Shadow The Hedgehog is one of the top favourite characters and fan favourites in the entirety of the Sonic franchise, and according to several polls online, Shadow's popularity is only 2nd to Sonic himself, and his presence continues to be strongly featured in Sonic media to this day, ever since his first iconic appearance in Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast in 2001.

Shadow's popularity continues to grow overtime, and SEGA has taken the opportunity to make 2024 the official "Fearless Year of Shadow", with a whole new marketing campaign focusing on Shadow The Hedgehog.

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SEGA gave their own explanation about the Year of Shadow through the official website for the event:

In 2024, we’re bringing Shadow into the light with a new fan celebration campaign – Fearless: Year of Shadow.

While we ran with our successful Fast. Friends. Forever. program last year, our new annual campaign this year celebrates what it means to be Fearless, and embracing your inner Shadow:

BREAK BARRIERS
BE UNAFRAID
BE AT YOUR BEST
AND DO IT ALL WITH A POWERFUL CONFIDENCE.

But don’t just take it from us, witness it from the Ultimate Lifeform himself as we take you on an action-packed ride throughout the year filled with countless energetic moments.

Hang tight and check out “News” section below for updates as the Fearless: Year of Shadow unfolds.

The Year of Shadow consists so far of several events:

• Started off with the early announcement back in February of "Sonic X Shadow Generations", which adds new content into the original Sonic Generations with a Shadow-centric campaign and story, as well as a remastered version of the original Sonic Generations.
  

  
• SEGA created a brand custom motorcycle "Dark Rider" to honour Shadow The Hedgehog and his motorcycle from the self-titled game and later modified for All-Stars Racing, where it got the Dark Rider title. The chopper will be on tour for people to see it, starting off in Austin, TX on April 12-14.
  

  

  
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• A brand new LEGO set featuring Shadow The Hedgehog will be available, which includes Shadow, his motorcycle and a Dr. Eggman Tower.
  

  

  
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• New "Fearless" events will be available in both Sonic Forces and Sonic Dash, with a chance to unlock variants of Shadow, like Super Shadow, Shadow Lancelot, Vampire Shadow and Dragon Hunter Lancelot.
  

  

  
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• The Sonic Speed Cafe will offer special Shadow product themes, photo opps and menu items.
  

  

  
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• The incredible Sonic Symphony will now feature original Shadow The Hedgehog scores in their world tour, alongside some of Shadow's coolest moments on-screen.
  

  

These are so far all the events related to Shadow The Hedgehog in honour of his year, but it still remains to be seen if SEGA will make any further announcements or releases during the year focusing on Shadow The Hedgehog (or perhaps even a remaster of his self-titled game, who knows).

Fearless: Year of Shadow Official Website

 

[ShadowOne333]

So, is Sonic x Shadow Generations a direct sequel to Sonic Generations? I thought Sonic Forces was essentially "Sonic Generations 2," but if this game gives Generations a second chance, I'm all for it. Generations is a personal favorite of mine, so it'd be nice to get a proper sequel.

It's basically a remaster of Sonic Generations with new content focusing on Shadow, like a 2nd campaign of sorts.

 

[Bladexdsl]

as long as shadow doesn't have a fucking gun this time

 

[Robert Newbie]

It's basically a remaster of Sonic Generations with new content focusing on Shadow, like a 2nd campaign of sorts.

Thanks for the info. I thought it was a totally new game, but new Sonic Generations content alongside the basegame doesn't sound bad.

as long as shadow doesn't have a fucking gun this time

He's going to have a gun and swear.

 

[BlueFox gui]

I AM AT ALDI
I AM
I AM AT ALDI

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

 

[eyeliner]

Should I be excited?

Easy, horndog....

 

[Cranesbill]

Morning Gentlemen. This is some pretty cool news. This might be a hot take considering its reputation, but how likely Sega's gonna be to port the 2005 Game (Shadow The Hedgehog) onto newer consoles?

 

[Robert Newbie]

Morning Gentlemen. This is some pretty cool news. This might be a hot take considering its reputation, but how likely Sega's gonna be to port the 2005 Game (Shadow The Hedgehog) onto newer consoles?

You know, that is a really good question because we discussed a similar situation over in the "Sonic Heroes Remake" topic. Both Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog used RenderWare, which is now owned by EA. That's the first hurdle.

If Sonic Heroes gets remade, that's a good enough sign that RenderWare ports are out. That brings the next question: "Will Shadow the Hedgehog get a remake?" The game itself is the second hurdle.

Shadow the Hedgehog did sell well, but it's remembered for its bizarre design choices. It would need some serious retooling on top of a new coat of paint.

I still can't believe the game exists in the first place.

 

[Cranesbill]

You know, that is a really good question because we discussed a similar situation over in the "Sonic Heroes Remake" topic. Both Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog used RenderWare, which is now owned by EA. That's the first hurdle.

