The 'Shroom:Issue 170/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

Hello lovely readers, and welcome to a new Pipe Plaza! I've successfully survived my first year of college!! No idea how I managed to pull that one off but glad to have regardless!

We have all kinds of fun, new things in store for this month! Firstly, awards season is up and running so Lakituthequick is back with Anniversary Announcements! Second, we have two special one-off sections this month! Hooded Pitohui talks about all the latest forum antics in Forum Update, and Shoey introduces us to one of the robots from Robot Wars. While there are just one-offs for now, we hope both of these are able to come back in the future! In the meantime, if any of you readers are interested in writing a section similar to these, you should head on over to the sign up page to get started!

That's all from me for this month! If you still have finals then may you survive those, and enjoy this month's Pipe Plaza offerings!

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
 * HylianAngel and PanchamBro were both promoted to the rank of Administrator on Nookipedia!
 * Keyblade Master was promoted to the rank of Patroller on the Super Mario Wiki!
 * Gigi was promoted to the rank of Bureaucrat on WiKirby, in accordance with her new role as Editor-in-Chief!

Demotions
 * Moydow has been fully demoted from Fire Emblem Wiki due to inactivity.

Other
 * The Dragalia Lost Wiki has been accepted into NIWA!

Mario Calendar
Written by:

Hey everyone! GPM here, and I’m back with another Mario Calendar, this time for May. I hope everyone had a good Star Wars Day, and a great end to Ramadan if you participate! Anyways, let’s just jump into it!

Region Abbreviations

Console Abbreviations


 * May 1
 * 1984 (JP): Golf (NES)
 * 2009 (AU): Dr. Mario Express (DSiWare)
 * 2014 (JP): Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)
 * 2015 (AU): amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits (Wii U)
 * 2020 (ALL): Arcade Archives: VS. Wrecking Crew (Switch eShop)


 * May 2
 * 2014 (NA/EU): Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)


 * May 3
 * 2002 (EU): Luigi's Mansion (GC)
 * 2014 (AU): Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)
 * 2018 (JP): Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)


 * May 4
 * 2009 (NA): New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Wii)
 * 2018 (NA/EU/AU): Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)


 * May 6
 * 2005 (EU): Yoshi Touch & Go (DS)


 * May 7
 * 2001 (NA): Mario Party 3 (N64)


 * May 8
 * 2009 (EU): Dr. Mario Express (DSiWare)
 * 2015 (EU): Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition (3DS)


 * May 9
 * 2005 (NA): Donkey Konga 2 (NA)
 * 2013 (NA/EU): Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (3DS eShop)
 * 2015 (AU): Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition (3DS)


 * May 10
 * 1998 (EU): Yoshi's Story (N64)
 * 1999 (NA): Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (GBC)
 * 2013 (AU): Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (3DS eShop)

Edition]] (Switch eShop)
 * May 11
 * 1997 (JP): Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle (Satellaview)
 * 1998 (AU): Yoshi's Story (N64)
 * 2001 (JP): Mobile Golf (GBC)
 * 2017 (NA): [[Minecraft|Minecraft: Nintendo Switch


 * May 12
 * 2017 (JP/EU/AU): Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Switch eShop)


 * May 13
 * 1994 (EU): Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB)
 * 1996 (NA): Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)


 * May 15
 * 1987 (EU): Super Mario Bros. (NES)
 * 2006 (NA): New Super Mario Bros. (DS)


 * May 17
 * 2002 (AU): Luigi's Mansion (GC)
 * 2007 (AU): Wario: Master of Disguise (DS)
 * 2017 (NA): Luigi's Mansion Arcade (Arcade)


 * May 18
 * 2009 (NA): Punch-Out!! (Wii)
 * 2014 (NA): Photos with Mario (3DS eShop)


 * May 19
 * 2005
 * (JP): DK: King of Swing (GBA)
 * (AU):
 * WarioWare: Twisted! (GBA)
 * Yoshi Touch & Go (DS)


