The 'Shroom:Issue 199/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Shroom2022 WT.png

Hello there, Pipe Plaza readers! Expecting Zange? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME. I've conquered this plaza and all the pipes within! ...mostly because Zange needed a substitute this month, but who really cares about the details?

There's not a whole lot to talk about here, but if you like Pipe Plaza (and I'm assuming you do, since you're reading this right now), I'm sure you'll enjoy what's in store for you this issue! We've got front page polls, wiki proposals, fighting robots, game releases, and Awards happenings all here and ready for reading.

Issue 200 is next month! Can you believe it? If you'd like to contribute to Pipe Plaza for this special milestone, whether that's a one-off or starting a new section, all the information you need is over on our sign up page. The final deadline for submissions is November 11th, so there's still about a month left. Whether you'd like to write about things that are happening in some area of the community like Community Report, or you want to discuss something you're passionate about like What's in a Campaign? does, we're looking forward to seeing what you have to share!

Section of the Month

Poll Committee Discussion took first place again this month, this time the first submission by Hooded Pitohui (talk) from this term covering controllers and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope! In second place we have GPM1000 (talk)'s Mario Calendar covering all the releases of September, which just so happens to include the original release of Super Mario Bros.! If that's not a month with a legacy... well, then the one with Donkey Kong probably still is. Finally, a relatively Blargg-free edition of Community Report took third, which mostly involved editors trying to decide how to split things. Be sure to keep voting!

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st Poll Committee Discussion 7 43.75% Hooded Pitohui (talk)
2nd Mario Calendar 5 31.25% GPM1000 (talk)
3rd Community Report 3 18.75% Waluigi Time (talk)
Mariowiki sections
Community Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
The month gone by in promotions and proposals.
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
Fun With Despair (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Anniversary Announcements
Lakituthequick (talk)
The ongoings of the Mario Awards.
read more
Non-wiki sections
Mario Calendar
GPM1000 (talk)
Find out all about this month's Super Mario releases.
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
A legacy of death!
read more

Community Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

It's that time again, proposals have been proposed so now I'm going to talk about them! I have nothing else interesting to say this month, sorry.

All information is accurate as of October 9, 2023. Proposals marked with an asterisk are updates on ones that were ongoing and covered in the previous issue.

