Foreman Spike

 

Predating Super Mario Bros. debut by a month or two, Mario and his brother Luigi would find themselves in one last foray as blue-collar workers before diving headfirst into the Mushroom Kingdom. This time, they were part of a demolition crew, destroying a construction site while the site’s foreman and his crew worked against them.

This foreman went by the name of Spike. He was a gruff and grizzled worker, with a big beard and a crew of living wrenches and men in eggplant suits at his beck and call. He would only appear once more after this game, in a sequel entitled Wrecking Crew ’98, wherein he forms an alliance with Bowser to build a number of high rises to block out the sun over the Mushroom Kingdom.

As a playable character, Spike will be heavy and strong, preferring sheer muscle over tactical work. His Eggplant Men and Gotchawrenches will also accompany him, letting him summon them to the stage and then mostly running around of their own volition. His moves will include his hammer and tools, make use of his workers on the stage, and will generally represent the Wrecking Crew games as a whole.

Likelihood rating: Piranha Plant clause

Super Mario Roster, Updated

SUPER SMASH BROS. UNIVERSE

SUPER MARIO BROS.

Today, let's add in all five newcomers from the random other games covered!

1. Mario
2. Fursuit Mario
3. Dr. Mario
3e. Dr. Luigi
4. F.L.U.D.D. Mario
5. Builder Mario
6. Luigi
7. Vacuum Luigi
7e. Professor E. Gadd
8. Princess Peach
8e. Peachette
9. Princess Daisy
10. Rosalina and Luma
11. Pauline
12. Cappy
13. Toad
13e. Toadsworth
14. Captain Toad
14e. Toadette
15. Bowser
15e. Dry Bowser
16. Bowser Jr.
17. Shadow Mario
18. The Koopalings
18e. Koopa Kid
19. Foreman Spike
20. Wart
21. Tatanga
22. Mario Kart
23. Robo Mario
24. Wanda
25. Plum
25e. Kid
26. Alex & Nina
26e. Ace & Clay
27. Tumble
28. Brighton & Twila
29. MC Ballyhoo & Big Top
30. Mini Marios
31. Perry
32. Sprixie Princess
33. Rabbid Mario
34. Koopa Troopa
34e. Dry Bones
35. Goomba
36. Piranha Plant
37. Boo
38. Buzzy Beetle
39. Bob-Omb
39e. King Bob-Omb
40. Cheep Cheep
41. Blooper
42. Pokey
43. Lakitu and Spinies
44. Ninji
45. Monty Mole
46. Spike
47. Hammer Bro
48. Chargin' Chuck
49. Wiggler
50. Chain Chomp
51. Thwomp
51e. Whomp
52. Mechakoopa
53. Mini Donkey Kong
54. Ghost
55. Honeybee
56. Ziggy
57. Nabbit
58. Boom Boom
58e. Pom Pom
59. Birdo
60. Mouser
61. Petey Piranha
62. King Boo
63. The Broodals
64. Rabbid Kong
65. Super Team

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover the Game & Watch stuff!

Character Sheet: Foreman Spike

FOREMAN SPIKE

More games than I've ever covered, and only five new characters offered up. At least they're all fun characters. Here are those added in by the assortment of random Mario games that couldn't fit into a neat group. They are:

1. Builder Mario

2. Foreman Spike

3. Rabbid Mario

4. Ziggy

5. Rabbid Kong

So, I guess Smash treats Wrecking Crew as its own series, with a separate logo and everything. I'm going to just go ahead and ignore that, because I don't agree. Either way, Foreman Spike is the villain of the Wrecking Crew games. He is the foreman of the construction site Mario and Luigi are trying to destroy, and he does everything he can to stop them, alongside his workers: the Gotchawrenches and Eggplant Men.

He will be the gimmick rep of the series, obviously. He will also be a bit along the lines of Olimar, with his two crewmen working for him (albeit a little more independently than the Pikmin. You'll see in a moment). Obviously then, his moveset will pull from the entire series and everything available. This includes his penchant to push characters off of higher platforms, use hammers to destroy things, bombs that explode, the golden hammer item, all the special blocks from '98, and my obvious pick for final smash: Kanbank.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Crew

Pressing this button will summon up Gotchawrench and Eggplant Man in that order. Once they are summoned, they will act independently, running around the stage and generally being a nuisance, but not really doing much direct attacking. Pressing the button when both are out will summon them both back to Spike's side, as a bit of a soft reset. When one of the two is KO'd, pressing the button will resummon them to the stage after a short time.

Side B: Push

I think the hammer will act more as his standard weapon, so his A moves and such will mostly control that, so for his side B, I want to make use of his standard move when he is acting as the villain in the game. Basically, he will just push the character. If they are on a pass-through platform, it will knock them off instantly. If they are on a base platform, they will fall on their butt. In the air, it will act as a spike.

Up B: Bomb

He will strike one of the bombs from the game, which will explode, sending him upwards into the air while setting off a string of explosions directly sideways, doing damage that way.

Down B: Oil Drum

He will drop an oil drum on top of a character's head, trapping them inside for a short time.

Final Smash: Kanbank

This is based on the ultimate attack from Wrecking Crew '98. Basically, the Kanbank block will appear in the sky over the stage and slam down, filling the entire stage and sending every character flying.

Entrance: He will break through a brick block.

Taunts: Up, he will wave his hammer in the air in victory. Side, he will build a block and admire his work. Down, he will pull out his blueprints and look them over in confusion.

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover the main Rabbid heroes from Mario + Rabbids!

