@equals_w_equals *stubs my toe*
Maria.... this is what you wanted, right...?
@bgcarlisle When you think about it soup stock is just really poorly made, really overbrewed tea
Wild theory time: Sonic was actually the one who knew Maria, but his memories were taken by Gerald after Maria's death and used as part of Shadow's creation. Maria... body? memories? medical data?? was used to create Amy just before Gerald died, as a form of reincarnation to atone for his failure to save her life.
Thus, Amy crushes on Sonic, Sonic and Amy both quote Maria to Shadow, and Shadow has faulty memories of Maria's dying wish, filling every single plot hole simultaneously
Like... was Sonic created by Gerald Robotnik as a successor to Shadow? Does Sonic also have Shadow's Black Hand dna, or is that the thing that separates them? What is Sonic/Amy's connection to Maria? What is GUN's goal as a paramilitary organization? Why was the ARK actually shut down? How did Gerald know of the existence of the Master Emerald? There are so many fun questions!!!
But most importantly, the three possibilities for hedgehog lore:
1) All Sonic-universe hedgehogs are genetically engineered lifeforms made from the DNA of alien lifeforms
2) Completely coincidentally, hedgehogs are the ideal vessel for using the Chaos Emeralds' abilities, and Shadow is only the Ultimate Lifeform because of his immortality
3) Maria's will lives on in Amy, Sonic, or both, explaining their emotional connection to Shadow and callbacks to Maria
There's so much great nonsense in Sonic Adventure 2. The prison island cell being a Chekhov's Gun for act 3. Hedgehogs somehow being the only beings on Earth capable of chaos control and Super forms. Eggman being unable to decide whether he wants to take over the world or destroy it completely. Tails just... having the ability to produce replicas of the chaos emeralds. The president being introduced as a character and then immediately being dropped
@00dani Sonic Unleashed is tricky. There's nothing that prevents it from being "canon" in the main timeline, but it's basically never mentioned again. The plot is generic enough to slot basically anywhere post-SA2, and there's nothing that immediately sets it apart like Heroes or the Storybook games.
@00dani The only games that are genuinely non-canonical, as far as I understand, are Sonic Heroes (because of which characters are present), and the Olympic Games games for obvious reasons.
@00dani It's pretty weird. The listed games are all chronological in order of release, and they have very reasonable connections that make them into a single timeline. Everything else fits into its own timelines pretty easily, though.
~ They/Them [plural] or She/Her [singular], please. ~
Nope