The 'Shroom:Issue II
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| Issue II | February 3, 2007 | About The 'Shroom |
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Neuron Mysteries
In the Yoshi’s Story level Neuron Jungle, melons are hard to come by. Most elusive of all is the last melon, which is invisible to all but the greediest of dinos. To find the last juicy fruit, every single loose coin in the jungle must be pocketed, making a melon appear by Miss Warp #4. Another secret to look out for here: From Miss Warp #1, go left and drop between a gap between a blue and yellow Neuron. Presto! A melon falls from the sky. Finally, after collecting this melon, trot left again to a red Neuron. It guards a secret; so pound it until it relents. Follow where the sign points, then fall right onto a couple of ledges with another pair of blue and yellow Neurons. Collect the trove of coins; shoot the melon in the bubble; ground-pound the ledge below the blue Neuron, and finally leap into the warp vase for a minigame race! Dive into the waters, collecting coins a Yoshi swims, and, hopefully, uncover seven melons. Oh, and those letters that appear when Yoshi eats a Heart Fruit are a secret, too! In each level, try to eat every melon, for eating six will cause a Heat Fruit to fall from the sky. Every so often, when a Heart Fruit is eaten, it will trigger a coin formation. Each level contains a formation in the shape of a letter. Spell them out for a message from Yoshi!
More Yoshi Secrets
The Character Coins of Yoshi’s Island DS are fun to collect… but some are extremely well hidden. For instance, the level High Speed Cart Race! contains a very elusive Baby DK coin. To collect it, it is advised not to ride the cart after going through a pipe blocked by a Wild Ptooie Piranha. Instead, leap over the cart, race to the highest part of the slope, and leap into the air. Flutter, flutter, FLUTTER until Yoshi hits wall, then drop down and switch to DK at the Stork Stop. Use his dash ability to slam over the flippers, then hit a switch and climb to the coin. Priscilla the Peckish also has a very well hidden Coin. In the second area of the castle, begin by going right. Jump over the spike pit, but wait! A bottomless pit! Or is it? There’s no reason to trust a gaping hole in the ground, but jump on in. It’s the entrance to a secret chamber that contains another DK Coin!
Flowers, too, are quite annoying sometimes. Especially in the World 5 level ‘’Find the Number Ball!’’ The first waits at the end of the first stretch. After the Hot Lips finishes blasting lava, shoot an egg and retrieve the first Flower. Run through the Number Ball area, and enter the main cave. Jump on the small ledge and shoot an egg at the Arrow Cloud; it’ll run a circuit and unlock a staircase. Now grab Baby DK at the Stork Stop and grab the Swing Hard. Jump off it to the vine and climb up to the top. Keep to the right and hop up the staircase. Grab the 2 Ball and use Baby Mario to make a staircase of M Blocks, but DK must climb another vine to the 3 Ball. Shoot the cloud to make a rope fall, then climb it to a door. In this area, slurp torches and melt block for a Stork Stop and a Flower. Switch to Mario here, too. Exit through the door on the right, leap on a Spring Ball, and shoot a Flower high above Yoshi’s head. Shoot two eggs where the arrows point; one to grab the key, another to propel it through the flippers. Retreat back to the main cave. Go down, down, and down to where the Winged Cloud staircase once was, but on the way, melt the ice again and switch to Baby Peach. Ground-pound through a large dirt-clogged chute for a 1 Ball. Go through the door, shoot the balls in their nooks, and use the key on a locked door. Now, catch the breeze with Peach and glide to a Flower near a spinning Fire Bar. On the left, hit the switch, and ground-pound back to the door. Get back to the main cave again, and then leap to the ledge (again). But now, instead of the Arrow Cloud, shoot the checkered block for a platform. Jump on it, then shoot the last Flower! Oh, and you can finish the level by yourself, can’t you? Good.
Hello again, game enthusiasts! This month I will be unveiling my review of Paper Mario: The Tousand-Year Door. Also, this time, I’ll be adding a rating system, out of 5 stars. Also, a plus is half a star, so ***+ means 3½ stars. Got it? OK, here we go!
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the Gamecube-released sequel to the original Paper Mario on the N64. Released in October 2004, this sequel, like all sequels, had a lot to live up to.
