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We have a limited coverage policy. Please check our coverage page to see which articles are allowed. |
NintendoWiki:Coverage
NintendoWiki strives to be a comprehensive database for all aspects of Nintendo, which includes both the company itself and the products it releases. As this definition is rather broad, and taking into account that our fellow NIWA wikis also exist to cover Nintendo's various games and franchises in detail, this page exists to more precisely convey what subject matter NintendoWiki should cover and a general idea of how it should cover that information.
Contents
Software
Games
NintendoWiki covers all games developed by Nintendo and its divisions and subsidiaries. The wiki also covers any games developed by Nintendo's partners, as long as they have been published by Nintendo or one of its subsidiaries (see below) at one point in time. For games developed by third-party corporations, these titles will receive coverage as long as they have been published by Nintendo for release in at least one of the company's primary regional markets (North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and South Korea). Any titles that have simply been licensed by Nintendo will not be covered, as, other than approving the game for release on their system, Nintendo was not involved in the production or distribution of the product. Similarly, unlicensed games will not receive coverage on the wiki.
For games that have been re-released on different hardware, it is important to distinguish which versions of the game will receive an article. Whether a newer version of an older game is a remake or a port, if the game has any elements that distinguish it from the original, such as changing some features or the addition of new content, it will receive an article, which will primarily discuss its differences from the original release in the "Gameplay" section. Compilation releases will also receive full articles, as long as, like remakes, they have new content that will distinguish them from the original. However, if a new release of a game is simply a direct port of the original (such as a Virtual Console release), it will not be given its own article, as a direct port is simply the original game as-is, with no added content or features, and rarely any significant changes; they can be covered sufficiently in the "Other releases" section on the original game's article.
Nintendo has frequently released games as multiple "versions" (mainline Pokémon games, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, Fire Emblem Fates, etc.), which, in many cases, share near-identical gameplay and content, but have some version exclusive differences from each other. For these releases, all versions are covered on the same article. In some cases, a newer version of the games will be released later that has its own distinct content as well as changes and refinements to the base games (such as Pokémon Platinum Version to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Versions). In these cases, the new version is covered on its own article. As with ports, the "Gameplay" section should mostly describe its differences from the originals.
Some games such as Mario's Time Machine, are developed and published by a third-party even though they represent a first-party franchise. In this case they are mentioned in a list (such as List of third party Mario games), but not given their own article.
For example:
| Name | Type of coverage | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Super Mario Bros. | Article | Super Mario Bros. was developed and published by Nintendo. |
| Bayonetta 2 | Article | Bayonetta 2 was developed by PlatinumGames, a third-party developer, but was published by Nintendo. |
| Yo-kai Watch | Article | Yo-kai Watch was developed by Level-5; while the game was published by Level-5 in Japan, Nintendo published the game for its international release. |
| Contra | No article | Contra is a game that was both developed and published by Konami, a third-party company, without any real involvement from Nintendo. |
| Tube Slider | Article | Tube Slider was published by NEC, a third-party company, but developed by Nd Cube, a subsidiary of Nintendo. |
| Mario's Time Machine | Mention in list | Although Super Mario is a Nintendo property, Mario's Time Machine was developed and published by The Software Toolworks (the NES version was developed by Radical Entertainment), with no involvement from Nintendo aside from licensing. This game is mentioned on List of third party Mario games. |
| Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt | Mention in "other releases" section | While the game is a new release, it is simply a singular cartridge featuring both games, with no new content. Thus, it simply warrants a mention in the "Other releases" section. |
| Metroid Prime: Trilogy | Article | Metroid Prime: Trilogy is a compilation release consisting of ports of three games, which features its own distinct content and gameplay changes. |
| Classic NES Series: The Legend of Zelda | Mention | The Classic NES Series titles are direct ports of NES games for the Game Boy Advance. Thus, in most cases these would only be mentioned in the "Other releases" section. |
| Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World | Article | Although the game is a port, it has new content not present in the original and gameplay changes that can be documented, and thus warrants a new article. |
| Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land | Article | Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is a full remake of the original Kirby's Adventure game, featuring brand new content and new gameplay elements. |
How to identify the publisher
- Physical games published by Nintendo from North America and Europe will have the following barcode prefix: 045496
- In Japan: 4902370
- In Australia: 9318113
- In China: 69342473
- In South Korea: 880920814
- Digital games published by Nintendo can be found using the publisher search on Nintendo eShop (Nintendo 3DS and Wii U) or by touching the link on "Nintendo" on an existing game published by Nintendo to bring up the list. (Nintendo Switch)
- More rarely, the game may explicitly state "published by Nintendo" somewhere, such as on the box or in-game.
