Talk:Fiery Dino Piranha (boss)

Merge to Dino Piranha or move to Dino Piranha (Black)

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Current time: Saturday, November 23, 2024, 04:52 GMT

So from what I can gather, the "Fiery Dino Piranha" in the mission title wasn't actually intended to be a proper name for this boss; think "fiery Dino Piranha" rather than "Fiery Dino Piranha," so more "Dino Piranha except this time it's fiery" - this is backed up by the stage title's name in other languages, not to mention the creature's own. The PRIMA guide calling it "the Fiery Dino Piranha" is simply yet another example of them taking in-game text to its literal extreme.

So, about this black, fiery Dino Piranha: as can be seen on [noclip.website], it shares its model with its Good Egg counterpart. All visual differences, from its colors to its petals, are a simple texture swap. The same goes for the two versions of King Kaliente in the same game. In fact, the two versions of each boss are differentiated in modern sources such as Mario Portal (which, unlike the PRIMA guide, was written first-party by Nintendo themselves) in the exact same manner - with the stronger, later one simply having a (Black) identifier.

Another important thing to note is that the purple Dino Piranha was given the black one's fiery abilities in one of the Mario & Sonic games, and that in the near-comprehensive (and completely comprehensive as far as the SMG games are concerned) list of Piranha Plants in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lists Dino Piranha and Peewee Piranha but not a differentiated black/fiery version indicates that as far as the official word is concerned, these are interchangeable, with one just being harder.

Merging these will not only be consistent with the King Kalientes, but also the Hisstocrats, which were merged a while back as well for similar reasons. Regardless, I have included an option to move it to its Mario Portal name if people still want it split. If it is merged, the level name should be given the priority, so the history would probably be moved to a "boss" identifier redirect.

Proposer: Doc von Schmeltwick (talk)
Deadline: November 29, 2023, 23:59 GMT

Merge to Dino Piranha

1. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) - Per-hana'ing Inferno
2. MarioComix (talk) - It seems crazy to make a change like this after 16 years, but it all makes sense. I suppose "Fiery Dino Piranha" would be mentioned as what it's been alternatively called (in the Trading Cards). Though I'm now curious where its French and Italian names come from, as they don't seem to come from the mission name.
3. DesaMatt (talk) - Per proposal. I don't think information from unofficial game guides should ever take priority if there's any kind of official first-party information on the matter.

Keep it as-is

1. Camwoodstock (talk) So, uh, about "Firey Dino Piranha is not its intended name, and it's just an adjective in every context"... While it's dubious as to how authentic it is since it comes from part of the game's marketing, in the Super Mario Galaxy Trading Cards, they have a card for Fiery Dino Piranha. And on their card, they very plainly list the name as being "Fiery Dino Piranha", capital letters for all 3 words and all. It'd be one thing for a few errant guidebooks to get a name wrong, but officially licensed merchandise making the exact same mistake is... Improbable, to say the least. From there, the most we can think you can argue is that Viridi didn't mention them in her infamous guidance conversation in Smash Ultimate where she lists (almost) every Piranha Plant, but also she does say she hasn't even mentioned minor variations--probably to cover in the case Nintendo forgot any of them in her infodump, like what seems to have happened here.
2. MegaBowser64 (talk) Per.
3. PrincessPeachFan (talk) Yeah, these things are two different things. Dino Piranha gaining the ability to spit fireballs is so that it can do SOMETHING against four characters spinning into it.

Comments

@CamwoodStock Indeed, "minor variations" refers to things like non-speciated color variations, such as the green and red Piranhas in the Lost Levels and SMB3, or the Pale Piranhas, or these. Not to distinct species. Also, those cards also called Kingfin "the Bonefin," which is a known PRIMA mistake, so it's highly probable that the cards were made using the guide as a reference. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 00:43, November 15, 2023 (EST)

I would like to point out that PRIMA taking in-game text to its literal extreme isn't the only example. For instance, every strategy guide (such as Nintendo's) for Donkey Kong 64 calls Gnawties "Beavers" simply because that's what they're called in the game. Likewise, the online guides for Super Mario 64 call Klepto "Big Bird" and the Whomp King "Giant Whomp", so it's not like PRIMA has been doing this and even Nintendo's own strategy guides and websites have different names. PrincessPeachFan (talk) 08:58, November 15, 2023 (EST)