 * May 20
 * 2008 (EU/AU): Dr. Mario Online Rx (WiiWare)
 * 2010 (AU):
 * WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase (WiiWare)
 * WarioWare: D.I.Y. (DS)
 * 2012 (NA): Mario Tennis Open (3DS)


 * May 21
 * 2004 (JP):
 * Classic NES Series: Dr. Mario (GBA)
 * Famicom Mini: Wrecking Crew (GBA)
 * |Famicom Mini: Mario Bros. (GBA)


 * May 22
 * 2009 (EU): Punch-Out!! (Wii)
 * 2015 (NA): Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition (3DS)


 * May 23
 * 2003 (EU): WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (GBA)
 * 2005 (NA): WarioWare: Twisted! (GBA)
 * 2010 (NA): Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)


 * May 24
 * 2002 (EU): Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)
 * 2004 (NA): Mario vs. Donkey Kong (GBA)
 * 2012 (JP/AU): Mario Tennis Open (3DS)
 * 2013 (NA/EU): Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (3DS)
 * 2018 (ALL): Mario Tennis Aces: Online Tournament Demo (Switch eShop)


 * May 25
 * 2006 (JP): New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
 * 2007 (EU): Mario Strikers Charged (Wii)
 * 2012 (EU): Mario Tennis Open (3DS)
 * 2013 (AU): Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (3DS)


 * May 26
 * 2003 (NA): WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (GBA)
 * 2005 (JP): NBA Street V3 (GC)
 * 2006 (EU): Super Princess Peach (DS)
 * 2008 (NA): Dr. Mario Online Rx (WiiWare)


 * May 27
 * 2004 (JP): Wario World (GC)
 * 2010 (JP): Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)


 * May 28
 * 1982 (NA): Oil Panic (G&W)
 * 1992 (NA): Yoshi (NES)


 * May 29
 * 2007 (NA): Mario Party 8 (Wii)
 * 2014 (JP): Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)


 * May 30
 * 2000 (NA): Wario Land 3 (GBC)
 * 2014 (NA/EU): Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)


 * May 31
 * 1989 (JP): Pinball (Famicom)
 * 2002 (AU): Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)
 * 2014 (AU): Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)
 * 2015 (JP): Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (3DS eShop)

For what started off as quite the slow month, this really picked up around halfway through! Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the European release of Super Mario Bros. all came out this month, which is a ton of high quality stuff. Anyways, thank you so much for reading, see you in June!

Poll Committee Discussion


Written by:

Hello, hello, everyone! It is I, Luigi 64DD, here to bring you the poll results of the last month along with some hopefully insightful analyses! Due to BBQ Turtle graciously covering an extra poll that she was not required to cover last month and doing a whopping four polls, I'll be showing off only two polls today in a short but sweet section. But first, let's take a look at what happenings that have been... happening in the Poll Committee lately!

The News
We're getting close to the end of the term now, but we're not done yet! We've only got a couple of polls to pass in order to fill the rest of the term, so we're quite on schedule. As for who took the helm this month, Ninja Squid finished up his two-week period earlier on in the month followed by Goombuigi's period in the middle. They both did a great job! As I type this, I'm about to take over for my two periods back-to-back, so wish me luck! Lastly, there's been some discussion about rewriting the Committee's rules in order to make them easier to understand for later committees as of late, and our chairperson Hooded Pitohui has taken the charge by making his own rewrite. It's still being discussed and adjusted, but it's looking good so far!

