The Very Bizarre Development Of Shadow The Hedgehog 2005

[@Eldarin]

Hey everyone! WE SOLVED THE MYSTERY! Huge thank you to marvelfannumber1, destroyer toyz2, and Asiro1 for pointing me in the right direction regarding the "branching storylines for SA2"...well according to Iizuka himself it turned out to be FAKE! Here it is being discussed on p.64 of Official Dreamcast Magazine US #7 segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:ODCM_US_07.pdf&page=68 And here Liam Robertson (Journalist/KZbinr) asked Iizuka who said the submarine thing was false: twitter.com/Doctor_Cupcakes/status/658329651589304321?s=20 Last thing I want to be doing is spreading misinformation, I could not find this for the life of me so I'm happy we were able to get to the bottom of this. Big thank you for the clarification and that's very interesting, will be shouting you guys out in the next concept art video! Thank you all for watching and hope you enjoyed the video :))

[@DonAsirobi]

Im glad that its solved :)

[@Cliffordlonghead]

Ok

[@ChaddyFantome]

Damn, that's a decade old peace of grandfathered info taken for granted put to rest. Awesome job man.

[@SpeederLight]

WOW! Did not know a lot about this game that you mentioned in this video! Thanks for making this video! I bet it took a long time to make!

[@SpeederLight]

Can you do a concept art and making of the sonic riders series or any of those games.

[@LupinticDream]

23:40 Technically, Sonic actually is playable if you plug in a second controller on any level in which he's your active partner character. Same goes for all the other Hero mission partners, including Maria, surprisingly enough. Which is such an odd thing, and I've always wondered if it were the remnants of some scrapped mode.

[@sheacorduroy5565]

@Lulu Moppet awww man, I wanted to play as Amy

[@thisisasupersayin376]

@Lulu Moppet I have PS2 and yeah it works Also you can't control the hovering characters (dooms eye, eggman, and charmy)

[@jamainegardner4193]

The ironic thing about this is that Tails apparently has the strongest melee attack in the game.

[@Someguyhere111]

All of them except for Eggman on Sky Troops

[@Eldarin]

Interesting! I didn't know that.. is very odd but pretty cool ngl. Anyways, thanks for watching Linguine!

[@Blu_Moon_VA]

"I'm at my limit, I have no choice! PINGAS!!!"

[@Someguyhere111]

Dunno if you mentioned this in a previous video, but in SA2, during the cutscene where Eggman wakes Shadow on Prison Island, there are two yellow inscriptions, which read: "ASTRONOMERS ARE CONCLUDING THAT MONSTROUSBLACKS" Given the fact it mentions astronomers and 'monstrousblacks'/black monsters, it's likely the Black Arms were conceived during SA2's development to at least some extent, at the very least the concept of them exisitng. Also, the thing about Iizuka later saying that they were able to bring Shadow back due to popularity, I don't think it's a COMPLETE contradiction. The story I've heard is that Iizuka had wanted to use Shadow again after SA2, but Maekawa wanted him to be a one-and-done character, so they compromised and left Shadow's supposed death ambiguous. IF Shadow proved to be popular enough, there would be a chance for him to come back, having survived the fall to Earth.

[@Someguyhere111]

Think you uh, replied to the wrong comment there XD

[@Eldarin]

@@Someguyhere111 LOL sorry about that, when I was replying to comments the thing bugs sometimes. Anyways, I wasn't aware of that little excerpt in SA2. Kinda makes you wonder if in the early planning stages they had the proto-black arms have more of a role or was it simply a weird translation. Really interests me about those early SA2 story concepts SEGA hasn't shared with us yet. Thanks so much for watching and hope you enjoyed the video!

[@robertlupa8273]

That phrase was very likely ripped straight from a 2000 article about black holes. That doesn't mean that it wasn't put there for no reason though. It could be a coincidence, or it could be a hint towards early ideas for expanding on Shadow's past. Who knows?

[@fojisan2398]

MONSTROUS BLACKS

[@OmegaSon]

I will always like this game for what it is, it just screams early 2000’s and I love it. I really think if they did a remake of this game it would be pretty awesome. Maybe streamline the morality and progression system to give 3 good sized play throughs instead of like 10 short ones. Maybe rework the story here and there so it’s not as convoluted. Idk I just feel most of the ideas they had here could’ve worked so well. But uhhhh yeah, nice work once again

[@v4603]

I love so much of the world that ShTH gave us, and as a huge Shadow fan, I of course have mixed feelings about the game, but am SO invested in the story, the Black Arms, and everything that means for Shadow’s origins and character - and I’ve enjoyed all of your videos so far - so I’m really looking forward to watching this!

