The 'Shroom:Issue LXV
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| Issue LXV | August 18th, 2012 | About |
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STAFF SECTIONS
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SUB-TEAMS
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MAIN SECTIONS
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A critical analysis of different events during the 65 year history of video games.
[read more]
SPECIAL SECTIONS
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A word search in honor of Super Mario Sunshine's tenth Anniversary!
[read more]
Interviews with members of the community about the Mario Kart series.
[read more]
Director's Notes
Hey 'Shroomers, welcome to Issue LXV of The 'Shroom! It was a little more of a challenge to try to make this issue a good one due to the crunched schedule that we had in between Special Issue 64 and Mario Awards VI. However, I think that this issue is a good follow-up to last month's issue given the circumstances.
I would like to thank Lindsay151 (talk) for suggesting that we consider the Mario Kart Twentieth Anniversary in our plans for this issue. We tried our best to make this issue themed after the series, and that resulted in several sections being based around it and even a special section (more details on that will be explained below). Thank you to those who cooperated with us in terms of the theme and whatnot.
The Section of the Month process is here again this month, although there are some final changes that have been made to the process that will be in effect for this month's round of voting. We made some modifications to the Section of the Month due to the fact that our last plan made some inconsistencies arise in the results of the voting. In order to preserve the integrity of the voting process, we felt the change was necessary. For more information, please check out the article.
Be sure to check out the Super Mario Sunshine Word Search by Post-Damage Invincibility (talk) and the Mario Kart 20th Anniversary Interviews by Henry Tucayo Clay (talk). The former, as the title implies, is a word search that was designed in honor of Super Mario Sunshine– which celebrates its tenth anniversary this month. The latter is a compilation of mini-interviews with various members of the community about their opinions on the Mario Kart series– which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this month. They are entertaining and interesting, so be sure to give them a read!
And speaking of anniversaries... The Super Mario Wiki celebrated its seventh just last week! We were originally going to include some sections in this issue in celebration of this happening, but we ended up having so many ideas for what to include that we decided to hold off until next month! In order to see what festivities and fun activities that are in store for next month's exciting issue, be certain to check back on September 15th, 2012 for Issue LXVI!
Until next month,
Sub-Director's notes
Section of the Month
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Feedback Survey
Hello there! During the course of the last month we ran a Feedback Survey, and I would say it was a successful one. We got sixteen responses, which is a decent sample and it's enough to take a look at what you think about The 'Shroom. Massive thanks to those people who took some minutes off their time to answer this survey. The 'Shroom is made for you, so receiving feedback is something we really appreciate.
We promise to thoroughly analyze the results and reflect on your suggestions in the issues to come. Since this Survey was originally scheduled for May, our next survey will run from the release of the December issue to the release of the January issue (unless something changes, of course). We hope you keep reading us and, once again, massive thanks for helping us improve.
Fake News
Editorial
Hey guys, it's MrConcreteDonkey, and welcome back to the Fake News.
You may remember last month that there was a poll asking you to choose your favourite Fake News section of Issue 64. Well, the Fake News Section of the Month of Issue 64 goes to...
Edofenrir (talk) and his Weather Forecast, with 54 votes! Congratulations! Honourable mentions go to the Monthy Inquisition, by Koohitsu, and the News Flush, by me. But well done to everybody, because you all got at least 8 votes!
Anyway, I thought I'd put this image next to the editorial again, because I thought it would be fitting. After all, it is the 20th Anniversary of Mario Kart this month. Who cares about any other anniversaries? As if there were any...oh wait...
Thanks to everyone who voted for the Fake News in the favourite sub-team poll in the 'Shroom Awards! Also, congratulations to Gamefreak75 and KoopaTroop, who got first and third, respectively, in the poll for favourite Fake News writer. And, of course, congratulations to everyone else who's written for the sub-team in the past year too, even if you didn't place in the poll.
We had no staff changes this month, so I guess I've got nothing else to say here. Enjoy the section!
Hey, everybody, it's Pie Row, and welcome to yet another Travel Guide! This month, I'll be showing you a hot tourist spot - Melty Molten Galaxy! Get it? It's a lava galaxy? And it's a HOT tourist spot? Heh...heh...heh...
...wow that pun sucked.
Anyways, despite it still being summer, Melty Molten Galaxy is a great place to have a vacation! It's where the sun can't chase you!
Steaming temperatures plague the area, but that shouldn't be a problem. Natural hot springs are EVERYWHERE! They're so hot that I got third-degree burns! And my name is PYRO! Heh!...I'm really sucking here.
The main attraction here is the glorious Mt. Molten. It's a nice tourist attraction, but beware of hot springs. Oh, and Podoboos. But use the launch star inside the volcano to make it explode with star bits. I had a ton of them! I passed out after I had them because they were so honey-ish. At least, I THINK that was the reason...
The accommodation prices are affordable, and there's a popular course for people to jump on Star Balls and dodge pits and enemies without falling to their demise. Uh...many...have completed it and it's an...easy course.
But there's one thing you should avoid in here, and that's Fiery Dino Piranha. He will RIP YOU TO PIECES. Believe me, I saw MCD get eaten alive by it! Then I revived him, because the Core Staff would never promote me to the Fake News director if I was responsible for MCD's death. Instead, they would FIRE me! HA! Get it? Because this month's Travel Guide is about Melty Molten Galaxy?...
*cricket sounds*
OH GOD DAMMIT.
This has been Pyro with the wonderful Travel Guide. Next month, I'll be making better puns. See you.
Hey, everyone! Your sports analyst, McZaky29 here with a report on some good old American football!
In this month’s action, we bring you a cold rivalry between the Shiver City Penguins and the Shiver Mountain Gulpits. The Penguins took an early 6-0 lead off of two field goals, from 20 and 32 yards away respectively. This lead didn’t last long, because the Penguins have a sucky football team the Gulpits followed up with a touchdown, a safety, and another touchdown all within two and a half minutes. The 16-6 lead extended to 23-6 by the end of the first half. An enraged Penguins fan ran onto the field after the Gulpits scored their second quarter touchdown, tackling one of the Gulpits’ players. The man was immediately murdered evicted from the stadium.
The Gulpits scored 14 more points within the first half of the third quarter. In the final minute of the third, Shiver City scored their first touchdown of the game to make it 37-13. In the fourth quarter of play, the Gulpits began to fall apart. They committed 2 turnovers, both of which turned into a Penguins touchdown. The Penguins scored again to make it 37-34 with 1:36 in regulation. The Gulpits recovered the onside kick, however, they fumbled the ball on their second play, which was on the Penguins 16 yard line. Shiver City drove downfield, getting inside field goal range with a 38 yard pass to the 26 yard line. The kicker then had to attempt a 43-yard field goal from the left side of the field. This kick barely made it through the uprights as time expired, sending it into overtime.
The Shiver Mountain Gulpits won the toss, but decided to go on offense first for some stupid apparent reason. (Note: Overtime rules in Mushroom Kingdom Football are college rules) A slow, but effective, drive managed to score the Gulpits seven points to give them a 44-37 lead. On a fourth and twenty-five play because of Penguins wide receiver throwing an uppercut to a safety, a hook-and-ladder play gained them 31 yards, putting them on the Gulpits 9 yard line. Two plays later, the Penguins scored. However, with a great display of stupidity nerve, and great execution, the Penguins pulled a fake extra point, and won the game with the two-point conversion. The head coach of the Gulpits shot himself was very upset with his team’s “poor display of skills” in the final quarter and overtime period.
That’s all this month. Come back in thirty days for another great story. McZaky29, signing off.
Written by: 
Chivi-chivik (talk)
Hi everybody! Here’s your hostess, Chivi-chivik! And this is Cooking Guide, where we teach you how to cook excellent dishes!!
So, let’s go!
I went to Zess T.’s. I don’t know why.
Me: Hi!
Zess. T: You again?
Me: Yes.
Zess. T: Mmh... well, what do you want me to do this time?
Me: You won’t say anything more today?
Zess. T: No. I think I’ll get a headache soon... or some fever.
Me: Oh...
Zess. T: ...
Me: *snaps fingers*
Zess. T: ?
Me: I know what can make lower that feelings, instead of going to visit Dr. Mario!
Zess. T: What is it, miss deaf?
Me: This!! *shows a dish*
Zess. T: What’s that?
Me: A Temperature Soup!
Zess. T: Temperature Soup?
Me: Yup! It will bring your normal temperature back! It can freeze or burn enemies too!
Zess. T: Great! How did you do this by the way?
Me: It is kinda easy. You just have to boil an Ice Storm until it melts and then throw inside a Fire Flower. Then wait for 10 minutes.
Zess. T: It’s incredible that you have done something like this...
Me: Oh, stop it, you
Zess. T: I meant that you don’t seem able to cook anything!
Me: *awkward silence*
Zess. T: Well, thanks for this.
Me: No probl... Oh snap! I’ve got a recipe for this month! I don’t need to bother you anymore! Okay, take this and go to bed! *gives the dish to Zess T.* Byeeees!! *leaves*
Zess. T: ... *sigh*
Summary:
Temperature Soup
Ingredients: An Ice Storm, a Fire Flower.
- Boil the Ice Storm in a pan or something.
- When it melts, put inside the Fire Flower.
- Wait 10 minutes.
Effects: Freezes or burns enemies.
Thanks for being here reading, until next Cooking Guide!!
Written by: 
MrConcreteDonkey (talk)
While I was driving around in that kart in the image at the top of the page, it blew up, and nearly gave me some serious injuries. Therefore, I had to buy a new car, so I went to a shop called Lakilarry's Kart Emporium.
The shop is run by a Lakitu called Lakilarry, strangely enough, and sells modern karts and kart parts.
| Item | Image | Price | Description |
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| B Dasher | 
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500 Coins | "Now you too can look like Mario, because you'll be driving his car! Wheels, engine, seat, rubber, toilet, keychains, globe and kitchen sink sold separately." |
| C Dasher | 
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300 Coins | "The B Dasher's younger brother, modelled by Mario after somebody stole his last one. Unfortunately has been downgraded to C-grade parts. But it still works! Maybe!" |
| F Dasher | 
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10 Coins | "This kart is a crime against nature." |
| Gold Kart | 
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1000 Coins | "This kart is made of solid gold! How did it turn gold? I paint- er, hehe, I mean, I gave it a Gold Flower! How well does it drive? Er...moving on..." |
| Piranha Pipes | 
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300 Coins | "May or may not contain Piranha Plants. This kart is made for two, so why don't you and that special someone take this for a drive and complain about how terrible it is together? Sounds romantic, eh?" |
| Sponge Wheels | 
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60 Coins | "Now you can take your obsession with a certain cartoon even further! These absorbent tires can also help clean your kitchen, or your bathroom, or do other chores around your house." |
| Wood Tires | 
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60 Coins | "Not reccomended for driving in hot places, by the seaside, in the city, around a garden, on a rainbow, or anywhere, really." |
| Peach Parasol | 
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40 Coins | "This glider will protect you from the rain, and, for some reason, allow you to float. It's a jolly holiday with Princess Peach. Wait, what?" |
| Brick Block | 
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-20 Coins | "I will pay you to take this." |
It didn't take long for me to decide not to buy anything. But if anything here sounds good to you, you're mad. Stop reading and start getting help.
