Shadow the Hedgehog: The Very Cool, Kid-Friendly Game for HaRdc0r3 EDGEl0rdz | GEEK CRITIQUE

By 2005, it was clear that the Sonic the Hedgehog series had lost its shine. A few years of critically-panned games sent this icon of the industry spiraling. The franchise, the company, the FANDOM, we all needed a win.
What we got was Shadow the Hedgehog.
Shadow Voice Acting by DefinitiveDubs: / @definitivedubs
Sonic Voice Acting by Penny Parker: / @pennysnapcube
Gokai Geek art by KashCashArt: / kashcashart
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Twitter: / tgcritique

[@vvlaze]

On that bit in the opening about the Sonic series being about different animals, I really wish they had made Shadow a Tenrec. Having black fur with yellow highlights would’ve not only LOOKED cooler, it would be a nice inside joke, since another name for the Tenrec is “Fake Hedgehog”.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

DAMN that's clever.

[@Valekath]

BlazingAnimations Funny thing is that one of the multiplayer skins (yes, this game has multiplayer) is a version of Shadow that had yellow highlights. I can’t point to anything definitive, but perhaps there’s an early design of Shadow that was a tenrec.

[@BlazingMuphins]

but Sonic is the fake hedgehog around here

[@hyperpowerfulform5132]

@@BlazingMuphins -I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!

[@rafaeltrindadelau]

So basically those Shadow Android sprites that appear on flash animations?

[@icey244]

For his side special, Shadow wields a gun.

[@spongebobplushiestuff8612]

*YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMING*

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

Kirby inhales Shadow. His copy ability: GUN.

[@spongebobplushiestuff8612]

@@TackyRackyComixNEO shadow is a echo of joker

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

@@spongebobplushiestuff8612 I'd laugh

[@spongebobplushiestuff8612]

@@TackyRackyComixNEO lel

[@flutterymuffins]

*Game Devs*- read your instruction manuals. *2000s kids*- our manuals are getting smaller! *2010s kids*- our manuals are literally 2 pages! *kids now*- You guys got manuals?

[@ethanxpsp2770]

God I miss manuals

[@nousername191]

@@ethanxpsp2770 I share your pain.

[@ethanxpsp2770]

@@nousername191 i mean instruction manuals were so cool and fun to read and even contained info not in the game at all one of my favorite examples comes from the mega man x collection for ps2 as it featured parts of Dr cane's journal entries so you get to read about his thoughts about certain events it's really freaking awesome

[@GeekCritique]

I remember in 2nd grade, taking a survey of all the other game players in my class, and being FLABBERGASTED to learn that I was the only kid who read the manuals. NOBODY else knew the glory of Cranky Kong's quips in the DKC2 manual, and I felt so bad for them!

[@spongebobplushiestuff8612]

@@GeekCritique noice

[@Gordypow]

I remember my Mom came in once while I was playing Shadow. I died a few times in a row and Shadow let out a few of his classic "DAMN, NOT HERE!'s and she gave me a look of disgust. "Does he have to say that word?" "Only when I die, mom."

[@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225]

*_Shadow the Hedgehog_*_ - he cusses when you suck at the game._

[@RedSpade37]

Why is this so poignant?

[@ozguy5196]

Fourteen years on, and the Walk of Game induction is still bafflingly hilarious. That's the equivalent of winning the Nobel Prize, coming out on stage, and professing your love for the Emoji Movie.

[@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225]

Not everyone can say they celebrated their fanchise's induction ceremony by figuratively shooting that franchise's legacy in the face...!

[@megabuster3940]

Sega is run by tone deaf gibbons

[@crazyfistx2502]

@@megabuster3940 haha run haha fast gotta go fast haha running haha My mind is long gone thx

[@orangeslash1667]

@@megabuster3940 Sega is run by Sammy.

[@jonathanlgill]

Or perhaps the equivalent of physically assaulting an awards show host on television moments before winning a Best Actor Oscar award.

[@_Snowflame]

My favorite part is how he chambers the first bullet of his *pump action* submachine gun. Apparently the overstuffed sausages he's somehow using as fingers can't work the action of a normal modern firearm. Shadow is an icon for accessibility.

[@_Snowflame]

Sonic standing on top of a Fisher Price spaceship as it parallel parks next to a catwalk over Prison Island's nonsense jungle is a close second.

[@JesusJavier-MyAccount]

Travis: overstuffed sausages I liked that.

[@demondton96]

Where's that *REDACTED* fourth chaos emerald!?

[@liamclarke91]

Where's that DEMONETIZED fourth chaos emerald?!

[@VLikaru]

FIND THE COMPUTER ROOM!

[@kylegrefe4399]

@@VLikaru 06 fandub: WE FOUND THE COMPUTER ROOM

[@XSniper74184]

Skidadle skidacted, this SPC's [REDACTED]!

[@theenglishman]

Kyle Grefe We can play so much Fortnite in here, dude!

[@DarkHenrik1]

16:02 "Death to all who oppose me, the ultimate Stretch Armstrong." XD best line ever.

[@Meganstaek]

The stop sign was my favorite weapon

[@kylecampbell565]

36:55 there’s actually an answer for this.... in Sonic Battle for the GBA. One of the entries in Gerald Robotnik’s diary mentions he based most of his creations off of stuff found in Angel Island and its shrine. In Sonic 3 and Knuckles there’s an altar foretelling the final battle of the game showing Super Sonic squaring against Robotnik. It’s likely Gerald based Shadow’s design off this mural

[@MajoraZ]

It goes further then this: In SA2, the Biolizard is likely based on the Chaos mural, and the artificial chaos enemies on the ARK are clearly the result of him studying Chaos. This is more or less confirmed explictly with the fact that the Eclipse Cannon's control panel has Maya gylph's on it, and the Cannon's core's shrine is clearly based on the Lost World ruins from SA1, with an outright replica of the Master Emerald Shrine, while supplamental material confirmes the Chaos drives GUN robots use were developed by Gerald studying this stuff. Finally, The Japanese official guide includes a report from Rouge, and some Japanese dialog in game which was mistranslated in the dub, and some correctly translated (but obscure due to it only happening way into the Final Hazard fight when most players have already finished it) dialog implies that Shadow actually isn't the final ultimate life form, but a prior revision or a copy (so the stuff from Heros about him not being the real shadow was actually building on existing ideas), and that the final version might be Sonic himself. He actually even mentions this later in the video.

[@quesocoatl21]

@@MajoraZ Wow! I played Sonic Battle but it must've been long ago because I sure didn't remember that bombshell.

[@kenanwallace2124]

@@MajoraZ truth be told towards the end of finalhazard I think Shadow does admit that Sonic might be the true ultimate life form. Good or bad I miss even there's games had stories, ideas and lore that was being built on properly and kept me interested. Not much of that post Black Knight to be honest.

[@theimpersonator7086]

It's a shame that Sonic Lore had to be mauled by mistranslations, inconsistencies, and poor handling of it. Why the hell was this information locked behind a side game instead of mainline game. I would honestly love a reboot or soft reboot of the games

[@kylecampbell565]

The Impersonator the last time we had a soft reboot we got 06.

[@nottrash9034]

Does anyone remember the eggman boss when he would just keep saying "You know what they say the more the merrier" almost each time he'd attack?

[@bludgeon1081]

Not Trash Yeah, thats pretty much all he did.

[@AegixDrakan]

**screams and clutches his head** Why did you remind meeeee?!

[@chocov1233]

I think that was Egg Dealer, which in itself is a stupid boss fight.

[@JonnySpec]

"Lights out! **slam** Lights out! **slam** Lights out! **slam** You know what they say, the more the merrier! You know what they say, the more the merrier! You know what they say, the more the merrier!"

[@Oblivion-gm3nw]

If I remember right, it's called the Egg Breaker. Egg Dealer is the slot machine on wheels.

[@theimperfectionist3383]

Guys I figured out why Shadow has amnesia and what happened to his backstory! Sega forgot!

[@bigshow196]

"I put hot sauce on EVERYTHING! From cereal, to miiilllk........ITS WHAT I DOOO!!!....As the Ultimate Lifeform" *-Shadow the Hedgehog*

[@halo3odst]

Shadow the hedgehog: every 2000s kid's guilty pleasure

[@Josh-The_Spooky_Bastard-]

This makes too much sense.

