One thing I recently noticed when replaying Shadow Generations is that the smile Shadow gives to Maria kinda ties to Sonic Forces when the Avatar stopped the sun and Shadow smiled with a proud face.
Damn that’s honestly really cool, idk if that was intentional or not but it’s still a really cool connection that makes this story even better (not forces though lmao)
Honestly, the whole "Ian Flynn references stuff all the time" joke is fun and all, but real talk, if they let Ian cook, his tendency to bring back random stuff from years ago could result in some actually awesome stuff. That whole story twist tying together Shadow's yellow chaos emerald in Sonic Gens and the fake yellow chaos emerald on the Ark from SA2, and then using that to avert him losing the chaos emerald by having him give Sonic the fake one and then getting Rouge to swap them later was actually brilliant. He connected plot threads from like two completely unconnected games and used the skills and personalities of every character involved to pull the perfect twist. I get the feeling that we would get a lot more of these and a lot less of the random dialogue references if Ian was working with less restrictions and could channel his reference fever into story beats instead of dialogue.
The fake chaos emerald story element is very brilliant. I don't think anybody is complaining about that. My problem is the way he changed some of the dialogue that didn't need to change just for some references that weren't even clever. Like when Knuckles asking about his Island when Classic Sonic saved him. I appreciate their effort for caring about lore and everything, but it just feels like they're superficially reducing Knuckles' to that one part of his character. It just didn't need to be there
@@paradoxicaloutcome1007 You say restrictions as if that's why there's a ton of references when that's not the reason. The only restrictions on him was base Gens cutscenes not being redone and having to tie Shadow Gens to an already existing plot. Frontiers didn't have any and the rest of Shadow Gens didn't either, though Frontiers gets a pass because the amount of references there was honestly necessary given after Forces people were questioning a ton of things. What's even canon, what isn't, does GUN not exist anymore, is the whole earth just anthropomorphic animals now, is this just a different timeline now or something? He needed to really connect the dots and clear stuff up.
@@chrange9714 I mean if you think Sega execs aren't vetting stuff like which villains or plot devices can return or which characters can have a big role based on commercial performance and metrics, I dunno what to tell you. That's the sorta thing any company does, no writer has full creative control over the plot of a game, especially of an established franchise. This game also had the added hurdle of being a remake, meaning instead of the usual "what are we not allowed to do", the question is instead "what are we allowed to do", because Sonic Gens is already an established game and so every addition or change needs to go through additional channels a new game's writing doesn't. I'm not saying the reason the references are there is because of the restrictions, that's just Ian doing Ian stuff. What I'm saying is that it seems the more creative control he has over the plot, the more he seems to channel that reference fever into good writing and plot points instead of the random winks via dialogue that people get so annoyed of. You can see it in the Shadow Gens writing vs the Sonic Gens rewrite; The Shadow Gens plot uses the SA2 fake emerald to pull a really cool twist, while the Sonic Gens rewrite with heavier restrictions kinda just throws the Time Stones mention into the dialogue randomly in the only cutscene he could've slotted the reference into.
@@paradoxicaloutcome1007 Who said they weren't, I never did. As they should it's their series not Ian's and they decide what goes and what doesn't. If it were entirely up to him characters like Eggman Nega and the Deadly Six would probably never come back. wasn't talking about every restriction imaginable, obviously Flynn will always have the basic restrictions when it comes to writing these stories or anything he writes for. I'm talking about the ones out of the norm like with the remaster and its cutscenes not being reanimated so he has to base the dialogue around the existing animations and how long they go for. The way you worded your original comment was that the restrictions were the reason for Flynn mostly writing references instead of it actually being a flaw as his part which just came off as you shilling for the guy as if he can do no wrong. I've seen way too many people just blame Sega/Sonic Team when he's the one who makes a mistake. Flynn had just as much creative control over Frontiers' plot as he did Shadow Gens and yet Frontiers is filled to the brim with references. That was his decision because as I said after Forces everyone was left confused about the lore and where anything even stood anymore. He needed to do that to clear stuff up, let everyone know that yes this is the same canon it's not a different timeline or something.
@@chrange9714 Oh, then we mostly agree! My main point was that the more freedom Ian has with his writing, the less the random dialogue references creep in, as he seems to instead channel that energy into making callbacks that are actually story elements. I definitely didn't mean to imply that Ian never makes mistakes or that he only makes the references because of restrictions. As you said, Frontiers references were done on purpose as a heavy handed way to establish a lot of continuity as soon as possible. I was simply pointing out that comparing Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations, there is such a trend in his writing.
As some have pointed out, the staff behind Shadow Generations is composed of Sonic Gens, Superstars and Frontiers designers, also Mario and Sonic staff for the visuals! Let's hope they participate in the next mainline game
37:50 There was a leaked interview before the game's release. And to paraphrase the section about Chaos Island, they simply said *"Chaos Island admittingly has nothing to do with Shadow, just showing the Time Eater's manipulation of the timestream"* So, yeah, there's really no implications. Even I was scratching my head wondering about Chaos Island significance with Shadow. But there wasn't. Just a result of Time Eater being able to pull areas from the future. Regardless if someone's been there or not.
I bet they just added Chaos Island because it has the word chaos in it lol (and to reuse assets) After Shadow Gens, they could invent a new story where Shadow goes to Chaos Island for whatever reason.
@@liamphibia A lot of people say the movies saved the franchise. It’s good to see that they introduced a lot of new fans to the Sonic community! And to think, back then we feared that the movie would bomb. 🤣
20:37 You know funnily enough I could see the archeology influence on eggman. He's consistently discovering ruins and other ancient nonsense. Just to name a few; eggie found the ruins leading to the Starfall islands in frontiers, and ancient tales of Dark Gaia, and Emeral from Sonic Battle.
What i never noticed is sonic superstars established that every emerald is different and they have been staying faithful to this as in sonic frontiers we see sonic can use some of these abilities all together in super form which is obvious while shadow with the yellow emerald uses chaos control to slow down time in shadow gens just like in superstars. I kinda like this idea since it makes having a single emerald not feel useless as it did before which was dumb or completely forgotten.
the funniest part for me about this game is how they just outright abandoned Infinite, like this is his biggest chance to return and show a proper boss fight and characteristic other than he's angry specifically towards Shadow but nope, he's found dead on the ditch
I mean there are Rumors/leaks that Sega is considering a Heroes Remake with a special team campaign comprised of Infinite Blaze and Silver so he isn’t truly boned
@@Foxking437 may you elaborate on the leaks and source? i've only heard of Heroes Remake from Midori couple months ago and haven't heard anything from it for a while
@ imma say this the only knowledge I heard of that specific part of the leak is from a tumblr post. But hey if people are Appreciating 06 Again and they completely overhauled forces it wouldn’t be a bad thing for a team up like that
@@RTheStoryteller7 They hardly abandoned him, I'm sure people would've preferred Mephiles over him in a game like this if it came down to picking one or the other. He still can come back in future games.
I think the info about Gerald's family tension really adds on to his downward spiral. Imagine being in his situation, where he took it upon himself to care for his granddaughter in the only environment he believes was best, that even her own parents protested against. Only to do everything he can to make breakthroughs but nothing gives, then dealing with governmental pressures, even risking making a deal with essentially the devil to save this one person, only for it to all just fall apart, then finding out your granddaughter was killed as a result of all this. Could you imagine facing your son or daughter after learning that despite your best intentions you got their child killed, even if it was circumstances you couldn't control, but you convinced them or tried to convince them it was for the best? You sacrifice years with your family having fights beliving one day you'll be proven right in the end and everything will work out, but it doesn't go that way, the guilt hits you *breaks* you, you loose all reason to care any more about anything or anyone.
"ok but why tho" mainly cause switch users and playstation users can play the game. Not everyone has a PC tbh. I'm a little tired of everyone pretending like the sonic generations remaster was unnecessary. Like it's literally one of the best games, everyone deserves to experience it.
Nah you can't deny, the generations remaster was pretty unnecessary (outside of the new shadow content). They'res plenty of other sonic games that haven't seen the light of day for years that deserve it more than gens. I'd appreicate it more if there was a bit more done to the game but it is essentially just generations but with slightly more content. Also its not like you need a NASA PC to run the game, its a 13 year old game lol it pretty much runs fine on any laptop.
