Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe Thread (& Knuckles)

Hey, one man’s meat is another man’s poisson…

But SA2 is still there, still playable, still a lot of fun. It took twenty plus years to get a film of it, after Sonic X did a version of it, I doubt it’ll be the last time you see SA2 on the big screen or the small screen in some way.

 

Because it's just a video game man, not life or death.

 

Dude you have it completely wrong. Shadow got a massive reaction from the audience in the post credits reveal in Sonic 2 and the exact same thing happened again during every time he was on screen, and the after credits for Sonic 3. People want to see more of him. I used to think Shadow was perceived like a joke too, but I don't think that's the case anymore.

 

I'm gonna say a lukewarm take and add that I think the Biolizard is a wholly unnecessary addition to the SA2 story, it's not cool or scary or mysterious like Chaos, it's ugly and it looks like a giant dick in the final fight because it has somehow become kaiju-sized and wrapped(??) itself around the eclipse cannon. Honestly every plot point past Cannon's Core is a dud to me, except for Super Shadow and his subsequent "death".

I cannot think of any way it can be "expanded" upon because there is nothing there to expand upon. Biolizard is the FF9 Necron/Giant Space Flea Out of Nowhere of SA2. It shows up out of nowhere because we Need A Big Monster As The Final Boss.

yeah Shadow is considered unironically cool now, especially by younger people who weren't around for Shadow the Hedgehog and 06, so they lack of the context of having every media outlet on the planet mock the guy for having a gun, and also both those games playing like shit

he's played as cool/tragic in Dark Beginnings and he's played as cool/tragic in Shadow Gens, and he's played as cool/tragic and adorable in the movie too. Hell, there's those moments in the abandoned base where he's played as a slasher villain which I thought was rad af.

 

If we had more background into Gerald's research like the idea that Biolizard is based off Perfect Chaos. He was assumedly studying chaos which is why we have the artificial chaos's and the chaos drives etc, but Biolizard isn't really tied into that research. If he was then it might make him make more sense as a final boss.

 

like, practically the only foreshadowing for biolizard itself is a blurry jpeg in a scene with Rouge being vague about Shadow being the "real one". you could cut out that scene and the biolizard as the final boss and nothing about the plot would really change. Finalhazard literally could just be the Ark's defense systems, tripped by Gerard's message, trying to keep Gerard's plan for killing everyone in motion.

I dislike the random altar at the end of Cannon's Core but now that you mention it, at least the artificial chaos enemies foreshadow it in a way you can't really ignore.

 

Yeah totally agree with the alter at the end. It's never shown in the game up till then. There's a specific place for the emeralds that Eggman uses, and then it randomly becomes "designed like the shrine to harness the power of the chaos emeralds". That wasn't necessary before so why is it needed now to run the cannon? I like the idea and the artificial chaos does make sense, it's just feels like a lot randomly changes for Cannon's Core.

 

I 100% agree with this take. Chaos from SA1 is an example of a story that builds towards the gigantic monster finale rather than just come up with one at the 11th hour. The Biolizard fight is pretty uninteresting too, something that might as well have been an Eggman machine with a bunch of buttons to homing attack. Final Hazard is understandable given that it's supposed to be a climatic video game finale, so you need some kind of suitable final boss. But as Sonic 3 didn't have such a requirement they were able to just have Sonic and Shadow kick a bunch of GUN Robot ass.

In hindsight I don't know what the right choice of final boss would be, unless you somehow radically altered the outcome of the story and did a Kingdom Hearts or Metal Gear Solid style final boss against Super Shadow in like a closed arena.

 

Spinball 2 not existing is enough to make any man lose hope in existence

 

Don't agree with any of the more negative takes, either.

I don't feel anything from the loss of The Biolizard (it was pretty out of nowhere in the game). I really like that even if was still brief, Maria was a character, not just a plot device that has one line.

The movie clearly streamlined a lot of SA2's story for its hour and fourty minute runtime, but I think most of it was done pretty gracefully, with its own consistent plots joining into one and as mentioned above, I really love the thematic throughline from Sonic -> Shadow -> Eggman.

They all made the right choice despite their personal experiences. Dare I say, I like that the movie has an actual solid thematic throughline at all?

(I love SA2, but I think it absolutely has issues narratively.)

Find it to be a super solid movie, even with it having a couple of bits of comedy that didn't do much for me.

It's doing its own thing while paying tribute and that's my personal favourite kind of adaption. If I want to play SA2, I'll go play SA2.

But of course, just my opinion here as well!

As for the reception of Shadow? Personally I've seen almost nothing but love for him in the movie and how Keanu Reeves portrayed him. So I feel like you don't have to fear about that? Particularly how the serious parts of his character were handled, too.

(I kind of get a sense that post is a troll, though.)

 

If anything, the movie made me appreciate the Biolizard more. At least it posed a real threat, requiring them to go super and stop the Ark.

In the movie, they go super again just to fight fodder GUN mechs that conveniently slow them down before the laser gets fired.

It doesn’t help that in the previous movies, Super Sonic took out a giant mech in seconds. You’d think two super-powered hedgehogs, who can move faster than sound, could do the same to smaller mechs—even if there are a lot of them.

