MarioWiki:Anniversary/2020

Ceremony: August 14th, 2020 See festivities from 2019 1 About   2 Voting   3 Community Awards   4 Presentations   5 Game Tournaments and Other Events   6 Awards Committee   7 Contact About The Super Mario Wiki was created on August 12, 2005 at 13:47 PM (EDT) by Steve Shinn. In August 2006, this wiki was off to a good start, but still there was only a small number of active users. In August of 2007, with a userbase finally forming, we marked our wiki's anniversary with an awards ceremony celebrating 30 of our favorite Mario topics, including favorite games, music, items, series, moments, enemies, and more, by running polls and producing creative mini writing and art projects to present those results in a fun way. Over the years we’ve made big changes to our Anniversary Ceremony, including the addition of Userpedia, Fail, and ‘Shroom Awards early on (2008, 2009, 2010 respectively), formal game tournaments by 2011 with prizes, and by 2013 having our first Awards Committee Director Election. As time went on, presentation quality rose and activity hit its stride, streamlining the process, with the Ceremonies evolving with the community’s needs, such as merging User and ‘Shroom Awards into Community Awards, opening up a wider venue for recognition of the skills and efforts of our wiki editors. In 2016 we proudly funded a $1,000 donation drive for the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station to honor our late bureaucrat Walkazo. With the wiki at over 23,000 articles and growing, we hope that 2020 will be another successful year! Voting This year we have included definitions for each award to help prevent confusion as to what we intended. If there are any questions or comments regarding them, please let us know! (Do note that any joke votes, "none", "all", voting for multiple nominees in a single write-in, or votes that don’t fit the award in the Other box will be thrown out and not counted!!') Please refer to this document to vote on the Community awards. You can vote once a week on each poll. Voting ends July 14th at roughly 12 PM Eastern. Mario Awards M1. Best Sound Design The game that overall sounds the best. A significant deciding factor is the game's soundtrack, but it also includes skillful and appropriate use of sound effects, ambience, and (if present) quality of voice acting. M2. Favorite Mario Kart Game The best game of the Mario Kart series. M3. Favorite Mario Platformer The best game featuring the core 2D or 3D Mario gameplay without too many significant deviations. The selection encompasses games which focus on the use of skillful jumping to traverse obstacle courses and/or sandboxes to reach the objective, often while collecting coins and helpful powerups along the way. M4. Favorite Mario Kart Course The best race course featured in one or more Mario Kart games. This does not include battle courses. M5. Favorite Donkey Kong Game The best game of the Donkey Kong spin-off series. M6. Favorite Wario Game The best game of the Wario spin-off series. M7. Favorite Yoshi Game The best game of the Yoshi spin-off series. M8. Favorite Art Style The best visual style used in Mario media. This features prominently used, distinct, and recognizable art styles, but does not include one-off styles. A focus is placed on overall aesthetics over deviations due to hardware limitations (for example: SM64 looks different from SMG, but this seems to be a product of hardware limitations rather than artistic choice. Promotional renderings of the game show Mario in the familiar main series style. Therefore, we do not recognize SM64 as its own art style). M9. Favorite Add-on Content The best Mario-relevant software package that adds new content to a game. To qualify, the content must add one or more distinct, recognizable elements to the initial release of the game. This does not include minor patches, code updates, or bug fixes. M10. Favorite Lyrical Song The best music track from a Mario or Mario spin-off game featuring intelligible lyrics. M11. Favorite Major Character The best recurring Mario series character prominently featured in a main role. M12. Favorite Supporting Character The best Mario series or Mario spin-off series character who is part of the supporting cast. This includes recurring minor characters, as well as major characters that only appeared in one game, or exclusively appear in spin-offs. M13. Favorite Level Theme The best overall environmental theme of a level. M14. Favorite Species The best species that characters in the Mario series can belong to. To qualify, there must be more than one representative of said species present throughout the series. M15. Favorite Instrumental Track The best music track from a Mario or Mario spin-off game featuring solely instrumentals and sounds. M16. Favorite Item The most interesting, useful, or otherwise superior item or power-up available in the Mario series. M17. Favorite Mario RPG The best Mario role-playing-game. M18. Favorite Mario Party Game The best game of the Mario Party series. M19. Favorite Villain The best Mario series or Mario spin-off series villain or nefarious group, major or minor. This award takes into account their role in the story, their actions, boss battles, and overall characterization. M20. Favorite