[guernsey]

Shadow was an interesting character in SA2 and even Sonic Heroes but after awhile his character got severely derailed and he ended up being overtaking the series. He replaced Knuckes and Metal Sonic as Sonic's counterpart and after awhile became basically a brooding anti hero of the Sonic universe. Sonic himself use to be this in the old games but nowadays Shadow seems more intersting than Sonic, will Shadow's shadow loom over Sonic?

[???????]

Shadow ain't that interesting and I didn't care about his story outside of SA2 and Sonic Battle. I do gotta say that I did like him a lot more in Sonic Battle than in SA2, though.

Uh, that's all I got. Honestly, if Shadow were more like this guy, I'd like him a lot more:

 379px-Mhx_vilestand.PNG (176.1K)
Number of downloads: 0

Actually, come to think of it, we definitely need to see a Sonic character like this. I mean, if half of the newer Sonic games are gonna have me asking "Why so serial?" so often, a non-hedgehog character like this should appear. Hell, bring Emerl back and have it become corrupted enough to become like this!

[NiGHTS Noob]

Vile's just there for me. He's not bad, but I don't particularly like him either.

That said, a shoulder mounted minigun would definitely spice things up for a Sonic character, as long as you didn't have to play as them, and they weren't a robot, maybe a cyborg would work.

[guernsey]

The thing is the guy with the gun had already been covered by Nack the Weasel/Fang the Sniper, sonic already had a dark counterpart in Metal sonic, He had arival Knuckles who had pretty much been reduced to a side character with no plot reverence other than just to be there but Shadow has all that in spades and he is overpowered to boot. It seems like Shadow is becoming a darkhorse for the series.

[Master of AFTER]

A dark horse is usually a character that's very obscure or seemingly unimportant who eventually rises to a more prominent position in the story because of strong support from the fanbase. That might have applied to Shadow around the time or shortly after SA2 came out, but since then he's kind of been the opposite since Sega keeps shoving him in our faces with almost every new Sonic game that comes out. He's probably the second most popular character in the franchise next to Sonic himself now, in fact.

I liked Shadow as an "evil Sonic" character, personally. The problem is that they dropped that concept midway through the very first game he appeared in, and since then he's just been a generic, depressed anti-hero who struggles with identity issues that the writers stole from Blade Runner. He came at the end of the era that was popular in the early to mid-90s where every fictional character had to undergo a "badass" and/or more "extreme" redesign to appeal to the kids who were into skateboarding and Bruce Willis movies. That didn't last for long, though, so Sega quickly switched gears and retooled him to appeal to the next big fad among teens, which was to make him all dark and emo to appeal to kids who are into vampires and indie grunge rock bands. Shadow is no more than a product of Sega's obsession with pandering to demographics to sell games, which is a shame since I really do think he had potential as an interesting on-again, off-again villain/rival for Sonic in the beginning. His personality needs to evolve beyond "Grr I'm angry but also kinda sad because I'm a clone and my human girlfriend died," for me to like him again, though.

[Mr. Retro]

I've gotta agree with Master of AFTER. I actually did enjoy the background expansion given in Shadow the Hedgehog, but I would still have preferred him as an antagonist to Sonic.

[Dr. BaconStein]

I think ever since Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic seems to have taken back his rightful place in the spotlight. I don't think Shadow will ever be more popular than Sonic, though. I just don't see it happening - I mean, I know all the "lol hardcore" kids like him, but it seems to me like most Sonic fans don't care for him that much. Vile's personality would be pretty fitting for Shadow, it seemed like they were heading in that direction in Sonic Adventure 2 with his cockiness. Even some moments in Shadow the Hedgehog, he was "screw you I'm doing things my way", depending on what paths you took. Though I guess without anyone controlling him, he doesn't really have anyone to rebel against, except maybe Eggman, who is already the main villain anyway. :V I guess Knuckles could be a little like Vile if he wasn't so stupid. He seems to be more of an independent character sometimes, when he's not getting fooled by Eggman or following Sonic around.

This post has been edited by Dr. BaconStein: 03 May 2010 - 04:51 PM

[Silver'sfollower]

I agree. I really didn't notice all Shadow's personailty changes and roles in the games to be honest. I am not really sure what your talking about here.
But you have to remember, for Shadow to be an atangonist, he'd have to lose his memory all over again. Because of his promise to Maria to keep humans happy, and considering how important Maria was to him, add the fact that Shadow never gives up on anything, and add the fact that Sonic is always trying to save the world, that there is no way Shadow will be a villan. In fact, the only reason Shadow helps out Sonic is that it's an oppurtiunty to keep his promise to Maria, the way I see it. Shadow would probably dump Sonic's misson as soon as he sees another way to help out mankind without Sonic. It would be so much easier if we were in his head...
Anyway, ever since the truth about Shadow's past was revealed, his popularity died a bit. I think people were intrested what exactly happened in his past, with Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure Battle 2 giving only clues out. (Sonic Heroes gave out an answer, but it was one nobody wanted to belive for their dear Shadow) And so after Shadow The Hedgehog was released, a chuck of his popularity broke off.

[Gold_TSG]

Shadow died as a hero in SA2. Due to his popularity, he was brought back as an emo clone android thing. Shadow was perfect in SA2 because he had plenty of character development, and his mysterious past was explained enough to make him interesting. ShTH fucked it up by appealing to people who were into that emo crap and OMG GUNS. Fucking with Shadow's already established past by making him an ALIEN was the poorest move the could have made.

[miles_prower]

Not to mention having a game devoted to him which completely sucked apart from the music.

[Silver'sfollower]

Okay, I understand now, thanks. I was going to argue, but now that I think about it, it was kind of a bad idea to make him an alien, but you have to give them points for creativity. But I also can't imagine Shadow being created without that idea. Shadow is an ulitmate weapon of destruction, so I don't see any way Gerald Robotnik could have used some normal blood to give Shadow the power he has. he could have mutated normal blood, but that's an old story.
Besides, I like Shadow The Hedgehog. It's an entertaining game with excellent replay value and one of the only sonic games with a good multiplayer mode. But most of the music was kind of too... gibberish to me.

[Gold_TSG]

That's the part you don't get. Shadow wasn't created to destroy anything. He was created to protect the world. If you had played SA2, you'd have picked up on that.

And you don't give points for pulling a George Lucas.

This post has been edited by Gold_TSG: 29 July 2010 - 02:52 AM

[Silver'sfollower]

I have played SA2, that's what I meant to say, sorry.
George Lucas? What are you talking about?

[Gold_TSG]

He turns everything he touches into an alien movie. Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, anyone?

[Silver'sfollower]

Oh my gosh, your right!
Curse you, George Lucas.

[Gold_TSG]

And that is why ShTH sucks.

[StevenSpindash77]

I think Shadow's backstory was very original... at least in Sonic Adventure 2. Now the whole "Maria" thing has gotten old. I would have much more respect for him as a character if he stayed dead after Adventure 2. To me, no one can top the blue blur.

[Muzzy Roberto]

I think we ALL would have more respect (if any) for Shadow if had stayed dead and made him a one-game Johnny. But there was money to be made, so they didn't.

Also: Vile sucks as well.

[???????]

Shadow's story may have been original in SA2, but it wasn't very creative and psh, whatever, Muzzy.

This post has been edited by ???????: 10 August 2010 - 10:31 PM

[Muzzy Roberto]

He dies like a bitch in his own story mode in Maverick Hunters, Marximus, that's pretty sad in my book.