The Sonic Canon, as it was until recently

[Zero Dozer]

Posting here because I can't think of anything useful to contribute on a posting in the forums. I'll be getting this from the Sonic United forums, I hope you guys can take a profit out of this.

I know it'd be pointless to discuss the Sonic Canon, but then I've remembered that there are still a lot of people who doesn't know the Sonic timeline.

 

I remember that back in 2012 I made a thread at the SEGA Forums, where I dissected the Sonic timeline game by game. As this seems like a distant past now and I needed to make some content here, I decided to transfer that piece (that still exists, as of this thread: http://forums.sega.com/showthread.php?416395-I-am-gonna-clear-some-of-the-confusion-of-all-ya-guys-with-the-Sonic-canon ) here. You guys ready?

 

 

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Well, all of you guys have been ranting about how all of it has turned into some friggin' mess when it comes to Sonic canon. Well, let's see if I can dispel some of this mess.

Classic Era

The Classic Era sure doesn't need any explanation, even with Sonic 4 included. It's pretty easy as one-two-three:

Sonic the Hedgehog > Sonic the Hedgehog CD > Sonic the Hedgehog 2 > Sonic the Hedgehog 3K > Sonic the Hedgehog 4

These are actually the main games on the line. Sonic portables, why not here? Well, I can explain.

The Game Gear and Master System games were made with a story that goes pretty much on parallel with the main timeline.

Sonic the Hedgehog > Sonic the Hedgehog 2 > Sonic Chaos > Sonic Triple Trouble > Sonic Blast

Of course, Triple Trouble could fit pretty well with the Classic Era, as it introduces Fang and the story from Adventure Era lets expicit the fact that Knuckles got duped by Eggman more than once. Aside that, there is no way, unfortunately, that the rest of the SEGA portable games could fuse themselves into the Classic Era... Let me explain:

Sonic the Hedgehog: The same events as the Mega Drive game.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Tails gets kidnapped and Sonic sets to rescue him. That never happens, as, according to the japanese manuals for the Mega Drive version, Sonic meet Tails shortly before the adventure starts, and they set for Angel Island a few days after Sonic blows the Death Egg up.
Sonic Chaos: Sonic goes back to South Island with Tails. But there's a big error: Tails wasn't even AWARE of South Island's existence before Generations. How do we proceed, then?
Sonic Blast: Almost no story. Need to say more?

 

Also, there is some extra information regarding the discrepancy in Metal Sonic's appearance in Sonic Triple Trouble and Knuckles Chaotix, on Sonic Wikia:

Due to the backstory of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, the events of Sonic Triple Trouble, Knuckles' Chaotix, Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R are further put into question as he has remained dormant since Sonic CD. It is possible that Sonic CD took place after those games. It is also possible that the games in question have been stricken from canon, or that the Metal Sonic of those games is a separate one. Though the most likely explanation is that these games take place after Sonic 4.

This further proves how the early portable games could have been separated from the canon. It is quite improbable that Sonic CD takes place after Sonic 3K, but there is still an insertion chance, once that those games could also take place after Sonic 4.

There is also Tails' games, supposed to happen before Sonic 2 (The most accepted theory), but nothing got confirmed.

As for Sonic the Fighters, with Bark and Bean, it could happen, but Sonic 4's Death Egg Mark Two foils the plot of the game.

Adventure Era

The Adventure Era started with Sonic Adventure, the game that most Modern haters like to call "Beginning of the End". Well, let me show how the games blend chronogically, first via mainstream:

Sonic Adventure > Sonic Adventure 2 > Sonic Heroes > Shadow the Hedgehog

Quite a few, eh? But in the middle of that era, Bernie Stolar made damage enough to screw SEGA completely over, forcing them to abandon the console market. That somewhat gave them the freedom to port Sonic to other consoles. The Game Boy Advance was the perfect portable to start testing DIMPS on making Sonic games for them. Curiously, the Advance series were the only games where DIMPS succeeded when it comes to Sonic.

