Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Paper Mario/archive2

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Gog the Mild via FACBot (talk) 26 May 2021 [1].

Paper Mario

Nominator(s): P anini ^🥪 01:23, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This article is about a sub-series of the Mario franchise, Paper Mario. Someone at Nintendo decided, "hey, the graphics on the Nintendo 64 are not good", and made everything two-dimensional instead. This game was called, and the department team worked overtime on this one, Paper Mario. The game was critically acclaimed. They released a sequel, and it was universally acclaimed. The developers then decided to switch up the genre a bit for the third game, Super Paper Mario, and it was simply acclaimed. Then they released Sticker Star, and everyone hated it. Color Splash, hated even more. The Origami King, eh.

In short, it's a video game series once acclaimed but recently fell to average reception. Still popular, however.

When this article was created by me, I got some initial thoughts from PresN. It also received a very short peer review, a copyedit from Willbb234, slight touchups from (Oinkers42) and through all this Blue Pumpkin Pie watched like a hawk. P anini ^🥪 01:23, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from RetiredDuke

Minor comments to start off:

isn't the 2nd game called Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and not "Thousand Year"? Might want to check all of those;
Done.
please review so that the references are in order (for instance underdeveloped gameplay.[99][13] and overly complicated,[100][13]);
Done.
per MOS:CAPTION, sentence fragments should not end with a period. RetiredDuke (talk) 11:09, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done.

RetiredDuke Considering "to start off," was there anything else you want to comment on? Panini!^🥪 15:01, 19 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the ping. I won't be able to continue the review though, as I'm a bit short on time right now. Good luck with the nomination! RetiredDuke (talk) 22:01, 19 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from HumanxAnthro

Hi, Panini, and good work on the article. However, there are a few major problems I have:

There is no representation from academic or scholarly literature discussing the franchise, which I found pages of thanks to a simple Google search.
This may seem minor, but I'm not a fan of the way the article is currently organized. The gameplay section is fine and does its job of describing the general gameplay of the series, but an issue arises after that section. Most of the "development" and "reception" sections (apart from the paragraph about the criticism of the last three games) describe specific games instead of the franchise as a whole, and the content in those "Games" sub-sections are too little and could be proper length if stuff from the development and reception sections were combined to those.
Speaking of reception being only about particular titles, that's the biggest problem when it comes to its compliance of 1b; there's nothing about the entire franchise's impact and legacy, as there is with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise featured article. Come on, this is a successful Nintendo franchise, there's no coverage about how the Paper Mario games have influenced the gaming industry?
Why are there no citations for the release dates in the "Games" section?
Cited

I won't state oppose because I don't think this article is a lost cause: I don't doubt the game's prose efforts from the users Panini mentioned above, and from a quick skim, most of the citations (apart from IGN not being formatted as a work in one cite, and a Metacritic source incorrectly formatted as a work while its formatted in a publisher in others) look well-formatted and are from reliable, quality sources. But I do think the critiques I imposed above are valid. Any thoughts? HumanxAnthro (talk) 23:41, 3 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

HumanxAnthro, before I begin, looking through the book sources I did not find much other than this, and most other instances the games are used as an example. Also, unlike the entirety of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, these games did not move mountains; there isn't any big, cultural impact or references in other media. Although the first couple of paragraphs in the Sonic the Hedgehog article are about reviewers' thoughts of how the series evolved over time, this info is already infused with the critical reception section. P anini ^🥪 01:28, 4 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I'll ping PresN here, see what his thoughts are on this and if my legacy/reception merge alternative is alright. P anini ^🥪 13:08, 4 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for the comments. Well, if there REALLY is no coverage about the general franchise's impact, then.... Support for completeness. There are a couple of minor issues (like those citation and prose ones I mentioned) but I think those are easily fixable. HumanxAnthro (talk) 16:17, 4 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Gerald Waldo Luis

I'll do a full review on this soon! One thing I'd note for now is that ref 28 has a cite error. Gerald WL 14:52, 4 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed

Sorry for the long wait! Doing the review below. Gerald WL 12:23, 12 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(HATNOTE) Is the "Super Paper Mario" thing needed? If you argue that there is the word "Paper Mario", I'd argue that other video games in the series also have it. Gerald WL 12:23, 12 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The reason why it's here is just in case readers might get the games confused with the Super Mario series, which this is a branch of. In my opinion, I think it's harmless.

(GAMEPLAY) The gameplay image is too small for me. Mind enlarging it a bit?

Yeah, but it made me have to move every other image in the article around to fit it. Thanks for that.

(GAMEPLAY) "a number of explorable areas, known as worlds"-- link virtual world in "worlds"?

Virtual world and simply "world" are different things; worlds are different sections in a game, like how New Super Mario Bros. Wii has "World 1", "World 2", etc. shown in this image. The "Virtual World" is simply just something or somewhere on the internet where users interact, such as a chat forum or a game on virtual reality.

(GAMEPLAY) "(XP, known in-game as Star Points, or SP)"-- I think it'd be better to change the first comma with a semicolon.

Changed

(GAMEPLAY) "RPG elements, such as XP, allies"-- shouldn't "XP" be plural, considering "allies" is?

Honestly, that's just not how the term is used; they call it XP, plural or not, probably because XPs sounds stupid. For this instance, though, I referred to it as its full term to avoid confusion.

(GAMES) "In Sticker Star"-- I'd rather change "Sticker Star" to "it", since the full name is said just a sentence ago.

Changed

(GAMES) "When Mario and Luigi head to Toad Town in the Mushroom Kingdom, they find the town to be abandoned." Suddenly jumping to the synopsis without clarifying it in real-world context, like the above subsections do. I'd change it "In it, Mario and Luigi head to Toad Town in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is discovered to be abandoned."

Changed

Gerald Waldo Luis, would you be willing to support? I'd like to show that this nomination isn't stalling. P anini ^🥪 17:08, 27 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Oops, sorry, the watchlist pushed this page down and down and down. But yeah, supporting. Gerald WL 17:29, 27 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Gerald Waldo Luis, thanks for the review! I've addressed your concerns. P anini ^🥪 02:27, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Shooterwalker

Promise I'll get to this within the week, if not sooner. Shooterwalker (talk) 00:59, 10 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Shooterwalker, yeah, me too for yours. I cannot do it tonight as I've had a busy day and need to wind down. Probably tomorrow, as I've also promised two others a peer review so I'll make tomorrow a review day. P anini ^🥪 01:01, 10 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Going to work through the prose and references and see how far I get.

Lead
I've never seen the word "sub-series". It might be a little jargon-y and there could be a plainer way of explaining its relationship to the overall franchise, and what makes it separate from the other platform games.
The commas in the sentence about the allies and antagonists add a lot of wordiness, in two sub-clauses. I feel like you could drop them without losing much information.

Removed, but left "Primarily Bowser".

"game to be Paper Mario," → "game to become Paper Mario,"

Fixed

"Despite the early games in the series being well-received, Kensuke Tanabe wanted to keep each game's style, such as in genre and combat, different from the previous game." This type of sentence isn't terrible, but trying to avoid run-on sentences with lots of commas is something to strive for. How about "Despite the early games in the series being well-received, Kensuke Tanabe wanted to each game to have a different style, varying the genre and combat system for each new title."

