Announcement It's Real! Shadow X Sonic Generations Is Coming This Autumn!

[Red Hot Jack]

RIP Classic Sonic. You've had your fun, time to get serious.

[Jango]

1 minute ago, Red Hot Jack said:

RIP Classic Sonic. You've had your fun, time to get serious.

Marza is fucking awesome.

[Xandur]

We're so ready. I can't wait for the cutscene where Sonic and Shadow make out for 20 minutes.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

It's real. Wow. That Shadow intro awesome!

[Milo]

I'll give the Generations stuff this much as in so far, it doesn't look all that different from the original unlike Colors Ultimate. Maybe this time they chose to just do a straight port/upscale instead of the enhancements they tried to do with Colors but ultimately botched. So for today--props there for not trying to fix what wasn't broken, I guess.

I am admittedly somewhat surprised that with the Shadow stuff, they are actually bringing in stuff from the 2005 game: Black Doom, the grittier aesthetic, all the way down to even having the Shadow logo/insignia as part of the game logo. The surprise is due to how Sega has strayed away from really acknowledging/re-releasing/bringing in anything from the 2000s era of Sonic between Adventure 2 and Colors (aka what some might still call the "Dark Era"). I guess enough time has passed where they are more lenient about it, or (given it's nearly 20 years) 2000s nostalgia is becoming en vogue again. (I'm also all too sure the upcoming Sonic 3 movie plays a part here.)

Compared to the largely inconsequential additions to Colors (when it wasn't busy making the original game visually worse), I do appreciate the Shadow campaign, in as much that they are making a new sub-game that is accompanying the main title (much like with the already brought-up Bowser's Fury to 3D World). Doing smaller companion games to the "main" Sonic titles is what the series should had been doing a long time ago, given its constant gameplay experimentation/focus on other characters.

If it sounds like I'm grading on a curve, it's honestly because I pretty much am. I had rock bottom expectations from the jump when this was rumored to be announced, and I'd admittedly still not expecting a whole lot out of the final product. It's just that after the extreme mismanagement of Colors Ultimate and Origins, I truly was expecting a explicit demonstration of incompetence and/or lack of effort out the gate.

Edited January 31 by Milo

[Stasis]

Whoever they got for Final Horizon to inject these kinds of poses and angles, thank you.

 

[The Tenth Doctor]

Wonder if Doom will have a voice change or if Sean Schemmel is coming back (its Doom, he'll talk. He never shut up).

[Shiny Gems]

1 minute ago, The Tenth Doctor said:

Wonder if Doom will have a voice change or if Sean Schemmel is coming back (its Doom, he'll talk. He never shut up).

That is exactly what I was wondering, and was gonna say!

[Diogenes]

Quick thoughts:

Gens is Gens. It looks unchanged to my eyes (is it even new footage? feels like a bunch of the same shots from the original's trailers), so if you want Gens on modern hardware this is it, otherwise it's just a game we already have, so eh.

Ok, I'll give them some minor style points for having Shadow interrupt the original Generations teaser. Hardly a unique idea but it's cute.

Why'd they suck all the purple out of the ARK? It looks so dull like this. Westopolis is ugly too but just kind of the original ugly plus red.

Shadow's homing attack is him using chaos control instead of just dashing but I can't tell if there's any mechanical difference. He shoots a chaos spear at the biolizard. Most of the closeup, cinematically-presented attacks have a green glow and afterimages so I'm wondering if this is a new ability. Or like, "ability", since it seems like it's meant to look good more than anything. So probably just Gens Modern Sonic gameplay plus a couple new attacks.

I'm not a huge fan of Generations or Shadow so I was probably never going to be impressed but I guess it looks fine for the people who are and that's above average for this series.

[Sonictrainer]

Steam page has more information on the new Shadow Story

Quote

Shadow the Hedgehog is back and teaming up with Classic and Modern Sonic in SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS, an all-new collection featuring two unique experiences!

Play as Shadow the Hedgehog in a brand-new story campaign featuring never-before-seen powers and abilities. When Shadow’s old nemesis, Black Doom, reemerges and threatens to take over the world, Shadow must journey into his own past, confront painful memories, face familiar foes, and unlock new powers to save the world and prove why he’s known as the Ultimate Life Form!

SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS also includes a complete remaster of the classic hit SONIC GENERATIONS, featuring newly remastered versions of iconic 2D and 3D stages with upgraded visuals and bonus content.

[Jango]

Somehow Black Doom returned?

Painful memories? Dude.. that's totally the corridor Maria got shot ain't it?

 

[Rabid-Coot]

11 minutes ago, Red Hot Jack said:

RIP Classic Sonic. You've had your fun, time to get serious.

I wonder if classic thinks thats another future him like ugh my emo phase.

[Piko]

I was fully expecting the exact same game but with Shadow as a playable character. It seems that Shadow will have an original story, which will be interesting to see.

