Top Ten Good Retcons

I think my favorite retcon is: Hal Jordan didn't became evil and killed every Green Lantern ever, including his friends like Kilowog. What really happened is that Hal was inffected by Parallax, the fear entity. I think that is a really good retcon because 1.-making him evil was really against character, 2.-it allowed Hal to come back as a hero and 3.-it open the door to a whole new possibilities for DC stories and expand the GL lore.

A good retcon is usually one that retcons something that was hated from the start. Like how Avengers 200 was eventually retconned by Marvel Comics.

I always loved how Sonic handled the Robotnik name change. Instead of just sweeping localization changes under the rug, they decided to adopt the westernized "Robotnik" as Eggman's actual family name in Adventure 2. Meanwhile in the English version of Adventure 1 Sonic would call just him "Eggman" as an insult, before he just accepted that as his super villain moniker for the rest of the series.

People often don't pay much attention to good retcons Cuz usually a good retcon is one you don't realize is a retcon When you do, it usually means it was done poorly

Goku being an alien is so ingrained to dragon ball at this point you forget that it was a retcon.

I'm actually a bit surprised to not see Raven Beak on this list... Raven Beak shattered a lot of preexisting ideas of how the Chozo were, and yet was a good villain, one of the best Final Bosses in any Metroid game, and a very convenient way to tie up the plot arc of Samus's relationship with the Metroids. It's almost hard to believe that character was created by the MercurySteam staff themselves and not a pre-conceived concept from Nintendo's vaults or a canon immigrant from a manga spinoff.

The funny thing about the Precursor reveal is that Seem, and presumably the other monks, knew. They knew and didn't tell Veger. Multiple times Seem directs some kind of mention of resembling 'our creators' toward Daxter, the last one being a statement of gratitute for granting her the chance 'to see the face of my creators'. I believe that's right after Jak gains the ability to sprout wings in his Light Eco-empowered form.

it is dissapointing how we never learned what is samurai jack's real name. (jack is not his real name, it is a nickname that some kids gave to him when he first went to the future and he decided to adopt it).

I really like the way Star Wars dealt with Boba Fett's original backstory. Before Attack of the Clones came out, his real name was revealed to be Jaster Mereel, and was given a backstory. Instead of just throwing it away, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter established that Jaster was Jango Fett's master, and also that both Boba and Jango have used Jaster's name as a fake identity. This is still the case now, as the backstory given in The Mandalorian for Jango matches up with it. A lot of other stories were just thrown out of continuity entirely, so it was nice that some of it was kept, simply altered a bit.

Bayonetta 2 retroactively makes Bayonetta 1's story way more interesting. I'm surprised it didn't get an honorable mention here.

One of my favorite retcons in recent memory HAS to be the revelations about the ancients in Sonic Frontiers and how it completely changes the game on not only what Chao are but also explains what chaos is and why he looks the way he is.

I thought, for a while, that Zanza and The Architect were meant to represent Klaus’ Ego and Id, respectively.

Retcons are an interesting species of Story Structure, there have been a lot of cases where retconning Is bad, so retconning a story and turning out good is a rare thing to happen.

At this point, I believe that a countdown of bad retcons is... inevitable.

Devil's advocate here, but for number 4- I think the creators had THIS line in mind for when Jack and Ashi went through all that: "If you want to break someone—mentally, physically, emotionally—wait until they're happy. Let them live and love and thrive. Once they recognize the value of a life well lived... THAT'S when you move in for the kill. Because you can't take anything from someone who has nothing to lose." -Tarn, Transformers. TL;DR for Robo-Deathstroke over here- fate basically decided to pull an Othello, or something like that XP

I actually cried for Berkut in the Shadows Over Valentia Remake (didn't even know it was a remake until now) the man still had so much room for growth in the final hour of the game but he was seduced by Duma's powerful temptation, sacrificing his own fiancée in exchange for power and a chilling battle in which Rinea becomes a spectral flame ghost to fight alongside him, and finishing him off actually pained me.

Actually, my favourite gaming retcon is Blizzard's doing - yeah, oxymoron now. But the recontextualization of the Horde between Warcraft 2 and 3, from generic doomsday villains to a developed if simple culture decieved into becoming puppets of demons and the resulting split between seeking atonement and new path or embracing the bloody legacy of Burning Legion. There is a reason why spiritual, close-to-nature portrayal of orcs is called "Blizzard-like" nowadays.

The only retcon I can think of comes from the Carmen Sandiego games. Originally, Carmen's backstory is described as being a double-, triple-, even quadruple-agent for so many countries, even she has forgotten who she's truly loyal to. It's a simple, if absurd, backstory overall and not really something you think about as you're playing. However, in "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?", the ending shows Carmen attempting to steal a file about her, which was her big goal all along. After her arrest, the Chief reveals the contents to the player: Carmen Sandiego was once an agent for ACME, the same detective agency the player had been working for. In fact, she used to their best agent. Unfortunately, being the best meant there was no challenge in catching crooks, so she decided that outsmarting ACME itself was more worth her time, leading her to become the villainess we know today. It's a change that makes Carmen seem like more than just a petty thief; she's more like a rival. It turns her regular taunting from typical bad guy bluster into goading you into continuing her game, both the actual computer game and her in-universe "game." And on the narrative side, future games like "Treasures of Knowledge" would call into question just how much of a "bad guy" Carmen truly is.

Actually Devil May Cry 3 sold 2.3 million units in the launch period, Devil May Cry 4 sold 3 million units in the launch period, & the reboot took 5 years to sell 3 million units

A little extra tippet for the Xenoblade Chronicles Retcon: During Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Klaus explains how there was a third aegis along side Pneuma and Logos (Pyra/Mythra and Malos) called "Ontos" that went to the other world. The third aegis is Alvis, A character at the end on Xenoblade Chronicles 1 describes himself as a computer program, which is exactly what the trinity processer was. To add even more they slightly tweaked his design in the remake. in the original he wore a key necklace. They changed it in the Definitive Edition to be the red aegis crystal to reflect how he's the third aegis Klaus was referring too. The DLC of xenoblade chronicles 3 "Future Redeemed" explores this further and outright confirms Alivs is Ontos