Gameplay-****
One day, Mario gets a letter from Peach, with a treasure map enclosed. Apparently, Peach found the map and wanted Mario to help her look for the treasure. But when Mario sets foot into the town where they were supposed to meet, something does not bode well. The princess is nowhere to be found and there are these weird people asking about some mysterious objects said to hold great power…
The story in this game is divided into Chapters, with each Chapter spanning one part of the game, much like the original. The world itself is massive, and you’ll want to enlist some help via Warp Pipes to travel efficiently. Along the way, you’ll meet an interesting cast of characters, some of which are friendly; others, not so much. Like the original, you’ll battle enemies to gain experience points which you can use to level up and increase Mario’s stats. The controls in this game can take some getting used to, although they’re fairly self-explanatory, and much like the original. Movement is the control stick, A is jump, B is Hammer, X is partner ability, and the Start button brings up a menu with all of Mario’s collectibles. There is more to this game than this one article can cover, so you’ll just have to play it and see.
One real problem with the game, however, is it gets repetitive at times, and will require a fairly lengthy amount (read: a lot) of backtracking. However, these segments usually don’t last very long, and the game usually does a good job of knowing when to quit.
Sound-***+
Renowned for it's happy, quirky sound effects, the Mario series now prevents a game that will not disappoint. Some gamers may get annoyed with Mario’s jumping exclamations (Hoo! Yah! Whoo!) and perhaps some of the battle noises too (this reviewer included) , but in the end, it’s all in good fun. The music in this game also provides some nice adversity, from the happy-go-lucky tune of Petal Meadows to the dark dank beat of Pirate’s Grotto, the music is one of those nice little background elements.
Graphics-**
Considering the game IS called “Paper Mario” you would expect the graphics to be a bit sub-par. And you’d be right, for the most part. Although the paper model makes for some cool scenes (building a bridge with a sequence of pages like a flipbook, for example), sometimes, the environment gets a distinctly kiddy feel to it. Granted, this can’t be compared to the graphics of, say, Luigi’s Mansion or Super Mario Sunshine, but it still leaves much to be desired.
Replay Value-**+
The replay value of the game comes when you find out you can actually play your file after you’ve beaten the game, even unlocking new sidequests and character cameos. But there’s not really much to do except wander around and do whatever you feel like doing. This might appeal to some gamers, but not so much this reviewer. You can always choose to do the quest all over again, which is still fun, as it is in most RPGs, and you’ll still get a sense of accomplishment about you.
Overall-***+
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a fun RPG that will take up a decent chunk of time. Despite the better use of paper effects, it doesn’t quite live up to the ground broken by its predecessor. Nonetheless it’s a great buy, and the storyline is very in-depth, one of the best in a Mario RPG. There are some tense moments, laugh out loud moments, and numerous in-jokes to other Mario games. In all cases, the game doesn’t take itself very seriously until the last Chapter, where it’s the perfect time for a climax. The music in this game is very good, and you’ll find yourself humming along. All in all, it’s a good solid choice as an RPG.
Diddy Kong Racing DS
- Diddy Kong Racing DS a look from IGN
- Diddy Kong Racing DS a look from Gamespot
- Website
Coming out Feb. 7, 2007 in the USA ; April 5, 2007 in Australia ; and unconfirmed dates to countries in between.
The confirmed Characters: Diddy Kong , Dixie Kong , Tiny Kong , Timber , Bumper , Tiptup , Pipsy , and Krunch. Sadly, Banjo and Conker aren't going to be present due to Microsoft's bid on Rare, many people knew this would happen, and the odds were in that favor, sadly. The Confirmed Unlockables are Drumstick , T.T. , Taj , and , by surprise, Wizpig!
According to all, the Gameplay is similar, with some newer features tagged to it. The silver Coin Challenge is gone, replaced with minigames and bananas are non-existent here.
Due to its questionable rocket start (You need to turn the wheel manually) and loss of classic tasks, critics are skeptical on it's success.
Wario: Master of Disguise
- W:MOD at IGN
March 5, 2007 , Wario is back to his platforming self. Whats truley known about the game is his various *disguises and his various abilities with those disguises.
