shadow the hedgehog

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The character of Shadow was conceived by Takashi Iizuka,^[1] director of Sonic Adventure 2, the game in which Shadow was first introduced.^[6] The character was first shown to the public in a game trailer; however, his name was not revealed.^[7] GameSpot described what little was shown as an "evil version of Sonic himself - similar in appearance, but with darker skin, more angled eyes, and a fearsome snarl instead of Sonic's trademark grin."^[7] Takashi Iizuka said that they maintained the mystery around the character of Shadow the Hedgehog and had wanted to feature him in his own game since he was introduced.^[8] After feeling that it would be inappropriate to give Sonic's character a gun as fans had requested in mailings,^[9] Yuji Naka believed that by focusing on Shadow for his own game, they could use his different identity from Sonic to build upon the Sonic brand.^[10] The character was featured as a guest announcer and performed other promotional work for the game's release during a wrestling show set up by the Japanese league, Pancrase, in December 2005.^[9] Shadow's design was influenced by films such as Underworld, Constantine, and the Terminator series.^[11]                                 COMICS                                                            Shadow also appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. His origin is similar to that in the games in that he was created by Gerald Robotnik to stand against the threat of Black Doom and the Black Arms. He debuted in an adaptation of the game Sonic Adventure 2, with a few changes to accommodate the Archie version of Mobius/Earth. However, instead of the events of Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow later reappears explaining he was rescued by the alien race called the Bem to combat the Xorda.

Shadow often works alone to achieve his goal, which is to discover the truth about his mysterious history. He has at times allied with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters to fight greater evils, like the Xorda, and he has been known to work either for or against Dr. Robotnik depending on the circumstances. Often, he will side with whomever he believes will bring him closer to the truth. This search has led him to interact with various other characters, including the robot Isaac, Brotherhood of Guardians member Locke, and various versions of Metal Sonic. Hope is one of the few living beings to show compassion towards him besides Maria, and also bears a striking resemblance to her (enough so that he nearly mistook Hope for Maria at one point). After discovering and resolving to fulfill his creator's wish to protect Mobius from the return of the Black Arms, Shadow joined the Guardian Units of Nations, or G.U.N.

Shadow's abilities in the comics are similar to those in the games, but this version can directly access the "Chaos Force" and does not require a Chaos Emerald for any of his Chaos powers. The Chaos Force (also referred to as "The Power of Chaos") is a mystical energy field that serves as a wellspring for all Chaos powers of which Shadow is the first known to be able to harness outside of the Brotherhood of Guardians. When he removes the "inhibitor rings" from his wrists, his Chaos powers are greatly enhanced.

In Sonic Universe, the first four issues are a sub-series that explores more of Shadow's multi-dimensional encounters and newest stories.

Shadow Androids

Shadow Androids are robots based on Shadow that first appeared in Sonic Heroes, though it was never actually stated to be such. Instead, one Team Dark cutscene showed a broken Shadow robot, and another one showed an entire room of androids in stasis, which affected the story in a way, making several characters believe Shadow was a robot. The Shadow Androids reappeared in Shadow the Hedgehog as somewhat strong enemy robots on the single-player mode's "Iron Jungle" and "Lava Shelter" stages, along with the "Iron Jungle" boss. These androids can counter Shadow's Homing Attacks, or lock-on to Shadow and toss rockets at him, which they seem to use more often than the Homing Attack. At the last Team Dark cutscene of Sonic Heroes, when Rouge finds the multiple Shadow Androids, she suspects that Shadow is an android, but Omega says that the real Shadow exists, as there is no way anyone could make Shadow Androids without the real Shadow. While Shadow is facing Black Doom in his Devil Doom form, Eggman says that he used a robot to rescue Shadow as or after he fell from the Space Colony ARK in Sonic Adventure 2, meaning that while Shadow was in a stasis tube, Eggman was making Shadow Androids.

In the multi-player mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, there are six special Shadow Androids.^[17] Four of these robots are silver with green, pink, orange, or blue stripes, each wielding either an alien-like machine gun or a bazooka. However, there are two androids who look a lot like Shadow, except one has gold stripes. All of these androids claim to be the "real Shadow", and claim that the others are fakes.^[18]

Reception

Reception of the Shadow the Hedgehog character is largely mixed by fans of the Sonic franchise and by game reviewers. Shadow was ranked as the second most popular Sonic character—only beaten by Sonic the Hedgehog himself—in the official Sonic character poll.^[19]Many game reviewers, like GameSpot have called Shadow a "clone" of Sonic.^[20] Game Revolution described his character as a "quintessential anti-Sonic."^[21] GameDaily included him in a top 25 list of video game anti-heroes, stating that while he sometimes fights for good, he also enjoys using firearms.^[22] Yahoo! Games listed Shadow on its April 2010 unranked list of the top nine "Sour Game Characters", calling him "a wise-cracking, free-wheeling free agent."^[23] And he was voted 25th out of the top 50 video game characters of all time inGuinness World Records 2011 Gamers' Edition.^[24]

In a 1UP.com feature about "How Sega Can Save Sonic the Hedgehog," Jeremy Parish wrote that of the "tagalongs" that the series must ditch, Shadow's character was the most in need of it.^[25] In 2009 Levi Buchanan, an editor at IGN, referred to Shadow as an unnecessary "would-be mascot" along with a few other characters new to the Sonic Universe;^[26] Hilary Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of IGN's Xbox team mentioned the mechanics of Shadow's solo game, specifically the use of firearms, as part of the central problem nowadays with Sonic games, being there is less emphasis on both speed and the original hedgehog.^[26]