This was an incredibly necessary remaster for one reason and one reason only. Everyone who grew up stuck with Nintendo consoles NEVER GOT TO PLAY IT, which accounts for a massive amount of Sonic fans.
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@@bluespidrlily true, but: A) Shadow Generations clearly took inspiration from Frontiers with the hub world, as limited as it was. B) Sega would have to hate making money to NOT take what worked here to heart and try to implement as much of it into their next big game. Especially since its more of what people *actually liked*
Consider for a moment; Shadow reveals Maria's wish to Maria before she made the wish. Maria also seems to understand that this Shadow isn't the same as the one she currently knows. Whether Gerald told her, or she figured it out herself, Maria seems to know that this is Shadow from the future. And from the way Shadow behaves around them, I think she caught on to the fact that they don't have a happy ending. She also doesn't question that he has friends who need him... All that is to say; Maria knew. Maria from 50 years ago, the moment GUN invaded the ARK, she knew. If Shadow stayed on the ARK, he would never meet his new friends, he would never become the person she met in the White Void. So she sent him to Earth, with the wish that Shadow told her about. Sure, this creates a bit of a paradox with the Wish, but that never stopped The Song of Storms from OoT.
19:05 hilarious too because Omega in the later bits of dialog offers shadow what is essentially going out to the bar for drinks. Except the bar is an Eggman Base and the drinks = Smashing badniks
This game was AMAZING! It's so great to have deep story, lore, and character development in Sonic games again! This game would easily have been a 10/10 for me, the only area that I feel Sega dropped the ball was the fact that there were no rival battles. Just imagine if we had an Emerl, (Playable) Sonic, and Infinite rival battles, it would have been awesome! Still a masterpiece game regardless, I hope this will lead to more games focusing on characters other than Sonic! ^_^ Edit: It also would have been nice to be able to play as Shadow in OG Sonic Generations and Sonic in Shadow Generations after completing the game, but I guess that's what we have mods for. :P
I saw an interesting theory by another TH-cam user in a different video, saying the reason there's nothing from Shadow the Hedgehog is because all the stages are deliberately pulled from *Sonic's* past by Eggman who's controlling the Time Eater in the Sonic half of the game. What sealed this for me is the stage selection and how they play out. Of the 6 stages, 3 are interrupted with Black Doom Radical Highway sections: Space Colony ARK, Rail Canyon and Sunset Heights, all locations both Sonic and Shadow visited (or *will* visit, in the case of Sunset Heights). Sonic 06 does exist in its own little pocket timeline as confirmed by Mephiles in his boss fight. Shadow doesn't remember those events so Black Doom can't use them to mess with Shadow, and Chaos Island is the only place Shadow never visits so again, no Black Doom interruption. Radical Highway is the exception as Sonic was never there, but that's the point. Radical Highway wasn't brought here by the Time Eater, it was brought here by Black Doom using Shadow's memories and the temporal anomaly to reconstruct Radical Highway in an attempt to push Shadow back to his vengeful roots in SA2, which is why Radical Highway is inside the Black Moon and not a standard stage gate like the others.
Can I say, I am actually good with Shadow having a double jump unlike Sonic? And my only reasoning for this is Shadow’s Air Shoes which I can believe would be able to allow him to double jump in a way. Also this video is great and I agree with all the things you said. I can’t wait to see the Sonic 3 movie and the future of this franchise
My one fear is that sega will be all like “oh well the boost game did better than frontiers” and then switch the formulas back and ditch the open zone.
Prioritizing the Open Zone was ALWAYS a mistake. Sonic is an arcade series and he works best when prioritizing on those arcade roots. Focusing so heavily on the open Zone and making cyberspace an afterthought ended up hurting both sides of the game. As cyberspace was an incredibly janky, stiff, and utterly uninteresting romp through stages stolen from previous games, add the Open Zone was vast but empty. Shadow Gen shows the perfect balance. The open Zone should be used as an expansive and explorative hub world to complement the main stages, but the main stages should ALWAYS be the priority. White Space is infinitely better than any Island in Frontiers.
(Can’t remember where I heard this before so you’ll just have to trust me on this) sega has said that they plan to keep going with the open zone while also making traditional 2D & 3D platforming games, and even if they didn’t say that Sonic Mania was much more loved then Forces but did they dich the 3D games? nope, also Shadow Generations has an open zone so their clearly not looking to abandon this formula especially since it arguably saved the series.
@@SSL_2004idk i really liked the open zone it just lacked an extreme amount of thought. I feel as if it should be a 60/40 split with open zone as the focus but cyber space or wtvr is in the next game has more focus and better level design. The problem with cyber space is that i never went back to it and it just didnt encourage me to do better. All like the keys should have been locked behind the times rather than the mini challenges. The challenges were just way too easy and i beat them usually my first go on the stage. So id say have challenging levels that are not as big as shadow gens stages but not as small as a frontiers level. Id say a 3 minute challenging stage should be good. Each key should be locked how much faster i can go than 3 minutes id say in a 10,15,and 20 seconds faster than the normal 3 minutes should be the goal to get the keys or wtvr.
I liked the Boost in previous games. You could travel faster and actually take out enemies while boosting. The boost in Frontiers felt heavily nerfed compared to earlier games.
Some people are also seeing this and Frontiers and speculating that these games are test runs for ideas regarding future sonic games. Testing narrative and mechanics and seeing what sticks. I applaud the experiment phase cause i could totally see various character interactions and stories from various perspectives. One idea i have in particular is an infighting storyline between all of Eggman's greatest creations. Now that Sage exists and Eggman became a dad. There's a clear tension waiting to spring up between not just Eggman and Omega (like we've known) but with Sage and Omega. A rivalry/family discovery adventure between what is probably Eggman's greatest creation in the AI Sage, and Eggman's most deadly machine trying to prove himself the greatest of Eggman's creations. They're both analytic in nature and speech and can both have hilarious moments as they logic speak with each other. Not to mention Sage could be Omega's character foil as the closest to Eggman of Eggman's creations. There's Metal who can become Sage's big brother of sorts within the Egg Fleet. Stoic and uncaring except when it comes to beating Sonic and, eventually, caring for Sage. Orbot and Cubot being the more reasonable siblings in Eggman's forces while being less effective, but spirited. Then Eggman himself where the story expounds upon what was already developing in Frontiers with Sage. Him becoming a dad for his creations that all starts with Sage. And potentially having the back and forth of whether it's worth being as utilitarian with his creations as he often is. All the while Sage becomes more and more his rock, possibly to the chagrin of Metal. Idk my mind races for potential.
If mephiles followed shadow to sonic generations he could’ve gone to crisis city and merged with iblis…the fact that both half’s of Solaris is in this game is insanity 🤩 06 got such good representation in both games!
I saw the exclusive scene for the PS5; my heart broke into another million pieces. The animated post-credit scene after the events of Shadow Generations in Shadow goes back to the place where he was in episode 1 of Dark Beginnings and still relives the idea of what life he and Maria could've had on Earth had the events of the ARK never happen and what words of encouragement she would've said to him whenever he feels that he doesn't think he has a place on Earth. Besides Shadow having the best characterization SEGA has given him since SA2, I love how they've portrayed Maria as more than a tragic figure. You see in the animated shorts and in the game who she was as a person and what she meant to Shadow, and seeing these shorts, you can understand why Shadow was willing to destroy the Earth for Maria after what humanity did to her 👩🩵🦔🖤❤️
I noticed in both Shadow gens and Dark Beginnings that they gave Shadow an avoidance coping mechanism and it’s honestly really sad. Dark Beginnings: he’s seconds away from a panic attack and what does he do? Avoids the memory Maria gets him mildly emotional: he runs away He’s losing his family a second time and although he could save them they don’t want him to and what does he do? Run away HE NEEDS THERAPY
51:01 I'd be more worried about a potential Black Knight Remaster since practically every line in that game feels sacred. I think Roger can pull off Sonic's character beats in that game but they better not DARE touch the dialogue! Especially considering how much goodwill Shadow Gens brought back to the series in terms of storytelling.
Shadow Generations was fantastic and so was the remastered Sonic Generations. I’m glad this got the Mario 3D World plus Bowser’s fury treatment. What a perfect way this was to tie into the 3rd movie coming in December. Any problems I have are just nitpicks and they don’t bother me.
