Sonic Generations/Fridge

Fridge Logic

• If Sonic is interacting with his past self, does this mean that he has two sets of memories of the events? Or that he knows what's about to happen already, because he's already lived through it?
  • Following on from this is a lengthy WMG discussing the fates of Classic Sonic, '06 and Sonic Schoolhouse.
• Modern Eggman says "There is no time here!" when he and his Classic self are trapped in a white void at the end of the game. How was he even able to say that, let alone bicker with "himself"? A place without time would lead to an And I Must Scream moment, since without time, nothing can progress!

Fridge Brilliance

• This game may form a Stable Time Loop with Sonic Colors in terms of the Wisps: Sonic here has already used them, and does so during the level, using Wisp Capsules. Given that the tractor beam is still active, we can presume that this happens before the events of Colors. The Wisps, however, are new to this, and realize the significance of this, which is why the Cyan Wisp flies into Sonic on meeting him, and why Sonic & Tails are swarmed by several Wisps in the 2010 game.
• So think about the game as a whole for a second. So what are you trying to do? You're trying to restore the world in all times to what it was once. Which levels are comparatively easy to restore? The ones of the Classic Era, still mostly beloved by the fanbase. When does the first major difficulty spike happen? Crisis City, a level which is from a game that is nearly universally agreed upon to be horrible and which would be very hard to redeem in the eyes of the fans.^[1] Which characters appear later, and as such are harder to restore? Most of the characters introduced later on, who would definitely need more effort to redeem than, say, Tails or Knuckles. What happened to the world in the first place? It had all the color sucked out of it. The whole game is a symbolic reconstruction and redemption of the franchise from its lowest point.
• Why does Classic Sonic have the Homing Attack as an unlockable skill? Obviously (and this really, really should go without saying), he picked it up from his present self and (after a few botched attempts) eventually got the hang of it.
• Why, in the 3DS version, is Shadow faced in Radical Highway instead of outside the Space Colony ARK - besides technical restrictions, that is? Because this way, Sega killed two birds with one stone. In Sonic Adventure 2, the final race between him and Sonic was right after Final Rush (or Final Chase), but if you remember, their Mirrored Confrontation Shot in Generations is lifted from the intro to SA2 instead. And where were Sonic and Shadow racing during the intro movie? Why, but in Radical Highway of course! Therefore, that level, besides being the one where you first play as Shadow in Adventure 2, suddenly makes perfect sense and becomes the ultimate Sonic vs Shadow stage. (Not to mention that this way, the intro movie to SA2 becomes a Hilarious in Hindsight Missed Moment of Awesome.)
  • On that same note, one of the bosses from the 3DS version of the game is the Biolizzard, also from Sonic Adventure 2. In the original game, the boss was fought by Shadow... But before he turned up, Sonic was getting ready to fight it - It took 10 years, but Sonic finally got to got one on one with the Prototype Ultimate Lifeform.
• Why we can't see Dr. Eggman in the Death Egg Robot, even when he's kidnapped by the Time Eater? Why such an effort to hide him is made? Because it's his past, classic self and it's not shown there to make the surprise in The Reveal. Also when Eggman asked Sonic for help for the first time, Classic Eggman is genuinely scared.
• Silver's appearance in the ending. Why does Silver remember Sonic & live in Crisis City? Simple, the events of Sonic 06 need to occur in order for Sonic to hit the Reset Button at the end of the game, so Silver's timeline still exists in order to prevent a Time Paradox. This also explains why Silver hasn't appeared in the main series since that game, as his timeline diverged with Sonic's death causing Iblis to be unleashed. With that in mind, the happy ending of Sonic 06 was actually a Bittersweet Ending from Silver's perspective, because he was still living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland & if he travelled back to the point of Sonic Unleashed or Sonic Colors in the timeline, he'd be there after Sonic's death had already occured... But because of the Time Eater's actions, he was taken from Crisis City in the future & placed in the void alongside the rest of Sonic's friends, now from after the divergance of the timelines. So why doesn't he return to his native time after the Time Eater's defeat? For the same reason Marty McFly doesn't return to the 1985 where his dad's still being bullied by Biff, he's now at a point where the future has changed. In other words, it took five years, but Silver finally got a happy ending!
  • As for the Silver that appears in the handheld games after Sonic 06? He's from the post-Reset Button timeline, hence why their personalities & backstories don't match up.
    • So we've got a Trunks/Mirai Trunks scenario going on here? Two separate Silvers in the same timeline?
      • Which makes sense, considering the inspiration for Super Sonic...
• So, there have been some complaints about The Reveal, namely the Hijacked by Ganon aspect of it. But remember that in practically every game since Sonic Adventure, Eggman constantly gets kicked to the curb by the Sealed Evil in a Can Of The Week - He's finally learnt from his mistakes!
  • It also makes sense when you examine what is said about it. The Time Eater is a Humongous Mecha that was made from a living creature using both Doctors' genius - what was inside every mook you destroyed in the classic Sonic games? A little creature.
  • This also may provide a handy explanation for another thing. It explains why Eggman eventually tried to control things he really couldn't control: Because he saw himself succeed at taming one!
• Although the Generations version of Speed Highway leaves out the "street level" portion^[2] of the original, there is a visual nod to it; both acts take place at dawn!
• Why is Spagonia having a festival, and why are there flags of the other nations from Sonic Unleashed? Well, obviously out of universe it's to add some variety because Rooftop Run was from the only other game to use both the Hedgehog Engine & the Modern Sonic-style levels; but in-universe? They're celebrating the restoration of the continents at the end of Unleashed.
• Why does Silver ask if Sonic's really him, or "just a fake sent for Chaos Emeralds"? Well, the |last time someone pulled that trick on him, all of time was nearly destroyed.
• The Trollnado kidnapping the signpost in Classic Sonic's Crisis City run certainly could give some explanation as to why Sonic eventually switched to Goal Rings instead.
• Modern Sonic's comment to Classic Sonic at the end may sound stupid due to some of his more lackluster titles... but if you see things from Sonic's point of view you have to admit that his adventures are pretty kick-ass. While we're probably suffering through the games, Sonic is having the time of his life!
  • It's entirely possible that he's forgotten about the events of 2006. Even if he hasn't, note that he wasn't present for Silver's desert stage or the penultimate level, and the closest thing he had to truly unlikeable levels were the "Speed Up" portions, which as far as he's concerned went off without a hitch and certainly without plowing into walls. He also lacked the fandom's distaste for Elise.
  • The biggest downside to Heroes was being forced to play through similar stages four times. Sonic only did them once, and he was spared the more annoying members of the supporting cast while finally being in a position to trust and be trusted by Knuckles. And hey, he got to fight Metal Sonic again!
  • And being a Werehog? It's more fun on the other side of the screen.
• The placement of Sonic Heroes. In the HD version, Seaside Hill is a Dreamcast-era stage, while in the 3DS version, Egg Emperor is a Modern-era boss. Which makes perfect sense, because Heroes had gameplay and level design similar to the Dreamcast games it directly followed, while its running boss battles seem to foreshadow Unleashed and Colors.
• At the end of the game Classic Sonic attempts to do a Homing Attack but fails; it is interesting in that the attempts basically looks like an Insta-Shield, a move that appeared out of nowhere in Sonic 3 (presumably after Sonic Generations in Classic Sonic's timeline) and has never been seen again since. Moreover, a proto-homing attack also appears in S3&K when you play as Hyper Sonic, which means that the Insta-Shield was actually Sonic practicing the Homing Attack, a move that he at first could only master in Hyper form.
• A lot of people complain about how the majority of Modern Planet Wisp is in 2D, despite already having Classic already being 2D entirely. However, when you remember that this is the level representing Sonic Colors, which was mostly 2D with short bursts of 3D, this makes perfect sense. In fact, most of the 3D platforming in the Generations level were in the natural, untouched parts of the planet, which was never really explored in Colors.
  • Likewise, one of the most boost-friendly levels in the game is Rooftop Run, the level from Sonic Unleashed.

