Shadow the Hedgehog (game)

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Shadow the Hedgehog
System(s): Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: 3D Adventure

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Shadow the Hedgehog is a game starring Shadow the Hedgehog, an antihero of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was revealed at Sonic's inauguration into Walk of Game. Shadow the Hedgehog was the first Sonic game to have an E10+ rating by the ESRB. It is also the first post-Sonic Adventure Sonic series game to not feature Sonic's name in the title.

Story

Over 50 years ago, deep in a Military Research Space Station, Prof. Gerald Robotnik forged an experiment known as "Project Shadow" while trying to unlock the secrets of the Chaos Emeralds at the request of the Government. The experiment cumulated in "The Ultimate Life-Form"; Shadow the Hedgehog, a a hedgehog with the ability to harness the mysterious power of the Chaos Emeralds in ways not thought possible.

After being thought dead in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow has returned - with amnesia. He does not understand who he is or where he's from, but he's determined to find out, be it from Black Doom, the leader of an alien race who claims he and Shadow made a pact involving the Chaos Emeralds, or from Dr. Eggman, who seemed to be experimenting on Shadow for an unknown purpose in Sonic Heroes. He may also have to learn his secrets from the very military organization that he swore revenge against, G.U.N.. Basically, everybody wants the Chaos Emeralds, and if Shadow hopes to convince any of them to talk, he's going to have to get them first.

Main Characters

• Shadow the Hedgehog: A rival of Sonic and the protagonist of the game. He is the main playable character of the game. Shadow must go on a quest to find out who he is and why he was created.
• Black Doom and Doom's Eye: The leader of the Black Arms and the game's main antagonist. He commands Shadow to bring the seven Chaos Emeralds to him and he will unlock the hidden story about Shadows past, also witness of the creation of Shadow. Dooms Eye is an extension of Black Doom, allowing him to view whats going on when he's not there.
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Although he is a rival to Shadow he can ally with him during the Westopolis, Lethal Highway, and Final Haunt levels, and races against him in the Space Gadget level. Sonic is also a boss if the player plays through the Dark Mission. Sonic is playable with controller 2 when allied with Shadow.
• G.U.N. Commander: The highest ranking officer of the Guardian Unit of Nations. He is one of the few who knows the secrets of Shadow's past and loathes Shadow for reasons unknown, at least until a certain level and is one of the bosses on the dark path.
• Dr. Eggman/Dr. Robotnik: Sonic's arch-nemesis, but this time appears as either an ally or an enemy, depending on the player's choices. He plans to create a utopia called Eggmanland, but needs to get rid of G.U.N., the Black Arms, Sonic and company to do so. He tracks Shadow and follows him through means of a floating camera-monitor.
• Professor Gerald Robotnik: A brilliant scientist as well as Shadow's creator and grandfather of Maria and Dr. Eggman, and the top researcher on board Space Colony ARK.
• Maria Robotnik: Prof. Gerald Robotnik's Granddaughter; she was Shadow's best friend who gave her life to save him from G.U.N.

Allies/Supporting Characters

These characters are playable with controller 2 in the Gamecube and Playstation 2 versions.

