History FanonDiscontinuity / VideoGames

** Nintendo officially considers ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRun'' to be a "mainline" ''Super Mario'' game, even putting it alongside the other ''Mario'' platformers on the [[https://mario.nintendo.com/history/ franchise's website]]. However many fans prefer to see it as a spin-off instead of a main entry, due to its different control style to 2D ''Mario'' gameplay compared to other 2D ''Mario'' games and being on mobile devices as opposed to a Nintendo console. This even led to [[NoTrueScotsman issues]] when ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder'' was announced, with many fans referring to the game as the next mainline 2D title after ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'' and Princess Daisy's and Yoshi's playable debut in a 2D ''Mario'' game, despite ''Run'' having released between them. Contributing to the confusion, Nintendo [[https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/nintendo-direct-june-2023-recap/ officially considers]], alongside some other fans, ''Wonder'' the first ''traditional'' 2D side-scrolling ''Super Mario Bros.'' game in more than 10 years while still acknowledging ''Run'' and the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' series official status as mainline games.

** The TV series ''Series/Fallout2024'' received praise from fans upon its release, but while few begrudged its overall quality many fans chose to disregard WordOfGod's assertion of it being canon to the franchise timeline due to a massive HappyEndingOverride for the entire West Coast.

** The most egregious case here is the one of ''VideoGame/SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague''. Many fans prefer to ignore this game being part of the Arkhamverse and treat it as its own standalone story, due to several {{Continuity Snarl}}s such as Deadshot's RaceLift and Captain Boomerang and King Shark being alive and well, as well as the tone, story, visuals, gameplay style, and scope of the plot not at all meshing with the previous games in the franchise. Not to mention that Batman's appearance is seen as invalidating his [[spoiler: sacrifice]] at the end of Batman: Arkham Knight. It gets even worse with [[spoiler: Batman's death to the hands of Harley Queen, [[UndignifiedDeath in the most disrespectful way possible]].]]

* Even gamers who liked the original ''VideoGame/{{Bubsy}} the Bobcat'' games, as repetitive and derivative of other [[MascotWithAttitude mascot platformers]] as they were, disowned ''VideoGame/Bubsy3D'' for the [=PlayStation=]. The major reasons for this abysmal reputation are spectacularly unfortunate timing and just how bad ''Bubsy 3D'' is as a platformer. The developers of Creator/{{Accolade}} decided to take the series in a 3D direction and started production of ''Bubsy 3D''... around the same time as Creator/{{Nintendo}} started to develop ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. ''Bubsy 3D'' came out four months ''after'' the much better ''Super Mario 64'' had been released, and failed miserably at the genre even by the early standards of lesser 3D games. They also decided to take Bubsy's snarky commentary to a whole new level--which would have been fine, except that rather than hiring Creator/RobPaulsen again, they hired Creator/LaniMinella, who provided what may be the most annoying voice possible for the character (think [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Omochao]], but with a Brooklyn accent; it's literally the same voice actress). It honestly made the older ''Bubsy'' games look absolutely brilliant in comparison.

* Some players of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' disregard [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII III]] for its dark, and mind-screwy campaign. And don't even bother with IV's lack of story. Preferring to consider II's GoldenEnding as the true ending of Black Ops storyline.

* Many ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' fans prefer to pretend that any games beyond ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped''/''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'' doesn't exist due to differing developers post-Creator/NaughtyDog (although opinions are divided on ''VideoGame/CrashBash'' and ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' in this regard). Also, most fans of the Creator/NaughtyDog games (and fans of the series in general) want to pretend that ''VideoGame/CrashOfTheTitans'' and ''VideoGame/CrashMindOverMutant'' don't exist due to the numerous characterisation, design and gameplay changes. Creator/{{Activision}} themselves seem to have caught on, as 2020's ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'' picks up right after ''Warped'', though Paul Yan [[https://youtu.be/FwjW10ADGnE?si=7FSgM80mCEgi49e3&t=875 states]] that the post-ND games simply come after this entry.
--> '''Paul Yan''': ...like this joke that's kinda acknowledging the fact that it's ignoring some of the other sequels that are coming after this in its chronological timeline.