RECENT PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
Trim requirements for elemental creatures categories* A proposal to trim the categories for various elemental creatures, which include creatures who are composed of the element or are able to manipulate it. The second half has become controversial as it has been used to justify including subjects that only used the element in a single appearance (i.e. Koopa Troopas being included as a water creature because of an animation in Mario Power Tennis). The majority of voters supported keeping characters that can manipulate the elements, while only including those associated with the element in a significant amount of their appearances. Some work has been done, but enacting it fully is still a work in progress. TRIM 1-8-1
(read more) 		September 16, 2023
Delete the {{wp}} and {{fandom}} templates A proposal to delete the templates used for linking to Wikipedia and Fandom wikis in favor of interwiki links. The proposer attempted to justify the deletion by citing the failure of a proposal to make interwiki linking templates for other NIWA wikis. All other voters opposed, pointing out that these templates are already in widespread use and much easier to remember than the long list of shorthands suggested in the previous proposal. FAILED 1-11
(read more) 		October 2, 2023
Do not rename articles until the relevant media has released A proposal to not immediately rename articles when subjects receive a name change in pre-release material. It was inspired after the page for Psychopath in Super Mario RPG was moved after an apparent rename mentioned in social media posts for the remake. The proposer and supporters argued that pre-release material is open to changes or mistakes, and that this decision would be consistent with other wiki standards. Some users opposed, disagreeing with the premise of not using pre-release material. Regardless, the proposal passed with a large majority in support. This does not affect the page titles for new subjects. PASSED 15-3
(read more) 		October 5, 2023
RECENT TALK PAGE PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
Italicize the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass* A proposal to fully italicize the title of the Booster Course Pass to be consistent with the majority of Nintendo's usage of it. It passed with unanimous support. PASSED 7-0
(read more) 		September 15, 2023
Move Super Mario (series) to Super Mario Bros. (series)* A proposal to rename the main platformer series to Super Mario Bros. based on some promotional material. All other voters opposed on the basis that Super Mario Bros. is a specific Super Mario subseries that only includes some of the 2D platformers, resulting in it failing. FAILED 1-15
(read more) 		September 21, 2023
Split Power Shot into separate Mario Tennis and Mario Golf articles* A proposal to split the Power Shots from different sports games. The proposer argued that it is confusing for these different mechanics to share a page just because they have the same name. The secondary option to merge the Offensive and Defensive Power Shot articles into the article for the Mario Tennis Power Shot received the most support, but the change has not been made yet. SPLIT AND MERGE OTHER PAGES 2-7-0
(read more) 		September 22, 2023
Split Yoshi's Story albums into three separate articles* A proposal to split the three releases containing music from Yoshi's Story from the group article based on inconsistency with how other soundtrack articles are handled. Following unanimous support, the original article has been repurposed to only cover Music to Pound the Ground to: Yoshi's Story Game Soundtrack, while the other two soundtracks have been split to Love, Peace & Happiness: The Original Yoshi's Story Soundtrack and Yoshi Story Original Soundtrack. PASSED 7-0
(read more) 		September 23, 2023
Split Red POW Block from POW Block* A proposal to split the red variant of POW Block that has appeared in some games, beginning with New Super Mario Bros. 2, due to having a slightly different behavior. This left appearances of regular POW Blocks that happen to be colored red unaffected. The proposal passed and the new page can be found at Red POW Block. PASSED 7-1
(read more) 		September 24, 2023
Split the Special Shot article by game* A proposal to split the tennis, golf, and basketball variations of Special Shot, similar to the previous Power Shot proposal. Following one extension, the proposal passed but has not been enacted yet. PASSED 7-1
(read more) 		September 30, 2023
Merge Orbot and Cubot into a single page A proposal to merge Orbot and Cubot based on almost exclusively appearing together and having very little distinction in their roles in the Mario & Sonic games. The proposal passed with unanimous support and the new page can be found at Orbot and Cubot. PASSED 10-0
(read more) 		September 30, 2023
Rename Pianta Thrower back to Chuckster A proposal to move the Pianta Thrower article back to Chuckster, overturning a proposal made a year prior. The proposer argued that Chuckster took higher priority in the wiki's naming hierarchy and would be more well-known by the fanbase, while also disagreeing with the previous proposal's premise that the name does not necessarily apply to all Chucksters. Despite the controversy of the previous proposal and some opposition that was later retracted, it passed with unanimous and overwhelming support, and the article has been chucked back to its original title. PASSED 26-0
(read more) 		October 3, 2023
ONGOING PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
The Case of Donkey Kong 64 Sub-Areas A proposal for determining how to cover sub-areas in Donkey Kong 64 levels to address current inconsistency, as only two of them currently have articles. The proposal has four options to split sub-areas with official names, split all sub-areas with conjectural names as needed, merge all sub-areas, or do nothing. At the time of writing, votes are split between splitting the ones with official names and keeping them merged. None of the options have the required four minimum votes, so an extension is likely. Read more October 10, 2023
ONGOING TALK PAGE PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
De-recreate Junior (II) "agresivelly" A proposal to merge Pink Donkey Kong Jr. with his non-pink counterpart, overturning the 2015 proposal that split them. The proposer argues that his appearances in singleplayer are still more akin to multiplayer, and that the distinction between the two in the manual is not as concrete as once believed. The proposal currently has unanimous support, some reluctant and some very impassioned. Read more September 15, 2023
Merge Super Soda to Fresh Juice A proposal to merge Super Soda from Paper Mario with Fresh Juice from The Thousand-Year Door, following an earlier attempt in 2020 that failed to reach consensus. The proposer argues for the merge based on the many identical characteristics, including the same Japanese name. All voters currently support the proposal. Read more October 20, 2023
Split the VS. System and Game Boy versions of Golf A proposal to split the re-releases of Golf from the original NES version based on sizeable version differences. All voters are currently in support. Read more October 21, 2023
Move Homing Chomp back to Silver Chomp A proposal to rename Homing Chomp from Super Mario Galaxy 2 back to the Silver Chomp name. The proposer argues that the Silver Chomp name should take priority because it comes from an in-game source, while Homing Chomp comes from the . The opposition argues that Silver Chomp is not a proper name, but a generic description of the enemy from a mission title. As of writing, both options are tied. Read more October 21, 2023

