it's funny you're posting this today because last night i dreamt that you could get shadow's shoes at any dollar store and they were just a common household item
I wouldn't say I'm the only true fan!! but I would say there are all too many fake fans out there. Nothing worse than the average "Sonic Adventure and Sonic Generations are the only good games" fans and the "Sonic Team HATES US and [game I didn't like] KILLED MY GRANDMA" creators. Thanks for watching!
5:15 "If you want a game just like another game, just play the other game." Actually so true, I'm so sick of people harping on about how most games don't hold up to or feel like their favourite game (usually SA2) and ignoring the uniqueness that each game brings to the table, even though nothing's stopping them from just playing their favourite game.
Nah you don't get it. When another game *exists* and people are *having fun* my favorite game stops being playable. Sonic Adventure 2 was made illegal in 209 countries as soon as Sonic Unleashed came out.
I never thought I would ever say this, but gosh... I've failed myself. When I was a kid I got addicted to this game but after i've met the internet my thoughts have gotten so muddled up by others thoughts on it that i've never understood why i liked it in the first place, this was an eye-opener that actually managed to cleanse my eyes instead of throwing more dirt in it, i've never been so happy to learn that a game i liked when i was kid is actually good. I should start replaying games more often.
The biggest problem with the Sonic games isn't ever the games itself. It's always how the wrong fans are the only ones being heard. If you have fun. Have fun. If you don't have fun. Don't. Other bad games exist, but for some reason Sonic is always held to a different standard; and games from almost 20 years ago are treated like they're still relevant.
be careful with that though. i just replayed one of my childhood favorites and realized it was complete garbage. like yeah edgy the hedgie is pretty good and doesnt deserve the hate but i totally ruined my memories of elmo's letter adventure today.
As someone who 100% Shadow the Hedgehog as a kid, it's nice to see all the mechanics of the game get analyzed deeper than just face value, which is what I love about this channel. I never thought to use the strafing as a brake or attack! Just one of those things you only think of after getting experimental long after beating the game. I always enjoyed exploring and trying out different ways through a level on replays, so combining that with having a good memory in mapping places out in my head, and Shadow's structure generally worked for me and made it an enjoyable time. Hell, I even liked the maze missions like The Doom, Lost Impact, and Central City, as there was just more level to map out and efficiently route rather than speed through like all the others (though The Doom Dark mission was still a pain in the ass). The only level I really disliked was Mad Matrix's Dark mission, as that boils down to speeding around a red void with barely any enemies or landmarks to map out, just making endless quick turns in a maze with no walls. There's not even any incentive to play it differently or route better, as you're basically guaranteed an A rank so long as you don't die. I remember spending 20 minutes or more the first time I beat it, and getting an A after all the wandering in circles I did honestly felt more insulting instead of rewarding. The only other mission off the top of my head that annoys me is Neutral Space Gadget, as that's just "Do the Hero mission but slower" and amounts to waiting around, but the rest I can find at least some enjoyment in. Even if I think the game could be designed to be more accessible (maybe make getting all the targets a hard mode to better ease people to reaching the higher/lower levels) and it's understandable why many people dislike it, I still enjoy walking down the memory maze. It's the kind of game that's great for a kid with too much time on their hands, and clouded by nostalgia or not, it's earned a solid spot in my mind.
Optimization is what makes this game so much fun. Instead of a fast game you need to play slowly in order to beat it (Chaos emeralds, finding a lost chao, going out of your way to grab certain items or do certain bonus tricks, etc) Shadow is definitely a slow game you always need to play faster. I also really love The Doom and Lost Impact (I think I personally lean more towards The Doom because I LOVE how straight up gaslighty Black Doom is the entire level) Mad Matrix Dark definitely kicked my butt. I think I was around 30 minutes or so. I dont mind if people hate it, but it's absolutely wild to see people hating it for the worst reasons.
@@Hard_Pretzel Yeah, the atmosphere of the ARK levels is another reason I enjoyed spending time in them too. Lost Impact's tranquil search and The Doom's melancholic destruction help make them a more engaging maze to explore. Plus having Maria as a side character who chats with Shadow does a decent job of fleshing her caring and bright personality out, rather than just being a plot point to motivate other characters and themes. I always wished we got to see more of the ARK before the attack, and those levels are the closest we get, so I don't mind them being slower-paced. I feel like part of the hate comes from there being a chunk of people who just want to go fast and play through the game once, like playing through SA1 and 2 without replaying levels or doing any of the missions. Sonic has always been about sloppily speeding through a level at first, then slowing down to better analyze it, and then speeding up again as you more efficiently get through the level/complete a goal. But I don't know how many people actually replay Sonic games like that, as the slowing down part is only there for those who want to improve, with some players just being fine with a sloppy playthrough of always going fast. Maybe that's part of why Sonic has so much negativity around it, with a bunch of people never engaging with them beyond face value. Shadow forces that replayability on people to see 3/4's of its content, making the slowdown portion of the learning curve a mandatory part, so it's automatically going to alienate a sizeable portion of the fanbase due to being more "post-game content" that people ignore than main game content. Now add that the game starts slow and slippery on a Neutral playthrough already, and the repetition of some of the levels, and it's easy to see why people get burnt on the game. That doesn't mean all the criticisms are correct, but I don't think people wanted to be objective and thorough to begin with. Which is fine when arguing opinions, but can get annoying when those initial feelings become a consensus and override any potential for argument, leading to some criticisms perpetuating themselves unchecked.
Dude, I decided to complete all Mad Matrix dark mission library routes so that I wouldn’t ever have to touch it again on my long road to full library; but over the course of doing it thirty times in a row I actually started to enjoy it. Getting my time down to just below 5:30 was such a satisfying learning curve. It’s a terrible level, no doubt, but I can’t help liking it.
@@Hewasnumber1 Do you have a recording of it up anywhere??? 5:30 Mad Matrix Dark is absolutely impressive, even IF you have a great route. Amazing job! One of the things I like about the game is that even once you get an A you can really keep going. My favorite mission is probably Air Fleet Dark. Shadow Rifle Chaos Blast 😂
the inconsistency of the sonic community is honestly the whole point of me making all these videos cause the stuff they say they want now is stuff they hated in other games.
@@Hard_Pretzel we are a mixed bag, from parents introducing their kids to Sonic for the sake of their own childhood nostalgia to degenerates who create Rule 34 smut of Tails and Cream
@@mikdan8813 i got no problems with people that got weird preferences, but when we end up with freaks insisting every game sucks except their favorite, 👊🏻
@@Hard_Pretzel I get it, it's different from most sonic games and it IS clunky, but it's actually pretty fun(i mean, you would know lol) I've gotten about 25 or so endings, i guess all it takes is a little open-mindedness and persaverance. It's like Metal gear rising: Revengance , but sonic the hedgehog.
@@Hard_Pretzel Exactly, it's kinda like with another game series i like. I'm certain you've heard of starfox, there's one game in the franchise that isn't much like the rest of the games in the series, but it's pretty fun all the same (Albeit its a bit clunky, but so is every game on the gamecube) It's called starfox adventures BTW, i'm pretty sure you know what it is but just to be safe
@@MKG-2033 haha yeah no worries. I have the game even. I enjoy it quite a bit. It's sometimes nice to have a very different take on a series, even if it's not why I play the series in the first place.
it's snappy, it's quick. It's more accurate than a homing attack. but it's the worst game in the world bc it's "dated" and "edgy" and "not Sonic", apparently 🤷🏻♀️
This is possibly the best analysis video of Shadow’s 2005 game that I’ve ever seen. It’s so nice to see people actually giving this game a fair assessment and not blindly hating on it just because it’s so different from your average Sonic game like the cringe X-Play review from 2005. And for the record, I would gladly take dark and serious toned games like this over the cookie-cutter games that we got later such as Sonic Colors and Sonic Lost World. /:
What most sonic fans don't realize, is that their abrupt and over-exaggerated knee-jerk reactions to so basically every game from 2001-2009 led to why so many games from the 2010s felt so "for kids", totally sanitized, and completely void of any personality. Obviously, people cant hate whatever they want to, but I don't think ANY publisher wants to read "worst game ever made" for literally everything they put out. Colors, Lost World, Generations, and more... very... safe titles that focus their scope, tone, and personality to very surface-level Sonic ideologies. As far as I'm concerned, exaggerating flaws and ragging on the series for issues in specific games from 20 years ago, is WAY worse than people just not getting games they aren't interested in. Nobody held me at gunpoint to play frontiers 😂
I like how some people don't like it because it breaks the tone of previous games but most of the people that play it are adults, or at least those are the people that keep talking about it.
Most people upset with the game either weren't alive when it released, or watch WAAAAAY too much youtube. Guns, violence, unnecessary level of choice, swearing... all of that was a market priority for almost every developer to try and squeeze into. It made sense when it came out, but obviously years later the tone is just as "dated" as something like Bomberman Act Zero. It doesnt help that big names got their start on youtube in 2006, right when another sonic game came out and making fun of Sonic was easy clicks. As far as I'm concerned, if people are still playing and talking about a game, especially almost 20 years later, regardless if it's """good""" (by critics and youtubers), it's a good game; even if I personally am not a fan. More people are regularly playing and discussing Sonic 06 than people are playing and discussing games that were nominated or even WON game of the year awards.
@@Hard_Pretzel happy to be of service, all I ask is that Heroes and 06 get this treatment as well some day 🙏 they deserve better than what they get from the community, because the community barely knows how to play them, either
this editing is amazing its like finding easter eggs, i finish watching the video, then rewatch and pause at certain frames to appreciate images or text i missed
That's why I do it! 😂 My favorite thing to do with a lot of old flash animations was to pause and see all the jokes animators would put in. It gives people a REASON to watch the videos over and over again, and REWARDS the people that do. Instead of the one-and-done videos that will post something again tomorrow and rewatching only puts you further behind.
It's amazing how much fun you can have with a game when you actually start looking for ways to enjoy it instead of attack it for things everyone and their dog already knows it did wrong 😂
I kind of grew a fondness of this game,mostly because of the guns, but I also quite enjoy the arcadey structure of the multiple missions and storylines.
Sonic and Arcade Gameplay just go so well together. I don't know why people are so afraid of having fun and enjoying by-design replayability, and instead always want some massive 90 hour grand emotional-journey masterpiece.
I’ve been realizing lately that a lot of Sonic games are just misunderstood. I think Sonic Heroes has a similar issue, where I had a lot more fun after I learned how the mechanics worked instead of trying to just blow through the stages
Heroes is my favorite cause Neo Metal is cool and I'm biased when it comes to Crush 40 songs. [Totally not listening to "What I'm Made Of." On repeat for the 40th time.]
Very good video, Shadow is always just describes as "hahaha this Sonic game has guns" and that's basically it, without saying anything about the game. The worst thing is the "Shadow is such a slippery game and unplayable" and then they start to praise Sonic Heroes for the controls lol
RIGHT??? I tried to get that point across in an earlier video about how people will overhype certain elements of gameplay that don't exist in the games they're hyping up, or criticize one game for the same thing their favorite game also does. But people still don't get it 😂 The best part is, the same people going 'sonic game with guns'... dont even use the guns and just complain about the homing attack that you aren't supposed to prioritize anyway. 🤣
@@YujiUedaFan Real answer? I'm sure it EXISTS. Heroes is a much more popular game and I know there's a few particular mods that people use often, such as skipping the omochao tutorials in team rose's story. Joke answer? it makes sense shadow has better and more technical mod support because sonic heroes is for googoo gaga babies and all they know is homing attack spam and LETS BLAST THROUGH WITH SONIC SPEED OKAY ALRIGHT and they aren't smart enough to make as cool of mods. (I say this as a fellow googoo gaga baby that doesn't know anything about mods and loves heroes lol)
@@YujiUedaFan honestly that's one of my biggest disappointments. I'd have loved to play as the androids in single player. Especially if they maintained their gun arms with unlimited ammo. Would have definitely changed things.
Oh, my God, thank you. The amount of times I’ve seen people say the game controls poorly, or that the mechanics don’t work is too many to count. The people who say the game controls bad just do not know how to play it. And on separate note: I noticed that in the section where you were talking about making Shadow slow down you didn’t mention that you could just let go of the control stick. Shadow decelerates extremely quickly-almost instantaneously-so most of the time if you want him to stop moving you could just… stop moving.
Oh yeah, definitely. I almost put that in, but then I remembered some of my early smash bros days and having to explain the difference between letting go of the stick and overcorrecting it in the opposite direction and didn't want people to try it, especially when most sonic games these days are "HOLD FORWARD + BOOST BUTTON"; quick strafing allows you to keep holding forward for the same effect. Plus, with all the shadow reviews I've seen, clearly the obvious answers are not the accepted answers 😂 You know, like not trying to homing attack everything and complain about how slow homing attack is, when the game literally gives you several other options. 🤣
Another great way to slow down gradually in Shadow is to hold X down. While running at any speed faster than a light jog, Shadow will perform the Slide Kick from Heroes and gradually slow speed. You can use this to curve around turns, quickly drop from ledges and cancel out of it at anytime with A for a backflip jump to quickly stop your momentum. If you slide off a ledge into a vertical wall, you will ride the wall down at an even faster speed to get down to the ground extremely quick. Very very useful for speedrunning! Also I'm super glad you showed Rail Storage and Spindash Slope jumps! Those are relatively unknown tech that make this game standout particularly nicely once you get the hang of it.
I never thought to use the slides for turning! I'll definitely give that a try next time. I didn't think to mention them because slowing down with a slide can throw you all over the place if you're not ready for it 😂 thanks for the tip! are you a runner yourself? What's your favorite route to run?