Changed but replaced "and combat system" to "and core gameplay element" as that is what's most often changed (there was also a typo in there).

"transition from role-playing games to more the action-adventure genre" → "transform genres from role-playing games to action-adventure".

Changed

"The new format of the games, starting from Paper Mario: Sticker Star onward, received mixed reception, with complaints regarding the new genre style but praise for the writing, characters, music, and reimagined paper aesthetic visuals." → "With the release of Paper Mario: Sticker Star, the series began receiving complaints about its change in genre, but still continued to earn praise for its writing, characters, music, and paper-inspired visuals."

You, my friend, are very good with words. You should consider Extraversion.

Gameplay
You don't need a semi-colon when a period will do. Truthfully, this whole sentence is a slew of commas that should be broken up into smaller sentences.

What can I say, I, for one, am a comma guy, as they not only help combine sentences, but, in my opinion, help with the flow of transition.

Maybe find a way to rephrase, without using "each game" so soon after each other.

Changed the first instance to series.

"aid in either completing tasks in the worlds or help fight in combat." → (parallelism) "aid in either completing tasks in the worlds or helping fight in combat."

Fixed

"but uses up flower points (FP), an in-game statistic, when used" → "but uses up a finite amount of flower points (FP)."

Done

"Super Paper Mario differs itself from the RPG genre, rather being more of a platform game instead" → "Super Paper Mario is more of a platform game compared to first two role-playing games in the series."

Done

Unclear what you mean here: "Although Mario does not fight alongside unique partners"

Done

"In addition, allies known as Pixls, which grant additional abilities that are useful in combat and for traversing levels, can be summoned and used" → "In addition, Mario can summon allies known as Pixls, who grant additional abilities that are useful in combat and for traversing levels."

Done

"the Paper Mario games are more aimed towards the action-adventure genre" → "the series shifted towards the action-adventure genre."

Done

"RPG elements, such as XP, allies,[17] and a complex plot,[18] were reduced." → "The series reduced its emphasis on RPG elements, with no experience points, fewer allies, and a simpler plot."

Done

Instead, the games are more based on puzzle-solving elements, and, although combat is still turn-based, each game has a unique strategy element in lieu of XP." → "Instead, the games focused on puzzle-solving, and replaced its experience point system with new strategic gameplay around combat."

Changed

Games
"Paper Mario also saw multiple re-releases, namely on" → "The game was later re-released on"

Changed

"In Paper Mario, Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach and has stolen..." → "In Paper Mario, Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach and steals..." (parallelism)

Changed

"Paper Mario's puzzles put emphasis on Mario's allies; most puzzles are based upon the skills of Mario's partners, all of which have a unique ability." → "Mario and his allies must also solve puzzles, which many of the challenges designed around one of the characters' unique abilities."

Changed

"The story highlight Rogueport, which contains a closed portal that holds great fortune. When Mario and Peach get involved in the discovery, Peach is kidnapped by the X-Nauts, who are also aiming to open the portal." → "The main setting is Rogueport, where Mario and Peach discover a locked portal that could lead to great fortune. Soon after, Peach is kidnapped..."

Changed

Again I might just replace the semicolon with a period, but this might be a matter of style than a hard requirement.

I'm also a semicolon enthusiast; I'll leave it in for now.

"which he can use to destroy the universe and replace it with a perfect one" → "so that he can destroy and remake the universe".

Changed but added a "to his liking" in to explain why a little more.

"To prevent this, Mario, aided by Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and a new ally named Tippi, set out to collect the eight "Pure Hearts"." → "Mario sets out to stop Count Bleck by collecting the eight "Pure Hearts", with the help of Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and a new ally named Tippi."

Changed

"Royal Stickers inside the comet" → "Royal Stickers living inside the comet"

Added

"six Royal Sticker" -- plural

Probably just a typo

"using coins as currency" -- don't need the currency part

Removed

"pre-determines" do you mean "plans"?

Plans sounded a bit off to me so I replaced it with prepares.

"against enemies in combat" -- don't really need this. It's implied from being an attack.

Removed

"not visible in the regular camera angle" → "not visible from the standard camera angle".

We're getting F a n c y

"After noticing the island is also color drained, they are prompted by Huey who explains how six Big Paint Stars give the island color, but the six stars have been scattered, later to be revealed because of Bowser." → "After noticing the island is also color drained, they speak to Huey who explains why: the six Big Paint Stars that give the island color have been scattered, later revealed as Bowser's doing."

Changed

Having trouble understanding this one. Try to rephrase. "The player can use the Wii U GamePad which allows Mario to use the "cutout" ability, which peels a part of the environment and reveals locations that were not visible prior."

"The player can use the Wii U Gamepad to trace a hole in the paper environment to reveal secrets, known as the "Cutout" ability."

"To engage in combat, Mario uses cards that, much like Sticker Star, pre-determine what ability Mario is going to use or how he will attack the enemy." → "Mario plans his combat, much like Sticker Star, using cards to determine his action and target."

Changed

You could probably just break this into two shorter sentences. "When they enter Peach's Castle, they discover Peach to be folded into origami and brainwashed by King Olly, with many other residents, including Bowser, meeting a similar fate."

Split like a Pepto Bismal bottle that was actually cake.

"some elements of RPGs" → "some role-playing elements"

Changed

"For example, allies have been reintroduced, but don't serve as much use compared to the first two games in the series." → "For example, the game reintroduces allies, albeit in a stripped down role compared to the first two Paper Mario games."

My favorite fancy sentence change so far.

It is a little weird to put the spinoff games out of order, but I recognize this is a series within a series within a series. Just something to note in case someone else brings it up.
Again, I might try to find a way to explain the relationship between the series without the jargon of sub-series.

I settled with spin-off

"In Paper Jam, Luigi accidentally knocks over a book in the library of Peach's Castle which contains the Paper Mario universe." → "In Paper Jam, Luigi accidentally knocks over a book that contains the Paper Mario universe." (you don't really lose any explanation this way)

Changed

"After the Paper Mario residents spread all over the Mushroom Kingdom, the two Bowser's of both universes team up to kidnap both variants of Peach." --> "This causes the two universes to cross over, with the Paper Mario residents spreading all over the Mushroom Kingdom. The two Bowsers from both universes team up to kidnap both variants of Peach."

Changed

"The player controls Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario; Mario and Luigi can perform their usual actions, and Paper Mario can do paper-like actions such as folding into a shuriken in battle" → "The player controls Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario, using the usual abilities of Mario and Luigi, as well as the paper-inspired actions of Paper Mario, such as folding into a shuriken in combat."

Changed

"In combat, he can make multiple copies of himself, creating a large stack that deals more damage as a special attack." → "Paper Mario can also make multiple copies of himself, performing a high-damage attack as a large stack."

