Shadow's Dark Beginnings Changes EVERYTHING

[@pigglesgoomshby7249]

This feels like a sort of rebirth for the franchise where they aren’t ashamed of all the crazy lore that’s been created over the decades, Shadow has a cool ass backstory that’s been LONG overdue for treatment like this

[@GamesCage]

EXACTLY

[@jackalsniper4232]

Shadow: "Why did you show me that?" Black Doom: "It's a canon event, Shadow"

[@SoulStoryMode]

The zoom in at AX was actually INSANE, I knew I wasnt crazy

[@GamesCage]

Yea I thought it felt like that too LOL

[@RaiginAnimator]

Yea I was wondering like huh this is kinda s Zoomed in I thought maybe that’s the feel they are going for but some shots I was like Tf I can’t see anything? It’s nice to know it IS CROPPED

[@kiritosintern]

Some scenes looked better zoomed in tbh

[@bizmak3116]

Bot to mention some extended cuts of the teaser which wasn’t in the revealed Anime expo teaser

[@AndrewR-y5u]

Fr

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

The fact that SEGA is going all in on the Sonic lore in just about every new media so far is just making me SO DAMN HAPPY

[@GamesCage]

MHMMMM

[@vi6ddarkking]

To be exact, GUN hired Gerald to create an Immortality Serum. Hence Shadow's own Immortality. Gerald was also going to use that Research to cure Maria's Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. And the most tragic part of the entire story is that if the raid hadn't happened, Gerald would have succeeded. Curing Maria, giving GUN their Immortality Serum and The Black Arms would have been destroyed by The Eclipse Cannon, before they could ever Invade Earth. Since Gerald would still be around to fire it at the Black Comet.

[@sb14andmore50]

So basically, everything that happened on the ARK is all GUN's fault, if they never raided the ARK, Maria and Gerald would not only be alive, but they could've impacted SA2's story *ESPECIALLY* last story, Shadow wouldn't have gone evil because of Maria's death because she's with him and assuming his sacrifice would still happen, Gerald would've helped with Shadow's amnesia

[@liamphibia]

Impatience consumed GUN.

[@vi6ddarkking]

@@liamphibia Well from their point of view Gerald had The Ultimate Life Form in his possession and was raising him without their oversite and after the construction of the Eclipse Cannon... Well... Remember in Shadow 05, Gerald reveals that the Eclipse Cannon was constructed for the purpose of destroying the Black Comet. So it had to be built after Black Doom and Gerald made Contact rather late into Project Shadow. And since the costs were out of control and getting hard to hide. The GUN Commander and the president of the United Federations at the time decided to cut their losses. And shutdown the ARK before having to Find out what that new addition to the Space Colony that looked disturbingly like a big F-off Cannon was used for. Gerald gave GUN one too many reasons not to trust him.

[@sb14andmore50]

​@@vi6ddarkkingOverall, they were greedy assholes, *ESPECIALLY* the commander, there's no way around that fact, Gerald did nothing more than give them what they wanted, immortality, and if we take away the aspect of Black Doom helping with the creation, GUN really was just greedy

[@alicesacco9329]

@@sb14andmore50 Shadow is not evil.

[@Juniverse0]

Since we’re talking Sonic Battle after over a decade: Emerl is still one of the coolest ways I’ve seen a custom-character be implemented in a fighting game. Like, you could customise *everything* from his idle Stance, down to every separate hit of his regular combo chain. So I‘m really glad to see him again.

[@RR-08]

you can kind of do that type of thing in soul calibur, but I haven't played in like 2(3 ish maybe) years so idk how right that is

[@MarioSonicBee]

I love how they weren’t scared to fully go deep into the lore of the ark and what happened to everyone. For so long most people only really knew about the ark being raided by GUN and Maria getting shot but never anything more deeper so to see them really going deep within what happened at the ark is so cool, couple that with the nice animation and you got what I think will be the best Sonic animation tie in we’ve gotten so far.