[@Eldarin]

100% agree with ya! Thanks for watching and it does really mean alot that you've been enjoying all the videos so far. Stay tuned for more :))

[@droidy365]

I think the story had some cool ideas, but unless you go through very specific routes of the game you'll just get a jumbled mess, unfortunately. I always find it interesting to look back and think about what could have been.

[@SonicHubYT]

Fire video, love the deep dive into a character that has not been shown much love lately.

[@Eldarin]

Thanks man! Means alot, keep up the great work!

[@BWF6_Official]

Very epic concept art for a very epic game. I enjoyed playing Shadow the Hedgehog more than Sonic Heroes.

[@ZackMaster98]

Same!!!

[@andyz6306]

Same. Heroes was the first 3D Sonic game I played as a kid but I think Shadow fixes most of Heroes' flaws to me.

[@ZackMaster98]

@@andyz6306 Same, I think the same thing about Shadow, that game is just the perfect mix of SA2 and Heroes!!!

[@Eldarin]

Thanks BWF! And I'm not sure which I enjoy more per say but I do enjoy both of them pretty equally as they both have their faults and upsides hahaha

[@rankrodent2772]

@Nobody comments are not funny you troglodytewhat?

[@ChaddyFantome]

I largely consider Shadow The Hedgehog as the Sonic Adventure CD of the Adventure era. Just like CD, it has tons of elements that were meant for the second entry repurposed into its own thing. Absolutely based, Eldarin. Absolutely Based

[@boredor5200]

i think i remember eldarin himself also thinking the same somewhere.

[@Eldarin]

DUDE YES!!! I lowkey kinda think the same in some ways, actually I had a video idea to talk about why I felt like Shadow is somewhat like the unintentional spiritual successor to CD lmaoo. Thanks for watching!

[@thatitalianlameguy2235]

And both are mediocre and a mess but not the absolute worst

[@seematahir5970]

Thats honestly really fascinating, personally I always considered 06 the "CD" of the Adventure era, with its focus on a love interest, time travel, and a dark reflection of a main character, as well as the fact that jt builds more off the first game's exploratory design rather than the second's speedier design. But Shadow does also fit that bill in different ways

[@COZMICETERNITY]

24:53 _your shadow impression is actually really good-_

[@cedarskull]

I remember reading a magazine back then promoting this game just before release, possibly a GameInformer or something. Sega was originally going to receive a T-rating from the ESRB for this game, and they didn't feel comfortable with a Sonic game being T-rated and wanted to push for an E10 rating instead. So they cut back a few things, like you mentioned, the alien blood being green instead of red, and Shadow using fewer curse words. In addition, the scene of Maria being shot by GUN on the ARK was originally in the game, and they replaced it with the solid white screen with just the sound of a gunshot. All those changes qualified the game for the E10 rating in the end!

[@inkchariot6147]

I wonder if 06 has concept art, besides Prototype Silver.

[@rwby900]

The dark age will always be the best age of sonic. no 🧢

[@Late0NightPC]

This does seem to support what I have always felt about Shadow the Hedgehog. It felt like a "canon fanfic", where the devs were forced by the higher ups to make "a dark sonic game" and management told them "since shadow was like the dark sonic, clearly he should be given the option to be evil or good so make the game about him". The devs didn't really want to since Shadow is not evil, just mistaken but good at heart in SA2, however with their paychecks at risk, they got to work. The game feels like one giant fanfic, that would serve as "see we did what you asked for" and the player can pretend like Shadow is pure evil, pure good, or something else, only for the true ending to sweep in and declare firmly "WTF are you thinking, no Shadow is absolutely a Hero and acting like he is dark and edgy is complete bullshit". the biggest issue with the game is just that though, you need to slog through so many horrid levels and gameplay design choices that no one really sees that true ending since it takes so much effort to even see, leading the general conception of Shadow to change into "the edgy sonic" rather than what he was in SA2. The creative development team may have not wanted to do this to Shadow, but higher ups strongly pressured them to do so.

[@danielgarciaescudero2862]

I absolutely adored this game when I first played it between this and the last year. It was so fun to comlpete.

[@kayla_mad_simp3176]

As a Shadow fan, I really like that game. Even tho everyone said it's the worst Sonic game, I still like it.

[@joshzippo8896]

I’m so glad people still talk about this, my favorite post 3K game, 16 years later. Thanks for uploading this.

