My Take on Shadow Generations

[@jaysolaris06]

The step up in quality for the story presentation is what impressed me the most. The characters feel so well animated, it's great. While short, I found the story to be enjoyable, but I can't shake the feeling of it being underdeveloped as a result of its length. Stuff like Black Doom's return and how the Doom Zone was created isn't fully touched on. More importantly for me its Shadow's inner conflict with choosing to change the fate of his loved ones or preserving the timeline that doesn't get expanded on. I would've loved to see more moments where he's connecting with them, but inside he's torn apart by his desire to change history or maintain it. His final moments with them would've hit so much harder if this was the case. Those critiques aside, I still love the way Shadow was handled here. Learning not to give into his anger and resentment of Black Doom and staying true to who he has become. He can be aggressive, yeah, but he's not someone who's filled with rage. He calms down and focuses on the mission at hand. Swiftly crushing his enemies to keep Earth safe. That's the Shadow I love, cool, calculated, and doesn't play any games when it comes to achieving his goals. It's all business with him, but he has a strong heart at the end of the day.

[@dastanovich2476]

Enjoying Papa Mardi's constant stream of non-stop content before he leaves us for another 4 months

[@Mardiculous]

LMAOOOOO... I AM SORRY! I'M TRYING! I think I got it this time.

[@SuperSonic68]

OH LORDY WE CONTENT NOW.

[@Vantoxify]

I really have no complaints with Shadow Generations story at all, I will say I wish some of the extra dialogue should’ve been implemented as a story cutscene but I understand why they made it optional. To me, I think Shadow Generations story is debatably a top 3 Sonic story but if it’s not third it’s definitely fourth

[@SepSmi79]

Shout out to the person who came up with the fake emerald idea for Sonic vs Shadow cutscene. The main things that hold this game back a little bit are models (for the love of god Sonic Team! Change those models) and overusing Radical Highway. Overall pretty impressive and definitely an improvement over Frontiers in terms of presentation.

[@stopmob1097]

I honestly love the models the new sonic one is my favorite sonic model ngl the only modern model I dislike is knuckles and even then it isn’t horrible

[@KidEDarus]

Seriously not only did I love the gameplay this time around for Shadow Generations but the story got me hooked. From the Prolouge: Dark Beginnings to the character interaction with Professor Gerald & Maria. This is the respect that Shadow deserved after so long.

[@DylanofScreenTime]

I don't think we were sick of the Boost, we're sick of Mid Boost. Who would've thought when you have fun abilities, pretty good physics and great level design to accommodate for said physics, you get an overall fun package? I would still prefer they switch the gameplay style up in the next game, (maybe change it into more of a Dash) but as far as the Boost goes, it's probably the most fun it's been, because of how much you can do AND how you can speedrun the shit outta levels, especially with how Chaos Control basically encourages it.

[@AYTM1200]

Shadow Generations doesn't have good physics. People need to learn the difference between good controls and good physics. Shadow Generations has bad bad physics but good controls.

[@DylanofScreenTime]

@@AYTM1200 yeah, that's what i meant.

[@CHANIMATES]

Shadow generations was an complete outlier in the whole sonic team cycle it wasn't leaked before hand there was little to no scepticism surrounding the game it had a phenomenal marketing campaign that got the larger gaming community talking about it it came out with grate reviews no huge bugs and glitches and now it's getting nominated for players choice all because sonic team did what they should be doing for every release treat these games and characters with care focus on quality over quantity hire talented people who love sonic just as much as the fans and treat every game like it could be someone's first sonic game and give them an experience that they'll remember I really hope sonic team sees this as a sigh to treat more prodjects like this one ❤

[@jateyboi1108]

It was leaked 3 days early on twitter

[@CHANIMATES]

@jateyboi1108 ok so your totally right about that but compared to the other sonic games that were leaked years in advance by play testers this one getting leaked only 3 days earlier is a very big improvement don't you think also I love your profile pic it's very adorable

[@petergriffinsbrother2499]

I hope the next games continues this level of expressiveness in the animations

[@BLUESTREAK91]

Nice little breakdown of the game and its story! Honestly when comparing the animations of both Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations I feel like it’s night and day that Shadow Generations clears Sonic Generations in that department as well as story which I enjoyed very much! If you want my only gripe of this game is it’s not nearly as fast as Sonic Generations but we can at least appreciate that the levels don’t control the way Cyberspace did in Sonic Frontiers which I personally enjoyed as well! But I do see where you’re coming from with this! I’m no artist or animator by any means so I can’t really say too much about that! I’m overall just really happy to have another well recieved Sonic game right after Sonic Frontiers!

[@TevyaSmolka]

I love this game it’s really awesome and as a shadow the hedgehog fan this game gave me everything I ever wanted as a shadow fan.

