Mailbag
30 Mar 2009
Suffix
Suffix
Actual colors may vary
David Dayton
David Dayton
Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery
Sapphira
Sapphira
Contents under pressure
Luigison
Luigison
Shake well before using
Chupperson
Chupperson
Void where prohibited
Deezer
Deezer
Keep away from extreme cold
MEGAߥTE
MEGAߥTE
Unauthorized copying is punishable under federal law

In this edition, Bird Person joins the mailbag crew.

Got something you want us to answer next time? Send it in!

Hello TMK staff!
I will be very cliche and do numbered questions
1. I'm a bit confused. Was Bird Person a part of the mailbag before? Or Lizard Dude?
2.If any of you were to become a Mario character, who would the character be?
3.MEGABYTE, I have added you and Luigison to my SSBB friend list. Can you add me? (My friend code is in the SSBB Friend Code board in the forums.)
Thanks,
- luigalaxy

Suffix: Hello luigalaxy! Here are some numbered answers.
1) Bird Person had a question in the most recent mailbag, but he never answered any. Lizard Dude, on the other hand, has answered many a mailbag.
2) I'd be Luigi. Then I wouldn't have to do a ton, but I'd still be a talented hero.
3) If you can't get someone's attention via posts...

David Dayton: I think I have a few folks on my SSBB friend list, but I never see them online...

Sapphira: 1. Bird Person's never been part of the mailbag crew. He's a global moderator on the forums. Actually, I believe he became a mod AFTER the most recent mailbag. Lizard Dude used to be staff, so yes.
2. Of the games I've played, I guess I'm most like Goombella, so... Rosalina sounds pretty awesome, but I'm not very familiar with the character, as I've yet to play SMG (GASP!), so I don't actually know. (I don't want to know until I do play it.)

Luigison: 2. Toad seems to have a fairly easy time and gets somehow be in a lot of adventures, but I think a more important question: "Why hasn't Sapphira played SMG?"
3. Sure, but I probably won't be playing it again until the end of May. I usually wait until summer to play intense or long games.

Bird Person: 1. Hey, great timing. You know, when I first became active in TMK's community I wanted to answer a mailbag... thank heavens I didn't at the time.
2. Yoshi. I'm laid-back until (and sometimes during) times of crisis.

Dear TMK Staff,
First of all, have you noticed that the Music for Mario Kart Wii's Moonview Highway sounds like a remix of the Boss Theme for Kirby's Adventure? Here are the links to both songs for comparison:
Moonview Highway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na2VX65zOkI
KA Boss Theme: http://gh.ffshrine.org/song/3880/41
Also, A friend of mine did a speedrun of SMB2J's World 6-1 (http://www.livevideo.com/video/6916AA09F8DF464899B188CA06DA832D/super-mario-bros-2-japan-.aspx). This run demonstrates that when you jump through a pipe if it has an invisible block next to it. This trick also works in SMB's World 5-1.
- Pokencyclopedia

Suffix: Indeed, there is a pretty clear similarity between the two: a trio of small chords, two thirds and a... slightly-less-than-third (help me out here, Chupperson!), starting with E flat and G. However, in Moonview Highway's music, it serves as a harmony-type part, and repeats itself. In the Boss Battle from Kirby's Adventure, the same trio is used as the melody, but it repeats twice, and then takes a whole step down to D flat, repeats twice, and back up again. With different composers and only this little loop in common, it wouldn't surprise me if the similarity was entirely coincidental.

Chupperson Weird: The Canteloupe Island-esque outlining of a minor 7th chord is a very common device and the only other similarity these two tracks have is an energetic 16-beat. Past the intro, there is no other similarity. So it doesn't sound like a remix to me.

Suffix: A 7th chord, eh? Thanks. *leaves to look up Cantaloupe Island*

David Dayton: ... er, what exactly does it demonstrate about pipes with invisible blocks next to them?

Hello it's nice to see you again (from the contact us thing) anyways there is another USA Mario show (it's old though). It's called King Koopa's Kool Kartoons. Just wanted to tell you that.
I got a question.
Where can you download the parts of Mario Issunboshi, Mario Shirayukihime, or Mario Momotaro? Oh and the Mario Anime The Great Mission To Rescue Princess Peach. I can't find them anywhere. If you could help thanks. bye
- Anthony DeCastro

David Dayton: The theme song for the King Koopa cartoon show is on the WTMK playlist. However, it's really just a local cartoon show with a strange theme, as opposed to being a "USA Mario show".

Dear TMK,
I have been reading your review of the Super Mario Bros Amada Series (Momotaro, Issunboshi and Shirayukihime) and was wondering: Can I buy or download them anywhere, and if so, where?
Thank you so much
Yours Truly,
- A Needing Mario Fan

David Dayton: Possibly!

