97% (474 votes) |
| I dislike the new style and prefer the old style. 9.35% (222 votes) |
| I have no opinion. 9.18% (218 votes) |
| I dislike the new style and think they should create a different style. 1.01% (24 votes) |
| Total votes: 2,374 |
What rarely seen power-up in the 2D platformers would you like to see return? (Boo1268, July 19th, 2025)
| What rarely seen power-up in the 2D platformers would you like to see return?
|
|---|
| Hammer Suit 27.03% (868 votes) |
| Blue Shell 21.05% (676 votes) |
| Frog Suit 11.24% (362 votes) |
| Weird Mushroom 6.10% (196 votes) |
| Carrot 5.85% (188 votes) |
| Gold Flower 5.17% (166 votes) |
| Super Hammer 3.99% (128 votes) |
| I have no opinion. 3.71% (119 votes) |
| I would like to see a poll choice not listed return. 3.58% (115 votes) |
| P-balloon 3.58% (115 votes) |
| Superball Flower 3.08% (99 votes) |
| Shellmet (Buzzy/Spiny) 2.90% (93 votes) |
| Super Crown 2.71% (87 votes) |
| Total votes: 3,211 |
Mario games feature levels across various settings. Which one is your favorite?(Sparks (talk), August 3rd, 2025)
| Mario games feature levels across various settings. Which one is your favorite?
|
|---|
| Outer Space 13.30% (313 votes) |
| Town/city 13.05% (307 votes) |
| Grass/plains 10.92% (257 votes) |
| Beach/water 9.69% (268 votes) |
| I have no opinion. 7.95% (187 votes) |
| Airship 7.05% (166 votes) |
| Forest/jungle 6.46% (152 votes) |
| Sky/clouds 6.29% (148 votes) |
| I like a theme not listed above. 5.95% (140 votes) |
| Ice 5.95% (140 votes) |
| Fortress/castle 5.18% (122 votes) |
| Volcano/lava 3.61% (85 votes) |
| Mountain 2.80% (66 votes) |
| Underground/cavern 1.78%(42 votes) |
| Total votes: 2,353 |
Analysis
The Paper Mario series' art style has kept a papercraft look since Paper Mario: Sticker Star. What is your opinion on this look?
(Paper Plumm) As a famously pro modern Paper Mario writer, I obviously love the new art style. I think it's incredibly gorgeous and so unique, you can't get an art style like this with this great of a team behind it anywhere else. I've never really gotten the hate that many of the people have thrown, that its paper style is narrative destroying or not as good as the old one. Of course I hate the old style so what opinion do I really hold?
(The Bank Robber) What did you say?! Did you say The Thousand Year Door has a bad art style?! I'm gonna sprinkle Old Bay seasoning in your eyes!
(Paper Plumm) Please don't tell me the robber is a toxic Paper Mario fan?
(Johnathan) You kidding me I'm a massive nontoxic fan of the real Paper Mario games! Or my name isn't Johnathan Modernpapermarioisnotmypapermario!
(Paper Plumm) Please tell me that's not your real name?!
(Johnathan) Of course it is! Do you know how much work you have to go through to change your name? You have to file all the paperwork. You have to awkwardly go over to your mom's house to ask for your birth certificate and have her kick you out in shame. You have to break into your mom's house and steal the certificate. Go to court to prove your innocence in theft as well get accepted with a legal name change. I would never joke about that process!
(Paper Plumm) Well unfortunately most people don't agree with you on this. The first three positions all find the art style very good, over 80 percent of the vote! Even people who do enjoy the old art style more are still in large agreement that the new still has merit.
(Johnathan) Well even so! There's still a 20% who believe the old is superior!
(?????) (Someone jumps from a skylight and kicks Johnathan) Not quite! 9.26% have no opinion!
(Johnathan) Nooooo! I refuse to accept! You can't not be biased towards one side!
(Robin)(The shadow obscuring them slowly lifts revealing it to be none other than Robin) Oh, but we can!
(Paper Plumm) Robin?!
(Robin) I can do more than tell you the correct date of a Direct, you know? I got a black belt in karate and PhD in political science for crying out loud!
(Johnathan) Even so! You must acknowledge the importance of others opinions. While those of us who don't like the new style may be a small 10.35% of the vote, we're still just as worthy of recognition and validation, no matter are size!
(Paper Plumm) You're right, I may have come across as a bit too harsh on you, I apologise.
(Johnathan) Well then, you wouldn't mind me taking over this whole poll discussion?
(Paper Plumm) What? No!
(Johnathan) Too bad! I'm doing it anyways! (He proceeds to knock Paper Plumm out and steal the data)
What rarely seen power-up in the 2D platformers would you like to see return?
(Johnathan) What's up you pollsters! Its your dude Johnathan here to give you polls by someone who's not loser and who is currently holding a bank hostage to pay for the finances of legal name change! Hope you enjoy my cool and mature takes!
As a massive Hammer Suit fan it gives me a great deal of pleasure to see it smashing its way into first place, after all Super Mario Bros. 3 has so many neglected power ups that deserve a chance to shine after years of neglect! (He sniffles and a tear drips down his face) Speaking of which, the Frog Suit, its gained a place as well! Meaning that 38.23% of people want to see the immaculate image of a newly modeled Super Mario Bros. 3 power up!
This shows a deep desire for the traditions of old Mario to be resurrected is still a present facet of this community! Even our second place Blue Shell is a symptom of this desire, as there's still desire for power ups from games near 20 years! Oh my thousand year old doors! New Super Mario Bros. came out almost 20 years ago! I feel so old.
Anyways the pattern stands as not counting no opinions as those aren't worth anything, 71.64% of the vote is for power ups 15 years or older! The future of power ups is in the hand of the past! The last two choices are for some of the most recent games! Its clear who the future lies with!