[@GamesCage]

EASILY

[@sonicandm]

I'm actually surprised at how much old lore they're incorporating, even some deep cut stuff i thought was forgotten. There's a lot of subtle, ambiguous details in old material and im excited to see if we get more answers

[@carso1500]

Yeah like i remember people asking how the scientists managed to stop a rampaging emerl with one chaos emerald and now we have our answer, shadow stopped him but their fight likely destroyed a good chunk of the ark Its so cool to finally see that small little tibbit of information from a 20 year old gameboy game animated with this level of quality

[@With2Ls]

I’m so happy they’re bringing in lore from Gerald’s diary in sonic battle cuz he talks about emerl going rogue and destroying part of the ark and I think he says he doesn’t even know who stopped it (now we know it’s shadow) two whole people knew about that diary entry but they’re still bringing it in anyways I love this game

[@GamesCage]

ITS SO COOL

[@Starrmonster02]

I NEED THIS GAME

[@ghostspider2056]

Gerald also researched the Ifrit from Sonic Rivals 2, I’d be happy just to get a small nod to it, doubt it’ll have great importance in Shadow or Emerl’s lore.

[@Starrmonster02]

@@ghostspider2056 ok sure

[@marcoscuadrado9795]

I honestly didn't notice that the series blends 3d with 2d when i watched it on stream they did a great job at hiding it in my opinion

[@GamesCage]

MHMMMM

[@stephaniejohnson5361]

i don't even care its 3d because of how great the 3d models are

[@twistvaldez]

I had to watch it twice before realizing it IS 3D animation. I thought it was so well drawn it looked 3D 😂 Times are changing so fast

[@pepsigotdanghare]

I don't think the GUN Soldiers Glitch is any form of prophetic vision. Remember this is a PROLOGUE Animation for the game. Meaning it takes place just before the start. This Prologue may be before Shadow realizes he's only reexperiencing his memories. He might be fully immersed, unaware, and reliving everything on the ARK. Or maybe he is aware and simply trying in vain to play along and change the past. It would explain why, when he leaves Maria, it pans back from the room, through the hallway he's running in, directly to where Gerald and The Gizoid are. Despite that not being spacially consistent with the direction Maria said Gerald's Lab was. These physical environments are likely just a nonsensical jumble of highlighted memories too. The moment when Maria grabs Shadows hand likely triggered his other memory of the GUN soldiers during the raid on the ARK, as he was holding her hand when trying to get her to safety. This may intend to tell us that any memory of holding Maria's hand is likely tainted by the last time he held her hand before she was shot. Side note: the second playable character in Shadow Gens may be Gemerl instead of Emerl, as Emerl died and Gemerl is both alive and basically a technological reincarnation of Emerl. The games talk about how Gerald encoded a soul into Emerl based on Maria's, and how Gemerl eventually got the same soul encoding. Idk though, pure speculation on my part from stuff I only partially remember.

[@GamesCage]

U right it might just be flashback type beat 😭

[@Daboy.]

Bro the delivery on "professor Gerald made me the ultimate life form I should be the key to all manners of medicine" Was absolutely peak I apologize for ever doubting kirk

[@DatMichaelGuy]

I feel like a Sonic shonen HAS to be their next animated project after Prime (Even if it's a western anime, like Castlevania). Between this and the Knuckles Prologue, it's so clear that there are people at SEGA who want to explore these characters and worlds in a semi-serious setting. Even if it can't go as hard into the lore or darker plot points to appeal to kids, I'm praying we get peak series in the next decade.

[@GamesCage]

PLZZZZZ DUDE PLZZZ

[@ManikoTH73]

It could literally be called Sonic Shonen

[@Geostelar4920]

Sonic X 2 Babeeeeee

[@Josh-wb2me]

I mean Sonic does have MANY things that can appeal to a Shonen such as an optimistic “all mighty” cool hero (Sonic,) rivals (Shadow, Knuckles, etc) lore such as the Echidnas, Dark Gaia, 2006. Topics that can go as dark as an apocalyptic future where everyone’s dead and main topic is hope (Silver) I feel like now it’s the right time for it to happen

[@With2Ls]

I forgot to include this in my first comment but I have a theory what if the reason why it glitches and shows into the future with Maria getting shot is because of black doom like maybe black doom is making shadow re live his past cuz it looks like the same glitches from the radical highway level. But the illusions breaking its like shadows remembering that Maria’s actually dead for a little bit

[@GamesCage]

Yea I could see that

[@joechristo2]

He looks absolutely stunned and he stays looking at Maria not even focusing on the situation at hand, so I can see that glitch being really bad for him

[@TheeHeihachi]

I feel like it is a mix of a lot of things, Black Doom is making him remember everything down to the core. But some of the glitches like when we saw the gun soldiers, could be a representation of the memory manipulation that Gerald did to Shadow when it came to his revenge. To me it looks like we will see not only everything Shadow had personally went through, but also the personal hell that Black Doom causes him along with the fades of False Memories all coming back to him. The soldiers even look demonized because Gerald snapped in prison, hating them and all of existence for what they have done. So I can definitely see them diving deep into Shadow's way of dealing with all of this and how he had to go through his own mental morality.

