To be clear, I have played both. I've nearly beaten Mania for the third time already and just finished Forces two days ago. And yes, Mania is better and almost hilariously so. The jokes about Sonic Team being incapable of making a better game than fan creators are well worth your Internet surf time.
But I can talk about that another day. I can offer my theories about what needs to be done in future Sonic 3D games another day. I can dissect why Sonic's move to the third dimension has been SO MUCH WORSE than Mario's another day. What I want to talk about is the set of cutscenes that made Classic Sonic an alternate dimension.
For those who haven't played yet, I am spoiling story elements, so duck out now of you want to wait until you have the game for yourself.
Anyway, when Classic Sonic arrives, he is said by Tails to be an alternate version of the blue hedgehog, rather than the time-displaced past version of the current one. Later cutscenes clearly introduce the Phantom Ruby from Mania and even lift the sound effects.
This could mean many things, especially since I am still working through the full Forces story, but what I am interpreting from this is that Sega wants the ability to grow Classic Sonic without the canon of Modern getting in the way of their game play and storyline ideas. (I mean, the drop dash was never a modern skill for Sonic, for example). Thus, Classic Sonic gets his own branch in the timeline.
Does this mean no classic games in Modern Sonic? I don't think so. Instead, I think the end of the Genesis/Mega Drive split the timeline.
Here's my theory, the "Core Four" games (Sonic 1, 2, CD and 3&K) are shared. Classic Sonic gets the Game Gear games and Mania, bringing the total to 10 games in the timeline.
Modern Sonic might (but based on gameplay, I'd argue he probably didn't) get the GG games. Instead, after 3&K, 3D Blast and Pocket Adventure were the follow-ups. Adventure-2006 were continuations of the 3D game play, and the Dimps games (Advance-Rush Adventure) continued 2D. When 2D elements entered during Unleashed and Colors, the two styles joined to create the Modern Sonic in his current form.
This would make Sonic 4 (both episodes) a Modern exclusive, and turn Mania into Classic's Sonic 4.
Am I overthinking this? I am overthinking this. Oh well. Already written. Enjoy, Sonic theorists!
