MarioWiki:Proposals

Current time: May 31, 2026, 00:02 (UTC)

Proposals can be new features, the removal of previously-added features that have tired out, or new policies that must be approved via consensus before any action is taken. Voting periods last for two weeks, but can close early or be extended (see below). Any autoconfirmed user can support or oppose, but must have a strong reason for doing so. All proposals must be approved by a majority of voters, including proposals with more than two options. For past proposals, see the proposal archive and the talk page proposal archive.

If you would like to get feedback on an idea before formally proposing it here, you may do so on the proposals talk. For talk page proposals, you can discuss the changes on the talk page itself before creating the TPP there.

How to

If someone has an idea about improving the wiki or managing its community, but feel that they need community approval before acting upon that idea, they may make a proposal about it. They must have a strong argument supporting their idea and be willing to discuss it in detail with other users, who will then vote on whether or not they think the idea should be implemented. Proposals should include links to all relevant pages and writing guidelines. Proposals must include a detailed description of the proposed changes and may link to a draft page. Any pages that would be largely affected by the proposal should be marked with {{proposal notice}}.

Rules

1. Only autoconfirmed users may create or vote on proposals. Proposals can be created by one user or co-authored by two users.
2. A given user may author/co-author a maximum of five total ongoing/unimplemented proposals. Any new proposals over this limit will be immediately canceled.
3. Anyone is free to comment on proposals (provided that the page's protection level allows them to edit).
4. Proposals conclude at the end of the day (23:59) two weeks after voting starts (all times UTC).
   • For example, if a proposal is added at any time on Monday, August 1, 2011, the voting starts immediately and the deadline is two weeks later on Monday, August 15, at 23:59 (UTC).
5. Proposals cannot contradict an already ongoing proposal or overturn the decision of a previous proposal that concluded less than four weeks (28 days) ago.
6. Proposals must have a status quo option (e.g. "Oppose", "Do nothing") unless the status quo itself violates policy.
7. Users may vote for more than one option, but they may not vote for every option available. Keep in mind that we use approval voting, so all of your votes count equally regardless of preferred order.
8. Every vote should have a strong, sensible reason accompanying it. Agreeing with a previously mentioned reason given by another user is acceptable (including "per" votes), but tangential comments, heavy sarcasm, and other misleading or irrelevant quips are just as invalid as providing no reason at all.
9. Users who feel that certain votes were cast in bad faith or which truly have no merit can address the votes in the comments section. Users can ask a voter to clarify their position, point out mistakes or flaws in their arguments, or call for the outright removal of the vote if it lacks sufficient reasoning. Users may not remove or alter the content of anyone else's votes. Voters can remove or rewrite their own vote(s) at any time, but the final decision to remove another user's vote lies solely with the wiki staff.
   • Users can also use the comments section to bring up any concerns or mistakes in regards to the proposal itself. In such cases, it's important the proposer addresses any concerns raised as soon as possible. Even if the supporting side might be winning by a wide margin, that should be no reason for such questions to be left unanswered. They may point out any missing details that might have been overlooked by the proposer, so it's a good idea as the proposer to check them frequently to achieve the most accurate outcome possible.
10. If a user makes a vote and is subsequently blocked for any amount of time, their vote is removed. However, if the block ends before the proposal ends, then the user in question holds the right to re-cast their vote. If a proposer is blocked, their vote is removed and "(blocked)" is added next to their name in the "Proposer:" line of the proposal, which runs until its deadline as normal. If the proposal passes, it falls to the supporters of the idea to enact any changes in a timely manner.
11. If one week before a proposal's initial deadline, the first place option is ahead of the second place option by eight or more votes and the first place option has at least 80% approval, then the proposal concludes early. Wiki staff may tag a proposal with "Do not close early" at any time to prevent an early close, if needed.
    • Tag the proposal with {{early notice}} if it is on track for an early close. Use {{proposal check|early=yes}} to perform the check.
12. Any proposal where none of the options have at least four votes will be extended for another week. If after three extensions, no options have at least four votes, the proposal will be listed as "NO QUORUM". The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
13. If a proposal reaches its deadline and there is a tie for first place, then the proposal is extended for another week.
14. If a proposal reaches its deadline and the first place option is ahead of the second place option by three or more votes, then the first place option must have over 50% approval to win. If the margin is only one or two votes, then the first place option must have at least 60% approval to win. If the required approval threshold is not met, then the proposal is extended for another week.
    • Use {{proposal check}} to automate this calculation; see the template page for usage instructions and examples.
15. Proposals can be extended a maximum of three times. If a consensus has not been reached by the fourth deadline, then the proposal fails and cannot be re-proposed until at least four weeks after the last deadline.
16. After a proposal passes, it is added to the appropriate list of "unimplemented proposals" below and is removed once it has been sufficiently implemented.
17. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of an administrator, the proposer should ask for that help. Proposals that result in changes to policy pages or general guidelines must be cited accordingly.
18. For sizeable projects, a proposal author or wiki staff member may create a PipeProject page to serve as a portal for an unimplemented proposal. This is linked from the unimplemented proposals list and can contain progress tracking, implementation guidelines, resource links, a list of users working on the project, etc.
19. All proposals are archived. Please note that canceled proposals must also be archived, including their date of cancellation.
20. Proposals can only be rewritten or canceled by their proposer within the first four days of their creation. If a proposer cancels their own proposal, they must provide a reason and wait three days before submitting any new proposal.
    • A proposer cannot cancel their proposal and then implement it anyway. Only wiki staff can cancel a proposal and immediately put it into effect.
21. Proposers can request their proposal be canceled by a wiki staff member after the self-cancellation cutoff, but they must provide a valid reason for doing so. In most cases, the proposal should simply run its course.
22. If the wiki staff deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to cancel it at any time.
23. Unless there is major disagreement about whether certain content should be included, there should not be proposals about creating, expanding, rewriting, or otherwise fixing up pages. To organize efforts about improving articles on neglected or completely missing subjects, try setting up a collaboration thread on the forums.
24. Proposals cannot be made about promotions and demotions. Staff changes are discussed internally and carried out by the bureaucrats.
25. No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.