Internal and subsidiary companies
A subsidiary company may be regarded as a company Nintendo owns a financial stock in. For the purpose of NintendoWiki, articles are allowed from internal companies (companies formed directly by Nintendo) or any company in which Nintendo owns more than 50% of the financial shares. A subsidiary company is not to be confused with a partner company (a company which has good relations with/closely works with/releases many of their works for Nintendo platforms, but may not consist of the Nintendo ownership in shares) such as Jupiter or Tose. However, as this detail is in relation to the publisher, products from non-Nintendo "partner" companies are allowed if the publisher is Nintendo.
Additionally, products or services published by The Pokémon Company (Nintendo/Game Freak/Creatures, Inc.) (and theoretically Warpstar Inc. (Nintendo/HAL Laboratory)) have been allowed. Examples: Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon Trading Card Game Online
Examples include:
- Sole divisions of Nintendo. Example: Nintendo Research & Development 1
- Companies with primarily a Nintendo split in ownership. Example: Nd Cube
- Companies which were not originally owned by Nintendo, but were purchased out. Example: Nintendo European Research & Development (NERD) (formally Mobiclip), Seattle Mariners (no longer applies as of 2016)
Joint venture companies (closer to 50/50), namely Mobile21, RandnetDD Co., Ltd., Mario Co., Ltd., Monegi, Marigul Management companies should be treated with caution (games such as Net de Get Minigame @100 are still not allowed as they do not involve Nintendo staff).
If a company once counted as an internal or subsidiary company but was repossesed by a third-party, it no longer counts for coverage (unless the game is published by Nintendo). The company Rare (while a partner and not a subsidiary) is similar to this, as it had close links with Nintendo for developing games such as Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Kazooie before being bought out by Microsoft.
Note that certain Nintendo divisions or subsidiaries may no longer exist.
Games with expanded coverage
Certain games (and franchises, as needed) get expanded coverage in the form of subpages.
To qualify, it'll need to meet the following guidelines:
- No other wiki in NIWA can claim coverage over the franchise or series that the game falls under. This means no Mario, Zelda or Pokemon. This includes StrategyWiki.
- The number of articles, templates, files and other pages should be kept to a small amount (~25 articles for instance).
- No more than 5 games per franchise
These aren't hard numbers or rules.
If you think a game qualifies, be sure to discuss it before starting the process. Simiarly, if you think a game needs to have all the related pages deleted, it should be discussed.
Series
Determining whether an intellectual property has become a series or franchise can be difficult. While some such as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Kirby, and others have numerous releases and longevity, others have very few games with no new installments in recent years, while newer IPs have not had the time to receive very many entries. For the purposes of NintendoWiki, a property must have received at least three entries in order to qualify for a series article. This also applies to third-party series that have had games published by the company; a series like Professor Layton would receive an article as many of its games have been published by Nintendo for their western releases, while Ninja Gaiden would not, as only one game in the series, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, has ever been published by Nintendo.
In some cases, many of Nintendo's larger franchises have spawned individual spin-off series, such as Metroid Prime to the original Metroid series, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon or Pokémon Rumble to Pokémon, or the myriad of Super Mario spin-off series. These kinds of series do not receive individual coverage, and are instead covered as part of the larger franchises.
Unreleased games and tech demos
On some occasions an announced game will be cancelled or simply never released, or the game will be a demo that was never intended to see a full release in the first place. Full coverage is given to any unreleased games or tech demos that were developed by Nintendo. However, these articles are not required to be as fleshed out as articles for released games, as many details about these games and demos are not as readily available.
Leaks are allowed if at least 1 year has passed since their discovery. Videos of leaked games however are not allowed.