[@Eldarin]

No problem Josh, thank you for watching it! Means alot :)

[@Supermariorpg6]

Ah yes... The game that represents the mid-2000s for me. I have an weird strange attachment to this game that I wont ever forget. This is the first Sonic game that I followed from announcement to release.... I heard about it in an old official Sonic website called Sonic Central (Not the streaming event) I think the first ever trailer (Walk of Game Announcement Trailer) kind of scared me as a kid because the trailer began showing off a bunch of clips of older Sonic games and up to the Sonic Adventure clip bullets holes filled the screen until it basically shattered into glass. One thing, the game was released around my Birthday (Probably the first Sonic game I gotten for my birthday) And funniest thing is that the game was rated E10, and it was my 10th Birthday around that time too... So it felt like that game was made for me. This basically made up my entire preteens up to my teenage years as I was kind of going through an hardcore emo phase (man...2000s kids). I still love this NGL.

[@Eldarin]

Hey Bomber Blur! Thanks for watching and I feel ya, this game too has a place in my heart for when I was younger. When coming back to it now, I was really expecting it to suck but it was pretty enjoyable. I got a laugh out of your reaction to the Walk of Game trailer, I had a similar reaction with the intro and sonic "dying" lol

[@Skylancer727]

It does make way more sense for Sky Troops to be in the dark story. In Glyphic Canyon your goal was to turn on the ruin's flying system by touching the gems but the neutral ending literally ignores them. We know for a fact that's what the gems do as in Sky Troops Eggman tells us to destroy the gems to make the ruins fall.

[@DonAsirobi]

In regards to that Submarine scenario, I quickly found a tweet from Liam Robertson asking about the source of this, he got a response. It's from the Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) #7, page 64. I think it's on Sonic Retro.

[@Eldarin]

Thank you!!! I was able to find the page making reference to the submarine thing and also found the tweet in regards to it. Mystery is solved :)

[@sirlagsalot1050]

You're for sure not alone in loving this game. I genuinely think that if Sonic team tightened up the controls a bit and put their effort into polishing three good runs with three endings instead of making a ton of levels with like 10 endings Shadow would have ended up better than the adventure games

[@pharizz]

Imo, Devil Doom fight > Final Biolizard

[@123stinko]

Joggers gonna jog

[@hugoflores1093]

You're not alone ma dude

[@FormalFilmsProductions]

I like aspects of it, but it’s not my favorite sonic game

[@tntsonic7482]

I love it.

[@Eldarin]

I like to call it a “adventure fans game” as in if you really enjoy the story and lore of the adventure series you’ll probably get at least some enjoyment out of it. It’s cool going back to old locales like the ARK and stuff and having it all be relevant to the plot and the characters discussing their previous encounters together and all. Is shadow perfect or something I’d recommend to newcomers? No but I do really enjoy playing it and don’t think it’s nearly as bad as people say. Also if you just kinda roll with the story of each route as it’s own self contained thing, I know that’s probably a lot of hoops to jump through but that’s just my opinion on it though Also thank you for watching and hope you enjoyed the video!

[@SapitoAnimation]

I like almost everything except the story, voice acting and some stages. I honestly don't mind the guns, i think they had a lot of potential.

[@utagawashi1656]

Maybe these artistic choices are strange but that's also what makes this game unique in the saga. At that time the Sonic saga was really varied there was so much different atmosphere at the same time. Have passed from the light and naive Sonic Rush to the dark and tortured Shadow passing by the hyper technological and lightly cartoon Riders then the most realistic dramatic poetic 06 etc ... The saga was a constant and unexpected journey. I would prefer it so much rather than the Colors period. It has flaws but it is not a bad game it is uneven Thank you Eldarin for your verry good work ! And I do not know if you knew but the intro was cut some people found the uncut version kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2jViGOQitKCmc0

[@Eldarin]

Hey Utagawashi!!I wasn't aware of this uncut intro...how interesting. thanks for sharing this with me. I also agree with you on the uniqueness of this game, what I love about sonic is how much worldbuilding there was and having a game kinda center around that was sick! Thanks for watching!

[@Blurro]

Yeah the meta era is just so dull

[@utagawashi1656]

@@Blurro Luckily the comics save the universe of Sonic and maybe Rangers will be interesting

[@SLGayming]

LOVED THIS VIDEO Your best so far in my opinion. As I never played Shadow this was super intresting to watch. It is amazing to hear how happy you are while narrating the video

[@Eldarin]

Thanks SL! It really means a lot! I do recommend playing shadow on dolphin or something, there is some fun to be had with it

[@SLGayming]

@@Eldarin if you help me set it up someday sure

[@seasidecolors5277]

Marvelous work! I don't know if it's my bias for the game or the artist in me but when you announced the end of your video I had an "Aw, man" moment for a second. This is because I simply love hearing about the process of concept designing of a game after years of playing it and didn't want it to end XD. Even though much of this I knew already, seeing the step by step process visually and with narration allowed me to have a clearer picture of at least a part of Shadow The Hedgehog's development than I ever had before. Even the parts where you were speculative made a lot of sense (the part with the Dementors from Harry Potter). Thank you for the shoutout and I can't wait for the next video!

