The 'Shroom:Issue 209/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

Goooooood day 'Shroom readers!! Awards were a great time! There were so many 'oh le banger's! Seriously, every year I am just amazed by the things y'all create for this. It's my favorite event of the year for a reason, I guess ^^

You may remember last month I mentioned moving to an apartment. I've been here for about two weeks now, and I'm loving it so far!! My roommates are very lovely and we all get along fabulously so it's a great time so far. Still in the middle of trying to find a job right now which sucks but it's fine I'll get there eventually. It just annoys me that people say no one wants to work when really, no one wants to follow up with me on over half of the places I've applied to...

Anyways, we've got some super cool and awesome sections for you to check out this month! If you want to become one of the super cool and awesome people who writes those sections, just head on over to the sign up page to find out more!

That's all I've got for you here, I hope the rest of your month goes well!

Section of the Month

Congratulations to this month's winners! We have a tie for first place, Shoey (talk) with What's in a Campaign? and GPM1000 (talk) with Mario Calendar! Waluigi Time (talk) rounds us out at third with The 'Shroom Report! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st What's in a Campaign? 4 36.36% Shoey (talk)
1st Mario Calendar 4 36.36% GPM1000 (talk)
3rd The 'Shroom Report 2 18.18% Waluigi Time (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
Anniversary Announcements
Lakituthequick (talk)
The ongoings of the Mario Awards.
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
I know a few Erics. None of them are robots though...
read more

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Happy August, everyone! It's always a shame to see summer fly by so quickly, but here we are in the final full month. Let's cheer ourselves up with a new issue of Mario Calendar!

Region Abbreviations

Abb. Region
ALL All Regions (JP/NA/EU/AU)
JP Japan
NA North America
EU Europe
AU Oceania/Australia
SK South Korea
CHN China
UK United Kingdom

Console Abbreviations

Abb. Console
NES Nintendo Entertainment System
Famicom Family Computer Disk System
SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System
N64 Nintendo 64
GC Nintendo GameCube
GB Game Boy
GBC Game Boy Color
GBA Game Boy Advance
DS Nintendo DS
3DS Nintendo 3DS
Switch Nintendo Switch
Wii VC Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
3DS VC Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
Wii U VC Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console
VB Virtual Boy
G&W Game and Watch
64DD Nintendo 64 Disk Drive
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
CD-i Philips CD-i
IQ iQue Player
NVS Nvidia Shield
ACPC Amstrad CPC
ZX ZX Spectrum
Coleco Colecovision
TI-99 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A


I honestly forgot just how slow this month really was. I'm always so shocked to see the sudden jump from the 11th to the 17th - generally, after years of doing these Mario Calendars, I have come to expect to see SOME sort of release almost every day of the month. Obviously, there will be gaps, but it is rare that you see one larger than a couple of days. Therefore, seeing such a significant one is very surprising to me. In the ~40 years of Mario history, there has not been a single Mario-adjacent game released on any of those days. Super interesting to think about!

It's also pretty representative of this month as a whole, because there's just not a lot going on when it comes to initial releases. Super Mario Kart came out in Japan for the first time, which is obviously super significant - as Mario fans, we should all definitely be thankful that this game came out. Other notable ones are Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Paper Mario, and Yoshi's Island.

Have a great rest of your month, and I'll see you next time!

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! It's Waluigi Time here again, representing the Fourteenth Poll Committee for the second time.

Archives

"Mario & Sonic" has not had a new installment since the 2020 Olympics. Would you like to see the return of this series? (Peachao (talk), July 6th, 2024)

"Mario & Sonic" has not had a new installment since the 2020 Olympics. Would you like to see the return of this series?

I would enjoy a "Mario & Sonic" crossover not focusing on the Olympics 25.65% (737 votes)
I would greatly enjoy it if "Mario & Sonic" returned 23.84% (685 votes)
I don't mind if "Mario & Sonic" returns, but I don't strongly want it. 18.27% (525 votes)
I would enjoy it if "Mario & Sonic" returned 13.3% (382 votes)
I have no opinion 9.64% (277 votes)
I wouldn't enjoy any further Mario & Sonic crossovers whatsoever. 3.38% (97 votes)
I would only be interested in a return for "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games" 2.78% (80 votes)
I wouldn't like it if "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" were to return. 2.19% (63 votes)
I would only be interested in seeing "Mario & Sonic" return on a console other than the Switch 0.94% (27 votes)
Total Votes: 2,873

Several Super Mario platformers have featured a challenging final level after completing the rest of the game. Which one is your favorite? (Waluigi Time (talk), July 20th, 2024)

Several Super Mario platformers have featured a challenging final level after completing the rest of the game. Which one is your favorite?