• Sonic the Hedgehog: During Westopolis, Lethal Highway, and Final Haunt levels he will be your ally. and you also can do races against him in the Space Gadget level, or face him in the dark endings of GUN Fortress, Black Comet, and Final Haunt, but not as the main boss.
• Rouge the Bat: She Appears in the Digital Circuit, GUN Fortress, and Death Ruins levels as an ally.
• E-123 Omega: Omega appears in the Iron Jungle and Lava Shelter levels as an ally.
• Vector the Crocodile - The leader of the Chaotix (and boss of Espio and Charmy). He appears in the Cosmic Fall level as an ally.
• Espio the Chameleon - He appears in the Mad Matrix level as an ally.
• Charmy Bee - Like Doom's Eye and Dr. Eggman; however, he hovers just out of reach and does not fight. He is not playable using controller 2. He appears in the Prison Island level as an ally.
• Miles "Tails" Prower - He appears in the Circus Park and Air Fleet levels as an ally.
• Knuckles the Echidna - He appears in the Glyphic Canyon, Central City, and Black Comet levels as an ally.
• Amy Rose - She appears in the Cryptic Castle level as an ally.
• Dr. Eggman - He appears in the Sky Troops, Iron Jungle, Lava Shelter, Circus Park, and the Cryptic Castle levels as an ally. His robots count as hero enemies if there are any Black Arms on the level, even if he's the dark mission, leading to a hard situation on Cryptic Castle, where both the hero AND dark mission characters complain about killing one type of enemy!
• Maria Robotnik - She appears in Shadow's memories in the Doom and Lost Impact levels as an ally.
• Cream the Rabbit: She is part of the hero mission of Cryptic Castle where Amy needs Shadow to help rescue Cream, as well as her Chao, Cheese. She never tags along with Shadow as an ally.
• Doom's Eye: Doom's Eye is Black Doom's third eye and a "character" in the story who mainly just watches Shadow. Black Doom is also one of the bosses. He appears in the Westopolis, Glyphic Canyon, Prison Island, Sky Troops, Lethal Highway, Death Ruins, Final Haunt, Space Gadget, Cosmic Fall, Digital Circuit, Mad Matrix, The Doom, Central City, Air Fleet, Black Comet, The Ark, and GUN Fortress levels as an ally.

Gameplay

Shadow must get from the start of the level to the end, as has traditionally been the case for the Sonic titles. The biggest change, however, would be his ability to use several weapons; he was shown using an MP5 submachine gun, a sword and a bazooka, among many others. The weapons can, naturally, harm opponents, but they also have the ability to break down large pieces of the level, such as tall columns. The use of weapons is optional, although there will be some levels that require their use. Shadow can still use all his moves from the previous games like the Homing Attack and Spindash. This game unique gimmick in that the player's decisions determine Shadow's future. Shadow has 3 missions in almost every level (these being Hero, Dark, and Neutral), and he can choose one to accomplish at any point in the level. The level Shadow goes to changes depending on which mission was played on the previous level. Also, Shadow now has at least two Chaos ablities, Chaos Control (light blue) and Chaos Blast (red), and gains these by killing certain targets Killing aliens and clearing debris from the game field increases the Chaos Control Gauge, and killing humans and destroying nature (trees, plants, etc.) increases the Chaos Blast Gauge.

Due to the mildly violent nature of the game, the ESRB rating was, for a time, in question. The official ESRB website originally had the game rated as T, along with GameSpot, but the official site listed E-10+. The T rating was seemingly further evidenced, however, by the fact that, at trade shows where Sega showed off the game, they asked only those 13 and older to play the title. Early builds of the game even had mild swearing in them. And the game does include two swear words. Before the game was released, Sega took out the human's blood, changed the color of alien blood from red to green, and censored the scene when a GUN soldier shoots Maria, cutting out as Maria is shot and falls to the ground. Regardless, the ESRB website later updated the rating to E-10+, thus making it unanimous. The CERO rating is "All Ages"; the OFLC classification is PG; the PEGI rating is 12+. Some have commented that the E-10+ rating is inconsistent, seeing as it is more violent and vulgar than Super Smash Bros. Melee which was rated T at a time when the E-10+ rating didn't exist.

Pre-Release Comments/First Impressions

The gaming community had strong opinions on the preview 'Shadow' videos posted on popular Internet gaming sites (such as GameSpot or IGN.com).

Many comments were made about the gun Shadow wielded. Some argue that it goes entirely against the spirit and/or gameplay mechanic of the Sonic series or that Shadow should be powerful enough that a gun would not be necessary, given that he has proclaimed himself to be the "Ultimate Life Form" in Sonic Adventure 2. Others note his technological background in defense of the weapon, from his inception to the air shoes he wears and the weapons that Eggman and Tails used in Sonic Adventure 2.

