Help:Contents/Editing Help

This is a sub-page of Help:Contents/Editing Help.

Everything you need to know about editing.

Sub-Pages

If a game has a lot of content from a certain category (i.e., unused items), you can create a separate sub-page for the category so the main article doesn't get too full. First, you will need to create a section for sub-pages, like we've done here. (Visit Sections for more information.) Then, add this code below the section name:

Code:

{{subpage|Sub-Page Name|image=IMAGE_NAME.png|width=80|text=A brief description of the sub-page, with a relevant image.}}

You will also need to add a thumbnail image that is relevant to your sub-page. The result will look like this:

Map Select Information about the game's map select.

The name of the sub-page will be a red link. Click the name to start editing the sub-page, making sure to start the subpage with {{subpage}}

Sections

You can divide an article's content into sections. If you have 3 or more sections, an index will be automatically created at the top of the page. The section you are reading is called "Sections".

Code:

==Section Name==

Sub-Headers

Sections can be divided into Subsections by using sub-headers.

Code:

===Sub-Header Name===

Result:

Example

It's easy!

Text Formatting

A guide to basic text formatting on the wiki.

Bold

To bold text, place three apostrophes before and after the text that you want to be bolded.

Code:	Result:
'''Bold'''	Bold

Always use bold text for controller buttons and D-Pad/joystick movements:

• Press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A to make your vehicle explode.

Italics

To italicize text, place two apostrophes before and after the text that you want to be italicized.

Code:	Result:
''Italics''	Italics

Always italicize game titles:

• This spiritual successor to Vehicle Race Excellent was developed entirely on a ZX Spectrum, in only three weeks' time, on a budget of exactly three cans of SpaghettiOs.

Bold + Italics

To bold and italicize text, place five apostrophes before and after the text that you want to be bolded and italicized.

Code:	Result:
'''''Bold + Italics'''''	Bold + Italics

Always bold and italicize a game title when it appears in its own article description:

• Jalopy Run Wonderful is a futuristic 3D racing game, and a prime example of what happens when you simply don't give a crap.

Hex Values & Codes

Use the code below when writing hexadecimal values (ROM addresses, Gameshark codes, etc.) in your article:

Code:	Result:
{{hex|22160484 00000000}}	22160484 00000000

Don't forget to note which version of the game your code is for, if there is more than one version.

Keyboard Keys

Use the code below when writing keyboard keys in your article:

Code:	Result:
{{kbd|Shift}}	⇧ Shift

Links

To create a link, place square brackets around the URL. Try not to add red links to pages.

Code:	Result:
[http://tcrf.net]	[1]

Adding Links to Text:

To add links to text, use the following code:

Code:	Result:
[http://tcrf.net The Cutting Room Floor]	The Cutting Room Floor

Linking TCRF Pages:

When you want to link pages or files on TCRF, use this code:

Code:

[[Page Name|Link Text]]

Example:

Code:	Result:
[[Donkey Kong Country (SNES)|Donkey Kong Country (SNES)]]	Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Linking Categories:

When you want to link categories on TCRF, use this code:

Code:

[[:Category:Category_Name|Link Text]]

Example:

Code:	Result:
[[:Category:NES games|NES]]	NES

Tables

To create a table, use the following code:

Code:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;" !Column Header 1 !Column Header 2 |- |Row A, Column 1 |Row A, Column 2 |- |Row B, Column 1 |Row B, Column 2 |- |Row C, Column 1 |Row C, Column 2 |}

Result:

Column Header 1	Column Header 2
Row A, Column 1	Row A, Column 2
Row B, Column 1	Row B, Column 2
Row C, Column 1	Row C, Column 2

If you'd like to make the table centered, replace the beginning line of the table with:

Code:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none; max-width:50%;"

Result:

Column Header 1	Column Header 2
Row A, Column 1	Row A, Column 2
Row B, Column 1	Row B, Column 2
Row C, Column 1	Row C, Column 2

Wiki tables can be copied and pasted into spreadsheets. It is also possible to generate wiki tables automatically by copying and pasting from a spreadsheet into Excel2Wiki, unchecking "format header", and replacing the header generated by the website with the header in the example above.

For further information on formatting tables, see MediaWiki's help page.

Comparisons

If you need to make a quick comparison between two objects, and you are OK with the table for such being centered horizonally, you may use the {{compare}} template instead.

Code:

{{compare| | leftt = Heading A | rightt = Heading B | left = Comparison Item 1 | right = Comparison Item 2 }}

Result:

Heading A	Heading B
Comparison Item 1	Comparison Item 2

You can also embed images into compare templates, which is demonstrated here.

