Sonic X Shadow Generations Review

[@SamProcrastinates]

Been working hard on this the moment I got the game in my hands. Likes, comments, and shares are all appreciated! 🖤❤

[@AndrewR-y5u]

Thanks for uploading this

[@ICader7194]

We're still working on the binary 30:50 Have you ever played Mario Galaxy by chance lol

[@Hunter-qf5iq]

Doom surf is not a squid it is a manta ray or just a ray and nobody said you couldn't cry Brody you just cry too easily 😊

[@ICader7194]

@@Hunter-qf5iq Lol dude trust me he doesn't cry too easily. When this kinda 'dream come true' happens, you're gonna shed tears.

[@Hunter-qf5iq]

@ICader7194 if you say so I watch the same thing and I didn't feel no tears I felt something in my heart but that was it

[@manuelinacio4038]

One thing I recently noticed when replaying Shadow Generations is that the smile Shadow gives to Maria kinda ties to Sonic Forces when the Avatar stopped the sun and Shadow smiled with a proud face.

[@SamProcrastinates]

😳

[@manuelinacio4038]

@@SamProcrastinates I could be capping here

[@furious_pie466]

Damn that’s honestly really cool, idk if that was intentional or not but it’s still a really cool connection that makes this story even better (not forces though lmao)

[@manuelinacio4038]

I said kinda

[@TheKorenji]

It also ties even further back to the time Knuckles chuckled in Sonic 3... isn't that kinda crazy?

[@Karianysu]

As some have pointed out, the staff behind Shadow Generations is composed of Sonic Gens, Superstars and Frontiers designers, also Mario and Sonic staff for the visuals! Let's hope they participate in the next mainline game

[@ICader7194]

Mario & Sonic At The Mainline Sonic Games! or Mario & Sonic At The Tokyo 2028 Team For Sonic Games!

[@a.d.9825]

Not just the visuals, generations staff returned after making olympic games for a decade

[@paradoxicaloutcome1007]

Honestly, the whole "Ian Flynn references stuff all the time" joke is fun and all, but real talk, if they let Ian cook, his tendency to bring back random stuff from years ago could result in some actually awesome stuff. That whole story twist tying together Shadow's yellow chaos emerald in Sonic Gens and the fake yellow chaos emerald on the Ark from SA2, and then using that to avert him losing the chaos emerald by having him give Sonic the fake one and then getting Rouge to swap them later was actually brilliant. He connected plot threads from like two completely unconnected games and used the skills and personalities of every character involved to pull the perfect twist. I get the feeling that we would get a lot more of these and a lot less of the random dialogue references if Ian was working with less restrictions and could channel his reference fever into story beats instead of dialogue.

[@Mojo1356]

Ian Flynn is so lucky that the original Sonic Generations used the yellow emerald for Shadow to begin with.

[@NitroCentral_Official]

37:50 There was a leaked interview before the game's release. And to paraphrase the section about Chaos Island, they simply said *"Chaos Island admittingly has nothing to do with Shadow, just showing the Time Eater's manipulation of the timestream"* So, yeah, there's really no implications. Even I was scratching my head wondering about Chaos Island significance with Shadow. But there wasn't. Just a result of Time Eater being able to pull areas from the future. Regardless if someone's been there or not.

[@KyleRaynerCh]

I imagine they also added Chaos Island to serve as advertisement for Sonic Frontiers.

[@NitroCentral_Official]

@KyleRaynerCh I can assure I'm pretty sure no one thought about that when including Chaos Island...

[@MaxusFox23]

​@@KyleRaynerCh Yep, that's basically the reason: SXSG is now THE gateway into the franchise in its current state.

[@gameman5804]

@@KyleRaynerCh They use the worst island in the game?

[@bearingfire]

I bet they just added Chaos Island because it has the word chaos in it lol (and to reuse assets) After Shadow Gens, they could invent a new story where Shadow goes to Chaos Island for whatever reason.

[@supersonicth10supersonicth85]

20:37 You know funnily enough I could see the archeology influence on eggman. He's consistently discovering ruins and other ancient nonsense. Just to name a few; eggie found the ruins leading to the Starfall islands in frontiers, and ancient tales of Dark Gaia, and Gemeral from Sonic Battle.

[@raheem7632]

And Chaos

[@supersonicth10supersonicth85]

@raheem7632 Also that evil dragon thing from Sonic Superstars.

[@hopegalaxy]

I'm just really happy with finally know Ivo & Maria's parents existed.

[@liamphibia]

As someone who's been a Sonic fan for *5* years now, I'm beyond grateful of the timeline we're at.

[@Onaterdem]

Lucky you, only seen Frontiers and Shadow Generations being released! 2012-2022 was not very fun... Mania notwithstanding

[@MrPlanetMars]

Welcome to the fandom! 🎉

[@faithful_otaku7339]

I'm curious, was it the hype for the 2020 movie that made you a fan?