@@Hard_Pretzel I'm more of a casual speedrunner hahah. I like running through True Neutral Route with no CC glitch as well as True Dark Route. GUN Fortress with no CC is a very interesting, challenging romp to try and keep your max speed through the long winding garages, the sudden shifts to the security camera sections as well as the long hang glider loop that you can either Spindash Jump past or Slide Kick. Expert Mode with no CC is also a fun challenge. But FUCK some of the levels are truly dickish. Circus Park with its downright NASTY lower path with a stupidly precise jump across flaming hoops and moving barrels over a gigantic pit. The hoops are positioned in a way where you HAVE to short hop through them AND land on the other barrel. Expert Cryptic Castle has a lower path with an obscenely high death plane across thin moving plats which will kill you if you mistime the light speed dash or get unlucky. Seriously the kill plane is 1 inch below the platform you have to stand on! It's insane how small the margin for error is. No other killplane in the game is THAT close to Shadow.
@@Hard_Pretzel Use it on those ramps in Lethal Highway where the overpass collapses and blocks your way, you can vault straight over the fallen overpass with it and it's so satisfying.
Quite a few spots in Air Fortress to where you can Slide Kick to shave off time here and then. I haven't played Shadow in a long time though so I've forgotten quite a lot of places where Slide Kick is viable. A good rule of thumb though is to use it to get off ledges faster as opposed to taking a dash ramp. ( Like the one after the 3rd checkpoint in Westopolis! The one where lazers drop down and destroy a staircase leading up to a pulley. )
@@dragnjames2190 GUN Fortress is one of my favorite levels for that reason. When it hits, it hits. I really wish I could have spent some time on level-specific tricks to emphasize just how good some of the level design really is--but honestly the game in itself is such a hard sell for people 😂 I also really like the destruction missions, especially when you get access to the shadow crates.
It's been such a long time coming. Really horrible how often people just complain to complain without even giving it a chance. Thanks so much for watching!
routing in this game is really cool too, for lack of a better comparison, it kind of feels similar to an arcade run-and-gun like metal slug where you have to seriously consider how you use your ammo for the best gun for a mission you're doing, where to refill said ammo (thats mostly where the comparison ends though lol), and how to manage your meters if you want to be able to use them in the right place. lethal highway's hero mission comes to mind as a great early game mission that exemplifies this when noticing all the well-placed boxes and GUN soldiers with SMGs, which are the perfect guns suitable for taking down the target since you need the firepower and the ammo nessecary to take it down as fast as possible. so you can spend your time in between the target appear and disappearing to find more SMGs and just unload whenever it pops back up. really fun game, still working on getting all A ranks. (great video too!)
@@lan.goblian Its such a fun gameplay element it's really a shame most sonic fans only play "traditional" sonic games because so many amazing series have so many cool mechanics that would work really well with sonic gameplay--but every time sonic games try something cool it gets buried alive by critics and RUclipsrs 😂 I'm so glad I get to meet other fans of the game, and even more glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching!
@@Hard_Pretzel its very funny too considering how the essence of shadow is still very tied to speedrunning due to getting the comparatively large time bonus at the end, essentially trumping the other scores you get and really defining your rank above all things. its definitely more focused on clearing missions quickly than sonic adventure 2's speed stages, which feel like they reward score attacking more. i cant understand how the fans who play for the reward and satisfaction of speed dont really appreciate this one as much. glad other people are seeing the light here though! i definitely look forward to seeing more to come from your channel
@@lan.goblian yeah definitely! nothing wrong with score attack ranks, but I DEFINITELY prefer running time attacks in games where the characters move very fast. It's the same reason I like Sonic Lost World, because the ranks are literally only time-based. I've got a bunch of videos in the works, just currently out of town so I'm a bit behind.
@@Hard_Pretzel excited to see a lost world video out of you if that happens to be something you're planning for. thats another game i really like to play but nobody i talk to seems to really give it a chance
@@lan.goblian games that people overlook or misjudge is basically how I pick my video topics. All my videos have been on games with more questionable reputations, especially by contemporary sonic fans. LW is definitely in the works. My next video is on Sonic Rivals. just about done recording the audio, then I get to editing
Shadow really lets you do so much more, and doesn't rely on forcing you to switch to a different character. It's a lot more fun than people give it credit for.
@@BossBasher I wouldnt quite call the missions "bad" as much as they're just collectathons and scavenger hunts. Essentially the Chaotix missions from heroes, certain special missions in Adventure 2, or certain missions from a number of other games outside of the Sonic franchise including Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, Spyro, and more. A lot of people hate the Chaotix missions for example, just as a lot of other people really enjoy them. "Bad" to some people, is not "Bad" to ALL people. Obviously not everyone will enjoy these types of missions, which is one of the strengths Shadow offers; by most levels having means of skipping these missions and just reaching the goal.
Shadow improves on Sonic Heroes speed character mechanics so much: 1. They brought back the Spindash over Rocket Accel. 2. Replaced Tornado Jump with a better mid-air attack that doesn't mess up the camera. Also works to control speed. 3. Shadow has more than just homing attack as his one attack. 4. More traversal options such as vehicles and spindash jumping. 5. Lightspeed dash rings still work if you accidentally pick one, since they're replaced by phantom rings. 6. Strafing! 7. An improved Chaos Control + Chaos Blast. 8. Invulnerability at any time instead of at set areas in stages. 9. Improved Triangle Jump.
@@YujiUedaFan whenever I play heroes, definitely a skill issue on my part, but I just do not like the rocket accel. It's feels so inconsistent between sliding and the rocket, in comparison to shadow where it's as easy as: are you running? slide are you walking (or strafing!) ? spindash shadow really does so much. it's a shame people unfairly hate the game so much.
In my personal opinion there are no bad games in the Sonic franchise. Sonic R, Shadow the Hedgehog and eve Sonic 06 it's all a really good games. Only bad thing that really haunted this series are peoples skill issue. That's Why I really love you're channel Pretzel you show people how play this games and give many intresting tips and tricks that makes people playthrough even better. Thank you for you're uniqe and beautiful content, I adore it a lot! Can't wait for more content about this games :}
I'd take it even further. There are actually very few ***BAD*** games in general. There are loads of games I don't like, but the only bad games are games that are bad at being games--things like live service games with the live service shut down, basic utilities disguised as a game (sonic disc cleaner game, the popcorn making game, etc), games that made it far a long in development but never released, games that had a limited release or were delisted that end up becoming lost media, recalled releases with a severe gamebreaking bug that prevents the game from booting, or really anything that's keeping the GAME from being a GAME. When we have titles like E.T for the Atari, the "WORST GAME EVER MADE", and people STILL combed the desert for 30 years to find copies of the game that were LITERALLY playable. I **WISH** even the BEST games had 30 years of that level of dedication. People are still making new Sonic 06 videos, people are still streaming Sonic 06; technical fidelity or not, Sonic 06 is still enjoyed regardless of my own feelings about the game.
I'm a certified Shadow the Hedgehog enjoyer and even I never thought to use the midair kick to stop and grab items, nor the strafe jump to quickly take down enemies. I should try using them next time I play the game.
Shadow is one of those games you can just keep finding more and more stuff. I learned stuff while making the video, and there's even been some speedrunners sliding into my comments and my d*sc0rd either telling me about stuff I taught them or stuff they could teach me. I feel the same way about Sonic R
Honestly pretty much every sonic game just takes some getting used to. Even the originals had their detractors from people that couldn't grasp how loose the controls were by comparison to something like MegaMan or Castlevania.
I came back to this video since I started to play Shadow the Hedgehog with the mentality that it's Shadow's game, not a Sonic game. Coming into the game knowing how methodically I should be playing helped me to really enjoy it.
I'm so glad you were able to give the game another look. It's definitely a game you need the right mindset for -- which honestly was pretty obvious from the advertising and concepts being presented at the time of release. But because of how overblown hatred for this game is online, to people that weren't even ALIVE when this game came out... to this day we STILL have people assuming it's "supposed to" play beat for beat just like Sonic Adventure 2; and that it's a bad game because it's NOT beat for beat just like Sonic Adventure 2. Thanks for watching (again) 😂
I wouldn't say skill as much as observation and practice. I think ANYONE could realisitcally play this game well if they go into it with the right mindset and an interest in what this game offers. It's primarily described as a collectathon, so expect a lot of backtracking and doublechecking around corners.
I learned so much, i beat this game and didnt realize half of what you mentioned the entire time 💀 just stubbornly tore through everything until i got the final ending
This game is very brutal with it's information sharing. A lot of what you CAN learn is only taught to you on specific levels, which you only encounter in specific routes. Shadow is a very multi-session focused game, and naturally things you learn in one route, you won't even realize you forgot by the time you start your next route. Especially if you're too busy trying to remember where certain enemies or objectives are. In a way it's almost like the game itself is giving you amnesia so you can truly be immersed with shadow 😂
Holy shit this perfectly explains why i love this game. I kept telling ppl its a really fun game Yeah the story is all over the place but alot of it was poor translation. Game play tho is fire
Honetly I wouldn't even throw it ALL on a bad translation or dubbing choices. I think it just comes from people trying to take this game at face-value as some dark twisted trauma drama; when it is, by all accounts, not supposed to be taken THAT seriously. Especially when you have ridiculous lines like the whole taking candy from a baby thing, or charmy's singsongy "OH LOOK!!!! A GIANT WORMMMMM!!!!". The source material was on public record being films like constantine and terminator among other films, and while those films do have dark understones and serious themes--they are also very silly fun films that are very over-the-top ON PURPOSE. Once you can get past the cheese, it's very easy to have a blast getting through it. ESPECIALLY when on your 10th playthough of air fleet and you're literally yelling "SHUT UP TAILS" as you mash the D-Pad down.
@@sethisevilone02 mistranslation or not, it's always a HUGE ask to excuse every diaglogue issue away as a localization problem. I'd much rather take the game how it is, how it's experienced, and work from there; rather than tell someone "Oh but the game is actually good if you download this mod" or insist they learn japanese and play that way. There definitely are a number of changes made in localization that are confusing, or honestly (imo) way worse than what they originally were; but then again, this is how the game came out, I have fun with the game, and in the right context the messy localization changes can still work for the overall narrative, especially when the overall narrative is deliberately messy.
When I first played it I was confused but honestly just like every other sonic game out there, if you put in the time and give it a REAL shot, you can really find a lot to enjoy--even if it's not your favorite.
I figured i'd come back here, because i just A-ranked the entire game and i'm gonna attempt expert mode now. Thanks for this video cuz it encouraged me to play the game again.
I'm so glad to hear it! It's really a great game once you get a feel for it and push aside your biases/ expectations. No other game like it. What's been your favorite mission to A rank so far? I'm a big fan of the destruction missions myself
@@Hard_Pretzel One of the things that makes me love that game despite its shortcomings is that it's a completely unique title. I've never so much as heard of another game like it, let alone played one. It's a game no one was expecting, not to mention, but no one talks about how impressive it is that the game only took 8 months or so to make. game nowadays take years on end to make, and they're still unfinished upon release. There is so much content it's absurd almost, speedrunning the game takes a bare minimum of 181 hours i've heard. Truly a one-of-a-kind game. As for a favorite level, if i had to pick, i'd say Air fleet dark and cosmic fall hero are some of my favorites. I like Lost impact and Mad matrix as well, but its more visually than the missions you have to do in them. Also, one more thing, do you know how i could potentially livestream the game since i've seen you do it? I have a physical copy for gamecube and i play it on my Wii.
@@MKG-2033 Oh Cosmic Fall Hero is a great shout! Vector is so funny in that stage. I definitely agree with you there. Having a unique game that you can always recognize as that game is way more important than a "good" game that blends in with all the other "good" games. If you weren't a super-fan of a particular series, you could reasonably confuse certain screenshots between games for different games (for example, Generations to Unleashed to Colors to Forces; with the right angles a lesser experienced fan may confuse them--similar to BotW to TotK) especially as graphics have reached a point where generational leaps are not as impressive. You can know right at a glance that Shadow is Shadow, or that Labyrinth is Labyrinth, or that Sky Patrol is Sky Patrol, or that R is R, or that Blast is Blast, or that 4 is 4. It's why I play the games I do because I value unique experiences you can only get by playing that game over something I could play in any number of releases. Personally what I capture Shadow with is my gamecube and a GCHD ($80-100) into an Avermedia Internal card (like $300 lol). BUT there is a much cheaper option by ElectronShephard that you can plug into your Wii called the ElectronWarp ($20), so at that point it just comes down to your capture method (any capture card will do) From there it's just hooking up the capture card with OBS or something similar to stream. If you want more specific help though, feel free to send a shout on d*cord; I'm the same @ there as I am here.
I see. I was gonna try live-streaming my first run through expert mode, now that I’ve completed the game, but It may be more work than I anticipated, especially since I’m broke at the moment 😅. But if I were be able to get this capture card and the other things, I would be able to livestream the game, yes?
@@MKG-2033 yeah! You could also 🏴☠️ it, but it may have some performance issues. there are cheaper options, but to stream from hardware takes a bit of tech to get working
I loved this game as a kid. Then I listened to the fanbase claiming it sucked, and I believed them. Watching this video now made me realize why I loved it in the first place.
that's the goal honestly. If people would just play games for what they are and at least TRY to find a way to enjoy them instead of whine when the games aren't exactly what they wanted, a lot of games are genuinely not THAT bad. 😂
I suggest playing Shadow Reloaded mod for anyone that didn't try or heard of it. It fixes the only issues the game has (kill missions and characters introduction stopping your controls) and adds nice QoL like faster triangle jumps, being able to do normal jump dash without homing into enemies, and more challenging ranking+expert mode. There is also a randomizer tool.
I've heard so many great things about Reloaded and it's a fantastic way to get into the game if the vanilla version isn't up to snuff. Another favorite of mine is the lesser known Shadow SX (Speedrunners Cut) that maintains the vanilla gameplay, but alters things such as key doors unlock cycles and skipping character intro cutscenes (both things that can be skipped in vanilla if after you encounter them you restart), as well as allow you to practice the expert mode variations of the stages in the select mode. The modding community for this game are absolute heroes, especially given the reputation of this game significantly impacting the likelihood of any notoriety within the community. Personally I didn't mention the mods in the video because I don't want to give people the free "JUST BECAUSE A GAME IS ONLY GOOD WITH MODS DOESNT MEAN ITS GOOD LOL" 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel Yes, I understand why you didn't mention mods in this video, especially since this video is basically a "GIT GUD" lol. I agree 100%, I love the work and dedication the modders put despite all that.
