My opinions on various versions of Shadow the Hedgehog

This was taken from my strawpage's Shadow shrine. 

I love Shadow the Hedgehog. 

I'm sure you already figured this out, but he's one of my favorite characters of all time. To be honest, the thing that I found most appealing at the time was his edginess and dark backstory, though now it is both that and his overall complexity. He struggles with many things, such as the trauma of losing his best friend and the way the world treats him. He is far less perfect and righteous than he "should" be, but he isn't evil. I just love his attitude, and he's just badass. Also, he has some of the best music in the series. He's probably the main reason I love Sonic and its lore so much. I will talk for a long time about him...

(I used to simp for him, and that hasn't entirely gone away hehe...)

Spoilers for various Sonic media ahead, including Sonic 3 and Shadow generations!

Also the ones not listed are ones I haven't experienced yet, or I find too boring/insignificant to count.

Sonic Adventure 2

Arguably one of my favorite versions of Shadow!

He's undeniably great here. His conflict and redemption are very compelling. In fact, watching a compilation of every SA2 cutscene on youtube was the catalyst for my Sonic hyperfixation and caused me to love Shadow. I remember sobbing my heart out when Live and Learn played and after Shadow was revealed to have died. It was so beautiful. Shadow's inner turmoil being stricken by grief and rage is so appealing to me. Before the darkest thing in Sonic lore was probably Gamma's story, but everything changed when Shadow was introduced.

David Humphrey's vocal performance as well just ties his character together. His voice is more mellow than Sonic's, serving as a contrast. GUN somehow being able to mistake Shadow for Sonic is kind of funny to me aside from the real world explanation (Shadow/Terios looking more like Sonic when the story was written) and the possible story explanation (GUN wanting to possibly hide Shadow's existence? Just a game theory.)

Anyway, Shadow's ending in this story is beautiful and bittersweet. I really love the way he was written here.

Sonic Heroes

And so, Shadow's habit of contracting amnesia starts here.

I'm glad they brought back Shadow. Part of me wonders how things would've been if he stayed dead, but I love him so much I'm just happy we got more of him. And he's written decently well here too! This game also is the start of 'Team Dark', whom I love dearly. He's shown being with kindness as he saves Rouge from Omega's gunfire. While it's not that he *didn't* have any kindness in him, he usually doesn't like to show it. I haven't played through Team Dark's story yet, so I haven't seen the little dialogue that they would exchange during the levels, but I do know the story of the game. Overall, he's treated fairly here, I'd say.

What's not to love about that stylish pose? (Shown below)

Sonic X

Shadow is great here too!

For the majority of Sonic X, Shadow is being adapted from SA2, which is why he's so great. However, season 3 is where he's written in a new story. Kudos to the writers; they managed to keep him intact while writing an original story. He's animated well, too, though I don't know if can forgive how they handled the rare back views you get. (Just google an image of it; it's... very different from Shadow's actual design.)

I've only watched the eng dub so far, so I can't comment on the JP voice and I haven't seen the scenes that were cut out of the dub. Jason Griffith does a great job here though. I honestly didn't notice he was also sonic until I remembered, haha. I still think that Shadow's character is handled well.

He's really fun in season 3. I really love the episode where he tries to kill Cosmo (Not out of hatred for her!).

Sonic Battle

Shadow is also written well here.

He's a bit stubborn but cooperative, just how I like him. To be frank, I don't know how I feel about him having Maria's soul. It makes sense in terms of Gerald's goal--he would certainly put in a failsafe to prevent Shadow being GUN's weapon, but I wonder how he managed to put in Maria's soul. Shadow isn't a robot, so he can't be programmed; I don't think he imbued shadow with her memories. This is beyond science. Besides, Shadow acts so different than Maria would/did. It is a nice thought, but makes little sense.

Otherwise, Shadow is written fine. I like him here, aside from the plot point I just mentioned.

Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)

Poor guy can't keep his memories if he wanted :P

Some people will refer to this game as "the downfall of Sonic". I don't see it that way; I actually kind of like this game. Maybe not in terms of gameplay (I haven't played it), but I enjoy the music, artstyle, and story additions. What can I say, I like edgy bois!

Objectively, he's characterized differently, in a way many people dislike. There are some parts of this game that I don't like either, but it is a choose-your-own-adventure, so you technically get to decide his character. Though SEGA, for some reason, didn't give a canon route (as far as I know).

I know this game is considered to be shit, but I can't help but love it. This, along with SA2, really got me into sonic. "I Am... All of Me" got me into sonic music. I even memorized the lyrics in its entirety at one point! Though now I've kind of forgotten hehe...

All in all, while I understand this game wasn't "good", I can't help but love it. And I love weird ass killer alien creatures so I'm happy it made Shadow an artificial alien hybrid! Black Doom is awesome too, fight me

This game is a goldmine of stupid quotes and weird promotional content (M-Flo loves Shadow the Hedgehog, for example).

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Despite this game's flaws, Shadow (and team dark) are perhaps some of its strongest points (aside from the music).

Shadow is probably the closest to his SA2 incarnation with the good parts of heroes and shth05. He struggles with Mephiles' manipulation as Mephiles plants seeds of doubt. He does eventually triumph with Rouge (and Omega)'s support, and thus one of the most beloved quotes in the series is born: "Even if the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have!"

