News Sonic X Shadow Generations announced for PC and consoles (UPDATE: coming October 25th)

[Tye]

Kingdom Valley is where Mephiles takes on Shadow's form, meaning we'll likely get a Mephiles boss for 06. Ian Flynn said a while ago that he wanted to make the Time Eater be connected to Mephiles in Archie, so there's a possibility that that becomes canon with Flynn contributing to the stories now. The Time Eater is pretty unexplained in Generations, so it'd make sense to explain it more here.

I'd say White Jungle is pretty important for Shadow, Sky Rail shares a lot of visual overlap with Rail Canyon so I can't exactly see them doing that. I'm at least betting on White Jungle appearing for a fight against Sonic that's not just copy pasted from Sonic Generations (where Roger and Kirk can redub the faker scene too), plus it'd be good to use to introduce Rouge in the hub world, as that level is about saving Rouge instead of escaping selfishly, showing Shadow's heroic side for more than just Maria. I think they'll do more than one and half levels for each game.

We technically don't have a Shadow the Hedgehog original level announced yet (although most of ShTH's levels are technically from SA2), the most is The ARK which is more taking from SA2 using Final Rush's music and a fight against the Biolizard, so I could definitely see them pulling multiple from a single game, cause there's not many games where Shadow is very relevant. The PS Blog post about the announcement had to mention Sonic Battle, and there's not exactly a lot to go off there for a stage.

I guess they could technically pull a stage theme from Forces cause the Time Eater doesn't have to stop at everything before Generations, but that might just be me being the one unironic fan of Infinite hoping he gets to show up outside of mobile games.

Ah, that’s right—I’ve never played the game myself, since it never came to a Nintendo system, so I’m only going off of videos I’ve seen of the game and glancing at a wiki for a quick refresher, and I guess I was only thinking of Flame Core and Dusty Desert being particularly relevant for Mephiles since that’s where you fight him, and I knew the Scepter of Darkness is stolen from White Acropolis in the beginning but I forgot that it’s in Kingdom Valley where it breaks and Mephiles is freed and takes Shadow’s form. That’s definitely relevant enough then. And yeah, I’m well aware of the theories of Mephiles being connected to the Time Eater and that Ian Flynn subscribes to that as well and has wanted to write stories about it, which is why I’m honestly expecting something along those lines to actually happen in Shadow Generations.

White Jungle isn’t unimportant, no, but it’s probably the third most important SA2 stage for Shadow, after Final Chase and Radical Highway. And if you believe that they’ll do more than one two-in-one stage per game, that means that either they’re gonna be representing about 16 stages total—which are a lot of new assets to make and nearly twice as many areas than Sonic Generations, so as much as I’d love that I don’t think it’s likely—or they’re gonna do one two-in-one stage plus one complete stage per game, totaling to about 12 stage being represented. But, again, the problem there is that in the case of the latter, that means they’re giving White Jungle the honor of being the sole “complete” stage from SA2 over Radical Highway or the ARK stage, which I would find odd… And that leads back to my concern that we may only have one two-in-one stage per game.

While they certainly could pull many more stages from Shadow the Hedgehog than other games, I feel like they’ll likely try to give each game equal representation for stages like Sonic Generations did—and the only games I really expect them to represent here are Adventure 2, Heroes, Shadow, Sonic ’06, and maybe Sonic Battle (but only as an Emerl rival/boss battle). I’d say maybe Forces, too (I’m a Forces and Infinite fan as well so I’d love that), but I really don’t see that happening, personally.

So aparently in an interview with Sonic Stadium Lizuka may have confirmed that the act2 will be 2D, in contrast to the act1 that is 3d, in order to be consistent with Sonic generations, although the wording is a bit vague but it may explain the lack of 2d sections in Ark act 1, even though we saw 2d kingdom valley in the trailer , maybe Space Colony Ark act 2 will merge with a different stage

Are we sure about that? I considered that possibility, but the metadata from the trailer refers to the Rail Canyon footage as being from Rail Canyon Act 2…but all the gameplay we see of that stage is clearly 3D, not 2D.

Also, based on trailer metadata, the Heroes stage is taking the Rail Canyon name; definitely going to mix elements of both like Seaside Hill in the original though. Same filename also implies Shadow's stages have multiple acts.

