The Sonic the Hedgehog Headcanon Thread of Lore and Time Stones

Nope, that's why I said that it's likely the case, because this is what we know so far:
"Although the Sonic 2 team briefly considered the idea of time travel as a play mechanic, Ohshima fully embraced the concept, being in love with the idea of having the level Sonic was running in to suddenly change around him, the player instantly being warped to a different place."
Imo, this definitely sounds like the time travel mechanic from the finalized game, as it even says "Time Warp" and not "Time Zones", and I don't think saying "Time Warp" would be necessary if the time travel was meant to happen from act to act only, that's a Sonic 2 thing.
And yeah, "Teleportation Yeah" definitely have nothing to do with it, Hataya talked about demos in a interview and said that the Opening and Ending themes were the first songs composed for the game, So they indeed just reused the vocals for the act clear track becuse it sounds cool

 

Isn't the SA1 artwork a concept drawing of the outside of the snake chamber?



at 9:40

 

No, that artwork depicts the outside of the emerald altar.

 

?????

 

How does that even make sense? Lost World doesn't have an emerald altar, as it's not even on Angel Island.

 

As I said, that art is likely concept art of the outside of the snake chamber. There's nothing to suggest it's an emerald altar.

 

He might be confused because ALL OF THEM ARE LOST WORLD CONCEPT ARTS
Even that one with the supposed "emeralds" what the fuck??

 

Did you miss the third pic?

 

Maybe Lost World wasn't supposed to be inside a Mayan Pyramid, neither in Mystic Ruins, neither in a regular Angel Island area XD?
All of these drawings seem to represent underground areas imo, maybe Lost World was indeed meant to be Hidden Palace!
Attention to the "Emerald" on the top of the Giant Knuckle statue, maybe it's where the M.E was meant to be placed after the events of S3&K, or it's a early concept of a knuckles-designed stage where he would collect the CEs

 

I can see that possibly being the case, especially since the second "Lost World" artwork seems to show visual similarities to Hidden Palace to me. Then when they decided to go with the outdoor altar and forego Hidden Palace, they reworked the area into the final Lost World and moved it outside of Angel Island.

FWIW the the Lost World we got had that ancient mural with Perfect Chaos, and Hidden Palace is known to have similar murals.

 

Damn never noticed it good catch!
They call it "Lost World" but what if this is only a current nomenclature based on the finalized game? Maybe when Lost World was considered Hidden Palace, it was before they decided to make Mystic Ruins a place apart from Angel Island, then the whole zone concept was rewritten and its name changed.
It's so interesting how SA1 had so many connections with S3&K in its early development
I wonder if their original plans also was to make the Super Emeralds a separate set, as I'm not convinced that the double set in the Tails commercial was only a artistic choice ^^-

 

Thanks. I agree that it's fascinating how early concepts seem to suggest that SA1 would have been closer to S3K.

I still hold that the 4th pic looks like the outside of the altar to me, especially since it's next to the pic with with the altar itself. Though I suppose even if that's the case, it could still have inspired the snake chamber's pillar in the final game, especially if Hidden Palace was indeed reworked into Lost World.

Anyway, I wish somebody would just ask the devs what was the deal with the switch from the underground altar to the outdoor altar in the S3K > SA1 transition. I can imagine they just did it for plot convenience, but it would be nice to have official word.

 

I actually would also ask why they got rid of the Hidden Palace, for SA1 and SA2 I do understand, but for the other games? Nope
It simply one of those things that only show up in the Classic Era, it's meant to appear in Pocket Adventure I guess? (I'm really not sure due to the game's total originality of bringing old zones under different names XD)
Mania could suggest that it was destroyed, but that's speculation of mine. What happened to the Hidden Palaces.
Btw, the evolution of SA1's Hidden Palace into Lost World is intriging
For example, if you look at the concept arts, all of those places could indeed fit inside that mayan pyramid, but now the final Lost World? Damn, it's literally a World inside the Pyramid! For some reason you can even supposedly see a sky inside it, which just doesn't make any sense (a talking blue hedgehog neither, but still) so maybe they rushed things?
Wonder if the Hidden Palace idea was still in consideration when they started to use the Mayan aesthetic after those trips

 

My guess is that they phased out Hidden Palace from SA1 onward in order to keep things simple. Having only one altar around avoids confusion from new fans. Same reason they phased out Mecha Sonic. Though I think it's a pity, as I've always loved Hidden Palace's appearance and atmosphere.

Anyway, I really wish they had provided an in-universe explanation as to why Knuckles decided to switch altars.

I think that's just meant to be a section set on the sides of the pyramid, with the sky and jungle you see being Mystic Ruins'.

I was thinking the same.

I wonder how early these artworks are. Knuckles' silhouette in the second one seems to have classic-esque proportions to me, so they might even date to the Saturn stage of SA1's development.

 

-Their modern counterparts are likely the "temples" now, as the Gaia temples, Modern Sky Sanctuary and the temple in Ouranos Island.
Regarding the question about why Knuckles actually switch the altar...well the altar in SA1 is supposed to be the altar with "pilars" mentioned in the S3 manual IIRC
An a altar that Knuckles quickly moved the M.E from after the Death Egg crash. The one in Hidden Palace is a recovery altar, at least that's how I understand it, but many fans don't read the manuals, so XD
but yeah they need to give more explanations, specially for Westside Island's Hidden Palace and its fake "M.E" relics.

