Genesis Wave (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)


 * For the version of this subject after the Super Genesis Wave, see Genesis Wave.

The Genesis Wave is a subject in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. It is a phenomenon created using the energies of a Chaos Emerald to rewrite reality to better fit the user's benefits. The technology, was developed by Dr. Eggman, and has been used by him both alone and in alliance with Dr. Wily to alter Mobius on two occasions and Mega Man's World once. A supercharged variation made possible with the power of all seven Emeralds is called the Super Genesis Wave.

Functions
The Genesis Wave has the ability to rearrange the space and time of a dimension based on the alterations programmed into it. This allows the user to create an entirely new timeline, reshape the physical universe to certain extends, and give living beings new memories. To people affected by it, they will retain no apparent memories of the previous reality, and to them, their new world has simply always been that way. Additionally, the Genesis Wave can rewrite dimensions adjacent to the affected one in question, like soap bubbles; in other words, if another dimension lies close to the one rewritten, the adjacent dimension will be rewritten as well, such as in the case of the Twilight Cage and the Sol Zone.

The time-space altering effects of the Genesis Wave does not disappear immediately, but will linger for a short while. As such, space-time disturbances can be detected in the rewritten reality, even if it occurred in the new reality's past, as seen when Silver registered the effects in the present from his time.

Limitations
The Genesis Wave's capabilities are limited to how many Chaos Emeralds used to charge it. With just one, the Genesis Wave can only tweak the timeline and bend the occasional rules of the world, and it is incapable of outright erasing individuals from existence. When powered by all seven Chaos Emeralds, however, the user can released a supercharged version of the wave, known as a "Super Genesis Wave." This wave has no limitations to it, allowing the user to reshape the universes down to the tiniest detail and even erase beings completely from or turn people into deities.

Another limitation to the Genesis Wave is that it cannot completely erase memories of the former reality, but rather lay them dormant. As such, a normal Genesis Wave will often leave the affected inhabitants with amnesia or senses of deja vu, while the memories affected by a Super Genesis Wave still exist but cannot be accessed. Space-time disruptions from Chaos Control can also partially restore a person's former memories.

Dangers
Despite its power, usage of the Genesis Wave has its dangers due to its excess energies: overuse of the regular Genesis Wave can greatly strain the fabric of reality due to the unnatural shift in space-time, up to the point of making planets tear themselves apart with natural disasters and literally "breaking" reality. The Super Genesis Wave presents an even greater risk, capable of causing apocalyptic damage to the entire multiverse and all of existence itself if used incorrectly, or if it is improperly reversed. In addition, unlike the effects of a normal Genesis Wave, the Super Genesis Wave's effects are apparently irreversible: once the affected world is changed, it presumably stays that way forever.

According to Professor Von Schlemmer, the effects of the Super Genesis Wave created another type of space-time anomaly known as the Genesis Portal–pieces of the original multiverse that broke away when it was destroyed. However, unlike Genesis Waves, Genesis Portals merely connect alternate universes together instead of outright changing them.

Development
The Genesis Wave was conceived by Dr. Eggman during his recovery from insanity. Theorizing that Sonic was the embodiment of chaos due to having absorbed large amounts of Chaos energy, thereby making him an unpredictable element that would upset any of his plans to defeat him, the doctor came up with the Genesis Wave to neutralize that factor by reshaping reality. After escaping New Mobotropolis' prison, Eggman and Snively began developing the Genesis Wave.

First Wave: Clean Sweep
After acquiring the blue Chaos Emerald, Eggman completed the Genesis Wave by having the Emerald charge the wave and the Death Egg Mark 2, allowing the giant vessel to launch. Despite interference from the Knothole Freedom Fighters, Eggman unleashed the Genesis Wave with the Cosmic Reset Button as part of Operation: Clean Sweep and rewrote the entire Prime Zone.

The resulting reality was different in a number of ways from how it had previously been. This included a timeline where Eggman and Snively could easily take over Mobius, and where Sonic, the Knothole Freedom Fighters-minus Bunnie-and Eggman had not met until the "new" present. However, the changes the Genesis Wave had caused threatened to destroy the entire dimension. As Eggman failed to centement the new reality with his World Roboticizer, Super Sonic used Chaos Control to restore reality to its previous state. However, the effects of the Genesis Wave still lingered, such as reawakening the merged spirits inside Ixis Naugus, leaving half of Mobius' population vulnerable to roboticization once more, and sending the blue Chaos Emerald into another dimension.

Second Wave: Worlds Collide
When Dr. Albert W. Wily discovered the blue Chaos Emerald at the Lanfront Ruins, the gem's power brought him into contact with Eggman by interrupting a video conference between the former and his Grandmasters. The two bonded over their mutual peeve of constantly having their evil plans foiled by a "blue hero", and they decided to work together, with the Genesis Wave being essential to their plan. Meeting up inside the Skull Egg Zone, the doctors constructed the Wily Egg with its own Genesis Wave machine. Within the zone, thereby allowing them to retain their memories of their original realities, the doctors launched the second Genesis Wave, which effected their respective worlds in different ways; while Mobius' timeline was completely reset, the timeline of Mega Man's World flashed into the future with only slight alterations. This also established a bridge between the worlds for the doctors to use.

Third Wave: Super Genesis Wave
With the second Genesis Wave successfully launched across both realities, Drs. Eggman and Wily gathered the seven Chaos Emeralds to super-charge the Genesis Wave for a "Super Genesis Wave" to alter the realities further, this time completely reshaping their worlds to their exact vision with no limitations and turn themselves into deities, despite the risk of heavily damaging the fabric of space and time in the process. Sonic and Mega Man were unable to prevent the Super Genesis Wave from being unleashed and rewrite both their universes, but they were still able to infiltrate the wave while in their super forms, in which they attempted to reverse with Chaos Control. Super Armor Mega Man was able to successfully restore his world, with everybody native to his world returning to their proper place. Super Sonic's attempt at restoring Mobius, on the other hand, was met with interference by Eggman, thus distorting the Prime Zone's restoration.

As a result of the interference, Sonic's World was restored to an almost unrecognizable state, where several parts of the world's history had been changed and several residents had been moved around. After traveling around the planet, and having memories of the unaltered world returned to a few individuals thanks to some residual Genesis Wave energy, Nicole discovered that the Super Genesis Wave affected the entire multiverse too. The effects of the Super Genesis Wave ultimately proved to be too much for Sonic's World to handle and the stress of the Wave's remaining energy broke the planet to pieces and released Dark Gaia.

The scattered fragments of the original multiverse would become Genesis Portals which lead to other universes. This allowed Sigma, the nemesis of Mega Man's descendent, X, to start his own plans for multiversal domination and let to Sonic and Mega Man's next meeting.

Trivia

 * Given that universes can be restored from the Genesis Wave by inducing Chaos Control, it would suggest that the Genesis Wave is simply a refined version of Chaos Control.
 * The Genesis Wave's name is likely a reference to the Sega Genesis game system, on which the Sonic the Hedgehog games debuted; indeed, it's first usage altered Mobius's reality to make it more like the earliest Sonic games, while the effects of the second and Super Genesis Waves resulted in a world based even more on the games.
 * The Genesis Wave is also synonymous with the infamous Genesis Device from the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Genesis Device unleashed a terraforming wave that would alter a planet to be hospitable, almost similar to how the Genesis Wave would alter a reality to take a different form.
 * Since its effects created the Genesis Portal, the Super Genesis Wave not only ended Worlds Collide, but indirectly led to the events of Worlds Unite as well.