 

[JazzyFuture]

White Jungle isn’t unimportant, no, but it’s probably the third most important SA2 stage for Shadow, after Final Chase and Radical Highway. And if you believe that they’ll do more than one two-in-one stage per game, that means that either they’re gonna be representing about 16 stages total—which are a lot of new assets to make and nearly twice as many areas than Sonic Generations, so as much as I’d love that I don’t think it’s likely—or they’re gonna do one two-in-one stage plus one complete stage per game, totaling to about 12 stage being represented. But, again, the problem there is that in the case of the latter, that means they’re giving White Jungle the honor of being the sole “complete” stage from SA2 over Radical Highway or the ARK stage, which I would find odd… And that leads back to my concern that we may only have one two-in-one stage per game.

I personally think stage representation is gonna be more lopsided to certain games. SA2 and Shadow feel like clear things they can focus on as a refresher of Shadow's story, while not much in Heroes happens for Shadow other than "Is he an android? Find out in Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)!" so I could see them basically stopping at Rail Canyon/Bullet Station.

 

[MondoMega]

Referenced it in the big thread about the leak but it does seem like there is also a classic sonic legacy skin coming for this game, it's listed alongside all of the other known DLC.

 

[Phil32]

There is so much more work being put into this than I could have possibly imagined. I didn't think it'd be a hastily-put-together game, but I was not expecting this much love and care put into it either--what with the new hub, multiple new levels and bosses. I'm extremely excited for this, as 1) a huge fan of Sonic Generations, and 2) Eager to see more of Shadow's side of the game.

 

[Tye]

I personally think stage representation is gonna be more lopsided to certain games. SA2 and Shadow feel like clear things they can focus on as a refresher of Shadow's story, while not much in Heroes happens for Shadow other than "Is he an android? Find out in Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)!" so I could see them basically stopping at Rail Canyon/Bullet Station.

I mean, they can’t really get much more out of SA2 since there are only two Shadow stages left from that game to represent, and they’re already combining the ARK with Radical Highway. Heroes is a bit more important than that, too, because it’s literally the game where you find out that Shadow didn’t die—there’s still doubt over whether the playable Shadow may be an android or not but regardless, as Omega put it—“the original must exist somewhere.” I’d expect Egg Fleet/Final Fortress to be represented in some way at the very least, since it’s where the rest of the Shadow androids are found and where Egg Emperor and Metal Madness/Overlord are fought, and I think there’s a good chance we’ll see at least one of those as a boss—I think Egg Emperor may be particularly likely given it was in Sonic Generations 3DS and the Egg Breaker from Shadow the Hedgehog is based on it as well. Also, while Shadow the Hedgehog has a lot more stages to pull from…most of them are ambiguously canon, aside from the beginning and true ending of the game.

We’ll see, I guess. I just wish we had more to go off of right now…

 

[StretchNStripes]

Considering three of the Shadow-heavy games all have haunted levels (Sky Rail/Pumpkin Hill, Hang Castle/Mystic Mansion, and Cryptic Castle), I personally think it would be smart to do something with those. You could pretty much represent three games’ worth of levels with one set of assets.

 

[Tye]

Considering three of the Shadow-heavy games all have haunted levels (Sky Rail/Pumpkin Hill, Hang Castle/Mystic Mansion, and Cryptic Castle), I personally think it would be smart to do something with those. You could pretty much represent three games’ worth of levels with one set of assets.

Assuming each game gets at least one warped, Black Doom-ified version of a stage, I could definitely see them choosing Hang Castle/Mystic Mansion for one from Heroes. Don’t think they’d make three separate haunted stages like that, though, especially when none of them are particularly plot relevant for Shadow.

 

[StretchNStripes]

Assuming each game gets at least one warped, Black Doom-ified version of a stage, I could definitely see them choosing Hang Castle/Mystic Mansion for one from Heroes. Don’t think they’d make three separate haunted stages like that, though, especially when none of them are particularly plot relevant for Shadow.

Yeah, I agree I don’t think it would be three stages, that would feel excessive. But one stages that merges elements from all of them? Or maybe throw them in as those Black Doom segments with other stages from their respective games? Could be a good way to do it if they wanted to.

The way I see it, you make a stage for Hang Castle, and you already have 80% of what you need to make Cryptic Castle as well… why not throw it in there somewhere for fun?

 

[Brock Reiher]

Referenced it in the big thread about the leak but it does seem like there is also a classic sonic legacy skin coming for this game, it's listed alongside all of the other known DLC.

Please be classic shadow

 

[majimazio]

Referenced it in the big thread about the leak but it does seem like there is also a classic sonic legacy skin coming for this game, it's listed alongside all of the other known DLC.

Will the Classic Sonic legacy skin look like this?

 

[Arrietty]

Will the Classic Sonic legacy skin look like this?

God PLEASE that'd be really cool. The Saturn era models ruled.