Luigison: Possibly not...

Bird Person: To the Googlecave!

Dear TMK staff,
This may have already been brought to your attention, but just recently, the rare anime movie, Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach, has been uploaded in it's entirety on YouTube. Take a look for yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qV4wVrO0TI
It's been split into seven parts, but it should be easy to go from one part to the next. Enjoy!
- George S.

YouTube: This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.

I was looking for a mario fanfiction (The Reign of King Bowser), and since nintendoland apparently doesn't ahve the full version of it, I though I'd try and google it... Well, one thing led to another, and I wound up at a page saying that nintendowriter didn't exist D:
Have they moved, or is the site (and any hope of getting the rest of that fanfiction) gone?
- darkflight null

Suffix: Fan fiction? "Nintendoland?" Does this have something to do with TMK...? TMK sold gave their fan works to a place called Super Mario Bros. Info Station on June 13th of 2005, in exchange for rights to reprint some articles and images they had.
SMBIS went belly-up at some sad point in time, but TMK fan works live again in the Fungi Forums. All that being said, I have no idea where that fan fiction is.

David Dayton: I get the various other Mario sites mixed up at times... Kyle Orland was running the SMBHQ, right?

Sapphira: Sounds right to me, David. Man, I haven't been to SMBHQ in probably at least seven years. Do we have fan fiction archived anywhere (even offline), or are they totally gone forever with SMBIS gone?

Deezer: The Internet Archive Wayback Machine has archives of TMK and SMBIS fan fiction.

I think that everyone is complicating the "Kongtroversy." Yes, Nintendo has failed to keep the story consistent. We all know that. That still doesn't mean that there is no correct answer.
I think that the current DK is Cranky's son, DK Jr., just like the Rare Scribes said. I don't see how some people don't view Cranky's use of "son" when referring to DK in Donkey Kong 64. I mean, the Rare scribe couldn't have made it much clearer. Sure, Rare intended for DK to be Cranky's grandson, but it is clear that the intend changed with DK 64 and the Scribes' words. It outright says to ignore any prior instances of "grandson." After DK 64, sources still continued to refer to DK as the grandson, though. What about those sources?
The GBC and GBA remakes of DKC 1 and 2 can easily be discredited. They are remakes. Sure, a few changes have been made here and there, but it is pretty much the same game. The same game will more times than not have the same dialogue. That is why I think Cranky still calls DK "grandson." After all, if a remake of DK 64 were to be released, Cranky would most likely still call DK "son." Why would Nintendo not update all instances of "grandson" in the DKC remakes? Games are not remade to update changes to a series' canon. Games are remade because the gameplay is great enough to get people to buy it again for a small amount new content. Nintendo didn't update every instance of "grandson" because they knew that people would buy the remake whether or not the changes were made.
As for the Japanese Nintendo site sources, most games say that DK is Cranky's grandson, so it is more likely that people would remember it that way. Whoever wrote that on the Japanese site probably say "grandson" more often, so they wrote that on the article. The same can be said for Mario Superstar Baseball, made by Camelot. Camelot saw that most games said "grandson", so it made a reference to that in the game.
The same could possibly apply to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I can also go one step further to discredit Brawl. Read DK's bio on the original Smash Bros. for N64. It describes DK as if he is the original, even though the DKC series said that DK was the grandson of the original. If the people who wrote information on DK got it wrong back then, then what makes you think they would get it right now?
I don't see a problem with DK Jr. appearing with DK in Mario Tennis if they are theoretically the same person. I mean, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi appear with Mario and Luigi. Also, whether or not DK is the son or grandson of Cranky, I don't see how it is relevant that Mario hasn't aged in Mario Kart and subsequent spin-off games. It is a video game, so it doesn't have to make sense. To quote Brian Griffin of Family Guy fame, "Well, if you don't like it, why don't you go on the Internet and complain about it."
Which brings me to my next point. While I believe that the current DK is DK Jr. and Cranky's son, it doesn't matter to me. Whether or not it is correct, or whether or not there is a correct answer, I don't care. I am not saying that people who debate about it for hours are stupid losers because I used to do the same thing years ago. It is just fun for some people. I am just saying that, in the few minutes out of my day that it took me to type this email, and in the fewer minutes that it will take to read, people can put too much thought into matters such as this, and they can't just sit back and enjoy a video game. On that, brb, Imma playin' Mario Kart Wii.
- Lee Reichert

Deezer: Did Mario Superstar Baseball say "grandson" somewhere? The only source I have says Cranky is just "his ancestor."