Fictional elements
NintendoWiki primarily covers subjects from a real-life perspective. Thus, while game articles will provide a description of their gameplay and and a brief synopsis of the setup for the primary storyline (if applicable), the fictional and gameplay elements within those games, such as enemies, locations, power-ups, and characters, are not covered by this wiki beyond any mentions on the game's article. Instead, most game articles link to the same article on one of our fellow NIWA member wikis for more in-depth information. Articles pertaining to features in Nintendo consoles may be allowed if they are not franchise specific (examples: Miis as a feature for consoles since Wii despite them being fictional characters, terms for features such as Restore Point since Nintendo 3DS, etc.)
Hardware
Game consoles
As expected, the wiki gives full coverage to all video game consoles that have been released by Nintendo. This also extends to add-on hardware such as the Family Computer Disk System or the Nintendo 64DD, hardware revisions such as the Game Boy Advance SP and New Nintendo 3DS, and even unreleased hardware such as the "SNES-CD".
Game devices manufactured by outside parties do not warrant articles unless Nintendo was involved in their development. For example, in the case of the Philips CD-i, other than giving Philips the license to develop games for the system using its properties, Nintendo was entirely uninvolved with the production of the hardware. In addition, while games for consoles such as the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 have been released on the Virtual Console serivce, the hardware would not be fully covered as it was not originally released by Nintendo, nor were the games published by them for their re-releases.
Accessories
All Nintendo-manufactured and released accessories for hardware, such as controllers and add-on devices, will be covered in their own articles. Similar to third-party games, third-party accessories that have only been licensed by Nintendo and unlicensed devices such as Game Genies or generic reproduction controllers and accessories do not warrant coverage.
Devices and accessories that serve toward the functionality of another accessory, such as the Super Scope Receiver or the Pokémon GO Plus wristband and ring accessory, do not warrant standalone coverage, and should instead be covered as part of the device they are used in conjunction with.
Components
Nintendo has often created its own custom chips and processors for its consoles, such as the Super FX graphics chip and the 10NES lockout chip. This type of hardware is given full coverage in a similar manner to console accessories.
Companies
Entire companies
In addition to the company itself, full coverage is automatically given to any and all divisions and subsidiaries of Nintendo. This also applies to affiliated or partner companies who have developed or assisted in developing products for Nintendo.
For third-party companies, the company must have developed multiple games for or in collaboration with Nintendo in order to receive coverage.
Other companies regarded as "rivals" such as Sony could theoretically be covered in an article such as companies which have been regarded as rivals to Nintendo (if they have produced no products published by Nintendo), while the article Sega exists on its own because they became third-party developer and have produced some games published by Nintendo such as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007)), no longer regarding Nintendo as a rival.
While company articles should give a summary of their corporate history, only their games that have been published by Nintendo will be listed.
Employees
Nintendo as a company and its subsidiaries and partners have employed a number of people over the years. In general, important Nintendo employees, such as presidents and vice presidents, receive full coverage. Beyond that, when deciding which people to cover, it is important to note how much about them can be noted beyond simply stating their role at Nintendo, and how many games they have worked on. Thus, one should use their discretion when deciding whether or not to cover other employees, such as voice actors, musicians, artists, directors and producers, localizers, etc.
Other products
Before Nintendo entered the video game market, it was a manufacturer of hanafuda (a type of Japanese playing cards), and later entered into other ventures before becoming a toy company. All of these other products and services that have been manufactured by Nintendo or one of its subsidiaries will be covered. In the case of products like amiibo, which third-party developers have created under license, only the specific products that have been manufactured or released by Nintendo are covered.
Events and publications
Nintendo have held and attended various press events, including the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Space World, and even video content such as Nintendo Directs, for the purpose of showcasing upcoming projects. All of these media events are covered, with each individual show receiving an article, though for events not hosted by the company only Nintendo's presence at these events are covered.
In the case of publications such as magazines, only those published by Nintendo are covered, such as Nintendo Power. Like the above, issues are covered individually.
Legal activities
NintendoWiki is unique in that it also covers aspects of Nintendo such as patents and court cases. Patents relating to an actual product, whether or not it is actually released, may be covered alongside that product, though those depicting a concept for a product regardless of whether or not it is actually planned for release may be covered individually. Legal cases, however, are given individual coverage.