** The plot of ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 2]]'' is ''so'' badly written and incomprehensible, even for an ActionGame, that fans simply ignore it altogether. Even Creator/{{Capcom}} has joked about how bad this one was. An indication on how the developers feel about ''Devil May Cry 2'', ''VideoGame/{{Devil May Cry 3|DantesAwakening}}'' is a prequel set before [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 the first game]] and ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' is a sequel to the first, taking place between ''1'' and ''2'' (then, much later, retconned to take place after ''2''). There is a nod to this in Dante's [[GuestFighter guest appearance]] for the [=PS2=] port of ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'': When he confronts Alastor (who is revealed to be [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the spirit of the blade]] Dante received in the first game), Dante is verbally eviscerated for not bringing him along to "Somewhere Island" (Dumary Island, the locale where most of ''2'' takes place). Dante hysterically retorts, [[DiscontinuityNod "I don't remember that!"]]

* ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis 3'' was such an OddballInTheSeries and a FranchiseKiller that the ''Dino Crisis'' fans generally treat it as Fanon Discontinuity, which is especially tempting to do since the game is an extreme case of InNameOnly, having zero ties to the first two games and technically not even including actual dinosaurs. It is actually ''Dino Stalker'', a rather obscure [[LightGunGame light gun shooter spin-off]] for the [=PS2=] released prior to ''Dino Crisis 3'', that nebulously links together the second and third games (as [[spoiler:the Mother Computer at the center of the plot is able to genetically engineer dinosaurs much like the similarly named MTHR computers of ''3'', suggesting it's their predecessor]]), despite failing to directly address the cliffhanger of ''Dino Crisis 2'' that fans expected ''Dino Crisis 3'' to resolve (the two imperiled characters at the end of Part 2 are shown to have survived, but no mention is made of how it happened).

** Some problems with ''The Shivering Isles'' were put to rest in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', where Sheogorath is just as hilariously mad as ever, albeit [[TookALevelInKindness a bit kinder]] (though whether or not that's a good thing is debatable). His appearance implies that he is--or was--the Champion of Cyrodiil (the protagonist of ''Oblivion''). It seems that whoever is Sheogorath simply takes on his appearance and powers eventually, but there's nothing stopping fans from dismissing the references to the previous game as just some more of the Mad God's gibberish.

** Many fans of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' deny that ''The After Years'' happened, rejecting the retread of the first game's plot and reuse of most of the first game's dungeons.

** A small but extremely hardcore group of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fans refuse to accept the ''Franchise/{{Compilation|OfFinalFantasyVII}}'' as canon, for being inconsistent with and {{retcon}}ning a game whose fandom had been around for several years. Some fans don't like it because it threw a lot of FanWank out the window by establishing things like the world not being destroyed at the end of the game. Some find that the characters are excessively [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]]. Some fans don't like it because many of the games are simply low-quality (and even the one game widely agreed to be good in its own right, ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', is still overshadowed by its massively popular parent). The rest of the fanbase was just glad to have an explanation for some of the vaguer events. Creator/TetsuyaNomura dredged up some of this by announcing that (in light of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'') the ''Compilation'' was no longer canonical except for some BroadStrokes. [[spoiler:The TwistEnding of ''Remake'' [[LyingCreator seems to have rendered this moot]], however, as the game appears to be a StealthSequel to the original (and, by extension, the rest of the ''Compilation'') by means of AlternateTimeline, with the implication that ''[[TimeTravel the Sephiroth from the original/Compilation timeline]]'' is pulling the strings in order to rewrite history in his favour]]. Suffice to say, another hardcore minority of fans--even some who liked the ''Compilation''--have refused to accept ''this'' new direction as well, believing that it either [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks exacerbates the problem]] [[KudzuPlot by making the plot even more needlessly convoluted]], and/or that the inclusion of such tropes as [[spoiler:TimeTravel, ScrewDestiny and SparedByTheAdaptation]] are [[OpeningACanOfClones inherently at]] [[DeathIsCheap odds with]] the original's [[CentralTheme themes of death and tragedy]].

