Shadow the Hedgehog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Luigifan (talk | contribs) at 14:41, 9 July 2007 (→‎External links: Adding a category). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog character
File:Shadow rivals.png
Shadow the Hedgehog is a rival of Sonic the Hedgehog and the ultimate lifeform created by Gerald Robotnik.
First gameSonic Adventure 2
Created bySonic Team
This article is about the video game character. For the video game of the same name, see Shadow the Hedgehog (video game).

Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Shadou za Hejjihoggu) is a video game character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, created by Sonic Team, designed by Yuji Uekawa and owned by Sega.

Shadow is a black, male, anthropomorphic, humanoid hedgehog. He is Sonic the Hedgehog's rival and is considered to be an anti-hero, and was created by Gerald Robotnik. Created as the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow is immortal and ageless (whilst it is unknown whether he really cannot be killed at all it can be assumed from the title immortal that he at least cannot be harmed by purely natural things like disease).

Since his debut, Shadow has appeared in a multitude of games, television shows, and comic books. His past is almost a complete mystery until the game Shadow the Hedgehog reveals the events surrounding his creation and his being captured by the government. In contrast to Sonic, Shadow is typically portrayed as a tortured anti-hero in the vein of Black Adam, or any other morally-ambiguous protagonist. According to an official poll, he is the second most popular character in the series, second only to Sonic himself.[1]

History

Shadow debuted in the game Sonic Adventure 2 as one of three main antagonists, alongside Rouge the Bat. Dr. Eggman set Shadow free from a G.U.N. base on Prison Island and in exchange Shadow agreed to aid the doctor in his plans to take over the world; holding his true intentions as wishing to get revenge for the death of his friend, Maria Robotnik. In an ironic twist of fate, Shadow ultimately aided Sonic when realizing Maria's true wish with the help of Amy Rose. As Super Sonic and Super Shadow, they destroyed the Biolizard, having become the Finalhazard, and transported the Space Colony ARK back into a stable orbit. Afterwards, Shadow fell to the earth and was presumed dead.

In the game Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovers Shadow in a stasis tube located in the deepest part of one of Dr. Eggman's bases. Shadow apparently has amnesia and can't remember anything before his release. He joins forces with Rouge and the robot E-123 Omega to form Team Dark and find Dr. Eggman. It is later revealed that Eggman had made robotic androids of Shadow, but it's never explained if Shadow was the REAL Shadow. Ultimately, when Metal Sonic transformed into Metal Madness, Shadow worked with Rouge, Omega, and everyone else to help defeat it. Shadow is last seen with Omega and the defeated Metal Sonic.

File:Shadow sa2b 32.png
Shadow in his first appearance in Sonic Adventure 2

In Sonic Battle, Rouge saves Shadow's life while they are investigating Dr. Eggman's secret base and takes him back to her home. Shadow talks about how the people of Earth must destroy him and Emerl if they ever want peace, still believing that he is a weapon. It is revealed, however, that he ultimately has the heart and soul of Maria Robotnik, implying he could not be the enemy of humanity. In one of the Professor's journal entries, Gerald mentions that "Project Shadow" was put on hold because of Project Gizoid.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow is revealed to be the dual creation of the alien overlord Black Doom and Professor Gerald. Gerald couldn't finish the project on his own, so he contacted the Black Comet and used Black Doom's DNA to create Shadow. Shadow eventually gathers all the Chaos Emeralds and confronts Doom as Super Shadow. He then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. In the end, he puts the past behind and chooses to move forward.

Shadow appears as an unlockable character in Sega SuperStars for the PlayStation 2's EyeToy. If the player finishes all three difficulty levels of the Sonic the Hedgehog minigame, Shadow is unlocked. Upon collecting all Chaos Emeralds, he can transform into Super Shadow.

Shadow is an unlockable character in the game Sonic Riders, but plays no part in the story. He is unlocked by beating the Hero Story and acts as a Speed character, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog, and uses Chaos Control to attack his opponents. Shadow's default racing gear are skates, a variation of his Air Shoes, which are called "Darkness". He can also use boards and bikes, and other characters can use his skates.

File:Shadow sonic the hedgehog 06.png
Shadow as he appears in Sonic the Hedgehog

In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, Shadow is a playable character and has his own storyline which weaves with those of Sonic and new character Silver the Hedgehog. After the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow has apparently become a GUN agent. In this role, Shadow encounters the new villain Mephiles the Dark due to the incident that happened ten years ago. Shadow is sent to the future and is revealed to have been sealed away by the reprogrammed Omega sometime after the release of Iblis. Ultimately, Mephiles gains hold of the seven Chaos Emeralds and merges into Iblis, becoming Solaris. Shadow turns into Super Shadow and joins with Super Silver and Super Sonic to defeat Solaris. The events of the game are then reset and do not occur, leaving his future open.

