The Queue: The one with goombas
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 13th 2011 at 11:00AM
Today is a very special treat. We have your standard-length Queue, plus I answer a very exciting bonus trivia question that has nothing at all to do with World of Warcraft! But you will love it, my gamer pals. You will.
Camero asked:
In the past week, I've recieved four emails from "Blizzard" all asking me to do something in order to get a Winged Guardian License. I just wanted to confirm that's not true.
It isn't true. It's just another very well done phishing scam. A good rule is that you should never, ever click links in an email that looks like it's from Blizzard, whether it really is or not. If you're being offered some sort of promotion, go straight to Battle.net. If you've been given a code to redeem in the email, you'll find the place to redeem it somewhere on Battle.net. If you haven't been given a code to redeem and the email tells you to click through to activate some offer, don't do it. It's a lie.
TY asked:
On mmo champion it showed videos for the new firelands Herioc kills, but didnt say who got world first. Who got world first? And do you think firelands heriocs are easier than launch Raid since it was done in two weeks?
Which boss? Not all of heroic Firelands has been cleared yet. The bosses that have been killed on hard mode are as follows:
- Shannox Premonition
- Beth'tilac Method
- Lord Rhyolith Premonition
- Alysrazor Method
- Baleroc Method
- Majordomo Staghelm Paragon
Looking at World of Logs, the 25-man heroic version of Majordomo Staghelm has a grand total of 1,286 total recorded pulls of the boss. Of those 1,286 pulls, only 12 of them resulted in a kill. When there are only 12 publicly recorded kills of a boss on hard mode, I don't think you can make an accurate judgement call on its difficulty -- especially in a raid tier that has half as many bosses in it as the previous one.
Note: If the listed world firsts are incorrect, I apologize. Various sources display different lists of first, and I haven' been following the world first race close enough to know off-hand. I will look into it more deeply for the inevitable Ragnaros world first announcement.
themightysven asked:
How long does a PvP Season usually last?
As long as a tier of raiding. Every tier of raiding brings a new arena season. Based on Blizzard's release schedule ... about six months between raid tiers, unless it's the last raid tier of an expansion -- then you'll be stuck in there for a year.
Zenotho asked:
Is there a chance that Blizz's new MMO Titan project will actualy be a WoW2, perhaps from the perspective of the Titans?
No.
poophead asked:
Super Mario Bros 2 seems as if it takes place in a whole different reality than the rest of the series. Different villains, different gameplay, vastly different storyline. Whats the deal?
I probably shouldn't answer this one, since this is a World of Warcraft site, not a Mario or general gaming site ... but what the hell. I'm too big a dork to resist it.
The Super Mario Bros. 2 that we received in the United States (and some other regions) is not the actual Super Mario Bros. 2 that Japan received. The real Super Mario Bros. 2 used the exact same engine as the first Super Mario Bros. game, but with new, more difficult levels. When it came time to localize the game, the folks at Nintendo thought to themselves, "You know, Americans don't really like games to be as hard as we like them in Japan, and they probably won't like the fact that the second game is built on the exact same engine. We need to figure out something else for the Americans."
The perception that Americans don't like difficult games is one that still exists today, and considering the differences between the western MMO market and the eastern MMO market, there is probably quite a bit of truth to it. Western players generally expect to have the ability to play at their own pace, be very relaxed while at the controller/keyboard, and be able to advance on their own terms. Eastern MMOs generally have a much higher emphasis on group play, and in general, solo advancement is not a thing that exists. You buckle down, really master your gaming skills, and you do it in a group setting, not alone. But back to the topic at hand ...
While Nintendo was hemming and hawing over the localization of Super Mario Bros. 2, Shigeru Miyamoto, the mastermind behind Mario, had created another platforming game. Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (translation: Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic -- "doki doki" is Japanese onomatopoeia for a beating heart) was released in Japan in 1987. It was proof of concept that a vertical scroller could work just as well as a horizontal scroller. Vertical scrolling elements didn't exist in the Mario series, and the Doki Doki Panic developers wanted to take that for a spin. The vertical scrolling actually didn't work well enough to support a whole game, so they struck a balance and included both vertical and horizontal sequences.
The fact that Shigeru Miyamoto was involved in the creation of Doki Doki Panic is clear; the original characters from Doki Doki Panic were already reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. characters in terms of silhouette (making a Mario reskin a fairly simple affair), and select powerups such as the invincibility star and POW! Blocks were carried over into Doki Doki Panic from Super Mario Bros.
Nintendo decided to take care of two birds with one stone: If the American audience won't like Super Mario Bros. 2, let's reskin this other game from Shigeru Miyamoto, do a localization pass for political correctness, and there you go! Americans noticed it was very different from the first Super Mario Bros. game, for sure, but that didn't stop Super Mario Bros. 2 from becoming the third best-selling game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It ended up selling 10 million copies, behind Super Mario Bros. 3's 18 million copies and Super Mario Bros.' 40 million.
It gave Nintendo an excuse to re-release Doki Doki Panic in Japan, too. It released the American Super Mario Bros. 2 as Super Mario USA, which also sold respectably. Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2 eventually made it to American markets on the compilation SNES cartridge Super Mario All-Stars under the name Super Mario Bros.: Lost Levels.