This is arguably one of the best Sonic games ever made, it took a long while for SEGA to return to this formula of storytelling. But better late than never, I'll take Shadow games like this any day.
Great review; I appreciate your attention to detail! Going forward though, maybe you don't need to include all the background info such as explaining what happens in the story and how the game works. When I watch/listen to reviews I am mainly interested in what the creator thought about the game; I don't need to everything explained as if I have never heard of the game (especially since you are largely a Sonic-tuber so most of your viewers already know what you are talking about). I would either approach a review in one of two ways: 1. Make a short review that is spoiler-free and touches on what the game is and then explains why it is good or bad, in your opinion (basically like how most gaming journalists write reviews). OR 2. Make an in-depth spoiler review focusing on aspects of the game you did/didn't like, but skip explaining what happens in the story or how the game plays (your audience should already know if they are watching a spoiler review and just want to hear your opinions). I hope this doesn't sound overly critical. I really enjoy your content and your videos are way better than anything I could ever hope to make. Just thought I would throw this out there, and please take it as it is, one person's opinion. 😀 Your content is fantastic, and it is clear you work really hard on this stuff.
@@tacorerooster3554None of the other characters has compelling stories. And by your logic if Sega did that they'll fuck up. Changing the control schemes again? No.
Out of all reviews for this game i was definitely looking forward to this one the most lol. Right amount of humour, gives valid praises and critques when they're due; just all around a solid reviewer ggs sam
I think the towers in Space Colony Ark are actually the ones that fell in Cosmic fall from Shadow 05, and while most of the towers ARE connected to the Ark, others can either descend (shown when parts of tue towers move to perform the Cannon QTE in the Space Colony Ark Act 1) or are just straight up floating.
@@darkstorm2579 People will just say "this fan thing is better" like they always seem to do when it's not true lol. One of the many big annoyances with this fanbase. At this point they're better off just leaving Project 06 to do it, they can fix stuff up in the story too there's nothing stopping them.
In my headcanon, Gerald probably think that Maria will be passed away due to her illness, and him to a retaliation of the big names of the organizations in Sonic's universe after the whole Gizoid fiasco (who brought too much attention to the ARK) Because of that he probably think is that what Shadow will want to prevent little he know that his and her fate are more abrupt and will define what Shadow became
It's kinda weird that Sonic mentions the time stones since in Sonic CD the time stones were just used to manipulate time, not travel through it. The flagpoles were, so this actually kinda hurts continuity unless Sonic forgot that detail, which also wouldn't make sense since in the rewrite, all the characters magically remember everything
I always through that the reason the flagpoles work at all is because of the time stones, like just from being there they allows time travel in the area around little planet
@@carso1500 wasnt there a text somewhere or interview saying that the flagpoles only work BECAUSE they are in little planet? where the time stones reside? imo it makes sense that its because of the time stones that any time travel shenanigans happen in that game in the first place
@@Kokokekko7 Then that sort of makes things confusing because if the time stones are linked to and can only be used on Little Planet than that also makes the gens rewrite line weird
@@_rando_d maybe the time stones CAN be used outside little planet, which can be used to time travel or maybe that's what sonic assumes at least, since that's the only way to time travel that he knows of
It's honestly incredible how much they've been improving with Frontiers to now with Shadow Gens. Gameplay, story, and animation have been greatly enhanced in this game and it makes me even more excited for what comes next. I hope Sonic Team continues to use and improve the stuff they did here for future games and maybe even allow other characters their chances to shine too ❤
What I love as well with this story and Frontiers back to back is the relationship Eggman has to his family and Sage and learning about Gerald and how he sees Shadow. Gerald made Shadow as not only a cure but a companion. Compassionate science for the sake of others needs as well as his own. While Eggman always gave some of his strongest machines automation and they always betrayed him. He didn't try again until Orbot and Cubebot. He had companionship there. But wanted more and created sage and despite everything she genuinely cares and loves him. He created essentially life for the sake of himself and his own loneliness. Sage being his greatest creation after trying so hard to make bots after others and even his own design. After making something totally new and full of life did it actually succeed.
It's funny to me when I realized that the reason Orbot and cubot were trying to build a rocket was probably because Eggman just sort off... left them alone wandering in outer space after joining the Time Eater
38:06 Maybe he’s also seeing stuff from Black Doom’s past. Maybe the Ancients and the Black Arms were in a war and a young Black Doom was fighting on Chaos Island.
I don't see how that's possible considering Eggman states in his memos that the Ancients far predate the Black Arms. Though, a more interesting scenario would be that Black Doom noticed the Starfall Islands on one of his 50 year orbit trips, noticed the strange effects The End was causing, and dipped for the sake of his own life
@Emerstar hence why he refused to change Chaos Island into radical highway. He knows The End would kill him if he tried. Would've liked to see some unique dialogue between Shadow and The End though
i wish the game told players when you use doom morph you can stop mid way and it pulls you upwards, it took me so long to figure that out, it made me go crazy and seeing bunch of people play the game, it seems no one figures that out initially
If they make another Shadow game the only thing they need is Chaos Blast. Let me blow shit up. Imagine the possibilities too. Like using it to quickly get through areas like the room in Kingdom Valley with the enemy gauntlet. Just make it quick and snappy like the Shadow opening.
@@selassieaspen9940 I don't think that's a core ability. I've always seen Chaos Control, Snap/Dash, Spear and Blast to be his core abilities. I'm glad they left that out because all it really does is just skip over tons of meaningful level design. We even have a better version in the doom wings.
It's cool that they used the frontiers engine for Shadow Generations, but the main part about it that made it fun was that they added so many sliders and toggles that made you able get rid of basically ALL clunkiness, not to mention the spindash.
First off, that scream at 0:30 will never not be hilarious. Cracks me up every time, especially with that effect over the top. Second, obviously everyone has different taste but I’m a little surprised at the praise given to the music since I’ve only really heard people say it’s mid at best. I haven’t given it a proper listen since I rarely focus on it during gameplay so I don’t have an opinion. Thirdly, HOLY CRAP THIS GAME WAS SO FUN!!! I also pre-ordered the PS5 physical version to get Gerald’s journal and oh wow was it fun to read.
I'd like to point this out as a theory I have: Radical Highway is Black Doom's Domain Expansion and you can't tell me otherwise. Think about it. When activated, it warps the terrain around them, it allows Black Doom to spawn in enemies and obstacles at will as one of its abilities, and the other ability is to nullify Chaos Control for others. It's only when Shadow goes one-on-one with Black Doom that he can use Chaos Control. And even then, he only was able to activate it when Black Doom did.
I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t include Without You from the prologue animation in the game. Everything else was 10/10 though. Thank you Sega and great review Sam!
39:24 I think there is a hidden Stage inspired from shadow 05 in this game and its in disguise in Radical Highway Act 2 The Level Design inspired by westopolis now that you think about it!
This was a really fun review to watch. This year has been great for both Shadow and the Sonic brand and I only hope things go even further up from here. I don’t have much else to say, this was a solid video….**cut to that one explosion from the final boss fight**
I’d heard a theory that Shadow is actually going through Sonic’s memories of these stages rather than his own. Would explain why he goes to Chaos Island and why there are no Shadow androids in Rail Canyon
Generations was always a nightmare for me to set up on PC and now I don't have a PC that can run it at all, so I was grateful for it being put on modern consoles. The Shadow stuff to me was at first just a quaint little bonus. But the more news we got about it, the more I was genuinely excited. In the end I ended up still liking the Sonic portion more, but the Shadow portion stands just as strong. Was never a big open world fan so I'd trade that for more levels tbh. One thing I will praise about the open zone this time is that they managed to avoid the excessive pop-in that Frontiers had. I went from one end of the map to the other and could still see every landmark or platform the whole time. And that's on the Switch too. 46:10 At least you didn't collect 900 things just to get a gold turd.
