So I made this Ultimate Timeline Form of the games from 1991 to 2018

Sonic Chronicles ended on a cliffhanger which was never properly resolved, and Sonic CD isn’t on that elevator either, so it doesn’t de-canonise it as much as say that Mania happens before 4 or on another timeline.

 

I feel like a lot of stuff gets stretched to get everything shoved together into one continuous/branching timeline. I don't think Sonic 4 should be connected to the main timeline. The 8-bit versions of Sonic 1 and 2 seem like a separate timeline from the start. Sonic '06 is a reboot that either exists in its own pocket universe or starts a new unrelated timeline.

I don't know, I just think it's clear that some games keep some continuity, while others hold loose continuity, and others are entirely separated. I don't see why these different games need a justifiable through-line outside of the original mainline titles, which loosely follow to Adventure. Not knocking anyone for engaging in the mental exercise, just my thoughts.

I agree with the idea that Metal Sonic is the final revision of Eggman's robot Sonic creations. It's the least industrial looking, most streamlined version (which is actually why it's my least favorite).

 

From my perspective, each robotic doppelganger has different design to cover a different purpose. Metal Sonic is the best, but probably not the sturdiest, so we get the opposite approach in 16-bit Sonic 2, a sturdy, menacing and simple to assemble "Sonic tank" that could be produced en masse as stormtroopers had Sonic not defeated the Death Egg the first time. Later Doc built the one in 3K as an intermediate model, smarter and with more tricks but still solid enough and, needed for the first time, capable of extracting energy from the Master Emerald and use it to get super. It didn't work either, so from there on, Robotnik stuck to the reliable Metal Sonic, updating him to do stuff like becoming Metal Sonic Kai and anything else it has done since.

On a side note, too many games try to happen just after 3K, so I would just line them up in the order they were released. Sonic CD as a prequel to Sonic 1 isn't that far fetched, Doc is using "time seeds" to power up his badniks in that game, so the habit of imprisoning little animals inside them could have come later, and he could have learnt about the time stones after invading little planet, so later he could have investigated similar legends and found about the chaos emeralds located on a harder to find place (you know, South Island swirls and moves through the sea). The moveset would be the only thing against going before Sonic 1. What I find harder to believe is Tails leaving Sonic alone that easily after 3K, by the time it would have happened Sonic would already be his adventure self.

 

Yasushi Yamaguchi says Sonic CD takes place between Sonic 1 and 2.

http://shmuplations.com/soniccd/

A few months ago Masato Nishimura noted the seeming contradiction of Mecha Sonic being less advanced than Metal Sonic.

 

I google translated this for anyone who wants to know (very roughly):

“Well, Eggman seems to do it. The time series of 2 and CD is also ambiguous, and Mr. Yamaguchi of the design seems to have assumed that CD is between 1 and 2, but Metal Sonic is more perfect as a gadget than Mecha Sonic 2 There is also a contradiction that performance is improving.”

 

I've always seen Sonic 1 16-bit and Sonic 1 8-bit as the same story, told in two different ways. It seems likely they both come from the same design, and share Green Hill, Labyrinth, and Scrap Brain (with Marble also clearly planned at some point), both take place on South Island, and both have six emeralds that, when collectively used, remove Eggman's influence from the island.

Obviously this doesn't apply for the other 8-bit games.

 

The proologue in the Japanese Sonic 1 Game Gear manual is slightly interesting. At first glance it's just a condensed version of the prologue in the Mega Drive manual, however it also removes the reference to the animals being turned into robots, and just mentions them being imprisoned instead.

Mega Drive:

Game Gear:

Obviously, the reason animals don't pop out of robots in the 8-bit version is purely due to hardware limitations, but it's nice attention to detail that they took that change into account when writing the manual. (Which Sega of America didn't.)

 

Some people might know I like my timelines too, having previously posted about the Sonic timeline in the past. Most of the games do generally fit in by release date, though some are clearly after others.

I’ve put together the Sonic Series timeline, something I’ve always kept track of, adding new games and time travel twists in to keep it consistent.


https://imgur.com/a/dkxR8Vf


Things I considered:

*The 8-Bit games are not canon. One could pretend that Sonic 1 8-Bit leads to Sonic 1 16-Bit and whether you collect the Chaos Emeralds or not determines what games you play next, however I don’t like to make baseless assumptions but focus on the information contained within the games themselves to make my decisions reasonably, unless there are clear points that contradict other games.

