After nearly three hundred issues the Archie Comics-published Sonic the Hedgehog comics were cancelled in 2016. Like most Sonic media it existed in its own continuity with many significant differences from the stories of the games. Two years later IDW Publishing started a new Sonic the Hedgehog comics series with a clean slate that was much more closely aligned with the games, picking up after Sonic Forces and referencing various other past games frequently.
Eventually the comics started being references in the games, too. Tangle and Whisper from the comics have both been added as characters in mobile games and Tangle was mentioned in Sonic Frontiers, a game that was written by long-time head writer of both the Archie and then IDW comics Ian Flynn. And with the games and comics being treated as part of the same ongoing setting rather than just two separate things that share branding Sega has started taking the continuity of the series more seriously.
Taking that seriously has some problems though. The games themselves don’t really form a consistent whole and there is a bunch of weird muddled continuty stuff. Why do Sonic and friends seem to be the only talking animals in the Sonic Adventure games but in Sonic Forces and the IDW comics Eggman is the only human and everyone else is a talking animal? At one point the developers said that there is a separate human and animal world, but then why does Angel Island seem to exist in both?
What is up with “classic” Sonic? In Sonic Generations he was just Sonic from the past but when he shows up again in Sonic Forces everyone is suddenly saying he’s from another dimension, and again Sonic Team started saying that the classic games represented an entirely separate continuity, so did, e.g., Sonic 3 only happen in the classic universe or are some games canon to both? Is the thing about Eggman’s real name being Robotnik still canon? Or only canon outside of Japan?
Sega decided to actually address all of this in a way I find very funny: In-character Youtube videos presented by Miles “Tails” Prower using a V-tuber rig. Typically each video is presented as a short Q&A with a different character, but serves the purpose of being an ongoing lore clarification series.
#1) Ostensibly: Q&A with Sonic
Actually: All games take place on the same planet. There is no seperate world for humans and talking animals, their populations are just concentrated in different places. Please ignore that we said that there were seperate worlds. The Mega Drive game backstories are still canon. Amy and Sonic are not dating.
#2) Ostensibly: Q&A with Orbot, hijacked by Eggman
Actually: Eggman’s real name is Ivo Robotnik. The retcon to merge the two names done in Sonic Adventure still stands. Badniks is an official term for his robots (never used in the games until Sonic Lost World). Shadow’s backstory and G.U.N. still stand despite not having been mentioned in over a decade.
#3) Ostensibly: Q&A with Knuckles
Actually: Please buy Sonic Frontiers. Knuckles does still spend most of his time on Angel Island guarding the Master Emerald and only leaves that for emergencies, even though games (up until Frontiers) had basically stopped mentioning that at all.
4) Ostensibly: Q&A with Amy
Actually: The “classic” Sonic stuff is just the characters when they were younger. Please forget that time we said that “classic” and “modern” timelines were different dimensions. Also Sonic is a hobo.
5) Ostensibly: Reminising about the past with Sonic, Amy & Knuckles
Actually: Nack the Weasel, Fang the Sniper, is called Fang the Hunter and is a jerboa now. The fact that his name and species were different in both game continuities before now is because he uses aliases a lot because he’s a criminal. We need to clarify this because he’s about to show up in a new game. Please buy that. Again, all the classic games are canon to the modern stuff. All the modern versions of the characters know Mighty, Ray, Fang, etc. Knuckles’ Chaotix, the SegaSonic arcade machine, Sonic Mania Adventures, etc. did happen.
6) Ostensibly: Everyone exchanging Christmas presents
I think this one is acutally mostly for fun but also has some lore stuff too: Sage is part of the regular setting now. She lives with Eggman post-Sonic Frontiers. The IDW characters are also around.
7) Ostensibly: Tails trying to get Shadow & Sonic to be friends
Actually: Hey remember that we are doing a Year of Shadow thing. Shadow is cool please buy Sonic × Shadow Generations and go see the third movie. Also Sonic Prime is part of the main canon too, somehow, but we will not be clarifying that one at all lmao.
Anyway yeah, I thought that was funny and interesting.
