Piecing together the JP manual stories of Sonic 1, 2, and 3K (and maybe SA1)

[Sean]

Sonic canon is stupid. But Sonic lore is interesting to me. That's why I really like the Japanese manuals for the original games because they shed some insight on the history of the chaos emeralds and the islands on which Sonic adventures in his endeavors to stop Dr. Eggman's plans.

If you need to brush up on your Sonic history be sure to give the translations a read at Sonic Retro. Make sure you're reading the translations by Windii and not anything from the US/EU manuals.

https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(16-bit)/Manuals
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2_(16-bit)/Manuals
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3/Manuals
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_%26_Knuckles/Manuals

Part 1: South Island

First off, it's suggested in Sonic 1's manual that the emeralds have laid dormant on South Island for some time. Eggman heard some rumors regarding their whereabouts and made it his mission to dig them up by any means necessary. Also apparently South Island is a landmass that is floating across the ocean and has some sort of mystical powers on its own, which is how it manages to house the emeralds to begin with. There isn't much else to go by here other than that Sonic and Eggman have clearly faced off before. However this may be the first time that Eggman has built himself an army out of animals, due to Sonic's shock over this revelation. So Sonic and Eggman's prior spats were probably really minor, but this is the first time that Eggman has gone all out and is making a serious effort at obtaining unlimited power. Moving on...

 

Part 2: Westside Island

Sonic 2 is where things get slightly more interesting. Sonic takes a leisurely vacation on Westside Island one day, apparently lacking familiarity with the island's past. It's said here that there was once an ancient civilization that used the power of the chaos emeralds and achieve prosperity. However some people got too greedy and tried to use the emeralds for their own selfish reasons, leading to their downfall. After this, it's said that the gods sealed away the emeralds somewhere on the island, destined to fade from the annals of history so that humanity could no longer abuse them for their own twisted, selfish desires.

Now this being a legend and not presented as fact, it's up for debate as to how much of this is true. If the emeralds were really sealed on Westside Island hundreds of years ago, then that doesn't really explain how they managed to find their way onto South Island. What could be the meaning of this? Well as we all know, the location of the emeralds throughout the series is inconsistent and there have been few clearly established rules on how they operate. We know going by the ending of Sonic 1 that the emeralds can be used for an incredible burst of power before disappearing, kind of like how the Dragon Balls operate when whoever holds them all is granted a wish. After this, they scatter and lay dormant unless disturbed and their powers are called upon once more. And this time it just so happens that Eggman overheard the emeralds possibly stowed away on South Island, where they may have been hiding for countless years before the events of Sonic 1. My theory is that Westside Island's civilization tried to use them, but the emeralds reacted based on their evil, selfish intentions and turned their power against them (possibly suggesting they have a will of their own?). So the "gods" didn't exactly seal them under Westside Island but rather they disappeared and any survivors and bystanders assumed they remained dormant underneath Westside.

As fate would have it, after the events of Sonic 1 the emeralds find themselves back at Westside. Eggman once again learns of their location through some means, perhaps doing research of his own and learning about the existence of said civilization, and tries to go after them again. As for the seventh emerald, there's not much to say here because the manual makes absolutely no attempt to explain its absence in Sonic 1. There is a variety of fan explanations for this, but they're all just that: fanon, with nothing within the games or their backstories explaining this discrepancy. So, believe what you want about them, but I'm not going to get into the seventh emerald here and will continue operating under the guise of its addition being a simple retcon, because Dragon Ball is fucking awesome and Super Saiyan Sonic is hardcore.

 

Part 3: Angel Island

Now as we all know, Sonic 3 takes place very shortly after Sonic 2. However, going by the manuals it's not clear just how long it's been between Eggman's defeat aboard the Death Egg and Sonic's journey to the mysterious island that suddenly appeared in the ocean. It's safe to assume at least several days, however, for reasons I'll get into later. Now, Tails' machine has picked up an extremely powerful emerald signal. That's pretty strange right? The emeralds are all in Sonic's possession right now so why would there be yet another emerald reading? And does it have to do with the tsunami they witnessed just the other day?

