The 'Shroom:Issue 197/Pipe Plaza
Director's Notes
Hello and welcome to a new Shroom! And boy, how about that Awards ceremony last weekend?
I spent most of the day (as of writing this) moving into my dorm today! It definitely gets easier after the first year but I'm still pretty exhausted... Though at least I have air conditioning this year! Man that's gonna be really nice next week.
I'm not gonna keep you here too long, but here's your usual reminder that you are always welcome to sign up to write for us! Just head to the sign up page to learn more! Anyways that's all enjoy your month and stay cool!!
Section of the Month
| PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | Poll Committee Discussion | 8 | 47.06% | Raregold (talk) |
| 2nd | Anniversary Announcements | 3 | 17.65% | Lakituthequick (talk) |
| 3rd | What's in a Campaign? | 2 | 11.76% | Shoey (talk) |
| 3rd | Mario Calendar | 2 | 11.76% | GPM1000 (talk) |
| 3rd | Community Report | 2 | 11.76% | Waluigi Time (talk) |
Community Report
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
This month's Community Report was brought to you by our sponsor, Blargg. Since last month, we've had six different proposals related to different types of Blarggs! You may think that this is the work of one person who really likes Blarggs, but no, three different users created these proposals! I guess the wiki just has Blargg fever. Good thing September's right around the corner so we can all start cooling off.
Speaking of Blarggs, we celebrated the annual Mario Awards last week! Actually, that has nothing to do with Blarggs, they weren't even nominees on anything. But hey, better to be a Blargg at Awards than a Hammer Bro. at Awards, right? If you missed it or just want to reread it, you can find the ceremonies on the forums. It was a fun time!
In other news, to address the Gargantua Blargg in the room, I've traded in my broom, and they gave me a great deal on a new convertible! The value ratio of cleaning tools to motor vehicles is surprisingly a much smaller gap than you would think.
All information is accurate as of August 18, 2023. Proposals and featured articles marked with an asterisk are updates on ones that were ongoing and covered in the previous issue.
| DEMOTIONS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFFECTED USER | PREVIOUS RANK | CURRENT RANK | DATE | |
| Waluigi Time (talk) | Administrator | Autopatrolled | August 16, 2023 | |
| RECENT PROPOSALS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PROPOSAL | SUMMARY | OUTCOME | DEADLINE |
| Preservation of ancient unsourced statements* | A proposal for dealing with unsourced statements that have been on the wiki for a long time. If a source cannot be found or is most likely lost, the statement will be removed and preserved on the talk page with an accompanying template so that it can be re-added if new information surfaces. The proposal passed with unanimous support, but has not yet been enacted. | PASSED 11-0 (read more) |
July 15, 2023 |
| Determine coverage status of Tetris (NES) and F-1 Race (Game Boy) | A proposal to determine how Tetris for the NES and F-1 Race for the Game Boy should be covered on the wiki. Both games feature appearances by various Nintendo characters including those from the Super Mario franchise. Because of their minimal impact on the games, voters unanimously decided to keep these games as cameo appearances with coverage kept to the list of references in Nintendo video games. | CAMEO 0-0-10 (read more) |
July 28, 2023 |
| Decide how to name level articles for Mario vs. Donkey Kong games | A proposal for determining level naming for Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!. Both games use multiple naming formats for their levels, making it difficult to tell which one should be used based on policy. All of the voters chose to use the "Room X-Y" format for both games, leaving coverage the same as before. | ROOM X-Y FOR BOTH 4-0-0-0 (read more) |
July 31, 2023 |
| RECENT TALK PAGE PROPOSALS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PROPOSAL | SUMMARY | OUTCOME | DEADLINE |
| Split off the Super Smash Bros. CDs and move them to the Smash items article* | A proposal to split the CDs in the Super Smash Bros. series from the ones in Wario Land 4. The proposer argued that the Smash games don't imply that they're meant to be the same CDs, and points out the different Japanese name of the Wario Land 4 CDs. Several voters opposed due to the similarities between the two, and noting that they are a generic subject. The proposal was extended after a tie at the original deadline, and the supporters were able to gain the majority. The change has since been made. | PASSED 8-5 (read more) |
July 18, 2023 |
| Have the Super Mario 3D Land Fire Piranha Plant be a secondary infobox image* | A proposal to include the alternate design for Fire Piranha Plant introduced in Super Mario 3D Land in its infobox alongside the standard design, following a similar proposal which decided on using multiple designs for Thwomps. Despite some skepticism over how prominent the alternate design actually is, the proposal passed and both images are currently in use. | PASSED 6-1 (read more) |
July 20, 2023 |
| Merge White Block with Grab Block* | Another proposal to merge White Block with Grab Block, overturning the decision made a few months ago. Some users once again argued that they should be merged due to shared functionality, while the opposition pointed out that no source has confirmed the two items as being the same. The proposal failed and the previous decision still stands. | FAILED 4-13 (read more) |
July 22, 2023 |
| Split off each subtype of goop into its own article | What's this icky, paintlike proposal? It suggested splitting the various types of goop from Super Mario Sunshine from the main goop article, based on the different properties of each type. It passed, and the main article now only covers the regular version of goop and appearances in other games that don't fit any of the types. You can see the results on the goop page, with links to the split pages in the infobox. | SPLIT SUBTYPES 9-2-0-0 (read more) |
July 30, 2023 |
