Trivia / Sonic Chronicles

• Dummied Out:
  • Farfinkle, one of the viral Chao, cannot be unlocked in the Japanese version of the game. This involves a Game-Breaking Bug with its special ability to inflict a random status effect.
  • Echidna versions of all the Blue Ridge Zone Sidequest characters can be found in the code, notably Timothy and his father. There's also an actual child named Timmy, along with dialogue to match that fact.
  • There is also a robot echidna with an arm cannon, along with art for items.
• Exiled from Continuity: Although there are some minor elements from this game that would go on to be adopted by the mainline series (like the "Knuckles Clan" name), Chronicles never happened as far as Sega cares, since Knuckles continues to be described as the last ever echidna despite this game blatantly contradicting that.
• Flip-Flop of God: Kevin Eva claimed that Sonic Chronicles is non-canon and should be considered an alternate universe story. However, he has also said in the same breath that the series' canon is in constant "flux" and can change at any given moment. Years later, Aaron Webber, the social media coordinator of Sega, stated that "Everything is canon." But then the Encyclo-speed-ia went on to reiterate that Chronicles is ultimately non-canon, making it the one known exception to Webber's statement.
• Lying Creator: Project director Mark Darrah took note to point out that out of the 11 playable characters, the staff would raise Big the Cat's IQ points. The opposite ended up happening due to Rule of Funny.
• Official Fan-Submitted Content: Sega promoted the game by giving fans the opportunity to vote on a name for one of the alien races of the Twilight Cage. The winning name, Zoah, is a reference to a town from Panzer Dragoon Saga.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: A common legend for a few years after the game released was that the original OST was cut for legal reasons (potentially related to BioWare being bought out by EA, which coincided with the game's development) and BioWare stole MIDI remixes off the internet to compensate, leading to the game's low-quality soundtrack. This is generally considered unlikely nowadays. More credible sources have said that the original composer for the game left in the middle of development, and BioWare was unfamiliar with the DS's sound chip and had to make do with the little development time they had, though the full details have yet to surface.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Due to the lawsuit Ken Penders filed against Sega, BioWare and Electronic Arts for taking concepts from the comic in the game back in early 2011 and all for the Nocturnus Clan being too similar to his Dark Legion echidna characters, whom he had claimed copyright for, it's very unlikely that Shade, Ix and the Marauders will ever be seen in another piece of Sonic media again. However, Penders lost that case, so Sega has full legal rights over the aforementioned characters, but considering how litigious and spiteful Penders can be^note To this day, he claims that he has proper ownership of Shade because of her similarities to Julie-Su, which is not true, how divisive the game was, how poor the sales were and BioWare being bought out by Electronic Arts (which is probably the biggest collection of misfortune a game with a cliffhanger has ever ended up with), Sega probably decided it was not worth the effort to commission a sequel regardless. Ferox, however, popped up briefly in Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW)'s Story Arc Chao Races and Badnik Bases.
• Stillborn Franchise: The game's title and Sequel Hook suggested that Sonic Chronicles was planned to be a full-fledged series, but BioWare becoming a part of Electronic Arts and closing down handheld game development prevented them from making a sequel. Poor sales and the Ken Penders lawsuit (though Sega won the case) killed any chance of it being put into the hands of anyone else, and the game has rarely been acknowledged by Sega since its release (and has since been declared non-canon). Though, Ferox does make two cameos in Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) issue 33 and 35.
• Vaporware: Sonic Chronicles was announced to have a sequel in a conceptual phase, but nothing ever came of it because BioWare stopped being an independent developer shortly after the game's release.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The game was going to have an alternate intro, but Sega at the time turned it down it for unknown reasons.
  • In 2023, Did You Know Gaming sat down with Lead Designer Miles Holmes on what the sequel was going to be as shown here. The plot would have involved Sonic and his friends trying to overthrow the Eggman Empire, as set up at the end of the first game. Eventually, Argus (the god that trapped everyone inside the Twilight Cage) would invade the Earth, and Sonic and Eggman would join forces alongside the freed Twilight Cage inhabitants to stop him.

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