The 'Shroom:Issue 195/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH :D

Not entirely sure what happened last month but I think I ended up in a time wormhole thing by mistake... Either way I'm back now and ready to present you all with yet another spectacular round of Pipe Plaza!

So far my summer break has been pretty meh. Spent a bit recovering mentally from moving all my stuff back home, been working a bit, and am trying to work on my fun little personal projects as well. Also I'm probably the only one that cares about this news but Kpop group LOONA is free at last!!! BlockBerry Creative can eat dirt.

Anyways, there's a lot of good stuff in store here in Pipe Plaza this month! Remember, you too can be part of Pipe Plaza by checking out sign up page to learn more!

Enjoy the rest of the month ^^

Section of the Month

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st Community Report 6 33.33% Waluigi Time (talk)
2nd Poll Committee Discussion 5 27.78% Turboo (talk)
3rd NIWA News 4 22.22% PanchamBro (talk)
Mariowiki sections
Community Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
The month gone by in promotions and proposals.
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
Cosmic Cowboy (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 respawn is where you Spawn Again.
read more

Community Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! You know what they say, another month, another Community Report. I don't think anyone actually says that, but I'm trying to get a thing started. It's all about branding!

Before we get into the past month, I'd like to remind you (if you somehow didn't already know) that, assuming you're reading this within release week, the Awards polls are still open! Be sure to go vote for your favorite and least favorite Mario things, and check out the Community Awards too, and consider signing up for presentations! Awards!!!

All information is accurate as of June 10, 2023. Proposals and featured articles marked with an asterisk are updates on ones first covered in last month's issue.