* A good majority of ''VideoGame/FZero'' fans prefer to believe that ''Maximum Velocity'' never happened for one reason or another... despite existing in an AlternateTimeline where the [[NoodleIncident Big Accident]] doesn't seem to have happened and the F-Zero League never implemented the new rules/mechanics first seen in ''X'' as a result. ''GP Legend'' is no different... despite being [[AlternateContinuity a non-canon series]] to begin with. Nintendo seems to be on a similar wavelength with both series, as all the GBA games aren't even referenced in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' or ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU 3DS/Wii U]]''.

* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXII'' was infamously disowned by almost everyone for several reasons, such as its bare-bones presentation, a few [[GameBreakingBug severe glitches]], and its paltry roster (especially when compared to [[Franchise/TheKingOfFighters the series']] [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters98 other]] [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2002 two]] {{Dream Match Game}}s, but the game had even less characters than ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters94 the very first installment]]'') excluding several fan-favorite characters such as [[VideoGame/FatalFury Mai Shiranui]]. Most fans thus tell newcomers to skip directly from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI'' to ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII''.

** ''The Answer'', the PlayableEpilogue in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 3 FES]]'', [[BrokenBase is a bit contentious]] due to how OOC the cast is perceived to be by many players (most notably [[spoiler:Yukari causing the party to go at each other's throats because she wanted to risk bringing back Nyx to save the Protagonist]]), its difficulty, and [[ShaggyDogStory nothing the player does affecting the story]] (for example, [[spoiler:Chidori]] is still dead, despite whether or not you went through the conditions to bring her back, though this only applies in the English localization due to LostInTranslation[[labelnote:Explanation (spoilers)]]In the original, Junpei never namedropped Chidori. He used the same "that person" wording as everybody else, who in that scene were referring to the player's MC from ''The Journey''. This makes the below WordOfGod make sense.[[/labelnote]]).
** Certain fans, mostly [[DieForOurShip Militant Shippers]] outright refuse to acknowledge the ending where [[spoiler:the protagonist passes away on Aigis's lap]], as the blatantly romantic undertones of the scene makes it clear that [[spoiler:[[ImpliedLoveInterest Aigis]] was the one who the Main character ends up with [[GameplayAndStorySegregation regardless of whomever the player romances]]]] with certain people favoring the NewGamePlus of [[UpdatedReRelease Persona 3 Portable's]] version of this scene more where [[spoiler:The protagonist passes away in the lap of whomever the player chooses.]]

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' is well-known for its excellently written quests, except for one infamous example, ''[[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt Salt in the Wound]]''. Supposedly the conclusion of the series of the mind-controlling sea slugs bent of world domination, it involves [[spoiler:TheDreaded [[HiveMind Mother Mallum]] [[AnticlimaxBoss being crushed by a pillar]]]]. [[MemeticMutation This quickly became the most ridiculed thing ever in the game]], with players making every possible ([[SoBadItSGood bad]]) joke involving a pillar (e.g. [[Franchise/{{Superman}} "it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a pillar!"]]). A popular fan theory is that when Mother Mallum [[spoiler:[[ParanoiaFuel temporarily take control of the player, she never left, and the rest of the storyline]] is [[LotusEaterMachine a fantasy she has trapped the player in]].]]