@@YujiUedaFan The hoverboard jumps higher tho, and you can use the ground pound to go faster in descents. For me it feels a lot more fluid and fun, but if you don't like it that's fine obviously.
@@DarkShadow8754 I havent played reloaded yet, how does the air saucer react off of ramps? Do you still have double jump storage (I briefly show it at 5:20 on the left) ? Can you drop mid-launch? How much higher do you jump? It sounds like a cool change with new tricks... although I'll probably still stick vanilla haha 😂
Thank you for watching! I'm glad you clicked on it too 😂 I like to do similar for every upload. Hope you look forward to future uploads and my other content. 💖
Nice vid, I actually played and beated it for the first time in january of this year, and I loved it. I really dig the gameplay, and it's now easily one of my favorite games in the franchise
When i played this game as a kid i actually liked it , so i was kinda surprised that it was hated when i watched videos of it on the internet, who knows maybe the video will blow shadow the hedgehog up and the game would make a comeback kinda like sonic unleashed.
Most people who played it when it came out didn't have any real problems with it--until of course people on the internet decided it was cool to dunk on sonic. RUclips got its start in 2005. It was just bad luck really.
I know 90% of people don't care about anything I talk about😂 so I am NOT wasting any of their time. In and out. EZ bake sonic videos. BUT I also wanna make sure the few of you that DO care, even people that already know the games inside and out, can still have a fun experience combing through for extra details or silly sight gags. I do this for everything I upload really, rewatchability is obviously very important to me 🤣 Thanks for watching and replying! I look forward to seeing you again!
Being a total freak like I am, I make sure I learn these games in and out if I have to. Usually after I finish a video, I check speedrunners and see if they do anything I've just "picked up" by playing and I'm usually naturally lining up with those guys, even if I'm not a runner myself 😂 That being said, I've found only a few things in my video are even brought up in speedruns (like stopping chaos control or the wall run by pressing X) so either I've gone beyond speedrunners, OR speedrunners just rarely have a use for everything else I brought up because they have better options (I don't think ANYBODY uses strafing in a speedrun)
It'd be just as ridiculous as someone playing LUIGI's Mansion or WARIO World and expecting either to play like Mario Sunshine. Different focus characters. Different gameplay elements, objectives, physics, mechanics, etc. Mario and a number of Mario's enemies even appears as a non-playable characters within Luigi's Mansion. But nobody bats an eye when a character-spinoff with wildly different mechanics is a wildly different game.
@@Hard_Pretzel What makes it even more ridiculous is that sonic already had spinoff for other characters like tails and knuckles and they were wildly different. Sure they weren’t technically mainline or as popular, but still it’s so unfair.
@@Kwizzy8406 people are willing to treat Tingle's Rupee Land or Metroid Prime Federation Force as footnotes in their franchise; or able to separate Crisis Core from Final Fantasy... but god forbid we have a Sonic Spinoff 🤣
@@Kwizzy8406 Sonic fans have traditionally never responded well to spinoffs, which is probably why we don't have very many character-dedicated spinoffs; especially when every time we get one, the response is even more negative each time.
I can't believe Nioh developers were inspired by this gem of a game to create the unique atmosphere for the _Strangers Of Paradise_ The sheer sincerity of it, it has everything, an anti-hero, _CHAOS_ , **GUNS!!** , _Shadows Rising_ original music piece, a true 2000's experience ...DOONN'T STAAAYYY WITHIIINN THE DAAARRRKK WHEN HOOOOPE FADES....
I have been really looking forward to playing Strangers of Paradise for that exact reason. Media can be over-the-top and still be incredible (Bayonetta, DMC, ; but apparently only when SONIC is over-the-top it's a crime 😂
Finally, someone who knows their shit. everyone just shits on this game. Are you love this game? I love the controls. You’re great at explaining stuff and here’s a fun fact when you’re going through loop changes the camera and you’re going through it but if you stop like halfway or at any point, you’ll actually just stop like if you’re halfway through the loop you’ll just fall to the ground. You have to have speed pad so that kind of sucks if they didn’t have those boost pads there, then you would have to gain enough speed to go through a loop which would be awesome and more people would realize this is great I love your shadow videos and your channel. Hopefully you do more. I’m gonna sub.
YEAH! There's honestly so many cool mechanics with this game that I wish I could make a whole video on--but most the stuff is pretty useless/visual. One of my favorite things to do is activate strafe-mode (R Button) while running, if you time it right, you can lock your air-shoes' animation, so that they keep the fire turned on until you stop walking. It's really neat to see shadows shoes lit up like that.
people can love a lot of games for different reasons. Some people play the game for the game, and I like finding fun mechanics and exploits in my games and sharing them with whoever wants to listen. 🤣
I’m probably in the minority that says that, aside from the fact you have to replay it so many times and it’s an overly edgy misrepresentation of Shadow’s original character, this is a quite good game that effectively recycles Heroes content for new purposes like how Majora’s Mask recycled Ocarina of Time content. I think people were too caught up in thinking it was a “Sonic game” and ignoring the fact that it was a _spin-off_ and the fact that they tried to make Shadow different with the guns and vehicles so that the gameplay literally wasn’t just Black Sonic. And spin-offs generally should be different from mainline games in some way, right? Otherwise, what’s the point of getting the spin-off if you don’t get a different experience? And in the same vein, the fact that you can both speedrun and do missions is a pro more than a con-yeah some of them are absolutely tedious and could’ve been executed better, but it goes back to it NOT being a Sonic game and it instead being a spin-off, so it should be allowed to function a bit differently, especially considering mainline games from other franchises switch up their formula to varying degrees of success too. If there was a Tails spin-off, I’m not gonna expect the game to play like Sonic Unleashed’s day stages or something, because Tails just wouldn’t do that. Yeah, Shadow is like Sonic, but Shadow isn’t exactly a direct copy of Sonic-otherwise, we get things like the Sonic Forces DLC, where Shadow is essentially just Sonic with different aesthetics. And yeah, Shadow in SA2 is a Sonic clone, but that was his first appearance and they were directly playing into that-he has since grown into his own person, much like Luigi outgrew Mario. TL;DR I just feel like people were judging this game with the wrong viewpoint/perspective and were too focused on trying to compare it to a typical Sonic game instead of looking at it like it’s _supposed_ to be different while also retaining some of the core mechanics.
yeah thats probably the biggest problem with how people think of this game. It goes against every bias/expectation there could have been; it doesn't help that people get all their opinions from youtubers that also don't understand the game, people that then become youtubers and restart the cycle. 😂
The time bonus taking precedence over other factors really clicks for 3D Sonic. Rather than emphasizing Ring pickups and minor score increases via killing enemies, performing tricks and so on, you're rewarded for optimization first and all else second. Of course, those score bonuses are still plenty attainable allowing for a slower player to make up the difference that way. It's much more customizable and yes _fun_ than to have score, Rings and time be equally important to achieving a higher rank. Can't think of much else to add so I'll just say that if Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) were a corporate fast food chain it'd be Burger King because you can Have It Your Way Trademark
People really forget that the reason all these cool tricks and enemy kills are supposed to be for the sake of optimization. So it's really refreshing to see a game based ENTIRELY around that. There are a couple other cool scoring mechanics I didn't mention; such as the dark score being subtracted from your hero score when you do hero missions (and vice versa) or the neutral score taking into account all three--which lets you REALLY minmax certain levels. This is one of Adventure 2's (and others) strongest suits because they had ranks for multiple types of missions; when games gave you a simple objective list and then you were tasked to optimize those objectives they're really something special. Anyways here's why Sonic R is the greatest game of all time--
OH. THE SOUNDTRACK STILL GIVES ME CHILLS. I can't even pick a favorite. Every level having a different soundtrack is such an incredible detail, but with every song also being flat out amazing?? So many genres represented.
wild how SOME PEOPLE still don't understand the difference between good/bad games... and games that people like/dislike. I can't stand sonic generations but i'm not going ever sit here and say it's a bad game. It's probably one of the best anniversary titles for any franchise. The Music ALONE makes it a worthwhile purchase (especially in my case since I got it for literally $0.01 on a steam sale like three years ago lmao)
@@Hard_Pretzel tell me about it. People still try to tell me Sonic Heroes is a bad game. It's not a POLISHED game, but it's core design and mechanics are solid. I'm trying to make a video on it.
@@DewMan31 all this talk of polish in games as if mario 64 (the game they always use as an example for some reason) isn't held together with toothpicks and bubblegum
@@DewMan31 If they held any game they actually like to the same standard they're applying to games they don't like, they'd realize the "Sonic was never good" thing would be entirely true. There isn't a single sonic game that would please EVERYONE.
It's really not that hard a game to learn if you actually just play it. But whoooo boy do people wanna do everything they can to hate it without even playing it
As someone who absolutely loved and played the everloving shit out of this game as a kid, even without knowing a lot of the more advanced tech shown off here (which really does change the feel of the game for the better) but felt embarrassed to admit it for the longest time due to all the usual online hate mobbing the game and series gets, this makes me feel so fucking vindicated! Picked the game back up after watching this, and I'm glad I did because it's just as fun and addicting as I remember. It's seriously, criminally underappreciated for what it is and what it's trying to do. Hell, I love it more than SA2. Also love the editing and scripting here! Keep it up!
@@zav1999 I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!!! I'm also very sick of the general "game sucks, and you suck for liking it" narrative; it's part of why I talk about the games I talk about, the way I talk about them. 😂 It doesn't make any sense to me for others to be so elitist over which games they consider "good" to the point they REFUSE to play anything outside a very slim list of games in a franchise with well over 100 releases (including spinoffs, compilations, remakes, ports, films, novels, comics, animations, artwork, etc) by now.
Very niche applications for sure, but having very specific tools for specific situations is what makes a lot of games so much fun! Especially when you learn to use them outside of those situations. They literally give you a boss that sends out a horizontal (and flat) shockwave that lasts a few seconds. Most people just get out of range, but smart players realize they can just hover in place.
@@Hard_Pretzel Exactly, it's reasons like these why I love certain games, like Minecraft I only got a second love for the very niche tech it has for challenge runs. I'm not too sure what you truly think of Shadow the game, since some of the points are tongue-in-cheek, but I could appreciate the game for what it was, I like the mix of speed and gunplay.
@@Neon_Henchman Oh I very much love the game. A lot of the tongue-and-cheek I do in my videos is just a case of poking fun at the "god forbid someone likes a 'bad' game" culture all too prevalent on youtube and (especially) twitter. I genuinely find there's a way to enjoy ANY game IF you really want to. Big IF there as some games you're really not interested in, may not be worth the trouble 😂
I enjoyed this game when it first came out in 2005. I remember everyone hating the crap out of this game. It’s relieving to see that I actually enjoyed the game for a reason! lol
It's amazing how many people that actually played the game unbiased don't have nearly as much distaste for it as people who only played it 'as a joke' or after some big youtuber told them it was the worst game ever made. 😂
People are so willing to just accept other franchises having spinoffs, but god forbid a sonic character does it and it's not a 1:1 carbon copy of the game that came before it.
@@RealestShaggyRogers a good friend of mine mentioned how much they love to watch all my videos in a row every time I upload a new one, so I kept up the tradition. I also want to make sure I stay mostly consistent in what I say, unlike SOME PEOPLE that tend to flip flop every time the trend changes 😂
Each and every day, I gain more realization that Shadow the Hedgehog the Game was always peak, and I have to repent my sins for initially disliking this unironically underrated game.
everybody grows up eventually 🤣 repenting from hating is as simple as finding what you love and sharing it with others, and listening to what they love and giving it an honest shot. Welcome to the cult.
As you pointed out, the guns averted the homing attack's biggest problem: the homing attack cancels your momentum (even though inertia is the point of these games). Guns are of course not the perfect solution, but this is still a very astute observation, subbed!
honestly the best solution is to just run past the enemies or farm them for Chaos Control bc this is a game about optimizing but people aren't ready for THAT conversation yet. 😂😂
a lot of games are great when you play them as themselves. The reason I wanted to stress this game is not a sonic game, is because people associate sonic games with strictly A to B levels and homing attacks (because they clearly haven't played enough sonic games); which this game is not. I'm glad you're one of the few that can still be *normal* about a game being different
@@Hard_Pretzel I love this game too! Genuinely there's so much neat stuff about it. BTW, another good way to instantly go to a stop (IIRC, it has been a while since I last played) is to just... let go of the control stick. You'll basically immediately stop moving without that skid animation in the way. That being said, you also taught me a lot more about the niche mechanics the strafe button had that I didn't know about, and I was already someone who understood that it actually was a useful addition to the game.
@@numbug1234 Haha yeah "just let go of the control stick" also works, but considering people go their entire lives refusing to press any button other than the jump button, I don't think they're ready for obvious solutions. 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel It sounds like you're really passionate about this game and seeing people understand it better- which is understandable, as games are amazing works of art! If I do try this game it will probably only be briefly (I don't think I can stomach quite so much edge, haha!) but if nothing else you've certainly given me a new angle to look at this game from
@@MrHumbuck haha yeah even if you know plenty about the game, it's not a game for everyone. It's why spinoffs are spinoffs, and not replacements. The most I can ask for is an honest attempt, without all the "THIS GAME IS AWFUL" or "THE CONTROLS ARE SO BAD" bias most people go into this game with.
