Shadow the Hedgehog (2025 remake)

***Shadow the Hedgehog*** is a 2005 video game developed and published by Sega, a notorious spin-off from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. It's been a controversial game ever since its release for its third-person shooter elements and (to a lesser extent) its repetitive level design, further mocked by critics and audiences for its slippery controls and laughable attempts at trying to be appeal to an older audience. Its main gimmick is its morality system, where the completed missions determine the game's plot and the levels that come afterward. Though the game managed to sell over 2 million copies, it is regarded today as a critical figure and one of the series' lowest points.

The intent behind this 2025 remake is to address most of the issues in the game while retaining its mature feel, all while adding new elements to make the game a fresh experience to play once again. It is not a straight remake of the game, but rather a reimagining.

## Plot differences

* There are only three different endings in the 2025 remake, namely the Hero, Neutral, and Dark endings, which are respectively earned by defeating Devil Doom, Deviled Egg, and Devil Diablon. This streamlines the game significantly, making plotlines easier to follow.
	+ By clearing a certain amount of missions on other routes, what Shadow says in the ending when he gets all Chaos Emeralds does slightly differ, although all of his evil quotes are brushed to the Dark path and all of his noble quotes are brushed to the Hero path.
	+ It is only necessary to defeat Devil Doom, Deviled Egg, and Devil Diablon once each to beat the game.
* The "Last Story" feature is reworked into the ending of the Hero path, with identical counterparts now existing for the Neutral and Dark paths as well. The Last Way, as a stage, has been renamed to The Right Way, with the Dark counterpart named The Wrong Way and the Neutral counterpart named The Only Way.
	+ All of these stages and their associated bosses (Devil Doom, Deviled Egg, Devil Diablon respectively) can be beaten after defeating Black Doom, Egg Dealer, and Devil Diablon respectively.
* Shadow's purpose is finalized on the 8th stage on every route, marking the point where he can't turn back.
	+ He regains his memory and joins Sonic and friends to beat Black Doom on the Hero route.
	+ He fully believes he's a Shadow Android and plans to take the original's place as an anti-hero on the Neutral route.
	+ He is fully brainwashed by Black Doom and plans to destroy all humans on the Dark Route.
* The game rarely relies on details established in previous cutscenes and avoids contradictions when possible, leaving the player to piece together Shadow's past for themselves. The correct answers are found on a specific route, but the player can believe what they want to believe.
	+ Sonic's friends tell Shadow some of his past but can't hint to all of it, with most of his answers coming from Rouge.
	+ Eggman neglects telling Shadow he's anything but one of his rogue androids, leaving him to discover his own answers.
	+ Black Doom tells more truth than anyone else, but throws lies into the equation to keep Shadow firmly on his side.
* Blaze, Silver, and Infinite are established characters from later games that now appear in this one. Black Doom has two new associates for him, namely the Bull's Eye and the Golden Eye, who help instruct Shadow at times while he's busy commanding his troops.
* Although a minor change, the Shadow Androids in Iron Jungle and Lava Shelter now look closer to the player's own Shadow and fire guns in an identical way to him, to the point they result to physical attacks once their ammo runs out. This is to help make the Shadow Android plotline a little more believable.
* The reason why Shadow fights Eggman on the Neutral path after helping him multiple times boils down to the fact Eggman pretended to use Shadow to gather the Chaos Emeralds for him so he can help Shadow research his past, aiming to destroy him instead after Shadow gives the Emeralds to him.