I love team dark here because they support each other and work well together. (Silver and Amy are also awesome!) Some fans would argue that Shadow is best here, and I honestly have to agree. To me, this version of Shadow is tied with SA2 Shadow.

I also think his models in this game are pretty good.

Sonic and the Black Knight

Okay, I know this *technically* isn't "Shadow", but what the hell I love him

Sir Lancelot is more of his own unique character here, but he has some of Shadow's aloofness and composure. He's cool as fuck so that's why he fits as Lancelot. Note: I haven't read the actual Arthurian legend so I don't really know how the original Lancelot is like.

Sonic Boom (TV show)

I'm... really mixed on him here.

I haven't played the boom games, but I have an idea of his character and voice in those. I won't comment on the games though.

This is probably my least favorite Kirk performance. He's very raspy and it sounds painful to voice him. Shadow's character model is also a bit weird here, but the animation for the show in general is fairly weak (to no fault of the animators). I do like his design a bit here (I'd personally make him a bit shorter), and I can enjoy some nice tsundere boom shadow.

He has potential here, but he doesn't have much screentime, and he's portrayed like a villain. Sticks' reference to aliens in one episode made me wonder what the writers wanted to include more of his original backstory but couldn't.

So yeah. Probably my least favorite version of Shadow. I only really enjoy him in fanfiction, but aside from that, I don't really like him here.

Sonic Forces

A bit of a step up.

His stages are the better ones in forces, but still kind of suck because... well... it's forces.... But I do prefer him here over boom. He's still very arrogant, but he cares about Omega and values Rouge, which is better than boom where they both weren't present (maybe that's why he's so grumpy? hm....)

Kirk's voice improves here, his voice is less raspy.

It's really fucking funny how him insulting Infinite inadvertently causes sonic forces. It'd be entertaining if they interacted again and shadow didn't give a fuck. I'm glad you can play as him in sonic's stages though.

I just wish they did a bit more with him, to be honest. Still better than *cough cough* boom *cough cough*

Team Sonic Racing

Since this one has a bit of a story (albeit a boring one), it's going here instead of the other sonic racing games. Also because I haven't played those much teehee

Shadow is kind of boring here. With there not being much of a story, it's hard to really form an opinion. His trash talking gives me a bit of second-hand embarrassment, but that's due to the fact I don't like him being too much of an arrogant dick.

Him leaving Rouge and Omega behind in the animated short(s) isn't something I really like either. I'd rather he apologize or NOT leave dust in their faces to end up losing anyway.

At least we got his gorgeous smirk I guess...

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

MY BOY!!! HE HAS RETURNED!!!

First off, let me say, he SLAYS in that outfit. Second, he's written much better here. He shows more emotion than just "evil little shit" and "arrogant bastard" (though I also do kind of love shadow being a little shit) and is actually cooperative with others. To be fair, part of shadow's character is his emotion-masking and neutral/bored composure.

Anyway. Love him here. He's so much better. Now time to buy some coffee from my king

Sonic Prime

He's definitely gay here and you can't change my mind

Omg I love him so much. My only question is about his backstory, since he mentions being the ultimate lifeform at one point. Since there are no humans aside from Eggman, it makes me wonder if he went through the ark tragedy and if Maria existed. Guys if you have ANYTHING about his backstory pls send it to me...

Anyway he's literally just shadow. He has empathy but is also just, a cool ass guy. He really dgaf.

Shadow Generations

bro when i tell you i kissed the game box im not lying...

He's so good here, Ian Flynn fucking cooked. Kirk's performance is at an all-time high for this game (+ Dark beginnings). Shadow's turmoil/conflict here--dealing with Black Doom's return and the doom powers, Maria and Gerald being in whitespace and trying to bring back time... at the cost of Maria and Gerald's fates being sealed. I love Black Doom, I love Maria and Gerald, and I love Shadow. Also the gameplay is fucking AWESOME and the music made me ascend to a higher plane.

The manga is fantastic too. While it is a slightly different story, it maintains basically the same Shadow.

Absolute peak.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

If you don't like Shadow... why

He's superb in this film!! I honestly don't have much to say except that I love it. Of course, they did basically just adapt SA2 into the sonic movies, but they did a great job doing so. The one part that I didn't totally like was probably the fact he's not a freaky artificial black arms hybrid, but that's more of a personal taste thing. I love creatures that are totally fucked up <3

Keanu Reeves does a fantastic job voicing him here. At first, I was a bit mixed because I thought he was too mellow (even compared to Humphrey), but he grew on me. The memes that amounted from this is a bonus as well. Also we got a fantastic fan song called "Shadow Wick: Murderholics" by The Chalkeaters.

His model also looks so good! Marza and Blur did a great job animating him.

ngl I want to pet him

IDW

Since multiple people have written him as well as this being an ongoing series, this section will be the least concrete.

I like Evan Stanley's shadow; their fancomic GOTF is a good example of that. I like Ian Flynn's shadow, but ofc the mandates didn't really let him write shadow how he wanted to in the earlier issues. I think that in recent issues (as of Feb 2025) he is definitely being written better. I enjoyed that saga with all the chaos crystals or whatever they were called. I think sega realized that fans prefer a well-written shadow.

Either way, I can't say much except for "he's fine at his best and too arrogant at his worst". This may change once "Chasing Shadows" has been released.

It's so funny how fans tore *that one panel* apart lmao. Poor writers

edit: turns out he probably had insecurity from that one conversation with amy in sonic chronicles lol (will be added later)