Written by: Toadbert101 (talk)
Written by: Travix Man (talk)
"I've gone on vacation. Updates have been delayed until next month.
Mushroom Police Force Chief,
TravixMan."
HI, wonderful readers! I'm your advice-filled Statistics Manager, Tucayo, and welcome to another installment of Ask Tucayo!
This month I got three questions, so let's get right to them. The first question was sent by Ralphfan, who asks:
What do you think about the Oakland Athletics?
Well, I like the A's, to be honest. I've always liked them. And the reason I have always liked them is because they share stadium with the Raiders, heh. But aside from that, Moneyball also made me like them more (even if the movie is basically against the Yankees and their money). I'd like to see them return to the playoffs this year. At the moment of writing this section they were 5.5 GB the Rangers and .5 GB in the Wild Card race, so I think they have a serious shot at returning to the playoffs.
I hope you didn't stop reading when I started talking about baseball. Next question comes from KoopaTroop, who asks:
Dear Tucayo,
I retired awhile back, and I had a 'Shroom article. Do I have to re-sign up or what?
-KT
Yes, retiring counts as resigning, so you'd have to contact the director of the sub-team you want to write for (you can check them here) and submit an application. Don't worry, if you were accepted in the past, you'll probably get accepted again.
And for this month's last question, we have an anonymous one. Our mysterious person asks:
Dear Tucayo,
Do you plan to write for The 'Shroom next year?
~Anonymous
Good question. At the moment, I haven't decided anything, but I'm inclined to say yes, you'll still see me around next year. Who knows, I may even run for Director.... I'm thinking out loud, ignore that last part.
And that's all for this month's Ask Tucayo! Remember, you can ask me about anything you want. My opinions on various subjects, advice, wiki/Shroom help, or whatever it is you want to ask. Just send me a PM! Until next month, BYE!
WAIT!!! STOP THE PRESSES!! Oh Poochy, I've always wanted to say that. I got a last-minute question from 54rtf3 who asks:
How do you get the mirror class? don't know how to figure out.
The subject of the PM was "mario kart wii", so I'll assume you mean Mario Kart GP. What? It's idiotic from me to think that? Oh well, it doesn't matter because it's done in the exact same way. You have to win first place on all 150cc Grand Prix. That's right, both the new and retro cups.
So unless I get another question, that's all on my part, BYE!
Fun Stuff
Director Notes
by Gamefreak75 (talk)
I would like to congratulate General bob-omb (talk) for not only winning Fun Stuff's Section of the Month, but also winning S6 - Favorite Fun Stuff writer.
We hope you enjoy the sections celebrating Mario Kart’s 20th anniversary.
We also hope you enjoyed the Mario Wiki Awards Ceremony VI. I will see you next month.
Mystery Images
HI, readers! I’m your reptilian Statistics Manager, Tucayo, and welcome to Mystery Images! This month I decided to try something different again. It’s the 20th anniversary of the Mario Kart series, so Gamefreak asked us to theme our sections after that. I thought it would be an easy thing to do, but turns out it wasn’t. Doing the characters would be too easy, and the karts would be too difficult. So I decided to have you guess the courses. Uhh… I think it didn’t exactly go as I planned, but here you go, the icons of 5 courses from 5 of the Mario Kart installments. Just guess the course and the game.
The slightly-different answers
Trivia
by Raven Effect (talk)
Did you know that:
- The Nintendo Gamecube is the only home console released by Nintendo that doesn’t have a version of Super Mario Bros. on it?.
- Professor E. Gadd built the Magic Paintbrush from Super Mario Sunshine?
- Wanda is the first female Mario character to be the sole playable character in a Mario game?
- That every enemy in the Pipe Vault from Super Mario RPG Is a reference to a famous Mario enemy except Frogog?
- That the reason Mario has a hat is because it was too difficult to program hair in Donkey Kong?
- Wario’s Woods is the only game to star Toad?
Quiz
By Post-Damage Invincibility (talk)
Happy 20th, Mario Kart. You get one question from all Mario Karts, from Super to Seven. That's 7 questions. The questions are relatively easy this time, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy your quiz in honor of the best racing series of all.
- Which of the following does not belong in relation to Super Mario Kart: Monty Mole, Blooper, Goomba, Ninji?
- In Mario Kart 64, the letter "V" appears when drifting, then turns to what letter?
- What do you have to do to make the title screen night time in Super Circuit?
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is the only Mario Kart to have the Double Dash!!. Is this statement true or false?
- Name the Super Mario 64 course that is a racetrack in Mario Kart DS
- In Mario Kart Wii, which character can ride the Flame Runner the fastest?
- Which track in Mario Kart 7 is based off of Donkey Kong Country Returns?
| Click to find answers! | |
|---|---|
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Guess Who
- This character was introduced in a spin-off.
- Additionally, this character has only appeared in one non-spin-off game.
- This character has a total of 8 playable appearances.
- This character makes a cameo appearance in the opening of Super Mario Galaxy, as well as the opening of Mario Power Tennis.
| Click to find answers! | |
|---|---|
Guess that Game
- This game was released in 2001.
- This game is the third in its series.
- This game features twenty new courses, and brings back twenty old ones from a previous title.
- This game has a unique mode not featured in any other titles in the series.
| Click to find answers! | |
|---|---|
Mind Bogglers
By GreenDisaster (talk)
Hello and welcome to a new edition of Mind Bogglers! As the rules say, you must find some hidden characters in a giant image to win fabulous prizes*, so start searching! In today's image, you will go through a collage of old sprites to find some more modern characters: Toad, Dry Bones, Waluigi, Boo, Sonic, and Lakitu. No, you can't point at the Toad with the turnip, Mr. Lazy.
Note: Fabulous prizes may not exist.
Non-Mario Crossword
By Gamefreak75 (talk)
The answer to last month’s Non-Mario Crossword:
Word Search
By Gamefreak75 (talk)
The answers to July’s word search.
In honor of Mario Kart’s 20th anniversary, can you find the sixteen Mario Kart: Double Dash courses hidden in this month’s word search:
Find the Differences
Original:
Edited:
Hiding Koopa
By General bob-omb (talk)
Here we go! with some good 'ol Mario Kart 64. Being my first Mario Kart this game is very nostalgic and is one of my favorite games. A fitting pick for the 20th anniversary of our favorite (and only) MarioWiki newspaper the 'shroom.
Music & Artwork
Director's Notes (Smasher (talk))
Hello again. I would like to take this moment to thank anyone who voted me for Favorite Sub-Team Director and for Music & Artwork for Favorite Sub-Team. Glad to know that you guys are enjoying our work on this! In addition, congratulations to Fawfulfury65 for winning Favorite Music and Artwork Writer, and to FunkyK38 for winning Music & Artwork's Section of the Month!
And now for the sections.
Character Artwork of the Month (Rise Up Above It (talk))
If you're broken, start dancing because this month's is mid-boss Midbus the master of Engrish speeches and snacking of spikes himself. But this is just one piece of great artwork from a game in a series full of such artwork!
Random Image of the Month (Paper Yoshi (talk))
Hello readers, and welcome to this month's issue of Random Image of the Month!!
The Random Image of August comes from one of the most popular Star Fox games, Star Fox 64 Nintendo fighting games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It depicts a special easter egg featured in two Star Fox stages, the one shown in the image being Lylat Cruise. That easter egg consists of a conversation between characters from the Star Fox series, which include, aside from Fox, Falco and Wolf, characters such as Peppy Hare (shown in the image) or Slippy Toad.
Music Factoid (Post-Damage Invincibility (talk))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KBcS_KhMLY Mario Party Shop it only takes about 38 seconds for the tune to run fully before it's reprise. As a Youtube commentator commented, "Nostalgia much? :P"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5W_6K699L8 Inside Fawful's Bean 'n' Badge in "Partners in Time", the melody for the shop was a variation on the classic Underground Theme, much like the overworld around it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuZUWVkkjxk Who can forget the unforgettable Item Shop tune in "Wario Land 4"? Not me. And probably not you.
Screenshot of the Month (Fawfulfury65 (talk))
New Super Mario Bros. 2 has finally hit store shelves, so to celebrate the release of Mario's newest adventure, I have chosen a picture from, of course, New Super Mario Bros. 2. Mega Mushrooms were not present in the last New Super Mario Bros. game, but it looks like Nintendo has finally brought them back in this installment, as we can see Mega Mario beating the snot out of a few Koopas. *sniff* What did they ever do to deserve that?!
Nintendo is also in the process of releasing a similar game on the Wii U, New Super Mario Bros. U. However, New Super Mario Bros. 2 puts much more emphasis on collecting coins. The main goal of the game is to actually collect a million coins. There are coins all over the place, though, and there are even golden enemies.
Well, that's all for this month. Don't forget to tune in next month for another Screenshot of the Month!
Soundtrack of the Month (Soniccity08 (talk))
This month I bring you a favorite. Some of you new gamers are most likely not going to know this song. The old gamers will. Do you remember back years ago when Mario stared in that awesome RPG? The game was called Super Mario RPG. Listen to the music and I will tell you more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLCaigIBELE&feature=youtu.be
Yep, it’s the Forest Theme! Who could ask for more in this song? It has a good catchy chorus and a good ending. Next month I will do a newer song that everybody knows. So bye for now!
Sprite of the Month (FunkyK38 (talk))
For this month's Sprite of the Month, here is a Hand Fake from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: 
! Who wouldn't want to beat up a piece of cardboard shaped like Bowser to get to the cowardly hand under it? Is it wearing gloves or is it coming out of a manhole, with that dark round base it's got? We may never know.
Pipe Plaza
Director's Notes (Paper Yoshi (talk))Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the August issue of Pipe Plaza!! We have some interesting news this time around, so let's get to that! Last month, the Core Staff implemented a new voting system for the Section of the Month process: there are now polls for all Sub-Teams, including, of course, this one. The first Pipe Plaza Section of the Month winner is... ...Upcoming Games!! Upcoming Games – written by myself, Paper Yoshi (talk) – brings fresh news on all the upcoming Mario games, including, but not limited to, the main features, box arts and release dates. Last month, we took a look at the two Wii U Mario games unveiled at Nintendo's E3 Presentation: New Super Mario Bros. U and Game & Wario (working title). The second-placed section was Mario Calendar, also written by me. Also, starting this month, I'll be writing one or more vacant sections each issue, in order to give any possible applicants an idea of how to write them and to provide more news for our readers. Well, I guess that's all I wanted to say for now. I hope you all enjoy this issue!! Tip of the Month (FunkyK38 (talk))Be careful when you're correcting others' work. Some people are more sensitive to criticism than others, and you may end up with an enemy on the Wiki if you're rude without meaning to be. Always take care not to offend people. This is a key skill everywhere you go. Mario Calendar (Paper Yoshi (talk))Hello everyone, and welcome to August's Mario Calendar!! While writing this section, I noticed it was my 12th month as the Mario Calendar writer, which led me to think I had covered all months of the calendar; however, as you may remember, I missed the January issue, which means I have covered eleven of the twelve months of the year. Anyway, that's just something I wanted to share with you. Without further ado, these are the Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Wario games released during the eighth month of the year.
