Why Shadow the Hedgehog Was a Failure 

Fun fact: When Shadow says "This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me" they weren't actually trying to be edgy. In the Japanese script of the game, he says something along the lines of "This is ridiculously easy, but I'm still okay with it"

It's hilarious how canonically, one of the most lighthearted games happens just before the edgiest game in the series.

I actually unironically like Shadow The Hedgehog, but I fully understand it's not a very good game and that I'm mostly nostalgic with it.

Fun fact: Two of the CGI directors of this game would end up being involved with the Sonic Movies years later. Tim Miller (who also directed Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate) is the producer of the movies and Jeff Fowler is the director of both. You can see their names at 1:04:20. Guess they have some experience with the series before.

21:26 "When a new idea fails, Sega scraps the idea instead of refining the execution." That sums it up brilliantly. It's why Sega are reluctant to utilize other Sonic characters as playable, because according to overly critical whiners "Sonic's stupid friends are always bad and nothing that you do with them can ever make them good!" Sega won't go back and refine the Adventure style because "those games were never good!" This attitude really is hurting the series more than helping it.

"Sonic, don't come to Green Hill tomorrow, or do, I don't care." -Shadow in the English release of this game, probably.

Shadow the Hedgehog's Theme is still one of my favorites, as the saying goes: "There has never been any bad Sonic Soundtrack"

1:02:45 I think the logic is that they recognize his evil stage was their own damn fault. They thought he was already a mad scientist and went to take him down, but that ironically is what _made_ him a mad scientist. This is them going "oh... yeah, that was entirely our fault, we should have left him alone".

How hacking looks in movies: Lithe goth maniacally hammering at the keyboard How hacking looks in real life: Hedgehog goth karate chomping the keyboard.

Shadow wants to die Vector: “Don’t go there... yet!”

When i got a hold of the OST i always felt like "Never turn back" (by Crush40) was a much more "fitting" super theme than "I am all of me" , it sings about his struggles and how he had to overcome major hurdles to get to this point, to fulfill Maria's wish, to let the people of the planet live in happiness and peace.

Part of me wishes omega and rouge were more prominent characters in this games story. Since the 3 of them became friends in heroes. It would have been nice to see them work together to help shadow figure things out.

Being able to change Shadow's morality on a whim DESTROYS any sense of morality the game attempts.

"Shadow begins to wonder if he himself is a robot and instead of poking himself to see, he with the help of Omega confronts Eggman." I found that funny for no reason lol.

Also, I can easily buy Shadow being evil in this game. Remember he lost his memory and in the game Doom manipulates him by telling him what GUN did to Maria. This was literally the same motivation he had to nearly destroy Earth in Sonic Adventure 2.

Also, tbf, that scene in Death Ruins with Black Doom was not Shadow actually working with him-he was helping Rouge spy on him. Black Doom figures this out and that's why he sends Black Bull after them.

"android will rule!" Then, why you didnt destroy Apple instead of eggman

How funny that only 4Kids cast gets to cross the line with curse words.

35:57 I fully agree this stage is SUPER bad. However I never seen those glitches happen, not in the GameCube version at least.

I do sincerely hope one day Shadow may be able to get another game that is great, and keeps his character great as it was in SA2, Heroes & 06. A Shadow The Hedgehog game is not bad, and some of their ideas had potential even if their presentation in Shadow The Hedgehog made them seem very bad. I just don’t want to see what could be such a great game thrown to the wayside like so many other things in the gaming industry and especially in Sonic.

Oh man, this game forever cemented Shadow as the series' most controversial character lol. Even to this day, people are up in arms over his portrayals.

On the 'Vector's line when Shadow seems suicidal' thing; that's actually plot-relevant. In fact; the Chaotix missions all are, as they lead to the Gerald video recording in the Last Story; that's what they were looking for. Vector says 'things may not be as you think' because he's GOT THE FILE from the Computer Room.