| Merge Gargantua Blargg (tall) to Gargantua Blargg | Look, Blarggs! A proposal to merge the tall version of Gargantua Blargg from Yoshi's Island DS with its regular counterpart on the basis of their many shared characteristics. After opposition pointed out different behaviors, Japanese names, and them being considered separate by the game's Island Museum, the proposer withdrew. | CANCELED BY PROPOSER (read more) |
August 1, 2023 |
| Split Shoe and Stiletto variants | A proposal to split the Stiletto from Super Mario Maker 2 from the Goomba's Shoe article because of its additional abilities. The proposal included options to split only the items, only the Goombas using them, or both. The majority of voters supported splitting both articles, but the change has not yet been made. | SPLIT BOTH 1-0-9-0 (read more) |
August 4, 2023 |
| Rename Category:Crygor's inventions to Category:Dr. Crygor's inventions | A proposal to rename the category for Dr. Crygor's inventions to use the character's proper name. For consistency, the category for Professor E. Gadd's inventions was also included in this proposal's scope. It passed unanimously but has not yet been enacted. | PASSED 7-0 (read more) |
August 8, 2023 |
| Rename Category:In-game music to Category:Sound tests | A proposal to rename the in-game music category to be more clear about its contents. Although there was some opposition based on the use of the sound test term, the majority of voters supported the change, and it has been enacted. This proposal only affects the category itself, so the articles for each game still use the "in-game music" name for now. | PASSED 7-1 (read more) |
August 10, 2023 |
| Change Category:Live music into a category for musical groups | A proposal to redefine the scope of the live music category by focusing on groups, leaving musical events in the special events category. Multiple options for names were provided, and the majority voted for musical groups. The change has been made and can be seen at Category:Musical groups. (It's kind of weird seeing Milli Vanilli in here with everything else.) | RENAME TO MUSICAL GROUPS 1-1-4-0 (read more) |
August 10, 2023 |
| Decide what to do with Red Blargg | More Blarggs! A proposal to decide whether to merge the Red Blargg article with the main Blargg article, rename it to Blargg with a Yoshi franchise identifier, or do nothing. Criticisms for both options included that both Blarggs are treated differently in Japan, and that the Yoshi franchise identifier would be misleading since there are other Blarggs in that franchise. Despite some support for both options, the opposition gained the majority, electing to make no change. | DO NOTHING 3-3-6 (read more) |
August 11, 2023 |
| Merge Blargg's appearance in Yoshi's Story to Red Blargg | A proposal to merge Blargg's appearance in Yoshi's Story with the Red Blargg from the Yoshi games, or split it into its own article, based on its unique appearance. The opposition argued that Nintendo did not indicate that the Yoshi's Story Blargg was meant to be separate, leaving it most likely as a one-off design change, and the proposal failed. | DO NOTHING 0-3-8 (read more) |
August 11, 2023 |
| Split Nintendo Switch Online into its own article | A proposal to split the Nintendo Switch Online service from the Switch's page, based on the section's length and consistency with the already existing articles for similar services on previous consoles. The proposal had unanimous support by the end, and the resulting article can be seen on Nintendo Switch Online. The applications featuring retro games still have their own pages. | PASSED 12-0 (read more) |
August 12, 2023 |
| Merge Panser with Volcano Lotus | A proposal to merge Panser with Volcano Lotus based on the shared Japanese name and similar behavior. The opposition disagreed based on the different behavior, designs, and English names. The proposal was controversial, with the opposition gaining the majority, maintaining the status quo. | FAILED 9-16 (read more) |
August 12, 2023 |
| Reorganize Category:Music | A proposal to reorganize the music category, merging the categories for musical themes and songs into it, and removing articles that are only music-related. Following an extension due to not receiving enough votes, the proposal passed. The change has not yet been made. | PASSED 4-0 (read more) |
August 17, 2023 |
| Merge Start Dash with Rocket Start | A proposal to merge the Start Dash from Super Mario Galaxy and Mario & Sonic with the Rocket Start seen in racing games. The proposer argued that both moves were functionally identical. By the end of the proposal, support was unanimous, but the change has not been made yet. | PASSED 4-0 (read more) |
August 17, 2023 |
| ONGOING PROPOSALS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PROPOSAL | SUMMARY | LINK | DEADLINE |
| Separate Super Mario and Donkey Kong appearances in infoboxes | A proposal to keep appearances in Super Mario and Donkey Kong listed separately on infoboxes. The opposition currently has the majority of votes, arguing that this change would be confusing and cause inconsistencies if it's the only exception made. | Read more | August 21, 2023 |
| Reconsider Nintendo's website filenames being used as a source | A proposal to cite alternate names used in files on Nintendo's official websites on articles, and to decide when and where to use them. This would overturn a 2021 proposal that decided not to cite them at all. Options for the proposal include whether to use these names as redirects, and if they should only be cited if there are no alternative options. | Read more | August 24, 2023 |
| ONGOING TALK PAGE PROPOSALS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PROPOSAL | SUMMARY | LINK | DEADLINE |
| Split Koopa (Bowser's species) into its own article and rename Koopa (species) to Koopa (clan) | A proposal to split Bowser's species from the main Koopa article, which would then have its identifier changed, because of the amount of information present about them. The majority of voters are split between making the change and only splitting Bowser's species while leaving the main Koopa page alone. Neither option had a majority at the deadline, leading to an extension. | Read more | August 22, 2023 |