And that's all for this issue!! Forum Update (MrConcreteDonkey (talk))Hey, guys, and welcome back to the Forum Update! This was quite a large month on the forum, because of the Mario Awards, so let's begin: Top Stories: The MarioWiki celebrated its seventh Anniversary with the sixth annual Mario Awards. Super Mario Bros. (Super Mario Bros. (talk)) directed the Userpedia Awards first, followed by Tucayo (Henry Tucayo Clay (talk)) with the 'Shroom Awards, then Fassad (Gamefreak75 (talk)) with the Fail Awards and, finally, Mondo Oowada (Turboo (talk)) with the Mario Awards, who was also the overall director of the ceremony. Pyro (Pyro (talk)) and Skulldug13 (Skulldug13 (talk)) revealed each others' team's roles to each other in the Mafia game, and were modkilled, and banned from getting tokens this year. A new sub-board of the Mafia board, called the Mafia Archives, has been created, to archive completed or cancelled Mafia games. The character limit in signatures has been extended to 750 characters. Statistics: In July, 712 topics, and 29699 posts were made. 31 new members joined, and the most online was 154, on the 20th. Smasher (Smasher (talk)) –35790 Rat (Ralphfan (talk)) – 26011 MCS (Mileycyrussoulja (talk)) – 24515 Pinkie Pie (UltraMario3000 (talk))– 22146 Don Pianta (Superjeff64 (talk)) – 16192 Solar Blaze (SolarBlaze (talk)) – 15862 timaeusTestified (Lily (talk)) – 15246 Nabber (Nabber (talk)) – 15105 Baby Luigi (BabyLuigiOnFire (talk)) – 14092 Herr Shyguy (Shyguy27 (talk)) – 12273
Blue signifies the user is at the same position as last month. Red signifies the user is at a lower position than last month. Bold signifies the user is a new entry to the top 10. Mafia: Currently ongoing are Smasher's (Smasher (talk)) and Stooben's (Stooben Rooben (talk)) Awards Mafia II, Timmy's (Yoshi8984 (talk)) Mario Party 6 Mafia and Red Barchetta's (Palkia47 (talk)) Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Mafia.
Thanks for reading! Projects Seeking Contributors (Paper Yoshi (talk))Hello readers, and welcome to Projects Seeking Contributors! This month, I decided to show off this section, which hasn't had a writer for quite some time. The PipeProjects system, which used to be covered here, was replaced with a board in the Super Mario Boards called Wiki Collaborations. It was designed in order to encourage users to collaborate with each other by discussing wiki issues and coordinating projects, thus preventing the stagnation faced by the old system. However, there are a few rules for this new system:
Additionally, there are now three different types of projects: Collaborations, Requests and Wiki Discussions, with Collaborations being the ones closest to the old PipeProjects. Active ProjectsThese are some of the active Wiki Collaboration projects:
If you wish to see the entire list, follow this link instead. And that concludes this issue of Projects Seeking Contributors!! Remember, if you're interested in writing this section, or any other Pipe Plaza section, just leave a message on my Wiki talk page or PM me on the Super Mario Boards. Community Report (Bop1996 (talk))Hello, welcome to August's Community Report. Policy Changes and Updates
Proposals from the Past Month
Proposals and TPPs in Progress
Sitenotices from the Past Month
Promotions and DemotionsThere were no promotions or demotions in the past month. Upcoming Games (Paper Yoshi (talk))Hello everyone, and welcome to the August issue of Upcoming Games! Unlike the last two issues, which covered some big news on upcoming Mario games, this one will focus on a few minor updates regarding them. Mario & the Nintendo 3DSThe first game to be featured in this issue is New Super Mario Bros. 2. Three additional power-ups have been unveiled: the Mini Mushroom, the Mega Mushroom and the Invincibility Leaf. The two mushrooms, which return from New Super Mario Bros., retain their functionality, transforming Mario into Mini Mario and Mega Mario, respectively. On the other hand, the Invincibility Leaf – previously featured in Super Mario 3D Land – now transforms Mario into White Raccoon Mario, instead of White Tanooki Mario. New Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan on July 28th, along with the Nintendo 3DS XL (as Nintendo 3DS LL). The latter was also released in Europe on the same day. Both NSMB2 and the 3DS XL will be released in the remaining regions in August. Additionally, release dates for the other two 3DS Mario games have been revealed: Paper Mario: Sticker Star will be released in North America on November 11th, while Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has been delayed to the first half of 2013, without any specific reason. Release Dates
And that's all for this month, folks! See you next month!! "Stay tuned to Upcoming Games for news on the games you'll be playing soon!" |
Critic Corner
Director's Notes
Gah! Hear me, man? Gah! Small batch and little news this month, but basically Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) is filling in the Book Reviews section again this month, but don't be fooled since he isn't writing this permanently. The section is still vacant if you want to sign up for it.
By suggestion from one Awesome Koopa (talk), I've introduced a brand new section titled Game Comparisons, wherein the writer obviously weighs two games together and looks over the similarities and differences between them. Basically Character Comparisons but for entire games. Again, thank you Awesome Koopa for the suggestion, we really appreciate it.
And don't forget to vote for the sub-team's section of the month conveniently located at the end of this page, our writers (including myself) use votes to measure their worth as human beings. Please don't let them lose faith in themselves! It's up to you to ensure they don't commit ritualistic suicide! You have the power.
Critic Corner Section of the Month
Oh wait section of the month for the July Special Issue last month. Victor was Should Have Been by MrConcreteDonkey (talk) with 28 votes (a whopping %47.46 of the total votes), writing about the beta elements, possible improvements, and the scariness of BIG THINGS in Super Mario 64. Congrats, bro, now if only you had the time to send a section in this month.
Runner-ups were my own section Dippy's Matilda winning 15 votes (%25.42), a Goliath of a section discussing sexism in video games; and Marioverse Reviews from our newest writer marioboy14 (talk) taking 6 votes (%10.17), his debut for the newsletter reviewing each world in Super Mario World one by one. Good work, blokes.
Marioboy14 gets into the Olympics groove with Mario Tennis: Power Tour.
[read more]
Marioverse Reviews
Hello! I'm back with another review! Today, I'm dating back to the times of the Gameboy Advance. I bring you, Mario Tennis: Power Tour!
When I first got the game, I was shocked. Where are all the Mario characters? Only Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Waluigi? No Daisy, Yoshi, or even Wario? This was a downer... But, let's get to Adventure Mode!
You start out with either Ace or Clay (human characters). Masked players are beating the top contestants at the Academy (the school you attend). The next morning, you can choose the singles path (solo) or the doubles path (play with the default partner). This changes the storyline around the Island Open (I'll get to that later).
After TOO much dialogue, you finally start playing in the Junior Tennis Class. The characters you face are particularly easy, because you just started the game. With players ranging from power, to technique, to all around. The players are weak, the storyline is bad, my rating for this point: 5/10. People, must I remind you, this is only the beginning of the game.
Whew. Thank goodness Junior Class is over. You will progress to the Senior Courts. The players are all missing?! You hit the training place where you learn power shots (interesting little add ins to make the game more fun!) Once you return, you face the players. The storyline gets better because each character you face has their own little story. Kyoko, for example, has a past with everyone beats her. All the characters have emotion. The last character is a challenge Emi, from Varsity Class, has wicked power shots (at that point in the game) and a super good strategy. The characters are great, the challenge is there, this point gets an 8/10.
Varsity Class is your final challenge before the grand Island Open! These characters have descriptive personalities and are much more challenging than any of the characters you have faced before. Their power shots will amaze you at this point, and the storyline gets great! Nintendo finally flicked the light switch here! You go through the ranks, and the best part is, you don't have to challenge the top player! Once you get the ticket to the Island Open, the story gets absolutely amazing. My rating for this point: 8.5/10.
Island Open. The part where every person who ever played the game will tell you, it is the best part. Four schools go head to head in an Olympic Games sort of way (sound familiar?). Academy, Empire, Union, and Factory are all BACK for the title. If you ever played Mario Power Tennis, you'll remember. The story is superb. You battle your way to the championship. The hardest part is, I need to divide it into two sections: Singles and Doubles.
SINGLES: This is fun. You face an Empire Rep. first named Barb. She is a pack of power! Next, Sass is a power player that will knock you off your feet. Elroy (Academy) will verse you. This is an Academy vs Academy for the final two spots. After, you verse Willy from Factory for the championship. Amazing!
DOUBLES: You immediately verse Chas and Mel from Union. They're pretty easy. Dweezil and Mynx are up next, and they get more intense. For the championship, you verse the dynamic duo, Willy and Sheri. It's amazing!
My rating for this point is a 10/10. The story has been changed and perfected, the characters are great, and everything is amazing.
But wait! There's more! You may think you're done at this point, but you're wrong! Now, Mario has called you to play in the Peach Dome Tournament and such. Congratulations! You finished the game! Now you can go back and play again in doubles/singles to have new obstacles and faces!
My overall rating for the game is 31.5/40. That's 79%! I would suggest this game to anyone who wants a good storyline and fun new faces. Thanks for reading! Marioboy14 out!
Crocodile Style Reviews
| Spec Ops: The Line | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Developer | Yager Development | ||||||||
| Publisher | 2K Games | ||||||||
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3, XBox 360, Windows | ||||||||
| Genres | Tactical third-person shooter | ||||||||
| Rating(s) |
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| Available From | |||||||||
- Mature
- Eighteen years and older
- Fifteen years and older
- Eighteen years and olderShooters seem to have a rather bad reputation these days, which one could easily attribute to frothing jealousy that the genre is the most popular and successful in the medium at the moment, but more realistically it's because most of them are shit. Delude yourself with false illusions of good multiplayer all you want, but it can get pretty scary when the two fastest-selling and most well-known franchises of the modern age are trying to paint the vast American population as racist, nationalist fascists dedicated to the utter decimation of any and all foreign nations that look at them funny just to prove to everyone red, white, and blue is still large and in charge, which I guess is just as well since you're all so fat anyway. To that end, thank Christ Spec Ops: The Line exists, because without even joking it will very likely be my top game of the year, and no one is more surprised by that sentence than me.