Basic proposal formatting

Copy and paste the formatting below to get started; your username and the proposal deadline will automatically be substituted when you save the page. Update the bracketed variables with actual information, and be sure to replace the whole variable including the square brackets, so "[insert info here]" becomes "This is the inserted information" and not "[This is the inserted information]". Proposals presenting multiple alternative courses of action can have more than two voting options, but the objective(s) of each voting option must be clearly defined. Such options should also be kept to a minimum, and if something comes up in the comments, the proposal can be amended as necessary.

===[insert a title for your proposal here]===
[describe what issue this proposal is about and what changes you think should be made to improve how the wiki handles that issue]

'''Proposer''': {{user|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}}<br>
'''Deadline''': {{subst:#time:F j, Y|+2 weeks}}, 23:59 (UTC)

====[option title (e.g. Support, Option 1)]: [brief summary of option]====
#{{user|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}} Per proposal.

====[option title (e.g. Oppose, Option 2)]: [brief summary of option]====

====Comments ([brief proposal title])====

Autoconfirmed users will now be able to vote on your proposal. Remember that you can vote on your own proposal just like the others.

To vote for an option, just insert #{{user|[your username here]}} at the bottom of the section of your choice. Just don't forget to add a valid reason for your vote behind that tag if you are voting on another user's proposal. If you are voting on your own proposal, you can simply say "Per proposal".

Poll proposal formatting

As an alternative to the basic proposal format, users may choose to create a poll proposal when one larger issue can be broken down into multiple subissues that can be resolved independently of each other. Poll proposals concerning multiple pages must have good justification for using the poll proposal format rather than individual talk page proposals or else will be canceled (for example, in the case of the princesses poll proposal, there are valid consistency concerns which make it worthwhile to consider these three articles simultaneously, but for routine article size splits, there is no need to abandon using standard TPPs for each).

In a poll proposal, each option is essentially its own mini-proposal with a deadline and suboption headings. A poll proposal can have a maximum of 15 options, and the rules above apply to each option as if it were its own proposal: users may vote on any number of options they wish, and individual options may close early or be extended separately from the rest. If an option fails to achieve quorum or reach a consensus after three extensions, then the status quo wins for that option by default. If all options fail, then nothing will be done.

To create a poll proposal, copy and paste the formatting below to get started; your username and the option deadlines will automatically be substituted when you save the page. Update the bracketed variables with actual information, and be sure to replace the whole variable including the square brackets, so "[insert info here]" becomes "This is the inserted information" and not "[This is the inserted information]".

===[insert a title for your proposal here]===
[describe what issue this proposal is about and what changes you think should be made to improve how the wiki handles that issue]

'''Proposer''': {{user|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}}

====[option title (e.g. Option 1)]: [brief summary of option]====
'''Deadline''': {{subst:#time:F j, Y|+2 weeks}}, 23:59 (UTC)

;Support
#{{user|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}} Per proposal.

;Oppose

====[option title (e.g. Option 2)]: [brief summary of option]====
'''Deadline''': {{subst:#time:F j, Y|+2 weeks}}, 23:59 (UTC)

;Support
#{{user|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}} Per proposal.

;Oppose

====[option title (e.g. Option 3)]: [brief summary of option]====
'''Deadline''': {{subst:#time:F j, Y|+2 weeks}}, 23:59 (UTC)

;Support
#{{user|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}} Per proposal.

;Oppose

====Comments ([brief proposal title])====

For the purposes of the ongoing proposals list, a poll proposal's deadline is the latest deadline of any ongoing option(s). A poll proposal is archived after all of its options have settled, and it is listed as one single proposal in the archive. It is considered to have "passed" if one or more options were approved by voters (resulting in a change from the status quo), and it is considered to have "failed" if all options were rejected by voters and no change in the status quo was made.