Meanwhile, Sonic discovers a mysterious ring washed up on the beach during one of his usual leisurely naps. It has mysterious engravings on it; I think it's safe to assume that the giant ring that appears on Sonic 3's title screen is in reference to this.

Something about this ring is familiar to Sonic, and it helps him recall some history regarding an ancient civilization. Is it the same one mentioned in Sonic 2's backstory? Possibly, possibly not. The legend described here is extremely close to that in Sonic 2, just with a bit more detail to it. This time, it mentions the existence of a "power stone" which obviously refers to the Master Emerald. But the interesting part is that it suggests that the floating Angel Island was once earthbound. The gods restored remnants of this civilization and released it into the sky, hiding its existence from the unassuming populace below and only persisting in the minds of scholars and rumor-chasing adventurers. It's worth mentioning that in Sonic 3's backstory, it does not mention this civilization using the chaos emeralds - ONLY the Master Emerald. But again, these are legends, and the facts as to what truly happened are unknown to this day. What if this civilization was the same one on Westside Island? Would that mean Angel Island was once a part of Westside? Nobody can say for sure because at no point does Sonic 3's backstory mention Westside, so unfortunately this is all pure speculation - but it's fun to think about.

Meanwhile on the sunken floating island upon which the Death Egg's remnants crashed, Eggman learns that there are chaos emeralds on the island. Now... wait a minute. I thought Sonic and Tails had the emeralds? After all, we see Knuckles taking them away from Sonic at the very beginning of Sonic 3. This is the part of these manuals where things get very confusing and inconsistent. That is, unless we assume that Eggman's emerald radar only suggested the presence of multiple emeralds but was in fact pointing towards the Master Emerald, whose power dwarfs the combined energy of the seven emeralds. It's possible that Eggman simply assumes this energy reading is referring to the seven chaos emeralds, which is very similar to how Tails learned of a massive emerald energy reading on his device. Maybe Eggman isn't aware that Sonic is currently in possession of them, which explains why he doesn't simply try to track Sonic down and steal them for himself.

Before Sonic 3 begins, we are finally introduced to Knuckles, the guardian of Angel Island and its mysterious stone. The manual explains that there are altars on which the emeralds are housed and protected throughout the island, and Knuckles is apparently in charge of guarding them. This is the part that definitely doesn't make sense to me at all. If Knuckles is guarding the chaos emeralds, then why were they not on Angel Island during the events of Sonic 1 and 2? I have an idea as to why this is, but it's a rickety theory and I'm not sure just how well it holds under scrutiny, but I'll give it a go anyway. The chaos emeralds disappear from their altars under mysterious circumstances, and Knuckles blacks out. This is where I assume they are teleported to Westside Island during the beginning of Sonic 2. I would love nothing more to say that they are transported to South Island, leading into the events of Sonic 1, save for one major problem: After Knuckles wakes up, he sees the Death Egg near a massive lake. I presume that it crashed onto the island while Knuckles was unconscious, meaning Knuckles did not immediately notice the island was currently stuck in the middle of the ocean. What I think this means is that the events of Sonic 2 take place during this time period; for whatever unknown reason, the emeralds saw it fit to transport themselves to Westside, where Sonic and Tails managed to obtain them.