Darker Side (Super Mario Odyssey) 18.87% (397 votes)
Champion's Road (Super Mario 3D World) 16.44% (346 votes)
Grandmaster Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2) 16.35% (344 votes)
I have not played any of these levels. 14.35% (302 votes)
The Final-Final Test Badge Marathon (Super Mario Bros. Wonder) 12.4% (261 votes)
I like all of these levels. 8.41% (177 votes)
I have no opinion. 5.8% (122 votes)
I do not like any of these levels. 4.09% (86 votes)
Special 8-Crown (Super Mario 3D Land) 3.28% (69 votes)
Total Votes: 2,104

Most games in the Mario Kart series have introduced a new iteration of the Rainbow Road course. Which do you favor the most? (MightyMario (talk), August 3rd, 2024)

Several Super Mario platformers have featured a challenging final level after completing the rest of the game. Which one is your favorite?

Mario Kart Wii 24.94% (648 votes)
Mario Kart 7 22.52% (585 votes)
I like all of the Rainbow Road courses 17.4% (452 votes)
Mario Kart 8/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 8.85% (230 votes)
Mario Kart 64 8.35% (217 votes)
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! 6.31% (164 votes)
Mario Kart DS 4.54% (118 votes)
Super Mario Kart 2.89% (75 votes)
I dislike the Rainbow Road courses 2.27% (59 votes)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit 0.96% (25 votes)
Mario Kart Tour (RMX Rainbow Road) 0.96% (25 votes)
Total Votes: 2,598

Analysis

"Mario & Sonic" has not had a new installment since the 2020 Olympics. Would you like to see the return of this series?

Mario and Sonic shaking hands
A friendship that transcends licensing agreements?

We still have the magical ability to spawn poll-related news out of thin air! This one by Peachao (talk) has been sitting on the backburner for a little while, and then just after we ran it, news breaks that the International Olympic Committee didn't renew its licensing back in 2020 because they wanted to focus on NFTs and esports. Looks like that's the end for Mario & Sonic as we know it for now.

But that might not be too disappointing to all of our voters! Our most picked option with 25.65% of the votes is for wanting to see a crossover between the two franchises that doesn't focus on the Olympics at all. I've only played a couple of the Mario & Sonic games, but to my understanding, after making installments for six of the Olympic Games, it was starting to get stale and the entries were decreasing in quality. It would make sense that fans might want to see the crossovers take a different direction. I assume there's nothing stopping Nintendo and Sega from doing this if they want to, so maybe we just might see something new someday. (After all, who would've expected a tactical crossover between Mario and the Rabbids?)

The rest of the results seem mostly positive for Mario & Sonic coming back in some form. 23.84% would really enjoy a return of the series, with another 13.3% who would also enjoy it, but not as much. In between those two we have the 18.27% of voters who wouldn't mind seeing another Mario & Sonic game, but aren't necessarily clamoring for another one.

After getting past the 9.64% of voters who have no opinion on the series' potential return, we come down to the negative options and the more specific options. 3.38% of voters don't want to see any more Mario & Sonic crossovers at all, whether they focus on the Olympics or not. This is probably just people who don't like the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and maybe a few who don't like Super Mario crossovers in general. Jumping ahead a little bit, 2.19% don't want a return to the Olympics-based Mario & Sonic games, but are presumably open to other crossovers.

Now for those more specific options, which we added taking into account the criticism of the series being stale. We haven't seen a new entry based on the Winter Olympics since 2013 on the Wii U, while there's been two more entries based on the regular Olympics since then. However, only 2.78% of voters said they would only be interested in a new Winter Olympics entry. Finally, in dead last, a mere 0.94% of voters said they'd only be interested in a new Mario & Sonic game if it was on a console other than the Switch, perhaps its long-rumored successor, to have a larger release gap. I guess more time wouldn't help.

Several Super Mario platformers have featured a challenging final level after completing the rest of the game. Which one is your favorite?

Starting area of Grandmaster Galaxy
Getting a boost by abandoning Yoshi probably won't help much here.

