User:Tails777/Work

Splitting Pallet Swapped Characters
This is a discussion regarding the idea of splitting pallet swaps into their own articles. Since I have jumped the gun on proposals in the past, I'm choosing to write everything down here so that I have a place for all the information. Anyone who reads this and has things to say or add, feel free to leave comments on my talk page.

Intro
Color based characters, strongly involving Yoshis and Shy Guys, can also involve Toads and Koopa Troopas, have appeared multiple times throughout the Mario franchise. In a wide variety of appearances, they appear more as a species with little that separates them other than color. However, in just as many appearances, there are means of showcasing that each color comes with its own unique and individual statistics. This is an attempt at diving into reasons why color based characters could get their own individual articles.

Being a pallet swap
In the case of being a pallet swap, there is usually nothing more than color that differentiates the characters. Blue Shy Guys largely act and look identical to Red Shy Guys, with the only difference being the color of their, uhh… cloaks? Whatever they wear. Unlike species based on parent species, whose names may gear more towards any behavioral or ability based differences, pallet swaps are generally named in a very simplistic manner; “Color” “Species Name”. Example, Blue Shy Guys, Red Yoshi, Green Toad. In the most common case, color based characters differ very little from their base character. Blue, Yellow, Green and Purple Toads are often just townspeople who showcase no differences than Red Toads other than the color of their spots and vests. Many games feature pallet swapped characters with little to no differences between them, such as multiple games featuring Toads as townspeople, Mario Sports Mix featuring alternate colors for characters, or Paper Mario: Color Splash featuring multiple colored Shy Guys with no differences in their stats. Based on that, it would make sense not to give these types of color different characters their own articles. However, there is the other half to the coin.

Multiple games that feature pallet swapped characters DO feature differences between each color. Two notable examples include the Mario Baseball series and Mario Kart Tour, both of which have a multitude of characters with colorful members of their species appearing as separate/costume based playable appearances. Costume based seems to be a better descriptive term for the former, especially since in Mario Superstar Baseball’s free play, you could only have one color of a character on a team and these pallet swaps are grouped together under one character. Mario Kart Tour, on the other hand, features more than just pallet swapped characters, as it also features characters dressed up in themed outfits. I’ll get to that later. The base point to this opening is that many of those games that feature pallet swapped characters also have slight differences between each color of character, ranging from stats in sports games to other statistics for other games.

What gets an article?
So far, a lot of what gets an article boils down to how different two subjects are. Shady Koopas have their own articles for having different stats and additional abilities compared to standard Koopa Troopas. A lot of the times, these changes are easily noticeable. However, there are also instances where differences are not obvious and require a bit more in depth information to disclose any solid differences. For this, I look at KP Koopas and Red Spike Tops in Paper Mario: TTYD. KP Koopas, for starters, have identical, in-game stats to normal Koopa Troopas; 4 HP, 2 attack and 1 defense, which is dropped to zero when they are flipped over. As with normal Koopas, they are left defenseless for one turn and if left alone, will get back up the next turn. They also have only one attack; retreating in their shell and charging at Mario. From the most basic viewpoint, the only difference between Koopas and KP Koopas is their shell color. However, it is also shown that KP Koopas have different resistance percentages to various status conditions, something that is not directly shown in-game in the same way their base stats are. This is a minor, albeit key difference that sets them apart from Koopa Troopas. However, then there are Red Spike Tops. Much like KP Koopas, they are identical in stats to normal Spike Tops, however they do not have any status resistance differences. Their only difference rests in the fact that they do not drop items, but that is specifically because they are encountered in Glitzville, a location whose fighting is not done in the same way as enemies in the rest of the game. As such, multiple enemies share that same difference and it’s more for reasons revolving around the theme of the area they are encountered in. Red Spike Tops are, as a result, are being considered to merge with Spike Tops because they are seen as little more than pallet swaps, with their names following the same simple method and their stats being identical. To compare the two, they are both otherwise identical in base stats and visual appearance to their parent species, with their only noticeable difference being shell color. But KP Koopas have a slight alteration in their resistances to status conditions while Red Spike Tops don’t. So in the end, KP Koopas have their own article for a rather small, but still key difference.

