The 'Shroom:Issue 136/Critic Corner
Director's Notes
It's suddenly July! Not even just suddenly July, it's suddenly most of the way through July! The Righteous Brothers got it really wrong. Aside from being swamped with responsibilities and obligations for Anniversary events, I've also been busy melting in 105°F and 100% humidity and clear skies with blinding sunlight. Cartoons I watched when I was young really have me wishing for some evil vampire scientist to block out the sun.
Presentation work for the Awards Ceremony has begun as well, and as of typing this out there are still a few spots left to sign up for! You can check out here to find out more information. Tournaments for tokens and prizes are still going on, with some still yet to begin, including a Super Mario Odyssey Scavenger Hunt that Gabumon (talk), 2257 (talk), and myself have been working on, so don't be afraid to hop in for some nice community bonding and friendly competition! Please be sure to check out and vote in the Art Contest!! Be extra sure to click each image to view them in more detail before you make your vote!
Oh yeah, 'Shroom stuff, congratulations to MsRetroGeek (talk) and Meta Knight (talk) for winning Critic Corner's Section of the Month, alongside me and Half-Baked Reviews! Thank you for voting, and be sure to keep it up! Despite time conflicts raining down on everyone, we're still bringing you again a healthy dose of reviews and stuff this month!
Section of the Month
| Critic Corner SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | Anton's Half-Baked Reviews | 15 | 41.67% | Hypnotoad (talk) |
| 1st | G. TV | 15 | 41.67% | MsRetroGeek (talk) & Meta Knight (talk) |
| 3rd | Could Have Been | 4 | 11.11% | Alex95 (talk) |
| 3rd | Character Review | 2 | 5.56% | Yoshi876 (talk) |
Could Have Been
Hello everyone! I am Alex95 and welcome to the next Could Have Been! It's an exciting time here for us on the Super Mario Wiki, as we're in the midst of the wiki's anniversary awards. Part of the celebration are people can create tournaments on our forums, and the one I created is a Time Trial race in Mario Kart 64. So, for this issue, I thought I'd take a look at what went into making the game. So let's dive right in and take a look at what could have been.
Upon its initial reveal, Mario Kart 64 was under the name "Super Mario Kart R", with "R" standing for rendered, referring to the graphical improvement from Super Mario Kart. In this reveal, Kamek was shown to be a playable racer, and everyone's icons faced the screen. The HUD and Item Boxes also looked different, with character icons still facing the screen and Item Boxes being simple black cubes with question marks, and the racer's item box was always on screen instead of it appearing when the racer gets an item. There are also some early screenshots of tracks like Banshee Boardwalk, Moo Moo Farm, Luigi Raceway, and Frappe Snowland. A Cape Feather was also meant to return from Super Mario Kart, as evident from the back of the Mario Kart 64 box where it is still visible.
Now let's get into the leftover stuff still in the code. The game's debug mode remains in the coding, which will allow various things when accessed, including messing with the lap counter and Gold Trophy counts. It can also mess with the scale of tracks, increasing the sizes of obstacles, but not the hitboxes or collision, so racers may end up finding themselves driving through walls or through the floors. A vertical splitscreen (as opposed to the horizontal one in the final game) is also in the code, making multiplayer screens split the long way rather than wide. There are also codes for putting in the Lightning item into Battle Mode, a Mini Bomb Kart alert for when the racer is about to drive into one, code that lets CPUs use shells, and one that can make a racer jump on command, which was meant for the previously mentioned Cape Feather.
There are also some international and version differences to go over! You may have noticed various billboards plastered around the tracks as you race. Several of these signs actually advertise something different depending on the region. The Mario Star, Luigi's, and Yoshi were all references to something else, and were changed likely to avoid any lawsuits. Mario's was in reference to the tobacco company Marlboro (Marioro), Luigi's was referring to Agip (Luigip), and Yoshi's was referring to Mobil 1 (Yoshi 1). The Japanese version also has additional voice actors, with a total of six compared to America's three. Charles Martinet is the only one that is credited in both versions, though his last name is spelled "Martinee" in the Japanese version. Regarding Virtual Console rereleases, the game has its colors toned down a bit, it seems. The train in Kalimari Desert had its wheels change from red to black, and the water in Koopa Troopa Beach is blue rather than a light gray. The flash from the Lightning has also been toned down to avoid causing seizures.
