Sega has designated 2024 as the Year of Shadow, celebrating Sonic the Hedgehogâs rival through games like Sonic X Shadow Generations, a starring role in the third live-action film, and an animated mini-series delving into the characterâs past. At Anime Expo 2024, Sega held a panel with Sonic Team studio head Takashi Iizuka, Shadow and Maria Robotnik voice actors Kirk Thornton and Stephanie Sheh, and Studio Giggex directors Alan Wan, Kevin Molina-Ortiz, and Christopher Luc to discuss the characterâs past, present, and future, and show a glimpse of the animated mini-series Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings. While we only saw about 90 seconds, fans are already incredibly stoked about what was shown and are feeling more confident in Segaâs direction for Shadow than theyâve been in over a decade.
Pre-order Sonic X Shadow Generations: Amazon | Best Buy | Humble Bundle
The panel took place at the Los Angeles-based convention on Saturday, July 6, and was about an hour long. The presentation walked through Shadowâs history since his debut in 2001âs Sonic Adventure 2 (though it weirdly glossed over the seriesâ notorious low point, Sonic â06, which did not go unnoticed by fans), discussed how the antihero Spawn served as an early inspiration for the character, and interestingly enough, had Thornton saying heâs learned more about Shadow in the past year than he had in the previous 14 years heâs spent playing the hedgehog.
âIâm seeing different sides of Shadow,â Thornton said. âBut as far as [Sonic X Shadow Generations] goes, the cool, unflappable side [of him], thereâs always been something underneath it and finally weâre starting to pull out all those things and figure out what is driving that cool, whatâs driving that unflappable, whatâs brewing under the service. So thatâs what weâve been getting with this game. The team has decided to let a little bit of that emotion out at times. So it was a lot of fun doing this game because playing down and then being able to erupt and let some of that emotion out thatâs been brewing underneath all this time.â
Thornton took over the role of Shadow in 2010, which was long after the characterâs major roles in Sonic Adventure 2, Heroes, his self-titled game, and Sonic â06, all of which had him as a major player in the story and lore. In nearly 20 years since, Shadow has been largely relegated to a side character almost exclusively portrayed as an edgelord, with much of that complex backstory ignored. So it makes some sense that Thornton is getting the bigger picture now with Sonic X Shadow Generations, which Iizuka says is meant to reintroduce the character by revisiting his past ahead of the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie premiering on December 20.
Hearing that Thornton is getting a better understanding of the character after all this time is exciting because that gives fans hope that Shadow may once again be the antihero fans fell in love with, rather than the Flanderized caricature heâs been for more than a decade. If that testimony wasnât enough, the clip the team showed of the Dark Beginnings animated miniseries sparked a lot of confidence in Shadow the Hedgehogâs future. The 90-second snippet shows what seems to be Emerl, a robot who debuted in Sonic Battle, attacking the space station Shadow and Maria lived on. Weâll have to wait for the series to launch later this year before we get more context, but the animation is pretty incredible, and the dialogue and cinematography are dripping with angsty melodrama. Shadowâs interaction with Maria in the clip has been especially resonant with fans, as it manages to marry his brooding demeanor with the heartfelt core that has been missing from the character for some time. The folks from Studio Giggex say the series was inspired by legendary anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, and will draw heavily from the established Shadow lore.
Though it was barely over a minute, the preview and panel were enough to get fans pumped up for the future of a character who has largely been done dirty for over a decade.
HEâS EDGY, HEâS COOL, HE HAS ACTUAL EMOTION NOW?????
SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS BACK https://t.co/EKUa9TRShE
— Saltydkdan (@saltydkdan) July 6, 2024
I love Sonic but this legit might be the most confidence Iâve seen in any new Sonic thing in a while, they know this shit rules https://t.co/78N7t5ZSfF pic.twitter.com/mRcz0Posjj
— TheRayReviewer (@RayReviewer) July 6, 2024
I know I said this already, but the AMVs that this game and animation will spawn will be on a level we've never seen before. https://t.co/rOpitUayeu
— Ultima đ EVO (@UltimaShadowX) July 6, 2024
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1809744896305004766
Sonic X Shadow Generations is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on October 25. The Dark Beginnings animated series will be released online, but those who pre-order the game on PlayStation consoles will get extended versions of the series, as well as deleted scenes.
Pre-order Sonic X Shadow Generations: Amazon | Best Buy | Humble Bundle
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