Spec Ops: The Line is a tactical third-person shooter game based loosely on the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness, which inevitably means people are going to compare the game to Apocalypse Now another piece of military visual media with a liberal interpretation on the same novel, not that the game has that much to do with either. Set in Dubai six months after it's been ravaged by the worst sandstorms in recorded history, which might be tempting fate in real life just a little, a squadron of American marines stationed in the city called the 33rd Infantry led by one John Konrad… oh, I see what you did there… are trapped in the desert tomb and presumed dead until the U.S. receives a distress signal from them. This coaxes the country to send three gruff U.S. marines to search the ruins of the city, find Konrad and his men, and rescue any survivors, putting you in the shoes of the trio commander Martin Walker. However, shit has hit the fan quite violently beyond their initial expectations as the three find themselves trapped in a multi-faction civil war with no contact to the outside world in a city forcefully taken over under martial law by Konrad and the 33rd Infantry, who are now executing and striking fear into the civilians to control sedition, not unlike actual United States foreign military policy.
Being the jaded bogan I am, I walked into this release expecting another groan-worthy jingoistic American power fantasy whose sole moral message would be along the lines of “kill all the foreigners”, but Spec Ops is one of those pleasant surprises that shine through the rough every so often that give me a jarring reminder for why I waste so much time digging for diamond in a mine consisting primarily of talc and sewage. The game is an interesting insight into the deeper psychological horrors of warfare and the unglamourous consequences that come from it, which is probably why the game does it all it can to make you feel like complete shit for playing it. It was about a quarter of the way through the game when the protagonists accidentally fucked something up big time despite their moralistic self-assurance that I realised the oversimplified black and white morality of most military shooters didn't apply here, a nice deviation from others of its ilk which abide by a strict “we good, they bad, now shoot” policy.
It's a good thing the story hooked me in so well because the gameplay is certainly not much to brag about, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. It's the usual tactical shooter shtick wherein you run towards cover, pop out every few seconds to play gore-spattered Hit the Targets with enemy insurgents, and frequently stare at your watch in a corner while you wait for your health to regenerate. But allow me to be a pretentious git and elaborate that gameplay doesn't necessarily have to be perfect or even traditionally “fun” for it to be truly transcendent, case in point being horror games being designed to terrorise and emotionally traumatise you, and “horror” is certainly a word that describes the swirling torrent of emotional distress that Spec Ops endeavours to put you through.
The characters in this game are certainly not having fun shooting wave after wave of American troops and inadvertently fucking everything up more than before just for the sake of survival and a twisted, selfish sense of justice, as they grow more and more jaded, exhausted, and frustrated with their predicament to the point where each fight scene grows to look the same to them. There's even a noticeable difference in the protagonist's mannerisms as the game progresses, starting out with the usual calm indifference and composure one would expect from a marine before gradually shifting into exhausted shouting, excessive expletives, and aggressive sarcasm to reflect on their growing impatience, distrust in each other, crippling self-doubt, and emotional trauma about the monsters their own hubris and struggle to survive are forcing them to become… bloody hell, maybe this game is a little too good at what it does because just reading that sentence makes me want to hang myself.
Even if the core gameplay works so well with the events of the story, I can still complain about some of the other features surrounding that pleasant gameplay-as-metaphor, and this wouldn't be the section it is if I didn't needlessly nitpick everything. There's not really much to the strategy; your black and white mates can use explosives and sniping gear respectively so their skills can come in handy in situational scenarios, but more often than not they'll just find themselves shot stunned from how long it takes them to get into position, forcing you to put yourself in harm's way just to get them back on their clueless feet. The biggest problem with issuing orders is that they can only take specific commands requiring you to manually aim at who you want them to shoot at, a slow process which more often than not gives you incentive to just shoot the twitchy buggers yourself, so so much for that mechanic.
Presumably just to make the desert theme useful you're occasionally given the option to destroy bits of scenery holding back a torrent of sand to bury large groups of enemies, but these moments are so few and far between that you may as well have just built giant sand castles for how relevant the feature is. There are still achievements for getting a certain number of kills or landing fancy shots, and getting a careful headshot on enemies makes their heads explode and gives you a slow-motion shot of this detonation in action, rewards which seem completely hypocritical from a game otherwise doing a fine job letting you know you're an asshole for enjoying all this murder. Perhaps that's the point, though, to give you visceral bloodshed seemingly without consequence so it proves all the more poignant when that very glee and self-indulgence winds up biting you and the wider populace square in the sphincter.
But those problems can be easily ignored just from the strength of the story alone, although I understand it might sound a bit weird to compliment a game for less-than-brilliant gameplay or for making you feel bad for playing it. But having drowned myself in pathetic glorifications of thoughtless murder over the years it's just so refreshing to play a game that inspires cognitive dissonance in its players and encourages them to actually analyse the consequences and harm likely to come from their reckless behaviour. This gets particularly jarring with Walker himself, placing you as the person controlling him in a very awkward position as his diminishing humanity, frequent hallucinations, and hollow justifications for his increasingly horrific atrocities progressively makes you leerier of his own stability and moral compass, like you are the last thing in his mind keeping him even vaguely connected to the real world. And while I don't want to spoil the ending (or at least the one I chose, since there are multiple endings), I'll just say the game has possibly the greatest reveal I've seen in any work of fiction in a long time.
If I'm not coming off as particularly witty or funny this month, it's because it's just so hard to make jokes when Spec Ops keeps trying to crush me under a wave of emotional torment and despair, although that could just be all the sand. But as a form of horror game this is exactly what's so appealing about Spec Ops, and the overall quality of its story campaign, character archs, and thematic design far surpasses any petty complaint I or anyone else can vomit out. If you're interested in seeing games grow and mature as an artistic medium, then definitely pick up Spec Ops: The Line as soon as you can, since it's about as close as you'll get to an All Quiet on the Western Front for video games at this moment in time and will hopefully serve as a template for future shooters to comport themselves in a less discriminatory fashion. But if yielding to the idea that foreign cultures are people too and that shooting anyone with a different coloured hat than you may not be as glorious as you want to think is too much for you to bear, then you should probably get back to grooming that little moustache of yours, mate.
Dippy's Matilda
Hey everyone, welcome back to Dippy's Matilda! After the monolith of a section I wrote last month, and the fantastic if not cripplingly depressing masterpiece I reviewed this month, I'd like to take a sit back and tackle a subject a little less deep, articulate, and incredibly pretentious. So to that end, here's my take on Immersion! I had originally planned to do this back in May to go with my Journey review, but since I had surgery that month and it was a struggle to even get my review in on time I decided to postpone it until I found another game that was incredibly immersive. Now that I have, I'd actually like to go in a completely different direction from my original intention of this subject and speak about immersion in a general sense rather than using Spec Ops as an example.
Within the contexts of entertainment and arts, the Oxford dictionary defines immersion as “[involving] oneself deeply in a particular activity”, which is fairly straight-forward. We've all felt engrossed in something before, whether it be playing a sport, painting a picture, having a good discussion, or of course, playing a game. If we really love what we're doing, it's very easy to become so engaged in an activity that we can lose awareness of everything else in our lives for an hour or few. The importance of game design that encourages immersion and intrigue in the world the players are going to spend their valuable time on can't be overstated, as there's no point in making a half-assed world that people just can't get invested in, otherwise they're just wasting their time; this sort of devotion and engagement in a setting you've created is what all developers should strive for to make truly amazing games.
A bit of a thorn in this discussion is that like art, immersion is a subjective thing evaluated on a personal level by each individual's own interests and expectations. What one person considers absorbing another could consider phony or a waste of time; I'm sure there are plenty of people who find Kirby more immersive and engaging than, say, Deus Ex. I don't necessarily agree with that assessment, but I couldn't say they're wrong or even lying about how absorbed they are in the experience any more than they could claim I'm in the wrong for finding something like Silent Hill or Beyond Good and Evil more deeply engaging. But too often I think we overlook or forget the things that make a game so absorbing for us, which I guess is somewhat of a good thing for the gamers since they're therefore only focussed on the experience and not the technical aspects surrounding it, but it's a very dangerous thing to forget for devoted game developers.
The most obvious way to get taken in by a game is a slick and fun gameplay experience, which is why story-less NES titles and casual games remain so popular. After all, you could have the greatest story and thematic design in the whole world, but if you fail to have the appropriate gameplay to support those, then what's the point? But that gameplay is not the only way we get taken in by a game, and in fact, solid gameplay could prove meaningless to some of us if we don't have a good, interesting concept backing it up to help it stand above others of its genre, so it's very much a symbiotic relationship. Think back to the point-and-click adventure days when technology was too primitive to deliver a complex story and interactive gameplay experience at the same time, especially those made by LucasArts. Gameplay in titles like Monkey Island or Grim Fandango were virtually non-existent, but did that stop their gorgeous, well-crafted worlds and characters from being immensely popular among gamers?
Now obviously all story no gameplay is not a good way to design video games, as I wrote in my article about cutscenes, and with modern technology we're able to reconcile the two far more efficiently than we could during the point-and-click age. But from these adventure game examples we can see that so many people could find themselves absorbed in a game just from their stories, characters, themes, and humour alone, which certainly proves that all those factors play a big role in immersion. Have you ever played two games with very similar mechanics and gameplay but entirely different concepts (e.g. one is fantasy, one is science fiction), but found you enjoyed one over the other, or even didn't like one of them altogether? This could have to do with subtleties in the gameplay, yeah, but more often than not it's because you prefer the concept of one of these titles over the other, and find you can get immersed more in that particular theme.
Sometimes it's the characters and dialogue that just makes a game for you or it could be the costume and equipment designs, or it could be the detail of the flora and fauna, whatever it may be, there's usually something unrelated to the mechanics in the game's design that makes you more engaged and invested in the world you've decided to become a part of. It's generally easy to tell when the developers themselves were incredibly devoted to the concept and world they were building their game on, and it goes without saying that a game with no love from its own creators is going to turn out completely heartless or catastrophically terrible. Without an interesting concept that can get people attached and taken in by the game, developers are not going to be invested in the project, which leads to a distinct lack of care put into the game which then leads to an unimmersive, lifeless experience for the players, and that is certainly not what the end result of a game should be.
But one doesn't necessarily have to play a game directly to feel absorbed in it. No one will argue that the experiences you have from watching someone else play a game, and playing it yourself, are two vastly different things, but neither is inherently better or worse than the other. We've all done it before, just watched a relative or friends play a game while trying to follow the story and asking questions about the gameplay. This is why Let's Play is so popular, because sometimes we want to engage ourselves in someone elses experience, witness the game through their eyes and see what they got out of the game. For example I've not been able to play the Uncharted games due to money problems, but through watching LPs of them I have not only found a means to get interested and absorbed in the games, but simultaneously become involved in the LPers own unique perspective on them.
Or for a less personal example, take a look at the Dangan Ronpa trend in this very community; almost no one here has actually played the game, but have become so deeply involved in it just through a simple text LP on Something Awful. Are they wrong for getting immersed through someone elses playthrough? Certainly not, it's just another means through which a game can captivate us. This can also be good for education purposes in case you don't have efficient means to otherwise keep up with modern releases, but that's an entirely different discussion. Now this certainly isn't an invitation for all game developers to just cheat their way out of design by filling it with cutscene after cutscene, which would be completely missing the point of the medium; it's up to the individual how they want to immerse themselves in the game, and forcing them to sit down and watch is not an appropriate way of doing so.