[@liamphibia]

@faithful_otaku7339 Yes

[@faithful_otaku7339]

@@liamphibia A lot of people say the movies saved the franchise. It’s good to see that they introduced a lot of new fans to the Sonic community! And to think, back then we feared that the movie would bomb. 🤣

[@undeadlink8623]

What i never noticed is sonic superstars established that every emerald is different and they have been staying faithful to this as in sonic frontiers we see sonic can use some of these abilities all together in super form which is obvious while shadow with the yellow emerald uses chaos control to slow down time in shadow gens just like in superstars. I kinda like this idea since it makes having a single emerald not feel useless as it did before which was dumb or completely forgotten.

[@RTheStoryteller7]

the funniest part for me about this game is how they just outright abandoned Infinite, like this is his biggest chance to return and show a proper boss fight and characteristic other than he's angry specifically towards Shadow but nope, he's found dead on the ditch

[@Foxking437]

I mean there are Rumors/leaks that Sega is considering a Heroes Remake with a special team campaign comprised of Infinite Blaze and Silver so he isn’t truly boned

[@RTheStoryteller7]

@@Foxking437 may you elaborate on the leaks and source? i've only heard of Heroes Remake from Midori couple months ago and haven't heard anything from it for a while

[@Foxking437]

@ imma say this the only knowledge I heard of that specific part of the leak is from a tumblr post. But hey if people are Appreciating 06 Again and they completely overhauled forces it wouldn’t be a bad thing for a team up like that

[@evdestroy5304]

​@@Foxking437I believe everything on the internet

[@chrange9714]

@@RTheStoryteller7 They hardly abandoned him, I'm sure people would've preferred Mephiles over him in a game like this if it came down to picking one or the other. He still can come back in future games.

[@arivivith4375]

"ok but why tho" mainly cause switch users and playstation users can play the game. Not everyone has a PC tbh. I'm a little tired of everyone pretending like the sonic generations remaster was unnecessary. Like it's literally one of the best games, everyone deserves to experience it.

[@brickzoneanimations8395]

YES THANK YOU!!!!

[@TrashyJayys93]

I agree

[@TYP2K.]

Nah you can't deny, the generations remaster was pretty unnecessary (outside of the new shadow content). They'res plenty of other sonic games that haven't seen the light of day for years that deserve it more than gens. I'd appreicate it more if there was a bit more done to the game but it is essentially just generations but with slightly more content. Also its not like you need a NASA PC to run the game, its a 13 year old game lol it pretty much runs fine on any laptop.

[@ICader7194]

This was an incredibly necessary remaster for one reason and one reason only. Everyone who grew up stuck with Nintendo consoles NEVER GOT TO PLAY IT, which accounts for a massive amount of Sonic fans.

[@Sydney_Angelyt]

exactly. Now I can finally take my favourite game on the go.

[@filipvadas7602]

If Shadow Generations is the standard we can expect for the Frontiers sequel, then sign me the hell up.

[@ICader7194]

Sign up to our 60th anniversary celebrations and claim a FREE PC Steam copy of the SEGA Saturn cult classic NiGHTS into dreams. * Also get access to free weekly downloadable goodies including wallpapers and avatars, and be the first to know about any exciting prize giveaways. *While codes last lol

[@TheComicNerd97]

If mephiles followed shadow to sonic generations he could’ve gone to crisis city and merged with iblis…the fact that both half’s of Solaris is in this game is insanity 🤩 06 got such good representation in both games!

[@purplebruh947]

He cant merge with iblis when he is already fully formed. He needed him to be in his flame form

[@Swaloo]

My one fear is that sega will be all like “oh well the boost game did better than frontiers” and then switch the formulas back and ditch the open zone.

[@SSL_2004]

Prioritizing the Open Zone was ALWAYS a mistake. Sonic is an arcade series and he works best when prioritizing on those arcade roots. Focusing so heavily on the open Zone and making cyberspace an afterthought ended up hurting both sides of the game. As cyberspace was an incredibly janky, stiff, and utterly uninteresting romp through stages stolen from previous games, add the Open Zone was vast but empty. Shadow Gen shows the perfect balance. The open Zone should be used as an expansive and explorative hub world to complement the main stages, but the main stages should ALWAYS be the priority. White Space is infinitely better than any Island in Frontiers.

[@furious_pie466]

(Can’t remember where I heard this before so you’ll just have to trust me on this) sega has said that they plan to keep going with the open zone while also making traditional 2D & 3D platforming games, and even if they didn’t say that Sonic Mania was much more loved then Forces but did they dich the 3D games? nope, also Shadow Generations has an open zone so their clearly not looking to abandon this formula especially since it arguably saved the series.

