The 'Shroom:Issue 199/Pipe Plaza

Director's Notes
Written by:

Hello there, Pipe Plaza readers! Expecting Zange? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME. I've conquered this plaza and all the pipes within! ...mostly because Zange needed a substitute this month, but who really cares about the details?

There's not a whole lot to talk about here, but if you like Pipe Plaza (and I'm assuming you do, since you're reading this right now), I'm sure you'll enjoy what's in store for you this issue! We've got front page polls, wiki proposals, fighting robots, game releases, and Awards happenings all here and ready for reading.

Issue 200 is next month! Can you believe it? If you'd like to contribute to Pipe Plaza for this special milestone, whether that's a one-off or starting a new section, all the information you need is over on our sign up page. The final deadline for submissions is November 11th, so there's still about a month left. Whether you'd like to write about things that are happening in some area of the community like Community Report, or you want to discuss something you're passionate about like What's in a Campaign? does, we're looking forward to seeing what you have to share!

Section of the Month Poll Committee Discussion took first place again this month, this time the first submission by from this term covering controllers and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope! In second place we have 's Mario Calendar covering all the releases of September, which just so happens to include the original release of Super Mario Bros.! If that's not a month with a legacy... well, then the one with Donkey Kong probably still is. Finally, a relatively Blargg-free edition of Community Report took third, which mostly involved editors trying to decide how to split things. Be sure to keep voting!

Community Report
Written by:

It's that time again, proposals have been proposed so now I'm going to talk about them! I have nothing else interesting to say this month, sorry.

All information is accurate as of October 9, 2023. Proposals marked with an asterisk are updates on ones that were ongoing and covered in the previous issue.

Another pretty quiet month, all things considered, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Next month is going to be a bigger gap than usual so we have extra time to prepare for Issue 200 (HINT HINT), so I may or may not have my work cut out for me depending on how much stuff you guys decide to do until then! See you next time.

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:



Well, here I am again. Trapped in the endless cycle of Poll Committee Discussions. Perhaps one day, I shall taste the light of freedom, but until then, I dig ever deeper in the Poll Mines to appease my master. Which is... myself, because I'm the chairman. Oops. Anyway, the Poll Mines have finally struck gold, because we actually had a ton of new content announced for the first time in forever. Plus, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder literally only a week away, Mario fans are eating really good both this year and the next. Until then though, hopefully this issue of the 'Shroom will tide you over - Poll Committee Discussion included of course.

The Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct showcased many new power-ups & mechanics. Which feature are you most looking forward to from the game as a whole?


Oh boy, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This is it, the heavy hitter. The hot ticket item. The one everyone seems to be excited for. I still think that they should have just called it "Super Mario Wonder", but maybe they thought people would think it was an Odyssey sequel. Never underestimate the ability of a parent to buy someone the wrong video game for Christmas, though I doubt most kids would complain either way. Regardless of whether you're interested in the game though (or whether you think the name is any good), you can't deny that this game's really pushing the envelope in terms of new gimmicks, content, and mechanics in a way that the series hasn't really done in a long time. Chief among these, which a solid 32.56% of our voters are most interested in, are the new power-ups featured in the game. Y'know, stuff like the elephant fruit, or the bubble flower. While the most important aspect of one of these games is probably level design, it's something that usually can't be judged before the game comes out - and so, we fall back on the power-ups, the main means through which one of these games really carves out its own identity. In this sense, Wonder really seems to shine, giving us a great array of power-ups to look forward to. I'm skeptical of the elephant though if we're being honest. Outside of the water thing, which is kind of gimmicky, I'm not really sure what it adds to the game besides making you clunkier and heavier, which seems like it'd be a negative in a platformer. At least the dash seems kind of fun.

For me though? It's all about the badges, baby, and 19.53% of our voters agree. Previously a system seem largely in the first two Paper Mario (series) games, or something like Hollow Knight, Badges allow you to equip them in order to alter the basic gameplay in a unique way, in this case affecting your jumps and other key elements of the game. I think this change is totally awesome, and will be really interesting to see in practice when the game comes out. It allows everyone to customize their mechanics in a way that's fun and comfortable to them, and it'll be really cool to see them used with the development of speedrun strategies. Just a great addition to the 2D platforming series. Trailing shortly after are the Wonder Effect forms and the Wonder Effect levels, the former of which I don't really understand in the sense that I'm not sure why they're not just regular power-ups. I guess the point of Wonder, and the Wonder Effects in general, is to provide a venue to give the game a bunch of wacky level gimmicks that otherwise would seem too bizarre. In a game where the elephant is a regular power-up though, can you really say that about the Wonder forms? Oh well, I definitely won't say no to more variety in gameplay - and a combined 989 voters are happy to voice their support for the Wonder Effects.