[@Eldarin]

Thanks man it means alot! Glad to hear it was able to give you a clearer picture of the development timeline. ((Hope the shoutout got a little chuckle out of ya haha, that is so friggin cool he confirmed that on Twitter!)

[@Someguyhere111]

Regarding the names of the Black Arm enemies, in case anybody's curious, you have: Black Warriors - the most basic footsoldiers, most common enemy type throughout the game Black Assassins - the ones that wear gold armour and can teleport around Black Wings - the little bat-like creatures that don't even have health bars, just die to one hit Black Hawks - the bigger bird-like creatures that you can ride Black Volts - the bird-like creatures that wear gold armour and have built-in attacks Sand Worms/Black Worms - almost the same enemy, but the Black Worms can come out of ANY terrain, including terrain that's hostile to the player (i.e. acid, or the sludge in the Black Comet level), and drop a more powerful weapon when killed Death Worms - the worms that have gold armour Death Leeches - the little grub-like enemies that come in swarms and die in one hit Black Oaks - the giant enemies Killer Plant - the plants that spray fire and can't really be killed And then of course you have Black Bull, Black Doom, and Shadow the Hedgehog... depending on the choices you make :P

[@luizmiguel5484]

man, since I LOVE these concept arts and development videos, I always go into the video kind of screaming "show me the concept arts! that's what I want!" because it's something very captivating I would say seriously, there are arts that you can feel the texture like the sketch of Shadow's art with the gun in his hand in the middle of the city at night or the art where he's shooting with a serious look and another where he's with the gun in hand and smiling smugly, man how do I love to see characters like Sonic and Shadow smiling like that, the smug smile conveys the emotion that the character is all about control like "Is that it? I solve this with my hands tied behind my back!" It is very cool! because it inspires me more and more to want to work in this medium, I don't know if I would program or something like that but just design the characters, idealize the stages, items, art boxes, etc. and making the concept arts of all this makes me happy, there are a lot of ideas and concepts that came together to form the game and I think this is one of the most fun parts, for sure the people who work in this area get something to use as inspiration and put together a new idea and start working on it with the supervision and monitoring of SEGA and everything else, excellent video as always bro, may your work evolve more and more!!

[@Eldarin]

Hey Luiz! Thanks for watching and I'm really happy to hear you are enjoying the concept art and dev videos along with being very excited for them hahaha. I am also with you in terms of finding it incredibly interesting seeing what ideas and inspirations took place to form this game, its really neat!

[@ndxdirectorscut]

Great video! The pictures of Shadow T-Posing and the Gun Soldiers are found on his personal portofolio, along with pics of Silver and Sonic from 06 T-posing, so im pretty sure they were done by him, while afaik the black comet is done by Barret Meeker I actually briefly had an email convo with Cemre Ozkurt and Blur Studio still has the models at their CA office. From what i can see Sega used these models and edited them for the Unleashed designs as the muzzle topology and shape is the same as Shadow's from this game's CGI, along with the rest of the body save from longer legs and smaller hands and shorter arms

[@Eldarin]

Thanks! That’s really interesting Ozkurt and Blur still have the models, I suppose they keep them for a referential purpose. Cool!! Thanks for watching

[@TheBLUEM64]

24:34 in an alternate timeline where the 30th anniversary wasn't a huge letdown, Iizuka has this statute pointed at classic sonic in the sonic central.

[@peterpumkineater69346]

My absolute favorite "Sonic" game. And one of my first as well. Same with Heroes

[@ZackMaster98]

Same!!!

[@peterpumkineater69346]

@@ZackMaster98 noice!

[@peterpumkineater69346]

@Nobody comments are not funny you troglodyte and?

[@rankrodent2772]

@Nobody comments are not funny you troglodyte jeez. People still think saying cringe is a valid insult?? It’s not 2014 anymore

[@peterpumkineater69346]

@@rankrodent2772 exactly

[@MaverickKayPrime]

I was waiting for this video, and I'm not disappointed. It's almost magical how you can find all these concept pieces and interviews from over a decade ago, which... now saying that, makes me feel old. Shadow the Hedgehog's such a weird game that I love to bits. What sucks though is that since it's considered a bad Sonic game (if not one of the worse), I see such great design choices behind it. It may not be the most sensible Sonic game, but its clear to me that the development team really agonized over things like how the Black Arms look, and the stages, and the guns, etc. This video only helps prove that with how deeply (and even pointlessly) they tell us that Maria's clothes are 100% cotton. Once again, I really appreciate this video, and all the deep dives you do into Sonic concept art. The ideas behind some of the games may not be to everyone's likings, but I can say the heart behind the development teams are certainly their. And just so you know, the tank kinda is used in the game. In the Last Story when Black Doom is ranting about how much humans suck and how the Black Arms are gonna kill/eat them all, we get a few scenes of the planet in despair, and one of them is a city landscape with a destroyed tank in it. I'm not sure if that counts, but hey, it's there!

