Super Shadow: The Light in the Darkness 

Thanks for all the support, guys. Seriously. Quick Note: I goofed and referred to Maria as Gerald's neice. She is in fact his granddaughter. (If you listen to the original audio on Patreon, you'll also hear me say that she's Sonic's neice or something like that. Recording gets weird.) Please be sure to show some love to the art in the video, and pop by our Discord. We're doing a new Sonic gaming competition soon! TOOT TOOT SONIC WARRIORS!

“Shadow’s like a cat. They can be jerks but, if it’s your cat, they love you unconditionally.” That’s surprisingly accurate

I’ve come to respect Shadow as a character and also loathing the fact that SEGA completely assassinated his character in the modern era.

Something to note... Amy is the only genuinely good person that reaches out to Shadow without any motives for conflict. Sonic immediately fights Shadow due to being framed. Tails wants to clear Sonic’s name so naturally he’d be against Shadow. Knuckles is fighting Rouge for the Master Emerald pieces, so he’s obviously an obstacle as well. Eggman and Rouge proves Shadow’s bias against humanity and their selfish and greedy behaviors. Amy is literally the only one who never antagonizes him. She never fights him. Never insults him. Never uses him. Shadow has never even been shown any semblance of kindness throughout his entire arc. Hence why he’s able to constantly bury his light. It’s not until Amy reminds Shadow what compassion and kindness feels like that Shadow’s memories completely clear up. A main reason why Amy’s such a great character. While obsessed with Sonic, she’s the most humble, most kind, and most innocent character in this game. She’s the purest of the bunch and nobody but her would have been able to reach out and pull him out of his darkness.

2001: live and learn. 2005: never turn back. 2006:all hail Shadow. My respects.

What Shadow used to represent: Don't judge a book by it's cover. The book might even surprise itself. What Shadow represents now: What you see is what you get.

Honestly, seeing both Sonic and Shadow turning Super was one of the most hype moments in the series.

"a hero would sacrafice you to save the world but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you" fits shadow perfectly

If you use a second controller in the story mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, you can play as _Maria._ Shadow just looks on in horror as she literally slaps everything until it stops moving. And it's a stage where her objective is to use healing items on downed GUN soldiers. It's literally a "Call an ambulance... BUT NOT FOR ME!" moment.

"He's a little less like Sasuke and more Vegeta" yeah that pretty much sums up Modern day Shadow

Shadow's entire character base: I promised Maria to protect humans. SEGA: *puts Shadow in worlds where humans, including Maria never existed Seems legit

I was bullied when I was younger for liking the sonic series. Listening to this character analysis of Shadow just. Brought me to tears. I love this series and SA2 was the first game I played of the series. I don't want to be ashamed of liking it anymore. Characters and stories like these are exactly why. Thank you for making these videos and I will be here supporting you in the future!! You deserve the best.

Normal Shadow: Discord Dark Mode. Super Shadow: Discord Light Mode.

Fun fact: In the original japanese dialogue of SA2, G.U.N actually frame Sonic for Shadow's crimes and use their influence to trick the media/public into thinking that the dark hedgehog is Sonic but in a different form (similar to his super form). It's also explained that G.U.N are framing Sonic to keep project Shadow under wraps, so the classified events of the ARK wouldn't become public knowledge (such as the bioengineering for military purposes as well as Maria's death). I'll get why some dubs in the 00s were censored (still BS tho) but why would they straight-out change character motivations/plot points that were already perfectly explained in the JP script?

just something I thought while watching this video. His name is Shadow, not Darkness. By definition, a shadow cannot exist without 2 things, a light source, and an object in the path of the light source. just a thought I wanted to share

I have really come to respect Shadow's character, especially after playing Shadow the Hedgehog. Immensely powerful and well aware of the fact. Ruthless, to the point of using any weapon at his disposal and not ever pulling his punches. And yet, there is a soft center to him. He will gun down everyone in his way, and pick fights with anyone to see things through, but still unable to completely shut out kind, innocent people. And that is with him being my favorite, since i got into Sonic as a kid, with Sonic Battle. Along with Tails, but shush.

SA2 was always Shadow’s Story. Everybody else was just along for the ride.

6:45 "You start off Sonic's story with him already trailing behind shadow." So... are you saying that Sonic is in Shadow's shadow? That he's being overshadowed by Shadow? Sorry, I'll stop throwing shade.