Changed

That's quite a bit and I'm going to leave it there. But should let you get started. I will try to work through the Development and Reception soon. The sources look generally good so far. Shooterwalker (talk) 21:00, 10 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Shooterwalker, for the review. I did plan to get to your article today, but Plants vs. Zombies had some big prose issues it burned me out before I got to Namco. I'll get to it tomorrow. P anini ^🥪 01:43, 11 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Trying a few more suggestions. Thanks for the kind words! Two general rules that help me write better:

Try to avoid sentences where there are more than 3 clauses (e.g.: a sentence with more than 2 commas). Sort of like Wikipedia articles, sentences have size limits where it's more appropriate to split, shorten, or re-organize. (More commas for lists are a funny exception that you can get away with sometimes, especially at the end of a sentence.)
Vary the pacing between simple and complex sentences. My last sentence was simple but not necessarily short, and this one is a little more complex without being too long.
Avoid passive voice, especially in a more complex sentence, because it makes it harder to understand who is doing what. "The game was designed as..." vs. "Nintendo designed the game as...". Or even shorten that to "The design was..." to make it flow in a larger sentence.

Onto the review...

Development and history
I suggest revisiting how these paragraphs are broken up, just to really organize each paragraph around a game, or the period between games. It's possible that all the attention on "announcements" is adding clutter without adding much information, but use your judgment if the announcement is important to understanding the series history.
"Intelligent Systems was founded by Toru Narihiro after he was hired as an employee by Nintendo to port games on the Famicom Disk System to cartridges." I think make it clearer that they hired the company but it was effectively one person at first.

Put an "on his own" in there

"After his success in developing video games himself, such as the Wars and Fire Emblem series, Narihiro hired more developers and expanded the company into Intelligent Systems" → "Narihiro went on to develop successful games such as the Wars and Fire Emblem series, which allowed him to expand his company with additional artists and developers."
"now modern-day Square Enix" you could drop this without losing much, and have a simpler sentence.

Removed. I don't like them, anyway.

"To try to get fans interested in the genre," drop this too, since you say it better at the end of the sentence

Removed

"following this," can cut this

Removed

"because he believed players would be tired of low-polygon graphics, as well as an attempt to bring out the "cuteness" in the characters." → "because he believed players might prefer a game with "cute" 2D character designs instead of another game with low-polygon 3D graphics."
"The game had a four-year development process; it was released in August 2000, late into the console's existence with the Nintendo GameCube about to be announced." → "Development took four years, and was released in August 2000, towards the end of the console's lifecycle."

Changed.

"The Thousand-Year Door was announced at the 2003 Game Developers Conference, and was announced to be the direct sequel to the previous game." You say announced twice, and this could probably be a shorter sentence. Try "At the 2003 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo announced a direct sequel, The Thousand-Year Door."

Fiddled with this a bit but overall changed.

"in July 2004 in Japan and late 2004 worldwide" For the sake of the summary it might be easier just to say 2004.

Changed

"the Mario & Luigi series started in 2003 with Superstar Saga on the Game Boy Advance, developed by the now defunct AlphaDream" → "Developer Alphadream developed the first game in the Mario & Luigi series, releasing Superstar Saga on the Game Boy Advance in 2003." (You could probably drop the semi colon before and just do a full stop.)

Changed, and for the second suggestion, no;

"The future producer of the Paper Mario series" Maybe bring this up later more naturally, so it doesn't break the flow and chronology.

Okie dokie

"which he says influences changes to the staff or a game's core system" → "leading them to explore bigger changes in each game's gameplay and design team." (This is something that hasn't quite happened yet, and is about to happen.)

Changed

"the game's director, Ryota Kawade, " → "game director Ryota Kawade"

Changed

"When the idea of being able to switch through 2D and 3D was conceptualized..." Try breaking this into two shorter sentences

Split like that one kid when he accidentally pulled the fire alarm.

"Super Paper Mario was originally planned to be one of the last games released for the GameCube, which was announced through a trailer at E3 2006," → "At E3 2006, Super Paper Mario was announced as one of the last games planned for release on the GameCube." (Full stop)
"when it was switched over to the Wii its motion controls were not implemented" → "it did not take advantage of Wii's new motion controls."
"was fully announced" → "were fully announced"

Fixed

"The developers, upon request from Miyamoto who was no longer the series producer, did not" → "As Mario creator Miyamoto was no longer the series producer, he requested that the developers..."

Changed

"Additionally, he also asked for the combat to be changed due to similarities to The Thousand-Year Door, and to remove the story because not many players found it entertaining and he believed the game would be fine without a story" → "Miyamoto also asked them to make the combat more different from The Thousand-Year Door, and to remove most of the story elements due to early feedback from fans." (simpler sentence, and you have the quote off to the right)
"Core changes in Sticker Star and further games in the series were made to help introduce the series to a new audience" → "Starting with Sticker Star, the series transformed to try and reach a new audience."

Changed

"prohibited the developers from creating either new characters or new traits based on pre-existing characters in the Mario franchise" → "limited outside developers from modifying or adding characters to the Mario universe." (gets you most of the clarity, especially when read with the next sentence)
Maybe another few examples where a full stop would be better than a semi-colon.
"last mainline game" needs clarification and could probably be rephrased. Could we just say game?

Clarified a little bit, meant to say "last game in the series"

"The artists made the worldbuilding look entirely out of paper," There's maybe a better way to say this.

Changed

"through a Nintendo Direct" could be "on Nintendo Direct" or even "through Nintendo Direct"?

Changed to "via"

Maybe end that last sentence with a full stop. The negative fan reception is a separate event and separate thought.

Changed

"The game released worldwide in early October" what year? do we need to say worldwide for a Nintendo game?

Fixed

"in a video in early September" Don't really need to say "in a video"

Removed

"in mid-May" is missing a full stop

Yeah, I just don't like them that much.

"He stated how due to not being able to satisfy every fan, generally the core fans of the series and casual players, he instead attempts to gravitate towards new concepts, which is why The Origami King used origami as a new paper-like theme." This could be simplified a lot.

Simplified

I'd say the last paragraph of this section does have a few run-on sentences that could be shortened and/or split.

Fiddled a bit

Reception

Maybe try to re-state the timeline for the reader as you start this section off. e.g.: Paper Mario is the first game, it's from the year 2000. Probably doesn't need more than a few well-placed words, but if it starts to add clutter, you can try its own sentence.
Maybe move the 2006 list ranking to the end of this paragraph, to distinguish between its immediate reception in 2000 and its long-term legacy.

Fiddily-diddled.

I think my last two comments also apply to each additional paragraph, establishing a year, if not some other marker of how the series was changing (maybe the platform?). It would help those paragraphs flow, and help the reader keep the timeline straight. As is, it just feels like a few disjointed paragraphs about different games.
Skipping to the end, the paragraph about the three games since Sticker Star is actually really informative. I saw one of the above FA reviewers comment that this article could use some more discussion of the series as a whole, and I think this paragraph is a great example. I know that's difficult if the sources don't exist. But maybe there's a way to re-organize it to have the reception feel more like a general comment on the evolution of the series, instead of a series of separate receptions for separate games. It sometimes feels like we are losing the forest by staring at each tree.

Shooterwalker, Just for confirmation, there should still be prose commentary for each individual game, however? Just some extra on the series as a whole?