-But Lost World is meant to take place entirely inside the Pyramid! Well that's at least how I see it when I play the game...actually, when you reach the snake chamber, you indeed go to a upper part, with a door that leads to that part with the mentioned background, so that makes sense, but then that short part leads to a corridor that just isn't present in the visible parts of the pyramid, plus, the forest of Mystic Ruins isn't supposed to have any other pyramid aside from the Lost World one, those are 100% Mayan pyramids also, unlike the buildings around the Pyramid in the past version of Mystic Ruins, which are only some random structures that don't share anything resemblance to Mayan Pyramids. Only if thay background was indeed meant to be MR's forest, but they didn't bother to remove the pyramids.
And even though it's make sense, idk, the game gives me the feeling that Lost World is indeed meant to take place entirely inside the pyramid, and that there just isn't a logical explanation for that background.
SA1 after all, still receives some influence from the Classic Era, where the phantasy side was insane (look at Twinkle Park)
Or maybe it's just a design incosistence that happened due to limitations. After all, we pretty much all agree here that everything we see in Sky Deck just can't possibly fit into the Egg Carrier, but the Egg Carrier as how we see it in thhe game, because it's obvious that in the paper, all of that should fit into it XD

-Damn good catch again! I won't even say that it looks like the Classic proportions, for me it's indeed Classic Knuckles!
Well, for me, it's likely that the Modern designs were implemented into the game around January 1998, I say that because of Modern Sonic's true first appearance, which was in Sonic R's album cover, released in January 98, that design wasn't fully finalized yet as the shoes still have the same soles as Classic Sonic's shoes.
I have no idea which is the earliest trailer for SA1, but I know a promo that says "50% complete" (have no idea if it's official too), the game in this promo already looks almost identical of the finalized version, the only remnants of Saturn stuff is the classic Sky Chase act 2 footage with the Saturn models of Sonic & Tails that everyone already knows.
If the "50% complete" line in that promo is real and it shows footage very close to the final game, then I believe that actually, the "Saturn version" of the game really remained in the concept arts, I don't have much faith that they really built something that works in the Saturn Hardware
Except if I don't know something of course, so I'm gonna check it.

 

So it seems that the latest TailsTube episode suggests Sonic doesn't have a home.
I disagree, Amy only says "I don't think Sonic has a home", so she's not sure if Sonic has a home or not.
Many can think that what Amy says is accurate because "Sonic is a free spirit and can't stop in one place", but I personally don't think that this means Sonic can't have a home.
I personally do think he has a home:
▪︎The manual for Sonic 1991 8-bit states that Sonic lives in South Island, and then the manual of Sonic Labyrinth gives us a scenario implying that Sonic wears the slow-down shoes somewhere in his house, then right after it, South Island is mentioned as the main setting of the game, and Sonic Labyrinth is canon, as its events are referenced in a Twitter video from the Sonic official JP account featuring Sonic's japanese VA.
▪︎The Sonic & The Secret Rings initial cutscene show us Sonic sleeping inside a house. Nothing suggests that it's his home, but who knows?

Well, by all means, Sonic having a home or not is still a mistery, in my personal headcanon:
▪︎That info only confirms that Sonic friends aren't aware about where he lives, maybe only Eggman, he definitely knew where Sonic lived so he could replace his normal shoes with the slow-down shows.
▪︎Sonic lives in a house somewhere hidden in South Island, and we see the interior of his house in Sonic & The Secret Rings
▪︎Or maybe, Tails and the others did knew where Sonic lived, but after the events of Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic decided to live somewhere else, and now no one, not even Eggman, knows where currently lives.

Regarding the Classic Sonic thing: no surprises for me, maybe there was a retcon? I personally see the "dimension" thing from Forces just as a synonym they intended to use for "another timeline", let's remember that Silver also uses "my world" to refer to his future.

Regarding the multiverse thing: this is the tricky part. I initially thought that Sonic Prime could take place before Frontiers, and that something happens in the next seasons leading to Sticks & Tangle moving from the respective universes to the Main universe. But now apparently Amy & Tails never witnessed something related to Multiversal travel? This subject is frying my neurons

 

FWIW, my own fanfic-and-Tumblr-influenced headcanon builds a bit on what is mentioned in TailsTube 4. He, and Tails, were homeless when they first met, and remained so up until Tails built his workshop. Since then, Sonic is technically not homeless; he has a bedroom in the apartment at Tails' workshop, said place also being his mailing address. However, he only really sleeps in it when he needs to stay at Tails' for more than a couple days: normally he camps out, stays in hotels, or crashes on friends' couches.

(Although he rarely sleeps in it, Sonic's bedroom is not barren at all: it's also where he stores the handful of possessions he's accumulated over the years, including such things as his Extreme Gear and Chip's bracelet.)

 

A modified version of that games' events do occur in my headcanon on Tails' origin. Haven't solidified all of the details, but it is basically "a cognitively hyperprecocial fox kit left to die at 3 months old on Cocoa Island, who taught himself to read, use tools, and build via books, tools, and other things his parents left behind in their boarded-up cabin, and who ultimately took out the Battle Kuuku army and recovered a Chaos Emerald at one year of age, not realizing the significance of what he did until many years later."