Summary
A retcon, or a retroactive continuity, is a device in fiction that allows authors or creators to rewrite history in their fictional universes. They can be good or bad, depending on how they are used, and are typically used in a long-running continuity in order to open up new avenues of storytelling or nuance.
Naturally, with so many long-running video game series, retcons have been used left, right, and center. Some changed the nature of a character and their role in the world, while others bent the nature of the world itself.
The protagonist in the originalSaints Rowwas essentially a preset character. Male, voiceless, and characterized by their actions. The sequel,Saints Row 2, saw fit to change this up, along with the overall tone, by giving players extensive control over their Boss' visual appearance with some impressivecharacter customization options.
Saints Row 2begins with The Boss waking up in a prison hospital, having undergone plastic surgery for the horrific burn wounds they endured at the end of the previous game. While this might have explained their new appearance on a surface level, only a retcon could explain their gender swap or entirely new, grafted-on voice and personality.
With so many twists and turns in theMetal Gear Solidseries, it can be hard to tell retcons and revelations apart. From Metal Gear Solid onward, Big Boss consistently became a victim of these retcons. For example, Liquid Snake declares that the genes used to clone himself and Solid Snake were “vintage,” and that Big Boss was cloned in his 50s.
However, inPeace Walker, set a couple of years after he was cloned, Big Boss was in his late 30s. Perhaps thebiggest retcon in theMetal Gearseriesoccurred inThe Phantom Pain, when it revealed that the player was not controlling Big Boss but his body double, Venom Snake. The ending retcons the final battle that Solid Snake had with “Big Boss” at the end of 1987’sMetal Gear.
The Tamriel as seen in theElder Scrollsseries has changed between every game. What began as a generic fantasy world gradually took on more nuances, more real-world inspired mythology, and philosophical bents until it resembles the fleshed-out fictional setting seen today. The jump betweenDaggerfallandMorrowindis vast in this regard, with great effort put into crafting thought-provoking creation myths, ostentatious metaphysics, and other sublime lore entries, not to mention the retcon of the “Warp in the West,” which combined all of Daggerfall’s endings into one.
However, the most controversial change likely took place inThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, which saw the much-established center of the continent, Cyrodiil, go from being a continent of two halves (jungle, swamp, and meadows) to a Tolkien-esque and idyllic European-styled land mass. As with manyretcons inThe Elder Scrolls’past, it was handwaved with “magic,” time-fracturing “dragon breaks,” and “Talos' mastery of CHIM,” but the real answer might be somewhere between “rendering a jungle was too computationally costly” and “Lord of the Ringsis popular in the 2000s.”
Thanks to its popularity,Final Fantasy 7evolved beyond a standalone story in the anthology series. InCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, Square Enix re-examined the events that sparked offFF7, Sepheroth’s motivations at the Nibel Reactor, and the shenanigans with Cloud’s mixed-up memories in particular. InFF7, Zack was simply Cloud’s army buddy who got captured and experimented on for years before escaping with Cloud to Midgar.
After being run down from such an arduous journey, Zack is tragically executed by two of Shinra’s thugs. Before passing on, he says his final words to Cloud, giving him his iconic Buster Sword. InCrisis Core, with Zack being the player-empowered protagonist, he seemingly takes down half of Shinra’s forces before succumbing to his wounds and giving a more awake and alert Cloud a long soliloquy and a goodbye. Thesechanges echoed out toRemake, which ran with its own continuity.
This character isn’t the only example ofaResident Evilretcon, but it is the most obvious. Everyone’s favorite virus-superpowered eugenicist enthusiast, Albert Wesker, was originally supposed to be the shady (pun intended) team member who got what was coming to him for betraying the group at the end of the originalResident Evil.
However,Resident Evil - Code Veronicaestablished that he had not only survived but was the mastermind behind the events of the first, second, and third games. In subsequent games, with his super strength, super speed, and near invulnerability, he would attempt to submerge the whole world in viral chaos.
The firstPokemongames brought many gamers a kind of experience they had never seen before in a familiar, somewhat contemporary setting. The idea of catching monsters rather than slaying them all was novel, as was having players explore a slightly more technologically advanced mirror of the real world.Pokemon Red and Blue, and the early sequels,Gold and Silver, had players explore the real-life Japanese regions of Kanto and Johto.
As they advanced through the story, they would find several references to the real world, including a gym leader from the United States of America (Lt. Surge) and Pokemon capable of crossing the Pacific Ocean with kicks (Poliwrath). However, along withmany other Poke-recons, the series eschewed real-life locations and countries for fantasy ones. For example, Kalos and Galar are clearly inspired by France and the United Kingdom, respectively, but are overt fictions.
Originally, the Master Sword was simply a powerful relic, and Ganon was a warlock-turned-demon king with unclear origins. That all changed when Nintendo droppedThe Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword, which rewrote the foundation of the entire Zelda timeline. The game introduced Demise, an ancient evil sealed away by the goddess Hylia.
After his defeat, Demise cursed Link and Zelda’s bloodlines to be forever hunted by his reincarnated hatred (Ganon). The Master Sword was revealed to be the Goddess Sword reborn, infused with Fi, the Goddess Sword’s native spirit, and fated to find Link in his every battle against Demise’s successor. This retcon didn’t just add backstory but hardwired destiny into every Zelda game to come.