*The racing games could be canon, but like the Mario and Sonic games they do not need to be placed within a timeline and are generally considered to be a side series. They also cause issues with 4th wall breaking, referencing other game series.

*Outside of Little Planet, in most cases that time travel occurs it causes an offshoot of time a bit like the branching end of Ocarina of Time. As such you’ll see there are a number of different timelines which until a certain point are really one and the same until an action occurs caused by Eggman of the future.


*Sonic Mania references SEGA Sonic, Sonic CD and Knuckles Chaotix, and therefore they must all be set before it. Whilst references are also made to Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic Fighters, both of those are impossible to place due to numerous inconsistencies and thus are fun fan-service references only which do not cause continuity errors, in the same way that Mean Bean Machine references do not cause issues.


*Sonic CD must come before Sonic 2 as Sonic 3 & Knuckles occurs very shortly after as a direct sequel, and cannot be set after S3&K as Sonic 4 is supposedly set not long afterwards. Therefore it must come before Sonic 2. There is an argument that the progression of Metal Sonic designs doesn’t make sense this way, however consider that Silver Mecha Sonic is a prototype of the S3&K Mecha Sonic, which in many ways is more advanced than Metal Sonic, being able to absorb the Master Emerald’s energy. Sonic CD also shares an art style with Sonic 1 and has been previously noted by staff to be set before Sonic 2, which it was in development alongside. Both Mecha Sonic’s are shown in stasis in Sonic Adventure, however it is shown across numerous games that Metal Sonic is fetched and rebuilt as preference over the other two. Sonic Mania shows two other Metal Sonic’s, referencing CD and Chaotix, and Metal Sonic also transforms in to a powerful version in reference to the latter.


*Another important thing to note about Metal Sonic is that he is shown in Heroes to have a superiority complex, and does not want to become obsolete, a reference to how he and other Eggman robots have been shown to be treated in past games.


*Knuckles Chaotix cannot exist in the main timeline as Charmy Bee doesn’t know who Eggman is. It was also officially stated that Heroes re-introduced Team Chaotix as rebooted characters. As Knuckles Chaotix takes place after S3&K and is referenced in Mania, it must take place in a separate time to Sonic 4, and this makes sense given that the art-style also changes.

*Sonic 4 does not have an ending - no matter what we try to do it’s clear that this game has not and likely will not be finished.

*Sonic Chronicles does not have a traditional follow-up game, however, it is not unreasonable to suggest that Sonic Unleashed - which starts with Eggman having the upper hand - could be the next game. It was also released around the same time, following the general rule of Sonic continuity. As Sonic Chronicles will never have a sequel and can be placed without too much issue, I opted to include this as canon. If further evidence supports it, this game could be placed as non-canon.

*Sonic Battle takes place after Shadow The Hedgehog due to multiple in-depth references from Shadow to Maria and Gerald Robotnik. Shadow doesn’t actually regain his memory in Shadow The Hedgehog, he simply learns of his past in Shadow, and continues to come to terms with it in Battle.

*Sonic Advance 3 takes place after Sonic Battle due to it following the Emerl storyline. It also takes place before Sonic Rush, which directly references Cream, her mother and other past events.

*Sonic 2006’s entire storyline is wiped from existence and is largely self-contained, however Shadow now works for G.U.N and is completely over his past meaning that it takes place after Sonic Battle. In this timeline Silver and Blaze know each other, but after the decimation of earth is prevented they will never meet in the revised time that follows.

Interesting to note is that the blue emerald in this game is somewhere for ten years prior. This does not cause problems with the games previously as people often believe. The issue is a paradox self-contained and created by the time travel in this story, which is essentially unwritten by the game’s end.

*Sonic Rush and Rush Adventure take place before Sonic Rivals. Whilst characters believed Eggman Nega was an alternate version of Eggman, Rivals reveals he’s actually his descendant. Silver and Blaze do not know of one another in this time due to the events of Sonic 2006.

*I feel this timeline set-up allows both current Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic games to co-exist as separate timelines effectively creating separate dimensions. It also allows non-favourable games to fade in to obscurity. You could skip Sonic 2006 entirely but I felt it an important game to keep in the timeline considering that Generations makes references to it.

