The 'Shroom:Issue 226/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

Hello and happy 2026 everyone!! Welcome to yet another wonderful Pipe Plaza, where we've got robots and trackers and polls (oh my!) to start your year off the right way!

In case anyone was wondering if things on my end have gotten any less chaotic now that the holidays are over: No, dear reader, they have not. They were chilling out for a little bit there but then this week just kinda went crazy. Send help and lots of caffeine, y'all...

Remember Yoshi18 Previews from back in May? Well, Yoshi18 (talk) has brought it back as Yoshi18 Overviews, and it's here to stay! We also have the rest of those super cool Pipe Plaza sections you know and love! Don't forget that you, too, can always join us here in wonderful Pipe Plaza (or any other team for that matter)! Write a section about outer space or the history of Kraft Mac and Cheese box designs!!! Just go to the sign up page to learn more!

That's all from me this time, have a wonderful rest of your month ^^

Section of the Month

Congratulations to this month's winners! In first place, we have Waluigi Time (talk) with LEGO Look! Taking second, we have MightyMario (talk) with Poll Committee Discussion! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st LEGO Look 4 28.57% Waluigi Time (talk)
1st A Section of Muppetational Origins 4 28.57% Zange (talk)
2nd Poll Committee Discussion 3 21.43% MightyMario (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
Sparks (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Awards Analysis
Hooded Pitohui (talk)
Awards may have come and gone, but let's talk about the results!
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
Yoshi18 Overviews
Yoshi18 (talk)
Wake up bro new rackets dropped
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
Starting off the year with nerves of steel...
read more

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy 2026, everyone! Every year, it takes me a second to get used to how the new year number looks. 2026 feels so… futuristic! But, there's always something I know I can bank on, no matter what year it is. A new year full of great Mario games! To truly appreciate these new games, though, we need to remember the past. And, thanks to Mario Calendar, we can do that :)

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, January's Mario games are… as boring as always. There are a few great games, like Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but they're definitely few and far between. So, instead, let's take a look forward! This is the first full year of the Nintendo Switch 2, and there are already a few important Mario games coming down the pipeline. So, let's take a quick look at them.

The first is, of course, Mario Tennis Fever, releasing on the Nintendo Switch 2 on February 12. This is the first non-flagship (Mario Kart World and DK Bananza) Mario title to be released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2, so I'm really eager to see how it can benefit from the new hardware. I've never been a major Mario sports game fan, but I'm always excited to see people try them out. I'll never complain about another good Mario game!

The next isn't technically a new game, but an update of an old one: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park. Releasing sometime this Spring, this will act just the same as previous Switch 2 upgrades like Super Mario Party Jamboree or the Zeldas. It will enhance the game for Nintendo Switch 2 as well as introduce new content, such as multiplayer co-op and competitive game modes. My greatest sin as a Mario fan is that I have never finished this game -- maybe this is finally my opportunity!

The last game we know about so far is Yoshi's first foray onto the Nintendo Switch 2. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, releasing sometime in the Spring! This is very much in the same vein as previous Yoshi titles, such as Yoshi's Crafted World. I think the artstyle for this one looks REALLY cool. It perfectly captures that storybook vibe that it's aiming for. Every time I play a Yoshi game, I am pleasantly surprised. Can't wait for this one!

So, that's it for this month! The games weren't particularly interesting, but in the next few months we're going to get some new games that will really light up Mario Calendar! So, I'll see you then, huh? :)

To-Do Tracker

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

New year, new us!

...This is only funny if you've been paying attention to how we credit ourselves, and we promise it was not on purpose. Brain's just weird like that. Even still, hi! This actually marks the 12th issue of these, so, we've been writing this entire column for about a year by now... How time flies. The more things change, though, the more things stay the same; the more the to-do bar changes, the more we're here to document it.

Note: All dates here, unless otherwise denoted, were taken fairly late at night in EST; around 1-3 AM EST. In this case, December 31st, 2025 was taken at 1 PM EST.

December & January To-Do Items
To-Do Item Dec 17, 2025 Dec 24, 2025 Dec 31, 2025 Jan 7, 2026 Jan 14, 2926
Spotlight focuses 1 4 4 4 4
Ongoing TPPs 9 11 13 14 17
Unimplemented Proposals 30+ 30+ 30+ 30+ 30+
Unresolved Discussions 266 266 269 268 281
Construction Projects 139 138 143 141 141
Rewrites Needed 167 167 169 166 166
Sourcing Issues 18,822 18,713 18,655 18,551 18,404
Stub Articles 839 849 865 881 887
Wanted Articles 1000+ 1000+ 1000+ 1000+ 1000+
Requested Deletions 14 19 19 21 9
Suggested Moves 66 65 64 67 63
Suggested Merges 70 69 68 66 64
Suggested Splits 69 70 67 66 69
Deprecated Templates 560 520 N/A N/A N/A
Reference Errors N/A N/A N/A 1 N/A
Unknown Meanings 1 2 1 1 N/A
Image Quality 3,968 3,973 3,948 3,932 3,933
Images Needed 671 675 676 695 724
Media Needed 469 472 491 494 507
Media Quality 1 1 1 2 1
Unused Files 100+ 100+ 100+ 100+ 200+
Files To Be Used 21 16 16 16 14

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

  • Ongoing TPPs has seen a spike, but unimplemented proposals stays pat. Some of these have been around for quite awhile, and could use help being implemented!
  • Construction Projects and Rewrites Needed have more-or-less stayed pat, with slight increases for the former and slight decreases for the latter.
  • Sourcing Issues has come out swinging for the new year, losing a whole 400 entries! Great work, and we hope that people can keep up the pace!
  • Requested deletions saw a spike, but then went down to single-digits by the end, currently lingering at 9. Here's hoping it trends downward!
  • Moves and merges both saw slight net decreases, whereas splits managed a net neutral.
  • That was fast! After hyping up another round of Deprecated Templates last time, we basically blinked, and all 560 of them were gone. Congratulations, and once again, great work!
  • Images Needed saw a fairly substantial spike across the month. Genuinely, not sure why that is.
  • Media Needed continues its grim ascent. We previously assumed it going over 500 was impossible, but then it skyrocketed at the last moment, and now that horrifying reality is actual reality. This section has seriously increased by 2.5 times its lowest documented point. We are once again calling for any editors capable to sift through these and right this wrong!
  • Once again, the Koopa General's dialogue remains as the sole Media Quality entry. No belated Christmas miracles for us. So sad...
  • The spike in Unused Files can be chalked up to the very untimely release of the Mario & Luigi: Brothership soundtrack on Nintendo Music, which caused a bunch of images to be uploaded... Right when the cache updated, catching them before the edits where they were added to the page. Hopefully, by the time this issue releases, this has been rectified, but that's why Unused Images is a bit off-kilter.
  • Files to be used has been cut down by a whole third! If you're one of the editors that's claimed one of these files, we'd highly recommend working on the page(s) they're for. Could we get it to the single digits before next month's issue?