Then, after skipping briefly over our favorite 4.49% of fence sitters (Probably people, in reality, who are just generally intrigued about various elements of the game and can't choose), and the Multiplayer Enjoyers, we reach the tragedy of Yoshi.

Ah, Yoshi. You'd be so much higher up on the list if you weren't done so dirty. This is the first time outside of his own series (unless you really count Yoshi's Island as "Super Mario World 2") that Yoshi has been made playable solo in the mainline Mario 2D platformers, and he even brings a unique playstyle with him, trading power-ups for innate abilities and being able to act as a mount in multiplayer, allowing two players to combine into one. This all sounds great, and if that was the extent of it, I believe wholeheartedly that Yoshi would be much, much higher on our poll rankings today. But no, he gets a mere, paltry 3.01% because of the simple fact that he is entirely invincible. No, this isn't an option or a toggle like the Super Guide in the NSMB games, this is just how Yoshi is - reducing him to a glorified Easy Mode like Nabbit before him, robbing him of any actual unique gameplay that comes with his new abilities. Genuinely a baffling choice across the board, I have no idea why they did this.

And 64 stragglers just don't care at all about anything in Wonder, zero hype. After thinking about what this game did to poor Yoshi... Maybe I'll join you guys...

Nintendo has announced several Mario-related titles planned for release in 2023 and 2024. Which one are you most looking forward to?


Praise Nintendo! ...For once. The lord hath been merciful, and we have been blessed at long last with a direct with some meat on its bones. Finally, some god damn video games on this video game console. Not just cheap spin-off sports games either, real games! Well, most of them are remakes admittedly, but not all of them! Most importantly, like I said earlier, this gives us something to talk about in the future. We're finally out of the Great Drought, and it feels good. And look, another poll from Turb. He's been busy this past period, it seems like. Normally I'd make some joke about how its 'about time' he did something, but honestly he's one of our more active members on the committee. Thanks, Turb. Anyway, regardless of anything else in the direct, Super Mario Bros. Wonder still tops the hype charts with a huge 52.51% of our votes. Not much of a surprise on that front, it's the closest to release of the lot, and we've seen the most of it. Plus, it's the first 2D Mario since New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which in and of itself was just a port of a Wii U game. It'd be interesting to see how these numbers will shift around after Wonder actually launches and people have to pick their second choice, but maybe that's a poll for another day.

Despite having under half the votes of Wonder, our second place still has a pretty meaty percentage in and of itself. That is, of course, the newly announced Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. This is even less of a surprise than Wonder is, this game carries a lot of weight, despite its paper-y appearance. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is widely known to be a great game with a massive fanbase. The battle system, the badge system, the comedy, the characters, and the setting are all largely beloved by classic Paper Mario fans, and it's held up as a shining example of what a Mario RPG can be. The game has also been stuck on the gamecube for almost 20 years, with the price to acquire a legal copy spiking heavily in the last couple years. It's increasingly hard to play without resorting to piracy, and has also found itself at the center of a bit of a culture war more recently, with fans of the classic title often finding themselves clashing with fans of the newer Paper Mario games such as Paper Mario: The Origami King and Paper Mario: Color Splash.

Most people still don't like Sticker Star though.

Another remake, once again with under half the votes of the entry above, comes next with the remake of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. There's not as much to say about this game as TTYD, not that it's bad by any means. On the contrary, Super Mario RPG is an equally great game, albeit one that's been made much more available over the years via Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online. This remake looks gorgeous, and sports a new, proper translation that is sure to be interesting for a variety of reasons to longtime fans, but it's still playable in its original state on various platforms, likely owing to its lower vote total of 8.21% to TTYD's 21.8%. Not far behind is Princess Peach: Showtime!, which is notable for being the first game with Princess Peach as the main character since the DS with Super Princess Peach. Princess Peach definitely has her fans, which (along with the general appeal of all the funny costumes she can wear) is probably why this game finds itself in 4th. That being said though, I don't think anyone actually knows what this game even is. There have since been more trailers, we've seen the villain and snippets of gameplay, but it's still not entirely clear as to what's going on here. Is it a platformer? An action RPG? Who knows. Once we get more details though, it's possible that this game could become a major contender in the hype market.

