The 'Shroom:Issue 205/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

Weeeeew has it been a busy April on my end... I hope you've all had a good month so far though!

I auditioned for a theatrical production of The Hobbit while I was home over spring break. It's a production the theatre in my hometown is putting on over the summer to celebrate 25 years of the youth theatre program. I just found out earlier this week what role I'm playing, so I'm excited to start working on it! It doesn't seem like I'm doing any puppetry, which is a shame because that was really something I was hoping to be able to do. Still excited tho!!

We've got some cool things for you in Pipe Plaza this month! As always, you too can be one of the cool things that you see here in Pipe Plaza, and all you have to do is go to the sign up page to learn how!!

Have a good day friends!

Section of the Month

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox 6 27.27% Shoey (talk)
2nd Poll Committee Discussion 5 22.73% Fun With Despair (talk)
2nd Mario Calendar 5 22.73% GPM1000 (talk)
News and information
Mario Calendar
GPM1000 (talk)
Find out all about this month's Super Mario releases.
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
Waluigi Time (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox
Shoey (talk)
These aren't Jet's Freedom Fighters, that's for sure.
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
The People of Isle Delfino
Hooded Pitohui (talk)
Get to know some of those charming Delfino locals!
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
If you're axe-ing about Mortis, you've come to the right place!
read more
Genie's Lamp
Waluigi Time (talk)
Be careful what you wish for, Nintendo...
read more

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy April, everyone! It's time for yet another Mario Calendar. Let's just get right into it, shall we? :)

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

I always focus on the big, tentpole releases of the month, but I've talked about that so many times for each month that I'd like to focus on something a bit smaller. I was looking through the games for this month and, when I looked at April 26, it reminded me of a really good memory.

In 2019, Nintendo released the demo for Mario Tennis Aces, and I played so much of that. I had absolutely no interest in Mario Tennis, but I decided to download it because I had nothing better to do. I started playing it, and absolutely fell in love with it. It convinced me to get Mario Tennis Aces when it actually came out, but I honestly ended up having so much more fun with the demo than the actual game.

I'm not sure what it is about the demo that was so fun to me, but it's always fun looking back at all these games and being refreshed on so many great memories. Anyways, I hope you have a great rest of your month! See you next time!

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers, and welcome to the first Poll Committee Discussion of the new term! Today I'll be tackling the results of the last couple remaining polls from the Thirteenth Poll Committee and getting things started with this term's first poll.

The News

The Fourteenth Poll Committee has been assembled! Congratulations to MightyMario and Cosmic Cowboy for their election win. Without further ado, here's this year's pollsters:

Because of the low number of initial members, MightyMario has decided to leave applications open indefinitely. We currently have space for three more members, and any further applicants will go on a backup list. If you're interested in joining and missed your chance the first time around, send an application to MightyMario and Cosmic Cowboy with the criteria listed here.

Archives

How often do you encounter direct advertisements (e.g., a TV commercial or promo e-mail) for the Mario franchise? (Hooded Pitohui (talk), March 11th, 2024)

Template:Archived Poll

What is your favorite Keyblade featured in Mushroom Kingdom Hearts? (Roserade (talk), April 1st, 2024)

Template:Archived Poll

What are your thoughts on the recently released Princess Peach: Showtime!? (MightyMario (talk), April 2nd, 2024)

Template:Archived Poll

Analysis

How often do you encounter direct advertisements (e.g., a TV commercial or promo e-mail) for the Mario franchise?

Coming soon to a Super Mario game near you, the Ad Block.

Our almost final poll for the Thirteenth Poll Committee comes from Hooded Pitohui, and it's all about shilling! Not 'Shroom shilling, unfortunately. We're talking about how often readers encounter Mario advertising, whether that's seeing ads on TV or the internet, getting promotional emails from Nintendo, stuff like that. I'll keep this one short since, well, to be honest I don't really have any great insights that would make this particularly interesting to read!

The highest voted option with a total of 21.65% are people who generally see advertisements at least once every couple of weeks. That's followed up with 18.9% of voters who go in the total opposite direction and almost never see Mario advertising, only encountering it a couple of times per year or less. Very close to that, 18.75% of voters saw them at least once a week. Then it's back to somewhat rarely again, with 14.95% seeing them once every month or two. Only 13.11% picked the most frequent option, seeing advertising multiple times a week. Finally, 12.64% of voters said they see advertising rarely, less than once every couple of months. As you can see, these results are all over the place and keep jumping back and forth between seeing them a lot and not seeing them very often. I don't know what to make of that, but it's kind of interesting.

As to be expected, most of the users who weighed in on the forums, regardless of the option they picked, mentioned an uptick in advertising when a new product is released, like The Super Mario Bros. Movie or Mario vs. Donkey Kong. It makes me curious what the results would've been like if we ran this poll about a year ago when there weren't any new or upcoming releases besides the movie. Unfortunately, I don't have a time machine to go pitch the idea with.

What is your favorite Keyblade featured in Mushroom Kingdom Hearts?

You'd need a big keychain to carry all of these.

Next we have a very real and legitimate poll about which Keyblades featured in Mushroom Kingdom Hearts are the favorite of our readers. What do you mean you've never heard of Mushroom Kingdom Hearts? We have a wiki page about it and everything! It's a very real game that definitely exists and isn't a hoax. I mean, what motivation would a wiki have to post fake content around the beginning of April anyway? I can't think of a single reason!

Okay, all joking aside, this was our April Fool's poll this year! It's hard to say much because basically everything I'm about to talk about here was made up. I was originally going to do a bit where I would play along with it and analyze it like an actual poll, which worked fine for the first five options before I ran out of things to say and it was more trouble than it was worth. Hopefully you're not too disappointed. It's been almost three weeks since April Fool's, I think we can peek backstage now.

Our first place option took a wide margin though, and it's the Polt-key-gust 3500 with 26.93% of the votes! Why did this get so far ahead? Well, maybe we just have a lot of Luigi's Mansion fans voting in this poll, or it's just because of the funny name. My bet's on the latter. Interestingly, the next two, Kingdom Key and Ultima Weapon, are the only Keyblades on this poll that are actually real, even if the game isn't. Those probably got a decent boost from Kingdom Hearts fans. Power of the Stars and Ultra Hammer, uhh... they sound powerful, I guess? Even when the item's fake, power is key. That wasn't meant to be a pun but it's accidentally funny so I'm keeping it in.

Anyway, this is where I ran out of rationale for the totals! Since most of these don't exist, I'm guessing people just went with the names they liked the best. Shoutout to RHG1951 (talk) for spearheading such a high effort April Fool's project this year!

What are your thoughts on the recently released Princess Peach: Showtime!?

Peach is looking due for some updates in the next Smash game!