(Robin) No! The future of power ups are in the hands of those with no opinions!!! (They proceed to karate chop Johnathan again) Those with no opinions are invaluable, even if it may not be the case for this poll!
(Johnathan) Oh yeah?!
(Robin) I'll make you a deal, if I can prove to you the value of those you have sidelined, you must admit you are wrong and release the hostages! If you are right we'll admit we're wrong and shut up for the remainder of your robbery! Do we have a deal?
(Johnathan) I look forward to seeing you try! (He smugly hands the data over)
Mario games feature levels across various settings. Which one is your favorite?
(Robin) No opinions are invaluable. They serve as a representation of the investment and divisiveness of a topic. If a topic has a high no opinion marker it means its a topic in which people are not really opinionated on, whereas a low one is a sign that it is a very divisive topic. As you and Plumm had ones low enough you viewed them as practically irrelevant, it shows they were topics that were very impassioned. Mine does not have that case, no opinion as an option, is quite high here but its not quite low here. Not even indifference is noteworthy here! And that leads to my conclusion that level themes are very much a personal vote. Your topics covered wide mentalities that people must ascribe to, group biases they heavily must follow, but here this topic is independent of that idea.
(Johnathan) You got all from one choice?!
(Paper Plumm) Impressive. (She has just started to wake up)
(Robin) Well that's only my interpretation here. There's certainly differences between each side but, they're very minimal. While there is certainly a decrease for each statement, no one stance stands out as a clear winner, loser or even median-er. While space won and underground lost, both were only around 20 votes from suffering very different fates. In short no arguments were made here, people were genuinely just choosing what made them happy, regardless of what others may think, and I think that's very beautiful. I hope you can see that beauty too, Johnathan.
(Johnathan) Sighhhhhh. You're right. I misunderstood what no opinions really meant. I get so fired up and impassioned about so many things that the idea of not being passionate makes no sense to me. I couldn't understand not picking sides. But now I get it. If you're detached from this pressure to be apart of one community or another's opinion, every opinion is yours, even the opinion that you don't have an opinion, something no community can never unite over. Community can bring many great things to the table, but I suppose it's important to not sacrifice your individuality to a community's.
(Johnathan) Anyways, you win. I'll let the hostages go.
(Johnathan) I'll see you all another time I guess? (He sneaks out the back window)
(Paper Plumm) Well I guess that's it! I guess I owe you twice now Robin!
(Robin) Don't mention it! I guess I'll see you next time?
(Paper Plumm) Yeah! (Turns to the masses reading) Well that was an interesting experience! Hope you all enjoyed this unique Poll Committee discussion, live from the New Wikisburg bank! Look forward to this week's poll by Sparks discussing the world of Mario Party mini games. Hope you all have a great day and driiiiiiiive safely!
Anniversary Announcements
Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)
- “I will ask no more questions, because asking more questions risks limiting the amount of rules I can break.”
- —Yap (talk · Boards)
Hey, back already? Well, that's what happens when the calendar is funky! Welcome to Anniversary Announcements, where we discuss the last couple of weeks!
Tournaments
In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.
The events and games thread can be used to discuss and gauge interest for future activities.
Short and sweet, which is to be expected when two releases happen only three weeks apart. Nevertheless, we'll be back next month for, presumably, the last AA for this season. Buh-bye!
Awards Analysis
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
Hello there, 'Shroom readers! With the Awards Ceremony in the rear-view mirror, it's time for the Poll Committee to start analyzing things again! Well, technically we never stopped analyzing things because I guess that's what Poll Committee Discussion is too. So here I am to kick off this season's round of Awards Analysis, starting with M1. Favorite Major Character, M5. Favorite Enemy, and M9. Favorite Super Mario Bros. Wonder Level!
Archives
M1. Favorite Major Character
| M1. Favorite Major Character
|
|---|
| Luigi 15.87% (459 votes) |
| Yoshi 12.45% (360 votes) |
| Rosalina 10.68% (309 votes) |
| Mario 9.27% (268 votes) |
| Princess Daisy 8.99% (260 votes) |
| Waluigi 8.64% (260 votes) |
| Wario 7.37% (213 votes) |
| Bowser 7.30% (211 votes) |
| Princess Peach 5.01% (145 votes) |
| Toad 4.05% (117 votes) |
| Total votes: 2,892 |
M5. Favorite Enemy
| M5. Favorite Enemy
|
|---|
| Shy Guys 16.06% (417 votes) |
| Boos 10.01% (260 votes) |
| Koopa Troopas 9.86% (256 votes) |
| Goombas 9.09% (236 votes) |
| Dry Bones 8.78% (228 votes) |
| Chain Chomps 5.16% (134 votes) |
| Wigglers 4.54% (118 votes) |
| Piranha Plants 4.08% (106 votes) |
| Hammer Bros. 3.97% (103 votes) |
| Bob-ombs 3.50% (91 votes) |
| Total votes: 2,597 |
M9. Favorite Super Mario Bros. Wonder Level
| M9. Favorite Super Mario Bros. Wonder Level
|
|---|
| Piranha Plants on Parade 24.60% (414 votes) |
| The Final Battle! Bowser's Rage Stage 11.82% (199 votes) |
| Ninji Jump Party 11.11% (187 votes) |
| The Final-Final Test Badge Marathon 10.22% (172 votes) |
| The Final Test Wonder Gauntlet 7.19% (121 votes) |
| Welcome to the Flower Kingdom! 4.99% (84 votes) |
| High-Voltage Gauntlet 3.68% (62 votes) |
| The Hoppycat Trial: Hop, Hop, and Awaaay 3.21% (54 votes) |
| Color-Switch Dungeon 2.97% (50 votes) |
| Muncher Fields 2.50% (42 votes) |
| Total votes: 1,683 |
Analysis
M1. Favorite Major Character
Whoa whoa whoa, stop the presses, something actually happened with this award! Historically, not much has changed here. Luigi's won this award every year since 2011, with Mario and Yoshi swapping between second and third (that fight's also been pretty stale, Mario took second every year since 2021). As a matter of fact, this one's been around for the entire history of the Mario Awards and the only other character to crack the top three was Bowser, who won third in 2007 and 2010 (the latter being thanks to Mario and Yoshi tying for second, however). Luigi still won this year - no Titan Toppler for now - but Mario got knocked out of the top three completely, leaving Yoshi to take second and Rosalina claiming third, along with the Rising Star Star Bonus Star (how many more times can I say star) because you better believe we're going to acknowledge the first big change to the top three in 14 years.
