The Sonic universe now has an official timeline

And there are some surprisingly canon projects according to it.

Fans often discuss the timeline of The Legend of Zelda games, going into great depth to make it all fit together as well as possible, while Nintendo rarely does anything to help.

But even the Sonic the Hedgehog games have a timeline and without warning Sega has now presented official details about it, something that has been noticed by NintendoLife. The timeline offers several big surprises, not least that an odd title like the Dreamcast classic Sonic Shuffle (a Mario Party challenger from 2001) is considered canon and is placed between Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.

The timeline is not 100% comprehensive, but gives a surprisingly good picture of the Sonic universe, and will be fun for fans who have long wondered about things like whether Sonic Free Riders is set before or after Sonic Rush Adventure. Check out the timeline on Sonic's Japanese website.