The 'Shroom:Issue XLI

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Issue XLI August 15th, 2010 About        

Twitter_follow.png
Staff Notes Fake News Art & Music
Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner
Coincollector
Entertainment
Killer Axe
Non-Marioverse Review
Leirin
Fun Stuff Pipe Plaza Brawl Tactics
FunkyK38
Interview
Stooben Rooben
Ultimate Character Tournament
Special Section
Special Interview
Tucayo




Fun Stuff

Mystery Images

By Tucayo (talk)

Hello! This month I made this Awards‐themed, so the images you are seeing here are actually the contestants in U1, Favorite User Design. Credit to the makers of each artwork. Also, excuse the crappy answers image, but I lost Photoshop, and so I made that on paint.

cnmod.png bpmod.png hdmmod.png pcmod.png beanmod.png walkamod.png edomod.png

Answers!

Crossword

By Tucayo (talk)

The crossword is also awards themed!

acw.png

Answers!!

Quiz

By Fawfulfury65 (talk)

Welcome back to my quiz section on the Shroom'! Test your knowledge on the Mario series by answering these questions! If you spot a mistake in any of the answers, don't hesitate to tell me.

  1. What is the name of the girl Jumpman saves in the original Donkey Kong arcade game?
  2. In order for Funky Kong to make the Kongs a Hover Craft in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!, the apes have to give him what?
  3. In Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, what rank do Mario and Luigi have to be on to enter Toadles Boutique?
  4. How many games in the Mario Party series does Daisy appear in as a playable character?
  5. Who is the first boss in Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!?
  6. In Mario Strikers Charged Football, who must always be the goalie?
  7. Marching Milde is a mid-boss in what game?
  8. What is the name of the first boss-ghost in Luigi’s Mansion?
  9. Who is Harry’s doubles partner in Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color?
  10. The Star Egg is an item in what game?

Find The Differences

By Edofenrir (talk)

Original: http://www.mariowiki.com/File:Bowserrules.png

Edit (10 Differences): 554pxbowserrulesedit.png

Solution

Hiding Koopa

By General bob-omb (talk)
Don't think you're "pulling a fast one" by thinking it's Koops, it's not him.

HideKoopa2.png

Answer

Mind Bogglers

By Papero (talk)
See if you can find all 10 hidden objects!

ricketymind.png
Answers



Fake News

Director’s Notes

by Ralphfan (talk)

  1. Find the section you’d like to write. The current openings are for Fake Music, Fake TV, Fake Police Blotter, Fake Weather, Character Battle, and Fake Characters.
  2. Get an account on the forum. Don’t worry, it’s free. When you sign up, do not use a Gmail account. It will treat the activation message as spam and you will be unable to receive it.
  3. Send me a private message (my name is Oaktown Mojo on the forums). You can do so by finding my account name or just clicking this link.

After you send me the message saying you want to write for the Fake News, I will send you the questions you need to answer. Please remember that the current open positions are Fake Music, Fake TV, Fake Police Blotter, Character Battle, and Fake Characters. After sending me your section, the other ’Shroom staff members and I will look at it, and we will make sure your section is good to go. After that, you’ll get a reminder each month telling you to send in your section.

For those of you who have sent me things about the Fake News that I haven’t yet responded to, I’m sorry, but leading the awards was a ton of work. I will get to those ASAP.

Also, congratulations to Tucayo for winning Favorite Director and Writer, Edofenrir for helping Fake Games win Favorite Section, the 18 voters who helped make Fake News the recipient of Favorite Sub‐Team, and all the voters in this year’s ’Shroom Awards!

Because of the Awards, Gamefreak75 has been given exemptions for this month’s issue. They will return to writing next month.

Travel Guide

by Ralphfan (talk)

Come visit scenic Outer Space! We’ve got robots! Though jumping on them is pointless, it makes a cool sound. Another cool sound is caused when you fall into Dark Matter! Don't try this one. We also have some kind of bunnies. They are meant to be played with by 3-year-olds instead of sophisticated astronauts who play the Mario Series. In addition, we have a fat Luma who makes weird sounds and tells you confusing things. Why this fatass Luma can't be straightforward, I do not know. Plus we have a lot of bosses. Most of them have good music. Some of them don't. Woot.

Fake Game: Super Mario Wars: The Great Toadstool Crusade

by Edofenrir (talk)

Game cover.

