Can Shadow's new game be justified?

Well… this new Shadow game has thrown are little Sonic community a little bonkers, huh? I know, the gun looks weird, but a lot of people are mad because Shadow gets his own game. Dread says he’s dull, other people say he’s just a Sonic clone, and he’s taking the spotlight. Let’s look at his history. Really, he’s only been in 3 games…

Shadow bursts onto the scene in this game. He was an interesting character with a deep backstory. He was a big part of the story, but he fit his role well and died with honor at the end. Not many people where upset with his leaving, it wasn’t a big deal to the veterans and the Sonicverse returned to normal.

Here is where things go a little crazy. Shadow “fanboys” invaded boards and went a little nuts about him. The Sega board was almost all Shadow spam. Sega couldn’t ignore it, people wanted him back, so they had to bring him back(They didn’t HAVE to, but it was a smart idea).

Now, a few years later, we have heroes. Shadow is coming back, and a lot of people are happy for that, even most of the veterans didn’t mind his return. I didn’t mind, to me Shadow was a cool character myself, so it was cool to see him return. I thought he was a good rival for Sonic, because Knux isn’t cutting it anymore.

But…his return was executed very poorly. The cut-scenes are confusing and only about 30 seconds at most. I thought he just couldn’t remember how he died, it wasn’t until Hang Castle when he said “Who am I?” that he forgot EVERYTHING. “Oooooh, he can’t remember anything, oh I get it.” The ending to Team Dark was even worse. Here is what it was basically.

Rouge: Omega, Shadow is a robot.
Omega: No he’s not
Rouge: …oh, ok
Shadow: I got my memory back!

That’s about it, and it was done so confusingly, people can’t tell if he’s a clone, a robot, or whatever. But one thing must be said, Shadow did not hog the spotlight in this game. His return was just one thing in a series of crazy events that was Heroes. All Shadow did was help “buy some time” at the end. It was Team Sonic vs Metal Sonic, we didn’t even see Super Shadow. He didn’t even have any lines in he end. Heroes was more of a “best of” like Dread has said in the past.

Another thing, Sonic Team is not going to over use Shadow. Look at the Sonic Advance series. The kept that classic 2D Sonic. They could have put Shadow in Advance 3(especially with that team action stuff) but they left him absent, and kept it classic 2D Sonic vs Eggman, like it should be.

Shadow makes his return again in Sonic Battle. Most people loved him in this game, even the people that usually hate Shadow. He had original moves, that where different from Sonic’s. This also gave him a chance to develop on his character. I thought it was executed very well. I also feel that Shadow and Rouge are much closer now. Maybe Knuckles might want to watch out…

Was Shadow over used in this game? Certainly not, every character got their chance to shine. I thought Amy was very entertaining here to. Everyone was great in this.

And we have the ending. Who is in the spotlight in the end? Sonic saves the day. Not even Super Sonic, just regular old Sonic, it was very refreshing and very cool. I love how Emerl died at the end. Very and sad, and they made sure he wouldn’t make a Shadow like comeback, they had him self-destruct.

So now, this game is announced, and everyone is pissed, happy, confused, ect. Let the game come out, its something different for a change. Shadow has a chance to develop his character a little more. Sega can finally fill in those plot holes they dug. And as for those guns, it looks like a mere power up, and just something he will use every now and then. Theirs still a lot of questions I have about Shadow aside the plot holes. Maybe he’s not just a re-colered Sonic with a bad-ass attitude. Maybe he has more to learn about him. He was the created as the ultimate life form, right? Can he swim? Sonic can’t, but the ultimate life form should be able to. Dose he have good weaponry skills? Can he regenerate limbs? How many ways can he manipulate time and space(with Chaos control)? There’s so many ways they can execute this. Hell, it could be in the future, he is immortal after all…

And he will not overshadow (pun not intended) Sonic. This will be just an interesting side-story. If you people haven’t heard the headline on Sonic news…

Sega Claim Shadow the Hedgehog to be Only “One of Several New Sonic Games This Year”. Also Naka is not taking interviews. Wait until E3, Sonic will be getting his new game to. We have a lot to look forward to as Sonic fans.

So don’t let this one little announcement bother you.