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Sparks (talk)

Hey everybody! It's me Sparks, back to Pipe Plaza once again for something Poll Committee related. This time I'm looking at the results of two polls made by the committee in - that's right - Poll Committee Discussion! The next polls in line are How do you Feel About Donkey Kong Bananza? and What is your favorite type of Mario merchandise?, both of which were created by me. Let's see the results!

Archives

How do you feel about Donkey Kong Bananza? (Sparks (talk), December 7, 2025)

How do you feel about Donkey Kong Bananza?

I have not played Donkey Kong Bananza. 43.74% (922 votes)
The game is amazing, and I love it. 35.39% (746 votes)
The game is great, and I enjoyed it a lot. 11.10% (234 votes)
The game is good, and I liked it. 3.23% (68 votes)
I have no opinion. 2.80% (59 votes)
The game is OK, but it could have been better. 2.42% (51 votes)
The game was bad, and I did not enjoy it. 1.33% (28 votes)
Total votes: 2,108

What is your favorite type of Mario merchandise? (Sparks (talk), December 21, 2025)

What is your favorite type of Mario merchandise?

Plushies 40.31% (686 votes)
Amiibo/Figurines 25.56% (435 votes)
I have no opinion. 11.69% (199 votes)
Books/Comics 6.29% (107 votes)
Clothing 4.58% (78 votes)
I like a type of merchandise not listed. 4.35% (74 votes)
Food 2.41% (41 votes)
DVDs/VHS Tapes 2.35% (40 votes)
Board Games 1.94% (33 votes)
Card Games/Trading Cards 0.53% (9 votes)
Total votes: 1,702

Analysis

How do you feel about Donkey Kong Bananza? (Sparks (talk), December 7, 2025)

I didn't know what image to put here, so here's one of Donkey Kong giving a thumbs up. The game did do pretty well overall!

Here we have another "How much did you like this game" poll, this time about Donkey Kong Bananza. This poll received a total of 2,108 votes. Now this is an awkward situation; I haven't played the game myself, but I did receive it as a Christmas gift, so I will get to it eventually! This means I can't add my own thoughts on the game. Oh well! Did you all have a great holiday season and new year by the way? This poll is the shorter (and boring) half of this analysis, but don't worry - the merchandise poll is much better!

Who would've guessed? The top result is the "I haven't played the game" option! We've been seeing that choice win out multiple times pretty recently, but it makes sense in this case because not many people had Nintendo Switch 2s at the time of the poll going up. Now that Christmas has passed and more people acquired the console, I'm sure this option would be less popular. Oh, and the option received 992 votes.

OK, I feel I don't have to elaborate on these results so let me speed things up so this won't get repetitive:

  • The silver medal goes to the "This game is amazing and I love it" option with 746 votes! I did hear DKB receive lots of positive reception, so yeah. I mean, the game received a 10/10 from IGN and it was nominated for The Game Awards recently!
  • Bronze medal - The game is great, and I enjoyed it a lot with 234 votes! Enough said.
  • In fourth place it's the "The game is good" option with 68 votes! A sharp decline I see, but it's understandable, as the game is beloved.
  • fifth place - I have no opinion! People have no opinion on the game. That's all. It got 59 votes.
  • Second to last place goes to The game is OK, but it could have been better with 51 votes. OK then.
  • In last place? The game was bad, and I did not enjoy it with 28 votes! Hey, people have their own opinions. Please respect them!

Yeah, that was... not my best analysis. There's not much you can do to make a poll of this kind exciting and fun. Thankfully, poll number 2 is the one to check out!

What is your favorite type of Mario merchandise? Sparks (talk), December 21, 2025)

This is the final poll of 2025, and Christmas was approaching, so it's fitting to have it be about merchandise! We all (hopefully) enjoy playing video games, but let's take the time to appreciate other physical media we may have in our homes! I wonder if you got one of these during the holidays? This poll received a total of 1,702 votes.

Let's start out with the tenth place result - Card Games/Trading Cards with only 9 votes! I had no idea several Mario games had playing cards until I found options for this poll. Most of the merchandise involving cards simply has all the cards (Aces, Kings, Queens, etc.) with a few Mario ones thrown in the mix. There are also Mario versions of popular card games, like UNO and Hanafuda, plus some original content like Mario Quiz Cards and a Donkey Kong Card Game! An example of trading cards would be Super Mario Galaxy, which had a bunch of them based on characters and enemies from the game. This option may not be very popular, but it's still nice to take a look at a lesser known form of merchandise.

Box for Super Mario Chess
Even the oldest games receive a Mario version!

Now, we have the ninth place winner - Board Games with 33 votes, almost four times higher than the cards! Like the card games, many popular board games (mostly by Hasbro) have received the Mario treatment, such as "Guess Who?", Jenga, The Game of Life, and Chess. There are also many iterations of Monopoly, one of which being based on The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Make game night with friends and family super with these Mario board games! I used to have the Chess one, but all of the figures ended up scattered around the house in various locations... nothing wrong with that, right?

Eighth place goes to DVDs/VHS Tapes, all of them coming straight from YOUR house! Well, if you happen to have them that is. This option received 40 votes. With the rise of streaming services and less and less cable TV, DVDs and VHS tapes are becoming more and more obsolete, sadly. Thankfully, they're still around! Rewatch your favorite Mario TV shows such as The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Super Mario World, and the Donkey Kong Country television series with both of these nostalgic methods! Japan even has exclusive animated Mario programs on VHSes! I love the quality of 1980's VHS tapes; they give me a sense of nostalgia even though I wasn't born when they were all the rage. Sometimes we don't need all the new fancy stuff to give us contentment.