| Move Bound Wanwan to Chomp (stomping) | A proposal to use the English name for this Chomp variant which spent hours stomping... YOSHIS. The proposal currently has unanimous support. | Read more | August 23, 2023 |
| Decide what else Blargg can be split into | A second proposal to split the Yoshi's Story variant of Blargg, with different options for the article title. The majority of voters are still in opposition. | Read more | August 26, 2023 |
| Decide what else Red Blargg can be moved to | A second proposal to rename Red Blargg, as the name has not recently been used. All of the voters currently support moving the page to Blargg (small), with no votes for the Blargg (Yoshi's Island series) option. | Read more | August 26, 2023 |
| Split the Yoshi's New Island World 2-8 variant of Blarggwich | A proposal to split a variant of Blarggwich seen in Yoshi's New Island, based on its different appearance, behavior, and Japanese name. All voters support the split, though there are disagreements on whether to use the (sandwich) or (Count Fang's Castle) identifier, with the former leading. | Read more | August 27, 2023 |
| RECENT FEATURE NOMINATIONS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ARTICLE | SUMMARY | OUTCOME | DATE |
| Wario* | ThePowerPlayer (talk) nominated Wario's article to be featured following general improvement over the past few months. Although some concerns were raised over the rationale for the nomination, which included the page's subpages in its arguments, multiple users supported the nomination for the quality of the article itself, and it passed. | PASSED 6-0 (read more) |
July 16, 2023 |
| RECENT UNFEATURE NOMINATIONS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ARTICLE | SUMMARY | OUTCOME | DATE |
| Mona* | PnnyCrygr (talk) cites various problems with the writing and compares it unfavorably to other featured articles for WarioWare characters. The issues brought up have since been addressed or dismissed, and the nomination did not pass. | FAILED 1-2 (read more) |
July 21, 2023 |
| Diddy Kong Racing* | TheUndescribableGhost (talk) pointed out aspects of the game that are covered poorly or completely missing from the article. Some of the issues were fixed but others remain, and additional issues were brought up over the course of the nomination. The nomination failed due to opposition and insufficient votes. | FAILED 4-1 (read more) |
July 21, 2023 |
| ONGOING FEATURE NOMINATIONS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ARTICLE | SUMMARY | LINK | DEADLINE |
| The Last Spark Hunter* | The Last Spark Hunter has been nominated by creator Sparks (talk) after completing work on it. Some issues were brought up during the nomination but since been addressed. It has received some additional support, but not enough to pass yet. | Read more | August 31, 2023 |
Hey, you made it to the end! Have a complementary Blargg. I'll be back next month with more wiki news, which will probably have less Blargg-related things than this month.
NIWA News
Written by: PanchamBro (talk)
Hey, it's me PanchamBro. I've been meaning to step down from doing this section at this point.
If my infrequent activity has been saying something, it's that I'm not very interested to doing articles for The 'Shroom at this time. Unfortunate circumstances have changed the way I want to tackle wiki-related projects from now on, but while I do think covering topics of NIWA will perhaps be gone, I sincerely want someone to step up to the lines and take over for me. It's fair to let this issue live on as a way to gain insights on the latest news on NIWA and losing this issues means it will be somewhat harder to keep track with news related to NIWA in general. I plan to retire next month, with my final issue of That NIWA List also upcoming.
Anyways, here's this month's NIWA News, a section regarding news with each of the 32 members of the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance. We'll be going through staff changes and related wiki news over May and into August.
| NEW MEMBER ALERT |
|---|
 NIWA has recuited Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki!
|
|
Introducing the latest member of the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance...YOU! Wait no...uhhh...Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki! Joining the alliance on June 22, 2023, Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki covers the Mystery Dungeon franchise, from its humble beginning as a spinoff of the Dragon Quest series, to the popular Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series of games. The wiki has it all! Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki has a proud history dating all the way back to 2008, with it being founded on Wetpaint as the Shiren Wiki. After a series of turn-arounds and changes, Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki became independent on November 7, 2020, with the Fandom wiki closing on August 16, 2021. Want to lend a hand? Join their Discord server! Hopefully you'll be glad to go on adventures together. |
         Staff changes
|
|
| Pikmin! But in Italian!
|
| Pikipedia is very proud to announce the creation of its Italian sister wiki, who will be joining Network italiano wiki indipendenti Nintendo (NiwiN) as its fifth member and the first since 2019. If you have a taste for the Italian language and want to contribute, join the wiki! |
That's it. See you next month for my final issues.
Poll Committee Discussion
Written by: Fun With Despair (talk)
Hey there, everyone. Fun With Despair (talk) here again, with yet another edition of Poll Committee Discussion, as if you couldn't have already guessed that from the title of the article you're reading right now. I'll be out of the country around when the 'Shroom releases, so expect a slightly shorter article than I usually dish out. Thankfully, both of our polls this term ended up being pretty binary in their results, which saves me some hassle.
Anyway, I hope everyone here had fun with the Awards season. While we didn't have one for 2022's, after the semi-recent Poll Committee Proposal to change the election date, we'll be having a great new Awards Analysis for this year, complete with some actual insights from the Awards process, as several of our members were involved. For now though... enjoy the following.