## Gameplay differences

* The general speed of the game is increased, with the player able to move around quicker since finding specific enemies is no longer a huge priority.
* Shadow's controls are smoothed out considerably.
	+ He is now as easy to control as he was in *Sonic Adventure 2*.
	+ Shadow's spindash physics are restored from *Sonic Adventure 2*, and like in that game, he can use his fire somersault both to take out enemies and slide beneath low gaps in the level.
	+ As mentioned, a crosshair now appears whenever Shadow attempts to use his homing attack, but the game can also detect walls Shadow can use the Triangle Jump on as well as poles Shadow can grab and flip jump from.
* Given how drastically different the gameplay system in *Shadow the Hedgehog* is, the health system has been changed considerably as well.
	+ If Shadow gathers any rings, they're used to refill a health gauge rather than the ring count system used in traditional Sonic games.
	+ Shadow doesn't take any knockback from attacks that don't deal much damage to him, like standard G.U.N. Soldier bullets. Explosives and enemy contact will still knock him back, however, dealing more damage to him than standard bullets do.
	+ Shield power-ups will have their own miniature gauges, defending Shadow from attacks until they pop.
	+ Health monitors will restore Shadow's health by half, which are easiest to find in boss arenas.
* The weapons system is changed up significantly. While standard guns still work much like they did in the original game, various other weapons have seen substantial improvements to put them on par with the game's guns as viable weapons.
	+ Crosshairs now appear above anything Shadow can target, appearing green if he can use his Homing Attack on them or red if he can shoot them. If he can do either, the crosshairs will be purpose. All crosshairs look different so colorblind people can tell which one to use.
	+ Shadow can switch between single-target range or multi-target range, which respectively have him hit one target at a time to deal more damage or have him hit multiple targets to only deal chip damage but make every enemy flinch.
	+ Shadow can now hold two weapons at once, which he can switch at any time without consequence.
	+ Every gun-themed item in the game has slightly more ammo, and they can be refilled by smashing open the semi-common Refill item monitor which adds two guns' worth of ammo to the selected gun, although only the one currently equipped will be refilled.
	+ All guns that had to be manually aimed no longer have this requirement, but the gun's cursor *does* need to pass over an enemy to lock on.
	+ Swords do not have ammo and deal much more damage at close range, although Shadow is more vulnerable at close quarters.
	+ Environmental objects do not have ammo either and can have wide range, although they still don't deal much damage.
	+ To compensate for the increased effectiveness of the weapons system, enemies tank hits considerably easier, with notable examples including G.U.N. soldiers and standard Black Arms aliens. Enemies also take less damage from weapons affiliated with their alignment.
* There are some important changes to the Hero and Dark Gauges.
	+ While Chaos Blast remains largely the same albeit with a greater blast radius, Chaos Control no longer teleports the player forward, instead freezing everything around Shadow. Shadow can kill any enemy without struggle provided he has a weapon like a gun, which has infinite ammo while his Hero Gauge is active.
	+ Hero Cores and Dark Cores are more readily available in the levels, allowing Shadow access to his Chaos Control and Chaos Blast abilities in an instant. However, they're hard to come by and often require some tricky platforming.
	+ Destroying crates and objects relating to the Black Arms now fuels the Hero gauge instead of the Dark gauge.
	+ The gauges no longer trigger instantly if they're filled up, requiring the player to activate them on their own.
	+ Keeping either gauge full will add considerably to the player's Hero or Dark scores at the end of any level.
* A small mini-map in the upper corner of the screen displays Shadow's position, the terrain he's on, and objects like checkpoints, Hero targets, Dark Targets, and Key Gates. The Key Gates are now located near the beginning of every level.
* The five Keys located in every level now unlock a weapons vault, which grants Shadow immediate access to the Special Weapons the player earns for getting specific endings. The game only must be beaten thrice, but specific endings reward new weapons.
* Checkpoints are far wider and cover a great degree of space in the air, making them almost impossible to miss. If the player sees a checkpoint coming up ahead and they're moving very fast, they can hold the Z-button key equivalent while passing by to bring up the Checkpoint Menu instantly.

### Mission differences

* Though there remain 22 stages, the gameplay is steamlined to a degree where there are eight stages per route instead of six.
	+ To avoid the repetition of space levels, Dusty Desert and Radical Train are borrowed from *Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)* and made into Hero path levels. They replace The Doom and Space Gadget.
* There are three missions per stage on the Neutral path and two per stage on the Hero and Dark paths, with the exception of the final two stages on each path which feature only one mission each. Once the player is on the final leg of a path, they can't change their alignment any further.
* The player sides with either Sonic and his friends on the Hero path, Dr. Eggman and his associates on the Neutral path, or Black Doom and his associates on the Dark path. Dr. Eggman will try to pull the player onto the Neutral path at all times while Sonic and Black Doom will try to pull the player onto their respective paths, albeit rarely if the player's on the other end of the spectrum.
* Missions are no longer mostly based around taking out every enemy of a specific alignment, every stage has a clear objective for Shadow to fulfill. The maps loop around, so the stages never end until the player accomplishes their given goal.
	+ Most of the stages that originally featured unique objectives, like Shadow having to find Top Secret Discs for Vector in Prison Island, are kept intact.
* There are five bosses on every path, with one encountered after Stage 2, Stage 4, Stage 6, Stage 8, and the final level on any given route.
	+ The level before it will not have the boss' alignment available to side with, i.e. Sonic and friends won't be available in Digital Circuit which is followed by the Blue Falcon boss battle. This doesn't apply to the Neutral path, however.