"Additionally, the plot was also slightly criticized for being overly complicated" → "Some reviewers also criticized the plot as overly complicated,"

Ctrl C Ctrl V'd.

If you have three reviewers in the citation who agree, do we really need to name any of them?

You're right, Eurogamer doesn't deserve attention. Frikin' Europeans, man.

"the game's reception was mainly mixed and criticized for being centered around stickers" → "was mixed." Saying mixed and criticized is two different things, and you talk about the criticisms later.

I think I was trying to imply, "the game's reception was mainly mixed, with stickers specifically being criticized for being the center gameplay mechanic." I made the change.

"Thing Stickers were called" → "Reviewers called the stickers"

Changed to "Reviewers called the Thing Stickers" as "Thing Stickers" are a different thing than stickers.

"disdain" is a strong word. Just making sure that's what you mean.

Oh yeah. Talk to any Paper Mario fan and they'll come to an agreement on "this game is the absolute worst".

I see why the announcement of Color Splash is important, but you should try to keep a clearer chronology between the announcement and the game itself. Re-organize the first two sentences a bit.

Re-organized the first two sentences a bit

"lack of purpose" isn't clear.

Changed to "lack of overall necessity to the game".

"Giant Bomb reviewer Dan Ryckert realized the primary function of coins in the game was to buy cards for combat, which in return awarded coins which he believed made the system pointless." Try to say this in fewer words.

Fiddled

"as it returned old RPG elements and removed other faulty ones in the games before" → "as it re-added beloved RPG elements and removed other elements that had received criticism."

Changed

"considering their hiding spots and humorous dialogue" → "praising their humorous dialog and interesting hiding spots."

Changed

"The game's combat system was both appreciated and disliked" → "Reviewers gave the game's combat system a mixed reception"

C ha n G ed

You could drop the semicolon in the "other media" section.

Dropped

Related to my comment about this section more generally, the sales section could benefit from trying to make it flow as a comment on the whole series, instead of several separate sentences about several separate games. It might be as simple as using more words like "also" or "again", and other comparison words that show a when a streak is forming or being broken.

Added words.

That takes us up to the end and should give you a lot to work with. I know that's a lot of comments but it's on the right track. Feel free to ask any questions and we can revisit after a round of edits. Shooterwalker (talk) 19:01, 11 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Shooterwalker, thanks for the review! I've been more busy recently and I do hope I have your patience for the time being. I'll get to your reception concerns in the near future. P anini ^🥪 21:11, 19 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I understand being busy. Work at your own pace. Would very much like to see this article improved to FA status. Keep up the good work. Shooterwalker (talk) 21:16, 19 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just want to check in with support. It would help to have another reviewer take a thorough look on the prose, but it's generally up to standard, in my view. Shooterwalker (talk) 00:58, 7 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Accessibility review

Add alt text to the images per WP:CAPTION/MOS:ACCIM.
Add a caption, row and column scopes, and row headers to the awards and nominations table per MOS:DTAB. Heartfox (talk) 04:15, 13 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Heartfox, that should be it. Panini!^🥪 11:57, 24 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The table is still missing row headers, row scopes, and column scopes. Heartfox (talk) 19:29, 24 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from DWB

"In the series, Mario is tasked on a quest to explore the Mushroom Kingdom" - Tasked on a quest sounds weird, would "tasked to explore" or "tasked with a quest" be more appropriate?

Well, he's not going out and having fun for the heck of it, "quest" means he has an official goal. So it makes sense in its right.

(talk page stalker) Actually it doesn't. It's not grammatical. One is tasked with a quest. Or it could be 'sent on a quest'. Gog the Mild (talk) 22:12, 1 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Gog the Mild Gog, don't call my grammar out like that. It's embarrassing! But yeah, changed. Panini!^🥪 12:01, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"where Mario and an opponent take turns attacking one another" - Just to clarify, is it only ever one opponent or can it be more?

Ah, good catch, changed to "one or more".

" feature elements similar to that of a role-playing video game (RPG)." - "feature elements similar to that of a TYPICAL role-playing video game (RPG).

Added (and made another change)

"Super Paper Mario differs itself from the RPG genre, rather being more of a platform game instead." Maybe clarify it is the third game in the series.

Mentioned

"RPG elements, such as experience points, allies,[17] and a complex plot,[18] were reduced. Instead, the games focused on puzzle-solving, and replaced its experience point system with new strategic gameplay around combat.[17]" - I don't think you need to individually source allies and plot, when Ref 17 is used at the end of the sentence anyway.

Fiddled

The gameplay section is OK, I'm not a fan of images just being on top of each other but the sections are too short to really stagger them.
THe development and history section though... The logo images should either be a multi-image box or staggered, and the quote should be staggered from the crew photos.

Put the logos in a multi-image box (good idea), and moved the quote down a paragraph

"Color Splash was initially neglected when it was announced, but received generally positive reviews after release. " - Do you mean "ignored" or "interest was low"? Neglected sounds like the studio didn't care.

I went spicy and changed it to "derided"

I feel like "In other media" should be the last of the things in that section that it is otherwise dealing with reception.

Moved

There's a Red Link for DICE awards.

Yes, it's supposed to urge the article's creation. It is definitely notable enough to have its own article, considering its many other annual ceremonies have one too.

Everything seems to be archived properly.
The non-English language sources needed "language=Japanese" added to their references Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 14:16, 28 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Added

Darkwarriorblake, thanks for the review! That should be everything. P anini ^🥪 13:42, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Good job Panini. Reading through again I notice that the last paragraph of the lede has two sentences that open with "despite this". I think the second one would be easy to reword to make the whole section read better.
I feel like the last sentence of the first paragraph should mention the number of games in the series since this whole thing is a summary. Something like (and I'm not saying this is the right phrasing) "The series comprises seven games, beginning with Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, to the most recent game, Paper Mario: The Origami King, released for the Nintendo Switch in 2020."
Maybe add a date and/or the numerical entry for the mention of Sticker Star in the third paragraph to clarify its positioning in the series and around when it started receiving complaints. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 21:51, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Darkwarriorblake, done, done, and done; easy but beneficial changes. P anini ^🥪 22:02, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Panini, I don't have a tonne of experience with series pages but there are no other issues that stand out to me, so I'm happy to Support Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:16, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

File:Paper_Mario_Logo.png: the FURs claim the image is cover art, but then the tag gives it as a logo - which is correct?

Changed; see below.

File:Paper_Mario_The_Thousand_Year_Door_Combat.png: the FUR does not provide an adequate rationale for how the use of this image benefits the article - it seems to be almost entirely identical to the lead image, which serves a quite different purpose.

I've explained further its purpose in the article.

Good, but this would benefit from further improvement. For example, what does "this image is the best instance where identification is clear and resourceful" mean? Nikkimaria (talk) 21:12, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This does not seem to have changed. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:46, 20 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It has, I've since added, "not only graphically improved from the game prior, the games following introduced gimmicks that made combat more complex and such combat varies from game to game. Here is where the combat is seen in its simplest form."