Archives
Nintendo recently announced the next 2D platformer, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. What do you think about it so far? - (Waluigi Time (talk), July 4th, 2023)
Nintendo has announced an upcoming game featuring Princess Peach as the main protagonist. Would you like to see more games with main protagonists besides Mario? - (Hooded Pitohui (talk), July 18th, 2023)
Analysis
Nintendo recently announced the next 2D platformer, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. What do you think about it so far?
Wow. Pretty stacked here. 3275 votes for one option... Well, I guess our last poll before this one did have more...
Still, there's a lot here. It's pretty obvious that everyone's into the idea of a new 2D platformer, especially considering that the last time we had a brand-new, non-rerelease 2D platformer is New Super Mario Bros. U, which came out in... 2012?? Are you kidding me? Wow, maybe this is what getting old feels like. Regardless though, the concept of a new 2D platformer is pretty enticing to most of our audience, if the votes are anything to go by. Yet another overwhelming majority, which seems to be par for the course recently. Maybe we've gotta mix it up a bit, put a strong negative option or two at the top instead.
7.79% of people don't think it's a strong enough departure from the New Super Mario Bros. series though, which is at least a negative minority. I see where these people are coming from though, in a way. NSMBU tended to enjoy experimenting with weird gimmicks and even painterly art styles in some levels, which Super Mario Bros. Wonder seems to be taking after while keeping the 2.5D nature of the graphics intact. I think Wonder looks nice enough, mind you, but I would have liked to see Nintendo take another crack at a fully 2D Mario game after all this time, especially as the general style of the character models and their facial expressions bears a high resemblance to the 2D art often seen in the marketing materials for the Mario franchise.
While I don't really understand the 3.03% who would have preferred a New Super Mario Bros. game, I have to admit that as part of the 1.43% who doesn't like how the game looks for other reasons, I can at least empathize. Personally, a few elements of Wonder don't really jive with me at all, mostly stuff like the talking flowers, or the fact that it seems to be trying really hard to be quirky and weird. While I wasn't a huge fan of NSMB on the whole (besides the first one on DS which slaps), I don't reeeaaally know if making Mario "weirder" is the ideal path to take in this situation. I think there's definitely a case to be made for a mixup, as the NSMB graphical style and general thematic feel was getting old, I think Super Mario Wonder seems like a bit of an overcorrection in the opposite direction, with all sorts of insane dreamlike nonsense going on, and a bunch of plants that (if the marketing material is anything to go by) make Marvel-style quips every five seconds.
Alternatively, maybe I'm just a Princess Daisy hater. Who knows.
Nintendo has announced an upcoming game featuring Princess Peach as the main protagonist. Would you like to see more games with main protagonists besides Mario?
Here we go, this one is at least pretending to have a bit more of an option spread. To give full disclosure on the nature of this poll, this one was up for an extra week compared to the usual polls, mostly because of the Super Mario Awards presentations, which I highly recommend you all check out. From the community awards, to the Mario awards themselves, the presentations are truly the heart and soul of this community, and I genuinely think that this year had a fantastic turnout. We'll be talking about these awards and their results in our own way eventually, but for now, let's talk about this poll instead, because I can't just shill Awards for this entire thing.
The subject of whether the Mario series should branch out to focus on some of its other core characters has been a topic of discussion since Super Princess Peach and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story on the Nintendo DS. Generally speaking (as evidenced by our 2766 voters who agree), it's also a pretty popular idea, especially regarding fan-favorite characters like Bowser. After all, if Donkey Kong can get his own game, why not Bowser? Still, Nintendo barely every shows interest in actually doing anything with their cast outside of spinoffs (which is what one of our previous polls was about!) so there tends to be a bit of a contentious divide between fans of these characters and Nintendo themselves in many ways. Our second place option (542 votes), seems to advocate for these "forgotten characters" as well, desiring new games starring characters without an established sub-series to call their own. This is something that I definitely advocate for, as I think the greater Mario cast has a lot of potential that Nintendo seems to actively want to squander time and time again.
That being said though, 486 people would prefer to have new games in existing sub-series based around Mario characters besides the red guy himself, and while I'd personally prefer to see some totally new stuff, I can't argue with people who want another Luigi's Mansion (series) game, as that series is almost always a consistent banger. Likewise, Donkey Kong, especially his Donkey Kong Country (series) franchise, could definitely use some love after all these years, not to mention poor Wario, who hasn't had a main platforming game since Wario Land: Shake It! came out 15 years ago. The 217 people who voted saying that they don't care who the protagonist is provided that the game is good also seems indicative of an audience for these unique and creative platformers to come back.
There's a drastic drop off in the lower options for this one though at least, which might indicate that people who actively dislike games that don't star Mario are simply some kind of outlier. Hopefully eventually Nintendo realizes this and starts granting their underappreciated extended cast some love in the games department. With Daisy in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and the advent of the new Princess Peach game maybe that time is approaching quickly, but I doubt it seeing as we only have a grand total of one Bowser game by the year 2023.
Conclusion
Well, that's all folks. A total of two sweeps, albeit one less of a total sweep than the other. If these two polls tell us anything, it's that there's an overwhelming outcry in the fanbase for something unique in the Mario series, whether that be a quirky, bizarre entry in the mainline 2D platformer series, or a new entry in the franchise entirely, starring a character who hasn't yet had their chance in the spotlight. While I think Nintendo let a lot of people down with their Mario output in the latter part of the Switch's lifespan, it seems like there's a bit of a paradigm shift into the realm of the bizarre, which personally, I'm all for.