Love this game so much, Sonic Generations is already a big favourite and now with this new Shadow Gens this may be my favourite sonic game. They did a really good job porting Sonic Gens and the new Shadow gens was an absolute joy as a big fan as Shadow and his story. Overall even tho I do think there was some missed opportunity with the story and lore and what characters could have shown up in the open zone, and even tho I do wish it was a bit longer. This was amazing, so much love went into the level desgin and animations and bosses. The interactions with shadow and characters was really sweet and the open area was really neat and there’s plenty to collect. Plus it looks so beautiful and the soundtrack is fantastic. So happy shadow got his time to shine after all these years and like the rest of the series. The future of this franchise continues to grow ever more, hope they can keep it up and continue improving and striving for the best they can. I’m not quite sure what’s next (in terms of games) but I’m feeling pretty hyped. 💙❤️
38:20 Ive thought about this too and outside of Sega just wanting to reuse assets already made for HE2, maybe despite this being Shadow's white space the Time Eater is still pulling from Sonic's past and future. The only level in Shadow Generations that Sonic had never visited; Radical Highway, is the only one to not have a stage gate in White Space
@@hubsterheck It had nothing to do with reusing assets I'm sick of people just labeling that as the reason anything returns. Here it was because Izuka wanted to represent some future games that happened after Gens and also to demonstrate the Time Eater's manipulation over time that future events can be pulled in too. Those were both said in interviews.
I would be over the moon if Sonic x Shadow Generations received the Final Horizon treatment as DLC. Make a genuine sequel DLC campaign to this game where you could play as Classic Sonic (please give him a voice this time), Modern Sonic, and Shadow. Play new levels for the Sonics and Shadow (we need Shadow The Hedgehog video game levels like those Black Comet levels and those digital computer levels). Have new skins like a Genesis sprite for Classic Sonic, Baby Sonic skin for Classic Sonic, a Movie Sonic skin for Modern Sonic, and Adventure 2 skins for Modern Sonic and Shadow. The Time Eater returns with a voice and is more powerful than ever. Experience new bosses for the three like the Hard Boiled Heavies for Classic Sonic, Perfect Dark Gaia for Modern Sonic, Infinite for Shadow, maybe a mini final boss where you play as all three of them in their super forms against Solaris, and a fixed Time Eater final boss fight between the three (it would be cool since Generations is about exploring the past, Classic Sonic would get a chance to become Hyper Sonic again, Modern Sonic would become Super Sonic 2 and maybe we could play as the all-out Cyber energy version of Super Sonic 2, and Shadow would become Super Doom Shadow).
This is a big Hitter of all Sonic Games in 2024 ever since what game. First I saw the first trailer of the game, Hedgehog engine 2 was kinda Expected. But the idea from Sonic Team that they’re going to evolve the Engine into something more than frontiers is something that I never expected but it had me interested. But would they make it a lot more Greater moving Forward?
I liked Frontiers, but I like Shadow Generations more. It’s a more consistently polished and thrilling experience that I’d feel comfortable recommending to people who like platformers lol, whereas I feel Frontiers is not for everyone. I hope Sonic Team is able to take the right lessons from this game and bring it to Frontiers 2 (memorable environments and setpieces, solid animation, freedom in the engine/level design to experiment). And continue using Ian Flynn! He knows these characters so well and knows when to use levity or when to make things high stakes.
Shadow should have given Sonic the real emerald and keep the fake one as a permanent upgrade, that allowed him to use his chaos powers independently of the real emeralds. After all, if Sonic could pull off his first chaos control and sonic wind with a fake emerald, Shadow should have no problem utilising it to an even higher degree.
To think Generations couldn't been any better than this with the Shadow campaign. SEGA and Sonic Team really have knocked it out of the park as well as made us understand why Shadow loved his family. We only got bits and pieces in the games but here we got more character and care about Maria and Gerald. I really hope officially we get more DLC of Shadow Generations just like the Frontiers road map. Im even more excited for the mods coming in the near future for this game. Very well done review Sam.
The only problem I have with the generations remaster is that when Sonic colors did too much for its remaster, Generations did too little. It's not bad at all but I wouldn't mind upscale textures and beautiful new models
Been working hard on this the moment I got the game in my hands. Likes, comments, and shares are all appreciated!
🖤❤
Thanks for uploading this
We're still working on the binary
30:50 Have you ever played Mario Galaxy by chance lol
Doom surf is not a squid it is a manta ray or just a ray and nobody said you couldn't cry Brody you just cry too easily 😊
@@Hunter-qf5iq Lol dude trust me he doesn't cry too easily. When this kinda 'dream come true' happens, you're gonna shed tears.
@ICader7194 if you say so I watch the same thing and I didn't feel no tears I felt something in my heart but that was it
Ian Flynn is so lucky that the original Sonic Generations used the yellow emerald for Shadow to begin with.
And funny enough that's the 4th Chaos Emerald in Shadow's game, which is also the 4th Chaos Emerald you get in Generations, insane luck lmao
Gotta love that damn 4th chaos emerald which happens to be yellow 😂
It's even luckier that the fake emerald Tails made in Sonic Adventure 2 is also yellow.
@ um, SA2, yes?
Didn't the fake emerald explode inside the Eclipse Cannon?
One thing I recently noticed when replaying Shadow Generations is that the smile Shadow gives to Maria kinda ties to Sonic Forces when the Avatar stopped the sun and Shadow smiled with a proud face.
😳
@@SamProcrastinates I could be capping here
Damn that’s honestly really cool, idk if that was intentional or not but it’s still a really cool connection that makes this story even better (not forces though lmao)
I said kinda
It also ties even further back to the time Knuckles chuckled in Sonic 3... isn't that kinda crazy?
Honestly, the whole "Ian Flynn references stuff all the time" joke is fun and all, but real talk, if they let Ian cook, his tendency to bring back random stuff from years ago could result in some actually awesome stuff. That whole story twist tying together Shadow's yellow chaos emerald in Sonic Gens and the fake yellow chaos emerald on the Ark from SA2, and then using that to avert him losing the chaos emerald by having him give Sonic the fake one and then getting Rouge to swap them later was actually brilliant. He connected plot threads from like two completely unconnected games and used the skills and personalities of every character involved to pull the perfect twist.
I get the feeling that we would get a lot more of these and a lot less of the random dialogue references if Ian was working with less restrictions and could channel his reference fever into story beats instead of dialogue.
The fake chaos emerald story element is very brilliant. I don't think anybody is complaining about that.
My problem is the way he changed some of the dialogue that didn't need to change just for some references that weren't even clever. Like when Knuckles asking about his Island when Classic Sonic saved him. I appreciate their effort for caring about lore and everything, but it just feels like they're superficially reducing Knuckles' to that one part of his character. It just didn't need to be there
@@paradoxicaloutcome1007 You say restrictions as if that's why there's a ton of references when that's not the reason. The only restrictions on him was base Gens cutscenes not being redone and having to tie Shadow Gens to an already existing plot. Frontiers didn't have any and the rest of Shadow Gens didn't either, though Frontiers gets a pass because the amount of references there was honestly necessary given after Forces people were questioning a ton of things. What's even canon, what isn't, does GUN not exist anymore, is the whole earth just anthropomorphic animals now, is this just a different timeline now or something? He needed to really connect the dots and clear stuff up.
@@chrange9714 I mean if you think Sega execs aren't vetting stuff like which villains or plot devices can return or which characters can have a big role based on commercial performance and metrics, I dunno what to tell you. That's the sorta thing any company does, no writer has full creative control over the plot of a game, especially of an established franchise. This game also had the added hurdle of being a remake, meaning instead of the usual "what are we not allowed to do", the question is instead "what are we allowed to do", because Sonic Gens is already an established game and so every addition or change needs to go through additional channels a new game's writing doesn't.
I'm not saying the reason the references are there is because of the restrictions, that's just Ian doing Ian stuff. What I'm saying is that it seems the more creative control he has over the plot, the more he seems to channel that reference fever into good writing and plot points instead of the random winks via dialogue that people get so annoyed of. You can see it in the Shadow Gens writing vs the Sonic Gens rewrite; The Shadow Gens plot uses the SA2 fake emerald to pull a really cool twist, while the Sonic Gens rewrite with heavier restrictions kinda just throws the Time Stones mention into the dialogue randomly in the only cutscene he could've slotted the reference into.
