I read through those links (ha) and I agree, they knew the overall story was interesting to players, but intentionally elevated story over continuity. That was my original point.

The same debates happen about early games made with far less intention and artistry. For those games I’d be surprised if there was much care about canon at all.

Especially when the studio which made game v1 was fired and a new studio was asked to take some random game in development and update the sprite to look like v1’s box art. And 40 years later people are arguing about timelines and character arcs?