[@Swaloo]

⁠@@SSL_2004idk i really liked the open zone it just lacked an extreme amount of thought. I feel as if it should be a 60/40 split with open zone as the focus but cyber space or wtvr is in the next game has more focus and better level design. The problem with cyber space is that i never went back to it and it just didnt encourage me to do better. All like the keys should have been locked behind the times rather than the mini challenges. The challenges were just way too easy and i beat them usually my first go on the stage. So id say have challenging levels that are not as big as shadow gens stages but not as small as a frontiers level. Id say a 3 minute challenging stage should be good. Each key should be locked how much faster i can go than 3 minutes id say in a 10,15,and 20 seconds faster than the normal 3 minutes should be the goal to get the keys or wtvr.

[@KeltkeGH]

Open Zone is still a thing in Shadow Gens and much better implemented than in Frontiers imo.

[@MISTERX_5890]

I liked the Boost in previous games. You could travel faster and actually take out enemies while boosting. The boost in Frontiers felt heavily nerfed compared to earlier games.

[@_rando_d]

It's kinda weird that Sonic mentions the time stones since in Sonic CD the time stones were just used to manipulate time, not travel through it. The flagpoles were, so this actually kinda hurts continuity unless Sonic forgot that detail, which also wouldn't make sense since in the rewrite, all the characters magically remember everything

[@carso1500]

I always through that the reason the flagpoles work at all is because of the time stones, like just from being there they allows time travel in the area around little planet

[@Kokokekko7]

@@carso1500 wasnt there a text somewhere or interview saying that the flagpoles only work BECAUSE they are in little planet? where the time stones reside? imo it makes sense that its because of the time stones that any time travel shenanigans happen in that game in the first place

[@_rando_d]

@@Kokokekko7 Then that sort of makes things confusing because if the time stones are linked to and can only be used on Little Planet than that also makes the gens rewrite line weird

[@Kokokekko7]

@@_rando_d maybe the time stones CAN be used outside little planet, which can be used to time travel or maybe that's what sonic assumes at least, since that's the only way to time travel that he knows of

[@TP1024]

Big the Cat using chaos control is something I didn't know I needed

[@RealNightmare456]

The production quality of this is crazy good, probably one of your best game reviews yet. Good job Sam, love your videos!

[@faithful_otaku7339]

This game was AMAZING! It's so great to have deep story, lore, and character development in Sonic games again! This game would easily have been a 10/10 for me, the only area that I feel Sega dropped the ball was the fact that there were no rival battles. Just imagine if we had an Emerl, (Playable) Sonic, and Infinite rival battles, it would have been awesome! Still a masterpiece game regardless, I hope this will lead to more games focusing on characters other than Sonic! ^_^ Edit: It also would have been nice to be able to play as Shadow in OG Sonic Generations and Sonic in Shadow Generations after completing the game, but I guess that's what we have mods for. :P

[@lololordjr]

I can barely see this since KZbin has black text in dark mode

[@SamProcrastinates]

Aaa thank you so much for the support!!

[@mattybutler1985]

I saw an interesting theory by another KZbin user in a different video, saying the reason there's nothing from Shadow the Hedgehog is because all the stages are deliberately pulled from *Sonic's* past by Eggman who's controlling the Time Eater in the Sonic half of the game. What sealed this for me is the stage selection and how they play out. Of the 6 stages, 3 are interrupted with Black Doom Radical Highway sections: Space Colony ARK, Rail Canyon and Sunset Heights, all locations both Sonic and Shadow visited (or *will* visit, in the case of Sunset Heights). Sonic 06 does exist in its own little pocket timeline as confirmed by Mephiles in his boss fight. Shadow doesn't remember those events so Black Doom can't use them to mess with Shadow, and Chaos Island is the only place Shadow never visits so again, no Black Doom interruption. Radical Highway is the exception as Sonic was never there, but that's the point. Radical Highway wasn't brought here by the Time Eater, it was brought here by Black Doom using Shadow's memories and the temporal anomaly to reconstruct Radical Highway in an attempt to push Shadow back to his vengeful roots in SA2, which is why Radical Highway is inside the Black Moon and not a standard stage gate like the others.

[@Mrotaku578]

Mephiles : I will defeat you and restore myself to the timeline Shadow: I don’t even know who you are

[@hopegalaxy]

Mephiles sounded like James Arnold Taylor's Obi-Wan Kenobi for a second.

[@supersonicstyleatsonicspeed]

I hope they completely remake Sonic Forces from the ground up with improved Open Zone gameplay/combat and fixing the story as a whole.

[@chrange9714]

@@supersonicstyleatsonicspeed That's what I'm saying more or less.

[@darkstorm2579]

I’d rather they remake Sonic 06 as Project 06 proved that the game has a bunch of missed potential.

[@chrange9714]

@@darkstorm2579 I mean Project 06 is literally doing that already

[@darkstorm2579]

@@chrange9714 Yeah, but I'd like to see an official version by Sega that takes ideas from Project 06 and also fixes up the story in some areas.

[@chrange9714]

@@darkstorm2579 People will just say "this fan thing is better" like they always seem to do when it's not true lol. One of the many big annoyances with this fanbase. At this point they're better off just leaving Project 06 to do it, they can fix stuff up in the story too there's nothing stopping them.