@@paradoxicaloutcome1007 Who said they weren't, I never did. As they should it's their series not Ian's and they decide what goes and what doesn't. If it were entirely up to him characters like Eggman Nega and the Deadly Six would probably never come back. wasn't talking about every restriction imaginable, obviously Flynn will always have the basic restrictions when it comes to writing these stories or anything he writes for. I'm talking about the ones out of the norm like with the remaster and its cutscenes not being reanimated so he has to base the dialogue around the existing animations and how long they go for.
The way you worded your original comment was that the restrictions were the reason for Flynn mostly writing references instead of it actually being a flaw as his part which just came off as you shilling for the guy as if he can do no wrong. I've seen way too many people just blame Sega/Sonic Team when he's the one who makes a mistake. Flynn had just as much creative control over Frontiers' plot as he did Shadow Gens and yet Frontiers is filled to the brim with references. That was his decision because as I said after Forces everyone was left confused about the lore and where anything even stood anymore. He needed to do that to clear stuff up, let everyone know that yes this is the same canon it's not a different timeline or something.
@@chrange9714 Oh, then we mostly agree! My main point was that the more freedom Ian has with his writing, the less the random dialogue references creep in, as he seems to instead channel that energy into making callbacks that are actually story elements. I definitely didn't mean to imply that Ian never makes mistakes or that he only makes the references because of restrictions. As you said, Frontiers references were done on purpose as a heavy handed way to establish a lot of continuity as soon as possible. I was simply pointing out that comparing Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations, there is such a trend in his writing.
As some have pointed out, the staff behind Shadow Generations is composed of Sonic Gens, Superstars and Frontiers designers, also Mario and Sonic staff for the visuals!
Let's hope they participate in the next mainline game
Mario & Sonic
At The Mainline Sonic Games!
or Mario & Sonic
At The Tokyo 2028 Team For Sonic Games!
Not just the visuals, generations staff returned after making olympic games for a decade
37:50
There was a leaked interview before the game's release. And to paraphrase the section about Chaos Island, they simply said *"Chaos Island admittingly has nothing to do with Shadow, just showing the Time Eater's manipulation of the timestream"* So, yeah, there's really no implications. Even I was scratching my head wondering about Chaos Island significance with Shadow.
But there wasn't. Just a result of Time Eater being able to pull areas from the future. Regardless if someone's been there or not.
I imagine they also added Chaos Island to serve as advertisement for Sonic Frontiers.
@KyleRaynerCh I can assure I'm pretty sure no one thought about that when including Chaos Island...
@@KyleRaynerCh Yep, that's basically the reason: SXSG is now THE gateway into the franchise in its current state.
@@KyleRaynerCh
They use the worst island in the game?
I bet they just added Chaos Island because it has the word chaos in it lol
(and to reuse assets)
After Shadow Gens, they could invent a new story where Shadow goes to Chaos Island for whatever reason.
As someone who's been a Sonic fan for *5* years now, I'm beyond grateful of the timeline we're at.
Lucky you, only seen Frontiers and Shadow Generations being released! 2012-2022 was not very fun... Mania notwithstanding
Welcome to the fandom! 🎉
I'm curious, was it the hype for the 2020 movie that made you a fan?
@faithful_otaku7339 Yes
@@liamphibia A lot of people say the movies saved the franchise. It’s good to see that they introduced a lot of new fans to the Sonic community! And to think, back then we feared that the movie would bomb. 🤣
20:37 You know funnily enough I could see the archeology influence on eggman. He's consistently discovering ruins and other ancient nonsense. Just to name a few; eggie found the ruins leading to the Starfall islands in frontiers, and ancient tales of Dark Gaia, and Emeral from Sonic Battle.
And Chaos
@raheem7632 Also that evil dragon thing from Sonic Superstars.
I'm just really happy with finally know Ivo & Maria's parents existed.
Emerl not Gemerl
@@Auricalios My bad lol
What i never noticed is sonic superstars established that every emerald is different and they have been staying faithful to this as in sonic frontiers we see sonic can use some of these abilities all together in super form which is obvious while shadow with the yellow emerald uses chaos control to slow down time in shadow gens just like in superstars.
I kinda like this idea since it makes having a single emerald not feel useless as it did before which was dumb or completely forgotten.
the funniest part for me about this game is how they just outright abandoned Infinite, like this is his biggest chance to return and show a proper boss fight and characteristic other than he's angry specifically towards Shadow
but nope, he's found dead on the ditch
I mean there are Rumors/leaks that Sega is considering a Heroes Remake with a special team campaign comprised of Infinite Blaze and Silver so he isn’t truly boned
@@Foxking437 may you elaborate on the leaks and source?
i've only heard of Heroes Remake from Midori couple months ago and haven't heard anything from it for a while
@ imma say this the only knowledge I heard of that specific part of the leak is from a tumblr post. But hey if people are Appreciating 06 Again and they completely overhauled forces it wouldn’t be a bad thing for a team up like that
@@Foxking437I believe everything on the internet
@@RTheStoryteller7 They hardly abandoned him, I'm sure people would've preferred Mephiles over him in a game like this if it came down to picking one or the other. He still can come back in future games.
I think the info about Gerald's family tension really adds on to his downward spiral.
Imagine being in his situation, where he took it upon himself to care for his granddaughter in the only environment he believes was best, that even her own parents protested against.
Only to do everything he can to make breakthroughs but nothing gives, then dealing with governmental pressures, even risking making a deal with essentially the devil to save this one person, only for it to all just fall apart, then finding out your granddaughter was killed as a result of all this.
Could you imagine facing your son or daughter after learning that despite your best intentions you got their child killed, even if it was circumstances you couldn't control, but you convinced them or tried to convince them it was for the best?
You sacrifice years with your family having fights beliving one day you'll be proven right in the end and everything will work out, but it doesn't go that way, the guilt hits you *breaks* you, you loose all reason to care any more about anything or anyone.
"ok but why tho" mainly cause switch users and playstation users can play the game. Not everyone has a PC tbh. I'm a little tired of everyone pretending like the sonic generations remaster was unnecessary. Like it's literally one of the best games, everyone deserves to experience it.
YES THANK YOU!!!!
I agree
Nah you can't deny, the generations remaster was pretty unnecessary (outside of the new shadow content). They'res plenty of other sonic games that haven't seen the light of day for years that deserve it more than gens. I'd appreicate it more if there was a bit more done to the game but it is essentially just generations but with slightly more content. Also its not like you need a NASA PC to run the game, its a 13 year old game lol it pretty much runs fine on any laptop.
This was an incredibly necessary remaster for one reason and one reason only.
Everyone who grew up stuck with Nintendo consoles NEVER GOT TO PLAY IT, which accounts for a massive amount of Sonic fans.
exactly. Now I can finally take my favourite game on the go.
If Shadow Generations is the standard we can expect for the Frontiers sequel, then sign me the hell up.
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lol
Kishimoto didn’t work on Generations. I’d temper expectations and just expect more Frontiers for Frontiers 2
@@bluespidrlily true, but:
A) Shadow Generations clearly took inspiration from Frontiers with the hub world, as limited as it was.
B) Sega would have to hate making money to NOT take what worked here to heart and try to implement as much of it into their next big game. Especially since its more of what people *actually liked*
Consider for a moment; Shadow reveals Maria's wish to Maria before she made the wish.
Maria also seems to understand that this Shadow isn't the same as the one she currently knows. Whether Gerald told her, or she figured it out herself, Maria seems to know that this is Shadow from the future. And from the way Shadow behaves around them, I think she caught on to the fact that they don't have a happy ending. She also doesn't question that he has friends who need him...
All that is to say; Maria knew. Maria from 50 years ago, the moment GUN invaded the ARK, she knew. If Shadow stayed on the ARK, he would never meet his new friends, he would never become the person she met in the White Void. So she sent him to Earth, with the wish that Shadow told her about. Sure, this creates a bit of a paradox with the Wish, but that never stopped The Song of Storms from OoT.
19:05 hilarious too because Omega in the later bits of dialog offers shadow what is essentially going out to the bar for drinks.