So, what could have happened here? Was Knuckles actually protecting the emeralds all his life? How does Sonic 1 even factor into any of this? I think that Knuckles discovered these emeralds on Angel Island shortly after the events of Sonic 1, when Sonic used their power to restore South Island to its former, pristine state. Knuckles recognizes these seven emeralds due to his awareness of the ancient altars dedicated to housing them, and so he makes it his mission to guard them with his life. After an indeterminate amount of time, they suddenly disappear without warning. This could possibly be due to the emeralds detecting a massive reading from the recently launched Death Egg which threatens to destroy the world, and they reacted accordingly, just as they did when the ancient civilization(s) tried to use them hundreds of years ago. This ties back into my personal belief that the emeralds have a will of their own and their powers are tied directly to the fate of the world and whomever seeks to obtain them for their own ends, whether good or bad. Anyway, they show up on Westside Island - probably not coincidentally, and Sonic collects them and dismantles Eggman's latest scheme. The Death Egg crashes into Angel Island, and as nothing is mentioned in the manual that suggests Knuckles is acutely aware of the island falling from the sky, I like to believe that this occurred while Knuckles was unconscious (yes, this DOES mean I'm saying he was sleeping through the entirety of Sonic 2 LMAO).

Something interesting to note is that when Knuckles sees the Death Egg, he doesn't have an inkling as to what it could be and assumes it to be an omen from the gods. Whatever it is, he knows that the island is in danger because of it, and so he spends the next several days searching for the emeralds in vain. After a while, he encounters Eggman, who as we all know lies to Knuckles claiming to be investigating the mysterious presence of the "egg of the legendary dragon," and warns him of an evil blue hedgehog by the name of Sonic who seeks these emeralds for his nefarious goals. Sooner or later, Sonic and Tails set out to investigate the cause of the tsunami from the other day, and they run into Knuckles who swipes the emeralds from Sonic due to an act of carelessness on the hedgehog's part. As far as Knuckles is concerned, he's just taking back what are rightfully his to begin with.

Part 4: Hidden Palace

Now, you'd think there wouldn't be much to say about S&K's manual due to it picking up immediately after the events of Sonic 3. However! This manual tells of an event which only occurs when the game is locked-on with S3: After thwarting the Death Egg's relaunch into space, Sonic crashlands into Mushroom Hill and spies on Knuckles emerging from a cave housing a mysterious, glowing giant ring, with a different energy from all other giant rings in his past adventures. Upon contact, Sonic is transported to the legendary Hidden Palace, where he sees the Master Emerald in its resting place. This must be the emerald reading that Tails picked up on with his device, Sonic probably realized.

This confirms that Sonic does canonically enter Hidden Palace through the giant special ring in MHZ. But it's interesting to note that the manual makes NO mention of the chaos emeralds themselves whatsoever. This ties back into what Sega said about the Super Emeralds not being canon and simply an extra bonus for players to obtain when S3 and SK were connected. This may be the official, practical reason as to why the Super Emeralds exist, but I doubt that some thought wasn't put into their presence in S3K's story. Sega could have just simply made a second set of special stages to add to Sonic's current total of emeralds, but instead they had the Super Emeralds surround the Master Emerald altar, which implies a connection between them. It's up to you to decide whether the emeralds are canon, I prefer to think that they are, but I know the Super Emeralds' canonicity is a contentious topic among some circles of the fandom, so I won't dwell on it much further here, and to be honest I'm not really concerned about the topic all that much anyway. The truly important part here is that Sonic finally uncovers a vital part of the mystery surrounding the island and its unique emerald energy, which indicates to him that his adventure is far from over and that whatever it is, he has to prevent Eggman from obtaining it or the chaos emeralds at all costs.

Addendum: The Mystic Ruins

Now normally I'd end this here, but Sonic Adventure is the one game in the modern series which appears to tie directly into the information given to us in the classic games. And this time we don't even need a manual written in a language most of us reading this topic don't natively understand! The civilization described in Sonic 3's manual lines up very closely to that of the echidna tribe residing in the Mystic Ruins. The elders wished to use the emerald's power for themselves, and they were wiped out from existence and history as a result. Well if we're to piece them together then this obviously means that Chaos was responsible for the destruction described in Sonic 3's legend; after all, he isn't known as the God of Destruction for nothing. Tikal takes it upon herself to seal both herself and Chaos within the Master Emerald in order to prevent any further damage to the world. Now my belief is that this is the incident which led to Angel Island's severance from the earth, assuming that the legends have twisted the truth a bit and attributed this event to the deities worshiped by this ancient civilization. Did Tikal lift Angel Island on purpose, or even at all? Was she trying to protect earth from discovering the true whereabouts of Chaos and the Master Emerald, thus hoping to stave off Chaos' resurrection for as long as possible? Also, what did Knuckles mean when he referred to the Death Egg in Sonic 3 as “the egg of the legendary dragon”? Was the “dragon” that these legends referred to Chaos in its perfect form? Nothing about any of this is substantiated, so draw your own conclusions.