[@nossir]

Considering Shadow still has amnesia, he only knows his past in the lenses of "Shadow" post heroes, he just got told what happened back then and he found what happened, it's not like he remembered So i can see your theory

[@flameangel2514]

The visuals, the effects, the animation itself are all amazing, I do like that they went with the 3D animation. I am very excited to see all 3 episodes of Dark Beginnings and it will definitely make me cry!!

[@GamesCage]

ITS RAW

[@youtubdude]

The 3d animation reminds me what they did with guilty gear

[@KamusariHR]

3 episodes feels like 20 min gameplay

[@ChrisBleu]

Im so glad that they're starting to handle their franchise and characters with more care. Though I am still stunned at the fact that they took more than 10 years to give Kirk Thornton some backstory of the character hes been voicing. Like, how do you fumble that bad??

[@GamesCage]

ONGOD

[@eomango]

this was truly a dark beginning

[@ghostspider2056]

Ian Flynn vaguely suggested the GUN Commander may also appear on the prologue as a kid like in the Shadow the Hedgehog game.

[@Keyshooter]

one thing that I haven't seen anyone talk about is how the Gizoid (Emerl) does the EXACT KICK Shadow does, which means the Gizoid learned Shadow's attacks (just like in Sonic Battle), also, I agree, I want humans back in the Sonic Universe (just don't repeat an Elise) man... I can't wait for this game

[@prufan]

Elise was a good character.

[@Keyshooter]

@@prufan that's not my complain

[@sb14andmore50]

BRING BACK THE PIXAR HUMANS FROM UNLEASHED SEGA!

[@CodenameNovaVT]

The Sonic Franchise going full anime and taking itself seriously is the best thing to happen to this franchise imo I'll take all the content if it's anything like we're seeing here and I've been a Sonic fan since Heroes! Gimme more!

[@GamesCage]

WE WON

[@CodenameNovaVT]

@@GamesCage WE SURE DID!

[@Thatman615]

Although understandable, it's going to be a bit frustrating to properly inform most new fans, that have unfortunately, always been ignorant to so many things concerning shadows real character, and different parts of old forgotten lore, that's currently slowly beginning to resurface. I've already seen a few people thinking that sega is retconing shadows past, based off of this preview alone. Clearly, that's not the case man...😑 but, it's okay. Because, it's on Sega for choosing to ignore this interesting lore for so long(especially throughout the 2010s...) and it's up to us ancient old sonic historians, to properly inform these newer fans of what's happening, and correct what they've been ignorant of like it or not.

[@GamesCage]

THEY’LL COOK DW

[@nithinshakthithiruppathi4028]

Not all new fans tho. I know a lot of them who know the lore just as much as the old timers.

[@Thatman615]

@@nithinshakthithiruppathi4028 That's why I said most new fans. I never implied all new fans.

[@Electrical010]

Those scratches i noticed during the teaser but this zoom out shows it so much worse. Without it, theyre just soldiers. With it, its like theyre LAUGHING at the situation, enjoying it, demons. From shadows prespective theyre demons, they came in and ruined everything when they were so close to finishing their research. Its like a big joke, and the only ones laughing are the demons.

[@the.bloodless.one1312]

Man seeing Maria and Shadow interacting always makes me tear up. I’m so happy we’re getting more 🥹

[@NinJaguar]

I've been feeling so much gratitude as a Sonic fan these past few years, getting an animation with this level of style and care for the history with Shadow is beyond what I could have imagined happening, especially from like 2010 onwards. Seeing Emerl remembered, seeing a greater spotlight on Maria and Shadow's friendship, seeing the ARK explored fills me with hope and fulfillment

[@heptichexic8504]

I'm gonna frame every single second of the three episodes and put them around my house, the animation and style is seriously so beautiful

[@GamesCage]

YEP

[@EricsonGamingNite]

the shadow glitching effect to gun soldiers really reminds me of Jinx's hallucinations from Arcane! Looks like SEGA is taking that inspiration to Shadow!

