2024: The Year Shadow Left Sonic in the Dust.
Sega had a fantastic year in 2024—so much so that I’d say it was their best year in a long time. The Yakuza series saw the smashing success of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Atlus (owned by Sega) released a successful remake with Persona 3 Reload, an even better version of Shin Megami Tensei V with Vengeance, and then introduced a brand-new IP, Metaphor: ReFantazio, which was nominated for Game of the Year. Then there’s Sega’s flagship franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, which was absolutely crushing it. But while Sega’s 2024 success spanned multiple franchises and genres, one unlikely hero stood out amid the chaos and glory—not the Blue Blur himself, but his darker, edgier counterpart: Shadow the Hedgehog.
SEGA themselves dubbed 2024: Fearless: Year of Shadow, and even did marketing around that title. I wanted to put on my jet shoes and look back at the amazing things our favorite brooding hedgehog featured in last year to show what made him so special.
Sonic Prime Season 3
This was the first—and arguably the most minuscule aspect of the Year of Shadow. Sonic Prime was an animated Netflix TV show that ran for three seasons and concluded in 2024. The plot centered around Sonic trying to stop Dr. Robotnik and accidentally separating the world into a techno-dystopia universe, a pirate universe, and a jungle universe.
Sonic Prime always seemed to have a divisive reception among fans—or people just thought it was decent and didn’t like the ending. A big reason was Sonic’s personality and actions; he was characterized as goofier and more absent-minded (similar to how the movie version of him has been criticized).
SideNote: Personally, I thought Sonic Prime was fine, it just felt a bit too self-contained and could’ve done a lot more with the multiverse concept.
So where does Shadow fit into this? Well, one of my main criticisms before Season 3 was that Shadow had the least amount of screentime of any character. Sonic is the face of the series, so of course he’s the focus, and every other character got a different universe counterpart, giving them lots of screentime, but not Shadow. He only appeared at the beginning and end of the first two seasons.
Season 3, however, featured him in a few more episodes. It also helped that this was a good characterization of Shadow—someone who wanted to do what’s right by any means necessary. Unlike Sonic, who prioritizes no one getting hurt, even if that makes saving the world more difficult.
Sonic Prime’s voice cast was also different from the video games, and I really liked Shadow’s voice actor in the show, played by Ian Hanlin. His younger tone somewhat reminded me of Shadow’s VA from Sonic Adventure 2, David Humphrey, who is still my favorite voice for him.
Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings
Lately, Sega has been releasing animated shorts as tie-ins with their recent Sonic games ever since Sonic Mania. All of them are fun, well-animated, and filled with personality, but 2024 may have given us the best one yet.
Dark Beginnings was a short series of prequel episodes for Sonic X Shadow Generations. It explained what Shadow was doing before the events of Shadow Generations (and Sonic Generations), and why he’s on the Space Colony ARK at the beginning of the new game.The animation was phenomenal—especially the fight between Shadow and Emerl. (Emerl is a character who hasn’t been featured in a long time). While the other shorts were charming despite lacking voice acting, it was great to see Dark Beginnings include voiceovers.
Seeing Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and Omega) reunited and cleaning house was also a blast. At the very end, we even see Shadow have a mental breakdown as his mind is flooded with memories of Maria Robotnik—his best friend who was killed, and the cousin of Sonic’s arch-nemesis, Dr. Robotnik—to a very emotional song.
Since Sonic has become a multimedia franchise, it would be great if there could be a new animated show that uses this style. Speaking of Sonic X Shadow Generations...
Sonic Generations
In 2024, Sonic received one new mainline game: an enhanced re-release of Sonic Generations (originally released in 2011). While it didn’t fix or add too much to Sonic Generations, it added an entirely new campaign for Shadow.
This campaign explored what Shadow was up to during the events of Sonic Generations, where he originally appeared only sparingly. While Sonic was dealing with the Time Eater, Shadow was facing his former foe—and quasi-father—Black Doom, who was revived due to the Time Eater’s presence.
SideNote: Shadow Generations had a lot of great moments for Shadow from a story and interaction perspective. I’ve never loved how Shadow’s most recent game voice actor Kirk Thornton sounds as the hedgehog, despite liking his other work, but this game gave him better direction. He sounded more like the older portrayals of Shadow.
It was also a nice touch seeing him bicker or comment during boss encounters such as calling the Biolizard his “brother,” a tortured soul or not even remembering who Mephiles is since he was erased from the timeline.
Shadow Generations delivered some of the best “boost formula” gameplay since Sonic Unleashed, mixing in Shadow’s unique abilities like Chaos/Doom Spears and Chaos Control, with improved level design over Sonic Forces and Frontiers; featuring multiple paths and standout stages from his past like Kingdom Valley (Sonic ’06) and Space Colony ARK (Sonic Adventure 2), though strangely excluding levels from his own game, despite including Black Doom, All Hail Shadow, and a killer Westopolis remix in the Shibuya DLC.
Really, the only disappointment was that this wasn’t a full game—just a DLC expansion. Alternatively, I wish Sega would support the game a bit longer (outside of the Sonic Movie 3 tie-in). Both Shadow and Generations are ripe for more content, and both sold extremely well. Hopefully, that changes in the future.
Sonic Movie 3
Normally, I’ll always be more excited for a game than a movie, but this was an exception. Ever since Shadow was teased in the post-credits’ scene of the Sonic Movie 2, this film was at the top of my radar.
SideNote: Sonic Adventure 2 is one of my favorite Sonic games—and probably one of my favorite games ever—so an adaptation in a film franchise that’s been solid for video game movies? Yes, please. It was my favorite film of 2024—and my favorite video game movie ever.
Shadow’s presence played a big role in that, with Keanu Reeves cast as his voice. Every action scene with him was spectacular as he overpowered everyone, even Team Sonic. It featured some of the best CGI action I’ve seen in a while (this was also the first time we’ve seen Super Shadow in years, and I loved the pink energy that radiated from him).
The film adapted Shadow’s story with minor but meaningful changes. It simplified his origins without losing their emotional weight. Instead of suffering amnesia like in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), he remembers everything—and still wants vengeance for Maria. But instead of being reminded of her wishes, the film centers the arc around a lesson about the futility of vengeance.
With Shadow, he has more backstory and baggage than any other Sonic character. So, getting it right is always important. It was refreshing, wholesome, and hilarious to see more of his interactions with Maria before her inevitable demise. It gave us a more comical side of Shadow, without making him a joke.
And yes, “REVENGE GUAC!” was one of the funniest parts of the whole movie.
Sonic Movie 3 was a fantastic way to end the Year of Shadow. Not to mention, it outperformed both prior movies critically and financially, with a fourth film quickly confirmed. I’m not quite as excited for the next one as I was for this but it’s still on my watch list.
Hopes for the Future
I love the classic Sonic games. They’re what got me into gaming. But Sega has to accept that, despite the missteps of the 2000s and early 2010s, people love elements from that era and Shadow is one of those elements; sometimes even more popular than Sonic himself!
One of my biggest fears about the Year of Shadow is that all of this was just cross promotion for the Sonic Movie 3. That once it was over, the games would go back to only referencing the pre-3D era, filled with Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary remixes and back to a playable roster of just Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy (plus an occasional new character). With Sega, they have a frustrating history of separating classic-era elements from 3D-era elements. I can respect the desire to take Sonic’s lore more seriously, but at the end of the day, this is an anthropomorphic animal mascot gaming series. Fun should come first.
SideNote: This was clear when they added a Shadow outfit to Sonic Superstars a game in its classic style. Instead of giving Sonic a Shadow skin, it was just Sonic wearing a Shadow onesie.
To end on a hopeful note: during The Game Awards 2024, Sega teased Sonic Racing: Cross Worlds—and the only character shown was Shadow, not even Sonic. This suggests that Sega might finally be confident enough to lead with him; and while it could’ve been one last tie-in for the Sonic Movie 3, I’d like to believe it’s more of a “shadow” of things to come.