[@Timquan.]

I wasnt guilty tho

[@mr.kevin1209]

*Edge eht wo*

[@halo3odst]

You did that wrong kevin

[@mr.kevin1209]

@@halo3odst yeah

[@patdav56]

"I'm not 4 kids. IM NOT FOR KIDS, HEAR ME KZbin!!!!!" Well now everyone in the olive garden is staring at the 18 year old who burst out laughing

[@blackhoggaming]

The Pokeman 52 he predicted COPPA

[@147CT]

Holy shit this Olive Garden joke was prescient.

[@reloadpsi]

Did you get your voucher for it by saving the world from Jim Carrey?

[@Spamus]

Always watch Sonic content at Olive Garden

[@miniluv7330]

Have you tried their Never-Ending Pasta Bowl? It never ends!

[@AniGaAG]

Sonic: "First I learned to Spin Dash, then I invented the Homing Attack!" Shadow: "I got a gun." Sonic: ... _learns to boost_ Shadow: "Shit, shit, shit -" _Quickly learns it too_

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

So long story short: Shadow The Hedgehog is everything that COULD have gone wrong with Starfox 64.

[@blockmanb-side6633]

70th like. Sorry I ruined it.

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

Bob Smith it’s okay. At least you’re not playing Mario Tennis: Power Smash and pretending it’s Gex...

[@thegreatgonzales6813]

Gecko 1993 Ahaha! Classic Gex line!

[@preachergamer4250]

"Cloud in FF7 vs Cloud since" I laughed out loud harder than I should.

[@DannyPhantomBeast]

Both Sonic and Shadow's ethics are friend focused. Shadow only had one friend for most of his life: Maria. When she died his world died. And so Shadow wanted to destroy the world. Remember Sonic originally went after Eggman because he was using Sonic's friends to power his robots. He cares about the world at large because of his many personal connections. But Shadow slowly but surely learned how to care about and befriend other people. Then he remembered what Maria said, that everyone deserves a chance at happiness. Also a major theme in Sonic's theme song. That everyone should be free to pursue their dreams. That's now their shared moral conviction. The main differences between them is circumstance.

[@mr.kevin1209]

This... Actually makes a lot of sense

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

Exactly, his name isn't just an edgy name for edginess sake, he's literally Sonic's shadow in more ways than his looks. The thing is shadow is not a miserable edgy sad sack, that's a flanderization that Sonic Heroes started; which was trying to have it's cake and eat it too by having Shadow be or not be the original Shadow. In this game he's much more exaggerated mostly because of the branching paths. And I think the KZbinr overstates how many people were against it, a lot of kids had been constantly sending letters to Sega to give sonic a gun for some reason. A lot of kids, & probably teens but less open, were super into it

[@AllardRT]

Shadow just had one bad day, if you catch my drift.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Except the friendship was never a major focus for in his main line stories. He was more about freedom and fun. To get your perspective you would need external material.

[@ignaciogomez7403]

I ain't got nothing against the guy's story, I just hate how he has the demeanor of the aforementioned miserable edgy sad sack when it feels like he's being forced into it. Shadow is not meant to be childishly edgy, he is meant to be actually traumatized, and you can still see how this sort of story is really just way too dark for Sonic, it creates this extreme dissonance between the entire surrounding of a fun, rushing feeling to suddenly fuck you, your sister gets killed by soldiers and now you're traumatized.

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

23:50 If I may quote Anakin, I believe the phrase you're looking for is *"This is outrageous! This is unfair!"*

[@nicholastosoni707]

THIS! IS! SPARTAAAAAAAA! I had to say it.

[@LegioXXI]

What about the droid attack on the wookies?

[@theneedforspeeder9575]

Hello there

[@thedata58ify]

I get where you're coming from with your distaste for Shadow, but I see the character a completely different way. While characters like Knuckles, Metal Sonic, and even Silver are all made to contrast Sonic in various ways, Shadow is made to reflect him. Not what he could've been, but what he is. You see Shadow as being a shadow in name only due to a drastically different backstory and a brooding demeanour, and I'll admit for this game and everything after it that's very accurate. But when the character started out, while he looked dark and brooding and nothing like Sonic on the surface, the more you see of him the closer the two seem. Shadow's calm and collected, he's cocky and cracks one liners, and his ego is three times the size of his head. All stuff just like the blue blur. It's why the faker scene in SA2 is so funny, it's these two massive unflinching egos trying to out-ham each other. It's all the same cockiness and charm of Sonic wrapped up in a smoother voice, and that's all I need from him. Shame that this take on Shadow was completely abandoned after Heroes in favour of crossing his arms while looking off into the distance.

[@GeekCritique]

Ah, that is SO true, and something I'd never really consciously thought about. I think Shadow's portrayal post-SA2 colored the way I saw him in SA2, but you're absolutely spot-on.

[@nerrvous1]

The Geek Critique Yea, well made video but i’m not a fan of how much you ripped apart this game just for being “t0o eDgE,” it was a cool game a super entertaining (for kids) and the narrative was just bleak and complex enough to challenge my little mind back then.

[@linguicaguy]

@@nerrvous1 But it *is* too edge. I grew up with this game, and even I'll admit how badly it fucks up everything it was trying to do. From the gameplay, to the mission structure, to the story telling -- *everything* this game does that should've made it an interesting and fun standout title in the franchise ended up turning it into a repetitive, confusing, and laughable excuse at an attempt to flesh out a fan favorite character.

[@nerrvous1]

linguicaguy none of that shit should matter if you were actually a child when you played it, unless your actually older then me or were some super mega genius child that could actually tell the difference between good and mediocre games (I couldn’t)

[@linguicaguy]

@@nerrvous1 Well yeah, as a kid I would play damn near everything. I won't pretend I didn't love the game as a kid, but it's not something that would ever leave a lasting impact on me years later. It didn't have anything worth remembering. It was just surface-level angst for the sake of angst.

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

"I like Spiderman more than...." "Venom?" "more than Batman"

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

In fairness, they are probably the two most popular superheroes.

[@RacingStripeAV]

You spelled "Spider-Man (by that I mean 'that one' from Spider-Man 3)" wrong.

[@cajozack]

TheGuyWhoIsSitting SAME

[@loregasmic]

Venom would've been more fitting.

[@Degdreams]

@@loregasmic Nah. Venom is more commonly associated as a full villain and not an antihero. I know he IS an antihero, but I think the general public still think hes a villain

[@alfo2804]

6:52 Shadow's origin seems to have no relation to Sonic on the surface, but actually their purposes and backstories are closely linked - it just requires some reading between the lines. Shadow was concieved to be the Ultimate Lifeform by Gerald Robotnik, who at some point visited Angel Island (he built a full-on replica of the Master Emerald shrine, after all) and must have seen the Echidna Tribe's prophecy of Super Sonic beating Eggman and being presented as a godlike figure. Sonic wasn't born at the time, so Gerald designed his Ultimate Lifeform to closely resemble that of the one in the mosaic, hence why Shadow has upward pointing spines. He is so close to being Sonic, not because he's supposed to be some kind of dark antithesis, but because Gerald literally built Shadow to fill the role of what Sonic was destined to be. They're closer than you'd initially think, and SA2's story is actually rather deeply connected to the previous Sonic games.

[@DragonRaiderX9]

This would actually go a decent way to justifying the Master Emerald's inclusion in SA2, which was otherwise just kinda there. I wouldn't have thought of that. Nice thinking.