[@Miju001]

I hadn't heard much of that criticism, ngl, especially in terms of the portrayal of Gerald and Maria. I actually think it's kinda cool how Maria was portrayed not by adding details to her character, but by leaning into what we already knew about her! I do have some criticisms of the story of my own, actually, though I don't know how subjective they are. I loved the endgame of the story, with Maria pulling Shadow out of his anger, Shadow learning to confront his past in a serene way and then having to come to terms with how that means letting it go. But it's the "Shadow's anger" part that doesn't convince me. I feel like it wasn't set up enough, and I think that makes the whole idea fall apart. I would have loved if Black Doom tried goading Shadow into his negative feelings more often, and if Shadow responded to it by getting progressively more bitter as he gained more Doom Powers. If you check out the Radical Highway With Lyrics video by Juno Songs, it perfectly nails the concept.

[@Mardiculous]

@@Miju001 I have seen that video! This is a great idea, that definitely would’ve interested me more.

[@Miju001]

@@Mardiculous Thank you! I'm glad you think so! Honestly, I can't help but feel like that interpretation was intended on some level. After all, the whole story is about Black Doom trying to take over Shadow's mind and body; and there is a progression with the Doom Powers to go along with the idea (an upgrade to an existing ability -> a brand new ability -> a new ability that alters Shadow's appearance -> a new ability that makes Shadow completely unrecognizable). But that kinda makes me even more frustrated that they didn't go through with it properly lol

[@Sklumbo]

2 MARD VIDS IN 2 DAYS???? WE ARE EATING GOOOD!

[@Mardiculous]

@@Sklumbo sounds you’re going to be satisfied this week.. lmaoo

[@jarkspore]

Gotta level, I wasn’t too impressed with the story on this one. Maybe it’s just me, but Generations is conceptually so uninterested in actual plot and stakes and world believability that any effort in those fields feels wasted. Frankly, OG Generations at the very least would be improved by the removal of story. Though I understand liking the story for what it represents: Shadow not being written as Temu Vegeta. Actual game is cool though. The way they did Chaos Control is sick.

[@ShadowCringelord]

Holy crap I haven’t seen you since the space video like 13 years ago

[@partyjams]

I understand why people don’t like expositioning but I’ve come to learn a lot of my favorite stories have heavy exposition. So personally I’m pretty pleased with the direction moving forward. The movies have been a very positive influence on the games

[@Axxidous]

It’s because people heard the supposed rule “show, don’t tell” and that exposition was bad. Except that’s not true. It often turns out back because it’s easy to do incorrectly. But sometimes it’s necessary and sometimes it’s good. Same thing with flashbacks apparently.

[@jarkspore]

@@Axxidous Definitely, no storytelling technique is good or bad. I’d even argue there isn’t a good or bad way of using those techniques (quality is always in the preferences of the audience). Though I wouldn’t discount Flynn’s tendency towards exposition being the result of his experience with static mediums.

[@Axxidous]

@ Maybe. But I definitely like Dark Beginnings and Shadow Generations storytelling more than Frontiers but other people were involved too so who knows who is responsible for what.

[@Axxidous]

Yeah I actually liked everything about this game except for a few nitpicky things that I don’t think NEED to be changed beyond pleasing ME. Shadow’s voice (though it is good), the overall character design art style, the weird changes to make the 2 female characters (and really ONLY them) more “modern” for better or for worse, Shadow’s skating animation, the lack of spin dash, some things being on the nose. Yeah I’m actually not too concerned about those things and think it was great. The gameplay just felt good and exciting so… I just enjoyed it.

[@PhilBo-fp9mz]

What kinda sonic plush is that in the back? I wanna get one :O

[@hypershadix1]

I hope that the same thing will happen to silver. He’s been stuck in limbo since rivals 2

[@Tailsfly593]

Shaow gens gameplay animation are much better than sonic gens

[@Mardiculous]

@@Tailsfly593 I should make a separate video on what I meant. But basically, I feel the transitions between character animation states and camera positions are smoother in sonic generations. This only applies to default gameplay sections however. The scenes where black doom interrupts the level, definitely outclass sonic gens by far! I definitely will make a whole video about gameplay animations, they have a massive impact on how good a game feels to play!

[@Tailsfly593]

@Mardiculous whats wrong with the shadow's animation in game? The only thing I agree with you is the HE2 camera is really snappy

[@Mardiculous]

@@Tailsfly593 I wouldn't say "wrong", just so we are clear. This is all for SURE small details. The posing is just stiffer than I'd personally enjoy. I can explain further in a future video topic. Thank you for helping me realize this is an important subject to cover! That's what this is all about! For now, the best way to explain simply: I really enjoy "Melohs Shadow Gens Reanimated" Mod.

[@math3us420]

I still want the boost gone, especially when they keep making the boost slower with every game that follows

[@nightlydata2181]

I don't really like the story at all. It barley even counts as a "story" to me cus almost nothin happened in most cutscenes & there's not much character interaction even in the levels between everybody. Omega & Rouge play next to no part & maria gets treated like a doll who says 1 line bout not bein angry & shadow doesn't have much conflict or makes many choices on his own. This honestly nueters his character for me & I fuckin hate maria now. Gerald was wasted too. He jus exposits info the audience alr knows. So many missed opportunities they didn't even remove the limiters. As my main sin for gameplay is simply there's no 05 level in a game that acts like it's a direct sequel to it. I genuinely hate that so much. They need to rectify that. Other than that they really need to evolve the boost at some point.