RECENT PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
Move Banzai Bill and other related species to Bomber Bill A proposal to rename Banzai Bill and some of its variants, based on the use of the name "Bomber Bill" on the English Mario Portal website and in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The proposal gained opposition because the name had not yet been changed in a game, while Banzai Bill was still used fairly recently in-game, and because of some other naming oddities by the sources involved. The proposer decided to cancel the proposal after this. CANCELED BY PROPOSER
(read more) 		May 18, 2023
Create articles for Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix songs* A proposal to create pages for the songs from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix and determine how to organize the coverage. The proposer argued that they are the game's equivalent of levels and deserve articles. The option to create pages separate from information on other games and using their names from Mario Mix received the majority of support. The articles have not yet been created. CREATE AND ONLY COVER MARIO MIX 5-0-0-2-0
(read more) 		May 18, 2023
Split major classic remakes* A proposal to split remakes of older games. The proposal includes options to split all remakes and to split them on a case-by-case basis. The proposal failed due to being too vague, as the proposer did not explain what remakes would be split by the proposal. FAILED 1-1-6
(read more) 		May 19, 2023
Make changes to MarioWiki's editbox wallpaper* A proposal to update the graphics used in the editing field to replace the GameCube era renders. The majority of voters supported updating the graphics without creating additional themes that could be changed with Special:Preferences. The change has not yet been made, and it is likely that a discussion will have to take place to decide what graphics to use. PASSED 2-9-0
(read more) 		May 21, 2023
Prioritize the 2001 iteration of Diddy Kong Pilot A proposal to prioritize the 2001 version of Diddy Kong Pilot over the 2003 version and remove its identifier. The opposition wasn't convinced by the proposer's arguments and pointed out that both of them were canceled games with the same title, with neither seeming more notable than the other. The proposer decided to cancel as a result. CANCELED BY PROPOSER
(read more) 		May 25, 2023
Establish a guideline for citing archived web pages A proposal to establish a consistent standard for linking to archived websites in page citations. That's pretty much all there is to it! The proposal passed with no opposition. PASSED 12-0
(read more) 		June 1, 2023
Change full names of crossover characters to the more often used shortened versions in article titles A proposal to shorten the article titles of some crossover characters, mainly affecting those from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The proposer argued that in the crossover games, they are almost always referred to with these shortened names, and pointed out other similar proposals that had passed. There was some opposition, mainly noting some title overlap, but the proposal passed nonetheless. PASSED 8-3
(read more) 		June 4, 2023
Establish a standard for long course listings in articles for characters/enemies/items/etc. A proposal to create a standard for listing what levels subjects appear in when there are seven or more of them. The options were using bullet point lists, hover text, prose, or opting not to set a standard at all. The option to use bullet point lists passed unanimously. PASSED 8-3
(read more) 		June 8, 2023
Split the remaining Mario Party and Mario Party 2 mini-game variants from each other A proposal to split variations in mini-games between Mario Party and Mario Party 2, following a similar proposal which split the 4-player and 2-vs-2 versions of Balloon Burst. Options were included to split all returning mini-games, splitting only mini-games with changes to their rules, and splitting only mini-games with different names in other regions. The proposal was controversial, with the opposition barely winning, arguing that the changes in these mini-games are minimal compared to Balloon Burst. FAILED 1-3-2-4
(read more) 		June 9, 2023
RECENT TALK PAGE PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY OUTCOME DEADLINE
Move Template:Wikia to Template:Fandom* A proposal to rename the Wikia template to Fandom, to be consistent with the site's rebrand in 2021. Some users opposed on the basis that Wikia is still the more well-known name, but the proposal passed regardless. The change has been made and all instances of the old name have been replaced. PASSED 4-2
(read more) 		May 19, 2023
Delete Rhythm Heaven Megamix and move content to List of Mario references in Nintendo video games* A proposal to reclassify Rhythm Heaven Megamix as a cameo appearance and delete its page. The proposer argued that the only relevant content are levels reskinned to be WarioWare themed. The opposition argued that the WarioWare content is substantial enough to be a guest appearance and pointed out other games that have received guest appearance status. The proposal ultimately did not pass. FAILED 2-11
(read more) 		May 21, 2023
Merge Category:Musical themes to Category:Songs A proposal to merge the musical themes category, which contains instrumental themes from the series, to the songs category, which contains songs with lyrics. The proposal argued that the line between the two can be blurry at times, and that they didn't see the point in the distinction. Reception was mixed, and the proposer decided to cancel it with plans for a revised proposal sometime in the future. CANCELED BY PROPOSER
(read more) 		May 23, 2023
Delete Wario's Warehouse and remove anything related to it from the wiki A proposal to remove all coverage of Nintendo of Europe's Wario's Warehouse articles. The proposer pointed out that no sources had been provided for the content, and Google searches only provided content derived from the wiki itself. The proposal was controversial, and an option to archive the content in BJAODN was also added. The proposal was canceled after Tmjjmt (talk) was able to find the website of one of the authors, Mark Green, which referenced Wario's Warehouse. Green further confirmed the existence of Wario's Warehouse and the validity of the content through email. CANCELED BY THE ADMINISTRATORS
(read more) 		May 27, 2023
Decide what to do with Black Chest Demon* A proposal to solve the problem of Black Chest Demon's conjectural name. The options to rename the article to four heroes and to merge the page with black chest entirely both received a lot of support, with the option to merge gaining the majority. The change has been made and the results can be seen at black chest. MERGE 6-2-1-0
(read more) 		May 27, 2023
Move the Mario (franchise) article to Super Mario (franchise)* A proposal to change all instances of Mario franchise across the wiki to Super Mario franchise. The proposer provided several sources showing Super Mario to be the brand name used by Nintendo. The proposal received some minor opposition, but passed and the change has been made across the wiki. PASSED 13-0-2
(read more) 		May 28, 2023
Delete Category:Spin-off series* A proposal to delete the category for spin-off series. The proposer argued that most of the series on the wiki would be considered spin-offs, and pointed out the inconsistent usage of the category, which only contained four articles at the time of the proposal. One user opposed, suggesting fixing it up instead, but the supporters won out and the category has been deleted. PASSED 8-1
(read more) 		May 28, 2023
ONGOING PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY LINK DEADLINE
Clarify how to italicize merchandise titles in articles A proposal to determine when the official titles of merchandise should be italicized, as the Manual of Style currently does not cover it. Options include italicizing all official titles; only tabletop games, unique brand names, and names of Mario games when used; only tabletop games and names of Mario games when used; and only tabletop games. Currently, the second option has the most votes. Read more June 16, 2023
ONGOING TALK PAGE PROPOSALS
PROPOSAL SUMMARY LINK DEADLINE
Delete Blip and Vic Video A proposal to delete the Blip and Vic Video articles and move the information to the list of references in publications, due to the lack of any evidence that Nintendo was involved in the magazine's publication. The supporters currently have the majority of votes. Read more June 10, 2023
Reorganize the tournaments on List of official Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournaments A proposal to reorganize the tournament list for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe due to its current length. The options are to split the major tournament series into their own pages with miscellaneous tournaments remaining on the page, and splitting everything, with the page itself then being merged to a section on the game's page. The votes are currently split, and there aren't enough for a decision to be made. Read more June 11, 2023
Merge Strawberry Don-chan and Hero Don-chan to Don-chan A proposal to merge Don-chan's variants in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX. The proposer argues that the only difference between the alts is which items they can obtain, and they are otherwise the same character. The proposal is currently unopposed. Read more June 12, 2023
Merge pre-Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island appearances of singular generic Magikoopa characters to Kamek A proposal to include early appearances of Magikoopa characters in Super Mario-kun, Yoshi's Safari, and possibly Super Mario Adventures on Kamek's page. The proposer argues that Kamek is merely the concept of a generic Magikoopa character and was not invented by the developers of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and that these pre-Kamek appearances of notable Magikoopa characters should be covered on the page. Many voters have opposed this argument and currently have the majority. Read more June 12, 2023
Transform mist into a general article about Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's stage hazards A proposal to rework the article for mist into one covering all of the battle stage hazards from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Mist is the only one of these hazards with an article, while the others are covered on the audience page. The supporters currently have the majority of votes. Read more June 15, 2023
RECENTLY FEATURED ARTICLES
ARTICLE SUMMARY OUTCOME DATE
Super Mario Galaxy Nintendo101 (talk) nominated Super Mario Galaxy to be refeatured after several years of extensive work on the article. The nomination was successful, receiving high praise for its detail and presentation in the process. It has been 9 years since the article was last featured, with two unsuccessful attempts at refeaturing it since. PASSED 7-0
(read more) 		June 2, 2023
ONGOING UNFEATURE NOMINATIONS
ARTICLE SUMMARY LINK DEADLINE
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!* PnnyCrygr (talk) nominated the article to be unfeatured, citing concerns about the quality of the writing and presentation (or lack thereof). Since being nominated, Camwoodstock (talk) has worked on the article to address the problems mentioned so far. Read more June 30, 2023
Mona PnnyCrygr (talk) nominated Mona to be unfeatured, citing various problems with the writing and comparing it unfavorably to other featured articles for WarioWare characters. So far, there has been little engagement with the nomination. Read more July 21, 2023

