Shadow The Hedgehog Might Get A New Game In The Future

 

In a recent interview with Youtube channel Shacknews, Sonic Team director Takashi Iizuka was asked about why Shadow the Hedgehog of all characters wasn't in Sonic Frontiers. Shadow is a popular character in the Sonic franchise who has been in the series since 2001's Sonic Adventure 2 videogame. Shadow was awarded a game with 2005's Shadow The Hedgehog on Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. It was a fast-paced 3rd person shooter where Shadow had guns for some reason and said Damn a lot. It was the first Sonic game that was voiced by the 4Kids voice actors from Sonic X, as the game was going to be a lot more violent than originally intended, but changed when 4Kids cast took over and the game had recieved an E10+ rating. Despite this, it was actually still modreately fun and included a large amount of content, great action stages, an awesome soundtrack and lots of fun Hero vs Evil side missions. It was also a game that included the catchphrase 'Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald'. 

 

 

Iizuka was asked if Shadow will join Sonic, Tails Knuckles & Amy on Sonic's upcoming 2D adventure, Sonic Superstars. Iizuka responded,

"Unfortunately, Shadow's not in the game, sorry all you Shadow fans,"

 

However, he also had this to say:  

 "This is a classic series game so do understand that Shadow is not a part of the classic series, but do be hopeful for Sonic 3 (the upcoming movie). I think for those that saw Sonic 2, you saw a nice reveal after the credits. Do stay tuned for Sonic 3, and do know that we do want to create a game with Shadow in it for all of our fans in the future."

This is great news, as a lot of Sonic fans have been wanting more content that includes the often overlooked character Shadow for quite some time now. Iizuka himself is also a big fan of the character, and directed 2005's Shadow spin-off game. He was also the main reason why he was included in bonus DLC for the 2017 game Sonic Forces. He apparently convinced the team hard to include him as a playable character in some levels, and get him his own short bonus DLC, Episode Shadow.

Interestingly enough, Iizuka was also asked about a Sonic Adventure 2 remake. These titles were once heavily rumoured to be in development sometime during 2019, after Iizuka expessed interest in remaking Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 again. However those projects were ultimately cancelled, and made way for the 2022 game Sonic Frontiers. This is why we can't have nice things. Frontiers borrows heavy elements and inspiration from the past Sonic Adventure titles. Even specific stages like Sky Rail and Green Forest from Sonic Adventure 2 are included as stages in Frontiers. It makes me think they were put in from a left over development. After all, Frontiers was meant to be an anniversary game. But Iizuka was asked about a potential remake again, and while he enjoyed the idea, at this time they want to focus on new and different titles.

You can check out the full interview below! 

In the mean time we'll have to wait for the third Sonic movie to see the return of Shadow, which will be released in cinemas in December 2024.