The 'Shroom:Issue 109/Palette Swap
Director's Notes
April! It's spring where I live, and I'm just glad to be getting out of the cold.
By now, all of you know that we've tragically lost the amazing Walkazo (talk) a few weeks ago. Not only was she a great contributor to Palette Swap on all counts, but she was an incredible person who I bitterly regret not getting to know better. Walkazo, may you rest in peace among the stars, and know that we'll never replace you.
We have a couple of pieces of artwork dedicated to her in this month's issue from our sub-team, but I'm currently collecting more for a complete section for Issue 111, so if you have a tribute that you'd like to contribute, please feel free to PM me on the forums with it.
Unfortunately, as most of you know from last month's issue, Crocodile Dippy (talk) has stepped down from her music sections and album reviews. I'm sorry to see her go, as her sections were always very entertaining to read, but I wish her the best as she continues to direct.
On a brighter note, I am thrilled to welcome The Pyro Guy (talk) to the team! He will be taking over the new fan-made edition of What's on the Box?, and you can check out his first article below (and you totally should because it's awesome!)
Additionally, The Adventures of Little Mario is back as well! Walkazo was always about 20 steps ahead of me, and she finished a season's worth of strips before the section even started. We've been working with Pantaro Paratroopa (talk) to get them from her computer, so it is thanks to him that we have the honor of publishing the final episodes of his late sister's series.
Last thing, usual plea: Palette Swap is now considerably understaffed, especially since most writers are working on a bi-monthly schedule. As usual, if you'd like to apply to write for us, send any questions my way on the forums, or PM Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) with an application for the section you'd like to write for. New ideas are welcome, and any random art/music submissions you'd like featured can have a home here as well!
~FunkyK38
Legend of Zelda Music Contest
Entries are now closed! Voting will start tomorrow, April 24th, on the forums! Thank you to everyone who entered a piece in our contest!
Pokémon Art Contest
Voting is over, and I am happy to announce our winners! Thank you everyone who voted, and thank you to everyone who entered!
The top spot was super close, but in first place, with 11 votes, it's Meta Knight (talk), receiving 5 'Shroom tokens!
In a close second, with 10 votes, Hypnotoad (talk), netting 3 'Shroom tokens!
And in third, with 1 vote, The Pyro Guy (talk), earning 1 'Shroom token!
Thank you to all of our wonderful artists and to YOU, who voted for our winners! Please do continue to vote in the Zeldamon Music contest!
Section of the Month
Thank you to everyone that voted, and thank you from me for keeping Walkazo's streak alive. She put her all into her comics, and I'm glad to see our readers supporting her work still.
| Palette Swap SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | The Adventures of Little Mario | 10 | 41.67% | Walkazo |
| 2nd | Game Mods | 6 | 25% | Baby Luigi |
| 3rd | Mario's Boombox | 5 | 20.83% | Walkazo |
| 4th | This Month in Albums | 2 | 8.33% | Crocodile Dippy |
| 5th | Ongoing Fan Projects | 1 | 4.17% | Yoshi876 |
What's on the Box?
Written by: The Pyro Guy (talk)
Welcome to a new issue of "What's on the Box?" in which I take a look at some wonderful fan made box arts for already existing games or for games made up by the creator.
This fan box art for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, by an artist named YoshiStar, was created three years ago. Interestingly, the general community believed that the current title was a placeholder name until the developers thought of a more interesting name; I must admit, "Universe" seemed to be the most popular suffix for the game. Onto the actual content, the front cover details Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Yoshi and Zero Suit Samus posing in what I believe to be original art (bar Yoshi) with Tails from the Sonic series riding his Tornado and an Arwing covering the background. Another feature of the front is that several character portraits from both old and new characters decorate the edges, but with reused artwork or fan made 3D models.
Moving on to the back cover, we can randomly see an official Donkey Kong artwork filling in some space, as well as reused Bowser Jr., Oshawott and... Sonic (if I recall correctly he isn't a newcomer) artwork showcasing the new characters that join the "Universe". The two gameplay scenes look authentic from a distance, but when I zoomed in it turned out that it was more official art placed into a picture of a new stage.