Wrecking Crew '98

WRECKING CREW '98

Today, let's focus on Wrecking Crew '98, a sequel to the original game, set in the Mushroom Kingdom this time rather than . . . Brooklyn, or the New Donk City equivalent of Brooklyn, or wherever all that pre-Super Mario Bros. stuff is supposed to be set, with Bowser contracting Foreman Spike and his crew to build a giant high rise building to block all sunlight from reaching the Mushroom Kingdom's plant life. The game is similar to the original but with a greater emphasis on two-player gameplay and it has a bit of a tetris feel to it, with multicolored panels that you can switch around and line up to destroy. You can still use the hammer but taking out the panels by lining them up causes problems for your opponent. Pink panels will cause an enemy to spawn on their side, blue will add panels to their side, yellow will create metal plates on their side that can't be destroyed, and green will cover all their panels in brick that they have to break first.

We have several playable characters, both from the core Mario series, Wrecking Crew itself, and, um, well, you'll see. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Koopa Troopa all appear from the Mario side, and Foreman Spike, Eggplant Man, and Gotchawrench appear from the Wrecking Crew side. As for the other, well, there's four weird characters that seem to just be stereotype Japanese culture items for some reason (sorta like seeing a bald eagle, a cowboy, a fat tourist, and a cheeseburger in a random American game). These include a living onigiri, a creepy little ghost girl, a drunk old man, and a clay dogu figurine. I don't know, man. All of these basically play the same, so probably best not to worry about it.

As for the stage, well, it's basically just a series of buildings. It's a puzzle game, so the layout being generally the same is pretty standard. As for our enemies, they're all pretty much original, but are basically just living construction equipment. These include: Forkun, a living forklift; Blonya, a little character carrying around a cinderblock; Buruccho, a living bulldozer; Burnya, another little guy carrying a blow torch; Dumpty, a dump truck; and Jenya, a little dude with a jetpack. I also want to bring up Kanbank, a giant wall with Bowser printed on it that immediately ends the opponent's game by crushing all of their blocks. I bring it up purely because my final smash sensor went "Ding, Ding, Ding!"

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: hammer, bombs, drop drum, golden hammer, pink (enemy), blue (block), yellow (metal plate), green (brick), Kanbank

Luigi: same

Princess Peach

Bowser

Foreman Spike: push, best option for a gimmick character, see all above

Koopa Troopa

Eggplant Man: run around

Gotchawrench: run around

Onigiri

Onnanoko

Oyazi

Dogu

Stages:

Wrecking Crew

High Rise Building

Items:

Hammers

Bombs

Drums

Blocks

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover Mario Paint!

Wrecking Crew

WRECKING CREW

So, up to now, we've been covering games in small bite-sized increments of around four to ten. That is now behind us, at least until we finish up the Mario series and move on to The Legend of Zelda. It will still come in sections, but they will be considerably larger. First up, we have a boatload of "mainline" Mario games that I couldn't fit perfectly into a group of their own, so they're all here. We'll start with Wrecking Crew.

Wrecking Crew was one of the earliest games of the Mario series, predating even Super Mario Bros. The game features Mario and Luigi running around a building under construction, attempting to destroy it (Why? Not exactly sure). They are challenged in this endeavor buy the site's foreman, a Wario-predecessor named Spike, and his crew of living eggplants and wrenches.

Mario and Luigi are our main players, using hammers to destroy sections, setting off bombs, dropping drums on top of enemies to trap them, and using the special golden hammer when it appears. Our villains are a bit more simple, with Foreman Spike running around in the background trying to push you off the level you are standing on, while the Eggplant Men and Gotchawrenches simply run around getting in your way. As for stages, its really just the said building in construction.

That's about it for now. Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: hammer, bombs, drop drum, golden hammer

Luigi: same

Foreman Spike: push, best option for a gimmick character

Eggplant Man: run around

Gotchawrench: run around

Stages:

Wrecking Crew

Items:

Hammers

Bombs

Drums

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover the game's sequel, Wrecking Crew '98!

Smash Character Review: (Not) Mario Golf

 (NOT) MARIO GOLF

This shouldn't take that long either. We just ran through all golf games that feature Mario but don't technically qualify as "Mario Golf" games. Mario appeared in all of them as a player character, seemingly for no other reason than "Mario boosts sales." For the most part, he was the only one, although some later games also featured Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, and Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew. Kid, Grace, Tiny, and Gene Yuss, stars of the first two handheld Mario Golf games, also make appearances. Lastly, we have a bunch of new human characters: Tony, Billy, Steve, Mark, Ken, Napple, Thread, and Lisa. Since we already have the two sets of golf protagonists, I don't see any reason to worry about them, except maybe to include them as color swaps or as color swap references.

That's it for today! No roster changes this time, so next up, we'll start on the other Mario sports games with Mario Superstar Baseball!

Mobile Golf

 MOBILE GOLF

Mobile Golf is another golf game, this time made for the Game Boy Color. Unlike some of the others though, this one is a bit more tied to the Mario Golf games, with characters like Kid, Grace, Tiny, and Gene Yuss appearing as challengers, as well as Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew showing up as well. It has a set of four human protagonists as well: Ken, Napple, Thread, and Lisa. If you really want to mix them in with the other characters as color swaps, go ahead. Have fun. As it is, I don't care nearly enough at this point to do so myself.

Here's what we've got so far!

Characters:

Mario: golf

Luigi: golf

Peach: caddy

Daisy: caddy

Yoshi

Toad

Donkey Kong

Foreman Spike

Kid/Grace/Tiny/Gene Yuss

Tony/Billy/Steve/Mark

Ken/Napple/Thread/Lisa

Stages:

Golf Course

Japan Course

U.S. Course

Game Boy Course

Australia Course

France Course

Hawaii Course

U.K. Course

Mobile Course

Thanks for reading! Now that we're finished, let's go over our characters again!