People think Shadow is Edgy Shadow is actually Depressed

This hit different. I honestly cried. I've never knew how lowkey good shadow's character story was as a child

Sorry, I just wanna say that Diet Sora is literally the best thing I have ever heard Chris called. Literally. The best. Well done. I love it. #ChrisSucks

Shadow turning Super for the first time in Sonic Adventure 2 is still one of the best moments in the franchise. His redemption, the fight between the Biolizard, all culminating in casting away the darkness that clouded his mind. All going into the final battle between the Finalhazard with Super Sonic and Super Shadow teaming up with Live and Learn playing. Really sucks that Super Shadow has kind of just stopped appearing in mainline titles. Would’ve really liked to have seen this form at least as a bonus in Sonic Forces.

Might be a hot take here, but I thought he was done well in Forces. He wasn’t pissed off at Sonic for no reason like Grnerations and Boom and even showed concern when Infinite said he was going after him. He also showed concerned for Omega and Kirk also seemed to improve his acting for Shadow. It actually sounded like Shadow. Shame they couldn’t have him do anything in the story, but I hope he acts like that in future games.

I knew he was an amazing character but oh man, this video opened my eyes even more to what Shadow really is! My heart is warmed

Shadow was literally created to be the caretaker for a little girl and the fact that him and Cream barely interact in canon is downright criminal.

They slaughtered Shadow's character in the IDW comics. SEGA, if you're reading this, let Flynn depict Shadow his way, please! We don't like the Leeroy Jenkins overconfident Shadow!

Honestly this is peak shadow the hedgehog I think the reason why people are so drawn to him isn't because of him being a "edge lord" but more so his character arc. To a certain extent I can relate to his character Sega had somewhere they were going with his character and they did a really good job with it. Honestly if shadow never appeared again I'd be satisfied with his ending here He's just a well written and great character. He is my favorite sonic character because of his character and not because of the meme. Super shadow is the ivory flower of light In a forest of darkness

I appreciate the Venom reference and it's actually quite accurate if you've read the comics. Like Shadow, Venom also learned the trials of the light and darkness, good and bad, and decided to take a step forward and become something different than what he was. (He is even currently fighting a God of Darkness, so like, literal light in the darkness!)

Shadow was always my favorite growing up in the franchise. It was basics really: Cool aesthetic Grand first impression through SA2 And a tragic and truthfully understanding backstory. A being who has such grand power being twisted for revenge against humanity, the absolute opposite of what he was intended for. And yes I understand fans say Heroes and His title game derailed the development...or DID it? Ok so he gets amnesia, barely knows his history. This is a new test laid before him: “You have a clean slate. Judge humanity for yourself. Do you feel they are beneath you and you should put them out of their misery? OR do you decide that despite their grand faults and failures, their intentions deep down are just misunderstood and need a guiding hand or a friend or two?” Shadow, at the conclusion of his own game canonically decides “I will not judge by past mistakes. I am here in the now and I decide that you pose a threat to a world I’ve grown to embrace as home.” Even Mephiles TRIES to sway him with what ol Dafoe Gobby once said “in spite of everything you’ve done, eventually they will hate you.” But he still stands firm and says “nope. No take backs. Now piss off.” Maybe that’s why we don’t see him much in the games anymore. He’s already tested and bested his faults and obstacles. What else is there? ANOTHER bout of Amnesia to overcome? That’s pretty evident why Shadow pulled the illusion of “oh no evil Shadow in forces??” Off so quickly. Cause we as an audience and fandom know he’s never going to backpedal. He’s already an ally and there’s no way he’d be in the wrong again. (By-the-by, I feel like Forces got us our shadow back the closest. It’s not a 1-to-1 return but it’s better than the alternatives we had) You wanna know something about 06? Between the usual “Beastiality” jokes and “ITS NO USE” and the glitches and bugs...never have I heard anyone have grievances with the Shadow campaign. Does he ride vehicles? Yeah but he didn’t get a forced SUPER SPEED mechanic or heinous puzzles with telekinesis. And not to mention his campaign focused on him having to face the fact that humans would still fear the ultimate life form....like look at his face when Omega came to this conclusion. Yeah the character in game models have the static not as emotive faces, but the way it’s angled, the way it holds on him as his eyes have trouble staying firm. It’s like he feels like all his hard work is for not. Like he’s back to square one. But despite that revelation, rather than become lethargic and let fate kick him to the curb, he keeps pushing forward. Because that’s what Sonic would do. The hedgehog he knows is his better (but clearly won’t admit it for risk of blue boy getting egotistical) but knows that you can either run Or you can push on despite the chips being down. And if that isn’t what makes shadow awesome, well I got nothing. Maybe he really is nothing but an Edge meme.

