Koji Kondo and Shinobu Tanaka composed the musical score to "Super Mario Sunshine". The soundtrack features various arrangements of classic "Mario" tunes, including the underground music and the main stage music from the original "Super Mario Bros." "Super Mario Sunshine" featured many of the usual voice actors for the various Nintendo characters. This is the only "Mario" game which features full English voice acting in cut-scenes. The voice cast consisted of Charles Martinet as Mario and Toadsworth, Jen Taylor as Princess Peach and Toad, Scott Burns as Bowser, and Dolores Rogers as Bowser Jr. Other voice actors included Kit Harris.
"Super Mario Sunshine" did well at the shops, having sold 5.5 million copies as of June 2006. In 2002, "Super Mario Sunshine" was the tenth best-selling game in the United States, according to the NPD Group. It was released again in 2003 as part of the Player's Choice line, a selection of games with high sales sold for a reduced price.
"Super Mario Sunshine" received positive reviews by game reviewers. IGN praised the addition of the water backpack for improving the gameplay, and GameSpy commented on the "wide variety of moves and the beautifully [made] environments". The game received a perfect score from "Nintendo Power", who commended the "superb graphics, excellent music, clever layouts, funny cinema scenes and [clever] puzzles". "GamePro" also gave "Super Mario Sunshine" a perfect score, stating that the game was ""a masterpiece of superior game design, infinite gameplay variety, creativity, and life."" "Game Informer" said that the game is arguably "the best "Mario" game to date." ComputerAndVideoGames.com also mentioned the game is ""better than Super Mario 64."" The game placed 46th in "Official Nintendo Magazine"'s 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time.
Despite it's positive reviews, some reviewers criticized the game. GameSpot criticized the various additions, including the water backpack and Yoshi, calling them "mere gimmicks." They also criticized the virtual camera system, and noted that the game seemed somewhat unpolished and rushed. They also criticized the voices, stating that "Super Mario Sunshine's FMV also houses some of the lousiest voice-over work to be found on the GameCube. None of the voices fit particularly well. Princess Peach sounds too ditzy, Mario is limited to grunts and other nonverbal communications, and the game's bad guys are completely miscast and downright disappointing." Matt Wales accused the game of having a "distinct lack of polish."
"Super Mario Sunshine" has introduced many elements which were carried over to newer "Mario" titles. This was the first game in the "Mario" series to introduce the Shine Sprites. These Shine Sprites have appeared in later "Mario" titles games like "Mario Kart DS". This was the first game in the "Mario" series which included Bowser Jr; he has since appeared in "New Super Mario Bros.", "New Super Mario Bros. Wii", "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Super Mario Galaxy 2", and in "Mario" sports games such as the "Mario Kart" series since "" and "Mario Kart Wii". Also, Toadsworth appeared for the first time on the game. He has later appeared on various "Mario" games such as "" and "Super Princess Peach". The recurring character Petey Piranha, known as in Japan, was also introduced. He also appears in "New Super Mario Bros.", "Super Princess Peach" and several spin-off games.
This game was the first "Mario" platformer game to be released for the Nintendo GameCube. It was also the first 3D "Mario" platformer which included the ability to ride Yoshi and to have him change colors. This feature reappeared in the Wii 3D platformer "Super Mario Galaxy 2".
African elephant
The African elephant are the two species of elephant in the genus Loxodonta. This is one of the two living genera in Elephantidae.
Female elephants travel in herds and male elephants travel alone and sometimes in bachelor groups.
Fossil "Loxodonta" have only been found in Africa, where they developed in the middle Pliocene.
Males of the African bush elephant can grow to 3.64 meters (12 feet) tall at the shoulder and weigh 5455 kg (12,000 lbs). It is the largest living elephant. Females may reach 3 meters (10 feet) and weigh 3636 kg to 4545 kg (8,000 to 10,000 lbs).
At any one time, elephants have one molar in each jaw bone (two upper, two lower). Each weighs about 11 lbs and measures about 12 inches long. As they wear away at the front, new molars emerge in the back of the mouth and gradually replace the old ones. Elephants replace their teeth six times. If it survives to 60 years of age the elephant no longer has teeth and will die of starvation.
Their tusks are also teeth, the second set of upper incisors become the tusks. They are used for digging for roots and stripping the bark off trees for food, and, fighting each other during mating season, or defending themselves against predators. They weigh from 50-100 pounds and may be from 5 to 8 feet long. However, a result of poachers killing elephants with the biggest tusks has been a survivor population with much smaller tusks. Both bulls and cows have tusks.
Bush and forest elephants are nowadays generally considered to be two distinct species. The African forest elephant has a longer and narrower mandible, rounder ears, a different number of toenails, straighter and downward tusks, and considerably smaller size. With regard to the number of toenails: the African bush elephant normally has four toenails on the front foot and three on the hind foot, the African forest elephant normally has five toenails on the front foot and four on the hind foot (like the Asian elephant). Hybrids between the two species do occur.
Poaching greatly reduced the population of elephants in Africa in the 20th century. In the eastern region of Chad, elephant herds were substantial as recently as 1970, with an estimated population of 400,000. However, by 2006 the number had dropped to about 10,000. The African elephant nominally has governmental protection, but poaching is a serious issue.
People moving into or near areas where elephants occur naturally is a problem. There is research into methods of safely driving groups of elephants away from humans. Playing recorded sounds of angry honey bees is remarkably effective at prompting elephants to flee an area. Sometimes elephant communities have grown so large that culling was needed to sustain the ecosystem.
History of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state. England, Scotland, Wales (together: Great Britain) and Northern Ireland are parts of this state.
The Acts of Union in 1707 united the crowns and Parliaments of England and Scotland to create (the United Kingdom of) Great Britain. At this time, Wales was legally part of the Kingdom of England, with representation (since 1536) in the English Parliament, so it was included in the union of England and Scotland. Ireland was a separate kingdom with its own parliament until further Acts of Union in 1800 joined Great Britain and Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
In 1922, the territory of what is now the Republic of Ireland gained independence, and only Northern Ireland continued to be part of the United Kingdom. As a result, in 1927 Britain changed its formal title to "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", usually shortened to "the United Kingdom", "The UK", "Great Britain" or just "Britain".
The first step towards political unification were taken on 1 May 1707, when the parliaments of Scotland and England approved "Acts of Union" which combined the two parliaments and the two royal titles.
Perhaps the greatest single benefit to Scotland of the Union was that Scotland could enjoy free trade with England and her colonies overseas. For England's part, a possible ally for European states that were hostile to England had been neutralized.