Although he was a later addition in the grand scheme of things, not making his first appearance until a full decade after the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow is one of the most beloved characters in the Sonic series today. Sega and Sonic Team had no idea of the hit they had on their hands when they created Shadow, as it has now been confirmed that the plan was for the brooding black and red hedgehog to be killed off 25 years ago.
Spoilers ahead for the 25-year-old Sonic Adventure 2.
Talking all things Sonic for the blue blur’s 35th anniversary with One More Game, Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka revealed that when Shadow dies at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, the first game in which the character appeared, there was no grand plan to bring him back to life. He was supposed to stay dead and never show up in a video game again.
“If you have played Sonic Adventure 2, people may know that Shadow basically sort of died at the end of that game. We were originally intending to just kind of die the character out (kill him off),” Iizuka confirmed. That has often been what Sonic fans assumed since, in Sonic Adventure 2, it is heavily implied that Shadow dies when he falls back to Earth after going to space to help Sonic save the planet.
Despite Shadow’s heroic and iconic face turn at the end of SA2, Sega devs were blindsided by how much Sonic fans fell in love with the new character. So much so that they retconned Shadow’s on-screen death, even coming up with a canon explanation for his survival when really they could have just reintroduced him in future games and, considering the adoration for the new cast member, fans would have been fine with it.
Shadow was rescued by a Dr. Eggman bot that swooped down and caught him as he plummeted through the Earth’s atmosphere. That’s how he was able to show up and make his second appearance two years later in Sonic Heroes, and then got his very own spinoff game two more years after that in Shadow the Hedgehog.
Fast forward to 2026 and Shadow remains a fan favorite. He has even become Iizuka’s favorite, 25 years after he was on a team of devs that planned to leave the tortured anti-hero for dead. “I want to have more places where Shadow can appeal more. I want to focus on him a little bit more,” Iizuka said. If you’re taking requests, I wouldn’t say no to a long overdue Shadow the Hedgehog sequel, or even just a remaster of his original, and so far only, standalone game.
For those unfamiliar with the events of SA2 who read past the spoiler - good news. The ending of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - the movie, not the game - is effectively a big screen adaptation of SA2’s ending. Shadow is missing, presumed dead, in that, too, but will almost certainly be revealed to have survived the closing battle in Sonic 4, which is now only five months away from hitting theaters.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/sega-shadow-stay-dead-after-sonic-adventure-2/