[@laniakeas92]

It's such a great source to find inspiration in. Kudos to them really.

[@TheHallow31]

Kirk Thornton here sounds like what I imagine Keanu Reeves will sound like as Shadow but we'll have to see.

[@GamesCage]

MHM

[@stephaniejohnson5361]

I agree with what you said about what episodes may be. Episode 1 most likely is going to be Early life on the Ark, maybe of bit of Shadow's creation and everything about Emerl Episode 2 The Raid, Maria's Death, Gerald's Execution(The poster shows the scene of his execution), Shadow's capture Etc Episode 3 SA2 stuff, Shadow meeting Rouge, Omega being made, Stuff about Sonic, and how Shadow got captured by time eater.

[@GamesCage]

YESSS BROOO

[@Kuhory.]

Shadow's personality is so sOft when Maria is near 😢❤

[@4rttyzz575]

13:24 it's crazy to think that they're showing us so much and so little at the same time

[@GamesCage]

RIGHT?????

[@analystduelist571]

8:39 Shadow gives Maria's hand a reassuring squeeze. It's these kinds of details that hit so hard.

[@GamesCage]

Man😭😭

[@laniakeas92]

Bruh.🤧🤧🤧🤧 Can't stop feeling the feelz. 😭😭😭 7:07

[@luckysix1015]

I really hope whoever wrote the team dark segments gets it right, I remember sega saying that team dark weren’t friends and everyone disliked that.

[@GamesCage]

MHMM

[@lightspeedchaos8420]

I'm calling it right now, once you beat sonic gens and shadow gens their will be a final story where you fight time eater as super sonic and super shadow

[@Edward.Elric18]

gahhh I fuckin hope so brotha

[@GamesCage]

DUDEEEEE

[@sangregato7831]

Holy crap, I didn't even notice the twisted smiley faces on the GUN soldiers at first. Who thought of that?? Totally agree about Kirk's voice direction. He's sounding better now instead of a high school kid going through a goth phase.

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

The fact that the guys that worked on rise of the tmnt are working on not one but two projects involving sonic is crazy because I just know were gonna be settled for peak animation

[@sonicdh6wolf533]

Seeing SEGA care more and more about the series as time goes on makes me have actual hope that after everything is said and done for Shadow, they may go into more stuff for other characters. I am especially looking forward to whenever they start doing stuff for Blaze due to her having an entire dimension and they could also tell more of her backstory along with what she was doing before the events of Sonic Rush.

[@lemon5000-tj6nv]

Imagine showing this to journalists in the early 2010s, they would be malding lol

[@SonicFlameCreator]

It really does feel like a great time to be a Shadow fan. I'm excited to finally see more of the Ark and what it was like outside of the pivotal moments, and seeing Shadow and Emerl fighting really does make me feel great. It does make me wonder how much of this we'll tread in the game, but regardless, I love to see more exploration of Shadow's past.

[@chinglish4129]

The big two things I took away from this teaser are the voice acting and the music, both hinting at much more serious and dark tone. This is how you make Shadow be Sonic but for 18+. Not with edgy lines or gun violence but with themes and story lines that are more serious and adult in nature. And I gotta mention Kirk Thornton's Shadow performance. Honestly the moment I became old enough to distinguish between different voice actors, I hated Thornton's Shadow, the same way that I came to heavily dislike Roger's Sonic but I gotta say, with Frontiers, Shadow's DLC in Forces and now this snippet of animation, both Roger and Kirk's performances have really grown on me and I think Fadel really hit the nail on the head. Both Roger and Kirk didn't reall have much to work with, both writing wise and most likely voice direction wise. But now SEGA's finally getting it's shit together and the future of Sonic has honestly never looked brighter. While Jason Griffith will always be my Sonic and Shadow, I can't wait to see what Kirk brings to the character and who knows, maybe by the end of the animation, Kirk will be the de facto Shadow. All I can say is, we eating good boys

[@GamesCage]

WE ARE WINNINF ALLL THE TIMMEEE

[@laniakeas92]

I don't agree it's for 18+ folks. People of almost all ages can understand that media. Children since 6/8 y o are completely capable of understanding those deep themes, so do adult folks. With this writing/animation and voice acting this media is for every age group. It's so good.