 

[Lucifer]

I'm posting this video because I had a chuckle when he was saying Sonic Generations was one of the highest rated 3D Sonic games ever while showing a 77 Metacritic score and then I started laughing when he said that rounds up to an 80. lol The perspectives and expectations between a Sonic fan and say a Mario fan are so wildly different. But I get it.

I'm actually surprised that Generations had a 77 Metacritic score. I thought it'd be hire given the amount of praise it gets nowadays. From what I played of the game, I'd probably give a 7. I think Classic Sonic kind of controls like crap...

The main content in Generations is fantastic, it's just really short, I imagine it lost some points in reviews because of that. They really need to bring back some characters so they can make a longer game. There was nothing wrong with characters like Knuckles and Amy. I'd love a SA/SA2 type game without the shooting and fishing.

The filler missions are also boring in Generations.

 

[Jahranimo]

Will the Classic Sonic legacy skin look like this?

Fuuuuuck that would be amazing. They never do anything with Saturn-era Sonic!

 

[JazzyFuture]

I know it'll probably just be the rabbit model from Superstars, but man I'd love if Classic Sonic got either the Saturn model or the Mania Special Stage model.
Or they could make it the worst timeline and make it the voxel model from Cyber Station Zone.

 

[Tye]

I know it'll probably just be the rabbit model from Superstars, but man I'd love if Classic Sonic got either the Saturn model or the Mania Special Stage model.
Or they could make it the worst timeline and make it the voxel model from Cyber Station Zone.

I doubt it’s a concept art skin like Shadow’s since the leak has it listed as a “retro” skin like the Modern Sonic skin. So it probably is a Saturn-style skin or something along those lines…unless they somehow managed to replace Classic Sonic’s model with a sprite, I guess??

 

[buildz]

This looks like an excellent remaster but part of me is still rather apprehensive towards buying it, if only because I've not played many of the games where Shadow is important. Feels like "Shadow Generations" is clearly a passion project / fanservice - and there's nothing wrong with that, in truth. The level design looks rather impressive by modern standards, which is great to see! It just probably doesn't appeal to more casual or 2D Sonic fans.

 

[JazzyFuture]

This looks like an excellent remaster but part of me is still rather apprehensive towards buying it, if only because I've not played many of the games where Shadow is important. Feels like "Shadow Generations" is clearly a passion project / fanservice - and there's nothing wrong with that, in truth. The level design looks rather impressive by modern standards, which is great to see! It just probably doesn't appeal to more casual or 2D Sonic fans.

To be brutally honest, I do not like any of the games where Shadow is important, even SA2 (I'm more of an SA1 guy, personally). Not even a big Shadow fan either really, though he is on the upper half of characters I like.
However, I do think the recapping of Shadow's whole deal is very smart and important for new fans, or even just people who have been fans since Generations because only one of Shadow's 4 major games has been rereleased. Shadow is a cool character, it's just his track record of appearances is quite shaky at best. It's not that I don't like the idea of Shadow's story, it's more so that I don't enjoy the gameplay. I think recapping Shadow's deal through a single game is really smart, though most of it is probably "oh sweet, more Boost stages that look great!".

 

[batfax]

give me the best saturn-era sonic model

 

[Tye]

give me the best saturn-era sonic model

As someone who doesn’t care for Classic Sonic, the early 3D Saturn-era models like this are the only versions of Classic Sonic that I find sorta okay (probably because it’s closer to Modern Sonic), so I’d be thrilled if this is the Classic Sonic skin we get, lol.

 

[chocolate_supra]

give me the best saturn-era sonic model

I want a full official game in this style so bad

 

[HockeyBird]

Shadow is definitely a character whose popularity outshines the games he was in. I think part of the reason is because he was at the starting point for a whole generation of Sonic fans. Even though Sonic Adventures 1 and 2 were both on the Dreamcast and part of the same subseries, in many ways, Sonic Adventure 1 was the capstone for the original generation of Sega fans, the ones who knew Sega as a console maker and Sonic was their mascot. When Sonic Adventure 2 Battle released on the Gamecube, it introduced Sonic to a whole new audience. This was their Sonic 1 and Shadow was a focal point. The tone of the Sonic series also began to change dramatically after that from being a cartoony platformer to storylines that got weirdly dark and series. I think there is where the original divide between classic Sonic and modern Sonic truly began.

Shadow was also a character of his time period. In the 2010s, he was seen as cringe but now those young Sonic fans who grew up with Shadow are getting older and now what was cringe is now nostalgia. Shadow Generations gives me a chance to relieve a portion of their youths and Sega appears to be leaning all in on that aspect.