Oh hey, it's my poll! I actually thought of this one as an idea for the Awards while I was suffering through the Badge Marathon, but there actually aren't that many of them, so I nominated it as a poll instead. Covering this one might be a little tricky since it comes down largely to matters of preference and what games you've played, but I'll try to make the most out of it!

Kicking things off, we have Darker Side, Champion's Road, and Grandmaster Galaxy in the top three, with 18.87%, 16.44%, and 16.35% of the votes, respectively. (Only a two vote difference between Champion's Road and Grandmaster!) What's interesting right off the bat is that votes increase for these levels as time goes on. Uh, I have to admit that I haven't played any of these levels because I never got around to 100% completion of these three, so I'll be speculating a little here! To me, this suggests that Nintendo has been getting better at designing these challenge levels as time goes on. You could also argue that simple recency bias is a factor, although Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury technically makes Champion's Road the most recently released one on this list... And I'm not going to get into the mess of actual sales, so I'm just going to move on!

Next up, 14.35% of voters haven't played a single one of these levels! That number may seem surprising since we're talking about the mainline platformers here, but I would argue the contrary. After all, a lot of players are casual - they're content to beat the game and move on without seeing absolutely everything it has to offer and grabbing all the collectibles. Also, a lot of these games have some tedious objectives that make getting to 100% a chore. Galaxy 2's Green Stars, 3D World forcing you to play every level with each character, and Odyssey with some of its notorious Power Moons like the Jump-Rope Challenge, Beach Volleyball, and Shiverian racing. It's not as simple as just looking up a walkthrough to find a few elusive Star Coins!

12.4% of voters picked The Final-Final Test Badge Marathon, trailing a bit behind the first three, but that's to be expected and I don't think it's a knock against Wonder or anything. After all, the 2D games are usually less popular than the 3D ones, and Wonder is still less than a year old. Besides Odyssey, the rest of these games have had over a decade for players to experience these levels! If anything, it getting as much support as it did is actually impressive. (That being said, this might confirm that 12.4% of voters are also masochists.)

Now some catch-all options that I don't have much to say about. 8.41% of voters liked all of the levels and couldn't pick a favorite. 5.8% had no opinion, so they've probably played at least some of them but don't have a strong like or dislike for them. Finally, 4.09% of voters didn't like any of these levels! Fair enough. Difficult challenges in games aren't everyone's cup of tea.

And uh, dead last, oof... Special 8-Crown with only 3.28% votes. The passage of time has made 3D Land arguably the most "obscure" of the 3D platformers at this point, but at the time, it was a big hit with lots of sales! I was a pretty big fan of 3D Land myself back in the day, and it was the first Super Mario platformer I ever got to 100% completion. I don't think it's just a lack of people who played the game, so have the rest of these levels really outclassed it? To be honest, it's been so long since I played that I don't even remember Special 8-Crown very well (judging by these numbers, maybe I'm not the only one), so I jogged my memory real quick and... yeah, it's not that challenging, is it? It's not like it's a cakewalk, but it's nowhere near the difficulty level of the other ones on this list, especially if you bring Super Leaves.

Most games in the Mario Kart series have introduced a new iteration of the Rainbow Road course. Which do you favor the most?

Wii Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Hopefully there's a trophy of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Our last poll this month comes from our Chairperson MightyMario (talk) based on an external submission. I don't have very strong opinions on Mario Kart tracks so hopefully this analysis won't suck!

Our top two options by a pretty significant margin are the iterations of Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7, with 24.94% and 22.52% of the votes, respectively. On the forums, a Wii voter praised the music and also cited nostalgia as a factor, and voters for 7 were especially fond of how it leaned more heavily into the space theme. Next, we have the 17.4% of voters who just couldn't decide and said that they liked all of them. After that we're back to individual Rainbow Roads, and the numbers drop quite a bit. 8 and 64 are the next two, with 8.85% and 8.35% of the votes, respectively.

I'm going to point out the elephant in the room here, and that's recency! As of the Booster Course Pass, all of the iterations of Rainbow Road mentioned so far are playable in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The versions of Rainbow Road from Super Circuit, Double Dash!!, and DS, on the other hand, haven't reappeared at all since their debut games!