[@Digolgrin]

This is actually explicitly stated in Sonic Battle, of all games, but it's pretty darn nice to know that the seeds for that explicit statement really were laid all the way back in SA2. I didn't even think of it that way until I read this comment, and just thought Sonic Battle was the place where that question got answered. Nope! My personal headcanon is that Sonic really is the 'true' Ultimate Life Form (though perhaps 'Chosen One' is more apropos) whose purpose is to lead the world into a brighter future built on the backs of the Chaos Emeralds, but it *is* very Messianic (and Infinite is involved as a kind-of Judas figure who is apparently destined to be Sonic's end) so maybe it wouldn't hit home with everybody. :P

[@alfo2804]

@@danjoredd I don't know if it's ever been fully confirmed, but the Biolizard was probably a very early experiment that ultimately failed, leaving Gerald with a Frankenstein's monster of a creature that could barely walk and had to be kept alive via a massive set of equipment attached to its back. In SA2 it's called the "prototype of the ultimate life", which supports the idea that it was a failure but also that it included many attributes that would go on to be used in the final Ultimate Lifeform, such as chaos control. Gerald probably knew that the creature was almost useless, so it was left to guard the ARK under his command while he was developing the true Ultimate Lifeform.

[@DanieleMulas-up7np]

@@Dalvory He's way too biased towards "Muh liet harted platfowmerz" to be objective. I dread the day he releases a Colors video, regurgitating all the same excuses that it was good "cuz liet harted n phun" (when lazy, blocky 2D shoehorned so obsessively into a 3D game and shitty, gimmicky Mario power-ups are anything but fun) or because it didn't take itself seriously. So sick of hearing these basement dwellers spouting the same crap over and over......

[@agentshadowth]

Daniele Mulas THIS It’s shit like this is what resulted in Sonic Forces’ existance

[@TheProswagonist]

6:50 "Shadow's origin has absolutely nothing to do with Sonic." Maybe not his own personal history, but Shadow's creation in the game likely has everything to do with Sonic. Remember the entire purpose of the Shadow Project was to create the ultimate life form. This life form was hinted at in SA1 with the hieroglyphs found in the game showing what we now know what Sonic fighting Chaos. However because they didn't know who h of the two was the ultimate life form, they tried making both. It's why you see those bargin bin Chaos enemies in sa2. They were failed attempts at recreating Chaos. So they tried making the other create they saw in those glyphs, a hedgehog. So Shadow being so similar in abilities to Sonic makes sense in the overall narrative of the adventure games, because he was designed from a prophecy about Sonic.

[@scorcoz]

Thank you

[@Glitch-Artist]

^

[@agustinmaliauskas8720]

Holy dang. Never though about something like that ._.

[@BigBoy257]

Also, don’t forget the mural in Sonic & Knuckles

[@Hugo-yz1vb]

@@BigBoy257 Wich is why Shadow has spikes that go upwards since he was inspired by Super Sonic

[@bioticninja2170]

Holy crap, you actually completed EVERY SINGLE PERMUTATION OF THE GAME? Bro... who hurt you?

[@papersonic9941]

Doubt that, probably used a cheat.

[@mizutsunebubbledragon3382]

I did cuz my mom got it for my birthday and we weren't exactly rich to just drop a game like that so i completed out of not really having many options lol. Also I'm something of a completionist...sadly

[@id-f8679]

I fucking hate permutations.

[@carmencamellia3734]

The bush years were insane and everyone was insane during thtem

[@rev311mycrown6]

And everything is normal nwo

[@propheinx2250]

@@rev311mycrown6.......... is that sarcasm?

[@ygobe2]

Gaming in the Clinton years be like

[@cosmeokid]

14:16 "make sure you don't forget to pick up extra swords to refill your SWORD AMMO" destiny 2: *nervous sweating*

[@mtallmen184]

I feel personally attacked by the intro, since my first Sonic game was SA2 Battle and when I was 10 in 2005 and saw Shadow holding a gun in a gaming magazine I thought it was awesome

[@danielblaise156]

Well you were the target audience for it.

[@TheAzulmagia]

I still find it kind of funny that Shadow's best characterization came in Sonic 2006, the game that dropped the ball on almost literally everything else. Honestly, if they found some way to work Iblis and Solaris in, you could probably take his route in that game and make a solo (or Team Dark) game about it.

[@YujiUedaFan]

And then Shadow didn't do anything after 06.

[@TheAzulmagia]

@@YujiUedaFan True, but at least he didn't reverse characterization like Tails.

[@huntercrunch94]

​@@TheAzulmagia As someone who's favorite character has been Tails since I was a kid, that moment when he cowers in fear from Chaos and cries for Sonic was just offensive. His whole plot arc (if you can call it that) in Adventure 1 was him learning to do things without Sonic around, and now he's basically useless. Thanks, Sonic Team.

[@himothy9871]

BlueMageDanny shadow in sonic 06 had a great story. I get goosebumps in his final fight against mephilis

[@kenanwallace2124]

Yeah, I'm glad that he finished with his past self in Shadow the Hedgehog so that in Sonic 06 his story can move forward. it was undoubtedly his best characterisation

[@sharzinlalebazri5673]

Finally... someone who critiques something more deep and important than "the game has guns and explosions" and even does the forbidden act of giving credit where credit's due.

[@oneheckofabanana2016]

Shadow the Hedgehog is the ultimate game! Because I walk around with darkness in my soul that can not be vanquished only I can know the true depths of Shadow the Hedgehog!

[@Trainfan1055Janathan]

Shadow: "Damn..." Me: "Um, you don't have to say 'damn' every time ya get punched in the gut..."

[@bloo2867]

"Lost Impact is the worst level in Sonic franchise!!" The Doom: Allow me to introduce myself...

[@dr6559]

BlueRevue It’s pick your poison ultimately.

[@d.m.c1106]

Technically they are the same level but with lost impact being more slow.

[@KingKayro87]

I actually really liked Lost Impact

[@e-tean-son4146]

They aren't nowhere near as bad as the Team Chaotix extra mission in BINGO HIGHWAY that one it's awful, that doesn't mean i like those other levels (some levels in the game bring me either frustration, boredom or anxiety)

[@mariofan1ish]

Both of those are awful, but there's a level that takes place in cyberspace (not Digital Circuit) that has an Evil Path mission to destroy bombs along the circuits at the end of the level. There's like 50 of them, and they're all in what's essentially a maze. It's not at all a pleasant experience, and as a bonus, you barely interact with anything since the circuit travel is automatic. At least The Doom and Lost Impact let you play the game!

[@latheredtrillionaire5701]

I'm drunk, my food just got here, and I finished my Black Friday shopping. I am SO ready for this. Lay it on me, Josh!!!

[@buster3041]

Never seen someone that wanted the sloppy walrus so badly fam.

[@dylanpaez9450]

“This was, oddly enough, the first 3D game in the series where you control a single character.” But TGC! _How could you forget the first true 3D Sonic game and the greatest Sonic title to exist:_ *_Sonic 3D Blast?!_*

[@joemama8018]

Yet he has the xbox version which is the only version to not have co-op

[@BrandonGiesing]

Because that's not actually 3D, it's an isometric 2D game

[@dylanpaez9450]

@@BrandonGiesing I'm gonna assume you're being ironic here.

[@BrandonGiesing]

@@dylanpaez9450 No, it's legit not a 3D game, it doesn't use any 3D models, it's all 2D sprites. Same thing as with games like the OG DOOM, they aren't true 3D titles cause hardware back then couldn't handle real 3D so they faked it.

[@dylanpaez9450]

@@BrandonGiesing I'm gonna assume you don't understand sarcasm or even irony for that matter.

[@MATTCROSSVids]

gotta say, that transition to the starfox 64 comparison was smooth af. blew my mind that i didnt think about shadow's map progression in that way

[@ootdega]

That...isn't an MP5. It has an AR-15 receiver. I have no idea what it actually _is_, but it's not an MP5. It has an MP5A3 stock and no buffer tube, so it must be piston-operated. It would be possible to make the forend act as the charging handle, and that has historically been done once or twice, but it's not an intuitive solution. Or maybe, ya know, it's a generic gun-shaped shooty thing made of an amalgamation of parts modeled by people who have no idea how a gun works and I'm just being a nerd. Someone _could_ actually make it, though. Wouldn't even be that hard, truth be told. But I hope they don't.

[@Linkin-2603]

What’s a MP5, I know about MP3 and MP4 files but not MP5

[@theinfantmetroid]

@@Linkin-2603 oh my god

[@Linkin-2603]

Don’t worry I’m joking with everyone here, I know Mp5 is a gun. I know basically nothing about guns or have no interest in them because I’m not an American, I’m an Australian. All I need is a machete,Boomerang and bow and arrow

[@armorfrogentertainment]

The fact that it's a pump-action automatic carbine should let you know it's not a real weapon.