Kicking things off for the Fourteenth Poll Committee, our chairperson MightyMario brings us a topical poll about Princess Peach: Showtime!. The newest game in the Super Mario franchise (well, can we really call it that? Mario's conspicuously absent...) has been out for almost a month, so it's a good time to ask what our readers think about it.

Or... maybe not! Turns out the majority of voters haven't actually played the game yet. 35.86% of them are interested in playing it at some point though, and I actually don't think that's too bad. The game hasn't been out very long, and since it seems meant for a younger target audience, I expect those numbers to pick up more over summer break. The other 26.26% who haven't played it yet have no desire to do so. Some of our forum members who picked this option cited reasons like not being interested after playing the demo, not feeling it was worth full price, or just not liking Princess Peach at all. Notably, some members who weren't interested in the game still said that they liked some aspects of the game, especially Peach's characterization compared to her usual roles.

And now we get to the 40% of voters who did play it! 17.12% of the voters thought that the game was excellent, and an additional 13.57% of voters held slightly less favorable opinions but enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm not surprised that the reception is as positive as it is, because everyone who I've heard has played it has had good things to say. The next option is the 6.3% of voters who thought that the game was just okay and only somewhat enjoyed it. Finally, only 0.89% of voters thought that the game was bad and didn't enjoy it at all. I can't really comment too in depth on any of these options because it basically boils down to everyone likes what they like, and I didn't play it to have a frame of reference, but hey, if you played Princess Peach: Showtime!, how about submitting a Critic Corner review for it sometime?

Conclusion

That's a wrap! I've rambled long enough, so I'll sign off here. Be sure to look out for more Poll Committee Discussion from the new team over the coming months, and keep voting in those polls!

Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Our story picks back up in issue 223. Geoffrey St. John and Ixis Naugus put their plan into action at a free concert from Mina Mongoose and the Forget Me Knots. The Forget Me Knots intended to calm everyone down after the last show, but Geoffrey St. John reveals himself, taking the stage and asking everyone how they can stay calm when Nicole could turn the city against them? The Freedom Fighters rush to arrest Geoffrey St. John over that whole "shooting Sonic in the back" thing, but before they can get there, Geoffrey St. John reveals Ixis Naugus, declaring him the true King!

Ixis Naugus makes his triumphant return for his citizens!

Ixis Naugus makes a proud boast, declaring that for too long the city has been misled. He declares that he, Ixis Naugus, the true king, has returned to claim his crown and save the city from Nicole, the digital menace. He declares to the citizens that they will have no need to fear the city itself turning against them with him in charge! Nicole attempts to apprehend Ixis Naugus using her nanites, but, as we all know, magic tops science, so Ixis Naugus easily defeats her. Having proven his strength to the people, Ixis Naugus declares that he's going to talk to the council, pleading before them that he will bring them the peace and security they long for. Ixis Naugus proceeds to put his plan into motion, leaving Geoffrey St. John in charge of keeping the Freedom Fighters off his back while he talks to council.

Naturally, Sonic is too fast for Geoffrey St. John, so he battles Ixis Naugus, attempting to defeat him before he gets to the council. But the wizard, with his mastery of the elements, is too tricky for Sonic, keeping Sonic on the back foot the whole fight. While this happens, Geoffrey St. John battles the rest of the Freedom Fighters, a battle that mostly consists of Geoffrey St. John absolutely bodying them as they argue over his actions. Sonic is unable to defeat Ixis Naugus, who keeps using his magic to keep Sonic at bay. Ixis Naugus makes it to Castle Acorn before blocking the entrance with his crystal magic to prevent Sonic from interrupting his business with the council. Entering just as the council is debating what to do about Nicole, Ixis Naugus triumphantly announces that the answer to their problems is right here and that the council can correct a great wrong by naming him king!

Ixis Naugus staking his claim to the throne.

Elias protests, pointing out that the throne passed to him upon the abdication of his father, but Ixis Naugus counters, pointing out that his father swore an oath of fidelity to become his knight and promised Ixis Naugus the throne.

A furious Rotor rises up, asking Ixis Naugus if he thinks that the council is just going to roll over and submit to his demands, but Ixis Naugus assures the council he's not here to rule as a tyrant, that he's heard of the changes made and that he has no intention of dismantling the council. He even tells Elias that he holds no grudge against either Elias or the rest of his family.

Ixis Naugus using diplomacy to further his claim.

As Ixis Naugus presses his claim, Sonic bursts in, telling Ixis Naugus that he forgot to block the windows. The two resume their battle, with Ixis Naugus telling Sonic that his claim to the throne does not concern him while Sonic calls for Elias to toss him the Sword of Acorns. Of course, Ixis Naugus knows that this is a fake because the real one was destroyed in issue 164, but Sonic informs Ixis Naugus that this sword was reforged as the Sword of Light and challenges him to see whose magic is superior. Spoiler alert, it's, uh, the wizard magic… The young king Elias then enters the fray, declaring that he won't be giving up his crown so easily. But despite briefly having the upper hand against Ixis Naugus, the young king is no match for the experienced wizard. But Ixis Naugus doesn't land a killing blow; instead he kneels down towards the defeated Elias and tells him that there has been too much fighting between his family and himself. He implores Elias to give up and return to a simpler life.

Ixis Naugus wisely pursuing a policy of peaceful reconciliation.

Unable to stand this and wanting to defend the king and help Sonic, Rotor calls for councilmen Hamlin Pig, Dylan Porcupine, and Penelope Platypus, who are all former substitute Freedom Fighters, to join him in defeating Ixis Naugus while calling on Nicole to prepare his combat suit. Hamlin and Dylan are eager to join the fight, but they're stopped by Penelope, who points out they aren't Freedom Fighters anymore and that their job is to govern. The council then breaks down into infighting, with Penelope threatening to bring Hamlin up on charges of dereliction of duty. Rosemary Prower (Tails' mom) points out that the constitution only calls for a king, not specifying who should be king. The fighting is made even worse by Ixis Naugus' hate magic washing over the council as Elias looks on, dejected over what is happening to his kingdom.

Ixis Naugus again stirs the pot.

Sonic doesn't care what the council thinks and says he's going to stop Ixis Naugus, enraging Hamlin Pig. Hamlin points out that Sonic and the Freedom Fighters always do this. The council is elected to govern, yet the Freedom Fighters always undermine them by doing whatever they want regardless of what the council thinks. Sonic agrees that, yeah, if the council is doing something stupid like, I don't know, considering making an evil wizard king, then, yeah, he won't listen to them. I actually really like this part because both sides are right in a sense. Hamlin is correct in saying that the people elected them to govern and that Sonic and the Freedom Fighters do in fact undermine them by refusing to acknowledge their authority when they rule against them. So from his perspective, this is just another case of Sonic refusing to respect the people's will. Yet Sonic is also correct that the council gets themselves so distracted by what's "proper" that they end up doing things like consider taking a vote to make an evil wizard king.