Double Dash!! and DS come next, with 6.31% and 4.54% of the votes, respectively. We didn't get any comments from DS supporters, but one Double Dash!! voter highlighted the music, scenery, and the wind tunnel towards the end as factors that put it above other iterations of the course. Next, we have Super Mario Kart at 2.89% of votes. This is kind of the odd one out for recency, because it's also part of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but it's one of the worst performing tracks on this poll. I can see why, though. It's very simple compared to later iterations, and just not that fun in general, in my opinion. Speaking of not fun, 2.27% of voters said that they dislike all the Rainbow Road courses. Fair enough! Rainbow Road has always been one of the more challenging courses and can involve a lot of falling off.

Finally, Super Circuit and RMX Rainbow Road from Tour tied for last place at only 0.96% of the vote each. Rainbow Road from Super Circuit has never returned, and it's a pretty old game now (although it has been re-released a few times), so I'd guess the amount of people who actually played this, let alone picked it as their favorite, is low. That being said, apparently you can throw yourself off the edge to complete it as fast as possible according to one user who voted for it, and I can respect that. As for Tour, the gameplay style is pretty different from standard Mario Kart, and it's just new layouts for the Super Mario Kart version instead of a wholly new track, so I'm not surprised that it didn't get much traction.

Conclusion

Wow, that was a lot of words! You probably don't want to read anything else I have to say, so I'll sign off here. Come back next month for more polls!

Anniversary Announcements

Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)

“Is this where we start getting people saying "wow the site is older than me lol" and the rest of us disintegrate?”
—Waluigi Time (talk · Boards)

Hello everyone, and welcome to Anniversary Announcements, where we nerdy Mario fans talk about awards! What do you mean I've used this intro concept before? Do you remember each of them?

Updates

The Mario Awards ceremonies of 2024 are a fact! As was the slogan of the night, it was "oh le banger", thanks to everyone who presented and talked during the event!
If you want to read them all back, do visit the awards board and check out the ceremony threads, and be sure to read the responses on Discord!

Tournaments

In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.

Archipelago Multi-World Randomizer Event
No news is to be reported since last month.
The event is ongoing, with players gradually progressing as co-operation allows.
Amusing Awards Artifact Adventure
The game has finished, with team Cleanup Crew (consisting of Hooded Pitohui, Toadettefan, and Mr. Edo) winning with a total of five artifacts. Congratulations to all players!
THE Scribble Smorgasbord
A new entry in the Scribble series of games, hosted by last year's winner as per tradition.
This game is about making a drawing to a prompt in a timeframe of four hours, on a small square canvas with only white, black, and a single colour personal to each player.
Awards Hunger Games
A The Hunger Games themed role playing game in which user-submitted characters are put in a randomizer to determine the flow of the game. In between each event, players play out the characters' responses.

And that concludes AA for August. See you again next month!

The 'Shroom Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! I have exciting news, or at least exciting for me. My shilling last month worked! I hinted that no one's ever reviewed The Origami King for the paper and bam, we got one now - and it's even multiple parts! All part of my not-very-secret plan to get more sections for The 'Shroom. But that's what's going on right now, so for a minute I'd like to take us back to what happened last month in Issue 208, the big summer special. Thank you as always to Meta Knight for the spreadsheet upkeep!

For new readers or anyone needing a refresher, please open the box below.

​

Categories that are not applicable this month are crossed out.

  • First-Time Writers lists everyone who wrote their first section for The 'Shroom in the previous issue.
  • New Sections lists recurring sections that started their run in the previous issue. This includes returning sections that previously went inactive.
  • Guest Sections lists one-off submissions from the previous issue.
  • 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.
First-Time Writers
Writer Section
Catydoll409 (talk) De Millenniumpoort, or a Girl Talking about a Localization
DryBonesBandit (talk) Studying Abroad
Guest Sections
Section Writer
Studying Abroad DryBonesBandit (talk)
Logic Puzzle Meta Knight (talk)
Musical Quiz Waluigi Time (talk)
Community Art HedgehogGaming
My Thoughts on TTYD Boo1268
Super Ninelevendo Entertainment Reviews Ninelevendo (talk)
Respect For Ms. Mowz Sparks (talk)
Cosmo In Rogueport TheBlueCatMenace
De Millenniumpoort, or a Girl Talking about a Localization Catydoll409 (talk)
Paper 'Shroom: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure The 'Shroom Staff
PM:TTYD Casual Badge Tier List Ninelevendo (talk)
Milestones
Writer/Team Milestone
Hypnotoad (talk) 250 overall sections
MightyMario (talk) 10 Pipe Plaza sections
Roserade (talk) 70 Fun Stuff sections
Shoey (talk) 400 overall sections
Waluigi Time (talk) 350 overall 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) 142
Palette Swap FunkyK38 (talk) 199
Pipe Plaza Yoshi876 (talk) 128
Critic Corner Hypnotoad (talk) 188
Strategy Wing Yoshi876 (talk) 115
Overall Yoshi876 (talk) 747
'Shroom Trivia
By byte count, Paper 'Shroom: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure is the biggest 'Shroom section ever! All of its routes combined come to a total of a whopping 690,000 bytes. The previous record holder was Issue 175's Awards Analysis, at "only" around 230,000 bytes.

