The 'Shroom:Issue 126/Palette Swap

Director's Notes

Written by: FunkyK38 (talk)

Greetings, readers! I hope your September has been good so far! Mine certainly has, with that latest Nintendo Direct.

Not much for me to say this month, just the usual "if you'd like to write for us" spiel. Send a completed application to Tucayo on the forums, or if you have any questions, you can send them to me on the forums as well. Palette Swap is also open to fan art as well, so if you have a piece of fan art that you'd like us to feature, send it in! The Pyro Guy (talk) will also be taking up Ongoing Fan Projects.

Anyways, please enjoy all of the wonderful sections we have this month! ~FunkyK38

Section of the Month

This month was pretty close, but Lord Bowser (talk) is our big winner this month for his review of the soundtrack of Bowser's Inside Story! Thank you so much for voting, and please keep it up!

Palette Swap SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place	Section	Votes	%	Writer
1st	Game Soundtrack Reviews	7	25.93%	Lord Bowser
2nd	What's on the Box?	6	22.22%	Yoshi876
2nd	Mario's Boombox	6	22.22%	Hooded Pitohui
4th	Take Cover!	3	11.11%	Henry Tucayo Clay
4th	Packy's Songs of the Month	3	11.11%	Palkia47
6th	Ongoing Fan Projects	2	7.41%	Yoshi876

Art Sections

What's on the Box?
Yoshi876 (Talk)

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Yoshi876 gets caught with his hands in the cookie jar!
[read more]

Featured Character Artwork
Chester Alan Arthur (Talk)

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Get SWANKY with it!
[read more]

Ongoing Fan Projects
The Pyro Guy (Talk)

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The Pyro Guy updates the list of fan projects!
[read more]

Music Sections

Take Cover!
Henry Tucayo Clay (Talk)

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Time for a reader's choice jukebox!
[read more]

What's on the Box?

Written by: Yoshi876 (talk)

Hello readers, and welcome back to What's on the Box.

In case none of you realised, I'm actually writing this section before I've eaten anything, which is probably why I've chosen this game's boxart to examine. For those of you not in the know, Yoshi's Cookie is a puzzle game for the NES, SNES and the Game Boy. We'll be looking at the Game Boy version's boxart, but they're all the same, so think of this as three sections in one!

It's a very basic boxart, featuring only Yoshi and the titular Yoshi Cookies, although sadly we don't have the one shaped like Yoshi's head. There's not a whole lot more to talk about, as the only action taking place on the boxart is Yoshi gleefully about to eat one, which let's be honest, who wouldn't be?

That leaves only little details left to look at, and there's really only one of those as well. The "o" in Yoshi's is actually an upside down Yoshi Egg. Other than that, all there is is a tagline box, and a box saying that the game is compatible with the game link.

As basic as it is, however, there's not really a lot that can be done with this boxart. Puzzle games don't really have great ones, barring the Professor Layton series, and seeing as this is a Tetris-esque game, featuring what are the blocks is pretty much all you can do. The only thing I could see working is to run with the multiplayer aspect, and maybe had four different coloured Yoshis battling it out over the cookies.

Featured Character Artwork

Written by: Chester Alan Arthur (talk)

Styling and profiling.

Oh hey look! It’s issue 126 and I’m still here! Hooray! Anyway, welcome back to Featured Character Artwork, where I look at artwork I think is amazing (and I guess I’ll tell you, the reader, why). Last month, we looked at a spooky ghost carrot from one of my favorite games, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This month, I’ll be looking at a character from another SNES game I love; Swanky Kong, the minigame host from Donkey Kong Country 3.

Right off the bat, I love this new design for Swanky Kong. He looks so much fancier then he did in Donkey Kong Country 2, where he just wore a blue shirt, some rings, and had bad hair. I love how much effort they put into Swanky’s outfit to make him look like a fancy game show host, from the dress shoes (that I think our Critic Corner director Anton would love) to the way he holds his cane (he looks like he’s inviting us to come on down). I think my favorite detail is the way is teeth sparkle in his smile, which I think gives him a real conman-style look. One detail I think is easy to overlook is that the way this artwork is made gives Swanky a real glossy look, which I think helps bring the total look together. I’m also a really big fan of his stupid yellow checkered shirt combined with his long-sleeved undershirt and dress pants. Throw in some nice dress shoes and I think you’ve got yourself the most dapper Kong on all of Donkey Kong Island. I just love the fact that Rare went out of their way to provide such good-looking artwork to even the most minor of the Kongs, a character so unimportant that you can go the entire game without seeing him. But regardless of that fact, I’m glad they made it, because he looks like the perfect minigame host. 10/10, would look at again.

Ongoing Fan Projects

Written by: The Pyro Guy (talk)