So let’s take KP Koopas and compare them to pallet swap characters. So to quickly reiterate, KP Koopas are identical to Koopa Troopas in visual appearance, base stats and abilities, but differ slightly in name, color and status resistances. Let’s take a look at the pallet swaps in the Mario Baseball series; Red Shy Guys, otherwise seen as the base Shy Guy, has a batting of 5/10, pitching of 3/10, fielding of 5/10 and running of 4/10. However, none of the other Shy Guy colors share the same stat combinations, making each Shy Guy color different in a very small way. Blue Shy Guys have a point lower in batting, but a point higher in running. So Shy Guy and Blue Shy Guy are identical to each other in visual appearance, but are slightly different in their abilities. That’s just one game, Blue Shy Guys are also in Mario Sports Superstars, where they once again feature slight differences in abilities compared to Shy Guys and the other colors present, notable in the Baseball game. So across multiple games, colored Shy Guys feature slightly different abilities than normal Shy Guys, differences comparable to that of KP Koopas to Koopa Troopas. So far, what’s separating them is that one is considered a sub-species and the other is a pallet swap. But why should that divide the equality? Why should being a pallet swap completely negate the idea of giving an enemy with consistently different stats and abilities across multiple games an article of their own? Actually, being a pallet swap does not negate the ownership of an article, as we have examples of pallet swaps that DO have their own articles.

For this, I turn to Mario Kart Tour, which not only features pallet swapped characters, but also pallet swapped karts. The primary examples here are the Turbo Yoshi and Turbo Birdo karts. As of currently, there is a Turbo Yoshi, as well as a red, blue, and white variant of the kart. The Turbo Birdo also have three color variants, being yellow, light blue and black. All these karts have their own articles, because they have different base abilities; the Turbo Yoshi increases points earned from Jump Boosts while the Red Turbo Yoshi increases the points earned from a Rocket Start. Additionally, the karts all have different Favorite Courses and different Favored Courses. There are a lot of details that make these karts different. So they earned their own articles. But at the end of the day, they too are just pallet swaps, especially the case the Turbo Yoshi, Red Turbo Yoshi and Blue Turbo Yoshi, all sharing the exact same build and tires, but their colors are different. Meanwhile the characters themselves, such as Red Yoshi, Blue Yoshi, Pink Yoshi, Black Yoshi and White Yoshi, do not have their own articles, despite having the exact same differences as the karts. So, why don’t they get articles, but the karts do? Well you could argue that none of the costume based characters get their own articles, despite having the same differences. That’s true, but that’s because Mario and Mario dressed as Santa are both being treated as the same character; Mario. There’s a noticeable naming difference between pallet swap characters and costume characters: Costume characters are named “Character Name” “(Theme of Costume)”, with the “Theme of Costume” in brackets behind the character’s actual name. The pallet swaps are not named as such, instead following the traditional, simple naming theme of pallet swaps: “Color” “Species Name”. This showcases that, to a degree, they are not being treated as the same character as their base. This is also supported by Yoshi (Kangaroo) clearly being yellow, but unlike the pallet swaps, he is not being called “Yellow Yoshi (Kangaroo)”. Furthermore, a slight supporting difference, Yoshi (Kangaroo) still has the orange colored boots as opposed to normal Yellow Yoshis, who have green boots, further showing that this is the Yoshi character himself colored yellow and is not a Yellow Yoshi. The only conflict to this is Birdo, whose colored alternates are being named in the same was as costumed alternates. This puts Birdo in a more complex situation, as those alternates appear to be treated as alternates of the actual character over pallet swaps.