Lists

To create a list, use #:

Code:	Result:
# Apples # Grapes # Kiwis	Apples Grapes Kiwis

To add subpoints to your lists, use *:

Code:	Result:
# Apples #* Red # Grapes #* Purple # Kiwis #* Green	Apples Red Grapes Purple Kiwis Green

Collapsing

If you have a very long list not suitable for its own sub-page, you may want to collapse it so it doesn't swamp the entire page.

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable"
! The header || remains visible
|-
| This  content || is hidden
|-
| at first || load time
|}

The Header	remains visible
This content	is hidden
at first	load time

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
This text is not collapsible; but the next is collapsible and hidden by default:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">you can
put something
very long here</div>
</div>

This text is not collapsible; but the next is collapsible and hidden by default:

you can
put something
very long here

Boxes

Create boxes around your text with <pre> </pre> tags:

Code:	Result:
<pre>This is an example.</pre>	This is an example.

Create scrollable boxes with <pre style='white-space: pre-wrap; overflow: auto; width: 700px; height: 300px'> </pre>. This displays as:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi aliquam at lorem nec commodo. Mauris iaculis euismod malesuada. Sed ac interdum arcu. Nullam mattis euismod eleifend. Sed mattis porttitor nulla, sed porta odio gravida in. Sed in lectus a nunc lacinia blandit non non nisi. Quisque vel lacus odio. Integer viverra sit amet quam id finibus. Sed ac orci diam. Pellentesque id lacus luctus, iaculis nibh dignissim, tincidunt leo. Aenean dapibus a sem vel pharetra. Praesent sit amet urna elit.

Donec ullamcorper lorem nulla, id molestie nisi vestibulum a. Quisque vulputate libero non laoreet convallis. Duis gravida viverra ligula ut iaculis. Nulla pharetra, quam vel tempor molestie, ligula nisl malesuada nisl, nec rhoncus mi risus egestas massa. Nullam metus dui, mattis ac aliquet non, pulvinar eu nulla. In sit amet metus nec ipsum ultrices faucibus. Suspendisse potenti. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aenean dictum, massa at vehicula aliquam, leo turpis iaculis enim, eu imperdiet diam mi quis orci. Nullam mauris eros, convallis et libero nec, imperdiet elementum risus. Maecenas consequat vitae erat sed congue. Nam aliquet egestas erat, non pulvinar nisi condimentum eget. Duis non ante vel lorem commodo lacinia.

Sed suscipit tempor volutpat. Donec lacinia erat et dictum dictum. Fusce ornare mollis urna, quis lobortis leo fermentum sed. Aliquam pharetra rutrum felis. Pellentesque sagittis lobortis dictum. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Ut justo lectus, pulvinar vel pharetra eu, dignissim ut risus. Aliquam aliquam non sem fringilla commodo. Integer euismod quam quis tincidunt imperdiet. Nullam commodo pulvinar felis, nec malesuada leo luctus ac. Quisque quis turpis ut tortor vehicula volutpat. Nulla quis enim quis turpis malesuada egestas. Nulla eu odio luctus, sollicitudin arcu sed, porttitor dui.

If a box near the top of the page is so wide that it would overlap with the bob, it will be pushed beneath the bob which may leave a large gap in the page content. If you want to prevent this, you can use <pre style='display: flex; max-width: fit-content'> </pre> which will make the box shrink to avoid overlap.

Line Breaks

Use a <br> tag to insert a line break in your text.

Code:	Result:
I like line breaks.<br>Don't you?	I like line breaks. Don't you?

Horizontal Lines

Use four hyphens to manually insert a horizontal line across the page, like so:

---

Code:

----

Special Symbols for the PlayStation

If you want to insert symbols for the buttons found on the various PlayStation consoles, please use the following unicode symbols:

△ U+25B3 WHITE UP-POINTING TRIANGLE

○ U+25CB WHITE CIRCLE

◻ U+25A1 WHITE SQUARE

✕ U+2715 MULTIPLICATION X

Tags

Tagging Articles Tags you can add to articles in order to alert readers about things that need to be done.

Citing Sources

Source Tags

If your information is from other websites or users, you need to credit them with the {{source}} tag:

Code:	Result:
{{source|Person A (Code), Person B (Screenshot)}}	(Source: Person A (Code), Person B (Screenshot))

You can also link sources.

Code:	Result:
{{source|1=[http://tcrf.net TCRF] & [http://the-gcn.net The GCN]}}	(Source: TCRF & The GCN)

If you're documenting personal research, you can also credit yourself using the {{source}} tag.
Additionally, the {{tcrf source}} tag is available for users who wish to attribute their research to the site without directly displaying their username.
This tag must contain your TCRF username. It will be displayed only as hover text.

Code:	Result:
{{tcrf source|Person C}}	(Source: Original TCRF research)

Reference Function

When you want to cite the source of an asset or a piece of information, the source tag described above is usually sufficient. However, prerelease pages and some templates like Bob, Date, Developer and Publisher rely heavily on well-sourced information, which means they are better served by Wikipedia-style references.