The ? Block dessert from Kinopio's Cafe
Oh, that looks so tasty! I want a bite...

Are you hungry? You probably will be after I go over the seventh place winner - Food! It received 41 votes, just one more to surpass the previous option. Where do I even start? Mario themed food products have come in a large variety. We have candies, gummies, chocolate, ice cream, curry, spaghetti, yogurt, fruit snacks, cereal, macaroni & cheese, Pringles, Doritos, and even multivitamins! There have even been soft drinks and energy drinks as well. Super Nintendo World even has a few options of deliciousness to devour: Mario's bacon cheeseburger, Super Mushroom pizza bowl, Piranha Plant Caprese and ? Block Tiramisu, yum yum yum! If that wasn't enough, how about some cups, bowls, pans, and cookie jars to store your food in? There are Toad cookie jars out there... you can trust him to hold all those cookies under his cap, right?

Almost reaching the top half is the unique I like a type of merchandise not listed option, with 74 votes. What other types of Mario merchandise are there? I think K'NEX, Hot Wheels, backpacks, LEGO Mario, and Super Mario themed consoles are some examples. I can't believe I forgot to include Lego Mario and Hot Wheels in the poll... oh well, that's what this option is for! Just goes to show that there's more to Mario merchandise then what's listed here. Cool!

Baseball caps based on (from left to right) Luigi's, Mario's, Wario's, and Waluigi's hats
Do you think they're "one size fits all"?

Do you want to show you're a fan of Mario wherever you go? That's what the fifth place option - Clothing - is for! This option received 78 votes. The most popular forms of Mario themed clothing are shirts and caps, but did you know about the slippers and sweaters? You've likely seen mascots and costumes of various Mario characters in specific locations and Halloween, but have you ever cosplayed as one yourself? Be sure to wear a fake mustache if you're going to be someone like Mario or Luigi (unless you already have a mustache like them)!

Back before these fancy computers and phones, we had Books/Comics as a means of entertainment! This option reached fourth place because it got 107 votes. I admit I'm not familiar with Mario books and comics. Super Mario-kun and the mangas are very popular, and they have such unique artstyles! Most seem to be exclusive to Japan however, but thankfully our dedicated wiki editors uploaded many images of them to the wiki! Most of the stories seem to be inspired by the games, sometimes adding new lore in some cases. Neat!

Obtaining the bronze medal is the obligatory I have no opinion choice! These 199 voters simply had no opinion on the poll. That is all.

Super Mario amiibo
Amiibo are figurines that also change up video games! Perfect for collectors.

And the silver medal goes to... Amiibo/Figurines with 435 votes! That's more than double the vote count of the "no opinion" option. Having figurines of your favorite characters decorating your home/car/room is very nice! Amiibo are unique figurines that give you bonuses in various Nintendo games, including third-party video games! I only have one amiibo - the Mario one that comes with Mario Party 10 - but that's alright. As long as others enjoy them, that's all that matters!

The camera initialization on the Switch 2 version of Super Mario Party Jamboree
Life's better with plushies, even if they aren't Mario-related!

We have reached the final choice of the merchandise poll! The winner of the good medal, with 686 votes is... Plushies! Everyone loves plushies! You can take them with you wherever you go, have them decorate a room, and even cuddle with them whenever you're feeling down. They're just so soft and perfect for hugging! You just cannot go wrong with plushies. You're never too old to buy one for yourself. Remember that! They make life better.

And those were the final polls of 2025! February's Poll Committee Discussion will talk about the first ones of 2026, so look forward to that! Thank you for reading, and have a nice start of your year!

Awards Analysis

Written by: Hooded Pitohui (talk)

Hello, all you readers of The 'Shroom! It's Hooded Pitohui here, back for an Awards Analysis on behalf of the fifteenth Poll Committee. I hope you like 3D platformers, because they're going to be coming up plenty today!

Archives

M6. Favorite Musical Track

M6. Favorite Musical Track

Gusty Garden Galaxy (SMG) 9.43% (237 votes)
The Grand Finale (M&L:BIS) 9.32% (234 votes)
Jump Up, Super Star! (SMO) 8.92% (224 votes)
Coconut Mall (MKWii) 5.73% (144 votes)
Dire, Dire Docks (SM64) 5.57% (140 votes)
Rosalina in the Observatory (SMG) 5.53% (139 votes)
DK Rap (DK64) 5.45% (137 votes)
Break Free (Lead the Way) (SMO) 5.14% (129 votes)
Stickerbush Symphony (Bramble Blast) (DKC2) 5.14% (129 votes)
Waluigi Pinball/Wario Stadium (MKDS) 4.06% (102 votes)
Total votes: 2,512

M11. Favorite Bowser Battle

M11. Favorite Bowser Battle

Bowser's Moon Wedding (SMO) 14.61% (322 votes)
Bowser's Galaxy Reactor (SMG) 10.75% (237 votes)
Dark Bowser (M&L:BIS) 10.39% (229 votes)
Fury Bowser (SM3DW+BF) 10.39% (229 votes)
Meowser (SM3DW) 9.30% (205 votes)
Bowser in the Sky (SM64) 6.76% (149 votes)
Bowser/Giant Bowser (NSMBW) 5.08% (112 votes)
Bowser (PM) 4.04% (89 votes)
Wonder Bowser (SMBW) 3.99% (88 votes)
Bowser/Koopa Clown Car (SMW) 3.45% (76 votes)
Total votes: 2,204

Analysis

M6. Favorite Musical Track

“if grand finale loses it'll be because gusty garden beat it”
—Waluigi Time, 11 April 2025, 20:35 EDT