I used to be a Shadow fangirl when I was like 12, so this game was my favorite from the franchise, I tought it was so cool and stayed that way because I didn't touch it again since i finished, and now I''m starting to realize how cringy it is. Shadow had his own game but we never got to see him like a person with complex emotions, just edgy the hedgy saying "damn"

Honestly now knowing all the company turmoil that went on during this time with the merger with Sammy, creative warfare with Yuji Naka, and basically forcing Iizuka to develop huge portions of the game alone, it’s actually amazing that anything released at all during that period.

The story really falls apart when you realize that all shadow had to do was talk to Sonic, Amy, Tails, or any of his friends about his past. Especially Rouge considering she’s the one who was sent by the government to do research on project shadow and she’s the one who started team dark. Even if they didn’t know about the aliens, what they knew of his past in adventure 2 would’ve saved him a lot of grief. But nope. Nobody bothers to explain anything to him and Shadow doesn’t bother asking. Instead the only people he turns to for answers are Eggman and Black Doom, two obvious villains who aren't even trying to hide the fact that they're just using him.

The idea of a Shadow based game having a “darker” tone can certainly work, Shadow certainly didn’t need more to his story as Heroes already wrapped that up pretty well I think but the general idea of a story based on Shadow focusing on his moral ambiguity’s and delving into many hypothetical scenarios Shadow could take could definitely work, but the execution was just dreadful. Shadow was already a cool character and a great contrast to Sonic, while Sonic is upbeat, extroverted, fun and charismatic, Shadow is more reserved and introverted, but still has a charming sense of charisma to him with the occasional quip and one liner which helps him bounce off Sonic well. This game ditched that entirely in order to make him “cool” and “edgy” by giving him guns and motorcycles and adopting an “I don’t give a fuck” personality... all of this surprisingly makes him laughable to watch and he ultimately becomes very difficult to take seriously, which was clearly the opposite of their intended goal. Shadow always struck me as the type not to use guns, because he has his own natural abilities which require skill, and he would view them the same way Batman does, “a weapon for a coward”. Although i’d be lying if I said my inner 8 year old doesn’t find the intro to this game cool as all hell.

I was born in ‘98 and this was the first game I ever owned. Sure I played old classic Mac games before, but Shadow was the first my dad bought only for me thinking it would be another happy childlike Sonic game. Now I know this bad boy had a deep impact in my personality, from the edginess I went through my teens to the gothic-industrial-esque musical preferences that still remain.

This game was ahead of its time. I mean it in the sense of developers had something in mind but couldn't do due to hardware limitation so had to reduce it to this. If this game was to be remade full on for this generation it'd be crazy. Levels could be bigger and mechanics/graphics would be amazing

21:06 He went from Lawful Neutral in SA2(Lawful because he had strict "must do what Maria does" code and Neutral since he only cared about keeping the promise) to Neutral Good in Heroes(He lost his moral code but he was actually a proper hero this time since he fought Eggman and Metal Sonic) to True Neutral in his own game to briefly Lawful Good in 06(follows GUN orders as a good guy) and finally turned into Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Idiot in other games

Best thing about Shadow The Hedgehog? The CGI cutscenes

I personally think the premise of Shadow the hedgehog is not the problem. A serious case of amnesia could change a person making them choose alternative paths and then could even become evil because of their choices.

