This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments or questions on this topic should be made in a new Senate Hall page rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record. Graestan(Talk) 22:04, June 2, 2010 (UTC)
Does anyone know how we treat elements from the Super Nintendo line of Super Star Wars games? I'm looking at Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, where one of the enemies is the frog-dog. Now, the plotline of the game itself is obviously non-canon, as it differs from what we see in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, it's novelization, radio drama, comic adaptation, etc. But what about other elements of the game? One of the enemies is the frog-dog, and the game is the only representation of how these things move (they hop like a toad). It also shows that they bite enemies (which doesn't strain credibility, but it's the only example we have of how they attack). However, it also features a giant frog-dog, the boss of one of the levels. It is taller than any of the main characters and spits smaller frog-dogs at them.
So, is any of this info canon? Is the giant frog-dog canon, even if the actual battle between it and Our Heroes isn't? Do frog-dogs reproduce by parthenogenesis? ~ SavageBob 18:31, January 8, 2010 (UTC)
- Well I can't see why not. I suppose it's canon, since no-one at LA has said otherwise. SoresuMakashi(Everything I tell you is the truth) 08:20, January 10, 2010 (UTC)
- Wouldn't a lot of that fall under the "game mechanics are not canon" rule? —Silly Dan (talk) 13:47, January 10, 2010 (UTC)
- Per Dan. How they move and bite may well be correct, but the giant boss seems like game mechanics to me. Green Tentacle (Talk) 13:58, January 10, 2010 (UTC)
- I always interpreted "game mechanics are not canon" to mean, say, that a game with ship X able to move 30 beebles per second is not a canonical measurement of its speed that a novel writer down the road has to pay attention to. The way the ship looks and how it moves would be. So, for the frog-dogs, I'd be more inclined to accept the jumping and biting as canon, but not the height they can jump (as high as the player or higher). And the giant one, well, that's not game mechanics, that's just a giant frog-dog. In the end, though, perhaps it would be safest to put all this in BTS? ~ SavageBob 18:03, January 10, 2010 (UTC)
- BTS is probably safest, IMO. Chack Jadson (Talk) 23:12, January 10, 2010 (UTC)
- BTS sounds like a good compromise, but to me though, the giant frog-dog is not game mechanics, and neither is the parthenogenesis. If in the video game, we saw the boss frog dog at a normal size reproducing "normally", then we would not be having this discussion and probably would have taken it as canon straight off that they reproduce sexually. So why not in this case? Since this is another galaxy, we are not meant to make assumptions; we cannot assume that just because something didn't reproduce sexually, something is wrong, and therefore cannot be canon. In fact, we can't even assume it was reproduction IMO. They could simply have been living inside the boss like certain fish on Earth do with their offspring. As for the size, there could be any number of reasons that could explain it. There are many examples of mutated/oversized creatures in canon. Maybe even all the other ones were young frog-dogs, and the boss is in fact their normal mature size. Who knows? SoresuMakashi(Everything I tell you is a lie) 06:52, January 11, 2010 (UTC)
- Imo, you should be able to use the information in the main body of the text, particularly as you can now cross reference it with the Players Guide info. While the guide itself has some ambiguity, I'm sure you'll be able to stay true to this source. --Eyrezer 00:12, January 16, 2010 (UTC)
- Eh, I'd be cautious about outright dismissing the game-mechanics aspect of "boss that's bigger than normal spitting out smaller underlings." It was a common theme of video games from the era. That said, even if what we see IS totally true, it doesn't require parthenogenesis nor giving birth through the mouth; some version of mouthbrooding is also a reasonable explanation. My call? Save the boss game mechanics for the Bts and let the reader decide what to make of it. jSarek 01:48, January 16, 2010 (UTC)
- I always interpreted "game mechanics are not canon" to mean, say, that a game with ship X able to move 30 beebles per second is not a canonical measurement of its speed that a novel writer down the road has to pay attention to. The way the ship looks and how it moves would be. So, for the frog-dogs, I'd be more inclined to accept the jumping and biting as canon, but not the height they can jump (as high as the player or higher). And the giant one, well, that's not game mechanics, that's just a giant frog-dog. In the end, though, perhaps it would be safest to put all this in BTS? ~ SavageBob 18:03, January 10, 2010 (UTC)