And it fundamentally doesn’t work given how SA 1 references the Classics pretty often.
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!I was always in a weird spot of thinking that Classic and Modern were the same, but that the events of Generations and/or Mania have split the timeline.
I'm not really bothered given that the series is inconsistent about this stuff that its a coin flip odds that they'll change their minds about this stuff in a decade anyway.
I was more under the idea that the Classic Sonic from Generations was just from an alternate universe(and used for more games), not that the entire timeline was split(though that is a logical consequence of the Time Eater's action. It could bring back stuff written out of existence, like Sonic 06's stuff. Which does explain why Blaze suddenly remembered certain events, because the timeline was partially restored).
Regardless, either would've worked anyway as alternate universes exist regardless(Sonic Boom's own universe, for instance).
Shadow?Classic Sonic just being from the same timeline wasn't even odd. Or being an alternate timeline. The Time Eater's powers are ill-defined enough that neither is weird.
Classic Sonic just got weirder when they decided to use the Phantom Ruby from his own game in Frontiers as a key plot point, meaning that they needed to tie Mania in directly to the overall storyline.
...So they just went with something that was quick and easy enough to make sense.
That said, I forget if Mania was a fangame, then Sega basically asked them to redo it for consoles, or if Sonic Mania was simply done by people who did fangames. If the former, then Sonic Team wouldn't really know "where" to put it in the storyline because they weren't really part of the game's original creation. If the latter, just a case of not thinking it through. I mean, it'd just happen after 4 at best, since it references stuff up to that(and some might view it at a better 4, heh).
Shadow?
IIRC, Sega contracted Christian Whitehead and Headcannon to make Mania after the success of the iOS ports of Sonic 1 and 2 and the remaster of CD. So it was never a fangame, just made by people who started their careers making fangames.
I was always under the impression that Classic Sonic was some form of aftermath of a temporal disturbance (Time Eater, Phantom Ruby)….and there’s a chance he suffered some partial memory loss of the incident afterwards (thus averting Temporal Paradox).
-Edit: Where does Mania take place in the time line? So far what I’ve got is
Sonic -> CD -> 2 -> 3 -> Adventure -> Advance -> Adventure 2 -> Advance 2 -> Heroes -> Shadow the Hedgehog -> Battle -> Advance 3 -> 06 -> Rush -> Rush 2 -> Colors -> Generations (Sonic should have turned 16 at this point) -> Lost World -> Forces.
Still trying to figure out where Rivals 1 & 2 along with the Riders games are.
Edited by magnum12 on Nov 4th 2022 at 6:21:04 AM
I’d say the first two Advance games are before Adventure 1. Advance 1 straight up has the Tornado 1 in it, plus the Eggman’s plans are far more simpler than anything that came after chronologically.
I’d say Mania is in a separate timeline after 3&K/Generations.
Edited by powerpuffbats on Nov 4th 2022 at 8:25:53 AM
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!The Tornado is in every game since then...
As in from Unleashed onward.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.![]()
It's not rebuilt at all, Tails just has a new one.
Which is not the plane from Unleashed, I did mean since Unleashed...the classic Tornado is back.
Edited by randomness4 on Nov 4th 2022 at 9:57:33 AM
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.I would just assume the games mostly take place in release order unless there's some reason to think otherwise. The main examples of that I can think of being Battle (released a week before Heroes but Shadow is in it and seems to remember his past so it works best after his own game), Rush (released before 06 but would have to be after because of Blaze), and Mania (is supposed to take place in the "classic era" so presumably some time between 3&K and Adventure). And Tails Adventure (manual says it takes place before Tails met Sonic) if we consider that canon.
The look of the Tornado is each game is kind interesting, but I don't think it really means anything. Also, Unleashed wasn't the first game after Adventure 1 and Advance 1 to have the classic red Tornado in it, it was in Rush Adventure and Chronicles as well.
In the end card for SA 1 (which, given it says "FIN" and Gamma's depicts the two birds reunited, is definitely set after the character's respective story mode) has Tails alongside the Tornado 1, suggesting that it was definitely fixed. In addition, that isn't even HIS plane, that's Sonic's. Unless he just gives Sonic a new plane (which he hasn't), it would make sense for him to repair Sonic's plane for him.
![]()
It's the actual bi-plane.
As in "Red, Grey wings, one seat, and Sonic's name is on the side".
Every other Tornado (besides the one in SA2 and Sonic Advance 3) prior to Lost World are all red, 2 seats, and Tails' logo is all over it.
This is what I'm saying, none of those are the classic Tornado.
Edited by randomness4 on Nov 4th 2022 at 10:26:04 AM
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.

R.I.P. Two timelines lore
From the recent Bumblekast episode,
Ian Flynn confirms that Classic Sonic games are officially set in the past, not in another dimension.
We really are healing.