I was surprised at how accurate some of the mentioned features were despite having little information on the subject, such as: bringing characters between versions, customization options, the inclusion of Bowser Jr. and Rosalina and a couple more minor points. Overall, this box art is actually very pleasing to look at, not to mention imaginative foresight into the future of Smash Bros. While YoshiStar didn't create his own game, he sure did a good job for a game only just announced at E3 2013. I'll see you next time.
Mario's Boombox
Written by: Crocodile Dippy (talk)
Hey readers, this is your beloved Critic Corner director here, Crocodile Dippy (talk). As you're no doubt aware by this stage, prolific Wiki Bureaucrat, studying ornithologist, writer of Mario's Boombox, and my dearest friend, Walkazo (talk), passed away in a tragic car accident last month... she was a deeply important person to me, and I will no doubt have her on my mind for the rest of my life, both for the good times we had and the things I should've said. She did so much to touch the lives of those around her, and one of the ways she made an impact was through this very section here in The 'Shroom, where she illustrated amusing little music topics that she wanted to share with others. I thought it'd be right to see the season off by completing the next three Mario's Boomboxes in her stead, and she and I often spoke of ideas I had for this section in the event she had to take a month off, so here it goes.
So, first up, I want to share with you all the work of a small Youtube personality who nonetheless has a fair presence in the Dota 2 community; Fwosh. Fwosh is a popular participant in the Dota 2 scene despite not being a professional player or caster, instead being known for her cosplay, fan works, and association with professional figures in Dota 2, occupying a similar space to PyrionFlax or SirActionSlacks. While many people know her from SingSing's ridiculous streams, what I want to cover here are the works that dominate the majority of Fwosh's Youtube channel, her song parodies. For a long while, Fwosh has dedicated her Youtube channel primarily to doing dorky Dota 2-related parodies of popular and Disney songs, although as can be expected from novelty music, some tracks are better than others.
But before then, back when she first made her Youtube account in late 2007, it was used to upload her own piano renditions of video game and anime tracks, with her first piece being a remix of Tidus and Yuna's respective themes from Final Fantasy X. She would go on to release more live recordings of her piano performances over the next two years, some highlights being the Elite Four theme from Pokémon Red and Blue, Zelda's lullaby from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Sakura's theme from Naruto. But it wouldn't be until early 2014 that she would shift her focus into parodies, starting out with the parody of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from the Disney film Frozen titled "Do You Want to Lane Together?", sung from the perspective of Lina begging her canonical sister, Crystal Maiden, to help her win the early stages of the game (the laning phase, as it's called). An adorable little video with some very clever lyrics for those who have ever experienced a mopey player in Dota 2, this song saw a massive boom in her account's popularity, with this video in particular being her most viewed with 752,126 views, and it inspired her to set up a Patreon dedicated to her songs She followed this up a month later with "For the First Game In Forever", another Frozen parody based around the joy of playing a random game with people who actually know what they're doing, which can be quite the rarity when playing with randies in multiplayer games.
From there, she began releasing songs on a monthly basis as per her Patreon agreement, so allow me to ramble on about some of my favourites. The first one I ever discovered was "Shake It Off", which is a parody of... well, "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift, written as a loving ode to the hero Earthshaker, a utility support hero whose ultimate deals more damage the more enemies are grouped up together (he even has a voice clip where he says "shake it off"!); "We Need Wards", a parody of "Sugar" by Maroon 5, dedicated to the beautiful art of placing wards on the map - cheap support items that grant players vision over an area (Observer Wards) or allows one to see invisible enemy units (Sentry Wards); "Hey There Lanaya", a parody of "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's, a somewhat corny but adorable love song between a support player and the hero Templar Assassin (her real name is Lanaya), which she performed with another Dota 2 songwriter, TheHorseRapper; "Dear Mr. Icefrog", a parody of "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor, a begging plead to IceFrog - lead creative designer for Dota 2 - on how to rebalance the game following the rather restrictive 6.85 patch; and "At TI5", a parody of "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift, which quips about The Dota 2 Internationals 2015 and the sort of ridiculous crap everyone got to bear witness to on that incredible week.