After this point though... votes start to drop off - not a surprise in some cases. The Switch port of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a... bizarre choice. Compared to the first and third games, Dark Moon is kind of the black sheep of the franchise, mostly being regarded as kind of forgettable owing to the many concessions it made in order to fit with the handheld format such as the mission mode. Not sure why on earth they ported this and not the first game's 3DS remake, and not surprised that no one seems to care. WarioWare is a great series, and the new entry likewise looks like fun, but it's not the kind of game that competes with something like Super Mario Wonder on a poll like this. This game would probably do a lot better without games like that on this poll. I think people are sleeping on Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo Switch) though, even if it's in a similar position to WarioWare. Perhaps it's due to franchise fatigue based on how often they were pumping out soulless games starring the Mini Marios a while ago, but I think this deserves a bit more buzz, because the first game in this series is a great puzzle platformer, and it's a shame that it's been bogged down in so much borderline shovelware since. Hopefully this remake gives the game new life - and can maybe revive the franchise with more games focused on this original direction rather than what it became.

Conclusion
Well, it's back to the mines for me. My own mines. That I own. They're mine.

Next month, it's time for Issue 200. It's up in the air still as to whether I'll contribute an article personally, but I can't overstate how much care some of the 'Shroom staff, community members, and other contributors are putting into this issue. Be sure to check it out, and if you're able, spare the Poll Committee Discussion a moment while you browse the multitude of special articles debuting next month. We'll be here, doing what we always do.

Anniversary Announcements
Written by:

Welcome back to Anniversary Announcements! The last one (real)!

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

All tournaments are complete or have projected completion dates, so let's see that last bit of info.

Mario Boards Mega Brawl  Forum thread Roserade (talk · Boards), Superchao (talk · Boards), Hooded Pitohui (talk · Boards)  The results of MBMB have been delayed due to Awards taking up most time for the writers. As a result, the release is now scheduled for 15 December, as a holiday event of sorts.

Awards Randomizer Killing Game: Wheel of Misfortune  Forum thread Waluigi Time (talk · Boards), Roserade (talk · Boards) Finished 12 players</li> </ul> The endgame story for this game is expected to be posted on 15 October.

<h5 style="background:#0093ff66;margin:0 0 1px;padding:4px 12px"> <ul style="background:#0093ff33;padding:6px;margin:0;list-style:none;display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:6px"> Forum thread</li> GBA (talk · Boards), individual game devs</li> Finished</li> </ul> Both weekends of Minecraft games have happened, with the second weekend being a bit calmer and with significantly more rats. Camp Sedonia and the DREAMBs within are still available for exploration.

<h5 style="background:#0093ff66;margin:0 0 1px;padding:4px 12px">The Scribble Scrabble 2023 <ul style="background:#0093ff33;padding:6px;margin:0;list-style:none;display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:6px"> Forum thread</li> Mr. Edo (talk · Boards)</li> Finished</li> </ul> All five rounds of Scribble have been completed, and have produced a winner! Congratulations go out to Toadbert101 (talk · Boards)! It is customary (though not an actual written rule) that the winner of each edition hosts the next, which Toadbert does appear to be planning. More about this will be reported in the next year.

And with that, we have now fully covered the 2023 season of awards! So, to reiterate last month's blurb: have a good one, merry Christmas, happy new year, and I hope to see you next year! Cheers!

Mario Calendar
Written by:

Happy Halloween month, everyone! Halloween is honestly a top 3 holiday for me. There are very few holidays that can even hope to match the vibes that this holiday brings to the whole month. And of course, one of the incredible perks that comes with Halloween is the fact that you get a brand new issue of Mario Calendar. Who doesn’t love that?