Another pretty quiet month, all things considered, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Next month is going to be a bigger gap than usual so we have extra time to prepare for Issue 200 (HINT HINT), so I may or may not have my work cut out for me depending on how much stuff you guys decide to do until then! See you next time.

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Fun With Despair (talk)

Well, here I am again. Trapped in the endless cycle of Poll Committee Discussions. Perhaps one day, I shall taste the light of freedom, but until then, I dig ever deeper in the Poll Mines to appease my master. Which is... myself, because I'm the chairman. Oops. Anyway, the Poll Mines have finally struck gold, because we actually had a ton of new content announced for the first time in forever. Plus, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder literally only a week away, Mario fans are eating really good both this year and the next. Until then though, hopefully this issue of the 'Shroom will tide you over - Poll Committee Discussion included of course.

Archives

The Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct showcased many new power-ups & mechanics. Which feature are you most looking forward to from the game as a whole? - (Turboo (talk), September 14th, 2023)

Template:Archived Poll

Nintendo has announced several Mario-related titles planned for release in 2023 and 2024. Which one are you most looking forward to? - (Turboo (talk), September 27th, 2023)

Template:Archived Poll

Analysis

The Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct showcased many new power-ups & mechanics. Which feature are you most looking forward to from the game as a whole?

Mario, Luigi, Peach and Princess Daisy under the Balloon Transformation Wonder Effect.
Man, just... what the hell even IS this game?

Oh boy, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This is it, the heavy hitter. The hot ticket item. The one everyone seems to be excited for. I still think that they should have just called it "Super Mario Wonder", but maybe they thought people would think it was an Odyssey sequel. Never underestimate the ability of a parent to buy someone the wrong video game for Christmas, though I doubt most kids would complain either way. Regardless of whether you're interested in the game though (or whether you think the name is any good), you can't deny that this game's really pushing the envelope in terms of new gimmicks, content, and mechanics in a way that the series hasn't really done in a long time. Chief among these, which a solid 32.56% of our voters are most interested in, are the new power-ups featured in the game. Y'know, stuff like the elephant fruit, or the bubble flower. While the most important aspect of one of these games is probably level design, it's something that usually can't be judged before the game comes out - and so, we fall back on the power-ups, the main means through which one of these games really carves out its own identity. In this sense, Wonder really seems to shine, giving us a great array of power-ups to look forward to. I'm skeptical of the elephant though if we're being honest. Outside of the water thing, which is kind of gimmicky, I'm not really sure what it adds to the game besides making you clunkier and heavier, which seems like it'd be a negative in a platformer. At least the dash seems kind of fun.

For me though? It's all about the badges, baby, and 19.53% of our voters agree. Previously a system seem largely in the first two Paper Mario (series) games, or something like Hollow Knight, Badges allow you to equip them in order to alter the basic gameplay in a unique way, in this case affecting your jumps and other key elements of the game. I think this change is totally awesome, and will be really interesting to see in practice when the game comes out. It allows everyone to customize their mechanics in a way that's fun and comfortable to them, and it'll be really cool to see them used with the development of speedrun strategies. Just a great addition to the 2D platforming series. Trailing shortly after are the Wonder Effect forms and the Wonder Effect levels, the former of which I don't really understand in the sense that I'm not sure why they're not just regular power-ups. I guess the point of Wonder, and the Wonder Effects in general, is to provide a venue to give the game a bunch of wacky level gimmicks that otherwise would seem too bizarre. In a game where the elephant is a regular power-up though, can you really say that about the Wonder forms? Oh well, I definitely won't say no to more variety in gameplay - and a combined 989 voters are happy to voice their support for the Wonder Effects.