Sonic Advance > Sonic Advance 2 > Sonic Battle > Sonic Advance 3

Sonic Advance gets into a water divider. The game has lots of similarities with Sonic Pocket Adventure, a game made for the NeoGeo Pocket. SPA made the feat of accidentally linking the Classic Era to the Adventure Era, as even Eggman's outfit changes at the final stages to the Modern looks. The Advance's stages were designed in such a mood that it gets really similar (yet way better worked than SPA). Just think about how the stage order (based on types) is the same as SPA.

Sonic Advance 2 has a feature that links the game to the mainstream: Cream. If you played Advance 2 (OK, it's okay if you didn't, DIMPS screwed up with this one), surely know that Sonic met Cream right at this game. All of the Advances were made before Sonic Heroes, for the record.

There's also Sonic Battle, made before Heroes, but curiously with Shadow in it. On the first appearance on the game, Shadow contacts another entity, probably GUN. I don't know for sure, but it's quite probable that they had since the beginning the intention to linking Shadow to GUN, a thing that was solidified at the end of Shadow's game.

Unlike the Classic Era, the Advance games blend perfectly into the mainstream. With this, the Adventure Era gets like that:

Sonic Advance > Sonic Adventure > Sonic Adventure 2 > Sonic Advance 2 > Sonic Heroes > Shadow the Hedgehog > Sonic Battle > Sonic Advance 3

Well, then, we get to the real name of the problem.

Modern Era

Yeah, the canon mess starts with the Modern Era. There are lots of continuities to consider:

Mainstream: Sonic the Hedgehog '06 > Sonic Unleashed > Sonic Colors > Sonic Generations > Sonic Lost World

Rushes: Sonic Rush > Sonic Rush Adventure

Rivals: Sonic Rivals > Sonic Rivals 2

Well, let's get to the point. All of this mess exists because of two characters: Blaze the Cat and Silver the Hedgehog. In Sonic '06, Sonic resetted the timeline by taking Iblis off when he still was a mere flame. Okay, but we still have Blaze set up into another dimension, and Silver with a brand new future.

That's where contradictions start: Sonic Rush and Sonic Rivals, both getting their place after Sonic '06, with two visions of what's happening, but both with the same villain: Eggman Nega.

With Blaze remembering Crisis City in Generations, it's friggin' sure to say that the dimension warp she made with Iblis preserved her memory. But what of Blaze's world?

 

Another big plot hole is that Iizuka has already confirmed that Eggman Nega is, in fact, a descendant of the original Eggman, which also confirms the Rivals games into the canon. With this, the big question is how he ended up in Blaze's dimension and why Sonic doesn't remember him.

There are some theories. The one I made could be that Nega got into Blaze's dimension and started pestering Blaze there. But then, Sonic first met Nega in Rush. Maybe a time jump to the past?

There is some material from Sonic Wikia with two theories for this controversy:

In Sonic Generations however, after clearing the mission "Blaze: Piercing the Flames", Blaze will say afterward "I thought I would never be in Crisis City again". As the game's own character profiles state that this Blaze is the same one from the Sonic Rush series, this might suggest that the Blaze presented in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) has existed and is the same Blaze presented in the Sonic Rush series, which may make both her backstories canon.
However, given Blaze's record for dimensional travel, the most plausible theory would be that Blaze may have somehow ended up in Sonic's dimension once again except 300 years later than intended (possibly when going to Sonic's birthday in Generations even), and may have met Silver and assisted him in fighting Iblis while also trying to find a way to get to when she meant to go in the time line.

There's a theory that I'm fond of. The theory consists in the fact that maybe Blaze's world is, in fact, Silver's future, at a different and distant location. That could explain, for example, how can Sonic have access to the Chaos Emeralds in Blaze's world in Sonic Rush Adventure. Also, people often forget that the world is way bigger than just Silver's lair. Silver's not a world traveler like Sonic and Blaze for starters. Also, there is the fact that Iblis was erased from existence, making impossible for Blaze to seal herself on another dimension. The portals between Sonic's world and Blaze's world could be, actually, time portals, a speciallity of Eggman Nega's. And finally, just because Silver and Blaze lives on the same world, it does not mean that they need to meet and know each other. The world is not a small place.