Would you like to see platformer games revisit old locations, like the Throwback Galaxy or Super Mario Odyssey's Mushroom Kingdom? (, April 11th, 2021)
====Recently, the Mario franchise has had varied but inconsistent arcade releases. What direction would you like to see taken with future arcade Mario titles? ( and, April 25th, 2021)====

Would you like to see platformer games revisit old locations, like the Throwback Galaxy or Super Mario Odyssey's Mushroom Kingdom?
Nostalgia is a strong force in consumer's minds these days, and Nintendo is no stranger to capitalizing on this by including various throwbacks to classic games in their more recent fare. This includes bringing back familiar locations as seen in the two examples mentioned in the poll's title. So this poll seeks to gauge if people enjoy these classic locations returning in new Mario platformer games or if they would prefer Nintendo to just stick to new locations. Well, as you can see from the results of this poll, people overwhelmingly do enjoy seeing these old locations return. In what was far and away the most popular option, just over 50% of voters chose the option in support of revisiting locations with no caveats, showing that most people welcome seeing classic locations no matter what. I'd say that nostalgia is strong among our voters and I can agree that seeing these old locations return in newer games is very cool, so it's no surpise that so many people are hungry to see these locations return regardless of any other conditionals.

However, a decent portion of people were in support of revisiting old locations only as long as certain conditions were met first. The second most popular option wanted to see returning locations as long as plenty of new locations are added as well, with this option bringing in about 14% of the vote (much less than our most popular option). This makes sense as the most popular conditional "Yes" option as many people would still like to make sure new locations get their proper time to shine and bring new things to the series. Next, almost 13% of people would like to see locations revisited as long as updates are made to them and around 12% would like to see more locations from Mario's many subseries. I can see why these options got a decent number of votes as well. Updating locations with new features can make them even more interesting to explore in new games, and many fans wold like to see the creative worlds from Mario's non-platforming series represented in his main games (though this option being less popular than the others is not surprising as many fans tend to focus on the main platformers primarily). Finally, less than 5% chose that they prefer seeing new locations but don't mind revisiting old ones, and even less than that actively don't want to see old locations or have no opinion. This goes even further to show that the fans overwhelmingly like seeing old locations return in new Mario platformers. Given that Nintendo has already included older locations in newer games recently, I think it's very likely that this trend will continue much to most fans' delight as new Mario games continue to be released.

Recently, the Mario franchise has had varied but inconsistent arcade releases. What direction would you like to see taken with future arcade Mario titles?
Despite the first few games in the franchise being arcade games, the Mario franchise has mostly just dabbled here and there with different arcade releases without any strong focus. This poll serves to ask what direction people would like to see Mario arcades taken in the future or if they would even like to see more arcades at all. This poll ended up being much closer than the previous one, with most options getting a decent portion of votes and the top-voted choices being relatively close together in vote totals. The highest number of voters at around 21% of the vote wanted more third-party arcades that feature gameplay experiences that can only be achieved through the arcade format, such as the big pedal and steering wheel controls of Mario Kart Arcade GP. I can see why this the most popular, because if you're going to make a whole separate arcade, you might as well make it play differently than console games in ways that are unique to the arcade format. What is more surprising to me is the second most voted option with about 20% of the vote that wants Nintendo to only focus on console and/or mobile games and not even continue making arcade games. It seems a substantial number of people really don't care for Mario arcade titles, though considering that the titles that exist are fairly obscure, I can see why people would want them to focus on the formats that they know about and use such as consoles.

On the flipside, the next voted option with about 17% of the vote asks for Nintendo-developed arcade releases that are more similar to console offerings than Nintendo's current arcade fare. Though this is not as popular as having unique arcade releases, there is appeal to being able to go out and try gameplay similar to a console game on a pay-per-play basis without actually needing to own a console. This isn't something Nintendo has done in recent memory, but it was quite common in the NES era with the Vs. series. The next option with about 16.5% of the vote is those with no opinion on the subject. This is an unusual amount of votes for such an option, but I think this can be chalked up to the arcades being less well-known and thus many people don't have much to say on them. Next, about 11.5% of people would like to see more arcades no matter what type and a little over 8% would like to see reprints of classic Mario arcades. I'm a little surprised the latter option wasn't more popular as there is a lot of nostalgia over retro arcades such Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., but I suppose wanting new reprints of these arcades would be a bit more niche when they can be played on modern consoles like the Switch. Finally, the least voted option with under 4% of the vote was for more physically-based arcade machines like slot machines and claw machines as seen with the Japan-only Mario Party arcades. This low number of votes is not surprising as these arcades are some of the most obscure Mario arcades out there. In conclusion, while some aren't interested in Mario arcades, this poll shows that there is still a pretty substantial number of people who are still interested in seeing the Mario series represented in arcade format.