Greetings. This is Edofenrir, writing Fake Games – August 2010. Being busy with presentations for the MarioWiki Awards, I didn’t know if my section would make it this month. But as it seems, I found a wonderful miracle solution and now my sections are only a bit delayed. What is this miracle solution you ask? I’ll tell you: Coffee. And lots of it. I recently stumbled upon an old family recipe of my grand‐uncle Edoflammie, describing how to brew coffee with twenty times the amount of caffeine. And now that I drank three cans of that stuff, I am confident I will be awake and finish this section. In fact I am a little worried whether I will ever be able to sleep again…

The game I am reviewing this month is an obscure title called Super Mario Wars: The Great Toadstool Crusade. With this game the Mario franchise dipped into the real‐time strategy genre for the first and probably the last time. I use past tense here, because this is not a recent game. In fact, it was released during the Nintendo 64 era, but Shigeru Miyamoto feared that it was too outlandish and might sell poorly, so Nintendo produced only two copies. I found one of them attracting dust in my attic while looking for the aforementioned coffee recipe.

But now more about the game itself:

Story

We are writing of the year 1021 AP (anno Poochii). In those medieval times, a large alliance of several small kingdoms is living a dire and hard life inhabiting a mostly infertile land somewhere at the end of the world. Times are tiring, and quarrels are numerous, but there is hope. A new land has recently been discovered in the south. This land, being fertile and overgrown by nutritious mushrooms, would be able to end the times of indigence, if there wasn’t a major problem. The prosperous land is already inhabited by another party, calling themselves the Koopa Clan.

MarioCrusade Lords.png

Hearing of this blessed land, the great Popess Kumquat Toadstool IV sends out for the rulers of the four greatest kingdoms: Sir Richard Mario of Fire Dale IX, Emperor Friedrich Luigi of the Stormy Summits, Duke Dudd Wario of the Flatland the Very First, and Queen Eva Maria Theresia‐Estelle Daisy of Flower Field CCXXXVIII.

“My most loyal servants, hear the request of Popess Toadstool! We have endured poverty and suffering far too long! But now the time has come to rejoice! A blessed land in the south has been discovered and offers us a new perspective, but it is already occupied by Koopas! Now is the time to take what is rightfully ours! In my name, invade this land! Pillage, slay, and crush! Show those turtles where their place is, and then build a glorious kingdom for me on their charred remains! Ready your arms and show no mercy, for the crown of Toadstool!”

And so the four lords set out to the blessed land to heed the word of the Popess, each with their own motivation for doing so.

Gameplay

Before the game starts, the player has to choose one of the five campaigns. Their choice will affect how the story progresses.

Once that is done, the player starts out on an isometric map, with only a fort and his lord. The objective in the game is to find the lord of the enemies and defeat him. If a player’s own lord is defeated, the player loses the game. It’s a lot like chess, only with fancy graphics and mushrooms. The first thing to do is to build a functional economy, just like in most strategy games. Most important for that are the game’s three resources: Cakes, Brick Blocks, and Mushrooms. Cakes are needed to keep the citizens alive and willing to work. They can be fabricated in bakeries. Brick Blocks serve as building material and are required to build houses and other things. They can be found in brick mines. Mushrooms are the most important resource. They are used like money in the game and are necessary to hire soldiers. Mushrooms can be gained by forcing mushroom taxes onto the citizens, but the higher those taxes are, the more cake the citizens require, and the more bakeries must be built, which is practically a giant loop.

Once the economy booms, the player can focus on waging war with their enemies. They can do that by hiring soldiers and sending them around on the map, making them beat up enemy troops. There is also an online multiplayer mode integrated into the game. Getting this to work properly can be a hassle, though, since you have to connect your Nintendo 64 to the internet somehow. Also there is the problem that there is only one other copy of the game out there, so it isn’t really worth the effort. I did it anyway, since… uh… I don’t know why, to be honest. I must be really bored.

Campaigns

The player gets to choose between five different campaigns, each telling the story from the point of view of one of the five lords. Which campaign is chosen will also have a more or less slight impact on the story. The five campaigns are:

Oath of the Blazing Mustache: Sir Mario, the knight

MarioCrusade Mario.png

Sir Richard Mario of Fire Dale IX is a noble knight and the most heroic of the four Toadstoolian lords. He has fought many battles and is extremely loyal to Popess Toadstool. His motivation during the campaign is to bring glory to the Popess and end the suffering of his people.

To achieve this, he has to put up with both King Koopa, who occupies the blessed land, and Duke Wario, who aims to claim the land for himself once every enemy is vanquished. The campaign ends with both of his enemies getting banished. King Koopa is exiled to Dark Land and Duke Wario gets send to Sarasaland. In the Popess’s name, Sir Mario builds a new kingdom on top of the old one and names it “Mushroom Kingdom”.

