Sonic Unleashed made Sonic Advance 3 a plot hole?!

[Chao]

Yes. Recently, Sonic Unleashed's story has created A VERY MASSIVE PLOT HOLE out of Sonic Advance 3. How is that possible? To get it the short way, just compare the plots below:

Sonic Advance 3: Eggman builds G-mel and gathers the Chaos Emeralds to start another evil scheme. He doesn't feel like dealing with Knuckles, Amy, or Cream, though so He uses the Chaos Emeralds to split the Planet into seven pieces.

Sonic Unleashed: Eggman, in his latest evil scheme, uses the Chaos Emeralds to blow up the planet, which then neatly splits into seven pieces. This is all in an elaborate scheme to awaken Dark Gaia (

and unkowningly Chip

) and use it's powers to make Eggmanland and blow up Sonic.

Now here's the long way:

Now, judging from what Chip and Pickles say, Dark Gaia blows up the planet every million billion trillion years or so.

However, Eggman's blowing up the planet prematurely awakened both Gaias.

Essentially, it means Dark Gaia and Chip should have been awakened when Eggman blew up the planet in SA3.

But they didn't.

[JezMM]

This has been discussed before. Most people say that in Sonic Advance 3, it was more implied that the pieces of Earth were scattered into different dimensions by distorting them (which would explain why the zones are so heavily themed and why Sonic runs through a rainbowy portal place after each boss).

This sorts out the plot hole, but to be honest, I often feel that the storylines between the portable and console games are often ignored one way. Portable games tend to use the established universe from the console games, but I'm yet to see a storyline element from a portable game mentioned in a console game. Closest I've seen is the fact that Cream is introduced in Advance 2, and therefore in her debut appearence, Sonic Heroes, everyone already knows her.

[The-Master-Board]

I've thought of this too, though my most rational rationalisation was to think of Sonic Advance 3 as canon and Sonic Unleashed as not (as it is horrible, and SA3 craps all over it)

But as I like to view all Sonic games as one big ongoing series I just figured that in Sonic Advance 3 the pieces of planet were more like outter crusts, like layers of the planet broken up but the majority and the core of the planet was still intact.

Either that or once again Sonic Team fail at any type of continuity in their games.

[Frozen Nitrogen]

Don't forget that Dark Gaia's some sort of craaaaazy energy being. You probably have to crack the planet with the precise kind of giant laser to jolt him out of his sleep. And Eggman used the WRONG kind in SA3, because he wasn't trying to Dark Gaia it up.

With regard to the dimension-style fracturing; I thought this was what happened in Unleashed as well, truth be told. If only because, as was discussed prior to SSMB's untimely death, if it's just pieces of planet physically floating around, you're going to have lots of difficulty when the sea and the air falls over the edge, like some pre-Columbian flat-Earth nightmare.

[DMNBT]

I always thought the reason Dark Gaia didn't awaken in SAdv3 was because the way the world was split apart is different in both games. While in SU Eggman fired a giant laser at Earth, in SAdv3 he did a massive Chaos Control to split it apart, so it's possible that the giant laser was a requirement to awaken Dark Gaia.

[Core]

With regard to the dimension-style fracturing; I thought this was what happened in Unleashed as well, truth be told. If only because, as was discussed prior to SSMB's untimely death, if it's just pieces of planet physically floating around, you're going to have lots of difficulty when the sea and the air falls over the edge, like some pre-Columbian flat-Earth nightmare.

The world map, as well as every cutscene showing a piece of the planet going back to the center, clearly show that the pieces are physically floating around, whether that's logical or not.

We don't actually know what happened in Sonic Advance 3. They just said "Eggman used Chaos Control to split the world into seven parts", but we don't know how these parts are, or whether they're in different dimensions or not, etc. We don't even see the world being put back together.

So it's entirely possible that the requirements to awake Dark Gaia weren't met.

[Frozen Nitrogen]

The world map, as well as every cutscene showing a piece of the planet going back to the center, clearly show that the pieces are physically floating around, whether that's logical or not.

Physically... and dimensionally.

*Attempts to patch up theory using masking tape and crooked nails*

[SuperLink]

In Sonic Advance 3, the world was split up with Chaos Control, implying much more heavily that they were all in different dimensions. Also, completing a zone had Sonic running into the next dimension, so very different to Unleashed. These are workarounds I guess, BUT...