[@Linkin-2603]

ArmorFrog Entertainment the hell is a pump automatic carbine?

[@jegnawbanjaw8353]

Accurate title, all us edge lords need some shadow edginess.

[@CaveyMoth]

I'm going to leave a DAMN like.

[@runningoncylinders3829]

@@CaveyMoth I'm going to show TGC that I do in fact give a DAMN!

[@CaveyMoth]

@@runningoncylinders3829 Yeah! I like that he showed one of the cute Shadow plushies made by GE Entertainment.

[@jegnawbanjaw8353]

AND YOU BETTER SEND SOME DAMN MORE

[@m.f.m.8290]

You could say it's a game for hedgelords, hmm?

[@dandastardly2792]

Im currently 30 and Shadow is my favorite character. "Cooler then sonic?" No but I enjoy the idea of Shadow.

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

Michael Lawre, I was going to say that I like all of the Sonic characters, but Shadow has always been all time favorite Sonic character.

[@WaterKirby1994]

Shadow actually is cooler than Sonic these days because of how badly he's been portrayed throughout the entire 2010s decade. Sega & Sonic Team have not been kind to their characters the past 10 years.

[@WaterKirby1994]

​@Umbuko DaJuko Sonic was supposed to be cool & both Ryan Drummond & Jason Griffith were able to portray him as a cool blue hedgehog. Sonic actually had emotions like anger & sadness before the 2010s joke direction started. Adventure-Black Knight Sonic would have an emotional reaction if he learned of his fate. Being replaced by some fake version of himself who can't take anything seriously & can't be taken seriously. IGN & other critics wanted Sonic to be reduced to the awful joke he has been since 2010. Actual long term fans who grew up with SatAM, 3K, the Adventure Games, & Sonic X know they were being betrayed the entire 2010s decade. In 2013 Sega issued mandates that show how little they understand their own characters. Sonic is supposed to lose occasionally, he's supposed to feel anger towards injustice, & he's supposed to be this cool Shonen Protagonist. I remember the days when Sonic would go up against monsters that were said to be gods using teamwork & the power of the chaos emeralds. Unfortunately Sonic's friends were disrespected just as much as Sonic himself & have hardly been playable just because the critics didn't like them. Cream, Vanilla, Team Dark, Emerl, Blaze, Silver, & Marine were all far better characters than the crappy 2010s game characters we got. Orbot, Cubot, certain Boom Exclusive characters, & The Zeti were worse than any of the significant game characters introduced in the 2000s. The series needs to see a return to form, a return to the Adventure Way of doing things. The Adventure Games should be used as a guide for 3D Gameplay, & for who Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles are meant to be as characters. 06 is the best guide for who Shadow is supposed to be. I could make further lists although the fact of the matter is true blue fans know the series far better than its creators. We need stories like what we often got during the 2000s decade & in Sonic Adventure. Instead of just creating new characters, perhaps we could see the return of well liked characters? Classic Fans demanded the return of Mighty & Ray for 15 full years before Mania Plus made them playable again. Japan likes cat girls, maybe giving Honey the Cat a modern redesign could make the series more popular there. Sega is well known for its history of dumb decisions & failing the Sonic Series so badly the past decade is part of that. You have to wonder how they are so blind when it comes to their own series & how to make it appeal to Japanese audiences. Or how little Sonic Team understands the actual fans of the series.

[@alfa01spotivo]

@Umbuko DaJuko so it is realistic then if people are optimistic

[@returnedtomonkey8886]

Hey , Vegeta is not brooding. He's a hothead. Totally different.

[@Next-xm2dh]

I don't think that's the Point, the Idea Is that he's an Anti hero and the guy here doesn't usually like then

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Vegeta doesn't really brood.

[@tearlach47]

When I was playing Sonic Generations for the first time, I was excited to see what the "Shadow the Hedgehog" level was going to be after the Heroes level... and then it just went to Crisis City. That actually was a disappointment to me since I grew up with this game and always thought of it as a mainline series title. I guess Generations defined it as a spinoff canonically.

[@Shadamyfan-rs8xc]

I think that was cause you don't really play as sonic in that game

[@sb6196]

@Martino Fontana they aren't talking about the battle against shadow they were saying they were expecting a level from shadow the hedgehog the game and was disappointed there wasn't one.

[@tylergianchetta3946]

I mean Sonic was 13 years old when this came out, and Unleashed came out 3 years later. It makes sense that Sonic hit his emo phase

[@chocov1233]

Are you jokingly implying that Unleashed was emo?

[@tylergianchetta3946]

Chocov 123 ...maybe

[@lugbzurg8987]

*14, actually. This DID come the year before the 15th anniversary game, after all.

[@MerelyAFan]

Shadow's decision to be derivative in so many fashions was its downfall, but more significantly it was doing so without an understanding of why they worked.. The dark/edgy tone of "mature" games at the time could be obnoxious, but there were franchises in which that worked. and the same everything else that StH threw in. Morality systems, multiple endings, branching paths, gunplay, the list goes on; anyone could name games where such concepts were executed extremely well. This game never gets anywhere close to that level because for all its experimental gameplay features, their use within the game proper is too shallow and feeling very much like it was in merely because Sega knew it was popular. Its strangely fitting that Shadow was the darker version of Sonic given that his game ends up being the dark equivalent to the Sonic Adventure dualogy's ambitions and by comparison far too drenched within the popular trends of its time period.

[@RaVisions]

This. Comment is rated 10/10

[@bluedragon9925]

The memes this game spawned ("Ow the Edge", "That DAMN fourth chaos emerald", "FiNd ThE cOmPuTeR rOoM", etc.) are the only good things that came out of it...

[@marx4538]

@₮Ĥ€Ø They are funny when you realize people are legitimately angry at them for no reason.

[@otakamerd1220]

The fact that this game is played so straight is inexplicably charming to me The juxtaposition of Sonic and Co with heavy weapons and metal really does bring a smile to my face

[@ancient7421]

This is probably the best analysis of the game I've heard in quite some time. All that ever gets out nowadays is "slippery controls, convoluted plot, and GUNS". While there isn't a ton, you made sure to cover the things Shadow did right, the concepts that, while poorly executed, showed some promise. One thing you always make sure to nail is how the flaws could have been avoided or compensated for, and it shows stronger the worse the game. You were able to quite brilliantly hypothesize a way that Other M could have at least been a stronger plot, among other fixes. You made some fine points about what Shadow had the groundwork to become and how the execution could have been altered to have potentially brought the game to its full glory. The lack of a straight bash (a breath of fresh air) combined with your format and analysis of its good parts as well as the bad was quite amazing. Great job, this was worth the wait!

[@GeekCritique]

Thank you so much! :D

[@AshkarBehek0]

@@GeekCritique And as someone who guilty pleasures most dark age sonic games (having grown-up in that era) I also really appreciate youtubers like you who always take time to look at both sides of the coin and don't just blabber about the same faults everyone's already talked about to death for 10 minutes. Thank you.

[@TheWorldsBiggestFan89]

Also the Moon.

[@okagron]

Saying that something could have been done better or what could have been done for the game to be better doesn't matter at all in the end. Talking about isn't gonna change a thing and honestly, every game in existence could have been done better. Literally the only thing that isn't a disaster in this game are the guns and it's clearly where most of the effort went into. Trying to find good things outside of that in this game is pretty much impossible, given how terribly made mess this game is.

[@Shalakor]

@@okagron Doesn't change anything, but it's not like reviews on decade old games are meant to inform your purchase. It's interesting and entertaining to examine what the actual faults with a game are via conceptualizing what factors would have needed to be changed to make it work as it should have for what it was going for. Of course it's all a big mess, but a lot of the brokenness in a majority of these game comes from how poorly the various elements interact with each other rather than how broken each individual element is. It's a fun and useful thought experiment precisely because every game, or any other media, could have been done better. But, it's also important to know what would be a said better scenario for a set of given elements, or you risk further alienating the people trying to enjoy it. Take the contentious state of the reception of Majora's Mask 3D, as a for instance. Technically, every change was an improvement, but improving a bunch of elements is not always that simple, and can lead to the whole losing something from many people's perspectives, so being able to point to changes in elements that would work well together is a pretty admirable skill to hone. At the end of the day, it very well may be that Sonic Team is worse at clearing that hurdle than anyone else. Hindsight isn't as easy as it's memed to be, unfortunately. Humans are all too prone to take the wrong lessons from the result of their endeavors, and Sonic Team are extremely human. That strikes me as the underlying thesis to this video series, anyway.