I was sure there was more to this topic I wanted to discuss, but if there was I'm having a hard time remembering any of it. I know a lot of this might seem obvious or perhaps even a little pretentious, but I needed a month to relax and talk about something short and simple, so I hope you enjoyed this little recreation article as well. I'll be back to something a bit more contemplative next month, so hope you stick around for then! Thanks for reading, and have a bonza month.
Book Reviews
| The House of the Spirits | |
 |
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| Full title: | The House of the Spirits (La Casa de los Espíritus) |
| Author: | Isabel ALlende |
| Released: | 1982 |
| Pages: | 448 |
| Buy: | *Amazon |
HI, readers! I'm your literate Statistics Manager, Tucayo, and welcome to another installment of Book Reviews! I'm just filling in, so if you want to be our book reviewer, please contact Crocodile Dippy (talk)
Last month I took a look at a rather-obscure Swiss book, this time I'll be looking at one the first book of the most important Latin American writers, Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits. You may have heard there is a film adaptation with Antonio Banderas and Meryl Streep. Well, the film's ending is different from the book's, so having watched the film is no excuse not to read the book.
The recurring themes in The House of the Spirits are magical-realism, slavery, love and political oppression; themes that more-than-often appear in Allende's books. In many Latin American books, actually. Maybe magical-realism is not your thing, but this book is a great way to get into it. It has been often compared to A Hundred Years of Solitude They are indeed similar, but that doesn't mean they both don't deserve to be read, they are both great books.
Now, let's take look at the plot, because that's what good reviewers do, right? Allende takes us to a small Chilean town sometime during the 20th century. The story revolves around the Del Valle/Trueba family, one of the richest and most important families, politically speaking. Through three generations of this family, the history of Chile unravels and we get to see how Esteban Trueba (the main character) sees his world change a handful of times, most of them courtesy of his peculiar wife, Clara; and his daughter, Blanca.
The book gets off to a slow start. Beautiful, yes. But slow. Allende describes things in a way that can't be described with a word other than beautiful. Landscapes and characters are so well developed, that you can really picture what you are reading. That said, if you like fast-paced books, you'll have to wait for the last 100 pages, that's where things get the most interesting. Back to the characters, they are so well developed and so well described, that you almost start to know how each character will react. Even minor characters are important and well-developed, there are almost no fill-in characters that have no reason to be.
Summing up, even if this is not your type of book, it's a quite enjoyable read, but some narrator changes can become annoying, and after a while you start to wish there was more action. However, there is one thing I can guarantee; if you like this book, you'll certainly want to read more of her books, and if you want to read more of her books, I recommend the Memories from the Eagle and Jaguar trilogy.
HI, readers! I’m your now-legal Statistics Manager, Tucayo, and welcome to the second installment of Retro Feature. This month, in spirit of the awards, we’ll take a look at none other than the creator of your Favorite Sub-Team, WarioLoaf.
WarioLoaf joined the wiki in November 23, 2006. He was a well-respected member of the community, being the one who first introduced user artwork, as well as the creator of the wiki's first "expanded" article. However, WarioLoaf had a thing for vandalizing the wiki. He was blocked in November 2008 by Stoob. He was then blocked for changing the content of many pages to “IM RUDNICKI MUHAHAHAAHAHAA”. After this ban ended, he did one of the most painful-to-restore troll attacks the wiki has ever had, redirecting and moving tons of pages, creating an almost-endless web of redirects. This resulted in him being perma-banned from the wiki.
But that’s not all about WarioLoaf. Before turning into a troll and vandal, he was a 'Shroom writer, the one to create our first Sub-Team, the Fake News. He wrote Fake News all by himself for Issues I, II and III. His Fake News included some of the sections you can see now, like Fake Games, Characters, Sports and Music. But it also included some sections that have been removed from the newsletter, such as the Obituaries, Poll of the Month, Headline and Local News and Rumor of the Month. Naturally, he was the first user to get to 10 sections written for a sub-team. And in Issue II, he also contributed with an Upcoming Games article.
A month before being banned for the second time, WarioLoaf returned as a guest writer in Issue XXVIII to write many of the sections he created and some that were created after him. This guest section includes Headline News, Fake Music, Fake TV, Fake Sports, Travel Guide, Fake Games, Wanted Poster (long gone), Fake Characters, Fake Weather, Obituaries, Fake Movies, Cooking Guide, Fake Gossip and Fake Interview. So here you have, WarioLoaf's Special Guest Section, from Issue XXVIII
I hope you enjoyed this trip to the past and I hope you learned something. You did, right? Don’t tell me you fell asleep halfway through my explanation… Anyways, see you next month, BYE!
Greetings, 'Shroomrades! Another month rolls by, summer is reaching its end. Just last week, we had the biggest celebration of the year on the website, the 6th Annual Mario Awards. The event was a total blast, and was very well-coordinated between the leading Awards Committee staff. Massive kudos to Turboo, Superchao, Super Mario Bros., Gamefreak75, and Tucayo for all the work they did in keeping everything punctual, fun, and enjoyable for everyone.
I just wanted to mention what an awesome job they did and how good the ceremony was. Check it out if you haven't seen the ceremony yet.
I'll skip ahead to tonight's subject now.
The Target
This month I'll be interviewing someone I've been trying to get a hold of since June. He's a really good guy who joined this community in a rather funny scenario (which he will tell us about later), and is someone I thought you guys would like to see interviewed eventually. His name is Anton, but he's also well-known as both Hypnotoad and PsychoKamek. He has not contributed much to the wiki itself, but he is an established user in the various chatrooms around our community, as well as the forum. He is currently a Chat Operator on the #mwchat and #userpedia channels, as well as some member-owned chatrooms.
On Userpedia, Anton is currently an Admin on their wiki and forum. He was originally promoted to Patroller one year ago, and was bumped up to Sysop status during March of this year. Anton also helps out with Userpedia's Featured Content process; he directs Featured Images and sub-directs Featured Articles. Anton also is also the star of a comic created by Mason on Userpedia.
In addition to all of this, Anton also attends college photography, forensics, and anthropology. He plans to take his knowledge from the three subjects and form a steady career in crime scene photography, which is a pretty impressive goal.
I don't want to bore you with too many details, so I'll move on to the actual interview now. You should enjoy it.
The Interview
Me: Hello, lovely 'Shroom readers whom are likely getting tired of my same old lukewarm greetings!
Me: This month, I will be interviewing a very familiar and loved face around these parts. You may know him for his hypnotizing tendencies.
Me: Everyone say hi to Anton!
Anton: Howdy!
Me: Glad to finally get the chance to interview you, man.
Anton: Haha, yeah, I've evaded you for so long, but I guess you finally found me!
Me: I guess I will start off with the simple stuff, as usual. When and how did you run across the MarioWiki?
Anton: Actually, the MarioWiki community pretty much found me!
Anton: I had already been on IRC for a few years when a few MW users raided my channel. :P
Me: Oh Lordy. "Raided."
Me: That sounds like a, um, pleasant experience. :P
Me: What happened?
Anton: I can't remember exactly who started it, but the first things I remembered was SvS coming in and me bonking him with my ban hammer.
Anton: And soon enough, tons of people were bouncing in and out.
Anton: It was quite a battle, but I think it worked out swell in the end. :)
Anton: I think a few of the people that evaded my ban hammer were Jorge, Packy, and Aldo, who soon became my first few friends in MW!
Me: Very nice! Even if Scarecrow was trying to rustle up some trouble, I too think things worked out quite well at the end of the day.
Me: Also, I guess you covered my next question; who your first friends were!
Me: I'm becoming too predictable.
Anton: That totally wasn't me digging into your head for thoughts.
Anton: No meddling at all, nope nope nope!
Me: Oh, as long as you aren't using that crazy eye-swirling mojo on me!
Me: (all glory to the--)*cough*
Anton: Nope, not at all! @u@
Anton: Next question? *innocent face~*
Me: Well, let's see...(you totally threw off my groove!)
Anton: Groove?
* Anton{Hypnotoad} boogies down!
Me: Hypno Inferno!
Anton: :D
Me: I guess I will ask this: You've mostly been active on the various chatrooms around the community, but you are also a very integral part of the Userpedia community these days. What got you interested in contributing to Userpedia?
Anton: I think it was because I was more involved in the MW community, as opposed to the wiki's content.
Anton: So, I became closer to the people around, and all of their wacky stories and such.
Anton: I also like the creativity that comes with it.
Me: Hehehe, yeah, one thing that's great about Userpedia is the community can let loose with silly story ideas.
Me: I definitely agree that some parts of the community and site are very creative and artful, though.
Me: You've even worked your way up to Sysop there, so you must enjoy taking part in the community efforts that go on there. :)
Me: Had you ever been an admin on a wiki before Userpedia?
Anton: Nope. :P
Anton: I'm still learning how to edit wikis and stuff.
Anton: But there are plenty of great people around to tell me how to do things. :D
Me: Lol, that is great. :P
Me: There is sooooo much to learn on wikis, but it's nice once you get the hang of stuff.
Me: Some wiki coding completely boggles my mind, though.
Anton: I give a lot of credit to people who edit the wiki all the time, yeah.
Anton: I'm too old to learn too many new things.
* Anton{Hypnotoad} waves his cane around.
Me: Oh snap. I have one of those too!
* Stoobenshroom waves his cane around
Anton: :O
Me: Mine's made from birch. B)
Me: And elephant bones.
Anton: Oh, neato!
Me: Continuing on with the community, the biggest even of the year just happened about a week ago.
Me: What did you think of the Awards Ceremony this year?
Anton: I really enjoyed it!
Anton: This year's was only the second one I really paid attention to. :P
Anton: But as I sat in chat and watched the conversations roll by, it seemed clear that everyone else enjoyed it too.
Me: Very nice! The chat party is always a blast to watch and take part in. Everyone's so excited at that time. :P
Anton: And I certainly enjoyed making my presentation!
Anton: The Magikoopas definitely need more love, though. >:[
Me: Magikoopas are an awesome species, I dunno why they don't get more love. D:
Anton: Pure jealousy, I tell ya.
Me: They just ain't got slick magic moves.
* Anton{Hypnotoad} boogies down once more.
Me: We need to have a live dance contest here sometime.
Me: Because yo' moves are SLICK.
Anton: as tfp would put it, that'd be fresh B)
Me: And now it's clear to me: the song for the dance contest will be The Fresh Prince theme.
Me: Truly a brilliant idea!
Anton: Genius!
Me: I should make a Spongebob reference right about now, but I will be boring instead.
Anton: Squidstoob.
Me: Ahahaha, you caught that. Props to you. :P
Anton: Ehehe. :D
Me: Anyhow, during the awards, we got to see the community's favorite Mario games. I guess I should ask you what your favorite Mario games are?
Anton: My favorite game by far is Yoshi's Island.
Me: The original, right? Certainly your favorite game wouldn't be that heathen creation for the DS...
Anton: Correct. :P
Me: You're one of the good ones.
Anton: I love everything about the original Yoshi's Island.
