YTread Logo
YTread Logo

Game Theory: Sonic BROKE His Own Lore! (Sonic Frontiers)

Mar 11, 2024
Let's be honest. Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't originally designed with deep storytelling in mind. Mostly you're just running and jumping and... But over the years, when Sonic entered the 3D space, that had to change. Our favorite Blue Blur needed a story and the results have been... mixed, to say the least. Some kept it light, others went deeper. Enter Sonic Frontiers, the new open-world adventure packed with a ton of story. They even hired the former head writer of Archie Comics to help get it right. And what we got was, at best, confusing and at worst, potentially breakable. So today we are going to set the record straight.
game theory sonic broke his own lore sonic frontiers
Does Sonic Frontiers break the

sonic

canon? Or does this

game

go much further than we think? Hello Internet. Welcome to Game Theory, the show that's about to compile all four channels of chaos. Once I have them all, I can upgrade to a super MatPat form. Something tells me I'm going to look good as a spiky-haired blonde. In the meantime, let's talk about that spiky blue blob, Sonic. Last November, the newest Sonic

game

, Sonic Frontiers, was released. And let's not fool ourselves. This game had a difficult hill to climb. The 3D Sonics don't exactly have the best reputation.
game theory sonic broke his own lore sonic frontiers

More Interesting Facts About,

game theory sonic broke his own lore sonic frontiers...

It also didn't help that when the trailer for the initial game appeared, everything seemed empty and lifeless. So much so that Sega had to come out and tell gamers that "you just don't get it, man." But then the game came out and it was still pretty much empty and lifeless. Basically, Sonic Team saw Breath of the Wild and said, “Let's do it; But with Grind Rails. Hey, we said this game was open world. We didn't say there were things to do in it. Joking aside, I think the game is pretty solid. Sure, it's random in some places.
game theory sonic broke his own lore sonic frontiers
It feels unpolished in some parts, and that pinball game is inexcusable. But it's the strongest 3D Sonic has had in a long time. That being said, one area where this new game was not lacking was the story. Now 3D Sonic tried to write stories in the past. Sometimes it works. And sometimes it's very embarrassing. Go figure. Writers have a hard time finding the right tone when writing a story featuring talking hedgehogs. So Sonic Frontiers took a different approach. They hired former Sonic Archie Comics head writer Ian Flynn to write his story. And, honestly, it shows in the dialogue.
game theory sonic broke his own lore sonic frontiers
These characters feel really developed. Knuckles and Sonic feel like rivals again. Tails gets a character arc. Even Amy has lines where she's more than just an obsessive fan. So it seems like this should all be a piece of cake, right? Well, not entirely. You see, this game goes out of its way to show that all the Sonic games are connected. We have moments that reference Sonic Forces. Lines that talk about Sonic Adventure 2. Even references to darker titles like Sonic Riders. Which means that, for the first time, we have to take Sonic's entire story seriously. And that's a pretty dangerous prospect because Sonic's story has gone to strange places.
To make matters worse, even if you know Sonic's history, the things presented in Frontiers seem to contradict major plot details from other games. So does Sonic Frontiers really make sense or does it break canon as many have suggested online? For once, let's slow down. Let's take a deep breath and exp

lore

the world of chaos energy, mutant aliens and Sonic's story. Lets start by the beginning. At the beginning of Frontier, Sonic and his friends are sucked into a cyberspace portal, basically a digital world built from memories of Sonic's past adventures. This first recreates Green Hills Zone, but throughout the game, Sonic is forced to revisit places like the Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary.
And although Sonic manages to escape from this first portal, his friends are not so lucky. Ah yes, a multiverse story. These are always very clear. They never go wrong   in any way. To make matters worse, much of the story is hidden behind Eggman's memos. Memos that you can only receive when you *moan* fish with Big the cat. Because? Why would you make slow fishing important in a fast Sonic game? I'm crazy? Why do all games feel the need to shoehorn themselves into fishing? But above all a Sonic game. I'm sorry. That's my spiel, what time is it? 12:25 in the middle of the night.
And this is my rant. Well, this is it. Woo, excuse me. I didn't realize she had such deep feelings about fishing in video games. Anyway, back to the

theory

. And even when you get those memos, they don't really explain everything, especially if you're not familiar with the deep wells of Sonic history. It's a little ironic when you consider what Eggman says in one of the memos. Anyway, as Sonic traverses cyberspace to free his friends, the cybernetic energy corrupts him more and more. Because of that, he begins to have strange visions of the past. It is through these visions that we begin to learn about the ancients.
A race of aliens whose home planet was destroyed by the evil entity called the end. As the story goes, while their planet was being destroyed, these ancients were drawn to Earth by the power of the chaos emeralds. Now, longtime Sonic fans will take a look at the ancient race and immediately connect the dots with an old enemy we faced back in 1998. You see, these ancient aliens look exactly like the main villain Chaos from the game Sonic Adventure. And that connection is not lost in this game either. It should be noted that this was not an accident.
This was a conscious decision made by writer Ian Flynn. However, this connection is where the Internet runs into its biggest problem in regards to the broader Sonic

