Talk:Tail attack
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Are normal Bowser's tail swings a kind of tail attack?[edit]
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Title. Yes. It's a dumb question. But it is very unfortunately a valid one. Remember, Super Mario 3D Land has Tail Bowser, and Tail Bowser is considered by this article to have this exact attack. Bowser, in his battle occurring after the Tail Bowsers' own, has an equivalent attack with his non-Tanooki tail. It would be weird for these two attacks to not be the same attack, as traditionally when multiple instances of a boss fight occur in one game, the latter instances of the boss fight inherit the moves of the prior instances of the boss fight. To say Bowser in Super Mario 3D Land does not have a tail attack goes against Marioian design principles.
Okay, that out the way? The unfortunate part is that Bowser swings his tail at Mario in other media within the franchise. My thoughts spring to Super Mario Odyssey and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. If the Bowser attack in Super Mario 3D Land is a tail attack, then these other pieces of media must also feature Bowser tail attacks. And as you may be realizing, we've hit "article about characters sitting on chairs" level of genericness, and in a way very difficult to head off in a clear way for less enfranchised editors while still encompassing normal Bowser in Super Mario 3D Land. (This is why we shouldn't have a tail attack page. Its easier to mention Tail Bowser and 3D Land normal Bowser while sweeping other Bowsers under the rug if this were just part of Tanooki Mario's page. All other Bowser tail swings wouldn't be parallels to Tanooki Mario.)
Now that we're in this position, we should do one of two things:
- Commit to noting all times Bowser swings his tail in media on this article
- 1 Perhaps with a "Post-Super Mario 3D Land clause
- Only cover the time Bowser swings his tail in Super Mario 3D Land and hope everyone understands why
- Restrict this article specifically to swinging Tanooki tails
3. is the best option, no doubt, but again it means that Bowser, the upgraded version of Tail Bowser, wouldn't be considered by this wiki to have one of Tail Bowser's attacks over a technicality. Which I don't like. Salmancer (talk) 08:14, February 16, 2026 (UTC)
- Is 3D Land the first time non-tanooki Bowser had a tail swing attack? If so, we can say something like, "Tail Bowsers perform tail attacks too. Regular Bowser does an equivalent of a tail attack using his regular tail; this has become a regular move in his repertoire in future games like Odyssey" and not have to elaborate about the non-tanooki tail attacks for the rest of the article. — eviemaybe
(talk) 13:21, February 16, 2026 (UTC)
- I like this idea. And yes, I'm pretty sure that is the case, and the tail's only prior use was to be grabbed (like in SM64). Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 02:41, February 17, 2026 (UTC)
