Talk:Bumper (Super Mario Maker series)

Rename to Bumper (object)

This talk page proposal has already been settled. Please do not edit this section or its subsections. If you wish to discuss the article, please do so in a new section below the proposal.

canceled by proposer
I feel that a game identifier is too inconsistent with other naming conventions, so I propose that we move this article to Bumper (object) to give the name a better identifier. Just look at this example, as pointed out by Porplemontage!

Proposer: Toadette the Achiever (talk)
Deadline: July 17, 2017, at 23:59 GMT
Date Withdrawn: July 5, 2017, 23:59 GMT

Support

1. Toadette the Achiever (talk) Per proposal.

Comments

Does this really need a proposal? Naming policy indicates that it should just be moved without question. There is no reason for this Bumper to be identified by game when the others aren't. 15:01, 4 July 2017 (EDT)

Fortune favors the bold! If you're unsure about doing something, you're free to make a discussion for it (either here or on the forums), but making a proposal is just going to drag it out for two weeks. Hello, I'm Time Turner. 15:07, 4 July 2017 (EDT)

Just go ahead and move it, as policy states this is the better identifier. You can cancel the proposal yourself at this time, or I can do it. 15:23, 4 July 2017 (EDT)

Having been moved back to Super Mario Maker

That's a mistake. If anything, the identifier should be "Super Mario" or something, as the Super Mario Maker ones are clearly intended to be based off of the New Super Mario Bros. ones, just with a less baffling and less underwater-based design, as they act exactly the same. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 19:12, 10 December 2017 (EST)

New Super Mario Bros.

Are these really Bumpers? They do function similarly, but is there any indication that they are the same? We could possibly state that they are things that function similarly to them. -- FanOfYoshi at 11:24, March 30, 2019 (EDT)

P Doors also appear in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, so why would these be any different? ^(T|C) 11:55, March 30, 2019 (EDT)

They are definitely based off of one another. We can possibly state that they just function similarly then. -- FanOfYoshi at 12:04, March 30, 2019 (EDT)

That's how it used to be like, but that's splitting hairs and kinda dumb. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 14:50, March 30, 2019 (EDT)

Are they really the same?

In line with the not-really-all-that-recent-but-still-on-my-mind proposal regarding Grab Blocks and their difference from White Blocks, is there any satisfactory indication that the bumpers on this page are the same? The ones in NSMB have a different Japanese name, and they all have different visual designs and preferred environments, from underwater cell bubbles to space graveyard meat to inner tubes. If the White Block proposal is any guide, these are not the same object and need different pages (even though they'd probably be stubby and unintuitive). I'm asking largely to gauge the consensus about splits/merges like this, because the NSMB and SMM ones work pretty much identically but aren't confirmed to be the same and have different names, while the meat is even more of a stretch but could still be considered "a bumper". WilliamFrog (talk) 01:19, January 28, 2024 (EST)

Personally, I think it is fine for objects of the same function to share an article if they are not meaningfully differentiated from each other in primary sources. Having different designs is less important since many objects will be visually tweaked to match the environment they occur in or the general art directions of the games they appear in. (For example, there are a million lifts.) With the texts currently available online (i.e. not the Shogakukan Guidebook for SMG, which may prove valuable) the bumper and meat from Super Mario Galaxy aren't even mentioned in any of the Japanese source material and that has generally been my reference for differentiating an "object" from "just part of the environment". Is it really beneficially for one or both of them to get their own dedicated articles, or is more helpful for readers to learn about them here, with objects that share the same function? I'm inclined to think the latter. - Nintendo101 (talk) 16:24, January 28, 2024 (EST)

Actually, honestly, it might even be worth lumping Bumper (Pinball) and Bumper (Mario Kart series) here. Do they all really need separate articles when they're essentially the same? - Nintendo101 (talk) 16:27, January 28, 2024 (EST)

About the NSMB DS bumper

I figured that maybe, just maybe, it has been referred anywhere in the Player's Guide for this game, but I cannot find a copy on Archive.org. Can anyone else verify for me what they refer the bumpers as? rend (talk) (edits) 12:46, March 15, 2025 (EDT)

They're unmentioned (DS Pocket Guide too) even though it bothered to illustrate them on maps. The closest is on pg.107 of the Player's Guide: "Beware of sea anemones, which will bounce you right into the Unagi’s maw!" However, I believe this is referring to another obstacle. LinkTheLefty (talk) 13:54, March 15, 2025 (EDT)

Would that be the pink object in this screenshot?