** Reaction to the fifth game, ''VideoGame/SpyroAHerosTail'' varies; some like it for the platforming gameplay and new characters, some dislike it ''because'' of the new characters--and, of course, because it wasn't part of the original trilogy. Some purists accept it, many don't. The same applies to the Platform/GameBoyAdvance games made by Digital Eclipse; some like them and consider them faithful to Creator/{{Insomniac|Games}}'s trilogy ([[ApprovalOfGod including Ted Price]]), while others either dislike the isometric perspective or hate them for not being made by Insomniac.

** About twenty years after its release in Japan, ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' finally got an official English translation -- which [[SpellMyNameWithAnS changed some characters' names]] from the ones used in fan translations and even some official promo materials. Most of the established fandom sees no reason to let a little issue like canon get in the way of what they've been calling the characters for two decades already, and it's hard to blame them.

* Many ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' fan games intentionally ignore several of the more restrictive rules in the official Tetris Guideline, such as the unwieldy Super Rotation System, the much-maligned infinite rotation rule, and the "bag" randomizer that just deals random permutations of a sequence of all 7 pieces. As far as many fans are concerned, ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster 3's'' Classic mode (as seen in the famous "Invisible Tetris" video) provides the definitive ''Tetris'' rules and game mechanics, especially the Arika Rotation System, and most fan-made games tend to default to ARS over SRS.
* ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster ACE'', a console "installment" of ''TGM'' on the 360 released one year after ''[=TGM3=]'', is regarded by fans as a monstrosity [[ScrewedByTheNetwork beyond Arika's control]]. Some wouldn't have minded the not-[=TGMness=] so much if it were not for the fact that proper ARS has to be unlocked through an Xbox Live update, and even then both versions of ARS now has a finite-though-still-lenient variant of infinite spin. As far as ''TGM'' fans are concerned, ''[=TGM3=]'' is the last installment of the series.

** Some fans didn't take to what's been revealed about Nitori in ''VideoGame/TouhouShinkirouHopelessMasquerade'' well, as it portrays her as a money-obsessed atheist with shades of {{Jerkass}}, a contrast to the shyer, friendlier (if self-centered at times) type seen in the 10th game, so they're finding ways to negate it.

** The tv series ''Series/Fallout2024'' received praise from fans upon its release, but while few begrudged its overall quality many fans chose to disregard WordOfGod's assertion of it being canon to the franchise timeline due to a massive HappyEndingOverride for the entire West Coast.

** The tv series ''Series/Fallout2024'' received praise from fans upon its release, but while few begrudged its overall quality many fans chose to disregard WordOfGod's assertion of it being canon to the franchise timeline due to massive {{Continuity Snarl}}s that saw the entirety of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' {{retcon}}ned, in addition to a HappyEndingOverride for the entire West Coast.

* ''Heart of the Alien'', the unpolished corporate sequel to ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'', isn't OK even by Eric Chahi, the original author, much less the fanbase. Amusingly, ignoring this game and its extended version of the story is made extremely easy by the fact that while the original game was released on every 16- and 32-bit gaming platform in existence, ''Heart'' only had one release, and it was on the UsefulNotes/SegaCD add-on. The fact that it turns the original game into a ShaggyDogStory by anticlimactically killing Lester (in an optional death scene) probably doesn't help.

** Reaction to the fifth game, ''VideoGame/SpyroAHerosTail'' varies; some like it for the platforming gameplay and new characters, some dislike it ''because'' of the new characters--and, of course, because it wasn't part of the original trilogy. Some purists accept it, many don't. The same applies to the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance games made by Digital Eclipse; some like them and consider them faithful to Creator/{{Insomniac|Games}}'s trilogy ([[ApprovalOfGod including Ted Price]]), while others either dislike the isometric perspective or hate them for not being made by Insomniac.

