Sonic Chaos is developed by Aspect and published by Sega. The leading designer of Sonic Chaos is M. Shima. Sonic Chaos is suitable for the platform Sega Master System, Game Gear and Virtual Console.

The Game Gear version became available in 2003. It originally exists as a hidden game in Sonic Adventure DX and an included game in Sonic Mega Collection Plus. Sonic Chaos is the first 8-bit Sonic title to allows gamers to play the Tail character. It is also the first Sonic title version that allows the gamers to control his flight. Sonic Triple Trouble was released in 1994 to continue the storyline from Sonic Chaos.

The storyline of Sonic Chaos centers on the evil Dr. Robotnik. Dr. Robotnik had an ambition to dominate the whole world via the mysterious Chaos Emeralds. The North American Instruction manual states that Dr. Robotnik wanted to use the Chaos Emeralds to invent nuclear arsenals and lasers. As a result, Dr. Robotnik had stolen the Red Chaos Emerald. The missing of the Red Chaos Emerald causes other emerald to lose balance. Due to the incident, the other emeralds were relocated to a parallel universe. Consequently, South Island is now going to sink under the ocean. Now it is up to Sonic and Tails to rescue the island and thwart Dr. Robotnik evil plan.

The game play is the same with other 8-bit Sonic games. The feature of this game is that player can now control Tails and Sonic. Sonic can move either by jumping of Spin Dash. The Spin Dash is executed by pressing the directional pad down and pressing action. When the down button is pressed, it will transform into a ball and destroy any baddies that are in his way. Other obstacles such as spikes will hurt Sonic if it happens to clash into him. By pressing the up and the action button, Sonic will start to run. You can perform a strike dash by releasing the up button. If you do this, Sonic will run forward speedily. He will quickly stop if the directional pad is not pressed. The rocket boots allows Sonic to fly into the sky. The rocket boots can help Sonic to get a large number of rings that are floating in the sky.

In Sonic Chaos, the Chaos Emeralds are mostly found in the Special Stages. To enter a special stage, you must collect at least 100 rings in one act. When you successfully complete a special stage, you will receive a Chaos Emerald. If you fail to collect the number of rings required, you will be reverted back to the beginning of the last stage. Dr. Robotnik holds the sixth Chaos Emerald. In order to get the sixth Chaos Emerald, you must beat him.

The Tails have a slower speed that Sonic. In the beginning, Tails have five lives. The players that play Tails cannot collect the Chaos Emerald. Tails have the same Spin Dash ability as Sonic. When Tails finds an item box with a rocket shoe and jump on it, his movement speed will increase. The player can also fly Tail by pressing the up button.