Hey, guys. I'm here to provide a thorough timeline of the Sonic series. Sonic's getting ready to turn 31 this year and what better way then to provide a cohesive in-universe lore to the games both main and spinoff. Sega knows how to make the Sonic canon confusing being how Generations, Mania and Forces are told in their stories not to mention the infamous Sonic '06's story. But without further delay, let's get started with this timeline and hopefully, Sega can provide an official booklet packed with Sonic Frontiers to show where the game's stories take pace.. The first part is the Classic timeline.

======Classic Timeline======

-SegaSonic The Hedgehog: Arcade 1993—

To start off this timeline is Sega's arcade game, SegaSonic The Hedgehog where you control Sonic, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel in a Marble Madness-style gameplay with the trackball escaping Dr. Eggman's Eggman Island before it explodes. Note that this is Mighty and Ray's first appearance.

As for the story itself, Eggman captures Sonic, Mighty and Ray off of the Christmas Islands and trapped them inside his fortress. The reason this game is placed first in the timeline is there isn't any Badniks present in the game. Assuming that Eggman will eventually create them later. Speaking of him, Sonic and friends reach Eggman and defeats him escaping the fortress with their lives. Eggman meanwhile escapes in his iconic Eggmobile only to fall right into the Ocean due to his vehicle out of fuel plotting his revenge.

-Tails Adventure: Game Gear 1993 or 1994—

Sometime during and after SegaSonic The Hedgehog, Tails never met Sonic yet and his story takes place on West Side Island where an army of Cuckoos terrorize the island and it's up to the two-tailed fox genius to get the artifacts away from the rogue birds.

-Sonic The Hedgehog (8-bit): Game Gear and Master System 1991—

After Tails Adventure and SegaSonic The Hedgehog, Sonic decides to leave his birthplace Christmas Island to venture to a moving island powered by the mystical Chaos Emeralds. Note that the 7th one wasn't discovered yet until Sonic The Hedgehog 2. As for the 8-bit of Sonic 1, Eggman learns of the gems' infinite power and decides to use them for evil purposes including imprisoning helpless animals in his robots dubbed Badniks to enslave them and corrupt nature. Sonic seeing his nemesis up to no good, the blue blur hunts down the 6 emeralds scattered in 6 zones before facing the mad doctor in a final battle. Sonic the victor uses the emeralds to restore balance to the part of South Island while Eggman Plots revenge once again.

-Sonic The Hedgehog: Genesis 1991—

Now this is the first time we see Sonic and Eggman in action on the Genesis but for canon sake, the Japanese and International manuals state that the blue blur and the mad doctor fought before hence SegaSonic The Hedgehog and Sonic The Hedgehog 8-bit.

Now the story's simple being that Eggman ventures to a different part of South Island where Sonic and the woodland creatures lie in peace but the mad doctor once again repeats what he did in the previous encounter but the Chaos Emeralds scattered into a special dimension where they'll recharge. Eggman learning this decides to find the emeralds and take over the peaceful island. As always, Sonic races through the island fighting Eggman and obtained the six gems along the way defeating Eggman at the Scrap Brain Zone restoring the island to a peaceful state. Once again, the emeralds scattered once again restoring peace and tranquility to South Island.

-Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Manga—

In Japan, Sega and a publishing company collaborated with a prequel explaining how Sonic and Tails met each other. Tails roamed around by himself and spotted Sonic going on his adventures and the two got to know each other and since then became best buds.

-Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (8-bit): Game Gear and Master System 1992—

Not to be confused with the Genesis game, this one takes place after the manga where Eggman hunts down the 6 emeralds once again but now knowing how special Tails is to Sonic, the mad doctor holds the fox for ransom causing the hedgehog to race against time in getting the gems and rescue Tails. Tails Is rescued and Eggman as usual throws a tantrum vowing for vengeance against the dynamic duo. A little afterwards, Sonic and Tails decides to go their separate adventures to get stronger in their spinoff titles Sonic Labyrinth and Tails' Skypatrol.

-Sonic Labyrinth: Game Gear 1993 or 1994—

A little after Sonic 2 (8-bit), Eggman does the pettiest thing by stealing Sonic's speedy sneakers while snoozing replacing them with slow boots. Sonic realizing this, he's trapped in a maze trying to get his shoes back and get the emeralds in the process. It is said that Sonic learns to do the Spin Dash properly improving it. Though it needs some work, Sonic manages to use his move effectively in his repertoire to get his sneaks back and stop Eggman.

-Tails' Skypatrol: Game Gear 1993—

During Sonic Labyrinth, Tails fights a new villain being a witch chasing her through various zones in the air improving his flight.