 

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say! I made this topic because I hoped that this could get people to think about how all of the classic games are connected with each other, and possibly even with the backstory presented to us in SA1. What do you think? Do you find any of this interesting, do you have your own ideas on how any of this is connected? Or were the writers just writing by the seat of their pants and didn't give a shit about continuity? (possibly true) ARE THERE REALLY MULTIPLE SETS OF EMERALDS RESIDING ON EACH ISLAND!? I don't buy into this theory but I see it tossed around a lot anyway. Discuss, if you like!

[Plumbers_Helper]

I love discussing pre-2003 Sonic lore.

I also highly recommend Windii's translation of "Chaos Emerald Legend" and "At the End of the Battle..." from the Japanese Sonic Adventure Strategy Guide as they provide more details about the Knuckles clan, the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic Adventure's story in general.

 

Chaos Emerald Legend （カオスエメラルド伝説）https://pastebin.com/Vu8yNjtz
At the End of the Battle… （戦いの末に……）https://pastebin.com/fVAyJJAq

Chaos Emerald Legend says that it wasn't Tikal who caused Angel Island to rise into the sky, but the surviving echidnas. They used the Master Emeralds power to lift the surrounding area into the sky and took on the duty of guardians to make sure "an incident like this never happens again".

I've always wondered if South Island, Westside Island and Angel Island have a deeper connection somehow. All three have legends about the Chaos Emeralds and all three have similar ancient depictions of birds (Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Aquatic Ruin and Hydro City). We know that Angel Island was originally connected to the landmass that the Mystic Ruins is on, but is it possible that South Island and Westside Island were too? Is it possible when Angel Island was ripped from the landmass it left behind smaller landmasses that over the course of 3000 years became known as South Island and Westside Island? We also know from Bark the Polar Bear's bio from Fighters Megamix that he's from North Island, but since we don't know anything about North Island it's hard to say if it has any relation to South Island and Westside Island other then sharing a similar naming scheme.

 

[Indigo Rush]

This was an excellent write-up @Sean! Early Sonic lore is always a fascinating topic to me. 

Any thoughts on the relevance/placement of Sonic CD? 

[Sean]

13 hours ago, Plumbers_Helper said:

I love discussing pre-2003 Sonic lore.

I also highly recommend Windii's translation of "Chaos Emerald Legend" and "At the End of the Battle..." from the Japanese Sonic Adventure Strategy Guide as they provide more details about the Knuckles clan, the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic Adventure's story in general.

Chaos Emerald Legend （カオスエメラルド伝説）https://pastebin.com/Vu8yNjtz
At the End of the Battle… （戦いの末に……）https://pastebin.com/fVAyJJAq

Chaos Emerald Legend says that it wasn't Tikal who caused Angel Island to rise into the sky, but the surviving echidnas. They used the Master Emeralds power to lift the surrounding area into the sky and took on the duty of guardians to make sure "an incident like this never happens again".

I've always wondered if South Island, Westside Island and Angel Island have a deeper connection somehow. All three have legends about the Chaos Emeralds and all three have similar ancient depictions of birds (Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Aquatic Ruin and Hydro City). We know that Angel Island was originally connected to the landmass that the Mystic Ruins is on, but is it possible that South Island and Westside Island were too? Is it possible when Angel Island was ripped from the landmass it left behind smaller landmasses that over the course of 3000 years became known as South Island and Westside Island? We also know from Bark the Polar Bear's bio from Fighters Megamix that he's from North Island, but since we don't know anything about North Island it's hard to say if it has any relation to South Island and Westside Island other then sharing a similar naming scheme.