[@SliferIce]

I hope the animators that worked on this get a huge paycheck because this is one of the coolest sonic animations I've ever seen and the fact its not just a 7 min animation but a 3-part episode?! It's just comes to show Shadow is the ultimate KING!

[@GamesCage]

1000%

[@dejariusbright4043]

This was the biggest step in the right direction. The franchise would go absolutely insane if they keep up this momentum.

[@lemon5000-tj6nv]

This ain’t a step, this is an entire leap

[@Dork_000]

Momentum?

[@dejariusbright4043]

@@Dork_000 They been making some great moves toward sonic as a franchise/ media presence. With sonic prime, their IDW comic series, the sonic hedgehog movie trilogy, the previous knuckles prologue for sonic frontiers and sonic frontiers itself breaking the mold for the regular sonic formula and performing decently. They've been riding a wave of innovation lately.

[@Dork_000]

@dejariusbright4043 Ik, I was making a joke because momentum is kinda like a joke in the community

[@dejariusbright4043]

@@Dork_000 See, I felt like it was and did pick up on it but I didn't wanna look stupid if I was wrong.....but alas 😭

[@RR-08]

I still cannot stress enough that I thought this animation was fan made until they dropped the teaser on their official channel... The true "dark age" of sonic is finally over man.. actual new era

[@SUTAZZZ]

I want to cry I didn't think we could get any higher then we already were, and this is just a TEASER for 3EPS

[@ghostspider2056]

I’m guessing this is all a memory illusion by Black Doom which he did in Shadow’s game. Probably why in Shadow Gen level it shifts from the arc to a warping city.

[@brokendreamsbrokenheart5601]

No joke, when I first watched this preview during the panel, I completely froze. It was like the world stopped when Shadow was reassuring Maria that he'd come back. His delivery was so similar to David Humphrey's, but yet still so different too. Honest, it was like I was hearing the character for the first time in my life all over again. I'm still in complete awe. I've been a crazy Shadow fan since day one of his introduction all those 23+ years ago and no joke, Kirk may be my new favorite Shadow voice now. Amazing the difference when an artist is actually given good material to work with.

[@chillihog1543]

My 2014 self after the Boom disaster would have shed tears after what happened this year. First Shadow is making a comeback with Shadow gens, real life Shadow motorcycle, Year of Shadow Fearless marketing, movie, and now 3 episodes of Shadow Anime that will be produced from the same folks who done Rise of TMNT. Man I don’t want this year to be over quick, loving how Shadow finally gets respect in a big way. Still once year of Shadow is over, then hope Tails gets love n his own year cuz he didn’t shine that much compared to Knuxs n even Amy. Then once year of Tails is over, then hope Silver or Blaze or Team Chaotix or Babylons gets their shine next

[@sometf2player752]

10:15 gerlad looks like how he looked when he was giving his last words before the firing squad got him so I wonder if we will get a part that retells that

[@GamesCage]

YEAAAAHH

[@RefreshingMirage]

Thanks to AX, I couldn’t see the smiles from the GUN soldiers, or the soldiers themselves, I CAN SEE IT ALL NOW!

[@Starrmonster02]

Yeah same I’m guessing that’s black doom doing this

[@GamesCage]

YESSSIR

[@shadowfangirl888]

I did not see the drawings on the soldiers faces 🤯🤯🤯 Mannn I need the episodes to come out like yesterday!! I can’t wait !!

[@RameNoodls]

I love ice cream but remove the cream and make it a rabbit -fadel probably

[@GamesCage]

So true

[@RameNoodls]

@@GamesCage police this man

[@KalizWasTak3n]

​@@RameNoodls ong

[@slothboo]

Then bringing back SONIC BATTLE LORE?? I GOTTA PLAY IT NOW RAAAHHH

[@TheeHeihachi]

With this game and the animation I feel like it is a mix of a lot of things, Black Doom is making him remember everything down to the core. But some of the glitches like when we saw the gun soldiers, could be a representation of the memory manipulation that Gerald did to Shadow when it came to his revenge. To me it looks like we will see not only everything Shadow had personally went through, but also the personal hell that Black Doom causes him along with the fades of False Memories all coming back to him. The soldiers even look demonized because Gerald snapped in prison, hating them and all of existence for what they have done. So I can definitely see them diving deep into Shadow's way of dealing with all of this and how he had to go through his own mental morality.