It does look like sea anemone, but it looks a foreground object, and this footage clearly shows you can swim right through it without any harm. Our wiki page on this course also doesn't put any effort to describe these things, so it seems that they WOULD be referring to the bumpers, since they DO have an effect, and said effect allows the scenario as described in that guide page. Did they mistake the bumpers for sea anemone? Did they maybe mistake the sea anemone for obstacles? rend (talk) (edits) 17:56, March 15, 2025 (EDT)

Huh. You're right. One of the screenshots seems to show Shell Mario about to hit one of those things, but they're just noninteractive background decorations. Looks like this is either referring to the bumpers, or the screenshot supplier didn't coordinate with the blurb writer. LinkTheLefty (talk) 19:30, March 15, 2025 (EDT)

Since the Player's guide seems to be referring to something unrelated to Bumper, what would be the internal name? Maybe it could direct us to a decent one to use (not sure if we did dug onto it in the past but yeah). -- FanOfYoshi at 00:18, March 19, 2025 (EDT)

Split Obstacle Bubble

This talk page proposal has already been settled. Please do not edit this section or its subsections. If you wish to discuss the article, please do so in a new section below the proposal.

Split Obstacle Bubble from Bumper 6-0
Different names in Japanese and English, where they are explicitly called Obstacle Bubble. While they act similarly, they are clearly distinct. I'll probably also split the SMG ones in the future because Bumper only refers to obstacles named that way in SMM and SMM2.

Proposer: Sorbetti (talk)
Deadline: May 19, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Split

1. Sorbetti (talk) Per proposal.
2. Hewer (talk) Sure. I think the Grab Block case is comparable.
3. Arend (talk) Per all. I had always thought that this bubble's inclusion, in some way, felt a bit off. The fact that it might've been confused for sea anemone in a Player's Guide, as discussed above, doesn't help matters.
4. Camwoodstock (talk) Per proposal. It's pretty distinct compared to the Maker and Wonder bumpers.
5. FanOfYoshi (talk) I would support we split the Mario Galaxy ones as well. I don't know whether the Mario Wonder ones should be in bumper, but i know for a fact SMM Bumpers' similarities to precedessors are entirely coïncidence.
6. EvieMaybe (talk) yeah, these are just different things that work similarly. per

#Nelsonic (talk) Per all.

@Nelsonic Please pay attention to the deadline date above (May 19, 2025, 23:59 GMT) compared to the day and timestamp you're voting (well over 12 hours later at May 20, 2025, 14:42 GMT). -Arend (talk)

Comments

Wouldn't the correct name to split the NSMB bubbles off to, to be "Ojama Awa"? It's the only official name we've got for these things, and wiki policy dictates to not fan-translate these items under normal circumstances
Also, if you plan to split the SMG bumpers (and I guess the piece of meat, too) because of the bumpers from SMM only being referred as simply "Bumpers" in that game, wouldn't the Super Mario Bros. Wonder bumpers also have to be split? Aside from being significantly larger and occasionally spinning, they also aren't round at all, despite the SMM Bumpers' Japanese name literally being "Marumaru" (lit. "Round-round"). rend (talk) (edits) 09:55, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia names take priority over Japanese names. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 10:03, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

Wait, it was named as such in the Encyclopedia? I should give it a check to make sure... rend (talk) (edits) 10:13, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

Even so, I'm pretty sure "sea anemone (obstacle)" should be the title. LinkTheLefty (talk) 16:24, May 15, 2025 (EDT)

In the proposal, I provide a link where you can see explicitly how the encyclopedia calls them Obstacle Bubble. As for SMG, you are right. I think it would be better to just divide the "meat" for now. Sorbetti (talk) 10:15, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

You're absolutely right. I just checked my own copy of the Encylopedia too just to make sure, and it's there word-for-word. I guess I somehow hadn't seen your earlier link, my bad.
As for the other bumpers, I'm not entirely opposed splitting those as well, but I guess splitting off the Obstacle Bubble and the meat are probably the more important decisions to make right now. rend (talk) (edits) 10:25, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

