Nestor

While I imagine they do have a dedicated robotics team, GUN also had the services of Professor Gerald Robotnik and the ARK research team at their disposal at one point who I would assume made some major advances in their robot tech.

Or Big is lighter than he looks! Or filled with helium...

Guess so - it may be a thing affecting a number of people though, I just spotted a few negative reviews on the appstore saying it was in constant server maintenance. I'm on android, not sure if it's specific to that or just a random error. EDIT: I contacted SEGA's support team and, somewhat worryingly, received the following feeback: Hi [Nestor] Thank you for contacting SEGA Mobile Customer Support,Unfortunately, the latest Amazon update is currently waiting to be released and this update needs to go out before you can connect to the server.We do not have a time scale for when this is out.Sorry for inconvenienceMany thanksSEGA Soooo.... they've just randomly disconnected all Amazon based games until they release the update.... for which they have no time scale. Another triumph for SEGA's strategic planning!

I thought I was - it isn't giving me any options to update it in game or in the appstore.

Is anyone else getting a constant Server Maintenance message? I haven't been able to play the game for four days now, every time I start it, it says it's doing maintenance.

You're right - while there are potential explanations that would make sense with what's been revealed, they're cumbersome and inelegant from a storytelling perspective. SEGA should have decided on a backstory and stuck with it instead of this vaguely defined mess - indeed, despite having the idea of two worlds since at least Sonic Colors, they still haven't gotten around to defining it properly.

Indeed - hence the possibility of one potentially being an ancestor. We haven't witnessed the mechanism yet, but we do know it can be done - until (or if) additional detail are given about how the gateway works, there's no reason to assume that the travel is difficult until it's implied or stated to be. Indeed - but it's the activity of Angel Island after it goes skyward that determines its ability to travel between worlds; as it's been shown moving geographic location to and from its initial starting position in the Mystic Ruins, it's a possibility that its flight path travels through the 'gateway' and allows it to swap between worlds. Of course, we've had such a dearth of information about the gateway mechanism that it could be almost anything, but until they actually clarify it further, this theory is a possible explanation.

I don't think there needs to be a whole anthro community on Earth for Silver's parents to have been on Earth - after all, the main cast travel between worlds seemingly without difficulty (and indeed, the possibility exists that one or more of the main cast are Silver's ancestors). The island's been present in both Sonic's world games (e.g. the classics) and Earth games (e.g. Sonic Adventure), and we know it's mobile and travels (it's in the middle of an ocean in S&K and by the coast in SA) - as we don't yet know the nature of the 'gateway' between worlds, it seems likely that the island's travel periodically takes it through whatever mechanism connects the worlds. Why not? It would seem to be a logical explanation based on what we do know of the current continuity, such as it is; it being required due to a retcon shouldn't make it less likely or valid.

Silver could have simply been born on Earth. Or he could have moved to Earth (or been stranded there) early in life. It not being explicitly mentioned doesn't mean that it's impossible to happen within the setting.

Ah... Chronicles might not be the best source to use for determining Green Hill's location - as well as being non-canon as the others have pointed out, it has a slightly... odd setup with its locations in respect to canon. Central City, the capital of the United Federation (which is clearly supposed to be the Sonic universe's alt-counterpart of the United States), is placed on South Island rather than the North America analogue and aesthetically looks more like a town in Sonic Forces; Station Square meanwhile, which was in SA1 a huge metropolis on a warm seafront (and presumably also in the United Federation) is now a village at the foot of snowy mountains on Westside Island. Combined with the legal issues surrounding it and no further statement that it's regained canon status since the initial statement regarding it, I think it's safe to say that it's setup isn't one that Sonic Team has ever seriously considered. In S&K, Angel Island really is nowhere near the coastline as it was in SA1; when we see the island from afar in the cutscenes, it's completely surrounded by water on every side with the mainland nowhere in sight. In order for that to be possible, the island does need to be able to be mobile. While clunky, it's not inconceivable that the kid could be talking about Sonic's world (he doesn't say which world, after all).... though that's admittedly not the most intuitive reading as the dialogue was obviously made before the two worlds retcon existed and it would have to be a retroactive interpretation. Forces meanwhile is quite difficult to reconcile as being on Earth as there are multiple references to Eggman having conquered the entire planet, and the absence of any human influence or presence (most notably GUN) in that scenario would be very strange and not really explainable in the same way that, say, their absence in Unleashed was (one assumes GUN's attention and resources were stretched thin across the globe trying to cope with the massive chaos that the planet breaking apart would entail for international infrastructure). Bearing in mind that Sonic Team seems bent on going all in with the two world concept (albeit in their haphazard way) to the point that they've asked IDW to adhere to this scenario, I think that the set up in Forces would hold more weight than a single piece of dialogue only appearing in one version of one game and potentially open to an (admittedly strained) alternate interpretation. As you say, the two worlds thing is most certainly a retcon after the Adventure era; while it's possible the idea might have been buzzing around somewhere during that time period (I'd put money on Sonic X being an inspiration), it wasn't being implemented and the games at that time were obviously supposed to take place in a singular (and poorly defined) world.

Aside from the fact that Wisps quite likely have a somewhat alien mindset with different priorities to the denizens of Sonic's world and so may not find waiting in deployment capsules as unpleasant, them activating the Wispon is presumably fairly similar to giving Sonic a hyper-go-on boost, which they didn't seem to have any issues with.

Out of curiosity, why would you say Green Hill was definitively on Earth? Aside from the fantastic aesthetics, the original Japanese manuals for Sonic 1 don't name a planet and Forces specifically located it on Sonic's world. Similarly, Angel Island is mobile and (depending on the nature of the gateway between worlds) could conceivably move between the two.

Was it Earth in Sonic Advance 3 though, or Sonic's world? 😜

I dare say so - but whether by accident or design, the scenario presented by the dubious writing choices of the game does in fact leave space for there to be some sort of coherent reasoning for Tails's breakdown without breaking character. No, it would be inconsistent if it were the same personalities in the same circumstances with different reactions. Leaving aside for the minute that those four years can significantly alter a child's personality, the key point was that Tails was plausibly affected in a way that Amy wasn't simply due to him being directly involved in the situation at the moment of Sonic's defeat and the additional emotional baggage that would naturally come with that.

Eh? There was only him and a bunch of random townsfolk - the resistance hadn't formed yet, Eggman hadn't taken over the world at this point. While I agree Tails cowering earlier against regular badniks was bad writing (though this sadly seems to be a recurring theme since Unleashed...), him going postal on Eggman in the immediate aftermath of Sonic's defeat was not an option with Infinite and his illusory posse standing in the way, while in SA2 he had the means and a clear shot at taking out Eggman. Different personalities, different circumstances, different reactions. In SA2 Amy had a breakdown despite potentially being in a position to personally PikoPiko Hammer Eggman into next Wednesday. In Forces she isn't present at Sonic's defeat, and subsequently takes up a non-combat role in the Rebellion. Tails meanwhile - aside from only being a ten-year old - witnesses Sonic's defeat firsthand and likely feels guilt for not being able to save Sonic nor defeat Eggman. The fact that Eggman subsequently conquers the world, adding a final failure of Sonic in Tails's eyes, is an adequate explanation for his potential later breakdown due to the additional personal dimension to Tails's experiences compared to Amy's.