Hamlin Pig spitting out facts…

It's a great example of both sides having a good point, and you can understand why both sides are so frustrated with each other. But you can also understand why the council would begin siding with Ixis Naugus against Sonic because they're just so tired of being undermined by Sonic, who is going as far as saying he won't listen to the council if he disagrees with them. Meanwhile, Ixis Naugus pledges that he only wants the crown and that he has no intention of ignoring the will of the council, a sweet deal for a group who can't seem to get anyone to respect their authority.

Briefly, I want to highlight a real quick scene that takes place outside during the stuff with the council. Nicole is mourning some of her nanites that were destroyed by Ixis Naugus' crystal magic. Overhearing this, the people begin to chatter, and I just love how logically their thoughts progress. It goes from discussing how the nanites have been destroyed to asking if that mean that Ixis Naugus is strong enough to project them. Then they point out that it may be true, yeah, but he's fighting Sonic, which then goes to an acknowledge that Sonic has fought good guys before. Their thoughts even point out how Geoffrey St. John himself is a hero who worked for the beloved King Max. It's such a great progression of thoughts that shows how the popular support for Ixis Naugus to become king is building organically.

The citizens of Mobotropolis slowly being won over to their new king.

The people are being duped, sure, but if you think about it from their perspective, they've really never seen Ixis Naugus be evil. But they have seen their supposed AI protector Nicole become a threat, and Ixis Naugus has proven that he could defeat Nicole, so it's logical to ask if he'd be a better protector then Nicole. And, while yes, he's fighting Sonic, it's not like Sonic is infallible. I mean, he's fought both Knuckles and Geoffrey St. John before, so could this be another case of Sonic just being wrong? And for that matter, Geoffrey St. John was himself a hero to this people, a veteran of the war against Eggman who served as the leader of the King's Secret Service as well as King's Max's personal bodyguard. So if Geoffrey St. John is backing Ixis Naugus, how can he be evil? This part and the stuff with the council are great storytelling by Ian Flynn, because, by tying everything into previous story arcs, you can get a feel for why characters are acting the way they are. You can see a logical thread that shows how somebody like Ixis Naugus could get the popular support needed to become king.

Back in the council room, with Elias' spirit thoroughly broken by all the fighting, Ixis Naugus, oily as ever, asks if perhaps they should consider what Elias thinks. Determined to end this infighting that's plaguing the council and weighing out what's best for the kingdom, Elias asks if Ixis Naugus will respect the will of the council. Ixis Naugus assures Elias that he wants his crown, but he has no problem respecting the will of the council. Ixis Naugus then throws an absolute Chad amount of shade at Sonic, pledging to respect the council as some Freedom Fighters should.

Enraged by, well, all of this, Sonic decides to put an end to this, drawing the Sword of Acorns and pointing it at the throat of Ixis Naugus. Despite Elias' protests that they can come to a peaceful decision, Sonic refuses to listen at all. Now Ixis Naugus points out that Sonic is committing treason, and he's right!

Sonic committing treason… again!

By this point, five of the seven council members are completely against Sonic, and if you look at it from their perspective, Ixis Naugus has done nothing but peacefully stake his claim to the throne. He didn't attack the council, and, when he had to fight Elias, after he beat him he didn't kill him. Instead, he respectfully asked Elias to yield. I have to give a ton of praise to the writing of Ian Flynn in this arc because, outside of the Geoffrey St. John stuff, which is sloppy and kind of borders on nonsense, everything is really well written and it's really well thought out. You can see how Ixis Naugus is doing everything right to win over the people and the council while Sonic is quite frankly doing everything wrong. Like, think about it from the council's perspective! Sonic isn't even letting them debate this issue. Even with Elias's support, Sonic is refusing to let the government even attempt to do its job!

Unfortunately, before this debate can be finished, that old rascal Eggman, who you might notice has played no role in this, suddenly starts doing no good again. A giant earthquake rocks the city as Sonic and the council are arguing. Sonic accuses Ixis Naugus of causing the earthquake, but Ixis Naugus swears it's not his work. The two agree to a temporary truce and check out what caused the earthquake. It turns out it's a giant fucking Death Egg! Realizing that the culprit is Dr. Eggman, who has been in hiding for weeks, Princess Sally tells Ixis Naugus that they need to put aside their differences and work together to defend the city. Ixis Naugus, not wanting to see his new kingdom fall before he can rule and no doubt believing that defeating Eggman would strengthen his claim to the throne, eagerly agrees, flying off to defeat Eggman.

The true king valiantly rushing to defend his people!

Eggman is shocked to see Ixis Naugus, believing that he was still a drooling nitwit. But remembering the lessons he learned during his period of insanity, that being that when Sonic is involved, chaos is a certainty, Dr. Eggman doesn't freak out and tells Snively and Lien-Da to focus their efforts on the coming Freedom Fighters. Sure enough, despite Ixis Naugus' boasts that while the Death Egg was impressive all machinery is nothing compared to the magic of Ixis Naugus, the Death Egg proves to be completely immune to Ixis Naugus' crystal magic thanks to the Power Ring matrix Dr. Eggman installed.

Ixis Naugus doesn't play much of a role in the next few issues, which mostly focus on Sonic and Sally attempting to stop Dr. Eggman's newest plan. What is this plan, you ask? Well, basically, Dr. Eggman is planning on resetting the world so that everyone loses their immunity to his roboticizing efforts, an immunity they have because of stupid nonsense from like 100 issues ago. Don't worry, we'll cover all of this in far more detail later (the worst part of this section is that I'm constantly reminded of things I'll need to cover). Anyways, Sonic and Sally mostly, well, fail. For starters, they absolutely fail at preventing the world from being reset. Well, sort of! They succeed in preventing the full reset but they fail at preventing everyone from losing their immunity to being roboticized. Well, even, then they only partially fail because it's later established that half the population is still immune for, uh, some reason? Probably science? Uh, yeah, definitely science. Then they only manage to prevent the entire world from being roboticized because Sally sacrifices herself, being turned into Mecha Sally. Before we jump off this plot point, I want to point out there's a really stupid page where Sally attempts to reason with Dr. Eggman, pointing out that all the robots he has will be destroyed if he does this. But, like, why would he care? As Dr. Eggman points out, he'll have millions of new robots he can use to rebuild his army!

Seriously, why do they think he'd care?