Wow these are cool and had no idea about them, thanks for pointing me to these! I didn't know about whether there were any surviving echidna clan members (though obviously there would be since Knuckles descended from them lmao) so it makes sense they would be the ones to do it. And yeah I've always wondered whether the ancient carvings in any of these levels had backstory to them but Sega's never talked about them in any capacity, so it might just be stuff that only exists within the artists' minds or something.

 

9 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

This was an excellent write-up @Sean! Early Sonic lore is always a fascinating topic to me. 

Any thoughts on the relevance/placement of Sonic CD? 

I always assumed CD would go between 1 and 2 but tbh the reasons I left it out of this topic were that CD had nothing to do with the chaos emeralds, and that unlike the other games there's no indication of what the Little Planet's history was like. iirc the scrapped R2 level was meant to be a ruins-themed level like Marble Zone, so I wonder if it would have had anything interesting in it that suggested things about the past. There's also the statue in Wacky Workbench and it's such a random addition to the level that I can't help but wonder about its significance. But anyway I don't mind if people want to talk about CD in this topic either, I just didn't really have much to say about it in my opening post.

[Kuzu]

I actually watched videos on Classic lore not too long ago so this topic is welcome.

[Duelistic Nature]

Excellent idea! As a person who got into Sonic from SA2 I did miss out on most of the lore the previous installments had so brushing up on it is great!

On 7/16/2022 at 7:24 AM, Sean said:

Sonic canon is stupid. But Sonic lore is interesting to me. That's why I really like the Japanese manuals for the original games because they shed some insight on the history of the chaos emeralds and the islands on which Sonic adventures in his endeavors to stop Dr. Eggman's plans.

If you need to brush up on your Sonic history be sure to give the translations a read at Sonic Retro. Make sure you're reading the translations by Windii and not anything from the US/EU manuals.

https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(16-bit)/Manuals
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2_(16-bit)/Manuals
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3/Manuals
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_%26_Knuckles/Manuals

About the pop-up of chaos emeralds in a wide variety of places over time could be explained away by saying that the emeralds are actually drawn to strong emotions. As mentioned in the manual translation shared with us by Plumbers_Helper, chaos got powerful and went berserk because of Pachacamac's intrusion into the Chao's and Emerald's sanctuary.

Conflict/ ambition/ prosperity are all strong emotions and since the Chaos emeralds can amplify these sensations they could be drawn to them as well. Sonic's spat with Eggman on South Island could have become so heated that it drew the emeralds to the place and the good doctor actually caught wind of them before the blue blur did. Perhaps the distress of all the small animals being shoved into Eggman's robots to power them could have roused an accumulation of strong negative emotions that drew the Emeralds over.

On top of that once the power of the Emeralds is spent they scatter all over the place, but as stated by Tails in SA2 (yes I'm going 1 step further my bad) is that the emeralds also behave like magnets, they are drawn to one another, which could explain why they eventually show up on the same island.

On 7/16/2022 at 9:46 AM, Plumbers_Helper said:

I love discussing pre-2003 Sonic lore.

I also highly recommend Windii's translation of "Chaos Emerald Legend" and "At the End of the Battle..." from the Japanese Sonic Adventure Strategy Guide as they provide more details about the Knuckles clan, the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic Adventure's story in general.

Chaos Emerald Legend （カオスエメラルド伝説）https://pastebin.com/Vu8yNjtz
At the End of the Battle… （戦いの末に……）https://pastebin.com/fVAyJJAq

Chaos Emerald Legend says that it wasn't Tikal who caused Angel Island to rise into the sky, but the surviving echidnas. They used the Master Emeralds power to lift the surrounding area into the sky and took on the duty of guardians to make sure "an incident like this never happens again".