So, what changed? Rosalina's cemented herself as part of the main Super Mario cast, but it's not like she's been getting a notable push lately. Instead, the answer probably lies with the vote counts. A lot more votes were cast for the Awards this year, and M1 in particular received 2,892 votes - almost a thousand more than 2024's 1,954! (Sadly, it's not an all-time record, but it's pretty dang close.) The Switch 2 releasing just over a week before the polls went up probably brought a lot more site traffic, and there was also promotion of the Awards in spaces where they normally don't get as much attention. So I think the answer is simply that we snagged a lot more voters, and plenty of them just so happened to be Rosalina fans! She already had quite the fanbase, placing a respectable fifth last year and was always one of the top contenders in her time on Favorite Supporting Character, so it's not too out of the ordinary. I'll be very interested to see how next year's results shake out!
Rosalina's not the only princess soaring in the polls, though! Daisy did pretty well too, going from eighth in 2024 to making the top five this year, jumping past Waluigi, Wario, and Bowser. One might be tempted to think this effect applies to all the princesses, but Peach is still down there in ninth place...
Nothing really happened to the structure of the award itself, and the slate of nominees is exactly the same as last year. There seems to be a lot of interest in adding Pauline, though - she's been appearing in a lot of games and of course recently had a starring role as DK's sidekick in Donkey Kong Bananza, which we didn't really know about! All we had to go off of during the meetings was that one piece of artwork Nintendo accidentally posted, and as if Nintendo wasn't causing enough trouble for us with the Switch 2 releasing so close to the polls already, they didn't actually confirm it was her until after the polls had already gone up...
M5. Favorite Enemy
- “if we get shy guys/boos/koopas winning again this year im advocating full nukage next year”
- —GBA, 2023
To quote a witch, "Oh no, not again!". To give some history on this award, it's been around since the first ceremony, and without fail, the top three always ended up being some combination of Shy Guys, Boos, and Koopa Troopas. It was replaced in 2015 with Favorite Species, which also quickly became stale, so in 2023, we decided to try and shake things up by bringing Favorite Enemy back, under the condition that it would immediately be cut if the results turned out to be the same old same old. Well, spending eight years in hiatus managed to do something, because Goombas took Boo's spot in 2023 and 2024! Well, bad news, the Boos are back in town, and we've once again ended up with the exact same top three from 2014. It's not a Stretch, they've been hanging around fourth place since the award came back and clearly the increased number of voters was enough to push them back over. Now, Goombas get to have that spot instead.
Other things of note, Chain Chomps had a strong push since last year, going from twelfth place to sixth. Otherwise, there's not much going on with the results, and the three new nominees that the Awards Committee added (Buzzy Beetles, Monty Moles, and Spikes) all ended up bottom three, which isn't too unusual for this award.
If you'll permit some editorializing, we can agree that there's a problem with this award, right? There's never really any shake-ups, and while I'll recognize that the franchise's most iconic enemies are also its oldest, I feel like it says a lot that there's never been anything in the top three newer than the NES era. If we take it as a whole with Favorite Species, these two awards have been around for the entire history of the Awards, and there's only been seven top three nominees that entire time! Considering we also cut its infamous Fail Award counterpart this year, and reading back up on the discussions when we brought it back in 2023, I think this one is on very thin ice.
There was discussion about doing something different with this award, though - specifically, bringing back Favorite Species. After everything I just said, you might wonder why we even considered that, and the reason is Mario Kart World! After the bonkers roster reveal for that game, we considered doing Favorite Species with a slate of nominees more tailored to its playable cast. Ultimately, we created Favorite Mario Kart World Newcomer instead, which rendered the concept pretty redundant and Favorite Enemy was left as-is.
M9. Favorite Super Mario Bros. Wonder Level
Here it is folks, the result that, if we're honest with ourselves, everyone saw coming. After placing eighth last year with write-ins alone and getting the Most Written In Bonus Star, Piranha Plants on Parade has taken its rightful place at the top of this award. Anyone who hoped last year's winner, Bowser's Rage Stage, would put up something resembling a fight was proven wrong considering Parade has well over a 10% lead. Okay, you got me, I was one of them because I wanted to see the award be competitive! But that wasn't meant to be. But hey, Bowser's Rage Stage is still down there in second, so... good for it!
But Piranha Plants on Parade wasn't the only write-in success story! Ninji Jump Party was also added thanks to doing well on write-ins, and as an official nominee jumped up to a very close third. So I guess you could say we missed the mark with this one multiple times. Speaking of write-ins, The Semifinal Test Piranha Plant Reprise did very well, beating one of the nominees, Another Uncharted Area: Swaying Ruins, by 2 votes. This story is sounding kind of familiar, but I don't think it'll be getting a chance next year - this award is definitely out of steam.