Conclusion
Well, that's it for this section of Poll Committee Discussion! I hope you enjoy the rest of The 'Shroom this month, and don't forget to come back next month for the next rendition of this section written by Power Flotzo! Take care, y'all!

What's in a Campaign?
Written by:

Hello 'Shroom readers, it's me, Shoey, and I'm writing a special section for Pipe Plaza! So, as some of you may or may not know, (and, if you do know, you've heard me badger you with matches and facts), I'm a huge fan of the old British series Robot Wars. For background, Robot Wars was a robot combat fighting show that originally ran for nine (seven main UK championships and two series that were a lot of side events) series from 1998 to 2004, as well as three additional series from 2016-2018. Along the way, this series featured a lot of notable robots who captured the hearts and imaginations of many a nerd such as myself. So, to christen the new focus, I thought I'd do a one off (or maybe more!) on a Robot Wars robot, looking at the improvements they made for the series they were in, looking at the fights they were in, and seeing how it worked out for them. For our debut we're going to start with series four, and a true classic series icon: Roger Plant's bot that was basically flipper on wheels, Wheely Big Cheese (for the purpose of this section all images were acquired at the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki).

At the end of series three, former submarine operator Roger Plant was in a bit of a bind. In the previous two wars, his robots had only managed to make it to the heat final with the interesting-but-combat-inefficient forklift style lifter, the Mule, losing to the International Wrecking Crew's Plunderbird 2, and his series three robot, the impressive lifter The Big Cheese, drew the unfortunate draw of the series champion and all around best Robot Chaos 2 in its heat final. Not only that, but those mean house robots had done an awful lot of damage to his robots and Roger Plant was out for his revenge. His plan? Build the most powerful flipper the world had ever seen to this point. The result? The two and half meter-long flipper on wheels known as Wheely Big Cheese! Made entirely out of titanium, with hollow wooden wheels that had tungsten spikes on them for purposes of traction, Wheely Big Cheese weighed in at 79.4 kg (out of an 80kg weight limit at the time) and sported two golf cart motors and a top speed of twelve miles per hour. It also had something notable (especially for the time) in that not only could it run both ways up, its flipper could also work both ways up, meaning that it didn’t have to waste any of its carbon dioxide gas on self righting. But most importantly, Wheely Big Cheese could flip an astounding 800kg. To put that in perspective, the largest house robot at the time was Sir Killalot, who weighed in at 750kg, so in theory Wheely Big Cheese could flip over a robot that nobody could even hope to flip, and that’s exactly what Roger Plant intended to do!

If you’d like to watch the fights, this video has the entire series four run on it and I'll include time stamps in the section.

Wheel Big Cheese was seeded (seeds were given out to robots based on past performance, popularity, and how the producers thought they would do; a seeded robot didn't need to attend qualifiers) 15th for the fourth series of Robot Wars, a fair seed considering Roger Plant had built two heat finalists. In Series four, the format had changed, and in the first round (1:54 in the video) of a heat (out of three rounds) three robots would battle, with two of them going on to the next round and one of them being sent home. Wheely Big Cheese's first draw was the ancient series two machine Wheelosaurous and the third war's first round loser, the small flipper that was Prizephita MK2, in what should have been a perfect draw for Wheely Big Cheese to show what it can do. Unfortunately, it really isn't! Wheely Big Cheese as well as its opponents spend most of the time just kind of bumbling around, with Wheely Big Cheese not really making any effort to actually attack itss foes.

