My 15-minutes-or so with the recent Tokyo Game Show 2024 build of Sega’s latest Sonic game is one-half rerelease and other half a new game. Dubbed Sonic X SHadow Generations, the game’s second half is a messload of new levels starring Sega’s favourite edgelord mammal Shadow.

I played through the demo’s standout levels: Space Colony Ark Act 1 and Kingdom Valley Wind Act 1. Both of them have their gimmicks and work well with the game’s 3D speed-focused platforming antics. Space Colony Ark has a number of mechanical traps you need to use your Chaos powers for; slowing them down with your powers means you can navigate through them easily while careening through the ramps and speedways.

Kingdom Valley Wind has triggers that open up wind tunnels that act as rails you can grind on, and water-skating segments where you use Shadow’s Doom Powers, which is a thing that is in line with 2000s Sonic lore. Both levels do highlight the best of the 2000s Sonic games: loads of fast movement, tricky platforming involving Shadow’s homing attack, timing your boosts just right to fly off the rails, and deft use of your Chaos powers.

I did bring up the fact that Shadow’s Doom powers are a wee bit similar to Venom’s symbiote powers in Marvel in a TGS 2024 private Sega group interview, but producer Shun Nakamura insisted that his team are inspired by Shadow’s past powers and lore to eventually form the Doom Powers. The fact that they act in tandem with Shadow’s aggressiveness and supposedly feed off of it like said Marvel comparison is too coincidental, but I’ll let it slide until the final game.

The bigger question is: why release a game starring Shadow in late 2024? The reason is obvious: marketing ingenuity tying in with the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog 3 movie. Nakamura is pretty honest with this, stating that compared to anything they’ve done with the Sonic series, it’s unprecedented that the team had a chance to bring a game and a live-action movie together around the same time.

“It’s a great time for new audiences to dive into the series. He’s one of the series’ most popular characters; we want to have the game help revisit past memories from players with their experience with Shadow and the games involved.”

The X Factor

Which leads to another big question: What makes him popular? Why is Shadow considered cool enough for the developers to work on yet again? It’s most likely all three of these factors: his look, his attitude, and his slew of powers rivalling Sonic The Hedgehog. Producer Shun Nakamura’s answer is simpler than that: “Chunibyo“.

The term chunibyo is used to describe early teens who want to stand out and are convinced they have hidden knowledge or secret powers. In this case, Shadow is a personification of that but actually happening in the Sonic universe. “Each of the team have their reasons for liking Shadow,” he said, “but one of the things that connect us to the character is the way that Shadow is a good example of “cool” in terms of the ‘chunibyo‘ factor”.

“He has that presence that reminds us of Sonic fans of the aspect of the subculture. When Shadow The Hedgehog made his debut in 2000 onward in the Sonic games, that sort of archetype was in vogue at the time. Most of the developers of Sonic X Shadow Generation are inspired by that subculture.”

And if you’re wondering if the Sonic team will bring Shadow back his gun from his 2005 Shadow The Hedgehog days, Nakamura shut me up with a quick “no”. His Doom Powers are more than enough for this 2024 entry.

Sonic X Shadow Generations will be out for PC and consoles on 25 October.