Not quite as busy as last month (not that I'm complaining, less work for me!) but still quite a bit going on! By the time you're reading this, the ongoing proposals will probably be over, but maybe consider checking out some of those unfeature nominations. And of course, don't forget to go vote for the Awards! See you next month for more wiki happenings!

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Cosmic Cowboy (talk)

13th Poll Committee Banner

Cosmic, make sure to write a funny intro for your first Poll Committee Discussion. -Cosmic

Archives

What is your opinion on indie games that draw heavy inspiration from dormant Mario subseries gameplay (Wario Land/Pizza Tower, Paper Mario/Bug Fables, etc.)? - (Turboo (talk), May 8th, 2023)

What is your opinion on indie games that draw heavy inspiration from dormant Mario subseries gameplay (Wario Land/Pizza Tower, Paper Mario/Bug Fables, etc.)?

I greatly enjoy these games, and I would like to see more made to fill the void left by official games. 53.32% (1,317 votes)
I enjoy these games, although I would prefer more official games with Mario characters. 20.97% (518 votes)
I have not heard of these games/I have no opinion on these games. 18.42% (455 votes)
I do not like these games in general. 3.28% (81 votes)
I like the concept of taking heavy inspiration from Mario gameplay, but I do not like the games that have been released. 2.15% (53 votes)
I do not like these games because of the original characters, but I would like them with Mario characters. 1.86% (46 votes)
Total Votes: 2,470

Besides sequels, every 3D Mario title has been a major gameplay departure from the last, introducing new mechanics. How do you feel about this approach? - (Vruet (talk), May 22nd, 2023)

Besides sequels, every 3D Mario title has been a major gameplay departure from the last, introducing new mechanics. How do you feel about this approach?