[@Eldarin]

Hey Maverick, happy to hear the video lived up to the hype hahaha! When making these videos my favorite part is doing the research as I just find it really cool how the interviews and such leading up to the games release and the picture that paints compared to the final product. Im really happy you appreciate this video, and the concept art videos as it means alot and trust me there is more to come ;)

[@CutBackDropTurn]

Dude, I am so glad you covered Shadow! Honestly the game is… flawed. It is a misfire, but I do love it! There was a lot of brilliant thought and ideas put down here! Like how Lost Impact for example is a terrible stage, but the ideas of Black Doom manipulating Shadow’s memories or the ACTUAL events that occurred being conveyed through gameplay is amazing. Thanks for going so in-depth with this. You make it so informative yet so still so causal. Feels like just chatting about the game with a friend! You’re the best!

[@Eldarin]

Thanks Dennis it means alot!!! Really happy to hear you enjoyed the video, that is a really good point about Lost Impact, I never thought of it that way with Doom manipulating his memories!

[@shin0133]

I'd love to see a soundtrack video on this considering it has by far my favourite Sonic OST of all time. It's not the best Sonic game by a long shot, but I don't think it's not good.

[@Eldarin]

Hey Shin! Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed the video. I too agree with you on the OST it is fantastic, I tried to incorporate my favorites minus the vocal tracks cuz well copyright lol. Anyways, in terms of a OST video well.....😉

[@katieee_llyn]

You had me at the title of the video. Bless

[@Eldarin]

Hahahha, hope you enjoyed it Katie!

[@katieee_llyn]

@@Eldarin I did! I had no idea shadows motorcycle had a name

[@sheacorduroy5565]

I’m still really hoping to get my hands on this game. I’ve wanted to play it ever since I got myself addicted to mid-2000s sonic games.

[@deviantartguy0]

I remember having to replace mine years after it came out, and it wasn't much of a price difference to get it from an old fashioned local game shop.

[@Creature665]

"We were getting letters from kids. They wanted Sonic to have a Gun." Yeah, calling the authorities would have been the right step but SEGA said "Nah.. We gonna do it homie, Give this hedgehog a fuckin' rocket launcher."

[@_SYDGAMING_]

Dr Eggman the world's not enough is just a spinoff James bond movie where dr Eggman is bond instead of Pierce Brosnan

[@rankrodent2772]

I truly adore this game, it’s easily in my top five sonic games, it’s a shame everyone else seems to hate it…

[@andyz6306]

It's in my top 2.

[@lilyfornelli2196]

Your videos are such a source of delight! You put so much effort in paying homage to those who worked their butts to death to make these games, it's so so sweet.

[@Eldarin]

Hey Elly! Thank you so much for the kind words, it really does mean alot to me to hear that. As I've gotten older, development of games has just really captured my interest especially looking at the concept art, inspirations and the whole bit that go into these games. Being able to dive into the people who made these games and discuss the reasons why things turned out the way the did, I just find very fun for some reason-sonic or not sonic related. Anyways, thank you for watching and the comment!

[@DemonDethchase]

With Black Doom he kinda reminds of Wizeman the Wicked from NiGHTS, only alot darker looking. Not sure who those kids were asking for Sonic to use a gun as it feels wrong. The only time I could really see it working is if it was somewhat indirectly. Like if he was fighting a group of Eggman robots, which during the fight he'd jumped onto one and while it was firing wildly, Sonic would look to have it blast the other robots. Or another thing being that was trapped in a room, and after having fought a large mech with a cannon, he'd look at trying to use it to blast himself a way out.

[@deslardesslok]

Wow this is the only REAL wide-screen Shadow The Hedgehog mod I've ever seen it looks pretty cool

[@AAAAAMMM]

woah woah woah, the part at 8:16 where they mentioned that the film Constantine was an inspiration for the video game is so crazy now that Keanu Reaves was announced as the voice of Shadow in the upcoming movie!!!!

[@Eldarin]

good point!

[@TheEternalSamurai]

Even though I was never a big fan of the game, I really love this video. Gr8 job showing and explaining the development of Shadow! Looking forward to more, Eldarin! 👍

[@Lemuel928]

Shadow the Hedgehog vs Crimson Arms,good times.