[@GamesCage]

we bout to EAAAAAT

[@rubydragoon720]

Its so awesome to see Emerl, the Gizoids have always been the coolest but sadly most forgotten about Robots in the series.

[@lynxzanimated]

As an animator myself, I love seeing the effort they have put in the show so far. The direction, cinematography, storyboards are a great step up from the short animations we've had recently.

[@liamokeefe937]

This is going to be possibly the darkest and best made Sonic animation yet. There are going all out with this showcasing why Shadow is the ultimate Life form. (Also I'm still slightly convinced that maybe Sega Watch GLITCH Productions for some interpretation for Shadow Gens between the Doom wings feeling like the Solver wings,Black Doom playing mind games like CYN and Those X Eyes. Probably all conviceadents but I can dream.)

[@SonicTheBlueBlur15]

Bro it makes sense that it was emerl, it all makes sense my mind is blown, THIS IS GETTING PEAKER AND PEAKER

[@GamesCage]

MHMMMM

[@J.J.WylieJr9825]

The animation in this short clip is top tier insane and I liked it so much. And like you just said at the end of your video, if this was an anime series in this style would absolutely be OVER and fans would rejoice over it. That's what exactly I was thinking in my head all this time watching this video.

[@cavewulf956]

The Animation is a 2D-3D cell-shaded mix. The cellshading allows it to blend in with 2D drawn assets, which can save a lot of time and money. Also it allows for 2D effects Animation. There are also some moments where shadow or Maria are animated in 2D to allow for movements or shots not possible in 3D. Japan has been getting really good in blending 2D and 3D to get the best looking result.

[@GamesCage]

ITS RAW

[@BigBoyBren2006]

considering Maria’s touch causes that jump to the G.U.N soldiers, which caused Shadow to stagger in shock/fear. I’d chock this up as a nightmare, rather than a glimpse into the future from that point in time. edit: also! Rouge and Omega on the poster? sega finally bringing Team Dark back into canon?

[@burbusburbus8782]

This is the second time that people who had worked on the TMNT IP, eventually also worked on sonic (the first being IDW (I know they're seperate teams, but both are published by IDW))

[@EthanLR]

My interpretation of Gerald is a very loving man hardened with a strong nihilistic perspective towards others. He's battled depression, nihilism, and perhaps anarchism his whole life, Robin Williams kinda vibe. But his saving grace is that hes sees himself as an Nietzsche-like Übermensch capable of overcoming the struggle. His love for good and family fueled the ambition to become or even create a saviour. Maria's own experiences have been curated as she's living in a bubble boy type environment by Gerald's design, thus developing a distilled counterpart of Geralds attitude, the good without the bad. It's so tragic that he was a good man corrupted by the sins of reality. He had a tactic for every card he played but he was also a gambling man that toyed with powers far beyond him. Ironic too it wasn't the ancients, the science, or the cosmic horrors that got to him; instead he was robbed by the very thing he fought both vaultingly for and defiantly against... Humanity.

[@ChaosStar27]

I love the animation so much! Makes me wish we got a sonic game like this. Here's how I think the episodes will go. Episode 1 will be life on the Arc and it will end at Maria's death and Gerald's arrest. Episode 2 will be Pre Black arms. Essentially what happened directly after Heroes leading up to Shadow 05. And Episode 3 will be longer than the last 2 episodes. It will be about Shadow tracking down who ever he's tracking down, Which leads up to the beginning of Shadow Gens.

[@denyzguy1199]

I wonder if Emerl will basically be one of the boss battles or more like a rival battle like they did with Sonic vs. Shadow and vs Silver. That would definitely be awesome, in my opinion.

[@mrelephante]

SO HYPED, CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE

[@ex0tiv]

I can't believe Sonic Team is making the Project: Shadow fan project into their own thing. These 3 episodes will be a joy to watch

[@GamesCage]

How did we win

[@ex0tiv]

​@@GamesCageAll hail Shadow 🗣🗣

[@mchan6215]

This is like, a mini Sonic anime if you really think about it (starring Shadow as the main character too!).

