The 'Shroom:Issue 176/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

Good day to all the wonderful readers out there! College is slowly killing me. End of term bites. Send help and LOTS of Starbucks (because going to college in a town that has a Starbucks in a grocery store on the way to campus has absolutely turned me into a junkie).

As always, if you enjoy the things you see here, you can come join us by writing your own section! Go to the sign up page for everything you need to get started!

Have a good month, and to my fellow college students, may your finals go easy on you.

Section of the Month

NIWA News
Written by:

Hello, everyone! Welcome to NIWA News, a section where I show the going ons with the wikis in our NIWA group within the last month!

Promotions
 * Vivian was promoted to the rank of Administrator on Nookipedia!

Demotions
 * Carmenstar97, Crystal Talian, Dennou Zenshi, and Umeko were all demoted on Bulbapedia due to retiring.
 * KPH2293 was demoted on the Super Mario Wiki due to resigning.

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:



Expecting another member of the Poll Committee? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME. I'll be your Poll Committee Discusser today, representing the Twelfth Poll Committee under the leadership of our boss, the bravest, smartest, most handsomest Ray Trace. And now it's time to do what I do best, peddle cereal write 'Shroom sections!

The News
Is this the part where I tell the public the Poll Committee secrets that we're allowed to share? I think it is. We're still working behind the scenes to determine what order we'll be writing Poll Committee Discussion in, but for now, none of that matters because I'm first! Wahaha! Well, I guess the boss was first, but that's beside the point. That's basically all there is to talk about besides the top secret classified stuff that we definitely aren't working on.

Analyses
Our first poll is by TasteTheFiresOfHelp, focusing on the ever-controversial Paper Mario series, more specifically, what battle systems people would want to see in the next game. Despite there only being six Paper Mario games, there's over half as many unique gameplay styles! They sure like changing things up over there, for better or worse.
 * The Paper Mario series has had many different battle systems. What battle system should the next Paper Mario game have?

Dominating the poll with 66% of the votes is overwhelming support to a return for the traditional turn-based battles seen in the original Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, not very surprising given the popularity of those games. In a distant second place, 11% of voters said that they would like to see an entirely new battle system in the next Paper Mario game. Maybe they don't think any of the previously used battle systems are worth returning to, or maybe they just like the idea of the series continuing to innovate. Next, 8% of voters voted for a return to the real-time platformer battle style of Super Paper Mario. An additional 8% of voters simply had no opinion, which doesn't really bode well for the popularity of the remaining games in the series, does it? Only 4% of voters supported bringing back the ring-based battles from Paper Mario: The Origami King, suggesting that in spite of the game's popularity, the combat is considered one of its weaker aspects. A measly 2% of voters supported bringing back the battle system revolving around single-use items from Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash, reflecting the poor reception of these games. Finally, 1% of voters don't want to see the Paper Mario series continue at all.

The consensus is pretty clear here, with the mechanics of the original games having overwhelming popularity, decreasing over the run of the series (with the exception of Origami King cutting in line ahead of the notoriously unpopular Sticker Star and Color Splash). Maybe it's about time for a full return to the series' roots.

The other poll I'll be talking about today comes to us courtesy of our boss, Ray Trace. The casting announcement for Illumination's Mario film was probably the highlight of the September Nintendo Direct, not necessarily for all the right reasons, but hey, it definitely made an impression. And of course being the efficient worl- I mean poll creators that we are, we wasted no time capitalizing on it!
 * What are your thoughts on the 2022 Mario movie casting?

The reactions to the cast are mostly positive here, with 34% of the voters being fine with the casting, though still wishing some of the voice actors from the games were cast instead. I assume most of the people who voted for this option wanted Charles Martinet back as Mario and Luigi, but hey, maybe there's some Samantha Kelly or Kenny James fans out there too. In second place, 19% of voters enjoyed the casting choices, no strings attached. Things take a bit of a turn from here, with 13% of the voters being disappointed and wishing the entire cast from the games was used. 11% of voters were fine with celebrity voice actors being used, but they thought some of the choices were unfitting. 7% didn't care about the casting because they were prioritized other aspects of the film, and an additional 7% had no opinion at all. 6% of the voters don't like the casting choices, but still thought that the initial reveal was fun. Finally, 3% of voters don't like the cast, but would still prefer not to use the voice actors from the games.

So it seems like the casting was actually pretty well received, with more than half of the voters having at least a mostly positive opinion. I think regardless of quality, we can at least expect an interesting movie that will be fun to talk about, if the cast and the initial reactions to it are any indication.