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign?, Pipe Plaza's premier section primarily focusing on the Robot Wars classic series. Last month, I covered Gemini, an innovative Series 4 heat finalist who I don't like! This month, we're covering one of the biggest memes in Robot Wars, Eric, a series 4 heat finalist who I do like!

The Ericoning begins!

Built by Mike Hammerton, Ian Nicholson, and Bruce Nicholson, Eric is a two-wheeled robot with a very striking paint job designed to make it look like a dragon. Featuring a spatula-styled lifter as its main weapon, Eric has a very unique twist on a very common early-series weapon. Eric's weapon is a lifter, something you see a lot before high-powered flippers become super common. Now, you might be asking what the difference is between a lifter and a flipper, and it mostly comes down to power and use. A flipper throws your opponent high in the air, whereas a lifter lifts up your opponent, allowing you to get under them and drive them around. Lifters also tended to use less CO2 with each lift since they weren't as powerful. I would say lifters are more common before Series 5, when the weight limit goes up from 80kg to 100kg. As the technology advances, it becomes clear that high-powered flippers are superior to lifters in every way. Flippers are faster, more powerful, and, most importantly, can be used as self-righting mechanisms. Lifters can't fill this crucial role because they aren't powerful enough. For example, in Series 4, Eric sports two side arms for a self-righting mechanism, whereas most flipper robots can just use their flippers to self-right. Really, when it comes right down to it, a flipper is just a superior version of a lifter.

Anyways, most lifters are pneumatic-powered, and the same is true of flippers, so most lifters run off CO2. Not Eric's though! Eric's lifting system is hydraulic-powered! In fact, Eric has the only hydraulic-powered lifter in the entire series! Maybe the only one ever in robot combat! The advantage of this is that Eric's lifter can lift up to 200kg, meaning that Eric's spatula-like lifter can easily flip over a robot if it gets the right angle. It also allows it to function as a secondary weapon. On the inside of the lifting arm are spike-like teeth. If a robot got caught in Eric's lifting jaws, the lifter can function as a crusher that crushes with the force of 1.25 tonnes because, man, if there is one thing early Robot Wars loves, it's useless secondary weapons!

Now, the big downside of a hydraulic system is that almost half the robot's weight is taken up by the weapon system. Eric weighs 80kg and the weapon system weights 30kg! That means that, once you factor in other motors to, you know, power the robot itself, there's not a lot of room for, you know, armor. What armor Eric does have is aluminum and stainless steel, so it's not great. With a top speed of 12mph, Eric looks the part of a dragon flying around the arena!

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. If you'd like to watch any of these fights, check out this video. There's even a special bonus Eric fight from Series 3! Timestamps are provided in the section.

First appearing in Series 3 after having qualified through the gauntlet, Eric had been placed in kind of the early equivalent of a Heat of Death. Placed in Heat J, a heat with 4 robots that would go on to be Series 4 seeds, Eric put on a great showing against Series 2 Top Eight-finisher King Buxton, nearly defeating King Buxton before accidentally pitting itself while trying to pit the favored machine. To qualify for Series 4 ,Eric defeated future-decent-flipper-with-a-great-name Killer Carrot on a judge's decision.

Placed inside Heat I, which is one of Series 4's few Opportunity Heats (a term I heard on a Robot Wars podcast to describe a heat with no obvious favorite) Looking at the seeded robots in this heat, Eric was up against Killerhurtz, who was seeded 16th despite having 0 wins and 4 losses in UK combat, and Centurion, who was given the 31st seed despite winning only one fight in Series 3. See, if you have 32 seeds, eventually nonsense robots are gonna start getting them!