@@Hard_Pretzel I guess when playing any game for the first time it's best to try and leave all the opinions you've heard at the door so you can experience it entirely for yourself, but it's not always easy to remember that. Thanks for reminding me
@@MrHumbuck if you look for ways to enjoy something, you'll find them. just like if you look for ways to hate something, you'll find them. It's a shame a lot of gaming spaces haven't figured this out yet 😂
Goated game. Absolute mess but it is somehow still just dumb fun. I found that I knew all these tips from just grinding it so hard as a kid! Great video man, will definitely sub and check out the back log. Also fun fact, it took me 3 years of owning and playing the game countless times as a kid to finally get to the true ending, I remember running around the house telling everybody in the house I just finished a 3 year quest haha.
Honestly I'd rather have a hot mess of a game that gives me 3+ years of playtime than a game I blow through in a day or two. 😂 Thanks so much for popping by. Hope you enjoy my stuff. I try to keep everything super short so it's not hard to catch up
I'm so glad to have found your channel! Good SonicTubers, as you call them, are rarer than diamonds I'm pretty sure. I feel the mentality most have is "Sonic is good as long as I have nostalgia for it but the rest is terrible", but you actually give every game a chance. Hope your channel grows a lot! You're doing God's work!
It's why I started making my own videos! Sonic content that isn't unfairly negative or biased is so hard to find, especially of the larger creators that are near household names. Even if don't like certain games, it's never my place to tell someone their favorite game sucks. I hate generations for example, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game at all
@@Hard_Pretzel I wish i could give you a second sub for that opinion. I do like Generations but you're literally the first person I've seen to have the courage of having this take, and I have some spicy rare takes myself! Wonder why though! Will you make a video on it?
@@beth7609 haha, funnily enough it was actually a video I had planned to do for april fools this year, basically pull the "I hate generations" card and pass off my genuine opinions as a joke. but instead opted for hyping up shadow the hedgehog instead (pretending it was a joke to the haters that crawled out from the floorboards like roaches lol.) I do still have plans to break down why I dont enjoy generations, but if you've seen my other content it'll probably make sense 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel Oh so the Shadow video on April 1st was intentional! That's interesting! I thought it was a coincidence! Forgive me for my ignorance but I watched the other videos and I guess my best guess would be that the fans are hypocritical over it (which they 1000% are). Apologies if I'm missing stuff, I'll admit I spent a lot of my focus trying to catch all the jokes in the editing. (Which I love actually! I much prefer the chaos and rapid fire jokes over the borderline corporate clean editing most big youtubers have!)
@@beth7609 yeah! that's it for the most part, they'll be quick to brush away faults in generations that are death sentences for others; or praise things generations does, while not even giving credit where it's due. Aside from hypocritical fan response, it's also not really my kind of game as I value unique experiences over retreading what's been done, even if it's been refined or altered slightly. This usually draws me to the more oddball games that surprisingly have a lot of depth; whereas the more "safe" or "accepted" games, even if they have a considerable amount of depth, it's usually well documented, already discovered, or so well known the intrigue is mostly gone or was already highlighted in other "safe" and "accepted" games. Because of this I'm also not too big into boost sonic or classic sonic, so I have little reason to play generations outside of the music remixes of course (which I can just listen through RUclips) Again, purely personal taste, and contextualized by my own experiences and preferences, with plenty of specifics I have planned for the video in the future, so no worries of spoilers 😂 I just figure if there's so few sonic creators willing to keep their criticisms within reason and context, or respect people that like oddball games (especially on the landmine that is tw*tter lol), there's room for someone like me. And I want to be the kind of creator I wanted to watch but could never find. thanks for checking out my little channel! I really appreciate it, on top of taking the time to reply
honestly after these videos, Shadow is probably my second favorite sonic game. There's just. So much to this game. I'm lowkey mad at myself for not really getting into it as a kid.
its honestly one of my favorites. I'm so glad I'm meeting so many other people that like this game. It's been the butt of so many jokes for so long I was worried I'd be totally alone with this.
Now I really can't wait to see where sonic x shadow generation is going to go now that black doom is making a return. There are a lot of good ideas here
I'm mostly worried it's going to be just more Sonic Generations. Which, works fine as a Sonic game. But reskinning Sonic into Shadow and giving new levels, is not a Shadow game. That's a reskinned Sonic game.
I know there are people out there that love the games I love; and are also sick of how many people hate the same games 😂 I'm glad my video provided 3x worth the content 🤣
really good video and honestly a great inspiration for me to go try shadow the hedgehog again. but i do wanna clear something up. i played the entirety of ShtH, i didn't get every mission done nor did i try for the A ranks, but i did get every ending and then the last story. i had more than enough time to learn how the game works. but i still didn't know half the shit in this video. for many people it has nothing to do with "not playing the game" at all. now maybe i'm dumb, or didn't pay attention, or i'm "media illiterate" as people are now calling it. who knows, i played this game when i was like 13 years old. but even back then there were many games that i could learn just by playing through them, including other sonic games. i think that if i need to know a certain mechanic to play the game "as intended" then it's reasonable for the game itself to teach the player that mechanic instead of allowing it to remain cryptic. sonic heroes had a similar issue where the game was actually pretty well designed with a lot of good ideas. but it ends up going over a lot of players heads because it turns out that a lot of the most enjoyable and useful tech or strategy in the game is locked behind knowledge that the game doesn't actually tell you about. of course sonic fans ended up learning the wrong lesson and panned the game for not being enough like the adventure games. if i had my way we would be getting games more like ShtH rather than games like forces and lost world lol
Oh yeah definitely. While SOME mechanics are definitely obvious "didn't play the game" flags (things like calling the chaos meters useless, or calling the game slow) a lot of other mechanics only really come to you after playing the game A LOT. Many Sonic games are inherently a lot simpler and are designed around 7 year olds being able to play and complete them; even the classic games a lot of people grew up with are very simple. It's part of why so many games feature a lengthy tutorial, on-screen prompts, or an omochao that will tell you everything you need to do--OR it's a game where you literally just have to hold forward and boost 😂 It'd definitely fair to not enjoy a game you need to spend many hours and many playthroughs before it "clicks", just how other people really enjoy games that don't lay everything out for you with a bunch of yellow tape and hard progress locks without using a specific mechanic.
This is like the Jak 2 video by Powercell Zeke on how to play the game correctly. Also funnily enough Shadow the Hedgehog was inspired by Jak 2. Coincidence?
Almost as if context plays an important part in how a game is played and made. Who could have guessed right? 😂 BUT NAH. THATS TOO EASY. GAME SUCKS BECAUSE A RUclipsR SAID SO. 🤣
It's been a slow ride bc most people would rather watch the typical 'game sucks and u suck if you like it' content, so whether I blow up or not, I'm just glad to get as many people as i can interested in giving games a real shot and meeting so many people that genuinely love these games DESPITE their reputations. Thanks for watching I hope to see you again!
I'd definitely recommend giving it a go. The slidey controls take a lot to get used to (ICE PHYSICS: THE GAME) along with basically removing everything that made a sonic game into a sonic game (homing attacks, spindash, linear missions, etc) but with enough time and practice it's definitely one of my all time favorites.
I always felt like this game had some tricks to master the movements that i just wasn't invested enough to learn. I'll still pick up the game every now and then to blitz through a level or two so I'll try to remember these tips. Would be great to get a sequel that polishes and expands all the mechanics that made it unique.
it's really wild what just a little practice can do for a run. It's a shame this game was villainized so much because it's really a very unique experience that's sorely missed in a lot of games today.
Editing goes so damn fast, but that's my only criticism. You bring up really good points that most Sonic fans don't realize What I enjoy about this game so much, is that you can always have a different gameplay exprience, cause you can always choose a different path and a lot of the missions are actually fun, but the killing all enemies mission should've been improved.
Oh yeah, I try to keep my editing fast both for the people that care a LOT about Shadow (or the other games I talk about) and want content they can rewatch/analyze, AND for the people that don't care about Shadow at all that need to watch a 3 hour video essay to know they still hate the game. If I can get a point across in five minutes, I get it across in 5 minutes; and save the fluff for people that actually want it lol. It's definitely not a vibe for everyone though, which is why there's absolutely no shortage of slower-paced traditional sonic-fan content out there.
@@Hard_PretzelThat's valid, I personally like when content is between fast-paced and slow-paced, cause it keeps you entertained, but also doesn't make you have to pause or slow down the video You did get the point across very well in a short time and I personally think you should do more videos of Shadow, cause that game is so overhated and is actually one of my favourites Sonic games.
@@hezmo940 Haha yeah, funnily enough I prefer pausable videos because part of my style comes from all those old flash cartoons and the 2005/2006 era of youtube that were known for lots of on-screen gags and references you wouldn't catch UNLESS you paused or rewatched. A lot of Sonic Content I see is so focused on "New Thing: Talk About new Thing -> Talk about next new thing"; or video essays that are more research/information focused. In either case, there's not much reason to watch the video over again, especially if the video was hours long. I'd rather have people rewatch/pause a short video of mine as many times as they want and still find new things each time than leave yall with a one and done and move onto the next. If I were to ballpark my time, each video probably takes around a month or so if I grind it? I do also have a fulltime job though which eats most of my time. But I typically spend at least a week just working on my script, and then another day or two working on making my recording feel as natural as possible and rewriting/trimming it. After that it's just a lot of splicing and masking and tweening. But it keeps things fun.
it started as an inside joke on streams with things like "What the wtf" and "lol out loud" and of course "that tfw feel when" and even if I'm the only one laughing it's one of my favorite gags.
I prefer a soft pretzel, personally. That's my only gripe about the video. Great job. Now back to my regularly scheduled Sonic R on PC distributed exclusively by EXPERT Software.
I also prefer soft pretzels This COULD be a metaphor about self hatred, exceeding expectations, or going outside your own preferences; but it's actually an nsfw joke I made with a friend like 5 years ago. 😂
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
i fucking love this channel
and i love you right back! thanks for sticking by for another video 🙏🏻
Me too
same
Me too
Real
it's funny you're posting this today because last night i dreamt that you could get shadow's shoes at any dollar store and they were just a common household item
Good future.
That’s a world i want to live in
Finally people putting some respect on my boy Shadow.
I love Shadow so much it's unreal.
Best analysis of my favourite game. I’m convinced this guy is one of the only true sonic fans.
I wouldn't say I'm the only true fan!!
but I would say there are all too many fake fans out there. Nothing worse than the average "Sonic Adventure and Sonic Generations are the only good games" fans and the "Sonic Team HATES US and [game I didn't like] KILLED MY GRANDMA" creators.
Thanks for watching!
5:15 "If you want a game just like another game, just play the other game."
Actually so true, I'm so sick of people harping on about how most games don't hold up to or feel like their favourite game (usually SA2) and ignoring the uniqueness that each game brings to the table, even though nothing's stopping them from just playing their favourite game.
Nah you don't get it. When another game *exists* and people are *having fun* my favorite game stops being playable. Sonic Adventure 2 was made illegal in 209 countries as soon as Sonic Unleashed came out.
I never thought I would ever say this, but gosh... I've failed myself. When I was a kid I got addicted to this game but after i've met the internet my thoughts have gotten so muddled up by others thoughts on it that i've never understood why i liked it in the first place, this was an eye-opener that actually managed to cleanse my eyes instead of throwing more dirt in it, i've never been so happy to learn that a game i liked when i was kid is actually good. I should start replaying games more often.
The biggest problem with the Sonic games isn't ever the games itself. It's always how the wrong fans are the only ones being heard.
If you have fun. Have fun. If you don't have fun. Don't.
Other bad games exist, but for some reason Sonic is always held to a different standard; and games from almost 20 years ago are treated like they're still relevant.
@@Hard_Pretzel thank you.
be careful with that though. i just replayed one of my childhood favorites and realized it was complete garbage. like yeah edgy the hedgie is pretty good and doesnt deserve the hate but i totally ruined my memories of elmo's letter adventure today.
As someone who 100% Shadow the Hedgehog as a kid, it's nice to see all the mechanics of the game get analyzed deeper than just face value, which is what I love about this channel. I never thought to use the strafing as a brake or attack! Just one of those things you only think of after getting experimental long after beating the game.
I always enjoyed exploring and trying out different ways through a level on replays, so combining that with having a good memory in mapping places out in my head, and Shadow's structure generally worked for me and made it an enjoyable time. Hell, I even liked the maze missions like The Doom, Lost Impact, and Central City, as there was just more level to map out and efficiently route rather than speed through like all the others (though The Doom Dark mission was still a pain in the ass). The only level I really disliked was Mad Matrix's Dark mission, as that boils down to speeding around a red void with barely any enemies or landmarks to map out, just making endless quick turns in a maze with no walls. There's not even any incentive to play it differently or route better, as you're basically guaranteed an A rank so long as you don't die. I remember spending 20 minutes or more the first time I beat it, and getting an A after all the wandering in circles I did honestly felt more insulting instead of rewarding.
The only other mission off the top of my head that annoys me is Neutral Space Gadget, as that's just "Do the Hero mission but slower" and amounts to waiting around, but the rest I can find at least some enjoyment in. Even if I think the game could be designed to be more accessible (maybe make getting all the targets a hard mode to better ease people to reaching the higher/lower levels) and it's understandable why many people dislike it, I still enjoy walking down the memory maze. It's the kind of game that's great for a kid with too much time on their hands, and clouded by nostalgia or not, it's earned a solid spot in my mind.
Optimization is what makes this game so much fun. Instead of a fast game you need to play slowly in order to beat it (Chaos emeralds, finding a lost chao, going out of your way to grab certain items or do certain bonus tricks, etc) Shadow is definitely a slow game you always need to play faster. I also really love The Doom and Lost Impact (I think I personally lean more towards The Doom because I LOVE how straight up gaslighty Black Doom is the entire level) Mad Matrix Dark definitely kicked my butt. I think I was around 30 minutes or so.
I dont mind if people hate it, but it's absolutely wild to see people hating it for the worst reasons.