Then, after skipping briefly over our favorite 4.49% of fence sitters (Probably people, in reality, who are just generally intrigued about various elements of the game and can't choose), and the Multiplayer Enjoyers, we reach the tragedy of Yoshi.

Ah, Yoshi. You'd be so much higher up on the list if you weren't done so dirty. This is the first time outside of his own series (unless you really count Yoshi's Island as "Super Mario World 2") that Yoshi has been made playable solo in the mainline Mario 2D platformers, and he even brings a unique playstyle with him, trading power-ups for innate abilities and being able to act as a mount in multiplayer, allowing two players to combine into one. This all sounds great, and if that was the extent of it, I believe wholeheartedly that Yoshi would be much, much higher on our poll rankings today. But no, he gets a mere, paltry 3.01% because of the simple fact that he is entirely invincible. No, this isn't an option or a toggle like the Super Guide in the NSMB games, this is just how Yoshi is - reducing him to a glorified Easy Mode like Nabbit before him, robbing him of any actual unique gameplay that comes with his new abilities. Genuinely a baffling choice across the board, I have no idea why they did this.

And 64 stragglers just don't care at all about anything in Wonder, zero hype. After thinking about what this game did to poor Yoshi... Maybe I'll join you guys...

Nintendo has announced several Mario-related titles planned for release in 2023 and 2024. Which one are you most looking forward to?

A screenshot of a stage
Scratch that - what the hell is THIS game??

Praise Nintendo! ...For once. The lord hath been merciful, and we have been blessed at long last with a direct with some meat on its bones. Finally, some god damn video games on this video game console. Not just cheap spin-off sports games either, real games! Well, most of them are remakes admittedly, but not all of them! Most importantly, like I said earlier, this gives us something to talk about in the future. We're finally out of the Great Drought, and it feels good. And look, another poll from Turb. He's been busy this past period, it seems like. Normally I'd make some joke about how its 'about time' he did something, but honestly he's one of our more active members on the committee. Thanks, Turb. Anyway, regardless of anything else in the direct, Super Mario Bros. Wonder still tops the hype charts with a huge 52.51% of our votes. Not much of a surprise on that front, it's the closest to release of the lot, and we've seen the most of it. Plus, it's the first 2D Mario since New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which in and of itself was just a port of a Wii U game. It'd be interesting to see how these numbers will shift around after Wonder actually launches and people have to pick their second choice, but maybe that's a poll for another day.

Despite having under half the votes of Wonder, our second place still has a pretty meaty percentage in and of itself. That is, of course, the newly announced Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. This is even less of a surprise than Wonder is, this game carries a lot of weight, despite its paper-y appearance. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is widely known to be a great game with a massive fanbase. The battle system, the badge system, the comedy, the characters, and the setting are all largely beloved by classic Paper Mario fans, and it's held up as a shining example of what a Mario RPG can be. The game has also been stuck on the gamecube for almost 20 years, with the price to acquire a legal copy spiking heavily in the last couple years. It's increasingly hard to play without resorting to piracy, and has also found itself at the center of a bit of a culture war more recently, with fans of the classic title often finding themselves clashing with fans of the newer Paper Mario games such as Paper Mario: The Origami King and Paper Mario: Color Splash.

Most people still don't like Sticker Star though.

Another remake, once again with under half the votes of the entry above, comes next with the remake of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. There's not as much to say about this game as TTYD, not that it's bad by any means. On the contrary, Super Mario RPG is an equally great game, albeit one that's been made much more available over the years via Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online. This remake looks gorgeous, and sports a new, proper translation that is sure to be interesting for a variety of reasons to longtime fans, but it's still playable in its original state on various platforms, likely owing to its lower vote total of 8.21% to TTYD's 21.8%. Not far behind is Princess Peach: Showtime!, which is notable for being the first game with Princess Peach as the main character since the DS with Super Princess Peach. Princess Peach definitely has her fans, which (along with the general appeal of all the funny costumes she can wear) is probably why this game finds itself in 4th. That being said though, I don't think anyone actually knows what this game even is. There have since been more trailers, we've seen the villain and snippets of gameplay, but it's still not entirely clear as to what's going on here. Is it a platformer? An action RPG? Who knows. Once we get more details though, it's possible that this game could become a major contender in the hype market.