As for other interesting results, there's some shifting around, to be expected even without a new nominee grabbing a huge chunk of votes, but what seems particularly notable is that Welcome to the Flower Kingdom! fell from its second place spot last year down to sixth, letting Wonder Gauntlet and Badge Marathon get ahead of it. Also of note is that, despite the game being out for longer and vote counts increasing across the board, this one didn't see too much of an increase compared to other awards, going from 1,236 last year to 1,683 this year, making it one of two Mario Awards to not reach 2,000 votes (the other was Favorite Mario Party Minigame). Still not bad, but feels a little paltry in comparison when other awards were getting around a thousand more votes. I guess awards tied to specific games are bound to be more niche, even with a mainline game, and maybe levels overall are harder to pull on than more memorable specific concepts and mechanics. After all, Favorite Wonder Effect did receive over 200 more votes last year than this one did!
Before I go, one last story from the Awards Committee - this one almost didn't return! There was no denying that the write-ins were strong and would definitely shake up the award, but at the same time, Piranha Plants on Parade sweeping seemed like a pretty predictable result. We ended up tabling the award at first, and brought it back over the more stale Favorite 3D Platformer after an examination of the full slate. Now that Piranha Plants on Parade had its day in the sun and we have Donkey Kong Bananza as an eligible 3D platformer next year, I think we'll see the reverse soon.
Conclusion
That's a wrap for this month! A little bit of the unexpected and a little bit of the very expected, and perhaps even a little bit of the very expected being unexpected. Join us next time when TheBlueCatMenace covers some more awards!
The 'Shroom Report
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
Hello there, 'Shroom readers! So, did you hear the one about the, uhhhhh, nice weather we're having. Can you tell I don't have much to say in this intro by the way I switched icebreakers mid-sentence? Writing these is hard. Anyway, here's the report on Issue 221, thanks to Meta Knight for keeping the spreadsheets up to date, here we go!
For new readers or anyone needing a refresher, please open the box below.
Sections that are not applicable this month are crossed out.
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. Additionally, established writers are mentioned the first time they contribute to a particular team.
- Most Sections Written lists the current all-time record holders.
| Section | Writer |
|---|---|
| News Flush | ClawgripFan9001 |
| Sport Report | ClawgripFan9001 |
| Die WAH With A Vengeance | ClawgripFan9001 |
| The Crystal Star Spirits | Technetium (talk) |
| Mavero the Hammer Bro's Revenge | Boo1268, TheBlueCatMenace, Legend 8, and DryBonesBandit |
| Writer | Milestone |
|---|---|
| DryBonesBandit (talk) | 1st Palette Swap section |
| Hooded Pitohui (talk) | 160 Strategy Wing sections |
| Lakituthequick (talk) | 70 Pipe Plaza sections |
| Legend 8 | 1st Palette Swap section |
| Shoey (talk) | 50 Critic Corner sections |
| Sparks (talk) | 10 Palette Swap sections |
| Technetium (talk) | 1st Palette Swap section |
| TheBlueCatMenace | 1st Palette Swap section |
| Zange (talk) | 100 overall sections |
| Team | Writer | Number of Sections |
|---|---|---|
| Main/Staff | Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) | 142 |
| Fake News | Waluigi Time (talk) | 169 |
| Fun Stuff | Shoey (talk) | 163 |
| Palette Swap | FunkyK38 (talk) | 211 |
| Pipe Plaza | Yoshi876 (talk) | 128 |
| Critic Corner | Hypnotoad (talk) | 214 |
| Strategy Wing | Hooded Pitohui (talk) | 162 |
| Overall | Yoshi876 (talk) | 747 |
| The first iterations of the main page's sidebar banners, featuring character artwork from Itadaki Street DS, were introduced in Issue VII (7), although an earlier version was uploaded in 2006 but never used. The left banner remained the same after its introduction, but the right banner was subject to several revisions and reverts through 2009, all uploaded over the original file. They were replaced in Issue 64 with Master Crash's design used for much of The 'Shroom's history, coinciding with a redesign of the main page. Only the blue version, later used for winter issues, existed at the time - seasonal variants beginning with spring were introduced in Issue XCVI (96), nearly 3 years later. Ninja Squid's new designs are the first major update to the sidebars in over 10 years! |
What's in a Campaign?
Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign?, a section where we look at robots from the hit show Robot Wars. Last month, we looked at the last ride of Wild Thing 2, or that point where Wild Thing lost all its charm and became a weird tiny-disc boy. This month, we're looking at another longtime Robot Wars veteran in the twilight of its career, the Series 5 run of Panic Attack.
One of the longest-running robots at this point, hailing from Wales, and built by Kim Davies (who was joined by his son Michael), Panic Attack is one of the very few notable control bots that ever fought in Robot Wars. Visually taking the form of a yellow, low-to-the-ground box robot with a spooky spider, a striking red light on top, and menacing eyes at the front, Panic Attack was made out of bulletproof fiberglass and polycarbonate. On its sides were specially-designed side skirts to prevent robots from getting under it. On the top of Panic Attack was a self-righting panel that could also be used to trap its opponents.
For its weapons, there were the signature forklift spikes of Panic Attack. Unlike most spikes, which were made for piercing opponents, these spikes were designed to act more like a lifter. Panic Attack would use the forks to get under an opponent, allowing Panic Attack to drive them around the arena. Oftentimes, Panic Attack would lift them high in the air, sometimes breaching them on other parts of Panic Attack's body! Panic Attack's signature move was to get under an opponent with its forks and then pit them, and in Series 5, this is even more dangerous now that Panic Attack's self-righting panel can be used to trap opponents on top of it!
As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. If you'd like to watch any of these fights, a video has been provided with timestamps provided in the section.
One of the most successful robots in the show's history, Panic Attack fought in Series 2, 3, and 4. It even was the winner of Series 2 and made the second round of the semi-finals in both Series 3 and 4, only missing out on a grand final placement in Series 4 on a very controversial judges' decision against Stinger. They also won the Series 4 Sumo Basho, being the only robot to defeat Shunt… Well, technically Shunt beat itself, but the important thing is Shunt hit the ground before Panic Attack did, which was important because I'm pretty sure the world would implode in on itself if Behemoth won a trophy on Robot Wars (Had Panic Attack not beaten Shunt, Behemoth and X-Terminator would have been Co-Sumo Basho champions, having both survived for the full time limit). Because of Panic Attack's success and pedigree, it was given the 6th seed and entered into Heat J of the fifth wars.
