I think the Shy Guys could beat the Goombas any day, simply because they have the advantage of having arms (as TurtleTek and The Biggest Boo have mentioned).
Yes, it seems the Shy Guys have worked for enough people to be considered a freelance orginization. Just look at their record of employers:
Wart (Super Mario USA)
Kamek and Baby Bowser (Yoshi's Island)
Smithy (Super Mario RPG)
I'm pretty sure that those are all of them. However, this leads to some controversy. In SMB2 (Super Mario USA), it is said that the Shy Guys were innocent Sub-Cons turned into monsters by Wart. However, in SMRPG, you can plainly see that the little guys are being "manufactured" by Smithy in his factory. This leads to many questions, but I think I have the solution. Before any of these games took place, Kamek and/or Baby Bowser struck a deal with Smithy to use his creations, the Shy Guys, in Bowser's army. Since there were so many, Baby Mario obvious noticed all those traumatizing masked monsters. As the years passed, Mario forgot about them, until Mario saw them again in his subconscious while dreaming (SMB2). Then, when Smithy attempted to oust Bowser as the main villian of the Mushroom World (SMRPG), Mario was able to witness their true origin in the depths of the Smithy Factory. So I guess that explains it, huh?
Now, as for the "8-Bits Club", which was mentioned once or twice in the SMB2 manual, this was just a silly euphemism to the fact that the NES was an 8-BIT CONSOLE. Makes sense, huh? This trick was pulled a second time in the manual when it was mentioned that Ninji haunted "the dreams of NES players". Pretty dumb, if you ask me. Oh well...
Must...not...harbor...perverse...sexual...lust...for...the...SMRPG...fan...girl...
Edited by - Star Guardian GENO on 6/26/00 11:31:48 PM