The same is true for File:Super_Paper_Mario_Gameplay.png. Generally speaking, the more non-free works you have in a particular article, the stronger the rationale needed for each, and this doesn't cut it.

Removed it.

Ditto File:Paper_Mario_Color_Splash_Example.jpeg, which is also missing a source

Sourced. The image is to emphasize the whole point of the paper-like graphics.

Er, there don't seem to have been any changes made here? Nikkimaria (talk) 21:12, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Still no source? Nikkimaria (talk) 01:46, 20 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I thought you meant sources as in references in the article, not the website where its found. Wile looking for the source, I couldn't find it so I simply replaced it with an image where a source exists.

Oh, should've mentioned I had yet to do this one...

File:Super_Mario_RPG_Logo.png: why is this believed to be free, and the lead image non-free? Nikkimaria (talk) 21:55, 3 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You are the third-ish person to believe the logo to be public domain and not fair use; I've since changed its criteria.

Nikkimaria, pinging to acknowledge addressed concerns. Panini!^🥪 12:25, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Nikkimaria Okay, now it should be clear. Panini!^🥪 14:26, 19 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nikkimaria Ha! Please forgive me, simply a lack of understanding what you were requesting (see above). I've responded to the remaining issues. Panini!^🥪 16:28, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Source review - pass

Will take a look at this. Probably gonna claim for WikiCup points. Hog Farm _Talk 17:47, 23 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Destructoid is a situational source based on author's qualifications. What are Chris Carter's credentials? Ditto for Jordan Devore? Johnathan Holmes? (Disclosure: I take a much dimmer view of this source than most, so I'm probably questioning it a bit more than others would)

Please correct me if you're looking for something specific, I'm not too familiar with what exactly I'm looking for to prove credibility. But here's what I found:

Jordan Devore is the managing editor (staff). He graduated from Portland State University in business.

Every other instance I found it easier to remove or replace with something more reliable.

Hog Farm, I plan on finishing this today. Does Devore seem credible? 11:45, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Devore seems to be one of the more credible Destructoid people (with Jim Sterling), so it's probably fine here. Hog Farm _Talk 16:02, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

GamersHell is listed as unreliable at WP:VGRS

Replaced

Be consistent with formatting. For instance, US Gamer vs USgamer vs USGamer

Should be fixed

Ref 58 - IGN appears to sometimes have unreliable non-staff content, especially older stuff. Is JKR staff, or is this not going to be a usable source for FA?

Changed

Ref 62 - I'm not convinced that 3ds.nintendo.life.com is the right way to cite this - this looks like Nintendo Life should be the publisher to me.
Fixed
Ref 68 (Destructoid, Carter) needs an accessdate

Source removed

"CESA Games White Papers. Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association." - Too vague of a citation. Which year's are we doing? It looks like some of these may be available online, so is there a URL?
"2020CESAゲーム白書 (2020 CESA Games White Papers). Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association. 2020. ISBN 978-4-902346-42-8." - Is this a book? If it's more than like 20 pages long, can we get page numbers?
Using this, I found this. But I don't know how to cite it from there... Panini!^🥪 12:00, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
It's evidently a book then. Use the title, publisher, publishing location, year, and isbn (it doesn't seem to have a specific author). It's also long enough you'll need page numbers as well, and if it's in Japanese, then you'll need to indicate that in the citation. @Panini!: - In what form did you access this work? Hog Farm _Talk 16:00, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hog Farm, Considering how I have no knowledge of book sources, I found it at List of best-selling Nintendo Switch video games. Is doing so a bad thing? Working on citing now. Panini!^🥪 14:27, 18 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

So, I got this far:

2020CESAゲーム白書 [2020 CESA Games White Papers] (in Japanese). Japan: Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association. 2020. ISBN 978-4-902346-42-8.
But I'm unsure on where and how I can cite its pages. I sent a message to WT:VG to see if anyone has it. Unless if there's a different way I can look through it? It's about 300 pages long. Panini!^🥪 14:35, 18 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Found and hunted down the user who put the citation into the list article; I've got full info for one, and am working on the other. Panini!^🥪 01:38, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That's good. The potential attribution statement below and finishing off these CESA things are about all that's outstanding yet. Hog Farm _Talk 20:14, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Finished the CESA sources, working on attribution.
Ref 92 lacks publisher

Fixed

Be consistent with Metacritic vs www.metacritic.com

Seems like one slipup; fixes

""Paper Mario 3DS Review". Desructoid. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012." (ref 110) - Lacks date. Lacks author. Spelling error in Destructoid

Replaced altogether

Ref 120 lacks accessdate

Fixed

Vice Media is listed as non-consensus at WP:RSP, gonna say it's probably not high-quality RS for FA usage

Removed

Ref 141 (Jeff Grubb) lacks the publisher

Fixed

Ref 145 is missing publisher

Fixed

Checks for test-source integrity and copyright violations will be at User:Hog Farm/spot checks/Paper Mario. Will be doing those now. Hog Farm _Talk 05:22, 24 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm comfortable with saying this is copyright compliant, but want to see the replies to some of the spot checks for source-text integrity questions.

I do have some concerns about statements needing attributed. I saw several spots where "critics" were said to say something, when it was only based on one or two critics. Attribution really needed unless it's being stated that it's a widespread view
Removed, rewritten, and sources added. The Origami King seemed to be the worse case of this.
Not sure that the see also link to Vivian is really that useful

Removed

Why does the units sold table not have a sales total for Color Splash?

Simply because full sales numbers don't exist, from my knowledge. In the article, "Although the number of worldwide sales of Color Splash are unknown, Japan sales totalled 63,000 as of July 2020."

Hog Farm _Talk 05:58, 24 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks, Hog Farm. I will most likely work on this in the near future. Panini!^🥪 12:14, 26 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hog Farm, finished the CESA sources and attributed. Anything else you would like to look at or bring attention to? Panini!^🥪 01:27, 23 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Wikibenboy94

Sorry for the delay in completing this review. This ended up being a lot bigger than I anticipated with regards to prose improvements. Not I'm decrying the quality of your written work, but I've included a lot of changes, perhaps to a nitpicky degree, that a copy-editor would likely pick up on. On the topic of this, and while you've noted it did have one in the past, I would definitely recommend another copy-edit (Twofingered Typist, who I see copy-edited The Origami King, I would ask for again; he also helped me for my peer review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered). The below suggestions/improvements are more of a helping-hand in getting the prose that bit better before a copy-edit. Feel free to disregard any of the following changes you disagree with.

Lead

I would include the word "released" somewhere in the last line of the first paragraph, preferably before the year ("on the Nintendo 64 released in 2000"). Also, there's more of a structure if you moved "the most recent being" to before The Origami King rather than after, as "the first being" is used before the title of Paper Mario.

Done.

"After Intelligent Systems was founded by Toru Narihiro, Nintendo was planning to release a successor to Super Mario RPG, which Nintendo had Intelligent Systems develop". When did these events occur? I would definitely cite a release year for Super Mario RPG at the very least.

Done.

"Resulted in the game becoming" in my opinion sounds better than "led the game to become".

Done.