Another topic, X Bosses and R enemies from the Mario & Luigi series. They appear to be stronger variants of past bosses and enemies, however they are less than a sub-species as they feature no solid ability differences and instead attack faster and have improved stats, as well as a pallet swap. The only real thing that differentiates R enemies are their potential item drops, EXP values and Coin values, as well as a few enemies having specific differences, such as Monolift Rs not being able to use the Grumbell attack and Flibbee Rs potentially lowering Mario or Luigi’s Power. The only naming difference here is the letter R after their name. In the case of bosses, they are the same deal; featuring improved stats, faster attacks, the letter X after their name and a pallet swap. What earns their articles; the stat changes. They too are getting articles solely based on different stats.

So let’s review;
 * KP Koopa do have their own articles because, despite their incredible similarities to Koopa Troopas, still have a small difference between Koopa Troopas.
 * Red Spike Tops are being considered to not have their own articles because they do not feature any distinct differences from Spike Tops, having the same stats across all categories and are considered to just be pallet swaps.
 * R enemies and X Bosses are (mostly) pallet swaps and do get their own articles, because they have notable stat changes and a few differences across select enemies. Goomba Rs and Bowser X, however, are not pallet swaps and have their own articles based on their enhanced stats.
 * Colored Shy Guys and Yoshis are pallet swaps and do not have their own articles, despite having their own different abilities across multiple games and having different special items, Favorite Courses and Favored Courses in Mario Kart Tour.
 * The colored Turbo Yoshi and Turbo Birdo karts are pallet swaps and do have their own articles, because they have different kart traits, Favorite Courses and Favored Courses.

The biggest inconsistency rests in the characters and the karts, but that inconsistency can be traced back to KP Koopas in an equal way. KP Koopas, at the base of things, are little more than pallet swaps with a few differences. Colored Shy Guys and Yoshis are also little more than pallet swaps, but features consistent differences across multiple games, but do not have their own articles. Colored Turbo Yoshi and Turbo Birdo karts features the same differences as the colored characters, but have their own articles as a result.

The question; why are these topics with similar to identical situations being treated differently? Well I feel an easy answer is that a lot of this information can easily be covered in one place. That is undeniably true. However, the reason the colored Turbo Yoshi karts have their own articles was stated in a proposal regarding the Turbo Yoshi’s name, with their differences in rarity, special skills, Favorite and Favored courses are enough to warrant their own articles. So why would this apply to the karts and not the characters? Even beyond the simple pallet swapped karts, there are tons of karts that are pallet swaps featuring different names, but still follow the same differences and similarities as their base karts. Which brings up the question of which would be easier: to merge all pallet swaps with their parent articles, regardless of their name or split them all based on their abilities.

Merging and Splitting Options
So what would be the pros and cons to both sides?

Merging Pallet Swaps
All information would be in one place and there would be less articles that ultimately cover a pallet swap of a kart/character. While these articles are not stubs, topics like the Turbo Yoshi are ultimately summed up by saying what their special skill is, their rarity compared to the base kart and the Favorite and Favored Courses, which is the same for each article. If they were all in one article, it would be the place to get all the information on all similar looking karts all at once. This is pretty much already the case, as the typical Shy Guy statistics article already covers all the Shy Guy variants in one page.

However, by merging all pallet swaps to their parent articles, that would be like disregarding their differences in favor of them just looking the same and, looking at how many articles we have over topics that are, at the base of things, pallet swaps, that would be a lot of articles to merge. On top of that, if we do not consider pallet swaps for Yoshis and Shy Guys, despite having different stats, then we'd have to consider RPG enemies as well, as a lot of them are indeed pallet swapped enemies with different stats, some of which don't even have additional or different attacks. While the use of the term "subspecies" was widely misused for a while, our help page regarding misused terms demonstrates that species such as Lakitus and Shady Koopas are not technically subspecies to Koopa Troopas, rather Koopa Troopas being the parent species for these similar/based on species. As a result, I don't believe it's too far off to say that Shady Koopas and other related enemies are, at the base of things, pallet swaps of other, base enemies. Once again, what separates nearly every single one of these enemies are enhanced stats and additional abilities.

