10 Sonic Games With Best Playable Shadow the Hedgehog

Highlights

• Shadow the Hedgehog has appeared in various spin-off titles, such as Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Series, Sonic Riders Series, and more.
• In Sonic Heroes, Shadow plays a key role as part of Team Dark, searching for answers about his past and forming an alliance with Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega.
• Shadow’s first solo adventure can be found in the game Shadow the Hedgehog, where players can explore different pathways and discover multiple endings while unraveling Shadow’s mysterious past.

It’s no understatement that Shadow the Hedgehog is one of the Sonic franchise’s most popular characters. In his debut title, Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, he dies saving the world from the monstrous Finalhazard. However, he’d amassed such a fan following that Sega brought him back in future games. The lore was changed to say he didn’t die but was rescued by a Badnik and placed in stasis for a future in the Sonic franchise.

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Despite his large fan base, though, the grim hedgehog hasn’t seen many recent mainline appearances. He has largely appeared as playable only in spin-off titles. His mainline playable appearances, where Shadow is a central character having a large role, were in several of the early 3D Sonic games, before the ‘Boost era’. So, what games has the mysterious rival of Sonic’s appeared in, and which offers the best experience playing as him?

10 Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Series

Speed-Type Character

For fans of both Nintendo and Sega’s mascots, this is a must-play series with no shortage of immersive fun for all ages. Players compete in a wide range of Olympic sports and in the imaginative Dream Events, in which sports are played with a twist, set in various locations from the Mario and Sonic games.

Shadow is playable in every entry in this spin-off franchise, as a Speed Type character. Therefore, he excelled at any running event in the Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo Summer Games. In the Vancouver and Sochi Winter Games, he’s a good choice for an event like Speed Skating. Shadow is known to be Sonic’s rival, equaling him in almost every ability; in most Olympics titles, Sonic has max speed, but Shadow has higher acceleration.

9 Sonic Riders Series

Shadow Joins The World Grand Prix

The trilogy of games that form the Sonic Riders series all feature Shadow as a playable character. Of course, he is a Speed-type character, with the ability to slide on railings in the races. In the series’ first two games, Shadow is limited to an unlockable character and isn’t part of the main story. In the original Sonic Riders, Shadow didn’t have his own Extreme Gear, unlike the other players.

The final game in this spin-off series, Sonic Free Riders, is the only one to feature Shadow in Story mode. Along with Rouge and E-10000B, secretly Metal Sonic, they compete in the Grand Prix against their rivals: Team Heroes, Team Rose, and Team Babylon. Shadow has his own Extreme Gear named “Black Shot”, first seen in Zero Gravity.

8 Sonic Racing Series

Shadow Features As One Of Many Racers

The Sonic and Sega All-Stars games see Shadow race through many colorful and iconic locations from across various Sega franchises. Having been part of the Sonic roster in both games, Shadow races against his familiar rivals from the Sonic universe, and meets new ones in the form of other Sega characters.

In Team Sonic Racing, Shadow allies with his familiar group, consisting of Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega. Retaining the name “Team Dark” as in previous games, each member is a certain character type. With Shadow providing the team’s speed, he can lead them blisteringly fast through the courses. However, Speed Types come with the worst handling, thereby requiring Rouge’s Technique abilities and Omega’s Power to steer them swiftly through the races.

7 Sonic Rivals Series

Shadow Vs. His Counterparts

This duology was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The first title centers around the mysterious Eggman Nega, who returns from the future. Disguised as Dr. Eggman, he transforms others, even the legendary Master Emerald, into cards. The game follows Shadow, Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver, each with their own goals surrounding this mystery.

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In Sonic Rivals 2, more playable characters are introduced, bringing the total to eight. The game features Eggman Nega again as the primary villain, who this time has kidnapped the Chao. Each character has a unique attack; in Shadow’s case, it’s Chaos Control, which slows any opponent down massively.

