Pikipedia:Canon policy

Shortcut: P:CANON

This policy pertains to the canon information on the wiki, particularly its coverage scope. 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. For the most part, it is trivial to understand what constitutes as canon and what doesn't, as one needs to simply follow the storyline of a main Pikmin game. But there are some aspects outside of the story modes that could count as either canon or not.

Levels

Pure canon

Pure canon is all information that is undoubtedly canon; events that "really happened" in the Pikmin universe. This is mostly decided by the parties that develop the games and media related to the Pikmin franchise, meaning Nintendo EAD and Shigeru Miyamoto.

Currently, the story modes of the main Pikmin games – Pikmin, Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3 – are considered canon. Hey! Pikmin is a spin-off game due to being a different genre and using some different mechanics from the main games, but since the story doesn't contradict the other games besides some small inconsistencies, Hey! Pikmin is generally considered canon. Bonus content, such as the reward obtained by completing all Pikmin 2 Challenge Mode levels with a pink flower, can vary in canon, but whenever it does not contradict with – and makes sense within the context of – the main story mode, it is considered canon.

Debatable canon

Some content in some games could be considered canon or not. This could be because there is not enough information to accept or reject it as "real", or it could simply be a matter of opinion.

Trophies, stickers, and other side content in the Super Smash Bros. series feature canonical information from various games and often add extra information as well. For the most part, this extra information is created and approved by Nintendo, but its position in a non-canonical piece of media makes its status ambiguous. There have also been times where things like trophy descriptions contain information that directly contradicts the canon in the games. (For a list of such cases, see Mistake.) In general, though, anything said in these games can be considered canon, unless contradicted by a higher-priority source.

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.

The amiibo compatibility in Hey! Pikmin is generally considered canon, assuming that Nintendo is believed to have existed inside the Pikmin universe. However, the Olimar and Pikmin amiibo existing in the game world sprout some paradoxes and overall don't make sense, so it's unlikely this feature is actually canon.

Pikmin 2's Challenge Mode is referenced in Story Mode through the collection of The Key. However, Challenge Mode also references the Story Mode, with the ship claiming to recognize The Key when you find it for the first time in Challenge Mode. However, the canonicity of this mode does not matter, as it is limited to Challenge Mode, and outside of unlocking it, it doesn't have any relevancy to the plot.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe's Side Stories mode gives Olimar's perspective before, during, and after the events of Pikmin 3's canon Story Mode. Olimar's Assignment, the first of these side stories, overlaps in time with Story Mode, as Olimar describes finding the cosmic-drive key at the end of the second day. In addition, the fact that the Distant Tundra is visited after the Twilight River means that for it to make sense, the Koppaites could not have cleared the first part of the Garden of Hope story in one day. While the events do line up with what's said in Olimar's data files from the Story Mode, the locations in Side Story missions are drastically different from the Story Mode versions, much like in Mission Mode. So while the story events in Side Stories could be considered canonical to the main story, the map alterations, signposts blocking off locations, and possibly the use of SPEROs are likely non-canon. However, it can be thought that the signposts and barriers simply represent the limits of what Olimar and Louie explore and that the SPEROs could simply be placeholders for some other device used to collect items.

Olimar's Comeback, the second of the Side Stories, further complicates this, as at the start of the Side Story, Louie is with Olimar. Pikmin 3 has four voyage logs that can apply to the final day depending on how much fruit is collected, and in two of these, it's heavily implied that Louie was left on the planet, meaning he couldn't be with Olimar at the start of Olimar's Comeback. Whether this means that Olimar's Comeback is non-canonical, or Olimar's Comeback only occurs if the Koppaites get specific numbers of fruits, or whether this is a mistake, is unknown, further complicating the canon.

Prima Games is a company that makes official strategy guides for various games, including Pikmin. On top of containing walkthroughs and tips, some guides include some extra information about aspects of a franchise; in the Pikmin series' case, this could be extra descriptions of enemies, for instance. It's clear that these guides are produced in collaboration with the developers, seeing that their guides usually contain maps and charts that were rendered using 3D models or in-game images, but in some cases, the extra information presented in the guides is not backed up by the canon game, and there have been times where the guides have contained incorrect information, like the time requirements for all of the Defeat Bosses! missions. Regardless, Prima Guides are deemed official by Nintendo.

