I know it's not the most common opinion, but I've always been a big advocate that CD takes place after 3K. The main reason for this is the existence of Metal Sonic - which is often shown for good reason to be one of the most formidable machines Eggman has ever built and pushed Sonic to the edge in Stardust Speedway. If CD came after Sonic 1 and before 2, I can't think of a good reason why Eggman would dump one of his best designs ever for the much more clunky and cumbersome Mecha Sonic on the Death Egg, and then the Mecha Sonic from Angel Island which is still lower quality than Metal. It always looked to me as if Eggman over time improved his robot Sonic impostors, learning from his mistakes of the past two to create Metal. It also makes sense that CD would be after 3K but before Chaotix. After 3K and the complete destruction of the Death Egg, Eggman probably felt pretty demoralized towards anything concerning the chaos emeralds and master emerald at that point and decided to activate a different kind of plan, using the different time stones. Getting away from Knuckles who he sees likely as a pretty staunch opponent after Knuckles' part of 3K's story, decides to take refuge on the Little Planet where he can set up a decent base of operations. Of course, Sonic ends that, but Eggman now develops bigger plans with Metal Sonic. Then the events of Chaotix happen, and Eggman becomes interested in the master emerald again after discovering the super ring and figuring out how to crystallize ring energy which gives him new advantages. He then rebuilds Metal Sonic as Metal Sonic Kai to use the dark ring power. Just my thoughts.
This has been discussed before and there are many reasons for how could Metal Sonic be built before the Mecha Sonics. The most popular one is that each robot was design with a specific motif in mind: Metal Sonic for speed, Mecha Sonic for combat and Mecha Sonic mk 2 for absorbing the Master Emerald. After 3K, Eggman realizes that the speed type was the best one and sticks with it.
I suppose that's possible, but something just feels off to me about this idea. I like the thought of Eggman consistently learning about Sonic's power in battle and as a result, is constantly improving the design. I think even the appearances of each robot back this up: the first Mecha Sonic is huge, clunky, and looks relatively little like Sonic, only understanding the rudimentary of how Sonic fights. Mecha Sonic on Sky Sanctuary is a touch sleeker than the first and is definitely faster and more intelligent and durable than the first. Metal Sonic corrects all the faults with Mecha II, being even faster, more intelligent, and simplifying the design further into the most efficient design.
Consistency in design is something that Eggman (and the franchise as a whole) definitely doesn't have.
This is why I choose the Future Metal Sonic theory for my go to now. He is the most advanced, but it makes sense if Robotnik can literally go to the future, and it's not like Robotnik's literally spending all his time in said future...
There's not much we can say about this one since we have never seen it in action. It may have been a side project to combine Metal Sonic's design with the "heaviness" of the first Mecha Sonic, but he decided against ever using it. This could be an incomplete prototype for all we know anyway, since it is in a stasis tube and we don't know Eggman's intentions for it.
Metal Sonic is in the same tube, and we know he's active at least. So the tube does not denote prototype status.
Silver Sonic 2 / Mecha Sonic / Whatever the fuck sonic seems like nothing more than a glorified developer in-joke at this point, assuming the theory that he's a parody of Mecha Godzilla is correct. He has about as much importance as the egg carrier maid robots.
At any rate, there's no definitive proof that CD didn't happen after 3K. All it seems like is that there are alternate interpretations, and CD being after 2/3K makes the most sense to me. EDIT: But all the same, I've never considered the idea that Metal and Mecha were built for different purposes idea before, it definitely is interesting. Maybe it's because I've always thought that Metal was both fast AND powerful, and the reason there's a race instead of a fight in Stardust Speedway is because Eggman finally managed a doppelganger robot that is as fast, if not faster than Sonic and he wants to rub it into his face, and Metal Sonic would still be tougher in direct combat but it's just not seen in CD. If we take the different purposes angle to the max though, maybe while Metal Sonic is still as powerful as I describe, the Mecha Sonics are built like tanks, in that even though they're not quite as fast as Metal they're nearly impossible to tear into. Gives me some stuff to think about.
You know- besides the fact that Ian Flynn confirmed that Sega's current stance is that CD takes place before Sonic 2- not to mention he's actually in the post 3&K camp and has gone on record saying that he disapproves of Sega's placement for the game...
That could change, since CD was placed after 3K during the development of Sonic 4. I hope it doesn't, because I like CD before 2 better, but it could. Mania's manual kinda suggests that Mania happens not long after 3K, so CD before 2 makes more sense - for now.
While I've always placed SCD before S2, there's something attractive in thinking Eggman would start two schemes at the same time (SCD and Chaotix) and go back and forth between both bases to fight Sonic and Knuckles separately while Tails pays a visit to Cocoa Island, with Sonic and Tails going back to Angel Island in time to appear in the credits of Chaotix. Each copy of Metal Sonic would have been put against a different kind of rival to check out different setups for it derived from the previous mechs (2/3K).
That's news to me actually. I never knew SEGA actually confirmed anything. Guess I'm with Flynn on this.
He could be just a modern redesign of Mecha mk1. Tails Adventure is set before Sonic 2. Also, Sega holds that there is only one Metal Sonic.
I just looked in the Sonic Encyclo-Speed-Ia. It calls Emerl "a Gizoid" multiple times. So chances are we could see more Gizoid characters in the future, since Ian Flynn has expressed interest in re-exploring Emerl's origins in the future. The Sonic Encyclo-Speed-Ia: A highly adaptive battle called "a Gizoid."
I meant as in a character design change. Getting his character design updated (out-of-universe) for the new Dreamcast era, just like everyone else in SA1.
Eggman Nega's Sonic Channel comic page had this to say about Sonic Rush: http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/special/comic/25th/20161014_001182/ Ｄｒ.エッグマンと手を組み、ブレイズの住む世界へと悪の手を伸ばしました。残酷でズル賢い悪役キャラクターとして登場しましたが、その言動は、あのブレイズを本気で怒らせるほどでしたよ！ DeepL translation: He teamed up with Dr. Eggman to extend his evil hand to the world where Blaze lives. He came across as a cruel, cheating villainous character, but his words and actions were enough to really piss off that Blaze! There were several mistakes in the Encyclo-speed-ia. The Gizoid name hasn't been applied to G-merl or the Phi series. (In the games at least, I don't know what the Encyclo-speed-ia says about them.)
