Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Codename: Sailor V - The Game

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

Codename: Sailor V - The Game

The result was delete Anthony Appleyard (talk) 20:55, 15 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

After removing two user generated sources, a WP:COPYLINK violation, flagged a clear circular reference, and flagged another source as unreliable because it appears to be a fanpage, there really isn't anything left that would pass WP:Verifiability. A Google search turns up a Kotaku article about a fanmade game, but it doesn't appear to be this one. It is very possible that most of this article is a hoax, or one fan developer trying to steal credit from another fan developer. The ScreenRant citation is a circular reference because the text is nearly identical. The text was first inserted into the Wikipedia article on January 24, 2017[1] and remained until it was first challenged on June 1, 2017.[2] The date publication date the ScreenRant article is April 28, 2017.[3]

From Wikipedia (as of April 19, 2017):[4]

The Codename: Sailor V - The Game - a side-scrolling beat'em up video game was a prototype of an imaginary arcade game in the Sailor Moon anime. It was developed by Vladimir Kutiakov's collective named "Caroline Software Incorporated" and released to the NEC PC-88 and NEC PC-98 system in September 14, 1993.

ScreenRant article (published April 28, 2017):

Sailor V did (sort of) get her own video game, though. A prototype of Codename: Sailor V – The Game, a side-scrolling game similar to Streets of Rage, was developed by Vladimir Kutiakov's collective "Caroline Software Incorporated." It was released on the NEC PC-88 and NEC PC-98 systems back in 1993. The game was based on the fictional Sailor V game from the Sailor Moon anime.

Do to the near identical text, it is very clear that ScreenRant used the Wikipedia for their research but did not credit Wikipedia in their article.

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Video games-related deletion discussions. MT Train^Talk 03:42, 10 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Delete If the best source we can find was using Wikipedia for its coverage we don’t even have independent confirmation that the game exists let alone that it notiable.--65.94.254.248 (talk) 23:04, 12 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Delete: Maybe it did exist, maybe it didn't. This source seems to indicate it did. But, that's the only thing I found. There just isn't enough here to pass WP:GNG, nor is there likely to be. --Hammersoft (talk) 17:37, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Strange that article said it was released in 2009 whereas the Wikipeida article says 1993 and mention has different platforms.--69.157.253.30 (talk) 03:48, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Redirect to Codename: Sailor V with a mention. It looks like the game does indeed exist and should be mentioned along with the series. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 15:39, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Struck opinion, see my revised vote below. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 15:09, 15 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

When trying to locate information on this game, I found this talk page on a Sailor Moon wiki, questioning the game's legitimacy and accusing editor "Dipswitch" of being a sockpuppet. Investigating further, it led me to this talk page in which Dipswitch, a "supervisor administrator (REALLY!!!) at Demozoo.org", vouches for its existence. The game's Demozoo page was created in December 2016 by a single Russian user. "Oh, the game released in 1991, see link to video. Why not official?" Dipswitch insists. That video was uploaded in December 2016 by a Russian. I found other videos on VK and YouTube as well, uploaded by Russians between December 2016 and January 2017. After an erroneous copyright notice is pointed out, Dipswitch says it actually came out in 1993 and "the developer did an error. But in the final version of game it's corrected." So now there are two versions of this obscure 1993 game. But it only started appearing online in December 2016, despite the "port" being released in 2009. The developer of the 2009 port does not acknowledge the existence of any previous version. Dipswitch points to the Russian Wikipedia as evidence this game exists, the same Wikipedia this English Wikipedia article was translated from. My conclusion: the 2009 "port" is the original fan game, and the 1993 PC-88/98 game is a hoax perpetrated by a Russian sockpuppeteer across Wikipedia and other sites since late 2016. It might be okay to briefly mention the 2009 game somewhere on Codename: Sailor V, using the Kotaku source. 1993 game is almost certainly fake and should not be mentioned anywhere without stronger evidence of its existence. Reach Out to the Truth 13:59, 15 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Speedy Delete per WP:G3 as a Hoax. Evidence for this is presented above by Reach Out to the Truth. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 15:11, 15 May 2018 C)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.