After this point though... votes start to drop off - not a surprise in some cases. The Switch port of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a... bizarre choice. Compared to the first and third games, Dark Moon is kind of the black sheep of the franchise, mostly being regarded as kind of forgettable owing to the many concessions it made in order to fit with the handheld format such as the mission mode. Not sure why on earth they ported this and not the first game's 3DS remake, and not surprised that no one seems to care. WarioWare is a great series, and the new entry likewise looks like fun, but it's not the kind of game that competes with something like Super Mario Wonder on a poll like this. This game would probably do a lot better without games like that on this poll. I think people are sleeping on Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo Switch) though, even if it's in a similar position to WarioWare. Perhaps it's due to franchise fatigue based on how often they were pumping out soulless games starring the Mini Marios a while ago, but I think this deserves a bit more buzz, because the first game in this series is a great puzzle platformer, and it's a shame that it's been bogged down in so much borderline shovelware since. Hopefully this remake gives the game new life - and can maybe revive the franchise with more games focused on this original direction rather than what it became.

Conclusion

Well, it's back to the mines for me. My own mines. That I own. They're mine.

Next month, it's time for Issue 200. It's up in the air still as to whether I'll contribute an article personally, but I can't overstate how much care some of the 'Shroom staff, community members, and other contributors are putting into this issue. Be sure to check it out, and if you're able, spare the Poll Committee Discussion a moment while you browse the multitude of special articles debuting next month. We'll be here, doing what we always do.

Anniversary Announcements

Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)

Template:Quote2

Welcome back to Anniversary Announcements! The last one (real)!

Tour de tournaments

In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.

All tournaments are complete or have projected completion dates, so let's see that last bit of info.

Mario Boards Mega Brawl
The results of MBMB have been delayed due to Awards taking up most time for the writers. As a result, the release is now scheduled for 15 December, as a holiday event of sorts.
Awards Randomizer Killing Game: Wheel of Misfortune
The endgame story for this game is expected to be posted on 15 October.
Minecraft
Both weekends of Minecraft games have happened, with the second weekend being a bit calmer and with significantly more rats.
Camp Sedonia and the DREAMBs within are still available for exploration.
The Scribble Scrabble 2023
All five rounds of Scribble have been completed, and have produced a winner! Congratulations go out to Toadbert101 (talk · Boards)!
It is customary (though not an actual written rule) that the winner of each edition hosts the next, which Toadbert does appear to be planning. More about this will be reported in the next year.

And with that, we have now fully covered the 2023 season of awards! So, to reiterate last month's blurb: have a good one, merry Christmas, happy new year, and I hope to see you next year! Cheers!

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy Halloween month, everyone! Halloween is honestly a top 3 holiday for me. There are very few holidays that can even hope to match the vibes that this holiday brings to the whole month. And of course, one of the incredible perks that comes with Halloween is the fact that you get a brand new issue of Mario Calendar. Who doesn’t love that?

Region Abbreviations

Abb. Region
ALL All Regions (JP/NA/EU/AU)
JP Japan
NA North America
EU Europe
AU Oceania/Australia
SK South Korea
CHN China
UK United Kingdom

Console Abbreviations

Abb. Console
NES Nintendo Entertainment System
Famicom Family Computer Disk System
SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System
N64 Nintendo 64
GC Nintendo GameCube
GB Game Boy
GBC Game Boy Color
GBA Game Boy Advance
DS Nintendo DS
3DS Nintendo 3DS
Switch Nintendo Switch
Wii VC Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
3DS VC Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
Wii U VC Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console
VB Virtual Boy
G&W Game and Watch
64DD Nintendo 64 Disk Drive
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
CD-i Philips CD-i
IQ iQue Player
NVS Nvidia Shield
ACPC Amstrad CPC
ZX ZX Spectrum
Coleco Colecovision
TI-99 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

What a crazy month. October honestly seems to be all over the place for Nintendo, and I am absolutely loving it. The biggest and most obvious thing about this month is just how many big releases Nintendo has been putting in late October recently. This primarily started with Super Mario Odyssey in 2017, but it was continued in 2019 with Luigi’s Mansion 3, 2021 with Mario Party Superstars, 2022 with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, and 2023 with the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This is clearly the prime release slot that Nintendo keeps for its golden goose Mario, and it is a strategy that is evidently paying off.