Until next time, this has been Fun With Despair, and you've been reading Poll Committee Discussion. I'll see you guys later.
Anniversary Announcements
Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)
Hello again, welcome to Anniversary Announcements, where we talk about anniversary announcements!
How's the weather been treating you? For me, it's all over the place, with rain and heat at unexpected times. Marvellous.
Anyway, the news!
News update
The awards ceremony has happened on 11 August! A somewhat shorter event due to having less awards than last year, it featured 45 presentations across three categories by numerous community members.
In the event that you missed them, you can find them on the Super Mario Boards awards board, where you can also find logs of the Discord chat party.
The ceremony also featured a new concept, which people who followed the meetings might have already picked up on: bonus stars, a few extra prizes given to various things around the awards. The stars were suggested over time by committee members, and, where applicable due to not being based on statistics, the winner of a star was also suggested.
While the ceremony is over, awards season isn't yet, so let's look at ongoing tournaments as well for a moment.
Tour de tournaments
In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.
Let's have a look at what's new in this month of August.
And that marks the end of another wonderful time with each other. We hope you enjoyed the awards, and I'll see you again next month for more tournament updates. Goodnight!
Mario Calendar
Hey everyone! Apologies if I’m briefer than usual this month - I have had an incredibly busy month and honestly barely had time to get this section in. With that being said, the grind never stops. Welcome to 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 |
- August 1
- 1992 (NA): Mario Paint (SNES)
- 1993 (NA): Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)
- August 2
- 1982 (JP): Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade)
- 2018 (JP): WarioWare Gold (3DS)
- August 3
- 2018
- (NA): WarioWare Gold (3DS)
- (EU): Mario Kart Arcade GP VR (Arcade)
- 2018
- August 4
- 1999 (JP): Game & Watch Gallery 3 (GBC)
- August 5
- 1995 (JP): Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
- 2004 (JP): Densetsu no Stafy 3 (GBA)
- August 9
- 2007 (JP): DK: Jungle Climber (DS)
- August 10
- 1983 (NA): Rain Shower (G&W)
- 1989 (EU): Donkey Kong Classics (NES)
- 1994 (JP): Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (GB)
- 1999 (JP): Mario Golf (GBC)
- 2004 (JP): Famicom Mini: Super Mario Bros. 2 (GBA)
- August 11
- 1989 (NA): Alleyway (GB)
- 2000 (JP): Paper Mario (N64)
- 2013 (NA): Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)
- August 17
- 2012 (EU): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
- August 18
- 1991 (NA): Super Mario World (SNES)
- 2012 (AU): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
- August 19
- 2009 (JP):
- Game & Watch: Manhole (DSiWare)
- Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. (DSiWare)
- Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory (DSiWare)
- 2012 (NA): New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
- 2009 (JP):
- August 20
- 1984 (NA): Donkey Kong 3 (G&W)
- August 21
- 1995 (NA): Mario’s Tennis (VB)
- 2001 (JP): Wario Land 4 (GBA)
- 2009 (EU/AU): Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (DSiWare)
- August 24
- 1995 (EU): Donkey Kong Land (GB)
- August 25
- 2008 (NA): Mario Super Sluggers (Wii)
- 2013 (NA): New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
- August 26
- 2002 (NA): Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
- 2004 (JP): Mario Pinball Land (GBA)
- August 27
- 1986 (JP): I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater (Famicom)
- 1992 (JP): Super Mario Kart (SNES)
- 1993 (JP): Mario & Wario (SNES)
- 2001
- (JP): Mario Family (GBC)
- (NA): Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)
- 2015 (JP): Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)
- August 28
- 1997 (EU): Game & Watch Gallery (GB)
- 2000 (NA): Mario Tennis (N64)
- 2008 (JP): Captain Rainbow (Wii)
- August 29
- 1991 (EU/AU): Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- 2000 (JP): Mario Artist: Polygon Studio (64DD)
- 2005 (NA): Mario Superstar Baseball (GC)
- 2017 (NA/EU/AU): Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)
- August 30
- 2019 (ALL): Arcade Archives: Pinball (Switch eShop)
You know, I clearly became busy at the perfect time, as there is very little that really happens this month. I mean, the North American release of Super Mario World and the European/Australian release of Super Mario Bros. 3 are both pretty big deals, as well as the North American release of Super Mario Sunshine and the Japanese release of Super Mario Kart. However, the fact that there are stretches where nothing happens at all is really interesting and strange. I’ve talked about this before, but I guess this is not one of the months that Nintendo prioritizes when planning big releases. I wonder if the fact that a lot of kids are heading back to school has anything to do with it?
Anyways, I hope you have all had a great August, and I’ll see you next month!
What's in a Campaign?
Hello, and welcome to another What's in a Campaign?, a section where we look at competitors on the hit show Robot Wars. Last month we looked at the impressive flipper Atomic, sadly taken before its time. This month, we look at dinosaur-themed spike machine: Spikasaurus.