If you're wondering if Waluigi Time has some kind of psychic foresight right about now, wonder no longer; this was an educated guess well-founded in history. In the history of this award and its predecessors, only two tracks have taken the gold. On five occasions, "The Grand Finale" from Bowser's Inside Story has won, and twice (in 2020 and in 2025), "Gusty Garden Galaxy" managed to eke out a narrow victory. Interestingly, when comparing the years they collectively took the silver and gold medals, "Gusty Garden Galaxy"'s margins of victory have been considerably tighter than "The Grand Finale"'s. "The Grand Finale" has beaten its rival by 1.84 percentage points (2019), 2.71 p.p. (2021), 2.52 p.p. (2024). When "Gusty Garden Galaxy" claimed victory, it did so by margins of 0.44 p.p. (2020) and 0.11 p.p. (2025). All in all, it seems like "The Grand Finale" probably deserves the title of Awards voters' favorite overall track, but "Gusty Garden Galaxy" consistently puts up a good fight and ensures it's not a freebie win. Although, that said, "Gusty Garden Galaxy" has been bumped into third place a few times, losing the silver to "Coconut Mall" and "Jump Up, Super Star!" in 2022 and 2023, and having to settle with splitting the silver with the latter in 2024. Perhaps a better takeaway is that there's intense competition and tight margins in the upper echelons of this award!

Super Mario Galaxy: Original Soundtrack. This is an exclusive item for Club Nintendo Subscribers in Japan.
Still golden, all these years later.

We've established that "Gusty Garden Galaxy" has a consistent presence in this award's top three, but are there any factors which put it over the top this year specifically? It's tempting to attribute it to the release of Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 or the announcement of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but those weren't announced until September 2025, while voting took place in June, making it impossible for Nintendo's renewed pushing of the Galaxy games to bear responsibility. I feel pretty confident in saying any hopes of a Galaxy movie on the horizon were a minimal factor for voters when as late as May outlets were reporting the upcoming movie would be named Super Mario World.

If Nintendo's promotion of the Galaxy games didn't cause this shift, could it have been the result of changes to the award? In 2024 and 2023, this award was called "Favorite In-game Track". In the course of discussing the award for 2025, an Awards Committee member suggested opening up the award so that it could include musical tracks from non-game media, such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, White Knuckle Scorin', and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The suggestion was met with some reservation and reluctance, with particular concern expressed over it opening the door for licensed music like "Take On Me" being valid write-ins. As a fun bit of trivia, it was brought up in response that "All-Star" by Smash Mouth was already a valid write-in by virtue of being a music track in a Mario franchise title. The more you know! Ultimately, after some discussion and an acknowledgement that a complementary music award for non-game tracks would likely result in stale results due to only a handful of lyrical songs having widespread recognition, the suggestion was accepted. The award was renamed to "Favorite Musical Track", and, the song "Peaches" from TSMBM was added as a nominee. Did "Peaches" move the needle? Eh... The margins for the top three are so tight that I can't entirely dismiss the possibility that three of its forty-four voters were peeled away from "The Grand Finale", but at only 1.91% of the vote, it can't account for all the erosion in "The Grand Finale's" margin of victory. As such, I'd consider any claims that the change in this awards scope were responsible for the shift in the top three dubious.

Mario Kart World released in time for the polls. Could it be responsible, somehow? Well, it had a new arrangement of "Gusty Garden Galaxy" but no such arrangement of "The Grand Finale" (or any of the RPG music, for that matter), so it's possible it had some degree of influence. Perhaps players heard it and were gripped by Galaxy nostalgia. Personally, I think that's grasping at straws, though, especially with Mario Kart World's "Cheep Cheep Falls" getting beaten by a write-in ("Steam Gardens" from Odyssey) despite being a listed nominee! As good as World's soundtrack is, it seems it didn't have quite enough time to reach voters before polls closed. All of that said, I think there's a simpler, but more subtle explanation for the shift in the top three this year.

Compared to changes to an award and new game releases, the total vote count comes up less often in Awards Analysis. This year, though, we saw a noticeable increase in votes across the board, likely due to the timing of the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World release driving visitors to the site while the polls were up and due to increased advertising of awards in some different spaces this year. We saw last year's Favorite In-Game Track's 1,709 votes to 2,512 votes for Favorite Musical Track. I'd attribute "Gusty Garden Galaxy"'s victory primarily to this expanded voter pool. Super Mario Galaxy is more familiar to the general public than Bowser's Inside Story, and that's a claim well-supported by their sales numbers. In their original releases, the former sold 12.80 million while the latter sold 4.56 million. Since the typical person is more likely to know Galaxy and its music, as the voter pool expands, "Gusty Garden Galaxy" gets an advantage over its longtime rival!

History bears this out, as well. Looking at the years that "Gusty Garden Galaxy" took second place, the vote totals were 1,356 (2019), 1,771 (2021), and 1,709 (2024). The years it slipped into third saw totals of 1,319 (2022) and 1,436 (2023). Meanwhile, 2020, the other year in which the track claimed victory, also had a higher-than-usual total vote count with 1,840. It's not a perfect match, with 2019 in particular seeming like it should have produced a worse result, but the general trend is that "Gusty Garden Galaxy" performs better when there are more total voters, and worse when there are fewer. Galaxy and its elements benefiting most from higher voter totals is also consistent with the widened voter pool benefiting Rosalina on Favorite Major Character this year, as previously noted by Waluigi Time.

Peculiarly, though, this boost doesn't apply to Galaxy's music equally. "Buoy Base Galaxy" has performed considerably worse in the years with higher voting totals. In 2021-2024, it stayed in the range of 4th to 6th, while it dropped all the way to 13th in 2025 and only hit 9th in 2020 (2019 again bucks the trend, with it taking 9th there as well). "Comet Observatory"/"Rosalina in the Observatory" did see a boost this year, however, muddying the waters. "Buoy Base Galaxy"'s inverted fortunes compared to its fellow Galaxy track bear further investigation... on another day. This edition is getting long enough as it is!

I declared "The Grand Finale" to be Awards voters' favorite track at the start of this analysis, but it's worth remembering that "Awards voters" are a subset of people who have chosen to visit a Super Mario fansite. They're more likely to know Mario to more depth than an average person, or to have an interest in knowing Mario in more detail, at least. If the demographics of Awards voters change, then their favorite track is going to change, too. Don't take that declaration as iron-clad and unchanging, especially with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie on the horizon! We'll have to see if the movie allows "Gusty Garden Galaxy" to cement its lead in 2026, or if this ends up another one-off for it.