What Could Have Been?
And now to speculate how these original ideas would've impacted the final game! *checks for a certain gorilla*
We'll start with the name: Why remove the connection to Super Mario Kart? I guess they wanted to be slightly more original with their names, and instead just slapped the system number on the title. Or maybe they didn't want to confuse gamers by making them think it was just an expansion to the original game, when it's actually a whole new one.
For Kamek, his whole story is sad. He ends up getting replaced with Donkey Kong in the final game, but Kamek continues to try and reclaim his spot. He can be seen flying around Bowser Castle 3 in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, just waiting for his chance. In Mario Kart Wii, he turns himself into a bike just so he can enjoy the road (that's not what actually happened at all). And in Mario Kart 8, his emblem even appears in the coding of the game (which you can read me talk about here). Kamek's been teased for a long time now, but it would be a miracle if he got in. I mean, Donkey Kong Jr. hasn't been in the races since Super Mario Kart, so if anything, Donkey Kong Jr. has a better chance at coming in again.
The Cape Feather, while not in Mario Kart 8, did return in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it acts as it did in Super Mario Kart while also making the racer do a trick!
Finding a debug mode in a game is nothing special, but sometimes it can give us a few surprises. The fact that there is even a track scale modifier at all is interesting, perhaps there was going to be another mode where the racers had to race on larger or smaller versions of the tracks? Or maybe this was meant for testing purposes and has since become so messed up, it's unplayable.
As for the vertical splitscreen, you don't need to imagine too hard on that. It was brought back for Mario Kart 8 when racing with two players. Even though I enjoy seeing cut content return in later games, I honestly like the horizontal splitscreen better, as that shows more around the players. Lightning in Battle Mode would've caused some serious balancing issues, as the item would be overpowered as heck. The Mini Bomb Kart alert was likely removed because… Well, you can clearly see the kart in front of you, anyway. The international release differences make sense, I certainly wouldn't want to see tobacco advertisements in my game when I was two. And my parents may not have liked it, either.
There's a lot more here, mostly leftover codes and sound changes. So, if you want to take a look at all that, you can head over to our pre-release and unused content page or the pages on The Cutting Room Floor! Until next time, see you around! Now I got to go brush up on my driving skills for my tournament…
I will begin this month with a bit about Anthony Bourdain, who passed early in June. He very much was a hero of mine, a chef and author, known for his book Kitchen Confidential and shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown, who took his food travel documentaries further than the rest, exploring not just the cuisine, but the people behind them, humanizing the culture than is often overlooked by the casual consumer. He brought the lives, struggles, triumphs, and hardships of other humans, served fresh with a helping of fresh garlic. There are not too many people around like him; he had a genuine energy that was raw, full of understanding, and humility of ignorance that can be triumphed by a willingness to explore and try and learn.
His grit and realness stood out from glossy idealized views of vacation spots and Americanized dishes, mainly in his prolific use of swearing, but also in his crusade against inauthenticity in the culinary world and our daily lives. His was a voice that helped shape my outlook on life, an ideal to achieve, and what really is the goal of my own review section here. He championed the truth, challenging the perceptions of food dishes—and the people—of cuisines that we tend to undervalue. There are plenty of articles already written who say it better than I do, so I will just share a few. I heavily encourage you all to give them a read, hop onto Netflix, Hulu, or wherever to give all of his shows a watch, check out Amazon or your bookstore for his books, and to just go out and try new things.
- What Bourdain Gave Us
- What’s Your Favorite Anthony Bourdain Moment?
- Anthony Bourdain and the Power of Telling the Truth
- More Than Anything Else, Anthony Bourdain Was Real
- How Anthony Bourdain Helped Humanize the Muslim Community
- In ‘Parts Unknown,’ Anthony Bourdain searched the world for human moments — and for his own place in it
Some of my favorite quotes of his:
"Without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund."
"We know, for instance, that there is a direct, inverse relationship between frequency of family meals and social problems. Bluntly stated, members of families who eat together regularly are statistically less likely to stick up liquor stores, blow up meth labs, give birth to crack babies, commit suicide, or make donkey porn. If Little Timmy had just had more meatloaf, he might not have grown up to fill chest freezers with Cub Scout parts."
