The Sonic the Hedgehog Continuity Thread of Love and Timelines

A fine line could be struck between comfortably interweaving a character with subtlety and a bombastic entrance, and would most likely depend on who is being introduced. In general, a "Long time no see!" wouldn't be awful, but remember that this would hypothetically be an IDW character's first proper introduction into the games! A warm welcome would be bliss, and some tact and care given towards those who had grown up with Sonic via the IDW comics would be refreshing.

Though the idea of Lanolin getting an entrance with magical girl bravado would be highly amusing to see, she's an example of someone who can easily be dropped into a story without difficulty and progressively built well upon later, with further expansion and explanation on her now current ties to the Diamond Cutters.

 

Sadly it's getting increasingly harder to get straight answers about the canon in the BumbleKast.



2:10 - Now that Dream Team is out and the spoiler period is mostly over, can you delve into the relation of Ariem, the Reverie, Illumina, or MaginaryWorld? Or Cyberspace, which contains Dreams?


31:07 - Is it possible that the levels in Mania that came after Phantom Ruby's distortion are illusions (GHZ, CPZ, SSZ, HCZ) while every other is real?


46:39 - What happened to that pink haired human from Tails Tube? Is she coming, scrapped, MIA?


1:13:55 - will SEGA and the Lore Team give the island of Never Lake and the Sonic 4 Zones an official name? Aaron Webber has acknowledged “Mirage Island”, but I doubt the name’s been considered internally


1:25:05 - Hello Ian Flynn. In Ares Island, there is a shrine that Sonic sees has a “broken off-color Master Emerald”, and behind that what looks like a blocked path by stones. Would you explain these two?


1:26:09 - Are the sonic cafe mobile games canon? I would assume so as they were developed by sonic team, but I want to know what you think.


1:36:19 - Is Sonic 4 1/2 canon? lorewise it makes no sense!?

 

I-- Wha-- Who's asking this?

 

[calmly raises his hand]
I mean, I wrote them off as non-canon, but you can't be too sure any more. Like, what makes Tails and the Music Maker on the SEGA Pico non-canon, when we've canonical places like Sonic Advance 2's Music Plant?

 

How games that doesn't even have a story be canon?

 

I think people need to stop asking Ian Flynn questions about the lore, because holy shit.

 

Even if they are, what's going to change? None of these games have any content that can influence anything else in the Sonic series.

Sure, Advance 1 and 2 barely have any story, but they introduce new characters and are fairly popular games in the fandom. What does Tails and the music maker bring to the table other than... showing that Tails knows music theory I guess?

The only two possible answers this question can get is "Yes, these games that change absolutely nothing in the series, have no story and were played by nobody are now canon" or "No, those games that change absolutely nothing in the series, have no story and were played by nobody are not canon"

 

They pull a Classic Era and make a bunch of crap up.

Sonic Advance lacks story beyond "Robotnik bad, go stop". SEGASonic the Hedgehog lacks story outside the game itself. Lack of story is hardly a factor, otherwise Sonic Pinball Party would be more canonical than Sonic Advance: the former at least has dialogue and reintroduces Metal Sonic.

When did I say they influenced the series and had to cause change? I'm just asking if they're canon.

Sonic the Hedgehog (8-Bit) has so little influence most people just kind of lumped it in with Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive), but that's canonical and considered a completely separate adventure now, so why is it so baffling I'd be questioning every game now? Especially since they're making crap up for all the games now.

 

My point is that it would make no difference if any of these games where canon or not. And since their content has no bearing in anything else in the series, there is not (and never will be) any arguments in favor or against it. Sometimes, questions can be up in the air, especially the mostly inconsequential ones like this

Sonic 1 (8-bits) being canon is... silly, but I can see where that comes from: It was THE Sonic 1 for the people in territories were the Master System was more popular than the Mega Drive, it's a fairly well known and somewhat popular game among the fandom, the gameplay experience is significantly different from the other Sonic 1, and it ia technically the start of the 8-bit line of Sonic games. While it's silly, I can see why it wouldn't simply be dismissed as canon, the idea of it being a separate adventure that takes place after the 16-bits version has been a popular fanon idea for years at this point, so it's also not surprising that they did it in that way.

I would also argue that the reason why both versions of Sonic 1 being canon sounds silly is because... well, they both have stories, and they also happen to be the exact same one, and you will probably realize it even without reading the manual because.

Unless there's an official Sonic gold fanclub out there... I don't think any of these ancient mobile games have anything going for them. Besides having no narrative merit, they also are mostly inaccessible to the public. Unlike the 8-bit games and other spin off games, I can't see what kind of discussion could be born if Ian Flynn DID confirm us that "Yes, Sonic's napoleon is canon"

 

And most people here see no difference if the Master System games are canonical. Should we ask if Tails' Skypatrol is non-canon, since that's got very little impact on narrative?

I'm just saying impact nor effect on the series or narrative doesn't matter in questioning canonical status: I brought up Tails and the Music Maker as an example of an obscure game that we've no inherit way of confirming one way or the other if canonical. It's on a SEGA console, and thus far 'everything is canon' (except Sonic Pocket Adventure and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood), so it's a valid question.

