Before you go any further, this post WILL contain spoilers pertaining to the GOOD ending of Sonic Mania after it was leaked before release. So not only is this spoilers for those who haven't completed it after release, this also spoils it BEFORE the game releases. I figured it would be obsolete to talk about this after, as most people would have completed the game and theorised this already. So i wanted to get this out there before release so it isn't obsolete as soon as the post goes up. If you have a problem with spoilers, get out of here, NOW. It was in the title, why did you even come here...?

So, Sonic Mania was leaked a day or 2 ago. This was due to stores sending the Collector's edition early, which comes with a Code to unlock the game digitally- On PS4 or Xbox One, this isn't usable until release day, however, for the Nintendo Switch, there's no Date lock- This means that if you have a download code for a game, it's usable at any time, even before release. As a result of this, the whole game has been leaked, essentially. I won't leak zones, i won't leak most of the story, i won't leak any unannounced features, nothing like that. I'm here to talk about the ending alone. The good one, specifically.

Now, i never watched the whole stream when it came up, and as such i don't know the context for the following:
-Why is Little Planet back?
-What is the purpose of the giant robot final boss?
-Why is the fight on Little Planet?

Okay, now the ending itself. This is the good ending so this is only when you have all 7 Chaos Emeralds on the file.
There's a giant exploding robot, and then the camera zooms out of Little Planet with a yellow spark flying away, which is Sonic. Tails and Knuckles are standing on a cliff next to what we can assume is Never Lake from Sonic CD. It cuts to a pink portal vortex thingy, with Sonic in it, now back in his normal form. He strikes a pose- Identical to the one from the Sonic Forces original Reveal trailer- And the logo of the game appears next to him.

Now, what the heck just happened?
First, let's analyse the ending itself.

Obviously, the Yellow Spark is Super Sonic flying off. I'm not sure what the context of the giant robot is, but i assume it's the final boss. Why Little Planet is back, i can only assume it's because Time is all messed up. In the final boss, the timer is going NUTS- So i can only assume time itself is messed up. When Sonic is travelling through the pink vortex i assume Infinite is behind it, what with his red blocks 'n all that stuff.

To understand my theory, we're gonna have to look at another one i saw at one point. Someone's theory stated that the way Infinite gained control of Shadow, Zavok, Chaos and Metal Sonic was by going into individual times and taking them from there. Another point was that to do so, he killed the different Sonics in those times, but judging by the fact he's still alive in both Mania and Forces, i think we can disregard that.

Anyway. I think that Infinite intended on gaining the help of Robotnik and the Hard-boiled Heavies. Infinite likely told them to destroy Mania Sonic- As, being Infinite, he likely knows about what happened in Generations- but they failed to do so, being destroyed by Mania Sonic, and ending with Mania Sonic ending up being brought to the future, due to time being all screwed up. And that is how i think Classic sonic ended up in forces.

I originally thought that Mania was going to be connected to Forces in some way and, surprisingly, i was right. I also originally had a much... Larger idea of was Forces would have been, and as that started falling away i slightly lost hope that the two would be connected- Not that the lack of a connection would have been a bad thing, but more that as the ambition i had hoped Forces had dripped away and it became a fairly normal Sonic game, i figured the connection between the two may have also been a bit too ambitious of a thought. It appears i was wrong, however! Well, i haven't got much else to say here so...

SEEYA!
UPDATE!!
With Sonic Mania now released we've heard more from the game, including a clean rip of the True Final Boss theme. The theme seems to include a lot from Sonic Forces, and alongside the timer, and therefore, time itself being screwed up, this seems to confirm Sonic Mania is indeed connected to Forces. In what way, we don't know. We only know that Classic Sonic- Which i'd like to call Maniac Sonic- is from Sonic Forces. We don't know Infinite's involvement with the Hard-boiled Heavies and Robotnik, or if he even has one. We'll have to find out in Sonic Forces in the holidays of 2017.
JOIN THE RESISTANCE.