The game had its many flaws but there is an underlying theme to the story and I still liked it. If they were to try doing it again I bet it would be amazing. It's not as great as the other games, but it had too much potential and I wish it had more love.

so fun fact: the japanese version of this game's dialogue is infinitely better and is more in line with shadow's characterization in sa2 and heroes, and shadow overall seems less irritated by everything, he's not saying "damn" every 5 seconds like a kid who just learned how to swear, and is overall more natural, there's also less stupidity in the japanese version like shadow's "stealing candy from a baby" line not existing, as well as the president not saying to pay homage to gerald, among other things. the game was originally going have a T rating and give the aliens red blood instead of green, but the ESRB just came up with the E10+ rating, so sonic team went for that instead, and according to one screenshot, the game was originally going to feature an enemy radar system at the bottom of the screen, it's a half circle with red dots to show enemies, it was removed because sonic team are known for their good decision making/s. now for my own opinions, i hate the guns in this game, like, why would you give us a game starring the ultimate lifeform, and instead of letting us use said ultimate lifeform's chaos energy projectiles, you just give him guns that literally any other sonic character can use? i mean could imagine a vergil style shadow game? with chaos spears as summoned swords and teleporting and explosive punches? or even a megaman zero style shadow game? those would've awesome! but we get this nonsense instead. at the very least try to tie this stupid decision to the story, like, say shadow just doesn't remember most of his chaos powers due to his amnesia, like maybe have a cutscene going. sonic: "hey shadow, why are you using guns instead of your chaos spear thingies?" shadow: "chaos spears? okay, how do i use them?" sonic: "uh? on second thought nevermind." see? simple. and the multiple pathways nonsense is garbage, encore mode should've just been the default mode of the game and the man power that was spent on all those non-canon cutscenes should've gone to making a better and more cohesive story.

The games's intro is still the funniest in gaming history. The lack of self-awareness is mind-boggling.

Unironically, the shadow fandub’s plot was not only comprehensible, but also more cohesive than the original version

The fact the Story of the Game is basically, Shadow lost his memory AGAIN, was enough to make it feel unnecessary.

I hate my 14 year-old self for being stupid enough to be hyped for this abysmal game. The way Shadow was written stings, the story shoots itself in the foot every step, and the gameplay isn't fun at all. After 15 years, it's still haunting Shadow's characterization to this day.

Shadow karate chopping the computer is still one of the most hilarious moments in all of gaming and not because it was supposed to be.

I still find it amazing that one of the CGI movie producers from this game ended up directing both Sonic Movies

The game does make sense if you reformulate it like this: A character study of Shadow, by observing him in a bunch of what-if scenarios. Or at least it would, if it wasn't a character assassination instead as you pointed out.

43:58 Man why does everyone hates the idea of branching path/choice matters in Sonic games? The problem is poor writting. If writers were actually good, this would be a great game story vise with a fresh idea

The dreamcasts downfall is really one of the saddest things in gaming history for me. It was a powerful console for its time, so much wasted potential.

If I had to sum this game`s story up with a single sentence, it would be: ``It all starts with this... a game containing the ultimate character assassination`` --Me & other people who may have come up with this

Man this channel is so great for re-capping games I’ve never played

Shadow's main writing issues of being nothing more than aggression and edge here stem mostly from Takashi Iizuka's interpretation of the character, which has been the same interpretation he's had since the meta era started, so that's why it seems like Shadow is such a castrated asshole in the new games. This is also why he's so much better in 06 because he's the Shiro Maekawa interpretation, which is the same as he is in SA2 and Heroes and all the other games up until Black Knight.

Story of Shadow the Hedgehog is like a Visual Novel, cept like there is no common route skip option and the endings all suck.

Shadow the Hedgehog was my first "proper" Sonic game besides Sonic Riders. While I understand how bad this game is compared to the earlier 3D games but I unapologetically love how fucking weird and edgy it is.

So this whole time I thought that as a 10 year old playing this game that I was just too stupid to understand the storyline & got frustrated to the point where I never finished the game but that wasn’t really the case!? It was just an entirely poorly made game!?? 🤦🏾‍♂️

This game’s story feels like a “choose your own adventure book” with the ability to jump to later pages to continue the story left out. You have to read the whole thing page by page like a regular book, whether it makes sense or not.