@@Hard_Pretzel Yeah, the atmosphere of the ARK levels is another reason I enjoyed spending time in them too. Lost Impact's tranquil search and The Doom's melancholic destruction help make them a more engaging maze to explore. Plus having Maria as a side character who chats with Shadow does a decent job of fleshing her caring and bright personality out, rather than just being a plot point to motivate other characters and themes. I always wished we got to see more of the ARK before the attack, and those levels are the closest we get, so I don't mind them being slower-paced.
I feel like part of the hate comes from there being a chunk of people who just want to go fast and play through the game once, like playing through SA1 and 2 without replaying levels or doing any of the missions. Sonic has always been about sloppily speeding through a level at first, then slowing down to better analyze it, and then speeding up again as you more efficiently get through the level/complete a goal. But I don't know how many people actually replay Sonic games like that, as the slowing down part is only there for those who want to improve, with some players just being fine with a sloppy playthrough of always going fast. Maybe that's part of why Sonic has so much negativity around it, with a bunch of people never engaging with them beyond face value.
Shadow forces that replayability on people to see 3/4's of its content, making the slowdown portion of the learning curve a mandatory part, so it's automatically going to alienate a sizeable portion of the fanbase due to being more "post-game content" that people ignore than main game content. Now add that the game starts slow and slippery on a Neutral playthrough already, and the repetition of some of the levels, and it's easy to see why people get burnt on the game. That doesn't mean all the criticisms are correct, but I don't think people wanted to be objective and thorough to begin with. Which is fine when arguing opinions, but can get annoying when those initial feelings become a consensus and override any potential for argument, leading to some criticisms perpetuating themselves unchecked.
Dude, I decided to complete all Mad Matrix dark mission library routes so that I wouldn’t ever have to touch it again on my long road to full library; but over the course of doing it thirty times in a row I actually started to enjoy it. Getting my time down to just below 5:30 was such a satisfying learning curve.
It’s a terrible level, no doubt, but I can’t help liking it.
@@Hewasnumber1 Do you have a recording of it up anywhere??? 5:30 Mad Matrix Dark is absolutely impressive, even IF you have a great route. Amazing job!
One of the things I like about the game is that even once you get an A you can really keep going. My favorite mission is probably Air Fleet Dark. Shadow Rifle Chaos Blast 😂
Vindication, after all these years... so this is how it feels...
I got so sick of people hating this game, and every time you see them play it, it's no wonder they hate it. 😂
2001 - we want Shadow with guns
2005 - we hate Shadow with guns
2024 - we want Shadow with guns
the inconsistency of the sonic community is honestly the whole point of me making all these videos cause the stuff they say they want now is stuff they hated in other games.
@@Hard_Pretzel we are a mixed bag, from parents introducing their kids to Sonic for the sake of their own childhood nostalgia to degenerates who create Rule 34 smut of Tails and Cream
@@mikdan8813 i got no problems with people that got weird preferences, but when we end up with freaks insisting every game sucks except their favorite, 👊🏻
Closest we're getting is Shadow with dark powers.
Bro just spent 9 minutes telling everyone who hated shadow that its a skill issue. BASED
Either an issue of skill, or an issue of taste. But who am I to judge? People love generations and adventure; this game is not that 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel I get it, it's different from most sonic games and it IS clunky, but it's actually pretty fun(i mean, you would know lol) I've gotten about 25 or so endings, i guess all it takes is a little open-mindedness and persaverance. It's like Metal gear rising: Revengance , but sonic the hedgehog.
@@MKG-2033 Yeah! if people just stopped thinking of it as a sonic game and more like any number of games it's actually more like, it's a lot of fun.
@@Hard_Pretzel Exactly, it's kinda like with another game series i like. I'm certain you've heard of starfox, there's one game in the franchise that isn't much like the rest of the games in the series, but it's pretty fun all the same (Albeit its a bit clunky, but so is every game on the gamecube) It's called starfox adventures BTW, i'm pretty sure you know what it is but just to be safe
@@MKG-2033 haha yeah no worries. I have the game even. I enjoy it quite a bit. It's sometimes nice to have a very different take on a series, even if it's not why I play the series in the first place.
Using a gun this game has the most solid auto-targeting I've ever experienced
it's snappy, it's quick. It's more accurate than a homing attack.
but it's the worst game in the world bc it's "dated" and "edgy" and "not Sonic", apparently 🤷🏻♀️
This is possibly the best analysis video of Shadow’s 2005 game that I’ve ever seen. It’s so nice to see people actually giving this game a fair assessment and not blindly hating on it just because it’s so different from your average Sonic game like the cringe X-Play review from 2005. And for the record, I would gladly take dark and serious toned games like this over the cookie-cutter games that we got later such as Sonic Colors and Sonic Lost World. /:
What most sonic fans don't realize, is that their abrupt and over-exaggerated knee-jerk reactions to so basically every game from 2001-2009 led to why so many games from the 2010s felt so "for kids", totally sanitized, and completely void of any personality. Obviously, people cant hate whatever they want to, but I don't think ANY publisher wants to read "worst game ever made" for literally everything they put out. Colors, Lost World, Generations, and more... very... safe titles that focus their scope, tone, and personality to very surface-level Sonic ideologies.
As far as I'm concerned, exaggerating flaws and ragging on the series for issues in specific games from 20 years ago, is WAY worse than people just not getting games they aren't interested in. Nobody held me at gunpoint to play frontiers 😂
I like how some people don't like it because it breaks the tone of previous games but most of the people that play it are adults, or at least those are the people that keep talking about it.
Most people upset with the game either weren't alive when it released, or watch WAAAAAY too much youtube. Guns, violence, unnecessary level of choice, swearing... all of that was a market priority for almost every developer to try and squeeze into. It made sense when it came out, but obviously years later the tone is just as "dated" as something like Bomberman Act Zero. It doesnt help that big names got their start on youtube in 2006, right when another sonic game came out and making fun of Sonic was easy clicks.
As far as I'm concerned, if people are still playing and talking about a game, especially almost 20 years later, regardless if it's """good""" (by critics and youtubers), it's a good game; even if I personally am not a fan. More people are regularly playing and discussing Sonic 06 than people are playing and discussing games that were nominated or even WON game of the year awards.
On the emergency break section If you slide then jump shadow does a small backflip which kills momentum pretty much instantly it's great
its amazing how many little tools and tricks this game gives you to make playing it engaging and fun... just for people to refuse to use any of them 🤣
Taking a shot every time i see or hear "GUNS" is gonna be a fun night
sip sip
this channel truly is the monogatari of sonic youtubers, and it's beautiful (I feel insane for writing that sentence)
It's okay, I'm a little insane too. In order to highlight the problems with sonictubers, I need to become the absolute worst of them 🤣
banger video, taught me things i didn't even know and I've finished expert mode in this game twice
Honestly it is such an honor to have taught YOU something when you TAUGHT me to give this game a real chance 😭💖
@@Hard_Pretzel happy to be of service, all I ask is that Heroes and 06 get this treatment as well some day 🙏
they deserve better than what they get from the community, because the community barely knows how to play them, either
@@glitchedlizard oh they're definitely on my lists. I just like to put out stuff that hasn't been done to death before--so they might take a minute 😂
this editing is amazing
its like finding easter eggs, i finish watching the video, then rewatch and pause at certain frames to appreciate images or text i missed
That's why I do it! 😂
My favorite thing to do with a lot of old flash animations was to pause and see all the jokes animators would put in. It gives people a REASON to watch the videos over and over again, and REWARDS the people that do. Instead of the one-and-done videos that will post something again tomorrow and rewatching only puts you further behind.
FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT
Glad I’m not the only one who sees the fun stored within!
It's amazing how much fun you can have with a game when you actually start looking for ways to enjoy it instead of attack it for things everyone and their dog already knows it did wrong 😂
I kind of grew a fondness of this game,mostly because of the guns, but I also quite enjoy the arcadey structure of the multiple missions and storylines.
Sonic and Arcade Gameplay just go so well together. I don't know why people are so afraid of having fun and enjoying by-design replayability, and instead always want some massive 90 hour grand emotional-journey masterpiece.
I’ve been realizing lately that a lot of Sonic games are just misunderstood. I think Sonic Heroes has a similar issue, where I had a lot more fun after I learned how the mechanics worked instead of trying to just blow through the stages
People complain about yellow tape and hand-holding in games....but then those people are always exactly WHY games need yellow tape and hand-holding. 😂
Heroes is my favorite cause Neo Metal is cool and I'm biased when it comes to Crush 40 songs. [Totally not listening to "What I'm Made Of." On repeat for the 40th time.]
Nobody has ever complained that Heroes is hard. Heroes is _bad._ Just like this game.
@@mechadeka all sonic games are bad. its why they never do well like the last of us or fifa or call of duty or mario👍🏻
Very good video, Shadow is always just describes as "hahaha this Sonic game has guns" and that's basically it, without saying anything about the game.
The worst thing is the "Shadow is such a slippery game and unplayable" and then they start to praise Sonic Heroes for the controls lol
RIGHT??? I tried to get that point across in an earlier video about how people will overhype certain elements of gameplay that don't exist in the games they're hyping up, or criticize one game for the same thing their favorite game also does. But people still don't get it 😂
The best part is, the same people going 'sonic game with guns'... dont even use the guns and just complain about the homing attack that you aren't supposed to prioritize anyway. 🤣
Sonic Heroes is way worse TBH. Heck, is there even a dedicated modding community for that game? Because there is for Shadow!
@@YujiUedaFan
Real answer? I'm sure it EXISTS. Heroes is a much more popular game and I know there's a few particular mods that people use often, such as skipping the omochao tutorials in team rose's story.
Joke answer? it makes sense shadow has better and more technical mod support because sonic heroes is for googoo gaga babies and all they know is homing attack spam and LETS BLAST THROUGH WITH SONIC SPEED OKAY ALRIGHT and they aren't smart enough to make as cool of mods. (I say this as a fellow googoo gaga baby that doesn't know anything about mods and loves heroes lol)
@@Hard_Pretzel Honestly I'd just like a mod that makes the 2P metal skins permanent.
@@YujiUedaFan honestly that's one of my biggest disappointments. I'd have loved to play as the androids in single player. Especially if they maintained their gun arms with unlimited ammo. Would have definitely changed things.
Great work as usual, chief! Keep it up 💖
I WAS JUST ABOUT TO MESSAGE YOU TO COME WATCH IT 😂 I do not deserve a notification gang with someone as powerful as you.
@@Hard_Pretzel shoulda thought of that before you decided to make content catered so specifically to only me
@@Appalach okay just because shadow is your legally wedded spouse doesn't mean i can't give them a little kiss sometimes--
Oh, my God, thank you. The amount of times I’ve seen people say the game controls poorly, or that the mechanics don’t work is too many to count. The people who say the game controls bad just do not know how to play it.
And on separate note: I noticed that in the section where you were talking about making Shadow slow down you didn’t mention that you could just let go of the control stick. Shadow decelerates extremely quickly-almost instantaneously-so most of the time if you want him to stop moving you could just… stop moving.
Oh yeah, definitely. I almost put that in, but then I remembered some of my early smash bros days and having to explain the difference between letting go of the stick and overcorrecting it in the opposite direction and didn't want people to try it, especially when most sonic games these days are "HOLD FORWARD + BOOST BUTTON"; quick strafing allows you to keep holding forward for the same effect. Plus, with all the shadow reviews I've seen, clearly the obvious answers are not the accepted answers 😂
You know, like not trying to homing attack everything and complain about how slow homing attack is, when the game literally gives you several other options. 🤣
Another great way to slow down gradually in Shadow is to hold X down. While running at any speed faster than a light jog, Shadow will perform the Slide Kick from Heroes and gradually slow speed. You can use this to curve around turns, quickly drop from ledges and cancel out of it at anytime with A for a backflip jump to quickly stop your momentum.
If you slide off a ledge into a vertical wall, you will ride the wall down at an even faster speed to get down to the ground extremely quick. Very very useful for speedrunning!
Also I'm super glad you showed Rail Storage and Spindash Slope jumps! Those are relatively unknown tech that make this game standout particularly nicely once you get the hang of it.
I never thought to use the slides for turning! I'll definitely give that a try next time. I didn't think to mention them because slowing down with a slide can throw you all over the place if you're not ready for it 😂
thanks for the tip! are you a runner yourself? What's your favorite route to run?
@@Hard_Pretzel I'm more of a casual speedrunner hahah.
I like running through True Neutral Route with no CC glitch as well as True Dark Route. GUN Fortress with no CC is a very interesting, challenging romp to try and keep your max speed through the long winding garages, the sudden shifts to the security camera sections as well as the long hang glider loop that you can either Spindash Jump past or Slide Kick.
Expert Mode with no CC is also a fun challenge. But FUCK some of the levels are truly dickish.
Circus Park with its downright NASTY lower path with a stupidly precise jump across flaming hoops and moving barrels over a gigantic pit. The hoops are positioned in a way where you HAVE to short hop through them AND land on the other barrel.
Expert Cryptic Castle has a lower path with an obscenely high death plane across thin moving plats which will kill you if you mistime the light speed dash or get unlucky.
Seriously the kill plane is 1 inch below the platform you have to stand on! It's insane how small the margin for error is. No other killplane in the game is THAT close to Shadow.
@@Hard_Pretzel Use it on those ramps in Lethal Highway where the overpass collapses and blocks your way, you can vault straight over the fallen overpass with it and it's so satisfying.
Quite a few spots in Air Fortress to where you can Slide Kick to shave off time here and then.
I haven't played Shadow in a long time though so I've forgotten quite a lot of places where Slide Kick is viable.
A good rule of thumb though is to use it to get off ledges faster as opposed to taking a dash ramp. ( Like the one after the 3rd checkpoint in Westopolis! The one where lazers drop down and destroy a staircase leading up to a pulley. )
@@dragnjames2190 GUN Fortress is one of my favorite levels for that reason. When it hits, it hits. I really wish I could have spent some time on level-specific tricks to emphasize just how good some of the level design really is--but honestly the game in itself is such a hard sell for people 😂
I also really like the destruction missions, especially when you get access to the shadow crates.