lore

. You see, Chaos wasn't an alien in Sonic Adventure, at least not really. The Sonic Adventure Navigation Guide tells us that Chaos is not an alien, but a mutant, thanks to him being exposed to a special type of radiation. He was originally one of these adorable guys, a Chao. Apparently, one of these cute fairies mutated to become an aquatic monster. But that doesn't make any sense for what we see in Sonic Frontiers.
The Ancients, as we see them in that game, were always water monsters. I mean, they have kids that look like water monsters and all that. So if Chaos and the Ancients are really the same, is it possible that he still was a mutant Chao? This is the main topic I've seen discussed online and how this new game seemingly breaks established lore. Honestly, the immediate answer I would have would be to simply say that the old tradition was rebuilt. But we know for sure that that is not the case. Ian Flynn came out and confirmed that the original story is still valid.
So while this is certainly helpful in clarifying canonicity, it doesn't offer us any help in figuring out how these two things can be canonical. Fortunately, Eggman provides us with a little more information. In that same memo where Eggman confirms the connection between Chaos and the ancients, he also says this. Doesn't that sound familiar? Radiation transforming bodies. It's exactly like what the Sonic Adventure Navigation Guide says happened to Chaos, only without reversing; instead of cute little Chao transforming into water monsters. The water monsters have transformed into Chao. But what radiation could do this? Well, that's easy. Chaos was originally said to have mutated due to radiation from the Master Emerald, the giant green jewel that lives in the center of Angel Island.
This thing is basically a deus ex machina in Sonic's world. He keeps Angel Island floating. It is a prison for Chaos. It can stop the chaos emeralds, but it also gives them power. Whatever it takes to make the story happen, Master Emerald can accomplish it. And you don't have to take my word for it either. Here is Knuckles from the obscure TailsTube series uploaded to the official Sonic YouTube channel. He neutralizes the other emeralds, huh? Interesting. As you see in the instruction manual for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, we are told that the energy emitted by the Master Emerald is identical to that of the Chaos Emeralds.
Just much, much stronger. This energy is known, unsurprisingly, as chaos energy or chaos radiation if you're feeling spicy. But it turns out that the master emerald is not the only one with mutation powers. Chaos emeralds also emit enough chaos radiation to mutate creatures. In the Archie comics, the energy emitted by the chaos emeralds actually turns someone into an aquatic monster, just like Chaos. Now, it is true that the Archie comics are not considered canonical. However, Ian Flynn used to be the creative writer for them, so it's not surprising that he wanted to borrow some ideas from things he himself had worked on in the past.
The Ancients even take the chaos emeralds directly to the Master as a last-ditch effort to protect them. In other words, they literally put the chaos emeralds in a place where their energy would be amplified, exposing them to even more radiation. I suspect that this movement accelerated their mutation process and transformed the ancients into the Chao we know and love and all products today. This is how the Ancients became Chao. But what about how a Chao could become an Ancient again? In other words, how did the chaos go from the Alien Water Monster to Chao and then back to the Alien Water Monster?
That's what has to have happened for everything to have been canon like Ian Flynn said. Well, we know the mutation was due to radiation from the Master Emerald, but that's the same radiation that turned the ancients into Chao in the first place. So what's up? Well, the endless power set of the master emeralds seems to explain it all. Listen to this Knuckles quote again. Teacher. The emerald not only increases the power of chaos emeralds. It can also neutralize it. In fact, we see this throughout the series. In Sonic Battle, Sonic attempts to use this technique to stop the antagonist who is using the chaos emeralds for power.
We also see Knuckles try the same thing in Sonic Adventure 2. When Space Colony ARK is using the emeralds to force the space station to crash into Earth. But the first time we see this technique used is during the events of Sonic Adventure. We learn about the ancient clan of Echidnas who know an ancient prayer used to neutralize the chaos emeralds. If the ancients were originally mutated into Chao through their exposure to the emeralds, then when the chaos energy was neutralized, the effects would presumably be reversed, allowing a Chao within the vicinity of the master emerald to lose its Chao-like form. and will return to its original shape. original state.
This is why Chaos is so protective of the emeralds during Sonic Adventure's flashbacks. He wasn't just a guardian of the emeralds because they were too powerful. His race literally brought them to this planet. They were to be used as a force for good. Chaos simply couldn't risk power falling into the hands of someone who could abuse it. Like the Echidnas, like Eggman. And like Sonic. There you have it. Sonic Frontiers'

broke

n law has not been officially

broke

n. I daresay it makes a lot of sense, as long as you're an expert on the history of gemology's comings and goings in a fictional alien landscape.
Anyway, I'm excited for this new phase of Sonic's story. Hopefully they'll invite Ian Flynn back to write more of these games. He clearly cares a lot about this franchise and the history of it. Something I respect a lot. He feels a lot better when a franchise as big as this one finally starts to have some cohesion in its narrative. And now that we know that the chaos emeralds have the power to mutate aliens, who knows what's in store for Sonic? Maybe all the over-reliance on Super Sonic to defeat Eggman over the years is starting to take a toll on him physically.
Maybe he will start to mutate too. Maybe you don't like pigmen, but you know. I mean, the game gave Tails a story about not depending on Sonic for everything. Could they be preparing the next one in which Tails is the main character and has to save Sonic? Or, you know, maybe they'll just throw out all the fictional sci-fi stuff and start using some real-world physics. We'll finally get someone to wonder if Sonic really is the fastest thing alive. But hey, that's just a

theory

. A GAME THEORY! Thanks for watching. And if you want to know more about Sonic's recent adventures, why not head over to Film Theory, where we find out how many chili dogs he would have to eat to survive given his running habits?
That video is there on the left. Meanwhile, over there on the right, we have   a video about who would win at the Olympic Games:  Sonic or Mario. It's surprisingly close. Also, did you know that architecture is an Olympic event? Yes, there is a lot of strange information in that video, the one on the right. And as always, my friends. I will see you next week.

If you have any copyright issue, please Contact