 

[chocolate_supra]

𝔖𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴
𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔪𝔢
𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑
ℑ'𝔪 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔬 𝖘𝖎𝖓
𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔞𝔩 𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔶 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔟𝔞𝔟𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔰

 

[goombaicebro]

𝔖𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴
𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔪𝔢
𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑
ℑ'𝔪 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔬 𝖘𝖎𝖓
𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔞𝔩 𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔶 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔟𝔞𝔟𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔰

 

[JazzyFuture]

𝔖𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴
𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔪𝔢
𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑
ℑ'𝔪 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔬 𝖘𝖎𝖓
𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔞𝔩 𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔶 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔟𝔞𝔟𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔰

Which is fine by me!

 

[wakko]

I want a full official game in this style so bad

Speaking of Saturn, I wish Sega would re-release Sonic R on modern consoles. It was one of my favorite Sonic games.

It also had a good music soundtrack if I recall correctly.

 

[Maxrunner]

lol, Sony paid for exclusive cinematics....a new low.

https://mynintendonews.com/2024/06/...ersion-of-prologue-animation-dark-beginnings/

 

[ziggyrivers]

Can’t wait for it to be uploaded in YouTube. I can understand exclusive skins and stuff, but a game’s prologue/cutscene content restrained for exclusivity purposes? Absurd

 

[chocolate_supra]

lol, Sony paid for exclusive cinematics....a new low.

https://mynintendonews.com/2024/06/...ersion-of-prologue-animation-dark-beginnings/

hooray for youtube I guess

Edit: LOL @ziggyrivers jinx!

 

[totofogo]

lol, Sony paid for exclusive cinematics....a new low.

https://mynintendonews.com/2024/06/...ersion-of-prologue-animation-dark-beginnings/

Not even just an exclusive cinematic, but an exclusive extended cut of a Youtube cinematic

who on EARTH made that deal, AI?

 

[Jahranimo]

lol, Sony paid for exclusive cinematics....a new low.

https://mynintendonews.com/2024/06/...ersion-of-prologue-animation-dark-beginnings/

Sega basically took free money lol

 

[totofogo]

Sega basically took free money lol

It's wild that Sony's business side seems so detached from reality like... is it as simple as "give us something the others do not have?"

 

[Jahranimo]

It's wild that Sony's business side seems so detached from reality like... is it as simple as "give us something the others do not have?"

It's odd too because Sonic's most popular platform isn't even PlayStation. At least it isn't anything too important to the core game...

 

[totofogo]

oh wow oh wow

 

[Tye]

oh wow oh wow

Nice, the Sonic Jam model is exactly what I was hoping we’d get! It’s a look for Classic Sonic that I don’t totally dislike! lol Wonder if this will be applied to cutscenes, too…

 

[totofogo]

Funny that we get this a day after I'm reminded of this



how long until we get monetized fan mods from sega lol

 

[Jahranimo]

I don't know what it is but Sonic Team is really starting to get a portion of the fanbase, because them adding the Saturn Sonic 3D model as a skin is perfect. Perfect! It was even brought up here as a wish.

Funny that we get this a day after I'm reminded of this



how long until we get monetized fan mods from sega lol

Damn that looks fun as heck (I think?) It also reminds me to try out the zoomed out camera mod.

I think if they ever figure out a 3D Sonic game where they can keep adding levels to it etc then they will try and create a mod ecosystem like Bethesda RPGs.

 

[chocolate_supra]

I think if they ever figure out a 3D Sonic game where they can keep adding levels to it etc then they will try and create a mod ecosystem like Bethesda RPGs.

Sonic Maker would be rad as hell, too

 

[JazzyFuture]

The Japanese website is teasing another character being playable on the Shadow Generations side. Pretty interesting, I think. Place your bets on who it'll be I guess. Rouge? Omega? Eggman? Maria? Silver? Mephiles? Infinite?

 

[totofogo]

The Japanese website is teasing another character being playable on the Shadow Generations side. Pretty interesting, I think. Place your bets on who it'll be I guess. Rouge? Omega? Eggman? Maria? Silver? Mephiles? Infinite?

I wonder if it's going to be a proper second gameplay style too.... hmm

also holding out delusional hope there's more significant chao content

 

[StretchNStripes]

The Japanese website is teasing another character being playable on the Shadow Generations side. Pretty interesting, I think. Place your bets on who it'll be I guess. Rouge? Omega? Eggman? Maria? Silver? Mephiles? Infinite?

Huh...

Could also maybe be a Shadow Android? It would make sense to incorporate them seeing how much they came up around Heroes and StH. Might be a bit of a boring choice, though. But maybe they use the Android for 2D, regular Shadow for 3D?