Really like this video, cause I love this game and it’s good to see someone saying something positive about it
It's been such a long time coming. Really horrible how often people just complain to complain without even giving it a chance. Thanks so much for watching!
routing in this game is really cool too, for lack of a better comparison, it kind of feels similar to an arcade run-and-gun like metal slug where you have to seriously consider how you use your ammo for the best gun for a mission you're doing, where to refill said ammo (thats mostly where the comparison ends though lol), and how to manage your meters if you want to be able to use them in the right place. lethal highway's hero mission comes to mind as a great early game mission that exemplifies this when noticing all the well-placed boxes and GUN soldiers with SMGs, which are the perfect guns suitable for taking down the target since you need the firepower and the ammo nessecary to take it down as fast as possible. so you can spend your time in between the target appear and disappearing to find more SMGs and just unload whenever it pops back up. really fun game, still working on getting all A ranks. (great video too!)
@@lan.goblian Its such a fun gameplay element it's really a shame most sonic fans only play "traditional" sonic games because so many amazing series have so many cool mechanics that would work really well with sonic gameplay--but every time sonic games try something cool it gets buried alive by critics and RUclipsrs 😂 I'm so glad I get to meet other fans of the game, and even more glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching!
@@Hard_Pretzel its very funny too considering how the essence of shadow is still very tied to speedrunning due to getting the comparatively large time bonus at the end, essentially trumping the other scores you get and really defining your rank above all things. its definitely more focused on clearing missions quickly than sonic adventure 2's speed stages, which feel like they reward score attacking more. i cant understand how the fans who play for the reward and satisfaction of speed dont really appreciate this one as much. glad other people are seeing the light here though! i definitely look forward to seeing more to come from your channel
@@lan.goblian yeah definitely! nothing wrong with score attack ranks, but I DEFINITELY prefer running time attacks in games where the characters move very fast. It's the same reason I like Sonic Lost World, because the ranks are literally only time-based.
I've got a bunch of videos in the works, just currently out of town so I'm a bit behind.
@@Hard_Pretzel excited to see a lost world video out of you if that happens to be something you're planning for. thats another game i really like to play but nobody i talk to seems to really give it a chance
@@lan.goblian games that people overlook or misjudge is basically how I pick my video topics. All my videos have been on games with more questionable reputations, especially by contemporary sonic fans. LW is definitely in the works. My next video is on Sonic Rivals. just about done recording the audio, then I get to editing
Always said the gameplay of Shadow was better than Heros
Shadow really lets you do so much more, and doesn't rely on forcing you to switch to a different character. It's a lot more fun than people give it credit for.
@@Hard_Pretzel this game plays better than sonic heroes, but has a lot of bad mission design
@@BossBasher I wouldnt quite call the missions "bad" as much as they're just collectathons and scavenger hunts. Essentially the Chaotix missions from heroes, certain special missions in Adventure 2, or certain missions from a number of other games outside of the Sonic franchise including Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, Spyro, and more. A lot of people hate the Chaotix missions for example, just as a lot of other people really enjoy them. "Bad" to some people, is not "Bad" to ALL people.
Obviously not everyone will enjoy these types of missions, which is one of the strengths Shadow offers; by most levels having means of skipping these missions and just reaching the goal.
Shadow improves on Sonic Heroes speed character mechanics so much:
1. They brought back the Spindash over Rocket Accel.
2. Replaced Tornado Jump with a better mid-air attack that doesn't mess up the camera. Also works to control speed.
3. Shadow has more than just homing attack as his one attack.
4. More traversal options such as vehicles and spindash jumping.
5. Lightspeed dash rings still work if you accidentally pick one, since they're replaced by phantom rings.
6. Strafing!
7. An improved Chaos Control + Chaos Blast.
8. Invulnerability at any time instead of at set areas in stages.
9. Improved Triangle Jump.
@@YujiUedaFan whenever I play heroes, definitely a skill issue on my part, but I just do not like the rocket accel. It's feels so inconsistent between sliding and the rocket, in comparison to shadow where it's as easy as:
are you running? slide
are you walking (or strafing!) ? spindash
shadow really does so much. it's a shame people unfairly hate the game so much.
In my personal opinion there are no bad games in the Sonic franchise. Sonic R, Shadow the Hedgehog and eve Sonic 06 it's all a really good games. Only bad thing that really haunted this series are peoples skill issue. That's Why I really love you're channel Pretzel you show people how play this games and give many intresting tips and tricks that makes people playthrough even better. Thank you for you're uniqe and beautiful content, I adore it a lot! Can't wait for more content about this games :}
I'd take it even further. There are actually very few ***BAD*** games in general. There are loads of games I don't like, but the only bad games are games that are bad at being games--things like live service games with the live service shut down, basic utilities disguised as a game (sonic disc cleaner game, the popcorn making game, etc), games that made it far a long in development but never released, games that had a limited release or were delisted that end up becoming lost media, recalled releases with a severe gamebreaking bug that prevents the game from booting, or really anything that's keeping the GAME from being a GAME.
When we have titles like E.T for the Atari, the "WORST GAME EVER MADE", and people STILL combed the desert for 30 years to find copies of the game that were LITERALLY playable. I **WISH** even the BEST games had 30 years of that level of dedication. People are still making new Sonic 06 videos, people are still streaming Sonic 06; technical fidelity or not, Sonic 06 is still enjoyed regardless of my own feelings about the game.
I'm a certified Shadow the Hedgehog enjoyer and even I never thought to use the midair kick to stop and grab items, nor the strafe jump to quickly take down enemies. I should try using them next time I play the game.
Shadow is one of those games you can just keep finding more and more stuff. I learned stuff while making the video, and there's even been some speedrunners sliding into my comments and my d*sc0rd either telling me about stuff I taught them or stuff they could teach me. I feel the same way about Sonic R
I used to love this game despite a few control issues because of the reasons explained in this video. Glad to see this narrative being acknowledged
Honestly pretty much every sonic game just takes some getting used to. Even the originals had their detractors from people that couldn't grasp how loose the controls were by comparison to something like MegaMan or Castlevania.
I came back to this video since I started to play Shadow the Hedgehog with the mentality that it's Shadow's game, not a Sonic game. Coming into the game knowing how methodically I should be playing helped me to really enjoy it.
I'm so glad you were able to give the game another look. It's definitely a game you need the right mindset for -- which honestly was pretty obvious from the advertising and concepts being presented at the time of release. But because of how overblown hatred for this game is online, to people that weren't even ALIVE when this game came out... to this day we STILL have people assuming it's "supposed to" play beat for beat just like Sonic Adventure 2; and that it's a bad game because it's NOT beat for beat just like Sonic Adventure 2.
Thanks for watching (again) 😂
I've played this game fatefully every day in 2005.
As you should. I'm that way with Sonic R myself. I really do love Shadow though. It's a great one.
You tell me the game takes skill to play, I'm gonna check it out ASAP
I wouldn't say skill as much as observation and practice. I think ANYONE could realisitcally play this game well if they go into it with the right mindset and an interest in what this game offers. It's primarily described as a collectathon, so expect a lot of backtracking and doublechecking around corners.
Profile checks out...
I learned so much, i beat this game and didnt realize half of what you mentioned the entire time 💀 just stubbornly tore through everything until i got the final ending
This game is very brutal with it's information sharing. A lot of what you CAN learn is only taught to you on specific levels, which you only encounter in specific routes. Shadow is a very multi-session focused game, and naturally things you learn in one route, you won't even realize you forgot by the time you start your next route. Especially if you're too busy trying to remember where certain enemies or objectives are. In a way it's almost like the game itself is giving you amnesia so you can truly be immersed with shadow 😂
Holy shit this perfectly explains why i love this game.
I kept telling ppl its a really fun game
Yeah the story is all over the place but alot of it was poor translation.
Game play tho is fire
Yeah 😊
Honetly I wouldn't even throw it ALL on a bad translation or dubbing choices. I think it just comes from people trying to take this game at face-value as some dark twisted trauma drama; when it is, by all accounts, not supposed to be taken THAT seriously. Especially when you have ridiculous lines like the whole taking candy from a baby thing, or charmy's singsongy "OH LOOK!!!! A GIANT WORMMMMM!!!!". The source material was on public record being films like constantine and terminator among other films, and while those films do have dark understones and serious themes--they are also very silly fun films that are very over-the-top ON PURPOSE. Once you can get past the cheese, it's very easy to have a blast getting through it. ESPECIALLY when on your 10th playthough of air fleet and you're literally yelling "SHUT UP TAILS" as you mash the D-Pad down.
@@Hard_Pretzel well the candy line is a mistranslation
@@sethisevilone02 mistranslation or not, it's always a HUGE ask to excuse every diaglogue issue away as a localization problem. I'd much rather take the game how it is, how it's experienced, and work from there; rather than tell someone "Oh but the game is actually good if you download this mod" or insist they learn japanese and play that way.
There definitely are a number of changes made in localization that are confusing, or honestly (imo) way worse than what they originally were; but then again, this is how the game came out, I have fun with the game, and in the right context the messy localization changes can still work for the overall narrative, especially when the overall narrative is deliberately messy.
I’ve always loved this game, so glad to see you make these videos about it
When I first played it I was confused but honestly just like every other sonic game out there, if you put in the time and give it a REAL shot, you can really find a lot to enjoy--even if it's not your favorite.
as a Jazz Jackrabbit fan I was so stoked for a Sonic game with guns that I barely used the homing attack and yes, it paid off
It's almost if you play the game how it was meant to be played it's actually plays like how it was meant to be played. 😂
I figured i'd come back here, because i just A-ranked the entire game and i'm gonna attempt expert mode now. Thanks for this video cuz it encouraged me to play the game again.
I'm so glad to hear it! It's really a great game once you get a feel for it and push aside your biases/ expectations. No other game like it.
What's been your favorite mission to A rank so far? I'm a big fan of the destruction missions myself
@@Hard_Pretzel One of the things that makes me love that game despite its shortcomings is that it's a completely unique title. I've never so much as heard of another game like it, let alone played one. It's a game no one was expecting, not to mention, but no one talks about how impressive it is that the game only took 8 months or so to make. game nowadays take years on end to make, and they're still unfinished upon release. There is so much content it's absurd almost, speedrunning the game takes a bare minimum of 181 hours i've heard. Truly a one-of-a-kind game. As for a favorite level, if i had to pick, i'd say Air fleet dark and cosmic fall hero are some of my favorites. I like Lost impact and Mad matrix as well, but its more visually than the missions you have to do in them.
Also, one more thing, do you know how i could potentially livestream the game since i've seen you do it? I have a physical copy for gamecube and i play it on my Wii.
@@MKG-2033 Oh Cosmic Fall Hero is a great shout! Vector is so funny in that stage.
I definitely agree with you there. Having a unique game that you can always recognize as that game is way more important than a "good" game that blends in with all the other "good" games. If you weren't a super-fan of a particular series, you could reasonably confuse certain screenshots between games for different games (for example, Generations to Unleashed to Colors to Forces; with the right angles a lesser experienced fan may confuse them--similar to BotW to TotK) especially as graphics have reached a point where generational leaps are not as impressive. You can know right at a glance that Shadow is Shadow, or that Labyrinth is Labyrinth, or that Sky Patrol is Sky Patrol, or that R is R, or that Blast is Blast, or that 4 is 4. It's why I play the games I do because I value unique experiences you can only get by playing that game over something I could play in any number of releases.
Personally what I capture Shadow with is my gamecube and a GCHD ($80-100) into an Avermedia Internal card (like $300 lol). BUT there is a much cheaper option by ElectronShephard that you can plug into your Wii called the ElectronWarp ($20), so at that point it just comes down to your capture method (any capture card will do)
From there it's just hooking up the capture card with OBS or something similar to stream. If you want more specific help though, feel free to send a shout on d*cord; I'm the same @ there as I am here.
I see. I was gonna try live-streaming my first run through expert mode, now that I’ve completed the game, but It may be more work than I anticipated, especially since I’m broke at the moment 😅. But if I were be able to get this capture card and the other things, I would be able to livestream the game, yes?
@@MKG-2033 yeah! You could also 🏴☠️ it, but it may have some performance issues.
there are cheaper options, but to stream from hardware takes a bit of tech to get working
This is the most based video of all time.
I'll believe it when Generic SonicTuber #73 makes a "response to:" video dragging me through the mud for (god forbid) enjoying a game they didn't. 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel just press the b button when it shows up.
I loved this game as a kid. Then I listened to the fanbase claiming it sucked, and I believed them. Watching this video now made me realize why I loved it in the first place.
that's the goal honestly. If people would just play games for what they are and at least TRY to find a way to enjoy them instead of whine when the games aren't exactly what they wanted, a lot of games are genuinely not THAT bad. 😂
I suggest playing Shadow Reloaded mod for anyone that didn't try or heard of it.
It fixes the only issues the game has (kill missions and characters introduction stopping your controls) and adds nice QoL like faster triangle jumps, being able to do normal jump dash without homing into enemies, and more challenging ranking+expert mode.
There is also a randomizer tool.
I've heard so many great things about Reloaded and it's a fantastic way to get into the game if the vanilla version isn't up to snuff.
Another favorite of mine is the lesser known Shadow SX (Speedrunners Cut) that maintains the vanilla gameplay, but alters things such as key doors unlock cycles and skipping character intro cutscenes (both things that can be skipped in vanilla if after you encounter them you restart), as well as allow you to practice the expert mode variations of the stages in the select mode.
The modding community for this game are absolute heroes, especially given the reputation of this game significantly impacting the likelihood of any notoriety within the community.
Personally I didn't mention the mods in the video because I don't want to give people the free "JUST BECAUSE A GAME IS ONLY GOOD WITH MODS DOESNT MEAN ITS GOOD LOL" 😂
I don't like the hoverboard change, as it went from a double jump to a jump then a ground pound.
@@Hard_Pretzel Yes, I understand why you didn't mention mods in this video, especially since this video is basically a "GIT GUD" lol.