Conclusion
Wow that was a lot easier than doing Awards Analysis! There's not much left for me to say at this point, so be sure to check back next month when another one of my fellow min- um, I mean Poll Committee members, discusses the next batch of polls! And buy Waluigi Time Cereal!

Mario Calendar
Written by:

Hey everyone, who’s ready for another Mario Calendar? Let’s see what’s happened in November!

Region Abbreviations

Console Abbreviations


 * November 1
 * 1992 (NA): Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)
 * 1998 (EU): Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GBC)
 * 2000 (JP): Mario Tennis (GBC)
 * 2007
 * (JP): Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
 * (AU): DK: Jungle Climber (DS)
 * 2013 (NA): New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
 * 2019 (JP): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch)


 * November 3
 * 1996 (JP): BS Yoshi no Panepon (Satellaview)
 * 2000 (EU/AU): Mario Tennis (N64)
 * 2011 (JP): Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)


 * November 4
 * 2005 (EU): Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (GBA)
 * 2015 (EU): Photos with Mario (3DS eShop)
 * 2016 (NA): Mario Party: Star Rush (3DS)


 * November 5
 * 2009 (JP): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
 * 2019 (NA): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch)


 * November 6
 * 2009 (NA): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)


 * November 7
 * 2003 (JP): Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)
 * 2005 (NA):
 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (GBA)
 * Mario Party 7 (GC)
 * 2013 (AU): New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
 * 2014 (EU): Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)


 * November 8
 * 2002 (JP): Mario Party 4 (GC)
 * 2004 (NA): Mario Power Tennis (GC)
 * 2007 (JP): Mario Party DS (DS)
 * 2013 (EU):
 * Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (Wii U)
 * New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
 * 2014 (AU): Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)
 * 2018 (JP): Luigi's Mansion (3DS)
 * 2019 (EU/AU): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch)


 * November 9
 * 2001 (AU): Wario Land 4 (GBA)
 * 2013 (AU): Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (Wii U)


 * November 10
 * 1983 (NA): Mario's Bombs Away (G&W)
 * 2005 (JP): Mario Party 7 (GC)
 * 2015 (NA): Nintendo Badge Arcade (3DS)
 * 2017 (NA): Mario Party: The Top 100 (3DS)


 * November 11
 * 2002 (NA): Mario Bros.-e (e-Reader)
 * 2003 (NA): Mario Party 5 (GC)
 * 2005 (EU): Mario Superstar Baseball (GC)
 * 2012 (NA): Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)


 * November 12
 * 2004 (EU): Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
 * 2007 (NA): Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
 * 2009 (AU): New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)


 * November 13
 * 1984 (NA): Donkey Kong Hockey (G&W)
 * 1992 (NA): Mario Teaches Typing (MS-DOS)
 * 2006 (NA): Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
 * 2011 (NA): Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
 * 2014 (JP): Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)
 * 2015 (EU/AU): Nintendo Badge Arcade (3DS)
 * 2020 (ALL): Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. (G&W)


 * November 14
 * 2003 (EU): Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)
 * 2005 (NA): Mario Kart DS (DS)
 * 2010 (NA): Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (DS)


 * November 15
 * 1986
 * (EU): Golf (NES)
 * (UK): Donkey Kong (ZX)
 * 2004 (NA): Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (GBA)
 * 2005 (CHN): Super Smash Bros. (IQ)
 * 2009 (NA): New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
 * 2011 (NA): Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)
 * 2013 (NA): Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (Wii U)


 * November 16
 * 2001 (EU):
 * Mario Party 3 (N64)
 * Wario Land 4 (GBA)
 * 2002 (NA): Donkey Kong-e (e-Reader)
 * 2006 (JP): Donkey Kong: Banana Kingdom (Arcade)
 * 2007 (EU): Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)


 * November 17
 * 2000 (EU): Donkey Kong Country (GBC)
 * 2003
 * (NA):
 * Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)
 * (CHN):
 * Dr. Mario 64 (IQ)
 * Super Mario 64 (IQ)
 * 2005 (AU): Mario Kart DS (DS)
 * 2011 (AU): Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)


 * November 18
 * 1994 (EU): Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
 * 1996 (NA): Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (GBA)
 * 2001 (NA): Luigi's Mansion (GC)
 * 2004
 * (JP): Mario Party 6 (GC)
 * (AU): Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
 * 2005 (EU):
 * Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA)
 * Super Mario Strikers (GC)
 * 2011 (EU):
 * Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)
 * Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
 * 2012 (NA):
 * New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
 * Nintendo Land (Wii U)