[@GamesCage]

MHM

[@hiimnameless5520]

We might get a young gun commander in the prequel animation, I say this because Ian flynn responded with his signature catchphrase when someone pondered that idea on Twitter. I am slightly disappointed that the game director seemed to have canned any hopes for another playable character. The best case scenario in my eyes is that mystery character (maybe characters if Sega is feeling generous) will act like amy/Tails pre final horizons update

[@Dork_000]

11:51 WTF THATS RAW ASF😭😭

[@GamesCage]

U GET IT

[@thatoneguy4452]

I'm pretty sure the entirety of the teaser is a flashback/dream sequence and that's why there's that brief scene with the GUN soldiers. It's Shadow's memories overlapping with each other.

[@GamesCage]

MMMMMM

[@thatoneguy4452]

@@GamesCage The JP website states that Shadow heads to the ARK due to an omen. Given that the poster shows a shuttle in the background, I think Dark Beginnings is supposed to be showing that Shadow experiencing this omen and travelling to the ARK.

[@therealdk01]

4:55 who is speaking when Emerl is looking around?

[@GamesCage]

It’s a ship member on speaker saying what’s happening

[@therealdk01]

@@GamesCage thanks!

[@ThatOneGhostRat]

I see why they call it a teaser because We're getting getting TEASED

[@turtleboiex]

Im Surprised Sonic Battle was Brought Back and Emerl Gets a Chance to shine

[@Impulse001]

We're watching Maria die twice (maybe three times) this year boys, let's go!

[@LegamSSF]

Any idea on how long each episode could be? Most of the official Sonic animations are 5 minutes tops, so we're probably looking at 15 minutes of PEAK. But I really hope each episode is longer, since I just want more of this kind of animation for sure

[@Romans0nlineYT]

6:23 THIS IS A FRAME FROM A SONIC ANIMATION!!!

[@luizmiguel5484]

this animation only increases my desire to see a new Sonic anime, Emerl looks so strong and threatening like a real fighting machine, the sequence of him and Gerald looking at the approaching Shadow and suddenly they do a clash of kicks so The impact broke the glass in the room and made me jump out of my chair, this is so epic! That's why I would love a remake of Sonic Battle and more emphasis on Gemerl, since he was built with the pieces left over from Emerl he could have more focus, maybe recover the copy ability but in a controlled way to protect Cream? I just want to get that vibe back for a character with a concept with a lot of potential

[@nithinshakthithiruppathi4028]

Fadel, u should have read the description. It reveals a lot about the Prologue Animation’s setting.

[@zenintoji8374]

3 episodes? bro i NEED 25

[@kyahnex825]

Project Shadow Fan Film has now competition

[@rhonddaboy13]

I wouldn't be surprised if there will be one a week in the build-up to Sonic x Shadow Generations.

[@kyurei4478]

It really reminds me of the great times of Sonic games, the early 2000s. They should really do ambitious storylines again. Shadow and his storyline are one of the greatest things that happened to the Sonic franchise. They started doing it again with Sonic Frontiers and I'd like them to continue with this more serious approach cause that's a big part of what made us care about these games back in the day.

[@roxasplbe9925]

I believe the glitch with GUN is probably Shadow is reliving the memories on ARK Also probably during the entire 3 episodes we are going to see the entirety of Project Shadow including Emerl so yeah Sonic Team is cooking something really spicy right now

[@nnightmareg]

we’re actually so back

[@GamesCage]

SO TRUE

[@dalegilmore80]

Absolutely loving the animation, so beautiful. Growing up SA2 was my favourite videogame and Shadow the hedgehog has always been one of my favourite characters. I think that it would be cool to see more Shadow the hedgehog animations like this based on his missions for GUN. The battles and missions Team Dark face daily saving the world and maybe even showing what life is like now for him living at the GUN base. Like maybe a dark comedy vibe. I thought that the Sonic Universe comics did a good job of showing what life was like for him after SA2.

[@dalegilmore80]

Also that shot with the GUN soldiers with the red faces drawn over them was insane!! I'm definitely going to have to check this animation studio out !!

[@gamertoon8230]

I’m so happy SEGA is no longer ashamed of the stories they created in the past. The hype I feel for this prologue and Sonic X Shadow Generations is the most hyped I’ve ever felt for a piece of Sonic Media.