I prefer when new 3D Mario games have similar gameplay to previous entries, but with a different core mechanic (Cappy, FLUDD, etc.) 34.00% (785 votes)
I prefer a mix of both; with new 3D Mario games releasing with new gameplay, but sequels still being made to fill the gap and provide a familiar experience. 32.96% (761 votes)
I prefer when new 3D Mario games are completely different from the previous entry. 22.39% (517 votes)
I have no opinion. 6.50% (150 votes)
I'd prefer more direct sequels with no changes to core gameplay, just more content such as levels and powerups. 3.20% (74 votes)
Regardless of changes from game to game, I do not enjoy 3D Mario at all. 0.95% (22 votes)
Total Votes: 2,309

Analysis

What is your opinion on indie games that draw heavy inspiration from dormant Mario subseries gameplay (Wario Land/Pizza Tower, Paper Mario/Bug Fables, etc.)?

IT'S PIZZA TIME!!

The fans are doing what Nintendoesn't, it seems. If you ask my opinion, Nintendo are losing their magic touch. They've stopped taking big risks and are mostly sticking with what they know will work, instead of throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks. So, naturally, indie devs have been picking up the slack and have taken up the challenge of making spiritual successors to Nintendo's 'experimental phase' titles. And so far, it seems to be working, as 53% of voters feel like these games are a home run. However, 21% of voters feel like they're missing just one thing: the characters that these games were inspired by, which I can totally get. As much as I like Peppino and Kabbu, I do miss Wario and Mario. Interestingly, around 18% of voters haven't heard about these games. I mean, if you haven't heard of Pizza Tower, where've you been, under a rock? Jokes aside, I can understand how people haven't heard of most of these games. Indie games generally don't go mainstream, and games like Shovel Knight or Celeste are the exceptions to the rule. 3% of the voters don't like these games at all, which... I mean, it's their own opinion and we wouldn't run these polls if we didn't value your opinion, dear reader. However, I don't trust anyone who doesn't like Pizza Tower, I'm sorry. Similarly, 2% of voters say that while they like the basic concept of taking inspiration from Mario games, they aren't happy with what's been released, and 1% of people would play them if they had the Mario characters back. I don't really have a comment on these last two, so might you like some suggestions for more Mario-like Indie titles? If you're looking for more Wario-like action, go and check out Antonball Deluxe and Antonblast! Sadly, Antonblast is still in the demo phase, but it's a damn awesome demo! And if you played the handheld Mario Golf games for the story (for some ungodly reason), then might I suggest Golf Story? I'm not exactly a game journalist and I can't really describe these games (or really anything in general), so why don't you check out some actual reviews of them? They'll speak better than I ever can.

Besides sequels, every 3D Mario title has been a major gameplay departure from the last, introducing new mechanics. How do you feel about this approach?

Plumbers in the third dimension

Ahh, yes, the gameplay variety debate. 34% of voters like gimmicks. I mean, who can blame them? Everyone loves a good gimmick, that's why the Wii sold so great! However, regardless of gimmicks, they still like the heart of it all being the same, with the good ol' plumber boy going "wahoo" all over the place. 32% of voters ALSO like gimmicks, but they don't mind gimmicks being reused, such as the case with Super Mario Galaxy 2, or Bowser's Fury (whatever the hell Bowser's Fury is even qualified as. A sequel? A spin-off? A minigame?!). 22% of voters like it best when the formula is completely shaken up and given new life, like what Galaxy was to Sunshine. Both are phenomenal games but they each have their own take on 3D Mario, a free-roam collectathon versus a more linear get-to-the-end experience, sort of like a 2D game (which 3D Land and 3D World would later go on to do in greater detail). 6.50% of the voters had no idea where they stood on the subject. I can't write a witty joke about that. 3% of voters say they just want more sequels, which is perfectly fine. After all, why fix what isn't broken? Super Mario Odyssey 2 is a no-brainer, and it's really confusing why Nintendo hasn't even announced plans to work on even a vague follow-up to Odyssey. Then again, Nintendo has a bit of a reputation for being…(cough)anti-consumer(cough), so I wouldn't exactly get my hopes up. And finally, 0.95% of voters say they don't like 3D Mario. Like, at all. Maybe they're the same purists who think Sonic was better with black eyes. Dunno.

