SmashWiki:Trivia

This page documents an official SmashWiki policy, a widely accepted standard that all users should follow. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. If in doubt, consider discussing changes on the talk page.

“	It sure is hard to figure out exactly what constitutes trivia, isn’t it?	”
—Masahiro Sakurai [1], Smash Bros. DOJO!!

Trivia sections are to be used for miscellaneous facts that don't fit in anywhere else in a mainspace article, but are still sufficiently noteworthy to merit mention. SmashWiki allows trivia sections, but it seems that users have a tendency to throw random facts into a trivia section instead of placing them in a more appropriate place within the bulk of the article, or tend to fill a trivia section with whatever observation pops into their mind. The main goal of this policy is to explain when it is appropriate for a fact to be in a trivia section, as well as to improve the existing trivia sections over the whole of the wiki.

Primary guideline

Trivia should only go under a trivia section if it doesn't belong in any other category of data within the article.

What makes a good piece of trivia

• Noteworthiness. Saying something unusual about a character model? A unique fact about a character's move? Add it.
• Truth. All trivia must be verified.
• Detail. Make sure the piece of trivia is fully explained and not left unclear.
• As explained previously, facts that can be part of the body of the article should be a part of it -- not in the trivia section.

What makes a bad piece of trivia - with examples

• Ambiguity. "The Ice Climbers' ice move can KO on occasion." Which ice move? Ice Shot? Blizzard? And what occasion? These need explaining, or else the line should be removed.
• Complexity. "Roy is the only playable character who debuted in the Super Smash Bros. series worldwide, debuting in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Outside Japan, though, he shares this distinction with Marth and Corrin, who had their first games released overseas in 2009 and 2016 respectively, plus Lucas, who never had his game released outside Japan." Adding qualifiers to trivia points or adding sub-notes in brackets will only serve to dilute what constitutes notable trivia. Trivia needs to be detailed, but it also needs to be simple and easy to understand. If exceptions have to be listed, the trivia is probably not worth adding anyway.
  • In the same vein, if extreme or excessive qualifiers have to be listed to validate the trivia, such as, "Bayonetta is the only female 3rd party DLC character," this will also result in bloating trivia sections with complexity, even if the trivia entry isn't excessively long. Ultimately, one could make "trivia" that's unique to a single character about anything if enough qualifiers are used; if you are using more than one qualifier when adding a new trivia point, seriously reconsider how interesting your "trivia" actually is.
• Irrelevance. "Despite moving like a human, Fox has a tail!" and the like should always be removed.
• Obvious. "Bowser has a hard head, which he uses for some moves." Anything that can be deduced from simple observation is interesting to no one, and will only serve to inflate a trivia section.
• Opinion. "Falcon Punch is the most epic move ever." Your opinion can be whatever you want it to be, but it doesn't belong in the mainspace of this wiki.
• Overabundance. "Mario is one of only eight characters who must be unlocked in Final Destination in World of Light, the others being Bowser (Giga Bowser in World of Light), Sheik, Marth, Snake, Villager, Mii Brawler and Mii Swordfighter." Common trivia for many characters, stages, universes, etc. is that they have a unique detail in which most others don't have the distinction. If the distinction is shared with too many of the like, then it removes the whole point of the trivia being notable. As the amount of fighters, stages, etc. can vary from game to game, typically if more than 10% share the trait, then it's no longer unique.
• Speculative. "Donkey Kong's white costume may be a reference to some minor side character no one remembers in his short lived TV series." If it "might be" or "possibly is", it doesn't belong. SmashWiki is not speculative.
• Falsehoods. "Sonic can be unlocked in Melee; it just hasn't been done yet." Straightforward; if it's not true, take it down.
• Volatility. "Masahiro Sakurai confirmed Skull Kid as an Assist Trophy; this means The Legend of Zelda is the only universe along with Mario to have more than one assist trophy." Information that is based on incomplete information (such as information from an unreleased game) and is likely to change or be rendered non-notable in the near future should not be added as trivia. Trivia based on other temporary information that is subject to change should also not be added.
• Repetition. Check to make sure your fact isn't already somewhere in the article before adding it.
• Uninteresting. "Donkey Kong has the seventh strongest forward smash in Brawl." Even if a piece of trivia doesn't fall under any of the above, it still shouldn't be added if it's just plain uninteresting. While it is subjective what constitutes as "uninteresting", as a general rule of thumb, avoid adding any observations of the banal, stating some minor fact that's not at all unique to the fact's subject, or stating something that isn't at all extraordinary (such as the example used here).

Other guidelines

• Trivia must be on the right page. For instance, a minor glitch involving Aether belongs on Aether and not on Ike (SSBB) or Ike.
• If a trivia section is overly long and you would like other members of the community to help trim it, tag the section with {{trivia}}:

This trivia section is excessively long. Relevant facts should be integrated into the body of the article and unnecessary ones should be removed. You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.