Except the bar is an Eggman Base and the drinks = Smashing badniks
This game was AMAZING! It's so great to have deep story, lore, and character development in Sonic games again! This game would easily have been a 10/10 for me, the only area that I feel Sega dropped the ball was the fact that there were no rival battles. Just imagine if we had an Emerl, (Playable) Sonic, and Infinite rival battles, it would have been awesome! Still a masterpiece game regardless, I hope this will lead to more games focusing on characters other than Sonic! ^_^
Edit: It also would have been nice to be able to play as Shadow in OG Sonic Generations and Sonic in Shadow Generations after completing the game, but I guess that's what we have mods for. :P
I can barely see this since TH-cam has black text in dark mode
Aaa thank you so much for the support!!
@@SamProcrastinates You're welcome, I love your work! ^_^
I saw an interesting theory by another TH-cam user in a different video, saying the reason there's nothing from Shadow the Hedgehog is because all the stages are deliberately pulled from *Sonic's* past by Eggman who's controlling the Time Eater in the Sonic half of the game.
What sealed this for me is the stage selection and how they play out. Of the 6 stages, 3 are interrupted with Black Doom Radical Highway sections: Space Colony ARK, Rail Canyon and Sunset Heights, all locations both Sonic and Shadow visited (or *will* visit, in the case of Sunset Heights). Sonic 06 does exist in its own little pocket timeline as confirmed by Mephiles in his boss fight. Shadow doesn't remember those events so Black Doom can't use them to mess with Shadow, and Chaos Island is the only place Shadow never visits so again, no Black Doom interruption. Radical Highway is the exception as Sonic was never there, but that's the point. Radical Highway wasn't brought here by the Time Eater, it was brought here by Black Doom using Shadow's memories and the temporal anomaly to reconstruct Radical Highway in an attempt to push Shadow back to his vengeful roots in SA2, which is why Radical Highway is inside the Black Moon and not a standard stage gate like the others.
Black Doom not beating the Radical Highway favoritism allegations
He just thinks Radical Highway is so cool.
Can I say, I am actually good with Shadow having a double jump unlike Sonic? And my only reasoning for this is Shadow’s Air Shoes which I can believe would be able to allow him to double jump in a way. Also this video is great and I agree with all the things you said. I can’t wait to see the Sonic 3 movie and the future of this franchise
My one fear is that sega will be all like “oh well the boost game did better than frontiers” and then switch the formulas back and ditch the open zone.
Prioritizing the Open Zone was ALWAYS a mistake. Sonic is an arcade series and he works best when prioritizing on those arcade roots. Focusing so heavily on the open Zone and making cyberspace an afterthought ended up hurting both sides of the game. As cyberspace was an incredibly janky, stiff, and utterly uninteresting romp through stages stolen from previous games, add the Open Zone was vast but empty.
Shadow Gen shows the perfect balance. The open Zone should be used as an expansive and explorative hub world to complement the main stages, but the main stages should ALWAYS be the priority. White Space is infinitely better than any Island in Frontiers.
(Can’t remember where I heard this before so you’ll just have to trust me on this) sega has said that they plan to keep going with the open zone while also making traditional 2D & 3D platforming games, and even if they didn’t say that Sonic Mania was much more loved then Forces but did they dich the 3D games? nope, also Shadow Generations has an open zone so their clearly not looking to abandon this formula especially since it arguably saved the series.
@@SSL_2004idk i really liked the open zone it just lacked an extreme amount of thought. I feel as if it should be a 60/40 split with open zone as the focus but cyber space or wtvr is in the next game has more focus and better level design. The problem with cyber space is that i never went back to it and it just didnt encourage me to do better. All like the keys should have been locked behind the times rather than the mini challenges. The challenges were just way too easy and i beat them usually my first go on the stage. So id say have challenging levels that are not as big as shadow gens stages but not as small as a frontiers level. Id say a 3 minute challenging stage should be good. Each key should be locked how much faster i can go than 3 minutes id say in a 10,15,and 20 seconds faster than the normal 3 minutes should be the goal to get the keys or wtvr.
Open Zone is still a thing in Shadow Gens and much better implemented than in Frontiers imo.
I liked the Boost in previous games. You could travel faster and actually take out enemies while boosting. The boost in Frontiers felt heavily nerfed compared to earlier games.
Mephiles : I will defeat you and restore myself to the timeline
Shadow: I don’t even know who you are
Mephiles sounded like James Arnold Taylor's Obi-Wan Kenobi for a second.
“You will…”
Some people are also seeing this and Frontiers and speculating that these games are test runs for ideas regarding future sonic games. Testing narrative and mechanics and seeing what sticks.
I applaud the experiment phase cause i could totally see various character interactions and stories from various perspectives.
One idea i have in particular is an infighting storyline between all of Eggman's greatest creations.
Now that Sage exists and Eggman became a dad. There's a clear tension waiting to spring up between not just Eggman and Omega (like we've known) but with Sage and Omega. A rivalry/family discovery adventure between what is probably Eggman's greatest creation in the AI Sage, and Eggman's most deadly machine trying to prove himself the greatest of Eggman's creations. They're both analytic in nature and speech and can both have hilarious moments as they logic speak with each other. Not to mention Sage could be Omega's character foil as the closest to Eggman of Eggman's creations.
There's Metal who can become Sage's big brother of sorts within the Egg Fleet. Stoic and uncaring except when it comes to beating Sonic and, eventually, caring for Sage.
Orbot and Cubot being the more reasonable siblings in Eggman's forces while being less effective, but spirited.
Then Eggman himself where the story expounds upon what was already developing in Frontiers with Sage. Him becoming a dad for his creations that all starts with Sage. And potentially having the back and forth of whether it's worth being as utilitarian with his creations as he often is. All the while Sage becomes more and more his rock, possibly to the chagrin of Metal.
Idk my mind races for potential.
"Wings coming out, something that wasn't really natural"
Shadow: yeah, this feels weird, but also natural
I love how Shadow Generations made Sunset Heights look more like an actual war zone compared to Forces
The production quality of this is crazy good, probably one of your best game reviews yet. Good job Sam, love your videos!
43:22 "Instead of ruling the universe with an iron fist! I was serenaded by teddy bears!" 💀
If mephiles followed shadow to sonic generations he could’ve gone to crisis city and merged with iblis…the fact that both half’s of Solaris is in this game is insanity 🤩 06 got such good representation in both games!
He cant merge with iblis when he is already fully formed. He needed him to be in his flame form
Plus didn't he need the Chaos Emeralds or was that done just to scatter them so the heroes didn't get them instantly
@@purplebruh947 OH right….ok nevermind lol
I saw the exclusive scene for the PS5; my heart broke into another million pieces. The animated post-credit scene after the events of Shadow Generations in Shadow goes back to the place where he was in episode 1 of Dark Beginnings and still relives the idea of what life he and Maria could've had on Earth had the events of the ARK never happen and what words of encouragement she would've said to him whenever he feels that he doesn't think he has a place on Earth. Besides Shadow having the best characterization SEGA has given him since SA2, I love how they've portrayed Maria as more than a tragic figure. You see in the animated shorts and in the game who she was as a person and what she meant to Shadow, and seeing these shorts, you can understand why Shadow was willing to destroy the Earth for Maria after what humanity did to her 👩🩵🦔🖤❤️
I noticed in both Shadow gens and Dark Beginnings that they gave Shadow an avoidance coping mechanism and it’s honestly really sad.
Dark Beginnings: he’s seconds away from a panic attack and what does he do? Avoids the memory
Maria gets him mildly emotional: he runs away
He’s losing his family a second time and although he could save them they don’t want him to and what does he do? Run away
HE NEEDS THERAPY
Peak video peak game and peak content creator
Peak commenter
@ thx 🔥
@@adamnader6014 peak reply
though i lack the peak authority to say peak-
@@ICader7194 thx bro
@@adamnader6014 peak welcome : )
51:01 I'd be more worried about a potential Black Knight Remaster since practically every line in that game feels sacred. I think Roger can pull off Sonic's character beats in that game but they better not DARE touch the dialogue! Especially considering how much goodwill Shadow Gens brought back to the series in terms of storytelling.
Shadow Generations was fantastic and so was the remastered Sonic Generations.
I’m glad this got the Mario 3D World plus Bowser’s fury treatment.
What a perfect way this was to tie into the 3rd movie coming in December.
Any problems I have are just nitpicks and they don’t bother me.
Literally Bowser's Fury with the Metal Overlord fight lol
This is arguably one of the best Sonic games ever made, it took a long while for SEGA to return to this formula of storytelling. But better late than never, I'll take Shadow games like this any day.
