The Horrors of Project Shadow - Sonic's Darkest Lore

Project Shadow, possibly the single darkest plotline of the entire Sonic the Hedgehog series. It involves government conspiracies, assassinations, and biological experiments gone wrong; all stemming from a scientist attempting to play God. Let's go over the grim events of Project Shadow.

Huge thank you to @SPEEPSHighway for helping me figure out the Sonic Adventure 2 cutscene viewer. Was able to get some amazing B Roll with it!

----Table of Contents------
0:00​​​​​​​ Intro
3:22 Project Shadow
18:31 Conclusion
19:12 Outro
19:55 End Screen

Intro song by Hyper Potions:

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#sonic #sonicthehedgehog #sonicadventure2

[chaomix]

Let me know what you think of Project Shadow! IMO, it's THE darkest plot point in the entire series and I kind of miss when Sonic games took it to this level with their stories.

[ResidentHouse]

I hope Paramount doesn’t shy away from Shadow’s tragic past. They can easily make it appeal to kids while still holding true to Sonic Adventure 2’s lore.

[yes-jr]

Government: Asks Gerald to create an immortal being.
Gerald:-creates an immortal being-
Government: *NOW WOAH THERE-*

[ChaddyFantome]

Gerald gave Shadow a soul so that humanity would not abuse his power for monstrous acts. Little did Gerald know that in the end, he himself was still only human. It is fortunate for him that he truly was a genius, for his design allowed for his own act of madness to be stopped. For was it not for Shadow's capacity for emotion, Shadow would have become the very thing Gerald feared GUN would make him. A tool for destruction.

[thunderbird]

I wouldn’t consider Gerald’s death an “execution” considering he didn’t get a trial.

It was just outright murder.

[sophitiaofhyrule]

I feel bad for the Biolizard. Imagine being this massive thing that can't move and you're being kept alive in a sealed room. What a miserable existence.

[realsalu]

I hate when people say Sonic shouldn't be dark and serious, when the series can do It well, i just wish that the new game has an good...the same goes to other franchises such as Mario

[albertodiaz]

I still think that the Gerald Interrogation is the creepiest and darkest moment in the hole series. Just seeing a tied and insane Gerald being interrogated by GUN, while the interrogation lights just in his face as he tells his dark and desesparate way he turn around, to the point that only vengance and destruction keeps him relatively sane. And the final touch is when the GUN agent says "is that all?" and then they probably shot him after the video ended.

[castform]

Project Shadow is not only one of the darkest Sonic stories but also one of the most compelling and interesting ones. I feel like some don't really get into it's intricacies because it's a "black and red anthropromorphic hedgehog, it really shouldn't tackle these types of things" when that just limits what can be told with the right execution.

[TheMr.L]

I think an important detail that was sort of lost in the translation is that Gerald altered Shadow's memories. That is why Shadow thinks Maria wanted revenge on humanity. He could only recall the actual message after Amy expressed a similar sentiment.

[FoxDemonMaster]

This story is exactly why Sonic X is my favorite Sonic show. Even the 4kids version of this storyline conveys the depth and sorrow of Shadow's story.

[GBomberFlora]

The line by Professor Gerald, "You ungrateful humans who took everything away from me will feel my loss and despair..." still chills me to my core to this day.

[shadowfall]

The “Sonic should never take itself seriously” crowd just don’t know how to have fun

[Losaren]

The Project Shadow stuff is what makes Shadow (as he was originally written) such an impactful character. Like any good backstory, it explains why Shadow thinks and acts the way he does. And it makes him more than just a "dark version of Sonic". I'll always be bitter that Sega ignore his backstory these days. Shadow is not just some edgy cookie-cutter rival. He's traumatized, constantly manipulated, and he has little reason to trust anyone prior to SA2, but ultimately he changes his mind and helps save the world when someone who reminds him of his dead friend appeals to his empathy (and reminds him why he was created in the first place: to help people). I really love the story of SA2 and I miss when the games weren't afraid to be a little more story-focused These strange but heartfelt stories are what made Sonic stand out to me as a kid. Even the classics had this kind of thing (most notably S3&K). Removing the darker undertones the series has always had is, in my opinion, why some of the meta era games don't even feel like Sonic games anymore. You can't just ignore what draws so many people to the franchise in the first place!

[ZorcTheDarkOnex]

One of the reasons i LOVED shadow the hedgehog is because it reminds you that Gerald was a good person at one point. The whole reason Gerald created the Eclipse cannon was as a fail safe against Black Doom, he knew Black Doom's return to Claim shadow was only a matter of time. Were it not for the Eclipse canon, Black Comet would have never been destroyed.

[Joseph-]

Knowing that Shadow was inadvertently based off of Sonic really changes my view of Shadow calling Sonic the real ultimate lifeform during the final battle, cause I originally thought that it was a random line solely meant to sound cool, so it’s cool to know that there was actual meaning behind it.

[TheKaiyash]

The fact that GUN STILL uses those canister things in their present day tech. Still using Gerald's tech even after they took everything from the man

So brutal

[___]

Can we please go back to this level of story-telling again? This type of stuff will forever be apart of the brand's identity whether or not SEGA wants to ignore it. Biolizard to this day is one of the coolest Sonic bosses to me and Shadow's story is a story remembered by many. Sonic doesn't always have to be dark, but it doesn't always have to be light either. There's a magic to be found by balancing both and that's what made me stick around as a fan.

[xangelxal]

Realizing that Gerald made shadow's soul based of Maria, makes me feel more bad of how Sonic team portrays him now days (and back in the shadow the hedgehog game)

[TheVoidRose]

I hope the sonic movie writers recognize the absolute genius of this story line and bring it to the big screen.