Talk page proposals

Proposals concerning a single page or a limited group of pages are held on the most relevant talk page regarding the matter. All of the above proposal rules also apply to talk page proposals. Place {{TPP}} under the section's heading, and once the proposal is over, replace the template with {{settled TPP}}. Proposals dealing with a large amount of splits, merges, or deletions across the wiki should still be held on this page.

All active talk page proposals must be listed below in chronological order (new proposals go at the bottom) using {{ongoing TPP}}. Include a brief description of the proposal while also mentioning any pages affected by it, a link to the talk page housing the discussion, the proposal author(s), and the deadline. If the proposal involves a page that is not yet made, use {{fake link}} to communicate its title in the description. Linking to pages not directly involved in the talk page proposal is not recommended, as it clutters the list with unnecessary links.

List of ongoing talk page proposals

Deletions

None at the moment.

Moves

• Move Captain Shy Guy (Mario & Luigi series) to Captain Shy Guy (discuss) by Wilben; Deadline: June 7, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)

Merges

• Merge Star (Mario Party series) with Star (Mario & Wario) and treat the item as a genericized version of the Super Star (discuss) by Dive Rocket Launcher; Deadline: June 6, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)
• Merge Ken Masters into the List of fighters debuting in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (discuss) by Brett; Deadline: June 8, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)

Splits

• Split Coin Bandit from Bandit (discuss) by Sorbetti; Deadline: May 31, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)
• Split the segments of Frizzy's Silly amiibo Theater (discuss) by Rykitu; Deadline: June 1, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)
• Split objects appearing exclusively in browser games into their own articles (discuss) by Nelsonic; Deadline: June 5, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)
• Split Gil Board, Bill Board, Phil Board and Jil Board into four separated articles (discuss) by Sorbetti; Deadline: June 10, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)

Miscellaneous

• Reconsider the relations the Baseball Bros, Zeus Guy, and Grunt have with Bandit (discuss) by FanOfYoshi; Deadline: June 8, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)
• Decide how the "classic courses" category should be updated (discuss) by Polley001; Deadline: June 10, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)

Unimplemented proposals

Proposals

Break alphabetical order in enemy lists to list enemy variants below their base form, EvieMaybe (ended May 21, 2024)

Standardize sectioning for Super Mario series game articles, Nintendo101 (ended July 3, 2024)

Note: Not yet integrated for the Super Mario Maker titles.

Use the classic and classic link templates when discussing classic courses in Mario Kart Tour, YoYo (ended October 2, 2024)

Split major RPG appearances of recurring locations, EvieMaybe (ended December 16, 2024)

Note: Implemented for all except Bowser's Inside Story's Bowser's Castle and Kingdom Battle's Peach's Castle

Retool the Names in other languages section into a more general etymology section, EvieMaybe (ended March 7, 2025)

Allow English Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia names to be mentioned on articles where they are not the title, Hewer (ended March 27, 2025)

Split every song from the "List of (show) songs" articles, Zing Zang Zote (ended May 31, 2025)

Note: Not yet implemented for List of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! songs

Overhaul sponsor pages, Seandwalsh (ended June 26, 2025)

Reorganize recurring theme articles to use history sections, Ahemtoday (ended July 2, 2025)

Revamp colorful tables, Camwoodstock (ended August 14, 2025)

Make articles for the licensed songs in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sargent Deez (ended September 17, 2025)

Note: Articles for "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" and "Mr. Blue Sky" have not been created yet

Change game quote lists to game scripts, Scrooge200 (ended September 21, 2025)

Create an article for Gourmandise, Sargent Deez (ended October 4, 2025)

Stop using icon-based level names for Super Mario Bros. 3, PopitTart (ended October 21, 2025)

End the use of "new course" and "classic course" as universal definitions within the Mario Kart series, Polley001 (ended January 26, 2026)

Make all release dates use individual flags (if possible), Yoshi18 (ended February 8, 2026)

Have game navboxes and categories cover all music appearances rather than just debuts, Ahemtoday (ended February 20, 2026)

Create "recycled assets" sections for asset re-use, and move examples of asset re-use to those sections, Camwoodstock & Yoshi18 (ended March 5, 2026)

Prioritize whole integer upscaling for sprite displays, Scrooge200 (ended March 13, 2026)

Make an article for the New Super Mario Bros. series (Draft page), Yoshi18 & Sargent Deez (ended March 18, 2026)

Establish a consistent format for non-game enemy and obstacle lists, Illuminoid (ended March 22, 2026)

Allow screenshot in infobox for subjects with an updated design when no proper artworks exist, Brett (ended April 17, 2026)

Create articles for Toad Brigade Training Camp and Attraction variations of courses in Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park, Illuminoid (ended April 23, 2026)

Use manga chapters rather than volumes for subjects' first and last appearances, Brett (ended May 9, 2026)

Decide if medias that mention a subject before their first appearance or after their last appearance should be included in their infobox, Brett (ended May 14, 2026)

Decide how to handle reissues in the History sections of musical theme articles, Wilben (ended May 22, 2026)

Talk page proposals

Make bestiary list pages for the Minion Quest and Bowser Jr.'s Journey modes, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended January 11, 2024)

Allow separate articles for Diddy Kong Pilot (2003)'s subjects (Draft page), Doc von Schmeltwick (ended August 3, 2024)

Create articles for specified special buildings in Super Mario Run, Salmancer (ended November 15, 2024)

Note: Missing Rainbow Bridge, Red Bonus Game House, Blue Bonus Game House, and Yellow Bonus Game House articles.

