You can playSonic Adventure 2, which introduced audiences to Shadow the Hedgehog, on PC. You can playShadow Generations, the dark hedgehog’s most recent outing, on PC or any modern console. But you can’t play the crucial middle chapter of the Ultimate Lifeform’s story unless you drag out hardware that hit the market 20-plus years ago. I’m talking about Shadow the Hedgehog — the game, not the man, the myth, and/or the legend — the only game to give Shadow a starring role until Generations' release last year.
To some extent, that’s understandable. Shadow the Hedgehog wasn’t well-received at the time of its release — it currently sits at a 45 onMetacritic— and got dunked on pretty thoroughly for its tryhard edginess and janky controls. And even good games from the early to mid-2000s tend to age poorly. Sonic Adventure 2 got much better reviews (its critical average is73), but going back to it in 2025 will pretty quickly frustrate the nostalgia out of you. The camera is all over the place, and it feels like it can’t keep up with what you’re doing.
And not in the fun, 2D Sonic way where the camera losing you highlights just how fast Sonic’s super speed is allowing him to fly through the level.
Shadow’s Missing Second Act
Regardless of quality, Shadow the Hedgehog is the crucial second act that bridges his story in Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow Generations. Most fans don’t play Sonic games exclusively for the story, but as a kid who grew up on the Blue Blur, I was deeply interested in its world and lore. I want to go back and see how Shadow got from A to C.
Sega seems to have big plans for Shadow going forward. Thepublisher declared 2024 its “Fearless: Year of Shadow”. The Keanu Reeves-voiced version of the character played a big role inSonic the Hedgehog 3. We just got Sonic X Shadow Generations at the end of last year. Sega also toured around a physical replica of Shadow’s motorcycle Dark Rider and collaborated withLEGOon Shadow-centric sets.
With all this hype around the moody mammal, doesn’t it seem strange to not be able to play the first (and for nearly two decadesonly) game he ever starred in on modern hardware? So what if Shadow the Hedgehog was panned at the time? So what if it has little chance of holding up without some major tweaks? Why not give it those major tweaks? Not letting us play this game on modern hardware is not very Year of Shadow of you, Sega!
Shadow May Have Aged Better Than You’d Think
At launch, the game’s story drew criticism, with a lot of reviewers complaining that the game was too edgelord-y. Well, 20 years later, we know that’s kind of Shadow’s whole deal. I don’t think Sega needs to mess with the story too much. Give our boy a gun, and set him loose to shoot and say a few damns. Shadow’s fans love him for who he is, swears and all.
Though much-memed, offensive-sounding lines like “Disgusting black creatures, get out of my sight!” might be worth a second look.
The bigger problems with the game centered around its controls, and that’s easy enough to rework. Tweak the homing attack, tweak the camera, clean the graphics up, and update the shooting so it feels closer to modern standards, and you’re in business.
Sega seems aware that the game’s lack of availability is a problem, since it includes an optional recap of Shadow’s story in Shadow Generations. But if Sega really wants to be Fearless like Shadow, it needs to go back to the game that started it all.
