Knuckles' Chaotix/Sonic Heroes continuity issues.

[G-Force]

If I can make a suggestion, why not just assume that the new versions of Espio, Vector and Charmy that were introduced in Sonic Heroes retcon out the original versions from Knuckles Chaotix? Then, we just assume that Charmy (the only one of the three who explicitly doesn't know of Eggman) never really got a clear idea of who they were fighting in Chaotix, which would make sense if he was a hyperactive six-year-old.

[Scarecrow]

"Canon" rarely matters anyway, especially in a kids computer game series. Every decade or so the whole target audience has shifted on and the main demographic is a whole new generation. Sure, tere's fans and hardcore gamers, but the majority of the money is made by joe public. That's why the whole "age debate" of characters is silly. They don't age, if they jump forward a few years like AMy, it isn't time passing, it's a shift in the characters interpretation. The ages are simply there for the kids to identify the characters. Sonic is the age he is because thats the main audience age, for identification. When you're young "18" seems really old and adult so Vector and Rouge are the mature character. Charmy and Tails are younger because they're kids, and that age is seen as kids to the target early teen audience.

Mere continuity issues such as this are fun for fans to debate but the best best is to shrug and take it how you like. Chaotic can be canon if you want. The characters didn't die a ton of times in "canon" bt they did when I plauyed it. There's some liberties, we as fans have the option, and the right, to smooth these aspects over and ignore and alter our interpretations to fit a larger overall continuity because no one else will or care to.

- Scarecrow

[MilesDX]

If I may address the "does cannon really matter question" by comparing Sonic to Mario for a second. When, in the history of Nintendo reign, did they ever age Mario. Or for that matter how many of his games can you actually say have to be played in a specific order.

Sega on the other hand graciously ages Sonic every year, and tries to have some consistency in their games, so the long time fans can enjoy an ever developing story.

My point is Sega/Sonic Team go out of their way to make Sonic's games connect either by a storyline/plot (which is sometimes paper thin) or by using previous characters. They expand on Sonic's world as well, showing us that there's always more that we haven't seen.

Due to this I'm sure Sega/Sonic Team makes it that each game has a specific order or place in the series. Yet other series (I'll use Mario again) like Mario can be played from any point in the series with no confusion or worries about missing out on something. Unfortunately this is where Sega/Sonic Team feel the backlash, by trying to make their games connect they in effect create plot holes and confusion.

To be honest I find Mario gamers to be dull, boring and repetitive due to this (yes I know of Mario Sunshine). Sonic on the other hand always brings something new and something that adds to previously told adventures (sometimes telling the adventure through different perspectives which date all the way back to S3&K).

So, I think personally that cannon really does matter and helps bring the quality of the game (and it's fan base) up.

(Note: I'm sorry for using Mario as a comparison he was the first character to come to mind)

[123654]

If I may address the "does cannon really matter question" by comparing Sonic to Mario for a second. When, in the history of Nintendo reign, did they ever age Mario. Or for that matter how many of his games can you actually say have to be played in a specific order.

Sega on the other hand graciously ages Sonic every year, and tries to have some consistency in their games, so the long time fans can enjoy an ever developing story.

Actually, Sonic has canonically been the same age in every game except for Chronicles, not including the age retcons from the old games where they switched Knuckles' and Sonic's ages.

[MilesDX]

Actually, Sonic has canonically been the same age in every game except for Chronicles, not including the age retcons from the old games where they switched Knuckles' and Sonic's ages.

I've read so many manuals, including rereading the older game ones (not to mention the Archie Data files which don't correspond with the games), that I keep losing track of Sonic and the others characters ages.

(One of these days I'll pull out every game mannual in order and every refference so I can get the game's ages right, then I'll get out the Archie data files (to get that age group right)).

[Scorch]

Unless... Knuckles Chaotix happened canonically after Heroes? I'm not saying it is, as I don't know much about the game itself, I'm just putting it on the table.

I don't think so, because Knuckles and Vector are younger in Knuckles' Chaotix than they were in Sonic Heroes. Knuckles was 15, and Vector was 16. There's also the issue of Espio being older in Chaotix than he was in Heroes. He was 17 in one game, and 16 in the next.

[SuperLink]

I don't see that as a continuity error, more like a correction to make the characters seem more suited to their new personalities? Maybe, but Knuckles is definitely a different age in 3 than he is in Heroes right? So I don't think we can use age issues to debate canonity of things, for now at least.

[Toby]

In Japan, the Chaotix had no set age, Sega of America just made some ages up.

[BaronSFel001]

I still think Knuckles' Chaotix is canon, but yeah, they kinda did recreate Chaotix for Sonic Heroes.

I agree with both points here, but I do have my own solution that makes adaptations. In the first stage of Chaotix, Espio is freed by Knuckles, so Espio would know Eggman. That much is obvious. Now, in order to reconcile Charmy not knowing Eggman in Sonic Heroes, what if Charmy never actually went along in the Chaotix game? This would also make sense with Charmy's age, since if his new age is accepted he would have probably been too young at the time of Chaotix (over a year or so before Sonic Heroes) for such a hardcore adventure and battle. Espio is the only definite character, the rest are selectable. Mighty, Heavy, Bomb, it does not matter, since any one of them could have tagged along and it would not affect anything. I do not recall Vector being an issue in any part of Sonic Heroes, since even if he never tagged along in Chaotix either, he does keep track of current events and connect dots on a regular basis, and would definitely have filed Eggman's profile in the back of his mind at some point.