I just noticed our Meat article already describes the bumper meats from SMG in about as much detail as on this article, if not a little more, so it appears that a split for that one might not even be necessary. All that it really needs for this "split" is just rewrite the relevant pages: e.g. move info from Bumper to Meat and have the SMG pages regard the Meat as a separare object from the Bumper. rend (talk) (edits) 10:35, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

I agree that the Super Mario Maker Bumper should have an article to itself. Blinker (talk) 12:49, May 5, 2025 (EDT)

@FanOfYoshi As I stated earlier in this comment section, the bumpers from SMB Wonder are not round, which contradicts with the Japanese name of the SMM bumpers, "Marumaru", which literally means "round-round". At least the bumpers from Galaxy ARE round, too, so if we were to split those from the bumper article, the same HAS to happen with the Wonder bumpers. rend (talk) (edits) 12:23, May 6, 2025 (EDT)

I guess that makes sense. -- FanOfYoshi at 04:44, May 7, 2025 (EDT)

About the SMG bumper

So, given the proposal above, I've been looking through the other various bumpers featured on the article lately... okay, well, specifically the ones from Mario Galaxy added a couple years ago. Honestly, I don't think the meat needed to be covered on this page since Meat also covers it, so I added more info there and de-emphasized the meat info a bit on this page. But it got me curious about the other bumper, the one that the Prima guide actually referred to as a "bumper" (...in one instance though, they sometimes refer to these as inflatable bulbs instead), so I looked up footage of Bubble Blast Galaxy. According to our wiki page, these bumpers would bounce Mario in the opposite direction when coming into contact with them, the Prima Guide says something similar, so it should be easy slam dunk, right?

Except... no?! Apparently, these bumpers do NOT bounce Mario away at all? Especially NOT in the opposite direction? It doesn't even make a bouncy noise like with the meat? I've looked through several gameplay videos of the same Galaxy mission, and it appears that touching these "bumpers" will give the same collision effect as any other harmless wall... as in, it does nothing beyond getting in Mario's way. Sure, sometimes it LOOKS like Mario is bouncing off elsewhere, but this appears to have more to do with the power of the gust that the player makes behind Mario, rather than something caused by the bumper itself.

This bit in this video may exemplify the not-bounciness in these bumpers best, as Mario gets blown into a row of three bumpers and then comes to a standstill. And then there's this video in which a No Bubble run is being performed, and you see Luigi being able to stand on top of these bumpers perfectly fine.

The Obstacle Bubble from New Super Mario Bros, and the freakin' meat, are more bumper than this bumper, so what's it doing here on the page that originally was made for the very bouncy Super Mario Maker bumpers? Shouldn't this be split off into its own article? rend (talk) (edits) 14:06, May 6, 2025 (EDT)

@Arend I was thinking about expanding my proposal above to split the Wonder and SMG ones, what do you think? Sorbetti (talk) 14:17, May 7, 2025 (EDT)

These are just tiny spherical planets, I don't know if they really need an article. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 09:53, May 8, 2025 (EDT)

@Sorbetti I dunno, I feel that it would work better in a poll-based proposal format. Not helping is that Xiahou Ba recently added bumpers from Yoshi Touch & Go to this article while suggesting a rename to encompass a wider range. All I really know is that the SMG "bumpers" don't belong here.
@Doc von Schmeltwick So you're suggesting to just remove it from the article altogether, as well as the Super Mario Galaxy page and {{SMG}} nav template? And I guess deleting the image for it as well? I'm not entirely sure, but I suppose it makes sense the way you put it. rend (talk) (edits) 12:49, May 8, 2025 (EDT)

I mean, the image can probably stay as a planet image for the Bubble Blast Galaxy itself. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 22:09, May 8, 2025 (EDT)

Clean up this page

This talk page proposal has already been settled. Please do not edit this section or its subsections. If you wish to discuss the article, please do so in a new section below the proposal.

This proposal is inspired by my proposal above. This page has several problems, like the recent Obstacle Bubble, but it still has other issues.