Sports Game The best sports-themed Mario spin-off game. Mario Kart titles have been excluded from this award because they already possess a dedicated award to themselves. M21. Favorite Puzzle Game The best Mario spin-off game which primarily focuses on the completion of puzzles and places emphasis on the use of logic over pure dexterity. This includes puzzle-platformers. M22. Favorite Battle Course The best dedicated battle course featured in one or more Mario Kart games. M23. Favorite Capture The best controllable creature that can be captured with Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey. Deciding factors include their moveset, breadth of options, how well the game used them, as well as how enjoyable they are to control overall. M24. Favorite Luigi's Mansion Boss The best boss in the Luigi's Mansion franchise. M25. Favorite 2D Mario Level The best level found in a Mario sidescroller. This only includes nominees from the main Mario games. Levels from the Donkey Kong, Wario, and Yoshi spin-off series have been excluded. M26. Favorite 3D Mario Level The best level found in a 3D Mario game. This only includes nominees from the main Mario games. Levels from the Donkey Kong, Wario, and Yoshi spin-off series have been excluded. M27. Favorite Boss Battle The best boss battle found in a Mario or Mario spin-off game. M28. Favorite Game Setting The game with the best setting overall. Focus is placed on the entirety of the setting as a whole, rather than just individual areas. M29. Favorite Classic Game (GCN/GBA and older) The best game among every Mario title released for the Nintendo Gamecube and older (for console games), and the Gameboy Advance and older (for handheld games). M30. Favorite Modern Game (Wii/DS and newer) The best game among every Mario title released for the Nintendo Wii and newer (for console games), and the Nintendo DS and newer (for handheld games). Fail Awards F1. Worst Character The least favorite Mario series or Mario spin-off series character. This includes both major and minor characters regardless of number of appearances. F2. Worst 2D Level The worst level found in a sidescroller. This includes nominees from the main Mario games, as well as the Donkey Kong, Wario, and Yoshi spin-off series F3. Worst 3D Level The worst level found in a 3D game. This includes nominees from the main Mario games, as well as the Donkey Kong, Wario, and Yoshi spin-off series. F4. Worst RPG Area The worst map or level found in a role-playing game. This includes nominees from the Mario series, as well as any other relevant spin-off. F5. Worst Level Concept The least favorite type of overarching stage or level theme. F6. Worst Spin-off The least favorite game not part of the main Mario series. This includes sports, party games, and alternative storylines, to name a few options. F7. Worst Enemy The least favorite non-boss villain, baddie, or grunt. F8. Worst Mario Kart Course The least favorite track in a Mario Kart game. F9. Worst Direction of Series This award focuses on the downward turn of a game franchise or spin-off, with lower quality coming with further installments. F10. Worst Game Mechanic The worst feature of a game's functions. F11. Biggest Missed Opportunity Recognition of the most lost potential or missed chance, aimed at any level of the Mario series, from treatment of characters and stories, up to company management and business decisions that, if handled better, would have a more welcome outcome. F12. Worst Game Objective The worst goal, challenge, objective, or quest in a game. F13. Worst Remake The worst new version or remake of a game. F14. Worst Setting The worst overall location and backdrop of a game. F15. Most Disappointing Game May not necessarily be the worst game Mario has to offer, but is the game that was most poorly received and squandered its greater potential. Community Awards Along with having awards for the general Marioverse, we like to celebrate achievements within our own community with the addition of the Community Awards. These cover aspects of this vast community that serves as the lifeblood of the MarioWiki and its sub-pages. The nominees of these awards include members from the wiki, forum, and chat sub-communities with their various accomplishments. They also cover projects members have worked or are working on to maintain/improve the site or to promote community solidarity through fiction, comics, artwork, or music. The 'Shroom remains fully represented, and is the Super Mario Wiki's community-written newsletter, delivering various informative or entertaining articles about the Mario series, video games in general, and a number of other subjects the third Saturday of every month. Founded in 2006, this community project has come a long way from its modest beginnings and has become an integral part of the website. This is where hard-working members of our staff teams, as well as the work of our creative users, have some time to shine and receive recognition. To vote for Community Awards please go here to find the dossier and polls. Presentations Sign-ups for Award Presentations will open July 1st. Users will be allowed to present a maximum of four awards. What are these presentations, you ask? Well, you get to reveal the results of the award you choose in