| Shadow the Hedgehog | |
|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog character | |
| First game | Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) |
| Created by | Takashi Iizuka[1] |
Game Appearances
editShadow first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 as one of the three main villains. In the beginning, Eggman released Shadow out of a capsule. In return, Shadow would give Eggman one wish. Eggman wanted Shadow to help collect the Chaos Emeralds so that he could use them in the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow was starting to remember everything fifty years ago. He remembered how Maria saved Shadow and how the G.U.N. killed Maria. Now Shadow wanted to use the Eclipse Cannon to get revenge for what the Humans did. In the last story, the Space Colony ARK was falling to the Earth because of Biolizard. Amy was trying to get Shadow to help Sonic, but Shadow wouldn't. Amy finally convinced Shadow that not every Human is evil and that he should give them a chance to be happy. Shadow decided to help Sonic defeat Biolizard. Sonic and Shadow had to turn into there super form to defeat Biolizard. When they finally beat Biolizard, Sonic and Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport the Space Colony ARK back into orbit. Shadow fell to the Earth and was presumed dead.
In Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovered Shadow in a stasis tube in Eggman's secret base. Suffering from amnesia, Shadow joined forces with Rouge and Omega in order to track down Eggman; after defeating the final Eggman robot, Rouge stumbled into a room full of what appeared to be Shadow clones. Deducing that the Shadow she was with was also a clone, she then went on to fight Metal Sonic with the others.
In Sonic Battle, Rouge saves Shadow while they are investigating Dr. Eggman's secret base. Believing that he is a weapon, he insists the people of Earth must destroy him, but it is revealed that he ultimately has the heart and soul of Maria Robotnik and so is not the enemy of humanity. In one of Gerald Robotnik's journal entries, he mentions that "Project Shadow" was put on hold because of Project Gizoid.
In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow, still with no memory of his past, meets the Black Arms and Black Doom, who seems to know Shadow. Throughout the game, Shadow has constant flashbacks of his past. Black Doom also baits Shadow with the knowledge of his past, while Eggman tells him that he is simply an android created by Eggman to mimic the real Shadow. In the final story, Black Doom reveals to him that while working on his immortality project, Gerald Robotnik contacted Black Doom and made a deal with him; if Black Doom helped him with his research, Gerald would deliver the seven chaos emeralds to him in fifty years' time. Using his own blood, Black Doom helped Gerald create Shadow, an immortal life form that would both help with Gerald's research, and who would collect the Chaos Emeralds for Black Doom in the future. However, once Gerald learned of Black Doom's plot to take over the world, he created the Eclipse Cannon as a means to destroy the Black Comet, and left it up to Shadow to stop the Black Arms. While fighting Black Doom, Shadow also learned from Eggman that he in fact was not an android, but the original Shadow, whom Eggman had rescued with one of his robots after Shadow fell from space (Sonic Adventure 2). He destroys both Black Doom and the Black Arms, and decides to carry on living as he sees fit.
In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog video game, Shadow works with Rouge and Omega after confronting Mephiles the Dark. One of Mephiles' goals is to interfere with Shadow's future, but along with Silver and Sonic, he super transforms and manages to defeat Solaris for good, and Mephiles, as part of Solaris, with it.
Summoned to a strange land by Dr. Eggman via a cryptic transmission asking for his aid, Shadow encounters something strange and now it’s a race to find Eggman to uncover the truth.
Shadow works with Metal Sonic to stop Eggman Nega's plans.
Other Appearances
edit- Unlockable in Sega Superstars.
- Appears in Gallery in Sonic Mega Collection Plus.
- Secret, unlockable character for multiplayer in Sonic Riders.
- Secret, unlockable character for multiplayer in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
- Secret, unlockable character for multiplayer in Sonic and the Secret Rings.
- Playable in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, where he was rivals with Princess Daisy.
- Secret, unlockable character in Sega Superstars Tennis.
- Assist Trophy that can slow down your opponets, sticker, and trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
- Optional, playable character in Sonic Unleashed.
- Optional, playable character in Sonic and the Black Knight.