1. Bumper from SMG: Its only relation to bumpers is the name given by PRIMA: "Bumpers". Also, as you can see in the Arend discussion above, they don't even bounce; it's just the bubble's effect. (No japanese name)

2. Bumper from Wonder: The Japanese name for bumpers in SMM and SMM2 literally means round, which these don't have. They also serve more as jump boosts than obstacles. For more information, see Arend in the comments of the proposal above. (No official name/No japanese name)

3. Bumper from Yoshi: Its design resembles that of Wonder, as it has two figures, but it doesn't have an official name, which could be more of a coincidence. They also don't have similar designs; one is a ball, while the other is a donut with moving eyes. (No official name/No japanese name)

As you can see, Arend was very helpful with these, thanks @Arend.

There are be 3 options:

A. Split the pages due to their differences

B. Delete them due to their low importance and lack of information

C. Keep them together (on the last one, I also add rename the page because if the Yoshi bumpers are kept, we'll have appearances outside of the "Super Mario" franchise).

Proposer: Sorbetti (talk)

Split Floating Bumpers (SMG)

Remove Super Mario Galaxy Bumper 3-4-0
Deadline: May 23, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Split (Support)

1. Sorbetti (talk) Per proposal.
2. Arend (talk) They don't bounce Mario away at all. They're nothing more than round walls; they don't belong here.
3. FanOfYoshi (talk) Per all.

Delete Info (Support)

1. Arend (talk) I think Doc may be onto something in the discussion above. Without the bounciness that the other bumpers have, these are just nothing more than round, wall-like obstacles; not sure if these obstructions are noteworthy enough to deserve a page (though I guess they could still remain covered on the Super Mario Galaxy page).
2. Blinker (talk) Per Arend.
3. Sorbetti (talk) If they don't have anything remarkable, I'm not personally interested in covering them on a page just for them, per all.
4. Camwoodstock (talk) These are more like mini-planets (in-game planets, not like, the actual concept) that just happen to have a name. Per all, just mention these on the table of stuff in Super Mario Galaxy.

Keep (Oppose)

Split SMBW Bumpers

Split Super Mario Bros. Wonder Bumpers 6-0-2
Deadline: May 23, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Split (Support)

1. Sorbetti (talk) Per proposal.
2. Blinker (talk) I think it's a mistake to ignore the Japanese name. This name of Marumaru, as well as stuff like the title of My Friend Mr. Bumper!, shows that this bouncy donut-shaped blob with eyes is just another of the Mario series's many quirky and unique obstacles, and not a mere generic bumper. So it should probably be treated accordingly: a dedicated article free from unrelated clutter.
3. Arend (talk) If Blinker and Nintendo101 are to be believed, the Japanese guide calls the square "bumper" Shikaku Trampoline and the triangle one Sankaku Trampoline, meaning they may not even be considered bumpers by Nintendo.
4. Camwoodstock (talk) Wow, they have it! S Q U A R E (Per proposal.)
5. Hewer (talk) They should both have their own page.
6. FanOfYoshi (talk) Per all.

Delete Info (Support)

Keep (Oppose)

1. PopitTart (talk) Wonder borrows a LOT from the Super Mario Maker games. Ball-shaped Spike Traps, ON/OFF Dotted-Line Blocks, Coin Blasters, the nature of Break Time levels. Bumpers are no different, and it would be misleading to separate them just because of the Japanese name.
2. Xiahou Ba, The Nasty Warrior (talk) Per PopiTart.

Split Yoshi Bumpers

Split Yoshi Touch & Go Bumper 5-0-1
Deadline: May 23, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Split (Support)

1. Sorbetti (talk) Per proposal.
2. Blinker (talk) Per my vote regarding the Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
3. Arend (talk) We're better off merging this, Bumper (Pinball) and Bumper (Mario Kart series) together.
4. Camwoodstock (talk) Changing our vote per comments. Think of this as our push for splitting all bumpers, and renaming the page to be about the Maker bumpers, rather than this weird quasi-generic page we have right now.
5. FanOfYoshi (talk) Per all.

Delete Info (Support)

Keep and rename the page to Bumper (Obstacle) (Oppose)

1. Xiahou Ba, The Nasty Warrior (talk) They're functionally the same item, there's no reason to have a Yoshi variant of them split off from the other bumpers.

