Why Shadow the Hedgehog appealed to 2000s Kids

In the mid 2000's Shadow the Hedgehog was one of the, if not THE, most popular Sonic character (besides Sonic). Well why did Shadow the Hedgehog appeal to 2000s Kid?
Patreon: / rocketsloth

[@abdullahsadaq2584]

Shadow is basically the Charizard of Sonic

[@MajoraZ]

A key aspect of Shadow that's been lost, is rather then being an edgy dark sonic or a "Vegeta", he was meant to mirror Sonic in personality and themes, not just design: Wheras Knuckles is meant to CONTRAST Sonic as a rival (Blue vs Red, Hedgehog vs Echidna, Speed vs Power, Carefree vs Introspective, etc) Shadow & Sonic share traits: Both are Hedgehogs, speedy, and act cocky and free-spirited. His original name in that early concept art, Terios, even allegedly meant mirror or reflection (also to grant wishes, another aspect of his character that's been forgotten). Finally, both are an ideal of coolness Shadow is the late 90s/early 00's aloof badboy, to Sonic's early 90's radical 'tude, which ties into what this video is trying to convey. But the key thing is that beneath that superficial difference of what makes them cool, they're meant to be similar characters, unlike Knuckles (or say Metal Sonic, which rather then being a reflection or a complementary contrast, like Shadow and Knuckles, is sort of a nullification or a complete contrast: He's not an animal at all, but a machine; see also the early nature vs technology theme in the 2d sonic titles, etc). But that's something that has increasingly been downplayed as time has gone on since SA2. Especially in Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow just sort of becomes an edgeu gruff character rather then just being suave and aloof. Even then, though, in Heroes Shadow and 06, he at least does have some ties to his original story arc, which had themes of identity and self discovery (Something that's often ignored is SA2 was intentionally written to make it vague if Shadow actually was Shadow or if his memories were real, some of the Japan only material like Rouge's report to the president implies the timeline doesn't add up, and some dialog Shadow gives if you take long enough in Final Hazard even implies that SONIC was the actual "Ultimate Life Form", and maybe actual final result of Project Shadow) and follows up on that with the Shadow clones/androids in Heroes and StH and his actual origins in StH, and then KingK's video on 06 does a great job explaining how even that sort of concludes his arc (HA,! Like Space Colony Ark?) with him accepting himself and contuining to protect humanity working with GUN in accordance with Maria's wishes even if they're the organization that killed here. I do wanna be clear here though that unlike a lot of other 90s and early 00's kids, I'm not a fan of Hereos, Shadow, and 06: I love SA2, it's my third favorite game of all time, but I dropped all the follow ups after a single story run. But from a narrative perspective, they all did continue what SA2 set up to a degree, even if IMO they did it poorly and sort of suck to play. But in the media since, even that aspect of his original character is gone: He no longer acts as this thematic mirror to Sonic, and there's no aspect of his own identity he's still working through. He's very much just used around for fanservice and to be an edgy anti-hero, and I think in the process has lost a lot of what made him appealing to begin with. Frontiers seems to be doing wonders for fleshing out the characters and character relationships in the Sonic Universe, so I hope that other media moving forward can handle Shadow properly again. But we also know that Shadow is the character Sega has the most red tape around handling a certain way, so i'm not holding my breath.

[@kappapride6332]

He's just a little guy who likes guns, cats and coffee beans. And for that he is the Ultimate Fave.

[@TailsAndSonicPals]

I think they needed a better name for the villain than Black Doom and his Black creatures. Also great video, very underrated channel.

[@elderjose9662]

this black actually means ''dark'' in japanese ''kuro'' means both, dark and black and in the translation they translate like black because of how popular ''black'' things are in the past like ''black metal'' or whatever, there's nothing to do with race

[@nobodycares607]

the racists always think saying "black" is racist

[@NiCoNiCoNiCola]

Nah, if they had a different name we wouldn't have the "Disgusting black creatures, get out of my sight" line which is just perfect

[@ajclarke9189]

13:20 - Wait a second. That’s Knuckles, not Shadow.

[@scottylewis8124]

The game did have plans for a T rating, but Sega and Sonic Team got cold feet.

[@SuperLucky7]

Not exactly. Basically they were originally designing it with the intention of it being rated T, but the ESRB added the new E-10+ rating during Shadow the Hedgehog's development so Sega and Sonic Team decided to make it fit the newer rating that was available because then they could market it with that new rating...

[@scottylewis8124]

@@SuperLucky7 that wasn't very smart. Why.. why did they introduce that eating?

[@SuperLucky7]

@@scottylewis8124 I don't know, I don't work for the ESRB. Honestly though, there's a lot of questionable decisions made by the ESRB.

