That’s a hard one, so here’s a list in no order Sonic 2, 3, Adventure, Adventure 2, and Unleashed. Picking a favorite from those is hard. And Rush and Rush Adventure
As someone who didn't grow up as a Sega Boi, it was always wild to me that a Sonic character got a game with realistic guns! Looks like I missed out on a DAMN good time.
I have always had a soft spot for this game. It has such a distinct identity and uniqueness that make it so interesting. The main character being as cool as he is helps me overlook a lot of flaws. I got the game back when it was new and I have not played it in at least 15 years, but i vow to return to it!
You should go back! It was a big deal to me when I was a kid and I remember enjoying it. Even then tho we laughed at the dialogue but this game cemented my love for Shadow!
Visually it's fine, gameplay is Heroes but slightly better (which makes it overall kinda meh cause both underdeliver) although I do love the gimmick of guns and melee weapons, the concept of paths is an intriguing one, especially for an amnesiac Shadow, everything makes sense cause the character is intentionally undefined. OST goes hard and the voice acting, while still bad for the most part, was the best of its time for Sonic games. Where the game truly shines is the narrative for me. The Black Arms invasion slaps, expanding on Project Shadow slaps, Black Doom's manipulation slaps, it's great stuff. My favorite aspect of it is what most people hate, the myriad of loose canon paths. To me (and I think that was Sonic Team's intention), the game provides a multifaceted dissection of the character of Shadow the Hedgehog through dozens of what if scenarios, none definitively canon, all providing canon elements and interactions. Is it hard to 100% map it into the timeline, yeah, absolutely, only the opening and the True Ending are definitive. I think this works in its favor however, True Ending sees Shadow turn into one of Earth's mightiest heroes and it's well deserved by all accounts. However, the fact that you see Shadow walk down such dark paths in those what if scenarios makes the True Ending hit even harder. They show you exactly what monster Shadow could have turned into, either through manipulation, giving up, being lied to or at some cases even feeling justified. In the True Ending Shadow CHOOSES to be a hero, every bad outcome is avoided because HE made a choice, it's the only part of the game where the player doesn't get a say in what Shadow does, Shadow is his own self now. This is who he is. If any of y'all think this is just Edgy Hedgy or whatever either haven't played it or are legit insane.
I love the alt paths as well. Thats part of the fun. I also love that you go to so many different locations based on your choice in how you completed the previous level. Also the guns are fun! If it played a little less like heroes and a little more like Adventure I think it would have been incredible!
I remember seeing my older cousing, who was 14 when I was 10, play this game at his house. He showed me how Shadow would say "damn" when he died, and I thought that was so cool for a "kids" game. Then he explained to me how Shadow wasn't made as a kids game like the rest of the sonic series lmfao. I think the edgy teenager angle was what sold this game to so many little kids back then.
The ppl hating on shadow are always like tired millennials that made shitting on sonic 06 their personality for the last decade. Its blown out of proportion, like at its core its very much a sonic game. Shadow just has a gun? Like whatever lmao. Plus the heavy industrial breakbeat cyber punk electronics ARE AMAZING.
This sucks from a casual player perspective a.k.a. noob perspective. But from a pro player a.k.a. a true gamer it is a badd ass and fun game. Nuff said. (Most players that complain are smash 4 players lmao) yea Melee and Soul calibur 2 pro player here 8) (with multiple characters) zwz
I remember seeing the argument think from one of the creators for the Sonic games, wanting to surpass Mario, realistically this will never happened, I believe because Sonic's games seem more targeted to American's, and Mario games feel more targeted to the whole planet.
I remember playing the GameCube version that my older brother owned over a decade ago, and it was fun. It would have been nice for the Xbox versions of this game and Sonic Heroes to be backwards compatible for the Xbox One or Series consoles.
Man whose stupid idea was it to give a black hedgehog guns? That’s almost as stupid as giving a blue hedgehog gloves and sneakers! In all seriousness, this game gets way too much hate and for the wrong reasons. People instantly bash on it just because it’s so different (which is the point) much like the werehog. Anyway games like Colors are fundamentally better than Shadow, but I still had more fun with Shadow (and 06) than I did with games like Colors. Also, I’ll gladly take lines like “Where’s that damn 4th chaos emerald” over “Baldy McNose Hair” any day! 🙄
100%! Thats my point with this. Despite its flaws it’s a fun game underneath. And I agree I appreciate that it’s different. 06 would have easily been one of the best Sonic games if they had more time to cook and didn’t rush it out. The demo on 360 was actually really good. Then the actual release came and it played way worst. I’m excited to see where project 06 goes! Shadows gameplay looks really cool in it if you haven’t seen it! Basically teleportation combat which is DOOOOOPPPPEEEE!
