Mailbag
03/02/2001

Got something you want us to answer next week? Send it to tmk_mailbag@usa.net.

I think you should replace the quote in Luigi's profile with something from Paper Mario. For example:
"My name would have to be in the title. That'd be sweet!"
Or something cool like that.
-LuigiHann

Deezer: That reminds me, I might add Daisy and Waluigi to the characters section. This will bring (what I consider to be) the "major" characters to a nice-and-neat total of 10.

Hey Mushroom Boy!,
I am sick of the stupid questions so I got a good one. On SMRPG can you get Pikachu? I know it may sound stupid but my friend Randy told me that Pikachu is located in the hidden dungion or something, please tell me if it is true, if it is I will buy the game. Thanx a lot Mushroom Boy!!!
-Tomahawk

Mushroom Boy: Yeah, Pikachu is right after the Eric Cartman cameo, but right before the Microsoft Console-Recycling Anti-Innovation XBox Manufacturing Plant. Or just have your friend Randy show you, I'm sure he'll conveniently "forget."
Deezer: But seriously, you should buy it anyway -- it's a good game. :)
Mushroom Boy: HAHahaha good one Deez, I thought you were going to be serious.
Deezer: Who let you in, anyway?

i was wondering something about mario games. why did they use a mushroom of all things make him big, a fire flower to make him shoot fire and a star for invincibility. are these allusions to japanese mythology or something?
-Issachar

Deezer: Probably. I heard the Mushroom was an Alice in Wonderland reference, but I remember JJ telling me something about it being part of Japanese mythology too.

Dear Tmk,
This is about Paper Mario. It rocks! I got the 7th Star On Thursday the 15th. For a week and 4 days I've been trying to get all the badges. I need 2 more from Merlow which are both worth 25 star pieces. I have 48 star pieces I just need 2 MORE!!
Looking at a guide at Toy's R Us I'v found out there letters to get. Tell me the one for Minh.T. in Flower Fields and the Jade Jungle one. Don't tell me the one on the beach shore of Lava Lava Island,I've got that. Just Jade Jungle and Flower Fields.
-Gamecruiser2000

Mushroom Boy: Did you find the one for Pikachu yet? *snicker*

HOW DARE JJ MAKE A MOCKERY OF BOTVGH! It isn't ordinary "fan fiction", darnit! I think it's FUNNY! And it *probably* wasn't a gimmick to get hits for the site, Sean Kelly just wanted a frickin' opinion!! WE HATE JJ!! The rest of the staff at TMK- you rock, but he SUCKS now! Tell him to apologize or we will pray that he burns eternally in the darkest depths of HECK!
-MMSis

Deezer: Even if he apologizes or not, we're making him play Mario is Missing! for 72 hours straight as his punishment.

Yeah whats up? I have a question, the bad starts at the beginning the good starts at the end. I played Paper Mario, made it to Bowser, he killed me, it said Game Over then all my files just ERASED! What's up with that?! THen I turned it off and turned it on again and it was normal but i had 6 stars not 7. Why did this happen?
-C6YR

Deezer: I don't know, but that doesn't sound good.

Hey, I read the mailbag last Friday, and saw J.J. mentioned something about Japan having many Anime-style Mario comic books. Do you think you could put some more information about them somewhere on the site? I think it's an interesting topic. Do any of you have any in your possession, or know someone who does? Oh, and I wish you guys working on the mailbag wouldn't bash or insult people who ask stupid questions. Not everyone realizes what sort of questions or comments are considered lame, and some people just aren't on the same level of maturity as Deezer, Megabyte, or J.J.J.J. If you don't watch out, you'll have upset everyone who regularly visits the site, and then y'all will be sad and lonely (I guess it's not the same as a baseball player insulting the fans who pay his wages, but it's similar.)
-LouWeeJee

Deezer: I don't have very much info about Mario manga, but I'll eventually be starting a section for Mario books. There's a few things I want to get done first, though. The manga info will be up no later than March 24th -- TMK's fourth birthday.

We usually don't insult mailbag inquirers à la Super Mario 128 Central. I think JJ was just having a bad day.

Has there ever been a Mario c.d made? like i see plenty of Sonic the Hedgehog c.ds online, like from the animated ABC show and what not, but did Mario ever get a soundtrack?
-Rob

Deezer: Quite a few.