Built by Stuart Pearson, Andrea Whittle, Lee Ainscough and Andrew Pearson, Spikasaurus is a distinctly early-series Robot Wars design. Sporting two static spikes for weapons, it's an early-Robot Wars classic. The idea behind Spikasaurus is one of the most basic concepts. It's a robot that goes fast, hits other robots, and jams its spikes into them! And go fast it would! Powered by four Bosch 750W motors, Spikasaurus had a top speed of 17mph. So the spikes-on wheel-design is, like I said, a classic of the early wars, mostly because it was so simple to do. But Spikasaurus is one of the better bots with this design, both because of its speed but also because of the spikes themselves. A lot of robots with this design have tiny little things, but not Spikasaurus. Instead, Spikasaurus features interchangeable 12-or-18 inch spikes. Meaning that, if they pierce, they'll actually do some damage!
Originally built for the third wars, Spikasaurus failed to qualify for the main series. They were, however, going to appear in the Tag Team special, teaming up with Schumey Too as well as a appearing in a Grudge Match against... Schumey Too. But these events were sadly canceled due to delays cause by a behind-the-scenes accident, so, sadly, Spikasaurus wouldn't appear in Series 3. But the team didn't give up and, after returning for the Series 4 qualifiers, it would qualify after beating robots Hit Man and Octospike.
As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. This month, if you'd like to watch along, we have two videos.
Placed in Heat J, Spikasaurus faced off against the flipper of Bulldog Breed 2 and the slamming mace of the 30th-seeded Stinger. Spikasaurus would start the fight (3:19, first video) off a little tentatively, easily being flipped over by Bulldog Breed. But it proves just as easily capable of coming back, rolling back on its wheels because of its rollcage. After this, Spikasaurus would pick up the pace, racing past Stinger, into the corner, before executing a perfect 180-degree spin and slamming its spikes into Stinger. Spikasaurus would then throw itself at Stinger again, this time slamming into both Stinger and Bulldog Breed. Spikasaurus would then find itself under attack from Stinger ,who brought down its mighty mace onto the top of Spikasaurus. Spikasaurus would follow up by driving away to avoid this assault. This leads to a great sequence where Bulldog Breed would charge in and flip Stinger away, only for Spikasaurus to come charging in and to slam into Bulldog Breed.
Spikasaurus would then face off with Stinger once more, with Stinger landing a few more blows to the spiked machine. Stinger maintains the upper hand until Spikasaurus pushed them into the flipper of Bulldog Breed. The fight continues at a frantic pace. Bulldog Breed gets a flip on Stinger before getting another on on Spikasaurus. Spikasaurus attempted to go back on the offensive, charging at Bulldog Breed but finding itself lifted up by the flipper before being flipped over again.
The fighting is chaotic. Each robot is landing attack after attack on each other, with the chaos not helped by the fact that Stinger is just a weapon and wheels, making its fighting style inherently chaotic.
Spikasaurus then finds itself pinned to the arena walls by its spikes. Spikasaurus is freed by Dead Metal, but seems to be slowing down. After taking another flip from Bulldog Breed, Spikasaurus charges at Stinger but misses and slams itself into the arena wall. Spikasaurus narrowly avoids an attack from Shunt as Stinger shatters the back panel on Bulldog Breed and Shunt axes the dog-themed machine. Bulldog Breed does recover, landing another flip on Spikasaurus as Stinger spins around, landing blow after blow on the flipped-over machine. The fight goes to the judges, and, in a close fight, ruling based on style, control, damage, and aggression, the judges put Stinger and Bulldog Breed through to the next round, sending Spikasaurus out of the competition. It's a close fight and you could make the argument that Spikasaurus should have moved on, but I disagree. If you look at the fight, Bulldog Breed was by far the most consistent in the fight, easily the best-controlled and very aggressive, landing flip after flip on both robots. Then you have Stinger, who, while less-controlled then Spikasaurus because of the nature of its weapon, is constantly scoring aggression points. In addition, Stinger smashes the back panel on Bulldog Breed, which is a massive boost on damage points, and, in the classic series, damage is the most heavily weighted point system. So while it's close, Bulldog Breed and Stinger were more impressive, so they deserved to go through!
But luckily for Spikasaurus, Series 4 was full of different side events, ranging from multiple combat tournaments to even two basically-minigame events (the pinball tournament and the Sumo Basho). Spikasaurus was entered into the pinball tournament, but, unfortunately, Spikasaurus does terrible in this tournament. They score only 40 points, which is tied with Attila the Drum for the lowest amount of points scored. I'm not gonna going to go over this in detail, because it's not worth it, lol. It's basically just them missing most things and only hitting the easy targets!
So, so far, not so good for Spikasaurus! You've got an impressive debut that ended in a close loss and a terrible pinball run, and nothing more. But luckily for the Spikasaurus team, they were invited to participate in a third tournament for some reason. Not only were they invited to a tournament, they were invited to be in the best kind of Robot Wars tournament, the Annihilator! More specifically, they were invited to the Northern Annihilator, an Annihilator specifically made up of competitors from the northern part of the United Kingdom. This is what it was framed as even though Spikasaurus is the only robot who was actually from the north!
An Annihilator, for those who don't remember, is a six-robot, multi-round tournament. Each round consists of a free-for-all with every robot fighting each other. At the end of the fight, one robot is eliminated either via KO or judges' decision. This continues until only one robot is left standing as the winner. Annihilators are great because the format can lead to unexpected robots either winning or progressing way further then they would in a regular tournament, such as Major Tom finishing third in the Extreme 2 Annihilator.