Region Abbreviations

Console Abbreviations


 * October 1
 * 1995 (NA): Mario Clash (VB)
 * 1997 (NA): Donkey Kong Land III (GB)
 * 2018 (NA): Mario Kart Arcade GP VR (Arcade)
 * 2019 (NA): Tetris 99 (Switch)
 * 2020 (ALL): Super Mario Bros. 35 (Switch eShop)


 * October 3
 * 2014 (NA/EU): Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)


 * October 4
 * 1995 (NA): Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
 * 2002 (EU): Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
 * 2004 (NA): Mario Pinball Land (GBA)
 * 2014 (AU): Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)


 * October 5
 * 1984 (JP):
 * Punch Ball Mario Bros. (NEC PCs)
 * Punch Ball Mario Bros. (Sharp)
 * 1995 (EU): Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
 * 1999 (NA): Mario Golf (GBC)
 * 2001 (EU/AU): Paper Mario (N64)
 * 2017 (JP): Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (3DS)
 * 2018 (ALL): Super Mario Party (Switch)


 * October 6
 * 2017 (NA/EU): Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (3DS)


 * October 7
 * 2009 (JP): Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (DSiWare)
 * 2016
 * (NA/EU): Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U)
 * (EU): Mario Party: Star Rush (3DS)
 * 2017 (AU): Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (3DS)


 * October 8
 * 2007 (NA): Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (Wii)
 * 2016
 * (AU): Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U)
 * (AU): Mario Party: Star Rush (3DS)


 * October 9
 * 1981 (NA): Egg (Game & Watch) (G&W)
 * 1988 (NA): Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
 * 2009 (EU): Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS)
 * 2014 (JP): Club Nintendo Picross+ (3DS eShop)


 * October 10
 * 1990 (NA): Nintendo World Championships 1990 (NES)
 * 2005 (NA): Mario Kart Arcade GP (Arcade)


 * October 11
 * 2002
 * (EU): Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (GBA)
 * (AU): Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
 * 2004 (NA): Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
 * 2005 (NA): SSX on Tour (GC)


 * October 12
 * 2007 (EU): DK: Jungle Climber (DS)
 * 2018 (NA): Luigi's Mansion (3DS)


 * October 13
 * 2000 (EU): Mario Party 2 (N64)
 * 2009 (NA):
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
 * 2016 (JP): Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U)


 * October 14
 * 1991 (NA): Mario the Juggler (G&W)
 * 2004 (JP): WarioWare: Twisted! (GBA)


 * October 15
 * 1986 (EU): Donkey Kong (NES)
 * 1987 (EU): Wrecking Crew (NES)
 * 2004 (EU): Donkey Konga (GC)
 * 2009 (AU):
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Nintendo DS)


 * October 16
 * 2009 (EU):
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Nintendo DS)
 * 2015 (NA): Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)
 * 2020 (ALL): Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Switch)


 * October 17
 * 2003
 * (JP): WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! (GC)
 * (EU): Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA)


 * October 18
 * 1985 (NA):
 * Donkey Kong Jr. Math (NES)
 * Pinball (NES)
 * Golf (NES)
 * Wrecking Crew (NES)
 * Super Mario Bros. (NES)


 * October 19
 * 1996 (JP): Picross 2 (GB)
 * 2018 (EU): Luigi's Mansion (3DS)


 * October 20
 * 2005 (JP): Super Princess Peach (DS)
 * 2016 (JP): Mario Party: Star Rush (3DS)
 * 2018 (AU): Luigi's Mansion (3DS)
 * 2022 (NA/EU/AU): Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Switch)
 * UPCOMING - 2023 (NA/EU/AU): Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)


 * October 21
 * 1983 (JP): Donkey Kong 3 (Arcade)
 * 1992 (JP): Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)
 * 1998 (JP): Wario Land II (GBC)
 * 2002 (NA): Mario Party 4 (GC)
 * 2003 (NA):
 * Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA)
 * Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (e-Reader)
 * 2005 (EU/AU): SSX on Tour (GC)
 * 2010 (JP): Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition (Wii)
 * 2016 (EU): Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS)


 * October 22
 * 2009 (AU): Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS)
 * 2016 (AU): Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS)


 * October 23
 * 1988 (JP): Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)


 * October 24
 * 2003 (AU): Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA)
 * 2005 (NA): Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (GC)


 * October 25
 * 2002 (EU): Game & Watch Gallery 4 (GBA)
 * 2004 (NA): Classic NES Series: Dr. Mario (GBA)
 * 2019 (ALL): Arcade Archives: Golf (Switch eShop)
 * 2021 (NA): Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online (Switch eShop)


 * October 26
 * 1982 (JP/NA): Donkey Kong Jr. (Game & Watch) (G&W)
 * 1996 (JP): Tetris Attack (GB)
 * 1999 (EU/AU): Mario Golf (Game Boy Color) (GBC)
 * 2006 (AU): Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (DS)
 * 2021 (JP/EU/AU): Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online (Switch eShop)


