

Amnesiac Dissonance: An odd case is the Semi-Hero - Hero Ending, where Shadow realizes that he was a failed experiment who has caused so much destruction and wishes that he was never created.Depending on the outcome of the Hero, Neutral, and Dark endings, he gets his answers. Amnesiac Hero: Shadow, who struggles to remember anything from his past and he doesn't know who he is, why he cannot remember anything, or why certain names like "Maria" have significant importance to him or why the government is hunting him down.Alternate Catchphrase Inflection: In every ending, Shadow gives a speech that ends with "This is who I am." In 9 of the 10 endings, Shadow says this with a triumphant tone at having ascertained his identity however, in the Hero Ending to the Semi-Hero path, Shadow says it in a depressed tone because he feels that he should have never been born due to all the suffering he caused.All There in the Manual: Expert Mode reveals that the GUN Commander recently became a Grandfather.The 326 ending paths are differing names for reaching these endings through completing the stages in various sequences.For actual endings, there are 10 alignment-based endings, and 1 "true" ending unlocked for completing all of them.Aliens Speaking English: Black Doom, though none of the other Black Arms.

The leader, Black Doom, outright states how inferior humans are and that his race is liberating them from themselves by eating them. Aliens Are Bastards: The Black Arms are a race that go from planet to planet consuming all life.Also a case of Black Blood, as they were originally planned to have red blood, but it was changed to green to avoid a T rating. Alien Blood: The Black Arms have green blood.Shadow the Hedgehog ignores this element, with Metal being absent and Omega having a downplayed role, which, according to the Final Story, is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Aborted Arc: Sonic Heroes ended with Shadow and Omega carrying Metal Sonic, which implied something about their similar origins would be touched upon in a future story.He uses guns, kills people, has a name from the Dark Age Of Super Names, is brooding, sarcastic, and an over-the-top badass. '90s Anti-Hero: The advertising and aesthetic impose this on Shadow himself.11th-Hour Superpower: Following the formula started by Sonic Adventure, in the last story mode Shadow uses the power of the 7 Chaos Emeralds to fight against Black Doom's true form from destroying the planet.Rouge and Knuckles can help him during boss fights, but they won't show up in the corresponding cutscenes. 11th-Hour Ranger: Notably, only Sonic, Vector, and Omega can assist Shadow in his various endings.Everybody's pleased to see him when they encounter him, and Rouge, Amy, and Charmy are all quite admiring in their own ways. 100% Heroism Rating: For such a brooding, lonesome fellow, Shadow's never been more popular with Sonic and his friends than he is in this game.note Baten Kaitos beats this one at 340 hours, but while that game can be left idle for a long time since its length is mostly due to the time it takes to transform an item, this game's speedrun requires 181 hours of active gameplay and had to be segmented since no human being could do that in one sitting. The fastest time anyone has ever accomplished this feat in is 181 hours, which is among the longest speedruns in gaming history. Yes, the game really keeps track of this.

You can't just complete all 39 missions, either. There are ten endings (plus the Golden Ending), but if you want true 100% completion, you can't just get all ten and call it a day. 100% Completion: Taken to a truly absurd extreme.This DAMN game provides DAMN examples of:

Thus begins Shadow's quest of self-discovery, culminating in an assault on the aliens' organic mothership, the Black Comet: In the Golden Ending, Shadow learns that he was created by Gerald not to destroy humanity as previously assumed, but as a counter-measure against the alien threat. Shadow is about to turn away, uncaring, but the alien leader calls out his name, insisting that Shadow fetch him the Chaos Emeralds. Most of the playable characters from SA2 also appear as NPCs, along with E-123 Omega (from Heroes) and Team Chaotix ( Knuckles Chaotix and Heroes).Īfter his apparent death and return, Shadow resurfaces in Westopolis just as the skies turn red and a UFO starts lasering the city to pieces à la Independence Day. Eggman's late grandfather Professor Gerald. The game picks up after Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes and references many events and characters from the former, most notably Dr. Shadow the Hedgehog is a 2005 spinoff in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise which centers on the anti-heroic black hedgehog, Shadow.