Give the Cluck-A-Pop Prizes articles, Camwoodstock (ended January 31, 2025)

Split the Animal Crossing series (now Crossovers with Animal Crossing) (Draft page), Zing Zang Zote (ended February 12, 2025)

Restructure Yoshi's Island (series) article into Yoshi series, PopitTart (ended March 19, 2025)

Note: Not yet implemented in articles that still use the Yoshi's Island series and still have separate Yoshi's Story, Yoshi's Woolly World, and Yoshi's Crafted World sections

Split Super Luigi subjects into a dedicated list article (Draft page), EvieMaybe (ended April 3, 2025)

Clean up Prohibited Command, PrincessPeachFan (ended May 13, 2025)

Determine which subjects belong in Category:Aliens, Technetium (ended June 14, 2025)

Note: Not yet implemented for Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 subjects.

Split A Magical Tour of Yoshi's Island from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Rykitu (ended July 9, 2025)

Decide how to handle hammer-based moves in Category:Hammers, SolemnStormcloud (ended July 21, 2025)

Treat Pyoro as a series, janMisali (ended September 1, 2025)

Determine whether a Final Smash is one of a fighter's special moves, Salmancer (ended September 13, 2025)

Split Challenge, VS. Game/You VS. Boo, the Album and the Toy Box + its individual toys from Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Snessy (ended December 23, 2025)

Decide whether to use title case in English meanings of foreign names where applicable when not present in the source language, PaperSplash (ended December 26, 2025)

Treat courses that debuted in Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe courses respectively, Polterpup (ended January 1, 2026)

Consider "LUCKY" misses from the Paper Mario series to be a game mechanic, Pizza Master (ended January 13, 2026)

Move Wakkiki info to Akiki, FanOfYoshi (ended January 17, 2026)

Determine which clothing and other gear deserves individual articles, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended January 21, 2026)

Note: Currently split clothing should be merged back

Determine what qualifies as a game (and create appropriate categories in the process), SuperGamer18 (ended February 2, 2026)

Declare Super Smash Bros. - Gameplay & Quest for the amiibo! a guest appearance and delete Jack (Quest for the amiibo!), Salmancer (ended February 22, 2026)

Add music types to track tables (SSBU Sound Test), The Eggo55 (ended February 27, 2026)

Determine whether discontinued media counts as lost media, Pizza Master (ended February 28, 2026)

Make articles for the licensed songs in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, SuperGamer18 (ended April 3, 2026)

Clean up the Mini Boo page, Sorbetti (ended April 25, 2026)

Move level categories to use game-dependent terminology, Illuminoid (ended May 24, 2026)

Writing guidelines

Standardize the timezone used for internationally-synchronized release dates

As of publishing this proposal, it is about 2AM EST on March 20th, 2026, or 6AM UST on March 21st, 2026. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book has only just released in North America for 2 hours... But it has been out for several more hours in other parts of the world, namely Japan. And in some more western parts of North America, namely in Alaska, the game technically isn't even out! Late yesterday/earlier today, a bit of a conundrum happened on the pages for a few things featured in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, where their infoboxes were updated to use that game as their "latest appearance" despite the game not being out in neither EST nor UTC... but, it was available in Japan at that point in time.

The original proposal that has been used as a precedent for this sort of thing from 2008 does not specify a timezone, only stating to use the "latest released appearance", putting the emphasis on when the game was released rather than announced, but not when in terms of timezones. We've seen this cause conundrums before; discounting the case with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book that incited this proposal, it's happened recently with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Donkey Kong Bananza, with Mario Kart World, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder... Really, any substantially large or dense game will inevitably see at least one over-zealous editor adding these games to infoboxes a few hours too soon, and people feel the need to either debate whether or not they should be reverted, or try to revert them themselves, all over the same lack of a "when" in terms of the timezone.

In this era where more and more Mario games are getting synchronized international releases for most of their release countries, we think it's high time to finally codify a timezone for these. Or in other words, when a game is set to release internationally at the same time for its first release, what time zone should we use? We've got three options here:

• JST (GMT+9): Japan's time zone. If we took that original 2008 proposal literally, this is what we would be doing as a technical status quo, even if, in practice, this usually isn't what we do by a magnitude of literally 13 entire hours.
• UTC (GMT±0): The gold standard for wiki affairs. Proposals use it, signatures use it, edit histories use it (by default, anyways), UTC has been a growing time standard on the wiki.
• EST (GMT-4): This is the de-facto status quo right now. As an American English wiki, it makes sense that the wiki would, on occasion, use the earliest timezone in North America for dates like this.

Edit: Per request, we've added Hewer's suggestion of "whatever country the game first releases in". We kind of don't like this, as it's... Not really a timezone? But, it was requested, and someone else said they would've voted for it if it was there, so, sure.