 * November 19
 * 1999 (EU): Super Smash Bros. (N64)
 * 2001 (NA): Wario Land 4 (GBA)
 * 2003 (AU): Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)
 * 2004 (EU): Mario vs. Donkey Kong (GBA)
 * 2005 (JP): Mario Kart Arcade GP (Arcade)
 * 2007 (NA): Mario Party DS (DS)
 * 2009 (JP): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)


 * November 20
 * 1998 (NA): Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GBC)
 * 2000 (NA): Donkey Kong Country (NA)
 * 2009 (EU): New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
 * 2015 (NA/EU): Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)


 * November 21
 * 1990 (JP): Super Mario World (SNES)
 * 1992 (JP):
 * Yoshi's Cookie (GB)
 * Yoshi's Cookie (NES)
 * 1994 (NA):
 * Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
 * Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge (SNES)
 * 1995 (JP): Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
 * 1997 (JP/EU): Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
 * 2001 (JP): Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)
 * 2003 (JP): Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
 * 2004 (NA): Super Mario 64 DS (DS)
 * 2010 (NA): Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)
 * 2013 (JP): Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)
 * 2014 (NA): Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)
 * 2015 (AU): Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)


 * November 22
 * 1999 (NA): Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
 * 2003 (EU): Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
 * 2007 (JP/AU): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
 * 2013 (NA):
 * Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS)
 * Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)


 * November 23
 * 1992 (AU): Mario Teaches Typing (MS-DOS)
 * 1996 (JP):
 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (SNES)
 * Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB)
 * 2006 (AU): Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
 * 2007 (EU):
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
 * Mario Party DS (DS)


 * November 24
 * 1997 (NA): Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
 * 2005
 * (JP): SSX on Tour (GC)
 * (AU): Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (GC)
 * 2011 (AU): Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)


 * November 25
 * 2005 (EU):
 * Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (GBA)
 * Mario Kart DS (DS)
 * 2010 (JP): Mario Sports Mix (Wii)


 * November 26
 * 1994 (JP): Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
 * 2004 (EU/AU): Mario Pinball Land (GBA)


 * November 27
 * 1995 (NA): Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB)


 * November 28
 * 1989 (JP): Golf (GB)
 * 1996 (EU):
 * Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB)
 * Tetris Attack (GB)
 * Tetris Attack (SNES)
 * 2003
 * (JP): Mario Party 5 (GC)
 * (AU): Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
 * 2005 (NA):
 * Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (GBA)
 * Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
 * 2014 (EU): Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)


 * November 29
 * 2002 (EU/AU): Mario Party 4 (GC)
 * 2007 (AU): Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
 * 2013 (EU): Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)
 * 2014 (AU): Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)


 * November 30
 * 1988 (JP): Kaettekita Mario Bros. (Famicom)
 * 2012 (EU/AU):
 * New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
 * Nintendo Land (Wii U)
 * 2013 (AU): Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)

Wow, what a month!! This is significantly more games than most months, and there were some really good ones. Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario World both came out, and those are some of the best Mario games in the series. And of course, all sorts of spin-offs came out this month. And a lot of Donkey Kong! Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed, see you next month!

What's in a Campaign?
By:

Welcome back, 'Shroom readers, to another What's in a Campaign? where we look at various contestants from the hit show Robot Wars. Last month, we looked at surprise Series 3 heat winner, Trident, as part of our one-time Series 3 semi-finalists. This month, we're going to be looking at Blade, the in-between to our nice and mean theme.



Weighing 75.5kg with a top speed of 10mph, Blade was built by father and son team, Ben Reid, Geoff Reid, and their friend and team captain, Josh Ainslee. Blade was built mostly of car parts and armored with a thick sheet of steel and shatterproof polycarbonate. For a weapon, the team chose a 42cm rotating lawn mower blade that - fun fact - was taken from team captain Josh Ainslee's mom without her permission! The rotating blade spins like a prototype spinning drum, but because it's a lawn mower blade, and, thus, designed to cut grass, it's not exactly the best thing for attacking metal. Blade has fairly high ground clearance as well as no Self-Righting Mechanism, but it was Series 3, so these things are understandable.

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. Also, once again, nobody has a full compilation of Blades fights so we'll be using multiple videos.