I agree 100%, I love the work and dedication the modders put despite all that.
@@YujiUedaFan The hoverboard jumps higher tho, and you can use the ground pound to go faster in descents.
For me it feels a lot more fluid and fun, but if you don't like it that's fine obviously.
@@DarkShadow8754 I havent played reloaded yet, how does the air saucer react off of ramps? Do you still have double jump storage (I briefly show it at 5:20 on the left) ? Can you drop mid-launch? How much higher do you jump? It sounds like a cool change with new tricks... although I'll probably still stick vanilla haha 😂
I absolutely love the editing job, the commentary, and everything about this video. I'm so glad I clicked on it, and you've earned a loyal sub.
Thank you for watching! I'm glad you clicked on it too 😂 I like to do similar for every upload. Hope you look forward to future uploads and my other content. 💖
Loved the video. One of my favorite sonic games and covered with pique humor! Well done.
Glad you enjoyed the video, and the game! 😂
Dude your editing is absolutely insane, you're incredibly talented! Please never stop making videos
Tell that to my full-time job so they stop screwing me over 😂
Nice vid, I actually played and beated it for the first time in january of this year, and I loved it. I really dig the gameplay, and it's now easily one of my favorite games in the franchise
its honestly incredible how easy it is to enjoy the game when you put aside your biases, ignore the youtubers, and just...play the game. 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel Yeah exacly! And I really found so much cool stuff to enjoy in the game too
When i played this game as a kid i actually liked it , so i was kinda surprised that it was hated when i watched videos of it on the internet, who knows maybe the video will blow shadow the hedgehog up and the game would make a comeback kinda like sonic unleashed.
Most people who played it when it came out didn't have any real problems with it--until of course people on the internet decided it was cool to dunk on sonic. RUclips got its start in 2005. It was just bad luck really.
the editing is goddamn insane, it's so dense but none of it is wasted. you're a fucking genius
I know 90% of people don't care about anything I talk about😂 so I am NOT wasting any of their time. In and out. EZ bake sonic videos.
BUT I also wanna make sure the few of you that DO care, even people that already know the games inside and out, can still have a fun experience combing through for extra details or silly sight gags. I do this for everything I upload really, rewatchability is obviously very important to me 🤣
Thanks for watching and replying! I look forward to seeing you again!
I've been defending this game for years and some of this flew over even my head
Being a total freak like I am, I make sure I learn these games in and out if I have to. Usually after I finish a video, I check speedrunners and see if they do anything I've just "picked up" by playing and I'm usually naturally lining up with those guys, even if I'm not a runner myself 😂
That being said, I've found only a few things in my video are even brought up in speedruns (like stopping chaos control or the wall run by pressing X) so either I've gone beyond speedrunners, OR speedrunners just rarely have a use for everything else I brought up because they have better options (I don't think ANYBODY uses strafing in a speedrun)
So people said this game was bad because they expected to play a sonic game even though it’s a shadow the hedgehog game.
It'd be just as ridiculous as someone playing LUIGI's Mansion or WARIO World and expecting either to play like Mario Sunshine. Different focus characters. Different gameplay elements, objectives, physics, mechanics, etc.
Mario and a number of Mario's enemies even appears as a non-playable characters within Luigi's Mansion. But nobody bats an eye when a character-spinoff with wildly different mechanics is a wildly different game.
@@Hard_Pretzel What makes it even more ridiculous is that sonic already had spinoff for other characters like tails and knuckles and they were wildly different. Sure they weren’t technically mainline or as popular, but still it’s so unfair.
@@Kwizzy8406 people are willing to treat Tingle's Rupee Land or Metroid Prime Federation Force as footnotes in their franchise; or able to separate Crisis Core from Final Fantasy... but god forbid we have a Sonic Spinoff 🤣
@@Hard_Pretzel yeah, and I just realize we don’t even have an Amy spinoff game.
@@Kwizzy8406 Sonic fans have traditionally never responded well to spinoffs, which is probably why we don't have very many character-dedicated spinoffs; especially when every time we get one, the response is even more negative each time.
I can't believe Nioh developers were inspired by this gem of a game to create the unique atmosphere for the _Strangers Of Paradise_
The sheer sincerity of it, it has everything, an anti-hero, _CHAOS_ , **GUNS!!** , _Shadows Rising_ original music piece, a true 2000's experience
...DOONN'T STAAAYYY WITHIIINN THE DAAARRRKK
WHEN HOOOOPE FADES....
I have been really looking forward to playing Strangers of Paradise for that exact reason.
Media can be over-the-top and still be incredible (Bayonetta, DMC, ; but apparently only when SONIC is over-the-top it's a crime 😂
Finally some quality Shadow the hedgehog (05) content
I'd sure hope so! Shadow 05 is one of my favorite games!
Finally, someone who knows their shit. everyone just shits on this game. Are you love this game? I love the controls. You’re great at explaining stuff and here’s a fun fact when you’re going through loop changes the camera and you’re going through it but if you stop like halfway or at any point, you’ll actually just stop like if you’re halfway through the loop you’ll just fall to the ground. You have to have speed pad so that kind of sucks if they didn’t have those boost pads there, then you would have to gain enough speed to go through a loop which would be awesome and more people would realize this is great I love your shadow videos and your channel. Hopefully you do more. I’m gonna sub.
YEAH! There's honestly so many cool mechanics with this game that I wish I could make a whole video on--but most the stuff is pretty useless/visual.
One of my favorite things to do is activate strafe-mode (R Button) while running, if you time it right, you can lock your air-shoes' animation, so that they keep the fire turned on until you stop walking. It's really neat to see shadows shoes lit up like that.
That thumbnail should be dedicated to any toxic fan base
Lots of “brain injury?” Thumbnail vibes
honestly with how the sonic fandom specifically acts, there very well may have been an epidemic of dropped babies 😂
the most anticipated sequel in the history of youtube
the most anticipated comment in the history of RUclips 💖
Keanu Reeves game that doesn't let me use a pencil as a gun. Unplayable.
You can use a tree as a gun though, so it's a start.
I love this game, and I didn't even know you can do most of these things lol
people can love a lot of games for different reasons.
Some people play the game for the game, and I like finding fun mechanics and exploits in my games and sharing them with whoever wants to listen. 🤣
Hold on, let him cook
THE KITCHEN IS ON FIRE AND THE MICROWAVE IS IN THE BATHTUB.
I’m probably in the minority that says that, aside from the fact you have to replay it so many times and it’s an overly edgy misrepresentation of Shadow’s original character, this is a quite good game that effectively recycles Heroes content for new purposes like how Majora’s Mask recycled Ocarina of Time content. I think people were too caught up in thinking it was a “Sonic game” and ignoring the fact that it was a _spin-off_ and the fact that they tried to make Shadow different with the guns and vehicles so that the gameplay literally wasn’t just Black Sonic. And spin-offs generally should be different from mainline games in some way, right? Otherwise, what’s the point of getting the spin-off if you don’t get a different experience?
And in the same vein, the fact that you can both speedrun and do missions is a pro more than a con-yeah some of them are absolutely tedious and could’ve been executed better, but it goes back to it NOT being a Sonic game and it instead being a spin-off, so it should be allowed to function a bit differently, especially considering mainline games from other franchises switch up their formula to varying degrees of success too. If there was a Tails spin-off, I’m not gonna expect the game to play like Sonic Unleashed’s day stages or something, because Tails just wouldn’t do that. Yeah, Shadow is like Sonic, but Shadow isn’t exactly a direct copy of Sonic-otherwise, we get things like the Sonic Forces DLC, where Shadow is essentially just Sonic with different aesthetics. And yeah, Shadow in SA2 is a Sonic clone, but that was his first appearance and they were directly playing into that-he has since grown into his own person, much like Luigi outgrew Mario.
TL;DR I just feel like people were judging this game with the wrong viewpoint/perspective and were too focused on trying to compare it to a typical Sonic game instead of looking at it like it’s _supposed_ to be different while also retaining some of the core mechanics.
yeah thats probably the biggest problem with how people think of this game. It goes against every bias/expectation there could have been; it doesn't help that people get all their opinions from youtubers that also don't understand the game, people that then become youtubers and restart the cycle. 😂
The time bonus taking precedence over other factors really clicks for 3D Sonic. Rather than emphasizing Ring pickups and minor score increases via killing enemies, performing tricks and so on, you're rewarded for optimization first and all else second. Of course, those score bonuses are still plenty attainable allowing for a slower player to make up the difference that way. It's much more customizable and yes _fun_ than to have score, Rings and time be equally important to achieving a higher rank.
Can't think of much else to add so I'll just say that if Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) were a corporate fast food chain it'd be Burger King because you can Have It Your Way Trademark
People really forget that the reason all these cool tricks and enemy kills are supposed to be for the sake of optimization. So it's really refreshing to see a game based ENTIRELY around that.
There are a couple other cool scoring mechanics I didn't mention; such as the dark score being subtracted from your hero score when you do hero missions (and vice versa) or the neutral score taking into account all three--which lets you REALLY minmax certain levels.
This is one of Adventure 2's (and others) strongest suits because they had ranks for multiple types of missions; when games gave you a simple objective list and then you were tasked to optimize those objectives they're really something special.
Anyways here's why Sonic R is the greatest game of all time--
i love this game so much its so fun. love the edginess, love the gameplay, love replaying it, and the soundtrack is fucking amazing.
OH. THE SOUNDTRACK STILL GIVES ME CHILLS.
I can't even pick a favorite. Every level having a different soundtrack is such an incredible detail, but with every song also being flat out amazing?? So many genres represented.
Pretz continuing his crusade to prove every Sonic game is good:
wild how SOME PEOPLE still don't understand the difference between good/bad games... and games that people like/dislike. I can't stand sonic generations but i'm not going ever sit here and say it's a bad game. It's probably one of the best anniversary titles for any franchise. The Music ALONE makes it a worthwhile purchase (especially in my case since I got it for literally $0.01 on a steam sale like three years ago lmao)
@@Hard_Pretzel tell me about it. People still try to tell me Sonic Heroes is a bad game. It's not a POLISHED game, but it's core design and mechanics are solid. I'm trying to make a video on it.
@@DewMan31 all this talk of polish in games as if mario 64 (the game they always use as an example for some reason) isn't held together with toothpicks and bubblegum
@@Hard_Pretzel melee is one of the biggest broken messes out there, but it's depth is why it's considered the pinnacle of platform fighting games.
@@DewMan31 If they held any game they actually like to the same standard they're applying to games they don't like, they'd realize the "Sonic was never good" thing would be entirely true. There isn't a single sonic game that would please EVERYONE.
As someone who loves the game, I think I love it more now.
I'm very glad to hear it. Thanks for watching!
I agree. After the first few levels I quickly realized how to play the game.
It's really not that hard a game to learn if you actually just play it. But whoooo boy do people wanna do everything they can to hate it without even playing it
@@Hard_Pretzel Haha yeah. Kind of like Sonic R. "The game is unplayable. You can't even play it!!" Yeah, you can't. lol
this game is peak, fight me
"No fighting, Shakira Shakira"
As someone who absolutely loved and played the everloving shit out of this game as a kid, even without knowing a lot of the more advanced tech shown off here (which really does change the feel of the game for the better) but felt embarrassed to admit it for the longest time due to all the usual online hate mobbing the game and series gets, this makes me feel so fucking vindicated! Picked the game back up after watching this, and I'm glad I did because it's just as fun and addicting as I remember. It's seriously, criminally underappreciated for what it is and what it's trying to do. Hell, I love it more than SA2. Also love the editing and scripting here! Keep it up!
@@zav1999 I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!!!
I'm also very sick of the general "game sucks, and you suck for liking it" narrative; it's part of why I talk about the games I talk about, the way I talk about them. 😂 It doesn't make any sense to me for others to be so elitist over which games they consider "good" to the point they REFUSE to play anything outside a very slim list of games in a franchise with well over 100 releases (including spinoffs, compilations, remakes, ports, films, novels, comics, animations, artwork, etc) by now.
Okay for real, I unironically think using the Mid-Air Attack to quickly pick stuff up and the weird tech of floating in place are really cool.
Very niche applications for sure, but having very specific tools for specific situations is what makes a lot of games so much fun! Especially when you learn to use them outside of those situations.
They literally give you a boss that sends out a horizontal (and flat) shockwave that lasts a few seconds. Most people just get out of range, but smart players realize they can just hover in place.
@@Hard_Pretzel Exactly, it's reasons like these why I love certain games, like Minecraft I only got a second love for the very niche tech it has for challenge runs.
I'm not too sure what you truly think of Shadow the game, since some of the points are tongue-in-cheek, but I could appreciate the game for what it was, I like the mix of speed and gunplay.
@@Neon_Henchman Oh I very much love the game. A lot of the tongue-and-cheek I do in my videos is just a case of poking fun at the "god forbid someone likes a 'bad' game" culture all too prevalent on youtube and (especially) twitter. I genuinely find there's a way to enjoy ANY game IF you really want to. Big IF there as some games you're really not interested in, may not be worth the trouble 😂
I enjoyed this game when it first came out in 2005. I remember everyone hating the crap out of this game. It’s relieving to see that I actually enjoyed the game for a reason! lol
It's amazing how many people that actually played the game unbiased don't have nearly as much distaste for it as people who only played it 'as a joke' or after some big youtuber told them it was the worst game ever made. 😂
I always told people it isn't a Sonic game. Just like how Luigi's Mansion isn't a Mario game. But for some reason comparing the two confused folks.
People are so willing to just accept other franchises having spinoffs, but god forbid a sonic character does it and it's not a 1:1 carbon copy of the game that came before it.
The thumbnail out of context is the funniest shit ever
with a name like hard pretzel some people may think it was intentional.