Another topic of discussion is Shadow getting a game over Sonic; after Sonic Heroes, many fans had been hoping for a new Sonic game that would take the direction that game was heading and lead it toward a more retro feel, closer to that of the original Sega Genesis games. When it was revealed that that was not the direction the new title was heading, some people were disappointed.

A rebuttal to some of the criticisms was that it was a sidestory game, and not starring Sonic himself; therefore, as it coudn't be considered a true Sonic game (much like Knuckles' Chaotix), it should be given some freedom to attempt new things without hampering the main series. Another rebuttal was that it was an early preview, and that it could have ended up significantly changed by the game's ultimate release.

Game Features

Black Doom, the game's main villain

Besides wielding weapons, Shadow can use vehicles: 4x4's, motorbikes, G.U.N. mechs, and alien crafts. As with the weapons, this spawned complaints from fans, who point out that Shadow is similar to Sonic, and thus would probably be able to run faster than most vehicles. Using the vehicles is not necessary to complete the game.

As suggested by Sega's official site for the game, though Shadow can run faster than the game's vehicles, the vehicles have many capabilities that Shadow does not have (e.g., the trailer from a pre-rendered movie from the game which sees Shadow use a motorcycle as a rolling missile, and using the vehicle to run over enemies or hit them). As in most Sonic games, the Chaos Emeralds play a big part in this game, as Shadow needs them to regain his memory and to use his ultimate Powers.

These powers, according to the developers, are the ultimate in destruction and speed. The two Chaos Powers are the heroic "Chaos Control" (lets Shadow manipulate time and space), which is used by defeating Black Arms invaders, and the evil "Chaos Blast" (creates an explosive blast of energy damaging enemies), which can be used by killing GUN soldiers and robots. Chaos Spear (a move used in Sonic Adventure 2) is only available with Super Shadow. Instead of having a linear storyline, the game has multiple path options, which is touted as the game's major selling point; the path options are also dynamic, allowing the player to change Shadow's alignment. There are a total of 10 alternate endings that can be unlocked, plus one "Final" ending which ties everything together. Although you play as Shadow, all major Sonic characters appear at points in the story, and new characters are also expected. Also, the developers of the game have done away with the old graphics engine (used since Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast) and created a new one, capable of better graphics, new special effects, and more destructive environments.

Manuals

• Shadow the Hedgehog US/EU Manual
• Shadow the Hedgehog JP Manual

Censorship Issues

Due to the mildly violent nature of the game, the ESRB rating was, for a time, in question. The official ESRB website originally had the game rated as T, along with GameSpot, but the official site listed E-10+. The T rating was seemingly further evidenced, however, by the fact that, at trade shows where Sega showed off the game, they asked only those 13 and older to play the title. Early builds of the game even had mild swearing in them, and the game does include two mildly offensive words (damn and hell). For the English Version of the game, Sega took out the human's blood, changed the color of alien blood from red to green, edited the word 'piss' and put 'tick' instead (Sonic says this), and censored the scene when a GUN soldier shoots Maria, cutting out as Maria is shot and falls to the ground. Regardless, the ESRB website later updated the rating to E-10+, thus making it unanimous.

Music and Remixes

Music

Recently, an album has been released entitled Lost and Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax. Several music tracks from the game are featured in this album, while some mixes were made to others. There is also a promotional song in Japan : a remix of m-flo's "TRIPOD BABY" track off of BEAT SPACE NINE, their latest album.