It was tempting to include NZST (GMT+12) as that is the earliest time zone in a country that sees frequent support from Nintendo (sorry, Kiribati), but we feel like the actual practicality of this is dubious, so we decided to relent. If this is somehow an unpopular stance (beyond just "it'd be fun to put it on the proposal" reasons), we could be swayed to add it as an option.

Proposer: Camwoodstock (talk)
Deadline: June 4, 2026, 23:59 (UTC)

Use Whatever Country The Game First Releases In

1. Hewer (talk) As argued in the comments, this is the option that allows for the most consistency and accuracy. If a game has been released in any region, then it has been released, and not considering it as such would just be incorrect.
2. Sorbetti (talk) Per Hewer.
3. Jdtendo (talk) Per Hewer.
4. WACCA Lily R (talk) Same reasons I voted for JST, also per Hewer.
5. Arend (talk) Makes sense (for the record, this seems about using the timezone of whichever region gets it first; e.g. JST is used if Japan gets it first, CET or EET if Europe gets it first, EST if the USA gets it first. For worldwide releases, we just use JST or AEST, since Japan and Australia move on to a new day first or I guess NZST, forgot about New Zealand)
6. Dive Rocket Launcher (talk) This makes the most sense to me. I like using UTC as the basis for internal wiki matters, but that doesn't mean it needs to apply to the entire wiki with articles included. We already use completely different writing and formatting from content articles for our behind-the-scenes matters, so there's no need to try to keep these consistent with each other. And as Hewer said, if a game released in any region, then treating it as if it has not yet released in our articles, just because it hasn't rolled out in one specific time zone, would be objectively inaccurate.
7. LinkTheLefty (talk) It always bothers me when other wikis arbitrarily list Japan first, even when it doesn't make sense to, and then I have to do a double-take when I get my date info wrong. It happens often enough that I'd rather we standardize a flat-first across the board. Hopefully it'll catch on.
8. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) - Seems to be self-evidently the best option.
9. SuperGamer18 (talk) Honestly, this is just what makes the most sense out of everything discussed so far.
10. Camwoodstock (talk) We generally prefer the idea of parity with UTC, but this is at least a defensible deviation from UTC, favoring accuracy of "when the game literally releases globally" to "when the game releases to the day".
11. I... don't use U.T.C. (talk) Yeah, if a game releases in Japan two months before North America and FIVE before Europe... then yeah, this should be preferred. I actually brought something similar to this before and this should allow us to know if information is gained from a legitimate release copy or a broken street date.
12. EvieMaybe (talk) yeah sure
13. SeanWheeler (talk) If the earliest release date counts, the earliest time should too.

Use JST (technically the status quo)

#SeanWheeler (talk) If Japan-only games would count for latest appearances, I don't see why we'd have to wait when international worldwide releases would be Japan-exclusive for a couple hours. We covered games that came to Japan first and were scheduled with a different release date for America, right? If the "simultaneous" releases drops at each time zone at their respective midnight, I don't see how that's different.

#WACCA Lily R (talk) I think running with the earliest time here will just save any headaches with people who come along and change the template because it's out in another regions. No need for arguments or revert wars and telling people that they're technically wrong, the page just gets edited once because it's out in a region and is treated as such.

Use UTC

1. Illuminoid (talk) Since most things on the wiki use UTC time, it would seem really weird if this one thing did not.
2. Rykitu (talk) Per all.
3. EvieMaybe (talk) per Illuminoid.
4. LadySophie17 (talk) We've switched to UTC almost everywhere, makes no sense to stop now.
5. Nelsonic (talk) Per.
6. Yoshi18 (talk) If we use UTC, the game has released in at least half of the world and that this is arguably the best option. Also per Camwoodstock, Illuminoid and LadySophie17. I was about to give their exact reasoning as well.
7. WACCA Lily R (talk) I have nothing against UTC either, while less practical in my books, I love the sound of consistency.
8. Wilben (talk) Per all.
9. Lastro (talk) Per all.
10. PopitTart (talk) I certainly agree with the arguments that if a game is released, then it should count as being released, but I find the proposal option of "Use Whatever Country The Game First Releases In" unhelpfully vague. Is it even codifying anything if we don't have a concrete answer for what that is? Using UTC makes it extremely clear when articles should be edited. If the option were clarified to be "precisely midnight in New Zealand Standard Time, UTC+12" like Camwoodstock suggests in the proposal edit, or whatever else may actually determined to be the correct earliest release, then I'll change my vote.
11. FluffyGuardian70 (talk) Above all, this seems reasonable for the average wiki reader.

#Camwoodstock (talk) We've gone on record to be skeptical on UTC before, but as of recently, we've kind of changed our tune, especially after Porplemontage proved the transition from EST to UTC really wasn't that difficult to implement. UTC is late enough in the day for folks in North America that it doesn't really (even in Alaska, you'd only get it "early" insofar as we'd consider the game released at their 4PM), and above all else, UTC is consistent with so many other things on the wiki.