Panic Attack actually got a tough draw (1:03), at least in the mind of Kim Davies, being placed against the very dangerous plastic barber pole-spinner Barber-ous. The fight starts a little tentative before Barber-Ous manages to get the first hit in, backing into Panic Attack with its spinning drum. But in the process of doing so, Barber-Ous manages to pin itself on the forks of Panic Attack! Panic Attack drives Barber-Ous around for a little bit before lowering its forks and allowing Barber-Ous to escape. Panic Attack then charges at Barber-Ous, sending it up and over Panic Attack with the spinning drum doing little to no damage while its plastic armor is shredded by Panic Attack's top.
At some point, Panic Attack loses the ability to lift its forks up and down, but that doesn't matter to Panic Attack! Panic Attack keeps up its attacks, hitting Barber-Ous two more times the same way, completely shredding the plastic drum in the process! Panic Attack goes for a broadside shove on Barber-Ous, which causes Barber-Ous to hit one of the top pieces on Panic Attack, causing Barber-Ous to spin away from the force of the impact. One more ram from the Panic Attack forklift stops Barber-Ous' drum completely. Without its weapon, Barber-Ous goes for the same strategy that every losing robot does and hits the pit release button. But Barber-Ous doesn't even get the chance to operate its strategy, because it dies in the process of hitting the pit release button, sending Panic Attack into the second round after a dominant victory!
In the second round, Panic Attack faced off against the only other good crusher in Robot Wars' history, Tiberius. The fight starts (6:24) with Tiberius for some reason being in the middle of the arena and not where they're supposed to start. This would prove to be a mistake, because Panic Attack would immediately get under them with their forks! But they aren't able to get anything, so they have to let them down.
Tiberius then gets to the front of Panic Attack, but in a really cool move, Panic Attack actually blocks the crusher with its forks, preventing it from coming down all the way. Still though, Tiberius is able to win the pushing battle against Panic Attack, pushing them into the angle grinder (I still don't know what it does) before the two robots finally break apart. Tiberius and Panic Attack go side-to-side with each other and Tiberius is unable to turn under Panic Attack because of its side skirts, so the two robots completely break apart from each other. Tiberius attempts to get behind Panic Attack, but Panic Attack is ready and quickly spins around, getting its forks under the scoop of Tiberius! Panic Attack pushes them over the flame pit before lifting them and holding them over the flames (great visual by the way!). In just a beautiful display of control, Panic Attack is able to reverse off the flame pit but still keep its forks under Tiberius in such a way to where Tiberius can't escape as Panic Attack slams Tiberius into a CPZ, letting it go as Dead Metal and Shunt both tag-team Tiberius. God, that whole sequence is just vintage Panic Attack! Luckily for Tiberius, Panic Attack has two great rivals in Robot Wars – Firestorm, who isn't in this match, and Shunt! So Panic Attack begins to attack Shunt, lifting it up with its forks as Tiberius attempts to escape the House Robots. Unfortunately for Tiberius, Panic Attack would realize that was a stupid plan and back off from Shunt, who puts its axe into Tiberius. Then, though some sort of forklift wizardry, Panic Attack would again get to the front of Tiberius, lifting them up beautifully.
The way Panic Attack can just keep the forklift under its opponent without ever losing its grip is just amazing. It's driving Tiberius all around the arena and somehow the forks never lose their grip. Somehow, someway, Panic Attack manages to get under Tiberius while it's being attack by Shunt, drive it all the way around the arena, hit the pit release button, and then pit Tiberius, all without ever losing its grip on Tiberius. It's just a beautiful and almost unprecedented level of control for a robot, and Panic Attack wins after just a masterclass in controlling your opponent.
This would send Panic Attack into its 4th consecutive heat final, where it would face off against Kat 3, a robot whose predecessor Kater Killer we've talked about before (they're the girls whose machine lost outright to Napalm in Series 3!!!). The fight (12:49) starts with Panic Attack trying to get under the front side of Kat 3. At first, they aren't able to, but on a second approach Panic Attack is able to find just the smallest amount of ground clearance and, man, Kat 3 is just screwed. With ease, Panic Attack lifts up Kat 3, who desperately fires its axe, unsuccessfully trying to do anything to prevent Panic Attack from hoisting it up.
In total control of Kat 3, Panic Attack taunts it, lifting it up and down. This almost backfires because Kat 3 manages to land several axe blows to the soft top panel of Panic Attack and a better axe would probably be able to go through that panel! But Kat 3 doesn't have a great axe, so it does basically nothing. As Panic Attack keeps Kat 3 hoisted up, you can see the front panel of Kat 3 begin to buckle as Panic Attack slams it into the wall. Panic Attack refuses to let go, slamming Kat 3 into another wall. In the process, its forks manage to go right between where Kat 3 buckles, and Kat 3 is completely helpless. Tired of playing with its food, Panic Attack would reverse into the pit button before dumping Kat 3 into the pit with a sassy little flip from its forks, claiming victory and moving onto its 4th consecutive series semi-final!
In the series semi-final, Panic Attack gets a pretty unlucky draw up against the custom-built sawblade of Series 4 runner-up Pussycat. The fight (17:53) starts with the faster Pussycat attempting to charge at Panic Attack, who uses its forks to send the pyramid-shaped robot bouncing away. Realizing there's no point in attempting to use the forks as a lifter since Pussycat's pyramid shape will render that mostly useless, Panic Attack instead keeps its forks up as a way to try and block the custom saw blade of Pussycat.