Confirmed Disguises: Thief Wario , Cosmic Wario , Arty Wario , Dragon Wario , Genius Wario , Sparky Wario , Captain Wario , and Wicked Wario
For now, its reviews are positive,
IGN states "This isn't strictly a platformer. You move Wario left and right and make him jump and duck all with the D-pad. Lefties can opt to use the A, B, X and Y buttons for this functionality. Everything else is done with the stylus. You open treasure chests by tapping on-screen icons. You attack enemies and perform special skills by pointing at your intended target"
DK Bongo Blast
- DK Bongo Blast at GameSpot
- DK Bongo Blast at IGN
- DK Bongo Blast info.
To be announced sometime in 2007, there is nothing truly confirmed about the game, but some of the known characters:
- Donkey Kong
- Diddy Kong
- Dixie Kong
- Tiny Kong
- Funky Kong
- King K. Rool
- and various unknown Kremlings
Many more Kongs and such could be confirmed in the months to come.
Confirmed Items: Squawks the Parrot , a Barrel , The Crystal Coconut , a Bazooka , and a Banana Bomb
DK: King of Swing DS
- DK: King of Swing DS at IGN
- DK: King of Swing DS at N-sider
To be announced sometime in 2007, it has been confirmed that it will hold it's predecessor's torch and have the same gameplay (using the L + R combo to swing).
Confirmed Characters are as follows: DK , Diddy , Dixie , and Funky
Super Paper Mario
To be announced sometime in 2007, It is known that each playable character, when in giant form, resembles an original sprite. Along with that it's also known it will have side scrolling.
Confirmed Characters: Mario , Princess Peach , Bowser , Count Bleck , Tippi , and Pixls
Mario Strikers Charged
- [3] at IGN
April, 2007 , Super Mario Strikers ' sequel will be freed to the world.
Aside from the Confirmed bites from last month , new news about the games characters have arisen. Also, Mario and others are going to be more aggressive and the princesses are going to have more sex appeal.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Website
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl at IGN
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl at GameSpot
To be announced sometime in 2007, the most critical Wii game of the year will take flight. Besides various things said last month, a few more confirmed facts have been explored.
It has been confirmed that the main theme for Brawl was revealed in the E³ trailer and it was written by the Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu himself! So far, Wi-Fi play is being considered and a Mario Kart stage, Mario Circuit, has also been confirmed.
Mario Party 8
- Mario Party 8 at IGN
- Mario Party 8 at GameSpot
Aside from the confirmed characters, Piantas are going to be appearing on boards also. The spaces are now huge rectangle tiles that you land on instead of small circles.
Confirmed Boards: DK's Treetop Temple , Goomba 's Booty Boardwalk , King Boo 's Haunted Hideaway , Koopa's Typhoon Town , and Bowser's Warped Vortex
- “What's Adventure Two?”
- —User:Wayoshi
Banjo = Playbear?
Banjo, of the hit musical Banjo-Kazooie meet Halo , is going to be in the new B.K Penny catalog this summer, according to photographer, Jolly Roger. "He has such a great butt for this" the flamboyant frog has said many times in our interview.
A Concert commending Banjo's new modeling Carrier is scheduled Feb. 17, 2007 at the Hagg-o-Mall. Tickets are on sail now at the BanjoWiki super-plex at Gobi's Valley.
Rare has also indicated that a new Banjo game will be released for the Xbox in light of this, Banjo - Thong or no Thong? and is rated ABW - Anyone But Wayoshi.
His lover, Kazooie , was found cheating on him with Gruntilda Winkybunion. Apparently she thought Grunty was an overly attractive man. They are expecting a baby in mid-June.
Sports
Golfing
Mario scored a couple birdies, but overall sucked, showing Nintendo's mascot has always been the worst player in all his sports games. Mario was booed off the field, as Yoshi took home the Gold Trophy and DK took the silver.
Soccer
Various Birdos and Toads were abandoned by their captains (Peach and Waluigi) during a crucial tournament. The captains left to "Go to the bathroom".
