Thread:Brian Warren/@comment-4220590-20150416215720/@comment-4220590-20150418174205

Sonic is unable to travel through time by speed alone. In Sonic CD, Sonic needed the Time Warp Plates to travel through time; without them, Sonic cannot break the time barrier, ergo, his speed alone is not enough for time travel.

For Generations, the Sonics are just "accelerating through time" which is the act of passing through the Stages. What at means, is that when they run through the damaged places in the White Space, it creates an effect that restores space. It is like throwing a stone into a puddle which then creates ripples in the surface; when Sonic speeds through the places, his speed creates ripples that fixes space.