 

I started to think on a small juggling after playing some of the first Rivals and a lot of Sonic Rush. In Rivals, Sonic and Tails never get to know about Eggman Nega, but Shadow and Silver do. So, I've finally gave some plausibility on the idea that Sonic Rivals could actually happen BEFORE the Rushes, supported on the idea that Nega was sealed in another dimension with Ifrit. That would make the weird question: is Ifrit connected to Blaze?
But, if this was confirmed true, we finally would understand how Nega could have ended up at Blaze's world.

Well, the most I could get from the mess at the moment is:

Sonic '06 > Sonic Rivals > Sonic Rivals 2 > Sonic Rush > Sonic Rush Adventure > Sonic Unleashed > Sonic Colors > Sonic Generations > Sonic Lost World

As for Sonic Chronicles? Well, it's some endpoint for the series, as far as it goes, but it does not seem that Iizuka remember the game, even if it explains some holes left on Adventure and Battle/Advance 3. No one knows nowadays if the game's part of the canon, only SEGA could give us an answer, unfortunately.

 

 

I hope that this thread game shed some light on the confusion about the Sonic timeline story. While the two first eras are easy to explain, the Modern Era turned the franchise into a huge mess.

[GamerGirl54321]

Huh... Cool. So I guess that Chronicles... Actually, that would make sense for it to be at the end of the series, personality-wise, because of all the downright mean wise-cracking you can make Sonic do.

Yeah, '06 fucked up pretty badly. Can't say that SEGA handled the timeline well at all from there.

[Neo_Fire_Sonic]

what about sonic riders and secret rings and black knight

[Your Vest Friend]

No, it's been said that Chronicles isn't part of the canon. Nor most of the classic games. It's really just the Adventure to present era where the canon is ambiguous (save, again, Chronicles. And Sonic '06, sort of).

[speedhog58]

There is a theory I have about Blaze which could explain a few things...

 

Blaze's dimension's key difference from Sonic's is that it is out of temporal sync. When two worlds are out of temporal sync it means that the same characters exist in the dimensions but much later or earlier in the timelines.

 

Essentially, this would mean that Blaze and Silver could exist in Sonic's future but also exist in the Sol dimension in Sonic's present, in turn this would mean that characters like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles would exist in the past of the Sol dimension by the same time gap as Sonic and Silver's stories are separated (200 years). 

[Spin Attaxx]

Can we stop with the "'06 Blaze travelled into the Sol Dimension" bullshit.

 

Blaze is from the Sol Dimension. Blaze has always been from the Sol Dimension. Blaze is not, and has never been, from Sonic's future. All of Blaze's bios in every non-'06 game make no reference to her having ever been from the future.

 

Sonic '06 was a self-destroying glitch in the series that should be ignored. Crisis City was only brought back in Generations because, for better or for worse, '06 was a big point in Sonic's history and the quip from Blaze about being in Crisis City was just a fanservice nod that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

[Forte-Metallix]

According to Iizuka (this information comes from multiple Summer of Sonic interviews):

 

 1) Sonic '06 was meant to be a reboot- Like Boom, the world of '06 takes place in a separate universe from the main continuity- even before Elise reset the timeline. That's why Blaze's backstory is different: she's not the same Blaze from Sonic Rush. As for why Crisis City came back in Generations: Time Eater messed up time and space so much that part of the '06 universe "leaked" into the main continuity.

(According to Ian Flynn, a deleted scene from Generations would reveal that Time Eater was born from a piece of Mephiles that "slipped through a crack in time".)

 

2) No Classic Sonic games are canon in the current continuity except Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3 & Knuckles: All spinoffs (Spinball, Fighters, 3D Blast, the Tails games, Chaotix, etc.) exist in their own continuity. Many of them contradict with the current storyline. (Example: Inconsistent number of Chaos Emeralds.) Also, all classic-spinoff-exclusive characters (Mighty, Nack, Wendy Witchcart, etc.) do not exist in the current universe. To quote Iizuka, "If we were to re-introduce them, we would have to completely reinvent them and their histories, like we did for the Chaotix in Heroes." (Heroes was meant to be a new beginning for the Chaotix, hence why no one recognized them.)

Also, Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles canonically happened as separate games. This means:

A) Super Emeralds are non-canon (Iizuka directly confirmed this, as well as the fact that neither Tails nor Knuckles can turn Super, hence why they only got gold shields in Heroes)

B )Tails only accompanied Sonic up to Launch Base Zone.