I genuinly think though, that Advance 3 has just been completely overlooked, and forgotten. It's a long shot but sometimes I feel Sonic Team is deliberately trying to sabotage the storys from the 2D games (main case in point being Blaze)

[JaidynReiman]

'Eh, they've probably somewhat ignored Sonic Advance 3, but yeah, there is a pretty big difference between SAdv3 (I call it SAdv instead of SA to differentiate it from Sonic Adventure) and Sonic Unleashed based on how the world was split apart. In Unleashed, Dark Gaia's power holds the world together, so that's why it didn't completely fall apart. They ARE floating above the core of the Earth, while in SAdv3, as has been mentioned, Eggman uses Chaos Control to split the world apart, probably into seven different "pocket dimensions."

G-Mel hasn't returned for some reason or another, dunno why. I could easily see Sonic Chronicles 2 featuring him, though.

[Indigo Rush]

If there's one thing that should be noted about Sonic Team, they can't keep a straight continuity.

[famicommander]

I don't much care... I was barely aware that the Sonic Advance series had a storyline. I don't go to 2D platformers for my stories.

[Yong]

Watching the cinema, it seems more likely that the discussion and reaction was in the context that this occurance happened in ancient times, not "OMG, the world NEVER did splits befores!" That would be shocking due to the fact that the world is whole for most of Sonic and Tails's life. However people, for some reason or another, are taking this out of context, much like a bunch of other pointless things people have pointed out over the years.

The idea of the world splitting apart in general certainly wasn't original as far as the Sonic verse goes. But when you get shot down for pointing out Sega was ripping of its own game in the months prior to the game's release, then you tend not to talk about it anymore.

[Scorch]

If there's one thing that should be noted about Sonic Team, they can't keep a straight continuity.

You have a point, but I think we should also take into consideration that Sonic Team most likely hadn't come up with Chip and Dark Gaia at the time Sonic Advance 3 was in development.

[SuperStingray]

I follow the "dimensional split" argument, I think there's still the possibility that Advance 3 came AFTER Unleashed in the canon. But this never really bothered me; the only plothole in the series that is actually a problem to me is the Silver-Nega-Blaze one.

You have a point, but I think we should also take into consideration that Sonic Team most likely hadn't come up with Chip and Dark Gaia at the time Sonic Advance 3 was in development.

What does that change? There are plenty of continuities out there that create new things as they go on, but they usually avoid contradicting already established matters

Edited March 11, 2009 by SuperStingray

[SuperLink]

Sonic could have said something like "Eggman split the world up with Chaos Control once before too!". Noone can deny that all the fans would have loved that.

[Lukar]

Eh, I've always thought that the portable games are in a separate canon from the main games (For the most part, anyway).

[Suna]

Eh, I've always thought that the portable games are in a separate canon from the main games (For the most part, anyway).

Thats what I thought, it would be easyer to just leave it that way.

[SuperLink]

I'd hate that, it'd mean that Cream is destined for shittyness in the "main" timeline.

Also, Chaos is in Battle, and Sonic Advance 3 + Chronicles are greatly linked to Battle.

Yay universal continuity wins =D

[Drunk Michael Myers]

My conclusion: It's just a game. There now, no plot holes

[123654]

I thought it was obvious that the world was broken dimensionally in Advance 3. The very fact that Eggman did it using Chaos Control, which manipulates time and space and can warp dimensions, is proof enough. Chaos Control couldn't physically break something.

Even if it was a physical breaking of the continent, the Advance games don't seem to be placed in any specific place. Advance 3 could come after Unleashed for all we know.

[JezMM]

My conclusion: It's just a game. There now, no plot holes

It still has a storyline though. You wouldn't say "it's just a TV show" or "it's just a movie." for those media.

[SuperLink]

Yeah it's that kind of answer that distances games from other mass media in a way gamers really don't want. Do games really need to be trivialised for all eternity? Look at Kingdom Hearts, that has a huge and epic and important story >:

[123654]

What gets me are people who say Sonic has no storyline and that there is zero continuity between the games. It takes a special kind of stupid to think that, but you wouldn't believe how many people have said that.

[SuperStingray]

What gets me are people who say Sonic has no storyline and that there is zero continuity between the games. It takes a special kind of stupid to think that, but you wouldn't believe how many people have said that.

Well, the series shows little regard for it, but there are more connections than contradictions.

[123654]

Oh, the series definitely has a loose continuity. But to say there's no continuity whatsoever is dumb.

I've had one person tell me that Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog are proof of zero continuity; because Shadow died in SA2, and he's alive in Heroes and Shadow, there's no continuity there. Even though Shadow's survival was an actual plot point that was addressed in the games.

Edited March 13, 2009 by AXB