Happy with his new weapon Mecha Sally, Dr. Eggman attempts to launch a full assault on Mobotropolis, only to be informed by Snively that the Chaos Emerald they had snagged from Feist was gone and that their roboticizer blew up. Snively also informs Eggman that they're running, like, super low on power. With these setbacks, Dr. Eggman is forced to pull back from his plans, but still attempts to destroy Mobotropolis by launching a giant Titan Metal Sonic! With Sonic and Tails too far to react, Freedom Fighter Bunnie launches into action (she's part robot from a failed attempt to roboticize her). At the same time, Ixis Naugus recovers from the white light that reset the world and sees the Giant Metal Sonic threatening his city. Not wanting the city to be destroyed before he has a chance to rule, Ixis Naugus also springs into action. Unfortunately, the two don't exactly work well together and aren't doing a very good job at stopping the Titan Sonic. Finally, a frustrated Ixis Naugus, tired of being mocked by apparent voices he's hearing in his head, launches his most powerful anime blast at the Titan Sonic. At the same time, Dr. Eggman, determined to destroy Mobotropolis once and for all, commands Snively to use all their remaining power to launch an annihilation beam at the city! Luckily, Ixis Naugus' attack works and he takes control of the Titan Sonic and commands it to sacrifice itself by throwing itself into the beam, blocking the beam while also destroying the Titan Sonic.

Good and true king Ixis Naugus saving Mobotropolis

While the Freedom Fighters regroup, they're greeted by the horrible reality of the people cheering for Ixis Naugus, declaring that he can protect them from both Nicole and Dr. Eggman. Most horrifying of all, the people are cheering for Ixis Naugus to be crowned the new king! The Freedom Fighters can only watch, powerless to stop Ixis Naugus from being crowned King of Mobotropolis.

The people calling out for their king

With this begins the reign of Ixis Naugus of the Order of Ixis, first of his name, King of Mobotropolis. Now, as for the reign of King Ixis Naugus, well, unfortunately, that tale is going to have to be told another time. That's all for this month. Join next month when I talk about another Archie Sonic plot point. I don't know what yet! Probably the Bem or something stupid like that!

The 'Shroom Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! It's time to report on The 'Shroom, woo, yeah!!! Here's what happened in Issue 204! Special thanks as always to Meta Knight for maintaining the spreadsheets, and I'd also like to give a shoutout to Lakituthequick this time around for cleaning up the code. Seriously, how could you not like those two? They're great.

As a reminder, here's how this works:

​
  • First-Time Writers lists everyone who wrote their first section for The 'Shroom in the previous issue. This isn't applicable, so it's absent this month.
  • Milestones covers certain section numbers reached in the previous issue. Writers are mentioned for every 10 sections written in a team and every 50 sections written overall, teams are mentioned for every 100 sections, and The 'Shroom itself is mentioned for every 500 sections.
  • Most Sections Written lists the current all-time record holders.
Milestones
Writer Milestone
ClawgripFan9001 30 Fake News sections
Hypnotoad (talk) 180 Critic Corner sections
MarioMorty (talk) 30 Fun Stuff sections
Shoey (talk) 50 Strategy Wing sections
Waluigi Time (talk) 120 Fake News sections
20 Fun Stuff sections
Most Sections Written
Team Writer Number of Sections
Main/Staff Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) 142
Fake News MCD (talk) 148
Fun Stuff Shoey (talk) 134
Palette Swap FunkyK38 (talk) 194
Pipe Plaza Yoshi876 (talk) 128
Critic Corner Hypnotoad (talk) 180
Strategy Wing Yoshi876 (talk) 115
Overall Yoshi876 (talk) 747
'Shroom Trivia
The longest period of time that Strategy Wing has gone without any Super Mario-based sections was 16 issues. After Yoshi876's final edition of Racing Like the Staff in Issue 175, another Mario-based section would not appear in the team until Hooded Pitohui began writing Four Steps for a 3D World in Issue 192 over a year later.

The People of Isle Delfino

Written by: Hooded Pitohui (talk)

Welcome back to your continuing Cultural Enrichment Tour of Isle Delfino. On this leg of your tour, you will continue to meet with the residents of the windswept Bianco Hills. Please immerse yourself in our island's culture as you continue to see the daily lives of these peaceful villagers.

Bianco Hills

Pianta Father

In the previous portion of our tour, we met a beleaguered mother near the northern end of town. By the river to the south, this month, we encounter none other than her husband, seemingly out on a stroll. When we approach, he's quick to ask us if we can believe that his wife can throw people further than he can. Our previous experience tells us that we have no reason to treat the claim with incredulity. Even so, he provides a demonstration, hurling us away.

Um, no?

When we next encounter him, this matter seemingly continues to vex him, as he informs that, though he regrets using us for it, he needs to practice his chucking. Quickly, we find ourselves hurled away. Though an unusual way to greet someone, some might think, we must at least appreciate his frankness. This Pianta is a man who says exactly what he intends to do.

By the time of our third encounter, he as relocated from the river's edge. With the troubles plaguing the lakeshore seemingly being over, we find he has passed through the gates and settled under the shade of a tree near the lake. Speaking with him, we speculate that, perhaps, he has begun to think us and this routine of chucking us familiar, as he claims that he heard us asking him to hurl us away. He obliges our request, as friendly as he is frank.

When we seek him out for a fourth meeting, we find him in the same area near to the lake, but now up and about once more, on a stroll. He foregoes a greeting this time, declaring that he knows one art and that that art is throwing. In fact, he makes his declaration in rhyme, and, once again, he throws us into the distance.

Well I never!

Our fifth meeting occurs in peculiar circumstances. We find the village covered in graffiti, many residents presumably sheltering in their homes while others, like our new chucking-happy friend, are submerged in the sludge. We clean the area and clean this poor father, and he offers us his thanks. Then, he informs us that he knows what we want from the look in our eyes. Perhaps, just perhaps, through all of our cooperation with his chucking to this point, we've forged a bond. Knowing what we want, he bids us well-wishes, telling us to "have a nice trip" before hurling us once more.

Upon our next visit, however, such sentimental thoughts are shattered. We find this father back under the trees by the lake, strolling once more, but he treats us as a nuisance! In asking us if it's truly necessary that he throws us, he makes us out to be a burden. Hurl us he does, but with that passive-aggressive exchange, perhaps we do not even want to be thrown again!

Yet, upon our seventh day in the village, when we find out that a pair of children - this Pianta's children - have gone missing, out of sympathy, we seek him out again. What do we find? He shows seemingly no concern whatsoever for his missing children! Instead, he complains that strolling outside has left him tired, though not without acknowledging that he knows that he has a role to fulfill. Reluctantly or not, annoyed or not, once again, he throws us.

On our eighth and final day in the village, we encounter him on the path under the trees once more, unsure what to expect. His children have been found, but even now he expresses no concern over their well-being, instead having the gall to accuse us of enjoying being thrown and wanting more of it! Chucking may be an important component of Pianta culture, but perhaps we have found a Pianta who takes it too far with those he encounters...

Best Quote:

“Do you really NEED to be thrown? Give me a break!”
—Pianta Father, Bianco Hills, Episode Six: The Secret of the Dirty Lake

Pianta Children

Having met their parents, we turn our attention to a pair of innocently mischievous youths. We find these two children, first, playing in the fields to the west of the village, not too far off from their parents. They address us with some curiosity, but seem to pay us little mind as they go about their running around. The young boy merely asks us if we need something, while the young girl, addressing us as "old-timer", asks about the unusual device on our back, but neither child shows sustained interest in our presence.