MEGAߥTE: I don't see any compelling arguments made here, just selective interpretation, which certainly doesn't help "uncomplicate" things. The DK64 argument doesn't quite fly because Leigh Loveday never said that DK as Cranky's son was some sort of retcon. Hinging everything around this particular quote is no better than choosing any other piece of evidence and point in time. The GBA remake argument is invalid since the "granddad" references were added to the remake and were not found in the original. The website argument doesn't make much sense. The SSB argument is also not cut-and-dry, especially given your Mario Tennis argument and the nature of SSB in general: the game is non-canon and characters can be from any time period (see also Marth and Ike in SSBB).

Suffix: I could easily ignore the first two paragraphs and agree with the last point: some people try to weave far too much of reality in these sorts of things. In this case, genealogy. He's Donkey Kong, an ape with a tie, and I don't care who that monkey's uncle is. Erm, grandfather.

David Dayton: Cranky = original arcade DK. Jr. = Cranky's son, last seen (in adult form) in SMK and Mario's Tennis. "Rare model" DK = current DK, grandson of the original. Except for when he isn't.

Sapphira: MegaByte covered everything I was going to say, so reread his comment for emphasis.

Whats up TMK? I've been on this site for years and finally decided to mail you. So heres my story: about a month ago I downloaded paper mario for my wii. Weeks later when I beat it I did what I allways do and let the credits roll by. So after an extremely long ending NOTHING happened! I waited forever for it to go back to the starting screen but ended up having to reset the wii. The same thing happened when I got Mario 64. What do you think is wrong?
- Joel

MEGAߥTE: Nothing is wrong. Games back then were programmed to just stop after the ending sequences. One side-effect of this is that you couldn't save a completed game, and would always be located right before the final battle.

David Dayton: Press the HOME button. Move the cursor to the little RESET option and click A. Your problem is now solved!

Suffix: I remember having to press the reset button back when I played SM64 on the N64. Nothing to panic about.

I have a few Mario questions 'n' things:
1. Is the Toad in Mario Party, Kart, Sports the same one every time? Or is it all different ones?
2. My mom has an old Mario cross-stitch that you don't have, and I can't find, but I know she has it. It's one with Mario with a bowling ball and a scarf, and another with a Starman and a magicians hat.
3. Who do you normally play as in Super Smash Bros Brawl?
4. I've never played Super Mario Sunshine. What's it like?
5. I heard Mario music being played at a Red Sox game last June. I only heard the underworld and the underwater music, but I'm sure they played the overworld music.
OK, that's it.
P.S. D.K. says, "Eat bananas because bananas make you grow!"
- Someone

Suffix: 1. It's hard to say when you've actually seen Toad next to indistinguishable duplicates of Toad in various games. The only Toad humanoid I know to be unique and probably the same character throughout its appearances in games is Toadette, who appeared in Double Dash!! and The Thousand Year Door.
2. That's neat.
3. I use the trans-dimensional oddity that is Luigi.
4. It's really a great game by my standards; FLUDD, Mario's adviser and water gun is fun and versatile. SMS also has some fantastic (and some grating) challenges.
5. Last June, eh? Okay.

David Dayton: 1. In Japan, as best as I can tell, the "Kinopio" name has always referred to ANY of the little Mushroom people. In North America, there was originally more of a distinction between the "Mushroom retainers"/citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and "Toad", inferred to be a specific playable character. My assumption is that either NOA translators changed their minds and went with Toad as a generic, or someone at NCL was confused by the usage of a single name for what they commonly saw as random characters.
2. Scan it in, please.
3. As of late, I've been favoring Youn-- I mean, "Toon" Link, with an occasional smattering of Peach.
4. Well, it's better than dirty.
Pssh. When have you ever seen Donkey Kong EAT a banana?

Sapphira: 1. I would say in games with one Toad (or one Toad that looks like the "traditional" one), it's always THE Toad, and in games with lots of identical Toads, it's ambiguous if the game never specifies. Same story with Yoshi and possibly Birdo.
3. I'm best with Peach, so I use her more than anyone.
4. You're missing out. Then again, I shouldn't talk, considering I haven't played any new Mario games since 2006. Personally, I loved that game. It's similar in gameplay to SM64, but I think the controls are better and more dynamic (and more fun). I'll warn you, though: there's not much variety in level themes (they're all tropical), and enemies are really bizarre-looking—but that's no reason to not play (or like) it.
P.S. No. Besides, they don't make you grow; Mushrooms make you grow.

Luigison: 4. Sapphira, no new Mario games since 2006? What gives? Anyway, I still think SMS is awesome. It is by far the game I've photographed and wrote about the most.