Creating a Reference

Articles

References used inside the main body of articles use the format below:

• <ref name="aaa">[bbb ccc] - ddd, eee</ref>
  • aaa = An optional nickname for the reference that you'll remember. This will be used internally to link multiple references to the same source, however.
    • Example: Link Returns
  • bbb = The link to the source of the information.
    • Example: https://web.archive.org/web/20000819150339/http://ign64.ign.com/news/927.html
  • ccc = The title of the source page.
    • Example: E3: Link Returns in Full Form!
  • ddd = The name of the source outlet.
    • Example: N64.com
  • eee = The date that the information was published by the source.
    • Example: Jun. 18th, 1997

Here's a reference to an IGN article created using the examples above:

• <ref name="Link Returns">[https://web.archive.org/web/20000819150339/http://ign64.ign.com/news/927.html E3: Link Returns in Full Form!] - N64.com, Jun. 18th, 1997</ref>

Templates

For use in templates, this format can be used:

• <ref name="aaa">[bbb ccc] ddd</ref>
  • aaa = An optional nickname for the reference that you'll remember. This will be used internally to link multiple references to the same source, however.
    • Example: Release Dates
  • bbb = The link to the source of the information.
    • Example: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587064-action-52/data
  • ccc = The name of the website of the source page, not mandatory.
    • Example: GameFAQs
  • ddd = Optional notes written in wikitext.
    • Example: (this is the only page available that has them)

Here's a reference to a GameFAQs page created using the examples above:

• <ref name="Release Dates">[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587064-action-52/data GameFAQs] (this is the only page available that has them)</ref>

If the source is not a website, the following format can be used:

• <ref name="aaa">bbb</ref>
  • aaa = An optional nickname for the reference that you'll remember. This will be used internally to link multiple references to the same source, however.
    • Example: Developer
  • bbb = Mandatory notes written in wikitext.
    • Example: Hidden credit in build date found inside the ROM.

The reference created using the examples above is now like this:

• <ref name="Release Dates">Hidden credit in build date found inside the ROM.</ref>

Adding References to Text

Articles

To insert a reference into an article, place it directly after the text that you want to link to it. About templates, more information is available on their pages linked above.

Code
A new batch of screenshots was released on June 18th.<ref name="Link Returns">[https://web.archive.org/web/20000819150339/http://ign64.ign.com/news/927.html E3: Link Returns in Full Form!] - N64.com, Jun. 18th, 1997</ref>
Result
A new batch of screenshots was released on June 18th.

Templates

More information on how to add references in templates is available in their respective pages linked above.

Handling Multiple References to the same Source

For both articles and templates you only have to use the full version of the reference the first time it's linked. If you link to it again, you can use its "ref name", the nickname you chose to identify it. The tag looks like this:

• <ref name="aaa" />
  • aaa = The nickname you chose for the reference.

Here's some example text that links to the same reference twice. Note that the short version is used for the second instance.

Code
A new batch of screenshots was released on June 18th.<ref name="Link Returns">[https://web.archive.org/web/20000819150339/http://ign64.ign.com/news/927.html E3: Link Returns in Full Form!] - N64.com, Jun. 18th, 1997</ref> N64.com claimed that the game would arrive in North America in early 1998.<ref name="Link Returns" />
Result
A new batch of screenshots was released on June 18th. N64.com claimed that the game would arrive in North America in early 1998.

Adding a Reference Section

Finally, you will want to add a reference section at the bottom of your page that will serve as a list of all the sources you've referred to. Good news, the work is already done!

All you have to do is create a section titled "References" and add the code below:

Code	Result
<references />

Your references will automatically be linked using the information you input previously. Clicking on the citation numbers will bring you to each section of the page that links to the reference. Try it out!

Adding Categories

If you need to add a page to more than one category, use this code:

Code:

[[Category:System games]]

For creating new categories, choose one of the following...

Games developed by (insert developer's name)	[[Category:Games by developer|(initial letter)]]
Games published by (insert publisher's name)	[[Category:Games by developer|(initial letter)]]
(Platform) graphic rips	[[Category:Ripped graphics]]

Warning Templates

In some cases, there will be pages with too little information, questionable content or unreleased games. In those cases, you could add a warning message, which has two categories: Content Templates and Cleanup Templates.

Series Templates

TCRF has articles about many games from many different series. If you create an article about a game from a popular series, add a {{series}} tag to the bottom of your article:

Code:

{{Zelda series}}

Result:

This template is for released games, unreleased games, and prototypes. Don't add unlicensed or fan-made games to series templates. To edit an existing series template, go to: Template:game series.

Page Template

A template page whose code you can copy and learn from is available here.