Why Shadow the Hedgehog Was a Failure

My first ever 3D Sonic game was the one starring Shadow the Hedgehog. He was so popular that he got his own game on Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox in 2005. Nostalgia aside, Shadow the Hedgehog's game is not good in the slightest. This exhaustive video will tell you all the reasons why. You won't want to miss this!
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[Thomlin]

It's hilarious how canonically, one of the most lighthearted games happens just before the edgiest game in the series.

[daddraco]

"Sonic, don't come to Green Hill tomorrow, or do, I don't care."
-Shadow in the English release of this game, probably.

[bowmaj]

21:26 "When a new idea fails, Sega scraps the idea instead of refining the execution."

That sums it up brilliantly. It's why Sega are reluctant to utilize other Sonic characters as playable, because according to overly critical whiners "Sonic's stupid friends are always bad and nothing that you do with them can ever make them good!"

Sega won't go back and refine the Adventure style because "those games were never good!"

This attitude really is hurting the series more than helping it.

[Aimela]

I actually unironically like Shadow The Hedgehog, but I fully understand it's not a very good game and that I'm mostly nostalgic with it.

[nngnnadas]

How hacking looks in movies:
Lithe goth maniacally hammering at the keyboard
How hacking looks in real life:
Hedgehog goth karate chomping the keyboard.

[mr.crunchyearsago]

Shadow wants to die

Vector: “Don’t go there... yet!”

[krafter]

Fun fact: When Shadow says "This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me" they weren't actually trying to be edgy. In the Japanese script of the game, he says something along the lines of "This is ridiculously easy, but I'm still okay with it"

[apollorockr]

Fun fact: Two of the CGI directors of this game would end up being involved with the Sonic Movies years later. Tim Miller (who also directed Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate) is the producer of the movies and Jeff Fowler is the director of both. You can see their names at 1:04:20. Guess they have some experience with the series before.

[Soiloftime]

Shadow the Hedgehog is the only game I've ever 100% completed
All stages at A rank, and expert mode. I achieved EdgeHog status

[HeavenOnlyKnows]

"Shadow begins to wonder if he himself is a robot and instead of poking himself to see, he with the help of Omega confronts Eggman."
I found that funny for no reason lol.

[shiffpup]

Being able to change Shadow's morality on a whim DESTROYS any sense of morality the game attempts.

[jacobdilldine]

Shadow the Hedgehog's Theme is still one of my favorites, as the saying goes: "There has never been any bad Sonic Soundtrack"

[cliffturbo]

How funny that only 4Kids cast gets to cross the line with curse words.

[raikaria]

On the 'Vector's line when Shadow seems suicidal' thing; that's actually plot-relevant. In fact; the Chaotix missions all are, as they lead to the Gerald video recording in the Last Story; that's what they were looking for. Vector says 'things may not be as you think' because he's GOT THE FILE from the Computer Room.

[retron]

The story really falls apart when you realize that all shadow had to do was talk to Sonic, Amy, Tails, or any of his friends about his past. Especially Rouge considering she’s the one who was sent by the government to do research on project shadow and she’s the one who started team dark. Even if they didn’t know about the aliens, what they knew of his past in adventure 2 would’ve saved him a lot of grief. But nope. Nobody bothers to explain anything to him and Shadow doesn’t bother asking. Instead the only people he turns to for answers are Eggman and Black Doom, two obvious villains who aren't even trying to hide the fact that they're just using him.

[PosthumanHeresy]

1:02:45 I think the logic is that they recognize his evil stage was their own damn fault. They thought he was already a mad scientist and went to take him down, but that ironically is what _made_ him a mad scientist. This is them going "oh... yeah, that was entirely our fault, we should have left him alone".

[danielsurvivor]

21:06 He went from Lawful Neutral in SA2(Lawful because he had strict "must do what Maria does" code and Neutral since he only cared about keeping the promise) to Neutral Good in Heroes(He lost his moral code but he was actually a proper hero this time since he fought Eggman and Metal Sonic) to True Neutral in his own game to briefly Lawful Good in 06(follows GUN orders as a good guy) and finally turned into Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Idiot in other games

[Exodiathetormentor]

"android will rule!"

Then, why you didnt destroy Apple instead of eggman

[sonic]

Oh man, this game forever cemented Shadow as the series' most controversial character lol.

Even to this day, people are up in arms over his portrayals.

[AceBountyHunterRex]

Part of me wishes omega and rouge were more prominent characters in this games story. Since the 3 of them became friends in heroes. It would have been nice to see them work together to help shadow figure things out.