Instead, Wheeley Big Cheese decides to try and get revenge on Sir Killalot, even managing to get Sir Killalot to drive over it at one point. But sadly, despite all of Roger Plant's boasts, Wheely Big Cheese doesn't even manage to lift its flipper under the crushing weight of Sir Killalot (truth be told this doesn’t in itself say anything about the power of Wheely Big Cheese's flipper; it was always going to be really hard to flip something that heavy if all the weight was directly over your weapon). After that, Wheely Big Cheese and its opponents all just kind of bumble around until they all end up in the pit with Wheely Big Cheese going in before its opponents! Technically Wheely Big Cheese should have gone home! But, in a bit of a controversial decision, the judges ruled that Prizephita was actually immobilized before any of the robots entered the pit, so they were sent home and Wheely Big Cheese scraped through to the next round.

After that... dodgy, shall we say, performance, Wheely Big Cheese performs much better against the pink pickaxe-welding Killertron. Once a grand finalist in series two, Killertron is now relegated to an outdated dinosaur far outclassed by the machines of the day. This fight (6:54 in the video) really shows the power of Wheely Big Cheese, with Wheely Big Cheese spending the entire fight throwing Killertron around, including at one point Throwing Killertron up and over Wheely Big Cheese itself! This was a fight that could have been ended after one flip, since Killertron doesn’t have a self righter, but, ever the showman, Roger Plant and his team kept flipping the old dinosaur to entertain the crowd and us watching at home.

This fight sent Wheely Big Cheese into the heat final against the 32nd seed, the tracked Suicidal Tendencies. a bot wielding impressive lifting forks. In this fight, nothing goes Wheely Big Cheese's way. First, before the fight even happens, a pin broke in one of the Cheese's gearboxes (10:31 in the video), forcing Wheely Big Cheese to put on another. Then the fight (11:49 in the video) itself showcased the number one weakness of Wheely Big Cheese. You see, Wheely Big Cheese is a very powerful flipper, that's for sure. The problem is that's all they are, and if they can't get under something, they really have no way to fight it. In this fight, the tracked Suicidal Tendencies honestly spends the entire fight bullying Wheely Big Cheese, who appears to be having mobility problems (speculated by Robot Wars Commentator Johnathan Pearce as being cause by the new Gearbox.) However this fight is also plagued by controversy, with one of Suicidal's tracks seizing, up reducing it to spinning in circles. Wheely Big Cheese drives into the pit while trying to push its opponent into the pit, making the audience at home (and commentator Johnathan Pearce) think that Suicidal had won. But under the rules at the time (which are never fully explained and are somewhat unevenly enforced), because Suicidal Tendencies could only spin in circles and didn’t actually have control of their movement, they were considered immobilized, therefore making Wheely Big Cheese the winner and sending them into the series semi-finals!

In the series semi-final, Wheely Big Cheese is drawn up against newcomer and surprise heat winner, the future champion, the box on wheels, Tornado. Interestingly enough for Wheely Big Cheese, if they win this fight the next round will be a grudge match against the robot who sent them home in the previous series: Chaos 2. Wheely Big Cheese is so close to the grudge match, so close to potential vengeance, all they need to do is beat Tornado. And, man, this fight (18:21 in the video) is a classic. At one point in time, early in the fight, Wheely Big Cheese gets off a flip that, had it activated just a foot closer to the wall or maybe just with Tornado’s body a little more centered on the robot, would have sent Tornado out of the arena and Wheely Big Cheese into the next round. But, sadly for Wheely, that's not what happens, and, after launching another flip, Tornado begins to take control, ramming into the long body of Wheely Big Cheese, whose body shape prevents them from adequately chasing down Tornado. Even worse, Wheely Big Cheese ends up in the CPZ (corner patrol zone, basically an area in the arena where house robots can attack robots that enter) where the house robot Matilda damages its hollow wheels, and eventually Tornado rams one of them so hard that it leaves it so out of place that its basically useless. Without that wheel, Wheely Big Cheese is left spinning in circles, unable to fully move with Tornado ramming into it repeatedly. Despite this and despite the fact that Tornado itself is smoking and barely moving at the end of the fight, the fight goes to the judges. The judges, who rule on style, control, damage, and aggression (with damage being the most important category and style being the least important category), decide that Tornado had won and Wheely Big Cheese had lost. With that, a robot that showed so much promise was sent home.

