The 'Shroom:Issue 160/Palette Swap
Director's Notes
Welcome, everyone, to the July issue of the 'Shroom! I hope you are enjoying our issue themed around the good doctor!
As of writing this, my copy of Paper Mario and the Origami King is currently in the mail and being shipped to me, so I'm trying to avoid spoilers the best I can. With reviews already out, it's been difficult, but I am so excited to play this game. While I've been waiting, I've gone through the first DLC pack for Pokemon Sword and Shield, the Isle of Armor. It was a fun experience, and I'm always happy to have a Pokemon game where my partner Pokemon can follow behind me! I know a lot of people were disappointed with these games and the DLC, but honestly, I'm so done with the Alola games that these two are extremely refreshing for me. I'm happy to have them.
This month marks a sad occasion, unfortunately: it will be Hooded Pitohui (talk)'s last issue of Mario's Boombox for now. We are so sad to see him go, but I've got my fingers crossed that he'll come back to show us some more great music in the future!
This month we have a huge assortment of great sections for you, so I'll let you get to it!
~FunkyK38
Section of the Month
In first this month, Magolor04726 (talk) brings a new chapter in World of Plight featuring Bowser and Pit! Next, winstein (talk), talked about the history of Herman in Drawn and Pressed. In third, we have Yoshi876 (talk) with his What's on the Box? looking at the box art of Golf. Thank you for voting, and please keep it up!
| Palette Swap SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | World of Plight | 7 | 46.67% | Magolor04726 |
| 2nd | Drawn and Pressed | 6 | 40.00% | winstein |
| 3rd | What's on the Box? | 2 | 13.33% | Yoshi876 |
What's on the Box?
Hello readers, and welcome back to What's on the Box.
*cough**cough* Excuse me, readers, but I have picked up a little bit of a cough. It's nothing that the great team of Mushroom Kingdom doctors, especially since we even have Dr. Dolphin, can't handle though, so I'm still good to look at another boxart for you for this Dr. Mario themed edition of The 'Shroom.
Now, over the past few months, I have basically used up all of my Dr. Mario boxarts, but thankfully there was still this one that could be used, the boxart for Tetris & Dr. Mario, although sadly this isn't a boxart that I have a whole lot that I can write about.
This is a whole new level of lazy, and this is from a company that brought us the Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario 64 boxarts, as this boxart is just a combination of the boxart for Tetris and Dr. Mario, and sadly I've already reviewed the boxart for Dr. Mario beforehand, and although this Tetris boxart is new for us, that's not a whole lot for me to be able to say. It's Tetris, and all of the blocks are falling down. If you want, I can tell you that the blocks are pink, blue, green and orange, and that the Dr. Mario boxart appears to be a little bit lighter than the original, but that's all I'm able to say.
Given that this game is essentially just a port of the two games, I can't bee too surprised that the boxarts are identical, but I would've preferred some variations. Perhaps, the Tetris blocks could be falling in place of the Viruses, just to add a little bit of flair.
Hopefully next month, we'll have a boxart in a much better shape to look at!
World of Plight
Written by: Magolor04726 (talk)
(Special thanks to DekuGuy329 and Masterboxx for helping with edits and ideas!)
Magolor04726
OK, I know what you’re thinking: “What? This guy is actually writing an entry and not having someone else do it?” Yeah, well, join the club. I wasn’t expecting to write one of these either. But I wasn’t expecting the mystery I had stumbled onto either. I guess I just got lucky.
Well, this is my interjection point. The time has come for me to tell my side of the story. If you’re wondering, I happen to be friends with some of the Smash Brothers. So there I was, minding my own business, when out of the blue, I got an invitation to Smash. Not to fight, mind you, but as a reporter of sorts. I thought it would be fun, so I packed my things, and I showed up in February last year. It’s really cool to be here, and watching the fights is amazing, but beyond the fights, there wasn’t much going on. Galeem and Dharkon had already been beaten, the universe was saved, blah blah blah. Woo-hoo. Unfortunately, everyone already knew about those guys, so there wasn’t anything to write about. So I was just here for some nine months. Then Link told me about a weird dream he had. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but then people started going missing. I realized I was onto something big, so I contacted my friends and some other fighters, signed up for the ‘Shroom, and there you have it.
