It occurs to me that some people have a warped view of Shadow the Hedgehog.
There’s like two versions of him.
There’s the impression people (including some SEGA creators) have of Shadow the Hedgehog, which started somewhere on or after 2005, which I will be referring to as
1. Shadow’s shadow
He’s dark but it’s cringey because he’s trying so hard to be dark, and you get the impression that only 10 year old boys and 14 year old girls think he’s actually dark. He has a gun, just to prove to monkey-brain children used to fun Sonic ring-collecting that he’s bad. He cusses because cussing is edgy. He never does anything good unless it’s to prove he’s a better hero than Sonic. He’s over-the-top cruel or emo because that’s all he represents, and picks fights to defend his own pride like a bad version of Season 1 Zuko.
The problem with this version of the character is that somewhere down the line, even SEGA thought that Shadow’s shadow was all the Shadow the Hedgehog that everyone wanted to see. Or they just forgot that none of the above character traits have anything to do with the original character, at all. And so they started putting him in the new games like that. But that’s not the real Shadow. That’s just Shadow’s Shadow, a lame guess at who the character is based on his black and red design and snippets of things which people who never played SA2 heard about the character.
The real version of the character, which sparked the original popularity, is
2. Shadow the Hedgehog
The original Shadow the Hedgehog was popular because he was the new character in a game that brought emotional Lore to the Sonic games. He debuted in Sonic Adventure 2, and he wasn’t even the only new character in that game, which is kind of one of the things that was awesome about him: he wasn’t supposed to be The Cool One™ in the franchise.
He was supposed to be a one-off character. Think about that: not a character that just hit every out-of-proportion-fanservice trait, not a character that they kept bringing back over and over to entice weary fans.
He was just a new story element, presenting interesting themes that worked as a great foil for Sonic himself, then dying in an emotionally impactful way, making the SA2 game interesting and memorable for it’s story.
That is what was originally so popular about Shadow. Yes, he was really cool, and he did check all the “Dark Version of Your Beloved Main Character Trope” boxes, but he was ALSO a really well-rounded character that didn’t feel like he was just a hook to get fans interested. He had depth.
In fact, it could be argued that he brought depth of story to the series in a way that hadn’t been done since...well, Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic’s first-ever “rival” (who was not a robot.)
And Shadow brought depth of story MORE than Knuckles, because Shadow came around in the era of Cutscenes and Dialogue which provided a medium for this little thing called Flashbacks. Yeah, Knuckles’ first, pixel-y appearance brought in story elements like The Master Emerald and visuals that hinted at lore, like a Shrine.
But Shadow?
Shadow the Hedgehog appeared and was instantly the audience’s window to look through and see things that had never been seen before, which fleshed out Sonic’s whole canon and world. Things like:
The Government (woah, the Sonic world has a President and a unique military organization?)
Eggman’s family (woah, they’re actually going to tell us something about where Eggman came from?)
Chaos Powers (woah, the Chaos Emeralds actually do something besides just turning characters “super?”)
A story structure like this, where a new character also served as a way to examine deeper parts of Sonic Lore, had been used in the game’s predecessor, Sonic Adventure 1. But that new character, Chaos, was just presented as a mindless, silent villain with a blank face who turned out to have feelings right before he disappeared forever. Shadow is not like that at all in his first appearance.
He starts the game acting kind of like a genie who’s been let out of the bottle, offering to grant Eggman wishes. He offers Eggman a mysterious bargain. He seems totally evil and in possession of power over the Chaos Emeralds that allow him to rival Sonic. But during the story, there start to be hints at something underneath it all.
He keeps flashing back to a scary/sad combo of scenes involving a little girl. He mentions that he’s after revenge. He talks like a Shakespeare character when he villainously monologues, but he also ends most of his levels with “I’m the coolest!” and smugly talks smack with Sonic during their fight scenes. He seems totally focused on his mission one minute, then, any time he encounters Sonic, appears to get completely distracted and eager to compete, like a 18 year-old athlete.
All this contrast between a lofty, broody villain personality with a hidden fun, competitive showboating personality made the audience DESPERATE to know where this Shadow guy came from and what made him tick. It helped that other characters, like the government spy and Eggman himself, were teasing at a mystery in his past, too.