Out of the Thunderstorm: Emperor Luigi, the strategist

MarioCrusade Luigi.png

Emperor Friedrich Luigi of the Stormy Summits is the smartest of the four Toadstoolian lords. He is non‐confrontational and always searches for the most profitable way. He resents the ambitions of the Popess and questions her beliefs. His motivation during the campaign is to escape the Popess’s tyranny and bring liberty to his empire.

Though both of them share a neutral relationship, his main enemy in his striving for freedom is the one most loyal to the Popess: Sir Mario. To defeat this powerful foe, Emperor Luigi has to forge an alliance with the Koopa King. They eventually defeat Sir Mario and later the Popess as well, and found a new kingdom: The Green Empire.

Feuding and Feasting: Duke Wario, the tyrant

MarioCrusade Wario.png

Duke Dudd Wario of the Flatland is the most reckless of the four Toadstoolian lords. He loves to quarrel with others and is generally hungry for both feasts and power, which gained him an unflattering nickname. He also likes to back‐stab his allies. His motivation during the campaign is simply to expand his influence.

To do that he tries to take advantage of everyone and sell them out to each other. In the end, though, he is chased away by his rival Sir Mario and has to take refuge in Sarasaland. There he gets into a dispute with Queen Daisy and both battle over the new land they just found.

Quest for Glory: Queen Daisy, the wallflower

MarioCrusade Daisy.png

Queen Eva Maria Theresia‐Estelle Daisy of Flower Field CCXXXVIII has the most exhausting name of the four Toadstoolian lords. Her name is so obnoxious and long that nobody can ever remember it. Because of that, Queen Daisy has picked up the habit of introducing herself on every possible occasion to make sure nobody ever forgets her name. Her motivation during the campaign is to gain fame, so she will be remembered.

At the beginning of her campaign she gets quickly attacked by Pirate Goombas and her ship crashes at the shore of a land called Sarasaland. Having poor navigational senses, Queen Daisy mostly wanders around, trying to find her destination. She never does. She does, however, find the exiled Duke Wario, and chases him out of the land. Tired from her search for the blessed land, Queen Daisy eventually decides to just forget it and settle down in Sarasaland.

A Pumpkin in Arms: King Koopa, the poet

MarioCrusade Koopa.png

King Kopernikus Koopa is the jovial and mostly benevolent ruler of the Koopa Clan who inhabits the blessed land. He likes hot baths and tea parties and doesn’t know much about warfare. His motivation during the campaign is to protect his people from the four invading forces of the Toadstoolian party.

After hearing about the impending invasion and learning from his advisers that he won’t be able to talk the enemies out of attacking him with poetry, King Koopa gets ready for the war. Over the course of the siege he eventually teams up with one of the invaders, Emperor Luigi. In a long and hard battle, Emperor Luigi and King Koopa defeat Sir Mario, and later even Popess Toadstool herself and rid the world of her evil once and for all. They then found a new kingdom together and call it “The Green Empire”.

Summary

All in all this game is decent, if a tad weird. In fact, I seem to be cursed with only reviewing weird games that are either bad or so obscure that nobody ever played them. If you ever happen to come across this game, you should play it just to see how it is. I recommend that you stay away from the multiplayer mode, though. The first time I tried connecting my Nintendo 64 to the internet I ended up accidentally remodeling it into a toaster.

And with that I close this month’s review. I am glad I didn’t have to talk to any Nintendo employees who misspell my name this time. Now that this is over, I can finally go back to sleep. I really don’t know if I can, but we will sekbn.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (…)

Cooking Guide

by Baby Mario Bloops (talk)

Welcome again to an exciting episode of Cooking Guide. Baby Mario Bloops here to tell you that I have an special issue to present today! Not only that, but we also have a very special guest today! Give a warm welcome to Saffron!!!!!

Now, she will show you the better and less killing and boring loving way to make Dayzee Syrup. Let me hand it over to Saffron now.

Thank you Baby Mario Bloops. Now let me begin with what you all sweeties need.