Baseball
Wario hit a grand slam and beat Monty Mole 's team 11-10. Tragically, as Wario ran the winning run, he tripped and riped the seam of his suspenders. The sight of his Buttox killed all in rows 1-9 on all sides of the stadium. And there were 10 rows in the stadium!
Wario is now being convicted of manslaughter. (see obituaries for more info)
Football
The Mushroom Kingdom Shrooms beat the Eagles last night, 40-30. Bowser, QB, is now looking for a latter, a robe, and a shotgun from KB Toys. He says Kids toys are the most deadly, so that’s understandable. Look for him in obituaries come March's third issue!
Kart Racing
Four racers last night were eaten alive by Chain Chomps while racing through Luigi Raceway. At the moment medics say they are so disfigured that confirming their identity is impossible. Their remains were fed to Bubba shortly after. Please note all mushroom kingdom medics are experienced In the field of disposing bodies.
Basketball
This was the only game this month that didn't have something go abnormally wrong. With it , as such, the reporter for this sports game, Meatloaf, got bored and left the stadium without any notes, not even what teams played!
Top 5 Singles
- All I Want is Love'n and Stars – The Mario Bros.
- How do I get on that ledge ya freak? – Toad, Toad, and Frog
- Spank me princess one more time – Wario Loaf
- 1-UP – I'm-Diddy
- Koopa Rock – B. JR
Obituaries
Wario committed suicide last night. He threw himself out of a skyscraper in Mushroom City, only to land on an old lady, bounce back up, and impale himself at the tip point of the skyscraper.
Jamjars died today after his troop of moles ambushed a duck Military Base. He was eaten by the general duck, who fed Jamjars's troops to his wife, Mother Goose.
Wayoshi, a close friend to few, passed away today, when "someone" made him play Diddy Kong Racing DS. He apparently died of a heart attack, for he heard so much bad reviews of it, that when he played it, he was so overjoyed, he had a heart attack as stated earlier. We will miss him, or will we?
DKWIKI died last week when wiki goers overpowered the votes to have it shut down. Sir Grodus and Sons of Sons went into the Wiki camp to retrieve article, they were never the same again when they returned.
Promo 2
by User:Knife/sig1
1. Boolossus, from Luigi’s Mansion, is a combination of 15 different Boos.
2. Waluigi has just recently appeared in the Warioverse, in WarioWare: Smooth Moves, for the first time.
3. MC Ballyhoo is very similar to Chuck Quizmo, from Paper Mario.
4. King Boo isn’t the biggest Boo, nor does he control all of the Boos.
5. Waluigi is the only one of the “Bros.”, besides Mario, Luigi, and Wario, who hasen’t been kissed on screen in a video game.
6. The two characters, Banjo and Conker, originated in Diddy Kong Racing, but then branched off into their own game series.
7. 9 Volt, from WarioWare, has a pet named Shaggy.
