Mailbag
04/27/2001

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

Ok, i am kinda sick of seeing how every one says, "Sony copied off Nintendo with Crash Team Racing, its jussa rip off Mark Kart", well, Nintendo ripped off Sega, yup...
I dunno if ya remember this game, but it was called Dr. Robotnik's mean bean machine, now, Nintendo copied off that idea with Kirby's Star Stacker, play the 2 games, and you'll see what im talkin about...they are EXACTLY the same, even the sprites are the same!
-Venom

J.J.: You couldn't be more wrong! The original game was "Puyo Puyo", for the arcade, and was never released in the US. Both Nintendo and Sega wanted a piece of action, so in a rare business deal they were both able to buy the rights, and license the game for their systems. Knowing the original Puyo Puyo characters wouldn't be recognizable in America, Nintendo and Sega each jazzed up the game with their own mascots. The core games however, were the same, hence the similar graphics.

Hi Deezer/MEGAߥTE/Whatnever

I have some question to ask you:

1)How Deezer got his nickname(and all the rest of the staff)?

2)What do you think about Conker's Bad Fur Day?

3)Do you hate Sailor Moon?

4)When are you gonna upload my fan art?

5)Where has Stanley the bugman (Donkey Kong 3) gone?

6)What the [expletive deleted] are Sonic's shoes doing in the bottom-right corner of the DKC2 ending screen whith Mario?

7)Mr Face must die! Tell me a bizillion way to kill him.
-By the Mario fan,Pikawil

J.J.:
1) Daniel is called "Deezer" because his name starts with a "D". I am called J.J. 'cause my name is Jay Jay and it looks cool when I write it as initials. MEGAߥTE is very computer-savvy, and chose the name because he likes to show off the fact that he knows the Alt+number combination for the Japanese Yen symbol. David Dayton chose his name as a tribute to his favorite sporting event, the Daytona 500. The David part is a tribute to David Spade, his favorite actor.

2) I think Conker's Bad Fur day is a game for the Nintendo 64.

3) Hell no! Salior Moon rules! She fights evil by moonlight and stuff.

4) Your lovely MS Paint pictures will be on display soon.

5) Dead. He inhaled too many poison fumes.

6) Sonic's shoes are beside a trashcan labeled "No Hopers", hence, those wacky limey Rare guys are saying Sonic is a No Hoper! Hahaha. Earthworm Jim's gun also appears to be beside the can, but it it not clear why. He appeared in many Nintendo games.

7) That is not a Mario game.

FYI, they also made a wario action figure for the mario kart 64 line.
-RKLpunk

J.J.: That's not a question, professor!

A few weeks ago I asked about Super Mario Brothers 3 BSX.
I was wondering where you got those Super Mario Brothers 3 BSX screen shots from.
I also heard of a game called Hotel Mario, could you tell me a little bit about this game?
Thanks!
-McHapman2000

J.J.: Like all our screenshots, the SMB3BSX screens came directly from the ROM. Hotel Mario was some god-awful CD-i game that was never directly licensed by Nintendo. It involved running in and out of doors in a 2-D hallway, if I remember correctly. You can read more aboot the game by checking out its manual.

Quote: "how much personality can a flaming Piranha Plant really have anyway?"

Did you do that on purpose or am I interpreting that the wrong way?
-LuigiHann

J.J.: Yes.

I have a few inquirys regarding your site's wonderful Mariopedia. I make fangames quite a bit, and your Mariopedia helps me imensly so i don't have to rip graphics, or so i can find the name of an item, enemy, or character, but my questions are as follows:

1)Do you still update the mariopedia with graphics from past games?
2)Will you in the future continue to update the mariopedia with graphics from new games such as Super Mario Advance and other GBA games?
3)Will paper mario graphics be included in the mariopedia?
4)Why do you neglect Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island in the mairopedia? It has the most wonderful graphics and spites.
-NintendoBoy

J.J.: Here are the answers to your questions, in sequential order.
The fabulous Mariopedia has been having some downtime lately, mostly due to Deezer's time spent on redesigning the site and working on "specials". As long as the game has an easily accessible ROM, we will continue to add graphics to the 'pedia. That includes Paper Mario, and any future Mario titles on any system. Just be patient.

Why are all the sections named after colors (games=red, so on) except emulation, does this have something to do with the secret page?
-turrican7

J.J.: Let me explain. In the old days of TMK, the site had a wacky color-based design, where each section was named after a color. After a few site redesigns the color idea was locked away in the studio water tower never to be released, but the color names still remain on the URLs to this day.
The emulation section came into being after the redesign took place, hence it never had a color.
And none of this has anything to do with the hidden page.

(The following e-mail was edited for space restrictions.)

[...] Ever notice the e-mails I send to the mailbag end up looking really long compared to some of the others?
-Kulock

J.J.: Yes, I have noticed that.