Only Merge Mario Kart Tour Pallet Swaps
This option would only concern the subjects of Mario Kart Tour. To say "if we merge karts, we merge enemies" is probably a really big jump and is likely comparing two completely different ideas. Most enemies have more notable differences compared to most karts and gliders. So this option would be to simply merge Mario Kart Tour's pallet swapped karts with their parent articles, much like how the characters are already treated. Examples include the Blue Biddybuggy to the Biddybuggy, Warship to Landship and such. This would not include the Gold Glider to the Super Glider, as the Gold Glider has appeared previously in the series and is still it's own glider across Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8.

Splitting
In contrast, splitting pallet swaps means we have many articles covering the same species of a different color, yet we are consistently covering all the differences in their stats/statistics. This would especially be the case for Shy Guys and Yoshis, the latter of which was already proposed to be merged into one article. Keeping them split also remains consistent with RPG enemies, as even most pallet swap enemies have their own articles if they have different stats overall. That being said, that creates a lot of articles and does kinda go against the proposals that voted to merge the colored Yoshis together into one species article. Should we create articles for pallet swapped characters, it would include instances where being a different color altered the character's abilities or the character showcased individual abilities. Rolling back to the Yoshis, for example, Blue Yoshi would include information from Super Mario World, where any colored shell would grant it wings, as well as the GBA remake having a method of obtaining a Blue Yoshi at any point if Mario was in his Cape form. This would also undoubtedly include their stat changes from sports titles, specifically, once again, the baseball series. Koopa Troopas, while consistently appearing in green and red across the entire Mario series, still have noticeable traits that could be included, with a key one being how Green Koopa Troopas will walk off ledges and Red Koopa Troopas do not. However, this would also enter slippery territory with the likes of Toads and Birdos, both of which rarely have any case of being individualistic compared to their species as a whole, with the Mario Baseball series being one of the only times Toads are seen with any sort of differences by color and the Birdo species as a whole even being merged to Birdo herself entirely.

Obviously, I think splitting every pallet swap and covering every appearance for each color may be a bit much. I think the optimal and obvious option would be with pallet swapped topics and only cover titles and examples where the subject had distinct differences in stats or other details, much like how RPG enemies are covered. This would include pallet swaps that appear in the Mario Baseball series, Mario Sports Superstars and Mario Kart Tour, to name examples. These articles would also only cover the appearances in which these characters had differences from their base character. For example, we would not include information on Blue Yoshi's appearance in Yoshi's Woolly World, as colored Yoshies served an aesthetic purpose only and did not feature any sort of gameplay difference between them. The same would be said about alternate skins in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario Sports Mix or the Super Smash Bros. series, as those examples can be covered in the parent's species articles (Yoshi (species) for example, could cover the appearances of colored Yoshis in games where the color does feature different stats, abilities or gameplay differences). On top of that, I feel splitting the fewer options present here is a lot more managable and consistent than merging a grand majority of examples of pallet swaps. One could argue that a lot of Mario Kart Tour's karts and gliders have unique names to make these pallet swaps feel more stand-out, but keep in mind there are a few pallet swapped karts and gliders that are also just "Color" "Topic Name" subjects, making them even closer to subjects such as Blue Shy Guy or Pink Yoshi.

Only SplitMario Kart Tour Pallet Swaps
This option, much like the merging counterpart, would only cover topics from Mario Kart Tour, namely the Yoshi, Shy Guy, Pit Crew Toad, Birdo and Koopa (Freerunning) alternates. To keep it simple, these articles would only cover their appearance in Mario Kart Tour, just as the karts and gliders do. This would also not include the costumed character based alternates, unless people believe it would be even enough for them to get their own articles too.