You know how Sonic Prime did the whole Saturday morning cartoon shtick, where Sonic can defeat mechs effortlessly, but when he needs a setback, those same mechs suddenly become harder to destroy so he takes an L? That’s exactly how this felt to me.

In a way, I kind of wish the Super Sonic vs. Super Shadow fight had lasted longer, ending at the last minute—right before the cannon was about to fire. That way, they could have avoided repeating the beach scene talk with Knuckles from Sonic 2.

Out of all the movies so far, I really wish they would talk more about their original plans, the challenges they faced, what changed, and why they made certain decisions.

 

Moving in space is hard man.

 

You're right, lately my running pace has been degrading so I shouldn't judge them too much on not destroying those robots sooner.

 

The one thing I feel Movie 3 missed the most from Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2 is that he wasn't just cool because he has an awesome design and a tragic backstory, there was a mystique to his character.

"Thank you for releasing me master, allow me to grant you a single wish." The way they presented him as this mysterious stranger who we slowly see dial back and find out the motivations of, was part of what made SA2's story so well executed.

We see him go from pretending to be Eggman's pawn, to slowly revealing he has his own sinister motivations for helping him, then in the end find out Shadow is who he is because of a deep personal tragedy. That ends in a beautiful scene of redemption and sacrifice. "Maria...this is what you wanted right..."

I feel just info dumping Shadow's backstory and skipping over making the character mysterious and somewhat other worldly takes away a lot of what sold him as a character to me in Sonic Adventure 2.

I also feel that his "death" being the final scene of SA2 is why the games story still sticks to me so much. This epic Rollercoaster story with so many cool and emotional events ends on a somber note where the characters finally get to take a moment to reflect on the events of the game.

"Do you really think... that the professor created Shadow to carry out the revenge on all those who live there, on Earth?"

"He was what he was: a brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save his planet. Shadow the Hedgehog..."

Not letting you really sit on and reflect on Shadow's "sacrifice" takes away a lot of said "sacrifice" for me. Even if you backtrack on it in another movie letting the moment stand makes it feel real in the moment.

They got the beats of Shadow's story but they took away his swagger, to the detriment of the film for me.

 

But... They did take out the GUN in a matter of seconds... 1 bop each and then they Spear'd the rest.

 

You are hanging out with the wrong people, Shadows rep in both gaming and general pop culture has quite literally never been more positive, and I know a ton who saw the movie and came out finally understanding the appeal of the character.

And even just in general, I do not understand these blanket criticisms for not being *more* faithful, between you and the other user, so here's my take on it. We've all watched the same trilogy, right? The movieverse is not compatible with a 1 to 1 retelling, at least not yet, they've gotta bend and twist whatever they are adapting, and the fact that at its core, this is just sa2's story without a lot of the fat, is imo, commendable.

Because they have to make it fit within 2 hours. SA2, even in only cut scenes, is about an hour and a half already. And as mentioned, these films don't exist in the games universe. So, in 2 hours,they need to set up why its happening, how its happening, and still write a satisfying story

Maybe if we started at a better place with these movies things could be different but I feel like these kinds of criticisms are simply, 5 years late. If this was still sonic 1, i'd get it

its sonic 3. Ships sailed.

 

Sonic put it best. In SA2, he's just a kid who has to deal with some serious bullshit. In Heroes, he's completely left in the dark about what the heck is going on. In ShtH, he's been put in the spotlight without a warning. These are all situations one could easily feel overwhelmed by, but not so Shadow. Shadow just takes it like a champ. He's really the coolest. However, with time he became a much more mature character. This sense of improvisation vanished, and he became something of a mercenary. Which isn't bad when done right! But there's just something about naive characters being courageous when facing difficult situations that this modern iteration lacks. In Sonic 3, Shadow comes across as this mercenary-type character been put in the shoes of that naive kid.

That's where that discrepancy comes from, I believe.

 

From what I remember:

- Super Sonic and Shadow take off toward the station.
- Gerald spanks Eggman, and they fight.
- Gerald releases the mechs.
- Sonic and Shadow show off, destroying them one by one, even recreating the SA2: Battle opening in a DiCaprio pointing at the TV moment.
- Tails and Knuckles help Eggman commit justifiable homicide.
- The cannon gets ready to fire.
- Shadow destroys a mech and says they're out of time.
- He finally one-shots them with Chaos Spears before heading toward the station.

This is what I mean of the convenient holding them off until necessary trope to justify why they didn’t get there faster.

I get that movie time is a factor, but the editing made it feel less impactful.

At least with the Biolizard, you could justify the delay—it was massive, throwing eggs and lasers at them, forcing them to take it down before using Chaos Control to return the ARK to orbit.

The smaller mechs, on the other hand, just feel like fodder. We already know what base Sonic and Shadow can do, so as Super forms, the mechs should be nothing to them.

 

Idk how to even start with anything else said but above all there's not a single post I've made that's been anything less than what I feel.

 

Well, it's a simple disagreement, then.

Sometimes this kind of hyperbolic opinion comes across as wanting to stir conflict, but your responses seem genuine enough so far, so just agree to disagree.