Shadow the Hedgehog

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"It's alright, Maria. I'm letting go of that destructive anger. But I will continue to fight. Fight... with your wish in my heart. Your wish for everyone to have a chance to be happy."

—Shadow, Shadow Generations

Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Shadō za Hejjihoggu^?) is a prominent anti-hero and the rival of Sonic the Hedgehog in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He crosses over with the Mario franchise in the Mario & Sonic and Super Smash Bros. series of games.

Shadow was voiced by Jason Griffith, along with Sonic the Hedgehog and Jet the Hawk, in his first two Mario crossover appearances, and has been voiced by Kirk Thornton since Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Profile[]

He was created to be the "ultimate life form" by Dr. Eggman's grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. Shadow does whatever is necessary to achieve his goals, and because of this he has fought both alongside and against Sonic the Hedgehog; Shadow and Sonic have somewhat of a frenemy relationship and rivalry. Shadow often fights alongside E-123 Omega and Rouge the Bat, who became his closest friends and allies. While Shadow typically shares most of Sonic's abilities, Shadow primarily uses a variety of "Chaos" powers to battle enemies, most notably Chaos Control, a power that allows him to distort time and space.

In Mario & Sonic series[]

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games[]

Shadow is a playable character on Sonic's team in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. His character type is Speed, equalling him with Sonic, but he has higher stats than Sonic in other events. In Dream Fencing, his special move is transforming into Super Shadow and charge forward with multiple stabs of his epée. In Dream Table Tennis for his Special Shot, he jumps up, twirls vertically, lands, inhales and then fires the ball super fast at the opponent. Shadow has the lowest level stamina among all the characters.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games[]

Shadow also appeared in the sequel, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. He appeared as a speed character, like in the predecessor. However, unlike with the previous game, Shadow is slightly slower than Sonic, but he has the strongest acceleration abilities in the game.

In Adventure Tours mode in the Nintendo DS version of the game, Shadow appears as one of the unlockable characters who can take part in the mode's sports events. He can be found in Cubirynth where he must be beaten in a Ski Cross Racing dream event upon his insistence. After that, Shadow will join the player's team, just after he spots a flying treasure hunter on the way. Later, back in Frostown with Rouge, she wonders where Shadow has been. Shadow reveals to her that he has been in Cubyrinth looking for her. Rouge then tells him that she is going to look for Whitestones, and Shadow convinces her to trade her Whitestones in exchange for using her treasure hunting skills to find the stolen Olympic memorabilia. Also, in Sparkleton, Shadow is needed for the Arrange the Marks! mini-game. Here, the player is presented with a console with revolving icons depicting Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic, Bowser, and Bowser Jr. on it. It is the player's objective to use Shadow's Chaos Spear to stop the revolving symbols in the right order within 40 seconds. Once done, it will open a gate in the overworld. Later, at Icepeak, when Rouge decides to help Dr. Eggman and Bowser when the villains bribe her with Whitestones, Shadow reminds Rouge of their agreement to search for Whitestones together. However, Rouge tells him that the opportunity is too good to pass up, much to his aggravation. After beating Rouge, who proceeds to free one of the Snow Spirits and pursue Eggman and Bowser when they go back on their deal, Shadow has confidence in Rouge that they can release the Snow Spirits together. Shadow then continues his adventure with the group, eventually taking on Dr. Eggman and Bowser in Blizland to stop their plan of taking over the Olympic Winter Games.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games[]

Shadow returns as a Speed type playable character in the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, where he appears in the opening with all of the other athletes as well as later competing in Football and Track Cycling - Team Pursuit. A Mii outfit based on Shadow also appears in the game, and Shadow appears as a character in London Party that can be spoken to in order to play certain minigames and earn stickers.