Oh, uh? Thanks? Is it the mustache, or...?

We meet again on the second day of our excursion, and find the children now playing on the north side of the village. The young boy inquires about the F.L.U.D.D. device on our back, though calls it a generic "squirter", while the young girl observes that we are wet from playing in the water. From the sound of it, perhaps these two would like to splash one another with water or perhaps play by the riverside.

Fittingly enough, we do next encounter them playing alongside the riverbank, where the young girl helpfully informs us that, if our clothes get wet, leaving them in the sun will quickly dry them out. There are some perks to the tropical island life for youths and adults alike, it seems. The young boy, when we speak to him, now seems to recognize us, and though he thinks our appearance he strange, he also comments that we seem cool. Perhaps he has heard about how we cleaned up the area by the lake?

Please be careful around exploding animals.

On our fourth visit, the children have moved back to the northern end of town, but they have still found a way to get wet as they play. We found the young girl showing her brother Poinks, explaining how these strange creatures fill up with water and then explode, with her brother observing that they sound water balloons mixed with bombs. He seems enthused by the thought of playing with them. Unfortunately, when we seek them out on our fifth day, they are nowhere to be seen, presumably sheltering in their homes with the village covered in graffiti. Yet the knowledge of Poinks, gleaned from their play, proves crucial to solving the crisis in the town.

From one crisis to another the town goes, but though the lake is dirtied on our sixth day in Bianco Hills, the two children play without a care in the world, unburdened by the worries of adults. We find the young boy running around the village in search of his sister, announcing to us that they are playing hide-and-seek and wondering aloud where his sister could be hiding. He refers to her as his "kid sister", making us realize he is likely the older of the pair. After a bit of searching on our part, we find his sister hiding in an area enclosed by the village's wall. The wall diverges along two paths at one point, and she has descended between the two split parts of the wall, seemingly confident her brother will not find her. She asks that we do not reveal her hiding place, and, thinking this all a mere game of children, we oblige.

You may want to be careful what you wish for.

But on our seventh day in town, we find the adults in a panic (or... some of them, at least). They've realized that the children have gone missing, with the young girl nowhere to be found! We do find her brother. He is running about on the other side of the village's wall, beginning to realize he can't find his sister. Quickly, we check her hiding place, and find her crying and declaring that she can't get out. She may have descended easily, but scaling those high walls is a difficult challenge.

Unfortunately, we can do no more to aid her, other pressing matters to attend to, but at least we know she is safe. Soon enough, the adults do find the children, and on our final day, we find them on the north end of town receiving a scolding from their enraged mother. The young man seems to be taking the brunt of it as the elder child, crying out when we approach before he calms down upon realizing we aren't his mother. The young girl expresses her remorse to us, and asks us not to tell her mother what happened. We debate whether we should again oblige her request, but decide ultimately to help her out. Her mother has quite the temper, after all, and while a scare for everyone, the children turned out safe.

Best Quote:

“Water-filled balloon bombs, huh? Sounds good to me!”
—Pianta Son, Bianco Hills, Episode Four: Red Coins of Windmill Village
“Even if your clothes get wet, the sun will dry 'em out quick! Ha!”
—Pianta Daughter, Bianco Hills, Episode Three: The Hillside Cave Secret

Even in a tropical paradise, one can't escape entirely those frightening moments in life. While it may end with a scolding, at least the youth of Isle Delfino can adventure, play, and be curious with the sun overhead, drying their clothes and lighting the way forward... When our tour of Bianco Hills resumes, however, we'll be turning away from the carefree days of youth.

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign? the section where we go over, series by series, various robots from the hit UK show Robot Wars. Last month, we looked at international competition joint winner (but only trophy-haver) Das Gepäck. This month, we're covering another robot who participated in an international competition, a robot who was a constant favorite throughout its various appearances. This month, we cover the Series 4 run of the £40,000 pound robot, Mortis!

The 40,000 pound robot!

Originally appearing in Series 1 and built by Rob Knight, Arthur Chilcott, and Chris Sorsby, Mortis was, for a time (especially in the early series), one of the most technologically advanced robots on the show. Mortis was a tracked robot, with the team deciding to use tracks because tracks have better grip on the arena and therefore help Mortis' pushing power. Mortis was capable of moving 12mph. Mortis armor for Series 4, already some of the best in the series, was upgraded to be coated in silicon carbide, which was essentially hard as a diamond, making Mortis, in effect, diamond-coated. For weapons, Mortis had a specially-designed axe based off a Japanese tanto knife. Mortis' axe was different from most axes in Robot Wars. Instead of being designed for sheer power, Mortis' axe could fire rapidly, up to three times per second, in fact. This allowed it to do damage quickly. Now, that's not to say the axe itself wasn't powerful. It was! Described by the team as firing with the equivalent force of a .38 magnum rifle fired at point-blank range, the team claimed that, during its Series 4 run, the axe could puncture up to 4mm of military-grade titanium! And that's not all, because Mortis was one of the many dual-weapon robots in the show's history, with a specially-designed lifting arm capable of lifting up to 100kg (at a time when the weight limit was 80kg.) This lifting arm could also act as a self-righting mechanism. A very advanced robot throughout its history and one of the few that actually made somewhat effective use of a dual-weapon system, Mortis was a truly advanced robot in its heyday. As a little fun fact to how advanced the Mortis team was, they were actually the first team to use a removable link that could quickly power down their robot, something that would later on be required for all robots!

Despite its technological superiority and the robot allegedly costing 40,000 pounds to build (something that the producers loved to throw out), Mortis was not actually the money sink it was presented as! While the theoretical value of the parts used for Mortis would have been close to that number, in reality, through sponsorships and donated parts, the Mortis team only actually spent around 500 pounds building the first Mortis.

Mortis, to this point, hadn't really lived up to the hype. One of the most hyped robots of the early years thanks to its sleek look and impressive technology, the producers were clearly fond of Mortis and always felt it would go far. This fondness even extended to seeding, as seen in Series 2, where Mortis, despite not making it to the Grand Final, was given the 2nd seed, making them more highly-seeded than every Grand Finalist other than Series 1 champion Roadblock. So, yeah, Mortis got good seeding even though it crashed out in the Heat Final of Series 1, losing to Recyclopse on a very controversial judges' decision that most people agree was wrongly decided. Then, in Series 3, Mortis fell in just the second round, being defeated by Gravedigger, which was basically just a Series 2 Cassius clone. Really, the only success Mortis has really had came in Series 2, where Mortis managed to finish in the top 8, but even that was spoiled by controversy. You see, the trial right before the semi-final combat stage was pinball, and the roboteers were told the arena spike would be turned off. Well, during Mortis's run, the spike activated, breaking Mortis's track and preventing them from scoring any points. While Rob Knight was justifiably upset by this, he refused the producers' requests to do a redo run of the pinball trial, feeling that it would be unfair to the other roboteers. So, instead, inexperienced driver Arthur Chilcott took over instead, and, while he did score enough points to make it through to the combat stage, Rob Knight still refused to take control of the robot and Mortis found itself easily defeated by Panic Attack and the skillful driving of Kim Davis!

