-"us government bad" was a popular trope post cold war, since you didnt have a bigger enemy to worry about. The x files is likely the best example
-this was amplified during dubya's presidency cause of the patriot act and iraq war, amongst other things

@Druagord I guess there is a bit of a through line since the classic games involved Sonic fighting against a robot army and Adventure 1 had some themes of colonialism with the Echidnas, but it's still a bit of a weird direction for Sonic to take.

Although it is worth noting all the Sonic games with these kinds of stories released during the Bush administration.