In the Nintendo 3DS version, Shadow is included in the Challengers group, meaning that he is only playable in certain Events. In the Story Mode, Shadow first appears asking Sonic, Tails and Yoshi to share the information they know about the Phantasmal Fog and Fog Imposters after he had defeated some with Silver, and later helps the group chase down Jet, eventually being the one who challenges him to an event. With Jet's help, the group find the Fog machine, and after defeating Bowser Jr., Shadow destroys it, clearing the fog from the area. Shadow also appears to offer support to Mario, Luigi, Sonic and Tails when they confront Bowser and Dr. Eggman, later appearing at the opening ceremony. Shadow also appears in the Challengers Bonus episodes, as Bowser Jr. heads to London to find him when he hears that he and Silver are defeating Dr. Eggman's robots, and accepts Shadow and Silver's challenge when he arrives and manages to take care of the robots himself. After they are defeated, Shadow and Silver pretend to be upset, but later wish Bowser Jr. good luck for the games before heading off. A badge of Shadow can also be obtained from the badge machine.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games[]

Shadow is playable again in the fourth game of the Mario & Sonic series: Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Like previous games in the series, he is classified as a Speed type.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games[]

Shadow is a default playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In the Nintendo 3DS version, he is only available to play with in the Football and 100m events. He is available in all events in the Wii U version. If the player's Mii avatar interacts with Shadow, the latter will get irritated at the avatar mixing him up with Sonic and demand he not put him on the same boat as him, referring to Sonic as an "inferior half-wit."

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games[]

Shadow is a default playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Arcade Edition.

In Super Smash Bros. series[]

"Chaos CONTROL!"

—Shadow, Super Smash Bros. Series

Shadow appears as an Assist Trophy character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Shadow is an unlockable Assist Trophy, unlocked after the player unlocks Sonic, though in the later installments, as with every other Assist Trophy, he is available from the start. Shadow uses Chaos Control to temporarily slow down time around opponents (having the same effect as the Timer). In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Shadow is seen holding up a Chaos Emerald, and before the move ends, all opponents freeze for a short period of time.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Ultimate, like several other characters, Shadow is voiced by a different voice actor in different languages (e.g. he has his French voice in the French version).

Crossover appearances[]

Title	Description	Release date	System/format
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	Playable character	2007	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo DS)	Playable character	2008	Nintendo DS
Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Cameo as a sticker, a trophy, and an Assist Trophy	2008	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Playable character	2009	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Nintendo DS)	Playable character	2009	Nintendo DS
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Playable character	2011	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS)	Playable character	2012	Nintendo 3DS
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games	Playable character	2013	Wii U
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS	Cameo as a trophy and an Assist Trophy	2014	Nintendo 3DS
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U	Cameo as a trophy and an Assist Trophy	2014	Wii U
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS)	Playable character	2016	Nintendo 3DS
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games	Playable character	2016	Wii U
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition	Playable character	2016	Arcade
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Cameo as spirits and an Assist Trophy	2018	Nintendo Switch
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020	Playable character	2019	Nintendo Switch
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Arcade Edition	Playable character	2019	Arcade

Statistics[]

For Shadow the Hedgehog's in-game

statistics, click here.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

In 2024, Shadow got his own story mode in the Updated Re-release of Sonic Generations as Shadow Generations, and made his cinematic debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) after being The Stinger of the second film. Much like in 2013 when Nintendo dubbed it the "Year of Luigi", Sega would dub 2024 the "Year of Shadow", giving a heavy marketing push for the last two projects. Which pushed Shadow to being just as popular as Sonic himself.
In Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games, Luigi and Shadow the Hedgehog seemed to have a rivalry as shown in the opening cutscene.

External links[]

Shadow the Hedgehog at Sonic Wiki Zone, the Sonic wiki.
Shadow the Hedgehog at Sega, the Sega wiki.
Shadow the Hedgehog at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Reuse disclaimer
Source: This article contains content from the article Shadow (character) from the Super Mario Wiki A list of the original authors can be found on that article's history page or on the local history page. Content is available under the compatible Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0.