Shadow appears in Sonic Rivals as a playable character alongside Sonic, Knuckles, Silver, and Metal Sonic. Summoned to a strange land by Dr. Eggman via a cryptic transmission asking for his aid, Shadow is able to successfully locate Dr. Eggman, but once he mentions the cryptic message, Dr. Eggman denies it. The mystery continues to unfold itself as Rouge warns him of an impending danger and upon stumbling across a secret about Dr. Eggman, her transmission is cut off short. Shadow continues his quest to uncover the truth about Dr. Eggman. Shadow also appears on four of the 150 collectible cards in the game.

Shadow appears in the game Sonic and the Secret Rings as the first unlockable character in Party Mode. He is unlocked by collecting 30 Fire Souls in Story Mode.

Shadow will be appearing in the sequel to Sonic Rivals, Sonic Rivals 2.

Personality

Shadow is a "lone wolf" who distances himself from Sonic and his friends, but will assist them should the need arise. He is somewhat soft spoken and has a calm, yet violent demeanor, even in pressing situations. Shadow is one of the darkest and most developed characters in the series, willing to do whatever it takes for him to achieve what he believes is right. Even if this involves the death of an entire planet, and himself. He has also been shown to be extremely loyal, at least to his creator and Maria, following their instructions without questioning morals.

He has a tendency to treat people in a callous manner and seems to care little for most of the other characters (apart from Rouge and Omega). But ever since he decided to turn away from Maria and the professor, he's been a little more caring and helpful. He is portrayed as being rather intelligent; he is usually able to explain or describe situations with a large vocabulary and understand things faster than others, it can also be assumed that he may have large mechanical abilities in that someone must have reprogrammed the ARK to crash, (Shadow being the only one who knew this from the beginning and having sereral hours to himself on the colony before the Doctor arrived).

In the anime series Sonic X, Shadow is slightly less aggressive, but is still retains his violent nature. For example, Shadow attempted to kill Cosmo because he thought she was a Metarex spy. Tails then tried to protect Cosmo, which resulted in Shadow giving him a severe beating.

In the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie comic books, Shadow was once depicted as being very aggressive and violent towards others, and would destroy anyone who got in the way of his objectives. Over time, however, Shadow seems to have lost much of this aggressiveness, and even acts like a gentleman at times.

Relationships

Shadow was created by Professor Gerald Robotnik, Dr. Eggman's grandfather, with the use of Black Doom's DNA. Soon after being created, Shadow became good friends with both the Professor and his granddaughter, Maria, whom he treated like a sister. However, Maria died trying to escape with Shadow from the Space Colony ARK during G.U.N.'s siege of the station. After her death, Maria's sacrifice continuously haunted Shadow, until he finally decided to let go of his past at the end of Shadow the Hedgehog and lead his own life.

The relationship between Shadow and Black Doom may have been brief, but has played a significant role in Shadow's life. Shadow was made from Black Doom's blood, in a deal between the alien and Professor Gerald; this 'technically' makes Black Doom Shadow's biological father. Regardless of the path taken, Shadow ultimately fights and defeats Black Doom and then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. It is unknown if Black Doom is still alive. Black Doom threatens Shadow with a demand for extreme loyalty and respect. He also doesn't tolerate any kind of mistake or failure, no matter how difficult on Shadow's part.

Shadow's approach to Dr. Eggman is quite different to that of other characters. His relation to the Doctor is neither that of a staunch enemy nor an ally, choosing instead to form alliances with or against him depending on the circumstances. Although Shadow appears to show little regard for whether Dr. Eggman's schemes succeed or not, clashes do occur when they get in each other's way. Despite this, they display a certain amount of respect for each other's abilities, one notable aspect being that Shadow always refers to Eggman by his title "Doctor."

Shadow also has a close relationship with Rouge the Bat, as she is probably the closest thing he has to an actual friend. She also shows a lot of respect for the black hedgehog and is often seen worrying about his safety throughout the series in various titles. A few times she also becomes a "damsel-in-distress", usually causing Shadow to end up saving her. Rouge has also returned the favor a couple times, such as when she takes Shadow to her place to rest when he is weakened. Their tight bond is generally recognized as a brother/sister relationship; it is unknown if they are any closer, thanks to Shadow's mysterious (and often sarcastic) personality.