just wish sega didnt frickin make him a broody edgelord vegeta wannabe.

one note about something near the middle: shadow didn’t remember what he wanted to remember, his memories were manipulated by gerald to share his motivation of destroying the world that took maria away so he would carry that plan out for him. it was less that shadow finally came around and remembered who his best friend really was and more that he finally broke through the conditioning and false memories to find out what maria really wanted. from what he was given, he had no reason to not wholeheartedly believe that maria wanted the world to pay, and because of his absolute commitment and devotion to her, he intended to see it through. when it turned out that wasn’t what she wanted and she actually asked him to give everyone in the world a chance to live good lives, he did not hesitate and immediately sprung to action to do well by his best friend. shadow is more than anything, a character bound by the wishes of others, namely maria. he wouldn’t have misinterpreted her wishes for selfish reasons because he is devoted to her wishes absolutely.

You've summed up Shadow's SA2 arc perfectly. I adore Shadow, to the point he was the reason I had red streaks in my hair throughout my teens, but even I jokingly call him Sonic the Edgehog constantly. But he was always written as an incredibly deep character, and it was far too easy for people to dismiss that as just goth Sonic.

The reason why I love Shadow so much as a hero is that after becoming one, he never wavers in his convictions. He redeemed himself in SA2 by nearly dying to stop the Biohazard. He opposed Black Doom, his biological father, to stop his intergalactic conquest. He decides to stop Mephiles even after learning humanity will betray him despite all he’s done for them. The Light within the Darkness indeed.

This may be the best Shadow character analysis video I've seen on youtube. You reminded me why I and countless others related to him so much AND pointed out some more layers I didn't even realize he had. He earned his spot as the 2nd most popular Sonic character for a reason. And NOT because he frowns, hates everything, has a superiority complex, no friends, and steals popcorn from chao. It's fun for parodies, but it's not and never was his character. No matter how much the SEGA "mandates" try to tarnish and butcher his character, the real Shadow (especially from sa2 and 06) has a heart, has more goals and ambitions than just buttings heads with Sonic, and is a genuine compassionate hero despite his cold, abrassive, no nonense front. That's the TRUE Shadow we know and love.

Shadow was the first fictional character I got obsessed with, almost 10 years ago, and you made me remember why.

I watched this video at, like, 3 am with utterly no knowledge about Sonic or anything of the sort; I just thought the thumbnail looked cool. That was about a month ago and I'm pretty sure this is the reason why I'm now waist deep in this series now; thank you for such a wonderful introduction, your channel rocks, keep it up!

Open your heart Shadow... and it will be alright, you live and learn from your achievements just as much as your mistakes, to become the hero you were meant to be, Shadow the Hedgehog. Doesn't matter if it's an anti hero, tragic hero, super hero, or just your regular guy that helps people, when it counts they come through.

29:40 This is one of my favorite parts of the lore: Gerald explored Angel Island and found the murals in Lost World and Hidden Palace and used Perfect Chaos and Super Sonic as the basis of his Ultimate lifeforms. It's why Shadow's silhlouette mirrors Super Sonic, why the artificial Chaos exist at all and why Perfect Chaos and the Biolizard share the same roar. It's a shame that the only real line drawing attention to it is at the end of Final Hazard and even then it's a lot of inferences, but it's such a great use of the series past elements.

I personally view it as this. In the Japanese version of SA2, Shadow uses a word closer to Man Servant instead of Sonic's rebellious wording. It fits! Shadow's goal is to serve the goal of others. He gives Eggman the greatest weapon to rule, he saved Rouge when she needed help, he follows Gerald's wishes of burning the world, and finally. He follows the whishes of Maria. You should definitely check out the Japanese version of SA2 and there's a great video out there, it's great!

This is a GREAT summarization of Shadow. You’re about to start getting ALOT more views in the near future the closer we get to the 3rd movie (I hope they stay true to his origins)

Shadow the hedgehog is an example of forgetting the past and moving forward into the future as a new person, especially with with his sad and dark past.