  • A Crazee Dayzee Cutie. ♥
  • An instrument or just plain lovely music. ♥
  • A cute and sweet jar. ♥
  • A little pot and a hearty stove. ♥
  • A kitchen to do all this graceful work. ♥
  • A fancy little syrup pitcher. ♥
  1. First you call a cutie Crazee Dayzee friend on over. If you don’t have one, you lovely users can just speed date really quickly. ♥
  2. Once you have achieved that cute little deed, play some smooth music for the cutie till you make it cry from the beauty! ♥
  3. Use that sweet jar to collect those pretty tears, and wait ’til the jar is full. ♥
  4. Pour the beautiful tears into the little pot and turn on the hearty stove. ♥
  5. Simply wait a peaceful half hour or until the tears are as smooth as honey. ♥
  6. Pour the tears into the fancy pitcher and share a delicious glass with your cutie friend! ♥

Interview

by Baby Mario Bloops (talk)

Welcome all users to the most interesting interview with Baby Mario Bloops, who is me! I am about to interview a young crybaby that has been captured by Baby Bowser in the past, but still is braver than his older counterpart. That baby is none other than Baby Luigi, younger brother of Baby Mario! Let me get my instant translator out and begin the interview…

Baby Mario Bloops: Why hello Baby Luigi, how are you?

Baby Luigi: Gooooo Gibgle! (…very scary to talk in front of everyone!)

Baby Mario Bloops: I see, but don’t worry, I know you can handle it! So how is life with you and your brother?

Baby Luigi: Goobity Gaggaa Mario! (…Nice to be protected by brother Mario!)

Baby Mario Bloops: Nice to hear that. Also, what about the princesses?

Baby Luigi: Boogly Bamga! Nargle Fu! (…We see them a lot! It is fun to play!)

Baby Mario Bloops: What do you do at the castle?

Baby Luigi: Gargle fut turra venf ka‐heef nar ven! (…We chase and tag each other, rescue them from the tall beds, and angry their watcher!)

Baby Mario Bloops: Sounds fun. What about your adventures with the future Mario and future you?

Baby Luigi: Fufff gragragra takdle Mario Luigi gragrag tfuf. (…It was very fun to hang out with older Mario Luigi and play every day.)

Baby Mario Bloops: How often to you get to see them?

Baby Luigi: Baseball, Go‐Go Karts, futftu... (…Baseball, Go Karts, other things…)

Baby Mario Bloops: Yeah, those spinoffs…do you plan to be in a major role soon?

Baby Luigi: No‐no! Luigi barskta daldke bofkel! (…no, older Luigi does all the stuff!)

Baby Mario Bloops: But don’t you team up for cool stuff?

Baby Luigi: Dkdalkjd bakjdlk, eakdlkj lddl…zzz (…well sort of, but sleepy now…zzz)

Baby Mario Bloops: Okay, night then. Well, that wraps up an interesting interview. I will see you all next month (Hopefully, you never know)!

Fake Sports

by Ralphfan (talk)

Mario won the World Foosball Championships by defeating Wario, 10–7. Though he trailed 5–2, he then scored 7 in a row to take a commanding 9–5 lead in the first‐to‐10 championship match. Mario won the $100 prize for winning the tournament.

Fake Shop

by Sushrice25 (talk)

Hey Greater Mushroom Kingdom and outlying boroughs! Crazy Toad’s is having its annual Star Festival Sale! Get all of your favorite deals at even LOWER prices. That means you save BIG coins!Get 1‐ups, Courage Soda, Floatbrella — oh wait, that’s on back order. And please take advantage of our new promotion – stop Princess Peach from being kidnapped by Bowser, and get Vibe Tea for the rest of your life for FREE! Hurry, these deals are going fast, and you certainly don’t want to get stuck in line wait— DAISY, DON’T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH BUYING THAT WITH A BANANA COIN! I mean, really! And that is SO not your color, girl! — Uhh… I forgot what I was going to say. Oh yeah, *store jingle* “Shop Crazzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyy Toad’s for Crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyy Deals!”

Ask Tucayo

By You know who...

So, welcome to this new section. What is this about? Well, you NEED TO PM me a question, it can be about ANYTHING, and then I'll answer it in the next month's issue. Go. Now.


Art & Music

Director’s Notes

SMB

I'm a horrible director and forgot to send out warnings. Don't worry; it's my fault, not yours.

Box Art of the Month (SMB)

North American box art for Mario Party 7 with the Nintendo GameCube Microphone included

This is the box-art to Mario Party 7. I chose it because it shows the theme of the game (traveling the world), shows almost all characters in the game, and even tells you that you can use the mic. Yup.

Character Artwork of the Month (SMB)

Concept artwork of the Ice Climbers from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

This is the image of the Ice Climbers. They appear in the Smash Bros. series of games, but also have their own 1 hit wonder... Ice Climber.

Random Image of the Month (Tucayo)

Mbirthday.png

Credit to Lindsayoris15 for giving me the image :) I chose this because, well, it is the MarioWiki's anniversary :P I hope you like it. PD: I don't know which games does this come from... Any idea, please tell me.

Screenshot of the Month (Fawfulfury65)

Bowser does a ground pound in Super Mario Bros. 3.