Speaking of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, I'm really looking forward to this game! It’s been so incredibly long since we’ve gotten a new, original 2D Mario game, and I am absolutely here for it. 3D Mario has always been my preference, but I grew up with the New Super Mario Bros. series and am quite excited for something new. No shade on the games that shaped my childhood, but I’m looking forward to what else Nintendo has up their sleeves!

Anyways, I hope that you all have a fantastic rest of your month and a wonderful Halloween! See you next month.

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Good evening, dear readers, and welcome to a very special What's in a Campaign? This month, we feature the true terrors of Robot Combat. For this month and this month only, we shall be looking at the spookiest of all teams, the robot team known only as Team Death. Before you will stand the true horrors created by the madman roboteer Colin Scott, horrifying monsters of the arena such as Death Warmed Up and Immortalis. Be warned, dear reader, that those of you with weak knees and weaker bladders should go no farther, but for those of you brave enough to stay, I promise you this will be a thriller!

First appearing in Series 2 with their "heavyweight" robot Piece De Resistance, Team Death was one of the more colorful teams in the history of Robot Wars. Captained by Colin Scott, with a variety of members coming in and out throughout the wars, Team Death would appear in four separate wars, each time with a new robot. With a design philosophy that could best be described as "unique," Colin Scott wasn't necessarily out to build the most cutting-edge or most effective fighting robot. Instead, he was out to answer the real questions, such as "can a microwave become a fighting robot? How about a plastic dustbin?" The answers to these questions were always a simple "yes, but, oh god, you shouldn't do it"!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. This month, there are no videos, and if you're wondering why, you'll understand once we talk about these bots!

Their first robot, Piece De Resistance, is probably the team's most well-known robot in the Robot Wars community. Only appearing in Series 2, Piece De Resistance sported a chassis that was made out of a microwave, wheels from a tricycle, and mini-windshield wiper motors for power. Weighing only 58kg, Piece De Resistance was one of the lightest robots in the whole competition. For a "weapon," it had a snow shovel at the front that could theoretically lift things. With a design that could charitably be described as "unique," looking like a discount horror prop, including eyeballs sticking out the side for some reason and a helmeted head on top, Piece De Resistance catches the eyes of any who see it.

The start of it all!

Qualifying through the Gauntlet, as all non-seeded robots did, Piece De Resistance was placed in Heat A, you know, that heat we covered all the way back in Issue 188, the really good heat with robots such as Napalm and Panda Monium! For an explanation on the Series 2 format, please refer to that section! Taking on the Gauntlet, Piece De Resistance, with its snow shovel lifter, would attempt the middle route, which involved breaking down a wall of bricks. Piece De Resistance would slowly drive towards the middle, hitting the brick wall and knocking exactly zero down! As this happens, in a truly great moment, the show cuts to an interview with Colin, who confidently declares that the snow shovel would let them pick the bricks up! So, Piece De Resistance hits the bricks like three more times, never managing to knock them down. Having no luck with the bricks, Piece De Resistance decides to try another route, but Matilda and Sir Killalot, both bored to death and horrified by what they're seeing, decide they've had enough of whatever the hell this is and go in for the attack. Sir Killalot picks up the microwave robot, and, funnily enough, drives them over the bricks as time expires.

Piece De Resistance "climbs over the wall!

I think this counts towards Piece De Resistance's final distance traveled, which is a very bad 3.92 meters. Now, you'd think that would be such a poor showing that they'd be sent home, right? Wrong! Somehow, Caliban manages to travel only 0.2 meters! So, somehow, Piece De Resistance moved on to the Trial stage!

The trial for Heat A was Skittles. The goal was to knock down as many barrels as possible. Now, you might think Piece De Resistance, who couldn't knock down any bricks in the first round, would struggle knocking down barrels. Well, don't worry! Colin has turbocharged Piece De Resistance! What does that mean, you ask? It means he put bigger batteries in it!