@@jiggylookbackYeah, Shadow's my favorite character because we both suffer from similar mental illnesses. It's really sad to see how much this game ruined his reputation and gave him the title of an "edgelord". And people hate this game for the wrong reasons, such as the inclusion of guns and cursing. Sonic can use guns in Smash Bros, no one complains about that. Sonic gave Eggman the finger in the OVA, no one complains about that. Sonic starred in Smash Bros Brawl which was rated 'T' for Teens, no one complains about that. Shadow saying "damn" every five seconds was laughable and cringe, but I'm not against Sonic characters cursing in darker themed branches of the franchise. Superheroes curse like sailors in their live-action movies and people don't complain, they even allow heroes to drop F-bombs now. Yet they are still able to thrive with their kid-safe Saturday morning cartoon branches of their franchises. Basically what I'm trying to say is that people shouldn't hate this game for its ideas, they should hate the execution of the ideas. I would not mind seeing a Shadow 2 with cursing and guns, just don't make it a cringe-fest. Have Shadow curse only when necessary and ease off on the guns overshadowing the character and marketing. Yeah I've played a bit of P06, it's AMAZING and gives us a good idea of what Sonic 06 could have been like. Also, have you heard of Shadow The Hedgehog Reloaded? It's a mod for the GameCube version of Shadow for the Dolphin Emulator. It adds some nice quality of life changes to the game, I want to try it out sometime this year before the Sonic 3 Movie comes out. :)
Interesting how Sonic Adventure 1 came to GameCube after Sonic Adventure 2 but Adventure 2 was probably already planned for both Dreamcast and later GameCube
My dad and i love this game his favorite stages are circus park sly troops and cryptic castle. And about the vehicles they also protect you from losing rings as long as they're not broken.
Unfortunately, that particular game underscored my inability to view Sonic as a serious video game series. Even as a child, Sonic never quite resonated with me, though I struggled to articulate why. It was Shadow the Hedgehog that finally illuminated the source of my disinterest in the franchise, clarifying my preference for characters like Mario, Link, or Banjo-Kazooie. Sonic's overt attempts at being "cool" felt forced and contrived, unlike the natural charm embodied by other beloved video game icons.
I 100% get that. I personally think it falls on the dialogue..no matter what Sonic game it’s always super cheesy. I adored the Adventure series, but it definitely had cheesy moments. I think returning to an old form of Sonic the Hedgehog makes the writing less important and you can have more colorful, fun, and cartoony adventures, if you’ve never played old Sonic 1-3 and Knuckles you may like it more! Some spinoffs are good too like Sonic Riders. Frontiers tho having some cheesy dialogue is a step in the right direction I think of the series.
while i understand what are you getting at, but there is some thing you probably never heard of (and this will probably surprise you a lot), that is the series attempting since 1992 to have that much seriousness, as proven by the japanese manuels of sonic 2 and sonic 3 which mention about some civilization that were wiped out over night from trying to abuse the chaos emeralds , but more importantly, that there is a vast amount of difference between how sonic is portrayed in japan and how he is portrayed in the west, with the japanese portrayal being that he is a free spirited adventure good guy who love traveling around the world, loving stuff like beauty and nature , but also protecting the right of freedom and the environement from too much industrialization, he do not respect authority in being told what to save of innocent people, being some one who do it his way without hurting any one, and he do not blame any body, even bad guys for their actions and just proceed to stop them, and do not claim him self to know the truth of their or any one's actions in regards to it being good or bad or why they did that, instead trying to figure it out on his own, as well as a force of good that help those around him to change their ways or themselves for the better, rather than himself receiving that kind of development, all of this is why i find japanese sonic to be much better than his western portryal , as his western one tend to focus far more on being cool and his atittude , rather than those aspects, and if you don't believe me, at least go watch cutscenes from a sonic game named sonic rush , which focuses far more on a side character named as blaze , and her burden being a princess that protect a set of very powerful emeralds, it's not the most in depth story, but it shows how those around her including sonic, help her change her ways, and try to be more civil around others, while not taking her duty seriously all the time
This was the only 3d sonic game i had for my GameCube. I completely missed adventure 1,2 and heros, but i got shadow the hedgehog (and then sonic and the secret rings)
@@jiggylookback I picked them up on steam nearly a decade ago now haha I just missed out when they came out. I played the demo for adventure 1 on the Dreamcast back in the day. Secret rings had some really fun mini games, I enjoyed playing it when it came out!