M11. Favorite Bowser Battle

“i will typically abstain on brothership but we have a brand new bowser fight and one that did quite poorly from a game no one cares about so it makes perfect sense”
—Smasher, 11 April 2025, 21:29 EDT

For the curious, the "game no one cares about" is New Super Mario Bros. 2, with its Dry Bowser fight getting cut for poor performance alongside Woolly World's Mega Baby Bowser fight. In turn, the Bowser and Kammy Koopa battle from The Thousand-Year Door was promoted on the strength of its write-ins, and Glohm Bowser from new release Brothership joined the ranks of, er, Bowser, Bowser, Bowser, Bowser, and... you get the picture. How did these new additions fare? They did alright, actually! While they didn't manage to crack the top ten, Glohm Bowser took 15th and Bowser and Kammy Koopa took 16th, meaning they fared better than the nominees they replaced. With Mario Kart World lacking a Bowser fight and a certain ape giving Mario and his arch-nemesis a rest, I dare say they're not in any immediate danger of dropping right back off.

Artwork of Bowser and Paper Bowser arguing from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Bowser vs. Bowser vs. Bowser vs. Bowser vs. Bowser vs. Bowser vs. Bowser...

Moving on from the new additions, we had a shake-up at the top of this award! After Dark Bowser fended them off last year, Bowser's Moon Wedding and Bowser's Galaxy Reactor have leapfrogged it to take first and second, respectively. This isn't too surprising. Odyssey Bowser and Galaxy Bowser have consistently appeared in the top four for this award and its predecessor since 2019, when Odyssey Bowser was promoted to a nominee on the strength of his write-ins. They've jostled for the top four with Dark Bowser and either Meowser from 3D World or, taking over in 2021, Fury Bowser from Bowser's Fury.

As for how Odyssey and Galaxy triumphed this year, I again suspect that the expanded voting pool (going from 1,644 in 2024 to 2,204 in 2025) tilted the results away from the RPGs and towards the headlining 3D platformers. Cross-referencing with some other awards, we find that Mario 64 increased its margin of victory on M18 by 1.3 p.p., Galaxy did the same on M19 by 2.64 p.p., and Odyssey on M20 by a whopping 4.25 p.p.. The public at large likes the 3D platformers! Once again, the greater the participation from voters, the bigger the advantage that the 3D platformers have.

That said, the explanation is on shakier ground here than with M6., as the historical data doesn't support it for M11. Dark Bowser took first in 2018 (1,498), 2019 (1,322), 2020 (1,763), and 2024 (1,644). Meanwhile, Fury Bowser won in 2021 (1,726), 2022 (1,271), and 2023 (1,451). Vote totals and winners have been all over the place, with no apparent correlation. It's difficult to draw any conclusions by limiting it to 2023 (when Bowser was split from Favorite Boss Battle into his own award) and onwards, too. Nor does the "3D platformers are advantaged when there are more voters" explanation adequately explain why Odyssey and Galaxy started beating out Bowser's Fury in 2024. I don't have a perfect explanation for this one. If there's something I'm missing, do reach out to me or any members of the Poll Committee with your thoughts! I would be interested in hearing alternative explanations.

There aren't many other points of interest on this award this year. There was a lot of jostling among the nominees, but nothing striking other than Dreamy Bowser from Dream Team taking a step fall from 10th to 18th. If Mario Tennis Fever has any well-received fights with Bowser, that multi-colored monster may be at risk. Crafting this award proved straightforward this year, though we did change its complement's name to reduce the write-ins for Bowser over there (successfully, I'll add!). I'll save any further discussion of that award for another committee member, though. For now, we'll just have to see if the Galaxy push this year allows Bowser's Galaxy Reactor to topple Bowser's Moon Wedding!

Conclusion

Galaxy is poised to cast a shadow over Awards next year, that's for certain. Will the coming film cement the dominance of Mario's 3D outings, or will it have a noticeable-but-brief effect more akin to the first film, quickly fizzling out? Vote, watch the Awards, and watch this space when autumn rolls around and we'll discover the answer together! But first, tune back in next month to see MightyMario (talk) cover more awards from 2025!

The 'Shroom Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

What a special issue, huh? Please go back and check out last month's if you missed it, it's very worth your time! It also happens to have the third-highest section count of any issue, only behind 200 and 219. The previous #3 was Issue 100 and it got beat by one section, so if you contributed to the last issue, congratulations, yours can be considered the difference maker! And now for the usual reporting on Issue 225. As always, and sadly for the last time, a very special thank you to our outgoing Statistics Manager Meta Knight, whose upkeep of the spreadsheets over the last three years has made writing this section not herculean. Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors, Meta!

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

​

Categories 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.
Guest Sections
Section Writer
Close Encounters of the Shroom Kind ClawgripFan9001
Monthly Inquisition ClawgripFan9001
News Flush Shoey (talk)
Weather Forecast Waluigi Time (talk)
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure! Boo1268 & TheBlueCatMenace
Paper Crump: Exalted Exile Technetium (talk)
Screenshot of the Month Hooded Pitohui (talk)
Too Bad, Storytime! Waluigi Time (talk)
LEGO Look Waluigi Time (talk)
An Investigations Retrospective Roserade (talk)
Constellations The 'Shroom Staff
Curse of the Lich Yard Boo1268
Space Jams Meta Knight (talk)
Sparks Tier List Sparks (talk)
Tragedy and Farce: A Marx-Inspired Reading of the Super Mario Galaxy Games Quizmelon (talk)
Milestones
Writer Milestone
ClawgripFan9001 60 Fake News sections
Hooded Pitohui (talk) 10 Fun Stuff sections
Hypnotoad (talk) 220 Critic Corner sections
MarioMorty (talk) 50 Fun Stuff sections
50 overall sections
Ninja Squid (talk) 100 Fun Stuff sections
Roserade (talk) 60 Main/Staff sections
100 Fun Stuff sections
Sparks (talk) 30 Strategy Wing sections
Waluigi Time (talk) 70 Main/Staff sections
Most Sections Written
Team Writer Number of Sections
Main/Staff Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) 142
Fake News Waluigi Time (talk) 178
Fun Stuff Shoey (talk) 168
Palette Swap FunkyK38 (talk) 215
Pipe Plaza Yoshi876 (talk) 128
Critic Corner Hypnotoad (talk) 221
Strategy Wing Hooded Pitohui (talk) 177
Overall Yoshi876 (talk) 747
'Shroom Trivia
Of everyone who contributed to The 'Shroom in 2025, none of them had a username starting with I, J, O, U, or X. Yes, this is very oddly specific but now you know!