C) Knuckles's solo adventure might not be canon. (I remember hearing this, but cannot confirm it yet.)

 

3) The classic versions of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Metal Sonic, and Eggman are still canon. They just changed appearances as they aged. (Or, in Metal's case, when he was repaired in Mad Gear Zone.

[Sean]

Talking about Sonic canon is like one of those topics involving running around in circles with as little information as possible. With a scant few exceptions, there's nothing about most Sonic games that connects or even contradicts each other. Did you know it's possible for Sonic 1 to take place after SA2? That explains why there are only six Chaos Emeralds (Shadow has the seventh, and in Heroes there is an eighth emerald meaning that Sonic the Fighters takes place after SA2!!), and the reason Sonic only goes fast in some levels and slower in others is because he's distraught and in an early-life crisis, questioning his own mortality and the direction his life should be heading

It's not a bad thing to talk about, but personally, knowing which games are canon or not and when they take place just doesn't really affect my perception on anything in the series.

[AdmiralSalt]

(According to Ian Flynn, a deleted scene from Generations would reveal that Time Eater was born from a piece of Mephiles that "slipped through a crack in time".)

Source on that? The last I heard it was only Ian's headcanon that Mephiles was the Time Eater.

[DBZHedgy]

 

No, it's been said that Chronicles isn't part of the canon. Nor most of the classic games. It's really just the Adventure to present era where the canon is ambiguous (save, again, Chronicles. And Sonic '06, sort of).

The Classics have to be apart of the timeline though because Sonic Generations.

[Autosaver]

Sonic and the Black Knight has a profile on Blaze and links her to the Sonic Rush "Alternate Dimension" one. I think that's something to add since you also pointed out Sonic Generations did the same.

[Zero Dozer]

No, it's been said that Chronicles isn't part of the canon. Nor most of the classic games. It's really just the Adventure to present era where the canon is ambiguous (save, again, Chronicles. And Sonic '06, sort of).

Chronicles' status is quite ambiguous to me. And I already showed on the main post that only the main games count on the canon for the Classic Era.

 

what about sonic riders and secret rings and black knight

Spin-offs. Even though Sonic mentions Secret Rings in Generations, it doesn't count as part of the canon. The Riders enter the same status as Sonic R, Sonic Drift and other racing Sonic games.

 

Can we stop with the "'06 Blaze travelled into the Sol Dimension" bullshit.

 

Blaze is from the Sol Dimension. Blaze has always been from the Sol Dimension. Blaze is not, and has never been, from Sonic's future. All of Blaze's bios in every non-'06 game make no reference to her having ever been from the future.

 

Sonic '06 was a self-destroying glitch in the series that should be ignored. Crisis City was only brought back in Generations because, for better or for worse, '06 was a big point in Sonic's history and the quip from Blaze about being in Crisis City was just a fanservice nod that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Mostly this, and '06 quite erased itself from canon.

 

According to Iizuka (this information comes from multiple Summer of Sonic interviews):

 

 1) Sonic '06 was meant to be a reboot- Like Boom, the world of '06 takes place in a separate universe from the main continuity- even before Elise reset the timeline. That's why Blaze's backstory is different: she's not the same Blaze from Sonic Rush. As for why Crisis City came back in Generations: Time Eater messed up time and space so much that part of the '06 universe "leaked" into the main continuity.

(According to Ian Flynn, a deleted scene from Generations would reveal that Time Eater was born from a piece of Mephiles that "slipped through a crack in time".)

 

2) No Classic Sonic games are canon in the current continuity except Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3 & Knuckles: All spinoffs (Spinball, Fighters, 3D Blast, the Tails games, Chaotix, etc.) exist in their own continuity. Many of them contradict with the current storyline. (Example: Inconsistent number of Chaos Emeralds.) Also, all classic-spinoff-exclusive characters (Mighty, Nack, Wendy Witchcart, etc.) do not exist in the current universe. To quote Iizuka, "If we were to re-introduce them, we would have to completely reinvent them and their histories, like we did for the Chaotix in Heroes." (Heroes was meant to be a new beginning for the Chaotix, hence why no one recognized them.)