Conclusion

Please help. I'm writing this at like 1 AM on the day this issue comes out...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading! As always, please remember to vote in the polls, we couldn't do this without you! No, seriously, we literally couldn't. Also, one more Indie game suggestion: please go play Freedom Planet I love Freedom Planet.

さようなら。- Cosmic

Anniversary Announcements

Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)

“Sparks of Nope.”
—Fun With Despair (talk · Boards)

Good day folks, and welcome to Anniversary Announcements! Happy pride month!

Another busy month has passed, so let's dive straight into it!

Tour de tournaments

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

While the season is still getting started, a few updates can be reported for tournaments.

Mario Boards Mega Brawl
A story brawler in which user-submitted characters (which must be pre-existing characters that have relevance to them) get to fight each other. Battle results are weighted based on popularity vote and randomness.
Character submissions have closed, and the first round of supporting votes has opened.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Casual Tournament
A tourney not unlike previous ones, but with a more casual intent. This means that the rules are set to allow items and state hazards, rather than these being off.
While the sign-up date was set to 10 June, the thread laid dormant since, likely due to the small amount of sign-ups received thus far.
Pokémon Crystal Randomizer - Triple Bingo Tournament!!
A tournament that relies on a randomiser to modify the base game, and then playing through the game to reach a specific set of goals as fast as possible. Due to the nature of the tournament, participants must acquire a ROM of the game to patch and emulate.

Awards changes

In this part of AA, I will describe all updates and changes to the meat and bones of the event, the awards. This includes additions, removals, and changes of both awards and nominees within.

New awards

These awards are brand new, or sometimes return from two or more years ago.

C4. Favorite Retired 'Shroom Section (new)
This award recognizes the hard work and creativity poured into sections that have not appeared in The 'Shroom within the past year, as written by a particular writer.
C9. Favorite BJAODN Entry (new)
The funniest, most nonsensical, or otherwise memorable entry in our repository of bad jokes and other deleted nonsense.
C11. Favorite Character Portrayal (new)
This award recognizes the effort which members of the community have put into writing and giving a unique spin to pre-existing characters (in some cases in altered form) in forum games, roleplays, 'Shroom sections, and other projects. Characters on this award are originally from popular media and given their characterization by members of the community.
  • Detective Luigi
  • Dr. Reginald Bushroot
  • Herlock Sholmes
  • ENA
  • Enomoto
  • Polly Geist
  • Rainbow Dash
  • Henry Brennan
  • Nathan Fielder
  • Koyanskaya
  • Guybrush Threepwood
  • Renne
  • Chaos Arle
  • Vincent Twice, Vincent Twice
  • Nobu
  • Dr. Heinz Basil
  • Punished Luigi
C12. Favorite Community Character (new)
This award recognizes original characters created by members of the community and used in forum games, roleplays, 'Shroom sections, and other projects. An original character is one that was created by a community member and prominently appeared in a community project, rather than being a pre-existing character from popular media.
  • Nadie
  • Phineas J. Shoe
  • Shmaluigi
  • Eugene Fairbanks
  • Storm DeMorge
  • Acedia Blumenthal
  • Solomon DeMorge
  • MB-Kusagi
  • Dr. Morgan Pierce
  • Candice
  • BBdori
  • TPG2
  • Dooplead
  • Ray Trace
  • Lightning the Hedgehog
  • Cayde Shilen
C13. Favorite 2022 'Shroom Holiday Scavenger Item (new)
Favorite item created for and hidden in the 2022 'Shroom Holiday Scavenger. These items were created and submitted by community members, illustrated by GBA, and worked into a scavenger hunt created by Lakituthequick.
  • Cayde's Racing Gloves
  • Galaxia
  • Cereal Bob-omb
  • Hampunster Bob-omb
  • Chieftain Staff
  • Ye Ole' Six Shooter
  • Anton's Glasses
  • Stellar Orb
  • Three Guns
  • Eight Silver Coins
  • Plague Doctor Mask
  • Mario Kart TV Guide
  • K-pop Album
  • Money Blaster
  • Tailwind Feathers
  • Hot Dog
  • Rainbow Cloud
  • Grapple Gun
  • Cup of Relaxing Green Tea
  • Octoberry
  • Sleep Powder Script
  • Mach Speed Booster
  • Shroomy Holiday Cake

