Although he’s not a classic character in theSonicseries, Shadow the Hedgehog has made an impact since his debut back in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2. Originally starting as a dark and edgy version of Sonic, he began to take on characteristics of his own throughout the series.
As a complex hedgehog, he displays characteristics of empathy, virtue, and determination to keep a promise he made to his deceased friend, Maria, who lived with him years before we were introduced to Shadow. Let’s take a look atmoments from Shadow the Hedgehog that further express his core character.
10Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Intro
First Impressions
Ominous music creeps in until we see a black figure standing on top of a bridge. A close-up shot reveals a black and red hedgehog with his arms crossed staring out towards the city. It cuts to Sonic running across a bridge, then Shadow grinding on the bridge’s rail all the while the rest of the playable cast is introduced.
It culminates with Shadow and Sonic crossing each other’s path in midair with the full moon as their backdrop. They both hold their iconic poses, which are referenced in Sonic Generations. Through this intro, it shows how different he is compared to Sonic by the way he travels through grinding rather than running.
9Shadow Saves Rouge
Hidden Virtue
In Sonic Adventure 3, we follow Team Dark; Eggman, Shadow, and Rouge the Bat. As Rouge fails to escape from a locked safe while retrieving three Chaos Emeralds, she radios in to Shadow and Eggman stating that she’s as good as dead as the island they are on is set to explode.
Shadow chuckles at the idea of Rouge failing her mission, but it isn’t until he remembers his friend Maria that he chooses to save Rogue. This shows how complex he is, as he is able to look into his conscious to do what’s right.
8Sonic Vs Shadow
The Final Race
During the end of both Hero and Dark sides of the story, Sonic and Shadow face off in one final race in space towards the Eclipse Cannon, a laser beam capable of destroying planets located on a space station called the Ark.
Shadow is surprised to see that Sonic is still alive because he witnessed Sonic explode in a space capsule earlier. Shadow gives Sonic his respect, but he also vows to end his life as he still needs to fulfill Dr. Eggman’s wish to take over the world.
7Shadow’s Epiphany
Maria’s Promise
After completing both Hero and Dark Story for Sonic Adventure 2, it culminates into one final story where both teams have to work together to fight against a force that aims to crash the space Ark into Earth, The Biolizard. The Biolizard is the prototype of the ultimate life form whose sole mission is to destroy the world. This would impact the hero’s mission of saving innocent lives and the villain’s mission of taking over the world.
Everyone has set off to reach the Ark’s core except for Shadow as he stares into space waiting for the destruction of everything, as he sees no point in trying for the humans. Amy pleads for Shadow to help save the Earth, triggering him to remember Maria’s promise to save all the humans on Earth despite them being capable of heinous acts.
6Super Shadow
Live And Learn
After Shadow reaches the Ark’s core and defeats the Biolizard before it escapes into space, Sonic and Shadow are forced to use theChaos Emeraldsto use their power to transform into their super forms.
Sonic and Shadow envelop gold fur and can use the emerald’s power to fly and go faster than ever before. They attack the Biolizard, who fuses itself to the tip of the Ark’s core and anchors itself to crash into Earth.
5Shadow’s Sacrifice
Wishes Are Eternal…
With the Biolizard finally defeated, Sonic and Shadow must use chaos control, a space-warping technique, to warp away the Ark’s course towards Earth as it is about to collide with the planet.
Shadow, once again, remembers Maria’s words to protect the people of Earth. He uses every bit of his in placing the Ark stationary, but in the process, he falls towards Earth with no sign of coming back. Sonic arrives back on the Ark and everyone wonders what happened to Shadow, but he confirms he gave his life to save the planet.
4Egg Fleet
Real Or Not, He’s Still Shadow
In Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog returns with Rouge the Bat and newcomer Omega, an Eggman robot who wants revenge on his creator. They form the new Team Dark, who are on a mission to face Eggman and answer for his crimes, such as if Shadow is the real one or a copy as he previously died in Sonic Adventure 2.
Throughout the story of Sonic Heroes, Shadow doesn’t have any memory of anything before he dies and has trouble piecing together who he is. While fighting Eggman, he finds a robot of himself that is destroying, making him question if he is the real Shadow or a copy. During the last mission, Shadow declares that even though he’s not real, he’s still the ultimate life form.
3Shadow The Hedgehog Intro
Like Sonic, With Guns!
In 2005, video games took on a dark aesthetic that had darker tones with settings and story-lines. It was inevitable for the Sonic series to shift into this new status quo and who else could helm this project other than Shadow.
From the intro of Shadow the Hedgehog, we see Shadow loading a magazine for a sub-machine gun, followed by him riding a motorcycle in order to crash it into a group of aliens. It continues with Shadow fighting aliens, fighting soldiers, then standing over a defeated Sonic. This perfectly captures the main themes of the game, where there are multiple paths you can take as a hero or villain.
2Defeating Sonic
A Unique What-if Ending
In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow embarks on a journey of self-discovery after the events of Sonic Heroes, where we see him still questioning his past and being ambivalent towards humans and the friends he’s made along the way.
Shadow the Hedgehog has us go through a choose-your-own-adventure, where we have the choice to complete a mission’s certain objective that will lead us to one out of ten endings. One of these endings has Shadow fully turning to the dark side and fighting Sonic. Once he defeats him, Shadow assumes the responsibility for destroying the damn planet.
1Team Dark Vs Mephilis
Shadow Knows Who He Is
In Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow has his story mode along with Sonic and a new character, Silver the Hedgehog. Shadow has revamped gameplay similar to his self-titled game. In his story, we see a mature Shadow working with G.U.N to investigate Dr. Eggman’s plans.
Throughout his story, Shadow and Rouge the Bat meet an entity that resembles him named Mephiles the Dark, who casts him away into a post-apocalyptic future. Eventually, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega eventually come face-to-face with Mephilies to seal him away. It comes down to the wire when Mephiles gives Shadow one more chance to join him in getting revenge on the humans who plan on imprisoning Shadow. Shadow refuses and vows to keep fighting for good, even though the humans he fights to protect will turn on him.