So Piece De Resistance "charges" towards the barrels with its new maximum overdrive mode and… fails to knock over a single barrel. In fact, I'm not even sure if the stack moves at all! This goes on for like three more times before they put the ten-second timer on. What that means is that there is a whole lot of nothing happening in this run! The House Robots attack, because the producers had to get something worth televising out of this. Piece De Resistance's final score is zero barrels, which, unsurprisingly, is not enough to make it to the next round, sending Piece De Resistance home!

So you might be thinking that was pretty bad, but we've got three more robots to go, and, surely, they can't get worse than that! Well, hold that thought, because Team Death returns in Series 3 with a brand new robot called Death Warmed Up. This is probably my favorite robot they made when it comes to looks. It's like a robotic skelly boy sitting on a throne. He is even wearing adorable little skelly shoes! It also has a bunch of bits just sticking out of it, with what looks like a wing on the left side to… reduce wind resistance. Oh, of course. The body is made of 50% fiberglass and 50% wood. For weapons, it has a rear-mounted pneumatic trident, whatever the fuck that means. It also has an electric hedge trimmer and something called an "earthquake saw", so you know this robot is going to do some serious damage!

The mighty death sitting on its throne.

Death Warmed Up qualified for Series 3 through the Gauntlet, which, despite not being in Series 3, was still being used for qualifiers, but, to be honest, with that look, there's no way Death Warmed Up wasn't going to qualify. The producers would have accepted it on visual look alone. Placed in Heat H, Death Warmed Up would face off against the lifter Stealth. This fight can only really be legally described as a fight. The two robots slowly drive towards each other. Of course, Stealth, which has a wedge, gets the better of Death Warmed Up because… well, because it's Death Warmed Up. Stealth would then glacially drive Death Warmed Up onto the flame pit, where Shunt would drive up and just cleave Death Warmed Up with its axe. Death Warmed Up tries to drive away, but they get stuck on the lip of the flame pit.

This death is extra warm.

Trapped on the flame pit, the fiberglass body starts melting and the wooden frame starts smoking. Shunt, not wanting to see this clear and obvious fire hazard burst into total flames, pushes it off the flame pit. Death Warmed Up then begins to drive around (with a little bit of its body still on fire, by the way) until Stealth lightly bumps into it. They both break down, I think, but I guess Stealth moved last, so Stealth gets the win. It's a classic Series 3 bad fight, because, fun fact guys, it was a mistake to make all of Series 3 1v1 fights. Oh, by the way, what is Stealth's "prize" for winning this fight? Getting torn apart by Hypno Disc in round 2!

After this, Team Death would decide to take a series off. Team Captain Colin decided to go back to the drawing board, you see, but they'd return in Series 5 with not only a new robot, but also new team members. Yes, Bryan Newcombe and Julie Scott are gone. In their place are Stephen Keating and Jordan Keating. I'm sure this new blood is going to be Team Death's ticket to success. Their new robot, Immortalis, is probably my least favorite of the four. It's just a wolfman face attached to a plow. I don't know; I just don't think it's that interesting. The drive came from a bumper car and the hydraulic system came from a bus. It also has spikes and a concrete saw for weapons. You know what they say. Third time is the charm, and it's time to do some damage!

Something tells me this robot won't be immortal.

In the qualifiers, Immortalis fought a four-way melee against SMIDSY, Viking, and Tridentate. It might shock you to hear this, but Immortalis did not win this fight. Though it lost, it was given a discretionary place in the wars. This makes sense. It's got a distinct look and it's perfect first-round fodder for your seeded robots to look strong against. Facing off against the 14 seed X-Terminator, the fight begins with X-Terminator charging at Immortalis, landing a blow with its "mighty" axe. But then something amazing happens! Immortalis activates its flipper, and that, combined with X-Terminator's own momentum, turns X-Terminator over. That's right, baby! Team Death has launched a successful attack! The two robots are stuck together at this point. Refbot breaks them apart, then the fight turns into a farce. X-Terminator starts attacking Refbot for some reason. Immortalis just drives away and ends up attacked by Sgt. Bash and then by Shunt, who just smashes the shit out of its casing.

