>>1089289
>All this universe shit just confuses my brain.
I forgot to address this. So there are game universes and there are non-game universes. Or I should say canon universes and non-canon universes, because the IDW comics and Sonic Prime aren't games but are considered canon to the games, and Sonic Prime is about alt universes. There are also alternate futures and timelines that are effectively alternate dimensions. I'll include them in the list.
>Game Universes
>Main universe
Almost all games take place here. Simple enough.
>Special Stage
An alternate dimension where the Chaos Emeralds normally reside.
>Sonic CD Bad Future
If you don't get all the Time Stones or destroy Eggman's robot-making machines in the past, this is the future you end up with. Sonic 4 Episode Metal has Metal Sonic be rescued from here, but seemingly without time travel. So the Bad Future might be the canon one, and it was only one year in the future.
>Sonic CD Good Future
If you get the Time Stones or go back in time and destroy Eggman's robot-making machines in the past. Seemingly not canon.
>Maginaryworld
The world of dreams. Only ever seen (or referenced) in Sonic Shuffle.
>Sol Dimension
This is the universe Blaze the Cat is from. It's only seen in Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure. Eggman Nega is also from here. He's like alt-universe Eggman and they team up. In Sonic Rush Adventure they introduce the Jeweled Scepter, which controls The Power of the Stars, which is the power to create and sustain alternate dimensions. It was never mentioned again except one time in the Archie comics.
>Sonic '06 timeline (including Silver's Bad Future)
Silver is from a post-apocalyptic future so he goes back in time to change history so the world doesn't end up post-apocalyptic. Blaze is from this future. She absorbs Iblis, The Flames of Disaster that destroyed the future, and then goes to another dimension with it. This seemingly contradicts her being from another dimension in Sonic Rush, but maybe she went back in time (she does go back in time several times in Sonic '06) or maybe Rush just takes place after. Anyway Silver goes to Sonic's time (the Present), but then Sonic ends up going ten years into the past to destroy the villain when it was still very weak. This erases all the events of the game from continuity, including Silver and the Future he's from. In Sonic Generations, The Time Eater messes up the timeline and seemingly brings back Silver's Bad Future, and the original Silver, but it's not like it's making this the main future again. After Generations, this future goes away again. So now it's probably like an alt dimension or something.
>Silver's Good Future
In Sonic Rivals, which came out like a week after Sonic '06, Silver is introduced again, brand new. Casuals would think this is a contradiction, but it isn't, because Sonic erased Silver and their meeting at the end of Sonic '06. This is a new Silver from the new, non-post apocalyptic future. Turns out Eggman Nega is also from here. This again seemingly contradicts Sonic Rush, but Nega can time and dimension hop like nobody's business, so whatever. Nega here is revealed to be Eggman's descendant who hates him because he ruined their family name (even though Nega never once refers to himself as a Robotnik), so he wants to kill Eggman. This would seemingly erase himself from existence, but whatever. He doesn't give a fuck.
>1001 Arabian Nights
Sonic gets sucked into the book 1001 Arabian Nights and fights The Genie from Aladdin, who wants to take over all the stories in the book, or something like that. To use sci-fi terminology the games would never use, it's unclear if this is an alternate dimension and the book just reflects the events of that dimension, or if it's a pocket dimension literally inside the book. Maybe it's fiction that's real in a pocket dimension but still only loosely based on events in real life, because genies are sort of real in Sonic's world, but turns out they're actually alien birds with advanced tech that looks like magic carpets.
>The Chaotic Inferno
In Sonic Rivals 2, Eggman Nega discovers an alternate dimension called The Chaotic Inferno, home to The Ifrit, a fire demon. The Chaotic Inferno is a burning city with fire tornados made by the local fire demon. In short, it seems exactly like Silver's Bad Future, specifically the level Crisis City. They never draw the connection, but this makes sense because no characters (except maybe Blaze) would remember Silver's Bad Future or Crisis City (and Blaze wasn't in Rivals 2).
>King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Another book Sonic gets sucked into. Same rules apply as before, and in fact the main supporting character, Merlina, looks exactly like the main supporting character from Arabian Nights, Shahra. So it's like they're alternate versions of each other. Anyway spoilers but
turns out Sonic is the real King Arthur. That's only in an alternate/pocket dimension, but while there could be a real King Arthur in the real world, such events are never mentioned. Or maybe the book is like a portal to the past. But no I think that's actually a bit of a stretch.
>The Twilight Cage
So back in the day Knuckles' ancestors were fighting another tribe, and to get power, Chief Pachacmac tried to steal the Chaos Emeralds from the Chao, and killed the Chao, so Chaos went nuts and killed them all. But what happened to the other tribe? Sonic Chronicles reveals that they were captured by some sort of godlike being called Argus (in mythology, Argus is the being that killed Echidna, the mother of monsters) and sent to a dimension called The Twilight Cage.