Personally, I feel like there's an oddly canon path to the game. If you take the Expert Mode as canon (multiple characters make note that this is training, some sort of VR G.U.N simulation? But Black Doom starts talking at one point so who knows), then you'll hear Cream mention Shadow saved her and have the G.U.N Commander apologize for what happened during that one cutscene trying to shoot Shadow. From this, we can infer that Shadow had to save Cream during Cryptic Castle's Hero Mission and he had to meet with the G.U.N Commander meaning Cosmic Fall is the final level. There's a path that fits just that, Dark Westopolis, Hero Digital Circuits, Hero Cryptic Castle, Hero Sky Troops, Neutral Space Gadget, then Hero Cosmic Fall. This path leads Shadow through both of the aforementioned events that happened, and it makes sense cause it ends on the ARK and it could lead into The Last Story. Filling in the blanks, Black Doom could get away while Vector is comforting a depressed Shadow (Shadow straight up walks away in that ending, Black Doom could leave if he wants to) and then Shadow travels from the ARK to The Black Comet with all Chaos Emeralds in hand to confront him, while Sonic and the gang take the extra time from Cosmic Fall to The Last Way to get on the Black Comet too. You don't help the Chaotix gather data at all in this route though, but I guess you can say they took the spare time to get the data themselves (and Vector's at the computer room in Cosmic Fall, he must've found something there or had some sort of data that would lead him there in the first place). I think that all fits together quite nicely, but I think SEGA said Pure Hero is canon, so this is outta the picture. There's a path on Pure Hero where you help the Chaotix gather all the data (except helping Vector get to the computer room) so that probably works out too. I just find it odd if this were canon because Shadow goes from fully understanding who he is and backing Black Doom into a corner with Sonic with seven Chaos Emeralds in the Black Comet to chasing him down on the Black Comet again during The Last Way despite already beating him in The Final Haunt. Cosmic Fall -> The Last Way just makes more sense to me than The Final Haunt -> The Last Way. Also just want to note a bizarre little detail with Vector, whenever he jumps he still has his special sound effect from Sonic Heroes. I'm sure it's just a carryover from Heroes and it's small enough that it didn't take much effort, but I'm surprised it's still here.

_Aboard the Egg Fleet, after Sonic Heroes is over..._ *Shadow:* "Hrm... Sonic." *Sonic:* "Yo, Shadow. You're looking moody as usual - what's up?" *Shadow:* "With all this Metal Sonic business out of the way... tell me. Are you aware of the details of my past?" *Sonic:* "Oh yeah, the lot of us heard all about that back on the Ark, ha. Why, you telling me you forgot, or something?" *Shadow:* "Tsk... yes. I must've been inflicted with amnesia of some sort..." *Sonic:* "Oh man, yeah, I can see how that would've happened, with what happened to you at the end when we stopped the Ark's fall..." *Shadow:* "So tell me." *Sonic:* "Geez, cool it. I'll grab myself a chili dog and we'll have a chat! - Also, woah, did you see those vats with android clones of you...?" *Shadow:* "... tsk... what if I am one of them..." *Sonic:* "... have you tried poking yourself to see if you bleed?" *Shadow:* "... uh-"

I know that "shadow the hedgehog" is a bad game but I still love it as a guilty pleasure. In this game shadow is almost a parody of himself and is the "ultimate edgelord" not "the ultimate life form"

I’ve noticed that too many Sonic retrospectives on youtube are done by dudes in their 30s who all grew up with the adventure era so I think it’s really nice and refreshing to hear opinions from someone with a different experience with the franchise.

I enjoyed this game enough to not only get all A Ranks and all keys on every stage and complete Expert Mode, but I've fully completed all the library sequences TWICE.

I feel like this is one of your best reviews in the Sonic retrospective. Looking at the history of video games during the era in which Shadow The Hedgehog was released is REALLY important context as to how it even came to being, and you did a great job with that.