[@SrMissileMonkey]

19:05 hilarious too because Omega in the later bits of dialog offers shadow what is essentially going out to the bar for drinks. Except the bar is an Eggman Base and the drinks = Smashing badniks

[@GumRobber]

Shadow Generations was fantastic and so was the remastered Sonic Generations. I’m glad this got the Mario 3D World plus Bowser’s fury treatment. What a perfect way this was to tie into the 3rd movie coming in December. Any problems I have are just nitpicks and they don’t bother me.

[@ICader7194]

Literally Bowser's Fury with the Metal Overlord fight lol

[@zunik999]

LESSS GOOO THE REVIEW IS OUT

[@adamnader6014]

Peak video peak game and peak content creator

[@SamProcrastinates]

Peak commenter

[@adamnader6014]

@ thx 🔥

[@ICader7194]

@@adamnader6014 peak reply though i lack the peak authority to say peak-

[@adamnader6014]

@@ICader7194 thx bro

[@ICader7194]

@@adamnader6014 peak welcome : )

[@KuraBinges]

8:01 I do think this is a nod that Frontiers's sequel is going to have Shadow play a part in it.

[@hopegalaxy]

Still waiting for your official review on Sonic Movie 2: Two Years Later.

[@yarogblack1909]

SEGA, MAKE MORE SHADOW GAMES, AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!

[@tacorerooster3554]

Make games for the other Sonic characters before doing another Shadow game please

[@ICader7194]

I mean I'd wanna live to see it but uh ok

[@tacorerooster3554]

More Games for the other cast before we get another game please. Shadow's already got a solo game plus this

[@TYP2K.]

Out of all reviews for this game i was definitely looking forward to this one the most lol. Right amount of humour, gives valid praises and critques when they're due; just all around a solid reviewer ggs sam

[@theawesomarioYT]

first game i ever preordered and i couldn't have asked for a better one 😭😭

[@CHANIMATES]

IT'S HERE LET'S GOOOO

[@MrR-d1v]

Sam sounds professional in this video

[@waffleboi7487]

This was a really fun review to watch. This year has been great for both Shadow and the Sonic brand and I only hope things go even further up from here. I don’t have much else to say, this was a solid video….**cut to that one explosion from the final boss fight**

[@RatchetClankFan112]

I love this game it’s amazing I hope we get a Sonic Unleashed remaster I can’t wait for Sonic Frontiers Sequel and it’s open zone

[@supersaiyanfox9190]

I would be over the moon if Sonic x Shadow Generations received the Final Horizon treatment as DLC. Make a genuine sequel DLC campaign to this game where you could play as Classic Sonic (please give him a voice this time), Modern Sonic, and Shadow. Play new levels for the Sonics and Shadow (we need Shadow The Hedgehog video game levels like those Black Comet levels and those digital computer levels). Have new skins like a Genesis sprite for Classic Sonic, Baby Sonic skin for Classic Sonic, a Movie Sonic skin for Modern Sonic, and Adventure 2 skins for Modern Sonic and Shadow. The Time Eater returns with a voice and is more powerful than ever. Experience new bosses for the three like the Hard Boiled Heavies for Classic Sonic, Perfect Dark Gaia for Modern Sonic, Infinite for Shadow, maybe a mini final boss where you play as all three of them in their super forms against Solaris, and a fixed Time Eater final boss fight between the three (it would be cool since Generations is about exploring the past, Classic Sonic would get a chance to become Hyper Sonic again, Modern Sonic would become Super Sonic 2 and maybe we could play as the all-out Cyber energy version of Super Sonic 2, and Shadow would become Super Doom Shadow).

[@TwoBrokeGamers2]

No.

[@Sonikkujam]

HONEY WAKE UP, SAM JUST UPLOADED!

[@FittedWhisper96]

I was waiting for the reviewer Sam voice 😅

[@KidEDarus]

To think Generations couldn't been any better than this with the Shadow campaign. SEGA and Sonic Team really have knocked it out of the park as well as made us understand why Shadow loved his family. We only got bits and pieces in the games but here we got more character and care about Maria and Gerald. I really hope officially we get more DLC of Shadow Generations just like the Frontiers road map. Im even more excited for the mods coming in the near future for this game. Very well done review Sam.

[@dusk173]

I WAITED ALL WEEK FOR THIS.

[@nicnacs9779]

It's honestly incredible how much they've been improving with Frontiers to now with Shadow Gens. Gameplay, story, and animation have been greatly enhanced in this game and it makes me even more excited for what comes next. I hope Sonic Team continues to use and improve the stuff they did here for future games and maybe even allow other characters their chances to shine too ❤

[@Baxes_713]

Thanks Sega/Sonic Team, Now i need my PEAK 2005 Remake

[@superiorgamedude]

The greatest game I've ever played, and the only game to legit make me cry. No game is perfect, but damn this one comes close.