Updated awards

Awards that existed last year and have been updated based on recent releases or with high-ranking write-in votes from last year.

M9 Favorite Game Mechanic
  • Removed:
  • Elements (LM)
M13. Favorite Boss Battle
Due to the overwhelming results in favour of Bowser over time, he has been split off of this award into his own. The top results of the removed DK, Yoshi, and Wario boss battle awards have been added, among others.
C1. Favorite Active 'Shroom Writer
C3. Favorite Written 'Shroom Section of the Past Year
C8. Favorite 2022 Awards Presentation
C14. Favorite Community Event 2022-2023 (new)
This award aims to acknowledge the best group events held by the community and for the community in the past year.
(This award is a merger of the three awards listed as removed below.)
  • Awards Killing Game: Odyssey
  • Pirate Mafia
  • Awards Murder Party
  • Nexus of Chaos: A Mafia Adventure
  • Awards Ceremony 2022
  • Blooper Race
  • April Fool's Day 2023
  • Minecraft Games 2022
  • Scribble Showdown 2022
  • 'Shroom Holiday Scavenger 2022 (issue 189)
  • Mushroom City Car Wash

The bins

The blue bin contains awards that may have potential left, but will only be considered to be kept to fill up necessary awards spots. The red bin contains awards that have been removed entirely.

Favorite Roleplay (removed)
This award was removed due to a lack of voter engagement and eligible nominees, and C14 now includes roleplaying games.
Favorite Strategy Game (removed)
This award was removed due to the small amount of eligible nominees, and C14 now includes strategy games.
Favorite Special Event (removed)
This award was removed due to the small amount of eligible events, and C14 now includes special events.

And as such, Anniversary Announcements comes to a close once more. For the month anyway, as the season is long from being over! Thanks for reading and I'll see you again next month!

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy Pride Month, everyone! I hope you have all had fantastic starts to your June, and I hope that you are all ready to get blasted with some Mario game knowledge! Welcome to June’s installment of Mario Calendar.

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

This month is honestly the blueprint for what I expect a great month to be in terms of Mario games. There are all sorts of minor, less-mainstream releases to fill in the gaps but there are still plenty of extremely important games. A great example of this is the fact that Super Mario 64 was released in Japan on June 23! This may be the single most important game in Mario’s career besides the original Super Mario Bros., and it’s a massive boon to this month.

Of course, that is not the only important game that was released in June! Something that definitely deserves mention despite not really being a Mario game is Tetris - it wasn’t the first version of Tetris to ever be released to consumers, but the sheer popularity of the Game Boy version shows just how influential this game and this version was.

Thank you for reading this month’s Mario Calendar! I hope you have a fantastic rest of your Pride Months, and I’m looking forward to seeing you again next month :)

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign?, a section where we look at robots from the hit BBC show Robot Wars. Last month, we looked at a robot in the last (so far) televised series of Robot Wars. Well, this month we're going to look at a robot from the last televised series of the classic series! This month, we take a look at the Series 7 run of the luckiest unlucky robot, Spawn Again.