I’ll tell you what, GA... passion attracts people, and you’ve got that in spades. The whole ability to convey it intelligently just puts you above the rest.

I don't think he mentioned how Gerald had complete control over his memories and that any or all of shadow's memories could be fake. Anyways, this is a well done video about shadow

“The ultimate life form has raised the ultimate cutie pie” Omfg I can’t 🤣😂🤣

‘No one loves as deeply as Shadow’ so true. We love you Shadow!

At the end of the game shadow clearly respects Sonic. Shadow needs his 'TRUE' personality back. He also could utilize a ton of chaos powers in a future game. Amy will always have my respect for helping Shadow realize what was really going on during such a dire time. If any character is most deserving of further character development it's Shadow. Maria on a goosebumps book. XD 💫

"Yeah, I'm just using this as an excuse to show off pet pictures. You can't stop me." And we thank you for that.

“Sora, but somehow worse” is probably the best and most accurate description of Chris that I’ve ever heard. XDDD

Damn, I'm late! thanks for using my animation as an example, as you can see I didn't know much about the world of Sonic when I made it, even so, content like yours helps me learn more about this series and also improve my own animations, again, I just have to thank you!

Fun fact: I never liked the american dub as a kid, and since I didn't understand what they were saying anyway (I'm Mexican) I always played on Japanese, so, you know how Sonic at the end says "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog"? In the Japanese dub, Sonic says: "Adiós, Shadow the Hedgehog" while the spanish sub titles are "Goodbye, Shadow the Hedgehog". At least in the gamecube version.

Its really a shame nobody realized how good Shadow's story was in 06 because it was overshadowed by Soleanna 90210 Edit: HA OVER"SHADOWED" 😂😂

Not only do I think that this is one of the best videos on RU-vid about Shadow, this video has gained you at least one subscriber and bell icon hitter! This was great work, and I can’t wait to see more of your content! Keep up the good work!

6:10 Something that always stuck out to me in this scene is that, despite the fact that Shadow's using the chaos emerald to slow time to a crawl and apparently teleport, Sonic's *still able* to track his movements and at first mistakes him for simply being *fast*. Also, side note, I decided to look up what you get if you color invert Red, and you get... teal. The same shade of teal that Mephiles' quills are.

This video made me tear up literally! Shadow’s story of struggling to cope with loss & despair of his late best friend, anger & hatred towards humanity, who ultimately stole Shadow’s reason to live, is just SOO inspiring to watch, because he journeys through SOO much pain, through the past, his present on multiple occasions & the future, to fight his demons & become the character that the Sonic series truly needed. Shadow will forever remain my favourite Sonic character, because the philosophical meanings & hidden details around his story, happen to be some of the most enjoyable, out of the entirety of the Sonic series. Sayonara Shadow the Hedgehog.

Man this was really, really good. Thematic analysis is so beautiful. I appreciate the lessons I can take from this.

“Shadow wants it to burn...” *Ad pops up.*

Shadow the most misunderstood character in the series and my favorite in spite of it Also please stop calling Maria Gerald's niece she's his granddaughter

I lost my shit with "YOU KNOW WHO THESE CHARACTERS ARE!" absolutely great. Keep up the top quality content!

When sa2 shadow died he truly died he was never the same after this

I cry EVERYTIME I watch this, thank you so much for giving the world the true story.

also bro hit me hard with the "Shadow spent the most time in the chao garden" bit. So valid.

On the chao garden point, I retain hope that the shadow chao shown in the recent IDW comic was raised by shadow a long time ago. That’d be a cool twist.

30:40 every time I listen to live and learn, I always hear them say "hold on to your wallet" every. single. time. Nice video by the way, love it.

You earned a sub my friend.. I loved this retelling you made the story of shadow and Maria so beautiful

Nicely done. Funny because Shadow is always with his little Chao in official art, and in the official Twitter Takeovers, it's revealed that he wants to open a cat sanctuary, he supports indie game developers, and frequently donates to charities. Shadow is one of those characters that fits perfectly with the saying, "Looks can be deceiving". 😎🖤☪

Shadow's never been my favorite character, but his design is top notch

Such a well made video. I’m INCREDIBLY impressed. Great work!!

Dude I needed this video. I've always kind of looked up to Shadow when I was growing up because I had a pretty shitty time as a kid, and the way you described his arc in SA2 finishing off with a message of how you can always grow out of your past and mistakes was something I needed to hear

32:00 YOO! MY ART MADE IT! I appreciate Nick/Game Apologist

Now, I could either A: Do schoolwork that would pretty much be useless in the future,B: watch Game Apologist and learn about Shadow. Or C: do both. Edit: Huh, this comment blew up a bit..