Also, Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles canonically happened as separate games. This means:

A) Super Emeralds are non-canon (Iizuka directly confirmed this, as well as the fact that neither Tails nor Knuckles can turn Super, hence why they only got gold shields in Heroes)

B )Tails only accompanied Sonic up to Launch Base Zone.

C) Knuckles's solo adventure might not be canon. (I remember hearing this, but cannot confirm it yet.)

 

3) The classic versions of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Metal Sonic, and Eggman are still canon. They just changed appearances as they aged. (Or, in Metal's case, when he was repaired in Mad Gear Zone.

1: Was meant, thank God it wasn't. And no, unfortunately, it doesn't take place in any alternate universe. Sonic '06 occurs in the main timeline. Sorry, but that's the hard truth.

2: Agree on only the main games being canon for the Classic Era. Sonic 3K, though, happened together, no matter what you say on this. I also disagree with Iizuka saying the Super Emeralds weren't canon (But it sure was space-filling in regard to game content). Remember that Iizuka may not even know what he says, we only take his word as Word of God because he's in charge now.

3: In fact, I could say that five years have passed between the first game and the Adventures, and one more in Generations. Remember also that Sonic 4 takes place one year after Sonic CD/2/3K.

[Drunk Michael Myers]

1 > CD > 2 > 3+Knuckles > 4+Chaotix > 3D > Adventure > Adventure 2 > Heroes > Shadow > Unleashed > Colours > Generations > Lost World.

[Dantemustdie00]

It's pretty obvious by now that canon Blaze is her Sonic Rush one since all games now only reference Blaze to Sonic Rush, meanwhile Silver is the one introduced in Sonic Rivals.

 

folks are gonna have to get over the bullshit Sonic 06 spitted out out us, but really, that's SEGA's fault for trying to screw with our heads

 

 

The Super Emeralds in S3&K, best to ignore that as well, I mean they simply felt like a added bonus anyway.

[Oh Noes]

Oh boy, we're getting on one of the most infamous yet hard to handle subjects in the whole franchise. But I must admit, I really like your take on it, and I think that, by taking into account every game, even the very minor ones (Sonic Chaos, Sonic 2 GG...), you did a great job! However, there's still some things I'd like to pinpoint out:

 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Tails gets kidnapped and Sonic sets to rescue him. That never happens, as, according to the japanese manuals for the Mega Drive version, Sonic meet Tails shortly before the adventure starts, and they set for Angel Island a few days after Sonic blows the Death Egg up.

Sonic Chaos: Sonic goes back to South Island with Tails. But there's a big error: Tails wasn't even AWARE of South Island's existence before Generations. How do we proceed, then?

 

For Sonic 2 GameGear, how does the Megadrive version cancel its story? Indeed, Sonic 2 begins right after Sonic and Tails meet in the Japanese version, but the GameGear version is never mentionned to happend before the Megadrive one. Sure, the game came out before, but release dates don't really got much to do with the story of the games, on this decides of the timeline. It could have happened anytime before Sonic 3.

 

As for Sonic Chaos, yes, the game's story isn't very fleshed out to begin with, so it should matter much, but if we consider Sonic 2 GG, Sonic the Fighters, and Sonic Drift canon, then that would make 3 more times when Tails discovered South Island. But the latter, like Sonic R, isn't really important either, and like you said, Sonic the Fighters's place is really ambiguous, though it looks like it happens after Sonic & Knuckles. So if we also consider that Sonic 2 GG isn't canon, then yes, Tails never went to South Island, which explains his reaction in Generations. But still, I don't get how Sonic 2 GG can't be integrated since it doesn't conflict with other classic games, even if it's a minor game.

 

Also, the Super Emeralds. Yeah, they only appear in Sonic & Knuckles, and act as bonuses, but hey, it was still a major change to know that the Emeralds could enter a higher state, and that you could get an even more powerful transformation with it! They also put some meaning into Hidden Palace, in addition to it being a better hideout for the Master Emerald rather than EXPOSING IT IN THE OPEN AIR YOU INCOMPETENT RED ECHIDNA

 

Sorry for that little moment. But I still think that the fact that the Emeralds can become even more powerful is a revelant one. But well, if Iizuka-san says that they aren't canon, I can still understand why. Apart from that, I won't be expressing myself much on the subject, because it's impossible to please everyone and integrate every game. I think that only a few games should be made "canon" to keep the worldbuilding consistent, and that's left to the writers and designers to decide, even though they could use some advices from the fans. However...