"I am not a fan of people who abuse service staff. In fact, I find it intolerable. It’s an unpardonable sin as far as I’m concerned, taking out personal business or some other kind of dissatisfaction on a waiter or busboy."
"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life—and travel—leaves marks on you."
"Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonalds? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria's mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once."
As stated by Shaun King"Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind."
4 ways I hope we will live our lives to honor Anthony Bourdain....
1. Search out good food. Eat it. Tell everybody.
2. Find cultures other than your own. Value the people. Tell their stories. Lift them up.
3. Travel like crazy.
4. Speak out unapologetically on injustice.
Part 3 of Anton’s Half-Baked Pre-Written Reviews 2018 Welcome to another edition of reviews that I started to write well before when this actually was released, but ended up procrastinating on anyways to end up working on it during my regular schedule! I did this because I projected I’d be busy during July and August doing Anniversary Awards stuff, such as tournaments, presentations, my own art contest entry, panicking about having a source of income, and a whole bunch of other stuff!
Milkis
This is it, this is one of the things that inspired me to create this section in the first place almost two years ago. This didn’t really start in a glamorous way, just a like “wow I like milk, wouldn’t it be weird if it was fizzy” and so I googled it and there Milkis was. Later on the position of Critic Corner director opened up, and I decided to write this section regularly as a way to support the team, and knew I had to find this milk thing. One day my brother came home from college with some for me, and so I tried it, and then I pocketed this for like a full year, saving this within a bulk of other stuff to pack into pre-written reviews. Milkis is “a new feeling of soda beverage” with a “refreshing milk & yogurt flavor” produced by Lotte Chilsung, a Korean company, coming in 11 flavors: original, strawberry, orange, melon, mango, peach, pineapple, banana, apple, grape, and lemon. It has basically everything you’d get from an American soda brand, including corn syrup, sugar, carbonated water, citric acid, but adds powdered milk for its main gimmick of feel and flavor.
I was kinda bracing for the worst, honestly, given how some previous drinks have gone. Milk is my favorite drink, next to extra fizzy Sprite, and I had a gut assumption that Milkis would just make the worst out of both. Contrary to what I thought, it’s actually…..really good! Not just tolerable or “I guess I won’t die” but like genuinely this is something I will buy again. It has this like cream soda taste to it, but is leagues better than the Jones Cream Soda I reviewed a while back. It reminds me more of an ice cream float, which I guess makes sense since it’s a creamy flavor (yogurt and milk) and a carbonated citrusy drink. In order to milk this even more, I forced everyone at work and home to drink it without telling them anything more than the fact that it’s carbonated milk. Doing this was such a delight because I simultaneously got to see everyone writhe in agony before trying it, and then having the validation of them liking it, transforming them into my milky thralls who obediently goad the people coming in for the night shift to try it.
Feeling fearless now that I’ve tried and liked the Original flavor, I sought out trying any other flavor I could find. Amazon has a few, but they’re suspiciously expensive, and while I lived in New York it wasn’t very easy to come about an Asian food store that I could guarantee stocked Milkis or any similar product without driving 2+ hours away. Eventually, though, vacation time came up and I used it to come down to Florida to check out the area before I moved, and being in the city there was a wealth of Asian grocery stores and supermarkets to line up on Google Maps to check out, providing me with plenty of review fodder, each of which I’ll leave further details of for later reviews. Initially, all I could find were the Original and Melon flavor, so Melon is next. The Melon flavor smells familiar but I can’t exactly place it, and the melon flavoring in it is literally called “melon flavor” in the ingredients so I can’t use that to figure it out. Upon tasting it, I realized what it smelled like: Pepto-Bismol; I don’t understand this because Pepto is meant to be a wintergreen flavor and this is melon supposedly. It’s not bad but the flavor is perplexing. I’m not really feeling any motivation to continue drinking this particular flavor, and the only thing that’s keeping me from just dumping it is that it cost me $4.99 plus tax for a case of six 8.45 fl oz cans. Fast forward to here in June 2018, I still have three cans of it left after holding onto them since September 2017 with no plans to do anything with them. Please visit me so I can give them to you.
