Mailbag
16 Sep 2006
Deezer
Deezer
Infected
Chupperson
Chupperson
Robot surgeon
David Dayton
David Dayton
David Dayton
MEGAߥTE
MEGAߥTE
Metric
Lizard Dude
Lizard Dude
Voltage dividend

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Hi, hop, TMKers.
I just remembered reading a past mailbag long ago considering Mario's line in Super Mario 64 when you throw Bowser. I always thought he said "So long, el Bowser". I'm not sure what "el" is exactly, just that it's a word in spannish and then possibly italian too, since they're similar. So, what do you think?
PS. Go easy on my grammar, english isn't my main languange :)
- Angelo Pizarro

Deezer: I think it's just an Italian-sounding "ay" or "eh" sound added for emphasis.

Hi. I really like your Mario site. It's the most kickassiest Mario site ever.
I have a question concerning Mario Hoops... since it's being developed by Square-Enix, do you know if Mallow & Geno (from Super Mario RPG), or any of Smithy's Gang, are making an appearance? That would be so awesome. I was happy enough with the Geno cameo in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, but imagine if Mallow or Geno were playable characters... that'd be so radical, wouldn't it?
- Chaos Breaker

Chupperson: That's quite an adjective there.

Dear TMK,
Tonight, I went to see the new Adam Sandler movie "Click". I just came to tell you that I found a Mario cameo there. At the part where Michael Newman (Adam's character) goes back to his first kiss, look in the background and you can see a Donkey Kong arcade machine. Awesome!
- Deven711

Deezer: Cool! Now I have another reason to watch it.

Hey, don't you guys think its sad that now in days most people don't give a hoot about Bowser? I'm serious here. A lot of fellow fans don't really take Bowser all to seriously now that we have all these new villains. (Grodus, Cackaletta, ) Back in the day, Bowser was at his prime, and everyone knew who he was: a big evil tyrant who dreamed of ruling the world with his vast army of underlings, and would crush anyone who got in his way. But now, he's considered the power hungry doofus, that needs to rely on his second in commands to help him make up a plan. He's not considered the main villain, despite the fact that he's been Mario's sworn rival since birth. I figure some of you are snickering at how I'm bringing this up, but I think its true. Bowser has basically been dethroned. Fans aren't going to care about his vendetta with the Brothers. They just think of him as 'the guy who should just GO AWAY.' I'm hoping that Bowser will gain the respect that he's lost since Superstar Saga. Maybe Nintendo will give him the main role again... Hey, why not have an editorial page for us fans to post stuff like this? Maybe even some of the staff?
- Noshi

David Dayton: Bowser is still the primary foe in the standard Mario games -- he's just not been as much of one in the RPG titles. If you want to write more about this, I'd suggest using the Fungi Forums.

Dear TMK,
After not being here for a long time I have only read one of the two newest mailbags (and I still haven't finished the first one). Any way, this guy Eric, from the Jun 10, 2005 Mailbag, that Mario games weren't as epic like GTA or Resident Evil 4. Well, he clearly had no idea what he was talking about Resident Evil 4 which came out for the Gamecube so I don't know why he's griping. Yet that's not the whole point of this e-mail. When Lizard Dude was talking how GTA: San Andreas had all these things that made it look cool and have hardly any point to it. He was also complaining that the Mario party series was "mediocre." My jaw was left agape. It took them a near friggin' year pull Mario Party 5 off! (Or at least it felt like it.) and it still got a decent 8.0 average from a magazine I can't remember the name of! And how could he even say Mario has past his prime?! His whole existence has been his prime and it lives on! (fireworks and a fanfare go off). So what if revolution is gonna be online, and how would people react to Mario. Who cares? what most kids and adults want to find in their videogames is something fun something to do when they're bored even. I mean imagine having Super Smash Bros. online! EGM still rates it as one of the best multiplayer games ever. I believe it was No. 6 out of 10. Its also one of the best selling games for about 36 months or 3 years! To me he was focusing on something HE didn't like but other people could have. Your right some people do want games they could pick up and play like the Sims. So what if there is a small objective to complete or vice versa every time a new The Sims release like 5 million people will still get it just because its fun. That's what I hate the most when people take videogames way too seriously and give their opinion but take nobody else's.
All right so here's the day people think about Nintendo being a third party developer. And the make some Metroid, Zelda or Mario game. Guess what I'll still buy it and I'm sure other people will too. Now to conclude this extremely long letter, I end with a Star Wars Spoof (parody, to me they're the same) May the mushrooms be with you.
A big fan of Mario, Nintendo, TMK, and the future of these wonderful things
- Ultra Mario (1985-the end of time, live on Nintendo, live on)

David Dayton: Yes, the Mario games are rather good.

Deezer: I cannot give a serious reply to this letter because my brain reads it in the style of Arnold Schwarzenegger every time.