I'm always glad to see people defending this game, cause while it's not a great game and has quite a few flaws, it's still a good game overall and I still have fun playing it time to time. This was the very first game I ever pre-ordered, as well as my very first E10+ rated game (though I was hoping at the time it would've stuck to that T rating. Oh well lol). To me; it was fine that this was different from a typical Sonic game, as it's a spin-off starring a different character. I'm not saying it should stray too far away from traditional Sonic stuff (which this game didn't do), but you don't see people saying how Mario should "only be a platformer", cause then we wouldn't have many great Mario spin-offs. Great video 👍
It’s the level design that kills it for me. If Lost Impact was a person, it could speak for me on why it’s bad. Since it’s not, I’ll say that the tedium of exploring stages that clearly weren’t made with exploration in mind(When stages are open ended, there’s very little to set areas apart and give you an idea of where you’ve been. When they’re not, it’s just running in circles using the warp pads over and over and hoping to find one corner where an objective is.) just not only feels wrong for a 3D platformer, it feels outright abominable for a game set in Sonic’s energetic, action focused universe.
Oh yeah I’m with you. Like I said in the video they are all linear stages for the most part and they superficially make you explore by adding things slightly to the left or right sneakily. It just wasn’t designed for exploration like that but to charge through!
I didn't hate this game, it was alright. Some levels were pretty cool and I liked the gun play too, the enemy hunt missions sucked ass and the plot is terrible, but I really liked the branching paths in both concept and practice. I do think however Shadow's character WAS ruined in this game. In fact I'd go as far to say Heroes ruined him, even if his personality was consistent. He should have never been around past SA2, it was the perfect closure for him, even if a bittersweet one.
My favorite Sonic game is Sonic Adventure. Shadow the Hedgehog is a great game and can be a bit relatable in terms of wanting to know who one is and how to understand the world.
Bro, we got another king in the house defending this game 👌. Idk why but recently there seems to be a sudden surge of people defending this game but i cant complain. I also have some things of my own to say about this game. Espcially the writing/story. I feel like the game itself is very misunderstood, kinda like how Shadow is himself Shadow putting the past behind him was definitly a big part of the games theme but i have to argue that wasnt the only theme in the game. Another big theme in the game was "forming your own agency" in the alternate routes (which are basically "what ifs") are all the other characters telling shadow who he is and what to do. We have Black Doom tells him that he is a pawn and is created to serve him, Sonic and friends telling him he's a pure hero and should help them, the G.U.N commander telling him that he is a monster and a science experiment gone wrong who doesn't deserve to live, Eggman telling him he's just a robot created to obey him, and even Maria telling him who to be when she gives her wish to him before she dies. Its basically showing us possibilities of what Shadow COULD become but what he does not become. And truth be told a lot of them are actually really cool ideas that actually seem quite possible for Shadow. Again since he has AMNESIA he has no memory of who he is and he's essentially a blank slate. People are formed by the experiences they have in life and especially formed by the other people they interact with, so it actually totally makes sense that Shadow could've ended up siding with Black Doom. Not to mention in all of the alternate routes, its the PLAYER choosing these routes for Shadow and not really him. In the Last Story (in the og Japanese script) Shadow states that hes not defeating Black Doom for anyone else and that hes bound by nothing , but hes doing this by his OWN will. (I'd like to mention as well, the Japan version is MUCH better at telling the story because the English version was TERRIBLY translated) One of my biggest unpopular opinions of all though when it comes to Sonic content though..... Id actually argue that Shadows character/arc in his own game was even BETTER then he was in SA2 because when you look at it..... he really wanst as big of a hero as eveyone makes him out to be because he really had no agency aside "Marias wish". That makes me question, if Maria genuinely wanted Shadow to blow up Earth to avenge her then he wouldve done that. After all his motivation for being a villain in the first place in SA2s story was that he thought Maria wanted him to avenge her. By defeating Black Doom, forming his own will, and erasing his past allows him to have a fresh start and wipe the slate clean. His growth of forming his own agnecy is even reflected