Talk:Smeargle/GA1

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Nominator: Captain Galaxy (talk · contribs) 23:51, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Olliefant (talk · contribs) 17:37, 15 January 2026 (UTC) Can't believe I missed this! I love this little guy

Lead

• "events and brands, such as with the" -> "events and brands, including the"

 Done

• Infobox image needs alt text

 Done

• "calls for it to be banned" it was banned

 Done

Concept and creation

• Paragraph three mixes the description with in universe info

 Done Moved the in-universe info to paragraph 4.

• "However, the move can only be used once." but I thought it could be learned ten times?

 Done Clarified.

• "Musée du Louvre, being Lubeudo"

 Done Removed.

• "related Pokémon toy line and anime series" link to Pokémon (TV series) (or the specific season if the source named one)

 Done

Appearances

• "Pikachu & Pichu" should be italicized

 Done

• I'm not certain, but I think in "Smeargle would later prominently feature in the Pokémon GO set", "Pokemon Go" should be italicized. Also it's wrongly stylized as "Pokemon GO"

 Done Technically speaking, the set is capitalised in the "GO" but I'm going to assume it has something to do with MOS:CAPS so I changed it anyways. CaptainGalaxy 15:59, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

• Italicize "Smeargle's Art Show"

 Done

• "During Golden Week in 2006, Japanese Pokémon Centers distributed Pokémon such as Smeargle, due to them being hard to find, to customers who brought in a copy of a third generation Pokémon game" anything special about this Smeargle? Also those unfamiliar with Pokemon may not know what games are in Gen 3. Also by Gen 3 does it include Fire Red and Leaf Green?

 Done Clarified.

• "including the games' enhanced version" given what the previously mentioned game it seems to imply Crystal is an enhanced version of Emerald, this is further supported by the fact that Gold and Silver are mentioned in the second half of the sentence

 Done Clarified

• "Pokémon Pokopia introduced a" Pokopia isn't out yet

 Done Changed.

Reception

• "with writers from Inverse and Paste" says Inverse and Paste yet cites Inverse and The A.V. Club

To clarify, the article was originally published on Paste, however, the Paste gaming department was transferred to the independent website, Endless Mode, before later being bought out by The A.V. Club.

Can you mark the source as being "Paste via The A.V. Club"?

@Olliefant:  Done CaptainGalaxy 17:57, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

• [Mythical Pokémon] [Darkrai] is an MOS:SOB violation

 Done Changed.

• "Smeargle is often excluded from use in tournaments due to its wide potential" this is almost immediately contradicted, the source is from September 2001 (two weeks after 9/11) so it may have been true at the time, it should be noted that this has changed

 Done Added context.

• "although it was later made available the following year which caused some players to become concerned due to finding it hard to counter some of the moves Smeargle could learn" this could use a rewrite

 Done Changed.

• Link Pokémon World Championships on first mention

 Done

• "In the following generation, Dark Void had the accuracy of it working on the opponent drop from 80% to 50%," this feels clunky

 Done Reworded.

• "as well as having Darkrai be the only Pokémon be able to learn the move" Its already stated that Smeargle lost access to the move and (AFAIK) was the only other Pokemon who could use it

 Done Removed.

• "experience at a tournament, Mike Rougeau" clarify that Rougeau is a journalist and not a competitive player

 Done

• "When asked in an interview with Famitsu what got him into competitive Pokémon, Kinugawa responded that a Smeargle his brother fought with was what inspired him and in turn made him like Smeargle" huh?

I didn't really know what you wanted me to do with this sentence so I just trimmed and reworded it.

• "making it impossible to use in tournaments as Legendary and Mythical Pokémon from competitive play" they were what? Also this is technically wrong, Legendaries are sometimes banned and sometimes allowed depending on the format

 Done Removed.

• "multiple different moves such as Last Respects" why is Last Respects mentioned and not any others?

I didn't want to list a lot of moves, and as mentioned in the article, the main move for the whole strategy is Last Respects: "It all revolves around the move Last Respects – a unique Ghost-type attack which starts with a base power of 50, but is increased by 50 each time one of your Pokemon gets knocked out in a battle."

References

• Not seeing any problems in spotchecks
• Why is "Hobby Watch Impress" a reliable source?

Hobby Watch Impress is the sister site of Game Watch Impress, a reliable source per WP:VG/S and falls under the same company.

• Why is "Gamebiz" a reliable source?

It is a Japanese website that reports on industry financial news with an editorial team and has been approved on multiple GA reviews in the past.

• Can you justify the use of Newsweek per WP:NEWSWEEK? It's a fairly simple fact, surely theres something else that confirms this

I have replaced the source with a Prima Guides book. CaptainGalaxy 13:20, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

@Olliefant: I have gone ahead and applied all the recommendations you laid out in this review, let me know if you had any further recommendations that need to be made. CaptainGalaxy 13:20, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

I see no more problems so I'll pass this. Good job, I recommend having this and Heracross added to Wikipedia:Good topics/List of generation II Pokémon Olliefant (she/her) 18:51, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.