Talk:Purple Coin Ball

Necessary?

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This is a conjecturally named alternative to Star Ball. As pointed out in a revision, Star Ball's Japanese name is "tamakoro," which offhand I'm pretty sure just means "rolling ball." There doesn't really seem to be any point keeping this split. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 12:06, February 17, 2024 (EST)

They do have slightly different functions, but even that's comparable to differently colored variations of certain enemies. I'd be fine with a merge. ^(T|C) 12:25, February 17, 2024 (EST)

I may be the one who reverted when it was turned to a redirect (the reason being because it should have a consensus first), but actually I would agree with merging. Nightwicked Bowser 12:44, February 17, 2024 (EST)

It's a variant of an entity with a clear distinction of appearance and function (or at least how to break the thing is different). It's like green shell vs red shell in galaxy for instance, or green star vs power star. I think it should get its own page. It's me, Mario! (Talk / Stalk) 13:00, February 17, 2024 (EST)

Breaking it is the same? You just get it to the hole. The only difference is what comes out. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 13:10, February 17, 2024 (EST)

Apologies for not raising a proposal first, I did not think this would be controversial because the article is small, rarely touched, rarely mentioned across the wiki, and the name is conjectural. My impression is that the object (Star Ball) as understood in Japanese is not tied to what it contains. It is called Tamakoro in both Galaxy games, which basically just means "rolling ball" and has nothing to do with Power Stars or Purple Coins. It is conceptually tied to its mechanical rolling function, which is the same between the variants. The impression I have is that a meaningful difference was projected onto this purple variant just because the object at large are called Star Balls in the English localization of SMG2, and that was confusing for a ball that holds a Purple Coin. It was not for any attestable reasons. - Nintendo101 (talk) 13:36, February 17, 2024 (EST)

I misread and misremembered. Yeah the method of breaking is the same so we're left with appearance of the container. I still think it's better off split for holding a purple coin, looking noticeably different, and my dislike for redirecting something like this under "Star Ball". It's me, Mario! (Talk / Stalk) 13:28, February 18, 2024 (EST)

Merge Purple Coin Ball with Star Ball

This talk page section contains an unresolved talk page proposal. Please try to help and resolve the issue by voting or leaving a comment.

Current time: Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 17:31 GMT

As a Japanese franchise, how terms are applied to Super Mario subjects in their home country are not always the same as how they are understood by Western fans or even the official localizers at Nintendo of America, making taxonomic separation of subjects not always intuitive. In this specific case, the concept of a "Purple Coin Ball" as a distinct object from the Star Ball is a western misperception.

In Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, the rideable sphere localized into English as the "Star Ball" is known as タマコロ (Tamakoro) in Japan, a word that roughly means "rolling ball". This is apparent in the 2015 Japanese release of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia, which was a more careful collaboration between Nintendo Co., Ltd. and Shogakukan than the western localization was with Dark Horse Comics, so there is little reason to question the validity of this name. (A directory with object names and page numbers is available here.) Additionally, Tamakoro is used in the Japanese instruction booklets for SMG (on page 23) and SMG2 (on page 26), so if there was any doubt, so this name was in use at the time of each games' release. This is important to mention because the name Tamakoro is not tied at all to the contents of the sphere. It only reflects its function within the Galaxy titles. So to keep these articles split from one another based on having different contents (e.g. a Purple Coin instead of a Power Star) is not at all inline with what the object is truly suppose to be understood as. So do they work differently at least? No. Both the normal yellowish Star Ball and this purple variant are mechanically identical. The player controls them the same way. They crack open the same way. They feel the same. To keep them separate from each other is not attestable.

One may feel differently if Nintendo of America or their partners at Prima Games treated the "Purple Coin Ball" as separate from the Star Ball, but they do not. As pointed out in 2022 by RHG1951, this name only came to be on Super Mario Wiki. It is not in the game's localized text, in the English instruction booklet, or in the Prima Game Guide for SMG2. The only impression one could make is that any meaningful difference was projected onto this purple variant just because the default yellowish one is called the Star Ball in the English localization of SMG2, and that was confusing for a ball that holds a Purple Coin. While understandable, that was a misread. They are the same object (if not, at least "flavors" of the same object).

I offer two options:

1. Merge Purple Coin Ball with Star Ball.
2. Keep them separate.

Proposer: Nintendo101 (talk)
Deadline: March 28th, 2024, 23:59 GMT

Merge Purple Coin Ball with Star Ball

1. Nintendo101 (talk) Per proposal.