in 06 when he says "i determine my own destiny" I also must come out and say i am a MASSIVE fan of Black Doom and think hes a very underrated villain. He can seem like a very superfiical character but if you dig deep he has some great elements. First what i love about Black Doom is his design. A lot of people crap on it for not looking like a Sonic villain and being too "realistic" but honestly that's WHY I love it so much. Is because it makes him unique and stands out alot more then an ordinary Sonic villains. He genuinely looks like a lovecraftian horror monster from another world. (Same for the Black Arms too) Another part with his demon like design is that he literally represents Shadows inner demons and hatred of human-kind tempting him towards evil. Not to mention that he actually does a very good job on getting under Shadows skin. Such as when getting Shadow to reclaim the Ark to gain access to the Eclipse Cannon. Clearly he knows that the Ark is a sensitive spot for Shadow and it will do a number on him psychologically, but also give him an advantage over G.U.N. Another theme is how him and the Black Arms are a reflection of how Shadow and humanity are. Doom and the Black Arms are united by a hivemind and therefore can have no inner conflict. Unlike humanity they have free will but that opens up the freedom to cause their own downfall. With Black Doom taking over them, from his point of view he is punishing humanity for their sins while simultaneously saving them from their own downfall. For Shadows symbolism wise he is shackled down to his past and Black Doom is resembles it (being the only thing left from his past so long ago). When Doom attempts to control his mind saying "you cannot escape me nor can you escape your past" but Shadow breaks free, symbolizing freeing himself from the past. And the final part of Black Dooms symbolism is also how he expands Gerald as a character. Gerald was becoming desperate to finish Project Shadow to cure Maria so he made the deal with Black Doom. And because he MADE the deal with Black Doom is what causes the GUN raid on the Ark, leading to Marias death, and then him going insane from greif. Essentially Gerald causes his OWN downfall becuase he LITERALLY made A Deal With The Devil. Overall would i say Black Doom is a perfect villain? No, hes still got a lot of flaws and couldve been done better (im hoping Sonic X Shadow Generations will do something about that). And the same goes towards this game, id actually argue that is really is a very good game but still has a lot of adjustments to make. Id also reccomend watching these videos because they helped me realize the good in Shadows game too. th-cam.com/video/2G8myoSVeKg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qHqsmNZfMxe7FMn0 th-cam.com/video/XMJgieQUkOs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fcu4R3VJSECOJpnl th-cam.com/video/2YkzSNWIq-Y/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XWn10C1bunSPRDK9
The funny part is I played all versions Sega Dreamcast GameCube on the Xbox 360 and now I got them on my Xbox One via backwards compatibility what are the Xbox series x I should say
@@jiggylookback yes is awesome there was rumors going around that they were possibly remastering those games or making a third one but it turns out it was Sonic frontiers
Sonic Adventure 2 is still my favorite. What’s yours?
Honestly I don't really like playing sonic games as much as I like watching videos about them! I love me a good Cybershell video. Yours is great too!
@@neurathal0n534 haha thanks for watching I’ll always love me some SA2 tho :)
Of 3D Sonic? Forces. I liked Forces more than Frontiers. And I very much enjoy Frontiers. Overall? Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
@@NateyCat you like forces? Especially over frontiers? Is this a real comment?
That’s a hard one, so here’s a list in no order
Sonic 2, 3, Adventure, Adventure 2, and Unleashed. Picking a favorite from those is hard. And Rush and Rush Adventure
FINALLY SOMEONE DEFENDING THE GAME! AMAZING VIDEO 👌🏽
Thanks for watching!!! Really appreciate it!
Love Shadow the Hedgehog, favorite Sonic game for sure!
Oh really? Wow! Thats dope!
It’s peak
Your profile pic is hilarious
DAMN that was a good video!
Thanks for watching my Damn video!
As someone who didn't grow up as a Sega Boi, it was always wild to me that a Sonic character got a game with realistic guns! Looks like I missed out on a DAMN good time.
You sure DAMN did lol.
I have always had a soft spot for this game. It has such a distinct identity and uniqueness that make it so interesting. The main character being as cool as he is helps me overlook a lot of flaws. I got the game back when it was new and I have not played it in at least 15 years, but i vow to return to it!
You should go back! It was a big deal to me when I was a kid and I remember enjoying it. Even then tho we laughed at the dialogue but this game cemented my love for Shadow!
Shadow 05 revival is real (and I love it)
I’m so here for it!!