I chose this for screenshot of the month because its an image of the final boss from a great game! And just look at Bowser face! He reminds me of Rawk Hawk from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for some reason. It's an instant classic! So there you have it, tune it next month for the next screenshot of the month!



Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes

Super Mario Bros.

Directed. I'm an idiot, so I didn't send out warnings. It's my fault.

Marioguy1

Hey there everyone! MG1 here, now, this month I'd like to thank SMB. He did the entire issue :D. I...basically scrambled around foolishly. Anyways, we still need more writers! Though I'd also like to thank RAP for signing up for NIWA News. OK, um, that's all! Bye!

Monthly Report (Super Mario Bros.)

This issue, I am comparing this months's statistics with both July 2010's statistics as well as comparing August 2010's and June 2010's statistics together.

Remember, I will try to make statistics as close as possible; expect decimals.

Credit goes to Stooben Rooben for the coding (I based the coding for this off of his report table that he used when he wrote the section).

August Statistics
Statistic As of 16 August 2010 (00:24)*
Content Pages 10,944
All Pages 73,208
Files 25,125
Edits 853,631
Edits per Page 11.66
Registered Users 15,682
Active Users 260
Bots 1
Patrollers 5
Sysops 19
Bureaucrats 5
Proprietor 1


July Statistics
Statistic As of 13 July 2010 (14:17)*
Content Pages 10,877
All Pages 70,552
Files 24,367
Edits 824,026
Edits per Page 11.68
Registered Users 15,156
Active Users 294
Bots 0
Patrollers 4
Sysops 19
Bureaucrats 4
Proprietor 1


June Statistics
Statistic As of 13 June 2010 (14:08)*
Content Pages 10,686
All Pages 69,010
Files 23,849
Edits 798,948
Edits per Page 11.58
Registered Users 14,736
Active Users 296
Bots 0
Patrollers 4
Sysops 19
Bureaucrats 4
Proprietor 1


July — August Statistics
Statistic As of 13 July 2010 (14:17)* As of 16 August 2010 (00:24)* Percentage Increase
Content Pages 10,877 10,944 0.61%
All Pages 70,552 73,208 3.76%
Files 24,367 25,125 3.11%
Edits 824,026 853,631 3.59%
Edits per Page 11.68 11.66 -0.17%
Registered Users 15,156 15,682 3.47%
Active Users 294 260 -11.56%
Bots 0 1 Incalculable
Patrollers 4 5 25%
Sysops 19 19 0%
Bureaucrats 4 5 25%
Proprietor 1 1 0%


June — August Statistics
Statistic As of 13 June 2010 (14:08)* As of 16 August June 2010 (00:24)* Percentage Increase
Content Pages 10,686 10,944 2.41%
All Pages 69,010 73,208 6.08%
Files 23,849 25,125 6.96%
Edits 798,948 853,631 8.09%
Edits per Page 11.58 11.66 0.69%
Registered Users 14,736 15,682 6.41%
Active Users 296 260 -12.16%
Bots 0 1 Incalculable
Patrollers 4 5 25%
Sysops 19 19 0%
Bureaucrats 4 5 25%
Proprietor 1 1 0%
*All times EST.


NIWA News (RAP)

Hello readers, this is NIWA News from the Pipe Plaza of the Shroom – where you can gather monthly info regarding the latest updates. I'm RAP (talk), and I filled this position due to my involvement with NIWA; despite the fact I remained very silent within the forums. Here are the latest details:

  • The NIWA forums received a bit of an update – a header that provides link quick links to the main NIWA page, and the wikis they've made alliance. Actually good... just needs a bit of spacing.
  • Wars Wiki now has a new Main Page! Bulbapedia user "KC-Earthshaker" has become an admin for the wiki, and wrote the coding for the new Main Page. Check it out!
  • A suggestion of a recently new Ace Attorney Wiki has been made. Created by MarioWiki users Paper Jorge (talk), and Turboo (talk) – the wiki's purpose is pretty self explanatory, cover anything Ace Attorney related! Currently, it's lacking activity and content - so as a result, the wiki needs help. In addition, Turboo has opened up staff applications in the topic for those who truly want to support the wiki in the long term. Help the wiki out now!

It's been a decent month for NIWA - and that's all the news I can provide; goodbye!

Tip of the Month (FunkyK38)

When commenting on an arcticle's talk page or another mainspace page, be sure to check if you are allowed to use your signature or not. Most pages do allow you to use it, but be sure to check if you can use it.