Here’s a fun fact last year I tried playing the game. I routed it out to ensure I would do at least half the missions of each stage (so 1/2 or 2/3) while avoiding as many BS stages as possible. Funny thing is I couldn’t finish the run because my XBOX 360 refused to load Black Comet or the second Maria stage two of the most hated stages in the game. I even bought a second disc and it was the same. It’s probably some backwards comparability issue or my console showing it’s age but I prefer to think the 360 knew how bad those stages were and refused to play them

the final cutscene where shadow says "goodbye, shadow the hedgehog" is oddly prophetic, like sonic team knew that they pretty much ruined his character and how he's perceived by the masses for the foreseeable future.

"I need to know about the past, who am I, what am I doing here . . ." "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOARRRRRGH!?"

I always loved the base concept for the multiple playthroughs and diverging paths in this game! The story of "Only you can decide who you are." and each different ending being finite. Shadow's own beliefs, influenced by the players choices, manifest themselves as the truth that Shadow was searching for! It's only during the final story that Shadow realizes that he isnt under anyones control and has the freedom to decide who he is, and what the future holds! It couldve been a great way to bake in both the overly edgey Guns & Damns of the 6th gen era, the friendliness of the cast of Heroes, and the genuineness of the Adventure games! Makes me wish there could be another chance for shadow the hedgehog someday.

Simple. The story structure is so bad it might as well be non existent. The level design is usually not attuned to the missions the game asks you to do. The controls are essentially Identical to speed characters from Sonic Heroes. The voice acting is wooden. The non goal ring missions can take as long if not longer than Team Chaotix missions from Heroes, the path nobody liked to begin with. Chaos control is useless if you aren’t going for the goal or in a boss fight. The animation quality for non CG cutscenes is pathetic for 2005. Everyone deemed as an enemy will attack you regardless of which mission you’re trying to complete. This game could have been good, but so many things hold it back. I want a remake of this game of the highest degree like FF7 remake. There are things in this game I do like such as the guns.

I am aware that Shadow The Hedgehog is a trash game, but I still love it lmao

I never knew about the piano in the beginning of Never Turn Back and now I can't unhear that.

I actually reached the 9 minute mark during the final boss fights with Black Doom. I remember it even now really clearly I was having a hard time kill him during my second or third time fight him and I was having a hard time hitting his eyes. Even when I was a child I always thought it was odd to leave such an important revelation till the very last moment of the fight.

I think one of the few story things this game does is pretty clearly implying that you're the real shadow throughout the whole game and that shadow is actually created by the aliens because he can do the thing where he travels through the alien tube things and his skin color being black and red like the aliens makes sense And for the possibility of him being an android I don't think the lower poly count of the npc androids is like lack of polish or anything I think that was actually supposed to show that they are machines but the real shadow is clearly different, and also it makes sense logically that eggman would lie about creating shadow in the hopes of controlling him And the reason I say all of this is bc I disagree that the thing eggman says 9 minutes into the final boss fight is like the only confirmation you get, I think its effectively confirmed through the game

Shadow being an android would be the only way this character assassination would make any sense. Like, Robotnik created new life for this shadow, as an android, and he's experiencing new problems and issues like a child would and it shapes him into a different person because it's all he really experienced up until that point. I think the main problem is that this game makes shadow the driving force in the story instead of the story happening to shadow. Choices in games are supposed to put you into a position that would make your choice matter, but limit options and maybe even knowledge of each choice, and make you carefully consider each option and understand the respective pros and cons. Who in their right mind would choose Black Arms aside from, "Do I wanna do an evil playthrough?" Also, a funny note, the only guy I knew who had this game was my best friend in elementary school. He is black and had absolutely no problems with the names of the aliens. In fact, I don't even remember him acknowledging it at all. I guess the whole seeing racism thing just goes over the head of 3rd/4th graders unless it's painfully blatant. I mean, you can argue that this is, but it definitely wasn't the intention. I never owned this game, but I had SA2. We would talk about the different plots in this game and piece together it with the only Sonic game he and I mutually owned, Sonic Heroes. I really miss those days.