Firstly TMK is the best there is, which goes without saying but oops I just did haha.Ok anyways on the site it was said in the 15th "lost level" of SMB3 the cloud formations from that were not used in the final game but they are present in world 5-6.Also I've known for a long time of a, I guess you can call it a glitch or quirk, but never seen it posted anywhere on the internet.In the NES version of SMB3 enter world 5-7 in any form other than small mario and without having starman power.Get to where the fire flower is.Hit the block to expose it.Now hit the first question block to the right of where the flower is.The flower will begin to flash a red color.Get a close by enemy which will most likely be a piledriver micro goomba to hit you however many times you have to be hit to become small mario.Then as small mario grab the fire flower.Instead of going from small mario to super mario, you'll go from small mario to fire mario.This obviously has something to do with the fire flower being exposed at the same time as the continuous starman block being hit(but no starman comes out cause you aren't already using a starman to make it happen).This also occurs in a second area in 5-7, as well as in 6-1 and 7-3, but is most easiest to perform in the area I explained.I already posted this in the fungi forums as Mario3Lover but I think I may have posted it in a old unrelated topic.So I just wanted to make sure you guys knew about it.Also I'm curious to know when was those hidden levels of SMB3 discovered and who found them.Pretty cool stuff.Anyways thanks.
- Mister Bean

Deezer: Mister Bean, I loved your show!

How come people can die from playing MMOs, but not Mario games? :\
- Sunbun (not Sunburn)

Deezer: You know if that happened, someone would sue, and Nintendo would have to add another warning screen. "HEALTH WARNING: Remember to eat, drink, and sleep if you play for like three days straight, idiot. Press A to continue."

Well, I think by now we all know about the lost, fairly huge, acorn-looking, mushroom shaped enemy in Super Mario Sunshine. And in your last mailbag, July 10 2006, someone submitted an AR code to access a beta level. What sparked my interest in the code was that the submitter stated that the lost mushroom enemy was in the level, so I RUSHED to my Gamecube to fire it up. Code worked greatly by the way, the beta level has every element from the game, along with an odd Noki covered in goop, also interesting because it has no body. Not sure his face and such look familiar to me, either. Anyway, on to the mushroom enemy. Let's say that the direction you're facing upon entering this level is north. When you're in the level, IMMEDIATELY head southeast. You will see (or I did, anyway) a yellow figure grow from the corner of the level. It really appears to be the lost mushroom enemy, but looks more like an overly plump banana with legs, and...an eye on the top of its head? Now, after he's done growing, which takes just a few seconds, he will be the height of about 4 Mario's. He then proceeds to walk in a pit close to you and him, and the pit is deep enough so that when the lost enemy walks into it, you have a perfect position to step on his head. Squirt him with water, and he will pause for a moment, and continue walking. He may also spawn a small goop enemy from his rear, which there is a small nub, like a bunny tail, but looks like it may be the mushroom enemy's [nevermind]. Stepping on this enemy causes him to blurt out some liquid, gets on his back, and then spins a bit and disappears. He may also leave a coin behind, like other enemies would. Spare his life, and he will continue to walk inside the pit. When he walks into the first wall in the pit, he vanishes into thin air. I found how he does vanish for sure, because I moved the camera to look past the wall and into the level's oblivion, and he does indeed vanish.
Now to the point: why doesn't he look ANYTHING like the mushroom enemy we know of from Spaceworld 2001's trailer? What I'm asking is how he went from a mushroom, to an overbloated banana with a single eye on the top of him. I've searched for more information on him, but to no avail. More research on this lost enemy needs to be done. This beta level has me amazed and baffled!!
- tweeterman287

Deezer: I would guess that those are two different enemies and the guy who wrote in about it was mistaken.

I was suprised there was no mention on your website of the postage stamps featuring the SMB characters that were recently released in Japan. A picture can be seen here: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63755
Also, regarding GK's letter about the parody of the Super Mario 2 box art, sounds to me like one of Topps's 1992 "Wacky Packages," a series of trading card/stickers which parodied packages of everyday products. A picture can be seen here: http://www.wackypackages.org/stickers/91_topps/4a_front_supid_moron_bros_small.html
- R.M.

Ugh... It doesn't fit 100% f the description, but I THINK this is what he's talking about.
- R.M.

Deezer: That thing is so funny, I forgot to "LOL."

MEGAߥTE: Yeah, pretty sure that's not it.

Hey guys.
I need to know how tall is Mario? Both as regular Mario, and as Super Mario. Plus when you play Mario 64 or Mario sunshine, are you playing as regular Mario, or Super Mario, and as a result, how does that relate to his height?
- Ben.

