The 'Shroom:Issue XLVIII/Music & Artwork
Director’s Notes
Hello and welcome to the Music & Artwork section of the ’Shroom! I don’t have too much to say this month, except that I would like to welcome SimeaMorgana (talk), who is now writing for Music Factoid, to the team. Good luck!
A few writers have also been fired over this month. Hatena Kid (talk), JF (talk), and Paper Pikachu (talk) have all lost their positions, leaving Soundtrack of the Month, Character Artwork of the Month, and Box‐Art of the Month open. Make sure you contact me as soon as possible if you want a job so we can see if you can write.
Well, that seems to be about it. Read on!
Screenshot of the Month (Fawfulfury65)
Hello everyone and welcome to this month’s Screenshot of the Month! I chose a screenshot from Super Mario 64 for this month, just because this one caught my eye and seemed very nice. It features Mario in an awesome jumping pose in the very center of the picture as he travels through Jolly Roger Bay. Not only is the image pretty big, but it’s also very high quality and bright it brings back some good memories. Well, that’s all for this month. Make sure you tune into the Screenshot of the Month next month for more great screenshots.
Music Factoid (SimeaMorgana)
It’s‐a me, Simea Morgana
I’m glad I got this job and I will show you my moves! my very first article.
We’re going back to the origin of all Mario games, the ’80s! To a time when video game music wasn’t performed by live orchestras, but MIDI files with 2 or 3 channels! But because of their simplicity, they became famous, they were memorized, they became the classic music pieces in video game history! The most famous are those from Super Mario Bros.!
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4PxvY2gjP0 – overworld
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox2Fjp9oeAI – underworld
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKx0Liso6aQ – underwater theme
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEVhSNy96SU – castle theme
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLb33K8UO30 – star theme
Various remixes of these themes appeared in the following years. Despite their simplicity, they create the atmosphere they set out to create: The beginning of a great adventure, traveling through the underground, swimming in deep seas, a hectic rush, power. At the beginning of the game’s development, a prototype simply showing Mario jumping in a black area was created. Koji Kondo, the composer of the game’s music, was shown this demo. Koji Kondo created a fitting theme. As the game progressed, he realized that it didn’t fit and increased the speed. The music music only consists of three channels: Bass, Drum and the melody channel. Thus when a sound is played that doesn’t belong to the music, it uses the melody channel and the main melody will be turned off for a second.
Overall, this is expertly rendered music from a master composer! Hope you’ve enjoyed this article!
A small ‘extra’ I wanted to include: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI-ol25RFws&feature=channel_video_title
Enjoy!
Sprite of the Month (FunkyK38)
For this month’s Sprite of the Month, it’s a familiar green villain: Fawful from Superstar Saga! This little sprite is from Fawful’s early days, back when he was working for Cackletta and running his shop, before he got his own starring role in Bowser’s Inside Story.
Random Image of the Month (Ralphfan)
This picture is a scene from the Bouncy Maze in Yoshi’s Island DS. The maze is an unlockable minigame in which Yoshi must move through the Bouncies as fast as possible. A Hard Mode, which includes a narrow path, can be unlocked by collecting all eight Baby Coins in World 3.