Great review; I appreciate your attention to detail! Going forward though, maybe you don't need to include all the background info such as explaining what happens in the story and how the game works. When I watch/listen to reviews I am mainly interested in what the creator thought about the game; I don't need to everything explained as if I have never heard of the game (especially since you are largely a Sonic-tuber so most of your viewers already know what you are talking about). I would either approach a review in one of two ways:
1. Make a short review that is spoiler-free and touches on what the game is and then explains why it is good or bad, in your opinion (basically like how most gaming journalists write reviews). OR
2. Make an in-depth spoiler review focusing on aspects of the game you did/didn't like, but skip explaining what happens in the story or how the game plays (your audience should already know if they are watching a spoiler review and just want to hear your opinions).
I hope this doesn't sound overly critical. I really enjoy your content and your videos are way better than anything I could ever hope to make. Just thought I would throw this out there, and please take it as it is, one person's opinion. 😀 Your content is fantastic, and it is clear you work really hard on this stuff.
39:23 I did NOT expect that gun. 💀
8:01 I do think this is a nod that Frontiers's sequel is going to have Shadow play a part in it.
Still waiting for your official review on Sonic Movie 2: Two Years Later.
Honestly I think shadow still keeps his powers, just in his own terms instead of Black Doom manipulating them.
SEGA, MAKE MORE SHADOW GAMES, AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!
Make games for the other Sonic characters before doing another Shadow game please
I mean I'd wanna live to see it but uh ok
More Games for the other cast before we get another game please. Shadow's already got a solo game plus this
@@tacorerooster3554None of the other characters has compelling stories. And by your logic if Sega did that they'll fuck up. Changing the control schemes again? No.
Out of all reviews for this game i was definitely looking forward to this one the most lol. Right amount of humour, gives valid praises and critques when they're due; just all around a solid reviewer ggs sam
LESSS GOOO THE REVIEW IS OUT
I think the towers in Space Colony Ark are actually the ones that fell in Cosmic fall from Shadow 05, and while most of the towers ARE connected to the Ark, others can either descend (shown when parts of tue towers move to perform the Cannon QTE in the Space Colony Ark Act 1) or are just straight up floating.
Big the Cat using chaos control is something I didn't know I needed
I hope they completely remake Sonic Forces from the ground up with improved Open Zone gameplay/combat and fixing the story as a whole.
@@supersonicstyleatsonicspeed That's what I'm saying more or less.
I’d rather they remake Sonic 06 as Project 06 proved that the game has a bunch of missed potential.
@@darkstorm2579 I mean Project 06 is literally doing that already
@@chrange9714 Yeah, but I'd like to see an official version by Sega that takes ideas from Project 06 and also fixes up the story in some areas.
@@darkstorm2579 People will just say "this fan thing is better" like they always seem to do when it's not true lol. One of the many big annoyances with this fanbase. At this point they're better off just leaving Project 06 to do it, they can fix stuff up in the story too there's nothing stopping them.
IT'S HERE LET'S GOOOO
Bro, didn't even mention the drop dash for both sonics!! LMAO 😂
I don’t get what the big deal with Chaos Island is.
I mean, Classic sure as heck hasn’t been to Rooftop Run.
Based
Would've been cool to see Shadow in a level like Westopolis, Skyscraper Scamper and Asteroid Coaster though. Just sayin'.
In my headcanon, Gerald probably think that Maria will be passed away due to her illness, and him to a retaliation of the big names of the organizations in Sonic's universe after the whole Gizoid fiasco (who brought too much attention to the ARK)
Because of that he probably think is that what Shadow will want to prevent
little he know that his and her fate are more abrupt and will define what Shadow became
34:34 Wait next year, according to some articles online regarding Sega's plans.
It's kinda weird that Sonic mentions the time stones since in Sonic CD the time stones were just used to manipulate time, not travel through it. The flagpoles were, so this actually kinda hurts continuity unless Sonic forgot that detail, which also wouldn't make sense since in the rewrite, all the characters magically remember everything
I always through that the reason the flagpoles work at all is because of the time stones, like just from being there they allows time travel in the area around little planet
@@carso1500 wasnt there a text somewhere or interview saying that the flagpoles only work BECAUSE they are in little planet? where the time stones reside?
imo it makes sense that its because of the time stones that any time travel shenanigans happen in that game in the first place
@@Kokokekko7 Then that sort of makes things confusing because if the time stones are linked to and can only be used on Little Planet than that also makes the gens rewrite line weird
@@_rando_d maybe the time stones CAN be used outside little planet, which can be used to time travel
or maybe that's what sonic assumes at least, since that's the only way to time travel that he knows of
@@Kokokekko7 aren't the flag poles gameplay mechanics and not actually the lore behind the time travel?
YOU CAN HOLD THE QUICK STEP??!!
It's honestly incredible how much they've been improving with Frontiers to now with Shadow Gens. Gameplay, story, and animation have been greatly enhanced in this game and it makes me even more excited for what comes next. I hope Sonic Team continues to use and improve the stuff they did here for future games and maybe even allow other characters their chances to shine too ❤
What I love as well with this story and Frontiers back to back is the relationship Eggman has to his family and Sage and learning about Gerald and how he sees Shadow.
Gerald made Shadow as not only a cure but a companion. Compassionate science for the sake of others needs as well as his own.
While Eggman always gave some of his strongest machines automation and they always betrayed him. He didn't try again until Orbot and Cubebot. He had companionship there. But wanted more and created sage and despite everything she genuinely cares and loves him. He created essentially life for the sake of himself and his own loneliness. Sage being his greatest creation after trying so hard to make bots after others and even his own design. After making something totally new and full of life did it actually succeed.
It's funny to me when I realized that the reason Orbot and cubot were trying to build a rocket was probably because Eggman just sort off... left them alone wandering in outer space after joining the Time Eater
38:06
Maybe he’s also seeing stuff from Black Doom’s past.
Maybe the Ancients and the Black Arms were in a war and a young Black Doom was fighting on Chaos Island.
I don't see how that's possible considering Eggman states in his memos that the Ancients far predate the Black Arms. Though, a more interesting scenario would be that Black Doom noticed the Starfall Islands on one of his 50 year orbit trips, noticed the strange effects The End was causing, and dipped for the sake of his own life
@ that actually makes a lot more sense
@Emerstar hence why he refused to change Chaos Island into radical highway. He knows The End would kill him if he tried. Would've liked to see some unique dialogue between Shadow and The End though
@@goldenascension8635 or see Super Sonic fight Knight in the background
i wish the game told players when you use doom morph you can stop mid way and it pulls you upwards, it took me so long to figure that out, it made me go crazy and seeing bunch of people play the game, it seems no one figures that out initially
Shadow 05 was a childhood game and i genuinely like the backstory of shadow and black doom. So it makes me so happy to finally see it get love
Its more of Shadow and Sa2 getting love alongside Sonic Gens story.
If they make another Shadow game the only thing they need is Chaos Blast. Let me blow shit up. Imagine the possibilities too. Like using it to quickly get through areas like the room in Kingdom Valley with the enemy gauntlet. Just make it quick and snappy like the Shadow opening.
Chaos Blast is my favourite Chaos power.
Unfortunately every game Shadow is a part of he's missing one chaos power.
@@AYTM1200No he's missing the high speed Chaos Control too.
@@selassieaspen9940 I don't think that's a core ability. I've always seen Chaos Control, Snap/Dash, Spear and Blast to be his core abilities.
I'm glad they left that out because all it really does is just skip over tons of meaningful level design. We even have a better version in the doom wings.
It's cool that they used the frontiers engine for Shadow Generations, but the main part about it that made it fun was that they added so many sliders and toggles that made you able get rid of basically ALL clunkiness, not to mention the spindash.
Thanks Sega/Sonic Team, Now i need my PEAK 2005 Remake
Those towers are still part of the ARK they just happen to be a separate set of towers.
Sam sounds professional in this video
First off, that scream at 0:30 will never not be hilarious. Cracks me up every time, especially with that effect over the top.
Second, obviously everyone has different taste but I’m a little surprised at the praise given to the music since I’ve only really heard people say it’s mid at best. I haven’t given it a proper listen since I rarely focus on it during gameplay so I don’t have an opinion.
