The game shares its name with two earlier Sonic games, a manga, a television series, a comic book series, and their eponymous main character. To disambiguate, the game has been referred to as Sonic 2006. It was produced in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game faced multiple issues during development, which resulted in rushing the product despite existing bugs. Both versions were heavily criticized for long loading times, poor camera system, gameplay glitches, complicated plot and sloppy character control.

The game faced development issues which resulted the product being rushed and ultimately a poor product being delivered. Upon release, it was widely criticized for its numerous gameplay glitches, long loading times and complicated plot.