MEGAߥTE: According to a pack of cards produced by Nintendo Official Magazine in Europe several years ago, Mario is 135 cm tall. However, recently, A Japanese shopping site known as Trend One announced a limited run of actual life-size Mario statues with a height of 155 cm licensed by Nintendo with claims that this height was based on actual background story. Only 30 units were made and each one costs 248,000 yen. I think Mario is usually "Super" in his 3-D games based on his size compared to other characters in the game. This is somewhat supported by games such as New Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong for Game Boy.

Dear TMK,
I have decided to ask you a question regarding a controversial Mario topic I've been pondering about ever since I first started playing the original Super Mario Bros. many a year ago. What is Mario's "regular" size? Is it the "small Mario" from the classic 2D platformers or is it "Super Mario?" The reason I ask is because the Mario cartoons and the Mario 3D platformers seem to point to Super Mario as Mario's regular size. In those games and cartoons, Mario appears as twice the size of a Goomba, which is also reflected in that Mario size-chart I have attached to this e-mail. Of course, this leads to the question as to why Mario would shrink when he gets hit. And why doesn't Mario shrink when he is weakened in the 3D platformers? So maybe small Mario is Mario's regular size? But look at that size chart again; half of Mario's height would make Mario's regular size about the same size as Diddy and Baby Mario! Is adult Mario really the same size of his baby self? I don't think so. We all know that Mario is a short guy, but small Mario seems too small to be Mario's real size. And besides, Bowser in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door shrinks to a small size when he is hit in the platforming segments. Are we to assume that Bowser is naturally that small? I don't think so. It seems that something shrinks our gaming protagonists. That's just my view on the "size controversy" and I just wanted to ask for your view on it.
Size chart
- Some Other Guy

Deezer: I've seen this picture before, but forgot where it came from. A non-curved version of it would be nice to see sometime.

Chupperson: I like how the lines in the background are based on Mario and Bowser's heights.

MEGAߥTE: It's from a Japanese Wii developers' book.

Hey TMK
Have a good time at E3? I thought so. Hey, I thought the podcast mailbag was a really good idea, I would totally download that every week, man that was funny. Also, I think those first three mario games for NES should be redone for widescreen and HDTV like games in the Xbox Live Arcade, like Smash TV. That would be sooo cool, widescreen mario, maybe it could be put on the GBA like that with the NGC/GBA link cable. Good idea huh? For the Wii, instead of just a regular emulation. What do you think of that? And please make more mailbag podcasts!
- Chris

MEGAߥTE: While I'm not opposed to widescreen games, for the NES Mario games, I don't think adding widescreen would benefit the games much at all. I think Nintendo's time would be better spent working on other games or other types of enhancements to the Virtual Console (some particular ones have been hinted at by Nintendo). I doubt GBA is a consideration anymore, but I wouldn't be surprised if NES games are downloadable onto the DS.

Sigh...
See what I do for Mario?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CefJlB4MuTw
And also, the audio for it:
http://media.putfile.com/SuperMarioSiloMix
Sorry, but I just wanted to show my love for the big guy.
P.S.: Yeah I know this is nerdy in all seriousness, that's why I did it.That and the much desired attention I crave. Mmmm, Attention....
- Jesse Salazar 3rd, Awesomest Person Alive.

I send you too many emails, I know....
The sighting is me, as Mario! Here is my entry for that Buzznet Nintendo contest. I know, "Why in the hell are you sending me this?!"
Well, to that you may share this with a few of your visitors and help get me some support (it's not a voted contest, but a few good comments wouldn't hurt). Anyway, if you think it's good enough, feel free to post it on your website(maybe on a slow day?). If not, simply forget this every happened. Enjoy!
Linkage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJnF_-ue_eU
- Jesse Salazar 3rd

I made a new song that I put on MySpace called "Tale of Two Tanooks", just go to my profile and it autoplays. Basically, everything mario and about me can be found at http://www.myspace.com/superjessemario so take a look and if you like it, heck, post it in the mailbag. If not, i will feel unloved and choke a yoshi. You wouldn't want that, would you?
- Jesse Salazar 3rd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a15eL3GDwM
- Jesse Salazar 3rd

Deezer: Hahah, that's cool. "Reporter: Oh... you have a girlfriend? You: Yes, surprisingly I do, and it's not Princess." XD

When I read your article on Doki Doki Panic being Super Mario Bros. 2 long ago, I noticed a fatal problem with the whole thing; The POW block appears in Doki Doki Panic, and also Mario Bros. (arcade) which was created before it. Surely this means that Nintendo created Super Mario Bros. 2, then turned it into Doki Doki Panic. This is very confusing.
- Chris

Lizard Dude: Quoted from the page:
"Stranger yet, the POW Block and Starman—two Mario items—were already in DDP. Coupled with the Mario lookalike "Papa" character, it seems as if DDP was planned to be converted into a Mario game from the start..."