Victory for Shunt!

Under this assault, Immortalis… breaks down? X-Terminator goes through to the second round, where they proceed to be humiliated, getting beaten by a full-body spinner whose spinning motor was broken. But, hey, at least Team Death landed that attack, babyyy!

Team Death would attempt to enter Series 6 with a robot named Devil Rider, but failed to qualify for the first and only time. If you think about the quality of these robots, that is actually pretty amazing! Obviously, for Series 7, Team Death ditched that loser bot Devil Rider, who wasn't worth the Team Death branding. Instead, they built a new robot, Metalis. Now, design-wise, this one is probably the most boring, because it doesn't really have any horror/sci-fi iconography to it, but it's probably the most fighting robot-looking bot of all the Team Death robots. It has a strange triangle body shape with a steel side skirt. Their primary weapon was a unique concept. The whole body was a lifter, which is something I don't think any other robot has tried. In theory, this means that Metalis can attack from any direction and it means they'll always be able to self-right! Their secondary weapon, connected up top to what they called "the shark fin", is a crusher claw that almost looks like it's powered by a massive spring. The armor was apparently made to be sledgehammer-proof, which Is an odd decision since, outside of the house robot Mr. Psycho, the only other sledgehammer bot was Thor. As far as fighting robots go, this is absolutely the highest quality one they've built.

This is absolutely the hardest they ever tried!

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but Metalis lost its qualifier melee. But don't worry! Unlike that LOSER Devil Rider, Metalis was given a discretionary spot, probably because the producers wanted to see this do whatever the hell it was supposed to do. Placed in Heat H, Metalis had the fortune to be placed in the melee with the seeded robot Ming Dynasty (seeded 15). Now, usually, that would be bad, because seeded robots are supposed to be good, but Ming Dynasty, the successor to the thoroughly-mediocre Ming 3, is using a fucking drill in 2004, in the year of our lord 2004, and are pretty much considered one of the worst seeds of all time. The other two robots in the fight are the newcomer to the UK wars Scraptosaur (from the Dutch Wars) and Ceros, who are both flippers. Metalis starts the fight just kind of driving around and bumping into Ceros and Scraptosaur. Ceros flips over Ming Dynasty as Metalis drives around, neither crushing nor lifting anything.

BUT YOU SAID YOU COULD SELF-RIGHT!

Metalis would avoid a flip from Scraptosaur, but couldn't avoid one from Ceros. But don't worry, because, thanks to the full-body lifter, they can easily self-right! Oh, wait, what's that? Oh, they can't self-right? So… yeah, it turns out they can't self-right and they just get counted out and sent home! At least they get sent home alongside Ming Dynasty, who would be eliminated via judges' decision after doing exactly nothing throughout the entire fight!

That would be the end of Team Death's televised career, or it would at least sort of be. You see, Colin Scott, between the classic series ending and the reboot, had built a robot called Chimera. This robot did enter the reboot, but, by that point, Colin Scott had sold it, so it doesn't count as a Team Death robot. But don't worry, because it also won no battles!

Team Death was a fun team. They built unique, but bad, robots. It was clear that Colin Scott was building these robots for fun and that he knew he wasn't going to make any noise. Their most famous robot, Piece De Resistance, known as Piece De Shit in the Robot Wars community, still sort of competes to this day. It's not the original robot itself, obviously, but instead a featherweight bot Colin Scott built that was based on Piece De Resistance. This version, with a spatula instead of a shovel, has even won a few matches on the live circuit! Thanks to their creative and fun robots, Team Death was always a welcome sight in Robot Wars, and, while they had almost no success, with Piece De Resistance (somehow) being their only machine to make it out of the first round of any competition, they were still a fun team that made some very creative robots.

That will end our tale for this month. The moral of this story? Isn't it obvious? If you're going to build a bad robot, the least you can do is put a skelly boy on it. That's all for this month. Join us next month for a special – but in a different way – What's in a Campaign? with more robot combat!

The 'Shroom: Issue 199
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
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