User	Thread	Description
Lakituthequick	Lakituthequick's occasional art	A thread where Lakituthequick posts things he makes. Recent updates include an animated image of one of the characters in his amazing Awards presentations.
Alex95	Alex95's Could Have Been/Upcoming Game 'Shroom Thread	A thread where Alex95 plugs his 'Shroom sections. The most recent update features links to his contributions to Issue 125, and he is open for suggestions on what to cover.
Koops	Koops' 'Shroom sections (Travel Guide).	A thread where Koops plugs his 'Shroom section, Travel Guide. He has recently linked to his section on Prism Island, and is asking for feedback.
Tucayo (Hobbes)	Take Cover! (Cover songs 'Shroom section)	A thread where Tucayo shows off his 'Shroom section, Take Cover! He has posted links to his section for Issue 125.
Lord Bowser (Subaru)	lb's shroom things	Our final 'Shroom section shilling from Lord Bowser. He has updated the thread with links to his four sections from last month, and plugging the entirety of Fun Stuff too.
ww97	Introducing Picross Wiki!	A thread introducing a new wiki website dedicated to Picross-based video games.
Magikrazy	Magikrazy's song mashups	A thread where Magikrazy posts his song mashups. His most recent work mashes up 'Follow me' and 'Body like a back road'.
Big the Cat	Big's Art Gallery	A thread where Big posts his art. Some of his recent posts include drawings of Cat Waluigi and B. Coz from Mario Tennis.
badposter	Badposter rates every country flag	A thread where badposter has reviewed the flag of every single country in the world. While he finished last year, a recent update focuses on Mauritania's new flag design.
Lord Bowser (Subaru)	Yet Another Wiki Story (sign-ups!)	A new user-based story by Lord Bowser. He has opened up sign ups, and has posted an introduction and a map. I recommend you check this one out.
Luigi 64DD	Luigi 64DD's attempts at art	An art thread by Luigi64DD. His first drawing is of his own character.
Alex95	Alex95's Power Master Thread (Demo available!)	A thread focusing on Alex95's Power Master games. He has recently posted drawings of two characters and a heap of sprites.
Pwwnd123 (Roll and Maria Renard)	Pwwnd123's Spriting Work	A thread where Pwwnd123 shows off his sprites. His recent update features a sprite of Princess Peach in her wedding outfit from Super Mario Odyssey.
Mister Apple	Mister Apple's Hideous Drawings	A thread where Mister Apple posts his many drawings, including ones of a Goomba and a Shy Guy.
The Pyro Guy (nico's #2 fan)	TPG's Art Thread (Current project: KG Aftermath)	A thread where The Pyro Guy posts his art. His recent posts feature a Goomba Tower and a cow version of Bowser.
Shy Guy on Wheels	The Mario Boards user stories	A thread where several members of the community write a story together. Recent posts detail SGOW's meeting with Mister Apple, and finding planets in the ISS.
Koops	Koops' Fanmade Paper Mario: plot twisted thread. (Sprites and explanations too).	A thread where Koops writes and draws for his Paper Mario fangame idea. He has recently written more chapters and has posted a drawing on paper of Chapter 13.

Take Cover!

Written by: Henry Tucayo Clay (talk)

HI, everyone! I'm your optimistic Statistics Manager, Tucayo, here with your monthly dose of Take Cover! Remember your suggestions for songs to cover (heh) are more than welcome, just head to the forum and either directly suggest a cover, or tell me a song or artist you would like to see featured! I will try to work every suggestion into the section.

To get us started we have a suggestion by Yoshi876 (talk); it's a song we have all danced to — whether sober or drunk, that's entirely up to you — but there's no denying this 1978 dance mega-hit by the Village People makes everyone at least want to move their arms. By now it's probably unnecessary to say the name of the song, but it's Y.M.C.A., a tune inspired by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA, if you are not good with acronyms). This organization, while religious in principle, partakes in a wide array of charitable activities around the world, and has done so for the past 170+ years. Now, the YMCA did have its reputation as a place to casually hookup with other members, and since women were not allowed in the facilities until the 1970's, you can see why this song was and still is heralded as a gay anthem (here's some trivia: any clothing was banned in the swimming pools until said decade, as swimsuits messed with the filtration systems). The Village People have denied the song being written as a gay anthem, but the truth is it doesn't matter what they had in mind, it was adopted as such and it has even lead the organization to stand up for a very important issue, which is marriage equality. This is part of the #whynot? campaign by YMCA Australia (if you have a moment, please consider signing up), along with youth unemployment and youth mental health, and to promote it they partnered with Boy George for a stripped back cover of the song. Unbelievably, this is the first time that the organization has used the song in any manner (they even threatened with a lawsuit back in 1978). This is a great cover for a great cause.

Up next we have a suggestion by MST3K (talk), and it's a song as different from our first song as you can imagine. Think of the 1983 synthpop song Mr. Roboto by Styx. The original version is already groovy enough, but there is an even groovier cover, and to be honest I prefer it to the original. Who's the artist covering it? It's a group well known in the "Nintendocore" genre (or Nintendo rock, which is clearer), The Protomen. Their work began by telling their own, dystopic story based in the Mega Man universe; so far they have released two parts of this intended trilogy, but their work doesn't end there, they recorded a live album comprised entirely of Queen covers, of which my favorite track is their rendition of Hammer to Fall. In 2015 they released The Cover Up, the LP from which the song to your left is taken; this album includes 14 other covers ranging from Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart to Top Gun's Danger Zone. You can listen to the full album here, it's definitely quite enjoyable.

Natural disasters have been unfortunately very present these past days; as of the writing of this section, Hurricane Irma is set to impact the Caribbean and Florida shortly, and Hurricane Katia is threatening the Gulf of Mexico. This adds to the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey, the first Category 3 or higher hurricane to touch ground in the continental US in the past 12 years. And in my own Mexico and Central America, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit pretty badly this week, taking several dozens of lives and destroying entire towns. Please stay safe, and if you were a victim of any of these, I wish from the bottom of my heart you and your loved ones are well. And for everyone out there, please consider donating whatever you can to help the victims of these terrible tragedies. Food, clothing, money, anything. Go to your nearest donation center and ask what you can give. To your right you can see Usher and Blake Shelton with an acoustic and heartfelt cover of Stand by Me for the Hand in Hand telethon that took place this week.

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