** Many fans would like to ignore ''VideoGame/StarFoxCommand'', made easier by the game's {{Multiple Ending|s}} chop suey and the fact that the next non-remake ''Star Fox'' game, ''VideoGame/StarFoxZero'', was a [[ContinuityReboot reimagining]] of ''VideoGame/StarFox64''. An official statement during the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} era indicates that this was also [[CanonDiscontinuity canonically in play]] before ''Zero'' came along, with Creator/SatoruIwata noting that if another title were to have popped up, it would've either been set post-''[[VideoGame/StarFoxAssault Assault]]'' or pre-''Command''.

** A minor example is VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOriginsBlackgate. This spin-off is completely ignored by the fans for its middling quality and very different formula compared to the other Arkham games.

** A minor example is VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOriginsBlackgate. This spin-off is completely ignored by the fans for to its middling quality and very different formula compared to the other Arkham games.

** An even more egregious case is the one of ''VideoGame/SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague''. Many fans prefer to ignore this game being part of the Arkhamverse and treat it as its own standalone story, due to several {{Continuity Snarl}}s such as Deadshot's RaceLift and Captain Boomerang and King Shark being alive and well, as well as the tone, story, visuals, gameplay style, and scope of the plot not at all meshing with the previous games in the franchise. Not to mention that Batman's appearance is seen as invalidating his [[spoiler: sacrifice]] at the end of Batman: Arkham Knight. It gets even worse with [[spoiler: Batman's death to the hands of Harley Queen, in the most disrespectful way possible.]]

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'': **A good portion of the fanbase feels this way about the 2013 prequel ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' because it was [[BTeamSequel developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal instead of Rocksteady Studios]], contained many [[GameBreakingBug Game-Breaking Bugs]] at launch (some of which still haven't been fixed), and [[ContinuitySnarl contradicted some of the established backstory from]] ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''. Rocksteady Studios director Sefton Hill acknowledged that the game was canon in a 2014 interview and their 2015 sequel ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' contains several {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Origins''. Despite this, some still refuse to acknowledge it as canon. It doesn't help that ''Arkham Origins'' was excluded from the {{Compilation Rerelease}}s ''Return to Arkham'' (Which included eighth gen re-releases of ''Asylum'' and ''City'', but not ''Origins''), along with the ''Arkham Collection'' (Which included the updated ''Asylum'' and ''City'' releases, along with ''Knight'', but no ''Origins''), leading ''Origins'' fans to believe that WB had gone back on their word and officially declared ''Origins'' CanonDiscontinuity.
** An even more egregious case is the one of ''VideoGame/SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague''. Many fans prefer to ignore this game being part of the Arkhamverse and treat it as its own standalone story, due to several ContinuitySnarls such as Deadshot's RaceLift and Captain Boomerang and King Shark being alive and well, as well as the tone, story, visuals, gameplay style, and scope of the plot not at all meshing with the previous games in the franchise. Not to mention that Batman's appearance is seen as invalidating his [[spoiler: sacrifice]] at the end of Batman: Arkham Knight. It gets even worse with [[spoiler: Batman's death to the hands of Harley Queen, in the most disrespectful way possible.]]

* A good portion of the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' fanbase feels this way about the 2013 prequel ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' because it was [[BTeamSequel developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal instead of Rocksteady Studios]], contained many [[GameBreakingBug Game-Breaking Bugs]] at launch (some of which still haven't been fixed), and [[ContinuitySnarl contradicted some of the established backstory from]] ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''. Rocksteady Studios director Sefton Hill acknowledged that the game was canon in a 2014 interview and their 2015 sequel ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' contains several {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Origins''. Despite this, some still refuse to acknowledge it as canon. It doesn't help that ''Arkham Origins'' was excluded from the {{Compilation Rerelease}}s ''Return to Arkham'' (Which included eighth gen re-releases of ''Asylum'' and ''City'', but not ''Origins''), along with the ''Arkham Collection'' (Which included the updated ''Asylum'' and ''City'' releases, along with ''Knight'', but no ''Origins''), leading ''Origins'' fans to believe that WB had gone back on their word and officially declared ''Origins'' CanonDiscontinuity.