Comments (it's about time!) (...zones)

I'm confused. If a game has released in Japan (or any region), then it is a released game and should count for the "Latest appearance" in the infobox regardless of any other parts of the world, right? Not to mention that Japan-only games count for the latest appearance too (like in the months between the Japanese and international releases of Hello, Mario!). Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 16:21, May 21, 2026 (UTC)

The proposal already states that this applies to simultaneous worldwide releases only. If a Japanese release significantly predates the international one, then yes, we would go by it, but we can be a little patient and wait 9 hours for the release date to roll around in UTC. — eviemaybe (talk) 15:24, May 22, 2026 (UTC)

I don't understand the benefit of deliberately being inaccurate for those 9 hours. If a game has released, there's no reason for it to not count as a released game. I would support an option of "use whichever time zone has the earliest release". Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 18:55, May 22, 2026 (UTC)

UTC is arguably the best option here as well he game has released in at least half of the world by then and not just one country. If we're gonna look at it like it's inaccurate the moment we don't update the appearance tables when a game releases in Japan, then we might as well already change the appearance table when the game releases in New Zealand. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 09:53, May 23, 2026 (UTC)

I'm with Hewer on this one. If we already count Japan only games, and we don't even wait for a game to be released in America when it was released in Japan months prior, why should the time matter for these same day worldwide releases? If someone made an edit a couple minutes before it's time and the admins found it after it was time, there would be no point in reverting, so that rule would be difficult to enforce. SeanWheeler (talk) 21:28, May 23, 2026 (UTC)

As I said, I would support an option of "use whichever time zone has the earliest release", as anything else is just purposefully being inaccurate. So yes I do think it should be listed when it's out in New Zealand. Why shouldn't New Zealand count? Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 23:44, May 23, 2026 (UTC)

Because the game has been released in just one country. Only a handful of people can play it. In some countries it may even be a day (and 2 hours) before the release. The reason I think UTC is the best option is because the game has then released in at least half of the world, instead of solely one country. Also, the fact our wiki has been converting a lot to UTC lately. It would only make things more accurate. UTC is the standard timezone of the world. That one should count the most. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 08:45, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

As has already been discussed, games that aren't released worldwide (e.g. Japan-only games) do count, so being released in only one country doesn't (and shouldn't) disqualify a game from counting as released. Also, Japan has the world's 11th-largest population, so that's hardly "only a handful of people". Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 11:17, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Games that aren't released worldwide (mainly Japan-exclusive) can have an exception, since they're only released in one country anyway. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 13:27, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Why bother making an exception when you can just have a consistent rule that works in all cases? Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 14:31, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

UTC just feels like the perfect inbetween to me. It's not too late but also not too early. If we use UTC there would be at least a 12-13 hours between the earliest and the latest timezones. Also, we should ask ourselves the question: when was the last time there was a Japan-exclusive Mario related game. Besides, everything on the wiki uses UTC nowadays. Wouldn' Using a different timezone for game dates make sure his a bit inaccurate? Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 08:48, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

As I mentioned earlier, Hello, Mario! is a recent game that was Japan-exclusive for six months, but was still counted for latest appearances as soon as it was out in Japan. Other things on the wiki that use UTC frankly aren't relevant, those aren't really about actual mainspace content. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 11:23, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

Honestly, I gotta admit that that's fair point, but there’s still aren't that much games that are Japan-exclusive anymore. Also, the reason why I just don't see using the earliest timezone being a good idea and would rather be supporting UTC is because the whole wiki uses it right now. Just look at the signatures and proposal end times. Why would we be inaccurate by using another timezone for game release times? NZST just seems to far off for me. If we use that it still takes a total of 24-25 hours for the other side of the world to get the game. Contrary to UTC, which is pretty balanced. The game may have already been released for 13 hours in NZST, but it also takes 12 hours to release in the latest timezone (UTC-12). Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 07:09, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

Hey @Camwoodstock, just to correct you, the earliest timezone of a country that sees active support from Nintendo (New Zealand) is technically NZDT (GMT+13). And the earliest timezone in North America is technically EDT (GMT-4). Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 09:53, May 23, 2026 (UTC)

@SeanWheeler, could you explain your reasoning? Just wondering but what do Japan-exclusive games have to do with this? I mean, we can make exceptions for them since they’re only gonna be released in one country (Japan) anyway. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 08:45, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

@Camwoodstock I would like it if you added an option for "use whichever time zone has the earliest release", as I have been arguing in support of. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 11:21, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Shouldn't there then be a timezone for the latest release as well? As the game has then be released in the whole world and not just one country (New Zealand isn't that big of a country)? Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 13:27, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

What do you mean? Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 14:31, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Eh, it was just a thought for an option to only update the latest appearance table if the game has really released everywhere. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 08:55, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

I'd support Hewer's option too BTW. LinkTheLefty (talk) 14:05, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Is there any way for it to use the timezone set in the user's preferences? --Illuminoid (talk) 18:41, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

