Talk:Capsule

There is also a weapon that only Dr. Mario can use, the capsule, from the Dr. Mario series, which does not contain anything, but bounces along the ground for a certain period of time, until it hits something.

Are you talking about Megavitamins? - Cobold (talk · contribs) 12:18, 10 June 2007 (EDT)

Orbs

Capsule is the old name used in Mario Party 5. In Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7, they were called Orbs. The information about Mario Party Capsules in this article should be moved to Orb, the newer and more often used name. - Cobold (talk · contribs) 14:45, 30 October 2007 (EDT)

Brawl

What prrof is there of them being in brawl.
— The preceding unsigned comment was added by YoshiFan (talk).

Move?

Shouldn't this be moved to capsule, as that's the most recent name used in Dr. Mario World? Ray Trace^(T|C) 00:14, May 5, 2020 (EDT)

Maybe, I don’t know. OhoJeeOnFire (talk)

The use of the term Megavitamins in the Dr. Mario series (or lack thereof)

When I was investigating the Dr. Mario games, I came to a realisation that this term is hardly used at all. Here is what I have discovered, based on the games:

• Dr. Mario: The term vitamin is preferred, which is in fact mentioned in the manual. Source
• Tetris & Dr. Mario: The booklet mentioned "capsule" as the preferred term. Source
• Dr. Mario 64: In the tutorials and manuals, both "vitamin" and "capsule" are used to describe the gameplay pieces, the former more so. However! The only time "Megavitamin" is used is in Story Mode. Source
• Dr. Mario Online Rx: The term "vitamin" is used in the game's description, while "capsule" is used for the manual. Source
• Dr. Mario Express: I have not checked this game yet, but I won't be surprised if the game didn't mention "Megavitamin" in any capacity.
• Dr. Luigi: Again, the term "capsule" is preferred Source
• Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure: Much like the last instance, the term "capsule" is preferred Source
• Dr. Mario World: Capsules is widely used within the game itself, especially the tutorials.

The only games that used the term Megavitamin for the capsules is the Super Smash Bros. series, which is what Dr. Mario's Neutral B special is called. It appears to be exclusively used with that series. As I mentioned, only Dr. Mario 64 used this term, and even then, irregularly. So basically, what I am saying is that it's not fully accurate to call the capsules "Megavitamins" even though Super Smash Bros. used it regularly. Winstein (talk) 22:24, February 6, 2022 (EST)

Change the term for the pieces in the Dr. Mario series so that the primary term is "capsule"

This talk page proposal has already been settled. Please do not edit any of the sections in the proposal. If you wish to discuss the article, do so in a new header below the proposal.

move to capsule 7-0-0
As a preface, my current objective on the wiki is to add as much Dr. Mario information as I possibly can, preferably as accurately as possible. While I am doing this, I felt that something was not right, and as you can guess based on what article this is on, it's the use of "Megavitamins".

In many of the articles I have gleaned, this is the term that is used to described the capsules, and it felt like a mouthful. If this is the proper term, I can understand, but in many of the Dr. Mario games I played, I never really see this word being used. The term is, I felt, grandiose for such a simple object as a capsule, so I decided to read up on the manuals, booklets, or guides online to see how the capsules are described. This is what I discovered:

• Dr. Mario: The term "vitamin" is preferred, which is in fact mentioned in the manual. Source
• Tetris & Dr. Mario: The full term for the capsules is "vitamin capsule", though they're referred as "capsule" for shorthand. Source
• Dr. Mario 64: Much like the previous game, the full term is "vitamin capsule", but unlike it, "vitamin" is the preferred term, at least in the booklet. I think "capsule" was used sometimes in the game, but I don't remember. However! The only time "Megavitamin" is used is in Story Mode, referring to the contents in Dr. Mario's bottle. Source
• Dr. Mario & Puzzle League: The booklet for this game clearly mentioned "vitamins" as the preferred term. Source
• Dr. Mario Online Rx: The term "vitamin" is used in the game's description, while "capsule" is used for the manual, so basically, "capsule" is the preferred term. Source
• Dr. Mario Express: The in-game guide for this game refers to the capsules simply as "capsules", so there's no ambiguity here.
• Dr. Luigi: Again, the term "capsule" is preferred Source
• Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure: Much like the last instance, the term "capsule" is preferred. Source
• Dr. Mario World: "Capsule" is widely used within the game itself.

As we can see from every Dr. Mario game, not counting the one in Nintendo Puzzle Collection (because it's not in English; plus, it's a port of Dr. Mario 64), the older games prefer the term "vitamin" while the newer games prefer the term "capsule", and the use of this term is consistent from then on.

So this brings us back to the Megavitamin article. Through looking at the first edit of this article, I have discovered something interesting: it was originally describing the Super Smash Bros. move for Dr. Mario (the fighter), as his neutral-B move is named as such. I didn't read up on every edit, but you can guess that the subject of this article mutated into also describing the capsule in the games, when the games never referred to the capsules as "Megavitamins". We can say that the misuse of the term has spread, because parts of the wiki even used "Megavitamins", even in the first Dr. Mario where the term didn't exist within the context of the Dr. Mario series. It would not surprise me if the localisation refers to the Super Mario Wiki as a source and made that mistake too. As mentioned, only in Dr. Mario 64 is this term found, and even then, said Megavitamins are never shown as capsules, but they are shown as stars. We can infer that the localisation have made a blunder in this case.