6 Sonic Battle

Sonic Fighting Game That Finally Includes Shadow

This exclusive title for the Game Boy Advance is the Sonic series’ second fighting game after the arcade release, Sonic the Fighters. Sonic Battle allows players to roam around the hub maps to get to the next battle location. Players can choose one of three different Special Attacks before entering the next battle. These are either laying an explosive Trap, a strong Power attack, or a long-range Shot attack.

Sonic Battle places a huge emphasis on story, with 10 playable characters following their own storylines which crossover. Central to the plot is the battle droid Emerl, a robot of incredible power. Shadow has his own storyline and can utilize Chaos Control to teleport from place to place, making for a difficult opponent.

5 Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Shadow Helps To Save The World

Shadow is one of three main playable characters, and has a major role in this fifteenth-anniversary release. Whilst Sonic primarily deals with rescuing Princess Elise from Dr Eggman, Silver the Hedgehog takes on the fiery Iblis. This leaves Shadow to deal with the cunning and manipulative Mephiles, who tries to tempt Shadow into working with him.

Shadow’s play style is akin to that of Sonic’s but focuses more on combat. Along with Team Dark, Shadow follows Mephiles’ trail, finally engaging him in battle. After transforming into Super Shadow, he aids Sonic and Silver in defeating Solaris, the ancient being of which Iblis and Mephiles are two halves.

4 Sonic Forces

Shadow’s DLC: Episode Shadow

Shadow is a playable character in this more recent title with his own DLC, “Episode Shadow.” This is a 3-level campaign acting as a prequel to Sonic Forces’ main story. This short prequel delves into important themes from the game, such as exploring Infinite’s origins. The level themes are remixes of some of Shadow’s level themes from Sonic Adventure 2, which is a nice reference to the first game he was ever in.

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The DLC also includes Shadow as playable in the main game. After beating the DLC’s levels, Shadow can play through Modern Sonic’s levels in the main story. Though the levels are short, this title is notable as it marked Shadow’s first mainline appearance in years.

3 Sonic Heroes (2004)

Shadow’s Party Is A Fourth Of The Campaign

This game takes place after Shadow was resurrected, quite literally, by Sega, who acted on his rapidly gained popularity among fans. Found in a stasis capsule by Rouge, he is released but attacked by E-123 Omega. Intervening, Rouge gets them to form Team Dark, and they hunt down Eggman together.

Though Rouge acts as the team’s leader, Shadow is crucial to the story. He wants to seek out Eggman and get answers since he was released from stasis with amnesia. Shadow acts as the Speed Type character for his team. Rouge and Omega rally around Shadow, a legacy that continues to this day as neither of them appears in any other title that Shadow isn’t in himself.

2 Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)

Shadow’s First Solo Adventure

A testament to Shadow’s popularity is how a game was developed with him as the main playable character, only 4 years after his debut. Though this game received heavy criticism, including for the use of guns, for fans of Shadow this is an essential game to play. Shadow’s quest is one of learning about his past, as he unfortunately grapples with amnesia.

It’s a unique title, obviously, as the game centers around someone other than Sonic, but it also gives players the choice of which pathway they wish to take. This non-linear structure relies on a Morality System. Depending on their actions, players will reach different levels in a different order. There are multiple endings, and reaching them all unlocks the Final True ending. Shadow’s character is explored in great detail in this title, making for a definitive experience of Sonic’s legendary rival.

1 Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

Shadow’s Debut Game

One of the most upheld games of the franchise, this is the title where Shadow made his first-ever appearance. It went down brilliantly with fans, despite being disappointed with his death at the game’s ending. The game’s campaign is split into the “Hero” and “Dark” storylines. Whilst Sonic and his pals attempt to thwart the villainous deeds of Eggman in the Hero story, the Dark story centers around Shadow and his quest for what he thinks is revenge.

Working with Eggman and Rouge the Bat, the trio collects the Chaos Emeralds to fulfill Shadow’s plan. The game sees the grim hedgehog go up against Sonic but eventually works with him heroically once he realizes his true purpose. For any fan of Shadow, his debut title is a must-play. This game offers a thrilling ride into the mysterious yet lovable character Shadow.

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