A promising campaign ended.

But despite all this, for Series 4, Mortis has returned better than ever, looking to finally claim the UK Championship that's long eluded it!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. Strangely, though, there's no compilation of just Mortis' Series 4 fights, With the only video claiming to be one not actually having its Robot Wars: War of Independence fights. So there wlll be two videos this month!

Still maintaining something of a pedigree in Series 4 and benefiting from the fact that Series 4 had 32 seeds in it, Mortis was given the 23rd seed, which is probably a pretty solid seed for a one-time heat finalist/one-time top 8 finisher. Placed in Heat D, Mortis would face off against fellow axe bot Iron Awe and horizontal spinner Mazakari, who has the thinnest spinner you'll ever see! The fight (11:15) starts with Mortis easily shrugging off Mazakari's thin disc and getting under it with ease to drive it into SGT. Bash. Mortis then turns and lands a few axe blows onto Iron Awe before getting under them with the lifter and slamming them into the arena wall. Mazakari comes in for an attack on Mortis, but, again, the blade is no match for Mortis's strong-as-diamond armor.

Mortis flipping over Mazakari

Mortis flips Mazakari over with its lifter, scoring sweet, sweet aggression points but not KOing Mazakari, who can drive both ways up. Mortis keeps up the attack on Mazakari, again getting under it, but this time Mortis' lifting arm gets stuck inside Mazakari… Both Refbot and Sir Killalot attempt to get Mazakari and Mortis unstuck from each other, but they have no success! As this all happens, Iron Awe just kind of dies or something!

Mortis and Mazakari, bound together until the end of time!

Anyways, the rest of the fight is Mortis and Mazakari glued to each other with the fight going to the judges. Controversially, despite Iron Awe doing less than nothing in that fight and, well, outright dying, the judges rule against Mazakari, sending it out of the wars and sending Mortis and Iron Awe into the next round. Also, there's apparently somewhere an unedited version of this fight floating somewhere in the internet, and, quite honestly, that sounds like hell!

In the second round, Mortis faces off against Crusader 2, a pretty solid little lifter/rambot and a favorite of the Robot Wars community fantasy tournaments! Unfortunately for Mortis, Mortis' axe isn't working at full strength right now, so we'll see how that comes up in this fight! The fight (16:01) surprisingly starts with Crusader 2 getting the advantage, easily getting under Mortis with its lifter, but Mortis quickly gets away from it. The two robots bash and bump into each other, neither on taking any real damage. But suddenly Mortis' axe starts working again!

Mortis pepper popping Crusader 2.

Driving into the side of Crusader 2, the axe, which can, I remind you, fire at a rate of three strikes per second, drives down and down and down into the armor of Crusader 2, cutting through it like scissors cutting through paper! Crusader 2 manages to use a combination of its lifter as well as momentum from its superior speed to pry the axe out of its armor, but Mortis keeps on the attack, pushing Crusader 2 into the clutches of Shunt, and if Mortis' axe can get through a robot's armor, you know Shunt's diamond-tipped axe will have no problems cutting through it like cheese! Mortis then again gets under Crusader 2, this time lifting it with its lifter and knocking off a piece of metal from Crusader 2's wheel casing! As part of this attack, Mortis again pushes Crusader 2 into Shunt, who again easily carves through Crusader 2. The House Robots then just bully the shit out of Crusader 2, which is something I never understood. Because Crusader 2 is neither immobilized nor in a CPZ, there's no reason that the House Robots should be able to attack it! But they do!

This puts Mortis into the heat final, where it faces off against the number seven seed Steg 2, successor to Series 3 Grand Finalist Steg-O-Saw-Us. Steg 2 features a powerful flipper at its back, but, personally, I think it's kind of overrated as a machine. I mean its weapon is at its back! That's a terrible place for a weapon. But on the flip side, Mortis' axe is again having trouble, so this should be a very even Heat Final. The Heat Final (20:52) starts very tentatively, with both robots trying to size each other up. It doesn't help that Steg 2 has to drive in reverse in order to attack with its flipper since, you know, IT'S ON THE BACK OF THE MACHINE. Mortis manages to get to the side of Steg 2 multiple times, but it seems the axe is still having problems because they never fire it as Steg 2 slips away. Mortis keeps up the pressure, nearly pushing Steg 2 into the clutches of Dead Metal before backing away to position another attack. Mortis comes back on the attack, again pushing Steg 2 towards the arena wall, and Steg 2 then fires their flipper but misses, breaching them on the top of Mortis.

Hmmm. This arm-jamming is probably going to be a problem…

Mortis slams Steg 2 into the wall and tries to flip it over with its lifting arm, but not only does Mortis fail to flip over Steg 2, but, in the process, the lifting arm jams, meaning that Mortis won't be able to self-right the rest of the battle! Despite this, Mortis stays on the attack, once again getting to the side of Steg 2. But with the lifting arm jammed and the axe seemingly not working, there's not a lot Mortis can do. Except then the axe starts working! And Mortis begins firing it wildly on Steg 2, who appears to be slowing down! But unfortunately for Mortis, I don't think they actually land a single blow with the axe.

Mortis defeated once again...

Then, even more unfortunately, the limping Steg 2 finally manages to get a successful charge into the front of Mortis and manages to get a mighty flip onto Mortis, sending the tracked bot onto its back. And since Mortis' lifting arm jammed, Mortis can't self-right, ending another UK war in disappointment!

This one is frustrating because I believe that, if that arm doesn't jam, Mortis beats Steg 2. They were absolutely ahead on points at that point and Steg 2 seemed to be suffering mobility problems. But regardless, another Series another crash in the heats for Mortis. Second verse, same as the first! But luckily for Mortis, there are a bunch of side events in Series 4 giving a number of robots a chance of redemption and glory, and Mortis just so happened to be one of the robots selected to participate in one of these events. Mortis ends up as one of the four robots selected to represent the UK against the United States in the Robot Wars: War of Independence special. So this special is like the Series 6 UK Vs Germany special, only using an inferior format. It's an eight-robot tournament, but instead of doing it to where the UK robots fight each other and the American robots fight each other for the chance to represent their countries in the final, in this tournament, each first round fight consists of a UK robot taking on an American robot. Can you see the problem with that format? What happens if all the UK robots win in the first round? Well, from what I understand, the producers belatedly realized this, because, I believe that according to the Robot Wars: History Podcast, the original UK lineup was going to be Mortis, Panic Attack, Ming 2 (the only halfway-decent version of Ming out of like four different Ming models), and, finally, Hypno-Disc. But here's the problem. Mortis, Panic Attack, and Ming 2 all won their respective fights. So, as a result, the producers, from what I understand, dropped Hypno-Disc and replaced them with Detonator, who is the Napalm team's Series 1 robot…

Detonator smashed to pieces by frenZy

This did end up working out for the best because the robot Detonator faced was frenZy, the best of the American bots participating. frenZy not only defeated Detonator with ease, smashing it so much that it caught on fire, but the producers smartly placed them against Ming 2, easily the weakest of the British robots. Predictably, they smashed Ming 2 to pieces and secured a spot for the Americans in the final.

