A month before Dr. Eggman launched his greatest attack and "defeated" Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog has an encounter with the mercenary who would become known as Infinite, and the stage is set for Eggman's conquest of the world...
Yeah, that's it. The only thing I didn't show is at the end they replay the same cutscene of Sonic getting his tail kicked by Infinite and the fake villains. No difference, once Sonic passes out you go back to the level select screen and nothing else happens.