Stay fast forwarded, when only recently did I find another supermarket just down the road that happened to have a whole bunch of Milkis flavors. Out of what was available, I selected Strawberry and Peach, leaving Apple and Banana behind due to me assuming that I would like those two the least and they were like $6 for a case of six cans and I didn’t want to spend that much money. The Strawberry is pretty alright; I would drink it again. Artificial strawberry flavor isn’t my favorite, but this one has a certain sweetness to it, and tastes like…..smooth...probably from the milk adding a creaminess to it. It tastes like strawberry whipped cream, rather than a strawberry Jolly Rancher, and for that it is good. Peach is similar; the milk flavor adds a smooth creaminess to the peach flavor and mellows it out well. Both smell very strawberry-y and peachy, respectively. In addition to those flavors there are orange, mango, pineapple, grape, and lemon, all of which I can’t find any trace of their existence. If you are a faithful reader of Anton’s Half-Baked Reviews lend me a hand and donate me large sums of cash, or just PM me your parents’ credit card numbers, so I can take a trip directly to South Korea myself.
Rating: 
Chocolate chex piece
Explanation: Already good on its own, it has the ability to blend with other Mixes and pieces doing nothing but enhancing them.
Calpico Soda
I bought this at a different supermarket than where I got Milkis and boba tea and other stuff because, when I asked if they had any, one of the workers who I guess was someone’s mother in what I guess was this family business running to me with glee that she found a can, immediately dropped it on the ground, causing it to explode and fill both me and her with embarrassment. After fleeing that place, I went to another supermarket that looked to be as large as a standard Publix or Kroger or Safeway or Wegmans or whatever your regional shopping place may be. Right off the bat I should’ve been a bit worried because it was in a plaza that had nothing but itself, a permanently closed bbq restaurant, and one of those self-serve ice kiosks sitting in the middle of a parking lot with maybe 3 cars. Going inside and it looks normal from the start, with the aisles of nonsense and a fresh produce section, until you walk towards their luxurious meat department. There I was met with ceiling tiles that were either missing or completely caked in black mold, and a display fridge filled with meat that had “Best By” dates that were expired. I didn’t even know meat came with “Best By” dates at all; you’re just expected to eat it right away!! Either way they had a good snack section and I got some stuff that I’m strategically withholding to review at a later date, along with some cans of Calpico.
It’s hard for me to find out what it is, not only because I forgot to look at the can before tossing it, but because their website and all descriptions don’t say what’s in it, just what it’s like. Apparently it’s a sweet and tangy citrus and yogurt flavored drink, made from powdered non-fat milk. Calpico is made by a Japanese company, Calpis Co., and has products also named Calpis that are basically the same thing but without carbonation. I can’t really tell why some things are named Calpis and others Calpico, and I really don’t care enough to read their site more to find out, so I’m just going to say it’s interchangeable for a variety of powdered yogurt drink nonsense. Sounds pretty similar to Milkis, so sure, let’s go with that. It also tastes pretty similar to Milkis but has a like….idk how to describe it, but it made a weird feeling in my mouth like it was stickier or something; kinda like the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, where the taste and feel are nearly imperceptible but is just enough to make people who are incredibly finicky and picky, such as myself, decry the worst of the options for years to come. I poured it into a glass because the condensation on the can was bothering me and the way the carbonation foamed up reminded me of how it does in ice cream floats.
Rating: 
Chex Mix Muddy Buddies Cookies & Cream
Explanation: It’s not bad, but something already exists that does it better for the same price. If all others are unavailable, I guess I’d select this, because it still does the same job and tastes similar, but I’ve already formed loyalty to another product.
Calpico
I found this at an extremely cramped Asian goods supermarket right in downtown quite a few months after I found the Calpico Soda, right down the street from ViVi Bubble Tea, which you’ll see next month. It’s a part of town called the Mills 50 that can’t decide a look for itself, between being a vibrant southeast Asian community, a rotten fish encrusted kidnapper haven, or a chic landing pad for young gentrifiers; either way it’s a cute stretch of the city with plenty to explore. After walking through this market and not really feeling anything grab my attention or pocketbook, mostly because I didn’t really want to pay $6 for a bag of raspberry Kit Kats, I saw a bright light at the end of the aisle. Calpico, its name glowing brightly, drawing me in like a mosquito to a bug zapper, doomed to be fried by the inflated import pricing. For $2.50 each, there were various flavors of some Calpico non-carbonated drinks: Mango, Strawberry, and Lychee. Having had enough of the fake strawberry flavor from all kinds of things, I only got Mango and later Lychee. Mango Calpico has a very smooth feel, creamy taste and texture, a light fruity flavor, and also smelled incredible; pretty much perfect. Lychee Calpico smells and tastes like cough syrup, and was just really unpleasant. It had the same kinda texture as the Mango, so I can feel like that’s the vibe all Calpico would give, but this one almost feels like it wasn’t mixed thoroughly, and doesn’t leave my mouth feeling smooth and nice.