So far, it may seem like I’m just telling how this thing got started, but it’ll get interesting, trust me. I did a little investigating after Pokémon Trainer found that scrap of fabric. R. O. B. and I analyzed it, but I already had a suspicion as to where it came from. My interview with the suspect is as follows.
Me: -esting, testing. One, two, three. Hello, hello. All right, looks like we’re good to go. So, this scrap of fabric was found at the place where Isabelle was last seen.
(I pull out the fabric from my pocket.)
Me: To the naked eye, it’s just a scrap of purple fabric. However, after a friend and I did DNA tests, sample comparisons, and several other tests, we found that there is an eighty-five percent chance that this is yours! I can even see a tear on your right sleeve where it might fit. What do you have to say in your defense?
Waluigi: I didn’t do nothing! What makes you think it was me, huh? I saw nothing!
Me: So you deny that you kidnapped Isabelle.
Waluigi: YES, I deny it, Racket-head!
(I lean towards the door.)
Me: OK! Wheel it in!
Waluigi: Wheel what in?
Me: I took the liberty of having this TV brought here. Ah, thank you. After a discussion with Sergeant Guy about my suspicions, I was given permission to take a look at some of the security cameras.
Waluigi: So what?
Me: Besides the fact that Pichu took Richter’s whip again, I saw something very odd in a certain hall near various storage units for stage ideas. Isabelle was being taken to the police station to give a statement after that run in you had.
Waluigi: (Grumbling) Stupid Bandana Dee. Stupid diary.
Me: So, I saw Isabelle walking down the hall with the officer, and- well, here, let me show you the video.
(I turn on the TV. Isabelle and the guard are walking down the hall, they get to the end of the hall, and the picture goes black. About a minute later, neither Isabelle nor the guard are visible.)
Waluigi: So what? The camera blacked out and she turned the corner. Big deal!
Me: Hold on.
(I rewind the tape and play it in slow-mo. Right before the screen goes black, a hand with five claw-like fingers reaches up and covers the camera. Then about twenty-four seconds into the video, a small slit could be seen between two fingers for a fraction of a second. Waluigi is clearly visible in the slit and appears to be forcing Isabelle into an unused room. I turn back to Waluigi.)
Me: Well?
Waluigi: …
(A dull thud is heard, and a robotic, rusty voice speaks.)
???: …sorry.
Waluigi: Seriously?! I thought you covered the camera!
???: I thought you were smart enough to sew up your shirt. Come on, we better get out of here before someone else comes.
Waluigi: Fine. Wah-tever
???: Wait a second.
(A crash is heard. I assume he broke my recorder and took the disc too, because both were broken/gone when I woke up.)
???: That should do it.
So I woke up, maybe thirty minutes later with Sonic shaking me. I was taken to the hospital as a precaution, and after a quick check up from Dr. Mario, I went straight to Sakurai with the back-up recorder I had in my shirt pocket. Normally, the line is insanely long to speak with him. But thankfully, I got sent straight into his office after I told his secretary that I had a break in the missing persons case. I showed him the recording, then went back to my room, and wrote this down. So far, here’s what I can deduce:
1. Link had a dream where Zelda told him something bad was going to happen, and I’m assuming it’s this.
2. King Dedede went missing.
3. Isabelle went missing.
4. A scrap of Waluigi’s shirt was found.
5. Ganon got knocked out and lost his powers somehow. Snake and Pit later heard a portion of a conversation between two cloaked people that one of them knocked Ganondorf out. This may have been Waluigi and Rusty Voice.