I also think it’s pretty cool seeing the Black Arms referenced; it doesn’t feel like that long ago that SEGA wouldn’t touch stuff like that with a ten foot pole, so it’s nice that they’re more open to referencing stuff from past games (that isn’t Green Hill) now.

24 minutes ago, Red Hot Jack said:

But yeah so far I'm a bit underwhelmed by Gens looking untouched, for the best maybe?

I’m not too bothered by that to be honest. Not only is it a great game as it is, I think it’s also a great entry point for new fans who want to learn more about the franchise, which there are almost certainly a lot of at the moment due to stuff like Prime and the live action movies. Generations taught me a lot about Sonic’s history and I’m sure this remaster will do the same for a new generation (no pun intended).

Edited January 31 by Piko

[MrGrunchYT]

19 minutes ago, mundiaxis said:

I've been debating buying Sonic Generations so I could replay it, so I'm super glad I can wait and re-experience it with this update.

Also, did SEGA and their marketing team ever test out googling "Sonic x Shadow"?  

It's a Western problem

In Japan the name will not be an issue

[ShadowXeldron]

Since we've seen barely anything about it, I can say that as a result of the previous few remasters I am ultimately pessimistic. I'm hoping to be proven wrong, although I will most likely skip this new version regardless as outside of the Shadow mode it does not appear to have anything new to encourage me to double dip.

I can only hope that they do the Doom 3 thing where buying the BFG Edition on Steam also nets you the original as a standalone application. This should be enough to at least preserve the progress made on modding the original. If they instead make it so that anyone who owned the original gets it upgraded for free then that would be surprisingly pro-consumer move and would also mean we can hopefully downpatch to get the original back.

Talking about the trailer itself, the Gens section literally just looks like Gens. This is perfectly fine - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The Shadow segment also looks visually quite good! Seems to feature Shadow hopping between... alternate timelines? I'm not really sure.

Is it me, or has Classic Sonic's model been updated to look closer to how he does in Mania, Forces and Superstars?

Edited January 31 by ShadowXeldron

[Cosmos Rogue]

God am I not looking forward to going through Shadow's tortured backstory yet again.

[Lorekitten]

10 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Play as Shadow the Hedgehog in a brand-new story campaign featuring never-before-seen powers and abilities. When Shadow’s old nemesis, Black Doom, reemerges and threatens to take over the world, Shadow must journey into his own past, confront painful memories, face familiar foes, and unlock new powers to save the world and prove why he’s known as the Ultimate Life Form!

8 minutes ago, Jango said:

Somehow Black Doom returned?

Yeah... I'm hoping there's some sort of explanation as to why and how this is happening. It doesn't have to not be corny because this is a video game about cartoon animals with superpowers, so that ship has sailed, but I'd at least like to have it make sense in context.

10 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

I wonder if classic thinks thats another future him like ugh my emo phase.

Hehehe that's hilarious.

3 minutes ago, Cosmos Rogue said:

God am I not looking forward to going through Shadow's tortured backstory yet again.

And honestly I don't fault you for that.

[Rabid-Coot]

30 minutes ago, mundiaxis said:

Also, did SEGA and their marketing team ever test out googling "Sonic x Shadow"?  

Unsurprisingly a 20 year old cartoon has mostly saved that.

[Soniman]

1 minute ago, Lorekitten said:

Yeah... I'm hoping there's some sort of explanation as to why and how this is happening. It doesn't have to not be corny because this is a video game about cartoon animals with superpowers, so that ship has sailed, but I'd at least like to have it make sense in context.

12 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

This is Sonic Generations, “somehow X returned” is the entire game 

[Lorekitten]

1 minute ago, Soniman said:

This is Sonic Generations, “somehow X returned” is the entire game 

I mean... fair point.

[Stasis]

Movie 3 is supposed to be borrowing some elements from StH. If Black Doom gets featured then this is the best way of introducing him to new comers without the need to play the OG. Yes, he died but it works and Ian will write a way around it. 

Edited January 31 by Stasis

[Graystripe2000]

Seems like Classic Sonic got a slightly updated model for this. 

 

[Maple Syrup]

5 minutes ago, Graystripe2000 said:

Seems like Classic Sonic got a slightly updated model for this. 

 

Well, I would've liked it if they kept the Superstars classic model. It was decent and made him pretty adorable!

[Tornado]

An entire new generation can now get hyped up for when Maria gets shot in the 3rd Sonic movie. Let's gooo!

 

 

 

 

 

Actually a legitimately good way to get new people people acquainted with a character who hasn't done anything in half a decade and hasn't really done anything for 18 years. Much better cross promotion (in theory) than that stupid ass shit they did with Taxman Sonic CD or Mania.

[KHCast]

Yknow, this does make me wonder, when Unleashed inevitably gets a remaster, if they’re gonna go this route of a straight port + extra standalone campaign.