The 'Shroom:Issue 169/Ultimate Location Battle

Ultimate Location Battle Written by: and

Welcome to the 'Shroom's Ultimate Location Battle! Today, you'll be joined by your hosts and, who are currently fighting for which location among their picks should be The 'Shroom's Ultimate Location. Although, they can't do so without your help. So, make sure to vote for your favorite locations in the brackets below.

This Ultimate Location Battle will contain eight locations with four chosen by Ninja Squid and another four by Goombuigi. For this first round, it will be a playoffs with two categories: 3D Mario games and Mario RPGs locations. The locations with the most votes in each brackets will move on to the second round.

Now, all you need to do is to cast your votes!

Hey there, this your favorite shuriken thrower, Ninja Squid here and I want to present to you my four choices that I nominated for this battle. I believe that these four locations each have the merit of becoming the Ultimate Location of The 'Shroom, so please, consider supporting my choices. My four picks today, are Noki Bay, Buoy Base Galaxy, Rogueport and Somnom Woods.

For the 3D Mario games category, you will find Noki Bay and Buoy Base Galaxy. As you may know, I like Super Mario Sunshine, and despite how chaotic some levels are in this game (that damn Lily Pad Ride), you have to admit the worldbuilding and settings of this game are beautifully done. Noki Bay is easily one of my favorite locations in this game. The Nokis are cute, and so loveable, and I quite love how they are thankful for Mario's help. The soundtrack of Noki Bay is awesome, and you just feel like you are in a vacation, which is definitely fitting with Super Mario Sunshine. I really appreciate the positive atmosphere of this place, and how creative some of the levels in Noki Bay are. During multiple episodes in Noki Bay, Mario must find a way to clean up the bay, such as uncorking the waterfall from a Monty Mole, and being Eely-Mouth's dentist. As the last episode, the Nokis want to reward Mario for helping them at cleaning the bay. Isn't that awesome? Furthermore, I think it is a bit underrated, so I think it is the right time for Noki Bay to shine!

You don't think Noki Bay is good enough? Well, I still have another location to introduce you in this category! Buoy Base Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy (yes, the original, the one that Nintendo actually remembers) is another location that I quite appreciate from Super Mario's 3D games. I always thought that Buoy Base is kinda mysterious. According to one of the Gearmos there, it is a floating fortress that isn't used anymore, which makes it an abandoned place, and I am someone who loves lore like this. There might just be two Power Stars in there, making it quite short, but this little journey at Buoy Base is not forgettable, especially considering it was good enough for Nintendo to do the Topman's Tower, a level quite similar to Buoy Base Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2, with the same music. Oh, speaking of the music, it's a great one as well! If you are a little exhausted of listening to Gusty Garden Galaxy, I suggest you listen to Buoy Base Galaxy's music instead (I think it is even better than Gusty Garden's one). With the little lore and how memorable this level is, I think Buoy Base Galaxy deserves a spot among the best Mario levels.

Now, we are going into the Mario RPGs category. If we are speaking of locations among the Mario RPGs, I can't do that without mentioning Rogueport from my beloved Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Rogueport strikes me as the location that is the complete opposite of what we are used to see as locations in the Mario franchise. Forget about the grassy plains, the sandy desert, or the 1000th Toad Town. No let's do a shady port town with Bandits running around and a freaking gallows right in the middle of its plaza. Although Rogueport is quite messy, and far from being a beautiful landscape, I think the atmosphere and worldbuilding is amazing. Rogueport also has an awesome backstory. It was built over an old city which was destroyed during the battle between the four heroes and the Shadow Queen. The survivors from the old town (which is now known as Rogueport Sewers), have built Rogueport over it. There is also some great citizens living in Rogueport as well, such as Ms. Mowz and her Badge Shop, Professor Frankly who broke the fourth wall (you'll understand what I mean if you have played Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door), or the grumpy Zess T. who doesn't seem to be in a good relationship with Mario. Furthermore, have you consider finding the mystery behind the Thousand-Year Door located somewhere beneath Rogueport? I hope you'll understand why Rogueport stand out to me as a great location in the Mario franchise, and why I think you should vote for it!

If for some strange reason, you don't think Rogueport should be the Ultimate Location (which I think would be complete fallacy), you should absolutely consider voting for Somnom Woods. From Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Somnom Woods is an area with a great mysterious vibe. It's like going into an area hiding away many secrets that you just want to discover. The music from this area is just awesome, and is truly fitting the place. In this place, you can find the bed craftsman, Bedsmith who is dreaming of taking a nap on Prince Dreambert. Now I do wonder if Bedsmith can create an Ultimate Bed for me... In any case, that is not the moment for that. To stay on topic, Somnom Woods is also the place inhabited by the Nommons who would absolutely love to play some minigames with you. Those poor little moles once lived all over Pi'illo Island, but after Antasma decided to turn Pi'illos into stones, they started to live in peace in the depth of Somnom Woods. Oh, and Somnom Woods is also the location where you will have to go to find the absolutely beautiful bird Zeekeeper, guardian of Pi'illo Island. My, do Pi'illos have great taste in deity. Somnom Woods is absolutely beautiful and ravishing, and a I would certainly enjoy walking in a forest like this. If a location has to deserve title of "Ultimate Location", Somnom Woods is truly worthy of it.

