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Prologue
- The first half of the prologue is the end of Sonic Mania, showing that Classic Eggman remembers Sonic Generations and sent the Phantom Ruby to Modern Eggman intentionally.
- Blaze appears with the Bejeweled Scepter and transforms into Burning Blaze, neither of which have been seen since Sonic Rush Adventure.
Stage 1: Lost Valley - Wild Zones
- The giant sandworm that was originally taken from Sonic Lost World is now the variant from Sonic 4's Oil Desert.
- Bloominators return as a minor threat.
Stage 2: Ghost Town - City
- In Ledge's flashback, one of the cyan-colored boxes has a bulbous shape on it. In other words, it's a Chao Box.
- Ledge introduces himself to the reader as a descendent of the Babylonians.
Stage 3: Spaceport - North Base
- Amy responds to Knuckles' complaint of Ledge's first impression being setting off the alarm by reminding him that her first encounter with the Chaotix resulted in them fighting over Cheese.
- Egg Fighters and an Egg Launcher appear as enemies.
Stage 6: Egg Gate - Death Egg
- When Sonic saves Ledge from the Alpha, Ledge formally refers to him as Mr. the Hedgehog in his thanks. Just like when Chip said that, Sonic quickly says just to call him Sonic.
- The last sentence in the chapter is "Our hero is resting easy," which adapts the final line of Sonic Adventure 2: "Rest easy, heroes." It's even said as they're leaving a space station, just the same as then.
Stage 7: Arsenal Pyramid - Wild Zones
- Eggman's file that Ledge is reading mentions issues regarding Project Shadow, which were central to the Last Stories of both Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog.
- Amy's nighttime outfit strongly resembles her Sonic Boom design, with the exception of her slippers, which are clearly NiGHTS-themed. Ledge hangs a lampshade on the Shout-Out by describing them as "a reference to some popular culture icon [he] never paid attention to".
- The Arsenal Pyramid itself is repurposed from Eggman's other pyramid base (including "some particular comments about hourglass doors"). The base is still filled with E-1000s, but also includes their big brother the E-2000 and the similar-looking Egg Keeper.
- Before activating Double Boost for the first time with Arc, Sonic recalls how with his bond with Tails lets him activate special abilities like those in Sonic 4.
- Sonic mentions it taking a while to "take off the training wheels" from the Light Speed Dash, in reference to the several games where he needed an upgrade to do it.
- At the end of the stage, when Arc and Sonic tumble onto the ground with Arc ending face-up with arms spread, it mimics the scene with Sonic and Elise Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) after escaping in Tropical Jungle.
Stage 8: Luminous Forest - Mystic Jungle
- Sonic narrates how the Jungle is on the same continent as Adabat, and that it was a nice change to be there at night while *not* being a Werehog.
- He also complains about all the water, once again.
- Kikis return from the Adventure duology.
Stage 9: VS Infinite - Mystic Jungle
- Sonic's response to the opening "sewer rat" line more appropriately calls out what happened to the last person who called him a rat.
Stage 10: Far Outlands - Wild Zones
- Amy traversing the stage recalls her double jump and hammer jump abilities from when she was playable in Sonic Adventure, and later she climbs balance beams just like her character-specific ability from Sonic Boom.
- Cream's family is stated to be from Floral Forest Village, and Gemerl refers to the mine Amy just went through in the stage as Echo Mine. Both of these are locations from the Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) series, which takes place post-Forces.
- Cream also explains that she got the idea to flee to the area near Mazuri due to the final battle of the game it appears in, where the Gaia Gates were the safest place from Dark Gaia's awakening. She refers to that time as "Sonic's world adventure", which is Unleashed's Japanese name.
Stage 11: Park Avenue - City
- Rouge's infiltration scene copies what she does in the Team Dark intro from Sonic Heroes and has what appears to be an Eggman robot from Sonic 06, despite the events of that game being erased from the timeline.
- The two broadcasts she encounters before Infinite's are an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDe1b-NGjXk
Eggman Empire promotion] and Scratch's Studiopolis weather report (referring specifically to the stage's boss fight, the Weather Globe). - The help request from the soldier is an SOS Mission, which was a mechanic in the game itself.
- Espio's crew is locked down in Seaside Hill instead of (yet again) Green Hill.
- Although not named, Egg Balls from Shadow the Hedgehog are used at the stage's intro. Later, the Egg Breaker from that game appears as an autonomous enemy to match the Egg Hammers that are also present.
Stage 12: Casino Forest - Mystic Jungle
- The Seaside Hill battle (now specified as the Sea Gate) from the previous chapter is shown to have followed the events of the "Moment of Truth" comic.
- Blaze's letter to Silver ends with "Good luck, Silver!", which is her final line to him at the end of his Story in Sonic 06.
Stage 13: Aqua Road - Mystic Jungle
- Knuckles explains that Tails waterproofed their comms ever since he took a dive in an aquatic mine, which is itself a Mythology Gag to the lyrics from that stage.
- The Alpha's arrival mimics the end of the opening for Shadow the Hedgehog. Immediately afterward, Arc snatches Flora out of the way of her Wispon's blast and then stands protectively in front of her, just as Sonic did with Elise when Silver first attacked him.
Stage 14: Sunset Heights - City
- On encountering Shadow, Sonic rushes at him while saying "Say something, you traitor!". This references both their very first meeting, where he says "Says something, you fake hedgehog!" (ironically, this Shadow actually *is* fake, but Sonic doesn't know it), and a favored line of Black Doom whenever Shadow attacks one of the Black Arms.