For a first series, Wheely Big Cheese did alright for itself. With it's unique look and powerful flipper, it certainly showed itself to be a popular contestant. But with a few flaws, such as hollow wheels and some mobility problems at times, Wheely Big Cheese was unable to truly impress outside of fits and starts. But series five is going to increase the weight limit to 100kg. Maybe with the weight increase, Wheely Big Cheese will reach it's potential. Maybe it'll iron out some of it's flaws. Maybe the most powerful flipper Robot Wars has ever seen will do something extraordinary?

Forum Update
Written by:

Hello, readers of The 'Shroom! Welcome to a special one-off edition of Forum Update, that section you might know as the one that hasn't been around since issue 129. With credit to for the formatting of the section, I'll be covering what's been happening on the forum since April 17th.

News
First off, forum users might have noticed a change in the reactions available when going to react to someone else's post. After this thread was made, it seems opted to remove the "angry" reaction and replace it with a "thinking" reaction. The "love" reaction had its icon changed from a face with hearts for eyes to a lone heart, not unlike the old "like" icon during the SMF days. In addition, the "wow" and "haha" reactions have had a visual update, to bring all the reaction icons in line with each other.

Another recent change on the forum has seen users' preferred usernames (as indicated in the "MarioWiki" section of their profiles) and preferred pronouns now display in their mini-profiles shown next to posts they've made in threads. This certainly makes it easier to keep track of who is who, even with name changes, and to ensure everyone is called by their preferred pronouns, so thanks go to Porplemontage for making this change!

Awards Committee meetings have been underway since April 16th, which means three more have been held since the last issue of The 'Shroom came out. Take a look at the logs of the meetings if you're interested in those, check out some of the ideas for tournaments people have been throwing out (and let the proposers know if you'd be interested in them) in this thread, and go read Anniversary Announcements elsewhere on this page for more in-depth coverage of Awards!

Bans
There have been no notable bans in the past month. Keep that up and stay behaved!

Statistics

 * Total Threads: 39,939
 * Total Posts: 2,187,393
 * Total Members: 3,193

Thread of the Month
"Porcupuffer for Worst Enemy 2021 - After years of folks complaining about Hammer Bros. undeservedly being voted "worst enemy" in the Fail Awards, Waluigi Time is electing to step up and do something about it. Read about his campaign against Porcupuffers and see him try and rally a voting bloc to unite behind the spiked fish so they can displace Hammer Bros. as the winner in this category.

Quotes

 * "I almost abdicated in my duty to provide the name of the month in dancing letters." - Super Mario Bros.
 * "Let's give Hammer Bro. some justice and a well-deserved break from this endless hate. Vote Porcupuffer for Worst Enemy." - Waluigi Time
 * "I personally am excited for Waluigi Time Cereal Mafia" - Roserade
 * "why do i follow you" - MightyMario, on Toadbert101's profile
 * "for all the quality and timely content i produce" - Toadbert101, in response

Mafia
Summary


 * Reverse Input's Sheep Mafia 2021 came to an end, with the wolves (mafia) claiming victory. Quite a bit of feedback and debate has been posted in the lounge thread for the game.
 * Goombuigi's Toad Brigade Mafia 2021 began on May 9th, and is currently underway.
 * InsaneBlathers' Dash Pepper Mafia was unable to get the required minimum sign-ups, and has unfortunately been cancelled.