Yoshi18 Overviews

Written by: Yoshi18 (talk)

Hey everyone! Yoshi18 Previews Yoshi18 Overviews is back and this section is now permanent, though this section will have a kinda messed up schedule, since I can really only write this section in the 'Shroom issue before the game I'm overviewing comes out. Now, to my advantage, Nintendo made an overview trailer just before I was about to write this so now I can actually make a good overview. Without further ado, let's get into the overview!

Overview before the Tennis Fever hits!

Key artwork for Mario Tennis Fever

First of all; Basic Shots. Do I even have to explain this one? This system has stayed the same since Mario Tennis Open (which released nearly 14 years ago). You have Topspins that bounce and are slightly faster than normal shots. You have Slices that bend and curve. You have Lobs that soar into the sky. And these two may not be confirmed but I'm pretty sure you also have Drop Shots and Flat Shots. Drop Shots are slow and low shots. And Flat Shots which are the fastest and even faster than Topspins.

Fever Rackets

Main article: Fever Racket

Finally something actually interesting! New in this game are Fever Rackets! Just pass the ball to the other side to fill your Fever Gauge, then when your Fever Gauge is full you can unleash a powerful Fever Shot with special effects! There are multiple Fever Rackets and they all have different abilities! There are a couple Fever Rackets that got showcased in the Overview Trailer. These include:

Fever Racket Ability
A Fever Racket from Mario Tennis Fever
Flame Racket 		Drops puddles of fire on the ground, which will burn opponents if they touch it. It is also burns opponents on impact.
A Fever Racket from Mario Tennis Fever
Ice Racket 		Creates a big ice circle on the ground, causing opponents to slip around.
A Fever Racket from Mario Tennis Fever
Pokey Racket 		Summons a Pokey on the opponent's side of the court. On impact, the Pokey's segments will spread apart and hurt anyone that touches them.
A Fever Racket from Mario Tennis Fever
Shadow Racket 		Creates a shadow double of the player (which is purple with yellow eyes) to confuse the opponent.
A Fever Racket from Mario Tennis Fever
Golden Dash Racket 		Allows the player to use a speed boost on the court. Can be very useful if the player is far away from the ball.

There are 30 Fever Rackets in total so try them all out and find out which one works best for you!

If a Fever Shot is coming your way, don't panic! Just send it back before it hits the ground and you'll return the shot and its effect right back at your opponent! So keep your guard and your racket up until it lands!

You'll lose HP if you take damage from a Fever Shot. If you lose all of it, you'll enter KO status (yes that's right: you can die now in Mario Tennis). And it will take a little while for you to recover, so be careful! Note that in single matches, characters lose movement speed after their HP is depleted.

In a doubles match, both players can hit a Fever Shot at the same time! So when the moment comes, unleash this explosive shot to devastate your opponents!

Characters

Main section: Mario Tennis Fever § Playable characters

There are 38 characters in Mario Tennis Fever! The most in series history! Mix and match characters with Fever Rackets and find your favorite combo!

Classic Rules

You can also enjoy classic tennis without Fever Rackets. Use slides and leaps, and hit shots at sharp angles for a gold old back-and-forth rally! There are also new modes added! Swap with newly added defensive actions and increased offensive moves on the court! In addition, Swing Mode returns from Mario Tennis Aces. Use your Joy-Con 2 to swing like a real tennis player! You can even use Fever Shots!

Game modes

Free Match

Yeah there's nothing to say about this mode that not everybody knows already.

Tournament

It's the classic old tournament! There are a total of 8 players in this mode. Duel against your rivals to win! You start off with 8 players (in round 1), then there's 4 players left in the semifinals (called the "Semis" in the game) and 2 players left in the finals. You'll even have a Red Talking Flower commentating!

Trial Towers

Take on challenges and aim for the top in this 1-vs.-3 mode (in which you're in the team of three and you control the baby characters).

Mix It Up

Expect the unexpected with these unusual takes on traditional tennis!

Ring Shot

Hit the tennis balls through rings to earn points!

Forest Court Match

Feed Piranha Plants to make the court bigger!

Pinball Match

Trigger a variety of flashy effects and pinball-related obstacles (of course the map for this is based off of none other than Waluigi Pinball)!

Racket Factory Match

Hit the ball on the lit floor and grab Fever Rackets that appear!

Wonder Court Match

Dive into a world of wonder in all sorts of strange rallies themed after Super Mario Bros. Wonder!

Adventure

Get a grip on the fundamentals in Adventure mode! You'll learn the different shot types, complete challenges and take on bosses blocking your way. All while improving your skill!

Multiplayer

Up to 4 players can compete on the court! You can also play with multiple systems via local wireless. And if someone has the game, they can locally share the tennis fun via GameShare! You can also play online where you can set your own customizable rules for a casual bouts! Or go for glory and try to get into the global leaderboard with Ranked Match!

Outro

Well that's it for this first permanent edition of Yoshi18 Overviews! Stay safe and see you all next time!

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 show Robot Wars. Last month, we took a look at Thermidor 2, who was a lobster. This month, we take a look at a veteran of Robot Wars making one last run, focusing in on the Series 7 run of The Steel Avenger.

The Polycarbonate Avenger, as Mystrsyko2 calls it.

Built by John Willoughby, who was joined by his wife Jacky and her cousin Tony Bates, The Steel Avenger was an axe bot primarily made from stainless steel and polycarbonate. It sported a sloped front so that robots would bounce off if they hit it head-on. Powered by two 750w industrial Bosch motors, in previous wars the Steel Avenger was equipped with a rainbow feather duster to clean up the arena. If I'm being honest, in my head I always associate them with that feather duster and I never realized that wasn't just a thing they always did.

