User:Niiue/thoughts
Parabuzzies are Para-Beetles with a retranslated name and applied RPG physics
Para-Beetles are winged Buzzy Beetles appearing only in platformers, and Parabuzzies are winged Buzzy Beetles appearing only in RPGs. The primary difference between them is that the latter has legs, making it a simple "winged Buzzy Beetle", while the former doesn't, supposedly making it a seperate species.
Concerns:
"Parabuzzies have legs, Para-Beetles don't."
Most likely, the reason for Para-Beetles not having legs is because of sprite limitations during the NES era (as legs would not fit on the sprite in the first place). As for Para-Beetles not having legs in later games, that's probably because they wanted to use a familiar design, not to mention that Para-Beetles don't need legs, as they don't lose their wings when jumped on. That brings me to my next point...
"Parabuzzies lose their wings when jumped on, Para-Beetles don't."
Parabuzzies most likely only lose their wings when jumped on for consistency, as other "winged X" enemies in the Paper Mario series (such as Paragoombas or Paratroopas) do. This is also why they have legs, as it would be odd if they suddenly grew legs when jumped on.
"They could've made them act like platforms on the overworld."
The Paper Mario series has the tendency to redesign enemies a bit to fit the genre more, even if this means making enemies killable in ways they normally aren't.
"Parabuzzies actually attack, Para-Beetles are harmless."
Para-Beetles do contact damage, which is pretty standard for platformers. As for going from only doing contact damage to having an actual attack, that happens all the time in RPGs.
"Para-Beetles have red shells unlike normal Buzzy Beetles, while Para-Beetles have "normal" shells."
Spike Tops also have red shells in the platformers they appear in, but in the second and third Paper Mario games, they have blue shells like every other Buzzy Beetle. Red Spike Tops are even a seperate species in TTYD (and, judging by unused assets, Red Buzzy Beetles, Red Parabuzzies, and Red Spiky Parabuzzies were going to be as well).
"They have different names."
Only in English. They have the same name in literally every other language. And while I'm not going to ignore that people make mistakes, when English is the odd one out (like with TTYD's "Piranha Plant"), it starts to look more like NOA made the mistake, as opposed to everyone else.
"What is 'RPG physics' even supposed to mean?"
It basically refers to recurring enemies acting differently in RPGs than they normally do in platformers, due to the differing battle systems. One of the more common examples of this is Bill Blasters being treated as enemies instead of part of the scenery, or Lava Bubbles floating instead of jumping out of lava.
"Platformer-style Para-Beetles make a cameo on a fountain in TTYD."
Platformer-style Lava Bubbles appear in the Bowser segments in that game, as do normally-sized non-boss Bloopers. There's a difference between two species coexisting in the same game and a different design of a species appearing as a callback.
"If we're using the Japanese name as proof, should we merge Kamek and Magikoopa?"
Faulty argument, comparable to saying "If we're using the English name as proof, should we merge Yoshi (character) and [[Yoshi (species}]]?".
"Super Mario Maker has Parabuzzies, and it's a platformer."
They've never been officially named. The only reason they're being considered Parabuzzies and not Para-Beetles is because they're "Buzzy Beetles + wings", and they keep their legs (at least in Super Mario World's visual style), making them Parabuzzies by the logic keeping them split in the first place. And a recent video showed, these "Parabuzzies" act like Para-Beetles, proving the existence and application of "RPG physics", and most likely proving Para-Beetles and Parabuzzies the same thing in different games.
"Those are just Buzzy Beetles with wings, they're never named."
It's pretty obvious what they're supposed to be. We're not going to consider Paragoombas in that game "Goombas + wings" or something, as there's already a clear equivalent. In this case, there's already a visual equivalent, and a behavioral equivalent.
Final thoughts:
Parabuzzies are most likely just renamed Para-Beetles in an RPG setting, similar to Podoboos/Lava Bubbles, and Super Mario Maker confirms this.
