User:7feetunder/sandbox

Planning for an upcoming proposal. Work-in-progress.

Proposal text
Super Mario Odyssey did something rather new for this franchise - it named every single checkpoint in the game. Somehow this convinced people that every single one should have its own article, and by now nearly all of them do, along with a few other landmarks. This is quite excessive. Do we have articles for every Power Moon? No. Do we have articles for every treasure in Wario: Master of Disguise? No. Should we give articles to every single solitary checkpoint in Super Mario Odyssey just because they have a name? No, no, a thousand times no. We don't split Windswept Valley from Tiny-Huge Island, nor do we split Hoohoo Mountain Base from Hoohoo Mountain. Something must be done.

There was a proposal about this years ago which the proposer ended up canceling. The problem with this proposal was that it wasn't clear enough about exactly which locations should get articles and which shouldn't. After that, the issue went unaddressed for years. So I went over them and organized them into groups: what we should keep, what we might want to keep, and what we should definitely merge.

KEEPERS: These are the areas that I think should stay. It includes three different kinds of areas.
 * 1) Towns with unique music from the rest of the kingdom (Tostarena Town, Peronza Plaza).
 * 2) Sub-areas that cause the name of the area to appear in big white text when entered (Underground Power Plant, Underwater Tunnel to the Lighthouse), or large, defined structures that contain such areas (New Donk City Hall). The only exceptions are New Donk City Hall Interior, which will be merged with the hall itself).
 * 3) Well-defined structures and major landmarks that don't already meet the previous criteria (Tostarena Ruins, Mayor Pauline Commemorative Park, Glass Palace). Any checkpoints that are just an "entrance" to or part of one of these greater structures (Tostarena Ruins Entrance, Tostarena Ruins Sand Pillar, Water Plaza Entrance, New Donk City Hall Rooftop) will be merged with them.

BORDERLINE: Ones I'm not quite sure about. These locations are notable to varying degrees, and may or may not deserve articles in the long run. I'm leaning towards keeping them for now since the main point of this is weed out the really bad ones.

DELETE: Everything not listed above belongs in the garbage, but here are some specific examples:
 * Any of the "islands in the sky" that paintings lead to (Southwestern Floating Island, Diving Platform). They're just platforms with a Power Moon on them. Not notable enough.
 * Meaningless, nondescript checkpoint locations that don't stand out in any way (Tostarena Northwest Reaches, Ocean Trench East/West, Top of the Peak Climb).

There are three options: keep the "keepers" only, include the "borderlines", or everything. It is, of course, be preliminary. If we keep the "borderline" articles, we can always weed out the ones we don't want with later proposals. Conversely, later proposals can call for the creation of articles previously deemed unworthy. There is absolutely no perfect solution to this problem, since in several cases, what qualifies as "notable enough" to have a page is subjective. However, we need to draw a line, and I don't want to make a separate proposal for every single checkpoint.

Cap Kingdom

 * Central Plaza: Borderline, kind of noteworthy, but generically named and not that distinct from the rest of the kingdom since there are hat houses in other parts and it's generically named.
 * Glasses Bridge: Keep, minor landmark mentioned in the brochure.
 * Sometimes Bridge: Borderline, context of the name is that the brochure calls it 'The "Sometimes" Bridge', meaning it's not really a name and should probably be merged later, but whatever, it's not high on my priority list.
 * Top-Hat Tower: Keep, it's a major landmark with a sub-area in it.

Cascade Kingdom

 * Waterfall Basin: Merge, insignificant checkpoint location, and the checkpoint goes away once the Odyssey takes it's place.
 * Stone Bridge: Merge, it's just a strip of land with nothing notable about other than it has a bunch of Burrbos on it.
 * Fossil Falls Heights: Borderline. It's basically just refers to the upper portion of the kingdom, which includes Madame Broode's battle arena. I don't think we should keep it in the long run, but I'll let it slide with a BL for now.
 * Top of the Big Stump: Merge, it's just a tree stump.
 * Island in the Sky (Cascade Kingdom): Merge, painting exit location.

Sand Kingdom

 * Tostarena Town: Keep, it's a town
 * Tostarena Ruins Entrance, Tostarena Ruins Sand Pillar, Tostarena Ruins Round Tower: Parts of a greater structure, merge together as.
 * Moe-Eye Habitat: Borderline, arguable minor landmark.
 * Jaxi Ruins: Keep, notable structure with a sub-area in it.
 * Tostarena Northwest Reaches: Merge, nondescript checkpoint location.
 * Desert Oasis: Keep, landmark that stands out from the rest of the area.
 * Southwestern Floating Island: Merge, painting exit location.
 * Inverted Pyramid: Keep, major landmark and major sub-area.
 * Underground Temple: Keep, major sub-area.
 * Deepest Underground: Keep, technically qualifies as a major sub-area. I think it should be merged with Underground Temple, but I'll decide that with a different proposal.

Lake Kingdom

 * Courtyard (Lake Kingdom): Borderline, it's semi-notable I guess?
 * Water Plaza Entrance, Water Plaza Display Window, Water Plaza Terrace: Parts of a greater structure, merge together as.
 * Viewing Balcony: Merge, painting exit location.