Not all of her parodies are amazing, of course, especially ones that require she use a far more dynamic or abrasive vocal range, as her naturally soft voice doesn't translate super well to these sorts of tracks. It's like how "Weird Al" Yankovic just couldn't do his parody of "Radioactive" justice because the instrumentals just were not up to scratch. But still, Fwosh has a good talent for translating in-game and community jokes to lyrics, and her vocal talents are improving with each song release. She continues to release songs on a monthly basis, as well as post art and cosplays on her Facebook and Tumblr. If nothing else, at least this has gotten you somewhat interested in Dota 2 or in writing dorky parody songs.
Game Mods
Written by: Baby Luigi (talk)
Hello, this is Baby Luigi once again writing about game mods. You may have noticed that a section here is missing, The Adventures of Little Mario, which cannot be further continued. One of our best editors here, Walkazo (talk) on MarioWiki has passed away due to a car accident. Car accidents are the number one killers for people her age, and even though chances are you'll likely not die from one, it is an extremely unfortunate probability that hasn't been in Walkazo's favor. I've always considered Walkazo one of my buddies here, and she's the only person here who also shares an interest of birds. She has shared her bird banding experiences and has discussed other bird-related things. I am upset that I cannot further my discussion of birds with her, nor can she learn and observe birds on the West Coast where I live, as well as probably tell her of the one day I will see Common Grackles on the East Coast, and she'll be dearly missed by everyone here. I will not forget her at all.
On a more positive note, this month's Game Mod is something I had under a while. Yes, it's another Baby Luigi hack, but this time, it's for another game. Presenting to you, Baby Luigi Over Toad in Mario Party 9 !
This is a simple model replacement for Mario Party 9. He goes over Toad, the main reason is that Toad's skeleton is a perfect fit for Baby Luigi. They're nearly the same exact proportions, with a giant head, stubby arms, and stubby legs. I guess this is a reason I gotta appreciate Toad being in many games, even though Toad IS one of my favorite characters.
However, this mod comes with a blatant problem; you can probably guess that it's the lighting. No matter how closely I attempted to replicate the shader parameters via Brawl Box, I had undesirable results, so I HAD to make the model use Geometry for Normals shading instead of model normals. And I think the shaders parameters is the reason Baby Luigi tends to disappear in certain camera angles. Another "problem" is that I didn't replace EVERY HUD in the game. HUDs are all over the place, and they're in many different files and folders with their own purpose. That's gonna take a while to replace them all.
Oh and I forgot, like in my New Super Mario Bros. Wii mod, Toads all share the same model, so the Free-Play Toad (Blue Guy) and the host Toad (Yellow Guy) are replaced by yet another Baby Luigi. Hnnng. At least the Toad and Go Seek Toad isn't affected, but if you look at his model and the other Toad, it's considerably lower poly and therefore, considered a "different model".
(*cough cough* I know how to make two different-looking models with one model *cough cough* it involves swapping textures and transparency in animations *cough cough I'm currently working on an update for my Baby Mario Bros. over Toads mod that involves unique head models *bllarrrrrggghh*)
All HUD here is a custom-made render made by me, Baby Weegee. It still looks different from the rest of the renders, but I think it's still pretty nice looking for a custom one, where people usually take renders from other games for their own game HUD.
By the way, I have figured out how to make sound replacements for New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario Party 9. It's a lot more steps than just click and replace: to paraphrase you extract the section you want out of the .brsar, you replace your sound in that group with Brawl Box, save it, then you take a hex editor, copy and paste your new sound wave hexadecimal from that group, then open the .brsar with a hex editor, and replace the original hexadecimal with your new one. Is this a complex process? Sure, but my section isn't about making sound replacements so I won't go into too much depth about it.
Oh one more thing, here's a sexy video I made showcasing off this hack, because otherwise, it would be impossible to showcase sound mods. Oh and if you see ads, it's not because I monetized this, it's because YouTube's copyright system matching the ID of songs I used literally less than a third of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hIHN-ubrlM
And if you see a Pink Mario....well just ignore it.