The Robot Wars Wiki is gaslighting me! That feather duster is always there! They can't fool me!

The other gimmick I always associate The Steel Avenger team with and didn't realize that they didn't always do were their costumes. Starting in Series 5, John and Jacky Willoughby started wearing steel breastplates as costumes, something which tickled the producers so much they were given a best costume award in Extreme 1 even though they might have been the only people wearing a costume…

As for the robot, The Steel Avenger's axe is fairly powerful but I think it's handicapped by the sloped front since it's much harder for them to land head-on axe blows if robots are bounced away from them. Still, The Steel Avenger would oftentimes prove to be one of the more reliable axe bots. The Steel Avenger always existed in that upper-midcard level of Robot Wars, to use a wrestling term. It was never a true championship contender, having never made a Series Semi-Final, but it did have some notable wins such as defeating Tornado and King B3 Powerworks in its Extreme 1 Mayhem battle to qualify for the cursed second Annihilator of Extreme. Now, you might argue that they only beat Tornado because King B3 killed Tornado, and, while that might be true… Shut up! We talk about it like that! They also made the Tag Team Terror final with partner Suicidal Tendencies in the same Series and made a Heat Final in Series 4. All of that paints a picture of a pretty-good-but-not-great robot. The Steel Avenger would defeat the robots it should have defeated, but it never managed to score that big victory that would put it in the Semi-Finals or allow it to win a tournament. But still, it's one of the few classic series axe bots that did… well, anything really! That puts it in league with, like, Dominator 2 and Killertron.

Now, if things had gone according to plan, we wouldn't be talking about The Steel Avenger right now. Having skipped Series 6 and only making an appearance in the Tag Team Terror of Extreme 2, originally John Willoughby was planning on entering a new robot called Steel Avenger 2 for Series 7, but he didn't finish it in time so he quickly made a few adjustments to The Steel Avenger. The adjustments included changes such as removing the back lifter (BECAUSE OF COURSE IT HAD A USELESS BACK WEAPON) so that its weight could be used elsewhere. Other than these few adjustments, The Steel Avenger was roughly the same robot it was in Extreme 2. Despite losing its qualifier battle to Atomic (it's crazy they made Atomic qualify instead of just giving them a spot), The Steel Avenger was still given a spot in Series 7. Presumably, they weren't about to turn away a long-time competitor with a functioning robot.

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.

In its first battle (1:47) The Steel Avenger faced off against the twin blades of Shredder Evolution, the flipper of newcomer Trax, and Sub-Version. Sub-Version is one of my personal favorite robots, by the way. I mean, look at it! It's a robot submarine! It's so good!

Possibly sensing that Shredder Evolution is its biggest opponent, The Steel Avenger makes a beeline for Shredder, getting to its side and pushing it around the arena into the wall. The Steel Avenger then attempts to get its axe into Trax but makes the mistake of driving up Trax's flipper. Trax flips it over, but The Steel Avenger quickly self-rights. After self-righting, The Steel Avenger drives right into the thick of the fighting, slamming right into Sub-Version before missing an axe blow on Trax. Turning its attention to Shredder again, The Steel Avenger begins pushing Shredder around the arena, landing a blow to the top of Shredder in the process!

GET OUT OF THERE, SUB-VERSION! TACTICAL RETREAT!

Landing its axe right in the gap between the top armor and the wheels, The Steel Avenger gains control over Shredder. The Steel Avenger takes advantage by driving them onto the flame pit as- OH DEAR GOD! NO! SUB-VERSION JUST DROVE OVER THE DESCENDING PIT! NO GOD, WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO THE THINGS I LOVE??? Oh, wait! Never mind, it managed to get off just in time! The Steel Avenger is just not letting Shredder Evolution get off this flame pit, which means the flame pit is honestly doing more than it usually does in these articles. Trax briefly approaches the barbecue but backs up, but then Sub-Version, needing points, slams into the trapped Shredder, which might have been a mistake? Something flies off of something and, based on the color of the debris, my guess is a piece of Sub-Version just flew off.

The Steel Avenger burns Shredder.

The Steel Avenger then lets Shredder go, probably because there's a rule in Robot Wars where you can't pin your opponent for more than a minute and I guess this is considered a pin? Or maybe they just got bored? The important thing is that Shredder is freed from the flames.

Shredder is moving very slow and Sub-Version attempts to take advantage of this by landing some shoves, but they go head-first right into the blades of Shredder and something flies off! Boys, don't hit the blade! It's the one part of Shredder you can't hit! As that all happens, Trax manages to flip The Steel Avenger, who again manages to self-right. Somewhere along the way, Shredder got to the side of Sub-Version, and Shredder is now taking advantage of its position by grinding the shit out of Sub-Version's side. Taking advantage of this, The Steel Avenger drives to the side of Shredder and lands a mighty axe blow as Sub-Version escapes. Again, the axe of the Steel Avenger gets stuck in the armor of Shredder, this time getting stuck on the top part between the two blades. It doesn't matter much, though, as the countdown clock comes onto the screen. This fight is heading to the ju- OH NO, WHAT'S HAPPENING? THAT BASTARD TRAX JUST PITTED SUB-VERSION WITH LESS THAN 2 SECONDS LEFT! DAMN YOU, TRAX! DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

With that, the three remaining competitors go to the judges. If there was any question as to who was going through, it ended with Trax pitting Sub-Version. I think you gets points for KOing an opponent, and pitting counts as a KO, so that plus its flips on The Steel Avenger send Trax to the second round (don't worry, they'll get theirs!). The Steel Avenger's dominance over Shredder Evolution puts them over Shredder Evolution in points, also sending them to the second round! Also, just as a little Shoey note, for some reason Craig Charles thinks this is controversial and now I'm starting to wonder if maybe he watched a fight I didn't!