Rating: 
Rye chip
Explanation: Within the right context, a rye chip can be just the kind of firm crunch you need, but in the wrong context it can just be obstructive and tiresome. It needs to be with the right Mix to be enjoyable, and it’s just a fact of nature that not every Mix is the right Mix for the moment.
BONUS REVIEW!!!
Lotte’s website for Milkis states “You can mix Milkis Original with any flavor you want. Add some ice to it and drink it cool......” so I went and mixed some with Licor 43.
Cheeky Peach 43
This recipe called for 2:1:3 Licor 43, peach liqueur, Sprite, juice from half a lime, ice cubes, and peach wedges to garnish. What I did was dump some Licor 43 into a glass with a full can of Peach Milkis along with a little bit of Sprite for more fizz, and then ice cubes of course. It definitely tastes like peach and it’s AMAZING! My only complaint is that the Licor 43 sinks to the bottom fairly quickly, so I guess I just gotta chug the entire 1.5 cups (12 fl. oz) of liquid in about two swigs.
Pink Kiss 43
The recipe called for 2:1:4 Licor 43, Rose Strawberry Cream Liqueur, and cold milk, with ice cubes. Instead of that, I poured like two shots worth of Licor 43 into a glass with a whole can of Strawberry Milkis, and dumped on a bunch of ice cubes. I think I poured some more regular milk in, but I can’t remember, so let’s just say I did. It tastes like Strawberry Creme Lifesavers, but a liquid instead of a sticky rock. It’s pretty good; it has a fruity flavor that’s not extremely sweet, with the Licor 43 and ice adequately cutting down the strong strawberry flavor that can feel overwhelming unless you actually like it.
Tune in next month where I post another kinda-prewritten review! Also, tell me what to review next! You can tell me to do can also be movies, shows, physical actions, trying new foods, music, literally anything and I’ll cover it eventually if it’s not too ridiculous. Just send me a message here on my talk page or PM it to me on the forum. Don't like what I have to say? That's fine, and probably bound to happen because I've been told about how much people like Super Mario 64 and how they feel about any criticism of it! We at Critic Corner will welcome your alternate review of it as a new section for the next issue!
Movie Reviews
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
| Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genres | Science-fiction, adventure |
| Release date | June 2018 |
| Starring | Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda |
| Runtime | 128 minutes |
| Ratings | 12A (UK) |
When I was younger I watched the Jurassic Park series, and relatively enjoyed them. A few years ago I got to enjoy the reboot, Jurassic World, and yet when it came to this film I was a little nervous going in. And in all honesty, I right to be.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is not a bad movie, but that's about as much as I'll allow myself to say. Its biggest problem is that it barely does anything to differentiate itself from the previous movie, that I felt like I was just watching the first Jurassic World all over again. And because of this lack of differentiation the whole movie is an entirely predictable affair, and I ended up feeling bored by it. There was not a single moment when I thought “This will happen” that that thing didn't then happen.
It feels like a very lazy cop out, especially when the main dinosaur villain is barely changed. Last movie gave us the Indominus Rex, the perfect killing machine, this movie gives us the Indoraptor, the… perfect killing machine. Honestly, all they did was change the species of dinosaur, and make it ridiculously smart. So smart in fact that it's able to track down a little girl to her bedroom despite having no knowledge that she would be hiding there.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles as Owen Grady and Clare Dearing respectively. Unfortunately, when they share the screen for the first time we have to sit through some mind-numbingly dull exposition about their past relationship and how it failed. But after that, their previous relationship is never touched on again. Honestly, it feels like the writers completely forgot they even put that in.
Their supporting cast of Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda as Franklin Webb and Zia Rodriguez respectively are the shining stars of the entire movie. Franklin's comic relief is incredibly welcome as the movie navigates through set piece I've already seen to set piece I've already seen. I would say that Franklin is the character I associate with the most, if only because he's the only character who has any believable reaction to what is happening around him. And although Zia is just there as a strong female character, she's a very likeable character.
