Sonic X Shadow Generations announced, releases Autumn 2024

Odds are it won't, but I would die for Sonadow Gens to be the game that finally puts Kirk-Shadow above C-Tier.

I've always been a Kirk-Shadow truther, mainly because I know he's capable of it as shown with Kirk Thorton's role as Saix in KH:



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I've always blamed it on poor vocal direction as a result, but I'm hoping this'll be what gets him the gas-up I know he's capable of.

Even then I'd say post-2014 Kirk has had some uses that I've found myself appealed by such as:

(0:39 - 1:17)

(SEASON 2, SPECIFICALLY)



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Anyways despite everything, I want this to be what brings up Kirk-Shadow's appeal.

That being said David Humphrey is forever my favorite Shadow, so this is just "Who will get the Silver or Bronze Trophy"

 

just noticed this but I like how they kept the games made for SEGA consoles on a separate table from the rest of the series lol

 

I like the US cover fine, Shadow's black contrasting in-between the blue of the two Sonics. I just find it weird that they're standing on platforms, makes it look busier than it needs to IMO. They could be floating or have it cut off at their feet and it'd look fine I think.

 

I can only assume that the US box art wanted to reuse the 2011 box art to make it more clear that it's a remaster and not a brand new game. But at the same time, it also seems to be banking on the same thought process guiding Shadow 05's box art: that Americans like ACTION and AGGRESSIVENESS front and center.

 

Hard agree. The other Kirk role I know is Kisame from Naruto and it’s just nuts to me how people think he’s a bad actor. I really think it’s a big issue of the material he’s had to work with ever since his casting being very singular in its tone. We’ve never heard this Shadow be vulnerable in any way. Never seen him be introspective, nor genuinely warm towards someone like Sonic who he does genuinely view as an equal. All the material he’s given is the same genre of unfazed, dismissive apathy. Even the writing for Shadow in IDW gives him more emotional range than any of his game appearances since 2010.

 

Shadow is already pretty hardcore with his dark colors and moody expression, so I don't see why he needed the glow-up like he's Kirby.

 

I don't think he's a bad actor. He's obviously not, given how prolific he is. But Saïx has very rarely had material that wasn't dismissive apathy either, and yet it just doesn't work as well here. Even with the material he's being given, and with what the director wants him to do, I just don't think he nails that tone, regardless of if it's accurate to Shadow's character or not. I also used to point to his performance as Saix as being the ultimate proof he could pull Shadow off...but I pointed to KH2 Saïx, not KH3 Saïx. Even with KH3, it's clear that the years have not been kind to his range. The clips Spamitex posted are how he sounds today, but compare that to how he sounded in 2006, when he was in his prime:


Listening to both KH3's Saïx and Shadow's clips, I think he just has issues getting loud or aggressive and maintaining that kind of voice. 20 years ago, he could've made "CHAOS CONTROL!" sound really powerful, but today he sounds like he's struggling with it.

 

I've always saw Kirk's uneven performance as a matter of direction, which is supported by the fact that Sega has very weird and strict ideas of who Shadow is that frustrates other writers. Not hard to believe that extends to the voice direction (or lack thereof sometimes).

 

has there been any indication if shadow's 3d stages will have more adventure-style gameplay, or still boost gameplay? he does something a few times in the SGF trailer with orange energy around him that kinda looks like boosting but it's hard to tell

 

It's still Boost basically entirety. They're trying to match Sonic Generations so a drastic gameplay shift isn't to be expected.

 

when they first announced this i was expecting shadow to be a third gameplay type in the the form of adventure style, but that was before they also announced he'll have 2d stages

i think that would've been more interesting but ah well, modern sonic's gameplay with chaos powers (if the powers are done well) sounds fun too

 

I think they are trying to delineate Shadow here as the Adventure-y middleground between the two Sonics, even if his gameplay is really moreso just slightly modified Frontiers. I certainly don't think it looks "entirely" like Modern Sonic's gameplay, or that similar at all really, even with this boost ability which seems to be executed much differently.

 

To me it feels straight up like any other boost game, the chaos powers function similarly to Wisps. The main difference is that Shadow has the ability to fire projectiles. The comparison to Bowser's Fury is probably the best way of looking at it because that largely controls and functions the same way as 3D World but there's a shift in design that also brings it closer to Mario 64/Odyssey. For a new game packaged alongside a remaster it's fine, not expecting them to drastically shake things up here.

 

Outside of personal preference since quality voice acting is ultimately subjective at the end of the day, I think the fact of the matter is that Shadow simply hasn't been a prominent character since Kirk took over the role. His first speaking role was Free Riders in 2010, where Shadow is mostly in a secondary role and a few voice clips in the DS version of Colors. Then he's just a boss fight in Generations with all of one spoken sentence (the infamous "You Gyatt dis sawnik") and his next spoken appearance wouldn't be until Rise of Lyric, three years later, where he is once again just a one-off boss fight with no relevance to the narrative and... some of the worst dialogue ever spoken by that character, ditto for his appearances in the TV show, but at least he had much more spoken dialogue despite only being in two episodes. He wouldn't show up again until Sonic Forces and the final episode of Sonic Boom, in 2017, where once again, he has pretty small roles, but the general consensus feels like this is where Kirk finally hit his stride given Shadow has more spoken dialogue up to this point.

So it took seven years after being casted as the character for him to get more comfortable in the role. For the sake of comparison, Jason Griffith was casted as Shadow at the height of his popularity when he was in every game and had a major role in all of them. The SA2 adaptation of Sonic X and having an entire game centered on him in 2005 and by far having the most substantial role in games like 06, and Rivals. Griffith simply way more material to work with to reach his stride faster.

It's rather telling this remaster will be the first time Kirk Thorton will play Shadow as the central protagonist, fourteen years after the fact. But hey... better late than never I suppose.

 

actually, now that you bring up that Shadow hasn't been in very much this past, like, decade, do we know if he still has the same JP voice actor?

 

Yes, Kouji Yusa still voices him from his introduction up to current material. This applies to most of the JP cast, except for a few special cases, such as Chikao Ootsuka (Eggman's first voice actor) who passed away in 2015, some pre-Adventure material which happened to have voices characters and the movies

 

I would argue it's Shadow's being out of the spotlight that's delayed Thorton's settling into the role rather than the other way around. The more you do something, the easier it comes. Plus if that were the case, why penalize the Japanese voice actor for it?

 

It's kind of sad they're taking tiny steps towards better level design with each game. By the time they get good, they might no longer be working at Sonic Team and then have to hire new people and start all over. That's why I've always disliked the sentence "step in the right direction," when it's used for something that's still overall mediocre. Why can't it just be good from the start? How many decades do we have to wait until we can finally have consistently good 3D level design?

 

I think they were being literal when they say that phrase for Sonic.

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I certainly agree but I get the feeling the situation as is exists because of budget limitations Sega has placed on the Franchise until very recently. Sonic games were meant to be budget titles that appeal a core audience in North America primarily. One answer to that is to hire staff that will accept lower pay, and you get what you pay for. No of course that's all speculation, I have no idea if any of that is accurate so if someone wants to correct me then all means.

Personally though, I think Space Colony Ark Act 1 looks fun. Branching paths may not have a lot to offer at first glance, but the Chaos Control mechanic opens up a lot of potential. The use of it with the missiles impressed me.