 * October 27
 * 1995 (JP): Tetris Attack (SNES)
 * 2017 (ALL): Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)


 * October 28
 * 2002 (NA): Game & Watch Gallery 4 (GBA)
 * 2004
 * (JP): Mario Power Tennis (GC)
 * (AU): Donkey Konga (GC)
 * 2005 (EU): Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (GC)


 * October 29
 * 2021 (ALL): Mario Party Superstars (Switch)


 * October 30
 * 1987 (JP): Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race (Famicom)


 * October 31
 * 1996 (NA): Mario Teaches Typing 2 (MS-DOS)
 * 2019 (ALL): Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch)

What a crazy month. October honestly seems to be all over the place for Nintendo, and I am absolutely loving it. The biggest and most obvious thing about this month is just how many big releases Nintendo has been putting in late October recently. This primarily started with Super Mario Odyssey in 2017, but it was continued in 2019 with Luigi’s Mansion 3, 2021 with Mario Party Superstars, 2022 with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, and 2023 with the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This is clearly the prime release slot that Nintendo keeps for its golden goose Mario, and it is a strategy that is evidently paying off.

Speaking of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, I'm really looking forward to this game! It’s been so incredibly long since we’ve gotten a new, original 2D Mario game, and I am absolutely here for it. 3D Mario has always been my preference, but I grew up with the New Super Mario Bros. series and am quite excited for something new. No shade on the games that shaped my childhood, but I’m looking forward to what else Nintendo has up their sleeves!

Anyways, I hope that you all have a fantastic rest of your month and a wonderful Halloween! See you next month.

What's in a Campaign?
Written by:

Good evening, dear readers, and welcome to a very special What's in a Campaign? This month, we feature the true terrors of Robot Combat. For this month and this month only, we shall be looking at the spookiest of all teams, the robot team known only as Team Death. Before you will stand the true horrors created by the madman roboteer Colin Scott, horrifying monsters of the arena such as Death Warmed Up and Immortalis. Be warned, dear reader, that those of you with weak knees and weaker bladders should go no farther, but for those of you brave enough to stay, I promise you this will be a thriller!

First appearing in Series 2 with their "heavyweight" robot Piece De Resistance, Team Death was one of the more colorful teams in the history of Robot Wars. Captained by Colin Scott, with a variety of members coming in and out throughout the wars, Team Death would appear in four separate wars, each time with a new robot. With a design philosophy that could best be described as "unique," Colin Scott wasn't necessarily out to build the most cutting-edge or most effective fighting robot. Instead, he was out to answer the real questions, such as "can a microwave become a fighting robot? How about a plastic dustbin?" The answers to these questions were always a simple "yes, but, oh god, you shouldn't do it"!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. This month, there are no videos, and if you're wondering why, you'll understand once we talk about these bots!

Their first robot, Piece De Resistance, is probably the team's most well-known robot in the Robot Wars community. Only appearing in Series 2, Piece De Resistance sported a chassis that was made out of a microwave, wheels from a tricycle, and mini-windshield wiper motors for power. Weighing only 58kg, Piece De Resistance was one of the lightest robots in the whole competition. For a "weapon," it had a snow shovel at the front that could theoretically lift things. With a design that could charitably be described as "unique," looking like a discount horror prop, including eyeballs sticking out the side for some reason and a helmeted head on top, Piece De Resistance catches the eyes of any who see it.



Qualifying through the Gauntlet, as all non-seeded robots did, Piece De Resistance was placed in Heat A, you know, that heat we covered all the way back in Issue 188, the really good heat with robots such as Napalm and Panda Monium! For an explanation on the Series 2 format, please refer to that section! Taking on the Gauntlet, Piece De Resistance, with its snow shovel lifter, would attempt the middle route, which involved breaking down a wall of bricks. Piece De Resistance would slowly drive towards the middle, hitting the brick wall and knocking exactly zero down! As this happens, in a truly great moment, the show cuts to an interview with Colin, who confidently declares that the snow shovel would let them pick the bricks up! So, Piece De Resistance hits the bricks like three more times, never managing to knock them down. Having no luck with the bricks, Piece De Resistance decides to try another route, but Matilda and Sir Killalot, both bored to death and horrified by what they're seeing, decide they've had enough of whatever the hell this is and go in for the attack. Sir Killalot picks up the microwave robot, and, funnily enough, drives them over the bricks as time expires.