Featured (Marioguy1)

This is Marioguy1 for...Featured! Anyways, this month I've decided that, to honor the Featured Images, I'm going to put them...duhduhduhduh...before the Featured Articles! Anyways, the Featured Images won't be in this section next month because the process is on hiatus so here is are the very last FIs:

And there are the final FIs...anyways, FAs this month were...

But with passes, there must be fails...or so you’d think, but, nothing failed this month! Hm...unfeatured content:

And failed unfeature noms are...

Thanks for reading, this has been Featured!

Random Artwork of the Month (Tucayo)

Here is the random artwork of the month!

Mbirthday.png

Thanks to Lindsay151 for giving me the image! Happy anniversary MarioWiki!



Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner

by Coincollector (talk)

Welcome again to the dark side Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner and your fellow Coincollector is here to tell the tip of this month, so here we go!

Well guys, this will be a special (and funny) tip about the latest game for the series. No, it’s not Mario Kart 3DS…

We've all played Mario Kart Wii and experienced the online play in the game. Playing online with other players around the world is funny, especially in versus mode when everybody is against you and treating you like the little ill‐fated guy you are. However, there is something funnier than playing with friends online, and that is meeting a hacker online. If you think you’ve know chaos because you’ve experienced 12 players playing on a course, try to survive against tricky hackers able to use an infinite arsenal of items (the specialty of all Mario Kart hackers) and remain in first place for more than five seconds. Obviously you can avoid being hit by a hacker’s array of power‐ups by getting something useful from an item box like a star, a bullet bill or a mushroom, but sooner or later a hacker will get you anyway. Different hackers can be classified according to what they’re doing in a race. The most common are the friendly hacker, the cheater and the stalker. Let’s talk a bit about them.

  • The friendly hacker: A hacker that wants to have fun by torturing the other competitors, but refuses to win a race. Sometimes they offer some useful items at the beginning of a race, though a bit after they start to screw around.
  • The cheater: the opposite of a friendly hacker is a cheater, the guy who always wants to win using any code or glitch at his or her disposal. The can act aggressively as well, but just to get first place.
  • The stalker: This a recent method seen in Mario Kart Wii, a stalker is a hacker that follows a victim everywhere. For a normal player, they appear following a racer. Stalkers tend to attack their “host” only, and can be as pesky as the other two.

A characteristic that all hackers have in common is that they have higher VR than the other players… ¬¬

To conclude, meeting a hacker of any of these kinds can be good or bad. It depends on how they treat you. Obviously you cannot destroy, threaten or ban them (only Nintendo can do that), so the only option for you defenseless players is… SCRAM!!

That’s all for Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner. Remember to look both ways before crossing the road, or else a hacker will bite you.

Oh, check this out guys. It goes to show that Donkey Kong has finally gained the hearts of fans of his own kind! See ya!



Entertainment

by Killer Axe (talk)

Hello, fellow readers! This week we will be looking into a web comic called Neglected Mario Characters, the world’s first sprite comic, as well as its first interactive comic.

Neglected Mario Characters (often shortened to NC), is a series of comics that revolves around various and ridiculous plots. The stories often follow two characters, Bill the Extra Guy, who claims to be the very first Pidgit in Super Mario Bros. 2, and Fred the Spanyard, a Bugzy from the Kirby Series. There are a number of other characters who usually take less important roles, such as Dr. Donez, the second Tweeter of Super Mario Bros. 2 who dreams of world domination. The comic’s creator, Jay Resop, often adds himself into the stories, and is depicted as a crude stick figure with Bob Dole’s head.

The main villains are varied, but the most notable is Prof. Executrain, an evil Hammer Bro who is often competing with Dr. Donez for world domination. As well as Prof. Executrain, there is the threat of a tubby plumber who constantly plays (and fails at) his own video games, Mario. NC Land is where the neglected characters reside, joining together since they all had the spotlight stolen from them by Mario. The series’ definition of “neglected” is basically “everyone other than Mario”, who is portrayed as a simple character who lacks common sense. He tries to make friends with characters in NC Land, but is always rejected, and is usually taken advantage of.

If you thought that the above was strange enough, how about the basic plot of the website’s most prestigious comic, Bill and Fred’s Quasi‐Mediocre Adventure? Bill and Fred, who are annoyed that they were put into the comic, decide to kill the creator of the comic, Jay Respo (a misspelling of the creator’s name). After killing Jay Respo with a “Pokémon Overdose”, Bill and Fred frame Mario by telling him to plead guilty to the crime. He does so, and this infuriates the owner of the comic’s mother site, Kenny, who vows to use the indescribable powers of the worse to kill Mario.