[@peytonjackson855]

You keep DAMN geekin I’ll keep DAMN critiquing -Josh 2019

[@Quonzer]

Jak II: Dark & Edgy shift done right. Shadow the Hedgehog: Budget Dark & Edgy shift.

[@bananabike279]

I still can't believe that when I was younger, I replayed this game more than 50 times just so I could unlock all of the story route names in the Library (I vividly remember there was one called "God of War"' and it blew my mind xD). Was it really a great game? Or was I just really stupid and had nothing else to play? I'll never remember, but I had a blast with the game anyway :')

[@ChaosYard]

Lol commented the same exact thing before scrolling onto this..

[@CodeBlazeFate]

13:34 "This is HOW Don Yoshi wants it done!" is one of the greatest lines I have heard all year.

[@darthsonic4135]

The whole “Shadow is a shadow in name only” thing kinda got remedied in later games when it was revealed that Gerald was deliberately trying to create Super Sonic in a test tube based on the prophetic murals from Sonic 3&K. But that was after the fact and doesn’t apply to SA2.

[@Zek3nator]

That's kinda neat.

[@wulfulk1000]

Isnt that just a theory?

[@josiahgoodman8875]

That was heavily implied in sa2 though, cuz the last part of cannons core looks like the echidna ruins from sa1 Presumably they had this planned out even back then

[@NobleClap]

That was in SA2 too, they just respected your intelligence enough not to go ahead and spell it out.

[@buster3041]

So the plot would've just ignored the fact that sonic is 15? Or was shadow fresh out the pod?

[@TheTeknicalMixes]

Honesty, Shadow The Hedgehog multiple mission choices would've worked if they did the following... 1: Have the same set of levels no matter your choice, meaning you would only have to play the game up to 3 times instead of 10! 2: Have cutscenes, enemy AI, and even some character dialogues change based off which path you've been doing missions for. The Aliens would begin ignoring Shadow if you have been doing Dark Missions, GUN would begin ignoring Shadow if you've been doing Hero Missions, and Egg Pawns would begin ignoring Shadow if you've been doing Neutral Missions. 3: Have the missions be more bearable. A few examples being that instead of having you kill 40/40 enemies, you kill 36/40, instead of collecting 400 RINGS you collect 150 or 200, so on and so fourth. This way there's less backtracking. 4: Drop guns in general and have Shadow play like he did in Adventure 2. Don't think I need to explain this one anymore. 5: Have altered cutscenes and bosses just like the game has but make them make sense and if you chose a certain path the final story would take that into account with it's opening. Completing Dark Story will have the opening cutscene revealing that Black Doom was using Shadow while the Neutral and Hero Stories would result in the opening cutscene for the final story we have now. 6: Make bosses less repetitive and make some(like the Egg Breaker) harder and just scrap dumb ones(Egg Dealer and Sonic & Diablon).

[@robertlauncher]

Maybe tone down enemies’ health if you’re gonna cut guns

[@yungmuney5903]

Why drop guns? That was the whole point of the Solo Shadow game, so he could utilize a feature that fits the character, fans have asked for and gives it a way to stand out. Why make a Solo Shadow game if it's just gonna be like the others instead of making another Sonic adventure?

[@insanenero2922]

@@yungmuney5903I'm with you on this. maybe instead of COMPLETELY withholding guns, reduce the more realistic ones and keep the cartoon-y ones like Egg gun and the Bazooka.

[@yungmuney5903]

@@insanenero2922 Don't the realistic guns make up like 1/3 of the entire stash anyways? Especially since they're tied to 1 specific enemy faction out of 3?

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Except the multiple choice path would still be pointless.

[@VioletVile]

What the crap man. I need to sleep tonight, I've got stuff to do tomorrow. But no, here it is, 5:15am and I'm four in-depth Sonic videos deep, from Adventure 2 to Heroes to 06' to here at Shadow. In one sitting, mind you. Hope you're proud of yourself.

[@MegaGamerman16]

Me: Emo Josh isn't real, he can't hurt me. Emo Josh: You keep DAMN geekin', I'll keep DAMN critiquing! Me: *Oof*

[@roachofdoom1234]

Shadow the Hedgehog is one of those things that contributed to the idea that anything that wasn’t strictly campy and cheesy was automatically dark, emo, and edgy.

[@bencemeitert5146]

vEGYÉL hama URage egereket.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Except this was trying to edgy Thomas.

[@orignialname4983]

I still want that sonic genesis review

[@michaelkindt3288]

Shadow the hedgehog and sonic heroes were the first two sonic games I’ve ever played. I became a Big Sonic fan. And then when I got the Sonic mega collection, when my father read the description of sonic 1, I misheard “won The hearts of many” as “warmed The hearts of many”, making sonic the hedgehog the character my favorite sonic character.

[@keaton5101]

i hope you realize him saying "this is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me" probably doesn't mean he's OK with taking candy from babies. it just means he's ok with the emerald being easy to steal

[@nicholastosoni707]

What if he IS, though?

[@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225]

Yeah, but the jokes write themselves with that line...

[@reloadpsi]

I figured that too. The implication is way funnier though.

[@armorfrogentertainment]

Yes, but the fact that the line sounds the way it does means it needs a rewrite.

[@Renson103]

I have awful memories of playing Lost Impact as a kid. I must have spent half a dozen of my precious 2005 hours trying to clear it, but I never could. I looked up guides, but I could never figure it out. I asked friends, but they could never figure it out. I've always considered it one of the absolute worst video game levels of all time and you took the words right out of my mouth. I feel I can have some peace of mind now knowing that Shadow the Hedgehog made us ALL suffer together. Solidarity is beautiful.

[@CybeastID]

THE DOOM IS SOMEHOW WORSE.

[@kenanwallace2124]

I mean I figured Lost Impact out fairly easy but I understand it can be long and frustrating. I never managed to get to the Room or get all 10 endings though since my PS2 fired not long after I got this game in 2005. Being six years old was a hard time when I lost that console.

[@moonraven6145]

Back when I... *cough* might of liked this game, I always avoided that godawful level by just moving up or down on the morality bar just to try not play it.

[@CybeastID]

@@moonraven6145 The Doom's Dark Mission is painful. At least Lost Impact is a simple loop. The Doom is a maze and the worst part about is that sometimes the GUN bots you need to kill JUST DON'T FUCKING SPAWN

[@redy1298]

One of the things I really like about your channel over others is the way you go into the game design, as well as the game play. You really put the effort into these videos and it shows. I'll probably never get into game design myself, but I as a player really like being able to understand why a game is how it is, and these videos really help me find that head space. I've gotten through parts of games that I didn't enjoy because I understood how it fit into the overall structure of the narrative and why it was designed like that, and that's in no small part due to your videos. Keep up the good work!