>White Space
In Sonic Generations, when The Time Eater the times/places it goes through are frozen and sent to a dimension called White Space. I'm a little unclear on the mechanics of this. It's worth noting that Sonic Generations only had a thin excuse plot and you clearly weren't supposed to think about it.
>Classic Timeline
In Sonic Generations, The Time Eater goes back in time and attacks Sonic in the past, and this seemingly splits the timeline. Past Sonic, called "Classic Sonic," meets present Sonic, called "Modern Sonic. Modern Sonic doesn't remember experiencing the events from Classic's point of view, so this implies it's an alternate timeline now. Classic Sonic later reappears in Sonic Forces, which, from his point of view, follows immediately from the events of Sonic Mania, and leads directly into the events of Sonic Mania's Encore Mode. HOWEVER, even though it's an alternate dimension, Sega seems pretty adamant that they didn't do that on purpose, even though they explicitly say Classic Sonic is "Sonic from another dimension" in Sonic Forces. So just assume that their histories are the same except for when they definitely can't be. The IDW comics have done stories about Classic Sonic, and these are sometimes referenced by characters in the present. So like Sonic Mania technically happens in the Classic Sonic timeline, but you can just sort of act like something pretty similar also happened to Modern Sonic, but I guess it didn't lead into him getting warped to the future to participate in Sonic Forces. But he should know who The Hard Boiled Heavies are.
>The Shatterspaces
In Sonic Prime, the TV show which is supposedly canon to the games, Sonic breaks a gem called The Paradox Prism and shatters the universe into multiple universes. These universes have names I think but I forget and they're boring so I don't care. There's a universe where a team of Eggmen won, a jungle universe, a pirate universe, and a barren universe with no life. And the main universe, but it's left frozen or something. I think it's notable that the three important alt universes all resemble alt universes that already existed in games and adaptations. The Sol Dimension was already established as being a pirate dimension in Sonic Rush Adventure, for example. More on this later.
>The Void
The Void is the space between universes in Sonic Prime. This might be interesting for hardcore autists, which I'll explain shortly.
>Cyber Space
In Sonic Frontiers they go to The Starfall Islands, where The Ancients lived. The Ancients are ancient aliens who had super tech including this cyber world they could warp to, and the world is made based on the user's memories, so basically Sonic goes to old level layouts from previous games, but they look all cyber now. Oh yeah The Ancients are the ancestors of Chaos and the Chao, and they brought the Chaos Emeralds with them from space, following the signal of the Master Emerald, which was already on Earth.
Of course, adaptations introduced more universes, because they're all alternate continuities. But they don't really cross over.... much. Also some of them introduce their own alt universes.
>Story Comic
The first Sonic adaptation was a short manga miniseries adapting the first game. It's pretty accurate but uses Sonic's band which was dummied out of Sonic 1, and Eggman's goal is to boil the world's largest egg. Okay, actually there are many adaptations that are short like this. I guess I won't mention every single one. I'll focus on the more important ones.
>Shogakukan manga
This company published actually like eight different Sonic manga series at the same time. Each was aimed at a different grade level, 1-6, and then there was a series of specials, and one more that seemed to be in a more all-ages magazine or something. They're technically different series, but sometimes an idea is introduced in one and then just used in the other like you already know it. So they're sort of separate continuities but sort of not. Anyway this is important because Amy and Charmy are originally from here. It's basically the only time a thing from an adaptation got put in the games. Vector also appeared here before the games, but only minorly, and actually Vector was designed to be in Sonic's band in Sonic 1, before the whole band concept got cut.
>Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog[Expand Post]
Comedy cartoon. Pretty well liked.
>The Warp of Confusion
This is essentially this show's adaptation of The Special Stage. Dr. Robotnik sealed his crazy cousin, Dr. Warpnik in here. Dr. Warpnik seems like an even bigger threat than Robotnik.
>Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)
The cartoon that's actually about Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters. Pre-production materials say this was intended to be the same continuity as Adventures, but later, after Robotnik has more solidified his hold on the world. Fans might argue that there are contradictions that prevent this from working, but whatever. The two shows don't directly reference each other much, but the pilot of SatAM is a lot lighter in tone, more like a mid-point between the tones of the two shows. Also, the last episode of Adventures, Sonic Christmas Blast, features Princess Sally, and she looks like she does in the SatAM pilot, where she is pink instead of brown. The Archie Comics, though an alternate continuity, explain this.
>The Void
In this series, when Robotnik took over, he sent The King into an alternate dimension called The Void. He also sent royal wizard Naugus there. Sonic and Sally almost rescue them but due to being stuck there so long, if they leave they'll turn to crystal. They're not rescued by the time the series ends.