Interactive 'Shroom Threads

 * Voting will once again be open this month for Strategy Wing's Mach Speed Mayhem, written by Superchao, so go vote!
 * Nominations are once again open for Fake News' Mushroom Kingdom Smackdown, written by Waluigi Time. This month, entries focused on music or visual art will be preferred. As always, the more effort put into the nomination, the greater the chance Waluigi Time will pick your fighter.
 * Fake News' Dear Bowser, written by Doomhiker, is still taking your questions!
 * Give your thoughts on what locations Goombuigi and Ninja Squid should support in the Ultimate Location Battle!
 * Ask any questions you might have about the community gallery in issue 171, or read about how to submit to it, in this thread.

That's it for the news from the forum this month. Will we see each other here again? Perhaps, if I figure out a way I'd like to approach more editions of this section. Until then, take care, and enjoy the Super Mario Boards!

All information above was correct as of 18:15 EDT on 14 May 2021.

Anniversary Announcements
Written by:

Welcome back to Anniversary Announcements everyone! I can't believe I've been doing this for seven years now, I'm getting old. This year will kick off the 15th Awards season for the wiki's 16th anniversary.

For the people that are new to this section, Anniversary Announcements is a section that tells you about the behind-the-scenes developments behind the Mario Awards, the yearly event that celebrates the anniversary of our beloved Wiki. This includes the Awards themselves, tournaments, and all other things that influence the event.

As always, we start by introducing…

The Awards Committee
The nice fellows that brush off and refresh all of the awards!

The committee's top consists of:
 * – Awards Director and Mario Awards host
 * – Sub-director and Fail Awards host
 * – Awards Record Keeper and writer of Anniversary Announcements
 * – Community Awards host and the current director of The 'Shroom
 * – Awards Staff consultant
 * – Awards Staff consultant

The committee otherwise consists of, 64-Bit Nintendo Machine, , , , , , and. You can contact any of these people if you have questions, and if they don't know the answer, they will pass it through as needed. For questions or suggestions relating to Anniversary Announcements, you can contact me.

There are also three entirely new faces among us! We'll probably have some more Committee Interviews with them in a few months! Stay tuned.

The Chariot Bros
There have already been several big things discussed! One of these is, once again, the discussion surrounding the chat venue for the ceremony's chat party. This has traditionally always been on IRC, but in the last few years, it was suggested several times to move this to the official Discord server of the Super Mario Wiki. As a result of this discussion, it's been decided to test these waters this year and have the party on Discord. A channel, #mario-awards, has already been created for pre-awards discussion and it will be used for the party as well. Specifics regarding moderation and logging with bots are still open for discussion.

Tournaments are also being discussed. A hint hunt for Paper Mario: The Origami King is being planned by The Pyro Guy, in which players find a location in-game based on a hint, and a Killing Game is being planned by Lord Bowser and Lakituthequick, a murder mystery game comparable to , revisiting the first Killing Game in 2017. A few other ideas and suggestions have been posted, but not solidified in any way.

Awards
In this part of Anniversary Announcements, I will list all awards that have been discussed, and changes made to them. This includes existing awards, completely new ones and removals, and the additions, removals and changes within each award.

M5 through M7, Favorite DK, Wario, and Yoshi Game respectively, are rotating awards, which means that each year, a different subject from their respective series is featured. With the rotation, this year would be Favourite ___ Level, but it is being discussed to change this up for something new instead. The current plan is making this Favourite ___ Instrumental Track, removing the tracks added here from M15 Favorite Instrumental Track as needed.

Also in consideration are more/new community related award ideas, that hook into more recent changes in the community, such as roleplay and 'Shroomfests, but also more wiki-related awards. These are still to be discussed in-depth.

Refer to this document for a full list of nominees.

And thus ends the first Anniversary Announcements of the season! I think this is the latest it has started, in May, but past years have shown that we are ahead of schedule most of the time, thus starting a week or two later is made possible. Anyway, I hope to see you again next month. Buh-bye!

All information above was correct as of 2021-05-14.