Visually it's fine, gameplay is Heroes but slightly better (which makes it overall kinda meh cause both underdeliver) although I do love the gimmick of guns and melee weapons, the concept of paths is an intriguing one, especially for an amnesiac Shadow, everything makes sense cause the character is intentionally undefined. OST goes hard and the voice acting, while still bad for the most part, was the best of its time for Sonic games. Where the game truly shines is the narrative for me. The Black Arms invasion slaps, expanding on Project Shadow slaps, Black Doom's manipulation slaps, it's great stuff. My favorite aspect of it is what most people hate, the myriad of loose canon paths. To me (and I think that was Sonic Team's intention), the game provides a multifaceted dissection of the character of Shadow the Hedgehog through dozens of what if scenarios, none definitively canon, all providing canon elements and interactions. Is it hard to 100% map it into the timeline, yeah, absolutely, only the opening and the True Ending are definitive. I think this works in its favor however, True Ending sees Shadow turn into one of Earth's mightiest heroes and it's well deserved by all accounts. However, the fact that you see Shadow walk down such dark paths in those what if scenarios makes the True Ending hit even harder. They show you exactly what monster Shadow could have turned into, either through manipulation, giving up, being lied to or at some cases even feeling justified. In the True Ending Shadow CHOOSES to be a hero, every bad outcome is avoided because HE made a choice, it's the only part of the game where the player doesn't get a say in what Shadow does, Shadow is his own self now.
This is who he is.
If any of y'all think this is just Edgy Hedgy or whatever either haven't played it or are legit insane.
I love the alt paths as well. Thats part of the fun. I also love that you go to so many different locations based on your choice in how you completed the previous level.
Also the guns are fun! If it played a little less like heroes and a little more like Adventure I think it would have been incredible!
Never played the game but I'm looking forward to seeing Shadow in the next Sonic movie
Yeah for sure! It looks like it’s being really influenced by SA2! I hope it’s good!
SA2 > SA1 > P-06 > Shadow 2005 > Heroes
I have never played P-06 but I bet I’d agree with your list completely!
Pretty sure Heroes belongs at the front but okayyyyy
@@elephantatthetoledozoo4927 I need to replay it it’s been a long time but ain’t no way it tops SA2 I stand firm lol
Gotta get front row tickets so you can get close to the EEEEEDDDDGGGEEE
So much Edge Bono is jealous
I remember seeing my older cousing, who was 14 when I was 10, play this game at his house. He showed me how Shadow would say "damn" when he died, and I thought that was so cool for a "kids" game. Then he explained to me how Shadow wasn't made as a kids game like the rest of the sonic series lmfao.
I think the edgy teenager angle was what sold this game to so many little kids back then.
100%. Shadow using guns and saying Damn definitely felt special to me lol
The ppl hating on shadow are always like tired millennials that made shitting on sonic 06 their personality for the last decade. Its blown out of proportion, like at its core its very much a sonic game. Shadow just has a gun? Like whatever lmao. Plus the heavy industrial breakbeat cyber punk electronics ARE AMAZING.
I mean I’m a millennial haha I like it :P I can’t defend 06 tho. I was so hyped. It was pretty broken. I still beat it and the last story 😅
This sucks from a casual player perspective a.k.a. noob perspective. But from a pro player a.k.a. a true gamer it is a badd ass and fun game. Nuff said. (Most players that complain are smash 4 players lmao) yea Melee and Soul calibur 2 pro player here 8) (with multiple characters) zwz
Lol yes this game is for the pros!
I remember seeing the argument think from one of the creators for the Sonic games, wanting to surpass Mario, realistically this will never happened, I believe because Sonic's games seem more targeted to American's, and Mario games feel more targeted to the whole planet.
I mean they were pretty tight back in the day. Sonic definitely did have a cool edge over Mario that he just lost at some point
I remember playing the GameCube version that my older brother owned over a decade ago, and it was fun. It would have been nice for the Xbox versions of this game and Sonic Heroes to be backwards compatible for the Xbox One or Series consoles.
That would be cool. I can’t believe they aren’t!
Man whose stupid idea was it to give a black hedgehog guns? That’s almost as stupid as giving a blue hedgehog gloves and sneakers!
In all seriousness, this game gets way too much hate and for the wrong reasons. People instantly bash on it just because it’s so different (which is the point) much like the werehog. Anyway games like Colors are fundamentally better than Shadow, but I still had more fun with Shadow (and 06) than I did with games like Colors.
Also, I’ll gladly take lines like “Where’s that damn 4th chaos emerald” over “Baldy McNose Hair” any day! 🙄
100%! Thats my point with this. Despite its flaws it’s a fun game underneath. And I agree I appreciate that it’s different. 06 would have easily been one of the best Sonic games if they had more time to cook and didn’t rush it out. The demo on 360 was actually really good. Then the actual release came and it played way worst.
I’m excited to see where project 06 goes! Shadows gameplay looks really cool in it if you haven’t seen it! Basically teleportation combat which is DOOOOOPPPPEEEE!