Non-canon

Amongst other things, Bingo Battle is not canon. It would not make sense for Alph and Olimar to gather Pikmin and fight against one another by filling up a bingo card.

Some aspects in the games are not canon whatsoever. They belong to the game, but are considered to "not have happened" in the Pikmin universe.

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. It is also implied multiple times throughout the Super Smash Bros. series that the fighters are not their original characters, but rather toys brought to life by Master Hand.

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 an attraction in the Nintendo Land theme park, themed around the Pikmin franchise.

Pikmin Bloom is not canon, due to having no connection to the story or characters of the other Pikmin games. In fact, a developer of Pikmin Bloom, Rika Nakajima, stated in a Nintendo Life interview that Pikmin Bloom takes place in a seperate universe from the rest of the series.

Activities that happen on an alternative game mode in a Pikmin game 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, it is canon 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, prerelease information, mistakes, sequence breaks, 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.

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 leader outright saying it (e.g. in his notes in Pikmin 2). 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.

Endings

So far, only two Pikmin games have multiple endings.

Pikmin

There are three endings in Pikmin, depending on how many ship parts the player collected and whether the player recovered the 25 mandatory parts. The canon ending is the "good" ending, where Captain Olimar successfully recovers all 30 ship parts. Evidence for this is in Pikmin 2, where Olimar has brought a souvenir home for his son, something that only likely happened after the collection of the Secret Safe, which is even implied by Olimar himself. In addition, it's revealed that Olimar's wife eventually finds a "secret cash stash", which can be assumed to be the Secret Safe. The ship's appearance in Pikmin 2 also supports this, as the antenna on the top of the Dolphin isn't bent and the lights on the sides are purple, which is only possible if Olimar collected the Secret Safe. The manual for Pikmin 2 also confirms that Captain Olimar did succeed in completely repairing the S.S. Dolphin.

Pikmin 3

There are four endings in Pikmin 3, and a game over state, depending on how much fruit the player obtains and if they ran out of juice or not, as explained here. At this point, none of the endings have been confirmed or denied to be canon. However, Olimar's Comeback complicates this, as Louie and Captain Olimar are together at the beginning of the Side Story. Two of the voyage logs on the final day imply that Louie was left behind on the planet. If these voyage logs are trusted, this could imply that either Olimar's Comeback is not canon, or these two endings are not canon. Or, potentially that Louie was hiding on the S.S. Drake the entire time.

Scope

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. For a list of what elements count as what, see the canon article.

Marking

Pure canon

Pure canon content must not be marked, and must be said as if it were something in real life, while still acknowledging the fact that it is a game.

Bad	So-so	Good
Real world perspective	In-universe perspective	Mixed perspective
"Burgeoning Spiderworts are fictional, virtual plants that debuted in the video game Pikmin 2."	"Burgeoning Spiderworts are plants discovered by Captain Olimar during his second trip to PNF-404."	"Burgeoning Spiderworts are plants that debuted in Pikmin 2."
It is obvious that the article won't be detailing any plants in real life, and that Pikmin 2 is a game. Pikipedia is a wiki about a fictional franchise, so naturally, it should be expected for the content within to be fictional. Explaining that the subject is not real is almost condescending, and could add unnecessary purple prose.	Although this is true, it doesn't help the reader understand exactly when the plants debuted. The information is a part of the canon, but the readers are still humans in the real world, and it is more convenient to explain the information with that in mind.	This example both explains the plants as if they were as canon as a real plant, while still implying that they're virtual. No extra words are needed, the text feels right from an in-universe perspective, and is still useful and comfortable to real world readers.

Objectionable canon

Sections or articles that detail material with objectionable canon should start with {{nocanon|y}}. This creates the following box:

This article or section features debatable canonical information. The content here is yet to be confirmed to be canon, but features non-canonical aspects.

Non-canon

Sections or articles about non-canon content should begin with {{nocanon}}. This code creates the following box:

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.

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.