-Sonic The Hedgehog CD: Sega CD 1992—

For those who don't know what a Sega CD is, it was Sega's disc based add-on console you hook onto your Sega Genesis to play CD based games. Sonic CD is one of them and before I continue, Sega confirms that this game takes place after Sonic 1 (Genesis) but before Sonic 2 (Genesis).

Sometime after Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic travels to Never Lake where a mysterious planet dubbed Little Planet appears on Mobius every year on a specific month. With Tails going on his own adventure possibly in Tails Skypatrol, Sonic's on his own for he soon discovers a chain tethered to the planet courtesy of Eggman in order to take over the planet with a new artifact dubbed the Time Stones. Sonic now traverses on this new planet to travel through time and space to gather seven Time Stones to undo Eggman's mess. On top of that, Amy Rose who debuts in this game is smitten with the blue blur and gets herself into trouble with a new antagonist Metal Sonic causing Sonic to rescue her also.

After Metal Sonic is defeated in a race, Sonic rescues Amy and pursues Eggman in Metallic Madness zone defeating him afterwards. Sonic and Amy escape the fortress and frees the mini planet from it's chains as it disappears. Though Stardust Speedway has a bad future thanks to Eggman holding onto the one stone. More on that in Sonic 4.

-Sonic Generations (Classic Sonic's side): PS3, Xbox 360, 3DS and PC 2013-

Classic Sonic and Tails were sucked up through time thanks to the Time Eater after running through Green Hill Zone. The duo meets up with their modern selves in an attempt to find out what's going on. Along the way, Classic Sonic learned a few tricks from his future self including his Spin Dash and Super Peel-Out. After the four characters rescue their friends and defeat both the Eggmans and the Time Eater, Classic Sonic and Classic Tails bid their future selves a farewell. Sonic also learns how to use the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic.

-Sonic Chaos: Game Gear and Master System 1993—

After Sonic and Tails return to their own time, Eggman uses the Chaos Emeralds power to try and sink South Island. Now the dynamic duo must get the emeralds back and undo the mess the mad doctor made. Note that the game's story is different depending on the region you get the game from. The one I mentioned is the Japanese version that I will stick to. The American version has Eggman powering a red emerald to use on weapons. The Master System has a Flicky who is another Sega character in the game of the same name before Sonic existed plays a part Of the story.

With South Island saved, Sonic and Tails fly off into the Tornado plane for their next adventure kicking off Sonic 2.

-Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Genesis 1992-

Some time after Sonic Chaos, Eggman builds his magnum opus being the Death Egg which is a nod to the Death Star from Star Wars. Not only that, there are now seven Chaos Emeralds in West Side Island which Eggman wants to use to power up his Death Egg to take over the wworld. Sonic and Tails learning from their future selves in Generations puts their skills to the test in traversing through zones fighting Eggman and his badniks and getting the seven gems.

After awhile, Sonic and Tails fly in pursuit of the mad doc's Wing Fortress but once they were close, Tails is shot down leaving Sonic alone to continue the chase. After meeting his nemesis in a fight with a laser machine, Eggman flees in his escape pod to the Death Egg with Sonic hitching a ride.

Once on the magnum opus, Sonic fights Silver Sonic turning it into scrap metal before battling Eggman in his giant mech. Sonic emerges the victor and turns Super Sonic to escape the crashing Death Egg. Tails now in his fixed Tornado catches Sonic preventing a nasty fall and travels to their next adventure. Though this isn't the end of the Death Egg just yet.

-Sonic The Hedgehog 3: Genesis 1994—

A little after Sonic 2, Tails invented a new reader that detects Chaos Emeralds in which it leads to a floating island being Angel Island. The pair decides to investigate it. Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman repairs his demolished Death Egg with some of his Badniks but decides to trick Knuckles debuting in this game that Sonic and Tails is after the Master Emerald he's destined to guard.
Knuckles falling for the doc's tricks ambushes our heroes snatching the emeralds and they set off to retrieve them and stop the Death Egg from relaunching. Along the way, they manage to obtain the emeralds and escape Knuckles' traps in 6 locations until they reach Eggman at the end of Launch Base as the Death Egg is now recommissioned into space.

Now Sonic and Knuckles is just the second part of Sonic 3 due to time and financial constraints but once Sonic 3 is locked On to S&K cart, the whole adventure can be experienced.
Sonic and Tails go to Mushroom Hill Zone and the Chaos Emeralds turn to Super Emeralds in which the heroes hunts them down while also chasing after Eggman and dodging Knuckles' traps. In the Hidden Palace zone, Sonic and Tails see a mural of an ancient echidna tribe with the emerald and another including a hedgehog fighting a monster which will be detailed in the Modern timeline. But Knuckles ambushes the two escalating in a fight until he learns now that Eggman used him and takes the Master Emerald. With Knuckles now making friends with Sonic and Tails, they set off in Sky Sanctuary to get to the Death Egg only to fight Mecha Sonic. Once the robot defeated, Sonic and Tails reach the Death Egg after Knuckles is exhausted. The pair made their way to the end fighting a giant arms robot before Eggman takes to space with the Master Emerald initiating a fight between Hyper Sonic and Eggman. Once Eggman Is defeated, the Master Emerald is back in it's proper Place and the island is back afloat.

