Really, apart from the chaos emerald count confusing things a bit, they can easily just be seen as other adventures that occur at no specific point. One Sonic writer just shot down a major fan theory that speculated that Sonic Mania takes place in another dimension.
They have a bunch of elements that clash with the 16-bit games but. Sonic Team probably didn't think about it this deeply, and more likely they just wanted to retcon Classic Sonic's backstory so they don't have to deal with time travel stuff every time they want him to show up in a Modern Sonic game (which I imagine, due to Generations' popularity, they want to leave the door open to be able to do).Īnyway, the 8-bit games don't necessarily take place in a seperate timeline. The truth of the matter is that the above is only the most popular fanon way of explaining the plot holes. Sonic Mania - Full Game Walkthrough - YouTube. Even with your 8-bit theory, there's no reason for Tails to not recognise Classic as the same younger Sonic they met before (and clearly he is, as he too is not surprised to meet Tails and Modern Sonic again). Of course, there's no reasonable way Tails could just "know" this.
When he (and classic Eggman) returned with their knowledge from the future, it created a new timeline where they (or particularly Eggman) altered their actions, and Sonic Mania happened instead of Sonic 4.Īs this new past (Classic) Sonic is now from a history different from Modern Sonic's own, he could be said to be from a seperate dimension where things played out differently.
In Sonic Generations, the past Sonic comes from a time after the 16-bit games but before Sonic 4. The most popular fan theory is that the original timeline went:ġ6-bit games -> Sonic 4 -> Modern games up to Generations -> Sonic Generations