[@tntsonic7482]

I love this games despite its many issues.

[@shadoubreak]

Okay man, thank you so much for this video... It was an absolute treat!!

[@Mazgid]

I think tank appeared in that cutscene where black Doom speaks before start shooting at white house

[@deslardesslok]

This will be interesting I've always liked Shadow The Hedgehog and it's a really interesting game to look at

[@muno8564]

That t posing shadow looks so good

[@Mazgid]

I think all the Maria's clothes descriptions were made for Blur studio , for CGI

[@CatBurger]

Absolute kino game, loved watching you play it on stream a bit ago

[@aortaplatinum]

A 3D momentum based run and gun is such a sick idea. TBH I much prefer Shadow the Hedgehog's speedy, tight movement as opposed to Jak or Ratchet's sluggish control. I think this is one of the only times I've ever seen concept art turned into final renders, that's so insanely awesome! I did want to point out something about why the materials were detailed for Maria's clothes- the art style and the power of that generation of consoles may have not allowed for a ton of detail, but knowing what something is made of is integral to how reflective it is. Her headband is plastic, so allow environmental lights to create a full opacity white highlight on it. Her clothes are cotton, so no highlights. Maybe her shoes are vinyl, so a smaller, maybe 50% opacity highlight on them? EDIT: Now that I've gotten super into Blender, I can confirm this is absolutely why the materials were detailed. For every model a series of modifiers can be applied to the material used, including roughness (0 is super reflective, 100 doesn't reflect at all). Oh and also, Blur Studios does appear in the credits for Paramount Sonic 2, don't know how much they did but wanted to bring it up since you mentioned it.

[@GustavoSuperSonic2001]

It's good to know that there is someone else that likes the Shadow game :)

[@bigdro5227]

Can't wait for you to cover Sonic 06 and Sonic Unleashed in one of these videos

[@gumbo342]

That intro was perfect

[@bananabike279]

That was great!! Recently saw that concept piece of Shadow by Kazuyuki Hoshino on Twitter and since then I was hoping you would do a concept art video on Shadow the Hedgehog!!

[@destroyertoyz2207]

This is a good video but sonic team did say that the branching story thing was never a idea for sa2 and they dont know why that guy said that whole thing with the submarine.

If there's a video being made about the Music of the game. I wanna be apart of it. Hands... down.

[@KingKayro87]

When I first played Shadow the Hedgehog, I expected it to be awful, but it was honestly one of the best Sonic games I've ever played, or at the very least one of the better ones. I consider it to be part of an era I call the Golden Age of Sonic, which spans from Late 1998 with Sonic Adventure to Early 2006 with Sonic Riders before the dark times came with Sonic 06.

[@eggbreakerdotexe]

You know what you have to do next. *06 concept art video when?*

[@Eldarin]

It’s 100% happening😈

[@sonicteamUSA]

There's another English artist Brad Wagner that worked on this game and Nights JoD. He has a website showing some info on them. It would be interesting if you interviewed him.

[@Eldarin]

Interesting! Thanks for pointing this out Theo, I'll check it out and see if I can get into contact with him. Thank you for watching also!

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

You can shoot sonic in the boss battle.

[@ZigDaKid]

Nice one man, love this game, always had its corner

[@Eldarin]

Thanks man means alot!

[@Etrodecim]

This was an amazing video!!! thank you for doing this the development history and concept justice. I wish I had found your channel much sooner so I could have contributed to it. I have some RARE High-Quality and alternate promotional videos regarding Shadow 05. Yes, with audio of him actually saying "Hell"!

[@Eldarin]

Thank you it means a lot! That is really interesting about the promotional videos, how did you get in possession of those?

[@Eldarin]

Hey I saw your comment but KZbin was auto deleting it for some reason. It’s been doing that for some time now, I apologize!

[@Etrodecim]

@@Eldarin I've realized, I have messaged you directly via discord with the videos and some obscure stuff.

[@dmitrykhvostik5975]

Interesting fact: "The dark side" story paths very resembles with downfall of Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Revenge of the sith. Interesting is both game and movie came out in the same year 2005. Bonus: Sonic Rush and Shadow the hedgehog were released in one day

[@veggsbacon1891]

The intro is pretty good! 🤣👍🏽👍🏽

[@SuperLucky7]

Amazing video, always glad to see this game get some much needed love.