Honestly, Spikasaurus sticks out like a sore thumb, because, other than them, this Annihilator is stacked. The five robots competing with Spikasaurus for the Northern crown are:
- Chaos 2: The powerful flipping bot and favorite of the field, two-time reigning champion, undefeated in the Main UK Championship.
- Stinger: The mighty thwakbot from the previous fight. Seeded number 30, Stinger would go on to have one of the greatest runs in Series 4, starting from the 30th seed and finishing in 3rd place of the whole wars.
- Dominator 2: Newcomer to the wars. This pyramid-shaped axe bot had one of the most impressive newcomer runs in the series' history, making it all the way to the top eight before losing to series runner-up Pussycat on a judges' decision.
- Killerhurtz: Next to Chaos 2, this axe bot is the most prestigious of the field. While Killerhurtz has so far found little success in Robot Wars, in Battlebots Killerhurtz was a force to be reckoned with, finishing runner-up in the first ever Battlebots tournament.
- Suicidal Tendencies: Next to Spikasaurus, this tracked axe bot is the least accomplished in the field. Still a fairly successful robot, Suicidal Tendencies made it to back-to-back Heat Finals, losing to Top Eight-finisher Mace in Series 3, and to Wheely Big Cheese in a controversial (but really not) fight in Series 4.
So, as you can see, on paper, Spikasaurus looks to have no chance against a field that consists of multiple successful robots, but Annihilators are a magical thing full of big upsets and surprise runs. Maybe Spikasaurus can be one of those robots who shocks everyone?
The first round starts (8:13, second video) with Killerhurtz turning its axe onto Spikasaurus, driving it into the spiked machine, who then drives away to avoid more blows. All the robots then meet in the middle, with Spikasaurus slamming into Stinger. Dominator 2 lands its axe onto Chaos 2. Suicidal Tendencies rams into Dominator 2 before flipping in on its side. Finally, Chaos 2 fails to flip Killerhurtz (all of this is basically happening at the same time)! Killerhurtz goes back to attacking Spikasaurus, ramming into and and hitting it with its axe. Spikasurus begins to flee again as Killerhurtz continues its pursuit, identifying Spikasaurus as the weakest robot. Spikasarus avoids Killerhurtz and returns to the fight, slamming into both Chaos 2 and Stinger. Killerhurtz and Spikasaurus continue to fight, with Killerhurtz getting its axe stuck in the top of Spikasaurus as Chaos 2 rams into Suicidal Tendencies.
Chaos 2 then breaks up Killerhurtz and Spikasaurus with its flipper, literally flipping the axe out of Spikasaurus. But that doesn't last very long, as Killerhurtz again drives the axe into Spikasaurus while Chaos 2 comes around from behind and attempts to flip Spikasaurus.
However, while the axe might be in Spikasaurus, the spike bot is actually in control, and drives both itself and Killerhurtz in circles like they're playing ring-around-the-Rosie. Eventually, Spikasaurus drives Killerhurtz into the front of Dominator 2 ,forcing Killerhurtz's axe out of its shell and flipping Killerhurtz over. Spikasaurus would then slam into Dominator 2 with its backside, before ramming right into the prone Killerhurtz multiple times, with one of the rams being enough force to help right the axe bot.
Sensing that Killerhurtz is now the weakest machine, Chaos 2 comes in for an attack, but they misjudge it. They don't flip over Killerhurtz, instead, what happens is they land their attack, but their panel gets stuck open and they end up driving into the wall and get stuck. Sensing weakness, both Dominator 2 and Killerhurtz turn their attention to Chaos 2. With Dominator 2 striking the front of the flipper and Killerhurtz striking the back, Chaos 2 is in a bad position. Chaos 2 does manage to get away and even flips over Killerhurtz for good measure. As this happens, Spikasaurus and Stinger are engaged in a little (mostly offscreen) grudge match. Chaos 2 attempts to eliminate Killerhurtz, but they can't quite get them out of the arena. Finally, Chaos 2 goes for another flip, but, once again, they misjudge and this allows Killerhurtz to fall back on its wheels. Spikasaurus then manages to get its spiked jammed into the body of Suicidal Tendencies as the rest of the robots fight. As the fight winds down, all the robots decide to target Chaos 2, with Dominator 2 and Killerhurtz starting it all by again teaming up to shove Chaos 2 into the wall.
Both robots drive their axes into the shell of Chaos 2, and Chaos 2, in a huge upset, breaks down! Chaos 2, the favorite of the field, is eliminated first in a huge shock, because that's the magic of Annihilators.
After a somewhat ho-hum first round where Spikasaurus was probably the 4th most relevant bot, Spikasaurus' chances aren't looking great. Everything it did following its fights with Killerhurtz happened offscreen. If that had gone to a judges' decision, Spikasaurus probably would have been safe, with Killerhurtz being the one to go out in that scenario, but Spikasaurus prevailed, scraping through the first round. In the second round, they would start the fight (16:30) by slamming right into the side of Dominator 2 as Killerhurtz attacks Stinger. Again the robots meet in the middle for a big ball of violence, and Spikasaurus flees the ball as Dominator 2 axes the tires of Stinger. Spikeasaurs then charges at Killerhurtz, slamming into and sort of ramping off of it.