Anton: Especially the Donut Lifts theme~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X5ih39PN84
Anton: Nintendo needs to hurry up and make it available on Virtual Console, so I can play it all the time again.
Me: Yoshi's Island has one of my favorite Mario soundtracks. I totally understand why you like that theme.
Me: The bouncy ragtime-like feel is too good.
Me: :D
Me: They haven't released it on the Virtual Console yet?
Me: I wonder what the hold up is?
Anton: It was with the Ambassador Program thing, but I unfortunately don't have that. :(
Me: Aww.
Anton: Good thing the Donut Lifts song is playing now, that always cheers me up. :P
Me: lol
Me: Music does the soul good.
Me: So, what is your favorite non-Mario game?
Anton: Well, the old community I came from was centered around Pokemon.
Anton: So, I suppose that!!
Anton: I bought Pokemon Conquest a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying that.
Anton: But my favorite game in the franchise is Pokemon Platinum.
Me: Cool! I heard about Conquest just a few days ago. From what I know, it's a crossover game of sorts, so it must be quite different from your typical Pokemon game. :P
Me: Platinum, I have not played, but it is well-liked from my knowledge.
Me: </is so educated>
Anton: lol :P
Anton: Pokemon Conquest is a crossover of Pokemon and Nobunaga's Ambition.
Anton: I guess the best way it can be described is a simpler and less stressful Fire Emblem game with Pokemon instead of knights and archers and such.
Me: Haha, that sounds pretty neat, actually. I've heard of Nobunaga's Ambition; it's quite an extensive series.
Me: I may try out Conquest, since it sounds a little different from most Pokemon games.
Me: Oh wow, music was mentioned earlier and I didn't ask a question about it. Shame on me.
Me: What kind of music/artists do you like?
Anton: Hmm, that's actually quite a difficult question for me to answer.
Anton: I don't really listen to specific artists, but just whichever song catches my ear the right way.
Anton: I've been on a classical music kick featuring TV show soundtracks for a while now!
Me: Oh really? That sounds very interesting to listen to. :)
Anton: Bear McCreary for Battlestar Galactica, and Michael Nyman for Gattaca.
Anton: They're fantastic composers.
Anton: But then, sometimes I get on video game music kicks, and electronic stuff, and then creepy Scandinavian stuff.
Anton: It fluctuates. :P
Me: Very nice! Some sountrack and score music is truly golden. I personally thought Gattaca had a very enjoyable soundtrack.
Anton: Oh, you know it? :O
Me: Yes!
Anton: Hooray! :D
Me: Video game music is always a treat to listen to, and some electronic music is very calming. Creepy Scandanavian stuff? That sounds...um...creepy? I may investigate this sound further.
Anton: Now, if you've watched Battlestar Galactica, I could ramble on about that for hours with you.
Anton: A few poor souls in chat know this far too well. :P
Me: lol
Me: I haven't actually watched any of Battlestar Galactica.
Me: Am I missing out?
Anton: Oh yes, you definitely are!
Anton: The series ended a few years ago, actually. :P
Anton: But you should definitely try to watch it whenever you get around to it.
Anton: It has beautiful space battles.
Anton: (and also beautiful robot ladies~)
Me: You have my attention.
Anton: and DRAMA and ACTION and ROBOTS and EXPLOSIONSSS
Me: So, it's like live-action Futurama?
Me: Oh wait, you said "drama"...
Anton: Ehehe, I guess it can be that way. :P
Anton: Just replace "comedy" with "soul-crushing depressing storylines that keep you still wanting to live by teasing you with hope on the horizon".
Me: Sounds well-developed, in all seriousness.
Anton: Mhm!
Me: I am interested in shows similar to that, I'll be sure to check it out!
Me: It's starting to get a little late, so I suppose I should enter stalker mode.
Me: Tell me...what kinds of hobbies do you have outside of this community?
Anton: Well, my major in college is photography, so I take lots of pictures.
Anton: I'm also very much into science, so when I'm not taking pictures, I'm plopped in front of my tv watching crazy medical and space shows.
Me: Photography is one of my favorite types of hobbies. I used to be big into taking pictures a couple years back, but I was never...very...good at it. :P
Anton: Yeah, I've always had a knack for it every since I was really young.
Anton: It just takes lots of practice though, so don't give up!
Me: I won't!
Me: Taking part in a photography course must be a lot of fun. What kind of profession do you plan to make out of it?
Anton: My other interests probably aren't quite as pleasant, ehehe.
Anton: I'm honestly not planning on having a, like, wedding photography career.
Anton: Too many people.
Anton: My other option has significantly less people due to the nature of it!
Anton: Crime scene photography. :P
Me: That's a very serious job. :O
Anton: It mashes up all of my other interests into one dream career.
Anton: Since the classes I take when I'm not in the art building are, quite frankly, classes where I stare at dead bodies and figure out what happened to them.
Anton: I'm taking a few of those kinds of classes next semester, and I'm really looking forward to it. :D
Me: Heh, very cool!
Me: Although a career like that would revolve a lot around tragedy, you'd be helping the police and investigators figure out what happened with a crime.
Me: And ultimately help them solve the case!
Me: That's extremely big.
Anton: Mhm, yeah.
Anton: I feel like it'd be a good thing for me to put all of my quirky interests into.
Me: Well, it's seemingly perfect how your interest in photography, science, and terrifying medical shows all add up to that one field of expertise. :P
Anton: Ehehe, yeah. :D
Me: Hm, I believe I'm starting to run out of questions. Looks like we might almost be done here.
Me: I will drift topics here a bit and ask you something off-the-wall.
Me: Best flavor of Chex Mix?
Anton: Ooooh. :O
Anton: This is quite a magnificent question!!
Me: It is!
Me: I made it just for you.
Anton: My personal favorite is Chocolate Peanut Butter, of course!
Anton: Along with Honey Nut and Muddy Buddies!
Anton: Of course, I like the least healthy flavors. :P
Me: lol
Me: I'm the same way, pretty much.
Anton: Chex Mix is a magnificent snack food that can be enjoyed at home or on the go!
Anton: totally not product placement
Me: Honey Nut and Turtle are my favorites, along with Jalapeno Cheddar. I love anything with a bite to it.
Me: A lot of times I eat Chex Mix for breakfast. ...Not the chocolately stuff, of course! :P
Anton: I've actually stocked up on.....lemme count, hmm...
Anton: I currently have 8 bags of Chex Mix bought to bring to college with me! :)
Anton: My favorite flavor, Chocolate Peanut Butter, is sadly not found in too many stores.
Anton: So, when I found a store that had them in stock the other week.
Anton: Naturally, I bought every single bag. :)
Anton: certainly no obsession there
Me: Ahahaha, I've totally done that same thing with obscure flavors of things I like.
Me: (I'm looking at you, chocolate Frosted Flakes)
* Anton{Hypnotoad} is currently nommin' on some now, actually. <_<;
Me: And you didn't share with me? why did i want to interview you again
Anton: Oh, uhhh...it's because I'm so handsome, remember? @_@ !!
Me: yes. of course. all glory to the handsometoad
Me: ...and his Chex Mix. D:<
Me: Well, just don't nom it all away before you go to college. :P
Anton: Ehehe. *shares!*
Anton: There's certainly enough of it here!
Me: Yay!
* Stooben noms on the Chex Mix.
Me: Have I told you that you're the BEST interviewee I've had yet?
Anton: I'm certain that wasn't forced by any means whatsoever~
Me: I am impervious to bribery and tomfoolery and...wait why are your eyes going all swirly again
Anton: ahaha >:D
Me: Oh. Welp. Looks like it's time for THAT question.
Me: So, I guess I will ask it. Is this the last question?
Anton: Hmm.....
Anton: This is a tough one...
Anton: Well, I guess it is!
Anton: After all, it's 4:30am for me right now. :P
Me: Woooowww, that's a pretty killer time. I think this the latest anyone has been interviewed before.
Me: That's hardcore. :P
Anton: B)
Me: So I'll say, congratulations! You answered the question right.
Anton: :D !
Me: No living man has done that before. You must be working some sort of mojo on me...!
* Anton{Hypnotoad} tosses around confetti.
Me: omp confetti
* Stooben plays in the confetti.
Me: Dances, Chex Mix, confetti...
Me: STOP EXPLOITING MY WEAKNESSES
Anton: Muahahaha! >:]
Me: I better wrap this up before anymore ~embarrassments~ occur on my end.
Me: I guess that ends this interview, folks! Say bye to Anton for now!
Me: (and hope you don't end up in a file on his desk at work some day...!)
* Anton{Hypnotoad} waves!!
In Closing
so, here we have a member of the community who didn't join because he was Googling Mario information; he joined because of some pranks in the chatroom that some of our more senior members were trying to pull in his own chatroom, #pokemon — a chatroom completely separate from this community. ...Or, at least, it was "completely" separate. Anton followed those people back to our native chatrooms, and past there, eventually formed some solid friendships with the people there. He then became more and more involved in the community, and even helps administrate one of this community's most creative outlets — Userpedia. Anton frequently assists people in many situations; from administrative duties to personal problems, if there's a way Anton can help someone out, odds are, he's going to try it.
I find his career goal to be pretty admirable, too. Helping the authorities catch the bad guys and solve cases, giving the victims' families some sort of closure; what's not to respect about a job like that? Maybe he's not the one putting the cuffs on the perpetrator, but without people like crime scene photographers, the police would have far greater difficulties solving cases. Evidence is crucial in any case, which is why it's so important for as much of it to be gathered as possible. Which is where Anton would come in. Anton has helped many people work through various issues in this community. I can see him helping many people solve issues of more criminal nature, too.
If none of this making any sense, just watch this.
This month, I am comparing Dupree to Elvis from the classic Super Show episode, Will the Real Elvis Please Shut Up.
Dupree is a blue, iconoclast, Elvis-dressed Doogan with a (possibly) Faux-French accent a dyed pink fro and shades to boot. Dupree stalks Goombella to know end, believing her to be in love with him, and that no one he loves could ever not reciprocate. Goombella grotesques him, and would probably kick his ass if Mario would let him. She loathes him and hates him for stalking him. I bet Dupree wishes he could hypnotize Goombella the way Luigi was hypnotized in “Superstar Saga” into thinking he is Mario so she would believe him to be Mario and he could take her home and live another happy thirty or forty years with her raising bizzare hybrid creatures known as Doogoombas. He is even attracted to Bob-ombs this idiot wannabe guy. What is wrong with him?! He thinks he is a player. Perhaps, but in the minor leagues (if he is one at all).
