Talk:EarthBound

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:EarthBound/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Jaguar (talk · contribs) 20:12, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

I remember this game, it was interesting. I'll leave down the some initial comments tomorrow morning.

Note: There are numerous "cite error"s in the references (I count seven), it would be more efficient if these were fixed before or during the review. Thanks! ☠ Jaguar ☠ 20:12, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Oops—must have done that right before the nom. All fixed now. Thanks for the heads up czar ♔ 21:06, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for addressing them, doing the review now. ☠ Jaguar ☠ 20:05, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. References to sources:

   B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   B. Focused:

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:

   B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

Initial comments

Lead

• "As Ness and his party of four, the player travels the world to collect melodies en route to defeating the evil alien force Giygas." - just a query here, most video game leads often start of with "the player assumes the role of [protagonist]...", would if be worth putting this in here? Such as the player controls Ness and his party of four or do you think it should be left like this? Just a suggestion?
• "The game's expensive "this game stinks" marketing campaign was based on crude humor." - do you think it would be best to better describe this campaign by saying that it included 'scratch and sniff' advertisements in the lead?
• The lead summarises the whole article well, complying per WP:LEAD

Development

• "Its sequel, Mother 2, or EarthBound, was developed over five years[12] by Ape (later Creatures[13]) and HAL, and published through Nintendo." - how about something like Its sequel, Mother 2 (EarthBound outside of Japan) was developed over five years by developers Ape (later Creatures), HAL and published through Nintendo.
• "The game was originally scheduled for release in January 1993 on a 12 megabit cartridge. It was finished around May 1994 and the Japanese release was set for August 27, 1994" - was there a reason why it got pushed back a year and a half? (delays etc)
• "He worked alone, with great latitude, and in direct contact with the headquarters" - the Japanese or American headquarters?

References

There are no problems with the references other than a few citations are out of place - they should usually be at the end of sentences however this is no problem and it doesn't affect the GA criteria. The article is well referenced.

On hold

This article is beautifully written, I've read through it all and could not find any copy editing issues with the latter half of the article despite this review feeling short. It is well referenced and the prose is in good standing, showing signs of the GA criteria. Once those minor issues have been addressed this article will have a good chance at passing the GAN. I've also corrected a few minor problems myself, if it helps. Thank you ☠ Jaguar ☠ 21:00, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

@Jaguar, thanks for the review and the compliment—I appreciate it! I made a few changes from your suggestions and I think it should be good now. Some responses: I prefer the current phrasing of the lede sentences you mentioned. I'm aware of the precedents, but I'm personally not a big fan, especially when I find a better or more suitable way to phrase it. I'd keep scratch and sniff out so the lede can stay lean. No extra details on why it was delayed but it's usually due to bad estimates. If the delay was notable enough, someone would have published about it. I believe, though, that the citations were fine where they were. End-of-sentence cites often makes verifiability harder if the sentence is a mix of multiple sources. czar ♔ 21:21, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Close - promoted

The article now meets the GA criteria, thank you for the extra work! The lead summarises the article, the prose is of good quality and all the citations, like you said, are better off like they are. I agree with you on the current phrasing of the lead, it's better off the way it is and I wasn't sure myself if you liked my suggestions on the lead. EarthBound is also in depth and well focused, to be honest this article already looks like FA material as its cult status already has a lot of content. Just saying! Regards ☠ Jaguar ☠ 12:14, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Alternate title

I played EarthBound on the SNES Classic Edition and noticed that it says "Earth Bound: The War Against Giygas!" on the title screen. Worth a mention in the article, perhaps? --85.164.241.158 (talk) 13:48, 29 September 2021 (UTC)

@85.164.241.158 No, this is like a bit of info about the game. Not an alternate title. And I think the actual title screen shows bits of the gameplay, with the title "Earthbound" floating above. 100.4.161.76 (talk) 14:14, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

It's called "Earthbound" elsewhere. I'm fine with noting the discrepancy between the title screen/card and, well, how it's spelled everywhere else. As long as it's one line, maybe two. Something like: "Earthbound is typically spelled without a space. Curiously, it is spelled "Earth Bound" on its title screen."

Red dwarf (talk) 01:44, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

Incorrect Information

In the gameplay section of the article, it is stated that EarthBound uses random encounters, like MOTHER. This is not true, but I'm afraid I might be misunderstanding the use of words here. Anyone have an explanation? Club On a Sub 20 (talk) 16:33, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Yeah, the gameplay section straight-up says that EB uses random encounters. I'll try to find a way to rephrase the sentence.

Red dwarf (talk) 01:47, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

Road to FA

I'm considering potentially taking this article to featured article status in time for the teased, Christmastime Tim Rogers megareview. I'd be checking the ref changes since the 2014 GA review (has it really been a decade...), incorporating the {{Refideas}} sources above, and re-writing the § Gameplay section from reliable sources but if there is anything else sticking out that needs addressing before going to FA, wanted to start a thread here. czar 02:46, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Ness Character page

I was looking at the history of the EarthBound page, and I saw that Ness's character page had been deleted and merged with this one. Why was this action taken? He's been featured in more games than one, and I feel that there's sufficient information and content out there for him to have his own page once again. Little Mac has about as much relevance as Ness, and he has his own page. NintenBOUND (talk) 19:51, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

Why was this action taken? See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ness (EarthBound) for the discussion history.

Little Mac ... has his own page. Every article is judged on its own merits on how it meets the general notability guideline. Also see Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions#What about article x? czar 01:31, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

Thank you. NintenBOUND (talk) 14:00, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

Is there anything that could be done to resurrect this page? Like if more concrete info about Ness and his reception are found/made? NintenBOUND (talk) 00:28, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

If there are new reliable, secondary sources that cover the character independent from his appearance in the game and were overlooked in the last discussion, I'm sure those participants would entertain it, but given that the discussion was just last December, I would not expect a different outcome. czar 03:05, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

All I know of his creation is that Itoi intentionally made him similar to Ninten. And I can't really find much in the way of reception besides his Smash appearances. All the same, I'd still like to see his page get resurrected one day. Thank you for your time. NintenBOUND (talk) 13:57, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

Character list

Moved from user talk:czar

Hello, I am the person who made the List of EarthBound characters article (I was known as 89.243.1.243 when I made the article. I made this account a few minutes ago.). I would like to talk about you reverting the page back to a redirect. I personally find problem that you reverted the page back to a redirect without any discussion on the matter and think you should have done so. I also think it could not be incorporated into EarthBound as video game article don't tend to include lists of characters.

Sincerely, HelloATM (but with lots of As) HelloAAAAATM (talk) 21:59, 11 August 2024 (UTC)

@HelloAAAAATM, I mentioned my rationale in my edit summary that the sources did not justify a standalone list article. Here are the list notability criteria. If there was a glut of sources pertaining specifically to the characters of this one game, then we could discuss a summary style split but given that the current article explains the characters' function and reception just fine as is, a separate article isn't warranted. There are other fan wikis that would welcome additional detail on the characters but Wikipedia is written for a general audience. czar 01:29, 12 August 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for your explanation I appreciate it. I understand as to why you reverted back to a redirect now. HelloAAAAATM (talk) 01:33, 12 August 2024 (UTC)

Battle Image

Could someone please upload a short clip-preferably one in the GIF format-that showcases EarthBound's rolling meter mechanic in the battle sequences? I don't have access to a SNES emulator or a digital copy of EarthBound, so some assistance in this department would be appreciated. NintenBOUND (talk) 14:56, 17 September 2024 (UTC)