I've always wondered if South Island, Westside Island and Angel Island have a deeper connection somehow. All three have legends about the Chaos Emeralds and all three have similar ancient depictions of birds (Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Aquatic Ruin and Hydro City). We know that Angel Island was originally connected to the landmass that the Mystic Ruins is on, but is it possible that South Island and Westside Island were too? Is it possible when Angel Island was ripped from the landmass it left behind smaller landmasses that over the course of 3000 years became known as South Island and Westside Island? We also know from Bark the Polar Bear's bio from Fighters Megamix that he's from North Island, but since we don't know anything about North Island it's hard to say if it has any relation to South Island and Westside Island other then sharing a similar naming scheme.

Quite the idea which is not a far stretch given if we look at our current continental map IRL. It's a bit of a shame we never got an actual map of the islands, although that would be tough to piece together since mentioned in the SotH 1 manual: South Island is a floating island that just... floats about. Mayhaps it's even a part of Angel Island that got sheered off when the Echidna's tried to lift it into the sky. Such a landmass being forced into levitation goes under great duress to the structure of the island, creating a free-floating landmass

[Natie]

On 7/16/2022 at 12:24 AM, Sean said:

Now this being a legend and not presented as fact, it's up for debate as to how much of this is true. If the emeralds were really sealed on Westside Island hundreds of years ago, then that doesn't really explain how they managed to find their way onto South Island. What could be the meaning of this? Well as we all know, the location of the emeralds throughout the series is inconsistent and there have been few clearly established rules on how they operate. We know going by the ending of Sonic 1 that the emeralds can be used for an incredible burst of power before disappearing, kind of like how the Dragon Balls operate when whoever holds them all is granted a wish. After this, they scatter and lay dormant unless disturbed and their powers are called upon once more. And this time it just so happens that Eggman overheard the emeralds possibly stowed away on South Island, where they may have been hiding for countless years before the events of Sonic 1. My theory is that Westside Island's civilization tried to use them, but the emeralds reacted based on their evil, selfish intentions and turned their power against them (possibly suggesting they have a will of their own?). So the "gods" didn't exactly seal them under Westside Island but rather they disappeared and any survivors and bystanders assumed they remained dormant underneath Westside.

The inconsistent placement has actually been explained, which is rarely acknowledged, I feel.

Quote

Westside Island is a very ancient island with plenty of treasures and ancient ruins. It is also said to contain a small supply of a very powerful natural crystals called "Chaos Emeralds". These multi-colored emeralds have tremendous energy and could be used to create the most powerful nuclear bombs and laser weapons if they fell into the wrong hands. Legend says that they exist here, but nobody can remember actually seeing them. The reason for this is that the Chaos Emeralds exist in a _different dimension_ and no one has yet been able to find a way to actually possess them.

-Sonic the Hedgehog Technical Files

Quote

South Island is a treasure trove of gems and ruins. It is also said to be the island where the mystical "Chaos Emeralds" lay dormant. The Chaos Emeralds are a super-substance that gives energy to all living things. They can also be used to create nuclear weapons and laser beams through science and technology. However, no one knows how to obtain them. This is because South Island is a moving island, and the Chaos Emeralds exist within the distortions that the island creates.

-Sonic 1 JP Manual

 

Essentially, the special stages were canon, and the 3 islands of classics had the special properties of being full of rifts and portals to them. Therefor, each island's culture has encountered/utilized the emeralds before, but don't remember that they've returned to their dimension, leaving them as legends.

[Rognog]

Very nice and a great read, I always interpreted that the chaos emeralds being "located" on these islands simply meant that they are one of the few places in Sonics world that have access to the special zones. As for this ancient civilization my personal take is that Angel island, South island, and Westside Island where all once one large landmass home to the echidnas and that due to the destruction caused by Chaos the landmass simply broke apart into 3 islands.