>>724
>I appreciate not wanting the manual to contradict the games…
I'm not disagreeing with you on this. The manuals actually had pretty cool lore when you look into them. The Japanese manual of Knuckles Chaotix ties in well with the Chaos/Master emerald story, and would have been referenced in some of the proposed stories for Sonic X-Treme. I was just actually not aware Sonic 4 had a manual, since it was digital. I guess I missed whatever Digital Manual there was. When I said stuff outside the games doesn't count, I didn't mean the manuals. Manuals should obviously count. They're packaged with the game. But obviously we're not counting the baka gaijin manuals.
>That seems alright, but then how did Sonic age up and then age back down.
Given that it's 3D Sonic looks fairly different in fighters than he does in the "Classic Sonic" games. I personally would just chalk it up to graphics limitations. Of course we all know the real life reason is just the design wasn't changed yet. But Sonic's design has gone through a lot of revisions over the years. He looks different in the Advance games than he does in the Dreamcast/Gamecube games, even though the Advance games happen between various Dreamcast/Gamecube games. Sonic got a hell of a lot taller in 2006, and then shorter again after. And that says nothing of what Eggman looked like in that game. Do we need a story reason for all of it? Generations just showed that he does look different in different points in time, but there are more than two designs for him.
My point being, it's a negligible factor.
>Drift isn't canon. It has no story and Eggman races alongside them.
That doesn't mean it's not canon. It just means we don't know why they were racing. Crash Team Racing has a story, Crash and Cortex both race. There could be some excuse in universe. We just don't know why. I mean, it makes just as much sense as Sonic, Tails, and Amy fighting each other in Sonic the Fighters instead of just all giving their emeralds to Sonic.
>Again, the Sonic 4 manual links Sonic 1 and 2 together. There is no room for events to happen in between them.
I just wasn't aware of this manual. If you say so, then alright. But I gotta look for the Japanese one in particular. Because we all know the non-jap manuals for the Genesis games aren't canon. Doesn't the Sonic 2 manual say it take place some time after Sonic 1 though? I mean he needs to meet Tails before it.
>Yes, but it has the exact storyline as Sonic 1 16-bit. Compare this to Sonic 2 8-bit and 16-bit, which have two uniquely distinct storylines.
Yeah but most of Robotnik's plans are pretty similar anyway. Hell, in Sonic 1 they say Sonic and Robotnik already fought many times before. Might as well figure he just tried a pretty much the same plan again before deciding to mix it up with the Time Stones or Westside Island.
>community manager
So a similar job to that memester that runs the twitter page? I'll cling to the belief for now. Otherwise, if someone else at Sega ever has a different opinion, or if the original speaker changes their mind, we'll have a "contradiction." If someone forgot and referenced Chronicles in an actual game, it would be a contradiction. That's dumb. People have ideas but until they make it to paper, it doesn't matter. Plus, it doesn't really matter either way to begin with. This is a very insignificant matter.
>>725
>16) Sonic Pocket Adventure should be moved to the Absolutely Non-Canon. It just retreads the plot of Sonic 1-3&K, and is just an excuse to have a Sonic game for the Neo Geo.
Looking through the US and EU manuals, I don't even see a story. I think I remember hearing some people try to consider it the last game before Sonic Adventure, because in a cutscene at the end of the game his design changes to Modern Sonic, while in most of the game it's classic? Idk, I haven't even played this game. And as I said earlier, I find basing things on designs to be dubious at best. Unless it's really all you have to go on, then you might as well do it.
Personally, I just like to try to take a view that as much as possible is canon, unless it's something that is explicitly a different universe (Mean Bean Machine, Spinball). There are hiccups here and there, but that happens with any long running series. It's more fun to try to do the mental gymnastics required to iron over them, and be left with a richer history.
Then within that richer history, I try to put things in order close to the order of release, unless something is a prequel, or there are story elements that preclude things happening in a certain time, like how Metal Sonic apparently can't appear between CD and 4. You could say there are multiple ones but that's clearly not the intention, and personally I think it takes away from his impact quite a bit, like it did in the Archie Comics until that special issue where they killed off the extra Metal Sonics and made one closer to a "real" one.