Unless the video elaborates otherwise, I don’t think there’s any reason to believe the chronology of the Warp Topaz is any different than what the characters follow. While we see it with Starline first, it seems like it was first discovered by the Hard-Boiled Heavies before being pilfered by Fang. At some point it then ended up in the cave where Starline found it.
I think the logic is: the Heavies find the Warp Topaz in the cave, Fang steals it as we see. At some point, the Topaz will be returned for whatever reason. X years later, Dr. Starline happens upon the cave, leading to what we see happen, until the Warp Topaz is overcharged by the Chaos Emeralds, resulting in the 900th Adventure.
Or the Topaz was warped to the void as Sonic intended it to be; never to be used again. Speaking of which, what happened to the Ruby (and Infinite now that he stuck inside it)?
So here's a potentially interesting little thing from the Anime Expo panel: On this timeline, the games and the IDW comes are on a top layer while the animated series are on a lower layer. Now of course there are a few explanations for this. They're not going to put up StC and Archie on here since those are Sonic comics they want to distance themselves from for one reason or another (Archie for obvious reason, StC likely because of just how off-brand it is to the wider Sonic series, not to mention obscure to wider audiences), and it'd be weird to give the IDW comics alone it's own layer, so it gets grouped in with the games. Meanwhile it makes sense to group all the TV shows on one layer. However, my tinfoil hat thinking is that this might be indicative of Sonic Prime being quietly shuffled into non-canon territory. Granted, 06 and Forces aren't even here, despite the former being an important game for Shadow and the latter being doubtlessly canon, so maybe I'm just grasping at straws, but I digress.
Considering those two comics were released in the early 90s, it could also just be the fact the release dates are far outside of the timeframe in question. Not to mention, Sonic the Comic never really got to Shadow, ending with the Sonic Adventure arc (plus some reprints after), so it probably wouldn't turn up on a timeline labelled "A Brief History of Shadow the Hedgehog".
I would guess Sega wants us to quietly forget about 06 and Forces. 06 literally wrote itself out of the canon, and it wouldn't be the first time Sega tried to hide it (remember when they delisted it from online stores in 2010?)
If they talk about 06, it's "why aren't they so embarrassed by that?!", If they don't, it's "Heh, they're so embarrassed by that!" and it's very tiring. I just want them to feel free to bring up any game for any reason they feel like without it being a big thing. I don't see Sonic Rivals 1 and 2 here. Are they embarrassed by those? Why aren't they afraid of listing the actual biggest failure Sonic Boom? If being Canon doesn't matter, where's Chronicles' logo? It's literally just everything whoever put this together could think to list. It's not that complex. There's no ulterior motive or agenda. They just didn't list a few games, and that's okay.
Given that the timeline is specifically labeled as related to the Dark Beginnings animation, I suspect the only games included were those directly relevant to the short. Spoiler: Spoilered for content in Dark Beginnings animation SA2 and ShtH deal with his background on the Ark, Battle introduced Emerl, and Heroes introduced Omega (who based on the poster is set to appear in the full version).
They included X and Boom, which are undoubtedly not part of the same continuity. I also highly doubt that we'll be dealing with any content released after Sonic Generations, since that's when Shadow Generations takes place, so no reason to include IDW and Prime either
The shows are part of Shadow’s history in animation, Dark Beginnings being the latest entry. It remains to be seen if IDW has any connections to the short outside of being an illustrated medium featuring Shadow, or if it was just included because it’s an ongoing product to advertise.
Not bringing up Forces and 06 is because they have a more negative reception and when you’re promoting something you don’t want to remind the audience of those things. Yes, there is an 06 level and hopefully Mephiles in the game, but those are different from putting up the game’s logo during a public promotional event. Your average person might not know Kingdom Valley but it’s not unlikely that they know Sonic 2006. You’d think they’d also leave off Boom, but it might be because most people think of the show when they hear that name. I think the situation is kinda like how in the Forces reveal trailer they said “From the team that brought you Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations” and left out Lost World despite featuring Zavok. You play to the audience.
They might have just thought the logo that literally says "Sonic the Hedgehog" would be confusing for those unfamiliar, but I'm still not sure why Black Knight isn't there. It's like they're going out of their way to give themselves less credit for Shadow's inclusions lol. Wonder if it's some way to lean into the WE'RE SO BAAAACK BROSSSS hype.
Boom I agree, X I don't. There are multi-episode chunks that are explicitly a Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation and they've used art from the show in presentations very recently, so they may well view it as an "alternate telling" of the events of SA2. Much like how there's no one-100% canon story in SA1, because events contradict each other.
Black Knight is such a strange game in the grand scheme of Sonic that it doesn't matter if it's not included. Even the most hardcore Sonic fans have probably only watched cutscenes of the game since it was only available for one console and only released once, general audiences probably don't even know it exists. Not to mention Shadow's more limited role in the game (he's not even playable, he's just an antagonist I think? I dunno it's been a while since I last paid attention to that game)
