Sonic The Hedgehog Timeline Part 1 | The Classic Era

The Video Was In Large Part Edited By: Estienne Bruwer
The Sonic Timeline Graphic Was Animated By: Pifroggi (on fiverr)
*************
For any long running series, one of the most common topics amongst the hardcore fans would: how do all the games fit in chronological order? Some franchises make that easy, just going from the first installment to the most recent one, however others are more complicated. Sonic the Hedgehog, is one of the complicated ones. So, to conclude the Sonic Retrospective, I am going to dig deep and explain the Sonic mythos, how I see it, across three videos, starting with this one!
*************

Consider Supporting Me on Patreon:

*************
Chapters:
00:00 Opening
04:25 The Early 90s
15:45 The Mid 90s
23:34 The Late 90s
*************
#sonic #sonicthehedgehog #timeline

[Tharja-iBW]

It's important to note that Sonic X was written by members of Sonic team and often elaborates on events and specific things in the Sonic canon while also telling it's own non-canon story like explaining why Maria was on the ark to begin with, that being her disease and Shadow being used as a way to cure maria while also doing research for G.U.N.

[MisterMistea]

Here's a little headcanon I've always had:
In the Japanese manual of Sonic 1, it says Eggman and Sonic have been enemies who have fought several times before. My personal headcanon is that SegaSonic the Hedgehog was one such adventure. It's also said that making the animal-powered Badniks and using the Chaos Emeralds were new ideas Eggman came up with for Sonic 1, and neither appear in SegaSonic. It could also serve as the way Sonic first met Mighty and Ray before Mania.

[HordikaNate]

Imma just say this now....CD comes before 2. That is all


Edit: I forgot about Origins canonizing this when I wrote this comment

[RubyofBlue]

The genesis games in particular are in that magic era of gaming where the game gives just enough backstory and is able to convey just enough story to allow your imagination to fill in the rest. Imagining how Sonic 1 can be a coming of age story for Sonic himself, and then in 2 that baton of growth is passed onto Tails showing how Sonic inspires others, a central pillar of his character, haha. CD's opening sets the stage and frames Sonic's character and world, getting me hyped to play out that fantasy. Then 3&K is just epic through and through. It's also so fun to imagine the culture and history of each and every island given just enough details in the environments to let the imagination run wild - the classic Sonic games often REALLY feel like plunging into ancient fantasy history like an epic Indiana Jones explorer.

[PiousMoltar]

I can see why Metal Sonic became such a fan favourite, tbh I have always loved his design too. But... I always preferred the Sonic & Knuckles Mecha Sonic. That thing is badass.

[spongeboyahoy]

Finally! a timeline video made by an actual fan

[DekuScrub_]

Let's Was expecting the Frontiers video to be the last Sonic related content for a while but this has been a pleasant surprise :D

[extremmefan]

The seven Dragon Balls don't turn you super, they grant a wish.
So the Chaos Emeralds and Super forms, while similar to the Dragon Balls and Super Saiyan forms, are not the same in execution.

[bluestar]

Way back in 2015 I made my own Sonic timeline for the Classic era. I included Sonic 1 8-bit in my timeline as a What If Sequel for Sonic 1 on the Genesis. My reason being at the end of the final boss of the 16-bit version the player can jump to attack Eggman's Egg Mobile one last time or let him escape unharmed. If you do attack him, his Egg Mobile explodes and he runs away with the vehicle on fire. I like to believe if you let Eggman escape unharmed he continues his schemes on South Island, leading of the events of the 8-Bit version.

In the perfecf ending of the 8-bit version of Sonic 1 there's an extra cutscene where Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to remove the pollution of South Island. For me this the real defeat of Dr Eggman on South Island. If Sonic attack him in the ending of the 16 bit version, the 8 bit version of Sonic 1 never happens.

[SocksFCGameArchives]

Finally, someone actually acknowledges how Knuckles’ story in 3&K is an epilogue to Sonic’s 3&K story

[cutieincosplay]

Can't believe how many sonic games there are now🙀 and more sonic games to come 🦔💙

[jakeproven]

I'm not sure if I would say the music in Sonic R is out of place, I think it fits with the racing quite well, also it rocks, though we can agree on that one.

[ZobirisMage]

I see Tails' Adventure to take place near Sky Patrol personally. There's the Sonic/Knux/Fang items and it shows Tails working with significantly more complex machinery than the Tornado.

[MicadenTDCT]

I thought Fighters would occur in the classic timeline and foreshadow the fake chaos emerald used in SA2, but I'll wait til the 2nd part, this is a really cool idea!

[nortox]

Finally, someone is doing this. Other videos about this topic feel incomplete, they are missing a lot of spin-off games.

