Guidelines:Canon

The canon policy of Megami Tensei Wiki defines what the wiki considers to be canon and how it should be approached.

General

In general, Megami Tensei Wiki considers that each individual piece of media occupies its own space of canonicity and, unless officially stated by Atlus, do not overlap. For instance, a video game and its manga adaptation do not share the same canonicity; what is canon to the video game is only canon to that game, and what is canon to its adaptation is only canon to the adaptation itself. To facilitate this distinction, the wiki separates media appearances into their own sections by type. I.e. Game Appearances for games, Anime Appearances for animated media, etc.

Headcanons, i.e. a personal, often speculative interpretation or belief about a media that has not been explicitly confirmed by the media itself or its author, must be avoided on the wiki. Any statement added must reflect what is confirmed by the media. For that reason, it is highly recommended and encouraged to cite statements made with credible sources of information.

Non-Megami Tensei Media

The following media properties are not officially considered to be part of the Megami Tensei franchise and will not be covered on the wiki:

• Catherine
• Etrian Odyssey series
• Maken X
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Power Instinct / Gōketsuji Ichizoku series
• Any other media featuring cameos of Megami Tensei demons or characters, such as Jack Frost or Morgana cameos

In general, media are only ever considered to be part of Megami Tensei if they are either an installment to a pre-existing Megami Tensei series, or if Atlus staff have explicitly confirmed the media to be part of the franchise.

Maken X has been stated to not be Megami Tensei. Metaphor: ReFantazio has been stated to not be Megami Tensei since its initial announcement as Re Fantasy in 2016, and unless a new statement is issued overturning this, the original statement is taken to still be true.

While many intellectual properties owned by Atlus and/or Sega frequently make references or cameos to the Megami Tensei franchise, these do not make an IP part of the franchise. Characters or demons who guest appear or cameo in other media works can have these appearances covered in their "Other Appearances" section, but the media works themselves will otherwise not be covered on the wiki. For example: Joker appears as a DLC guest character in Catherine: Full Body and this can be covered in his "Other Appearances" section. The game itself, however, is not actually part of the Megami Tensei franchise and will not receive its own page or coverage on the wiki.

Additionally, while some Atlus games may share the same developmental staff, have similar thematic elements, or incorporate gameplay mechanics from Megami Tensei games, the inclusion of these do not automatically constitute as explicit confirmation. Metaphor: ReFantazio's inclusion of Megami Tensei spells and other gameplay elements do not explicitly confirm it to be part of the franchise. Only official statements from Atlus staff can confirm whether a game is or is not Megami Tensei.

Canon Preference

Megami Tensei Wiki regards certain sources of information as canon by a tier of preference. As these are subject to certain criteria exceptions, these preferences are further clarified in the sections below.

1. Japanese
2. Localization
3. Fan translations

Localization versus Japanese Canon

By large, Japanese canon overwrites any localization changes that significantly alter the original's canonicity, with any differences clarified in a note. An example of this is Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3, who speaks English in the original Japanese canon, but who speaks French in the game's English localization. Under the canon preference rule, the wiki should state that Mitsuru canonically speaks English, while the localization change is clarified in a note.

Names present in the English localizations should still be used on the wiki, for ease of searching, unless the media's narrative is significantly affected by specific changes to the point where using both localized and Japanese sources would become incompatible. For example, the radical localization changes present in "Revelations: Persona" would not be treated as canon. A character like Kei Nanjo, for instance, would not be referred to by his localized name of Nate Trinity. Information regarding these changes can still be noted on the wiki. Redirects of alternate names can and should also be created.

Fan Translations

Because fan translations are not officially endorsed by Atlus or Sega and often take certain liberties that are not approved by either, these should be treated with a level of scrutiny as sources of information. To name one example, the Aeon Genesis fan translations are known to have significantly altered the original scripts with changes and additions that are never said in the originals. As such, these cannot be treated as canon. Ideally, the original Japanese or localized scripts should always be used as sources of information wherever possible.

Given the inaccessibility of many Japanese-only media however, the wiki will not fault contributors for turning to fan translations as their sole source of accessible information; though it is still preferred to verify the translation's authenticity where possible. In the event that a game has both an official English localization and a fan translation, the localization must always take priority, i.e. the iOS localization of Shin Megami Tensei is strongly preferred over the game's fan translations.

If a citation does cite a quote from a fan translation, the transl= parameter must be used to clarify the translation source of the quote. Names used in fan translations can be mentioned in passing and should also be made as redirects.

Unlocalized Media

If a piece of media was never officially translated or localized, its title and subjects therein should either retain their original Japanese names or go by a direct translation, even if that media received a fan translation. For example: the demon Melusine in Shin Megami Tensei if... is referred to as such on the wiki, instead of the fan translated name "Mary Jane".

In-game descriptions (such as Compendium entries or item descriptions) should also be documented by their Japanese script wherever possible; i.e. Template:GameDesc and Template:Compendium should display the original Japanese description with games that were never localized. Ideally, these should also be accompanied with a direct translation using Template:DescTransl, though it is not necessary to include a translation if one cannot be presently obtained.