[@Perolin.]

32:08 I hope the wisps have died. I never wanna see them again.

[@popcorn_showers]

💀

[@FirenTGX]

This is arguably one of the best Sonic games ever made, it took a long while for SEGA to return to this formula of storytelling. But better late than never, I'll take Shadow games like this any day.

[@EA-bv8zk]

Im definitely locked in now, if this is the kind of quality to expect from Sonic team then I'm in for a ride

[@Flamestar320]

Oh boy, I know this will be a great review!

[@aethersword7823]

If they make a Sonic Heroes remaster, it has so much potential to fix the issues the original had and make everything better from visuals to gameplay to cutscenes! There are some things I'd love to see changes in a Sonic Heroes Remaster: - Teams go to different stages rather than all 4 teams go to all zones. - - Team Sonic: Seaside Hill -> Grand Metropolis -> Rail Canyon -> Egg Fleet - - Team Dark: Rail Canyon -> Hang Castle -> Frog Forest -> Egg Fleet - - Team Rose: Frog Forest -> Seaside Hill -> BINGO Highway -> Egg Fleet - - Team Chaotix: Grand Metropolis -> BINGO Highway -> Hang Castle -> Egg Fleet - Each stage has two teams visit (except the final zone where all teams end up) which is why each stage HAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT UNIQUE ROUTES so they don't intersect with eachother - As for team battles, they were too janky in heroes and I have no clue how can it be salvaged in a remaster, so let's remove those - And for bosses, each has completely unique bosses in the following succession: boss -> robot storm -> boss -> boss - - Sonic Team: Egg Hawk -> Robot Traffic -> Egg Albatross-> Egg Emperor (the usual known bosses, except the the robot storm is in metropolis) - - Team Dark: Base Trap -> Robot Storm -> Egg Wither -> Egg Nucleus (base trap is when they fight the base from within until it gets destroyed, robot storm is the same, egg wither is a toxic type of boss which arrived to destroy the jungle, Egg Nucleus is another base type boss where they attack it from within) - - Team Rose: Giant Egg Pawn -> Robot Raid -> Rogue Actor -> Egg Brunt (giant egg pawn inspired by the one from dark beginnings, robot raid is the seaside hill version, rogue actor is another giant robot that went out of control, egg brunt is when they finally encounter "eggman") - - Team Chaotix: City Gates -> Robot Carnival -> Mega Pumpkin -> Eggman Rescue (city gates is basically a security system they fight, robot carnival is the same, mega pumpkin is a huge pumpkin ghost, eggman rescue is a boss where the ship eggman is locked in is out of control and you need to defeat it and rescue eggman) - As for getting the 7 chaos emeralds, it's still one per zone, meaning 1 chaos emerald can only be obtained by one of two teams, and the egg fleet one can be obtained by any - To unlock the final boss, yes, you'll still need all 7 chaos emeralds and beat all teams, but unlike the original, there's less zones and repeats to play Thank you for listening to my rant

[@SrMissileMonkey]

Some people are also seeing this and Frontiers and speculating that these games are test runs for ideas regarding future sonic games. Testing narrative and mechanics and seeing what sticks. I applaud the experiment phase cause i could totally see various character interactions and stories from various perspectives. One idea i have in particular is an infighting storyline between all of Eggman's greatest creations. Now that Sage exists and Eggman became a dad. There's a clear tension waiting to spring up between not just Eggman and Omega (like we've known) but with Sage and Omega. A rivalry/family discovery adventure between what is probably Eggman's greatest creation in the AI Sage, and Eggman's most deadly machine trying to prove himself the greatest of Eggman's creations. They're both analytic in nature and speech and can both have hilarious moments as they logic speak with each other. Not to mention Sage could be Omega's character foil as the closest to Eggman of Eggman's creations. There's Metal who can become Sage's big brother of sorts within the Egg Fleet. Stoic and uncaring except when it comes to beating Sonic and, eventually, caring for Sage. Orbot and Cubot being the more reasonable siblings in Eggman's forces while being less effective, but spirited. Then Eggman himself where the story expounds upon what was already developing in Frontiers with Sage. Him becoming a dad for his creations that all starts with Sage. And potentially having the back and forth of whether it's worth being as utilitarian with his creations as he often is. All the while Sage becomes more and more his rock, possibly to the chagrin of Metal. Idk my mind races for potential.