What would the benefit of that be? It would just be giving some users less up-to-date information than others. I think the wiki should, as much as is possible, use an objective viewpoint not tied to a particular region (i.e. a game is released if it has been released anywhere), and showing different information to different users depending on region goes against that. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 19:06, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Ignoring the fact that we don't even know if it's possible, to what end would that even be for? From UTC+12 to UTC-12, we replace the "latest appearance" parameter with some dynamically-updating template that cross-references your own user preferences to determine what timezone to use, and then after UTC-12, we just change the recent release to just... The game itself? ~Camwoodstock ( talk ☯ contribs ) 22:15, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

I like the sound of that idea, @Camwoodstock! This could potentially overrule the timezone argument. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 08:57, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

I don't understand why time zones are being considered part of the discussion at all. A point in time has either passed or is in the future, regardless of time zone. From my understanding, this proposal focuses on the qualification for media listed in the "latest appearance" field of infoboxes rather than how dates are written out in fields such as the "release date" field of game infoboxes. As a result, I don't think time zones should be considered in this proposal.

That being said, games have multiple release dates because Nintendo operates in multiple regions, and different policies are used in each region. In the United States, for example, the specific time of a given release date is midnight in the Eastern Time Zone across the entire country, as confirmed by a support article. These policies apply to Nintendo eShop launches in addition to in-person launches, as those who were part of the Nintendo Switch 2 launch can attest to. Since these different policies are documented and consistent, I don't see any reason to invent a time zone-based approach rather than simply considering a game launched when it first launches in any region. B700465189a9 (talk) 21:22, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

We mean, time zones are a factor because the original debacle that caused this (when to update pages to say Yoshi and the Mysterious Book was the most recent appearance) was rooted entirely on editors disagreeing which time zone to use for counting the game as "released". Some argued that it being out in Japan meant it was fine, some argued it should wait until it released in UTC, some argued it should wait for midnight EST. This is kind of just already mentioned in the lead of the proposal, though. ~Camwoodstock ( talk ☯ contribs ) 22:15, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

I was part of those discussions, though, and I never thought that bringing time zones into the equation made sense at all. Simply put, games don't release "in" time zones. Since you've clarified that this proposal would only affect "latest appearance" fields, I would prefer if the proposal summary was updated from "Standardize the timezone used for internationally-synchronized release dates." I'd also like to see more complete explanations of how an editor could determine whether a game would qualify as released under each option, since "Use Whatever Country The Game First Releases In" and "Use UTC" aren't clear. B700465189a9 (talk) 04:29, May 26, 2026 (UTC)

Games with a synchronised international release date will release at different times throughout the world depending on when the date arrives in each time zone. Under the "Use Whatever Country The Game First Releases In" option, the game is considered released as soon it has released in any region, while under the "Use UTC" option, the game is not considered released until its release date has arrived in UTC. What's unclear about this? Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 11:13, May 26, 2026 (UTC)

I have attempted to explain that "Games with a synchronised international release date will release at different times throughout the world depending on when the date arrives in each time zone" is not correct. Suppose that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book released in only two regions. For Nintendo's operations in the United States, suppose the game released at 2026-05-21 04:00 UTC. For Nintendo in Japan, suppose the game released at 2026-05-20 15:00 UTC. Assuming the current time is 2026-05-21 00:01 UTC, how do you determine whether the game is released under each option? B700465189a9 (talk) 14:53, May 26, 2026 (UTC)

I think the "Use UTC" option implicitly assumes that the game in question getting a "synchronised international release" is released in a region that uses UTC as its time zone, which it isn't in this hypothetical. So I'm not sure if this scenario would count as a "synchronised international release date" for the purpose of this proposal. If not, the default would presumably be "it's considered released if it has been released in any region" like how non-internationally released games are handled (so, in this scenario, it is considered released as it's already out in Japan). If it does count as a "synchronised international release date" then I don't know how the "Use UTC" option would work, but it would at least still be considered released under the "Use Whatever Country The Game First Releases In" option. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 15:17, May 26, 2026 (UTC)

I don't think that we have come any closer to defining a workable policy. If this proposal can't consistently apply to all games, then why define a policy at all? Suppose that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book released in a region that primarily uses UTC, the United Kingdom. Nintendo's equivalent support article explains that games release at 14:00 GMT. Since Yoshi in the Mysterious Book was released in a region that uses UTC, making the game have a "synchronised international release date" under your assumption, would you be able to determine whether the game is released? B700465189a9 (talk) 03:56, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

We're gonna be honest, we feel like this entire conversation has kind of been overthinking it. When we say a game with a "synchronised international release date" we're not like, trying to define backwards what a "synchronised international release date" counts as versus what is "just a game that releases at the same time in multiple, but not all, countries". You can very well simplify this to "anything that uses the world flag in its release date parameter on its own page" if you want, but like, for our purposes, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie released first on April 1st, because that's where it premiered for the majority of the world, and it was promoted as premiering for the majority of the world.
Furthermore, we feel like there's kind of been a growing misconception that people think this is about said Release Date field, when like... That was never our intention, we never brought it up in the proposal itself for a reason. This is exclusively for the purposes of updating the "Latest appearance" fields on various subject infoboxes, determining when something is "released" for the sake of updating that field.
And especially when the current option in the lead is the one that entirely forgoes this by straightforwardly saying "Just use the timezone of the first place it releases", implying we don't even need to care about the specific timezone at all and just need to ask, "okay, is it out in Japan, or some area even more eastward than it?", you don't even need to worry about the conundrum of "what about a country sitting along the lines of UTC, that is somehow de-synchronized from it?" at all. We're litigating an edge-case that doesn't even seem likely to be a case we need to care about unless this gets re-proposed. ~Camwoodstock ( talk ☯ contribs ) 04:15, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