The most flipper of all Brit flippers

A series veteran from Team Scuttlebots, Spawn Again originally appeared in Series 5/Extreme 1 (the shows were filmed at the same time) as the successor to Series 4 semi-finalist, Spawn of Scutter. Team Scuttlebot's previous robots, Scutter's Revenge and Spawn of Scutter, were pretty standard pushbots, although Spawn of Scutter did have a pretty cool pneumatic spike. Spawn Again, on the other hand, is basically what would happen if you distilled the essence of the British flipper. Spawn Again is a pyramid with a really long flipper on it, powered by two 750W motors. It's a very strong flipper, easily capable of throwing robots out of the arena, although you could argue that, by Series 7, that's not really an accomplishment.

Of course, you can't talk about Spawn Again or even the Scuttlebots in general without talking about their defining feature: unreliability. The Scuttlebots as a whole, but especially Spawn Again, are quite simply some of the damnedest robots in the history of the show. They're all solid designs, but they just don't work half the time. To put it in a little bit of context, the Scuttlebots as a whole fought twenty-eight battles, but only had one (1) judges' decision. Invariably, they would either KO their opponent or generally they would just break down. Despite this, the team had never failed to make the semi-finals, but, unfortunately, despite at this point making four semi-finals, they had never managed that breakthrough performance in them that they needed. Instead, the Scuttlebots always fell in the first round. That's why I call Spawn Again the luckiest unlucky robot, because, somehow, they never fail to make the semi-finals, but their unreliability (as well as some admittedly tough draws, I mean, they got Razer in Series 5), means they've never gotten any further. The Spawn Again in Series 6 (someday) is the epitome of this kind of unlucky luck, because that robot quite simply never worked and had frankly no business getting out of the first round of its heat, let alone winning it. But it still managed to bumble its way into the semi-finals, where it promptly lost to Terrorhurtz. Then, in the losers' melee, it honestly probably had its best ever semi-final performance, helping to knock out Hypno Disc and almost throwing Bigger Brother out of the arena before unfortunately losing its drive. But, for Series 7, Spawn Again's internals had been completely rebuilt, and its team and fans went in hoping that perhaps this year could finally be the year Spawn Again cracks the top eight!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki.

As a multiple time semi-finalist, Spawn Again was granted the 6th seed, which might seem a little high, but you have to remember that Series 7 was a real changing-of-the-guard series, and a lot of veteran teams did not return. So, Spawn Again naturally got a little bit of a seeding bump as a result. This placed Spawn Again in Heat N, where, in the first round, it would take on fellow veteran, Revenge of Trouble & Strife, who sported a very unique two-weapon system, being both a flipper and a full body spinner. Main series newcomer Chip (they had competed in Extreme 2's New Blood competition, losing in the second round of their heat), who had a spinning disc the team claimed was ten times more powerful than Hypno Disc's, also was in the arena. Finally, we had NEATer Machine (which I'm going to write as Neater Machine because it's easier), a veteran of the Dutch Wars who came sporting a devastating ax. The fight starts with the Chip team spinning away from everyone so they can get their disc up to speed. Neater Machine misses Revenge of Trouble & Strife with their ax, but don't worry, the House Robot Mr. Psycho doesn't miss with his hammer! Spawn Again briefly targets Neater Machine before switching to Chip. As Chip is trying to avoid them, still trying to get that disc up to speed near the arena wall, Spawn Again manages to get under them and throws them right out of the arena. I'll say this. At this point in time, an Outta isn't really that impressive for a flipper.

Such a clean Outta

The arena walls are too low and flippers are too powerful, so if you can get them on the wall, you can throw them out. But that's not what this is! Not only is Chip not against the wall, they aren't even on the warning tape that signifies that part of the arena! But despite that, Spawn Again cleanly throws them out of the arena. I mean, they even touch part of the arena wall (they do hit a camera and part of the outer safety wall) on their descent out of the arena. As this happens (like literally at the same time), Revenge of Trouble & Strife manages to KO Neater Machine with their spinner. Then, in the post-fight shenanigans, Spawn Again bodies Revenge of Trouble & Strife easily, Koing them and moving on to the next round in dominant fashion.

In the second round, Spawn Again faces off against the poor man's Razer-clone known as R.O.C.S. The fight starts with Spawn Again immediately flipping over R.O.C.S., who attempts to self-right but fails, so Spawn Again, I guess feeling bad, rights them itself.