If you read my section, well thank you! If you want to offer any suggestions on what I should cover, drop a message to me on my talk page, PM me on the forums, or drop me a message any where I can read, such as my Steam profile or my deviantart profile. There's still a bunch of untapped mods out there I'd love to discuss about, even if I never got the chance to play their source game, namely Skyrim or other games I may never heard about. If I haven't, I'll research the mods on YouTube and other websites. If not, look forward to my next section in May!
Rest in Peace Walkazo....and Baby Luigi out.
Ongoing Fan Projects
| User | Thread | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Starship Mario | StarshipMario, New User! - My Artwork (FANART). | A thread where Starship Mario shows off some fanart of the Mario series. They are very good pieces of art. |
| Sub-Zero | Meta Knight's Art Thread | A thread where Sub-Zero shows off some art that he has done. The recent updates are of Pokémon. |
| SuperMishchiefMaker | Princess Peach Fan-Art Critique? | A thread where SuperMischiefMaker shows off a piece of Princess Peach fan art that they drew in the hope of getting some tips on how to improve their future works. |
| Magikrazy | Magikrazy does Paint things | A thread where Magikrazy shows off some things that he has done on Paint. The recent update includes a St. Patrick's Day themed drawing. |
| The Golden Yoshi | The Golden Yoshi's Art and stuff! | A thread where The Golden Yoshi shows off some art that they have done. The recent update is drawing of Koopa Troopa anatomy, and is a tribute to Walkazo. |
| Stargatedalek | Star's mostly meh drawings of animals | A thread where Stargatedalek used to show off various drawings, now it is mostly drawings of animals. |
| SiFi | Mario Boards Dinosaur Comics | A thread where SiFi creates some Dinosaur comics. The recent update is a tribute to Walkazo. |
| Count Bonsula | Kio-Wirima | A webcomic series designed by Count Bonsula. |
| The Pyro Guy | The Pyro Guy's 3D art thread | A thread where The Pyro Guy shows off some 3D art that they have done. The recent updates include reworking a Boo Guy model from Yoshi's New Island and a tribute to Walkazo. |
| museforsale | museforsale's arts and sculptures | A thread where museforsale shows off a sculpture as well as some plans for a future sculpture that they have designed. |
| BEEEEEAAARRRS | Stuff I make - ill fix all the broken links soon | A thread where BEEEEEAAARRRS shows off some art that he has done. The recent updates include a comic storytelling of the a playthrough of the game The Oregon Trail. |
| yoshiyoshi | Canstruction Yoshi in New York - Please Help! | A thread where yoshiyoshi shows off a sculpture of Yoshi made from cans. |
| General Neptune | Neptune's mediocre art thread | A thread where General Neptune shows off some art that he has done. The recent update is a close-up of his current forum avatar. |
| Yoshin | I'm making a CCG, Vainqueur | A thread where Yoshin shows off some trading cards that they have designed. |
| Stargatedalek | Stars custom figures and repaints | A thread where Stargatedalek shows off some figures and other assorted artwork that they have done. The recent updates include some quite impressive natural drawings. |
| Umi Sonoda | Smg2daisy's Gallery | A thread where Umi Sonoda shows off some sketches that she has done. The recent update includes a drawing of Nico. |
| Pikman | I ended up making a custom Boo costume for Super Mario Maker | A thread where Pikman shows off a Boo costume he has made for Super Mario Maker. |
| The Pyro Guy | MarioWiki: Saga and MarioWiki: Stories | A webcomic designed by The Pyro Guy. |
Tributes to Walkazo
Drawn by: The Pyro Guy (talk)
It pains me to say that Walkazo (talk), our veteran staff member and 'Shroom writer, tragically passed away in a traffic accident on the 27th March, 2016. It was an honour to even talk to her, and she was the one who motivated me to draw my comic and hone my drawing. And because of that, I've redrawn a picture of her that I first drew when I was learning how to draw. After her support, I've come far from that, so here's my tribute to the wonderful Walkazo.
| The 'Shroom 109 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Opening Statement |
| The 'Shroom Spotlight | |
| Sub-teams | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner• Strategy Wing
|
| Closing Statement | |
