The game features a remastered copy of the 2011 title Sonic Generations, alongside an all-new storyline unfolding at the same time—but rather than Sonic, this half focuses on his darker foil, Shadow the Hedgehog. This new addition has been the focus of the majority of the game’s marketing, catering towards Shadow’s popularity and the fans’ hope for an accurate portrayal of the character.
In fact, on April 9th, 2024, the Sonic franchise’s social media team announced that they were dedicating the year to Shadow the Hedgehog, dubbing it “Fearless: Year of Shadow.” The campaign promotes staying true to yourself without fear and pushing past obstacles.
While this announcement primarily promoted the release of Sonic X Shadow Generations in October and the third Sonic movie’s scheduled theater release in December, they also began to include Shadow in other media. The character was added to the game Sonic Dream Team, received more Sonic Calendar stories surrounding him, and fan-made artworks and animations about him were reposted to official accounts.
The creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, Takashi Iizuka, did multiple interviews discussing Shadow’s character and hinting at future projects. “So of course it might depend on the concept of a specific game, but I think sometimes we’ll dive into his past and sometimes we’ll write about present and future Shadow.”
Many returning fans were excited for the revival of Sonic Generations, a fan-favorite game. The original released in 2011, so many newer fans remember it as one of the first Sonic games they’d ever played.
Sonic Generations sees its titular character adventuring alongside the “classic” version of himself from the 1990’s, allowing players to experience old and new stages in both modern 3D and classic 2D styles. The game does a fantastic job of transitioning smoothly between formats; taking an iconic 2D level and turning it into a 3D world or changing a level’s mission in order to achieve it in another view. Sonic Generations was created to be nostalgic for fans of varying levels of experience; both those who have stuck around since the first game and those who found Sonic only once he fully transitioned to 3D.
One of the main goals of Sonic X Shadow Generations has been to clean up the original game. Many cutscenes were changed to alter dialogue and character dynamics, one of the biggest examples of this coming in the form of Amy Rose.
In the early 2000’s to 2010’s, Amy’s character was boiled down to crushing on and stalking Sonic. In newer games such as Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Superstars, however, Sega has been trying to give her more of a personality outside of Sonic. SXSH Gens is a great example of this. In one cutscene, they changed Amy trying to forcibly hug Sonic into her offering him a cupcake. Another example is the scene in which Amy is saved from stasis, where they changed her line from “You saved me, Sonic! I was afraid I would never be able to flirt with you again!” to “You saved me, Sonic! I’ll be sure to return the favor next time around!”
Other changes are intended to fix problems the fans have had with the series for a long time. Many were upset with how Knuckles the Echidna was treated as a joke instead of the strong warrior he originally was. They easily fixed this issue at the end of the game, when Amy shoves him after he insulted Sonic. Originally he flew back into a tree and was knocked out, but now he stumbles back and looks slightly annoyed. A change as simple as that fixed many of the problems the fanbase had with how the character is portrayed.
Even smaller changes are meant to make the dialogue flow smoother or fix plot holes. After Sonic saves a character, he now responds to their comments instead of standing awkwardly like he did in the original. The original Sonic Generations was meant to be a celebration of how far Sonic had come since 1991, so they threw in many references to past games—but these became tedious at best, and annoying at worst. In the new version, they include these references much more naturally so that it feels less forced.
The biggest selling point for this remaster, however, was the addition of Shadow Generations, a new campaign focusing on another fan-favorite character. This portion of the game received separate and exclusive marketing, along with unique gameplay and fan reviews.
Shadow the Hedgehog’s backstory is notoriously complex, spanning at least three games’ worth of lore. Rather than attempt to explain it all here, might we redirect you to the story recap cutscene available in this game? Available on the main menu as soon as you boot up Sonic X Shadow Generations is an option titled “Shadow’s Story” which quickly sums up all of the lore relevant to the title, allowing new players to understand the storyline.
The release of Sonic X Shadow Generations was preceded by the release of an animated miniseries titled Dark Beginnings, which serves as a prologue, leading up to the immediate moment the game begins. The three episodes manage to tell a coherent story, complete with flashbacks which allow us to glimpse a few never-before-seen details of Shadow’s past.
The animation was incredible! The fight choreography was exciting, everyone was expressive, and they fixed the problem the Sonic franchise had of human characters looking and feeling out of place. At the end of the final episode, an original song plays called “Without you” by Casey Lee William. The song is beautiful and talks about moving on after losing a loved one.
Early physical copies of the game include a 28 page journal from the perspective of Gerald Robotnik, the man who created Shadow. The journal describes his reasoning behind the experiment and his later descent into madness, giving us a more detailed view into the past as well as the characters’ motivations.
Having played the game ourselves, we were surprised to notice just how well-made it was. The controls are smooth, and the levels are challenging, but not frustratingly difficult. The game does an excellent job with incorporating the different abilities you unlock into its gameplay and giving you opportunities to practice the new skills you unlock throughout. The open hub world is large enough to explore, but still easy enough to find your way through.
The game’s voice direction was nothing less than amazing. Kirk Thornton did a wonderful job voicing Shadow and giving emotion to a very stoic character. The voice acting alone did wonders for certain characters and made them feel more complex.
Since the game’s release is coming two months before Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is released in theaters, the digital deluxe version of the game includes a crossover DLC, set to be released in December. The DLC will feature the version of Shadow from the video game series being transported to the universe of the movies.
Shadow receives a new design that more resembles his live action counterpart, and they even got Keanu Reeves, who is set to voice him in the movie, to extend that to the DLC as well. The level included in the DLC will be based off of a city which is shown in the movie’s trailer.
The digital deluxe version also comes with two new skins. The first one is made to resemble Terios, the original concept of Shadow’s design. The second is made to replicate how Sonic looked in the Sonic Adventure games, lending additional nostalgia to the game.
For what feels like the first time in over a decade, Sonic fans have actually agreed on something. The consumer reaction to Sonic X Shadow Generations was overwhelmingly positive for both seasoned fans and everyday players. Even those who hate the franchise struggled to find any real problems, a few even admitting they were pleasantly surprised.
The game hit one million units sold within 24 hours and has received an 80 on metacritic, a 9/10 on IGN, and many more positive ratings, never dipping below an 8/10. Following the success of Sonic Frontiers, which scored a 7/10 on average, Sega has finally seemed to find their footing, showing that it is indeed possible for companies to live and learn.
