In 2023, there was a brief debate regarding the game's canonicity to the overall Sonic franchise. Ian Flynn initially stated that the game was non-canon, despite the fact that Sonic acknowledged the game's events in a Sonic Channel interview. However, this would later be revealed to be due to a change in the game's canonicity after he had been told it was non-canon. Flynn later firmly stated that the game had resumed being a canon entry in the series.