MarioWiki:Proposals

Either restrict usage of or don't use NTSC or PAL on articles
It's common knowledge to mention regional differences between versions of the same game across the globe and there's nothing wrong with that. You know what is, though? Using the terms "NTSC" and "PAL" when it actually wouldn't really apply that well in the first place.

First of all, NTSC and PAL would really only apply for the older (analog) TV sets back in the day. Newer HDTVs don't really use the analog NTSC or PAL video standards anymore, instead going for digital standards like ATSC, ISDB or DTMB, for example.

Second of all, NTSC and PAL are mainly used to denote which video standard is used for TVs, not so much for video games (except for rare cases in which the content is exactly the same as the American version, where the only difference is game speed thanks to the PAL format in question).

Not only that, but several people are still insisting on using NTSC and PAL for certain cases when it really wouldn't make sense (for example, this revision of the Shifty Shrine article). This needs to change.

I'm proposing to replace either any or most instances of "NTSC" or "PAL" for video game regional differences with "American English" or "British English" whenever mentioned in articles. My reasons as for why are as follows:
 * The Game Boy, DS and Switch systems are region-free, meaning any game can work on any regional system.
 * Most translations into American and British English are basically almost identical (e.g. Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Mario Party 8, etc.). There are the rare few (Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, for example) that are completely different in many ways.
 * For the most part, only Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand use the PAL standard for older video game consoles (before the Wii U). Japan, China, Korea, the US, Mexico and Canada use the NTSC standard for those games. Stating the PAL or NTSC version for games whose releases are on newer consoles that use 1080p graphics (Wii U and Switch, currently) or on portable systems (Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or Nintendo 3DS) is just inaccurate.

I foresee so many ways this proposal could go in these two weeks so I'm adding multiple options. These options could be the one with the most votes at the end instead of just one, so they are there just in case. If you guys have any suggestions for other options before the end of the first week, then that would be great. The currently available options at the moment are the following:
 * 1) Replace any instance of NTSC and PAL for video game regional differences with American English and British English, respectively. My preferred choice.
 * 2) Use American English and British English for articles that relate to games for the portable systems and the Wii U and Nintendo Switch, but use NTSC and PAL for everything else. My second preferred choice.
 * 3) Do absolutely nothing. I suggest that we do not pick this option under any circumstance.

Proposer: Deadline: "March 29, 2019, 23:59 GMT"

Option 1: Use the American English and British English terminology wherever possible

 * 1) My preferred option.

====Option 2: Use NTSC or PAL only for articles that relate to the older home consoles (NES, SNES, N64, GCN and Wii) / Use the British or American English terminology for handheld consoles, the Wii U and the Switch====
 * 1) Second preferred option. After all, NTSC and PAL only apply to the analog TV sets.

Comments
From what I've seen, people don't say that they're "NTSC" or "PAL," but say "NTSC region" or "PAL region," which works as a shorthand way of denoting the regional split where differences tend to crop up. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 21:43, March 14, 2019 (EDT)
 * Uh, interesting. Never knew that until now (either that, or I never really saw that crop up that often). For the most part, whenever people mention it, they usually say "NTSC version" or "PAL version." – Owencrazyboy9 (talk) 21:58, March 14, 2019 (EDT)
 * Yeah, NTSC region and PAL region are barely used on this wiki, if at all. There's also the issue that NTSC is used in Japan as well, so I can see why NTSC region isn't really used that much.--Mister Wu (talk) 22:38, March 14, 2019 (EDT)
 * I've mostly sen it in regards to the original Luigi's Mansion, where it is a difference in-line with said TV parameter differences. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 23:06, March 14, 2019 (EDT)

New features
None at the moment.

Removals
None at the moment.

Merge Assist Trophies that have made minor appearances in the Mario franchise
(See this proposal before voting.)

After the merge for almost all of the categories listed in the linked proposal, there were a handful of pages that were left over, a number of them being Assist Trophies. The reason for this seems to be that they've made some sort of appearance in the Mario games, be it appearances as Mystery Mushroom costumes in Super Mario Maker and cameos in WarioWare microgames. However, when you think about the fact that Mystery Mushroom costumes like Babymetal and microgame characters (both non-playable and playable, e.g. the Empress Bulbax or the Urban Champion fighter) don't have their own articles - which was part of the reason Arcade Bunny was deleted - their still being separate doesn't quite make sense. We've already decided to merge the Assist Trophies, and minor appearances like these in any kind of Mario-related media alone don't warrant separate articles. There have been a few that have already been picked off individually (adding to the inconsistency), including Midna's page; using that as a precedent, it's time we finish this in one fell swoop.

For the sake of going with the original plan of enacting the changes to our Smash coverage one step at a time, I'm only focusing on the Assist Trophy characters in this proposal instead of every non-Mario subject that may have articles out there, with one exception I found was similar enough to include (see below).

Affected pages:
 * Condor - The exception in the proposal: Not an Assist Trophy, but even smaller roles as a stage element in Melee's Target Test and appearing in the Ice Climbers' entrance and Final Smash. Its only Mario-franchise appearance is a single microgame.
 * Excitebike (character) - A Mystery Mushroom costume; other than that, it only appears in a banner in Excitebike Arena.
 * Ghosts (Pac-Man) - Covers Blinky's appearance in the Mario Kart arcade games, who already has his own page. This page is utterly pointless.
 * Metroid (species) - Appears in a few microgames, a treasure in WL2, and the recently discovered cameo in DKCTF, all of which aren't worthy of separate articles.
 * Mother Brain - Appears in a microgame, as well as Captain N; however, recall that Coverage lists N as a guest appearance, meaning we only cover the show itself and any Mario-related elements in it. She is only mentioned by name in the Nintendo Comics System and SMRPG.
 * Nintendog - Two microgame appearances. The article even covers Mario references in Nintendogs, which belong on the references page.
 * Sheriff (character) - Microgame appearance.
 * Takamaru - Microgame appearance, and same deal with Mother Brain: Captain Rainbow is a guest appearance, and Takamaru falls outside the coverage.

Proposer: Deadline: March 22, 2019, 23:59 GMT

Support

 * 1) For the same reasons Arcade Bunny and Midna were removed, these should be, too.
 * 2) - I was thinking of something like this when I saw the Metroid disambiguation the other day. Some of these don't need pages on the Mario Wiki, but I didn't realize just how much more we don't really need. Per proposal.

Comments
I originally wanted to include Balloon Fighter as another exception; however, seeing as he's playable in a number of microgames in addition to a full-length minigame, this could be open to even greater debate that I think would be best handled separately. If anyone finds any more pages that can be added to the list, please let me know. 00:26, March 15, 2019 (EDT)

Miscellaneous
None at the moment.