Pikipedia:Canon policy
Canon is any information that is considered to be "real", "official" or "true" in a fictional universe. Because of the wild nature of video games and their content, a distinction must be settled so that non-canon information is not written as canon.
Pikipedia documents information regarding the Pikmin franchise, but unless otherwise specified, it is all canon. There are three rough "degrees" of canon:
- Pure canon: The information is objectively true in the context of the Pikmin universe.
- Objectionable canon: The information comes from a source quite close to the universe's canon, but it cannot be definitely considered canon. It does not contradict with any canon sources, so it is normally accepted as official.
- Non-canon: The information is not true in the Pikmin universe. It is included on Pikipedia purely for trivial, complementary or completion purposes.
For the most part, Pikipedia takes interest in documenting the facts that happen in the games and other media, regardless of their canon. Nevertheless, this policy helps distinguish the canonical value of some elements in the series, for the purpose of giving the Pikmin universe a sense of definition, and to clearly distinguish content that should not be considered canon by readers interested in the universe's lore.
Degrees
Pure canon
Pure canon is mostly decided by the parties that develop the games and media related to the Pikmin franchise, meaning Nintendo EAD and Shigeru Miyamoto.
Currently, only the main Pikmin games – Pikmin, Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3 – are considered canon games. Anything that happens within the story mode of each main Pikmin game is canonical. Bonus content, such as the reward obtained by completing all Pikmin 2 Challenge Mode levels with a pink flower, can vary, but whenever it does not contradict with – and makes sense within the context of – the main story mode, it is considered canon.
Objectionable canon
Trophies, stickers, and other side-content in the Super Smash Bros. series features canonical information from elements in some franchises, and occasionally, adds its own information as well. For the most part, this extra information is created and approved by Nintendo, but is never confirmed to be true or false. This, combined with the fact that the information is contained from within a non-canon media, makes the canonical value of the information questionable. In addition, there are times where the likes of trophy descriptions contain information that directly contradicts the canon in the games and are as such, considered non-canon. For a list of such cases, see Mistakes in the Pikmin series.
Some external content like the e-cards or the Pikmin Short Movies have information that matches up with the existing canon and makes sense in the Pikmin universe. However, no official word has been given on their canon, and because they do not belong to the main Pikmin series of games, their content is left as ambiguously canonical.
On the wiki, sections or articles that detail material with objectionable canon should start with {{nocanon|y}}. This creates the following box:
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This article or section features debatable canonical information. |
Non-canon
The Super Smash Bros. series feature games that are considered non-canon for the franchises that take place in them. This is clear due to the fact that, naturally, Pikmin does not share a universe with the likes of Mario or The Legend of Zelda. Pikmin Adventure, despite being directly related to the Pikmin franchise, is not canon. It does not, in any way, relate to PNF-404 or the actual Pikmin, but rather, it is a mini-game in Nintendo Land, themed around the Pikmin franchise.
Activities that happen on an alternative game mode are not considered canon. Said game modes were created for the purpose of entertaining the player, and for the most part, they do not follow the main story mode's canon. For instance, the canon states that Captain Olimar landed on PNF-404 and had to gather his missing ship parts, not that he chose to begin a challenge where he had to cultivate the most Pikmin possible in one day.
Unused content, prototype information, mistakes and glitches are not canon. They are content that the game developers did not intend to provide to the players in a finalized game, and should not count as such for the purpose of deciding the canon.
On Pikipedia, sections or articles about non-canon content should begin with {{nocanon}}. This code creates the following box:
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This article or section features non-canonical information. |
Fan content
Fan-created content is not canon and, for the most part, is not accepted on Pikipedia. In addition, fan-created theories are also non canon, but may provide an explanation over something that is. Some fan-made content can follow the known canon perfectly, but unless it is useful to complement canon information, it should not go on the wiki. For the purpose of gathering fan-made ideas and content, the Pikmin Fanon wiki was created.
Gameplay
Some media, like movies, have a specifically defined canon, in which what happens in the movie is objective truth in the movie's universe, and cannot be altered. Games, however, vary according to each player's experience, so some aspects of the gameplay cannot be correctly considered canon or non-canon.
For instance, it is no truer that "Captain Olimar first recovered the UV Lamp and then the Massage Machine" as it is the other way around. For this, common sense dictates that varying truths are not accounted for in the lore. Following the previous example, it is canon that Captain Olimar recovered his ship parts, but their order of collection is not confirmed. There are times where such events are confirmed in a different game, however, normally in the form of a captain outright saying it. Naturally, this does not change what a player might have actually done in their playthrough, but it does define the "standard", canon-wise.
The ending obtained in a game is also not relevant to the decision of the canon. Rather, the events that unfold in a following game decide which ending is the canon one.
As such, it is known that Captain Olimar did not fail to leave PNF-404 after the events of Pikmin, as he is seen alive and well at the start of Pikmin 2. It is also known that Louie has been salvaged before the end of Pikmin 2, because it is known that he followed Olimar to PNF-404 in the events of Pikmin 3. Template:Endspoiler
Conflicts
Because the Pikmin games are developed by Nintendo EAD in Japan, the Japanese version of a game is technically more canon than the remaining versions. However, because Pikipedia is an English wiki, it considers the information on the American version more canon than the Japanese version. The European version comes second. For instance, it is more canonical that Captain Olimar recovered a Snapple lid on the sixth sublevel of the Shower Room than it is to say that he recovered a Breitsamer honey jar; that, in turn, is more canonical than saying he recovered an Ohayo milk cover.