This response doesn't really answer the questions raised in this conversation. The point is that it's unclear whether a game would be considered "released" in certain cases if the "Use UTC" option passed. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 11:23, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

If the "use UTC option" passed, it would be considered released that day at midnight (0:00) UTC. Nintendo might specify they only list it digitally at 14:00 GMT, but for the sake of saying the game has released, it's midnight. The current de-facto status quo is to assume midnight EST, each of these (sans the "just use whenever the game first releases globally") option assume midnight, because there's been really no reason to assume it's not midnight outside of "how Nintendo handles digital releases in Europe", which... Again, wasn't really a thought in our mind, considering we only just learned about this "14:00 GMT" edge-case seven colons deep. ~Camwoodstock ( talk ☯ contribs ) 15:55, May 27, 2026 (UTC)

I'd like to understand whether this proposal applies only to games or to release dates for any kind of media. It has long annoyed me that Nintendo Music soundtracks are listed as having released on the American dates and not that of both Japan and UTC (which I believe have aligned universally aside from the service's launch), especially in cases where the date is relevant to what is being added such as upon a game's release. Polley001 (talk) 21:34, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

That feels a bit out-of-scope for what we're trying to do here. This is very specifically about when to count a game as "released" for the sake of the "latest appearance" parameter, not "should we list any date fluctuations caused by a unified global release in the release date parameter". ~Camwoodstock ( talk ☯ contribs ) 22:15, May 25, 2026 (UTC)

Fair enough I suppose, seems rather contradictory though if "latest appearance" relies on one timezone while "release date" relies on another. Especially if UTC wins out since that'd just make release dates focusing on Eastern Time even more bizarre. Polley001 (talk) 06:18, May 26, 2026 (UTC)

I'd rather see a more thorough proposal to handle defining how dates are written. The dates we use vary in precision, and I would want to take care of every case across the wiki. B700465189a9 (talk) 14:53, May 26, 2026 (UTC)

@PopitTart: The point of the first option is to not specify one consistent time zone for every case and to instead consider a game released if it has released anywhere. In most cases that does probably mean New Zealand, but specifying that as the explicit thing the option is for feels like it's asking for some edge case to come up that doesn't quite work with that (e.g. a game released in multiple regions but not New Zealand). Even if that's unlikely, it makes the most sense to have a rule that can cover any potential cases that might arise without needing to go back and fix it later. Better safe than sorry. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 09:35, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

Honestly, the prospect of having to sus out whether a game is actually releasing in New Zealand every time one comes out is significantly less appealing to me than just letting the Latest Apperance parameter possibly be inaccurate for a couple of hours. The point of this proposal is to prevent edit wars in that single-day window of time over whether or not a game is out, and I'd rather have something concrete and simple to enforce.--PopitTart (talk) 11:27, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

To my knowledge, pretty much all games that Nintendo releases worldwide come out in New Zealand (and whether they do or not is technically already something we need to determine anyway, so we can list it as a region in the game infobox). Anyway, my stance is that, if someone can attest that a game has already released in a certain region, it would be silly to revert their edits to the infoboxes and tell them they need to wait for UTC. Obviously it's not the end of the world for a page to be out of date for a few hours (many are out of date for much longer), but it's also not something we should deliberately enforce. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 13:43, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

Shouldn't we technically, by your standpoint, then use NZST for everything though? Just wondering. I guess I'm all in for your option as long as we at least keep things consistent (as I'm also all in for consistency). I feel like using NZST solely for game times and letting everything else on the wiki use UTC would be more inconsistent than using UTC for game times even though the game has already came out 13 hours ago in New Zealand. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 14:30, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

There's no reason to worry about "consistency" here. I genuinely don't understand why you think the matter of when to update latest appearances in infoboxes is related at all to stuff like proposal deadlines or signature timestamps on talk pages (which I assume you're referring to by "everything else on the wiki"). Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 15:09, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

Aren't game dates (and to an extend infoboxes) somewhat related to the wiki and most other things we do on it? Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 17:14, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

Not in the way you've been suggesting. Using UTC for timestamps on talk page comments doesn't somehow prevent us from saying a game has been released after it's been released. There's no connection between the two. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 18:47, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

That may be true, yeah, and while using the earliest timezone could be a consistent thing to do, I do agree with others that it could still very greatly between NZST (UTC+13) and later timezones. Yoshi18 (talk/contribs) 22:39, May 28, 2026 (UTC)

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