It's an interesting thought that if Nintendo hadn't made that decision, many iconic enemies and figures we've come to love in Mario may not have ever happened. The delightfully creepy Shy Guys and Snifits are almost as instantly recognizable as Mario figures as the Goombas are, Super Mario World chestnut-related mutation of the latter aside. If Nintendo hadn't decided Americans were a bunch of whiny baby gamers, Shy Guys may never have made it into the Mario mythos at all.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Straz Jul 13th 2011 11:07AM
Super Mario 2 was actually my favorite NES Mario game. I like those black sheep sequels a lot. Zelda 2 is another good example, but that was Zelda by design, unlike Mario 2.
Matthew Jul 13th 2011 12:51PM
SMB 3 ftw. Come on, Tanookie form? Sky level? Hammer Brothers form? Hard to beat.
doc Jul 13th 2011 2:55PM
I really liked zelda 2 also. i thought it was more challenging than z1. ocarina will always be my fave since I don't really play consoles anymore. mario 2 was just a fun game. different characters, digging levels. good times.
murmaiderxx Jul 13th 2011 6:07PM
No way, the kookiness of the second one is great, not to mention the different 'abilities' for each character and the idea they put in with the coins to do the bonus at the end is in there! Plus the hidden way to get to higher levels also is in there, not just jumping over a block, but thinking you're going to die in a sinkhole while continuously jumping under a wall... um... POW blocks and Turnip Rocket Ships a pink dinosaur(?) who spit eggs at you? Making your way to the end to fight some guy named Wart? and then to realize you're waking up from a dream?
Metalupis Jul 13th 2011 11:08AM
Thanks for the history lesson, I knew some of that info about SM2 but always neat to learn more
Nate Jul 13th 2011 11:12AM
That Mario answer was probably the most informative thing I've ever read in the Queue. I own Super Mario All-Stars and, to this day, never understood what the Lost Levels was.
Finnicks Jul 13th 2011 12:57PM
*cringes*
Lost Levels... so hard... >.<
To this day it takes me at least 10-20 tries to beat the final castle level in a single sitting.
Gossamer Jul 13th 2011 1:26PM
Indeed. I will never mind it when the Queue authors go "off topic" if it's always as interesting and informative as this answer. Thanks Alex!
Cyrromatic Jul 13th 2011 11:13AM
Q for zeh Q: What happened to Arthas's body? Can't imagine it laying in front of Bolvar forever.
Ringo Flinthammer Jul 13th 2011 11:20AM
Let's just say the Ashen Verdict had a lot of hungry mouths to feed ...
alzeer Jul 13th 2011 11:43AM
he can always raise him as DK version #2 :P
since he didnt actually die 1st time around to become DK
Rai Jul 13th 2011 11:44AM
Jaina stole it.
No Knaak, leave this idea alone.
DeathPaladin Jul 13th 2011 11:53AM
I have a tin foil hat wild guess for that.
Go to the graveyard behind the Stormwind Cathedral, out by Tiffin's grave. Next to it is a small mausoleum that contains a small sarcophagus that has no markings on it beyond Lordaeron's emblem.
Varian and Arthas were close friends before Arthas became a Death Knight, so I believe that Varian recovered his body and had it buried in Stormwind. There is no name on the sarcophagus because a grave labelled "ARTHAS MENETHIL" would just be an open invitation for everyone to piss on it. Putting Lordaeron's emblem on it allows him to spin it as a generic memorial to the fallen of Lordaeron so no one starts wondering why there's an empty mausoleum in the middle of the graveyard.
Noyou Jul 13th 2011 12:02PM
Sylvanas probably has it tucked away for a rainy day.
LaVache Jul 13th 2011 12:21PM
@Deathpaladin
I've heard that that tomb is more likely to be Anduin Lothar's tomb, than Arthas'.
Namus Jul 13th 2011 2:55PM
I think that tomb is actually Varian's wife, not sure without checking in-game but I read somewhere that she had a special grave on the park so that's probably it.
MattKrotzer Jul 13th 2011 3:16PM
Namus: Hers is marked. The one mentioned above is an unnamed gravesite, emblazoned simply with the Lordaeron crest.
briker Jul 13th 2011 3:33PM
Burn it! Burn it with Fire!!!
DeathPaladin Jul 13th 2011 3:53PM
@Namus:
Varian's wife was Tiffin, who I mentioned as having the plot next to the unmarked mausoleum.
@LaVache:
I suppose it could very well be Lothar's grave, but that begs the question as to why such a legendary figure would be buried in an unmarked grave in the very city that practically worships him. Seriously, Anduin Lothar is the only person who ever succeeded in grinding *past* Exalted with Stormwind. If he was in that sarcophagus, there's be a statue of him probably about as tall as the Cathedral towering over it.
Humans in Azeroth are not particularly shy about their hero worship. Look at the Valley of Heroes. Look at Uther's tomb. Hell, look at all the statues of Tirion and Varian that started popping up like marble mushrooms after Arthas died. Something as conspicuously low-key as that mausoleum makes me suspect that it contains someone unpopular, and the Lordaeron crest coupled with recent events makes me think Arthas.
Tri Jul 14th 2011 7:36AM
That's an interesting idea DeathPaladin. I'll go with that one ;)