[jasonblack]

My fav story must be black knight. Like how they connect it to unleasched with sonic and amys date and the 2 chili dogs he has in the intro. It actually connects to unleasched

[STICKOMEDIA]

Your channel has grown so much lately, keep all the amazing Playstation and Sonic content coming

[Estaguy]

With S1SMS, we can say that it can take place after the Genesis version since the Emeralds are this time scattered through the island like what happened in the end of the Genesis version. Sky Base exists after Scrap Brain, this can imply that Robotnik could’ve been moving to another location and was just trying to get his Scrap Brain stuff with him and occasionally try to stop Sonic

[sugarbooger]

As always, great video! Most fans, including the modern writers themselves forget how much the Sonic 2 8bit and Knuckles campaign in 3&K contribute to later events. Especially how Silver Sonic in Sonic 2 8bit act as a prototype for Mecha Sonic, but how that boss acts as a blue print for all of eggman's attempts at creating a cybernetic clone of sonic alla Neo Metal Sonic in heroes. One way that the video really made me appreciate the lore is despite the lack of story, it really stayed consistent with its continuity unlike most 3rd and 4th gen platformers

Say for example how in the JP manual for Sonic 1, it states that "Chaos Emeralds are a super substance, giving energy to all living things." So for little instances like how Mecha Sonic harnessing the master emeralds power really shows how the Sega Technical Institute and Sega of Japan really gave the world building and lore a lot of thought. As always, keep up the great work J!

[vladc]

This is an interesting change from your usual video, and I’m looking forward to the next one. That being said I have a lot to comment on.

First, three nitpicks. The Sonic 2 Genesis Sonic-bot is not named Silver Sonic in the games, not even in America. He was ‘Mecha Sonic’ in Japan and that’s what they revert to using today. ‘Robo Sonic’ from Lego would’ve also been acceptable.
Second minor nitpick. I’m curious why you used the American boxarts. I don’t know about you but to me the Japanese boxarts are almost always superior, unless it’s a clone of another game like in the case of Sonic 2 for Master System/Game Gear.
Third nitpick, but I think getting hung up on Eggman tricking Knuckles again in Triple Trouble was a non-issue. It’s happened plenty of times in Modern after Sonic 3. I don’t think it’s that farfetched. Eggman is good at tricking the gullible yet heroic Knuckles. Bringing in fangames is neat but sorta icky because it makes me think, why not bring in more fangames you like? Sonic and the Fallen Star, Sonic Robo Blast 1 and 2, Sonic Before and After the Sequel, etc. You didn’t mention the other Master System games getting remakes either, and those are a lot more faithful than the pure fanfic that is Sonic 3D in 2D or Triple Trouble.
Onto the real meat.

I think leaving out games that seemingly have no plot like Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car or SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter is a mistake because it could've made things really interesting. Just going off of games that have stories is pretty boring in that anyone can do that, but adding those other games would’ve really freshened it up and made it “your take”. The Drift games don’t have serious big stories but they do have forewords from the characters so I think leaving them out was also pretty lame considering they went through the effort to write those. You added Sonic R, which is good, but the story to go off is practically on the same tier. Adding Sonic Drift 2, for example, might end up explaining what Knuckles was doing on South Island for Sonic Blast, and later Sonic the Fighters, which you left out.

AS for the games you left out, I take issue with the fact that you changed or filled stuff in to offer changes and alternatives to some, but just disgard others. I like the fix for the GameGear Sonic 2. That one is just kinda hard to piece together. But if you can fix that with headcanon, why not Spinball? You’ve used Sonic Origins, which is good, but Origins also has the Veg-o-Fortress in it. Some version of Spinball happened (I know we’re ignoring larger statements and whatnot but even Ian Flynn says it’s canon now), so providing a fix or retconning the details that don’t line up (SatAM cast, extra Emeralds) that would’ve been neat. I don’t know why you left out Sonic the Fighters either. I presume it’s due to Espio’s presence and the extra Chaos Emerald, but again if you felt both of these were issues, you could’ve changed them or provided fixes.
And on that note, I’m not sure why you’re tossing out Knuckles Chaotix. I know you said to keep it an open mind about later, as I suspect it’s about Heroes revitalizing the Chaotix and somewhat decanonizing KC, but I don’t think this was necessary. Knuckles Chaotix is being reintegrated into Classic canon today, down to even the Speedia reforming the characterizations to go more with their new counterparts. So this is another instance where I feel, why not just go with these changes? You took a lot of leeway to make changes for the Sonic 2 conundrum, and even brought up Triple Trouble’s remake because of the cool stuff you thought it added, so I don’t at this point see a good reason to leave out KC and the plethora of cool stuff it added too. And I suppose in relation to Mighty I have to ask why you left out SegaSonic at all, but I assume this'll be brought up in the Mania stuff two videos from now.
Lastly. I like the placements for Sonic Chaos, Tails Skypatrol, and Sonic Labyrinth, but you made having 6 Emeralds a sticking point, yet placed Labyrinth, a game with 5 Emeralds on South Island, where you did. Since Labyrinth and Skypatrol ARE canonically simultaneous, I think placing each of them earlier might’ve worked, taking into account what you did with Sonic Chaos.

Not sure if you’ll even read all this, but I await what’s to come and plan to dissect those the same way.