Knuckles has a side story taking place after Sonic and Tails's campaign where he chases the Egg Robo instead of Eggman after he discovers it terrorizing the island. The echidna manages to take back the Master Emerald ending Sonic 3 as a whole.

-Sonic Triple Trouble: Game Gear 1995—

A little after Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Eggman enlists the help of Knuckles, Metal Sonic and a new character Fang The Sniper or Nack The Weasel the bounty hunter in obtaining the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Tails once again must compete to get the six emeralds away from Eggman's team in which they do and hopefully Knuckles doesn't fall for Eggman's tricks. Seriously, Knuckles is an idiot.
Knuckles: SHUT UP!

-Knuckles Chaotix: 1995 Sega 32X—

Months after both Sonic 3&K and Sonic Triple Trouble, an amusement park themed Carnival Island emerges and Eggman tries to use the new artifact Chaos Rings derived from the original rings for evil purposes and Metal Sonic once again teams up with Eggman. Meanwhile, Knuckles rescues newcomer Espio and sets off to rescue the other members of the Chaotix detective agency being Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee and returning character Mighty the Armadillo. In the end, Knuckles and the Chaotix gets all the Chaos Rings saving Carnival Island.

-Sonic The Fighters: Arcade 1996—

After Knuckles Chaotix, Eggman builds the upgraded Death Egg Mk II in an attempt to use it for world domination. Tails builds a rocket to get to the Death Egg II but only one seat is available. The resolution for this s to hold a fighting tournament composed of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Espio, Fang, newcomers Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite.

Note that Bean is the son of the protagonist of Sega's beat 'em up Dynamite Dux in the 80s This fact is in the manual of Fighters Megamix for the Sega Saturn. Also, Honey The Cat is playable via a cheat by highlighting Amy and holding a certain button and pressing the punch button. Honey or Candy is from Sega's Fighting Vipers.
Anyway, Sonic beats and wins the tournament including the doppelganger made by Eggman. He rides the rocket to the Death Egg 2 fighting Metal Sonic and Eggman in his Super Sonic form saving the day once more.

-Sonic 3D Blast: Genesis and Saturn 1996—

Eggman salty after his defeat in Sonic The Fighters, he learns of an island inhabited by Flickies. Not only that, the birds travel through dimensions via the Dimension Rings. The doctor manages to trap them into his Badniks to work for him. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles must rescue the Flickies and get the Emeralds.

-Sonic Blast: Game Gear 1995—

After Eggman grew salty once again after the Flickies are saved, Eggman tries to zap Sonic once and for all. However, he splits the Chaos Emerald into 5 pieces. Sonic and Knuckles now must work together to obtain the pieces before Eggman does.

-Sonic Mania: 2017 Ps4, Switch, Xbox One and PC—

Eggman discovers a Phantom Ruby somewhere with the help of his Hard-Boiled Heavies with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in pursuit. However, they all traverse through zones familiar and new while the usual hunt for the emeralds occurs. After Sonic and company reach the Egg Revery with all gems in hand, Sonic goes Super Sonic defeating Eggman but the power of the Phantom Ruby sends him into the Modern Timeline starting Sonic Forces.
-Sonic Forces: PS4, Switch, Xbox One and PC 2017—

Classic Sonic and Modern Tails were working together during the Resistance's fight against the Eggman Empire. They both meet up with the Rookie and Modern Sonic afterwards to face off against Eggman's forces defeating the doctor and Classic Sonic returns back home while the Modern characters rebuild.

-Sonic Mania (Encore Mode)—

In Encore Mode, it's a team based gameplay with Mighty and Ray returning for the first time since Knuckles Chaotix and SegaSonic The Hedgehog respectively. Encore Mode is a DLC you can Purchase where Mighty and Ray can be playable in all modes of play.
Taking place after Classic Sonic defeats the Empire In Forces, he, Tails and Knuckles stumbles upon Mighty and Ray on Angel Island working together once again to stop Eggman and the rebuilt Hard-Boiled Heavies.

=====Racing Arc====

These three racing games in the Classic Timeline are just fillers and nothing more.