Now that's all I had to say here, but there is still four other locations for you to look at! Therefore, without further ado, I will let Goombuigi to introduce you to his four locations.

Hello readers, I'm Goombuigi, and alongside Ninja Squid, I will be presenting four locations for the Ultimate Location Battle - two from the 3D Mario games, and two from the Mario RPG games. I will present each of them in detail, and explain why I think they should be crowned the Ultimate Location.

A lively, bustling city with hyper-realistic humans and skyscrapers, full of Power Moons and Coins, run by Mayor Pauline. This is New Donk City, the city that never leaps, and the capital of the Metro Kingdom. While small, it is packed with streets to explore and buildings to visit, including the Outdoor Café for those interested in a warm drink, the Rooftop Garden if you'd like a place to relax or play with the local rabbit, or if you wish for a more competitive experience, you can race in the RC Car Room and see how your best time compares to others from around the world. You have to be aware, though, that other parts of the city are under construction, and are unsafe to go to. (I wish someone had told that to poor Captain Toad...) The streets are bustling with taxis, which you can jump on (though the drivers won't be happy about that), and you can ride the streets on your own with a motorbike. The entire city is a callback to the original Donkey Kong and the Donkey Kong series, including Pauline (who has made a comeback as the city's mayor), the city's name, names of the streets (such as "Dixie Street" and "Cranky Avenue"), and the famous festival, where an 8-bit Donkey Kong can be found throwing barrels like there's no tomorrow. Speaking of which, the festival is a star attraction of New Donk City, be sure to check it out if you ever visit. While "Jump Up, Super Star" plays in the background, you can see Mario, 2D-ified, duking it out against Donkey Kong.

The second location that I picked for the 3D Mario games is Delfino Plaza. In contrast to the Metro Kingdom, while Isle Delfino is a hot tourist attraction, the vibe is much more peaceful. If you like relaxing on the beach, playing in the sand, swimming gleefully in the water, or kicking fruit for some reason, then Delfino Plaza is the place for you. Mario visited the place once, but he ran into quite some trouble there. He ended up in an awkward situation, to say the least. But don't let that paint a negative perception of the beautiful seaside paradise that is Delfino Plaza! There are a few landmarks here, such as the Shine Gate, where the Shine Sprites gather, and the Grand Pianta Statue, through which a passageway leads to Bianco Hills. The local Piantas are quite friendly to talk, and they certainly have more interesting things to say than other villagers that you may see elsewhere. But, I pretend to hear you ask, how is Delfino Plaza different from other locations on Isle Delfino? Firstly, the plaza is the hotspot of the island. If you ever visit Isle Delfino, you'll see the plaza first, and it will certainly leave an impression. In addition to the large area that you can explore here, there is even a sewage system full of secrets of its own, and missions to accomplish, so the area is far from dull.

And now, I shall switch gears and venture to RPG territory. Let's visit the peculiar, yet intriguing city that is Flipside. The reason that I say "peculiar* is because its somewhat 3D, but mostly operates in two dimensions. A two-dimensional area might sound shallow, but trust me, there's more depth to this location than it may seem, for Flipside contains many secrets. The atmosphere represents the overall feel of the entire universe of Super Paper Mario, as the look is minimalistic with geometry shapes dominating the area. The locals are nice (most of the at least, a little girl commented quite rudely on Mario's appearance when he was there), and a few in particular are very helpful - there's Merlon, the wise old wizard who somehow always has words to say, Howzit, who sells a variety of items, and I could go on. Flopside is constructed of several floors - the Flipside Tower contains portals to other areas, the First and Second Floor contain many buildings (including the shop, Merlon's house, and the Sweet Smiles restaurant) and residents to talk to, and if you dig deeper, you may end up in  The Underwhere or the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials. And I have yet to mention the alternate version that is Flopside, a darker, mirrored version of Flipside, with alternate counterparts of the folk in Flipside (Merlon's counterpart, for example, is called Nolrem). They're not the same location though, so I'll refrain from discussing Flopside in more detail. Overall, Flipside is one of the vastest overworlds around, featuring many secrets to uncover and hidden areas to explore.

Lastly, I shall travel to the high skies, to Nimbus Land. Hot take incoming - I prefer Mallow over Geno. Why? Because I feel that Mallow's character develops more during his time with Mario. Whereas Geno's character is mostly the same throughout the adventure, Mallow begins as a mostly wimpy character, but is soon told by Frogfucius that he is much more, and Nimbus Land symbolises the climax of Mallow's arc. Contrary to what Mallow believed, he was not a tadpole, rather the prince of Nimbus Land, which was, at the time, ruled by Valentina, with her assistant Dodo masked as the prince. With the help of Mario, he has to sneak into the castle, defeat Valentina, and save the kingdom. It's a sensation to see Mallow reunite with his parents and telling them about his adventure, and seeing the kingdom of Nimbus Land return to its former glory. Don't get me wrong, though, Nimbus Land isn't all about the story - as with any other location, there are some attractions, in this case, the hot springs, Garro's studio, in which he makes exquisite sculptures, and the Royal Bus (the driver Lakitu looks quite fit for the job). From all of the cloud locations, this one is my favorite, because of the cloud people, the pleasant atmosphere, and most importantly, the story element.

Mario RPGs
Come join us in the forum by discussing which location should move on to the semi-final here!