6. I interview Waluigi, and get knocked out, and half my evidence was taken.
What does this all mean? So far, Waluigi and Rusty Voice are trying to kidnap the roster. But there are still unanswered questions.
WHO: Are they working for someone?
WHERE: Where the heck did Ganondorf’s powers go?!
HOW: And how did he lose them in the first place?
WHY: Why is all this happening? What end does kidnapping the roster bring?
These, dear readers, are the nagging questions. Well, I hope all will be revealed in due course. Until then, stay tuned!
Welcome Min Min, hope you have a great time here in Smash! If you have any leads as to who I should interview next, contact me on the Mario Boards.
Searching for clues, Magolor04726, Sleuth Supreme.
Drawn and Pressed
Based on what I have seen, new comic strips are not as frequent as the older days where it was not uncommon for more than 20 of them to debut in a year. Nowadays, new comic strips are basically an event, albeit a pretty small one. That's why it's very cool if new comic strips get approved especially these days, and I daresay that it would be even more of an achievement if there's a new comic strip in the decade of 2020. Wallace the Brave is one of the newer comic strips and it's struck me as a really fantastic entry to the comic strip space.
Officially under syndication in 2018, Wallace the Brave is a very recent comic strip that's not even past its third year. Technically, it started earlier than 2018, in which the artist Will Henry posted his comic strip at less regular intervals back in 2015 at three days a week. The comic strip clearly struck a chord with many readers because it eventually gained interest in syndication and later it became a daily comic strip. Despite the waning popularity of newspaper comics due to the internet largely usurping what newspapers are functioned to do, it's nice that every now and then, new comic strips appear. In this way, the internet has its benefits because more people are able to see your work and thus interest can be determined, so while the popularity of newspaper comics is not as widespread compared to its heyday, those who take advantage of it would benefit immensely from it.
The cartoonist didn't really start writing Wallace the Brave from the beginning, as he had a previous comic strip Ordinary Bill[1], but because of the more limited nature of the subject, given how it's about a post-college man and his girlfriend, he pursued for a better subject to which he would focus on[2]. Using his experience with his previous work and taking inspiration from Cul de Sac, Will Henry set his sights on something more universal, had a good backstory and well-developed characters, so the obvious thing is to base a comic strip around his life: Wallace's family is based on the cartoonist's family- Spud to be more true to the artist's self and Wallace as the person he wished to be, and that's not to mention the setting of the strip[3]. This comic strip takes place at Snug Harbor, and like a lot of cartoonists, takes a great deal of inspiration from the heart of the cartoonist, because as the saying goes: "home is where the heart is". In this case, the place that is relevant is at Rhode Island, which is the cartoonist's home. I used to think it was a British type of place, but I was mistaken.
As the title suggests, Wallace is the main character and he's a brave boy who is adventurous, likes to explore and is a curious boy. Contrast to Wallace's boldness is Spud, who is generally neurotic and does suffer quite a bit of misfortune at times. Amelia is another of Wallace's regular friends and she is generally quite opinionated and has a sort of tension with Spud. Another thing to note is Wallace's family, who are generally fun characters and well-written. Wallace's father is a fisherman, which makes sense as the comic strip takes place at a harbour, while Wallace's mother is a gardener and generally a stay-at-home mother. The McClellan parents are not overly harsh with Wallace, and they generally know how to have fun even when they do have their ways of disciplining Wallace. This is an interesting case because, in quite a few comic strips, parents of main characters basically acted as a sort of adversary to them. Wallace's younger brother Sterling is quite eccentric in extreme ways, and his presence exudes chaos.
The comic strip is basically slice-of-life where the characters engage in everyday activities with some humour thrown in, such as school and family activities. Every strip presented something exciting in matters that would normally be considered mundane. For example, in school, the teacher, Mrs. Macintosh, would be in charge of Wallace and his friend's class, while Wallace would express his unfiltered opinions on certain matters. In some strips, the imagination of the characters run wild that the reader could see the imagery presented visually. The way the imaginative panels are portrayed showed a sense of seamlessness as if whatever was imagined could very well be true within the confines of the fictional world. As an example, Spud had occasional encounters with his imaginary friend Gary, who looks like a bellhop troll. Presented this way, the comic strips are, all in all, lively, given its overall optimistic and idealistic tone.