-Sonic Drift: 1993 Game Gear—

Takes place a little after Sonic The Hedgehog CD

-Sonic Drift 2: Game Gear 1995—

Set after Knuckles Chaotix

-Sonic R: Saturn and PC 1997—

A World Grand Prix is in effect though Sonic is disinterested, he enters after learning Eggman is behind the scheme to trap Sonic and get the emeralds in this racing game. The Infamous Tails Doll makes a debut here.

Now Sonic Spinball and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is nowhere canon inn the timeline but an elseworlds story. Now Sonic 4 will be in the Modern timeline due to him being older at that timeframe. So I'll end it here but as a bonus, I'll have a brief history before the Sonic games ever happened.

====Bonus: Ancient Timeline (Before Sonic)=====

10,000 BS: Light Gaia and Dark Gaia are born and created to balance the planet's existence. Chip aka Light Gaia is all about life and prosperity while Dark Gaia wants destruction and the two clash for control of the planet called the Time Of Awakening occurring every million years for control. Before Sonic Unleashed.

4000 BS: Emerl the Gizoid is created by an ancient civilization or rather one of the four great civilization that caused their own downfall. Before Sonic Battle.

3052 BS: Pachacamac, the chief of a known echidna tribe and Knuckles' ancestor was born. Before Sonic Adventure.

3014 BS: Tikal, daughter of Pachacamac was born.

3000 BS: Many of the 4 great civilizations populated throughout the globe with the echidna tribes recorded with the most activity. At the same time, they were blessed with the Chaos Emeralds but due to their greed and misuse were they punished for such acts. Pachacamac of the smallest tribe became a grand example of this when he and his men were corrupted wanting to use the emeralds for selfish gains. Tikal was against this warning the people to turn back now before it's too late. However, Pachacamac didn't listen and therefore murdered the mysterious Chao in the process in order to get the emeralds.
Chaos, the guardian of the emeralds was pissed and eradicated nearly the whole population of the echidna tribe including Pachacamac. Tikal decides to save the planet by sealing herself and Chaos within the Master Emerald for times to come.

2000BS: Events before Shadow The Hedgehog, Black Doom sends the Black Arms temples to Glyphic Canyon for future plans of world domination.

1900BS: Babylonians, an advanced race arrived on Mobius blessed with technology and culture.

Approx. 1500BS: Possibly the Babylonian civilization on West Side Island, they were prosperous with the Chaos Emeralds but their misuse for all the wrong reasons cause the guardians to send the mystical stones into a special dimensions where one day Sonic and company traverses in pursuit. Before Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

72 BS: Maria Robotnik, granddaughter to Gerald Robotnik and cousin to Dr. Eggman was born.

50BS: Gerald Robotnik researches for a cure to Maria's illness but fails to obtain it. He enlists help of the president of the United Nations Federation for help in research for immortality. Gerald studied about the ancient civilizations and the Chaos Emeralds and the existence of the Gizoid Emerl and Chaos. All of this led to Project Shadow creating the ultimate life form in the process thanks to Black Doom. However, the government feared of the professor's research relating to the Biolizard aboard the Space Colony ARK and deployed G.U.N or Guardian Units Of Nations to cover up Project Shadow. At first in SA2, Gerald went insane after not able to find a cure to save Maria's life. He programs the station to collide with Earth for vengeance. He, Maria and everyone else involved were gunned down by GUN with Maria sealing Shadow in a stasis pod to Earth to save him.

5BS: Vector The Crocodile is born.

4BS: Storm The Albatross was born.

3BS: Big The Cat, Rouge The Bat and Wave The Swallow was born.

2BS: Bark The Polar Bear born on North Island and Princess Elise of Soleanna was born.

1BS: Knuckles The Echidna, Mighty The Armadillo and Espio The Chameleon was born.

0AS: Sonic The Hedgehog born on Christmas Island and Bean The Dynamite was born.

1AS: Blaze The Cat born in the Sol Dimension and Jet The Hawk was born.

3AS: Amy Rose was born. The Duke Of Soleanna worked on Project Solaris in secret where the purpose was to control the powers of the deity to manipulate time and erase the mistakes of the past. However, this was removed from the timeline after Elise blew out the flames.

8AS: Tails was born.

9AS: Marine The Raccoon born in Sol Dimension.

12AS: Cream The Rabbit and Charmy bee was born.

And that's it, folks. Part 1 of the Timeline and next and final half will be the Modern starting with Sonic 4 and ending with Sonic Frontiers. Leave a review or PM if you have anything to tell me about the Sonic canonical timeline. I did my best to closely put the pieces together. It's somewhat easier than the Zelda timeline in my opinion. But until Sega releases an Official timeline, this will do. LilMancub out and I'll see y'all in the next one.