KingK's 40-minute review of Shadow the Hedgehog

Taylor · Sep 29, 2022

Laura said:

Sonic5993 said:

One thing I feel Shadow's game does that literally nobody ever acknowledges at all is that it kind of fixes an issue I had with his sacrifice in Sonic Adventure 2.

Namely, he only did it because that's what Maria wanted him to do. He was perfectly fine letting the Ark drop when he thought that's what she wanted and only changed his mind when he remembered the full context of Maria's words. People get so caught up in the spectacle but that never sat right with me and I think someone at Sega understood that.

This game reframes it as Shadow deciding for himself to be a hero. Not because of Maria, or for Sonic and his friends, but for himself. It makes for a much more solid conclusion for the character while leaving him open for future appearances.

The fact they continously fuck up using him is besides the point lol.
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Honestly I interpret SA2's revelation very differently than that. She crucially tells Shadow that whatever reason he was made she believes his true purpose is to make people happy.

This memory makes Shadow realise someone believed in his ability to do good despite his origins. Shadow's perception of Maria changes from someone who encouraged his bad character to someone who would now believe in him to do better. It causes a complete change in his character in the sense that honouring Maria's memory isn't just honouring her literal words but to live his life to make people happy because she believed he could do so despite being created as a weapon. So really I think it has the same purpose in that Shadow realises for himself that he must be a good person.

It's really the climax of his narrative trajectory. He's already reclaiming his humanity in his relationship with Rouge and when he remembers his past he finally realises he can be a hero.

It's also very realistic. Often bad people will only make a change for the better once they realise that someone genuinely believes they can do so.
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Not to mention, Shadow becoming a hero in his titular game doesn't make much sense. Last Story implies that Shadow was working with Black Doom (or at least, was neutral about the whole thing). Then Doom reveals he's going to eat some humans and that's where Shadow draws the line, I guess? Even though the game opens with Shadow watching humans get killed by aliens and hes like "HEH...pathetic creatures!" The sudden alignment change makes sense in SA2 because Maria was his anchor, but in the Shadow game it doesn't have any logic to it.

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KingK's 40-minute review of Shadow the Hedgehog

Taylor

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