## Boss differences

### Major

* There are no repeated boss battles in *Shadow the Hedgehog*, as such Black Doom, Egg Dealer, Sonic & Diablon, Black Bull and Egg Breaker are only fought once each. This cuts down severely on repetition.
* There are new boss battles.
	+ At the end of Radical Train is the Egg Vulture, a dangerous airborne robot that will shoot various "feathers" (bullets) in Shadow's direction that he needs to carefully avoid as it flies about. Shadow is stranded on a square battlefield for the fight, and to damage it from a distance, he needs to open some crates and open fire. Sometimes it will spread its wings after popping out of nowhere, opening its beak to fire a laser down at the battlefield. To defeat the Egg Vulture, Shadow will need to fire from a distance or wait until it lands, where it'll send various homing feathers in Shadow's direction will opening itself to direct attacks from Shadow.
	+ While Bull's Eye turns out to be Black Bull, Black Doom's other associate Golden Eye is an alien pirate fought at the end of Lost Impact, appropriately named Captain Doom. He will slash at Shadow with his razor-sharp swords while hopping around, activating a gun on his arm to blast blades in Shadow's general direction. His body will deflect all of Shadow's bullets, so Shadow needs to cut through his armor using a sword. He will sometimes summon Black Doom's larger alien troops to fight Shadow, which carry swords identical for the fight, although they're also found in crates. Once his armor shatters, Shadow can gun him to death or continue to slash away until he falls.
	+ The Egg Cobra lies at the end of Digital Circuit, where it'll squirm around the firewalls and try to attack Shadow from various directions in its honeycomb-shaped virtual dome. As the boss takes more damage, it will move faster and faster; using the mini-map can help Shadow dodge the boss as it swarms around the strength although its lack of depth perception can make it hard to keep track. If its individual segments are fired at, its segments will split apart, targeting Shadow until he destroys them and thus allowing him to pick up their guns. Eggman will not taunt Shadow during the fight as this is a virtual mech, trying to hammer him with lasers from all its segments.
	+ The Flying Fortress is a boss that occupies the ARK, being a massive battleship for G.U.N. that fires various weapons at Shadow from high above. What Shadow needs to do is go to any of the (regenerating) turrets and fire away at the ship until its armor weakens, making it fall off. As it approaches closer, Shadow will need to fire away at the exposed "cores" on the ship to damage it repeatedly until it crumbles and breaks apart, killing everybody on board. Like the Blue Falcon, it has a Particle Beam Cannon attack, although this one deals considerably more damage. If the ship is almost dying, the attack will strengthen, but at the cost of the ship's own health.
	+ A rogue G.U.N. mech serves as the boss of Prison Island, being the old Hot Shot robot that Shadow demolished back in *Sonic Adventure 2* albeit overtaken by the Black Arms. Attacking it will fuel both of Shadow's tanks, as it belongs to both parties. It will try to hit Shadow with missiles and chargeable laser beams like in that game, but it can also fire guns of varying sorts at Shadow, including guns that belong to the Black Arms. Shadow can hit it all he wants until it goes down, especially as attacking it enough will get it to drop guns of its own for Shadow to use against it. It is the easiest boss in the game now.
	+ Infinite serves as the boss of Sky Troops, utilizing his virtual reality gimmick to create illusions of himself to dupe Shadow into attacking, all the while possessing his actual Shadow. To remove himself from Infinite's power, Shadow has to destroy enough Infinites to fuel either of his gauges, which will force Infinite free from his Shadow. He will then attack by hitting Shadow with lasers or virtual reality cubes which will have his illusions attack and hurt him for a lot of damage. He creates wormholes in the air so he can attack Shadow, but if Shadow shoots through the wormholes, he can target and hurt Infinite before he gets the chance. He is trying to train Shadow's abilities in this battle.
* The Egg Dealer is redesigned to be in the middle of its arena as a stationary boss that's massive in size, launching its weapons from the arena's middle. Though its slots can be rigged, the boss cannot damage itself anymore, with the player only able to spawn rings from the arena's corners. To defeat the Egg Dealer, the player must trick the Egg Dealer into firing explosives in the direction of one of the Lava Shelter's lava level changing devices, which will submerge Eggman and his machine in the lava. Shadow must jump on a floating platform in the lava and open fire on Eggman now that his shields are down and he's high enough to damage him. Eventually, Eggman will reset the lava levels.
* Sonic & Diablon is noticeably different. Sonic must be defeated head-on while Diablon follows them around, trying to blast Shadow with his head laser as they battle. When Sonic is downed, Diablon will use Sonic's body to power itself up, traveling across the arena at great speeds and attempting to claw Shadow while racing around the arena. It can summon various waves of G.U.N. mechs to support it and utilize a spinning tornado attack to try and hit Shadow to deal a lot of damage. Its Antimatter Cannon also charges faster, destroying all G.U.N. mechs around itself and preventing their weapons from getting picked up.
* Devil Doom, Deviled Egg and Devil Diablon are all bosses that're fought by Super Shadow. Though the Devil Doom fight is largely identical to the original, it is considerably easier to deal damage to it and rings are more plentiful; it also no longer uses Chaos Control. The Deviled Egg has Eggman use a mech much in his image and Devil Diablon is what it sounds like; a completed version of the Diablon model. They're all defeated in similar ways and utilize attacks typical of both until they're downed.

### Minor

* Black Doom can now be attacked at any time, but every window to attack him before he teleports is shortened. A quick player can take him down really quickly if they know what they're doing. He also summons waves of Black Arms to attack the player and can blast a Goku-like laser from his hands.
* The Egg Breaker's battle in Iron Jungle is redone so that it combines all aspects of its boss battles from the original game, including the infamous "you know what they say, the more the merrier!" attack. He cannot be cheesed like with the third battle, however.
* Black Bull is fought almost identically to his original battle, except he's now fought in Dusty Desert.
* The Blue Falcon returns but not the Heavy Dog, given they're largely the same boss, and Blue Falcon is fought almost identically to before, this time in Lethal Highway.

## Trivia

* This isn't going to turn into a very complicated page or anything, it's just a pitch I wanted to get out somewhere.