Why is it that SMW2 looks like it was made by Crayola? It looks like they let some kid color it. And also. About the whole "touch the fuzzy, get dizzy", why don't they just say "touch the fuzzy, get high" because it really looks like Yoshi took a puff off of something with him walking the way he does and the diamonds in his eyes. And that music makes it even weirded. i think that someone must have "touched one of those fuzzies" when making the game.
-JoeKool85

Deezer: Yoshi in the sky with diamonds...

Do you pronounce Lakitu's name LAH-ki-too or luh-KEY-too? And why can't you ride in Lakitu clouds in SM64? And why don't Thowmps have spikes anymore? And have there ever been Mario Legos? That'd be cool. And in one episode of the Sonic TV show (TRAITOR!) Sonic wears a red shirt and blue overalls. And did you ever notice a few things in SM64 that are from other games, such as SMRPG, like some patterns, music and ideas, such as Mario going into a volcano? BTW, you don't need the Wing Cap to get Mario Wings To The Sky. Aim the cannon at the middle coin and you'll get 3 special coins right away. Then get back up and aim a little higher and you'll get number four, and then practically straight up to get number 5. Just one more thing: How do you win in Rematch With KtQ? The wind's too strong!
-Mario 64 1/2

Deezer: I say La-kih-too. Dunno. Dunno. In Germany I think. Yes. Practice.

In a previous mailbag, BrockLover supposedly found a fluke in the fireworks in Super Mario RPG. Golem the Mario Cult Fan was incorrect when he/she said this. Flukes those were not. It matters, not how many fireworks you are carrying, but how many you have bought. You may not still have them anymore. If you buy 6 Fireworks and trade them all to the mole in the "purtend store", you will still get a star. Hope this helps.
-Andrevan

Deezer: Thanks for the info!

Hey Deezer or whoever reads this! Paper Mario is great! I like the idea of Badges. Its fun to Mix and Match them. Right now I have just beaten Mt. LavaLava, and I need to know where the last 2 bulba plant things are (the ones with the magical seeds). I already have the one from Toad Town and the one Kolorado gives you. And also, where can I get more FP plus and Happy Flower badges? I already have 1 of each. I have 2 HP plus and 2 Happy Hearts also!
-Ca11isto E1vis

Deezer: Another Bub-ulb is on Mt. Rugged, and the other is in Forever Forest. As for the Badges, I can't remember.

Hello! I would just like to know how you make your left navigation on the site? A few weeks ago, you didn't have the news story "Tetris "A-Hack" on every page. Now that you have released the article, the link to it is on every page of TMK, even the VB Wario Land page which hasn't been updated since March 23 1999! How do you do it?
-kev64az

Deezer: The six different menus (one for each section) you see on the left navigation are actually six separate files, called with Server Side Includes (SSI). So if I want to change something on the menus, I only have to edit six files instead of 500+ HTML files.

Back again. ^_^; Anyway, I recently rented Paper Mario to give it a shot (I was skeptical when I first heard news about it, since I was a big fan of the Square original), but I'm glad to see that besides the look, the game IS similar, and builds off many of the original game's concepts. They even kept in the brief comedy and good dialogue (I was so scared they were going to "dumb it down", until at one point they said a word even _I_ didn't know, and I've tested out of two of my required English classes at my college O_o). But, I am proud to say, they DID keep yet another tradition from Super Mario RPG: Princess Toadstool's ???/XXX. I don't know if it's still there later on in the game (I just rented it yesterday afternoon, I'm up past the Koopa Bros.), but in Peach's room, in the back alcove opposite her dresses (funny comment there, BTW), look for the joint between the table and (dresser? I don't remember, FYI, but it's easy to spot what I'm talking about.) In that small area, you can get a ! to pop up. Then, if you try to look at it, no text dialogue pops up, and while Peach is facing away (although you can access it looking toward the screen, she specifically turns around), steam puffs rise up from her face. There's two ways to look at this scene: 1. She's found something of her own, and is mad at herself. (?) You could also say that she's mad at the player for finding it, sort of breaking the fourth wall. 2. This is a comical Japanese reaction to finding something... a little unusual for a Mario game. ^_^; Similar reactions can be found in Powerstone 2 and The Misadventures of Tron Bonne to similar items. I'll try to capture some media of the spot. (I'm still figuring out using the program provided to record from my capture card, it's a bit awkward.) I'm surprised Nintendo of America allowed that to stay in. (It's not as well hidden as in SMRPG, and you know to look for it this time...)
-Kulock

Deezer: I think she's putting on makeup or something. There's a mirror there, and I don't want to spoil it, but later in the game there is a joke about "[something] isn't a good look for you" when you go back to the same spot under different circumstances.