[@hypersonic223]

The King has returned to making reviews

[@DariusRoman-p6x]

DANG A 50 MINUTE REVIEW YOU WEREN'T KIDDING WHEN SAID YOU WORKING HARD ON THIS THAT'S AWESOME!!!! 😭🔥🔥🔥🔥💙💙💙💙

[@SonicTheBlueBlur15]

This was the best sonic game, i hope frontiers 2 keeps it up

[@nexisvids]

12:00 Lol I saw this coming from miles away (pun not intended)

[@Reyna_Amaturi]

I saw the exclusive scene for the PS5; my heart broke into another million pieces. The animated post-credit scene after the events of Shadow Generations in Shadow goes back to the place where he was in episode 1 of Dark Beginnings and still relives the idea of what life he and Maria could've had on Earth had the events of the ARK never happen and what words of encouragement she would've said to him whenever he feels that he doesn't think he has a place on Earth. Besides Shadow having the best characterization SEGA has given him since SA2, I love how they've portrayed Maria as more than a tragic figure. You see in the animated shorts and in the game who she was as a person and what she meant to Shadow, and seeing these shorts, you can understand why Shadow was willing to destroy the Earth for Maria after what humanity did to her 👩🩵🦔🖤❤️

[@aidenatorx99]

First off, that scream at 0:30 will never not be hilarious. Cracks me up every time, especially with that effect over the top. Second, obviously everyone has different taste but I’m a little surprised at the praise given to the music since I’ve only really heard people say it’s mid at best. I haven’t given it a proper listen since I rarely focus on it during gameplay so I don’t have an opinion. Thirdly, HOLY CRAP THIS GAME WAS SO FUN!!! I also pre-ordered the PS5 physical version to get Gerald’s journal and oh wow was it fun to read.

[@TevyaSmolka]

As a huge fan of shadow the hedgehog and his story this game is really awesome and badass and such a great game as a whole.

[@Joshua2750]

Awesome review Sam! It makes me so happy to see Sonic and Shadow thriving. Here's to the future, it's gonna be great!

[@chrange9714]

This is easily the best Sonic game in a while, I'm just surprised by how much they nailed in such short time. The animations, movement, level design, story literally every single thing. Thought we were gonna have to gradually work up to everything being amazing but nope it's all right here. If Frontiers 2 is anything remotely like Shadow Gens then I am beyond excited for it. To your point on Chaos Island it's there not because Shadow has ever been there cause he hasn't but just because it's a point in time from the future and it being in the game is just showing the Time Eater's influence over time. Also because Izuka wanted to represent future games that came after Gens like Frontiers in this game, I believe both if these things were said in interviews. Though I do understand being lead to confusion and thinking it should be a level Shadow has been in because every other level are ones he has been in. As much as I wish there was more of a story reason why he's there, maybe connect Black Doom and the Ancients like they met or something, I can never shake the cool feeling just seeing Shadow running through a Starfall Island and a game he didn't appear in. Thank you for bringing up the level themes in Forces, the unique ones that is though frozen over chemical plant was pretty cool. As bad as that game is it's not void of good and it's awesome seeing a level from that game receive a HUGE glow up in level design. I've seen a lot of people consider it their favorite level in Shadow Gens which is amazing, that whole zone here just genuinely makes me want them to remake Forces. Like full on remake, redesign the levels more like how they are in Shadow Gens, redo the story, honestly take out Classic Sonic and replace him with Shadow making him morr relevant to the plot outside of Episode Shadow, make every phantom clone has a fight and good ones at that, then you have an amazing Sonic game. There's so much potential in Forces that just wasn't realized and fumbled. Literally the only gripe I have with Shadow Gens is that like you said there's no level from his game represented. I really would've taken any level, Circus Park, Westopolis, Black Comet. But there wasn't a single one and in a game that's about mostly going through Shadow's past it was kinda disappointing. I really thought the last level in the Black Moon would be a sort of reborn Black Comet level, I feel like what they should've done is just made Radical Highway its own zone out in White Space and have a Black Comet themed level for the last one. Don't get me wrong though Radical Highway was still an amazing final level and I get why they used that zone as the finale, it being Shadow's first playable level. I'm glad Shadow Gens even has a final level at all cause base Gens doesn't really. Yeah Planet Wisp is the last level before end game but c'mon that hardly gave final level vibes. Dlc for Shadow Gens like Final Horizon is super exciting to think about and I really hope they do that, this game left me wanting more not because it didn't do something to the fullest but cause it's just so dang good that I want to play more. Another thing I love that not a lot of people seem to touch on is the environmental storytelling, mainly with Mephiles. The purple goop does come from him as he and his shadows emerge from it in his boss fight. This goop is only there, in White Space, and Chaos Island. It appears in the final boss too but not as much as all the prior areas. This all shows that Mephiles has just been stuck in this state of non existence unable to use his time powers or do really anything and he's been clawing at the fabric of time to escape. Only getting as far as White Space and being able to seep into an area brought in by the Time Eater that being Chaos Island. It's just really really cool and he could definitely still come back one day I feel if he ever manages to get out. Same with Black Doom honestly cause if he could regrow from just one little Black Arms larvae, who's to say he didn't slip a Black Arms member into one of the different areas in time and could just regrow there? It's interesting to think about. But yeah overall this game was phenomenal, all the mechanics were used well and fun, the hub was awesome, levels designed extremely well including the 2d ones, great bosses and music, everything is just amazing. Can't wait for what they do in the future, it's only looking up for Sonic now. They're definitely experimenting with more momentum based stuff as multiple times in the Shadow Gens levels and in White Space there's some slopes to boost and launch yourself off on.

