Topic: All Star Wars Video Games No Longer Canon

[Steel Diver]

Goodbye Dash Rendar. Goodbye Galen Marek. Goodbye (most of) Rogue Squadron.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/37282/all-star-wars-video-games-no-longer-canon

All previously released Star Wars video games no longer fit into the franchise's timeline, according to Lucasfilm.

Future Star Wars games will, however, be a part of the new continuity for the most part, along with all the films and The Clone Wars TV series. "We're set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging," Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said. "This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before."

In an effort to unify storytelling in future products, including the upcoming 2015 movie Episode VII, all Expanded Universe materials from the past are now non-canon, meaning they are out of the continuity of what happened in Star Wars lore. This includes all video games that have come out, in addition to the countless books and comics. However, some of that might not be a surprise, since a lot of the Expanded Universe content has always been very easily deemed non-canon in the past. For example, The Clone Wars TV series mostly invalidated the Xbox/PC game Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic.

The affected games on Nintendo systems are games such as Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Nintendo 64), the Rogue Squadron series on Nintendo 64 and GameCube, and the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games on Wii and DS.

It is unknown if any of the future Star Wars games will even come to Nintendo systems, though. EA is responsible for publishing the major Star Wars video games and as of now, the last EA release on a Nintendo system was more than a year ago.

[Ian Sane]

I actually like this because since 1997 I've had to play this weird game with Star Wars where I have to avoid everything to do with the prequels and special editions and just stick to stuff that makes sense in a world where the original versions of the original trilogy are the only films that exist.  In a way I feel like stuff I like like Rogue Leader or Dark Forces has been liberated from the bullshit world of post-crazy George Lucas.  Non-canon?  GOOD!  The Star Wars canon sucks!  This makes it easier to explain my interest in Star Wars.  I'm a non-canon fan.  It can be like "pre-crisis".

[Mythtendo]

This has always been the policy actually. Stuff in the Expanded Universe was only canon if it was used in the movies or TV shows. The change now is saying that future EU stuff will be canon (as they will have a team keeping track of it).

[Adrock]

Rendering The Force Unleashed and its sequel non-canon is a bit strange since George Lucas consulted on it and previously stated it was canon. I don't think it really stepped on the toes of the movies. If I remember correctly, the games' main contribution was the formation of the Rebel Alliance. Not that I'm terribly torn up over this, I figured Lucas' involvement would have protected their place in the canon. I think The Clone Wars TV show is still canon; I thought this would be too. Oh well.

[Shaymin]

I recall that they added Dash Rendar's ship to the special editions of A New Hope, so he's still technically canon.

But most importantly, this means Chewie didn't have a moon dropped on him, so I am pleased.

[Soren]

So if Rogue Squadron is now non-canon does that mean that the Attack on the Death Star, the Battle of Hoth, the Battle of Endor and the Strike on the Core of Death Star II are all non-canon?

[UncleBob]

But most importantly, this means Chewie didn't have a moon dropped on him, so I am pleased.

I don't know what you're talking about, but if I have to go, that's how I want to go out.

[broodwars]

*shrugs* doesn't make the good Star Wars games less good or the bad ones less bad. I never considered the EU stuff canon anyway. There's just too much of it, and most of it was bad. Best to clean the slate and start fresh.

[StrikerObi]

I could care less about most of the EU being officially labeled as "non-canon" but I do take offense at Shadows of the Empire being retconed out. When Shadows launched it was an all-out media assault, the idea being that Shadows of the Empire was "everything but a movie". It was a book, a comic book, and a video game, among other things, and was pitched as canon. It's a shame that they are going back on that now, since it's an excellent story.

[StrikerObi]

So if Rogue Squadron is now non-canon does that mean that the Attack on the Death Star, the Battle of Hoth, the Battle of Endor and the Strike on the Core of Death Star II are all non-canon?

Don't be facetious. Things that happened in the films are still canon. What's non-canon (and has always technically been) is anything that happened outside the films. Rogue Squadron was in both the films and the EU, so the stuff that happened to them in the films is still canon, and the stuff that happened to them in the EU still isn't canon.

[Sundoulos]

I was as excited as any other Star Wars fan when all the EU stuff started surfacing in the 90s, starting with the Timothy Zahn novels, but from the very beginning you could tell that it would probably have been pushed to the side if another movie trilogy had been made.

I have to ask, though?  How did the Clone Wars TV series invalidate the KOTOR games?  Didn't they take place in two entirely different time periods? 

[Soren]

Don't be facetious. Things that happened in the films are still canon. What's non-canon (and has always technically been) is anything that happened outside the films. Rogue Squadron was in both the films and the EU, so the stuff that happened to them in the films is still canon, and the stuff that happened to them in the EU still isn't canon.

I'm just pointing out the ridiculousness of unilaterally declaring every single Star Wars game non-canon, even those based on the films. And if you do declare those games non-canon, then it means the details described of those events in the video game is non-canon. Which is also kind of ridiculous because things like the Attack on the first Death Star closely mirror what is on the film.

[Mythtendo]

Soren, those games always were officially non-canon. This is just them expanding it to include all non-movies and TV series. But the video games like Rogue Squadron were never canon. Essentially, anything that didn't happen in the movies or TV series is no more official than fanscripts are.

[Plugabugz]

Given how the original writers of the 1994 Stargate movie consider everything that followed (all three series and DVD movies) as non-canon, and Star Trek effectively created a new canon to sidestep everything else, then this isn't surprising.

[Bman87301]

Sorry, but this article is a complete fail. You can't say "no longer", when it's never been canon in the first place. It's never been assumed that anything in the EU is canon, and there have been plenty of instances already of EU stories contradicting each other, as well as others totally nullified by later movies. Disney simply re-affirmed that in preparation for the upcoming movies, as it will apparently contradict some particularly popular EU stories some fans might be reluctant to let go of. It's just a REMINDER, not a change. The films (excluding the Clone Wars movie) are, and always have been, the only indisputable canon stories in the SW universe. Period.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Wait! Wait! Wait a minute!

So you're telling me that when I hit Emperor Palpatine in the face with a Force Orb while playing as Kit Fisto  that one time in Battlefront 2...you're telling me that's not canonical? WTF!?