Multimedia and merchandise
While being video game series first and foremost, several of Nintendo's properties, such as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon, have expanded into multimedia franchises, with comic books and manga, television series, and, in the case of Super Mario, a live-action Hollywood film. Much licensed merchandise has also been made based on these series, such as Jakks Pacific's "World of Nintendo" action figures. As Nintendo was largely uninvolved with the production of these shows and products beyond licensing their properties to the various companies, they are not covered on this wiki. However, those that were produced and released by Nintendo, such as the Pikmin Short Movies or soundtrack CDs such as those distributed through Club Nintendo, would warrant coverage.
Other subjects
These are other subjects which may make sense for NintendoWiki focusing on Nintendo Co., Ltd. as a company. To account for acknowledging details this wiki does not normally cover, certain articles have also been created such as List of third party Mario games (to document them in brevity rather than depth). Feel free to discuss these points on NintendoWiki talk:Coverage, regarding which details should be included and omitted and how.
- Articles on official Nintendo communities such as Miiverse and websites are allowed.
- As an exception to the rules, individual articles for Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance and its members have been allowed for promotion of the network, despite the communities not being officially run by Nintendo or related parties. Other communities may hypothetically belong in a list (e.g. list of Mario communities).
- Early stigmatisation of Nintendo and ties to the Yakuza covers a historical/sociological subject pertaining to Nintendo which has been allowed.
- Other sociological subjects may be allowed with priority to them being a section of their relevant page (e.g. the Tetris effect on Tetris series), unless the subject isn't specific to a franchise.
- Commercials pertaining to Nintendo games or products might belong in their relevant page (e.g. a list of commercials pertaining to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or a list of commercials pertaining to the Wii). Similarly, List of Nintendo games with commercials could list games which have commercials, providing at least one reference for each game in the list.
- Nintendo employee related subjects such as NMI Safety Video and Wario World (website) may be allowed (if originally confidential from a leak, it must be at least one year old).
- List of e-Reader applications lists e-Reader applications, including both Nintendo and third party ones.
- Articles pertaining to console wars/aggressive advertising such as Genesis does what Nintendon't! may also be allowed.
- If a Nintendo console related peripheral isn't published by Nintendo, it may be included in a list (example: List of Game Boy Color peripherals).
- Listing third-party Nintendo franchise related merchandise may be out of scope, because practically for large franchises such as Pokémon or Mario there are too many to list, and it might clash with the focus of other NIWA members (where NintendoWiki is in the lens and focus of Nintendo Co., Ltd. and details surrounding it, rather than an individual franchise). Such articles are better suited to the dedicated NIWA member (if it exists), as it could make individual articles for third-party merchandise or a list of some of the merchandise (if included in its notability policies). If a merchandise list article exists on that wiki, it could be included as an external interwiki link on NintendoWiki's relevant series article. However, in the case of animation and comics, similar to List of third party Mario games there is List of Nintendo manga and List of Nintendo animation may hypothetically exist to list third-party animation products such as The Wizard (1989 film) as well.
- Reception of a video game or product may be included in the relevant article, such as the reviews and sales of a particular game.
- A category fan translated Nintendo games also exists for games with a fan translation attempt such as Mother 3.
- Third party games from Nintendo franchises have been covered in some articles such as List of third party Mario games.
- List of brandings in Nintendo published media covers licenses to third-party brandings in Nintendo published media (such as Disney and the game Disney Art Academy).
- Nintendo series mascots and main characters lists the main characters of various Nintendo franchises. For similar reasons as the merchandise point above, it should not be a list of all characters and only those regarded as mascots or ancillary characters.
- Legacy related information might be covered in the relevant page (an example might be an #In popular culture section for the Nintendo Entertainment System mentioning The Wizard (1989 film) without having a dedicated article for that film).
- References to other Nintendo franchises or products may also be included in the relevant page (example: the inclusion of the Yoshi Doll item in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, or the appearance of the SNES and reference to Mario & Wario in Pokémon Red and Blue). Other references may be allowed if they pertain to the developer (example: the Misaki Hayama from Click Medic costume from Drill Dozer because Game Freak developed that game).
- List of Nintendo system fonts has been allowed as a list of the fonts used on Nintendo consoles.
Debatable subjects
If a user feels it is debatable or does not believe an article covers the scope of NintendoWiki, then {{Coverage-questioned}} should be added at the top of the article. The matter of whether or not the article should stay should primarily be discussed on the article's talk page.
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