This was the nexus point for Sonic
If it managed to come out it would've flopped, probably destroyed Sonic's reputation in the West and nobody would've trusted Sega enough to buy a Dreamcast to play SA1
Sonic dies in the West, Heroes is probably the final mainline Sonic game before they give up and in 2022, some indie dev makes a Sonic meme game like Bubsy and we laugh and call it a day