Qualifying through the gauntlet, Blade was placed in Heat C, where, in its first fight (12:30), it came up against the similarly-boringly named robot known as Spike. Right off the bat, Blade is the superior robot, taking off some of Spike's plastic accessories on its first charge (scoring some of those sweet, sweet damage points in the process). After that, the action slows down into a pushing match, with the slow Spike briefly gaining the advantage and slowly pushing Blade before Sgt. Bash breaks them up. Blade retreats a bit before going back on the attack, pushing Spike in the CPZ where it and Sgt. Bash attack it.



Using its pincers, Sgt. Bash crumples Spike's armor before knocking off some more plastic, with Spike unable to escape due to its low speed. Eventually Spike manages to escape and the blades of Blade stop spinning. After this, nothing really happens, with both bots struggling to move. The end is called just before Blade pushes Spike into the pit. A judge's decision commences, and Blade is sent through to the 2nd round.

In the 2nd round (33:54), Blade was matched up against the actually pretty cool hydraulic cutter and pickaxe machine, Agent Orange. This is actually a pretty good fight by Series 3 standards. Agent Orange starts the action off by clamping Blade with its claw and striking it with its pickaxe (one of the few times an early series' dual weapons actually worked), before driving Blade near the CPZ, where Blade, in an attempt to get away from Matilda, drives over the pneumatic floor spikes and is flipped onto its side. Now, you'd think this would be fight over, because Blade can't self-right, but, fortunately for Blade, Agent Orange comes in on a drive, just knocking the stuck Blade into the CPZ, where Matilda ends up righting it with its tusks. From there, Blade begins to take control, driving Agent Orange into both the wall and the CPZ, where Matilda would attack Agent Orange with its tusks.

The attacks by Matilda appeared to have caused some mobility issues for Agent Orange, because, after that, it is barely able to drive. And while it isn't counted out, the fight ends with Blade spinning in celebration thinking they've won. Once again, a judges decision is called and, by a 2-1 margin, Blade is sent into the Heat Final.

In the Heat Final (39:04), Blade is once again a receiver of good fortune, because, shockingly, Heat and Series favorite Razer crashed out in the 2nd round. During its fight with Aggrobot, which Razer started out utterly dominating, Razer ended up pinning itself to the floor, immobilising itself and sending Aggorbot to the Heat Final. In this fight, Blade dominates Aggrobot, shoving the robot around and basically doing all the attacking. The damage that Razer caused Aggrobot is clearly having an effect on it, because Aggrobot is never able to get anything going. A particularly notable moment in this fight is that, in a somewhat rare moment for this series, Blade manages to take a full axe blow from House Robot Shunt without taking any damage, before shoving Aggrobot in the wall, pinning it against it as Blade rams into it repeatedly. Aggrobot manages to get itself off the wall, but the damage is done. Aggrobot stops moving as Blade shoves it onto the flame pit. Aggrobot is counted out and Blade is declared the winner and is sent into the series Semi-Final.

In the Semi-Final (20:15), the Blade team was matched up against series veterans, the Bodmin Community College boys (builder of Series 1 champion, Roadblock) and their fur-suited robot, Beast of Bodmin. This would be where the Blade team's luck would run out. Beast of Bodmin is simply a better machine. Its wedge is great, it's faster, and it's better driven. Blade certainly tries in this fight, but the Bodmin Wedge is just too good, and Blade isn't able to get around it. Eventually, exactly what Blade was trying to avoid happening happens, and the machine ends up driving up the ramp and is tipped over by the weird flipping arm of Beast of Bodmin.



Unlike in the Agent Orange fight, Blade isn't righted and is counted out and sent out of the competition. Worst of all, during the post-fighting beating by the House Robots, the lawnmower blade broke, most definitely infuriating Josh Ainslie's mom!

Blade's kind of an interesting case amongst the Series 3 heat winners, because it's not great but it's also not terrible. While I don't think it could have won any other heats besides maybe Trident's, I think there are quite a few heats where it would make the 2nd round or even the heat final in a small amount. Blade would never reappear in Robot Wars, which is honestly a shame, because I think with some upgrades Blade could have been at least a heat finalist in Series 4. Originally, Blade was going to return in Series 4 with an upgraded Robot called Blade's Big Bruva and was awarded the 14th seed (two spots ahead of fellow Series 3 Semi-Finalst Trident). This would have put it in Heat J, where it would have definitely made at least the Heat Semi-Final, because its first round would have been against the useless robot called Hammer and Tong and the walker bot known as Clawed Hopper. It probably wouldn't have gone any further and probably would have been defeated by Bigger Brother in the 2nd round, but it's still a shame that a robot that had a decent bit of potential would never appear again.