[@AllardRT]

Yeah.... I'm going to completely disagree with you on Shadow as a character. There's a reason why, in the midst of all the rivals Sonic had, Shadow stayed his arch-rival to this very day: he just works. Metal Sonic doesn't have any character, he's just a robotic doppelganger working for Eggman. That one time they tried giving him a personality and make him go on his own was... not the best. Knuckles is Sonic's temperamental opposite, but he's been good friends with him for a while now and they are way too mellow with each other. As for Shadow, his brooding loner personality allowed him to avoid becoming either *yet another doppelganger* or *yet another rival-turned-friend*. He's aloof, cold and is a bit of a wild card. It's not out of character for him to lend Sonic a hand in one situation (like, say, fight Silver in Sonic's stead) and then challenge Sonic out of the blue if their goals are opposite. He's Sonic's match in looks and abilities (mostly), but, as any good rival character, he can be both an ally or a threat at the drop of a hat. And hell, us edgelords (and I unashamedly admit to be one) need our characters too. I like his red-and-black-with-a-hint-of-yellow color scheme. I like his edgy personality and his swath of I-can't-believe-it's-not-Linkin-Park theme songs. While his writing hit its nadir in his own spinoff (and yes, it is a spinoff), he has fared significantly better in the next game, with some even agreeing about him being the best thing about that trainwreck. "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have" - those are words to live by, as far as my angsty ass is concerned. Yeah, to me (and people like me) he's the cooler version of Sonic. The one that speaks to us. I like Sonic as he is, but he's a bit vanilla and goody-goody, while Shadow skirts the moral line. I wouldn't have him any other way, just as I wouldn't have Sonic be like him. They fill their own niches perfectly. Now about the game... yeah, it needed another year in the cooker. What I would change: - Rearrange all the levels into a single playthrough, with the emphasis being more on speedy platforming with some combat every now and then - Have side goals within levels that would give Shadow either positive or negative karma. The net amount of Karma would determine the ending you get at the end of a playthrough. - Have a script written by an actual fucking writer. Jeezus. - Add the homing attack / gun autotarget reticle - Make the controls less slippery - The soundtrack... no, fuck it, the soundtrack is perfect. I like it the way it is. One of my favorite OST's in the series, don't @ me.

[@kimmikat4205]

Why does everybody thinks that sonic crack one liners and tries to hard to be cool but shadow is cool because he more like batman or something. sonic was not that sonic from genesis games ,sonic unleashed, Probably o6 sonic was how I depicted sonic but now everybody think's that sonic is just goofy and wacky and shadow dark and brooding.but I forgot your a edgelord so you like edgy things.and metal sonic does have personality have you seen ova movie but no you people think that sonic just a wacky little hedgehog but shadow's the edgy one.

[@AllardRT]

@@kimmikat4205 Try using grammar and puctuation next time, would ya.

[@kimmikat4205]

@@AllardRT sorry but when I type things on the internet I could give less of a fuck about grammar

[@AllardRT]

@@kimmikat4205 Well then don't be surprised when people have difficulty understanding whatever the hell you're typing and thus giving a fuck about it. Also, it's "couldn't give less of a fuck".

[@kimmikat4205]

@@AllardRT I'm sorry how am I supposed to take you seriously you say "us edgelords" like being a edgelord is a good thing. what do you stay in your room listen to heavy metal too loud, do you curse your parents out for no reason, when they tell you to go outside so yeah shut the hell up dipfuck.

[@KasbashPlays]

The review quotes that you showed for the Adventure games can rightfully piss off. I loved those games (and I still do). Adventure 2 is still by far my favourite interpretation of Sonic's movement on a 3D plane.

[@WaterKirby1994]

Agreed, those critics had no understanding of the series or what it was supposed to be. They just saw "Oh look cartoon animals it's supposed to be something silly & for little kids right?" & tried to ruin the series since the moment Sega went 3rd Party. After Sonic 06 they managed to trick Sega & Sonic Team into changing the series to what they thought it was supposed to be. They started the just Sonic mentality & managed to completely ruin the series for the entire 2010s decade. Sega & Sonic Team chose to please those dumb critics instead of the actual fans of the series. The Adventure games were masterpieces when it comes to Sonic Games. They defined how the characters were supposed to be in the official game canon, & offered the best 3D gameplay for the entire series. It infuriates me that those critics praised Sonic Colors, & managed to hijack the entire series from long term fans for an entire decade. We can only hope the series sees a return to form soon with the worst decade of Sonic's Career over.

[@kevinfigueroa5444]

Ashwath Nair I miss all the characters and it feels like the series is only focusing on Sonic and Classic Sonic together instead of everyone else. The team even said the only added Shadow to Sonic Forces for the fans that grew up with him but like why not feature him as part of the main story? Or even let us play as anybody else?

[@sondradaviss2667]

@@kevinfigueroa5444 well Sonic and classic sonic are the main character to the franchise so and everybody else just useless except for Knuckles and tails

[@hugoflores1093]

36:36 I think Gerald designed Shadow based on the Hidden Palace Prophecy from S3&K I mean, Gerald did his homework about the ancient Echidna tribe I miss how the old Sonic games had lore, how the genesis games connected so well with Adventure 1 and how SA2/Heroes connected with SA1

[@DarkLink1996.]

Yeah, even 06 connected back to Shadow. Unleashed was the true reboot of the series, for better or worse.

[@The_Ghost_Gaming]

@@DarkLink1996. and unfortunately, Sonic colors basically rebooted it again in terms of story. Unleashed world has that perfect blend of realism and cartoon but Sega just decided to drop that for a world run entirely by animals...

[@DarkLink1996.]

@@The_Ghost_Gaming That wasn't until Forces, maybe Lost Worldp. Colors had good reason to lack Humans and Heroes didn't have them either.

[@dinglepuss8594]

This is the only channel on the internet that can say something about sonic the hedgehog in an interesting funny and personal perspective. Thanks 🙏

[@Zylo587]

The music is quite excellent. Senoue, Minobe, and Ohtani really punched out of their weight class here. They made a career on upbeat music in fantasy-like worlds where animals run really fast, and then combined 80's metal and industrial music to create an almost cyberpunk tracklist that manages to hit exactly what they wanted to achieve, while still retaining elements of their original style. They certainly commit to their aesthetic goals in Death Ruins, Cosmic Fall, The Ark and Mad Matrix, but they also push the boundry of what you'd expect the music should sound like in Lethal Highway, Final Haunt and GUN Fortress. Lost Impact is quite impressive in it's own as a piece of music, alongside what it represents for the story, and Lava Shelter is an absolute banger. The leads in Space Gadget are delightful, and they even bring back some of that slap bass (even if tonally I'd never dare to try in a game like this). On a side note, your comments about replayability in Star Fox 64 reminded me a bit of my own attitudes towards the first Deus Ex, which had a great number of ways you could get past an obstacle. I'd highly recommend it, even if you aren't normally into the immersive sim/first-person-rpg genre.

[@Peakek]

*sees notification.* wow, christmas came early. anyway, who knew putting a gun on a hedgehog and making him cuss with no substance beyond that *wasn't* such a great idea. it really felt like sega was throwing bullets at the wall and seeing what headshotted. it's like they fired the writing staff and level designers and hired a thirteen year old emo kid instead. this entire game screams 2000s and i am eternally grateful. bless.

[@krisgersch8480]

Hehe bullets I see what you did there

[@weegle.]

Hehe fired see what you did there

[@Lazypackmule]

The bits of information revealed about the ark and Gerald's research in this game actually tie that fan theory about Shadow's origins together pretty nicely, to the point where there's honestly not that much actual speculation

[@supermakermatic2111]

As a Classic Sonic fan, these two-sided videos have helped me understand what people see in the Adventure era. The anecdotes about the fandom at the time are especially fascinating considering the narrative I often see about "revisionism" towards early 3D Sonic games.

[@chocobros1]

Next release will be your 100th video. Congrats in advance man

[@Gigabarto]

ok guys just be honest, who didn't love that game as a child/pre-teen??? Yeah sure i now know the game is average, but at the time, oh boy it was the best!!!

[@jasonarmstrong5750]

Gigabarto the thing about being a kid is you don’t really know any better, because if it looks awesome and functions halfway decent then what are you really gonna complain about?

[@jacobmonks3722]

"Average" is being too kind

[@supershadowfan2000]

I agree

[@edwardrobinson5470]

Same.

[@kaicreech7336]

I enjoyed it, bit I was never able to finish it. I always got stuck partway through and gave up.

[@Jose-se9pu]

To this day, almost 15 years later...I still dont know what were they thinking.

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

Knuckles: Popular nemesis and temperamental opposite Metal Sonic: Duplicate who can match every move Shadow: Cheap copy of both but more edgy

[@vivian-sasha-taylor]

"Shadow the Hedgehog looks 2005 as HECK." This is the same year that gave us Shadow of the Colossus, Devil May Cry 3, Resident Evil 4, and Tekken 5, so I'd say that's an insult to 2005.

[@alfa01spotivo]

and god of war

[@fightingmedialounge519]

No, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.