The Sonic Café games were made by Sonic Team, which seems to just be enough for them: I would continue to argue against the Sonic Forces prequel comics due to the plotholes they bring in now that Classic Era is no longer an alternate dimension/timeline, but they were dictated by Sonic Team and apparently still are canonical to the events. Sonic Jump had a sequel and a remake, so there was some investment into it.

Point is we don't know what's going on so of course we're going to question every little detail, even the obscure mobile games sitting in the corner there. We can't argue "well, it was an obscure game that had a limited release and few people would have actually played it", because SEGASonic the Hedgehog is right there, in its Japan-only Arcade Release, but canonical glory. Is that non-canon? Is it the way of Chaotix during Sonic Heroes? We just can't say "obviously not" any more, since obvious isn't obvious.

(Yes, I know Flynn confirmed it canon, I'm just pointing out obscure games with no narrative benefit nor massive public perception exist in the canon, so we shouldn't be trying to label things canon based on those stipulations.)

 

Sega Sonic introduced two characters (Mighty and Ray) that have been getting a lot of attention in recent material. It doesn't matter that the game is unplayable now, because people know about it (or at least, the characters that came from it)

The thing with the Sonic Café is that they are just a bunch of mobile games, nothing more. IF they are canon, there is no discussion to have about them, I highly doubt they have any content that will destroy Sonic's continuity, and I also don't think there's anything in them that will improve it either, unless they are hiding some deep lore and character development in these games

The difference between games such as the SegaSonic and Sonic café, is that the former brings some new toys for newer material to play with (and the question of whether or not the Mighty and Ray we have now are the ones from SegaSonic Arcade would be inevitable), while the latter has... Sonic playing golf?

The reason why Café changes nothing in the continuity is that, unless I'm mistaken, it has no story, and brings nothing new and nobody really cares about them, or material related to them. The 8-bit games all have their own little stories, both in the manual and implied through the game, if those stories contradict the 16-bit ones is another discussion entirely, but they certainly have some level of impact in the continuity, even if small, otherwise nobody would be discussing their stories in relation to the Mega Drive games (something that happened in this thread a few times already)

Like, my point is not about questioning specifically what games exactly are part of the canon or not (even if I'd argue it's not that important at this point), as much as it is that: The Café games have zero impact in the series, so IF they are canon, the only thing that changes is that now we know that Shadow canonically played golf at some point

 

And my point is that no one's asking for it to be some great big narrative change, we're just asking "hey, is this canon? Yes or no?", not if there's deep implication to the lore of the franchise located within the Sonic Café games.

Also, to be clear, Sonic Jump does have a story: Robotnik's going around collecting the Chaos Emeralds to make a Brainwash Beam, so Sonic Colours with Chaos Emeralds instead of Wisps. The rest, I don't think so, but apparently Sonic Jump has more plot significance than Sonic Advance.

 

I'm not saying that you are. I'm saying that there is no particular discussion to be had about whether or not it is canon because of it

What does changes if it's canon or not, and why is an answer necessary?

 

You're in a continuity thread. We're asking if a game is canon, and thus if and possibly where it would fit into the continuity. There's your discussion, like how if Sonic Advance fits before or after Sonic Adventure 2.
(Sonic Superstars threw that whole rail grinding discussion a curveball, didn't it?)

Why would it need to be necessary? It was asked because someone was curious, and some of us enjoy continuity and canon. If you haven't noticed, I enjoy researching in-universe lore: is it necessary? As many point out to me regularly, no. Is it something I enjoy? Yes. Was it necessary for fans to research and catalogue the series, developments, etc, and develop a Wiki? No. Was it done because people enjoy doing it? Yes.

And all that changes it some people will look at it and try and figure out where it would sit in the timeline, as they did Sonic the Hedgehog CD with the Mega Drive games. No necessity, just people asking about something because they get kicks. Plus, it lets us learn more: I didn't even realise there was a full story going on in that game until I checked it due to this discussion.

 

When did they make up random stories for classic games that didn't have one?

AFAIK they never did that. They tweaked some of the classic games' stories to streamline continuity or address continuity issues, but those were games that had plots already.

It's not like they shoved the Tiger handheld electronic games into the timeline and made up stories for them, which would be a better comparison to what you're proposing in regards to the Sonic Cafe games.

 

I meant the Classic Era in general, those examples you've mentioned with existing stories. When they confirm another game, I'm sure we'll get a new story regardless of existing story or not.

 

The rule is fairly simple. Any game is canon as long as:

(a) It's not a mobile game or an arcade game (except when a mobile or arcade game introduces a new character);
(b) It's not a crossover with characters from other franchises;
(c) It's not based on another Sonic universe.
(d) It is any of the above but they decide to make it canon for some reason.

 

Sonic Pocket Adventure and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

Where were these rules noted?

 

Oh right I forgot.

Any game is canon as long as:

(a) It's not a mobile game or an arcade game (except when a mobile or arcade game introduces a new character);
(b) It's not a crossover with characters from other franchises;
(c) It's not based on another Sonic universe;
(d) It is any of the above but they decide to make it canon for some reason;
(e) It's not a game with some weird legal issues.

 

Interestingly, some of the Café games did actually have stories. Sonic Jump had a pretty meaty story and was the first game to introduce Eggman's plans to brainwash the world with a ray beam, a plot which was later used in Colors.

I think there were a couple of others with stories, but they went unlocalized.

Of course, the vast majority didn’t have any stories or lore to them.