Genesis Wave

The Genesis Wave is a phenomenon created using the energies of a Chaos Emerald to rewrite reality. The technology, centered around the Cosmic Reset Button aboard the Death Egg Mark 2 and later the Wily Egg, 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 Earth 20XX once. The supercharged variation used by both Eggman and Wily is named the Super Genesis Wave.

First Wave: Clean Sweep
Dr. Eggman first conceived of the Genesis Wave after coming to the realization that Sonic the Hedgehog was apparently the embodiment of the Chaos Force, making him an unpredictable element that would always upset any situation. After completing and launching the Death Egg Mark 2, he unleashed the wave as part of Operation: Clean Sweep. The resulting reality was different in a number of ways from how it had previously been, including a timeline in which Sonic, the Knothole Freedom Fighters-minus Bunnie Rabbot-D'Coolette-and Eggman hadn't met until the "new" present. Bunnie herself was also a prisoner of Eggman in this new reality, and cousin to Cream the Rabbit, whom in the unaltered and later restored Mobius she was unrelated to. (StH: #210, #225, #226, FCBD 2012)

Second Wave: Worlds Collide
After the first wave was reversed, the blue Chaos Emerald that Eggman used to power it had mysteriously vanished. In fact, it had somehow ended up on an alternate planet Earth, Where it was soon uncovered in that zones Lanfront Ruins by Dr. Wily, who ended up coming into contact with Eggman after the emeralds power allowed him to interrupt a video conference between the former and his DEL Grandmasters. The two ended up bonding over their mutual peeve of constantly having their evil plans thwarted by a "blue hero", and they decided to work together. (StH: #231, #247, FCDS 2013, MM: #24)

Third Wave: Super Genesis Wave
Drs. Eggman and Wily prepared to initiate this powered up version of the Genesis Wave once they'd collected all seven Chaos Emeralds so that they could reshape the world to their exact vision with no limitations, despite the risk of heavily damaging the fabric of space and time in the process. Sonic and Mega Man where unable to prevent the wave from being unleashed on this already changed world, but they where still able to infiltrate the wave while in their super forms, in which they attempted to reverse the wave with Chaos Control. Super Mega Man was able to successfully restore his world, with everybody native to his world returning to their correct time and place in reality. Super Sonic's attempt at restoring Mobius, on the other hand, was met with interference by Eggman, which resulted in their world being restored to an almost unrecognizable state, where several parts of the worlds history had been changed and several residents had been moved around. After traveling around the planet, and having memories of the un-altered 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 Mobius to handle and the stress of the Wave's remaining energy broke the planet to pieces. (SU: #54, StH: #251, #252, #256)

Effects
For the most part, the Genesis Wave has been shown to drastically alter reality on whatever world(s) it effects, often leaving the affected inhabitants with amnesia or senses of deja vu. However, the wave does have some limitations as explained by Eggman and Wily: for one thing, it is apparently incapable of outright erasing individuals from existence. As seen with Mega Man's world, it is also capable of manipulating time, as the wave caused Earth 20XX's timeline to jump forward.

A supercharged version of the wave, known as the "Super Genesis Wave", is achievable if the user has all seven Chaos Emeralds. With this wave, it's said that the limitations imposed by the standard wave are no longer in place, allowing the user to completely reshape the world exactly in his or her image. During the Worlds Collide saga, the final phase of Eggman and Wily's plan was to use the powered up wave to completely erase their enemies. However, this version also presents a much greater risk of causing severe reality damage if used incorrectly; according to Eggman and NICOLE, the former's interference with Super Sonic's Chaos Control caused catastrophic damage to not only the Prime Zone, but also the entire multiverse. Mobius Prime itself was ultimately unable to withstand the strain of the Super Genesis Wave's effects; consequently, Sonic's world was, for all intents and purposes, torn apart, both figuratively and literally. The Super Genesis Wave's actions, however, seems to have a much more permanent effect on the world as Eggman also noted that the planet seemed to be locked in this altered state.

Background Information

 * The Genesis Wave refers to the Sega Genesis game system, on which the Sonic the Hedgehog games debuted. Indeed, its first usage altered Mobius' realty so as to make it more similar to the earliest Sonic the Hedgehog games, though with a few prominent elements from the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series.