some sort of digital medium, whether it is a written story (usually a narrative or an interview with a user or Mario series character), the tried and true summary, something creative and goofy, the very popular comic style, a picture or series of images, image edits, split into multiple parts, collaboration between people, or even a playable game, a video, a song, or a combination of multiple forms. As you can see, there’s plenty of variety; do whatever you want! These can be serious or silly (though most people prefer the silly ones), so long as they’re relevant to the award at hand. Polls close on July 14th, so users should receive their results in their inbox on the forums some time between then and the 17th. Presentations will be due August 7th. There are no exceptions. Do not sign up for a presentation if you are unsure if you can complete it. Doing so may result in a ban from creating presentations in future award shows. If something unexpected does come up, tell us as quickly as possible and we will be able to cover for you. Be sure to check out the best and favorites from the 2019 Awards Ceremony in the Community Awards dossier! Who can sign up to present: -Basically anyone that can complete their presentation within the roughly 4-week window! --It is encouraged to have accounts on both the wiki and the forum, but it is not a requirement. Who cannot sign up to present: -Basically no one! But what can reduce chances and trust are: --Users who are banned in any community venue (Wiki, Forum, Chat). --Users that have been banned from participating in Awards-related activities. Certain awards are reserved until further notice (we are PMing certain users and asking them if they would like to present any of them. This helps us with quality control for several important awards). These awards may or may not be opened to the public, depending on responses from the people PMed. Please note: You will be held to a higher standard of quality if you sign up for Reserved awards, and are expected to deliver quality work quickly if you sign up for a Backup slot. P.S. It's not all rules and bureaucracy; have fun with it! Awards Committee The Awards Committee’s main focus is the creation of the polls in June, but they will be responsible for decisions related to the entire anniversary event, including but not limited to tournaments, prizes, presentations, and overall AC policies and structure. Announcements regarding projects will be posted on this page or the public forum board, so if you are interested, keep an eye on at least one of them. Thank you, and we'll see you around a bunch more in the upcoming months!! Awards Committee Hypnotoad (talk) (Anton) (Director) Turboo (talk) (Turboo) (Sub-Director) Hooded Pitohui (talk) (Hooded Pitohui) (Community Awards Host) Gabumon (talk) (Mr. Edo) (Awards Staff Consultant) Twentytwofiftyseven (talk) (2257) (Awards Staff Consultant) Lakituthequick (talk) (Lakituthequick) (Awards Record Keeper) Superchao (talk) (Hibiki Tachibana) Smasher (talk) (Smasher) YoshiFlutterJump (talk) (YoshiFlutterJump ) Mariofan169 (talk) (Mariofan169) Roserade (talk) (Roserade the Real Bombchu) Power Flotzo (talk) (Hanamaru Kunikida) Chibiki Daisy (talk) (Zange) Game Tournaments and Other Events Mario Awards III featured the first awards-sanctioned tournament, Mario Kart, and ever since then interest has steadily grown to make it a key feature of the anniversary events alongside the poll ceremony. In 2015, we hosted the most tournaments in the history of the awards ceremony with 15 separate tournaments held, over double the previous year. These tournaments have included games like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., Pokémon, Mafia, Mario Golf, Team Fortress 2, Minecraft, and also art contests, Guess The Results, and pretty much anything anyone suggests and is able to host. It does not need to be a Nintendo game – DS/3DS, Wii/Wii U/Switch, PC, Steam, forum-/chat-based and online are all valid media for tournaments as long as they have a multiplayer mode or can function as competition. It’s not required to be a member of the Awards Committee to host and organize a tournament, but we do ask that you coordinate it with us so we can help things run smoothly and help facilitate prizes should they be offered. As of last year, using tokens for prizes was discontinued, and any prize offered is up to a tournament host, who will also be responsible for prize distribution should they choose to have it as an incentive. Anyone who would like to donate prizes to be given out is more than welcome to do so. Please contact Hypnotoad (talk) or Turboo (talk) if you would like to supply prizes. Recommended items include Humble Bundle games, Nintendo points, iTunes cards or gift cards to any other online site or store, or even just cash donations. Any donation is highly appreciated, but please be aware that gifting Steam games is no longer easily possible due to a change in policy by Valve. Contact Hypnotoad (talk) (Forum profile) Turboo (talk) (Forum profile) #mwikiawards on IRC marioawards@gmail.com Official Super Mario Wiki Twitter account Official ‘Shroom Twitter account Do you have suggestions to make the awards more interesting? Or issues from last year that need to be resolved? Please, let us know.