Talk:Guided Bullet Bill

Merge
I fail to see why this is split from Bull's-Eye Bill. This is just a Purple Bullet Bill, but it is a different color, which is not grounds for splitting on its own. Let's merge this with Missile Bill. 21:10, August 21, 2019 (EDT)
 * Let's not. They function differently; Bull's-Eye Bills move in an arc until above the ground, and turn toward Mario if they miss him. Guided Bullet Bills still move toward Mario, but they stay in the downward arc movement. 21:27, August 21, 2019 (EDT)
 * Actually this is just a regular black Bullet Bill that now homes in on Mario and doesn't start blinking until Mario has landed the first hit on the bathtub, at which point it's launched more erratically, so let's merge this with Bullet Bill instead. SmokedChili (talk) 11:55, August 24, 2019 (EDT)
 * That's half-true. There are really two different colors of the Corona Mountain Bullet Bill: black and blue, which is mentioned in English sources. For some reason, Japanese sources seem to neglect the fact that there is a homing black version, and only mentions that purple is homing as far as I can tell. Regardless, Super Mario Sunshine sources treat the Bullet Bills as color variants, and this too has its own color variants. LinkTheLefty (talk) 13:21, August 24, 2019 (EDT)
 * The guides also don't cover the Bullet Bills in Mecha-Bowser battle; they fly along the tracks of Merry-Go-Round. Japanese source wise, SMB Encyclopedia says the regular Bullet Bills fly towards Mario (マリオに向かって飛んでくる), which sounds pretty generic and could be interpreted as chasing Mario for the black Guided Bills. SmokedChili (talk) 06:02, August 25, 2019 (EDT)
 * As i already told you, it's NOT just a normal Purple Bullet Bill with a different color. Normal Bullet Bills also looked like this in this game. They also act different. -- 06:04, August 25, 2019 (EDT)

Merge with Bullet Bill, or Bull's Eye Bill?
I started to think about this, and asked myself wether it should be merged with Bullet Bill, or Bull's Eye Bill... The latter lists everytime a Bullet Bill variant is shown to be red and chase the player, but mostly chase the player, since not all Bullet Bills that chase the player, are red, since the ones shown in Super Mario Sunshine are purple instead of red, like the SMB3 Missile Bill, or Bull's Eye Bill. So i've been hesitating where should it be merged. -- 08:18, November 3, 2021 (EDT)
 * Personally, I think this is fine where it is. Japanese sources (at least the ones we have on record) don't mention the other color of Guided Bullet Bill, which is already unusual. Guided Bullet Bill seems to technically be a separate in-game object from the previous Bullet Bills. We have at least one English source describing it as a special type of Purple Bullet Bill. And Purple Bullet Bill itself is the one most analogous to Missile/Bull's-Eye Bill. There's been much discussion in the past on how to handle homing Bullet Bills, and I feel that if we single this one out, we might as well call the Sunshine ones in general into question. I won't stop you, but I'm not sure we're at a point you can expect different results if discussion is reopened. LinkTheLefty (talk) 21:23, November 3, 2021 (EDT)