E-123 Omega is also a close ally of Shadow. After starting off as adversaries in Sonic Heroes, he and Omega become friends and help each other in battle. Initially they don't get along well, but ultimately they become close friends. Upon realizing that he is destined to destroy Shadow, Omega is saddened.

Shadow's biggest rival is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, the main protagonist of the games. When the two first meet in Sonic Adventure 2, they immediately become enemies, but over time their relationship develops into a friendly rivalry. They frequently fight for different reasons, and Shadow finds Sonic to be very irritating, but they are still often forced to work together. Despite this, they do share some respect for one another, such as when Shadow saves Sonic from Silver during Sonic the Hedgehog.

Shadow has found himself an enemy in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) against Mephiles the Dark. Early on, Mephiles seems to recognize Shadow. This isn't revealed until later when Shadow returns to the Soleanna Disaster ten years ago. Like Black Doom, Mephiles constantly tries to get Shadow to defect to his side, but Shadow refuses to give in - possibly because Black Doom used the same tactics. After the time reset, it is unknown if Shadow remembers any of these events or even if Mephiles still exists at all.

Shadow has a short but significant encounter with Amy Rose in the Last Story of Sonic Adventure 2. When the Space Colony ARK is nearing its collision course with Earth, Amy pleads to Shadow to help save the world. At first he refuses, but Amy's persistent words eventually trigger the once-dormant memory of Maria's real wish: to give people a chance to be happy. In Sonic X it's Chris, rather than Amy, who reminds Shadow of Maria's true wish(to the immense displeasure of many fans). Shadow hasn't interacted with Amy much since then.

As a major figure in opposing the various threats that rise to threaten his homeworld, Shadow has found himself working alongside numerous allies. Knuckles the Echidna and Silver the Hedgehog also serve as his rivals, though his personal feelings for them are never really shown. Tails, Cream the Rabbit, Big the Cat and the Chaotix are also occasionally his allies, but it is doubtful he considers them anything more.

Abilities

Basic traits between Shadow and Sonic are virtually identical. Like Sonic, Shadow is very acrobatic, capable of gracefully leaping over many obstacles in his way. Also, due to his Air Shoes, he can "skate" at speeds high enough to rival Sonic's, although it is unknown as to how he would fare in comparison to Sonic, as various sources have given different information. However, there are some differences. For one, Shadow has impressive physical strength, as seen in Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow can flip over buses and slabs of pavement. And most importantly, he can use different "Chaos powers", that have varying effects and names.

Shadow's trademark move is Chaos Control, which allows him to warp time and space. Shadow uses it mainly to transport matter and/or to stop time or slow it down. The move actually allows the user to manipulate the time and space to warp across "space" or move through or across "time". Sonic, Black Doom and Silver can also use Chaos Control, though the move originally appeared with Shadow and he makes the most extensive use of it. Although cutscenes in the games seem to indicate that every character in the Sonic universe requires a Chaos Emerald to perform the technique, Shadow does not. An example of such is after Black Doom escaped from Shadow in the last story of Shadow the Hedgehog - Shadow was to pursue him, but the only way to get to the center of the comet was by using Chaos Control (without a Chaos Emerald). Shadow is also able to shape Chaos Control into a variety of offensive and defensive attacks, such as "Chaos Spear".

As shown in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and Sonic X, Shadow seems to be able to unleash more of his power if he takes off the rings on his wrists. Sonic X was the first to present this idea, which at first made it seem to be exclusive to the anime, as during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaption, Shadow loses his rings when trying to stop the ARK from crashing to earth. In the game, Sonic enters the ARK with Shadow's Fire Ring upgrade instead of his rings in his hands. In the anime, this increase in power comes at the expense of a reduced stamina, causing Shadow to become exhausted after a relatively short time engaged in combat as seen in episodes 60, 61, and 63 of the series.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow has shown that he can also use a wide range of firearms, semi-automatics, heavy assault, and close-combat weapons. He can also improvise with debris, and drive a wide range of vehicles, as shown in Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). This proves a large difference between him and Sonic because in the same game, Sonic says he'd never get caught using a gun or driving a car, while Shadow usually does whatever it takes to reach his goal regardless of what other people think of it.

In the Sonic X anime series, Shadow is seen to generate huge explosions when for example attacking ships, a blast of fire around him (possibly a form of Chaos Blast) and large Chaos Control shockwaves capable of freezing large parts of space in time for a short while. His physical strength is featured very prominently, especially in episode 73 while trying to kill Cosmo (he was shown to be able to destroy huge steel doors and walls of the Blue Typhoon with ease).