But what about Elvis? Are you crazy about Elvis? Isn’t everybody? Well if you are reading this, then you are PART of everybody. So yes, yes you are. Indeed you are. Indeed. The worldly-proclaimed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll made an imperishable mark on the Marioverse when he appeared with Lou Albano (R.I.P rubberband-beard buddy) and Danny Wells (Who was on the Jeffersons R.I.P to the star of his most well-known show, Sherman Hemsley, who died quick recently). in the “Super Show” short-feature, Will the Real Elvis Please Shut Up. And better yet, the King appeared approx. one dozen years on the show after the world believed he was dead! Was it really the ghost of the legend Elvis? Or does Elvis Live?!!! Anyway, Mario, Luigi, and Elvis all performed together in an unforgettable performance, and by the end, Elvis had left the building. But since Dupree and Elvis faced, who won? Well, who do you think? The creep Dupree may dress like Elvis, but he ain’t no Elvis. The ladies don’t love him like they do Elvis, and that is why, Mr. King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, a Winner is You.
What's up, Brawlers? FunkyK38 here with the August edition of BRAWL TACTICS!
When the heat outside is turned up to 11, how do Brawlers stay cool? By taking a cruise on the Legend of Zelda stage Pirate Ship, of course! Here's hoping the surf will be good.
Pirate Ship is a medium sized stage that borders on the small size. Due to the changing conditions of the sea, you will have more or less space depending on which part of the cycle you are in. More on that later.
The ship itself is fair sized. It has two upper platforms attached to the main mast, and it slopes up slightly on the sides. Near the front end is a small cannon that will periodically rise up and launch whoever's standing on it out to sea. It will launch you off the screen, so be careful when you see it. If you can lure your opponents on top of it, they will get launched out to sea and you can fight with them to keep them off the ship. Speaking of being launched out to sea, let's talk about how far you can go without being KO'ed. The sides on this stage are actually pretty deep, so if you need to get back on the ship, you have time before you're carried too far out.
The Pirate Ship will also have Link's small ship, The King of Red Lions, sailing behind it, and you can jump on this boat if you need a little space to recover, or if you need time to change your character, i.e. Zelda to Sheik. This is a good place to lure your opponent, too, as you can KO them more easily since you are closer to the sides. Eventually, the little boat will sail away, and you will have to move back onto the main ship. It will be back, if you're lucky.
Once you've gotten settled in, ready to fight for a while, you will be bombed by towers off the far side of the sea. If you're not expecting it, it's startling, but if you're watching, you will see the bombs coming and you can avoid them. They will launch you pretty far off the screen, and they will do a fair amount of damage, so watch out for them and use them to your advantage to deal damage to your opponent.
There are two routes this ship takes on its journey during your fight. The first involves a hurricane that will take your cruise to new heights, quite literally. A waterspout will pick up the ship up and take it into the air. During the trip up, everything that's in the water will be destroyed and everyone that's in the water will be KO'ed, so make sure you're on the ship before it takes off. During the trip up, gravity will intensify and it will be hard to get decent height on your jump. On the way down, gravity will be lessened, so you will have extended air time.
The second route involves a Titanic-like approach. The ship will crash into a rock and half of it will sink. If you choose to stay on the ship, you will be fighting at an awkward angle, so be warned. You can also hop down onto the rock and fight there. A good place to trap your opponent is right in the corner between the ship and the rock. It will be an instant KO if they can't get out when the ship takes off again, which it will do after a few moments.
That's all for me this month, Brawlers! Hope this seals the deal on where to take your Summer Brawlcation! Tune in next month for the next edition of BRAWL TACTICS!
Well, well, well... Welcome to MY LAIR! - ahem, to the Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner! A monthly section dedicated to tell you tips about all the Mario Kart games.
Today we shall talk about an item that made several appearances in the Mario franchise. Someone would guess why Nintendo did not think of putting it as a power-up in the racing series. Just see, if you use one of these, it shakes everything on the screen and everyone falls over like domino pieces. That item I'm telling you is the POW Block.
The powerful POW Block finally has made it as an item into the racing games, making its debut in Mario Kart Wii - so far the only Mario Kart game that it appears in. It is one of the three brand new items that appeared in Mario Kart Wii (the others being the Mega Mushroom and... the Lightning Cloud). It is an item that can be obtained from an Item Box, usually from 3rd or any other lower place - except 12th. The item is kinda rare to obtain, though. Once obtained the player just has to activate the item to work its effects. A small signal of the POW Block appears over the player and all his or her opponents that are ahead. The signal of the block flattens three times gradually, shaking the ground a bit. After the third and last strike, the signal vanishes and makes all the opponents spin out of control as if they were hit by a banana, although the spin lasts longer, as racers spin twice (more like a Lightning) and as result they slow down drastically, unable to accelerate after that. Also, all the victims drop all of their items onto the road.
For the targets of a POW Block, there are some ways to resist, or at least avoid the effects of the item. The POW block only works on vehicles that are on the ground, therefore, the block has no effect on a victim that is in midair when the third strike goes off. For racers on the ground, it's very hard to avoid if you're not using an item like a Star, a Mega Mushroom or a Bullet Bill to undo the quake. However, if you don't have one of these items you can do the next trick: Once the third strike comes, try to do a wheelie when using a Bike or shake the Wii Remote (or the buttons of the Classic Controller or GameCube controller to perform tricks). If done correctly, the player will drop their items and spin just once instead of twice, retaining the momentum and avoid decceleration caused by the double spin that way. There are other, less conventional ways to avoid the effects of the item but the success of doing them is very hard to get. Its possible to simply press the button to make the vehicle hop over the third strike, completely avoiding the shake: No spin, no speed loss, no items dropped. However, it requires perfect timing to do this, and works best on uneven paths. The other way is to get hit by an item that makes you flip over, like a Green Shell, right before the third strike comes. Obviously this is the last thing you wanna do if you can't find any other solution to evade the block.
The POW Block is simple to use, and funny sometimes, but remember that you cannot control the action of the item once you've activated it. The block acts automatically. The POW Block can be used specially when your opponents are trying to get big jumps over gaps, or when they are taking a corner, but you will need to predict your moves and the POW Block's actions in order to make the third hit take the rival right in those situations and by surprise. Also, you must be careful once you've used the POW Block. The items dropped by your opponents on the track can be both useful or dangerous.
The POW Block is also available in Battle Mode with slight differences in function. If the item is deployed by a member of a team, all the racers of the rival team will see the signal and get then the shake. In Balloon Battle, the POW Block only serves to slow down the opponents and drop their items but they don't take away any balloons from them. In Coin Battle they do the same thing but they are able to drop the coins from all the opponents.
Well, that's all the tips for today Shy Guys. See You next time with another tip in the Mario Kart Wheel Tips Corner.
Hello, I’m Toad85 again. And here’s another issue of “A History of Video Games”. Again.
I’ve been talking about the dominant company a lot regarding this article. My first article was about Atari, and then I did an arc on Nintendo, both of whom were dominant forces of video gaming. But what I haven’t really done was discuss the opposition. OK, I’ll admit I did do an issue about Universal City Studios and Nintendo’s dispute in 1982, and I said a little bit about Activision (whom Atari hated with the intensity of 1,000 suns) in my ’83 crash articles. But these guys weren’t real competition for Atari and the big N; Universal and Activision didn’t have the same goals, drives, and product as the first party manufacturers, they just acted as roadblocks of sorts.
No, I want a company that can contest toe-to-toe with plumbers and Pong. One that seriously attempted to overthrow the two as the uncontested masters of the living room, and actually succeeded for a while. One that is now known by heart by gamers from around the world, and beloved by so many. One that is bankrupt as of 2011.
I’m talking about the big block letters and screaming background entities that screeched into your soul. I’m talking about blast processing, supersonic speeds, and simians in miniature spheres. This is the company called Sega.
PART SEVEN: SAAAAYY-GUUUUUH
Sega began, actually, had its roots as an American company in 1940. Then called Standard Games, owner Marty Bromley oversaw the creation of coin-operated slot machines for soldiers in Hawaii. After Pearl Harbor a year later, demand for amusement unsurprisingly went up, and Bromley became rich off the revenue generated by Hawaiian gambling. After the World War, when the United States barred slot machines, Bromley took his business over to the rebuilding Japan. He rebuilt Standard Games into an importing business, where he would bring his old American slot machines and resell them within the archipelago. “Standard Games” was renamed “Service Games” in 1952.
Meanwhile, former U.S. Air Force pilot David Rosen began an importing business of his own, transporting photographic art to Japan for low prices. Eventually, he too moved to Japan and began importing mechanical arcade games.
Bromley and Rosen crossed paths in 1964, and Service Games merged with Rosen’s company to form SEGA (short for Service Games) Enterprises, Ltd. Although it was technically a buyout of Rosen’s company by Service Games, Rosen assumed the role of CEO of the new company. Through the 60’s and 70’s, Sega established itself as one of Japan’s premier arcade game manufacturers.
Of course, video games took off in the late 70’s, so Sega was pushed to make a decision: move to electronic video game cabinets or risk losing a lot of money. Is it really a big surprise that they bought a distribution company run by Hayao Nakayama, and developed Head On, a maze video game before Pac-Man made it cool, in 1979?
Sega, finding a new niche in which to grow, began doing so. Quickly. After the relative success of Head On, Sega began trying bigger and better projects, including several attempts at making a 3D game. A flight simulator called SubRoc 3D was the first of its kind, giving a stereoscopic perspective via an advanced first-person camera. Turbo was the first racing game to use full-color sprites. Later, a Buck Rogers licensed game trumped any graphics gamers had ever seen before. Sega, behind the first-party producers, was one of the top developers of the time.
Then came the ’83 crash. I won’t bore you to death on this, since I’ve already done that in a previous article, but Sega lost a lot of money. Note, however, that the crash in Japan was a lot different than the crash over here in the West. Here, consoles almost went extinct, but arcades soldiered on. In Japan, it was the opposite: arcades were tossed aside in favor of the home market. Sega decided that, in order to keep their relevancy, a Sega console must be made.
Enter the SG-1000. Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s Famicom, which, ironically, was released on the same day, the SG-100 was a primitive (even for that era!) box that played ROM cartridges or Cassette tapes. Not surprisingly in the face of the much more powerful Famicom, as well as due to a significant lack of great original games, the SG-1000 was a critical and economic flop.
After the SG-1000’s failure, Sega had a corporate shake-up. Owner Gulf and Western (I think I forgot to mention before that they bought Sega in 1966) sold the gaming company back to Rosen. Rosen named Nakayama the new CEO. Sega would now focus solely on video games.
While the SG-1000 was a failure in every sense of the word, it did give Sega valuable information on how not to make a successful console. Additionally, several top designers going forward were hired to work on the ill-fated console, so it had a large creative lineup to work with. Batting cleanup was Yuji Naka, who had co-created an action-adventure dating sim called Girl’s Garden. Other top devs were Yu Suzuki, who had coded Champion Boxing, and Reiko Kodama, who designed quite a few of the SG-1000’s high-profile games.
Sega made a second attempt at the video game market with a console-computer named the SC-3000…which also failed for the most part, but surprisingly was a hit in New Zealand. So it was a start.