Thirdly, HOLY CRAP THIS GAME WAS SO FUN!!! I also pre-ordered the PS5 physical version to get Gerald’s journal and oh wow was it fun to read.
21:01 wait till he finds out what a disappointment his grandson becomes
I'd like to point this out as a theory I have: Radical Highway is Black Doom's Domain Expansion and you can't tell me otherwise. Think about it. When activated, it warps the terrain around them, it allows Black Doom to spawn in enemies and obstacles at will as one of its abilities, and the other ability is to nullify Chaos Control for others. It's only when Shadow goes one-on-one with Black Doom that he can use Chaos Control. And even then, he only was able to activate it when Black Doom did.
I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t include Without You from the prologue animation in the game. Everything else was 10/10 though. Thank you Sega and great review Sam!
HONEY WAKE UP, SAM JUST UPLOADED!
Having Sonic team put out a game Sam loves as well as so many other fans makes me so happy. It almost feels unreal with how great this game is
24:14 I'm looking at this image and notice that shadow not wearing any gloves. I think this is the first time it happened(not counting the comics)
thank you sonic team for feeding us some good fucking food
39:24 I think there is a hidden Stage inspired from shadow 05 in this game and its in disguise in Radical Highway Act 2 The Level Design inspired by westopolis now that you think about it!
This was a really fun review to watch. This year has been great for both Shadow and the Sonic brand and I only hope things go even further up from here. I don’t have much else to say, this was a solid video….**cut to that one explosion from the final boss fight**
Looks like Shadow was his "Black Doom"...
IF SHADOW’S BAWLING WE’RE ALL BAWLING! 🗣🗣😭😭😭😭
The greatest game I've ever played, and the only game to legit make me cry. No game is perfect, but damn this one comes close.
first game i ever preordered and i couldn't have asked for a better one 😭😭
43:36 funny how you give us a time stamp to skip the boss fight when you already spoiled it in the beginning without even realizing it. Real smooth
I’d heard a theory that Shadow is actually going through Sonic’s memories of these stages rather than his own. Would explain why he goes to Chaos Island and why there are no Shadow androids in Rail Canyon
Generations was always a nightmare for me to set up on PC and now I don't have a PC that can run it at all, so I was grateful for it being put on modern consoles. The Shadow stuff to me was at first just a quaint little bonus. But the more news we got about it, the more I was genuinely excited. In the end I ended up still liking the Sonic portion more, but the Shadow portion stands just as strong. Was never a big open world fan so I'd trade that for more levels tbh.
One thing I will praise about the open zone this time is that they managed to avoid the excessive pop-in that Frontiers had. I went from one end of the map to the other and could still see every landmark or platform the whole time. And that's on the Switch too.
46:10 At least you didn't collect 900 things just to get a gold turd.
After this video, biolizard should totally get its own spin off game.
The reinstrumentation of Reflections that plays when Maria calms Shadow down is the cherry on top of an already perfect pie.
DANG A 50 MINUTE REVIEW YOU WEREN'T KIDDING WHEN SAID YOU WORKING HARD ON THIS THAT'S AWESOME!!!! 😭🔥🔥🔥🔥💙💙💙💙
Love this game so much, Sonic Generations is already a big favourite and now with this new Shadow Gens this may be my favourite sonic game. They did a really good job porting Sonic Gens and the new Shadow gens was an absolute joy as a big fan as Shadow and his story. Overall even tho I do think there was some missed opportunity with the story and lore and what characters could have shown up in the open zone, and even tho I do wish it was a bit longer. This was amazing, so much love went into the level desgin and animations and bosses. The interactions with shadow and characters was really sweet and the open area was really neat and there’s plenty to collect. Plus it looks so beautiful and the soundtrack is fantastic. So happy shadow got his time to shine after all these years and like the rest of the series. The future of this franchise continues to grow ever more, hope they can keep it up and continue improving and striving for the best they can. I’m not quite sure what’s next (in terms of games) but I’m feeling pretty hyped. 💙❤️
As a huge fan of shadow the hedgehog and his story this game is really awesome and badass and such a great game as a whole.
He's grinding away from the Ark because in Shadow 05 Ark was half destroyed.
DEATH BATTLE matchup, Bowser VS Eggman, released yesterday
I hope the doom powers make a spiritual return in future games. Like have Sonic use a surfboard to traverse water
38:20
Ive thought about this too and outside of Sega just wanting to reuse assets already made for HE2, maybe despite this being Shadow's white space the Time Eater is still pulling from Sonic's past and future. The only level in Shadow Generations that Sonic had never visited; Radical Highway, is the only one to not have a stage gate in White Space
@@hubsterheck It had nothing to do with reusing assets I'm sick of people just labeling that as the reason anything returns. Here it was because Izuka wanted to represent some future games that happened after Gens and also to demonstrate the Time Eater's manipulation over time that future events can be pulled in too. Those were both said in interviews.
I would be over the moon if Sonic x Shadow Generations received the Final Horizon treatment as DLC. Make a genuine sequel DLC campaign to this game where you could play as Classic Sonic (please give him a voice this time), Modern Sonic, and Shadow. Play new levels for the Sonics and Shadow (we need Shadow The Hedgehog video game levels like those Black Comet levels and those digital computer levels). Have new skins like a Genesis sprite for Classic Sonic, Baby Sonic skin for Classic Sonic, a Movie Sonic skin for Modern Sonic, and Adventure 2 skins for Modern Sonic and Shadow. The Time Eater returns with a voice and is more powerful than ever. Experience new bosses for the three like the Hard Boiled Heavies for Classic Sonic, Perfect Dark Gaia for Modern Sonic, Infinite for Shadow, maybe a mini final boss where you play as all three of them in their super forms against Solaris, and a fixed Time Eater final boss fight between the three (it would be cool since Generations is about exploring the past, Classic Sonic would get a chance to become Hyper Sonic again, Modern Sonic would become Super Sonic 2 and maybe we could play as the all-out Cyber energy version of Super Sonic 2, and Shadow would become Super Doom Shadow).
No.
Seeing that Shadow 2005 flash game gave me a Ratatouille flashback
This is a big Hitter of all Sonic Games in 2024 ever since what game. First I saw the first trailer of the game, Hedgehog engine 2 was kinda Expected. But the idea from Sonic Team that they’re going to evolve the Engine into something more than frontiers is something that I never expected but it had me interested. But would they make it a lot more Greater moving Forward?
It's a big Hitler of all Sonic Games in 2024 indeed
I love this game it’s amazing
I hope we get a Sonic Unleashed remaster
I can’t wait for Sonic Frontiers Sequel and it’s open zone
Im definitely locked in now, if this is the kind of quality to expect from Sonic team then I'm in for a ride
I liked Frontiers, but I like Shadow Generations more. It’s a more consistently polished and thrilling experience that I’d feel comfortable recommending to people who like platformers lol, whereas I feel Frontiers is not for everyone. I hope Sonic Team is able to take the right lessons from this game and bring it to Frontiers 2 (memorable environments and setpieces, solid animation, freedom in the engine/level design to experiment). And continue using Ian Flynn! He knows these characters so well and knows when to use levity or when to make things high stakes.
Shadow should have given Sonic the real emerald and keep the fake one as a permanent upgrade, that allowed him to use his chaos powers independently of the real emeralds. After all, if Sonic could pull off his first chaos control and sonic wind with a fake emerald, Shadow should have no problem utilising it to an even higher degree.
I was waiting for the reviewer Sam voice 😅
I am going to assume that maybe all the Ark stuff not connected to the Ark broke off during SA2 during the end bit where it started crashing to earth.
To think Generations couldn't been any better than this with the Shadow campaign. SEGA and Sonic Team really have knocked it out of the park as well as made us understand why Shadow loved his family. We only got bits and pieces in the games but here we got more character and care about Maria and Gerald. I really hope officially we get more DLC of Shadow Generations just like the Frontiers road map. Im even more excited for the mods coming in the near future for this game. Very well done review Sam.
We’re so back sonic fans!
The only problem I have with the generations remaster is that when Sonic colors did too much for its remaster, Generations did too little. It's not bad at all but I wouldn't mind upscale textures and beautiful new models
This was the best sonic game, i hope frontiers 2 keeps it up