*It’s important to note that SEGA use both ‘past’ and ‘alternative dimension’ descriptions when talking about Classic / Modern without really explaining why or when each term is applicable. A separate timeline is effectively a separate dimension and I believe that they don’t want to reference them in marketing material as past games in fear of them being viewed as novelty retro games. SEGA aim to have both Sonic’s co-exist but clearly time travel is an element because Classic Sonic comes from previous games.

Edit: You will see that there’s no clear reason why Knuckles Chaotix happens in place of Sonic R in the classic timeline but around that time two anomalies occur. So possibly it occurs due to a butterfly effect, or as SEGA might say, ‘it’s the past but of another dimension!’

 

I was thinking about how to explain the canonicity of the racing games (Sonic R in particular) since it makes no sense that Sonic and Tails would have a friendly race with Eggman. But if you look at it as a matter of perspective it makes more sense. We see a mainline game like an epic story, but Sonic sees it as just a big game of tag. Sonic chases Eggman, stops his plans. Eggman then chases Sonic and tries to blow him up. To Sonic SA2 and Sonic R are both just a game.

 

That’s right, Sonic 4 does happen because of Generations and my timeline does reflect that. Classic Sonic then goes back after starting to learn the jump dash and then a short while afterwards Sonic 4 happens. Mania happens because of Forces - going back in time again to a different point creates another divergence, which is consistent with a lot of other media that convey time travel.

The time travel element would lead to the conclusion that all characters in all continuities exist, but are treading different paths, so Fang / Nack, Bean and Bark would still exist somewhere.

Sonic Mania has three Metal Sonics’ visible: two in stasis and the main one fighting you which then transforms in to a large one like Knuckles Chaotix. Without Chaotix coming before it, there wouldn’t have been two Metal Sonic models seen already and the transformation seems to be a clear reference and slight evolution of that previous version.

Well generally unless there’s something that really contradicts they should follow release order.
The Tornado (Red biplane version) is seen in later games, with the latest being Sonic Lost World, so it’s definitely been repaired by Tails since Sonic Adventure.

That’s definitely the case. Sonic is made out to be easygoing and make a game of everything he does. Also, Robotnik’s clearly testing his Mecha characters in R, which is why you battle them as you go on.

 

Sonic Mania makes no references to the plot of Chaotix. There's no reason the giant blue Metal Sonic couldn't predate the giant red Metal Sonic, for example. Eggman makes contact with Metal Sonic on Little Planet, suggesting that this is the first time he's been seen since Sonic CD.

Sonic and Tails never learn that Eggman Nega was behind everything in the Rivals games, since he was disguised as Eggman. So the chronology is still ambiguous. Although it does flow better if the Rush games, where Nega was willing to team up with Eggman, takes place before Rivals, where they are enemies.

They used "the past" in Sonic Generations, and "another dimension" in everything since. As far as I'm aware, they haven't used the two interchangeably. It used to be A, now it is B.

 

Mania happens because of Forces? Did you play the game? Did you forget the ending?
Classic Sonic, in Mania's true ending, gets warped into Forces with the Phantom Ruby.
So no, Forces, from Classic Sonic's side, happens because of Mania, in some crazy way.
Heck, the whole of Forces may have actually happened because of Mania's events.

And now I'm getting a headache. These timeline things are quite insane to my brain...

To me, that was SEGA retconning the connection between Classic & Modern stories due to Mania and so.

 

No I haven’t played it actually, but I’ve watched my brother do so and seen the cutscenes.

Doesn’t Tails in Forces suggest that Classic Sonic has been pulled to the future due to Infinite’s powers affecting other dimensions? I was sure that Sonic Mania only happened because of the effects of the Phantom Ruby in the future and I was right: game material states that the Ruby appeared on Angel Island after an inter dimensional breach, seemingly caused by Infinite in Forces. Had this not happened, the very first cutscene of Mania wouldn’t have happened as the Ruby wouldn’t have been there and thus the game wouldn’t have started.

In the original timeline the Phantom Ruby never appeared on Angel Island. It was only when Infinite obtained it in Forces that the past was changed thus splitting it from the main timeline as a divergence and causing Sonic Mania to happen.

So just to clarify, Classic Sonic in Generations is the original past timeline version and because of rifts in time that occur due to repeated time travel, Classic Sonic from Mania in Forces is actually from a split timeline and not the same Classic Sonic as in Generations and thus from another dimension but in the past. The way I set my timeline out makes this hard to make out, but I didn’t know how to convey this complication without making it run off the entire page.