Then when you DO find out the why behind everything Shadow does, there’s been such a buildup that it’s satisfying.
I mean, it sounds really weird to hear that Shadow the Hedgehog is an artificial creature created by Eggman’s genius grandfather on a space station to bring hope to the Earth below, but was warped by a desire for revenge when the Government tried to kill him and wound up shooting the little girl who was his only friend and sealing him away for 50 years, instead. But it ONLY sounds that weird if you didn’t play the SA2 game and get to know Shadow as he was intended, bit by bit, reveal by reveal.
Because SA2 Shadow had reasons for being broody and angsty.
And he wasn’t ALWAYS broody and angsty. In fact, he was a master manipulator! When he was around Eggman, he was confident, smooth, and articulate, like a Shakespearean villain. When he was around Rouge, whom he did not trust, he was silent, firm, and to-the-point. Only by himself was he angsty--and it never lasted long.
And when he was around Sonic?
Oh boy. That is my FAVORITE thing about Shadow. Because when he was around Sonic, it’s like I said. He would stop being focused on his revenge-mission and stop being focused on whatever he was doing with Eggman and he would just turn into this competitive, flashy guy. I mean, yes, it would’ve been hard for him to stay focused on the mission because Sonic was actively trying to get in his way--but the thing is
Shadow starts to be his real SELF around Sonic. Even while they’re fighting. Because you get the sense, as the player/audience, that if this big trauma had not happened in Shadow’s past, he would have been Sonic. In personality. Sonic and Shadow are both highly competitive, love thrills, and love a challenge. They are also both heroic. Even while Shadow is a villain, he winds up saving Rouge the Bat from death by explosion, just because it seems like he can’t help himself. And remember, he was created to be a savior of the world anyway.
So combine Heroism with Competitiveness and you have someone who is very close to our fun-loving, cool blue hedgehog protagonist. But then the human race he was sworn to protect destroyed his home, murdered his best friend right in front of him, and locked him away as a dangerous weapon for 50 years.
Shadow is not what you get if you take Hot Topic and throw it on top of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Shadow is what you get if you took a bunch of Flickies murdering Tails the Fox right in front of Sonic while Green Hill Zone burned in the background.
And then, at the very end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow realizes that he didn’t promise Maria (his best friend who was murdered) revenge. He promised her that he would protect everyone on Earth. So very much like Ben Solo (RIP) you get a quick snippet of who Shadow the Hedgehog really is when he’s not burdened by all the Baggage.
In a handful of cutscenes and well-performed in-game dialogue, you hear that his voice is a little lighter. He physically transforms from black to white.
He’s focused on destroying the evil threatening the planet, but he also says kind little things like, “Sonic, you need rest! Let me give it a try!” and “How are you doing, Sonic?” and
AND
in one in-game clip of dialogue, he even says that he thinks SONIC might be the Ultimate Life Form.
Shadow’s Shadow, the lame ironic tropey interpretation of Shadow, would never say something like that. He’d cuss in a low-voiced rasp and dramatically try to blow the head off of anyone who even joked about it. But the thing is, at this point in the story, you are seeing Shadow as he is: a lab-created being who’s probably only lived around a year, consciously, and was still figuring out what he even is before going under. The only reason he was ever anything but a good-natured, gold-hearted hero was because of the trauma and revenge-induced worldview. When all of that is stripped away and he starts seeing his purpose and his whole history clearly, he is this slightly naive, open-hearted, mission-driven, contemplative foil to Sonic.
Then he sacrifices his life and dies. And the end of the game is all of the characters, good and bad, united for a scene where they each contemplate who they are and what is right and wrong.
And that’s the effect he had on players, too. He was such a deep, interesting character who was not edgy (even though his backstory was more violent and dark than any other character’s) that they loved him desperately. And SEGA brought him back.
Of course, they brought him back with amnesia, and that probably would’ve been fine, except it spiraled into the Shadow’s Shadow version of the character that got his own video game and worsened everything.
But that’s besides the point.
The original Shadow the Hedgehog, the true, real version of the character, was absolutely the best part of the franchise at the time. And basically, in conclusion, SA2 Shadow is the BEST Shadow.