Vocal tracks

• "I Am... All of Me" by Crush 40 (Trailer, Main Theme, Intro and Final Boss theme) A lyric in this refers to "What I'm Made Of", the theme of the final battle in Sonic Heroes (Unleashed a million faces, And one by one they fall).
• "Almost Dead" by Powerman 5000 (Dark and Pure Dark ending theme)
• "Waking Up" by Julien-K (Neutral ending theme)
• "E.G.G.M.A.N. Doc Robeatnix Mix" by REMIX Factory ft. Paul Shortino (Dr. Eggman's Theme)
• "Chosen One" by A2 (Hero ending theme)
• "All Hail Shadow" by MAGNA-FI (Pure Hero ending theme)
• "Never Turn Back" by Crush 40 (Final ending theme)

Remixes

Since it was the game in which Shadow was introduced, many of the songs featured in Sonic Adventure 2 were remixed for Shadow the Hedgehog.

• "Event 3" was a remix of "E.G.G.M.A.N." from Sonic Adventure 2, remixed by The Remix Factory (used during cutscenes involving Eggman, including one prerendered cutscene)
• An extended version of that remix used before battles with the Egg Dealer. The song's true title, "E.G.G.M.A.N. Doc Robeatnix Mix" wasn't revealed until the "Shadow the Hedgehog : Lost and Found" album was released.
• "Blue Falcon" and "Heavy Dog" as different remixes of "G.U.N. Mobile" (known as "Boss 1" in the sound test) from Sonic Adventure 2, remixed by The Remix Factory (used during boss battles after the levels The ARK and The Doom)
• "Battle Mode" is actually the Radical Highway theme, "Vengeance Is Mine", from Sonic Adventure 2 (used during 2P matches)
• "The ARK" as a remix of Final Rush's "Highway in the Sky" from Sonic Adventure 2 (Used during the stage called "The ARK")
• There is also an Event song not listed in the Sound Test (called "Strategy" in the Shadow the Hedgehog Original Sound Trax) that is a remix of an Event song in Sonic Adventure 2.
• During the Last Story cutscene in which Shadow uses the Chaos emeralds to go Super, a slower, remixed music clip of "I Am (All of Me)" plays, then seamlessly switches to a remixed music clip of "Live and Learn", the main theme of Sonic Adventure 2.

Lost tracks

In this game, a track was removed for due to copyright and licensing reasons. The song was "Who I Am" by Magna-Fi, the band who made "All Hail Shadow". Another called "Broken" by Sins of a Divine Mother was removed due to licensing reasons. [1] Instead A2 (which features members from the latter band) tracked the song "Chosen One" in its place.