The two robots bump and bounce into each other, with Panic Attack managing to use its forks to defend itself as it pushes Pussycat into an unoccupied CPZ. Panic Attack just kind of stops moving for a second, which, fun fact, a CPZ is about the worst place you could just randomly stop moving! As his eternal enemy Shunt and SGT. Bash charge into the CPZ, they begin double-teaming Panic Attack, with SGT. Bash ramming into Panic Attack and Shunt putting its axe to the top panel. Panic Attack manages to escape and begins pursuing Pussycat. In an expert display of driving, every time Pussycat tries to make an attack on the vulnerable sides and backside of Panic Attack, Kim Davies is able to whip around and block them with their forks. Unfortunately, much like in the Splinter vs. Hypno-Disc match, defense can't last forever. Eventually, Pussycat manages to get to the side of the forks before landing an attack on the side of Panic Attack, stripping off some of Panic Attack's side skirt. Panic Attack just can't do much to the much quicker Pussycat, who finally manages to get to the side of Panic Attack, landing multiple attacks in quick succession and buckling the side skirts of Panic Attack.
Panic Attack tries to get back in the fight with some solid rams, but this would prove to be a mistake. Panic Attack rams the front of Pussycat, which angles Pussycat's blade right into one of Panic Attack's side skirts, stripping a large chunk of it right off. All Panic Attack can do is desperately attempt to block the blade of Pussycat, but this brings its own problem, because multiple times in the fight Pussycat would end up on top of Panic Attack (who is having control problems), cutting into its top panel. Panic Attack does manage to survive to a judges' decision, but it's not even really close. They go for Pussycat, sending Panic Attack into the Loser's Melee.
In the Loser's Melee, Panic Attack would compete with Wheely Big Cheese, a robot I actually would say Panic Attack has a good matchup against for two reasons. The first is that I'm pretty sure Wheely Big Cheese isn't working right! Which, wow, Wheely Big Cheese isn't working right? What a maneuver! Never heard that one before! And two, while Wheely Big Cheese has a super-powerful flipper, its body is very long and awkward and I think a driver as skilled as Kim Davies would be able to avoid the flipper of Wheely Big Cheese. The real problem is that the other competitor in the Loser's Melee is Panic Attack's other big rival, Firestorm.
Here's the thing. Panic Attack and Firestorm have a very long rivalry in the sense that they fight all the time. But, uh, Panic Attack only has one victory over Firestorm in their five match-ups, and it's only because Firestorm accidentally drove down the pit during the Series 7 All-Stars match-up where the competitors decided to attack the House Robots instead of each other! Otherwise, outside of their Series 3 fight, Firestorm does nothing but body Panic Attack because, to put it simply, Panic Attack can't do anything to Firestorm! Firestorm is too low to the ground, it's too fast, and its flipper is too good. Firestorm is quite frankly one of the worst match-ups for Panic Attack because it just can't do anything against them!
The Loser's Melee (22:20) doesn't go great for Panic Attack. It starts off well enough, mostly because Firestorm realizes they have in fact beaten Panic Attack's ass every time they've fought, so they start by going after Wheely Big Cheese instead. Panic Attack joins in the fight, briefly getting under Wheely Big Cheese and getting a small lift in before, amidst the chaos, they actually get under Firestorm and lift it up. Firestorm then quickly darts away. Wheely Big Cheese charges at Panic Attack and actually gets under it because Panic Attack has its forks raised, but before it can do anything, Firestorm attacks Wheely Big Cheese, getting under it and attempting to flip it out of the arena. But Wheely Big Cheese escapes and Firestorm slams itself into the wall. The three robots continue to fight it out until Panic Attack breaks away near the pit release button. Before Panic Attack can press it, Wheely Big Cheese gets under them and delivers a mighty flip. Panic Attack lands back on its wheels but are now suffering serious mobility issues (I thought they were KO'd) and are barely moving.
As Panic Attack can barely spin in a circle, Firestorm bodies the hell out of Wheely Big Cheese before KOing it. After this, Firestorm turns its full attention to Panic Attack, but really nothing much happens. Firestorm dominates this part of the fight; don't get me wrong. The rest of the fight is Firestorm bumping Panic Attack around the arena and briefly getting under it and throwing it. But nothing too exciting happens and although Panic Attack does manage to get under Firestorm and lift it up in the last ten seconds, it's far too little and far too late. The judges easily send Firestorm back into the tournament and Panic Attack home.
This would be the last run Panic Attack would ever really have. Kim Davies would return with the much-reviled Panic Attack Gold for Series 6, a robot that everybody else hates but I'm indifferent towards. We'll talk about it more at a future date, but basically it was an attempt at upgrading Panic Attack. It didn't really work and it ended up getting mashed to death by Terrorhurtz in the heat final.
The reason I don't hate Panic Attack Gold is because, while yes, it's a failed upgrade that's worse than the Series 5 version, the fact is that, really, by Series 5, Panic Attack is just an outdated design. The control bot just wasn't going to work against the upper echelon of Robot Wars and you really see it in Series 5 where, yes, it made the semi-final, but it got destroyed and wasn't really competitive in either of its fights. And, like, you look at the list of semi-finalists in Series 6, and you can tell it's not getting past any of them except like Wild Thing 2 and Spawn Again, and even Spawn Again loses because that version of Spawn Again barely worked!
After Series 6, Kim Davies would join the production crew and his friend and original teammate Kevin Pritchard would enter the competition. But this time, instead of a self-righting top panel, they installed an anti-axe top panel, which is bonkers. Like, yes, I know you got destroyed by Terrorhurtz, but in the history of Robot Wars, there have been two good axe bots (Dominator 2 and TerrorHurtz) and neither of them are even in Series 7 (Dominator 2 dropped out and TerrorHurtz was disqualified for not showing up with a finished robot). In contrast, there are like 86 different flipper bots you'd need to worry about! Not that it mattered much with Panic Attack going out in the second round of its heat after being pitted by the new control bot in town Tough as Nails.