In its opening round match, Eric was matched up with the 16th-seeded Killerhurtz, a robot that always seemed to do well everywhere but Robot Wars, as well as future Robot Wars: The Game (the official board game!) playable character (for some reason), Destruct-A-Bubble! Now, you'd think that since Destruct-A-Bubble is a huge, well, bubble with no self-righter, this should be an easy KO victory for Eric right? Well, no! You idiot, this is early Robot Wars, nothing can be that simple!

The fight (4:26) starts with Eric going not for the giant paper-mache-looking bubble, but instead turning to fight Killerhurtz! Who promptly ignores Eric to instead take on the giant paper-mache-looking bubble! Insulted, Eric bumps into Killerhurtz before using its lifter to gently lift Destruct-A-Bubble just a tiny bit off the ground. Eric then remembers that his true foe, the only enemy that matters, is Killerhurtz, and the two charge at each other with Killerhurtz riding up and over Eric, so, you know, that's a point for Eric! Killerhurtz then goes back to fighting Destruct-A-Bubble, putting its spiked axe inside Destruct-A-Bubble's "armor".

What are you doing, Eric? Lift the big bubble!

Eric takes advantage of this by getting behind Killerhurtz and lifting it with its lifter. Killerhurtz drives away like a coward in the face of such hydraulic might as Eric rams (bumps) into Destruct-A-Bubble. Eric pushes Destruct-A-Bubble around for a little bit, not able or maybe not trying to get under them. Killerhurtz gets back into the battle, charging into Destruct-A-Bubble and pushing it into the arena wall. Again though, Eric takes advantage of this by getting to the back of Killerhurtz, lifting Killerhurtz up and nearly flipping it over! Killerhurtz gets away though and repositions itself for an attack, slamming Destruct-A-Bubble into the wall. Eric goes in for another attack on Destruct-A-Bubble, perhaps doing what it was always meant to do and planning to flip Destruct-A-Bubble over. Killerhurtz has other plans, blocking Eric and driving its axe right through Eric's weak armor.

Maybe our weapon system shouldn't have been 37% of our total weight...

The axe of Killerhurtz gets stuck in Eric (which tends to happen with spike-tipped axes) and Destruct-A-Bubble joins the fray with what I guess is legally an attack, bumping into its opponents in a pile-up of robot violence. Finally, Killerhurtz and Eric get free, with Killerhurtz eventually putting its axe right between Destruct-A-Bubble's eyes! Eric than gets another lift on Killerhurtz, pulling the axe bot out of Destruct-A-Bubble. Destruct-A-Bubble then pushes Killerhurtz into the arena wall as the mother-in-law tongue spike shoots out. As time winds down, Eric manages to get one last lift on Killerhurtz! The fight goes to the judges, and, if this was between Eric and Killerhurtz it would probably be close, but Destruct-A-Bubble just so happened to be there and did somewhere between jack and shit. Destruct-A-Bubble is easily eliminated, sending Eric into the second round!

In the second round, Eric was matched up against Small Torque, the successor to All Torque, which was a pretty solid Series 2 and Series 3 machine. Small Torque is kind of a strange robot. Its weapon is a small spinning disc that can also function as a third wheel if it gets flipped over. It's okay, but its disc is really small and, like, outside of Pussycat's, most small discs don't really do much! Anyways! The fight begins (8:34) with the two machines driving around aimlessly until Small Torque gets to the back of Eric, slicing it with its spinning disc! Eric escapes and Small Torque pursues.

Never change, Bash. Never change.

The two robots attempt to size each other up, with Small Torque getting the advantage and getting an attack on one of the wheels of Eric. Eric then gets around to the side of Small Torque and pushes the fast machine around for a bit, pushing it near the flame pit. Small Torque escapes and again gets to the wheels of Eric, scoring more damage points. Eric flees and Small Torque gives chase, but Small Torque drives too fast, driving out of control and right into the CPZ where Sgt. Bash waits! The good Sgt. does Sgt. Bash things, AKA basically nothing! Bash really only pushes Small Torque around a little bit, but this does allow Eric to get a solid ram in! Now on the offensive, Eric gives chase to a now-fleeing Small Torque, managing to get under it and to flip Small Torque over with the lifter!

200KG OF RAW HYDRAULIC POWER!!!