[@hoseinbmr3449]

Like always you impress us with your great contents 👍 You always increase my knowledge about development of Sonic games It's interesting how ambitious sonic games are ( used to be 😞 ) I had no idea about the poll before starting developing this game . It's good that at least they thought about making a big game for someone other than sonic or shadow . But Tails : Flight of the Fox and Knuckles : Furry Fists are great names in my opinion 😅 I really hope for great games for sonic ( and make good games for characters like Tails & Knuckles after )

[@Eldarin]

Thanks so much Hosein, it really means alot and im super happy to hear this video increased your knowledge on this awesome series!

[@EclipseHedgehog]

i always loved that weathering on the red parts of shadows shoes. really gives off a use he's been giving them.

[@MetaKnuxXbeats]

The Shadow the Hedgehog game does feel like a trip looking back at it in 2021. My feelings towards this game ends up being very complicated but I do think the concept art is fascinating.

[@maisydog]

Amazing video! Lots of very cool pieces and loving the extra details you highlighted. The editing was also on point, with some genuinely funny moments! Best video so far imo, keep up the good work!

[@Eldarin]

Thank you! It means a lot!!!

[@kishibbydiggy]

Fun fact about the E3 Poster (24:10): I believe one of the people behind it posted it to Artstation and talked about how they were very confused while making it.

[@gooperrr6955]

Never thought I would enjoy a video about the concept art of a game about a 3 foot hedgehog with a gun. You just earned a sub

[@DannyBenS94]

Great video. I do unironically like this game. Sometimes I forget I'm not alone in thinking that lol

[@pinkyoshi9339]

I recently discovered that there was all sorts of things cut from this game, and it's all very interesting, it's a shame this game isn't very popular

[@auxilirious]

Yes!!!! John Halo!!! Lmaoooo great job sorry I’m a bit late! But great job dude as always

[@marvelfannumber1]

The whole "SA2 was originally gonna have branching storylines" thing, along with the given example is a hoax. You can find an example of this hoax in the British 'Dreamcast Official Magazine' #7. Liam Robertson (a very reputable dude, with plenty of contacts in the industry) had himself asked Izuka about this, who told him it was never considered. This whole thing seems to have been a rumor prior to the release of the game in 2000/2001 that later got twisted into some "unknown development factoid".

[@Eldarin]

Hey thanks for pointing me in the right direction, - is this the magazine you are speaking of? I did a quick read through it and couldn't find anything discussing SA2 at all, I may have missed it though. Are you familiar with which page it discusses it? I read thru both: segaretro.org/index.php?title=File%3ADreamcastMagazine_UK_07.pdf&page=1 segaretro.org/index.php?title=File%3ADreamcastMagazine_UK_07.pdf&page=1- Ignore above^^ I was able to find it in in the US Official Dreamcast Magazine US 07 p.64 segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:ODCM_US_07.pdf&page=68 Liam Robertson asked Iizuka like you said: twitter.com/Doctor_Cupcakes/status/658329651589304321?s=20 Mystery solved! Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed the video :))

[@marvelfannumber1]

@@Eldarin Yeah, my bad, I get all these magazines confused since they have such similar names. It's the *US* Dreamcast magazine #7, page 68. It doesn't discuss the branching paths, but it does contain the earliest mention of submarine scenario I know of, which is always used in reference to the branching paths. Which only makes the claim even more sketchy.

[@Eldarin]

@@marvelfannumber1 No worries, I get all those things confused too hahaha. You are spot on though, I was able to find the submarine scenario and also looked up Liam Robertson on Twitter (who actually responded to my clarification on it funnily enough) where he spoke with Iizuka like you said and it was disproven. Happy we could close the mystery on it, as I try to make these as accurate as possible, also are you comfortable if I were too shout you out in my next video?

[@marvelfannumber1]

@@Eldarin Of course, obviously Liam deserves the most credit here, but shouting out a 0 video channel like myself is neither a net-negative nor a net-positive. So I don't see why not :)

[@six5157]

Shadow You're fucking ballin nice video as always bro!

[@Eldarin]

he really is a baller lmaooo thanks for watching arthur!

[@davidsterling7570]

Lovin' this! JSYK regarding 22:00 you do actually see the tank model in a cutscene, iirc after the Independence Day scene

[@blastoring8633]

Yes, finally! I waited for more than month for this video 😆

[@dabluepittoo-aqua4213]

I'll admit, Shadow's game is one I enjoy. Not perfect, but still quite fun. The branching paths and different mission objectives make repeat playthroughs interesting...ignoring the unlock criteria of the True Ending.

[@manuelkfc7916]

"The day of *UPLOADING* will soon be here". What a way to kill the mood lol.

[@Beyfan13]

11:18 SHADOW WITH A BIG GUN NOW THATS SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT AND WHY DO THE WHITE HOUSE LOOK SO REAL???ON 22:49 24:35 I want this

[@sethisevilone02]

I love this game too

[@SirDevious]

I'd love a video on the music for this game!!