 

Remember that Iizuka may not even know what he says, we only take his word as Word of God because he's in charge now.

 

Let's try to not discuss about Iizuka's "capability" of handling the franchise or his "skills", because usually that subject is fuel for highly explosive debates.

[Unknownlight]

It is quite improbable that Sonic CD takes place after Sonic 3K...

How come? It makes the most sense to me. Sonic 4: Episode II seems to suggest it, and the technological progress of Eggman's robots does too (Mecha Sonic was a prototype for Metal Sonic). Various backstory things have also always implied that Sonic and Tails knew each other first, and that all the other (non-Eggman) characters came later. There's no time between Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles for any other games to happen, so the only place left for Sonic CD is at the end.

[Oh Noes]

How come? It makes the most sense to me. Sonic 4: Episode II seems to suggest it, and the technological progress of Eggman's robots does too (Mecha Sonic was a prototype for Metal Sonic). Various backstory things have also always implied that Sonic and Tails knew each other first, and that all the other (non-Eggman) characters came later. There's no time between Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles for any other games to happen, so the only place left for Sonic CD is at the end.

 

I agree with that. The fact that Spin Dash was in a prototype state and that the game was supposed to be launched the same time around Sonic 2, or even Tails's cameo doesn't stop the game, story-wise, to be placed anywhere in the classic era before Sonic 4 Episode II. Sure, it may be harder to recover right after Sonic destroyed Death Egg N°29475, but we know that Eggman doesn't lack motivation.

 

Except between 2 and 3&Knuckles, because I think it's way more likely that the events of Sonic 3 happens right after the ones in Sonic 2, seeing that Sonic still have the Chaos Emeralds, and that you'd have to be a blind idiot to just leave the Death Egg on a Island that just fell from the sky for such a long time. Speaking of which, this has nothing to do with the timeline, but how come Angel Island fell off into the ocean, if the Master Emerald was still there? Was it because of the Death Egg's mass? That never made sense to me, knowing how powerful the Master Emerald can be.

[JezMM]

The problem with fitting Sonic 2 8-bit between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 is that Sonic & Tails are in possession of the (now known to be seven) chaos emeralds the whole time, whereas in Sonic 2 8-bit Sonic must collect the (still thought to be only six) chaos emeralds for Eggman in exchange for Tails' freedom.

 

I love Sonic 2 8-bit and would want it to be canon, but it can't come before Sonic 2 and can't really come after either.  In fact all the Game Gear games kind of don't fit in due to the 6 emeralds, the only place they could fit in is before it is discovered there are seven emeralds in Sonic 2.

 

Unless you want to headcanon it that there were always seven emeralds even in these games and only 6 appear because gameplay/early installment weirdness.

[Your Vest Friend]

The Classics have to be apart of the timeline though because Sonic Generations.

I said most of the classic games. The main quadrilogy (counting S3&K as a single entity even though they happen as separate in the timeline) are the reason it's not all of the classic games. There's a lot of them.

Chronicles' status is quite ambiguous to me. And I already showed on the main post that only the main games count on the canon for the Classic Era.

Chronicles isn't ambiguous. For one, it was stated by someone who was employed as PR for SEGA of Europe at the time that it was non-canon. For another, Ian has verified that SEGA's hard stance on Knuckles is that he is the last of his kind, even if he and us know better (ie we know about Sonic Chronicles). It can't fit in the canon if SEGA want to take that stance with him, even as a future thing.

[JezMM]

I consider Chronicles non-canon because it has no ending.  It can't possibly fit anywhere other than as the final game in the series, perpetually.  And I'd just rather it not.

[Oh Noes]

The problem with fitting Sonic 2 8-bit between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 is that Sonic & Tails are in possession of the (now known to be seven) chaos emeralds the whole time, whereas in Sonic 2 8-bit Sonic must collect the (still thought to be only six) chaos emeralds for Eggman in exchange for Tails' freedom.