Now, Small Torque can run both ways up and it even has got a bonus wheel now! Unfortunately, it doesn't have a weapon, which I hear is a negative for most robots, not that it really matters! Eric gets another charge in, Small Torque attempts to back away, and then Small Torque just stops. See, Small Torque had a problem with overheating and had a specially-designed cooling system to prevent that. Well, the system didn't work and the internals of Small Torque caught fire. Smoke begins pouring out of Small Torque as it's declared immobile, sending Eric into the heat finals!

In the heat final, Eric fought Splinter. Now, in Series 5, Splinter would add an axe as a weapon, but in Series 4, Splinter is a control bot with a wedge made to absorb blows and claws to grab its opponent so it can drive them around the arena. While equipped with two weapons, they can't self-right and they do weigh less than the 200kg Eric is said to be able to lift. The fight (13:38) begins with Splinter charging at Eric, attempting to grab them, but Eric dodges and watches on as Splinter crashes into the arena wall. So that's, you know, a control point to Eric!

Eric, pictured here taking it.

Eric then charges in, hitting Splinter head-on with a nice ram, but they aren't able to get under them, so they pull back. The two robots size each other up when Eric decides to attempt a flip, getting in and firing its lifter, but, despite the attempt, they aren't able to get under Splinter again. Eric attempts to reposition, allowing Splinter to get to the back of Eric. Then, with a powerful drive, Splinter rams Eric into Shunt's CPZ where Shunt puts his diamond-tipped axe right through Eric!

Splinter continues to ram Eric into the wall as Shunt also connects with some rams from the big bulldozer blade. Splinter lets go of Eric and both robots flee from the House Robot.

Inches away from greatness!

Eric, who is spinning around as Splinter comes in for an attack, briefly gets under Splinter, but they aren't able to launch the lifter. Instead, Splinter gets ahold of them again, slamming them into the arena spike. Splinter continues to drive Eric around, sending them into the arena wall. Eric manages to escape and the two robots drive around each other, each looking for an advantage. Eric charges in and, with a mighty lift, gets Splinter on its side! But Splinter's side arms just barely allow Splinter to fall back on its wheels! Eric continues on the attack, getting another lift on Splinter, but this one just puts Splinter in the air a little bit.

Splinter manages to get to the side of Eric, using its wedge to get under Eric's side. It drives Eric around, but it can't really do anything. Eric escapes, but this only allows Splinter to get to the back of Eric, which in turn allows Splinter to ram Eric into the wall one last time as time expires. The fight goes to the judges, and, well, I spoiled it in the opening paragraph. They go for Splinter, sending Splinter into the semi-finals and Eric home. Of course, this heat win turned out to be a bit of a cursed prize since the winner's semi-final opponent was Hypno-Disc, who would go onto reduce Splinter to this:

It's like the Robot Wars equivalent of a snuff film!

So maybe Eric was lucky in losing this fight...

I like Eric. It's a fun robot. As much as I like it, there was certainly a ceiling it couldn't break through, forever being a solid heat finalist/first round semi-finalist caliber of robot.

Please just let him rest!

I don't think Eric was ever a championship contender. In Series 3, I think there were a number of heats it could have won and I think it could have made a heat final in almost all of them. In Series 4, though, I think it was a solid heat final-caliber robot that, in the right heat (like the one it was actually in), could have made the semi-finals. But I don't think there's any Series 4 semi-finalists it could have beaten unless it got lucky enough to match up against Mousetrap. While never championship material Eric was/is a popular robot in the Robot Wars community. Its fun design and silly name made it a classic Robot Wars meme for years.

Eric never returned after Series 4, having been sold to the Mute team, who then sold it to Team Riptide Robotics. That team intended to and eventually did modernize Eric for the modern robot combat scene, but before they did that, they actually attempted to enter the original Eric, mostly unchanged from Series 4 (hydraulic lifting systems are now banned in the UK, so they had to switch to a regular electric lifting system), into Robot Wars Series 9 and 10. While they were rejected because obviously, duh, they did enter Eric into a few live scene battles where they were unsurprisingly destroyed because, again, obviously, duh. This run includes one notable fight where Gabriel basically murdered it! But in 2023, Eric's upgrades finished! A new Eric has been born! Perhaps now we're going to usher in the era of Eric we've always deserved! But, uh, probably not!

That's all for this month! Join me for next month's What's in a Campaign?, where I look at another robot!

The 'Shroom: Issue 209
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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