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Hisao Oguchi
Producer: Yuji Naka
Director: Takashi Iizuka
Art Director: Kazuyuki Hoshino
Lead Programmer: Takeshi Sakakibara
Lead Game Designer: Takashi Iizuka
Sound Director: Jun Senoue
Player Character Programmer: Mitsuru Takahashi
Character Designers: Kazuyuki Hoshino, Nobuhiko Honda, Takahiro Kudo
Motion System Programmer: Satoru Takeshima
Motion Designer: Atsushi Saito
Level Designers: Takashi Iizuka, Hirono Sato, Asahiko Kikuchi, Eitaro Toyoda
Action Stage Programmers: Masato Nakazawa, Kazuyuki Okada, Tomoyuki Naito
Field Art Director: Hiroshi Nishiyama
Field Artists: Michikazu Tamamura, Hiroshi Kanazawa, Takahiro Kudo
Field Object Artists: Daizo Kinoshita, Soosa Kim, Brad Wagner
Enemy Game Designer: Yu Ohmura
Enemy Artists: Kazuyuki Hoshino, Ai Ikeda
Enemy Programmer: Motoyoshi Sato
Boss Enemy Programmers: Satoru Takeshima, Mitsuru Takahashi, Tomoyuki Naito, Motoyoshi Sato
Weapon Artists: Kazuyuki Hoshino, Brad Wagner, Elena Macomber, Nobuhiko Honda
Weapon Programmer: Mitsuru Takahashi
Scenario Writer: Takashi Iizuka
Event Scene Director: Shun Miyanaga
Event Scene Artists: Atsushi Saito, Ai Ikeda
Story Event Programmer: Takeshi Sakakibara
Menu Screen Artist: Elena Macomber
Menu Screen Programmers: Takeshi Sakakibara, Satoru Takeshima
Multi Platform Programmer: Outa Sano
Visual Effect Programmer: Satoru Takeshima
Sound Effect Programmer: Masato Nakazawa
Camera System Programmer: Kazuyuki Okada
CG Movie Producer: Keith Palmer
CG Movie Director: Shun Miyanaga
CG Movie Supervisors: Takashi Iizuka, Kazuyuki Hoshino, Hiroshi Nishiyama
CG Movie Production Blur Studio Inc: Tim Miller, Leo Santos, Marlon Nowe, Dan Rice, Kirby Miller, Al Shier, Mandy Sekelsky, Sim Jason, Taylor Tuan, Ngo Cemere, Ozkurt Barrett, Meeker Sid, Moye Seung, Youb "Kull" Shin
CG Movie Production: Remi McGill, Carlos Anguiano, Wim Bien, Jeff Fowler, Mak Koyama, Davy Sab be, George Schermer, Dave Vallone, Onur Yeldan, Daniel Perez Ferrerira, Jiyoung Hong, Dan Knight, Seung Jae Lee, David Stinnett, Derron Ross, Jon Jordan
CG Movie Production: Sze Chan, Chuck Wojtkiewicz, Sean McNally, Diego Garcia, Amanda Powell, Duane Powell, Pauk Huang, Matt Newell
In-Game Movie Encode: CRI Middleware Co., LTD, Katsumi Yabuno
Lead Music Composer: Jun Senoue
Japanese Character Voices: Kouji Yusa, Ryuzaburiou Ohotomo, Jun'ichi Kanemaru, Ryo Hirohashi, Nobutoshi Kanna, Rumi Ochiai, Taeko Kawata, Taiten Kusunoki, Kenta Miyake, Yuki Masuda, Youko Teppouzuka, Yuri Shiratori, Banjyo Ginga, Yutaka Nakano, Jyunko Kitanishi, Takashi Yoshida, Sayaka Aoki, Chikao Otsuka
English Character Voices: Jason Griffith, Sean Schemmel, Bella Hudson, Andrew Rannells, Marc Thompson, Kathleen Delaney, Amy Palant, Dan Green, Lisa Ortiz, Rebecca Honig, Madeleine Blaustein, Carter Cathcart, David Wills, Amy Birnbaum, Jack Quevas, Mike Pollock
Music Composers: Yutaka Minobe (delfisound inc.), Tomoya Ohtani, Mariko Nanba
Sound Effects: Jun Senoue, Takashdoh Endoh (delfisound inc.), Tatsuya Kousaki, Teruhiko Nakagawa
Sound Designed by: Dolby Digital Pro Logic 2
Music Performance: Crush 40, Powerman 5000, Julien-K, A2, Magna-Fi, Remix Factory
Voice Recording Director: Eriko Kimura (TOHOKUSHINSHA)
Voice Recording Producer: Hiroyuki Inage (TOHOKUSHINSHA)
Musicians: Jun Senoue, Takeshi Taneda, Toru Kawmura, Yutaka Minobe, Keiichi Sugiyama, Lee Brotherion(Remix Factory)
Recording Coordinator: Jun Senoue, Stan Katayama, Attic Arcade Inc., Keith Palmer
Recording Engineers: Masahio Fukuhara, Stan Katayama, Amir Derakh
Voice Recording Production: 4kids Entertainmaent. inc., Julie Rath, Kristen Thorne, Jason "Rollin" Cushing, Lee Rogers
Webtone Productions: Greg Weber
Voice Files operation: Delfisound Inc, Attic Arcade Inc.
Development Support: Shiro Maekawa, Akinori Nishiyama, Makoto Hirata

