Shadow the Hedgehog
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- For the video game of the same name see Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)
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Shadow the Hedgehog is a fictional character in Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is the dark incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog and first appears in the Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure 2. He is scheduled to get his own game by Winter, 2005.
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History
Shadow is either the end result or a merely a prototype of the "Ultimate Life Form" project, a secret government genetics project shut down a half century ago whose objective was to reach immortality. He was created aboard the space colony ARK by Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Dr. Eggman. Shadow seems to have developed a friendship with the Professor's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik and often looked down to Earth, wondering what the purpose to his life was. When the military attacked ARK to shut down the Ultimate Life Form project, Maria supposedly sacrificed herself in order to let Shadow escape to Earth in a suspended animation capsule.
His capsule was captured by the military and stored in the Prison Island for 50 years, until Dr. Eggman attacked the complex looking for "his grandfather's legacy" and freed him.
Sonic Adventure 2
As a reward for setting him free, Shadow granted Dr. Eggman one wish, which was the domination of Earth.
In order to concede this and to fulfill Maria’s last wish of revenge on those who lived on Earth, Shadow led Eggman to the ARK and showed him the ultimate weapon: the Eclipse Cannon, a giant laser cannon with the power to destroy an entire planet. The Eclipse Cannon required seven Chaos Emeralds to function. Together with a treasure hunter named Rouge the Bat, the three banded together and acquired six of the emeralds, providing enough power to destroy half the moon. They retrieved the last Emerald from Sonic and his friends. In their final duel, Shadow was defeated by Sonic, and the Eclipse Cannon was destroyed by the Blue Blur.
However, Eggman had taken the bait, and Shadow had still completed his task. With the power of seven emeralds, the Eclipse Cannon would not unleash its full strength, but instead activate a program Professor Gerald Robotnik somehow managed to leave there. The ARK automatically moved the Chaos Emeralds from the central control room to the core of the ARK, and set itself on a collision course with Earth. With the seven emeralds powering it, the ARK contained enough energy to shatter Earth to pieces upon impact.
As everyone rushed to stop this from happening, Amy Rose stumbled across Shadow in the same room that he and Maria often spent time in. She begged Shadow to come to their aid, but he refused, insisting that the people of Earth didn't deserve his pity after killing an innocent and harmless Maria, and that even if he did want to, the program could not be deactivated. Amy continued to plead however, and her words set off a suppressed memory of Maria, a memory of what Maria had really asked of him when she sacrificed herself - to give everyone on Earth a chance at the normal life disease had denied her. With a tear sliding down his cheek, Shadow realized that in trying to fulfill Maria's dying wish, he ended up dooming it, and rushed to redeem himself by helping Sonic and Knuckles seal the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
He reached the core to see Sonic and Knuckles unable to get past a large lizard-like creature, the Biolizard, the prototype of the ultimate life form. Knowing full well that he's unlikely to survive, Shadow urged Sonic and Knuckles to leave the Biolizard for him to deal with and to worry about stopping the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow fought with all his might, but Sonic and Knuckles stopped the emeralds before Shadow can finish off the Biolizard. The massive beast noticed that, and in its determinination to bring forth Earth's destruction, it used a strange form of Chaos Control to merge itself with the ARK to continue the crash course. Using the power of the Seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic transformed into Super Sonic and Shadow transformed into Super Shadow.
Together they destroyed Final Hazard and use Chaos Control to stop the free-falling ARK from destroying the Earth. However, the already exhausted Shadow used the last of his energy to do so, and fell to Earth, supposedly dying. Whether or not the Shadow in later games is the real Shadow or a clone/robotic copy is up to debate.
Sonic Heroes
In the game, Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovered that Shadow was alive, and in a stasis tube located in the deepest part of one of Dr. Eggman's bases. After saving Rouge from a rampaging robot called E-123 Omega, it is revealed that Shadow has amnesia and cannot remember anything before his release from the stasis tube. He joined forces with Rouge and Omega to form Team Dark (as their speed member and second-in-command) and hunt down Dr. Eggman.
After hearing Dr. Eggman proclaiming that he "has no past to remember", Shadow discovered a half-destroyed Shadow robot and realised that he too might just be a robot. Despite this, he continued his mission, proclaiming that "even if I'm not real, I'm still the ultimate life form, Shadow the Hedgehog!" They defeated Dr. Eggman's Egg Emperor and discovered that the person they had been chasing was a fake Dr. Eggman. Meanwhile, Rouge stumbles upon a whole room filled with hundreds of cloned Shadows. As Omega arrived to destroy the room and everything in it, Rouge affirms that the Shadow is just a robot. However, Omega reassured her that to clone something you need the original and that the original may still exist somewhere.
When Metal Sonic transforms into Metal Madness, Shadow worked with Rouge and Omega to distract him long enough for Sonic to power up into his Super Form. At the end of the game, he was last seen with Omega and the defeated Metal Sonic.
In Sonic Battle, Shadow has regained all of his memories, though it is never explained how. It's not known if this game enters in the official storyline.
Abilities
Shadow retains many of his rival Sonic's abilities, namely the same blistering speed and agility. Shadow's trademark move is Chaos Control. Using the power of a single Chaos Emerald, he can freeze time and warp through space. He is only seen freezing time in Sonic Adventure 2 in 2 player mode, but in Sonic Heroes the time freeze is an effect of Team Dark's "Team Blast" special move, “Chaos Inferno”. He uses the Chaos Control ability five times in Sonic Adventure 2: once to escape from Sonic using the green emerald, once to rescue Rouge from the military base before it blows up, once to teleport from the area where he battles the Biolizard, and during the final duel against Sonic. He uses it one last time to send away the defeated Finalhazard, although this results in his apparent death. Shadow can also use Light Dash in Sonic Heroes. Sonic can also use Chaos Control, even with a fake emerald, though he only realizes this later. The newest move Shadow has is Chaos Blast , which he only does in his upcoming game.
Shadow shares every ability of Sonic, meaning that they are truly rivals. The only reason Sonic is known as the fastest hedgehog is because the Blue Blur has broken the sound barrier before, something Shadow has yet to accomplish. His light trail is gold instead of blue. Why it isn't black, no one knows.
Mysteries
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Fans of the Shadow the Hedgehog character have had many questions regarding Shadow's mysterious origin and have developed various theories explaining his existence.
Hyper Shadow?
The name of the Chaos Emerald-empowered Shadow seen at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 is "Super Shadow", not "Hyper Shadow" as some suggest. The "Hyper" status is used to refer to "Hyper Sonic" and "Hyper Knuckles" in Sonic 3 & Knuckles after attaining the Super Emeralds. The "Super Shadow" name is supported by when Shadow says "I don't know how much longer I can stay in my Super form...", if the battle goes on too long, the fact that the Chaos Emeralds were used to transform, and the skin files from within the game refering to him as "Super Shadow".
Japanese Backstory: The TRUTH About 50 Years Ago
After Sonic Adventure 2 was released, a strategy guide was fashioned with the guidance of Sonic Team. This official strategy guide offered eager players the chance to also learn a bit more about Shadow's past, in the form of a report written by Rouge the Bat. The report, a partial transcript, explained her findings on "Project: Shadow" which explains quite a bit about some questions fans have and brings up a slew of new ones. This backstory is also what the Journal Entries in Sonic Battle work with. [1] (http://www.sonichq.org/news/index.php/id.54)
Sonic X
Shadow also appears on the anime Sonic X. Episodes 33 through 38 are based on Sonic Adventure 2, with a few differences from the game. For one, it was Chris Thorndyke who reminded Shadow of his true promise from Maria, and not Amy Rose, as originally. He made short appearances after Episode 38, in flashbacks or otherwise, but he makes his true return in episode 60, “The Return of Shadow”, only aired in France.