So a lot actually does happen in this fight. One of my favorite moments is when all three axe bots end up in a corner, attacking each other before the the melee is broken up by Spikasaurus ramming into Dominator 2. Killerhurtz fights with Sgt. Bash, who is not a competitor. Dominator 2 dominates Spikasaurus, destroying one of its sides. But here's the thing: none of this matters! On their first attack, Dominator 2 punctured the tires of Stinger, severing the aerial that was within them. Because of this, Stinger could barely move and could only really move in circles. So this entire fight is irrelevant, because Stinger was already eliminated!
So, with that, Spikasaurus is through to the third round, but, really, so far they have not been impressive. They spent a large portion of round one being bodied by Killerhurtz, then they spent round two being bodied by Dominator 2! Hoping to show a little more fire in round 3 (22:14), Spikasaurus started the fight by ramming into Killerhurtz, then moved on to working together with Dominator 2 to cause even more damage to Killerhurtz. The four-way fight then breaks down into two 1v1 fights, with Dominator 2 getting the better of Killerhurtz and Spikasaurus getting the better of Suicidal Tendencies, piercing its armor with its spikes.This gives Spikasaurus full control over Suicidal Tendencies, and they take full advantage, slamming them into multiple walls. Spikasaurus then turns its attention back to Killerhurtz and once again works with Dominator 2, slamming into Killerhurtz while Dominator 2 rains down axe blows. Once again, the spikes of Spikasaurus pierce a robot, this time piercing Killerhurtz. Spikasaurus takes advantage of that by slamming Killerhurtz into one of Suicidal Tendencies' tracks.
The fighting gets a little more tentative from here as Spikasaurus takes full advantage of the now more open arena. They put that space to use by building up a full head of steam and ramming into Killerhurtz. Once again, they get stuck inside Killerhurtz, and, this time, they bring Killerhurtz to Dominator 2 so that the axe bot can land more punishing blows, before working with Dominator 2 and dragging Killerhurtz onto the flame pit. Things don't look good for ol' Killerhurtz, but, as luck would have it, Suicidal Tendencies' batteries had broken during the fight. So Suicidal Tendencies powers down, unable to move, and gets counted out and eliminated from the competition, sending Spikasaurus onto the next round once again. Though, this time, Spikasaurus put on a much better performance!
What's basically the Annihilator Semi-Final starts (27:10) with Dominator 2 once again getting the better of Killerhurtz. Within a few axe blows, Killerhurtz's CO2 canisters burst, leaving them unable to use their axe. Killerhurtz is barely moving when Spikasaurus lands a full-speed charge on them, impaling their spikes into Killerhurtz once again. This time, however, the spikes are dug so deep into Killerhurtz that Sir Killalot has to nearly sever the spikes to break them apart. The claws of Sir Killalot put a lot of damage onto the front of Spikasaurus in the process.
After being broken apart, Killerhurtz is barely moving, and whatever life they did have quickly goes away after they drive themselves into the wall. With that, Killerhurtz, a robot who was bullied the entire competition, is out, and Spikasaurus, a robot nobody had any faith in, makes it to the championship round!
Unfortunately for Spikasaurus, they are just outmatched in championship fight. After an impressive early attack, slamming Dominator 2 into the wall after Dominator 2 gets its axe stuck in Spikasaurus, it's all Dominator 2 after that. The thing is, Dominator 2's axe fires so fast that Spikasaurus doesn't have much of a chance, and the body shape of Dominator 2 makes Spikasaurus' blows just bounce off. Slowly, Spikasaurus starts to slow down as Dominator 2 lands blow and blow, crumpling and stripping away Spikasaurus' armor.
The house robots even get in on the action, with Shunt landing a blow into Spikasaurus, even picking it off the ground! At this point, Spikasaurus is so weakened it can barely get away at all, and Dominator 2 easily catches up to the weakened robot, landing even more blows to the crumpled machine. It was a good run. Second place isn't anything to sneeze at, especially when you can claim to have wins over both Stinger and Chaos 2. But, sadly for Spikasaurus, Dominator 2 is just better- Wait. Did Dominator 2 just break down? So... Yeah, Dominator 2 just breaks down!
They go from kicking Spikasaurus ass to just not moving, so, somehow, Spikasaurus beats the odds. They defeat Dominator 2 and win the Northern Annihilator!
Spikasaurus is one of the more interesting of the one-hit wonder robots. It's only in one series, where it flames out in the first round after putting up a respectable performance. Then it does terribly in a pinball run before finally going on a run and winning the Annihilator. Now, you could argue its win was luck-based, since Dominator 2 just broke down, and, yes, that's true. But Spikasaurus was in every round. It didn't skate through on the backs of other robots. Instead, it was in the thick of things, actively competing. I think this is one of those runs that shows the importance of the side events, because you've got a robot that, due to a bad draw, was eliminated in one fight. In a lot of series, that would be it, but in series like Series 4, 3, and 7, you had side events that gave robots like Spikasaurus a chance at redemption, and Spikasaurus took full advantage of that. They went on a great underdog run to win the Northern Annihilator, something nobody thought they would do. Spikasaurus would never return to Robot Wars, which was probably for the best. Already an outdated design, Spikasaurus would have been even more outclassed in Series 5, with its 20 kg weight limit increase. So Spikasaurus would end up one of the few robots to truly leave Robot Wars as a winner, joining the likes of Mortis, Ultor, and Anty B to leave Robot Wars on top.
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