I imagine that this comic strip's recency might mean that not many people have read it, so you could say that I am advocating this strip because I found it to be overall enjoyable for its positive energy, and indeed it's a nice change of pace compared to the usual sort of cynicism that a good deal of comic strips would fall to.
Wallace the Brave can be read at https://www.gocomics.com/wallace-the-brave.
Thank you for reading.
There is something to admire in the way Wallace reveals his thoughts to his teacher.
Spud expressing his paranoia in imaginative ways.
Amelia has a thing for Spud; teasing or violence, that is.
Wallace's parents are fun people to have around.
Those eyebrows will certainly make anybody look older than they are, and wilder I guess.
References
Mario's Boombox
Written by: Hooded Pitohui (talk)
Mario's Boombox has been a joy of a section to write, one that's always going to hold a special place in my heart, but, unfortunately, this month, I must let you all know that I have decided to take a hiatus from this section. Right now, I don't have the time for my regular, ongoing sections, or, at least, I don't have time to write them as thorough, research-based sections. For now, I'm going to focus on contributing shorter, one-time sections where I am able. Technically, I went on hiatus last month, so I apologize that this isn't much of a formal send-off, but, please, think of this as a bonus edition of Mario's Boombox, rather than a formal ending, and know that I intend to return to this section someday!
That preamble out of the way, I hear there's a Dr. Mario theme this month, so I'm here to prescribe you some Dr. Mario music. Unfortunately, it seems there's not much in the medicine cabinet. I may be giving you some outdated or hard-to-swallow pills, but we'll work with what we have.
Speaking of outdated pills, I would cover the "Dr. Mario Song" by the Screen Team, but the song and artist have both already been covered, way back in this section's first run. I'm obligated to discuss, as well, Brentalfloss' "Dr. Mario with Lyrics", though, I must warn you all, like many of Brentalfloss' pieces, this song contains crass humor, and the video features (animated) nudity and additional crass jokes. You may want to be careful if you choose to click it!
But Brentalfloss has also been featured in this section in the past, and, while The Resellers' "Singing Viruses" may be fun to watch as they do their best impressions of the viruses' "hurt" animations, the song I want to highlight this month has only a loose relationship with the Dr. Mario franchise. You may remember the composer credited as Hyadain, who is in reality known as, Kenichi Maeyamada, as the original creator of a memetic version of Super Mario World's athletic theme. Well, as it turns out, he also made a simple song using a theme from Dr. Mario. Yes, Hyadian turned that fast-paced theme from Dr. Mario into "My First Friend".
"My First Friend" is no groundbreaking piece of music, but, thanks to borrowing its music from a recognizable videogame title with a memorable (if limited) soundtrack, it's imbued with a sense of nostalgia, a sense of familiarity. That fits its lyrics perfectly, considering they tell the tale of an all-too-familiar experience of losing a beloved pet. "My First Friend" is ultimately the story of a bond forged between a dog and a lonely young boy, the relationship they have as they both grow, and the pain of losing a dear friend who will be forever cherished and remembered. Its story may not have any immediate obvious connection to its source material, but watch it and it still may just manage to tug on your heartstrings.
Well, I told you, these musical pills might be outdated and bitter, but I hope you enjoyed them. Like the narrator in "My First Friend" thanks his beloved pet, I want to thank you all for these years we've spent together through this section. I don't know when you'll again see me around in this section, but I'll try to return as soon as I can, and, when it's possible, I'll continue to submit special editions of it like this one.
| The 'Shroom: Issue 160 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • 'Shroomfest Highlights • Poll Chairperson Address |
| Features | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing |
