#sa2 rouge my beloved

[sophbun]

made rouge fan cards ✨

[descendant-of-truth]

Okay I waited to get this out there because I didn't want to be a bummer the second it released, but. The story in Shadow Generations was... kind of nothing. Which sucks, because it had literally everything going for it.

Shadow gets plunged into a white space where people and places from different points in time are unceremoniously dropped in due to the power of the Time Eater, and that means Black Doom is here to try to manipulate Shadow again. Shadow starts developing alien mutations that mess with his sense of identity and only make Black Doom stronger, but he's determined to use them to take him out for good.

At the same time, Maria and Gerald Robotnik are here, and of course the first thought on Shadow's mind when he discovers them is how he can find a way to save them from their original fates. So he's got two goals: defeat Black Doom, and save his family.

This setup is really good. It's immediately engaging for all sorts of reasons, from the surface-level "whoa cool alien powers!!" to the heartbreaking implications of Shadow being forced to say goodbye to Maria and Gerald again. (Because naturally, we've seen where the games go from here and we know the timeline isn't changed that drastically.)

And it's clear to see that the people involved in working on this game were passionate about it, too. The animation and cinematography is quite good, and while I have my critiques (I still don't think the character models are that great), so much effort was put into making Shadow the coolest guy ever, and I think it paid off. He's both very cool and shows a wider range of emotions than we've seen from him in a while, which is always a plus for me.

I mean, goodness knows that Shadow needed his character to be revisited and given respect after, what, over ten years? The step up that this is can't be overstated.

And yet.

The story itself is so empty.

Let's go in order:

The game opens with a narrated recap of Shadow's basic history in order to catch people up. I can't say it doesn't technically serve its purpose, but given the fact that the premise of the game is exploring Shadow's past, it's a little weird to spell it out at the start like this. If you're a newcomer to the series and don't know much about Shadow, wouldn't it be cooler to find this stuff out by progressing in the game?

It also leaves out crucial details that, while they could arguably bloat the scene, provide a lot of relevant context that a first-time viewer isn't privy to.

"At the last moment, Shadow remembered Maria's final wish... to protect her beloved planet and all who lived there."

The last moment of... what, exactly? What made him remember, what made him forget in the first place?

In order, these are the answers the scene doesn't give you:

The last moments before the ARK crashed into the Earth, which would've caused catastrophic damage.

Amy was the one who pleaded with Shadow to give everyone a chance, which echoed what Maria told him, triggering the full memory.

It's actually unclear if Shadow forgot what Maria said as a natural trauma response or because Gerald messed with his memories on purpose, but this would have been a great opportunity to clarify.

It also leaves out the fact that Shadow teamed up with Sonic to save the world after he tried to destroy it, so that's two connections with other characters he has that are completely left out in the recap. I know we're finally getting back to showcasing Rouge and Omega as his best friends, but he does hold respect for Sonic and Amy, too. Plus, his interactions with them in SA2 were so iconic, why leave them out?

Then again, I suppose Rouge and Omega aren't in this recap either... which is really weird, the more I think about it.

But even as it's describing the moment he chooses to be a hero, they don't show him in his super form alongside Sonic, he's just... what, on fire?? I don't know what that's supposed to be depicting, it just looks cool.

"Shadow didn't understand why Black Doom expected him to be the vanguard for his invasion of Earth."

A fine start, but shouldn't we have gotten a passing mention of Shadow's amnesia somewhere in here? He spent two whole games trying to remember who he was, and Black Doom's whole tactic was to exploit his desire for answers. That's important characterization for both Shadow and Black Doom that we're missing out on, here.

"Shadow the Hedgehog. The lone, dark warrior who judges the world by his own code."

This is maybe best addressed in a separate post, but. does anyone else find this description of Shadow kinda odd? "Lone warrior" I get, even with his friends he's not big on groups, but it's everything else.

Yeah, he judges the world by his own code, I guess, but his actions are all in service of following Maria's code. It's Sonic that lives solely by what he wants without much influence from others, not Shadow.

And what exactly makes Shadow a "dark" warrior? He's been explicitly characterized as someone who doesn't kill as recently as the prologue animation to this very game, where he goes out of his way to save a pilot when he doesn't need to. His entire life's purpose is protecting the world, and this doesn't involve killing or torturing people, so... what exactly is the dark part of his morality. Nothing about this recap has given me reason to believe he's anything but a heroic person with a traumatic past, and the subsequent game will only reinforce that.

I guess he did kill all the Black Arms, but that's not something the game ever treated as an immoral action. Shadow blows up Black Doom and the comet his people live on and all of our heroes cheer as he does it. It happens in the True Ending and everything, where Shadow's supposed to be proving himself as a hero for real, so that can't be the example of him being a Dark Warrior.

Is it because of how he treated Infinite, a character that this game doesn't acknowledge despite featuring a level from Forces? We'll never know. They just want you to accept the idea that he's Darker and Edgier than Sonic based on his surface-level demeanor alone, which... given that the objective of this game is to showcase Shadow's nuance, this is really out of place. Overall, not a great scene.

That said, the first real cutscene is pretty good, and it immediately showcases how unnecessary that recap was by showing how excited Maria was to meet Shadow for the first time. From that scene, we learn that Shadow was artificially made, that he's "the Ultimate Lifeform," that Maria was likely close to him, that this happened on some place called "the ARK" which is in space, etc. Why did we have a narrator tell us all of this a minute ago when we were just about to see it for ourselves?

I do have one nitpick, though - Shadow claims that he arrived at the ARK "an hour ago," and Rouge on the other end of the comm is already at Sonic's birthday party. Rouge only agreed to help Shadow get to the ARK if he would go to Sonic's birthday party afterwards, but how was Shadow supposed to have time to do anything up there if Sonic's party was that soon? I was under the impression from watching the prologue that Sonic's birthday was at least a week away, because how else would Rouge expect him to conduct a full investigation and potentially fight some huge battle before then?

Oh and the Time Eater shows up in two places at once (at Sonic's party and on the ARK), I feel like it would've made more sense to have it grab Shadow after it was done with everyone else. Now I'm gonna be forced to ask "why doesn't the Time Eater multiply" for the rest of the game. Whatever

Moving on, our first real sign of things to come is the fact that Omega does not have a proper speaking role despite showing up in the first cutscene. He's right there, conveniently next to Shadow, but as soon as you think they're going to talk to each other... you're dropped into the hub world. Speaking to Omega results in text bubble dialogue, wherein Shadow is mysteriously hit with Silent Protagonist Disease and we don't get to hear anything he says. Effectively, Omega just. talks at Shadow three times, saying nothing of interest. and it's completely optional.

I repeat: all of the dialogue from one of Shadow's best friends is OPTIONAL, and Shadow himself says nothing to him. Yeah, we're off to a great start.

(Omega even says that he's going to assist Shadow, and I just. I have to laugh. I'm so sorry Omega but in terms of physical actions, you're genuinely going to do less here than in Forces)

Shadow: "No. She's gone. I'm seeing things."

Pardon?? Seeing things??? I'm sorry but there is no way that Shadow can see and recognize Maria from that distance but not from ten feet away with her back turned. He's also never been implied to have super-vision, so the whole scene just doesn't make sense, and frankly adds nothing to the story.

Even if he doesn't mean literal sight, then 1) why did he phrase it like that, and 2) I kinda don't care. He doesn't need to be able to sense Maria's presence or whatever's going on here, because he's just as shocked when he actually sees Maria properly later. It builds suspense I suppose, but I feel like it would've been more impactful to discover that Maria was really here the same way Shadow does; in the cutscene where he saves her.

But before they can reunite, we've got the first proper cutscene with Black Doom:

Black Doom: "You defeated us, but the Black Arms live on. And this temporal anomaly has accelerated my plans to revive my forces and consume the world."

I'm gonna be real with you guys. I have no idea what he's talking about here.

The game makes zero attempt to really explain how the Black Arms "live on" despite Shadow blowing up their entire comet along with Black Doom himself, and going into the game, I kinda thought it was just... time displacement. Maria and Gerald are brought in from a time they were alive, so I thought it would be the same with Black Doom, but no - he revived himself before the Time Eater even got involved.

Which I'd be willing to accept if they gave me an explanation for it, but they didn't, and the whole foundation of the plot suffers for it.

Plus, what the heck does he mean that the temporal anomaly has "accelerated his plans to revive his forces"?? The Time Eater's powers don't... accelerate anything. At all. They pluck things out of time and freeze them in a void. How does that help Black Doom's plans whatsoever?

If the idea is that he's going to pluck his own forces out of time and bring them back that way, why not just say that? Why are they withholding such basic information from us? It doesn't create intrigue, and the story doesn't even treat it like there's a gap in our knowledge to begin with. I think it's genuinely supposed to be the whole explanation, and that's a problem because it explains very little.

Then you've got the Black Moon, and this thing annoys me to no end because guess what?? Despite gradually opening more eyes and cracking open every time you complete a level, it's never once explained what it is or what it's for. All it does is turn the white void into a red void and open a portal to Even More Radical Highway. Maybe I'm forgetting something from an optional piece of dialogue, but that only creates a different problem, which is that you should never lock basic understanding of the story behind optional dialogue.

Why does it have eyes? Is it a living creature or some weird bioweapon? It's oddly mechanical for a creation of the Black Arms; even their weaponry is organic, as this very game tells us through Omega, so what's its deal??

You'd think it would have something to do with time, considering the framing of this scene:

Shadow says "perhaps I can change their fate" and then looks to the Black Moon as though it may hold some relevance to this new plot thread, but. nope. it just takes you back to Radical Highway.

And hey, look at that, I was so busy complaining about the moon that I seamlessly transitioned into one of my biggest issues with the game: Shadow says this. and never follows up on it. EVER.

I'm not kidding, there's literally NO point in the game where we're shown Shadow trying to do ANYTHING to change Maria and Gerald's fates. There's no scene where he attempts to understand the void better, he never investigates anything, he makes exactly zero attempts to accomplish one of his main goals. of BRINGING HIS FAMILY BACK TO LIFE.

What is the point of them being here, then.

No, I'm serious, literally why are they here if we don't get to see Shadow try to save them?? By the time the final cutscene rolls around, they start fading away back to their own time, and suddenly Shadow's like

(WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED, YOU DID NOTHING TO PREVENT THIS OUTCOME)

But I'll talk more about Maria and Gerald later - for now, since we're on the topic of Shadow having odd reactions to things, how about those stages and bosses, huh?

Well guys, I'm pleased to announce that despite there being dialogue in some of the stages, absolutely none of it provides context to the locations Shadow visits or his thoughts on them! If you didn't play Heroes and have no idea that Bullet Station is where Shadow found a destroyed Shadow Android, kickstarting a new layer to his identity crisis, then congratulations, this choice of level will mean nothing to you.

And before anyone tries to be like "the Sonic Generations levels don't get commentary from Sonic on their significance to him, either," it's a problem there, too. But it's an even bigger problem here, because they went out of their way to choose levels that have real emotional significance to Shadow and then proceeded to do nothing with it.

Isn't this the game where we revisit Shadow's story up until this point? Would it have been so hard to drop a line of dialogue indicating that Shadow's not thrilled about returning to Bullet Station? Maybe add a brief cutscene where he finds the same broken android from before, and says something like "hmph, I can't believe I let that thing make me doubt myself for so long," thus demonstrating his growth?

Here's a fun fact: Shadow has zero cutscenes that happen inside of levels. This is something Sonic beats him at, by having one cutscene that takes place in a level (Chemical Plant). This should not have been a high bar to clear, but they fell short somehow, anyway.

(Space Colony ARK doesn't even use the Final Chase music. The Shadow game starts out with a song exclusive to Sonic rather than him. He actually has more ARK-related music than Sonic does and they still didn't use any of them. How did they mess that up)

This problem only gets worse when they start pulling in levels from Forces and Frontiers - games that this Shadow hasn't experienced yet and wasn't there for, respectively. Once again, on principle, this is a cool idea! Shadow getting a peek into what his and Sonic's futures have in store? The confusion over when these events take place, if they're even connected to him like the others have been? Great stuff

And hey, if he's going to Chaos Island, and we saw from the trailers that the volcano is exploding in Act 1, then maybe we could even see Super Sonic fighting Knight in the background in Act 2! The debris from their fight could even act as platforming challenges, can you imagine how cool that would be? What will Shadow think of the advanced tech on the island, or of seeing Sonic fight something so massive? Surely this is a great opportunity to elevate Frontiers even further--yeah of course they don't do that.

No Knight fight in the background, which is... fair enough, I guess, but then why bother with the volcano exploding? It only does that moments away from when Sonic is about to fight Knight. Yeah, it looks cool, but we didn't need it. The more egregious problem is still the fact that Shadow has no observable thoughts or opinions on being sent to unfamiliar terrain in the future, though.

The bosses all have dialogue, though, which is a step up on a technicality and little else. Most of the dialogue from Shadow is just him being a self-aggrandizing badass who doesn't see any of the bosses as threats - even Neo Metal Sonic, who he should really not be so confident in beating all by himself, considering that he. didn't do that before. It actually took eleven other people to defeat Neo Metal, including Super Sonic, but I guess he just doesn't care at this point.

If they wanted to, it would've been easy to make him overconfident on purpose due to his new Doom powers, make an arc out of it, but no. Shadow's just Like This now, apparently.

There's a similar power scaling issue in Sonic Generations too, where Sonic can somehow defeat Perfect Chaos without his super form, but the game had dropped location-specific cutscenes so long ago that it was hard to feel like it was even canon at a certain point. The game never cared about making sense or really being anything, but Shadow Generations doesn't get that excuse. The bosses having the most mid-gameplay dialogue tells us that they're Definitely Happening, and so I care more about them as a result.

Which takes us to the moment that I truly realized that this game had no interest in doing anything with its material: the Mephiles boss fight.

Shadow: "What's this? A seal of some sort?"

Okay real quick before I get into my big issues with this fight: I know it's a magic glowing artifact, but what about it actually looks like a seal, specifically? Does Shadow just have a sense for this kind of thing? I don't recall him ever demonstrating that ability before.

I feel like this line is just here to clarify what it is for people who don't know, but since Shadow also doesn't know, it's just kind of weird. I'm not even sure why he's in the Scepter to begin with, considering that Shadow's sealing attempt in this room was a failure, but whatever.

Of the three bosses in Shadow Generations that precede the final boss, Mephiles is the only one that can both speak and had a relevant dynamic with Shadow that would be interesting to revisit. The Biolizard is cool but doesn't have a personality, and Neo Metal had no real opinion on Shadow. (In Rivals 2, Shadow and Metal Sonic have a developing friendship, but this has unfortunately never been brought up again. If they did so here, it would only have been on Shadow's end, since Metal hadn't gotten to that point yet.)

But Mephiles? So much of his character revolves around Shadow. It was Shadow who sealed him away originally, and it was Shadow's form that he took when he broke free. He's the main antagonist of Shadow's story in 06, and even though his primary goal is rejoining with Iblis, he takes a vested interest in trying to manipulate Shadow over to his side by showing him the worst of what humans will do to him - not unlike Black Doom, honestly, though he was focused on Shadow's past instead.

Plus, it's been so long! We thought we would never get to see Mephiles again! What have you got for us, game?

Mephiles: "I will defeat you, then restore myself to the timeline." Shadow: "I don't know what you're talking about, but I will crush you all the same." Mephiles: "What? Did you forget about me AGAIN?"

*deep sigh*

Contradictory dialogue back-to-back. I see. Cool.

Mephiles should not be surprised that Shadow doesn't remember who he is, because he literally JUST SAID that his goal is to restore himself to the timeline. He KNOWS that he never existed, and therefore SHOULD KNOW that nobody he encounters will remember him. I'm convinced that he only reacted this way because the writers thought it would be funny, and that's it.

Even if it made sense, though, Mephiles isn't supposed to be funny. He's supposed to be ominous and threatening. For as much care that went into recreating this environment and his powers/body language from 06 (and I gotta say, this whole section looks extremely nice), none of that same care really seemed to go into his personality. He's just as drab as Neo Metal, occasionally repeating lines from 06 so that you know they played it and not much else.

The end of the fight features some absolutely unhinged dialogue from Shadow for no reason, though.

Mephiles: "No... I want... to exist...! Shadow: "There is no future for you. Ever."

Look, I get it, they've done nothing but fight this whole time . But Shadow has no personal beef with this guy. Even if they're going with the idea that Shadow wouldn't care to learn what Mephiles is rambling on about (kind of boring, and why wouldn't he be curious about why someone like this has it out for him), there's no reason to go so far as to say he'll never have a future. Is this the "dark" part of that "dark warrior" thing they were talking about in the beginning?? Kind of a random place for it to jump out of him, if so.

The kind of intensity coming from Shadow here would be justified if he remembered who Mephiles was, but he doesn't. As it stands, it gives off the impression that he didn't actually process a single thing Mephiles said about wanting to exist and restore himself to the timeline, and just said the first cool, edgy retort that came to mind. Which makes the sentence both less cool and even more out of character.

After this boss finished playing out, all I could feel was disappointment and a creeping sense of emptiness. If this was how the game was handling Mephiles, of all characters, if this was the extent of what they were willing to do with an idea... the rest of the game suddenly seemed much less exciting. I got to this point, realized how comparatively little of the game was left, and thought oh no.

Now, uh... where was I in the story, again?

Oh right, Shadow was about to go save Maria. I actually have no notes on that scene, it's pretty good and I liked that Maria was immediately thrown off by his aggressive fighting style and whatnot. It implies a lot about what Shadow used to be like without really showing or telling us, and that's pretty neat.

The following cutscene where Gerald explains how Shadow's growing powers only make Black Doom stronger in the process is also fine, there's nothing super specific for me to gripe about it in isolation.

And this good streak it has going is immediately interrupted by the worst, most nonsensical scene in the entire game.

Sonic: "I found you, Shadow!" Shadow: "The blue hedgehog... of all places..." Sonic: "You have something I need." Shadow: "You can wait until my business is finished." Sonic: "Yea sorry, but that Chaos Emerald and I have a date with a monster!" Shadow: "Well then, it'll be a date to die for."

This is. a really stilted conversation, no matter what way you look at it. On one hand, it's repurposed dialogue from two different scenes haphazardly mashed together, neither of which should represent their current dynamic anymore since they were both antagonistic at the time. And on the other, it just... completely lacks character from both of them. They're so unbelievably dry despite their attempts to sound quirky, it's actually impressive.

I have to ask - have the script writers not heard the incessant complaints from fans about there being too many references in modern Sonic dialogue?? Because this scene plays out like an actual parody of that trend, the kind I would expect to see on twitter or something. I initially saw the animation for this cutscene without audio due to leaks, and I thought it looked pretty cool because the animation was nicely done.

Boy, when I tell you I was stunned to discover that THIS was the actual, official dialogue. What happened here?? Why is this what Sonic cutscenes are turning into?? In a game that costs $50-$60??And people are saying it's the best Sonic game???

Somehow, the god-awful dialogue isn't even the only thing that's wrong with this scene, but I'll compile the rest in bullet points to speed it up a little.

Shadow suddenly shows up in Sonic's section of White Space, despite it not being visible from a distance and therefore giving no reason for Shadow to venture out that far

Sonic says he "found" Shadow as if he was looking for him, even though the only people Sonic has seen here other than his and Tails' past selves are people who were at his birthday party

Classic Sonic is neither seen nor mentioned despite the extremely fun potential of having him interact with Shadow

A purple portal conveniently shows up in front of Sonic and Shadow while they're talking for no reason

The boss fight with Sonic is just a cutscene (lame), and Shadow gets taken out completely by one solid bonk from Sonic (even lamer)

The fake Chaos Emerald switcheroo, while clever, is presented as if it was done deliberately when it was clearly a coincidence that it got knocked out of Shadow instead of the real one

(I guess this technically happens before the Mephiles fight so my faith in this game was already plummeting, but I was willing to tolerate this scene being bad because I could understand them not wanting to add too much to Sonic's side of things. They had completely free reign with Mephiles and still delivered nothing, which is why it really cemented itself in my head)

The one thing I really liked here was seeing Shadow almost use his Doom powers to defeat Sonic, deciding against it, and his hesitation being what lost him the match. Shadow refusing to fight Sonic on unequal terms is some really good characterization that I was happy to see.

Black Doom: "The promised time is nigh upon us, Shadow. Soon, you will be mine."

So did we ever learn what the "promised time" was, exactly? I've played every route of Shadow the Hedgehog (some more than once) and still can't remember. If he's referring to the time when Shadow awakens his full power then I guess it makes sense, but otherwise it's kind of an oxymoron considering that time doesn't exist in White Space.

Gerald: "He has grown a new body, and used the nebulous nature of time in White Space to accelerate his plans for revenge."

Shadow, buddy, your animation is positively kickin' right now but Gerald, I'm gonna need you to do literally anything other than just repeat the same lackluster explanation we got earlier as if that's going to make it any less confusing. What ABOUT the nebulous nature of time? Is time not largely just frozen here?? We're somehow around 3/4s into this story and I still have NO idea how anything works

Maria calms Shadow down from his frankly justified anger by holding his hand and talking about how she doesn't want him to be driven by darkness. They find a way to throw in the fact that apparently Maria named him "Shadow" because the presence of a shadow can show you where to find the light, and it's... nice? Very wholesome, but it feels awkwardly placed and I'm not sure anyone was seriously asking why he was named that. Like, of all the questions to spend this game's limited screentime answering, "why is he named Shadow" was probably not at the top of most people's lists.

And before you have a chance to think about it, we're already at the endgame.

Shadow: "I'm letting go of that destructive anger."

Wow, and in the very next scene after it was brought to your attention, too! You sure do grow fast, Shadow!

Okay, all jokes aside, there's not much I can say about the pacing in this game other than It's Rushed and Bad, but I think it's finally time to talk about Gerald and Maria.

Gerald first: He's mostly just here to give out exposition. His relationship with Shadow is much less focused on than Maria's, which I find to be really frustrating because I always had a lot of questions about how those two interacted. In SA2, we only know him as a grieving, hate-filled man who was heavily implied to have scientifically messed with Shadow's mind - not long after they had both just lost Maria - in order to make him inclined towards Gerald's revenge plan.

In Shadow's first game, we see a side to him from before then, when he really seemed to care for Shadow and we got some clarity on the purpose of the Eclipse Cannon and whatnot. But what were their average interactions like? Who was in charge of Shadow's training? If it was Gerald, did that ever create a sense of distance between them? Shadow never has warm, nostalgic flashbacks of him, so I assumed their relationship either wasn't as close or he has too many conflicting feelings now for those memories to be very comforting.

This game decides to lean into Gerald being a kind, supportive man, but regardless, Shadow's feelings should be a lot more complicated, no?

I'd imagine that, in a way, it's a relief to have this Gerald around again. It would make it easier to pretend that the man who used him in an attempt to destroy the world and go against everything Maria stood for was just... a fluke, or something.

But still, Shadow knows that he would do bad things to him if Maria died. It's already happened.

Dark Beginnings also suggested that either Shadow was there when he shot down by the firing squad (unlikely given the context), or he watched the recording that played at the end of SA2 enough to be able to see it in his dreams. Neither of those are good for his psyche, and would only add to the number of emotions he has to suppress whenever they interact. There is, of course, none of this nuance within the game itself, despite it being right there and ready to be worked with.

Then you've got Maria, and. hoo boy.

I take no real issue with any of Maria's traits that are on display. Her being a nice girl with boundless energy and goodwill does not make her boring, and I've always been fascinated by her character. So, I need you guys to understand that it's with a heavy heart that I must say that Maria is... barely a character in this game.

And like, she doesn't exactly have a history of being deep or complex. But we've also only ever seen her in Shadow's memories up until this point, and that means this game was a unique opportunity to flesh her out more.

When a character is as idealized by another as Maria is by Shadow, and we only see them through that lens, it's natural to assume that the depiction isn't completely accurate. I was never in doubt that Maria was kind and gentle, or that she was always there to help Shadow when she knew he was struggling, but I always wanted to know what she was like outside of that. What makes her angry? What was she like on a bad day, when she inevitably got frustrated at her lot in life? How did Shadow comfort her? What was her sense of humor like?

While we technically learn more things about Maria in this game, there's never a point where she acts differently from Shadow's vision of her. She's not really shown to have flaws, and she's only really there to be saved and offer emotional support. It's like... a textbook example of what you shouldn't be doing when writing a female character, having her be defined entirely by her relationship with the male lead and never speaking up or complaining about her own problems or feelings. They don't even make a point out of it, that Maria tempers herself to be "perfect" for other people or anything like that.

Why don't we get to see how she and Shadow would handle an argument or something like that? Especially this Shadow, who's all shaken up by everything? Wouldn't it be beneficial for both of their characters for Maria to be seen as herself, the way she was in life, rather than just the nicest moments she and Shadow had together?

I'm gonna make a comparison here that people aren't gonna like, but... I think Elise is honestly shown to be a more nuanced character than Maria is. And this is coming from someone who thinks that she was also mishandled in her game.

Similar to Maria, Elise is genuinely a deeply caring person, and lives mostly isolated with a condition of sorts that makes her life difficult. Her most important relationship is also with the male lead of her respective game, but she doesn't exist solely for his benefit. (Amusingly, Sonic actually seems to be there primarily to further her arc, so it's a bit of a role swap there.)

But we see more from Elise than just Being Nice all the time. We see her being resolute and bold in the face of danger, or disappointed when she has to go back to the castle. We watch her try her hardest not to cry and retain her strong, regal exterior when faced with overwhelming emotion.

We get to see her open up and laugh and become more confident, we watch as someone who's been forced to put her feelings aside for the convenience (and safety) of others her whole life finally break down and shout something selfish for once. And then we watch her ultimately choose to do the right thing, anyway. Her strength of character is shown to us by putting her in situations that challenge her, and the narrative never once shames her for being imperfect; it's actually encouraging her to be her real, flawed self.

Why does Maria not get this same treatment? Why don't we get cutscenes of her being excited about the new environment she's in, or frustrated that her symptoms are making it difficult to do anything here? When does she get to be selfish? Why can't she get upset at people treating her like she's frail, even if it technically "makes sense" for them to do so?

We're told, in Gerald's journal, that some of the people aboard the ARK doubted that Maria was really sick due to her symptoms not being clearly visible. Because it's his journal, we only get to hear his feelings on the matter, but in the full game, we never once get to know how it makes Maria feel, the person this is all about to begin with. They absolutely could have incorporated this into a cutscene somewhere, but they didn't.

Once again, I have to ask: what is the point of Maria and Gerald being in this game if this was how they were going to be written? Not only does Shadow fail to even attempt to save their lives, he doesn't even walk away from the experience with renewed understanding of who they were as people.

So what even happens in this story, then?? Every single aspect of it is dragged down constantly by the game's refusal to do anything with what it has:

Shadow revisits places from his past, but has nothing to say about them

Shadow visits places from the future, but has nothing to say about them

He has nothing relevant or interesting to say about any of the bosses

Mephiles trying to restore himself to the timeline is a plot point that exists solely within his boss fight and nowhere else

He doesn't struggle with any of the bosses, emotionally or physically, turning them into a boring power trip

He barely struggles with his Doom powers, the things that are supposed to be giving him an identity crisis

Sonic is not a playable boss fight and he also says nothing relevant or interesting

Classic Sonic doesn't even get a passing mention

The Team Dark friendship is supposed to be a highlight but Shadow never speaks to Omega, who also never shows up in cutscenes, and Rouge is just kinda there

Maria and Gerald never meet Rouge and Omega, or anybody else on-screen, despite it being extremely easy for them to run into each other

Shadow's relationships with Maria and Gerald are barely explored past their surface

Most importantly, Shadow is never shown making any sort of effort to save Maria and Gerald from their fates, despite it being one of his primary goals

...Oh yeah, I forgot to complain about how Shadow barely struggles with his Doom powers. I was gonna go on a whole spiel about how it would've been super easy to make into an arc and how it was wildly underutilized despite being a major selling point of the game, and the only real consistent conflict whenever Black Doom isn't on screen.

Well. Anyway. Once the White Space becomes Red Space (something that once again makes me question how far away Sonic's area is, to not be able to see this happening), Shadow magically gets over his "destructive anger" and goes to Radical Highway one last time for the epic final boss.

And it certainly is epic, I can't deny that. A massive technical improvement over the first fight against Devil Doom, and I'm not about to sit here and act like the wings aren't cool. But I can't say it feels very rewarding, since I never really understood what was going on and Shadow didn't really struggle that much to get to this point. Not to mention, he's still acting all high and mighty during boss fights, which makes it feel stale really quickly. Black Doom isn't really that interesting by himself, so Shadow kinda needed to carry that fight, but no, it's just more of the same.

One last point before I wrap this up:

Where was Emerl???

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a promo animation for a game should, in theory, provide you some idea as to what kind of things to expect in the game itself. While a lot of them take their share of creative liberties, I don't think they're in the habit of putting spotlight on entire characters who never appear in the game at all.

This is THE GAME where we bring back the people from Shadow's past that he's lost, and Emerl most certainly qualifies. He's from the more recent past, yes, but Shadow still cared about him and absolutely would have been affected by his death. There's no way that, had he been in the story, Shadow wouldn't have been determined to save him as well. But no, he's just there to be a cool lore detail in Gerald's journal.

Which means this is yet another depiction of Emerl where we refuse to acknowledge his personality. Do they seriously think Emerl is more interesting as an emotionless killing machine that Gerald researched in his spare time? Where's the fun-loving kid who mimicked everyone around him, splicing things he heard them say together to communicate and creating funny tonal whiplash? Where's the robot with the soul that Gerald gave him, that was nurtured by Sonic and his friends?

Not in this game, apparently! They went out of their way to canonize Battle and still managed to treat it with zero respect. Kind of impressive, really, and just another footnote in the trend of this game not actually caring to do anything with Shadow's past.

There are definitely moments in this game that I like, but that's kind of all they are: moments. The game's total cutscene runtime is around 30 minutes, and that means there's not enough time in any of them to get anything done. A scene that's good in isolation is tainted by the fact that it's all there is.

And it's just... so baffling to me. There are so, so many points in this game where you could have fit additional cutscenes in. We could have had one after each act, or at least after each level. Give us more cutscenes after activating things in the hub world or something. I mean, a game that claims to be this story-driven doesn't usually need an excuse to throw cutscenes at you, and they certainly didn't need to force each scene to be so unbelievably short.

If they really needed to downsize on cutscene length for some reason, then maybe they should have just made a less ambitious story. The game wants to do so many things at once, but it doesn't have the time to do any of those things justice. We could have gotten a short, sweet, well-done little story, but instead we get a story that easily needed at least two hours to tell crunched into a measly 30 minutes.

I mean, Dark Beginnings in its entirety is half the length of the full game. Think about that for a second.

This game's story was supposed to be something, man. It's getting so much praise for what feels to me like the bare bones structure of a story, and it's frustrating because I know this series can do better. The writer of this game can do better, and I know that because I've read his other Sonic material and it feels much more complete than this does.

I was genuinely looking forward to this game, is the thing. I really didn't think it would be this lackluster, because like I said at the beginning of this post, it had everything in the world going for it. But no matter how nice it feels to have a Shadow who isn't wildly out of character for once, that alone can't carry an entire story.

Shadow Generations is a mess of good ideas executed in the least interesting, most nothing way possible. Its only real saving grace is its animation, and the fact that Shadow generally feels like himself.

Except for when he's talking to Sonic. What the heck happened when he was talking to Sonic

[zippityzap]

SA2 Rouge my beloved 💖

[skaruresonic]

Do you have any opinion about this post? It proposes that a key element of Shadow's characterization is loyalty, and the reason portrayals like SA2, '06, TMOSTH and Prime are beloved is because Shadow is loyal to something (I would add Forces as well), while others like Boom and IDW fall flat because he's only in for himself.

(some of the tags, of course, are all "sega take notes, everyone gets it but you", which is funny for multiple reasons)

I want to agree with it more than I do. The way it's worded makes it difficult for me to be fully persuaded, because it seems to be missing something.

I feel like the post is a bit over reductive. It's already an exercise in futility to try to boil Shadow down to one or two traits because he contains multitudes, nuances, and subtleties; it'd be like distilling Eggman down to "evil scientist" and then ignoring all the ways in which his manchild behavior molds his character archetype.

The others have limits on their loyalty. Sonic will help you out, but he’s not gonna kill a man for you. Shadow will. He doesn’t have that limit. If you are Shadow’s friend and you need him to kill for you, he will do it. Period.

Idk maybe it's just me but something about this style of analysis rubs me the wrong way. When people make declarative, emotionally-loaded statements about the characters that Sound Good on paper but don't hold up to close scrutiny. If you're going to assert something this lofty, you need to provide concrete examples. When did Shadow kill for a friend in the games? When did he express the willingness? Can you give me an example?

also lmao "Sonic's not gonna kill a man for you," Sonic will absolutely kill a man if he fucks around and finds out While I agree with the overarching idea that loyalty can be an important part of his character, if we're talking post-ARK raid Shadow... You kind of have to be honest about the brand of loyalty he possesses, because his loyalty looks very different from Amy's or Tails'. It's a specific, hardwon type of loyalty. It's begrudging. It's that "Pssh, what? I don't care. Feelings are for wussies" kind of loyalty, if anything. Like, it took Rouge dragging his unconscious ass home, a three-day-long fever dream, and her twisting his arm just to get her to begrudgingly call her "ally." You know what I mean?

On the other hand, I disagree with the notion that an overt lack of loyalty inherently makes him unrecognizable, since self-determination is an arguably equally prominent part of his character. In ShTH, you're just as free to ignore the wishes of your partner characters and go your own way. Cue the Fleetwood Mac.

Framing it as though loyalty is the linchpin on which his character rests risks defining Shadow solely through his relationships with others. Note that I'm not necessarily saying his relationships aren't important, just that they're not the most important. Agency and the right to determine his own destiny are vital parts of his character as well. He didn't just tell Rouge "And I will fulfill my promise to Maria; that's the only thing that matters to me now" in SA2. He first told her "Even if my memories aren't real, it's still me, Shadow."

...I'm not sure why OP decided to include Archie and X in their analysis, considering Archie and X are dead and have no bearing on Game!Shadow's character. Not sure what's meant by Shadow being "loyal" to Amy in MoSTH, either; I don't really have context for that since I didn't play it. If I had to guess, however, methinks OP may be mistaking Shadow doing something kind for Amy for friendship or loyalty towards Amy. You can do kind things for others without necessarily being "ride or die" for them.

This is where the post really loses me. Shadow's backstory doesn't need to be expanded upon at this point in the series; they've already dedicated at least three games and a handful of adaptations to his tragic backstory. We don't need to keep returning to the same well again and again. Surely we can do better than to navel-gaze. And the reasons why "he's like this" ought to be clear to anyone who's played the games, since they're fairly self-evident.

"But what about pre-raid Shadow?" I hear someone inevitably ask. Well, yes, Shadow displays obvious loyalty toward Maria, Gerald, and the ARK as a whole, but certain ShTH endings notwithstanding, it's not a blind sacrificial devotion. Regardless of his loyalty, he exercises the agency not to act like a mindless weapon in the hands of his creator. He possesses reason and more importantly, uses it. He still has enough presence of mind to seek to undo "all the evil the Professor has created" in SA2.

Even before the trauma of the raid and Gerald's programming went and deeply mucked up his sense of self, he was preoccupied with notions of self and identity, for understandable reasons. He wasn't purely a lapdog for Maria or the researchers. I feel like swinging the pendulum in the polar opposite direction and saying "Shadow is defined chiefly via his dedication to others" because it swung too far into "Shadow is a hyper-macho jerk" territory isn't a balanced stance to take.

Like this post is arguing from a Watsonian perspective, as though IDW!Shadow's jerkassness indicates some sort of internal selfishness, when the Doylist "Shadow was just written like shit in the book" will suffice. Shadow has a character outside of his relationships to others, just as Sonic and Eggman do. He's quiet, introspective, and in all honesty, he comes out with some hard-hitting lines sometimes. "This is the final voice of the last war machine," anyone?

Sorry if this reply is all over the place, I'm just writing down thoughts as they occur to me lol. Feel free to add your two cents.

[salami-dono]

Meme time!! I replaced most of the images from the original. Dr. Jester comes from a strange mix of Archie, Sonic X and game canon. There are so many characters he hasn't met.

I think some of these relationships need more context.

Sonic - His loathsome nephew, potentially. (Prerequisite: Chuckster marriage. 😹) As for curiosity, he knew about Sonic and his extraordinary feats before facing him in battle. This curiosity came with a twinge of fear. He feared the kind of power it was said Sonic could tap into. He simply had to witness it firsthand! And he did.

Unbeknownst to him, he almost killed Sonic in their real first meeting by tossing him and Neon into a lake. Ah, almost.

Tails - Respects his skills as an engineer and his ability to outwit Eggman. Dr. Jester captured him the first time they met. He's Sonic's brother, so technically he should see him as family too. Loathsome nephew #2.

Shadow - Yes, Dr. Jester knew Shadow. Hypothetically, if Shadow came to Dr. Jester claiming to be Eggman's android, Dr. Jester would then respond by giving him a nice gash across the abdomen. Androids don't bleed. But Shadow died so that will never happen. (He doesn't know he's still alive.)

Rouge - Friendly rivalry. They met before the events of SA2. I very much wanted to mark Rouge as a friend but neither can trust the other. Dr. Jester expects betrayal. He still likes her. She has style. And guess what? They both love pretty rocks!

Charmy - A bee that looks like Kandy! And he's alive?! How curious!

Eggman - He feels every emotion for Eggman.

Sir Charles/Uncle Chuck - No notes, just Chuckster!

Dmitri - This relationship is intense but not romantic. I just really like the red circle. It's eye-catching. They're physically affectionate, which might sound odd considering Dmitri is only a cyborg head encased in a glass orb. He does have bionic tendrils though! I call this ship Jestri.

Metal Sonic - Never met. I'm very sad to admit that. Dr. Jester would tease Eggman about Metal Sonic looking like him. "He looks more like me so he must be my son."

Jules - Never met. Again, Chuckster (their relationship) would have to be serious before Chuck even considers introducing Dr. Jester to his beloved family.

E-123 Omega - Dr. Jester doesn't mind his quest for revenge, as long as Omega will allow him to step aside before he starts blasting Eggman's robots.

Chaos - In my own version of Sonic Adventure, Dr. Jester's Chaos (the one from his world) and the canon Chaos became one. A Chaos-Chaos. My Chaos had control of the body first and lost control by Chaos 4. One Chaos was driven by hatred, the other by fear. Dr. Jester wanted nothing to do with them. He skipped the final showdown.

Thank you for reading!

🦔💎🏳️‍🌈

I thought a little more about dear old Uncle Chuck...

In the Archie comics, there were these retcon events that introduced new continuities. In the Post-Super Genesis Wave timeline, Charles is no longer related to Sonic due to SEGA mandates--but he wasn't completely discarded.

I imagine Uncle Chuck would have no memory of Dr. Jester in the new continuity. There would be no Jules, or Dmitri. Dr. Jester would remember what was lost. I could torment myself and my OCs with this sadness. Call it the New Game+!

Nah, I won't do that. It's easier to play along with canon and rewrite some memories.

Dr. Jester cannot lose Charles. Do you understand?

[local-void-creature-izzy]

ReWrite AU; SA2 Basis:

Last Story

>>> Inside the ARK: Cannon Countdown: 0 Hours and 0 Minutes

The alarm is blaring loudly throughout the ARK, as Eggman entered the central control room, extremely confused why the cannon wasn't working despite the timer being at zero. "Argh! What the... What's going on?! Why doesn't the Cannon fire?!" Eggman exasperated, trying to get into the system to see what was going on.

In his attempts, a red light came on. "What?! What's happening here?!" He questioned, had he accidentally triggered a failsafe system? Had the system kicked him out? The doctor had a thousand questions running through his mind, especially as a recording became visible on the computer screen.

It was his grandfather. "It's... it's my grandfather! Gerald Robotnik!"

>>> ARK: RF room

Amy and Knuckles had just entered the room where Tails was waiting, and had a clear view of the planet, when the entirety of the ARK began to shake. "What's that...that vibration?!" Knuckles said, trying to keep his balance before the trembling started to slow down.

"Hey, wait... somebody's coming!" Amy said, looking up. Knuckles and Tails followed suit, as Rouge appeared from above, Knuckles was hoping to not see her again this soon.

"You...? You haven't given up yet?!" He asked.

Rouge had a downcast look on her face. "It's all over for us…" She grimaced.

"What do you mean by that?" Tails asked this time.

"I just received a message from my boss... The Space Colony ARK, is currently approaching earth at an incredible velocity. It, probably... will impact earth…" She explained, despite their effort to stop the cannon, the planet was still on a one way ticket to doom.

Before anyone could do anything, a computer screen that was nearby came alive, with the same recording of Gerald Robotnik that Eggman was witnessing. "Who is that?" Amy asked.

Similar to the announcement Eggman made that he would overtake the world in 24 hours, Gerald's recording plays not just all throughout the ARK but, on earth on every single television. In it, Gerald is looking at the floor and is bound to a chair by metal chains, it looked like he was in a prison cell. The professor began speaking in the recording.

"This is a death sentence for every human being on earth. If my calculations are correct, the Space Colony ARK will impact the earth in twenty-seven minutes and fifty-three seconds. All of you will be destroyed, along with your beloved planet earth." The Professor spat. The ARK began to hurtles towards the earth. Upon entering into the atmosphere of the planet, it becomes encased in a ball of fire.

"I plan to give you a taste of my revenge, once all the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected. Once I initiate this program, it cannot be disabled. All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me... will feel my loss, and despair!" The Professor lamented, soon another voice in the background could be heard, it must have been the soldiers that arrested him.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" The soldier behind the camera asked, any life left in the Professor simply faded away in those final moments.

"No…" Were the Professors final words, as the sounds of guns being loaded, soldiers at the ready, before the footage cut off, yet it was clear what the fate of the Professor was…

"Okay seriously, who was tHaT-?!" Amy had started to reiterate her question before the trembling picked up again.

"Hey, the vibration's getting worse." Knuckles said.

As the four in the room were trying to figure out what to do, the door behind them swung open, Eggman walking into the facility now. "Professor Gerald Robotnik! One of the greatest scientific minds in the world, and my grandfather!" Eggman answered the question.

Knuckles quickly got into a fighting stance. "What?! I knew you were behind all this! Stop it right now, or else--" The echidna got cut off by Eggman.

"--I'd have done this a long time ago if I had the chance." Eggman countered.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked, on the defensive if Eggman tried anything. Eggman surprised yet also not really to see she survived that trap of his.

"You're pretty persistent for a hedgehog, aren't you? You're still alive, huh?" Eggman taunted, as Amy got her hammer at the ready.

"Heh, just letting Knuckles pilot the shuttle all the way over here, was more dangerous than you could ever be!" She retorted.

"HEY!" Knuckles interjected, not liking the sly comment from Amy.

Eggman paid them no mind, as he walked over to Rouge and handed her a disk drive. Rouge was confused by this. "What is this?" She asked the doctor.

"This is my grandfather's diary." Eggman concluded.

Rouge didn't question it, as she walked over to the computer terminal that played the recording, placing the disk into the terminal by the wall and text starts scrolling up on the monitor. She began to read its contexts to everyone in the room. "I don't quite know what happened, or what went wrong. Was it a mistake to create the Ultimate Life Form? I thought it would be something that would benefit mankind... But then the military guards landed on the Colony that day. They were sent to destroy the research project that I had been working on. My colleagues at the research facility, my granddaughter Maria, I hope you are all safe." Was how it started.

"The colony was completely shut down, probably to prevent the prototype from falling into the wrong hands.The ARK was shut down under the premise that there had been an accident. I found Maria's name among those who died when the ARK was shut down. She meant everything to me! And I couldn't bear the thought that she died because of my research. I lost everything! I had nothing more to live for! I went insane!! All I could think about, was to avenge her! Somehow, someway, I got scared as I no longer was able to control my thoughts. All I could think about, was that I wanted it all to end. Based on my original projections, I was able to complete my project; Shadow. I designed its mind to be perfect, pure... I will leave everything, to him. If you wish, release and awaken it to the world.." Rouge continued to scroll through the contents of the diary.

"..if you wish to fill the world with destruction-" She turned to look back at Eggman. "-So that's why you released Shadow from the military base!" She concluded.

"It is strange none of the contents spoke of Sonic…" Tails added on.

"The core of the Eclipse Cannon is now highly reactive and explosive. This is because of the energy of the Chaos Emeralds is overpowering it. If the colony collides with earth, it will shatter into pieces like my grandfather predicted!" Eggman was kind of ecstatic hearing just what his grandfather was capable of. "That mad scientist!"

"Are you talking about him or yourself?" Amy sarcastically answered.

"We have to stop the Space Colony, now!" Tails exclaimed.

"The Space Colony ARK's position may have shifted due to the amount of energy given off by the Emeralds. We have to stop the energy!" Eggman explained to the others.

"How do we do that?" Tails asked, still confused.

Rouge caught one to what the plan was though. "Hmm, that's it. There is a way to stop the energy!" She pointed to Knuckles. "We have to use your Emerald! You're the one who told me that the Master Emerald has the power to stop the Chaos Emeralds!"

Of course, how could they forget that. "That's right." Knuckles confirmed, pulling out the Master Emerald. "If I use this, I just might be able to stop the Chaos Emeralds!"

"But the Chaos Emeralds is already moving toward the Cannon's Core! It may be too late!" Tails interjected.

"There still may be time left. If we pull together, we might be able to get to the shortcut that leads to the core!" Eggman added on.

"I got it!" Amy exclaimed, before running towards the door. "I'll get those two to help! Just leave it to me!" Before the other's could offer any argument, Amy was out the door to go find Sonic and Shadow.

>>> Another Room on the ARK

"Guess this is it…" Sonic grimaced, looking down at the planet as it was getting closer and closer by the second with the faster the ARK descended. He was leaning against the edge of the window, his head resting on Shadow's shoulder as the other silently stared out the window. "At least, we're going out together. I couldn't ask for any better in the end." Sonic had a sad smile on his face.

Shadow stayed silent, his arm wrapped around Sonic's shoulders, his hand gently rubbing his shoulder in comfort. "If things were different, what would you have done?" Shadow asked.

"Honestly, I would have been happy exploring the planet, learning all its secrets, seeing what it had to offer. Running through the vast jungles, mountains, forests, and so much more. You by my side through it all." Sonic replied, getting closer to Shadow, who simply pulled him in.

"I like the sound of that, maybe it fate is kinder, then maybe in a next life, we can have that." Shadow concluded, part of him felt…regret. He was fulfilling the final wish of Maria, but he destroying Sonic's wish. He remembered, that…that was a wish Sonic had even back then.

"When we finally get down there, I want to explore all of it, but only if you come with me!" The memory of a more happier Sonic came back to his mind.

"I would be honored to accompany you, my love." Shadow remembered his response.

Could he be selfish and indulge in what could have been? Imagining what could have been if things were different, would he and Sonic have a place to call home on that planet?

"Going to be honest here Shads, I'm kinda scared. We're made to be immortal essentially but I don't see us coming back from this…so it's kinda scary knowing death is quickly approaching." Sonic admitted, trying to hide his face in Shadow's neck.

For all the carefree and nonchalant air Sonic carried, being faced with such an inevitable outcome, brought out a side Shadow only saw a handful of times. The darker hedgehog pulled Sonic into a hug, letting his body fall to the ground, his back against the metal wall of the window's ledge. He let Sonic bury his face in his chest, running his hand through Sonic's quills as he rested own head on top of Sonic's. "It's okay, I promised you a long time ago that I wouldn't let you suffer any pain alone. I intend to keep that promise until the very end, yeah, it's terrifying…but you're not going down alone. Like I said, if we go down then we go together."

Death was quickly becoming more apparent, and Shadow intended to keep it from Sonic as long as he could. He couldn't protect his sister, but he will protect his lover.

Suddenly the door burst open, startling the two, it was Amy, who was panting after knocking down the door with her hammer. "There you two are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" She exclaimed.

"What do you want faker?" Shadow asked, his grip on Sonic tightening.

"We need your help! Please! We need you!" She pleaded.

"Why should I?" Shadow retorted. "It's all going according to plan. There's no reason for me to help them. Besides, there's no way to save anyone." He elaborated, his glare ice cold as he stared at Amy.

"There has to be! I know that people fight over the most trivial things. Some people may be selfish, like the professor said... but they're basically good, if they try their best and never give up on their wishes. They always have a reason to be happy; that's why you should help them out! Saving them is a good thing! Shadow, I beg you, please do it for them! Give them a chance! If not for me, or them, do it for Sonic!" Amy was panting after yelling all that in one breath.

Shadow stared wide eyed at her, before looking down at Sonic. The blue and white hedgehog was looking up at his significant other. "Do you finally remember now?" Sonic asked.

It all finally came back to Shadow, his final memory of Maria.

"Shadow... I beg of you... please, do it for me... for a better future…" The dying blonde girl spoke to the scared and panicked Shadow.

"Maria!" Shadow had called out. "Let me out! Please! I can't leave you and Sonic here! Maria please!"

The girl gave a soft smile. "…for all the people who live on that planet... give them a chance to be happy. Let them live for their dreams .Don't worry about Sonic, he's okay. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason that you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow, the Hedgehog."

The memory faded away, as tears came down Shadow's face. "That's what I've promised her... I must keep that promise... That's what Maria wished for…" He whispered.

"Shadow?" Amy questioned.

Sonic reached up and wiped the tears away, gently kissing the other. "There's the Shadow I know and love." He said softly.

Shadow hugged Sonic tightly. "Thank you…for waiting this long for me to remember." Shadow said.

Sonic smiled. "For you, I'll gladly wait an eternity for you."

Shadow quickly stood up, helping Sonic up in the process. "gotta go now. I have to keep my promise to Maria - and you." Shadow said full of determination.

"Lead the way then." Sonic encouraged, a smirk on his face. "I'm not going to sit back while you guys have all the fun, so what's the plan?"

>>> ARK's Inner Workings

It was a collaborative effort on everyone's part to reach the core of the Eclipse cannon's energy supply.

Because it was so heavily sealed, Tails and Eggman had to work together on separate ends of the ARK to reach the locking mechanisms for the door that lead to where the Chaos Emeralds would be.

The deeper they went, the more robots aboard the ARK attacked them, but they were no match for the Tornado or Eggman's Egg-Mobile, their energy source must be solely directed to the cannon, so they didn't function as they were meant to, just firing at random.

Once the two unlocked the sealed mechanisms, it then fell onto Rouge and Knuckles to handle the second step. Rouge had to flood the system with water so it could drop in temperature, this would activate one of the final mechanisms halfway, while Knuckles would have to swim through the water and activate the mechanism once more in order to drain it, only then would the door open.

Now at the core, Amy walked in with Sonic who helped her get through the final set of obstacles. Upon entering the core, Amy saw how scarily familiar the set up was.

"Are you okay Rose?" Sonic asked her, noticing how she needed a minute.

"Wha- I'm sorry" She apologized, continuing to walk forward. "Its just, this set up is just like on Angel Island, where Knuckles guards the Master Emerald. He better get here soon with that Emerald." She explained.

"They probably designed the core like the shrine to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic gave his input as they walked towards the platform.

"I'm here!" Knuckles yelled, running in and quickly catching up behind the two. Good, they could do this easily now. Just as the three ran up the platform, suddenly a recording of Gerald Robotnik appeared in front of them, causing them to jump back away from the platform.

"What?" Amy questioned, hammer at the ready.

"The Professor?" Sonic was confused.

"All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, will feel my loss and despair!" The recording of the professor spoke, the whole room began to violently rumble.

"What now?!" Knuckles yelled, the three of them struggling to maintain their balance. The recording just kept repeating itself as the room shook.

The recording gave its message one final time before a bright light engulfed the entire room, causing the three to shield their eyes. When the light faded away, stood in front of them was a giant lizard that was half robotic, its eyes completely obscured by wires that connected to its mouth and it its back. It let out a horrific roar now that it was free.

"What is that?!" Amy yelled.

"Its…It’s the prototype." Sonic answered, in complete shock. "This was the prototype of the ultimate life form, this is Shadow's prototype."

"You mean the one that was supposed to be encapsulated?!" Knuckles retorted, all three prepared for a fight, when suddenly Shadow walked past them, offering his hand to Sonic.

"Leave this one to us." Shadow spoke. Sonic wordlessly nodded towards Shadow, standing by his side.

"Shadow, what're you doing?!" Knuckles asked.

Shadow walked up below the Biolizard, facing his prototype intently, Sonic at his side who was outputting his energy to try to weaken the creature. "We'll take care of this, while you run to get the Chaos Emeralds!!"

The creature let out a horrible scream, as Amy and Knuckles split from the other two hedgehogs, the mechanical lizard swung its tail in retaliation to prevent them from going forward, but was made disoriented by Sonic's screech, allowing Amy and Knuckles to sneak past and head towards the makeshift temple.

"Gotta say Shadow, I hope I don't have a prototype out there, if this thing is anything to go off of." Sonic said, running circles around the lizard, making it dizzy whenever it tried to attack.

"A pathetic attempt, I almost feel sorry for it. Let's put it out of it misery." Shadow added, climbing up the metal pipes that stuck out of the creature and attacking the weak point on its back, the creature howling in pain as he did so.

Sonic let out another screech, the bio lizard howling from the pain it caused. "Impenetrable skin but a giant self destruct button on it back, how innovative." He sarcastically remarked, Shadow chuckling in response.

This game of cat and mouse continued on, the creature trying to slay its targets but it proved no match against the living speed and the true ultimate life form. It took one final hit from Shadow before it collasped. .

As that was happening, Amy and Knuckles reach the platform and see a hole in the center for the Master Emerald to be inserted. "It looks like the Master Emerald fits here, Knuckles do the honors will you?" Amy said.

Knuckles nodded, taking out the Master Emerald from the sealed space he created to keep it in, placing it down on the spot in the temple's center. Once it was in place, Knuckles closed his eyes.

He put his focus on the Master Emerald, kneeling down before it and saying the ancient words passed down from his ancestor Tikal, from the time Perfect Chaos attacked Station Square. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. Only you can do this; stop the Chaos Emeralds!"

The Master Emerald spins rapidly and emits a green aura. Several mixed energies dash around, and the Biolizard screeches. After shrieking again, it uses Chaos Control to warp away.

"What the-? Is it gone?" Sonic asked, confused to where that giant monster disappeared to, walking up the makeshift temple stairs to join Amy and Knuckles, Shadow not that far behind.

"Is that what Chaos Control is truly capable of?" Shadow questioned, reaching the top of the temple steps.

Once all four were present, the entire space station began to violently shake once more. "Since we stopped the Chaos Emeralds, why is the Space Colony still on a crash course to earth?!" Knuckles exclaimed, as the loud speaker suddenly came on.

"The Prototype is still alive! He's controlling the Space Colony as it is falling to earth! He has become one with the Space Colony, and is determined to keep it on its collision course!!" Eggman yelled from the loud speaker before it cut off.

Amy looked at Knuckles, who nodded silently in response. Using his abilities, he summoned forth the chaos emeralds, and they began to swirl around Amy. "Just leave it to me, Super Amy will have that thing taken care of in no time!"

"We'll-"

"I'll go with you."

Sonic was caught off guard by Shadow suddenly cutting him off, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was the final battle, it was now or never, and Shadow wanted Sonic to stay behind?

Shadow could feel Sonic's eyes digging into the side of his head. "Can you two give us a moment?" Shadow asked.

"Sure why not, it's only the fate of the world at stake." Knuckles responded sarcastically as Shadow pulled Sonic to the side.

"Shadow, you can't be serious about going in alone on this." Sonic said, feeling Shadow's tail under his chin as the other got closer. "This isn't what we planned, this isn't-" Sonic didn't get to finish his sentence. But what Shadow had to say wasn't any better.

"Mi Amor, I need you here if something goes wron-"

"Don't." Sonic cut him off before he could even finish that thought, grabbing Shadow by his shoulders. "Don't say that, nothing is going to go wrong, you're coming back fine." He had to come back fine, Sonic would never forgive himself if Shadow burned out when he could have done something to stop it.

It hurt Shadow to see the other like this, but it was true what he was saying. Anything could happen and the world couldn't lose both of them like this. And if the world had to lose one of them, Shadow prefer it be him, the living weapon. But not Sonic, Sonic was a pure embodiment of all that was good and beautiful on that planet, he won't let them lose that.

Shadow grabbed Sonic's chin, lifting his head up to face him, and kissed the other. Sonic melting into the kiss, not wanting to let the other go. The two pulling away when the need for air arose. "Promise me you'll come back." Sonic asked, a begging, pleading look in his eyes.

"...."

"Promise me, Shads...please..." Sonic begged him, he needed to hear those two words from Shadow even if it wasn't true.

"....I promise." Shadow agreed, yet deep down, he knew he would end up breaking that promise. He gave Sonic one final kiss on the forehead, before joining up with Amy.

She offered him her hand. "Let's go out there and save the world, you ready?"

"Hmph, what kind of question is that?" Shadow responded, taking her hand and a bright light enveloped them, before it flew out of the ARK.

Knuckles and Sonic watched as the two flew off, Knuckles looked towards Sonic, seeing how tightly he was gripping himself. "Are you okay Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

"I'd be lying if I said yes, let's just go back up to everyone else." Sonic said, avoiding the conversation.

>>> ARK: RF Room

The two joined back with Tails, Rouge, and Eggman, all of them watching in silence as the battle progressed outside the ARK.

It was clear the creature of putting up one hell of a final fight. "If those two are planning something then they need to do it now! There's no time!" Eggman yelled.

Sonic watched in silence, worry across his face, praying to whoever was listening that they succeed. Things couldn't end here, not like this. "Amy hurry, there's five minutes left!" Tails exclaimed into the comms.

Meanwhile on the outside, Shadow and Amy had just finished off the creature but the ARK was plunging down to earth, wrapped in fire. Amy and Shadow speed to it, enveloped in a golden light.

"Now Shadow!" Amy exclaimed, the two flying at high speeds towards the ARK.

"CHAOS CONTROL!!" The two yelled in unison, using all the strength they had to teleport the ARK back into orbit, the plan was risky but it was a success. The world and the ARK were safe now.

"WE DID IT SHADOW! Shadow?" Amy had begun to cheer when she turned to face Shadow and saw he didn't look so good. "Hey what's wrong?" She asked flying towards him.

He overdid it, his body couldn't maintain stability anymore. Is this what they called your final moments? As Shadow swore he could hear Maria's voice faintly speaking to him. Through his blurred vision, he could see Amy approaching but held his hand in front of him to stop her. "Don't, you'll fall too…" He spoke.

"Shadow I don't-" Amy was going to say she didn't understand until she saw Shadow flickering in and out of existence, beginning to fall down towards the planet. "SHADOW!" She tried to reach him but he pushed her away.

"Take care…of Sonic…" Was the last thing he said before he completely disappeared into the atmosphere of the planet, leaving behind a single cracked inhibitor.

Amy silently grabbed it, wiping away tears for the one she barely knew but could already call a friend. "Goodbye, Shadow the Hedgehog." She whispered into space, before flying back to the ARK!

Inside the ARK, everyone feeling relief and celebrating. But Sonic? Sonic was still watching from the window, a shaky smile on his face. They had did it, now all that was needed for them to come back onto the ARK-

That's when he saw it happen ,Shadow's super form flickering in and out. "No...." His voice giving out on himself. Dread, horror, fear, panic, engulfed the entirety of Sonic's body and mind, as the scene before him began slowly playing out.

How Amy tried to reach for Shadow who was passing out now, how Shadow sent her away. He couldn't make out what they were saying. All he knew was- "NO! Shadow- NO no no no-!" Sonic yelled, he tried to go after Shadow, Chaos knew he was fully prepared to break the window to go after him.

It took three in the room, Rouge, Tails, and Knuckles to hold him back, and not actually break through the window. "Let me go- I need to- SHADOW! SHADOW PLEASE! LET ME GO DAMN IT! SHADOW-"

Shadow was there one second, flickering in and out of existence, the next, Sonic saw him turn into dust as he descended to the planet. Only a cracked inhibitor left behind, Amy carefully grabbing it with a sad look on her face.

Sonic felt his whole world shatter, as he stopped fighting against the others and fell to his knees. "S-Shadow...." He stared with wide eyes at the spot where his lover had been, tears welling up in his eyes. This was a bad dream, this had to be a bad dream.

Yet he knew this wasn't a dream. This was reality, and reality….just ripped away the most important person in his life away, the one he was made to protect, to prevent this exact situation from happening. He failed his one mission from the professor, he failed Maria, he failed Shadow….

"No...SHADOW!!" The dam burst, when the others tried to comfort him, he pushed them away.

When Amy entered the ARK again, inhibitor in hand, she walked towards Rouge, handing it to her silently. "Do you really think... that the professor created him, Shadow, to carry out the revenge on all those who live here, on earth?" She asked Amy, to see what she thought Shadow was, who he really was meant to be.

"He was what he was. A brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save this planet. Shadow the Hedgehog…" Amy answered, looking out towards the window.

Rouge was satisfied with that answer. "I guess you're right." She looked down on the inhibitor ring. "This should be enough to convince them that Shadow is no longer a threat." She began, pulling Amy's attention back to her. "I hope this will be enough to at least give Sonic the freedom he deserves down there. It looked like…Shadow told you something, what was it?"

Amy gave a soft yet sad smile. "To take care of Sonic, I don't know if I can live up to his expectations, but I will do my best to keep that promise to Shadow. Until the very end, Sonic was his priority." Amy answered, as Rouge began to walk away, a smile on her face as well.

In another part of the room, Eggman and Tails were having a conversation. "As a child, I looked up to my grandfather because of all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was my hero, and I wanted to be a great scientist like him. But... did he really mean to destroy us?" Eggman questioned.

"I don't know. But what I do know is, we all did it together!" Tails exclaimed, because it's true. No one could know what was going through Gerald's distraught and grieving mind, but they worked together to make sure that possible final wish of Gerald couldn't come true.

"So what's next for you, Rouge? Off again to find those jewels you love so much?" Knuckles asked Rouge who was about halfway out the door.

"Nah, I think I'm gonna give up this line of work. Too much work, for too little pay. Anyway... I've got something better than jewels that I'm thinking about right now... ...It'll all work out, you'll see." She told him but he didn't trust a word she said, simply agreeing with her for now, hoping that it was just that and he wouldn't wake up to the Master Emerald gone or in pieces because of her.

It was a somber, bittersweet moment for everyone, all seemed satisfied and relieved in some way. But Sonic saw red through his tears. Oh how he burned with heartbreak and rage, as he heard the conversations. Within a second, he had grabbed Amy by her neck. "YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HIM YOU WERE RIGHT THERE WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HIM?!?!?!" He yelled through the tears.

The others were trying to get him to let go of Amy. "He- He told me not to. To- Protect you.." Amy said, to the best of her ability.

Sonic let go of her, staring as Amy coughed, struggling to catch her breath. "What a load of crap, I don't need protection."

"I'm not lying...Sonic." Amy tried to reason, with the angry hedgehog. "He asked me to take care of you. We have had a rough beginning, but we can start over. Join us on our adventures Sonic, you deserve a second chance, and I believe you're a great person, and maybe we can be friends?" Ever the optimist Amy was, once again holding her hand out towards Sonic.

Sonic just stared. It was an awkward few minutes, before he smacked her hand away, turning away from her and making his way towards Rouge, snatching the cracked inhibitor. "You have some fucking nerve. You really think I want to team up with the person that sent my partner to his demise?!" *Sonic spat, shoving Knuckles and Rouge away and walking towards the exit.

"Sonic wait-" It was Rouge this time, trying to talk some sense into Sonic.

"Don't follow me. None of you. Right now, I can't stand the sight of any of you. So do me a favor and just leave me the fuck alone. You've done enough." And with that, Sonic left for the planet, and none of them knew if he was going to be okay or if they would ever see him again.

It truly was a bittersweet ending to this adventure.

-The End-

[sir-buddy]

Day 18

Rouge my beloved-

Seriously though, I'm really liking how this series is going so far and I'm having a lot of fun doing these like album covers.

My whole idea behind the character distribution was basically SA2 Hero Story v.s. SA2 Dark Story, which I thought worked out really nicely. I also like the different art style (detached shapes) that I'm using, so I'll be continuing with that for these posts.

[beevean]

Thank you for sharing the facts, sa2 introduces cool new characters, nice storyline and a good ost. But the game itself? I only play the Sonic and Shadow stages lol I think people who overhype the game are just wearing rose colored glasses. I really disliked Forces but I did have more fun playing that game compared to Sa2

While it's not a general statement, it's not a coincidence that SA2B was the first game of many fans of my generations, as the very first Sonic game on the popular Gamecube (which makes it very funny that Heroes was deliberately developed to be an entry point but apparently didn't work lmao). And well, your first game can heavily influence what you come to expect from the series. Hey, I'm biased as well, I'm not superior :P

I don't think SA2 is awful, but it's just not for me. I prefer SA1 in nearly every aspect: artstyle, music (by an absolute landslide, SA1 music my beloved <3), the way it separates campaigns by gameplay and doesn't force you to play a gameplay roulette, the focus on Sonic over the others, the wider level design, the presence of hub worlds that give a personality to the game, the mech gameplay (much faster in SA1), the hunting gameplay (why the fuck did you nerf the radar while making the levels enormous why did you do that oh my god that is so stupid)...

SA2 does have improvements ofc. It's much more cinematic, the cutscenes are more interesting to watch. It reduces the gameplay styles from six to three, and it picks the best ones. The story is meatier. The Chao Garden is considerably expanded on, creating a tighter loop with the main gameplay. People who don't like the hub worlds usually prefer how less bloated the experience is, and I can see why. And, depending on your style, the ranking system introduced in SA2 is a good incentive to replay the game compared to SA1 and its looser mission system - no wonder it stuck for the rest of the series.

But yeah. Overall SA2 does a lot of things I don't like. I've come to respect the game and those who prefer it over SA1, but I'll always see it as an average game whose main contribution was introducing Shadow and Rouge.

[modgirlyreposts-revamped]

Thank you!! :D

You may not care about sonic (or just not know anything abt it) but I will get ur gay ass invested in my sonic stuff

I absolutely hc Shadow as transmasc. This is the most concise way I've explained it

But it's also bc I heavily kin Shadow and I'm trans and therefore he is an emo trans man just like me

Fashion is very important to Rouge, Shadow and Amy for different reasons. Rouge likes to look good, because she's a very confident person. It gets her self assured attitude across, and tells people she knows what she's doing, and no one is going to be able to double cross her. For Shadow, it's about performing. He was made to perform, in a nonliteral sense, and dressing alternative is performance art, but performing a role he chooses. For Amy it's about being someone she can be proud of. She used to be helpless, but she's grown to be a hero in her own right. She's sought to be someone she can be happy calling herself, and she extends that to every part of herself. Rouge's style is sleek and feminine, Shadow's is dark and punk-inspired, and Amy's is bright, sweet and girly.

I've been thinking a lot about how clothing correlates to character. Here's my thoughts so far.

As a kid (11-ish, around the time of the first 4 games), Sonic wears a bright outfit that symbolizes his enthusiasm for everything and joyful attitude. It's a bright red shirt, blue shorts with a pattern on one side, and red tennis shoes.

Post-forces he wears the star symbolizing the resistance on a big, slightly oversized black shirt, and at any point in his older years (15-ish) he also wears a blue varsity jacket with black sleeves, blue jeans with stars and designs scribbled on them, white fingerless gloves, dark blue wrist and ankle cuffs to keep his shoes and gloves on, and shoes that look basically the same. It represents his chill, lighthearted, somewhat immature and irreverent personality, the colors being darkened, the symbol of rebellion showing how he does what he thinks is right always, even when it means going against everything that other people think is "good", and how while his unrelenting optimism inspired people when he was young, he's now more so a confident and strong person.

When Tails is little (4) he's scruffy and sad and abandoned for being a "freak," and he wears the same outfit every day. It's a slightly-too-big t-shirt and khaki shorts. They're stained, dirty, faded, and his tails don't fit quite enough into the shorts bc they were made for only one tail.

When he's 8, he has better-fitting clothes. He wears a white t-shirt, and tan overalls with dozens of extra pockets for tools and an extra hole in the back for his second tail.

Knuckles' clothing is reminiscent of Aztec and Mayan men's clothing. He wears a white shawl over one shoulder, and red pants. He always sticks to this, but as he becomes friends with Sonic and co. he also wears more stuff from other places. T-shirts with the crest he has on his chest are a common one.

Shadow, having been a research experiment, wore a black hospital gown most of his life. During experimentation on the ARK he wore it, when he was captured by the military he was still wearing it, and he was put into stasis with it. During the time of SA2, he wore it tucked into a pair of red jeans like a shirt. It was heavily damaged, but he kept it for a while, before finally abandoning it in favor of choosing what he was going to wear for himself.

