Template talk:Crossover characters

Doki Doki Panic

Considering Stanley is on here due to his debut in Greenhouse, should the Doki Doki Panic characters that later appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2 also count? Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 15:10, February 13, 2024 (EST)

The DDP characters never actually appeared alongside the Mario cast (not including the newly introduced enemies), so I'd say no. Yours truly, SleepyRedHair. 06:52, February 14, 2024 (EST)

Never? ? ?? ??? SONIC123CDMANIA+&K(B&ATSA) (talk) 10:57, April 25, 2024 (EDT)

The footer at the bottom of the template says that their appearances need to be "playable, interactable, or plot-relevant". Appearing in promotional artwork does not count towards that. Yours truly, SleepyRedHair. 14:40, April 25, 2024 (EDT)

The query I had was about the enemies.... there had since been a proposal on that matter, though. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 14:53, April 25, 2024 (EDT)

Oh, my mistake. Even still, I doubt that one non-Mario appearance versus a dozen Mario appearances counts as a crossover. Yours truly, SleepyRedHair. 17:14, April 25, 2024 (EDT)

There's still the question on Stanley, then. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 17:37, April 25, 2024 (EDT)

Stanley may have never appeared in a Mario title, but he certainly has appeared in a Donkey Kong title. Although he and Mario have never appeared alongside each other (as far as I'm aware), he is technically a Donkey Kong character, with the DK series being one of our main topics of coverage. Therefore, I'd consider him to be a first-party non-crossover character. Yours truly, SleepyRedHair. 05:08, April 26, 2024 (EDT)

For the Stanley thing, he can stay. In terms of plot relevancy of Doki Doki Panic characters, uhhh... all I can think about is Wart at this point. Hmmm...oh man this is hard to think about...at this point we might need a separate template...sheesh this is hard...the more I think the more I seem to be breaking down because of this...hmmm...¯\_(ツ)_/¯. SONIC123CDMANIA+&K(B&ATSA) (talk) 14:16, May 6, 2024 (EDT)

This has mostly to do with Stanley originating in a Game & Watch game that predated - but in some ways served as a prototype for - Donkey Kong 3... in a similar matter to the DDP bosses + Subcons. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 14:52, May 6, 2024 (EDT)

Exactly. Maybe a separate template for those instances? SONIC123CDMANIA+&K(B&ATSA) (talk) 15:00, May 6, 2024 (EDT)

Why do we need a separate template exclusively for an essentially small set of characters? Yours truly, SleepyRedHair. 15:19, May 6, 2024 (EDT)

It's a suggestion. SONIC123CDMANIA+&K(B&ATSA) (talk) 15:47, May 6, 2024 (EDT)

I was back and forth on keeping Stanley on this template even before I added him, but I decided on removing him. Stanley seems to be more of an adoption into the Super Mario franchise like with the Doki Doki Panic enemies rather than a true crossover character, as his trophy and spirit appearances in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate respectively classify him as part of the Donkey Kong universe rather than Game & Watch. If you'd like to contest this, be my guest. SolemnStormcloud (talk) 11:43, June 25, 2024 (EDT)

Public-domain characters

So I was wondering, should characters that have appeared in Mario-related media but are currently in the public domain be included in this template? I noticed that King Kong is here, so why not other public domain characters as well, like Santa Claus and Frankenstein's Monster for example? They are still fictional characters crossing over with the Mario universe, even if they are not/no longer owned by someone. I think they'd fit well on here, though in a separate section specifically for public domain. These characters do not even have a category of their own, making it harder to know if there are more examples, so it would be nice to have a place for them to appear in. --Metalex123 (talk) 17:46, May 30, 2026 (UTC)

I think there's a distinction to be drawn between folkloric figures like Santa Claus and public-domain fiction with a clear "original work" such as King Kong or Frankenstein's monster. To be honest, I'm not sure where I fall on whether the latter should be included, but I definitely don't think the former counts as a "crossover". Ahemtoday (talk) 22:19, May 30, 2026 (UTC)