In the Heat Semi-Final, The Steel Avenger faces off with Rhino, a pretty cool machine styled after a rhino. To better mimic its inspiration, it comes with a flipper in the style of a rhino's horn… and a vertical spinner at the back? Get the hell out of here, Rhino! The fight starts (6:32) with Rhino missing a flip, allowing The Steel Avenger to get to its side. The Steel Avenger lands several blows on the side of Rhino, putting a pretty decent gash into its armor as Rhino attempts to escape. Rhino manages to get away until The Steel Avenger pushes it into the arena wall. Rhino misses another flip, but this time The Steel Avenger is unable to punish them for it, missing several axe blows of its own.

The Steel Avenger Pounding Rhino

Finally, Rhino manages to get a successful lift on The Steel Avenger in the process wedging The Steel Avenger under its horn. A pushing battle begins, with Rhino getting the upper hand, but The Steel Avenger manages to hold its own in some ways, preventing Rhino from ramming it into a wall or the House Robots. Plus, while stuck in Rhino's horn, it manages to launch its axe into the side of Rhino, putting a visible dent in its armor. Finally The Steel Avenger gets away and goes for the pit button! Which… it's kind of strange to activate the pit against the robot that was just beating you in the pushing battle? But strangely, it almost immediately works, because Rhino is just chilling on the lip of the pit. Unfortunately for The Steel Avenger, Rhino manages to get away from it as it's going down.

The Steel Avenger then slams right into the horn of Rhino and gets away before Rhino can activate its flipper. The two robots then get into another pushing match, and this time neither one gets an advantage. Also, at some point in time Rhino's disc stopped. I'm not really sure when! Rhino is moving very slowly, allowing The Steel Avenger to get to its side. It attempts to drive The Steel Avenger into the hammer of Mr. Psycho, but I think the hammer ends up hitting The Steel Avenger instead, so The Steel Avenger instead drives Rhino into a side wall. With Rhino against the wall, The Steel Avenger launches its axe onto the top armor of Rhino, putting another good-sized dent in it. I think at this point Rhino has broken down fully. The Steel Avenger lands a few more axe blows before nearly pitting Rhino with a nice charge.

Down goes Rhino!

The Steel Avenger attempts to position itself to pit Rhino, but instead of, you know, pushing them in, they use the back lifter… Wait, the lifter works? I thought they got rid of it entirely??? Why do you still have this lifter! It's so dumb and useless! It doesn't even pit Rhino! Take this thing out, please! The Steel Avenger then lands more axe blows on Rhino. Look, Steel, I love you, but please just push this robot in the pit; I can't keep writing about this fight. Finally The Steel Avenger goes to just push Rhino in when, in a last-ditch effort, Rhino lifts up The Steel Avenger, prolonging this fight and my hell. Mercifully, The Steel Avenger slides off and pushes Rhino into the pit, ending this fight and making it to its second-ever Heat Final. Not bad for a robot that's supposed to be retired! Also, have another Shoey note. In the post-match interview, Craig Charles is like "why do you keep bringing the same robot? Don't you see the competition is getting better???". Chill out, Craig! He's working on another robot that I'm sure will take Series 8 by storm!

In the Heat Final, The Steel Avenger faces off against New Blood Championship winner and number 16-seeded Storm 2, a robot that's basically Tornado but better! The only thing standing in the way of The Steel Avenger's first ever Series Semi-Final is a robot that's basically just an upgraded version of a robot The Steel Avenger has already (legally) beaten! The fight (12:13) starts with The Steel Avenger attempting to axe Storm 2, but they actually drive over Storm 2 before planting their axe in the arena floor, getting it stuck. After The Steel Avenger gets unstuck, Storm 2 gets right under its side and just fucking slams it right into the arena wall, sending it spinning. Storm 2 drives away so it can build up speed as The Steel Avenger attempts to give chase, but it's nowhere near as fast as Storm 2. The Steel Avenger comes in for another attack but again drives right over the flat Storm 2, who again quickly turns around and gets right under the side of The Steel Avenger to slam them into Growler. The whole fight is just Storm 2 using its wedge to keep The Steel Avenger under its control, driving and slamming the Steel Avenger around the arena.

I don't even understand the physics of how this worked!

Finally, Storm 2 gets right to the side of The Steel Avenger again, driving them the entire length of the arena and slamming them right into the wall with such force that The Steel Avenger flies out of the arena. I can't stress this enough! Storm 2 slammed The Steel Avenger with so much force that The Steel Avenger was sent over the arena wall! It's the only time this has ever happened and I'm not sure it'll ever happen again. Storm 2 moves onto the Semi-finals after scoring one of the damndest and most memorable outtas I've ever seen!

Sadly, that would be it for The Steel Avenger and, soon enough, all of Robot Wars. With the cancellation of Robot Wars after Series 7, we never did get to see what the Steel Avenger 2 could do. Still, The Steel Avenger had a pretty good last run, all things considered. It had a dominant Heat Semi-Final win and a pretty decent showing in its opening melee. Unfortunately for them, they just happened to meet the best robot in the entire series (honestly, Storm 2 in Series 7 is one of the best robots of all time in general). They were never going to beat Storm 2; nobody could beat Storm 2. Even the robot that did beat Storm 2 shouldn't have been declared winner over Storm 2 (someday).

The Steel Avenger was a good machine, and probably near the top of the upper-middle of the ranks. It was never going to win a Series, but with some better luck it could have won a heat or maybe a side event tournament. It just always got poor draws in its heats, getting Wild Thing in Series 4, Chaos 2 in Series 5, and Storm 2 in Series 7. That's two top eight finishers and the Series runner-up, respectively. It also lost its Series 3 Heat Semi-Final to Diotoir, but even if it had gotten past Diotoir, it would have met Firestorm. And checking my notes, Firestorm finished, oh, would you look at that? Third.

So yeah, The Steel Avenger was a good machine with some bad luck. I'd put it above something like fellow upper-middle robot S.M.I.D.S.Y. because I think it had better fights and a more memorable design. I'm glad that, even while ancient by the standards of robot combat, it still showed that it was a pretty decent machine with one final decent run in it.

That's all for this month's What's in a Campaign?. Join me next month as I look at another robot.

Is there a section you'd like to give a shout-out? Get a section in front of Poochy by filling out this form!
The 'Shroom: Issue 226
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • Directorial Address • Credits
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
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