"This led the series to slowly transform genres from role-playing games to action-adventure". Omit the mention of "games".

Omitted.

"The first two games in the series received critical acclaim, being praised for their story, characters, and unique gameplay. The series later received multiple installments". While the first two games may have received the most acclaim, the wording of this places emphasis on them and almost treats the successive titles like an afterthought. Also "later" is vague, and makes it seem like there was a large gap between the second and third releases.

Unafterthoughted.

I think there needs to be a reshuffling of the wording in the latter two paragraphs. There are two lines outlining reception, which can be condensed into one, and the first two sentences of the second paragraph should be moved to the end of the first paragraph. We would then have one paragraph focusing on development and the genre changes made to the series, and the other on reception and the response to the changes.

Sounds like a plan.

Gameplay

"that contain puzzles and interactive elements. For example, Mario can hit objects with his hammer, which needs to be completed to progress in the story". "Need" is the correct tense; "needs" makes it sound like it's referring to just one occurrence.

Oops

"These locations". "These" is redundant.

Changed

"and contain coins and other various collectibles". Include some examples of collectibles.

Exampled

"Mario will encounter multiple allies". Is it obligatory that multiple allies are encountered, or is it only some of them? If it's a minority Mario is forced to meet I would change this to "can encounter".

Yeah; the first two games you are forced to team up with someone because certain puzzles need an ally to complete them; the recent games have that one person that is just, "Hey, I could help you" and sticks around the whole game until they die.

"when Mario and his other present allies". "Other" is redundant.

Unredudanted

"Mario and his allies can either perform a regular attack, where they time a button-press on the controller to deal more damage". The player is the one timing the button-press, not Mario.

"The player"ed

"but uses up flower points (FP), an in-game statistic, when used". I would say "in-game statistic" is redundant.

When looking at other video game articles with complicated plots they often introduce locations or content without explaining their significance or purpose. I try to explain new details to someone who isn't unfamiliar with something. For example, I was reading the plot of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train a while back, and it reads out of nowhere, "Enmu, Lower Rank One of the Twelve Kizuki". As a non-anime fan, what does that mean?

"which grant additional abilities that are useful in combat and for traversing levels". Change to "abilities for combat and traversing levels".

Changed

I did notice Shooterwalker made six suggestions to the prose in this section last month but you haven't made these changes; had you missed them or just disagreed with them?

Probably missed them, I'll give it a second look.

These were taken care of a while back, I just never marked them off. I did so now.

Games

"Mario must then save[...]" "then" is redundant.

Unthened

"Mario must then save the imprisoned Star Spirits, defeat Bowser, and save the Mushroom Kingdom. [...] Mario and his allies must also solve puzzles, which many of the challenges designed around one of the characters' unique abilities". As gameplay centres on puzzles and unique abilities, rather than characters to alternately save and defeat which falls more under story (and I don't know if using "which" was a mistake but it doesn't make grammatical sense), I would re-phrase to "Gameplay centres around Mario and his allies solving puzzles, with many of the challenges[...]"

Yeah, it seems like a typo. Used your suggestion.

"which take up a portion of FP when executed". I presume this means filling up a portion, and not deducting it? If so, change to "fill".

The first is correct; using this video as an example, the player only has ten FP and must use it sparingly. I've tweaked the wording to emphasize this, though.

"The main setting is Rogueport, where Mario and Peach discover a locked portal that could lead to great fortune". Change to "The game is set mainly in Rogueport". Also "great fortune" seems a bit vague.

Changed

"Peach e-mails Mario, not informed about her kidnapping, that he needs to search". Mentioning Mario being uninformed is unnecessary.

Tweaked

"Mario is given special abilities under a curse". Change to "as a result of a curse". Also, if the curse is important to the plot, I would include it in the story summary above.

Tweaked

"such as folding into a paper airplane and gliding, or folding into a boat". The abilities of the plane is given, but not those of the boat. If the abilities are obvious (gliding and floating), I recommend removing "gliding".

Fair

Trimmed to remove repeated use of "folding into a[...].

"Contrarily, audience members will leave if Mario performs poorly". Does this affect the amount of items he receives?

Shuffled a bit

"battles take place in the overworld in real-time, and upon victory Mario is awarded XP". Would replace the comma with a semi-colon and then a comma after "victory".

Done

"In combat, Mario prepares his actions using the stickers". Not keen on the wording. I would change to something like "In combat, Mario's abilities depend on the stickers obtained."

Changed, and put a semicolon in there while I was at it

"Other stickers, called "Thing Stickers", resemble real world objects that can either be used to solve puzzles in the overworld or be used as a powerful attack against enemies". How do they differ to the other stickers (e.g. the Jump sticker) used in combat, or are they treated equally? As this comes straight after the sentence on combat, I would mention their use as powerful attacks first, and then solving puzzles in the overworld after.

Organized

"where he lays down flat and reveals secrets not visible in the standard camera angle". I would remove the bit about the camera as it seems obvious secrets wouldn't be viewed normally in the default FOV. It's a bit vague though, so explain how they are seen.

Fiddled with

I looked at the source (the Gamespot review presumably, which should be linked direct) and they say "Paperizing causes Mario's three-dimensional papercraft surroundings to fall flat like a Polaroid", but you've written it's Mario that's the one falling flat?

Oof, how did that one that slip through?

Seems like a misinterpretation of the source. Would like to say that I myself have only played one of these six games.

"After noticing the island is also color drained, they speak to Huey who explains why: the six Big Paint Stars that give the island color have been scattered, later revealed as Bowser's doing". Who is Huey? Also I would remove the colon and change to "they speak to Huey, who explains that the six Big Paint Stars[...}".

Hm, I think the colon is there by accident. That's odd.

I've changed the "why" to "that" because it's giving the scattered Stars as the reason for the color-draining.

"when he hits something in the overworld, an uncolored object is colored and rewards items such as coins. Since paint is needed to use the hammer, containers of red, yellow, and blue paint can be found by hitting objects with the hammer". As the sequence of events is getting the paint first before colouring objects, I would switch these around and change to something like the following: "hitting certain items in the overworld grants him containers of red, yellow, and blue paint. Paint can then be used to hit other uncolored objects, coloring them and rewarding Mario with items such as coins."

Reorganized

"To engage in combat, Mario plans his combat, much like Sticker Star, using cards to determine his action and target". Mentioning Sticker Star before the bit about planning combat reads better in my opinion.

Fiddled with

"Mario and Luigi head to Toad Town in the Mushroom Kingdom, which they quickly discover to be abandoned. When they enter Peach's Castle, they discover Peach to be folded into origami and brainwashed by King Olly." "Quickly" is redundant. Rephrase "When they enter Peach's Castle" to "At Peach's Castle".

Changed

"Unlike Sticker Star and Color Splash, the game reintroduces some RPG elements. For example, the game reintroduces allies". Repetitive use of "reintroduces".

Oops

"albeit in a stripped-down role". "A simplified role" sounds better.

Simplified

"Additionally, he is given a bag of confetti". Change to "possesess a bag of confetti".

Possessed

"knocks over a book that inside contains the Paper Mario universe". "Inside" is redundant.