@@jiggylookbackYeah, Shadow's my favorite character because we both suffer from similar mental illnesses. It's really sad to see how much this game ruined his reputation and gave him the title of an "edgelord". And people hate this game for the wrong reasons, such as the inclusion of guns and cursing. Sonic can use guns in Smash Bros, no one complains about that. Sonic gave Eggman the finger in the OVA, no one complains about that. Sonic starred in Smash Bros Brawl which was rated 'T' for Teens, no one complains about that.
Shadow saying "damn" every five seconds was laughable and cringe, but I'm not against Sonic characters cursing in darker themed branches of the franchise. Superheroes curse like sailors in their live-action movies and people don't complain, they even allow heroes to drop F-bombs now. Yet they are still able to thrive with their kid-safe Saturday morning cartoon branches of their franchises. Basically what I'm trying to say is that people shouldn't hate this game for its ideas, they should hate the execution of the ideas. I would not mind seeing a Shadow 2 with cursing and guns, just don't make it a cringe-fest. Have Shadow curse only when necessary and ease off on the guns overshadowing the character and marketing.
Yeah I've played a bit of P06, it's AMAZING and gives us a good idea of what Sonic 06 could have been like. Also, have you heard of Shadow The Hedgehog Reloaded? It's a mod for the GameCube version of Shadow for the Dolphin Emulator. It adds some nice quality of life changes to the game, I want to try it out sometime this year before the Sonic 3 Movie comes out. :)
One of the weirdest parts of the sonic verse is that vehicles are SLOWER and EASIER to control than just running somewhere; lol
That is bizarre 😂
Interesting how Sonic Adventure 1 came to GameCube after Sonic Adventure 2 but Adventure 2 was probably already planned for both Dreamcast and later GameCube
My dad and i love this game his favorite stages are circus park sly troops and cryptic castle. And about the vehicles they also protect you from losing rings as long as they're not broken.
That’s a good point about vehicles!
@@jiggylookback thank you
I enjoy that game
Heck yeah!
Unfortunately, that particular game underscored my inability to view Sonic as a serious video game series. Even as a child, Sonic never quite resonated with me, though I struggled to articulate why. It was Shadow the Hedgehog that finally illuminated the source of my disinterest in the franchise, clarifying my preference for characters like Mario, Link, or Banjo-Kazooie. Sonic's overt attempts at being "cool" felt forced and contrived, unlike the natural charm embodied by other beloved video game icons.
I 100% get that. I personally think it falls on the dialogue..no matter what Sonic game it’s always super cheesy. I adored the Adventure series, but it definitely had cheesy moments.
I think returning to an old form of Sonic the Hedgehog makes the writing less important and you can have more colorful, fun, and cartoony adventures, if you’ve never played old Sonic 1-3 and Knuckles you may like it more!
Some spinoffs are good too like Sonic Riders. Frontiers tho having some cheesy dialogue is a step in the right direction I think of the series.
while i understand what are you getting at, but there is some thing you probably never heard of (and this will probably surprise you a lot), that is the series attempting since 1992 to have that much seriousness, as proven by the japanese manuels of sonic 2 and sonic 3 which mention about some civilization that were wiped out over night from trying to abuse the chaos emeralds , but more importantly, that there is a vast amount of difference between how sonic is portrayed in japan and how he is portrayed in the west, with the japanese portrayal being that he is a free spirited adventure good guy who love traveling around the world, loving stuff like beauty and nature , but also protecting the right of freedom and the environement from too much industrialization, he do not respect authority in being told what to save of innocent people, being some one who do it his way without hurting any one, and he do not blame any body, even bad guys for their actions and just proceed to stop them, and do not claim him self to know the truth of their or any one's actions in regards to it being good or bad or why they did that, instead trying to figure it out on his own, as well as a force of good that help those around him to change their ways or themselves for the better, rather than himself receiving that kind of development, all of this is why i find japanese sonic to be much better than his western portryal , as his western one tend to focus far more on being cool and his atittude , rather than those aspects, and if you don't believe me, at least go watch cutscenes from a sonic game named sonic rush , which focuses far more on a side character named as blaze , and her burden being a princess that protect a set of very powerful emeralds, it's not the most in depth story, but it shows how those around her including sonic, help her change her ways, and try to be more civil around others, while not taking her duty seriously all the time
"Being a Sonic fan..." *shows picture of Chris Chan* 🤨
😂😂 I was waiting for it to be commented on.
Chris should never be an example of any general group that he claims to be a part of!
Weird fact...NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin went to the same school as Chris Chan.
This was the only 3d sonic game i had for my GameCube. I completely missed adventure 1,2 and heros, but i got shadow the hedgehog (and then sonic and the secret rings)
Oh man gotta pick up the adventure games if you liked it! They rock!