 

I love Sonic 2 8-bit and would want it to be canon, but it can't come before Sonic 2 and can't really come after either.  In fact all the Game Gear games kind of don't fit in due to the 6 emeralds, the only place they could fit in is before it is discovered there are seven emeralds in Sonic 2.

 

Unless you want to headcanon it that there were always seven emeralds even in these games and only 6 appear because gameplay/early installment weirdness.

 

Ah. Yes. The EMMEROWS. Somehow it always come down to them. ( Gee, wonder why...   )

 

But thanks for the clarification. Well actually, the (awesome) fangames Sonic Before and After the Sequel tried to explain this, stating that there were always 7 emeralds, but that nor Sonic or Eggman could use their power because the last one was missing, until he transformed into Super Sonic for the first time. But wait...Maybe Eggman DID had the 7th the whole time, which is why he asked Sonic the other remaining six in Sonic 2 GG. Oh wait it can't be canon anyhow - But that would explain, if Triple Trouble came to be canon, why the six Emeralds scattered all over the place when Eggman made an experiment on them! ...Wait, it happends after Sonic & Knuckles? Is Eggman THAT of an idiot or...?

 

Okay, so, conclusion: Game Gear games don't fit anywhere in the timeline, but you should totally play them. As for Chronicles, well, it's too bad because it had good ideas, but if Word of God says it you can't deny it. I suppose Iizuka doesn't like slimeballs and rockguys that comes from another dimension in a Sonic game very much.

 

And for Riders, unless you consider it to happend in the near future (which would somehow explain the technological improvements and the character's redesigns), it's really hard to integrate it in the modern era. But I'm not the first to think of that.

[DarkLight]

Or maybe one look at Chronicle's Codex would give the impression that Bioware didn't fact-check the series as much as they thought they did and that in itself should be a sign it was never going to be canon anyway.

[JezMM]

And for Riders, unless you consider it to happend in the near future (which would somehow explain the technological improvements and the character's redesigns), it's really hard to integrate it in the modern era. But I'm not the first to think of that.

 

Grand Metropolis happened in Heroes and that game is definitely canon.  It seems that just as hyper-modern cities with neon signs and all that jazz can co-exist with cities with roman and medieval archiecture standing strong in our world, we can assume that cities like Central City in SA2 can co-exist with cities like Metal City in Riders in Sonic's world.

[Zero Dozer]

I agree with that. The fact that Spin Dash was in a prototype state and that the game was supposed to be launched the same time around Sonic 2, or even Tails's cameo doesn't stop the game, story-wise, to be placed anywhere in the classic era before Sonic 4 Episode II. Sure, it may be harder to recover right after Sonic destroyed Death Egg N°29475, but we know that Eggman doesn't lack motivation.

 

Except between 2 and 3&Knuckles, because I think it's way more likely that the events of Sonic 3 happens right after the ones in Sonic 2, seeing that Sonic still have the Chaos Emeralds, and that you'd have to be a blind idiot to just leave the Death Egg on a Island that just fell from the sky for such a long time. Speaking of which, this has nothing to do with the timeline, but how come Angel Island fell off into the ocean, if the Master Emerald was still there? Was it because of the Death Egg's mass? That never made sense to me, knowing how powerful the Master Emerald can be.

Sonic CD being after 3K has no logic. Sonic 4 itself occurs one year after CD, for starters. Also, as you said, much of what we see in Sonic CD is quite a prototype of what we see even on Sonic 2. This is why I believe Sonic CD must take place between the two first games.

Also, as for the GG games, Sunnymoon seems to have understood why I didn't consider any of the 8-bit games as canon.

 

Grand Metropolis happened in Heroes and that game is definitely canon.  It seems that just as hyper-modern cities with neon signs and all that jazz can co-exist with cities with roman and medieval archiecture standing strong in our world, we can assume that cities like Central City in SA2 can co-exist with cities like Metal City in Riders in Sonic's world.

Unleashed also gives proof to your claims; remember all the places Sonic visited around the world.

[Unknownlight]

Also, as you said, much of what we see in Sonic CD is quite a prototype of what we see even on Sonic 2. This is why I believe Sonic CD must take place between the two first games.

 

Other way around. Stuff that's seen in Sonic 2 / Sonc 3 (like Mecha Sonic) is a prototype of what we see later in Sonic CD (Metal Sonic).