Pikipedia talk:General content guidelines

Family name capitalization

Currently, family names are written in lowercase on the wiki. However, as of Pikmin 4, family names are consistently capitalized in game, even in text otherwise taken from previous games, so it would make sense for the wiki to follow suit, right? 2 B (talk) 18:43, January 5, 2024 (EST)

In this case I think it'd be best to follow what real-world taxonomy does. From a quick look at Wikipedia it seems that common informal family names are written in lowercase, while formal family names are capitalized, but all the family names in Pikmin seem to be of the informal variety. So I think considering this inconsistency between games, it's better to keep doing what we currently do because it better matches real-world taxonomy. — Soprano_(talk) 03:37, January 14, 2024 (EST)

Here's a quote from you on the Wollyhop Family talk page: “We need to document what is in the games, not what should be in the games.”. The whiskerpillar family exists, in Pikmin 2, but not the Whiskerpillar family. The Polyocular Slug family exists, in Pikmin 4, but not the Polyocular slug family. Mama09001 (talk) 14:19, January 2, 2025 (EST)

The wiki should use names from the games, but I don't think the wiki always has to match the in-game capitalization of those names. The wiki is an encyclopedia covering multiple games, and different games can capitalize similar things differently. Obstacles are an example of this, with Pikmin 3 capitalizing obstacle names in lock-on text and Pikmin 4 not capitalizing them in dialog. In a situation like this, it's often better for the wiki to use consistent formatting for all the games, even when it doesn't match some in-game formatting, because it makes the wiki look more consistent, and the difference is not especially significant. When it is possible to match in-game formatting without resulting in too much inconsistency on the wiki, it's a good idea – it's becoming common to write "bomb-rock" when discussing Pikmin and Pikmin 2 and write "Bomb Rock" when discussing Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 4, for example, though the difference in this case is slightly more significant than a capitalization difference. But I think that when it's possible for a type of name to use consistent formatting, it's a good idea to do this. — Soprano_(talk) 10:42, May 14, 2026 (UTC)

Personally I feel like capitalized is the way to go. Its weird to stick with real grammar for families while capitalizing species, especially when some of them share names directly; Goolix in the goolix family, Candypop Bud in the candypop family, Ravenous Whiskerpillar in the whiskerpillar family. And it seems Nintendo agrees as of Pikmin 4. --PopitTart (talk) 17:55, October 25, 2024 (EDT)

I second PopitTart -Gulliblepikmin 15:22, May 14, 2026 (UTC)

A related topic: should enemy-related terms that are not the names of enemies be capitalized? Olimar's notes in Pikmin 2 don't capitalize terms like "bulborb" and "bloyster", so based on this, the wiki sometimes doesn't capitalize these terms either when they're not part of enemy names, though it's more common for these terms to be capitalized. This use of these terms looks inconsistent with enemy names, which are always capitalized, so should these terms always be capitalized? — Soprano_(talk) 10:42, May 14, 2026 (UTC)

That's more of a quirk of Pikmin 2's script. Apart from the Pikmin and their Onions, it just doesn't capitalise any proper nouns associated with the game's creatures, outside of the name displayed above the Piklopedia's viewing window, the intro of Olimar's Piklopedia logs, and a few scattered instances in the Treasure Hoard which were changed to full lowercase in the Switch version for consistency. That is to say, I do think enemy-related terms should be capitalised. -Gulliblepikmin 15:22, May 14, 2026 (UTC)

Pikmin (game)

One of the guidelines is to call the original game Pikmin. What about the switch rerelease literally titled Pikmin 1? Blowhog Time (talk) 17:02, June 29, 2026 (UTC)

This guideline hasn't been updated since the release of Pikmin 1+2. In general, Pikipedia's policies and guidelines haven't been updated much since the release of Pikmin 1+2 and Pikmin 4, which is a problem that will need to be fixed over time. In this case, using "Pikmin 1" is the correct thing to do when referring specifically to the Nintendo Switch port, but when referring to the game in general, "Pikmin" should always be used. — Soprano_(talk) 07:40, July 2, 2026 (UTC)

Item name capitalization

On a related topic to capitalizing family names, I propose that item names should be consistently capitalized on the wiki. By "item", I'm referring to consumable items that the player can use during gameplay, including sprays, explosive items, and items in 2-player competitive modes. The pack in Pikmin 4 mostly contains items. Pikmin 4 capitalizes item names consistently, and as a result, items introduced in this game have their names capitalized on the wiki, while earlier games mostly don't capitalize item names outside of titles, and as a result, items introduced in earlier games usually don't have their names capitalized on the wiki. I think consistently capitalizing item names would be a fine thing to do, because item names are in-game terms that often aren't simply descriptive terms. In this way, they're more similar to collectible names, which are consistently capitalized on the wiki, than they are to obstacle names, which are consistently not capitalized on the wiki (except for the obstacles that are named plants).

Making this change would involve consistently capitalizing Ultra-Spicy Spray, Ultra-Bitter Spray, Bomb Rocks, and Pikpik Carrots. Capitalizing Ultra-Bitter Spray is not ideal because this name isn't capitalized in-game outside of titles in the one game this item appears in, unlike most other items which are capitalized in-game in Pikmin 4, but it would need to be done for consistency. Pikpik Carrots are also not items in games before Pikmin 4, and could potentially continue to not be capitalized in non-item contexts. The general term spray would probably not be capitalized as it's a game mechanic rather than a specific item. An alternative to always capitalizing these names is capitalizing them when discussing games that capitalize item names (Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 4) and not capitalizing them when discussing games that don't capitalize item names (Pikmin and Pikmin 2). However, this would result in inconsistency across articles and article titles. I think that using consistent capitalization for this type of term is a fine thing to do, and that considering how items are named, capitalizing them is a better option than not capitalizing them. — Soprano_(talk) 10:34, August 16, 2026 (UTC)