This brings us to the voting part, and I have devised a few directions that we could go with this.

• Redesignate: Basically, the title of this article will be changed to reflect the accurate wording "capsule", while "Megavitamin" is delegated to only being mentioned as how Super Smash Bros. called it.
• Split: Essentially, the article will be split so that (1) the capsules in Dr. Mario series gets its own article, (2) Dr. Mario's special move gets its own article, and (3) The Megavitamin in Dr. Mario 64 gets its own article. (The nature of the split can be refined later)
• Retain: Obviously, choosing this means adhering to the status quo.

Thank you for reading.

Proposer: winstein (talk)
Deadline: February 23, 2022, 23:59 GMT

Redesignate

1. LadySophie17 (talk) I vote to rename the page to Capsule if that's the most commonly used name.
2. Seandwalsh (talk) Per LadySophie17. It seems to me that "Capsule" (be it generic) is the current name. "Megavitamin" and "vitamin" should become redirects to here.
3. Power Flotzo (talk) Per Lady Sophie.
4. Ray Trace (talk) Per all.
5. winstein (talk) Now that I think about it, it is a better idea to simplify the change by changing the title of the article into Capsules, even for the Smash Bros. instance. I am changing my vote.
6. TheFlameChomp (talk) Per all.
7. RHG1951 (talk) Per all, though I am open to the idea of splitting the Dr. Mario 64 Megavitamins from the regular capsules.

Split

1. winstein (talk) I am in favour of a split to better delineate the different subjects, especially since the Megavitamin in Dr. Mario 64 is not shown to be capsules. Plus, I got the idea to return to the roots of Megavitamin to be about the Smash Bros. move because there are separate articles on Smash Bros. moves like the Peach Bomber and the Flying Slam.

Comments

winstein, you mentioned the Megavitamin in Dr. Mario 64 are not capsules, and that it refers to the contents of Dr. Mario's bottle. But what would that be if not the capsules themselves? LadySophie17 (talk) 15:45, February 8, 2022 (EST)

Also, I've looked into Dr. Mario 64's manual and the term Megavitamin is used there as well. LadySophie17 (talk) 16:04, February 8, 2022 (EST)

These are how the Megavitamins are portrayed in the game. Now, it could very well be capsules that we cannot see clearly, but I did not get the impression that they are the same brand of capsules you see in the gameplay. In some ways, it is portrayed as a miracle cure and even has transformative properties (the reason for the two unlockable characters), with no obvious relation to the future title Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure.

Your mention regarding the Dr. Mario 64 manual is what I meant when I said that the term "Megavitamins" is only used for Dr. Mario 64's story mode. Did you notice how within the entire booklet, this is the only segment where it's used? In every other part of the menu, such as the Controls section, it's not used. In the Japanese version of this game, what is called Megavitamin is completely different from what the actual capsules are called. Basically, the capsules you control is called "カプセル‎", whereas the story mode's Megavitamins are generally referred to as "くすり", which from what I can tell, is medicine. At times, it is referred to as "まほうのくすり", which according to translation is "magic medicine". Point is, the ordinary capsule has never been called Megavitamins. I don't know if Dr. Mario 64 is available in other languages other than English since it was released in the US only, and then in Japanese later, but if that is not the case, then the term "Megavitamin" is akin to debuting in Super Smash Bros. Melee for other languages, similar to how Marth and Roy were the first time non-Japanese audiences were familiar with the characters. Winstein (talk) 06:39, February 9, 2022 (EST)

I noticed that, even in Super Smash Bros., they are more recently using the correct term. In the screenshot here, you can see that Dr. Mario's neutral special move is called the "Capsule" instead of "Megavitamins" like in previous entries. This is a point in favour of renaming this article. In that case, the only thing that warrants a separate article is the Megavitamins in Dr. Mario 64. Winstein (talk) 09:40, February 11, 2022 (EST)

Follow-up on Smash Ultimate

The only thing that remained as Megavitamins in Smash Ultimate is the name of the move. Every other mention of the capsule is not using "Megavitamin" at all.Winstein (talk) 02:26, February 26, 2022 (EST)

Split half-capsule and rainbow capsule?

Half-capsules are well... half a capsule. Considering their gameplay significance in World. (There's a video tutorial and two whole doctors who have skills about the half capsule), it might be fair to make that a separate article covering the tricks and tips, and skills to half-capsules. Rainbow capsule is a little less justifiable, but I think mildly qualifies as "special variant of existing item" which also had skills tied directly to using them. Salmancer (talk) 19:52, November 2, 2024 (EDT)

Not sure if that's necessary since they're a variation of a capsule, and they do fit fine here. If we skip those capsules, we also should split the L-capsules as well which are just as significant in gameplay differences as well. Ray Trace^(T|C) 20:03, November 2, 2024 (EDT)

agreed on the latter. Including L-capsules in the split list. Salmancer (talk) 20:23, November 2, 2024 (EDT)