Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic the Hedgehog Episode 4

[Snowy]

So, apparently, Metal Sonic wasn't stuck in Stardust Speedway as he was seen afterwards in Sonic Triple Trouble as a boss battle. In Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode Metal, it shows how Metal Sonic came back. ( Which explains why he's in Sonic Heroes as the main villain after maybe a few years of being inactive in Eggman's lab, As seen in Sonic Adventure). So I was wondering, maybe SEGA doesn't include Triple Trouble's storyline of Metal not being in it? Unless Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a replacement for Triple Trouble, which I doubt as it still been denied by Knuckles Chaotix as Metal Sonic appears. So what's really going on with the storyline?

Or Sonic the Hedgehog 4 not even canon? What's is Metal true comeback before Heroes?!

[KeatonLabs]

I dont think the game gear games were cannon. I dunno. Either that or triple trouble came before sonic cd on the timeline.

[Ivogoji]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles > Sonic CD > Sonic 4 > Sonic Triple Trouble > The rest of the series

Pretty sure the whole point of Episode 4 is that it takes place before most of the current franchise but right after the events of S3&K.

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

I don't think Sonic Team cares enough about continuity for anyone to put the games into anything resembling a proper timeline.

Also, who says all the appearances of Metal Sonic have to be the same robot? There is nothing to stop Eggman from taking the existing blueprints and building another Metal Sonic or even mass producing an army of the things other than maybe Metal Sonic requiring more time nad resources to build compared with the standard badniks.

[Ivogoji]

Oh yes I can.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles- a few weeks later. Sonic is somewhere around 13-14 years old, Knuckles is 15, Tails is around six
Super Sonic defeats the Great Eggman Robo and recovers the Master Emerald, returning it to Knuckles. The two settle their differences and become allies. Sonic sends the Chaos Emeralds into the Special Zone, believing they would be safer there. A single Eggrobo crawls from the wreckage of Dr. Eggman’s destroyed army. It searches for its comrades, finding that its master has abandoned the operation with the destruction of the Death Egg, leaving many still active badniks on the island. Still in the vacancy of the Sky Sanctuary, it stumbles upon Mecha Sonic II, quite functional and eager for power. The Eggrobo deletes its master registration, taking command of the remaining robots on the Floating Island (who were programed to accept orders from Eggrobos). The rogue Robo determined to steal the Master Emerald and use it to power Mecha Sonic II, who possessed an as yet untapped program Eggman had been working on that would allow the machine to transform into a quasi-Super Sonic.
Kncukles’ Story in Sonic 3 and Knuckles- scarcely a day later. Knuckles collects Sonic’s set of Chaos Emeralds as well as the Angel Island set, creating the Super Emeralds. He transforms into Hyper Knuckles and destroys Super Mecha Sonic II.
Knuckles Chaotix- about two months later. Mighty is 16 years old, Charmy is around 4-5. Eggman scraps the Mecha Sonic series in favor of rebuilding Metal Sonic.
Recovering from his defeat at the hands of the Chaotix, Eggman locates one of the Chaos Emeralds, accidently producing some odd effect that caused South Island to begin sinking into the sea. Disturbed South Island’s interdimensional torsion field that keeps it from sinking into the ocean by removing only one Emerald while the other six remained and thus unbalancing the landmass, I guess.
Sonic Chaos/Sonic and Tails- a few weeks later
Sonic Drift- a few weeks later
Sonic Triple Trouble/Sonic and Tails 2- about a month later.

I made the above timeline before SEGA officially declared that Sonic CD takes place after S3&K- a statement that in and of itself proves there is an official order of events. So yes, a timeline does exist, though probably a looser one than what I've suggested.

It's quite possible for Eggman to build multiple Metal Sonic from scratch, but that would kinda go against the whole point of Episode Metal, which shows the original reawakening to cause trouble once again. The game would have us believe that all subsequent appearances of Metal Sonic are the same character. Metal Sonic's official profile is also written as if there has only ever been one of him.

In any case, there is no reason what so ever to suggest Sonic Triple Trouble isn't canon to the current franchise.