I think this counts towards Piece De Resistance's final distance traveled, which is a very bad 3.92 meters. Now, you'd think that would be such a poor showing that they'd be sent home, right? Wrong! Somehow, Caliban manages to travel only 0.2 meters! So, somehow, Piece De Resistance moved on to the Trial stage!

The trial for Heat A was Skittles. The goal was to knock down as many barrels as possible. Now, you might think Piece De Resistance, who couldn't knock down any bricks in the first round, would struggle knocking down barrels. Well, don't worry! Colin has turbocharged Piece De Resistance! What does that mean, you ask? It means he put bigger batteries in it!

So Piece De Resistance "charges" towards the barrels with its new maximum overdrive mode and… fails to knock over a single barrel. In fact, I'm not even sure if the stack moves at all! This goes on for like three more times before they put the ten-second timer on. What that means is that there is a whole lot of nothing happening in this run! The House Robots attack, because the producers had to get something worth televising out of this. Piece De Resistance's final score is zero barrels, which, unsurprisingly, is not enough to make it to the next round, sending Piece De Resistance home!

So you might be thinking that was pretty bad, but we've got three more robots to go, and, surely, they can't get worse than that! Well, hold that thought, because Team Death returns in Series 3 with a brand new robot called Death Warmed Up. This is probably my favorite robot they made when it comes to looks. It's like a robotic skelly boy sitting on a throne. He is even wearing adorable little skelly shoes! It also has a bunch of bits just sticking out of it, with what looks like a wing on the left side to… reduce wind resistance. Oh, of course. The body is made of 50% fiberglass and 50% wood. For weapons, it has a rear-mounted pneumatic trident, whatever the fuck that means. It also has an electric hedge trimmer and something called an "earthquake saw", so you know this robot is going to do some serious damage!



Death Warmed Up qualified for Series 3 through the Gauntlet, which, despite not being in Series 3, was still being used for qualifiers, but, to be honest, with that look, there's no way Death Warmed Up wasn't going to qualify. The producers would have accepted it on visual look alone. Placed in Heat H, Death Warmed Up would face off against the lifter Stealth. This fight can only really be legally described as a fight. The two robots slowly drive towards each other. Of course, Stealth, which has a wedge, gets the better of Death Warmed Up because… well, because it's Death Warmed Up. Stealth would then glacially drive Death Warmed Up onto the flame pit, where Shunt would drive up and just cleave Death Warmed Up with its axe. Death Warmed Up tries to drive away, but they get stuck on the lip of the flame pit.



Trapped on the flame pit, the fiberglass body starts melting and the wooden frame starts smoking. Shunt, not wanting to see this clear and obvious fire hazard burst into total flames, pushes it off the flame pit. Death Warmed Up then begins to drive around (with a little bit of its body still on fire, by the way) until Stealth lightly bumps into it. They both break down, I think, but I guess Stealth moved last, so Stealth gets the win. It's a classic Series 3 bad fight, because, fun fact guys, it was a mistake to make all of Series 3 1v1 fights. Oh, by the way, what is Stealth's "prize" for winning this fight? Getting torn apart by Hypno Disc in round 2!

After this, Team Death would decide to take a series off. Team Captain Colin decided to go back to the drawing board, you see, but they'd return in Series 5 with not only a new robot, but also new team members. Yes, Bryan Newcombe and Julie Scott are gone. In their place are Stephen Keating and Jordan Keating. I'm sure this new blood is going to be Team Death's ticket to success. Their new robot, Immortalis, is probably my least favorite of the four. It's just a wolfman face attached to a plow. I don't know; I just don't think it's that interesting. The drive came from a bumper car and the hydraulic system came from a bus. It also has spikes and a concrete saw for weapons. You know what they say. Third time is the charm, and it's time to do some damage!