Wooded Kingdom

 * Iron Road: Entrance, Iron Road: Halfway Point, Iron Mountain Path, Station 8: Parts of a greater structure, merge together as.
 * Sky Garden Tower: Keep, major landmark and sub-area.
 * Forest Charging Station: Borderline, very minor landmark.
 * Summit Path: Merge, nondescript checkpoint location.
 * Secret Flower Field Entrance: Part of a greater structure, merge with Secret Flower Field.
 * Observation Deck: Borderline, generically named and not too distinct, but not completely nondescript. I'll let it slide with a BL.
 * Iron Cage: Merge, painting exit location.
 * Deep Woods: Keep, major sub-area.

Lost Kingdom
Swamp Hill, Mountainside Platform, Rocky Mountain Summit: Merge, insignificant checkpoint locations.

Metro Kingdom

 * Main Street Entrance: Merge, insignificant checkpoint location.
 * Rooftop Garden: Merge, it's just the top of some building that happens to have grass and a few bushes on it.
 * Construction Site (Super Mario Odyssey): Borderline, arguable minor landmark.
 * New Donk City Hall Plaza: Borderline. It's actually kind of nondescript outside of the New Donk City logo in the ground in front of the hall, and could maybe be merged with the hall, but BL just to be safe.
 * New Donk City Hall Rooftop: Part of a greater structure, merge with New Donk City Hall
 * Mayor Pauline Commemorative Park: Keep, major landmark.
 * Outdoor Café: Borderline. Generically named, but at least it kind of stands out.
 * Heliport: Merge. It's just a heliport.
 * Isolated Rooftop: Merge, painting exit location.
 * Underground Power Plant: Keep, major sub-area.

Snow Kingdom

 * Shiveria Town: Keep, it's a town.
 * Icicle Cavern, Hollow Crevasse, Wind-Chill Cavern, Snowy Mountain: Keep, they're all major sub-areas.
 * Snowline Circuit: Keep, race track and major sub-area.
 * Iceburn Circuit: Keep, race track, currently not on template but should get an article.
 * Snow Kingdom Clifftop: Merge, painting exit location.

Seaside Kingdom

 * Lighthouse: Keep, generically named, but it's still a notable landmark.
 * Underwater Tunnel to the Lighthouse: Keep, major sub-area.
 * Glass Palace: '''Keep, major landmark.
 * Rolling Canyon: Keep, unique area that stands out from the rest of the kingdom.
 * Hot Spring Island: Keep, minor landmark.
 * Beach House: Keep, minor landmark with a minigame inside.
 * Ocean Trench West, Ocean Trench East: Merge, insignificant checkpoint locations.
 * Above Rolling Canyon: Merge, there's a Power Moon near here, but it's not a landmark or anything.
 * Diving Platform: Merge, painting exit location.

Luncheon Kingdom

 * Peronza Plaza: Keep, it's a town.
 * Path to the Meat Plateau: Merge, nondescript checkpoint location.
 * Meat Plateau: Merge, it's just the spot where you capture a piece of meat and Cookatiel takes you to the top of the volcano.
 * Start of the Peak Climb: Merge, nondescript checkpoint location.
 * Top of the Peak Climb: Merge, nondescript checkpoint location.
 * Salt Pile Isle: Merge, just a tiny platform in the lava that isn't noteworthy in any way.
 * Floating Sky Island: Merge, painting exit location.
 * Remote Island in the Lava: Borderline. The generic name makes me want to write it off, but it... kind of stands out i guess...?

Bowser's Kingdom

 * Souvenir Shop: Borderline. It's basically just a floating island with a Crazy Cap on it, but there's a back door with a secret room inside. And there are seats and stuff...
 * Island in the Sky (Bowser's Kingdom): Merge, painting exit location.
 * Third Courtyard (Front), Third Courtyard (Rear), Second Courtyard, Main Courtyard Entrance, Main Courtyard: Borderline. The BK checkpoints have a weird definition of courtyard - they're basically different islands and parts of the castle. Even the "entrance" is kind of a notable area, (Hariet and Topper and are both fought there). They're generically named, but marking them BL for now, might revisit these with a later proposal.
 * Beneath the Keep: Borderline, same as above.
 * Outer Wall and Inner Wall: Merge, they're not completely nondescript but they don't really mark anything, and they're generically named.
 * Showdown Arena: Borderline: the RoboBrood battle arena. Some New Donkers show up and decorate it a bit later.

Moon Kingdom

 * Ringing-Bells Plateau: Merge. Nondescript checkpoint location, despite the fancy name.
 * Quiet Wall: Merge, it's just the entrance to the Underground Moon Caverns.
 * Ever-After Hill: Merge, totally featureless path to the Wedding Hall.
 * Wedding Hall: Keep. Major landmark, important story location

Mushroom Kingdom

 * Yoshi's House: Keep, already a notable subject before SMO.
 * Peach's Castle Main Entrance: Merge, it's just the entrance to Peach's Castle.
 * Mushroom Pond: Keep, distinct location.
 * Goomba Woods: Keep, same as above.

Dark Side

 * Rabbit Ridge Tower: Keep, major landmark and sub-area.