But success as a computer company wasn’t what Rosen wanted. To truly make Sega become the biggest name in the video game industry, he’d have to go toe to toe with the Famicom with a powerful new console. In October 1985, Sega released the SG-1000 Mark III (don’t ask me where Mark II went, maybe New Zealanders bought ‘em all) in Japan, just as Nintendo was planning to export the NES. But, again, Sega failed to capture the hearts and minds of its home and native land. Sega realized that if the NES was a hit in America, Nintendo would have a stranglehold of two markets instead of one. Sega basically gave up on the Land of the Rising Sun, and set forth to conquer the Land of Reagan.
Finally, the timing was right for a success. Sega was well-known amongst the American gaming crowd, thanks to the Blue Text’s arcade diversions. In the U.S.A., Sega was known for churning out solid titles and activating cutting-edge innovation. Games like Hang On and Space Harrier stretched the limits of their hardware, and were fun to play to boot. Sega hoped that their arcade reputation would lead to living room success.
In 1986, Sega rechristened the SG-1000 Mark III as the “Sega Master System”, made a few aesthetic alterations, and shipped ‘em to the States. To complement the new gaming system, Sega crafted an unofficial mascot to battle the likes of Mario and co.: Alex Kidd. Kidd is a short, elfish orphan boy in a red and yellow jumpsuit who lives alone on a mountain called Mt. Eternal, in Miracle World. He somehow learned the ability to punch through solid brick. When an evil guy named Janken the Great attempts to take over Miracle World in the game, Kidd must use his unique abilities to rescue the kidnapped Prince Egle and Princess Lora. The game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, was primarily a 2D platformer, but had several RPG elements.
A powerful new console, coupled with a quirky platformer, Sega realized that they had a potential hit on their hands. But they couldn’t just rely on Kidd to carry the system. Nintendo had great first and third-party support, with strong titles like Excitebike, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, and Kung Fu to back up their plumber. So Sega and their third-party friends developed their own: Afterburner, Black Belt, and Super Tennis were some of the most notable Master System exclusives.
However, like their previous efforts, the Master System was doomed to fail. This was for several reasons. First, the NES had already taken hold of much of the U.S., and the Master System didn’t have the same gimmicks and enticing stuff to attract as many gamers as Nintendo’s toaster could. The Master System’s late arrival also meant that there were fewer companies keen to develop games for them, thanks to Nintendo’s “only make games for us” policy. Second, Sega hired Tonka, a toy manufacturer, to market the console. Tonka had no knowledge of electronics, and their attempts at marketing were as horrific as the Houston Astros. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the Master System came with no pack-in title. While the NES had Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, Sega’s make-or-break game Alex Kidd didn’t come with the console. Sega wanted to derive a profit from their mascot, but it bit them in the arse later on. By 1989, the Mark III pulled out of Japan once and for all, and did the same for America in 1991.
However, unlike before, the Master System wasn’t a complete failure. It was widely popular in PAL regions like Germany, Brazil, and (you guessed it) New Zealand. Several Master System games would go on to fame and fortune, including Wonder Boy, Fantasy Zone, and Alex Kidd himself. The Master System, while not successful in the U.S., still allowed Sega’s name to become known and adored by many a fan, and this brand loyalty would be essential for Sega’s next attempts to take down the big N.
This article is enigmatic end.
Before I go, I’d like to thank Legend of Lily (talk) for making that cool banner at the top of the page. Thanks to the undisclosed sources that I used in creating this article. Thanks to the people of New Zealand for being so New Zealand-ish. Also thanks to the reader for, well, reading. You’re awesome.
I’m Toad85, your resident gaming historian, and that’s the way it was.
Been super busy lately, and after using my wonder twin powers to turn into a block of ice, turning back again after realizing that didn't help, then freaking out a little, I barely made the deadline. You know how I said this time there'd be more comics? There's less. Enjoy
Since Mario Sunshine turns ten in the United States I want to submit this word search ( a 20X20) as a special section. I know this isn't a special issue, and I would honor it with a quiz, but Mario Kart also turns 20 this month so I'll do this.
The classic Super Mario Sunshine turns ten this month. A great game that gets scorn from many gamers for, like SMB2, daring to be different, but a joy none-the-less. You must search for all ten of the locations Mario visited on his trip to Isles Delfino, as well as three hidden characters from the game! And it just wouldn't be Mario Sunshine without searching for those pesky Blue Coins. There are ten total! You'll see what I mean. Good luck, and complete it, in honor of the anniversary of the game.
B Q B D K P V M Q I B E B N R N B G P Q H L N L E K Q B Q I V L I B U Y S I Y Y A O U E U S O U A I U A T L O Z I V O Z N C P E T E U N F E T N W U F H D Q S R C Y J B C N C N C N A E B E N C Y M M D A X X J I O I O U F N C L C I A D P H N M O Q Z H O I O I R C Q C O O E B I K B D K M I C N M N C N H U N I C B L R R A B L L E E A A A T E O Q K N E O U T A P G L U I N H T K Z H U N F S U T E S P E S L G O P O H E M A R L E E L A C R A T B H R B K D T T W E L E B V B L O I N E T O M J F C G T G Q W P E E N E I A N Y C R O B R A H O C C I R O N O G N O I P O M I S S I T N A I P L I N K H T N P I B L U E C O I N N I N E K X I E W I K R S I R E N A B E A C H C X B B F O F F A P I A N T A V I L L A G E M A P L L V N X I S N I O C E U L B R H X Y T S E G H E W V B I G D A D D Y I S G Y N V D D A
HI, readers! I'm your motorized Statistics Manager, Tucayo, and welcome to a special section celebrating the 20 years of the Mario Kart series! We all know and either love or hate the Mario Kart series, but who does what? I decided to go on a quest to find the Favorite Game, Course and Racer of various users around the community. Here's what happened:
What is your favorite game in the series?
- "favourite" for MCD and everyone who prefers that spelling
Count Bonsula: Mario Kart 64
Palkia47: Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Glowsquid: M&Ms Kart Racing
Anton: hmm, this may be because I haven't played all of them, but my favorite is MK7
Turboo: double dash
Toadbert101: mk64
Uniju: i dont really have a favourite. but i always prefer the newest ones because i get accustomed to the subtle differences in their controls so i guess put me down for 7
Rise Up Above It: MK Wii. I've only played 4 of series
MrConcreteDonkey: mario kart wii
Super-Yoshi: mk64
Smiley: Mario Kart Wii
Superchao: double dash
Paper Yoshi: My favourite Mario Kart game is... Mario Kart 7, I guess. Mario Kart 64 is really close in second thanks to the nostalgia factor.
Porplemontage: mmm good questions. I'm going to say Mario Kart 64
Ralphfan: MKDD
Gamefreak75: MKDS
Marioguy1: MK:DD
Paper Jorge: mario kart 64 because pancake syrup
Stooben: My favorite game in the series is definitely Mario Kart: Double Dash. The co-op elements were just about perfect, and being able to control two characters on one kart was awesome. Special items were very nice too. Mario Kart DS deserves an honorable mention, though, I like it a lot too.
SMB: Hm... That's a hard question. I would have to say that, for me, it is a tie between Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. I have always found the two to be pretty fun to play with friends and family.
Smasher: Mario Kart DS
What is your favorite course? (From any game)
Count Bonsula: Luigi's Mansion <3
Palkia47: Oh jeez, uhh...Kalimari Desert from MK64
Glowsquid: waluigi pinball
Anton: it's a tie between Waluigi Pinball and Frappe Snowland. Not entirely sure why I like Frappe Snowland, but I always remember having the most fun on it
Turboo: hmm wario colosseum
Toadbert101: probably have to go with block fort
Uniju: yoshi valley
Rise Up Above It: Bowser Castle is my training ground, weaklings
MrConcreteDonkey: mushroom city
Super-Yoshi: rainbow road snes
Smiley: Rainbow Road :3 Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64. I love it's glitch despite how hard it is to perform.
Superchao: wario colosseum
Paper Yoshi: My favourite course is definitely Delfino Square, although I enjoy MK64 Rainbow Road (those character pictures are sooooo cool) and DK Mountain as well.
Porplemontage: Wario Stadium
Ralphfan: Either Moonview Highway (MKW) or Sherbet Land (MKDD)
Gamefreak75: Waluigi Pinball
Marioguy1: Rainbow Road
Paper Jorge: rainbow road because fish
Stooben: Favorite course...that's a tough one. I'd have to say Waluigi Pinball from MKDS. Great music, imaginative design, an overall memorable and fun course.
SMB: I suppose I'll go with Moo Moo Farm from Mario Kart 64. I love the cows. :P
Smasher: Waluigi Pinball.
Who is your favorite racer?
Count Bonsula: Wario
Palkia47: That's a toughie, I love playing as characters like Yoshi, Luigi, Dry Bones, and Rosalina... but I'll go with Rosalina
Glowsquid: after some deeeeep soul searching, I'd say... dry bones. but seriously, there's barely any differences lol
Anton: Koopa, of course
Turboo: waluigi
Toadbert101: luigi
Uniju: waluigi ;_;
Rise Up Above It: Any Koopa Troop-related char, so mainly Lord Bowser himself. Tough Dry Bowser kicks ass
MrConcreteDonkey: shy guy
Super-Yoshi: (after I said "I'm guessing Yoshi") yep lol
Smiley: Yoshi. c:
Superchao: probably waluigi. more versatility than wario + bob-omb is a great special.
Paper Yoshi: Dry Bowser, of course!!! Nah, just kidding. My favourite racer is Yoshi.
Porplemontage: WARIO
Ralphfan: Baby Luigi (love the Chain Chomp)
Gamefreak75: Waluigi
Marioguy1: Toad
Paper Jorge: luigi because spaghetti
Stooben: Favorite racer would be Wario. I race well as him
in every game, he seems to handle very well for a Heavy racer.
SMB: I suppose I don't really have a favorite racer. All of them have certain pros and cons that make each of them worthwhile to consider.
Smasher: I guess probably Shy Guy, Yoshi, or Dry Bones
As you can see, the Mario Kart series hold an important place for most of us. While some argue Mario Kart 64 is the best game, or some others think it was Mario Kart Wii, we can all agree on one thing: Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the worst thing that could have ever happened the Mario Kart series are a huge part of the Marioverse. Yes, so far everything has been love and joy, but there was no way that could last forever. I conducted two interviews that ended in different results. The first one was with none other than Critic Corner Director, Crocodile Dippy. Unlike most people, he's not so enthusiastic about the Mario Kart series. Let's hear from him why:
Crocodile Dippy: I'm not really a big fan of the Mario Kart series. I find them all same-y and boring, and it seems to me that genuine skill takes a backseat to luck just so the developers can indulge in WACKINESS with the items. It's also why I can't stand Mario Party. Yes, I do enjoy having no friends, thank you for asking.
So there you have it, not everyone loves this series. Oh, I told you there were two interviews that drifted outside the common factor, here's the other one:
Tucayo: hey Channy
ChanServ: Invalid command. Use /msg ChanServ help for a command listing.
Tucayo: I hate you and you're no longer my friend
ChanServ: Invalid command. Use /msg ChanServ help for a command listing.
That was it for this Special Section, I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even learned something. (It was a funducational section, right?) BYE!