[@Termina2018]

43:25 "Instead of ruling the universe with an iron fist! I was serenaded by teddy bears!" 💀

[@dancingvalkyrie]

I hope the doom powers make a spiritual return in future games. Like have Sonic use a surfboard to traverse water

[@AcidRainComics]

Seeing that Shadow 2005 flash game gave me a Ratatouille flashback

[@Yensid951927]

I feel like Sega is slowly building up the move set of Sonic and his friends for the next big Sonic game. Imagine the open world hubs stuffed with collectables, mini games and puzzle, and refined boosting levels with opportunities to playthrough as different characters.

[@fordthelord1133]

Personally, I would love if they used the whole frontiers speed an style for shadow gameplay, where he can use chaos control and is more puzzle-ish when it comes to finding new paths and stuff like in shadow gens, where sonic should go back a lil to the unleashed style boost gameplay and speed, he IS the fastest thing alive. More speed-based speedrunning stuff asking to be crazily used. As long as they make new stories with the two, maybe even make a gameplay style for silver! Develop his character finally PLEASE SEGA WE NEED ANSWERS FOR THE FUTURE!

[@ICader7194]

PEAK HAS ARRIVED

[@Persianpudding]

I liked Frontiers, but I like Shadow Generations more. It’s a more consistently polished and thrilling experience that I’d feel comfortable recommending to people who like platformers lol, whereas I feel Frontiers is not for everyone. I hope Sonic Team is able to take the right lessons from this game and bring it to Frontiers 2 (memorable environments and setpieces, solid animation, freedom in the engine/level design to experiment). And continue using Ian Flynn! He knows these characters so well and knows when to use levity or when to make things high stakes.

[@Mr_bukowski4435]

Having Sonic team put out a game Sam loves as well as so many other fans makes me so happy. It almost feels unreal with how great this game is

[@Emerstar]

38:06 Maybe he’s also seeing stuff from Black Doom’s past. Maybe the Ancients and the Black Arms were in a war and a young Black Doom was fighting on Chaos Island.

[@BlueBands539]

Loved the review. I'm currently writing one of my own. For me personally, I think I would like to see one more game from Sonic Team before I'm ready for them to maybe try an adventure 3. The ideas are there, but I want just a smidge more consistency before putting my eggs all in a basket. The game is still great, and I love what they did with Shadow. Year of Shadow baby, all hail Shadow!

[@mrcwillis6970]

Love this game so much, Sonic Generations is already a big favourite and now with this new Shadow Gens this may be my favourite sonic game. They did a really good job porting Sonic Gens and the new Shadow gens was an absolute joy as a big fan as Shadow and his story. Overall even tho I do think there was some missed opportunity with the story and lore and what characters could have shown up in the open zone, and even tho I do wish it was a bit longer. This was amazing, so much love went into the level desgin and animations and bosses. The interactions with shadow and characters was really sweet and the open area was really neat and there’s plenty to collect. Plus it looks so beautiful and the soundtrack is fantastic. So happy shadow got his time to shine after all these years and like the rest of the series. The future of this franchise continues to grow ever more, hope they can keep it up and continue improving and striving for the best they can. I’m not quite sure what’s next (in terms of games) but I’m feeling pretty hyped. 💙❤️

[@hubster3055]

38:20 Ive thought about this too and outside of Sega just wanting to reuse assets already made for HE2, maybe despite this being Shadow's white space the Time Eater is still pulling from Sonic's past and future. The only level in Shadow Generations that Sonic had never visited; Radical Highway, is the only one to not have a stage gate in White Space

[@KilPlayGames828]

33:23 even the title theme was a banger

[@pipopiipo]

I noticed in both Shadow gens and Dark Beginnings that they gave Shadow an avoidance coping mechanism and it’s honestly really sad. Dark Beginnings: he’s seconds away from a panic attack and what does he do? Avoids the memory Maria gets him mildly emotional: he runs away He’s losing his family a second time and although he could save them they don’t want him to and what does he do? Run away HE NEEDS THERAPY

[@evandoubenmier7914]

I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t include Without You from the prologue animation in the game. Everything else was 10/10 though. Thank you Sega and great review Sam!

[@El_Mince]

thank you sonic team for feeding us some good fucking food

[@its.4LeX]

Woooo watching right as it dropped good day fr

[@Da1X_Builds]

I just realized something that could be the reason Unleashed hasn’t received a remaster yet. The voice acting. Since Jason isn’t the voice of Sonic anymore and these are technically the same lines, would he still get paid? They could replace him with Roger, but I think that would lead to a LOT of fan backlash.

[@cliffturbo2146]

The game wouldn't feel the same at all if that's the case. Tony Salerno and Griffith were perfect as Sonic and Chip. If they replaced them, it'd be like following two very different people in the same story. Though it would be funny hearing Roger do a Werewolf voice.