Unredundanted

"Paper Jam is more geared toward gameplay than that of the Mario & Luigi series". Elaborate, as this is a bit vague.

Elaborated

"The player simultaneously controls Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario, using the usual abilities of Mario and Luigi, as well as the paper-inspired actions of Paper Mario, such as folding into a shuriken in combat. Paper Mario can also make multiple copies of himself, performing a high-damage attack as a large stack." First sentence is too lengthy. Re-phrase the two to something like the following: "The player simultaneously controls Mario and Luigi, who use their usual abilities, and Paper Mario, whose actions are paper-inspired; these include folding into a shuriken in combat, and performing a high-damage attack through stacking multiple copies of himself."

Shortened

There's quite a few repetitive "In the game" before describing the plot of each. Switch up the wording for some.

K

Development and history

"Intelligent Systems was founded by Toru Narihiro on his own after he was hired". "On his own" is redundant. I would also include the year the company was founded.

Fixed

"Narihiro went on to develop successful games such as the Wars and Fire Emblem series". Include "such as titles in the" as the wording seems to conflate "games" and "series".

Fixed

"was the first Mario RPG game". As this is the first mention in a new section, per other examples, use the full term of "role-playing".

Done

"Although Nintendo wanted Square to create another RPG game, Square later signed a deal with Sony Interactive Entertainment to create Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation, so Nintendo instead had Intelligent Systems create an RPG for their newest console, the Nintendo 64." Sentence is excessively long. Suggest replacing the comma and "so" with a semi-colon.

Done

"Development on the game began shortly after the release of the console in Japan." Again, a year should be cited of when development started.

Done

"and used a similar graphics style to the previous game." Replace "the previous game" to "its predecessor".

Done

"announced the direct sequel". Change "the" to "a" as we're describing the events as they happened.

Done

"released at varying times". Change to "varying dates" as time could effectively means different hours of a day for example.

Done

"The game is known as Paper Mario RPG in Japan." I would remove this sentence and combine it with the mention of its other title earlier in the paragraph, to read: "titled The Thousand-Year Door worldwide and Paper Mario RPG in Japan."

Done

"By the time the game released, a new series of Mario RPGs". Change to "another series" as some readers might think it's still talking about Paper Mario.

Done

"a new series of Mario RPGs was created for Nintendo's handheld consoles; developer Alphadream developed the first game in the Mario & Luigi series". Move the mention of the series' name Mario & Luigi so it reads as follows: "a new series of Mario RPGs, Mario & Luigi, was created for Nintendo's handheld consoles; developer Alphadream developed the first game in the series[...]"

Done

"releasing Superstar Saga on the Game Boy Advance". Change "on" to "for".

Done

"Risa Tabata drew inspiration". This first mention of Rita doesn't give her role, but later in the section it does. Include her job title here and subsequently remove it from her second mention.

Done

I've seen examples like this before, but as the placement of the logos are side-by-side shouldn't they should be labelled as "(left)" and "(right)" not "(up)" and "(down)"?

Either that was me copy and pasting the double image template code from another article (probably The Last of Us, or me just forgetting to replace it after I switched the images around. Either way, done.

"being able to switch through 2D and 3D". Change to "alternatively switch from 2D to 3D".

Done

"When he approved". Use Tanabe's name instead of "he" for clarity. Also, "despite the changes, he asked the writers"; is this Kawade or Tanabe?

Done

"Since the game was intended to be played on a GameCube controller, when it was switched over to the Wii it did not take advantage of Wii's new motion controls." "When it was switched over to the Wii" can easily be taken out to keep the length down.

Done

"As Mario creator Miyamoto was no longer the series producer, he requested that the developers did not create any new characters or allies and instead used pre-existing characters already defined in the Mario franchise". Should be "use"; "used" would be referring to the developers' future actions. Also, sentence is lengthy. I would take out mention of allies, as these fall under characters, and re-word the end to "established pre-existing characters".

Done

Replaced the latter use of "characters" with "ones".

"Miyamoto also asked them to make the combat more different from The Thousand-Year Door". Change to "Miyamoto also asked that the combat differed from The Thousand-Year Door".

Ctrl C Ctrl V'd

"the series transformed to try and reach a new audience". Replace with "underwent changes in an attempt to reach a new audience" as to me this seems a bit more neutral. "Transformed" in particular seems a bit inflated.

AH! WP:NPOV! BAN HIM BAN HIM BAN HIM

Remove "Since Sticker Star" as the previous sentence it's carrying on from already says "Starting with Sticker Star".

Done

"Nintendo's Intellectual Property team prohibited the developers from creating either new characters or new traits based on pre-existing characters in the Mario franchise". The paragraph already mentions Miyamoto's same request previously so the two sentences should be condensed and either come straight after the other or merged together.

Done

"and they naturally saw Paper Mario". Remove "they naturally" as redundant.

Done

"Every game in the series from Color Splash onward has a white paper outline around Mario; the developers of Paper Jam needed to differentiate the characters from the separate series." Others might disagree, but to me this reads better with a comma and "as" in place of the semi-colon.

"followed by two remakes of old games". Are these older Mario & Luigi installments (if so mention this) or other unrelated games?

Done

"because the developers found the motion controls fun to use". To me "as" sounds better than "because".

Done

"Following which, the game received negative reception". Having "Following which" to open a sentence seems gramatically incorrect to me. Using "Following this" can work.

I don't understand why my mind defaults to using the word "which" so often.

Panini! Do you agree with changing it as it's been left? Wikibenboy94 (talk) 19:59, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I've changed it to your suggestion. Panini!^🥪 20:01, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Risa Tabata further noted". "Further" is an additive term that should only be used when absolutely necessary. It can be removed in this context.

Done

"the Paper Mario series would rather focus on non-RPG elements". Wording makes it seem the series is making its own conscientious decision here, not the developers. Change to "would focus more on".

Done

"in early September, but was instead announced in mid-May". Give both years here.

Done

"Despite the return of some iconic characters from the series, critics were still disappointed in their lack of functionality". Can you elaborate further? Is this referring to their roles in the plot?

Elaborated

"The game also featured large overworlds". If they still do, change tense to "features".

Sometimes I have difficulty with determining what type of tense to use. Let me do that L trick with my hands real quick.

"Tanabe reaffirmed that he does pay attention to the general criticism, but still makes sure that he does not ignore "the casual players" and new fans of the series". Change to "Tanabe reaffirmed that while he does make note of general criticisms, he makes sure not to ignore "casual players" and new fans of the series."

Done

The last paragraph needs a few changes.

Let me at em'

"He stated how he could not satisfy every fan amidst the core veteran fans and casual players, he instead attempts to gravitate towards new concepts,". There should be a semi-colon in place of the first comma.

Semicoloned

Change correct tense of "he instead attempts" to "attempted", and "how the game's writing is kept surreal" to "was".

Past-tensed

Replace "which is why" with "hence why".

Henced

"He stated how he could not [...] He also explained how the game's writing". Replace these examples of "he" with "Tanabe" as there's too many in the paragraph.

