And the script changes. The Japanese had it that the worlds were merged outright at that point in time, not simply "starting to merge", and the Chaos Control was to split them back apart. The concern was the timelines merging: Earth and Sonic's World were merged by that point.
17:07 - Would you ever want to use Little Planet, West Side Island, Flicky Island or South Island in the IDW Sonic Comics? (...) - (...) I'm not opposed to returning to any of those places. I wonder if some of them might be considered Classic-only at this point? I honestly don't know. (...) Far from a big revelation or anything, but I found it interesting.
Ah yes, the second of the splits. Time to prepare my bitching. *ahem* Little Planet was mentioned, and seen in via flashbacks, Sonic Adventure. Therefore, they're the same timeline, and screw whoever says otherwise!
It may be less to do with being confined to a single timeline as it is Sega trying to keep classic material confined to what they do with classic sonic to avoid confusion. Not to say it hasn't totally backfired, but that would seem to be the reasoning.
I agree but it's funny to see Sega making a decision to avoid confusion instead of creating confusion.
Little Planet is the easy part. South Island and West Side Island are the hard one. We have locations like Green Hill and Chemical Planet but there is no confirmation that they belong to these islands in the modern continuity. And we know Sega likes to make things convoluted for no reason.
In my head canon, Green Hill appears in multiple locations because it’s a part of South Island which moves around in the sea. That’s why it pops up in different places. Chemical Plant appears multiple times because Eggman builds multiple versions (just like he has built several different Death Eggs).
What worries me about that statement is he not knowing the current canon for them when, iirc, he's in charge of the encyclo-speed-ia.
I don't have much lore-wise hope in the encyclo-speed-ia. But I really wanna see it telling the plot of Sonic Pocket Adventure, this would be interesting to know.
31:51 Someone asked Ian about Classic Sonic being from the past or from another dimension or if Generations split it up, and if the classic games are canon to the modern continuity. Ian answered that, in his assumption ("do not take that as canon" he said), Generations cause the split so before that he was from the past and now it is an alternative dimension.
Not me, I dislike the idea. Unless Sonic Rangers is a Sonic Adventure remake in the alternate timeline...
That would be... Kinda cool. I wonder if the game is going to have some synergy with Sonic Prime. I mean, we have so many different versions of Sonic now - why not capitalise on the concept? Marvel is doing it and it works.
I mean, the timeline split is probably the easiest way to explain how both assertions about Classic Sonic could be true. It's not too surprising Ian would come to the same conclusion.