Animation
editShadow also appears on the anime Sonic X. Episodes 33 through 38 are based on Sonic Adventure 2, with quite a few differences from the game. For one, it was Chris Thorndyke who reminded Shadow of his true promise from Maria, not Amy Rose. Afterwards, he makes short appearances in flashbacks, but he makes his true return in episode 60, “The Return of Shadow”. In Japan he is voiced by his game voice actor, but in the dub he is voiced by Jason Griffith, who also does the voice of Sonic. In one moment in episode 38 after Chris told Shadow what Maria's true promise was Chris passed out and Shadow caught Chris before he fell to the floor, after that Shadow had a small tear come from his eye. This proved that despite Shadow's behavior and attitude, he can have sad emotions.
In Season 3, Shadow had no clear memory of his mysterious past, although in one episode, he seems to have an image of Maria in his mind. However, he cannot seem to work out who she really was. In that same episode, Dr. Eggman visits people of a planet the Metarex are warring with, including one orange-haired female teenager by the name of Molly. Shadow and Rouge meet her, and at the end of the French/Japanese version of the episode, Molly was killed by the Metarex. Shadow erects a makeshift grave for her, and Rouge notes that she was similar to Maria. In the English dub Molly is seen flying off into the sky and instead of a grave, Shadow says that he will miss her and he is worried about her being all alone out in space
Comics & Manga
editCameos
editIn Popular Culture
editCharacteristics
editRelationships
editProfessor Gerald Robotnik
edit50 years ago, the head scientist on Space Colony ARK, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Doctor Eggman's grandfather, created Shadow with the use of Black Doom's DNA. Shadow has a great deal of respect for the professor and is known to be quite loyal to the original purpose Gerald established for him before going insane. After discovering Gerald's insanity, Shadow disavowed Gerald's new insane goals at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. Instead, Shadow more often remembers the professor for what he was before his final days of derangement.
Soon after being created, Shadow became close friends with the Professor's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, whom he seems to have treated like a sister. In Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog and the Japanese version of Sonic X, it was revealed that Maria had been shot and killed by a G.U.N soldier, while in the English version of Sonic X, she was merely captured and never seen again. After her death, Maria's sacrifice to save Shadow both continuously haunted and motivated him, until he finally decided to let go of his past at the end of Shadow the Hedgehog and lead his own life. When he was evil, Shadow swore to get revenge on the humans for killing Maria, and when he was good, Shadow promises Maria again that he will work for the good side, which is shown in the end of Sonic Adventure 2 and the end of the 38th episode of Sonic X.
The relationship between Shadow and Black Doom may have been brief, but it has played a significant role in Shadow's life. Shadow was made from Black Doom's blood, in a deal between the alien and Professor Gerald; this, technically, makes Black Doom Shadow's biological father. Black Doom, at first, tried to get Shadow on his side by playing on what remained of Shadow's painful memories of losing Maria. Regardless of the path taken during gameplay, Shadow in the end fights and defeats Black Doom (who transformed into Devil Doom) and then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon in the Last Story. Still, throughout the events of Shadow the Hedgehog Black Doom threatens Shadow and demands extreme loyalty and respect, even when choosing the Dark path in gameplay Doom acts with no compassion whatsoever. He also doesn't tolerate any kind of mistake or failure, no matter how difficult the task on Shadow's part may be.
Shadow's approach to Doctor Eggman is quite different from that of other characters, apart from Rouge the Bat. His relation to the Doctor is neither that of a staunch enemy nor an ally, choosing instead to form alliances with or against him depending on the circumstances. While Eggman has helped Shadow on multiple occasions, each time was just a means to use the black hedgehog in his own plans. Although Shadow appears to show little regard for whether Dr. Eggman's schemes succeed or not, clashes do occur when they get in each other's way. Despite this, they display a certain amount of respect for each other's abilities, one notable aspect being that Shadow always refers to Eggman by his title of "Doctor" (even "the good doctor" in Sonic Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog, though it may be sarcastic), regardless of the deceptions Eggman implies in order to trick or lure Shadow to his cause (which rarely succeed).