Amy has always just dressed really cutesy and girly, but it went from being a measure to ensure she conformed and was likable and tolerable as a child to being how SHE wanted to look, exclusively for her own happiness and no one else's, as she grew up.

You're right, I know little to nothing about the actual Sonic lore, I was more of a Mario kid lmaooo-

Once again my bias wins out, since I think my favorite clothes progression is Shadow's, like shedding your past by changing something you've worn almost your entire life my beloved-

[tinyplanetss]

i know im such a sucker for the original voices all the time but lani minella is SUCH a perfect rouge to me. when she yells at people (knuckles) it lowers into the correct pitch to my brain and i know the sa2 voice acting is goofy and cheesy but its soooo beloved to me. knuckles, cutting rouge off; yeah we'll see about that batgirl

[tev-the-random]

HI @tamblerdraws WELCOME TO THE INSANITY CLUB, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE

There's no way out

Right?? I grew up without many videogames, so I never got to experience the hype of most of these games first-hand back when they came out. But this is like! A mini remaster of a few of them! And it's so beautiful and crafted with so much love! It feels like such a precious gift.

DUDE, DON'T GET ME STARTED! My first ever Sonic game was 06, this guy has been living in my head rent free for over a decade, and now other people get to obsess with him too?? FUCK YEAH??? He's so silly and evil, I really want him to exist–

Not to go on a wild Sonic 06 tangent, but I really do think it would be the game ever if it got remade with actual time and care put into it. I don't think that will ever happen, it's a very dangerous terrain. But in some universe out there, the story gets the appreciation it deserves. Just the fact that there's a small portion dedicated to it in Shadow Generations already vindicates me.

The hub world and the collectables are such a fantastic idea! They aren't completely pointless, as they offer some incredible content, but you don't actually need to pick up ALL of them to unlock something. The branching level design makes for some fun exploration while trying to find the keys, the different kinds of keys makes it easier to know what exactly you're still missing, and the open hub world, with all its tricks and nooks, offer even more exploring to find the chests! The replayability of this game is fantastic and the collectables are the best goddamn snacks a fan could ask for.

YES! YES YES YES! I'm holding these characters so dearly, I missed the good characterisation! Interactions!

We finally get to see more of Maria as a character. She is so precious! And protective! And enthusiastic! Shadow really gets the best sisters. And Gerald as well, I don't think we've ever properly seen him before the whole ARK incident, so his personality has always been a bit of a mystery. It's Shadow's family, man. I love them.

Though this isn't my favourite Rouge voice ever, I still think they manage to strike the balance between sassy and serious pretty well! ALSO ROUGE OFFERING TO TALK TO HIM AFTER THE WHOLE THING IS OVER IF HE NEEDS HER! Her and Omega talking about each other and about Shadow! TEAM DARK MY BELOVED, YOU'RE FINALLY BACK FROM THE WAR-

YES! So many little references (the rival fight cracked me, with both that dialogue from SA2 and that one line from Heroes. Chef's kiss, very fun). Not gonna lie, I thought it was going to be an actual battle, but the cutscene is so well animated, I can't even complain.

AND THE FAKE EMERALD WAS SUCH A GENIUS MOVE! Not only is it a great callback, but it actually plays an important part in connecting the story to the original Generations?? We love to see it. And I mean, we never do find out what happened to that emerald after SA2, so it's fair enough that it would still be on the ARK. Just one of those things I never really stopped to think about, you know?

This game is everything I've ever wanted. The timeline is finally healing. Thank you for engaging with me to talk about it.

I've been biting my desk and scratching my walls over Shadow Generations and NOBODY is crazy enough about it to want to engage with me at this point. Somebody talk to me about it. Tell me your thoughts. Say hi. Rant to me. Please. I am insane.

[srkizer]

even though i absolutely did not enjoy sa2 gameplaywise i occasionally think about replaying it because of the musics it has to offer.

and then no i'm not playing rouge stages in general, rail stages, and tails/eggman stages again.

but then music's still good. final stage musics absolutely rocks.

and then it involved some ragequit alt-f4 moments. and eventually got disturbed enough to just get hit every incoming orb on the worm stage, pick up a ring, wait for another orb, and so on.

i'm not playing this game again. i'm a spoiled fuck that can't handle such difficulty. i shall stick to rise of lyric my beloved...

[sonadowkismesis]

btw. who r ur favourite sonic characters and why

least original first pick of all time but shadow is def up there as my fav character hes so cool and i know i was doomed to like him from the start bc. so much stuff about him is right up my alley like the whole "artificial being defies the role that was thrusted upon them to find their own purpose and what it means to be them" is so my bread and butter like thats my shit right there. the sci fi existential angst. other than that i find his backstory w maria very touching and earnest. very upsetting

i also love dissecting characters psyches so i have a lot of fun peeling the layers of that little fella's brain.

aesthetically he also just looks really cool. scrumptious character design. and maybe thats just me but theres a kind of sophistication in the way he carries himself (like the way he speaks or moves). i love how these quirks can easily be traced back to shadow's upbringing, all while characterising him as this almost restrained, kind of formal little hedgehog. I think they also kinda prevent him from appearing generic in presentation. actually I feel infinite gratitude towards the person at sonic team who pushed for shadow to use boku when sa2 was still in the works. thank you

rambling but yeah anyways hes my fave. little guy driven by love and spite

UMMM knuckles and rouge are def favorites as well behind shadow.

not gonna ramble as much but knuckles and all the lore surrounding him is genuinely so interesting. also the fact he has this duty as the last of his kind he never gives up on makes for a very cool character too. plus his theme goes so hard and I love listening to it

as for rouge I love the kind of attitude she has and I feel like there's so much you can explore w her bc she's actually quite mysterious, to me at least.either way she's just a girl who wants all the jewels and who am I to deny her that....

love the progression of her friendship w shadow as well btw.theyre so sweet. team dark my beloved

I think that's about it I obviously love a lot of the other characters (amy sonic and tails hello :) but this is getting long and im not sure if i could get into the details anyway

special mention to that little creature bokkun from sonic x tho i know hes just a side character comic relief but he is also my silly little imp creature guy. love him

[dragon-spaghetti]

Can I ask for your opinion on Son T Hog himself?

First impression: way back when I was a kid I was p neutral from what I remember?? I loved sonic underground though and thought he was entertaining, but games wise has no real opinion

Impression now: MY BELOVED BABY BOI WHO IS AN ABSOLUTE LITTLE SHIT

Favourite moment: every day I wake up and cry over how he tried to save Shadow in SA2 but couldn't,,

Idea for a story: what hasn't been done at this point tbh 😭but I would love to see more platonic stuff w him and Amy!!! Also him and rouge being buds is always fun

Unpopular opinion: a lotta people think he has a habit of crushing on each new rival and while I agree that it's fuckin hilarious, as a character I consider him demiaro ;^^ he just wants to be their friend, or at least get them fighting on the side that isn't Eggman's

Favourite relationship: tails and knuckles are obvious cause BROTHERS, but I love the version of him and Amy's relationship that I have in my head 😭 though from what I've seen of IDW they tend to be going more in that direction anyways thankfully!! Also shadow, the fact they drop literally everything to race will never not be funny. Also in Boom specifically I love the dynamic w eggman holy shit

Favourite headcanon: HE STIMMMMM STIM STIM ALWAYS my boi is adhd autistic and you can pry that from my cold dead hands 💖

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[beevean]

Genuine question, but do you think that the main reason why Amy is hated from the west is because she's a feminine character who isn't afraid nor ashamed to speak what's on her mind? Which is why they exaggerated her character to make her unlikeable, unrecognizable, and different from her japanese characterization ( SA & SA2 )?

Like people who usually ( not all of them ) likes characters that are tomboys, mostly they are like the ones who doesn't show their feelings or vulnerability easily because to them ( and maybe in the west's POV ), that being honest about yourself makes you weak.

But then those same tomboy characters have an arc where they learn that they should not be afraid to speak what they're feeling and that it doesn't make them 'weak'.

This isn't a competition on which is better, but I found it hypocritical that feminine girls are not allowed to be honest with themselves but the tomboys somehow needed to learn to be honest with their feelings.

My personal theories:

good ol' sexism. Female characters earned the ire of fans much more easily in the 2000s. Amy is a pink cute girl with a crush on the protagonist in a series that was popular with boys. She's not the only girl hated: Rouge was a "slut", Cream was too cutesy and had a stupid voice, Elise "kissed a corpse" and was generally useless, Marine was annoying... there is a reason Blaze has always been the fan favorite - hello, Flynn and "only butt-kicking girl"? :\

the flanderization of her personality. Amy was nearly unlikeable from 2003 to 2005 - some don't even like her in SA1. She was better in '06, but her "if I had to choose between the world and Sonic, I would choose Sonic!" all but "confirmed" that she was a selfish little brat who clearly would support Sonic even if he turned evil :V

related to this, SA2, the most popular and beloved game at the time, was downright mean to her, with Sonic & co. always leaving her behind like she was unwanted and all being treated like a joke and as a buildup for her only important scene. Oh, and I didn't forget Sonic pushing her face away in Generations :\

gameplay. Amy in SA1 was not the most fun playable character in the roster. She wasn't playable in SA2 outside of 2P mode. Fans didn't understand her playstyle in Adv1 and 3 and declared her useless; in Adv2 the process to unlock her is hellish. She sucked in '06. The only game in which she was fun (read: like Sonic) was Heroes, but Team Rose is seen as tacked on anyway.

ship wars. Sonamy vs. Sonally (and vs. Sonadow). Self explainatory.

values dissonance? The trope of the girl chasing the boy seems to be more popular in Asia (i'm thinking of Pucca). Funnily enough, Amy was meant to be the anti-Peach, and probably meant to appeal to the Western audience (Cream is what you get when they try to appeal to the Japanese market).

I do think most of her hatedom comes from her being "annoying", mostly whe it comes to her crush on Sonic - notice how that trait was severely downplayed from Generations onwards. She seems to be in between when it comes to femininity, although you have a point when you talk about tomboys having to learn to be more open (read: feminine).