#Camwoodstock (talk) Per Xiahou Ba; unlike the "basically just a sphere wall" SMG bumpers and the "S Q U A R E" SMBW bumpers, these ones really are just round, ordinary bumpers, called bumpers. If it looks like a bumper, it acts like a bumper, it's round like a bumper, and bumps like a bumper, it's a bumper.

BUMPER comments

Should be noted that the SMG bumpers are referred to as just "bumpers" (or inflatable bulbs") in the Prima guide, not "floating bumpers". rend (talk) (edits) 01:09, May 9, 2025 (EDT)

@PopitTart They are clearly inspired, but being the same subject is very unlikely, inspired and being the same thing is quite different. Sorbetti (talk) 09:22, May 9, 2025 (EDT)

@PopitTart According to Blinker below and Nintendo101, the "bumpers" in Super Mario Bros. Wonder even have completely different names in Japanese... BOTH of them, in fact: Shikaku Trampoline for the square ones, and Sankaku Trampoline for the triangular ones. And with the donut-shaped Bumpers from SSM being called Marumaru instead, it's clear that they weren't intended to be the same thing at all. rend (talk) (edits) 06:21, May 11, 2025 (EDT)

I think I just got a better idea how to deal with the Yoshi Touch & Go and Super Mario Bros. Wonder bumpers. However, I'm thinking to wait 28 days after the proposal has properly ended, since it involves at least two other Bumper articles: Bumper (Pinball) and Bumper (Mario Kart series). The idea is to merge the four entities together in a general Bumper article, since they all generally share the exact same function, and as far as I can tell, don't have a vastly different Japanese name. It would make the disambiguation page for Bumper also less cluttered... speaking of which, that one could be moved to Bumper (disambiguation). rend (talk) (edits) 07:54, May 10, 2025 (EDT)

I mostly agree with this. However, according to Nintendo101, the Japanese guide for Wonder does give the game's "bumpers" unique names of Shikaku Trampoline ("Square Trampoline") and Sankaku Trampoline ("Triangle Trampoline"), so those two could probably use articles of their own. Blinker (talk) 08:52, May 10, 2025 (EDT)

That's actually pretty vital information. The fact that not only do both objects have unique names but assigns them as trampolines instead of Bumpers means that both of them could be split off with an {{Another language}} notice. rend (talk) (edits) 09:01, May 10, 2025 (EDT)

Funnily enough, the course Shining Falls Special Triple Threat Deluge does contain small bumpers that may befit a general Bumper article better than these Shikaku Trampoline ones (it's these small, octagonal things with golden ridges, as seen in this shot; we may need to verify if those have a Japanese name though). rend (talk) (edits) 15:57, May 10, 2025 (EDT)

@Camwoodstock I feel like the way this proposal is set up makes it too easy to ignore the donut-with-eyes in the room. While I agree the Yoshi bumpers are "just round, ordinary bumpers", I would argue that is not the case for the Super Mario Maker ones. They have a unique name in multiple languages including the original Japanese (Marumaru), have a relatively unique appearance as a patterned torus with eyes, and are even implied to be alive (moreso than your average "inanimate object with eyes" anyways) by the title of the course My Friend Mr. Bumper!. Doesn't it seem a little odd to have something like that covered on the same page as "just round, ordinary bumpers"? Blinker (talk) 17:01, May 10, 2025 (EDT)

I feel like the proposal has been set up this way because not only did it start out as an article for just the Super Mario Maker Bumpers, until the NSMB Obstacle Bubbles were being incorporated, and then more similar objects were being added over time, but the SMM Bumper had always stayed front and center over the years as well despite the not-so-ordinary donut shape.
Not to mention that most of the NioLs that refer to the SMM Bumper use names alluding to its ring shape instead of something as simple as "bumper"; compare the SSB Bumper, for instance. rend (talk) (edits) 17:36, May 10, 2025 (EDT)

Fair enough. We're gonna be honest here; if the options were just "convert to a generic Bumper page" and "split up all the bumpers", rather than being a poll, it'd be a lot more sense-make to us. ;p ~Camwoodstock ( talk ☯ contribs ) 23:13, May 10, 2025 (EDT)