Anyways, so we know that Mortis at least makes it out of the first round of this tournament, but how they do it is the real question. Mortis' opponent was fellow track-bot Ghetto-Bot, a middleweight robot weighing only 51.7kg. Ghetto-Bot is, in fact, the lightest of the field, even lighter then Detonator, the Series 1 machine! Ghetto-Bot also has no weapons, instead using just wedges. But… like… it doesn't have any pushing power either, because it's almost 30 kg lighter then Mortis is…But don't worry, I'm sure they'll do great!

The fight (3:00, second video) starts with Mortis charging at Ghetto-Bot, who manages to use its wedge under Mortis, but they can't really push Mortis around because, again, almost 30 kg lighter. Mortis begins swinging its axe wildly, but this time it actually hits its opponent, landing blow after blow on the top armor of Ghetto-Bot, but it doesn't appear that the axe is breaking through. Ghetto-Bot does manage to push Mortis around a little bit, but I think that's because Mortis isn't trying to push back and is instead only interested in axe blows, because Mortis' tracks aren't moving at all while they're being pushed. Mortis then slips around to the back side of Ghetto-Bot and pushes them towards the flame pit.

Ghetto-Bot left set ablaze by the flame pit

I think Ghetto-Bot gets stuck on part of the flame pit, because they don't drive away as Mortis fully pushes them into the flame pit. Ghetto-Bot's motors appears to completely burn out as the robot's internals go up in flames. Ghetto-Bot becomes one of only like four robots to have been immobilized by the flame pit, while Mortis sails through to the second round!

In the second round, Mortis and Panic Attack would square off once again, with not only a place in the War of Independence final on the line, but also vengeance for Mortis' loss to Panic Attack in Series 2. This time, though, Rob Knight will be in control of Mortis, not Arthur Chilcott! This fight (25:56) is a very interesting fight for a couple of different reasons. It starts with Panic Attack driving into Mortis, missing a lift with its lifting forks while Mortis in turn misses blows with its rapid-fire axe. Panic Attack attempts to turn for a broadside lift on Mortis, but they turn just a little too much and Mortis is able turn into them and begins firing its axe at Panic Attack, landing a number of blows on the sideskirts of Panic Attack.

Mortis jams its axe between the forks of Panic Attack!

Panic Attack recovers and is this time able to lift Mortis with the forks, but, honestly, for a brief moment, this actually helps Mortis, who continues firing its axe, now landing blows on the top panel of Panic Attack. Charging forward, Panic Attack pushes Mortis on its side before slamming it into the wall near the Dead Metal CPZ, but before Panic Attack can press its advantage, Dead Metal comes in to plunge its circular saw into Panic Attack, forcing Panic Attack to back off and leaving Mortis to self-right without issue. Mortis charges towards Panic Attack, reaching its side and again landing a number of blows onto the top panel of Panic Attack, causing Panic Attack to flee the onslaught. Panic Attack quickly recovers and twice is able to get under Mortis with its forks, but on neither occasion is Panic Attack able to launch a successful lift. Mortis pins its axe right between the forks, meaning that it's no longer in danger of being lifted by Panic Attack, so Mortis charges forward, pushing Panic Attack into the wall and very nearly into the clutches of Dead Metal!

Panic Attack finally manages to shake Mortis' axe loose before charging at Mortis. This charge sends Mortis off the ground and Mortis ends up pinned on the back of Panic Attack.

IT'S PIGGYBACK TIME FOR MORTIS!

Mortis can't get off Panic Attack's back, and Panic Attack takes advantage of this by slamming Mortis into the wall before driving it into the clutches of Sir Killalot. Sir Killalot picks up Mortis, crushing part of its backside in the process of lifting it as high as it can lift before dropping it to the floor, allowing Mortis to get back in the fight. Mortis foolishly charges right into the raised forks of Panic Attack, who takes advantage of this and slams Mortis back into the wall. Keeping up the aggression, Mortis stays on the attack and Mortis and Panic Attack end up face-to-face with each other. Mortis continues firing its axe, this time cleaving off a little piece of plastic from Panic Attack, which, while not important to the Panic Attack machine itself, will count for those sweet, sweet damage points.

Mortis getting in some late-fight strikes

Panic Attack manages to get the forks just under Mortis, but Mortis again uses this to their benefit by continuing to fire the axe, now hitting the forks repeatedly. Panic Attack again drives Mortis into the wall as the timer begins to count down, but Mortis escapes and ends the fight using its lifter to just lift Panic Attack off the ground!

An instant classic fight between two great machines, the fight goes to the judges. On Style, Damage, Control, and Aggression, they, in somewhat of an upset, go for Mortis!

This one is interesting, because you could argue that Panic Attack controlled the pace of the fight. It did by far the most slamming and had a number of times where it was driving Mortis around the arena. And I think that's true, so I could see how, after seeing this fight, you could be surprised that Mortis won. But you have to remember, first, that damage points are easily the most important points in the classic series, and, since Panic Attack doesn't really have a weapon, it can't really score damage points. Meanwhile, Mortis, with its rapid-firing axe, can score damage points. Further, by the end of the fight, the top panel of Panic Attack is pretty well caved in. Then you consider that, for a number of those times where Panic Attack lifts Mortis, Mortis was still scoring aggression points since it kept landing axe blows onto Panic Attack even after being lifted. When you factor those two things in, while, yes, it did appear that Panic Attack was controlling the flow of the fight, Mortis did in fact outright win the fight. While it lost control and maybe style (but style is very difficult to judge), it probably either tied on aggression points or just narrowly lost, but it would have won on damage in a landslide either way, giving it the victory.

The other interesting thing (and a sign that, for the producers the bloom was off the rose, as they say, for Mortis) is that this fight is actually two fights spliced together. In the first fight, Mortis defeated Panic Attack on a judges' decision, but the producers wanted Panic Attack to be in the final, so they had them re-fight… and, here, Mortis again defeated Panic Attack on a judges' decision. At this point, the producers decided to just say "screw it" and cut their losses, splicing the two fights together to make them look like one fight! This the only time this happens in the history of the show, with the only other time something close to this happening being Chaos 2's Series 5 heat final against SMIDSY. But that was a completely different context! This case is just a weird amount of producer interference that really doesn't happen at that level again.

