Category talk:Dungeons

This category is confusing

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Currently, this category is very confusing. The description implies that this category is specifically for "dungeons" in video game terms; an enclosed complex area, not necessarily underground, that is usually filled with enemies and serves as the climax of the game or a section of it, like in a Zelda game (e.g. X-Naut Fortress and Shroob Castle). However, some pages seem to have been added to this category for being literal dungeons (e.g. Hazy Maze Cave, Koopa's Tower, and Damp Dungeon). This should probably be addressed, but I'm not sure what the best approach is. This category could be split into two of course (one for literal dungeons and one for Zelda-style dungeons), but I don't know how you could name them in a way that makes sense to a casual reader. I'm not even sure if it's worth having a category for Zelda-style dungeons, since what makes a location count as a "dungeon" in that sense is subjective. Is every castle level in Super Mario Bros. a dungeon because they're all climactic enclosed areas that end in a boss fight? Dive Rocket Launcher 22:38, March 17, 2026 (UTC)

I'm preparing a proposal for how to handle this, though first I wanted to hear how we should classify these dungeons. I will use the terms "RPG dungeon" for dungeons in the role-playing game sense※ and "literal dungeon" for actual dungeons. This may be pedantic, but I would like to classify these as "prisons" instead. The meaning of a literal dungeon has changed a lot over centuries; originally, it referred to a type of prison inside a castle, but over time, it shifted more towards being a term for a type of prison cell. Thus, referring to the entire area of imprisonment in a castle or fortress as "a dungeon" is more archaic than calling it "the dungeons". I would prefer to categorize these places as "prisons" on this wiki, since it is both more accurate and less ambiguous than "dungeons". Of course, making this into a category would also mean including prisons that don't involve dungeons, like Alcatraz and K. Lumsy's Prison.

※When I say "role-playing game", I mean in the way that it was originally used for a genre of tabletop games, where this definition of "dungeon" originates from. This definition of "role-playing game" is very broad and includes adventure games like the Zelda series, which are famous for their RPG-style dungeons, but nowadays, the term "role-playing game" in the context of video games usually excludes adventure games without "RPG elements". So, Zelda games are usually not considered role-playing video games, despite having RPG dungeons.)

Currently, this is what I believe is the reason for each page being in this category:

• Beanbean Castle Sewer: RPG dungeon.
• Creepy Steeple: RPG dungeon.
• Crystal Palace: RPG dungeon.
• Damp Dungeon: Called a dungeon, but seems to be more like a temple.
• Deepwater Dungeon: Vaguely resembles a literal dungeon, being a castle-like environment filled with spikes and occasionally iron bars, but I can see the argument for why this shouldn't count.
• Dry Dry Ruins: RPG dungeon.
• Drybake Stadium: RPG dungeon.
• Flipside Pit of 100 Trials and Flopside Pit of 100 Trials: RPG dungeons. It is stated that Wracktail was locked in the Flipside Pit by the Ancients, but whether this is also true of Shadoo in the Flopside Pit is unclear. While this doesn't make them literal dungeons, if we do recategorize literal dungeons as prisons, I would be fine with categorizing these as prisons as well.
• Fryguy Kindergarten: I think this is here because it is a trap room inside a castle, but it doesn't seem to be for imprisonment...
• Hazy Maze Cave: The internal name of this stage is "Horror Dungeon", and there is official art of this place that depicts it with chains on the wall. I could see the argument for not counting this as a literal dungeon, though.
• Hooktail Castle: Both.
• Joke's End: RPG dungeon.
• Koopa Bros. Fortress: Both.
• Koopatraz State Prison: Literal dungeon.
• K. Rool's Keep (including Castle Crush, Chain Link Chamber, the other Chain Link Chamber, Dungeon Danger, Stronghold Showdown, Toxic Tower, the other Toxic Tower): All literal dungeons.
• K. Rool Duel (Donkey Kong Land 2): Also a literal dungeon due to it using the same theme as the above.
• Koopa's Tower: A place in the live-action Super Mario Bros. film that contains a prison. Honestly, calling the cells in this building "dungeons" is still a stretch, let alone calling the building itself a literal dungeon. Another reason why I would prefer to recategorize these as prisons.
• Lift Castle, Magma Castle, and Mecha Castle: I... honestly have no idea. They take place in castles... that's about it.
• Naval Piranha's Castle: A sewer that vaguely looks like a literal dungeon...?
• Palace of Shadow: RPG dungeon.
• Peach's Castle Dungeon: RPG dungeon. Despite taking place under a castle, this is actually a sewer, and was a cellar in the past.
• Pirate's Grotto: RPG dungeon.
• Pit of 100 Trials (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door): Both.
• Shroob Castle: RPG dungeon.
• Shy Guy's Toy Box: RPG dungeon, though honestly I'm not sure if this should count because this area is the setting of the entire chapter, not just the end of it.
• Soli-Tree: RPG dungeon.
• Stage 2 (Virtual Boy Wario Land): Another sewer?
• The Great Tree: RPG dungeon.
• Twinsy Tropics Dungeon: Literal dungeon, and debatably an RPG dungeon as well.
• X-Naut Fortress: RPG dungeon. While this is used as a prison for Peach, I don't think it should count as a prison.
• Yold Ruins: RPG dungeon.

I would like to hear more thoughts on how to handle this category. Whether it should be split, whether a category for RPG dungeons even makes sense to have, whether it would be better to recategorize literal dungeons as prisons, and if there are any issues with my analysis of each page in this category. Dive Rocket Launcher 20:04, May 5, 2026 (UTC)