[@papermario6856]

I swear. A sonic fan's life seems so depressing sometimes its almost sad

[@YujiUedaFan]

Because it is. I find that Sonic Adventure, Adventure 2 and Shadow are the games that are the peak of the franchise.

[@ethanxpsp2770]

Especially now a days

[@huntercrunch94]

It's much like being a Weezer fan. 90% of their output is total garbage, but when it's good, it's so good that you keep hoping they'll get it right every time they put out something new... only to be disappointed almost every time.

[@hyperpowerfulform5132]

Ever wonder why there's a gazillion fan games and rom hacks?

[@Lightspeeds]

@@huntercrunch94 this also applies to being a young money fan.

[@profgrob4499]

Gotta say, as an eight year old I was able to tackle this game much more seriously, and with fewer issues, than you seemed to.

[@jr2904]

Congrats?

[@matthew1420]

@@jr2904 shut up and get some sunlight nerd

[@frostbitegaming3289]

Me too. Then again I dont remember too much anyway.. Maybe I'll try it on an emulator today!

[@nutterbutt8yearsago993]

This is deep and I'm 2

[@lmao2302]

You had infinite time and like 5 games.

[@siricus]

Can I just mention how much I appreciate that you always quote sources-reviews, messageboards, etc-that are actually from the time these games were released? Very cool video game historian work

[@SmashBrosOdyssey64]

14:14 "Or you could take a feather from Lodi's playbook and wack 'em with a stop sign!" Of course an edgelord like Shadow would be stealing ideas from Raven's Flock

[@ThatguycalledJoe]

39:00 Hero C Normal B Dark D Yeah I imagine that's what you'd need to enjoy this wreck.

[@theq873]

37:14 He hid himself while he repaired himself

[@datdamnmegabusta5604]

Give this man a goddamn fourth chaos emerald!

[@lastlife0726]

I can't believe we found out how shadow hacked into Eggman's twitter

[@glyphknightmax]

You didn't have to don the make-up and wig... But you did... And you did it for us... Your dignity will be remembered - buried out back with Sonic's legacy.

[@profgrob4499]

Please, youtube algorithm, bless this video with recommendations.

[@0megaFan]

Personally, I think Lost Impact perfectly encapsulates how I feel about Shadow's level design. Like you said, the idea of playing through one of Shadow's flashbacks with Maria beside you the whole time is a great story for a level, seeing the ARK in working condition and getting an explanation for the Artificial Chaos is all pretty cool, but the level itself is just absolutely terrible in execution. Shadow's levels aren't very fun all the time, with a few exceptions, but a lot of them have a good atmosphere in my opinion. Westopolis puts you right in the middle of the Black Arms' invasion, bombs are going off every where, soldiers are fighting aliens and the city is falling apart. Cosmic Fall has the ARK falling apart with an area looking similar to Final Rush from SA2 but now platforms are falling around you. And Space Gadget is even more similar to Final Rush and now has you racing Sonic to the end of it for the hero mission. All of these really feel like a city under attack, a former level collapsing beneath your feet or a visit to the past with a new goal, the problem is the actual gameplay design just doesn't work for some of these. I still personally like the game, mainly because I don't have a problem with fetch quests and the like but I completely understand why many don't.

[@TrainerDerek]

I've been so hyped up waiting for this video and you delivered like always. Can't wait for your DAMN next critique!

[@Silburific]

I remember renting Shadow the Hedgehog from Blockbuster and playing it for about a day before I got bored. The only thing I sincerely enjoyed about the game was "All of Me", and I'm not ashamed to admit that, even at the ripe old age of 29, I still love that song.

[@Kirbychu1]

I was pretty much the exact target audience of this game you described, an edgy insecure 10 year-old, and yup, I absolutely loved the concept of this game. I thought it was really cool, as well as many other people my age lol. I absolutely love your analysis on these games because of the in-depth view you give about the "climate" of the series leading up to and during their release. That context really enriches these reviews. And I'm surprised you didn't dedicate a minute to talk about the train wreck that was the multiplayer player mode, especially the Tails-esque co-op feature!

[@UmbreonMessiah]

6:55 I always had this theory...a crazy one with no basis other than context clues, but given that this is TGC and we're all huge Sonic nerds here, I figured I'd share it: I always thought the story would eventually reveal that Sonic and Shadow were created the same way. Whatever process Gerald used to create Shadow, Eggman would use to create Sonic further down the line. There's a lot of connecting fibres that lend it weight, too: they both share super speed (though Shadow needs help to maintain his), they both have power over Chaos (though Shadow's is more refined), they're both Hedgehogs and they both have connections to Eggman's family. I also (for some reason) remember something about Robotnik being responsible for Sonic's super speed in one of the early books from the 90s, but for the life of me I can't locate it anywhere. The point is: what more fitting irony could there be than for Eggman to have created his own worst enemy using his Grandfather's science? It adds that level of connection you seem to be looking for in the pair and it doesn't even strain the story too much to believe it...but sadly it's not the case. Instead we got.... *this.*

[@TheMGMfan]

A few people in the comments section also mentioned that while never outright mentioned, the mosaic that foretold Sonic defeating Eggman in Sonic 3&K could have been an inspiration for Gerald when creating Shadow, since he apparently based many of his creations off of what he saw when visiting Angel Island, which makes it likely that he saw that Mosaic.

[@guywatchingm3m3s]

Can't believe this vid came out 3 years ago. Darn, I remember watching it back then, when it dropped. Time flies fast. I don't regret anything for watching you. Your content is great and personal!

[@MatsuoTanuki]

13:20 That is an EXCELLENT vocal impression, hats off to you sir!😂

[@TheSektorz]

Kids, wasn't Sonic already cool enough? NO, MOM! HE'S NOT EDGY AT ALL, I WANT GUNSSSS

[@chocov1233]

If it wasn't for some fans requesting gunplay to be in Sonic games, we wouldn't have E-102 Gamma's amazing story in Sonic Adventure, and in turn, we wouldn't have E-123 Omega in Heroes.

[@buster3041]

Since when has sonic ever been cool? He always acts like a wannabe.

[@Teratoma..]

When I was 10 Shadow saying "damn" was the coolest thing to me

[@The_Letter_W]

These are so interesting to watch from a person who only really knows of Sonic at a surface level. (Used to play them as a kid but never owned the systems and fell out of them...) You discuss everything so well! Thank you! n_n

[@zoruacrossing8726]

Hey, it's Zozo again, currently taking a break from my third full 100% playthrough of this game to leave my third comment on this video. I can confirm that, yes, I still absolutely love this game. In fact, I'd almost say it's more fun than I remember (though there ARE some levels so tedious even I get bored of them). But even as one of the few remaining Shadow Apologists, I really really have to heap more praise on this video. Just like any video you do, it genuinely feels like you gave this game a very fair chance, and I'm so happy about that. I feel like most criticism of it starts and ends about 2-3 playthroughs in. Everyone points and laughs at the gunshots and the intro cinematic, dies or gets bored 3 levels in, and derides everything about the game as "edgy crap" without any further context Personally, I find all the game's attempts at edginess to be endearingly cheesy, which is very much how the entire Adventure Era feels looking back at it, and if the story was better-written and not so hastily sprinkled across a choose-your-own-adventure system, I think it'd be a solid follow-up to SA2, with all it's metroid-esque fanservice with purpose. Also, it might just be me, but I really never found every "scavenger hunt" to be that tedious. Most of the time, you won't miss anything if you pay attention and follow the path (though I still miss one enemy annoyingly often, so it's not perfect) Seeing you give even a little credit to this game, and actually looking at it beyond the surface is really nice to see as a fan of this game, even if you justifiably don't have any fun with it. That's commendable, and as I've said before, it's why I think you're one of the best at this kind of critical analysis.

[@NovaZoneTV]

The only reason I think Shadow is """better""" than 06 is that I actually get to play the game instead of wait through loading screens.

[@jacobmonks3722]

The difference is that Sonic 06 is not bad in concept. It just suffers from a severely rushed development time, but the potential of that game is absurd. There's a reason there are a dozen modding projects to try to make that game what it could have been. Shadow the Hedgehog doesn't even work conceptually. Regardless of how well the idea of multiple storylines is executed, the level design is not good, the color pallet is so drab and makes half of the stages visually forgettable, and the writing is worse than a Saturday morning cartoon from the 80s. The controls are also clunky, like mapping Chaos Control/Blast to the same button to swap weapons. And Chaos Control as a whole is a bad mechanic in this kind of game.