Tanabe'd

The game's writing is mentioned as being kept "surreal". Can you elaborate further?

Elaborated

Panini! You've included "and mixed", but I'm still not sure what this is indicating? Sorry. Wikibenboy94 (talk) 20:30, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"understood by other ages and nations". I would change "nations" to something like "cultures" or "ethnicities", something that's more of a demonination like age is.

Cultured

"He has also since kept away from a complicated plot due to how it "led the game away from the Mario universe"; he instead created a story where different locales would be tied to specific memorable events". To further limit the use of "he", for this example replace the semi-colon and "he" with a comma and a "and". Also, I read the related portion in the source and I couldn't see where he mentioned anything about using locales for memorable experiences?

Yeah, cited the wrong source there it seems. I've added one in there that covers the concept.

Reception and legacy

"Paper Mario received critical acclaim in 2000." This is the only game in this section that mentions the release year so I would remove it if it's not being used for the others.

Changed

"and elements from the Mario franchise". Change to "existing elements".

Done

"Additionally, it was praised for its writing and characters". Re-phrase to "Its writing and characters received additional praise".

Dine

"listed the game among one of the best games". Change the first use of "the game" to "it" to avoid repetition.

Done

"in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Games", released in 2006". The comma and "released in" can be removed.

Done

"The Thousand-Year Door is considered the best game in the series according to fans and critics". Owing to how this is sourced, and to be more neutral and treating it less like a factual statement, I would suggest re-phrasing to something like "The Thousand-Year Door is often ranked as one of the best games in the series."

Done

"with comments on the story being whimsical in tone". Change to "with the story being considered whimsical in tone."

Done

"Despite changing the RPG style, Super Paper Mario was still met with generally positive reviews. The concept of changing dimensions received positive reception". Change "positive reception" to "praise" to switch up the wording a bit as "positive reviews" is written in the previous sentence. Also change "from" to "for".

Done

"Some reviewers also criticized the plot as overly complicated, but most reviewers praised". Remove "reviewers" as repeated twice in sentence.

Whoops

"Sticker Star received more criticism than the prior games. Although critics enjoyed the graphics, worldbuilding, and characters, the game's reception was mainly mixed". "Predecessors" sounds better in my opinion than "prior games". The game's reception is highlighted twice here; I would replace the "more criticism" bit at the beginning with it receiving "a more mixed reception".

Done

"with stickers specifically being criticized for being the center gameplay mechanic". Remove "being" and replace "center" with "central".

Done

"Although some critics praised". Too similar to the opening of the prior sentence. Suggest varying wording to "While some praised".

Done

"Reviewers called the Thing Stickers one of the game's biggest weaknesses". Additional mention of "critics"/"reviewers"; change to "the Thing Stickers were called one of the game's biggest weaknesses".

Wow, looks like I used those terms a lot by accident, huh? Done

"Upon reveal, fans criticized Color Splash." Include "Upon it's reveal".

Its'd

"continuing the trend of action-adventure games". Change to "action-adventure installments" to better specify this is referring to the series.

Done

"and a Change.org petition was created calling for the game's cancellation." Change "the game's" to "it's" as the beginning of the next sentence repeats the use of "the game".

Done

"but received generally positive reviews after release". Change to "upon release" to indicate there was no changes of opinion in the time after it came out.

Done

"Giant Bomb reviewer Dan Ryckert realized the primary function of coins". Change "realized" to "noted" as this implies his knowledge of the mechanic changed throughout playing, which the review doesn't mention.

Done

"as it re-added beloved RPG elements". Are the RPG elements beloved as a whole, or just certain examples? Regardless however, "beloved" seems a but too glorified; I would replace with "favored" or maybe even "cherished" at a push.

Yeah, it was a skeptical word that Whillbb when they were copyediting. Done

"The three games since Sticker Star were greatly criticized for the removal of elements that made the games RPGs. The games were often criticized for the removal of an XP system". Second sentence opening is repetitive of the first. Change the former to "These included the removal of an XP system[...]".

Done

Side-note: I noticed this whilst looking through Paper Mario: The Origami King, but there seems to be a discrepancy in that The Origami King says the game was criticized for dropping its staple RPG-elements, whilst (unless I'm misinterpreting the wording) Paper Mario says The Origami King was praised for re-adding "beloved" RPG elements. Which is correct?

Elaborated a little further.
Sales

"and sold over 1.3 million copies since 2007 and is the thirteenth best-selling game on the Nintendo GameCube." Split this into a seperate sentence for the GameCube prose to keep the length down.

Done

"the game had sold about 2.3 million units worldwide". Change "about" to "around".

Done

"As of 2019, the game has sold". Change tense to "had" if we're talking about a previous year. This goes for the other mentions of "the game has" for other years.

Done

"Sticker Star had sold about 400,000 copies". Again, change to "around", and remove unnecessary "had".

Done

"the game has made close to 2.5 million sales". Too definitive; if the benchmark wasn't reached, put "had reached almost".

Done

"Although the number of sales of Color Splash are unknown, Japan sales". Include "worldwide" before "sales".

Done

"and the series' best launch sales". Remove "sales"; "launch" works on its own just as well.

Done
In other media

"The most prominent of which is the "Paper Mario" stage". Remove unnecessary "of which".

Done

The use of "also" is almost always unnecessary in prose; see Tony1's guide. There are quite a few examples throughout the article.

Removed a lot of its instances

This feels like a ten-pound dumbbell to the head.
I'm joking of course. I'll work on improvements soon! Panini!^🥪 12:42, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Panini!, can I nudge you on this and on the source review. Cheers. Gog the Mild (talk) 11:16, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Consider me nudged. Been dealing with quarantine issues very suddenly, but I will make room for a grind on this today. Panini!^🥪 16:12, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Update: Finished the image review (It hadn't been finished yet) and am about to work on the last two comment. I have something planned right about now and will return with 1-2ish hours. Panini!^🥪 16:42, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Update: I'll get to this tomorrow. Thanks so much for your patience. Panini!^🥪 15:48, 9 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Everything seems fine so far, though I've got a further query about the wording of the "Paperization" ability. Wikibenboy94 (talk) 12:31, 12 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Wikibenboy94, I had a lot of time last night to complete this, but for some reason it spent it on WarioWare Gold. I don't understand myself sometimes. But that should be everything, now onto the source review. Panini!^🥪 10:00, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, not quite everything Panini!, there was one last unanswered query about the description of the writing being "surreal and mixed". I appreciate you making all these changes; I know there was a lot, particularly with regards to grammar! Wikibenboy94 (talk) 10:20, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wikibenboy94 Changed to "broad in its context and format." Panini!^🥪 11:36, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Returning to voice my support for the article. As I mentioned before, it could do with a copy-edit, and based on what little I encountered there might be further discrepancies on whether cited details are actually in the source, but other than that this looks good to me. Wikibenboy94 (talk) 18:48, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wikibenboy94 Thank you! I left a request at WP:GOCE. Panini!^🥪 21:03, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Closing note: This candidate has been promoted, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please see WP:FAC/ar, and leave the {{featured article candidates}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. Gog the Mild (talk) 10:05, 26 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.