Does anyone know exactly WHEN the sonic games take place? I'm starting a new sprite comic, so I want to know it for story.

(PS: Please, DON'T turn this into a sprite hatefest.)

Emerald Forest is the first level i know.

No, I mean in what year does it take place? Has it ever been said?

The Sonic series of games takes place on an alternate-reality Earth, though no specific time is given. It can be assumed to be the near future, based on the Sonic Adventure series where the human world is much like our own, except for being filled with robots and talking animals.

I could have sworn the older games took place on a completely differnet world, as well. It can be hard to tell when the games and cartoons all have completely different versions of the Sonic universe.

I'm pretty much an expert on all things "sonic". There is no definite year in the series. In Sonic 1-3&K the games take place on (generally)uninhabited islands (South Island, Westside Island, Little Planet, Angel Island). While Sonic Adventure takes place in a modern day city known as Station Square. Sonic Adventure 2 helps further prove that the series takes place within a fictional modern day earth. But, leave it to Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Riders to stomp all over that. Both games make it seem as if though we're far into the future, with flying cars, unrealistic building structures, etc. While Sonic Next may be taking us back to a modern setting, the previous two games seem to imply that Sonic is rooted in the far future.

My opinion is, they are in a fictional modern day. Since Sonic Team does a real shitty job keeping up with their own canon (Note: While the moon is blown up in SA2, it's whole again in all subsequent editions). I've always passed it off as modern day. I just assumed that the futuristic cities took place on different islands or nations with more advance technology.

So if you were going to go with a date, just use our date.

As for the whole "different worlds" thing, I doubt that's the case. The islands Sonic and the gang traveled on were (for the most part) unoccupied. But then again, we do see hints that they too take place in a modern day setting (note the city in the background of Chemical Plant Zone). It's very possible that the islands in 1-3&K were deserted, or the action took place far away from the local civilization.

Thanks. I really appreciate it.

isukun
I could have sworn the older games took place on a completely differnet world, as well. It can be hard to tell when the games and cartoons all have completely different versions of the Sonic universe.

Sega of Japan always called it Earth if anyone asked (put it in the manuals and the like), but up until Sonic Adventure 2 they called it Mobius in America because of a mistranslation of something in the original Sonic the Hedgehog game manual (it was apparently some sort of misinterpretation of a mention of Moebius Strips). With the sudden drive to unify the opposing continuities (like changing Robotnik back to "Eggman" ) , they've officially started calling it Earth again.

Inkmonkey

isukun
I could have sworn the older games took place on a completely differnet world, as well. It can be hard to tell when the games and cartoons all have completely different versions of the Sonic universe.

Sega of Japan always called it Earth if anyone asked (put it in the manuals and the like), but up until Sonic Adventure 2 they called it Mobius in America because of a mistranslation of something in the original Sonic the Hedgehog game manual (it was apparently some sort of misinterpretation of a mention of Moebius Strips). With the sudden drive to unify the opposing continuities (like changing Robotnik back to "Eggman"), they've officially started calling it Earth again.

It was popular at the time for games to be "westernized". A Mobius Strip was those twirly paths in Emerald Hill Zone, if I recall correctly. There is an interview with the guy who gave Dr.Eggman his Western name of Robotnik. Look at the bright side, at least they didn't go with their first choice, Dr.Badvibes (http://www.sonic-cult.org/dispart.php?catid=1&gameid=1&subid=1&artid=8). [sonic-cult.org]

But since then, Mr.Naka has confirmed that Robotnik is his real name, but the character prefers Eggman. Course, that wasn't how it was originally supposed to be. My comment about their irresponsibility with the canon comes to mind...

Sonic Adventure 2 helps further prove that the series takes place within a fictional modern day earth.

Except that this fictional modern day Earth has robots, airships, and flying police cars. I think Sega tried to explain a bit of that in the recent anime series, by having the world of Sonic combine with a world much like our own during the story archs based on Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Of course, there is also the OAV explanation, where the world Sonic inhabits is actually the distant future. Mankind has moved to floating islands above the Earth, but the ruins of our fallen civilization still remain on the planet's surface. Naka did work on the OAVs, as well.

Up until SA1, and even sometimes afterwards, there was NO attempt to apply continuity to any of the Sonic games. Don't waste your time trying to piece them together. It's just as skull-numbing as the mess that the Zelda series' timeline is.

Well, yeah, that was my point (cept you mixed up SA2 and Sonic Riders on that whole "flying police cars" thing). As for the OVA, well, considering the games call it "Earth" and not "Planet Freedom", you can easily ride it off as "None-Canon". But your point is understood. The games have a shaky canon, one that (often times) evolves without regard to the previous installment.

While proving it's set in modern times would have been easy a few years back, Shadow and Sonic Riders kinda' fucked that up (specially Riders). Personally, the whole introduction of aliens nearly made me forget about the games altogether (Sonic Next is the only thing holding my attention).

But I digress. The Canon is shaky. While you can grasp a basic idea of the plot, looking into it further just reveals plot hole after plot hole. The fact that there is no defined canon (since Sonic Team endorses everything that comes their way...) makes things even more difficult.

So it's hard to say, really. I just see it as "modern day". Course others won't, but like I said, the canon is so loose, each opinion has more then enough validity. You could say they take place in different worlds and realities, and there would be just as much evidence pointing towards that as there would with my statement about different islands and technology.

Call it bad writing, I guess. Least Sonic Teams been trying to connect it all (shame Shadow and Riders kinda killed that idea...).

cept you mixed up SA2 and Sonic Riders on that whole "flying police cars" thing

Actually, I've never played Sonic Riders. The flying police cars were in Sonic Adventure 1, though.

isukun

cept you mixed up SA2 and Sonic Riders on that whole "flying police cars" thing

Actually, I've never played Sonic Riders. The flying police cars were in Sonic Adventure 1, though.

Those were Eggman's robots, not a part of the actual police force (evident by the "living battery", or animal).

set in an alternate reality? most games are!

You know, that who Robotnik thing - I never bothered to find out about anything Sonic related (id I really care, it was fast, and fun... I didn't even know there was a story).
When I was in college though, my friends and I were playing the sonic games on the gamecube, and we were talking about it as anti-communist propaganda.
Sonic, being all red white and blue, and Dr. R. being a "nik" and in red and black - clearly was a ll about the Cold War.

So, you know what.
Wow. I'm just stunned there's so much to know about the world of Sonic.
Though I'll always see it as a pixilated Cold War simulation.

Really, Jillian, most of the story was added as an afterthought by Sega. The original games didn't have any real "story" to speak of. The closest they got was the part in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 where you saw that mural of Sonic fighting Robotnik in the background during a fight with Knuckles.