Shadow is an iconic character in the Sonic series, sometimes outranking Sonic in popularity and overall being an entertaining, beloved hedgehog. He’s calm and confident, fights for what he believes in, and is overall pretty great. But that’s all to say: which games define this awesome character?
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Despite his reputation, he hasn’t had a major role in that many games, so while this list has ten entries, the first few aren’t going to be too great. Nevertheless, every interpretation of Shadow the Hedgehog has something to offer, and each one is at least unique in how it portrays him.
10Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
Like I Said, There Aren’t That Many Good Appearances.
Alright, firstly, we aren’t talking about the TV show, since that one is at least good at working with the scraps Shadow fans were getting in the 2010s. The Wii U game Rise of Lyric, on the other hand, portrays Shadow as a kind of boring, cookie-cutter antagonist, for some reason.
In this game, he says Sonic is weird for having friends, fought Sonic across a few different periods, then got kicked into a random portal and was never seen again. This interpretation is incredibly dry and boring and should be the prime example of how not to handle this character.
9Sonic Colors DS
The Bare Necessities.
Shadow only gets a few lines of dialogue in the version of Colors where he actually appears, and it’s just “I couldn’t care less about helping you,” “I need to make sure you’re still capable,” and then showing slight care for Sonic while being reserved nonetheless.
It’s a fine, simplistic interpretation of Shadow’s character, definitely better than bad, just not great. If this were a less straightforward game that gave him time to have a fully fleshed-out character, they could’ve probably cooked with him a bit, but for what it is, it’s just OK.
8Sonic Generations
Sonic Generations originally had a mediocre portrayal of Shadow. Even though he had a full rival boss fight that was fun, his dialogue left a lot to be desired. His pre-boss dialogue is fun, insinuating that he just wants to challenge Sonic because he’s there and for no other reason, but a “You got this Sonic” at the end is pretty whatever.
It’s not like Sonic X Shadow Generations, where so far we’ve seena ton of really cool Doom powersthat tap into Shadow’s origins with the Black Arms DNA and looks to be an overall incredible portrayal of the anti-hero hedgehog we know and love. The original Generations fell flat, but for how simple it is, it’s fine.
7Sonic Forces
Almost Good, but Fumbled Nonetheless.
Sonic Forces, as it always has been,is a mixed bag of good ideas and bad execution, which extends to its portrayal of Shadow. He gets an entire prologue dedicated to him, where he goes through some wild illusions and ends up losing to the weird guy he decimated just earlier.
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This ends up with an illusion of Shadow being on the enemy’s side, which the real Shadow promptly roundhouse kicks to death. He then proceeds to do nothing in the story after that. It could’ve been cool – having Shadow rematch with Infinite later would’ve been a genuinely great payoff – but at least it did try something interesting with him.
6The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
Short and Very Sweet.
InThe Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, a fun little free game, Shadow’s represented in an unorthodox, simple way that makes for genuinely nice characterization, plus he’s got drip. I’d namely like to highlight the character dynamic he and Amy have.
He’s got a soft spot for her, getting her concert tickets for her birthday, which I think is kinda emblematic of him projecting his feelings about Maria onto her after their interaction near the end of Sonic Adventure 2. That alone is sweet, even if this game is a bit one-note.
5Sonic Heroes
A Good, New Start for Shadow.
The Dark story features Shadow as its main Speed-type character, which you’d think would mean a lot of development for him, but it kind of just boils down to clone-baiting, making a new robot bestie after reuniting with Rouge, and Shadow just generally having amnesia.
Most of this is just setting up plot threads for Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) to follow, and is just a somewhat lighthearted re-introduction to the character after his supposed death in Sonic Adventure 2, while also bringing in the concept of Shadow Androids made by Eggman.
4Shadow the Hedgehog
His Full-Fledged Solo Game, Only at Fifth.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a game you’d think would have an excellent interpretation of the main character, but it busies itself so much with headstrong, contradictory branching narratives that it muddies everything together into one big soup of “That was cool, but what just happened?”
Add on a poorly-done localization (seriously, who wrote “This is like taking candy from a baby, and that’s fine by me”) and you’ve got a ton of cool developments and great character moments that sometimes get overshadowed by the fourth Chaos Emerald. It’s good at times, but inconsistent with what it wants to do, which is how I’d sum up the entire game.
3Sonic Adventure 2
The First, and One of the Best.
Of course,the very game that introduced Shadowis going to be one of the best. It introduces Maria’s wishes for Shadow to protect humanity, as well as the morality struggle in his mind that’s so frequently done wrong in other interpretations of him, giving him a fitting ending for a conflicted hero.
It’s not always the greatest, the entire mid-point of the game is pretty much Shadow just taking orders from Eggman and not doing much in the story. But near the end, it picks up and brings Shadow into his own and it’s obvious how he became a fan favorite from then on.
2Sonic Battle
Weirdly Important, Incredibly Impactful.
Sonic Battle is a strange one, given it’s a GBA spinoff that doesn’t get talked about much story-wise. It sets up the lore of a Gizoid named Emerl, who was created in the Ark by Gerald Robotnik before going rogue and causing destruction before (likely) being stopped by Shadow himself.
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This story has Emerl parallel Shadow in unique and interesting ways, ending with a lovely sequence between the two that I can’t help but love, connecting the two as weapons that were given lives and souls despite being built for destruction. It’s great and you owe yourself to experience it.
Put Aside Your Preconceptions.
Despite its reputation, 06 has a banger Shadow story within it. It’s got him as a G.U.N agent alongside Rouge, finding a scepter of darkness that creates Mephiles, a weird shadow of, well, Shadow that manipulates and creeps his way along the cast until he gets what he wants.
This game showed us Shadow at the top of his game, refusing to take Mephiles' deceptions and being true to himself. It also gives us the quote “If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have” as Shadow takes off his inhibitor rings, which is one of the coolest scenes in Sonic’s history.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Every Game Represented in Sonic X Shadow Generations
Sonic X Shadow Generations is an anniversary celebration for the Sonic series, and this list shows off each game that gets represented in it.