The truth is, as I said, Panic Attack just wasn't a very viable machine post-weight increase. Robots were getting faster with better armor and better weapons, and Panic Attack's design just couldn't keep up with the robot improvements. Still though, while it may not have gone out great, Panic Attack still had four consecutive series semi-final appearances, including one post-weight increase. And it was one of the few robots that won the UK Championship. So I'd say all in all it did pretty good! That's all for this month. Join me next month when I look at another robot!
The Lost Winners of the Mario Awards
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
Hello there, 'Shroom readers! The Awards have come and gone, and I noticed something interesting about the results, though it doesn't have to do anything with the winners. In fact, it's the complete opposite! When it was first added to Favorite Soundtrack in 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie took second place with a respectable 10% of the vote. The following year, it dropped down to sixth place, which isn't too unusual as the boosts from newer releases is often temporary. This year, however, it ended up getting the least votes out of all the nominees! To go from second place to being next on the chopping block for new nominees in only two years is quite the drastic honeymoon phase, and it got me thinking, how many top three winners are no longer present on those awards? Then I thought "hey, I should make this a 'Shroom section", so here we are. For simplicity's sake, since the Awards have been running for so long, I'll only be looking at awards that were present this year.
Favorite Supporting Character
Well, let's get this out of the way first - this award and Favorite Major Character are mutually exclusive, and a lot of the podium nominees "missing" from this award have actually just been promoted to Major Character over time. Currently, that's Bowser Jr., Princess Daisy, Rosalina, Toad, Toadette, and Waluigi. If I were to speculate, I'd say Pauline will be joining those ranks next year, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
There is one character that's disappeared completely from these awards however, and you can probably guess who it is by the image right here. That's right, it's Petey Piranha! In 2008, Petey tied with Waluigi for first place, then dropped down to second in 2009, and then disappeared from the top three completely. He placed only fifth in 2010, which is still pretty respectable, but for reasons I don't know and perhaps never will, he was unceremoniously cut the following year. What's especially weird about this is that he was the only character removed from the award between 2010 and 2011. I don't even know if they needed space, there were only 12 nominees on the poll in 2011. I guess the culture of the Awards Committee was a lot different back then, because we definitely wouldn't be doing something like this now! Or maybe it was just an oversight when making the polls, who knows.
Anyway, despite being removed Petey still managed to top the write-ins with a whopping eight votes, and he was re-added in 2012. Unfortunately for him, his return was not meant to be, because in 2013, the award went through heavy cuts including Petey, bringing the total nominees from 12 to 8 (feels pretty weird when we have 18 now, doesn't it?). Apparently, he was removed because the Awards Committee decided he wasn't a "real character". His write-in performance wasn't great, and he hasn't returned as a nominee since.
Favorite Power-Up
This one has two that go hand-in-hand - kind of. In 2007, the first Awards Ceremony ever, the P-Wing and Goomba's Shoe (then known as Kuribo's Shoe) tied for third place on Favorite Power-Up. That was the only time the P-Wing placed in the top three, while Goomba's Shoe went on to tie with the Fire Flower for second place in 2008 before also disappearing from the podium.
In an extremely quick fall from grace, the P-Wing dropped to the bottom (write-ins aside) in 2008, and then was removed... at some point after that. 2009's results are unfortunately lost to time, as the presentation didn't include anything beyond the top three and the results documents from that year are no longer accessible, but by 2010 it was gone, so it was cut somewhere in there. The Tanooki Suit/Super Leaf were later added in 2011 and have been on the award in some form ever since, at least giving the P-Wing a spiritual successor of sorts.
Goomba's Shoe, meanwhile, eventually met a similar fate to Petey - after placing sixth in 2010, it was just dropped from the award in 2011 for unknown reasons. It wasn't alone at least, since the Cape Feather and Mushroom were removed along with it, although it did result in Favorite Power-Up having fewer nominees than it did the previous year, so you have to wonder why cuts were made at all. Write-ins were never strong enough to get it back on the award, and it'll probably stay that way unless a new game revitalizes it.
Favorite Musical Track
There's been a lot of awards dedicated to different categories of music tracks, but as of now, they're all under one umbrella. For simplicity's sake, I'll only be discussing Favorite Instrumental Track/Favorite In-game Track since those were the ones that led into Favorite Musical Track as it is today.
So this one is actually criminal! "Steam Gardens" from Super Mario Odyssey. In the first year of this award in 2019, it managed to place third! The next year, it slipped down to fourth... then fifth... then tenth... finally all the way down to eighteenth in 2023, making it the worst performing nominee. Naturally, it was removed the following year to make room for nominees from relevant releases like Super Mario Bros. Wonder and the remakes of The Thousand-Year Door and Super Mario RPG. (Those of you who are familiar with Awards proceedings will know that those nominees have become a little infamous for failing to do much in the placements!) Anyway, that's quite the fall, and I'm not entirely sure why it happened. Maybe you could attribute it to interest in Odyssey waning as the game got older, but considering how many other awards the game is still sweeping to this day, I'm not sure that fully explains it. "Jump Up, Super Star!" and "Break Free (Lead the Way)" could be taking most of the Odyssey vote I suppose, but it had already gone pretty far down in the rankings by the time they were added as direct competitors. I guess it's just one of those things, but it did well enough in the write-ins this year to beat a full nominee, so maybe it'll be back for 2026!
Favorite Soundtrack
We have two disappearing acts here! Super Mario Bros. placed second in 2007 and third in 2009, while Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga only appeared once with third place in 2008. Let's talk about Superstar Saga first. Its time on the podium was very short-lived, and it got the least votes of all the nominees in 2009. That's pretty much where it lived for the remainder of its time on this award, aside from a slight bump in 2010. After this stretch of abysmally poor performance, it was removed in 2013.