Anyways, after a stunning victory over Panic Attack and achieving vengeance for their Series 2 defeat, Mortis is into the finals. With the pride of the United Kingdom on the line and vengeance for the whole Revolutionary War thing at stake, Mortis faces off against frenZy, a 95 kg bot with a giant meat tenderizer hammer as a weapon. Mortis starts the fights off hot, getting under frenZy and flipping it over. Luckily for frenZy, it has a self-righting mechanism, meaning the fight isn't quite over. Mortis and frenZy then attempt to slug it out, exchanging weapon blows. While frenZy's hammer is more powerful, Mortis can do more hits faster.

Mortis and frenZy trading blows!

frenZy's Hammer is no match for the silicon carbide-coated armor of Mortis, and Mortis again gets the better of frenZy, pushing it into Sgt. Bash before flipping it back over. Mortis keeps up the attack, raining axe blows down upon frenZy, who is trying to get their weapon into play, but the body design of Mortis is superior to the rounder frenZy body. Keeping up the pressure on frenZy, Mortis again gets under them. Much like in the Panic Attack fight, this lets frenZy land its hammer onto the body of Mortis, but unlike with Panic Attack, the armor of Mortis is too strong for frenZy to break through!

Mortis flips frenZy onto its side and, while frenZy is able to get back on its wheels, it's clearly in a rough spot! frenZy reverses, trying to put some distance between itself and Mortis, but Mortis stays on the pursuit, again flipping frenZy thanks to frenZy's own momentum. Mortis gets to the body of frenZy again and lands blow after blow after blow into the body of frenZy, who is beginning to slow down, unable to escape the onslaught of the Mortis! Mortis gets under frenZy yet again, who desperately attempts to get its hammer back into play, only to have the mighty hammer blocked by the rapid-firing axe. frenZy is unable to do anything as the axe, with the equivalent of the force of a rifle, continues to mash its armor and electronics! Mortis lands over a dozen blows to frenZy, who just can't do anything to fight off the British machine.

Mortis smashing through the underbelly of frenZy!

Again, frenZy tries to flee, but Mortis keeps up the aggression, charging under frenZy and pinning them down with their axe. Finally, using their lifting arm, they flip over the American machine and rain blows upon the soft underside of frenZy. By this point, frenZy's hammer has long since broken, and, since frenZy can't self-right, the winner by knockout is Mortis!

Having finally won a combat championship, the Mortis team decided to retire from Robot Wars after the 4th wars.

Mortis, champion at last!

It was probably for the best to go out on top. While Mortis was still a solid heat contender, it probably wasn't going to be a championship-caliber robot anymore. In fact, I'd argue that after Series 2 it wasn't a robot that could really compete with the upper echelon of robots in Series 3 and 4. But, as you can see, it was still in the upper… I'd say… third of the Series 4 robots. If that arm doesn't jam, it probably beats Steg 2. It also scored an outright victory over Series 4 top eight finisher (and Sumo Basho Champion!) Panic Attack. Mortis was always a good robot, a true contender in the early years of Robot Wars. While it did fall off a little bit, falling out of true contention in Series 4, it was still a very solid robot and I'm happy it was able to go out on top with a combat championship, something that quite a few "better" robots never managed to achieve!

That's all for this month's What's in a Campaign?. Join me next month as I look at another robot from the hit series Robot Wars.

Genie's Lamp

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

When a company has been prominent for a long time like Nintendo, you tend to build up some weird stories. I ran across this one and the circumstances surrounding it tickled my funny bone, so I thought, what the heck, let's make it a Pipe Plaza section! So today I'm going to tell you about that time a company thought Nintendo would probably sue them, so they sued Nintendo first! Yeah, I'm writing a 'Shroom section about a lawsuit. Don't worry, it'll be fun!

I have to start off with a bit of background before we get into the fun suing part. Way back in the mythical era known as the late 1980s, the British video game developer Codemasters wanted to make games for the hot console sweeping the world, the NES. Their founder went to a trade show where Nintendo representatives were present to talk to them about it, but he didn't have an appointment, so they wouldn't let him! He didn't really like that, so he just went Thanos mode and decided "fine, I'll do it myself", and Codemasters began working to reverse engineer the NES so they could make their own game development kit. And it worked! In the process, they figured out how to make attachments to NES cartridges that could intercept and modify game data. You can probably tell where this is going.

Was one of your wishes an extended legal battle?

With this newfound knowledge, Codemasters developed the Game Genie, which let you cheat at NES games! To distribute it in the United States, Codemasters approached the toy company Galoob. Both of them knew that Nintendo would probably be a little bit miffed about them selling this thing that messed with their games, so they pre-emptively sued Nintendo two months ahead of the planned July 1990 launch, hoping for the court to declare that the Game Genie didn't infringe on Nintendo's copyrights. They also filed an injunction to prevent Nintendo from interfering with the Game Genie's sales. The Big N didn't really like that, and counterclaimed with their own injunction to prevent the Game Genie from being sold in the US. They argued that the Game Genie infringed on their exclusive right to make derivative works of their own games. Nintendo won on that front, and Galoob wasn't allowed to sell the Game Genie while the case was unresolved.

Interestingly, while all this was going on, the Game Genie was being sold in Canada just fine! Nintendo tried doing some legal action up there too, but it got dismissed.

Meanwhile, thanks to the efficiency and expediency of the American legal system, the case finally got a ruling in July 1991, a whole year after the Game Genie was supposed to launch! The judge ruled in Galoob's favor, determining that since consumers bought the game, they were free to experiment with and modify it for personal enjoyment without creating a derivative work - and that, alternatively, even if it was a derivative work, it would still fall under fair use anyway. The injunction was lifted, finally allowing the Game Genie to be sold in the United States, and Nintendo had to pay $15 million to Galoob for lost sales and cover all their legal fees.

But the story doesn't end there, because when you don't like a decision made against you, naturally, you appeal! That's exactly what Nintendo did, but it didn't get them anywhere. The appeals court upheld the lower ruling, adding that because the Game Genie didn't make any permanent changes to the cartridge, it wasn't creating a new derivative work at all. Also, Nintendo couldn't demonstrate that the Game Genie hurt their sales, because it didn't! You needed to buy NES games to do anything with it in the first place, so it couldn't possibly hinder demand for them. Nintendo later tried to appeal the $15 million award to Galoob, but the appeals court upheld that too.

So that's the story of how the Game Genie came to be. It's had some interesting implications for gaming over the years, paving the way for similar devices like the Action Replay and GameShark, while unfortunately leaving things like modding in a legal gray area because, whoops, that's creating a derivative work. The moral of the story? Cheating is perfectly okay as long as you're not making a new version of the game to do it, and when in doubt, always sue the other guy first!

The 'Shroom: Issue 205
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • Credits
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
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