I’m one of the few that actually enjoyed secret rings. I had fun with it!
@@jiggylookback I picked them up on steam nearly a decade ago now haha I just missed out when they came out. I played the demo for adventure 1 on the Dreamcast back in the day.
Secret rings had some really fun mini games, I enjoyed playing it when it came out!
@@benamisai-kham5892 oh good! I loved customizing Sonic in Secret Rings to get tons of boosts by jumping or landing it was awesome and got really fast
Fantastic. I've been looking forward to this one
Sweet! Let me know what you think
I kind of liked it that shadow game I had it on the PlayStation 2 not kind of I did like it
I'm always glad to see people defending this game, cause while it's not a great game and has quite a few flaws, it's still a good game overall and I still have fun playing it time to time. This was the very first game I ever pre-ordered, as well as my very first E10+ rated game (though I was hoping at the time it would've stuck to that T rating. Oh well lol). To me; it was fine that this was different from a typical Sonic game, as it's a spin-off starring a different character. I'm not saying it should stray too far away from traditional Sonic stuff (which this game didn't do), but you don't see people saying how Mario should "only be a platformer", cause then we wouldn't have many great Mario spin-offs. Great video 👍
Agreed! Thanks so much for watching!!
Shadow the Hedgehog is my favorite Sonic game
Really? Mine will always be Adventure 2
It’s the level design that kills it for me. If Lost Impact was a person, it could speak for me on why it’s bad. Since it’s not, I’ll say that the tedium of exploring stages that clearly weren’t made with exploration in mind(When stages are open ended, there’s very little to set areas apart and give you an idea of where you’ve been. When they’re not, it’s just running in circles using the warp pads over and over and hoping to find one corner where an objective is.) just not only feels wrong for a 3D platformer, it feels outright abominable for a game set in Sonic’s energetic, action focused universe.
Oh yeah I’m with you. Like I said in the video they are all linear stages for the most part and they superficially make you explore by adding things slightly to the left or right sneakily. It just wasn’t designed for exploration like that but to charge through!
I didn't hate this game, it was alright. Some levels were pretty cool and I liked the gun play too, the enemy hunt missions sucked ass and the plot is terrible, but I really liked the branching paths in both concept and practice.
I do think however Shadow's character WAS ruined in this game. In fact I'd go as far to say Heroes ruined him, even if his personality was consistent. He should have never been around past SA2, it was the perfect closure for him, even if a bittersweet one.
While I do agree SA2 would have been a good end too. I really dig what they did in this game. But maybe not Sonic heroes
My favorite Sonic game is Sonic Adventure. Shadow the Hedgehog is a great game and can be a bit relatable in terms of wanting to know who one is and how to understand the world.
Yeah for sure! My fav is Adventure 2 but Adventure is also a banger! Love those games!
I think Hatred takes the cake as the edgiest game, but Shadow is definitely up there when you consider games meant for younger audiences.
Yeah for sure. E10+ 😎
Shadow is my favorite character, so thx for defending this game! 🥳
Heck yeah! Thanks for watching!
I thought this game was so cool when my older brother got it! Its still pretty cool imo
Heck yeah. It’s still cool.
I know i was young but enjoyed playing this
Word! Me too
Bro, we got another king in the house defending this game 👌. Idk why but recently there seems to be a sudden surge of people defending this game but i cant complain.
I also have some things of my own to say about this game. Espcially the writing/story. I feel like the game itself is very misunderstood, kinda like how Shadow is himself
Shadow putting the past behind him was definitly a big part of the games theme but i have to argue that wasnt the only theme in the game.
Another big theme in the game was "forming your own agency" in the alternate routes (which are basically "what ifs") are all the other characters telling shadow who he is and what to do.
We have Black Doom tells him that he is a pawn and is created to serve him, Sonic and friends telling him he's a pure hero and should help them, the G.U.N commander telling him that he is a monster and a science experiment gone wrong who doesn't deserve to live, Eggman telling him he's just a robot created to obey him, and even Maria telling him who to be when she gives her wish to him before she dies. Its basically showing us possibilities of what Shadow COULD become but what he does not become. And truth be told a lot of them are actually really cool ideas that actually seem quite possible for Shadow. Again since he has AMNESIA he has no memory of who he is and he's essentially a blank slate. People are formed by the experiences they have in life and especially formed by the other people they interact with, so it actually totally makes sense that Shadow could've ended up siding with Black Doom.
Not to mention in all of the alternate routes, its the PLAYER choosing these routes for Shadow and not really him. In the Last Story (in the og Japanese script) Shadow states that hes not defeating Black Doom for anyone else and that hes bound by nothing , but hes doing this by his OWN will.