[@hugoflores1093]

Great to wake up to a new Eldarin video Shadow The Hedgehog is Game i love both to defend and attack, i do think it makes a lot of dumb decisions but it also has plenty of enjoyable and even awesome moments in story and gameplay + The music and presentation was something i always have admired SEGA should make Blur Studios a main state in the series

[@Eldarin]

Thanks Hugo, hope you enjoyed the video! I wish we got more CGI in sonic games...maybe rangers ((hopefully lmao))

[@Sonic_jams]

Shadow impression surprised me with how not terrible it was

[@75JUNAKI]

Off topic but I have the Leak plot for Chao in Space 3 movie. The plot is about the main character going into deep space, he discovers a mechanical Chao civilation. The main character discovers that they were the once who brought in the Dark-Garden Empire into the known galaxy. The leader of the mechanical Chao is Omochao, he wanted to become a Mega Mecha-Chao, like Perfect Chaos but with machines and controlling them and creating more smaller versions that can invade the known space and annoy everyone. The main character must become a Super Chao and fend off against Omochao.

[@revanlord05]

Shadow the Hedgehog would've benefited greatly if the game were a tiny bit less fast and had some proper shooter mechanics or be a hack&slash game like DMC.

[@GPP.Artwork]

ur shadow impression was so good haha. also i rlly like ur channel, ur personality is chill, u don't over critic the games with weird jokes, and I like how u organize ur videos. good stuff, I'm gonna subscribe!

[@GPP.Artwork]

i hope u see my new comment on your sonic 4 video...

[@thefastcommenter7774]

Ye

[@PKspectre]

Wonderful video and very informative. I haven't seen any of this stuff before!

[@Eldarin]

Thank you it means a lot! Happy you enjoyed the video

[@StereoPixelMusic]

It's my first time finding this channel, I rea enjoyed this man, Have my sub! 😊 I don't know if it's confirmed but Black Doom had to have took some influence from Wizeman (The main villain from Nights Into Dreams) There designs are very similar. P.S Tim Miller the co-founder of Blur Studio's did still work on the Sonic Movie prior to the rights been handed to Paramount, he was an Executive producer.

[@Eldarin]

Hmmm I didn't know about that as I have never played Nights before but I TOTALLY see that now! Seems like a mix of the dementors and wizeman. Also thank you so much for the sub and the kind words on the video it means alot (wanna know something actually really crazy, I knew your username sounded familiar and I went on to your page and realized that while I was writing the script to this video I was listening to this jamming Wave Ocean remix and... I've now connected the dots and IT WAS YOURS! Small world and great work on your music!

[@StereoPixelMusic]

@@Eldarin 💙💙

[@StereoPixelMusic]

@@Eldarin UPDATE: Turns out Kazuyuki Hoshino was the character designer for both Nights into Dreams and Shadow the Hedgehog! 😊

[@ADreamingTraveler]

I watched someone who's never played this game play it a few months ago and the amount of immense pain they experienced trying to get to the final story was amazing

[@dragonick2947]

This is a great video! It's interesting to see all this concept art. Especially the 3D renders. I got a bit confused by your wireframe model explanation, though. To my knowledge, it's basically an untextured model with lines drawn in showing the polygons' edges.

[@jacklevin550]

That car is actually less greenish and more silver in the xbox version and I think the playstation one as well, same for the bike, for some reason the gc version just had all the vehicles be green.

[@inendlesspain4724]

I really liked the darker and edgier take on a Sonic game this title provided, though of course I just wish it was better written (I think as it stands it's one of the wrost written Sonic games of the dark age era) and played better. Well, at least it plays better than Heroes, which is why I enjoy it more than that game on average, but you know, I still wish it was more like the Adventure games in terms of controls. What I'm trying to say is, while I don't know if this game really need a remake/reboot/re-imagination or a sequel, I wish there was at least one other Sonic game with a similar vibe as this one (06 comes close but it's not quite the same thing), but better realized. Also, I failed for several seconds to see what was wrong or diferent about that pre-release photo of a Dark Arms soldier "bleeding" as it looked more pinkish to me (probably because I'm partially colorblind) and I didn't even think it was blood but just some stylish effect.

[@rvght_]

I love this game so much despite its flaws I still found a way to like it

[@Nov-5062]

17:44 Beat: the game is incredible! One of the prettiest games I've ever played, truly recommended

[@Nathan-rb3qp]

Iizuka should probably be demoted at this point.

[@theshadmaster]

13:08 fun fact: you have to do this as a concept artist so that the 3d modelers know what to base the texture work on