Another trademark of Shadow is his Air Shoes, which are also called Jet Shoes or Hover Shoes (a slightly different pair called "Darkness" appeared in Sonic Riders). These utilize hover jets in the soles of the shoes to reduce friction and enable Shadow to "skate" incredibly fast (see previous note on this), as well as hover in mid-air. He has also been able to fly, or at least shoot himself forward at high speeds with them, as seen in the intro cutscene of Shadow the Hedgehog.

By harnessing the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow is able to use super transformation to transform into Super Shadow. The abilities then presented to him are similar to those used by Super Sonic, even though he retains all his normal abilities.

Other appearances

Sonic X

File:Shadow-SonicX38.jpg
Shadow, as seen in the anime episode of Sonic X.

Shadow also appears on the anime Sonic X. Episodes 33 through 38 are based on Sonic Adventure 2, with quite a few differences from the game. For one, it was Chris Thorndyke who reminded Shadow of his true promise from Maria, not Amy Rose. Afterwards, he makes short appearances in flashbacks, but he makes his true return in episode 60, “The Return of Shadow”. In Japan he is voiced by his game voice actor, but in the dub he is voiced by Jason Griffith, who also does the voice of Sonic.

In Season 3, Shadow had no clear memory of his mysterious past, although in one episode, he seems to have an image of Maria in his mind. However, he cannot seem to work out who she really was. In that same episode, Dr. Eggman visits people of a planet the Metarex are warring with, including one orange-haired female teenager by the name of Molly. Shadow and Rouge meet her, and at the end of the French/Japanese version of the episode, Molly was killed by the Metarex. Shadow erects a makeshift grave for her, and Rouge notes that she was similar to Maria. In the English dub Molly is seen flying off into the sky and instead of a grave, Shadow says that he will miss her and he is worried about her being all alone out in space.

Later, Shadow receives a faint memory of Maria as he is holding the grey Chaos Emerald in his hands. In the last episode of the third season, as Shadow is in his Super form, Shadow performs Chaos Control to save everyone from an exploding planet, possibly sacrificing himself in the process. In the Japanese/French version of the last episode, Shadow is seen at Molly's grave, where he seems to have put a pink flower on it.

The anime also makes reference to the fact that Shadow may be associated with a folklore hero named "Black Wind", possibly in reference to "Black Whirlwind" Li Kui from the classic Chinese novel "The Water Margin."

Shadow was mentioned briefly in issue #18 of the Sonic X comic series, although he has yet to make an actual appearance. However, since it has been stated by Ian Flyyn that the Sonic X comic series may not cover the Meterex Saga, Shadow appearing seems unlikely.

Sonic the Hedgehog

File:Sonic146.jpg
Shadow, as seen on the cover of issue #146.

Shadow has appeared a few times in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. He first appears in an introduction to the game Sonic Adventure 2, with a few changes to accommodate the Archie version of Mobius/Earth. The comic skips over the events of the game, and Shadow reappears with an explanation of how he survived his apparent death: An alien race, the Bem, rescued him so he could combat their enemy, the alien Xorda, buying the Bem time to escape. However, Shadow could not defeat the Xorda (even in his super form) and plummeted toward Mobius. He survived the fall and was found by Sonic.

Shadow often works alone to achieve his goal, which is to discover the truth about his mysterious history. He has allied with Sonic to fight greater evils, like the Xorda, and he has been known to work either for or against Dr. Eggman depending on the circumstances (once even threatening to kill him). Often, he will side with whomever he believes will bring him closer to the truth. This search has led him to interact with various other characters, including the robot Isaac, Knuckles' father Locke, and various versions of Metal Sonic. He also has some connection with the being or beings responsible for the creation of Croctobot, the robot created from a fusion of Crocbot and Octobot. In addition to Sonic, he has also established a rivalry with Scourge the Hedgehog. He has also sworn to protect Hope Kintobor at all costs, viewing it as atoning for Maria's death since Hope is one of the few living beings to show compassion towards him besides Maria, and also bears a striking resemblance to her (enough so that he nearly mistook Hope for Maria at one point).