8. Wario’s Brawl move, for Super Smash Bros Brawl, is a huge flatulence, called the Wario Waft.
9. Kremlings are the only Donkey Kong series enemy that are playable in a Mario-based game.
Statistics
| January Statistics | ||||
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| Statistic | As of 11:45P, 31 December* | As of 15:40P, 1 February* | Total for January** | % of Change** |
| Page Views | 3,880,859 | 5,268,122 | 1,387,263 | 35.75% |
| Views per Edit | 57.73 | 63.58 | – | 10.13% |
| Page Edits | 67,219 | 82,862 | 15,643 | 23.27% |
| Edits per Page | 5.73 | 5.79 | – | 1.05% |
| # of Articles | 3,456 | 4,141 | 685 | 19.82% |
| # of Pages | 11,738 | 14,301 | 2,563 | 21.84% |
| # of Files | 3,859 | 4,610 | 751 | 19.46% |
| # of Users | 746 | 912 | 166 | 22.25% |
| # of Sysops | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| From December | ||||
| Statistic | As of 11:15P, 30 November* | As of 15:40P, 1 February* | Bimonthly Total** | % of Change** |
| Page Views | 2,869,440 | Look Up! | 2,398,682 | 83.59% |
| Views per Edit | 50.02 | – | 27.11% | |
| Page Edits | 57,371 | 25,491 | 44.43% | |
| Edits per Page | 5.39 | – | 7.42% | |
| # of Articles | 3,230 | 911 | 28.20% | |
| # of Pages | 10,645 | 3,656 | 34.34% | |
| # of Files | 3,411 | 1,199 | 35.15% | |
| # of Users | 651 | 261 | 40.09% | |
| # of Sysops | 10 | 0 | 0% | |
| Top 10 | ||||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Previously... | Main Page | Characters | Games | Bowser | Enemies | Mario | Peach | Items | Places | Species |
| Views | 198,471 | 66,216 | 42,532 | 25,429 | 24,857 | 24,841 | 23,410 | 19,893 | 16,448 | 16,281 |
| After... | Main Page | Characters | Games | Enemies | Bowser | Mario | Peach | Items | Places | Species |
| Views | 286,206 | 83,256 | 58,680 | 36,653 | 33,236 | 33,224 | 29,005 | 25,168 | 21,054 | 20,911 |
New ACTIVE Users
Now with 166 users this month, these ones check in often or sometimes:
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News
The big news this month is the remerging of the DKWiki and sticking to one wiki for multiple series, including Mario, DK, Wario, Yoshi, Banjo, Conker, and Super Smash Bros. The Importance Policy should acquaint anyone what each of these series means to this wiki. We are still the Super Mario Wiki – nothing's changed. The result of this remerging was an increase in the number of articles and pages created in January, as shown above.
However, there is an issue with the upcoming game Diddy Kong Racing DS, which replace Banjo and Conker (their only tie to the Marioverse is through Diddy Kong Racing, the original) with Tiny and Dixie Kong. Since the storyline is the same as the original game, similar to the DS version of Super Mario 64, there is no way to tell which is more canonical until the game comes out on Tuesday February 5th. If the DS version is a sequel (separate story), then both are canonical. If not, however, whichever is determined more canonical by the community will decide whether the Banjo and Conker series stays.
The wiki's closing in on 5000 files uploaded and even 5000 articles. Those goals are expected to be reached this and next month respectively.
Thanks to the efforts of Knife (talk), we now are also affiliated with The Mushroom Kingdom and Mario Fan Games Galaxy (Kelt (talk) also helped for this affiliate) in addition to Super Mario Bros. HQ.
As a final note, I remind all of you about the MKDSummer Event. It's still many months away, but we never know about drop-outs early. We need 100%-certain players ASAP.
Wrist Straps
So, the Wii comes with a wrist strap. Not really a big deal. No one really mentioned it until AFTER the Wii's big debut. Word on the street: it sucked horribly. For the most part, they seemed defective, as in, THEY DIDN’T DO THEIR JOB RIGHT. Some people didn’t use them, and were either injured or lost money. Those who did utilize the strap… had similar results.
Listen up:
Isn’t this a problem that beta-testers should have encountered? Should this “defective” wrist strap ever have been released? Um……… NO. Nintendo already had new wrist straps ready to go. Reinforced seams, like my towel.
So then all of this is a publicity stunt? Yeah, definitely. I’d say it worked. Quite well, to be honest. This controversy has built up a lot of hype, its true. I know people, dumb people, but I’m told that they are in fact people, who are buying a Wii because of all this wrist strap business.
Visit www.wiihaveaproblem.com for some satire on this subject.
Oh, and send emails with your opinions. Please. I want them. At least three. And not just opinions. I want other things, like letter to the editor kind of emails. Please, I beseech you. Not something I do often. I also suggest you join PipeProject:Toad. It’s a wonderful, non-profit, underappreciated work of genius. The toad, not the project.
–A lot of people on a lot of things
Editor's Notes
by the DirectorI have but one note to share today.
Some of you may have noticed that the usual writer for the Upcoming Games article did not write today. That is because one of our staff members, Paper Jorge (talk), has quit the 'Shroom, citing the job, researching about games not yet released, was too boring and more difficult than he had perceived. I wish to thank WarioLoaf (talk) for filling for him this time only.
This crucial job to the 'Shroom is now reopen to anyone. Check out the Sign Up page.
Knife's first comic should be coming next month.
Expect Issue III on Saturday, March 10th, 2007. Thanks for reading!!
–Wayoshi, Director of The 'Shroom