This video was AMAZING! You absolutely nailed what makes Shadow great.

ayyyy underappreciated high quality Sonic videos to watch while doing work, we love to see it

I look forward to seeing your work pop up in my feed. Keep up the good work

"[...] while carrying the memories of those lost loved ones, but going forward, he will no longer let them haun--"

"The ultimate life form has made the ultimate cutie pie" bruh that got me laughing so hard.

I come back to this video every once and a while. It’s so well presented and makes me very happy lol. Probably my fourth viewing right now.

I can't believe the last time Shadow turned super in the main series games was in 06 (14 yrs ago) and that game technically erased itself from the continuity. The fact an even younger version of Sonic... sorry an "alternative" version of Sonic from another dimension and your OC is more capable than the "ultimate lifeform" is just insulting tbh!

When people say Shadow is supposed to be Sonic's opposite but in universe that's actually not true. Shadow is supposed to look like Super Sonic because Gerald saw in some ruinsa mural depicting the fight between Perfect Chaos and Super Sonic

When I saw the title of this video, I didn't expect to be crying for the first half of it. I guess that shows how deeply cringe culture affects people. I always did think Shadow was a way better character than the memes give him credit for. I even have fond memories of playing Shadow the Hedgehog and at one point in my life wanted to fill out the full library. This was an amazing video, dude. I don't remember if I've ever actually watched any of your content before, but it was a wonderful introduction. I'm glad I happened upon it.

"A little less Sasuke and a little more Vegeta, YOU KNOW WHO THOSE CHARACTERS ARE, DON'T LIE TO ME..." HAHAHAHAHA

Awesome vid, man. And an unexpectedly touching end. *wipes away tear* I personally feel that Shadow's ability to shine true light in the darkness, despite having an uncontrollable scarred past, should be what we all strive to be in this current crisis. We should all put on our masks, wash our hands, and *LIVE AND LEARN*. *hugs shadow plushie*

I wish you got Characters In-Depth on this video as well, since he made an awesome video about Shadow a while back, but I'm still very satisfied with the video. It described Shadow in SA2 in more depth than Characters In-Depth did, but he more or less made like a 10 minute long video talking about why Shadow idn't an edge-lord. Great video and I would love to see more videos like this!

Damn it, Nick! I watched this again for nostalgic purposes and you made me cry.... twice! i cried the first time I saw this too. Man, this was deep! I love this video.

14:21. I like how even though he didn't get through the final fight he still almost made me cry and you know how.

"Welcome to Tilted Towers. My name is Mmmmmemphis Tennessee."

I love the video! Thank you so much for featuring my goose art Nick!

this video made me see so much more in shadow than i did before, thank you

You make some of the best content on youtube, thank you!

Saw this upload, immediately got off my PC and opened the PS4 RU-vid app to watch in comfort on a bigger screen.

Fun fact: Shadow Originally was going to be Blue with Red stripes and was gonna be a Tenrec which is similar to a Hedgehog, but quite different. Shadow would take inspiration from the Streaked Tenrec

This video is incredible, thank you!

That's why I like the symbology between shadow and mephiles a reflection into shadows more darker self if it was in control

He has been banging these videos out pretty frequently keep on keeping on Mr. Apologist u keep me entertained a lot

Watching your videos is like having a really good conversation with a close friend to me, but its just so interesting I'm only listening. I don't think I'll ever stop supporting you. 🌟

06 is such a great story, and despite being plagued with very bad game mechanics and bugs. Shadow's story was stopped sadly after this game. But I would love for them to remake 06 with a perfected mechanics and no more killer bugs.

Absolutely loved this video, bro. You truly helped define and shed some light on such a misunderstood character. Shadow has always been one of my favorites and you honored him in this video. Well done, bro. ✊🏽🔥

I love how well you re-tell these stories. I grew up as a fanatic for these games and you still are able to make me see these games in a way I never looked at them before. I stop right at surface level, so I appreciate you taking a deeper look at the games and characters and explaining them.

I love the “all hail” tag being here

This is a beautiful video. Keep up the great work. :)

I miss Super Shadow, it’s been over a decade since we’ve seen him in any of the games