Category talk:Secret areas

Deletion
Considering how we already have Category:Secret Levels, would anyone complain if this category was deleted? 11:39, 23 November 2017 (EST)
 * I get the difference between them: Secret Areas are hidden in-level area, whereas Secret Levels are hidden levels as a whole. Sure, some may seem unnecessarily categorized (the The Lost Levels secret world don't exactly fit in either, unless we make a "" category), but categorizing Coin Heaven as a secret level when it isn't much of one seems strange. 11:57, 23 November 2017 (EST)
 * How many pages would actually be applicable under that definition, though? Even if it's more than five, it still seems too negligible to bother with a category. 11:54, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * Some of these on here would probably better fit in Secret Levels, like The Princess's Secret Slide the Red Coin Field. Bonus Area and Warp Zone for example wouldn't fit well in Secret Levels.
 * Perhaps we need a broader term like ? 12:01, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * A broader term would also allow for pages like Assembly Dojo to be included with no issue, so I don't oppose that. On a side note, the "secret levels" from Yoshi's Island aren't really secrets, they're just completion bonuses obtained through obvious gameplay markers (i.e. collecting everything). Their icons aren't even hidden on the level select screen. It seems kinda weird to include them alongside the actually hidden levels.
 * On another side note, are the Sunshine levels really secrets? Especially ones like Red Coin Field where they're just in Warp Pipes. 12:13, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * The Red Coin Field is really the only hidden one. The rest are either in the open, marked or indicated, or in plain sight, but require you to do a task, but I think they would all be considered a secret area because they aren't the main levels. Similarly, Super Mario 64 regards courses like Behind the Waterfall as secret areas due to the "Castle's Secret Stars".
 * Dumping everything into a general category would probably be best, but a proposal could be made to determine the best course of action: Merge into levels, merge into locations, delete, or nothing. 12:26, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * Is a secret level anything that isn't required for the main path? That seems... iffy.  12:41, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * Pretty much, though they would usually have a reward or bonus of some kind. Like, all the bonus areas in Donkey Kong Country would be secret areas because they aren't necessary, whereas the Trapdoor locations in Wario World would not be secret areas because a certain number of them need to be completed in order to reach the boss. Another option is to just delete both categories if they're proving useless :P 12:46, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * By that logic, wouldn't most of the levels in Super Mario World be "secret" due to Star Road? 13:00, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * Well, there are levels with "secret" in their name. 13:03, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * You know what I mean. There are a plethora of levels that can be readily skipped by using the Star Road, and I would sincerely hesitate to call them "secret". The Yellow Switch Palace is an even clearer example: it's not hidden in any way, and it's not unlocked through any secretive means, but all the same, it's optional. Personally, I would never call it a "secret level". 14:35, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * The way Star Road is accessed is by going through other secret levels, and by fulfilling requirements in said levels, and it acts as a shortcut (which are also usually secret areas). Star Road would most definitely fall under a secret world category. I don't think the Yellow Switch Palace would be a secret level considering the level progression to it, but the other Switch Palaces could be. 14:44, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * That goes against your previous definition, then. If a player only uses Star Road to beat the game, how is that the secret level? 14:49, 24 November 2017 (EST)
 * Good point. But the path the player takes to complete a game shouldn't be what's taken into account. The way the game is set up (Star Road is hidden by progressing through levels literally with "secret" in their name), Star Road is by all means a secret world, as is the world after it. 15:01, 24 November 2017 (EST)