If Sonic Heroes gets remade, that's a good enough sign that RenderWare ports are out. That brings the next question: "Will Shadow the Hedgehog get a remake?" The game itself is the second hurdle.

Shadow the Hedgehog did sell well, but it's remembered for its bizarre design choices. It would need some serious retooling on top of a new coat of paint.

I still can't believe the game exists in the first place.

Yeah lmao, a simple tactic like that is enough to bring attention and make the Shadow Year more memorable. And realistically it isn’t too out of the ordinary for Sega to do something like that

 

[Mike_77712]

A re-release and a piece of "merch". how about a new game? thanks

 

[Robert Newbie]

A re-release and a piece of "merch". how about a new game? thanks

This is also a good point. Why are we talking about a Shadow the Hedgehog port/remake when we should be talking about Shadow the Hedgehog 2?

 

[MadMakuFuuma]

I have a bad feeling this is going to end up just like when Nintendo tried to market a year as a Year of Luigi and lost half a billion trying.

then again, nintendo copied sega when they made a mario movie, and it works, Right? #joke

but yeah, i like shadow a lot, and i like his solo game too (judge me lol) so i realy want a new solo game

 

[Robert Newbie]

Did Nintendo lose money on the Year of Luigi? All I remember is that they had 8-Bit Luigi show up in Super Mario 3D World G-Man style. I think they announced some Luigi games, but we know from past experience that the audience may demand more Luigi, but they only really want a tiny bit more Luigi.

I think the Mario Movie was competent. There's a lot that can go wrong in a video game to movie adaptation, so the end result is passable. I think the random 80's songs weren't fitting, and I'm in the camp that thinks Princess Peach acted too much like a Simpsons character.

The Sonic movie was a pleasant watch. I don't remember much about it other than the Olive Garden ads. I haven't seen the second one yet.

then again, nintendo copied sega when they made a mario movie, and it works, Right? #joke

but yeah, i like shadow a lot, and i like his solo game too (judge me lol) so i realy want a new solo game

No shame. One day, I want to play through Shadow the Hedgehog and make my own opinions.

 

[Cranesbill]

Did Nintendo lose money on the Year of Luigi? All I remember is that they had 8-Bit Luigi show up in Super Mario 3D World G-Man style. I think they announced some Luigi games, but we know from past experience that the audience may demand more Luigi, but they only really want a tiny bit more Luigi.

I think the Mario Movie was competent. There's a lot that can go wrong in a video game to movie adaptation, so the end result is passable. I think the random 80's songs weren't fitting, and I'm in the camp that thinks Princess Peach acted too much like a Simpsons character.

The Sonic movie was a pleasant watch. I don't remember much about it other than the Olive Garden ads. I haven't seen the second one yet.


No shame. One day, I want to play through Shadow the Hedgehog and make my own opinions.

It was during the WII U Era so there was no interest in the console and the crave for Luigi wasn't as high as today. I think Nintendo was too ambitious about Year of Luigi that in the end they lost over 450 Million Dollars

 

[Robert Newbie]

It was during the WII U Era so there was no interest in the console and the crave for Luigi wasn't as high as today. I think Nintendo was too ambitious about Year of Luigi that in the end they lost over 450 Million Dollars

Whoa, I had no idea. Thanks for the info. Nintendo found commercial success with the Switch and the Mario Movie, so they're not hurting.

The Wii U and 3DS launches still baffle me. Since then, Nintendo has built up an audience for Nintendo Direct, so they don't even have to hit trade shows anymore. Of course, I don't know how many are still going. (PAX maybe? E3 Revival Attempt #7?)

 

[HarveyHouston]

Give me Knuckles.

 

[SonicRings]

Everyone's hype but nobody realizes that they are likely to delist the original Sonic Generations when releasing the remaster, taking along with it literally thousands of amazing mods.

 

[Robert Newbie]

Everyone's hype but nobody realizes that they are likely to delist the original Sonic Generations when releasing the remaster, taking along with it literally thousands of amazing mods.

That is a good point. Although, I'm in the dark when it comes to Sonic Generations mods. Wasn't there a mod that converted the side-scrolling Sonic Unleashed levels to Generations? I vaguely remember someone attempting to bring Sonic '06 to either Generations or a new engine entirely.

I just looked it up. Gistix was working on a remake in Unity, which hasn't had an update in five years. Sonic P-06 is a PC remake that had its latest release back in November. I have to look into P-06 more, but users say it's missing some endgame content.

 

[Cranesbill]

Guys guys guys GUYS, voice for Shadow in Sonic Movie 3 is the almighty Keanu REEVES. This is in fact, YEAR of SHADOW

 

[Xzi]

Guys guys guys GUYS, voice for Shadow in Sonic Movie 3 is the almighty Keanu REEVES. This is in fact, YEAR of SHADOW

Ah, beat me to it. Pretty crazy that Sonic himself has the least famous voice actor between him, Knuckles, and Shadow. Not that I dislike Ben Schwartz, he's great.