I found most of the comics here to be quite funny. However, this being the first sprite comic, it isn’t really the best quality in the respect of imagery. And a couple of their comics have the songs “Mission Impossible” and “Ghost Busters” looping. You can only listen to Mission Impossible so many times; you’ll probably just mute your computer while reading the comics with audio. And on top of that, the website that contains these comics is rarely updated anymore, so don’t expect to see any new comics soon after the release of one, I’m still waiting after two months for the next issue of “A Story About Something”. Regardless, this website is worth checking out, and can be accessed at http://smbhq.com/nc.



Non‐Marioverse Review

by Leirin (talk)

For this month, we’re reviewing Um Jammer Lammy, a Playstation guitar game often acknowledged as one of the first rhythm games.

In the mid‐to‐late nineties, a group of artists and programmers were quietly brewing what would be one of the most influential games of its time: PaRappa the Rapper. A major departure from the common adventure or shooting games, PaRappa was about a dog trying to win the heart of a flower‐like girl named Sunny Funny by rapping. The bizarre concept and cartoon graphics had turned some off (much like EarthBound), but nevertheless PaRappa was a mild hit, and has become one of the best‐remembered games of the original Playstation.

Fastforward to 1999, two years later. NaNa‐Onsha has banded together again to create a sequel/spinoff game, which would be Um Jammer Lammy. It’s still a rhythm game, but instead of rapping, you have to pull off careful guitar riffs, also in a Simon Says–like manner. The master sings, and you match the rhythm of their voice with your guitar. It’s a simple concept, but the game can be very addicting.

You play as Lammy, an anthropomorphic lamb who’s the popular guitarist of an all‐chick garage band, Milkcan. Lammy’s always late, but she’d better make it in time for Milkcan’s first live concert. Along the way, she’ll stumble into several insane situations: a pizza restaurant caught on fire, a caterpillar midwife who’s mistaken Lammy for pregnant after eating too much of said pizza, getting stuck on an island after time travel, etc. If you thought PaRappa was weird, Lammy will make you do a double‐take. It’s a good kind of weird however, despite how nonsensical the “storyline” of the game really is.

Lammy bests these situations by playing the guitar that’s “in her mind”. You’re given a whammy bar at the top of the screen, and you press the buttons that appear in time with the music. You’d better be familiar with the buttons on a Playstation controller! The first song in the game is dedicated to helping you get used to the control scheme and the different buttons however, and while you may have to redo songs several times, you’ll get the hang of it. (For me, listening to the songs beforehand definitely helps.)

You’re given a rank on the left side of the screen that switches (or stays the same if you’re consistent) after every “lyric” of guitar‐playing. The ranks are “Cool”, “Good”, “Bad” and “Awful”. Obviously, you don’t want to be in Awful mode – staying there for too long can be dangerous and may cause you to fail the stage. What you want to stay in in order to pass is Good. Or if you feel like freestyling, Cool. Getting Cool is definitely hard, as you have to come up with your own guitar riffs, and staying at that level is even more of a challenge.

Um Jammer Lammy has a few things you’d expect from a sequel: improvements to the gameplay, longer story mode, and multiplayer. In multiplayer, you can go at it together or competitively. When you finish One‐player mode, you’ll unlock the ability to play as PaRappa too, so it’s like having two games in one disc.

Maybe the main problem with the game is how your playing is judged – it tends to be WAY too harsh on your timing, for one. It’s not just about pressing all the right buttons when they come up; there’s a lot more to it, and even if you play “perfectly” you could still wind up in Bad mode. Some of the button combinations are enough to make your wrist sore after too much playing as well, so feel free to take breaks.

It’s a short game, but it’s a sweet experience and it definitely has some replay value. I’d recommend it to any rhythm game fans or those that just like crazy music and storylines.

Final score: 8.9/10


Brawl Tactics

by FunkyK38 (talk)

Hello, Brawlers! It’s time for another issue of Brawl Tactics!

For this month, I will be doing the Halberd stage.

The stage is small and moves along with the Halberd as it flies.

First tip! When the Halberd is still in the loading docks, having not yet taken off, lure your opponent off the side of the platform as it gets ready to take off. If you can keep their attention long enough, the Halberd will take off and leave them behind, resulting in a KO. Don’t jump on the platform too soon, or your opponent will follow you and the trick won’t work.

When the stage lands on the deck, a few things could happen. The extensible arm could reach out and grab one of the characters, resulting in a little bit of damage but quite a bit of launch power. This could be an advantage to you if it grabs your opponent, so watch out for it.