[@NekoPatty06]

Not gonna lie, the animation is actually goated

[@GamesCage]

MHMMMM

[@Peasham]

Tbh shoutouts to the animation for single-handedly making the next movie redundant, like Paramount y'all were cooked in less than 2 minutes pack it up

[@GamesCage]

LOL

[@timjackdirector]

No.

[@PepperMistAnimations]

It *is* thanks to Movie 3 coming out that this/anything related to the Year of Shadow exists though. But the animators should be very proud.

[@NGZ0N3]

CALL ME EMERL THE WAY I GIZOID! Dang Fadel, bringin' Emerl back and show what happened based on the Gerald's journal from Sonic Battle!? Now that's a deepest cut and is so amazing and terrifying seeing Emerl as the dangerous being it is (I still remember that crazy final boss haha)! It's definitely the highlight from the teaser for me but don't get it wrong, the whole dang was amazing and I'm looking so forward to it!

[@CarlosGabriel-pv4dn]

some notes I want to share (: 6:07 looks inspired by jinx from arcane and how she deals with trauma and schizophrenia. 6:56 The music looks an orchestral version of Lost Impact, the stage in shadow the hedgehog where you're guided by maria and its 20min long. Edit: ( its actually sky troops )

[@GamesCage]

UR RIGHT

[@thelastwindwaker7948]

My question if Emerl's existence is going to be elaborated on any further. If so, will it treat Dark Brotherhood like it doesn't exist? Lord knows they can't make a sequel without risking legal issues from the inventor of parents and echidnas in Sonic media.

[@scrunkore]

they'll probably just make it so emerl was the only surviving gizoid and forget most of the chronicles lore

[@thelastwindwaker7948]

@@scrunkore Probably. After the moon and "Sonic from another dimension" it wouldn't surprise me.

[@son-of-1810]

I do hope these are available in game, they could easily be an unlockable. Looking forward to what else they show off, cause damn this is looking great

[@GamesCage]

I WISH

[@FuzHammer]

The zoom in did give a level of intimacy and vulnerability to the Maria moment but thank god we got my goat Emerl in his full zoomed out greatness

[@themarblegardener7925]

The gun soldiers with the faces drawn over them, remind of jinx in arcane when she has her little episodes 😅🙈

[@GamesCage]

UR RIGHT

[@themarblegardener7925]

@@GamesCage shadows just having a little menty b, sure it’s nothing to worry about 😇

[@ghostspider2056]

This prologue needs to be recommended even to general audiences who just watch the films.

[@NavyBlueDude]

I'M SHOOK

[@GamesCage]

SHOOK

[@laniakeas92]

I wonder if Sega folks finally understood that "catroonishly" looking and desinged characters dealing with serious stuff and themes is peak fiction. The contrast is what draws people in. Such media can be for people of all ages because it represents universal themes.

[@xinimaru7200]

So..I'm low-key now think that Shadow's battle with Emerl is what made GUN afraid of him. If they couldn't control the gizoid, whose to say they could control the Ultimate Life Form? Hence why the ARK Raid happened, fear.

[@LittleLexi24]

Fear truly can be a dangerous thing.

[@gwstudios343]

Honestly with this I have so many questions about how this going to turn out and how this is going to be incorporated into the game. I can’t wait until this and the game comes out, I’m so excited! 😊

[@kadosho02]

Sonic Adventure 2, seeing parts of Shadow's memories. Why he chose to act, motivations, driven, focused, but also has a heart. Then more fragments in Shadow the Hedgehog. 06' finding a better path. Forces, literally in a better place, fighting for something. I have always wondered in Adventure 2 & in StH, if those memories were fragments to begin with. If Black Doom is trying to mess with those shifting perspectives, to give Shadow more reason to "awaken". Programming that alters his awareness, making him their warrior. Also pondered for awhile: is Shadow a symbiote? So many questions I have had since Adventure 2 & StH. Maybe more things will unfold, come undone about Shadow Always felt like something was missing on purpose. We were never meant to know everything

[@alicesacco9329]

Shadow can be considered a sort of fully organic android. He is a living being but he was built and Gerald deals with him as he is dealing with a robot. His intelligence is AI. But maybe is exactly because of his organic form that he suffer this much. Maria seems the only one who treat Shadow as a living being.