Sonic x Shadow Generations requires a bit of explanation. Certainly, if you’re a fan of the series who follows Marketing Beat, you may already know, but what I’ve noticed over the last few weeks is that many people are not blissful about what this actual package is. Is it a new game? Remaster? Well, the answer is something in between.
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The Lion share of this release is a remaster of the Sonic Generation in 2011. This will see the stubborn, cute “classic” Sonic of the 2D game meets chatty and contemporary iterations in Rankie, and players will encounter a fantastic level of tour through both characters and Sonic’s history. However, there is a shadow that will later star in his own separate new adventures as part of this remaster.
So the name, Sonic x Shadow Generation. I cleaned up Google results for searching for “Sonic x Shadow”, but that’s also an accurate explanation. This game basically includes the Sonic generation. The generation of shadows. The concepts of both games are the same – a roller coaster tour of mouth stops, through the history of their honorable characters – but they are completely different.
Just as dropping the dramatic orchestral version of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Movie Trailer Needle’s “Live and Learn,” many of the Sonic X Shadow Generations packages feel laser targeted to blow away the nostalgia of Dreamcast-era fans. The original generation was a celebration of the entire series, and nonetheless felt it was the biggest trade in the revival of Sonic “classic” (which means the Mega Drive era). Here, the heavy focus shifts subtly into the Dreamcast era.
Once the title is launched, the Game Select screen allows you to choose between the Sonic Generation and Shadow Generation, which are depicted as two different games. The Sonic game features a new remix of Sonic’s theme tunes from the Dreamcast game “It Don’t Match”, but features retro synths to nod to the classic meets nature of the story. “Shadow Generations” is represented by a new crushing remix of “Throw It All Away,” the original theme of Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2.
As someone who was 12 when SA2 launched (young enough to become a mega fan, old enough to navigate eBay and beg mom’s credit card to import the game and play a few months earlier), he’s a palpable nostalgia, the kind of guy who makes hair at the back of his neck.
Obviously, it’s not everything for older fans. Opening the Shadow Generations menu indicates that the first option is not to play the actual game. This is to watch a short summary film that tells the origin story of Shadow in a simple way. This project exists as the original generation did. On the one hand, I want to race the hearts of people who remember the original. The other is a history lesson, a timely introduction to The Shadow’s “lore” for the kids set to meet him in the third film a few months later.
It’s a pleasant and surprising experience, especially focusing on the entirely new Shadow Generation section of the product. Framed as a parallel story with the Sonic generation, Shadow is also sucked into the monochrome space made up of his memories. Sonic’s is 2D, but Shadow gets a proper 3D explorable space – like the minimalist peach castle in Mario 64. This space is very sparse and honestly feels like a development environment, but it connects the stages well.
Each stage represents a period of Shadow’s history, beginning with the Space Colony Arc in Sonic Adventure 2. As with the basic generation, the mileage from the stage selection varies. There are pairs of stages from Sonic Adventure 2 (Radical Highway, undoubtedly the “Green Hill” in Shadow, and the repetitive motif), followed by levels from Sonic Heroes, Sonic 2006, Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers.
The last two are interesting. Neither of them is actually a gradual shadow I played it Though, he is related to them. Chaos Island in Sonic Frontier is the most curious as it re-registers one of the game’s open world zones as a more traditional and linear Sonic level. I really enjoyed every stage. They even evoked nostalgia for some original games that I really didn’t like.
I’m not sure if Sega announced this, but I didn’t notice, but it feels like a “boost” style and a modern interpretation of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic ’06, just like preview sessions and 3D Sonic gameplay that I didn’t notice. Of course, Shadow of Shadow never went out as a strict 2D character, but these stages imagine what he would have played if he had. It is neat and retains the structure of the generation.
Shadow has done a lot over the years – Sonic clone, yes, having a gun, teleporting, driving a vehicle. Although Glock is invisible in this game, Shadow doesn’t appear in Harley, various aspects of his character are represented by “Doom Powers,” a special skill that gradually unlocks and changes the way each stage is navigation. Some powers are naturally cooler than others. I love the power that allows you to launch enemies towards others and teleport it to follow them – it can be used to skip vast sections of the stage if you are smart. Other forces are progressing, like their ability to surf across the water.
Honestly, it’s all pretty good. I think the stage is well built, but “Oh, I’ve fallen from level!” Jank is a common presence in Sonic Games. Perhaps the most ambitious final couple act is the only thing I have experienced this in the shadow part. There’s a sense of Poland and style that the Sonic franchise doesn’t always enjoy. It feels like the team enjoys creating more constrained, smaller experiences and clearly loving Shadow as a character.
Overall, it’s a truly valuable addition to the Sonic Generation’s offering. As the old will said, brevity is the soul of wit – and it is not welcome. With shadow content as the main focus, I saw all the cores of the offering in 3-4 hours. If it’s a full price game in itself, it would be a tall order – but of course it will ship along with the remastered Sonic Generation.
Incidentally, the remaster is fine. It looks good and works well on the PS5, but I noticed that there is a leaked switch copy reporting that the version is stuck at 30fps. And the game appears to feature some subtle and strange storyline changes as the Sonic franchise has squealed even more over the past decade. Sonic was provided by a generation that has further captivated 2D physics. Clearly Sonic Mania is better. That being said, the generation is undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best, Sonic games of the present day, and is worthy of a remaster.
If I could nitpick – and I would – I will continue to be disappointed that this version is not sticking to the landing of becoming a definitive version of the generation.
In 2011, the generation was released in two formats – PC and console, and handheld versions of 3DS. The 3DS game has a set of different zones, with the two sharing Green Hill only. This remaster was the ideal place to restore and upgrade 3DS levels. This kind of thing was done earlier, like Super Smash Bros., which integrated all stages of the 3DS and Wii U versions of previous games. Here we would like to see that it is not. That was a shame and I missed the opportunity.
However, some argue that these resources are better spent on creating something entirely new in Shadow Story. Certainly, one of the 3DS-only stages (radical highways) appears as one of the levels of Shadow anyway. So I’m off track – it’s nitpicking of my nerd Sonic fan. Really, I just want Mushroom Hills and the Emerald Coast.
This feels like a solid product from the Sega and Sonic teams. Generations continue to be the perfect history lesson for younger fans, and Shadow’s new story offers an appetizing introduction to the characters before hitting a big Hollywood time just before Christmas. It’s one of Sonic’s better recent excursions It’s getting a little better – And you can’t really complain about it.
Sonic X Shadow Generations will release its releases on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC on October 25th.
This review was written based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game and was provided by the publisher.