In the qualifiers, Immortalis fought a four-way melee against SMIDSY, Viking, and Tridentate. It might shock you to hear this, but Immortalis did not win this fight. Though it lost, it was given a discretionary place in the wars. This makes sense. It's got a distinct look and it's perfect first-round fodder for your seeded robots to look strong against. Facing off against the 14 seed X-Terminator, the fight begins with X-Terminator charging at Immortalis, landing a blow with its "mighty" axe. But then something amazing happens! Immortalis activates its flipper, and that, combined with X-Terminator's own momentum, turns X-Terminator over. That's right, baby! Team Death has launched a successful attack! The two robots are stuck together at this point. Refbot breaks them apart, then the fight turns into a farce. X-Terminator starts attacking Refbot for some reason. Immortalis just drives away and ends up attacked by Sgt. Bash and then by Shunt, who just smashes the shit out of its casing.



Under this assault, Immortalis… breaks down? X-Terminator goes through to the second round, where they proceed to be humiliated, getting beaten by a full-body spinner whose spinning motor was broken. But, hey, at least Team Death landed that attack, babyyy!

Team Death would attempt to enter Series 6 with a robot named Devil Rider, but failed to qualify for the first and only time. If you think about the quality of these robots, that is actually pretty amazing! Obviously, for Series 7, Team Death ditched that loser bot Devil Rider, who wasn't worth the Team Death branding. Instead, they built a new robot, Metalis. Now, design-wise, this one is probably the most boring, because it doesn't really have any horror/sci-fi iconography to it, but it's probably the most fighting robot-looking bot of all the Team Death robots. It has a strange triangle body shape with a steel side skirt. Their primary weapon was a unique concept. The whole body was a lifter, which is something I don't think any other robot has tried. In theory, this means that Metalis can attack from any direction and it means they'll always be able to self-right! Their secondary weapon, connected up top to what they called "the shark fin", is a crusher claw that almost looks like it's powered by a massive spring. The armor was apparently made to be sledgehammer-proof, which Is an odd decision since, outside of the house robot Mr. Psycho, the only other sledgehammer bot was Thor. As far as fighting robots go, this is absolutely the highest quality one they've built.



Stop me if you've heard this one before, but Metalis lost its qualifier melee. But don't worry! Unlike that LOSER Devil Rider, Metalis was given a discretionary spot, probably because the producers wanted to see this do whatever the hell it was supposed to do. Placed in Heat H, Metalis had the fortune to be placed in the melee with the seeded robot Ming Dynasty (seeded 15). Now, usually, that would be bad, because seeded robots are supposed to be good, but Ming Dynasty, the successor to the thoroughly-mediocre Ming 3, is using a fucking drill in 2004, in the year of our lord 2004, and are pretty much considered one of the worst seeds of all time. The other two robots in the fight are the newcomer to the UK wars Scraptosaur (from the Dutch Wars) and Ceros, who are both flippers. Metalis starts the fight just kind of driving around and bumping into Ceros and Scraptosaur. Ceros flips over Ming Dynasty as Metalis drives around, neither crushing nor lifting anything.



Metalis would avoid a flip from Scraptosaur, but couldn't avoid one from Ceros. But don't worry, because, thanks to the full-body lifter, they can easily self-right! Oh, wait, what's that? Oh, they can't self-right? So… yeah, it turns out they can't self-right and they just get counted out and sent home! At least they get sent home alongside Ming Dynasty, who would be eliminated via judges' decision after doing exactly nothing throughout the entire fight!

That would be the end of Team Death's televised career, or it would at least sort of be. You see, Colin Scott, between the classic series ending and the reboot, had built a robot called Chimera. This robot did enter the reboot, but, by that point, Colin Scott had sold it, so it doesn't count as a Team Death robot. But don't worry, because it also won no battles!

Team Death was a fun team. They built unique, but bad, robots. It was clear that Colin Scott was building these robots for fun and that he knew he wasn't going to make any noise. Their most famous robot, Piece De Resistance, known as Piece De Shit in the Robot Wars community, still sort of competes to this day. It's not the original robot itself, obviously, but instead a featherweight bot Colin Scott built that was based on Piece De Resistance. This version, with a spatula instead of a shovel, has even won a few matches on the live circuit! Thanks to their creative and fun robots, Team Death was always a welcome sight in Robot Wars, and, while they had almost no success, with Piece De Resistance (somehow) being their only machine to make it out of the first round of any competition, they were still a fun team that made some very creative robots.

That will end our tale for this month. The moral of this story? Isn't it obvious? If you're going to build a bad robot, the least you can do is put a skelly boy on it. That's all for this month. Join us next month for a special – but in a different way – What's in a Campaign? with more robot combat!