Bird Person: 1. I like to think so, myself.
2. Awesome.
3. Ness, Yoshi, Wario, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, the Ice Climbers, Mr. Game & Watch, or Toon Link. Never the same one two fights in a row.
4. Boring worlds with repetitive settings, melting Yoshis, (just add water--by the way, you're surrounded by that), too many Blue Coins, Boos on booze, puking Piranha Plants... if you want a test of island courage, look up StarTropics instead.
5. Did it have something to do with Sluggers, perhaps? I have no idea, I don't keep up with spin-offs aside from Kart...
P.S.: Only in banana nut bread.

Hey guys,
It's me again with more models I found while browsing Super Mario Galaxy. Here they are with their file names and textures- some posed in their animation.

- Girrrtacos

David Dayton: I really don't know what to say.

MEGAߥTE: Cool. I wish your modelling program supported fur shading and anti-aliasing.

Sapphira: Whoa, awesome.

Luigison: Where have I seen these before?

Bird Person: The Chuchu with the eyebrows looks like one cool customer.

MEGAߥTE: Apparently, torimoti (torimochi) is a gooey substance known as birdlime in English. It is spread onto sticks and is used to trap birds kind of like the way flypaper is used to catch flies, though the practice is illegal in many locations. Also, here's a video Girrrtacos constructed of how it might have showed up in the game.

To Mushroom Kingdom, I Know That Almost all of the Wario characters are present, but what about Captain Syrup? Whatever happened To Her?
- Chris Ireland

MEGAߥTE: Captain (Maple) Syrup is back in Wario Land: Shake It!

David Dayton: Now she runs a shop -- and/or rips Wario off.

Bird Person: Infamous pirate Captain Syrup was last seen downloading Tatsunoko vs. Capcom without paying.

Dear TMK,
Long time no see! Anyway, I would like to make a correction to your SMRPG Japanese to English page. I would like to say that the Axem Rangers are NOT called the Axe Force in Japan. They are actually called Kaijou Sentai Onoranger. The name comes from the popular Japanese Super Sentai shows that have been airing on Japanese television since 1975. That's all I wanted to tell you.
- Deven247 (AKA Deven711)

MEGAߥTE: While it is true that カジオー戦隊オノレンジャー is their full official name, it is not the name given in the game, which was abbreviated to fit in the eight-character kana-only name slot.

This is my first time writing anything to your totally awesome site. So I better make it important.
I found something odd about your logic in what can be uploaded and what can't. It's like this; According to your FAQ page, you have taken down all Mario fangames, citing that it was done because of copyright reasons. Yet you actually promote the use of emulators and ROMs. Now, the emulator itself may be legal, but the ROMs definately aren't. How can creating a Mario fangame be any more infringing than playing an emulated ROM? Isn't owning a ROM exactly like stealing, since you get to play the game for free? Now, I realize that some people believe that owning a ROM isn't illegal if you own a regular copy of the game, but I don't see any logic in that. If you want another copy of the game you will definately have to pay the company that owns it, since it's still like stealing a second copy of the game. Do you think you could clarify what you mean with this inconsistency?
- Retroboy

Luigison: Where does TMK "promote the use of emulators and ROMs"?

Suffix: It can be easy to believe that TMK might promote the use of ROMs with the amount it mentions those particular things. Often, it's in the context of "ROMs are illegal so stop asking where you can find them." So, nowhere does TMK promote their use. In the words of J.J., "they are website posion." I think he meant "poison," but...

MEGAߥTE: We do not host ROMs in the same way that we do not host fan games. Mario fan games make use of official and copyrighted Mario sprites in a context similar to their original use. This puts them on dangerous legal ground compared to simple screenshots (which should fall under reference/research fair use). In the past, we have been asked to keep such games off of the site even though Nintendo recognizes us as a fan site, implicitly allowing use of certain intellectual property. Fair use also dictates that you can format shift software you've purchased to run on other systems (with various legal intricacies). So no, you don't have to pay the company as long as you copied the ROM yourself and do not distribute it. Copying is very different from stealing since stealing implies that the original is no longer in the owner's possession. And beyond that, promotion and distribution are two very different things. Distribution is the key here, and that's something we will not do.

Hi, TMK!
You know how you listed "Watch for falling rocks" in the MK64 manual as a typo? Well, I think there ARE falling rocks!

What do YOU guys think?
- Jaden Eckel

Deezer: If I recall correctly, they used a generic rock warning sign and the same text for both Choco Mountain and Bowser's Castle. It's possible they were just lazy and didn't change "rocks" to "Thwomps."

Guys,
I have played Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. The powerful wind was removed in its version of "Super Mario Bros. for Super Players". Because of this, you might want to update Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan)'s Bugs/Glitches page and say that the "Powerful Wind" glitch is fixed in Super Mario Bros. DX. Thanks!
- jonghyunchung

Deezer: Thanks for the info!

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