(I'd like to mention as well, the Japan version is MUCH better at telling the story because the English version was TERRIBLY translated)
One of my biggest unpopular opinions of all though when it comes to Sonic content though..... Id actually argue that Shadows character/arc in his own game was even BETTER then he was in SA2 because when you look at it..... he really wanst as big of a hero as eveyone makes him out to be because he really had no agency aside "Marias wish". That makes me question, if Maria genuinely wanted Shadow to blow up Earth to avenge her then he wouldve done that. After all his motivation for being a villain in the first place in SA2s story was that he thought Maria wanted him to avenge her. By defeating Black Doom, forming his own will, and erasing his past allows him to have a fresh start and wipe the slate clean.
His growth of forming his own agnecy is even reflected in 06 when he says "i determine my own destiny"
I also must come out and say i am a MASSIVE fan of Black Doom and think hes a very underrated villain. He can seem like a very superfiical character but if you dig deep he has some great elements.
First what i love about Black Doom is his design. A lot of people crap on it for not looking like a Sonic villain and being too "realistic" but honestly that's WHY I love it so much. Is because it makes him unique and stands out alot more then an ordinary Sonic villains. He genuinely looks like a lovecraftian horror monster from another world. (Same for the Black Arms too)
Another part with his demon like design is that he literally represents Shadows inner demons and hatred of human-kind tempting him towards evil. Not to mention that he actually does a very good job on getting under Shadows skin. Such as when getting Shadow to reclaim the Ark to gain access to the Eclipse Cannon. Clearly he knows that the Ark is a sensitive spot for Shadow and it will do a number on him psychologically, but also give him an advantage over G.U.N.
Another theme is how him and the Black Arms are a reflection of how Shadow and humanity are. Doom and the Black Arms are united by a hivemind and therefore can have no inner conflict. Unlike humanity they have free will but that opens up the freedom to cause their own downfall. With Black Doom taking over them, from his point of view he is punishing humanity for their sins while simultaneously saving them from their own downfall.
For Shadows symbolism wise he is shackled down to his past and Black Doom is resembles it (being the only thing left from his past so long ago). When Doom attempts to control his mind saying "you cannot escape me nor can you escape your past" but Shadow breaks free, symbolizing freeing himself from the past.
And the final part of Black Dooms symbolism is also how he expands Gerald as a character. Gerald was becoming desperate to finish Project Shadow to cure Maria so he made the deal with Black Doom. And because he MADE the deal with Black Doom is what causes the GUN raid on the Ark, leading to Marias death, and then him going insane from greif. Essentially Gerald causes his OWN downfall becuase he LITERALLY made A Deal With The Devil.
Overall would i say Black Doom is a perfect villain? No, hes still got a lot of flaws and couldve been done better (im hoping Sonic X Shadow Generations will do something about that).
And the same goes towards this game, id actually argue that is really is a very good game but still has a lot of adjustments to make.
Id also reccomend watching these videos because they helped me realize the good in Shadows game too.
th-cam.com/video/2G8myoSVeKg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qHqsmNZfMxe7FMn0
th-cam.com/video/XMJgieQUkOs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fcu4R3VJSECOJpnl
th-cam.com/video/2YkzSNWIq-Y/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XWn10C1bunSPRDK9
That’s cool. I’ve never seen anyone defend the game which is why I made this video. Glad to know I’m not alone.
@@jiggylookbacksame here
The funny part is I played all versions Sega Dreamcast GameCube on the Xbox 360 and now I got them on my Xbox One via backwards compatibility what are the Xbox series x I should say
Awesome!!
@@jiggylookback yes is awesome there was rumors going around that they were possibly remastering those games or making a third one but it turns out it was Sonic frontiers
Check out the Japanese commercial and music video of this game. Its ridiculous, and I love every second of it. Made me love this game even more.
Oh man I just might. I can’t wait 😂
@jiggylookback if you watch it, please comment back and tell me your impressions of them.
-You must be the worst hedgehog with a gun I've ever heard of.
-But you have heard of me.
Lol
I actually have them both and I got them for free on my Xbox lol
Nice!!
@@jiggylookback thank you
I love this game
Heck yeah 😎
I love the Sonic adventure series what was games with Gold now that that's gone we get to keep those games
Ow the edge
It’s razor sharp. Gotta be careful.
This is definitely the best Shadow game of all time
I think you’re right 😎
I love this game and I never thought it was edgy. Fits right in with the tone established in previous Sonic games.
Haha it’s more of a joke at this point. It’s still E10+