The main human villain is surprisingly decent, and by that I mean he's a believable villain. But at the same time he is just a caricature of a person motivated solely by greed. The other villains are just generic bad guys that were probably copied out of a book of clichés.
The dinosaurs themselves look nice, and there's a decent variety of them, but they're practically sidelined in their own movie which seeks more to look at the genetically-modified Indoraptor and human greed.
Only when watching the epilogue does it become clear how this movie came into fruition. They needed to set something up with getting dinosaurs onto the mainland for the final film, and then remembered that they had to do this one, so they cobbled something together last-second.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom could honestly be called Jurassic World, Just Without the Two Kids. Like I said at the beginning, it's not a bad movie, but the first Jurassic World is a significantly better movie, it's not worth going to see while it's out in cinemas. I'd wait for a reduced price.
Graphic Novel Review Review
| Jughead's Time Police | |
|---|---|
| |
| Author | Various authors and artists |
| Release date | 2018 |
| Genre | Comics, humor, sci-fi |
| Pages | ~220 |
| Available From | |
Greetings, readers, it's FunkyK38 back with a new graphic novel review for you! This month, I'll be taking a look at the collected stories of Jughead's Time Police!
Jughead's Time Police is a spinoff series made by Archie comics in the late 80s and early 90s. Like with most comics that Archie's done, they've been reprinted and put into digests in past years, and that's how I learned about them. This collection is the first time the entire series has been collected in a single book, however, and this volume is packed with the original six-issue miniseries, two prequel stories, and the second issue of the new Jughead series by Chip Zdarsky and Erica Henderson.
Time Police is a bit different from your average Archie. They are always plot-centered (as opposed to being centered around a single joke) and they have a loose continuity that they follow. These stories also tend to be quite a bit more dialogue heavy than regular Archie comics as well. These stories follow Jughead as he uses his crown (Time Beanie) to travel back and forth in time to crack down on criminals, usually the evil Morgan Le Fay, the series' recurring villain. Jug is joined by January McAndrews, a descendant of Archie from the 29th century. The two of them have some kind of romantic connection after one story together, and she becomes his love interest, for this universe, at least. The two of them go on adventures all across time and space, and this series is full of time-related plot twists. To their credit, the Archie comics team does do a good job of tying up all the loose ends by the end of the story, and any deeper questions about time travel is usually lampshaded very tongue-in-cheek. It is a Jughead series, after all.
The art of this collection is top-notch. The nineties were a great period for Archie, and this series has some of the best artists they have, including Rex Lindsey, Jon D'Agostino, and Pat Kennedy. Colors are still vibrant and fresh, and the humor still holds up today, even though it retains that cheesy campiness that Archie is known for. This isn't an awkwardly-sized book, either, it's about the size of a regular digest, too, so it's easy to carry around with you wherever you go.
Jughead's Time Police is definitely a title I'd recommend for you. If you're new to Archie comics and you want to read more vintage titles, this one is a great place to start your collection. It sets up its own lore and you don't have to have 70+ years of Archie knowledge stored away in your brain to pick it up. Pick this one up before it goes out of print!
That's all for me this month, readers! Tune in next time for a new book review, where I'll be mixing things up with something a little different!
Character Review
Cat Goomba
I'm a massive animal fan, and cats are pretty high up there. So giving a normal Goomba cat abilities should make me like it, and well yes I do.
Cat Goombas are simply adorable, and way better than the other two cat enemies in the game, the Cat Banzai Bill and the Cat Bullet Bill. And it has better abilities. Bullet Bills already follow you around, but at least here the Cat Goombas do the little pounce move.
Like many other enemies in the Mario series, my main criticism is the lack of Cat Goomba. Yes, the pounce move makes it fairly predictable, but given the whole cat motif of Super Mario 3D World, you'd expect the creature to appear more times than it actually did. And as 3D Mario games are likely to move away from being a cat, Cat Goombas are likely to be consigned to the history books never to make a proper appearance again.
But if they do make another appearance, it will likely be in a spin-off game rather than main series game. So hopefully there will be a Super 3D World themed course in the Mario Kart so we can see these adorable little Goombas again.
| The 'Shroom: Issue 136 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poll Chairperson Address |
| Features | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing |
| Specials | Art Contest |