The Combo Cannon could fire on you. It will lock on to one of the players on the stage and no matter how hard that player tries to get away from it, it will always follow them until it locks on and fires. A good strategy to use if it locks on you is to stay near your opponent until it locks on, then move away in the split‐second it takes for the Cannon to fire. Your opponent will get slammed with a huge amount of damage and launch power.

The Combo Cannon can also shoot cannon balls out. You just have to pay attention to where the cannon is aimed, and stay away from that area. It doesn’t do a whole lot of damage, but it will hurt if you get hit with one, so be careful.

That’s it for Brawl Tactics this month! Hope you try out these tricks. They’re a sure fire way to get more KOs. Happy Brawling, everyone! The 'Shroom:Issue XLI/Interview


Special Interview

by Tucayo (talk)

Hello readers. Seeing as this is the 5th Anniversary of the Super Mario Wiki’s creation, I thought I should make this interview something special, so I decided to interview none other than Steve, the creator of the wiki himself!

Hello Steve. First of all, thanks for letting me interview you, this is a honor.
No problem!

Normally users get asked how they found the wiki, but it would make no sense to ask you that, so, how did you come up with the idea of creating the SMW?
Well, I was working with a site called GamerFocus, and we wanted to create a network of video game wikis. GamerFocus was owned by AgentSeethroo, who founded Halopedia. I decided to create a wiki for the network and went with Mario, since there was no Mario wiki at the time.

The wiki has lived 5 years, and 5 years that have positioned it among the best videogaming wikis in the internet. Where would you like to see the wiki in 5 years?
Well, it is a wiki. I hope the articles continue to get better and better and we gain more recognition from fans.

What do you like the most about the wiki?
The community is great, and The 'Shroom is a testament to that. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to help put out an issue each month.

Tell us something about yourself. Which is your favorite Mario game?
Super Mario 64. Probably mostly due to nostalgia at this point.

And character?
I think I have to go with Wario. I always choose him for Mario Kart, so that must mean something.

Away from Mario, any other series you like?
Pokemon, Gears of War. That's a rather stark contrast but so be it.

Do you have any hobbies?
There's working on the wiki and playing video games. Sometimes I wakeboard.

This is out of mere curiosity... Your Wiki Sig encourages getting Firefox, why is that? I got it thanks to you, BTW :⁠P
That's basically to encourage people away from using Internet Explorer, which historically has not been a great browser. It's gotten better, though. I prefer Firefox, but Chrome is cool too.

Where does your nick, porplemontage, come from?
Well, it comes from the name of my first website, porplemontage.com. The website was named porplemontage because I used to make bad Flash cartoons and that was the name of my first one.

And what about what we know as icon_porple.gif, the smiley? Did you create that character?
Yes. I call him Porple and he was in the aforementioned bad Flash cartoon. His current design is up on porplemontage.com and you can get a glimpse of his original design on my wiki userpage.

An obligatory question... Is this the last question?
No, this is? I'll let you have the last word.

Thanks a lot for letting me interview you.


So that was the interview for this issue. I hope you liked it, and found it interesting. Tucayo signing out.


Staff Notes

Sub Director Notes

By Tucayo (talk)

Hello readers! Welcome to August’s Sub‐Director Notes! There are some couple of things I want to tell you, so take a seat and enjoy!
First, I would like to welcome back RAP, who is now writing the NIWA News section. Welcome, and thanks for signing up!
I would also like to welcome StreetFalcon, SpinyMaster347 and mvpguy22 who are new in the team.
There are also a couple of extra sections written by the amazing Core Staff, we hope you like them! We even have an interview with none other than Porplemontage!
And to end this month’s notes, I would like, again, to thank everyone immensely for choosing me as Favorite Director and Writer in the 1st ’Shroom Awards. It is such a honor for me, and this will definitely make me want to improve to live up to your standards. Thanks!
That was all from me, see ya in next month’s issue!

Editor‐In‒Chief Notes

By Twentytwofiftyseven (talk)

Of course, sections came in after the deadline this month. But don't worry, I won't actually hurt anyone… :⁠)

*shoves knife out of sight*

HEY! Are we still using these seasonal backgrounds? I'm pretty sure the plan was to drop them in one or another issue (in favor of the old teal background seen here, but I can't remember if it was this one.

In more important news, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has won the award for best sports game in our fourth Mario Awards. This is tragic and has completely destroyed any faith I may have ever had in Mario fans as a whole, or really, the human race in general. Seriously? Mario & Sonic? Mario & Sonic? What is wrong with people?

So uh… I haven't slept in about 22 hours, so I'm going to say a brief prayer to Poochy that I didn't make any glaring errors in this issue and then go to bed.