Shadow also has a very close relationship with Rouge the Bat, Shadow's ally and possibly the closest friend he has since the death of Maria. Rouge also shows a lot of respect for the black hedgehog and is often seen worrying about his safety throughout the series. Shadow can be very protective of her and has grown to trust her to a certain degree. A few times she also becomes a "damsel-in-distress", usually causing Shadow to end up saving her. Rouge has also returned the favor a couple times, such as when she takes Shadow to her place to rest when he is weakened. At one point, Rouge declared that she will never abandon Shadow even if the world turns against him. However, Shadow remains sarcastic around her and tends to sometimes be indifferent toward Rouge's goals.
E-123 Omega' is a robot created by Eggman that was left behind in the same base Shadow was encased in. After starting off as adversaries in Sonic Heroes, Shadow and Omega become allies and helped each other in battle. Initially they don't get along well, even sparking small rivalries as to who is strongest such as in the Shadow the Hedgehog game. In Sonic the Hedgehog, Omega acts on Rouge's request to aid Shadow, who was trapped in the future without a means to return. Omega appears disheartened by the revelation that he will be the one to imprison Shadow in the future. However, this outcome may have been erased since the events that transpired in the game were reset with the destruction of Solaris, the game's main antagonist, leaving Omega's future open.
Shadow's biggest rival is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, the main protagonist of the game series. When the two first meet in Sonic Adventure 2, they immediately became enemies, mainly for the fact that Shadow began serving Doctor Eggman and gathering Chaos Emeralds, but over time their relationship developed into a friendly rivalry. They still frequently fight for different reasons. Shadow finds Sonic to be very irritating for his carefree attitude, but they usually end up working together to thwart any evil that tries to use the Chaos Emeralds for their dark plans. Shadow also helped defeat Metal Madness, the larger form of Neo Metal Sonic in the game, Sonic Heroes. Shadow even saves Sonic from Silver during the Sonic the Hedgehog game. Each mourn the other's supposed death, Shadow's at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic's during the final story of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
Shadow has a short but significant encounter with Amy Rose in the Last Story of Sonic Adventure 2. When the Space Colony ARK is nearing its collision course with Earth, Amy pleads to Shadow to help save the world. At first he refuses, but Amy's persistent words and positive outlook eventually triggered the once dormant memory of Maria's real wish: to give people a chance to be happy.
The Commander and Shadow didn't get along at first as the Commander blamed Shadow for the death of his family, but after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, (as revealed in expert mode) the Commander invited Shadow to join G.U.N. as part of his apology to Shadow.
Shadow and Metal Sonic are forced to work together when Doctor Eggman calls for Shadow's assistance in Sonic Rivals 2. Although they are together for a brief amount of time Shadow does seem concerned about Metal Sonic multiple times, despite the fact that Metal Sonic is a robot with the inability to speak. Shadow constantly asks him if he's alright and at the end of the game when Metal Sonic tears himself open to retrieve the Chaos Emerald, Shadow tells him to stop, for he fears Metal Sonic will destroy himself.
Silver came from the distant future to destroy the Iblis Trigger. Shadow stepped in when he tried to kill Sonic for the second time and fought him. They created a space-time rift using intersecting Chaos Control and traveled ten years back, where they learned the truth about Solaris. The three Hedgehogs, using Super Transformation defeat him in the end, but time is relapsed. In Sonic Rivals, Shadow is distrustful of Silver's speculation about Eggman, but they work together when they learn he was right.
Mephiles the Dark is the main antagonist of Shadow's story in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. He took Shadow's form when the Scepter of Darkness broke Shadow's shadow. He is the other half of Solaris, which Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver had to defeat to save time itself
Reception
editShadow was ranked as the 2nd favorite Sonic character only beaten by Sonic the Hedgehog himself in the official Sonic character poll.[2] He was also ranked Number 11 in Gamesmasters top 100 game characters of all time which was chosen by the readers. However, many Game reviewers, like GameSpot have called Shadow a "clone" of Sonic.[3] Game Revolution described his character as a "quintessential anti-Sonic."[4] while Games Radar said in a review of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) that they liked his vehicle sections but said they had not forgiven him.
References
edit- ^ "PlayStation Games & Media News: Fast Talking". Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Sonic Channel Official Popularity Pollwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Sonic Adventure 2 Hands-On". GameSpot.com. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
- ^ "Sonic Adventure 2 Review for DreamCast". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2008-07-11.