"Damn, not here!"

Its funny how they're called "The black arms" but their arms are red

Man im not gonna lie, that last mission gived me so much hype when i was a kid and still doing it now

I can't believe Never Turn Back's piano was I am all of me! That's such a good detail thanks for bringing it up!! Anyway great review man! I was not expecting this one so soon but I enjoyed it. Can't wait to hear your opinions on 06 as I know it will be interesting to see the least.

I think the scenes where Shadow finds a Shadow Android in Heroes & Shadow offers a perfect comparison between the two. In Heroes Shadow finds an android, and at most is mildly concerned before brushing it off to continue the mission. In Shadow, he’s flabbergasted at the sight of the damn thing and decides to go full lunatic and take over the world. One is Shadow the Hedgehog, the other is a drooling idiot who doesn’t know what to do with himself.

This is actually one of my favourite games Ive ever played and wish it would get an honest remake

20:00 this made sense too me, I mean the gun agent part was a bit confusing but I think it just needs rephrasing: "Looks like those gun agents are giving you a hard time." "How pitiful, they haven't realized yet.." "What?" "Were not here to exterminate these poor creatures. On the contrary..." And then the rest plays on as normal, what this cutscene was trying too say was that black doom wants too use humanity as a source of energy, not too kill them all off. And with the "your going down!" From shadow he was talking too black bull.

Okay, how is this guy 2 years younger than me? Stop making me feel old at age 22.

"This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me." He says on the Hero Path.

"Disgusting black creatures... get out of my sight." *HERO MISSION COMPLETED* That's, uh, unfortunate indeed.

Despite how lacking the story seems to be, it's way better when you've played through SA2, Heroes, then Shadow the Hedgehog. When I was younger I spent the entire summer playing through these games and thoroughly enjoyed piecing Shadows story together.

Me before the video: Where's that DAMN fourth 3d Sonic review. Me now: O, here it is. That was easy, like stealing candy from a baby, wich is fine by me. *Proceeds to use a karate key on my device in order to watch the video.*

I had fun playing Shadow the Hedgehog on the GameCube. It took me forever to beat the game. I know most people didn't really care for the game, but I actually loved it! I always liked nuking my enemies with Chaos Blast.

"Shadow, we've managed to stop breathing! "

I personally thought it was weird Shadow never got the choice to actually team up with Eggman. Even if you go along with Eggman's objectives in one or two levels he'll either disappear from the plot or still be the final boss. They seem like they should have more of a connection given this game reveals the doctor saved Shadow after his apparent death and in general they're at least tangentially connected through Eggman's family. Besides, how many people actually wanted to team up with Black Doom rather than Eggman, the main villain of the series? Besides that, in general this game is where Sonic's friends (and Sonic himself in this case) start to feel like they're just window dressing for the main character, with nothing in terms of motivation or relationships informing their actions beyond "they're the good guys". Heroes was kind of light on plot but at least gave a token motivation for most of the team members, but in this it feels like everyone just gives Shadow the "Where's Poochie?" treatment of acting like he's the most important character in the universe, and beyond the occasional comment rarely seem to acknowledge the good or bad things he's done up to a given point in the game.

The part where he explains that the Shadow game has no backbone with its tone and "darker" moments, sums up a HUGE issue I had with Sonic Forces. It's just as many crappy copouts with no lasting commitments in its narrative in that game too, its like Sega doesn't learn sometimes.

Shadow the Hedgehog is the textbook example of the "Edgy Spin-off".

I did not know about eggmans dialogue at the 9 minute mark of the final boss fight... I finally got some closure from a game that I played over a decade ago.. thank you

I was born in 96 and was about 10 when I played this game. I absolutely fucking loved it. But it hasn't aged well for me. At the time though, I thought it was unique and cool and liked the branching storylines.

I was a big fan of Sonic after finishing up Sonic X, and I was desperate for more Sonic action. This lead me to buying Shadow the Hedgehog for the PS2. And while I struggled to get through it, I soon found myself having a blast with it...after using a gameshark for infinite health ammo and stuff. Yes I enhanced the game, but it allowed me to have so much fun. I guess my advice is if you want to enjoy this game use a game shark and it's a blast.

Fun fact: Black Doom is voiced by Goku's English VA

Fun fact: This game came out on the same day as Sonic Rush. Let that sink in.

I love the song “ I am all I am”

Shadow the hedgehog is the poster child for character assassination. Wtf did they do to my boi.

Tbh this game defined the choose your date type of games. It wasn’t meant to be ground breaking it did what it was supposed to do. Tbh I was like 10 when it came out and I loved it

Okay @ 18:59 Sonic's line is "Looks like the black creatures are *heading into space.* We're on our way to the ark so that means *we're going (to space) too* " He's just referring to going to space itself. Ofc It definitely could've been worded better but i think the context clues are obvious lmao

The most troubling thing about this game is its troubling legacy. This one game still overshadows the character despite being over a decade old. Every IP has its share of missteps, but rarely do you see its continuing legacy. It makes you wonder what could have been if this game was of the same quality as the Adventure series.

This games OST is awesome in my opinion. There’s ton of unused songs. Just look them up. Magna-fi has an album released in 06 or 07 and the first track was intended to be in the game. Check them out.

I've never really been much of a sonic fan but this is one of the few games in the series I'd willingly play for hours

Oh this game had a true ending? Even back then I knew i wasn't playing all those routes. The multiplayer was fun though.

Sometimes I wish they'd remake these games and make a coherent canon and refine the gameplay to be better but I know that's definitely not gonna happen lol

I feel like this game was too ambitious for it's own good. It had a good idea with the "choose your own adventure" gimmick but the execution wasn't done well. The mission structure is easily the game's biggest flaw. Instead of kill X amount of enemies they should have just had different paths to take depending on the alignment you wanted with a corresponding goal ring. Also fix the controls to be like SA1 and 2, make the story more cohesive, fix Shadow's personality, and this game could have been one of the highlights of the series. Instead it is seen as a joke and the game that started the Dark Age, ruined Shadow's reputation as a character, and led to all the "Ow the Edge" memes. Despite all the controversy though I still really enjoy playing this game despite its flaws.

I feel the fact that Gerald being treated as a hero is warranted since they were the ones who drove him mad in the first place.

I like the edge in this game, though I know it should be toned down a little. I think most of the overall issues would be fixed if there was just one set path in the story. Lets see.... How about this. Have Shadow start working with Black Doom with Black Doom controlling Shadow because of his memory loss, then mid way through the game have Shadow meet with Sonic and others, have him fight some of them across different stages but slowly understand that they're his friends and he should trust them. So then they get data on the Ultimate Lifeform, they confront Shadow Androids, leading to his identity crisis, but then, at the end, when Shadow gets all 7 Chaos Emeralds, he regains his memories. Flashes of Maria and the fight with the Biolizard and Final Hazard flash through his mind, and when his mind comes back to the present, Black Doom will be there, using the Emeralds to Chaos Control the Black Comet down to the planet, but Shadow grabs the Emeralds away before Black Doom can do anymore damage, causing Black Doom to warp away as Shadow warps after him after entering his Super form. During the final boss Shadow can confront Black Doom and certain lines will play. "Shadow, do you think this feeble planet will recognize you as a hero? After all you've done in assisting the Black Arms?" "I don't expect them to welcome me. Never have. I also know that because of my past, and my present, I won't turn back, no matter the consequences. They can call me Black Hearted Evil or Brave Hearted Hero, but all I ever have to know is that I am me, ALL OF ME! I AM SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG! AND YOU WILL FALL TO ME BLACK DOOM!"

The only ending that’s canon is the pure hero ending.