Despite having consistently better performance, Super Mario Bros. was actually removed from the award even earlier! In 2010, it still made it into the top five, just barely dropping out the following year. It was cut in 2012, which I'm going to guess is once again the result of the Awards Committee just deciding it shouldn't be there - it's not exactly an expansive soundtrack despite its iconic status, to be fair. It received the most write-in votes that year, but alas, that wasn't enough to bring it back and it hasn't been returned to the award since.
Favorite Boss Battle
So let's talk about Bowser! Bowser won this thing, a lot, in many different forms. None of those battles are on this award anymore, because in 2023 we made a separate award for Bowser's battles and it's worked very well. All of the Bowser fights that have ever won this award are still over there. Okay, moving on.
There are some characters who actually did drop off the award entirely, but it looks like that has to do more with structure than anything. In 2014, it was simply titled Favorite Boss. Bosses weren't tied to specific battles, which worked fine for one-offs, but you also ended up with catch-all nominations for characters like Bowser Jr. and Kamek, who took first and second, respectively. Also, Bowser wasn't even included for some reason! Naturally, he stomped the vote with a whopping 53 write-ins, beating poor Jr. Troopa, which would probably be worthy of a Bonus Star if it happened today. Anyway, in 2015 the award was renamed to Favorite Boss Battle and reworked to deal with specific incarnations of bosses. Bowser Jr. and Kamek were absent on this new version, and none of their battles have ever been included as nominees since then.
Favorite Mario Kart Course
Only one here, which is pretty easy since this award has mostly been dominated by Waluigi Pinball, Coconut Mall, and various Rainbow Roads. And that course is "Bowser Castle" - which one, you ask? Who knows! For the first two years, there was no distinction on this award between courses with the same name, leading to a single entry for both Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road. Most likely, this contributed to their very strong placements, since they were gathering votes from completely different iterations of the course!
Anyway, under this system Bowser's Castle took second place in 2010, before dropping down to fifth the following year. 2013 was when the various course incarnations were split, and Bowser's Castle was marked as specifically being the Mario Kart 64 version (although I can't say for sure if that was the original intention), with no other version of Bowser's Castle ever making it on as a nominee. It took sixth place that year before dropping down to eleventh in 2014, and it spent several years hovering around in that general area of the rankings - not bad enough to be replaced, but also not even close to being notable. It started doing even worse within the past few years, and after placing at a measly seventeenth last year, it was finally removed this year to make way for courses from Mario Kart World.
Favorite Game
So, there's been a lot of these! 2016 was the first year that Favorite Game was split into multiple awards to cover different eras, and the exact console divisions have shifted around over time. For this, I'm going to cover all of these under the same umbrella, and surprisingly only one has been properly lost! Super Mario Maker only made it to the podium once, placing third on Favorite Modern Game in 2019. It might actually owe that placement to its sequel - the release of Super Mario Maker 2 happened around the same time as the polls, but it didn't actually make it on because it wasn't released by the time voting started. Most likely, the hype was directed back towards the original. Of course, Super Mario Maker 2 became an eligible nominee the following year, and considering it was, for the most part, even bigger and better than the original game (sorry Mystery Mushroom), that didn't exactly bode well for its predecessor on a less popular console. The original Maker tumbled all the way down to thirteenth place, ending its run at fifteenth in 2023 before it was removed to make room for newer games.
There's one more game to talk about here, or rather two, but this one comes down entirely to the Awards processes. Super Smash Bros. content was previously considered valid for the Awards, and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U won third place on Favorite Modern Game in 2016. I'm guessing the decision to exclude Smash across the board happened the following year, perhaps even because of this result, because it's not present on the list of nominees for 2017.
Worst Game Mechanic
I guess it's impressive if you manage to go from top three on a Fail Award to being removed completely, right? Or maybe your game just got forgotten entirely... Vibes from Super Princess Peach won third place in 2011 and 2012, dropping down to fifth in 2013 as the beginning of a steady fall downwards. It finally dropped all the way to the very bottom in 2021, but still managed to remain on the award the next year! How, you ask? Well, there were only 17 nominees in 2021 so there was still room to add an extra one without cutting anything. Vibes actually did slightly better in 2022, and by slightly better I mean pushing past dead last by a whopping two votes. In 2023 it was back to the bottom, and they were finally cut in 2024 to make room for new nominees from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and, amusingly enough, Princess Peach: Showtime!, leaving this award perfectly balanced in terms of dubious mechanics from Peach-related games. I think it's probably obvious what happened here, though. The voters didn't soften up on vibes over time, Super Princess Peach just fell out of relevance with the voters. After all, it is a 20-year old DS game with no re-releases to date, and I apologize to those of you who I made crumble into dust with that statement.
Worst Remake
The Game Boy Advance versions of Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 3 were both dropped from this award... but perhaps not for the reasons you think! These games took first and second place when Worst Remake ran for the first time in 2011, and then the award just disappeared entirely! When it finally returned in 2019, it was rebuilt from the ground up with a fresh slate of nominees. And frankly, I don't blame the Awards Committee for starting from scratch because the original slate of nominees were all of the Super Mario Advance games and GBA Donkey Kong Country remakes, and that's it! While the Advance games were included on the new version, none of the Donkey Kong Country remakes have ever returned, and it seems like no one cares much about that since they barely get any write-ins.
So there you have it! An interesting mix of nominees losing popularity with the voters, being subject to changing awards, or just getting deleted by the committee for some reason! Makes you wonder, though... which ones are on the chopping block next? (Spoiler alert, probably the one I mentioned in the opening paragraph, at least.)
| The 'Shroom: Issue 222 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • Credits |
| Features | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing |
