Sonic Adventure 2 was, for all intents and purposes, a bloody good game. An excellent game, in fact. It was a perfect game for a perfect time; Sonic fans were growing up and were looking for something to top their current favourite Dreamcast game, Sonic Adventure. It was a very special time for Sonic, and for Sonic Team – at this point in time Yuji Naka and his wickin’ crew could seem to do no wrong whatsoever, after creating the quadruple threat that was Sonic Adventure, ChuChu Rocket!, Phantasy Star Online and Samba de Amigo. 2001 came, and E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo, held every year in May at Los Angeles) was the perfect time to show the world more of Sonic Adventure 2.
2001 was not only a brilliant time for Sonic Team to shine, it was also a landmark moment for Sonic himself: June 23rd 2001 would mark his official 10th birthday, and a lot of fuss was rounded by SEGA around the world to commemorate the 10th Anniversary. Sonic Adventure 2 not only was a landmark game in terms of accomplishment, but in addition to this it was both the landmark game that Sonic fans fondly remember as THE game to mark Sonic’s birthday; and on a sadder note it was also to be Sonic’s last outing on the SEGA Dreamcast. This made Sonic Adventure 2 not only great in the hands of journalists and non-Sonic fans alike, but for us Sonic fans, it was a game to forever treasure and hold even more dear to us.
The story was excellently written, and provided the perfect storyline for a time such as this. It introduced a new character called ‘Shadow’, which would end up being Sonic’s “dark side”. This story was a great gimmick for a time that was so good for Sonic fans, that it was truly something to remember. Sonic and Shadow’s final battle with each other, running along the Space Colony ARK, if nothing else added to the fact that the whole package – like Sonic’s 10th Anniversary – was something of epic proportions.
Then, at the very end of the game, Sonic and friends (even Dr. Eggman, like in Sonic Adventure) have to defeat a great evil in the way of Gerald Robotnik’s overpowering moustache. Oh, and that Biolizard thing. During the final battle where Sonic and Shadow team up to knock the Biolizard on its rectum, Shadow loses power and falls towards the planet, supposedly never to be seen again.
“Maria, this is what you wanted, right? This is my promise I made to you.”
Wow. What a perfect end to a perfect Sonic game. A character who you grow to become fond of during the course of Sonic Adventure 2 “dies”, leaving you only the fond memories of playing as him in the game, just like Sonic and friends are left with only the fond memories of Shadow and his misunderstood character. This gave even more reason to treasure the game, and to keep playing over and over.
Sonic Adventure 2: The Experience of a Lifetime?
It would have been just perfect if that was the last we ever heard of Shadow (excepting possible future spin-off games), but there was a problem. Somehow, somewhere, some group of sad misfits did not want closure on Shadow’s death, infinitely finding him “more cool than Sonic”. ‘Theories’ were constantly, constantly made between this small but significant group of fanboys regarding “Shadow’s death”, including possible ways in how he could have actually survived. And you should have heard them…“Shadow could have used Chaos Control with the last amount of energy he had”
“If you look closely, Shadow still has his flame ring, he could have had some power left…”
“… NO$! ShAd0W’z Nut DED! h3 WUz sTill SuPeR wh3n he fELL!”
Now, I don’t have anything against wanting a character to return. There are many instances in many games before this where a small (or large) group of people want a return of “X character” or “X game”. Cloud, the “mature” Link, a new Gunstar Heroes… But for the period between August 2001 and late 2002 (when Sonic Heroes was announced), the entire Sonic community was riddled with fanboy talk on Shadow and wanting his return. It got to such a point in even The Sonic Stadium’s Message Board, that most talk on Shadow is now outlawed on the SSMB.
However, the unthinkable happened. Sonic Team showed screens of Sonic Heroes, and along with it the definite proof that Shadow was alive and kicking. The response was a mix of pleasure (for the most part), hatred and indifference (I pretty much stood inbetween ‘hatred’ and ‘indifference’). Many people were so happy that Shadow was alive…
However, the repurcussions this event would have on how people percieved Sonic Team, and their subsequent game Sonic Heroes, would be catastrophic. And who can blame us? It’s true, many people were happy that Shadow returned, but thinking rationally for a second, what exactly would that have accomplished? Perhaps more levels like Sonic, another “Sonic’s Dark Side” story twist, being the opposite of Sonic again?
This is where Sonic Team lost points severely with audience morale. Except for maybe the Shadow fans of today, but even now these fans are starting to lose interest in Shadow. The whole point was that Shadow was meant for one game, and one game only – Sonic Adventure 2. By effectively “reviving” the character, you completely destroy Sonic Adventure 2 entirely, in terms of both storyline plotholes and the special experience that fans felt back in 2001.
Sonic Adventure 2 is no longer a special game to fans. In fact, most people now hate the game, and even Sonic Team themselves, because of the huge fact that Shadow has been uneccessarily revived. And as a result, Sonic Team have now lost their “invincibility” that they had from 1999, up until they announced Sonic Heroes.
Un-Happy 10th Anniversary, Sonic!
Why did reviving Shadow destroy Sonic Adventure 2? First of all, it’s the experience that fans had in 2001, which is the most important reason for this turn of events. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Sonic Adventure 2 had a massive impact on the fans when it was originally released – it was a special game that made fans feel special themselves when playing it. The storyline was unlike anything ever written before, surpassing Sonic Adventure 1’s storyline. This made the fans feel that extra effort was being spent on SA2, and therefore more effort was being spent on Sonic’s 10th Anniversary and the fans that have loved Sonic up until that time.Now Shadow is “alive”, what will happen now? Well, in Sonic Heroes, exactly the same happened. Shadow was a “Dark version of Sonic” more or less, with him being ‘evil, but misunderstood’. The same character background is being repeated from Sonic Adventure 2, and that completely undermines Sonic Adventure 2’s original storyline and charm.
Sonic Heroes was poor on many levels, but the most relevant one to note for this article is that nothing was done with Shadow’s character. It was almost as if Sonic Team just copied Shadow’s story from Sonic Adventure 2, minus the “Maria” part and pasted it into Heroes. At least if Shadow’s background or character was taken further, then most fans would have tolerated his return.
The very fact that Shadow is alive in Sonic Heroes means that he has indeed “survived”, which means the whole ending and atmosphere of Sonic Adventure 2 has been ruined, as well as losing the special appeal that the game had. Instead of one landmark game where you could play to save the world or conquer it (Sonic Adventure 2), you have a pathetic ‘Fisher Price’ style Sonic game (Sonic Heroes) that steals that very idea and makes the previous landmark game redundant and unimportant. It’s almost as if, in doing this, Sonic Team actually have no respect for Sonic’s 10th Anniversary and their fans during that period at all, instead favouring the fanboys who really know no better, with their only opinion being “Please bring back [insert character here] back”. Geez, no-one went this nuts for Gamma did they, and Gamma’s levels had more significance than Shadow’s did in SA2: at least Gamma didn’t have the same abilities or style of stages as Sonic did.
It’s all about the kids, remember?
Of course, if it’s the kids’ decision to want Shadow back, then who the heck are we to argue? We’re only fans that not only have been knowledgeable about Sonic longer than them, are actually wiser about gaming ourselves and would know a little more about how a game would be percieved or end up playing. Unfortunately, as it happens we are now considered adults, and Sonic Team no longer want to listen to us. Funny, because they seemed like their ears were open for almost everything we said back in 2001, a mere three years ago.Of course, while the whole ‘kids’ debate is something to be spared for later, it was mainly their views that were listened to when Sonic Team decided upon whether to bring Shadow back. And then Sonic Heroes arrived. Which provided an onslaught of characters, not only Shadow, but even dusting off old favourites such as Chaotix. Surely an attempt to try and make up with us older fans who actually knew who the Chaotix team was before Sonic Heroes was released.
Getting a bit cramped in here…
The amount of characters, especially new ones, is overwhelming in the Sonic universe, if we were to break off from Shadow for about ten seconds. Sonic Adventure gave us Big the Cat, E-102 Gamma and Chaos, SA2 brought us Shadow, Rouge, Maria, Gerald Robotnik, and Sonic Heroes provided us with E-121 Omega. The new characters from Sonic Adventure were created tastefully, with only one game in mind. Sonic Adventure 2 broke that rule with Shadow and also thought it would be funny to make Rouge a returning character too. No doubt we’ll see Omega again as well.But just what good are all these new characters? Sonic Team are making new characters in every game, and almost seem to want to make some kind of “Sonic Colony” where there’ll be about 200 new characters by 2030. All of them seem to have next to no real purpose of returning – even Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao was a new character as of Sonic Advance 2, and she probably is the most useless of the lot (sorry all you Cream fans ^_^).
Perhaps a general response would be that, since I’m an old fan from “the beginning”, that I would have no bones about old characters like Fang/Nack, Mighty and the Tails Doll returning in a new Sonic game. And while yes, I do have a lot of fond feelings towards those sidelined characters, my opinion would be no different. Only bring them back in a new game if it’s necessary and it helps. Let’s face it, Team Chaotix looked really out of place in Sonic Heroes, and some would even take a dislike to they way they “mutilated” Vector and the disappearance of Mighty. And Shadow returning in Sonic Heroes was certainly NOT necessary.
Go on now, back to your graves!
Is this character misuse something that will happen in the future? At the moment, most definitely – Sonic Team have seriously gone downhill since Sonic Adventure 2, and I’m not even sure if Naka-san and co are aware of it. The latest news on the rumourmill is that even Emerl may return for a new Sonic game. Why? Because the fanboys want ‘him’/it back.Sigh. Is there no hope for these people? G-mel appeared in Sonic Advance 3 because of the ‘Emerl Collective’ and that was frankly when I just lost interest. On the back of this, it could well be inevitable that we see Emerl and his stupidly DragonBallZ style fighting ways return on our screens. It’s as if the Shadow fans have died and it’s all about Emerl now.
My advice to Sonic Team, and especially Naka-san, before they dig themselves an early grave (which will be too small to fit all the Sonic Team members and the Sonic characters they’ve created so far – Naka-san will have to decompose in next-door’s coffin) with all these stupid returns of one-hit-wonder characters like Shadow and Emerl, would be this: Don’t take everything the kids say for what everyone else wants.
Kids are fickle, are outspoken and they certainly don’t really know what they’re wanting really for the most part. It’s like a toy. They will want the latest Action Man just because “it’s there” and after weeks of going on about it, the new toy is finally bought for the kid. Do they actually play with it after receiving it at long last? No. They just push it aside. And the parent who buys the toy suffers, because they spent money on a useless toy.
So please, Sonic Team, don’t make the same mistake – don’t bring back a character just because kids want them. Because, like Sonic Heroes, the kids who wanted Shadow back now couldn’t care less, and it will be the more dedicated fans and the older fans that will suffer because of your errors. So please listen to the dedicated fans as well as the kids.
Oh, and kill off Shadow, never bring him back – and save whatever last grain of honour you have left for your Sonic fans of 2001. Thank you.