His threats to kill Dr. Eggman were cut short when the villain revealed his blood-connection to the late Maria and hinted he could help uncover Shadow's past. Shadow allied himself with Dr. Eggman in hopes of the doctor making good on his promise. However, he later found himself captured by A.D.A.M., who wished to use him and Tails to collect every Chaos Emerald in the universe by use of his Chaos Control. Upon gaining freedom, Shadow helped Tails teleport all the Chaos Emeralds into the Zone of Silence. Shadow later confronted Dr. Eggman and his nephew, Snively, demanding Professor Gerald's diary. It was later mentioned by Tails' parents that the Black Arms had been fighting the Xorda for several months on the Bem homeworld of Argentium, indicating that the comics may do an adaptation of Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow later steals a disk containing Professor Gerald's diary, but it gets damaged by the droids persueing him. Sonic saves him from the droids, and later on NICOLE says she can wire into the disk and let Shadow uncover the secrets of his past. Inside the diary Shadow finds out that his creator had made a deal with Black Doom to create the greatest weapon (Shadow), but the professor changed his mind and defied Black Doom. He created Shadow with the intent to protect Mobius. Having gained the answers he seeked it is clear that Shadow will now be protecting Mobius, although it is unclear whether or not he will join the Freedom Fighters (though he was seemingly absent during Eggman's latest offensive, including the destruction of Knothole).

All of Shadow's Chaos powers in the comic book series come from the greatest power in the universe, the Chaos Force (also referred to as "The Power of Chaos"), a mystical energy field that serves as a wellspring for all Chaos powers. Knuckles states at one point that Shadow must have direct access to this energy, even without an Emerald, as displayed when Shadow sub-consciously halted a squadron of 'Metal Sonic Troopers' using Chaos Control in the absence of an Emerald.

Possible Future

In the second version of the comic's Mobius: 25 Years Later "possible future" storyline, Shadow becomes King of Mobius and the husband of Sally Acorn. Because of this, Sonic and Sally's children Sonia and Manik, from another possible future, never exist. In this future, Shadow rules the planet with an iron fist, with a futuristic Knuckles serving as his chief enforcer. In addition, he has an alliance with Lien-Da, Grand Master of the Dark Legion, despite the disapproval of her ancestor Dimitri, who considers her pact with Shadow to be as bad as his own previous alliance with Dr. Finitevus. After King Sonic (from another possible future) and Lara-Su return from their excursions to the past, Shadow orders their imprisonment, along with a number of other enemies such as Rotor and Tails. Due to his Chaos-derived reality warping abilities, Shadow was fully aware that history had been altered, and so was determined to keep anyone from acting on it. However, his reign came to an end when he was defeated by none other than Lara-Su, who used Chaos Control to freeze him in time, an attack so powerful that she joked that she didn't think her great-great-great-great-great grandchildren would have to worry about him.

Shadow Androids

Shadow Androids are robots based on Shadow that first appeared in Sonic Heroes, though it was never actually stated to be such. Instead, one Team Dark cutscene showed a broken Shadow robot, and another one showed an entire room of Androids in stasis, which affected the story in a way, making several characters believe Shadow was a robot. The Shadow Androids reappeared in Shadow the Hedgehog as somewhat strong enemy robots on the single-player mode's "Iron Jungle" and "Lava Shelter" stages, along with the "Iron Jungle" boss. These androids can counter Shadow's Homing Attacks by jumping, attack using Homing Attack themselves, or lock-on to Shadow and toss rockets at him, which they seem to use more often than the Homing Attack.

In the multi-player mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, there are six special Shadow Androids. Four of these robots are silver with green, pink, orange, or blue stripes, each wielding either an alien-like machine gun or a bazooka. The other two androids look more like Shadow, but on one of them, the stripes are yellowish-orange instead of red. These two androids, like the real Shadow, start off without weapons but can carry any other weapon they collect and have limited ammo while the other four androids can only use their built-in weapons which have unlimited ammo. The androids can activate Dark Shadow and all of its normal effects and attacks, just like the real Shadow. Hero Shadow does not seem to be available as there are no good deeds for the player to do to fill the Hero gauge and Chaos Control (the in-level version) would be useless in multi-player mode. All of these androids and Shadow claim to be the original, and claim that the others are fakes.

Voice actors

Associated songs

The video games have featured several theme songs for the character. Shadow's themes consisted primarily of the techno and industrial genres in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, but have shown an increasing preference towards the punk and metal genres in more recent games.

In addition, there are several vocal level themes associated with Shadow's character in Sonic Adventure 2.

  • White Jungle: "Rhythm and Balance" - Everett Bradley
  • Final Chase: "The Supernatural" - Everett Bradley
  • Biolizard: "Supporting Me" - Everett Bradley

Also, a special remix of "TRIPOD BABY" performed by m-flo was released as a promotional song for Shadow the Hedgehog.

References & notes

  1. ^ AbsoluteAnime.com. "Information on Shadow's personality". Retrieved May 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Sonic HQ.com. "Rouge's report on Shadow". Retrieved April 5. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  1. ^ http://sonic.sega.jp/event/016/index.html

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Shadow the Hedgehog.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shadow_the_Hedgehog&oldid=143505253"