[@LimeyALblimey]

I CANR WAIT FOR SONIC MOVIE 3 SHADOW GENS IS SO GOOD (for me)‼️‼️😋

[@EvelynWn]

My best guess for no Shadow 05 levels is that all of that games iconic levels are kinda shared with other games. The ARK is also in SA2, and I believe its confirmed that both City Escape and Radical Highway take place in Westopolis. There are other levels they could have used, (I'd have liked that one jungle level with the slingshot mechanics) but they're not very iconic.

[@EmeraldUltima713]

33:55. Yeah... that's weird. I didn't even think about that during my time playing the level.

[@Mew4U]

This is all Ian Flynn. You guys should give him a chance if you were skeptical about him, he is a great writer and understands these characters like if they are his children!

[@Tailsfly593]

Sonic Forces is a good game.

[@ExodiaRM]

In my headcanon, Gerald probably think that Maria will be passed away due to her illness, and him to a retaliation of the big names of the organizations in Sonic's universe after the whole Gizoid fiasco (who brought too much attention to the ARK) Because of that he probably think is that what Shadow will want to prevent little he know that his and her fate are more abrupt and will define what Shadow became

[@pokestyn]

39:46 city escape and radical highway canonically take place in Westopolis actually

[@math3us420]

17:27 crazy how similar this part of the music is to aang's theme from avatar

[@SonicGo20]

This is a big Hitter of all Sonic Games in 2024 ever since what game. First I saw the first trailer of the game, Hedgehog engine 2 was kinda Expected. But the idea from Sonic Team that they’re going to evolve the Engine into something more than frontiers is something that I never expected but it had me interested. But would they make it a lot more Greater moving Forward?

[@riqopowpow]

It's a big Hitler of all Sonic Games in 2024 indeed

[@ThomasCapella]

If they make another Shadow game the only thing they need is Chaos Blast. Let me blow shit up. Imagine the possibilities too. Like using it to quickly get through areas like the room in Kingdom Valley with the enemy gauntlet. Just make it quick and snappy like the Shadow opening.

[@KrystianZielecki]

“WORTH THE PRICE”, DAMN!!! I really, REALLY want to get this game!!

[@brycetheoddball]

Those towers are still part of the ARK they just happen to be a separate set of towers.

[@mr.mtfvsgaming3767]

I dont know why but blaming Ian for the Rouge change is just really funny to me

[@sonicsean34]

At the start of this I was confused cos it didn’t sound like Sam and I wondered if it was a bit or he hired a narrator. 14 mins in I can now hear Sam-qualities in the voice

[@TheEggPaladin]

Bro, didn't even mention the drop dash for both sonics!! LMAO 😂

[@sonicgalaxy27]

I do love your review about the game but Sonic Team still has some ways to go to make a perfect Sonic brand and put the series back on track.

[@JonyPlayz1]

Great review! That was really entertaining, keep up the great work! This is the best timeline to be a Sonic fan

[@thephantomgamingbros.6329]

I have never clicked on one of your notifications faster

[@SNOCKLESYT]

The only problem I have with the generations remaster is that when Sonic colors did too much for its remaster, Generations did too little. It's not bad at all but I wouldn't mind upscale textures and beautiful new models

[@warr_toast1139]

Wish you added the cutscene of implications of classic sonic eating angel island

[@angeltroid]

ALL HAIL SHADOW! 🎵

[@ICader7194]

HEROES RISE AGAIN🎵🎵

[@robertslawjr]

My only issue with the generations remastered is the frame rates is capped at only 60, would be nice if it got the 120 boost like shadow generations did.

[@Hynotama]

Shadow should have given Sonic the real emerald and keep the fake one as a permanent upgrade, that allowed him to use his chaos powers independently of the real emeralds. After all, if Sonic could pull off his first chaos control and sonic wind with a fake emerald, Shadow should have no problem utilising it to an even higher degree.

[@JakeNazzaro]

Everyone's favorite Hedgehog? Lol. I like Sonic and Silver as hedgehogs much more than Shadow. I feel like the game is a bit overrated because there is hardly any story and its just various cutscenes of Shadow talking to Gerald and Maria. The time eater should of played a bigger role and they do not even explain why Chaos island is in the game. When I played the game there was a lot of bugs especially automated spots not working correctly. I had to restart the Space Colony Ark and Rail Canyon several times due to the bugs. For things I did like I really enjoyed the level design as it has just the right amount of platforms while still being wide open to boost much like a Sonic level. I love that there are so many paths and the doom powers really help with speed running. The bosses are super fun and have just the right amount of difficultness to them. As for Sonic Generations I wish that the dialog was kept the same and its ashame they censored Roge. Overall I think Sonic X Shadow Generations is a solid game and a 8/10 because it is a lot of fun to play.

[@ultimate8948]

Amazing review sam! Love these!