Sega Corporation

President: Hisao Oguchi
Consumer Division: Hideki Okamura, Masanao Maeda, Hiroyuki Miyazaki
Marketing: Takeshi Shimizu, Yasushi Yamashita
Public Relations: Kenichi Hashimoto, Yasushi Nagumo
Sales Promotion: Hitoshi Kurosawa
International Business & PD: Yukiko Kato, Shiko Sakai, Tatsuyuki Miyazaki
Retail Sales Manger: Toru Yasuda, Tomohiko Hayashi
Customer Relationship Management: Masahiro Ozeki, Reo Wakabayashi
TEST Department: Junichi Shimizu, Akira Nishikawa, Hiroyuki Miyano, Akinobu Koechi
QC Department: Kazuhiko Morii, Yuji Nakamura
Package & Software Manual Production: Yoshihiro Sakuta, Hisakazu Nakagawa, Masaru Kobayashi, Takashi Nishimura, Colin Restall, Tetsuya Honda

Sega of America, Inc.

COO: Naoya Tsurumi
President/COO: Simon Jeffery
Vice President Of Product Development: Bill Petro
Localization Producer: Kevin Frane
Vice President & Entertainment Marketing: Scott A. Steinberg
Senior Brand Manager: Don Mesa
Assisant Product Manager: Yosuke Moriya
Creative Service Manager: Chris Mowry
Public Relations Manager: Erica Roger
QA Project Lead: Shawn Dobbins
Assisant QA Project Lead: Josh Pfeiffer

Sega Europe, Ltd.

CEO: Naoya Tsurumi
President/COO: Mike Hayes
Creative Director: Matthew Woodley
Director Of European Marketing: Gary Knight
Head Of Brand Marketing: Helen Nicholas
European PR Manager: Lynn Daniel
Assisant Brand Manager: Claire Brummell
International Brand Manager: Ben Chalmers-Stevens
Development Director: Gary Dunn
Localization Producer: Akiko Uchida
Localization Team: Daniela Kaynert, Brigitte Nadesan, Marta Lois González, Giuseppe Rizzo
QA Manager: Mark LeBreton
QA Supervisor: Darius Sadeghian
QA Team Lead: Julie Metior
Special Thanks: Toshitsugu Kanari, Tomomi Siverman, Mizuki FriedMan, Yuji Uekawa, Masanobu Yamamoto, Awi Blaire, Teri Higgins, Klayton Vorlick, Demetrius Griffin, Sonja Levinger, Hiroki Hayashi(ESP Guitars), Michelle Silberman(LINE 6), Scott Uchida(Jim Dunlop)

Scans

Gamecube version

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  US cover

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  US disc

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  JP cover

• Shadow gamecube eu.jpg

  EU cover

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  EU disc

PS2 version

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  US cover

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  US DVD

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  JP cover

• Shadow ps2 eu.jpg

  EU cover

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  EU DVD

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  Spanish cover

Xbox version

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  US cover

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  JP cover

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  EU cover

Artwork

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External links

• GameSpot GameSpace
• Offical Site
• Magicbox screenshots

Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems

2003  Sonic Heroes     2004  Sonic Mega Collection Plus     2005  Sonic Gems Collection | Shadow the Hedgehog     2006  Sonic Riders | Sega Genesis Collection     2008  Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity | Sonic Unleashed     2009  Sega Fun Pack: Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Shadow the Hedgehog      Demos  Sonic Riders Trial Version  Prototypes  Sonic Mega Collection Plus (prototype; 2004-08-18) | Sonic Riders (prototype; 2005-12-08)

	2003  Sonic Heroes     2004  Sonic Mega Collection Plus     2005  Shadow the Hedgehog | 2 in 1 Combo Pack: Sonic Heroes/Super Monkey Ball Deluxe | 2 in 1 Combo Pack: Sonic Mega Collection Plus/Super Monkey Ball Deluxe     2006  Sonic Riders      Prototypes  Sonic Heroes (Xbox E3 version)  Unreleased  Sonic Gems Collection | Sonic the Hedgehog Extreme