Probably a good sign for this fight

Spawn Again flips R.O.C.S. again, but this time R.O.C.S. manages to self-right... right onto Spawn Again's flipper. Spawn Again unleashes a barrage of flips on the poor crusher, nearly throwing it out of the arena! But then R.O.C.S. manages to get to the backside of Spawn Again and bites down on it with its crusher as Sir Killalot rams both of them in the CPZ. R.O.C.S. attempts to take advantage of this changing of fortune by dragging Spawn Again to the pit release button. But Spawn Again escapes before R.O.C.S. can pit them, nearly driving down the pit on their own in the process. R.O.C.S. tries to get around to Spawn Again's side, but Spawn Again outmaneuvers them and manages to flip them over. Unfortunately for R.O.C.S., by this point in time their self-righting mechanism has broken, leaving them unable to self-right. This puts Spawn Again into the Heat Final in a fight that was way too close for comfort.

The Heat Final is a bit of a grudge match, as Spawn Again takes on Team Knightmare's Raging Knightmare. This is sort of a rematch of the Series 4 Heat L final, where Spawn of Scutter defeated Knightmare. The fight (42:52), starts with both robots charging at each other, with the more narrow flipper of Raging Knightmare having the early advantage, getting underneath Spawn Again and flipping them over. Spawn Again easily self-rights and charges at Raging Knightmare. This time, both robots fire their flippers, with Raging Knightmare being flipped over, but Spawn Again stays on its feet thanks to its back rollover design. Spawn Again keeps up on the attack, attempting another flip, but then Spawn Again's pneumatic system quite literally explodes, completely destroying Spawn Again's flipper.

This is the most Spawn Again thing to ever happen.

Now weaponless, Spawn Again panics and dashes toward the pit release button, but they miss. Because their pneumatic system gets hanging out, though, they get stuck to the wall! Raging Knightmare keeps up the attack, literally ripping Spawn Again out of the ground as it flips it over. But Raging Knightmare isn't done! They're determined to avenge the Series 4 loss by throwing Spawn Again out of the arena! In doing so, they actually manage to get Spawn Again stuck perfectly balanced on top of the arena wall.

Perfectly balanced…

It's awesome, it's the only time this ever happens, and it's hilarious. After a few seconds of disbelief what it is seeing, Raging Knightmare finishes the job, sending Spawn Again out of the arena and bringing an end to what could have been a promising campaign.

The funny thing is, even though this was the best Spawn Again had ever looked, they still wouldn't have made it out of the first round of the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, their first match would have been against Series 6 champion Tornado, and, personally, I just can't see them beating Tornado. Then, since Series 7 dropped the losers' melee from the semi-finals, Spawn Again once again would have found themselves outside the top eight. But had they won against Raging Knightmare, they'd have joined Firestorm as the only robots to have won five heats, an amazing achievement. Spawn Again would never fight again in Robot Wars, strangely being denied a spot in the Series 7 All-Stars tournament, a tournament specifically set up for Robots like Spawn Again (all competitors needed at least five years of experience). It's unknown why exactly Spawn Again wasn't picked to be in the tournament. The team has said they did bring a spare pneumatic system, but it's possible the producers didn't realize that, and that's why they weren't picked. The team was contracted to appear in the reboot, but they couldn't make it due to time constraints, which is probably for the best, since they would have just entered an upgraded Spawn Again. Like I said, the Scuttlebots are just weird. They're solid enough designs and, as shown by the Chip flip, Spawn Again had an extremely powerful flipper, but they could just never crack the reliability problems that kept them from reaching that next echelon of elite robots. Still, they're one of only six teams to make four semi-finals, which puts them into an elite category. It's just a shame that the best version of Spawn Again happened to Spawn Again'd at the worst possible moment, costing them their chance to make it five for five.

That's all for this month! Join us next month when we take a look at another Robot Wars competitor.

The 'Shroom: Issue 195
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
Specials Coming Soon • Community Awards Dossier • Challenger Approaching!
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