[@LaRavachole]

13:07 HOLY SHIT, that unlocked an early memory for me. Not only did I see this ad on TV, I also had that exact Happy Meal toy lol

[@ufokais]

omg this channel should have so much more appreciation this was a great video

[@thecondescendinggoomba5552]

My favorite game where the villain is the devil (from da bible)

[@EndYouTubeShorts_]

Did you know this Edgy Hedgy dated Meghan Fox?

[@kactilove5543]

What how?

[@ryanm.8720]

And Shadow banged Eggman's wife (prior to discovering that she was actually Shadow's mother).

[@EndYouTubeShorts_]

@kactilove It was a Sonicsong182 reference. It gets mentioned as a joke in the long running series ask the Sonic Heroes. @Ryan M. go find the comment from the Condescending Goomba for the area of Snapcube referneces. I understand if you do not comply, though, as you are probably not used to being criticized for this overused joke.

[@ryanm.8720]

@@EndKZbinShorts_ You'd be surprised by the amount of people that haven't seen SnapCube's 'Real-Time Fandub' series yet.

[@EndYouTubeShorts_]

@@ryanm.8720 Cool.

[@RosheenQuynh]

This weirdly made me nostalgic for emo stuff now lol Poor Hot Topic...

[@sonic23233]

This game is why Jeff Fowler is directing the Sonic the Hedgehog movies

[@jeamsis]

Loved this!!!💕

[@F1ghtGam3r]

Watching this in February 2024, after Paramount Picures released a Sonic 3 movie trailer

[@CyborgFish]

Man I loved Shadow growing up, and played that game nonstop!! Also being born in the late 90's and having a blink 182 tattoo... I feel so targeted lmfao grats on 10k btw, this video was 10/10 😂

[@Gimmie_my_legoz]

As a scene kid, shadow dose appeal to me

[@kiapandora2094]

Shadow will always be best boi

[@XbladedGG]

The halo man? No way!

[@fivenightsatthefreddys]

15:38 i literally completely forgot about this omg i seriously can't wait for what's to come edit: wrong time stamp

[@zackattack3569]

Has anyone told you that your voice kinda sounds like the tpm vids guy?

[@julianpete5254]

Ah the early 2000s the good old days where every thing was not a phase

[@LaRavachole]

It was just a phase but I wish it wasn't (except all the wars, glad some are finally over).

[@F1ghtGam3r]

The REAL question is, why does Maria NOT have any shoes on in Sonic Adventure 2? 🤔

[@DarkMephilesKnight]

Why was the Power rangers theme in the background at the beginning?

[@captaincz5763]

I think you really spent a whole lot of time emphasizing and exaggerating the whole use of the word "black" thing going on. Ik it's weird and kinda funny looking back but obv they had no intention of being racist or anything. I think we could've just left it at that

[@obamius4521]

"Edgy the hedgy" 💀

[@blackoverblueskies6221]

Shadow the Edgelord!!!

[@elibridgers2781]

As someone who played the GameCube version of Shadow the Hedgehog, I found it enjoyable. Too bad the Xbox version wasn’t made backwards compatible for the Xbox One. Same thing for Sonic Heroes.

[@Mew4U]

They really messed up with the shadow 05 game...

[@andrewolivares1539]

halo is coming back!!! lol jk wrong channel... but bruh i know 343 likes halo. we just gotta appreciate the stuff and path they went with im just ranting.... thx for listening

[@TheBoneHeadClan]

You either have a surprising lack of knowledge or incredible amount of apathy about this topic.

[@kingthoug]

i hate people who use shadow for ascetic tho its cringe silver is better

[@TheDr502]

Shadow the Hedgehog is not a good game. It's not a polished game. But, it sure is a funny game. Honestly, the game felt so much like a parody of Sonic the Hedgehog that I ended enjoying it way more than I should have. The absurdity of a midget hedgehog riding on a motorcycle and getting into shootouts with the military is so outrageous that I just couldn't look away. A lot of cry-sob moments in this game because of how seriously the game took itself. No wonder this game sold >2 million units. Also, Silver wasn't edgier than Shadow. He was just stupider. He's like that one jackass that'll believe every stupid conspiracy theory that exists because someone told him so. That's why he didn't end up as popular. Although it remains to be seen whether Sonic 3 the Movie will end up as popular as Mario Bros the Movie, Shadow's starring in what'll probably end up a big blockbuster movie. Hell, he's being played by Keanu Reeves! WTH does Sega do with Silver? That guy's like Waluigi at this point. He's there, but not relevant anymore.

[@philace9]

antifa is the emos final form!!!