[@matthew1420]

@@jacobmonks3722 shadow also had a good concept. It wasn't development issues just that the execution bad.

[@mightyfineincredible2252]

But... Shadow is miles better than 06 from a technical standpoint...

[@Twilord_]

@@jacobmonks3722 Shadow actually also has an active fan-modding scene - one of the major overhauls is changing the mission values so you can accomplish stuff easier.

[@rosanirodrigues557]

I’m I the only one who like the Shadow the Hedgehog game?

[@Gnidel]

No.

[@supershadowfan2000]

No

[@rosanirodrigues557]

supershadowfan2000 I really don’t get it? I did fine destroying the artificial chaos in the Lost impact level, Maybe because I have so much more patient than others but always feels weird, I had so much Fun with Sonic Heroes & Shadow the Hedgehog, Maybe they were the first games I ever played when I was young, Seeing Other people saying the Sonic games are terrible, It honestly breaks my heart.

[@Mario60bore]

You live in a world with 9 billion people so you're not the only one. So please stop asking that question

[@Saturnfanboy]

No. I liked it fine. I didn't hate it as much as everybody else did. IMHO, it's at least playable, and pretty fun once you forget about the guns and the vehicles.

[@wandererman21]

Loved the analysis and this series. Great job!

[@AdequateEmily]

Me looking at your feed the past few months: Where’s that DAMN Shadow the Hedgehog video?! (I’m very happy you hit your goal and this happened bc this vid rocks)

[@FrostiKing]

Ya know, in all honesty I kinda wish they would remake Shadow the Hedgehog, there is potential in the character, with more finesse and buildup. After many years of scientific research and study, I know exactly what is wrong with the sonic franchise, as a whole. It's a complete and total grab bag. There is no series bible, no established lore, just seat of their pants adding onto the lore without coherency. When developers change they bring their take on it, they put their spin on it, when fans demand something they tweak and alter it to cater to the fans. Sure there is an over-arcing story to Sonic as a franchise but it is flimsy and poorly maintained. The changing of voice actors doesn't help, the writers guess with each new iteration, there is just no consistency. People cry foul that sonic can't work in 3D, he can, there is no reason he can't, and he has as people hail both of the Adventure games as revolutionary at the time. That formula was working, with heroes came a slipperiness and double the speed which the series seems to have kept and threw out tight controls. So yeah... lack of vision and foresight kills sonic a little more every time. They pass off the franchise to another group to try and work their magic, published by sega, with no series bible or lore to fall back on, they can pick and choose their roster of favorite characters and lore points. Also people saying Sonics cast of Woodland critters is a bad thing, it's not, a well rounded supporting cast helps the main character look good, most are poorly written, one dimensional, one note cardboard caricatures of personality and aren't well written and shoved in for fan service. Im one of the few people who actually like the Shadow the Hedgehog game, but much in the same way people enjoy The Room. However I also see what could have been for Shadow, a more interesting form of gameplay, tighter controls, better level design, eased into the Alien invasion rather than jump forward into it. There was actual potential here for a great continuation and spinoff. This game killed whatever goodwill people had for shadow, set him in stone as some emo edge lord and insured he would never have another spinoff title.

[@Vengeful_Void666]

Remake Shadow/Sonic the Hedgehog and everyone will be happy

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

Vengeful Void, the only way that the Shadow the Hedgehog would work in a remastered video game series is unless they made it T for Teen or M for Mature instead of E10+.

[@FrostiKing]

@@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr Well like I stated in my... wall of text, most of the series is a grab bag. When Shadow's video game out they changed the character to fit an 'older audience' by simply pandering to them, guns and bad language. I mean you can redo it and leave those things behind to 'fix' it.

[@matthew1420]

@@FrostiKing the mega man world says damn. I hardly see anyone complaining about a cute little robot that fires lemons say damn. And let's not forget the military in both adventure games. Not those background characters on sonic boom. The real military that was shown in those games as well as shadow. Now it seems eggman is the only human. Sonic games are currently following Mario's light hearted route when the character was literally created to rival the plumber in his own aspects. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of them being rivals. Sonic had his own flow and style of entertainment and appealing to people. But ever since shadow or 06, sega was to afraid to tell a story with depth and a dark tone. We literally see a child get gunned down but when shadow shoots some aliens or some police men its inappropriate. Or that time robotnik was going to nuke a city? Or the bad ending to knuckles chaotix? I can go on. The point Is I feel like sonic unleashed was the last true good sonic game. For me, anything after that is blech.

[@MatthewStevensOrMattDave]

As a kid (and even as an adult) I appreciated Shadow as sort of the antithesis to Sonic. There's a lot of room for push and pull and good drama whereas I never really felt that way about Knuckles? Knuckles repeatedly kept coming off as dumber and dumber until his only character trait was "the guy Eggman keeps tricking". Rather than that, at least Shadow seemed to want to work with Eggman, or had his own reasons to. As a game, I never hated Shadow the Hedgehog. It's functional, the CG looks okay and I never got that thing people seem to get where they get super conscious about things that are trying too hard to be edgy. Like, whatever man, he's a cartoon hedgehog with a gun. The aesthetic is a little tacky but if Ratchet can do it, and if Jak can do it, and if Crash can do it, there was a way to make this work.

[@bencemeitert5146]

Hódógozó?: A Róna dohánygyárban 2 műszakban. MÁR NEM!

[@bencemeitert5146]

2. Anyád a szuperképesség!

[@bencemeitert5146]

Szuperhős mióta csinál zenét FL Studio-val?

[@reloadpsi]

That's the thing: as a game in the sixth console generation, it looks really nice. It even looks fun in places. I don't think I would enjoy it though; 3D Sonic didn't really do it for me until they nailed the boost formula and dual world gameplay in Generations. (And then promptly abandoned it because of course they did.)

[@cgrn17]

I'd just like to say that your videos are really inspirational and they're the reason I've worked up the courage to use my own voice in a video. Thanks so much for making these

[@reshawshid]

I've been thinking this through a bit recently and I've figured out a way to make the game painless to play through. 1. Do away with mission structure outside a few exceptions, and replace the two chaos meters with a single allegiance meter. The meter starts out half red and half blue, and depending on the actions you take there will be more red or blue. Having 60% in one direction will make the troops on that side stop shooting you and you don't get touch damage from them. Having 75% makes the same troops immune to your attacks, and having 100% gives you the same effect as filling one of the original meters. You would only need 75% in either direction in order to complete the hero/dark missions upon reaching the goal ring. Going through the stage and taking actions on both sides will eventually cause you to have a third chaos state, being emerald green. With this structure, you have to make a commitment, playing through isn't as frustrating finding every last enemy, and when you no longer take touch damage from your own side, you can go through faster. 2. Destructible objects and enemies are moved more towards the side, providing a potential way of running through the stage without stopping. 3. Central City keeps its objectives, but instead of the paradox it has, the Hero mission is "Minimize the damage to the city before it's too late!" and the Dark mission is "Detonate the large bombs before GUN can disable them!" 4. You are no longer stopped to be introduced to new characters. Also a few things of Shadow you didn't really point out that are worth note: 1. The game teaches you how to get weapons without a tutorial. You see an enemy die right at the beginning and his weapon falls, with a ring that silently says, "Pick this up!" Most games, including more recent Sonic games, will force you to go through tutorial dialogue to learn these things. 2. The keys help encourage replaying and exploring by offering you things that mix up the experience. 3. The light speed dash is MUCH more reliable with a larger area of activation, and looks a lot more smooth. 4. Shadow's controls solve issues that both Sonic Adventures had with control, by slowing your turn speed at higher speeds so you can more precisely make corrections without flying off in another direction. 5. The homing attack does feel weaker, but if you can time it right, you can do multiple quick homing attacks in succession. There are times where it looks like I kill two-hit enemies with one homing attack, because I pressed the button again so quickly that it actually did two homing attacks at once. If you don't like dark themes that's fine, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, even here.