Fridge Horror

• Tails explains that he was basically in a living paralysis while trapped in statue form, and that it was horrifying. He was rescued first after a fairly short level, so the rest were probably in worse shape and hiding it.
• In Sonic 06, it is said that the events of the game never happened before the end of the game. And yet, in the Modern era, Crisis City still exists. There are two explanations: Time Eater forcibly brought it back to existence, or Crisis City still exists in the future.
  • Either that, or when Crisis City and the events of '06 were erased, it ended up in the White Void.
  • It's implied that the Time Eater can access alternate timelines, and possibly confirmed by Word of God but I don't have a source on hand.
  • Which makes sense considering Stardust Speedway's Bad Future version shows up...
• In Sonic Adventure 2 the Biolizard fell to it's apparent death after it's defeat by Super Sonic and Super Shadow but, like many other characters ripped from the continuity of their time, is brought into the void of the White Space by the Time Eater. This implies that the Time Eater has resurrected the Biolizard. Meaning that for the Biolizard, it has been forced back to life in a familiar fight, suffers painful defeat by the hedgehog that originally intended to fight it first, and finally ends up dead again when continuity is restored. If Sonic and his friends are aware of the continuity displacement of the White Space, it can only be imagined what the Biolizard is aware of...
• Likewise, with the appearance of Crisis City and Iblis' minions, it could be assumed that within the scope of that level, Iblis is also resurrected, and to the other half of that extent, Mephiles as well. Never mind being resurrected from the dead, but being resurrected into an existence for what has been erased from existence/should not exist in the first place. Try putting yourself into Iblis' level of awareness.
• Sonic never beat Perfect Chaos in his rematch, at least not completely. In Sonic Adventure, it is mentioned that the positive energy from the Chaos Emerald that Sonic used in his Super form neutralized the negative energy Perfect Chaos used in its transformation, thus reverting Chaos back to its base form and dissipating its hatred. However, in the rematch, Sonic doesn't use his super form to beat Chaos, ergo, Chaos's hatred is not neutralized by the positive energy of the Emeralds, ergo, Chaos will continue to wreck shit in it's fury.

1. ↑ They did.
2. ↑ the area that Knuckles explores