You put an INSANE amount of effort into your editing. Awesome video
It really screws with my post-schedule, but I think it's worth it. 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel I also love how you tie each of your videos together, it's seamless
@@RealestShaggyRogers a good friend of mine mentioned how much they love to watch all my videos in a row every time I upload a new one, so I kept up the tradition. I also want to make sure I stay mostly consistent in what I say, unlike SOME PEOPLE that tend to flip flop every time the trend changes 😂
Each and every day, I gain more realization that Shadow the Hedgehog the Game was always peak, and I have to repent my sins for initially disliking this unironically underrated game.
everybody grows up eventually 🤣
repenting from hating is as simple as finding what you love and sharing it with others, and listening to what they love and giving it an honest shot.
Welcome to the cult.
Thank you for speaking MY truth. This game does rock.
I love it a lot. I know it's not gonna be everyone's tea but oh god is it mine.
As you pointed out, the guns averted the homing attack's biggest problem: the homing attack cancels your momentum (even though inertia is the point of these games). Guns are of course not the perfect solution, but this is still a very astute observation, subbed!
honestly the best solution is to just run past the enemies or farm them for Chaos Control bc this is a game about optimizing but people aren't ready for THAT conversation yet. 😂😂
Funny, I view Shadow the Hedgehog as a Sonic game, and yet, I still enjoy it for what it is.
a lot of games are great when you play them as themselves. The reason I wanted to stress this game is not a sonic game, is because people associate sonic games with strictly A to B levels and homing attacks (because they clearly haven't played enough sonic games); which this game is not. I'm glad you're one of the few that can still be *normal* about a game being different
Hell yeah, giving this game the attention it deserves
I love this game a lot (if it wasn't obvious, lol)
I'm glad to meet so many people that also love the game.
@@Hard_Pretzel I love this game too!
Genuinely there's so much neat stuff about it.
BTW, another good way to instantly go to a stop (IIRC, it has been a while since I last played) is to just... let go of the control stick. You'll basically immediately stop moving without that skid animation in the way.
That being said, you also taught me a lot more about the niche mechanics the strafe button had that I didn't know about, and I was already someone who understood that it actually was a useful addition to the game.
@@numbug1234 Haha yeah "just let go of the control stick" also works, but considering people go their entire lives refusing to press any button other than the jump button, I don't think they're ready for obvious solutions. 😂
You're the first person to make me even slightly interested in trying this game. Good video
I'm so glad to hear that! if you ever pick it up I'd love to hear your thoughts!
@@Hard_Pretzel It sounds like you're really passionate about this game and seeing people understand it better- which is understandable, as games are amazing works of art! If I do try this game it will probably only be briefly (I don't think I can stomach quite so much edge, haha!) but if nothing else you've certainly given me a new angle to look at this game from
@@MrHumbuck haha yeah even if you know plenty about the game, it's not a game for everyone. It's why spinoffs are spinoffs, and not replacements. The most I can ask for is an honest attempt, without all the "THIS GAME IS AWFUL" or "THE CONTROLS ARE SO BAD" bias most people go into this game with.
@@Hard_Pretzel I guess when playing any game for the first time it's best to try and leave all the opinions you've heard at the door so you can experience it entirely for yourself, but it's not always easy to remember that. Thanks for reminding me
@@MrHumbuck if you look for ways to enjoy something, you'll find them. just like if you look for ways to hate something, you'll find them. It's a shame a lot of gaming spaces haven't figured this out yet 😂
Goated game. Absolute mess but it is somehow still just dumb fun. I found that I knew all these tips from just grinding it so hard as a kid! Great video man, will definitely sub and check out the back log. Also fun fact, it took me 3 years of owning and playing the game countless times as a kid to finally get to the true ending, I remember running around the house telling everybody in the house I just finished a 3 year quest haha.
Honestly I'd rather have a hot mess of a game that gives me 3+ years of playtime than a game I blow through in a day or two. 😂
Thanks so much for popping by. Hope you enjoy my stuff. I try to keep everything super short so it's not hard to catch up
I'm so glad to have found your channel! Good SonicTubers, as you call them, are rarer than diamonds I'm pretty sure. I feel the mentality most have is "Sonic is good as long as I have nostalgia for it but the rest is terrible", but you actually give every game a chance.
Hope your channel grows a lot! You're doing God's work!
It's why I started making my own videos! Sonic content that isn't unfairly negative or biased is so hard to find, especially of the larger creators that are near household names. Even if don't like certain games, it's never my place to tell someone their favorite game sucks. I hate generations for example, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game at all
@@Hard_Pretzel I wish i could give you a second sub for that opinion. I do like Generations but you're literally the first person I've seen to have the courage of having this take, and I have some spicy rare takes myself! Wonder why though! Will you make a video on it?
@@beth7609 haha, funnily enough it was actually a video I had planned to do for april fools this year, basically pull the "I hate generations" card and pass off my genuine opinions as a joke. but instead opted for hyping up shadow the hedgehog instead (pretending it was a joke to the haters that crawled out from the floorboards like roaches lol.) I do still have plans to break down why I dont enjoy generations, but if you've seen my other content it'll probably make sense 😂
@@Hard_Pretzel Oh so the Shadow video on April 1st was intentional! That's interesting! I thought it was a coincidence!
Forgive me for my ignorance but I watched the other videos and I guess my best guess would be that the fans are hypocritical over it (which they 1000% are). Apologies if I'm missing stuff, I'll admit I spent a lot of my focus trying to catch all the jokes in the editing. (Which I love actually! I much prefer the chaos and rapid fire jokes over the borderline corporate clean editing most big youtubers have!)
@@beth7609 yeah! that's it for the most part, they'll be quick to brush away faults in generations that are death sentences for others; or praise things generations does, while not even giving credit where it's due. Aside from hypocritical fan response, it's also not really my kind of game as I value unique experiences over retreading what's been done, even if it's been refined or altered slightly.
This usually draws me to the more oddball games that surprisingly have a lot of depth; whereas the more "safe" or "accepted" games, even if they have a considerable amount of depth, it's usually well documented, already discovered, or so well known the intrigue is mostly gone or was already highlighted in other "safe" and "accepted" games. Because of this I'm also not too big into boost sonic or classic sonic, so I have little reason to play generations outside of the music remixes of course (which I can just listen through RUclips)
Again, purely personal taste, and contextualized by my own experiences and preferences, with plenty of specifics I have planned for the video in the future, so no worries of spoilers 😂 I just figure if there's so few sonic creators willing to keep their criticisms within reason and context, or respect people that like oddball games (especially on the landmine that is tw*tter lol), there's room for someone like me. And I want to be the kind of creator I wanted to watch but could never find.
thanks for checking out my little channel! I really appreciate it, on top of taking the time to reply
Shadow is an underated gem and its misunderstood, fight me
honestly after these videos, Shadow is probably my second favorite sonic game. There's just. So much to this game. I'm lowkey mad at myself for not really getting into it as a kid.
This video almost convinced me into playing it.
To go from "never" to "almost" is more than enough for me. Thanks for watching!
This is why I personally love this game
its honestly one of my favorites. I'm so glad I'm meeting so many other people that like this game. It's been the butt of so many jokes for so long I was worried I'd be totally alone with this.
Could literally be a video like this for every Sonic game ever made
hard_pretzel's secret agenda
this video just scooped my brain out of my skull and replaced it with Shadow the Hedgehog Tech
i collect brains and squish them like asmr slime videos 🧠
Now I really can't wait to see where sonic x shadow generation is going to go now that black doom is making a return. There are a lot of good ideas here
I'm mostly worried it's going to be just more Sonic Generations. Which, works fine as a Sonic game. But reskinning Sonic into Shadow and giving new levels, is not a Shadow game. That's a reskinned Sonic game.
Straight up Sonic 06 and Shadow the hedgehog are both in my top 5 favorite sonic games
Theres so much to enjoy in so many games! More power to ya! 👍🏻
Love your editing and analysis dude.
Thanks for watching! I like to give every game a fair shot and go crazy with the edits so even people that hate the games have something to watch.
Chock full of information (it took me 18 minutes to watch a 6 minute video), funny, AND agrees with me?
Awesome!
I know there are people out there that love the games I love; and are also sick of how many people hate the same games 😂
I'm glad my video provided 3x worth the content 🤣
really good video and honestly a great inspiration for me to go try shadow the hedgehog again. but i do wanna clear something up.
i played the entirety of ShtH, i didn't get every mission done nor did i try for the A ranks, but i did get every ending and then the last story. i had more than enough time to learn how the game works. but i still didn't know half the shit in this video. for many people it has nothing to do with "not playing the game" at all.
now maybe i'm dumb, or didn't pay attention, or i'm "media illiterate" as people are now calling it. who knows, i played this game when i was like 13 years old. but even back then there were many games that i could learn just by playing through them, including other sonic games. i think that if i need to know a certain mechanic to play the game "as intended" then it's reasonable for the game itself to teach the player that mechanic instead of allowing it to remain cryptic.
sonic heroes had a similar issue where the game was actually pretty well designed with a lot of good ideas. but it ends up going over a lot of players heads because it turns out that a lot of the most enjoyable and useful tech or strategy in the game is locked behind knowledge that the game doesn't actually tell you about.
of course sonic fans ended up learning the wrong lesson and panned the game for not being enough like the adventure games. if i had my way we would be getting games more like ShtH rather than games like forces and lost world lol
Oh yeah definitely. While SOME mechanics are definitely obvious "didn't play the game" flags (things like calling the chaos meters useless, or calling the game slow) a lot of other mechanics only really come to you after playing the game A LOT. Many Sonic games are inherently a lot simpler and are designed around 7 year olds being able to play and complete them; even the classic games a lot of people grew up with are very simple. It's part of why so many games feature a lengthy tutorial, on-screen prompts, or an omochao that will tell you everything you need to do--OR it's a game where you literally just have to hold forward and boost 😂
It'd definitely fair to not enjoy a game you need to spend many hours and many playthroughs before it "clicks", just how other people really enjoy games that don't lay everything out for you with a bunch of yellow tape and hard progress locks without using a specific mechanic.
This is like the Jak 2 video by Powercell Zeke on how to play the game correctly.
Also funnily enough Shadow the Hedgehog was inspired by Jak 2. Coincidence?
Almost as if context plays an important part in how a game is played and made. Who could have guessed right? 😂
BUT NAH. THATS TOO EASY. GAME SUCKS BECAUSE A RUclipsR SAID SO. 🤣
Your channel’s gonna blow up man. Absolutely amazing editing, had me laughing half of the video 😂.
It's been a slow ride bc most people would rather watch the typical 'game sucks and u suck if you like it' content, so whether I blow up or not, I'm just glad to get as many people as i can interested in giving games a real shot and meeting so many people that genuinely love these games DESPITE their reputations. Thanks for watching I hope to see you again!
Excuse me, WOEDASH????!!!
we also have pinky, inky, funky, and sue. 😂
the multiplayer mode is wild.
_WOE UPON YA, WOE GONNA GIVE IT TO YA_
A SONIC GAME WITH SHADOW IN IT IS NOT THE SAME AS A SHADOW GAME WITH SONIC IN IT
Making sausage soup with seaweed in it later today.
This is a good guide for someone who wants to play STH 05 for the first time (This guy!)
I'd definitely recommend giving it a go. The slidey controls take a lot to get used to (ICE PHYSICS: THE GAME) along with basically removing everything that made a sonic game into a sonic game (homing attacks, spindash, linear missions, etc) but with enough time and practice it's definitely one of my all time favorites.
@@Hard_Pretzel Brother, I was born playing with ice physics.
Love the music choice from 2:38 to 3:48 I knew where that came from 😁
I definitely try to keep my music choices more unique than the typical "gaming youtuber video essay starterpack" 😂
I always felt like this game had some tricks to master the movements that i just wasn't invested enough to learn. I'll still pick up the game every now and then to blitz through a level or two so I'll try to remember these tips.
Would be great to get a sequel that polishes and expands all the mechanics that made it unique.
it's really wild what just a little practice can do for a run. It's a shame this game was villainized so much because it's really a very unique experience that's sorely missed in a lot of games today.
Watching this on silent is a trip
try it at 2x if you wanna become the ultimate lifeform
Editing goes so damn fast, but that's my only criticism. You bring up really good points that most Sonic fans don't realize
What I enjoy about this game so much, is that you can always have a different gameplay exprience, cause you can always choose a different path and a lot of the missions are actually fun, but the killing all enemies mission should've been improved.
Oh yeah, I try to keep my editing fast both for the people that care a LOT about Shadow (or the other games I talk about) and want content they can rewatch/analyze, AND for the people that don't care about Shadow at all that need to watch a 3 hour video essay to know they still hate the game.
If I can get a point across in five minutes, I get it across in 5 minutes; and save the fluff for people that actually want it lol. It's definitely not a vibe for everyone though, which is why there's absolutely no shortage of slower-paced traditional sonic-fan content out there.
@@Hard_PretzelThat's valid, I personally like when content is between fast-paced and slow-paced, cause it keeps you entertained, but also doesn't make you have to pause or slow down the video
You did get the point across very well in a short time and I personally think you should do more videos of Shadow, cause that game is so overhated and is actually one of my favourites Sonic games.
@@Hard_Pretzel Btw how long does it take to edit that many stuff, cause I'd imagine it would be a grind, even if the video is 6 minutes
@@hezmo940
Haha yeah, funnily enough I prefer pausable videos because part of my style comes from all those old flash cartoons and the 2005/2006 era of youtube that were known for lots of on-screen gags and references you wouldn't catch UNLESS you paused or rewatched. A lot of Sonic Content I see is so focused on "New Thing: Talk About new Thing -> Talk about next new thing"; or video essays that are more research/information focused. In either case, there's not much reason to watch the video over again, especially if the video was hours long. I'd rather have people rewatch/pause a short video of mine as many times as they want and still find new things each time than leave yall with a one and done and move onto the next.
If I were to ballpark my time, each video probably takes around a month or so if I grind it? I do also have a fulltime job though which eats most of my time. But I typically spend at least a week just working on my script, and then another day or two working on making my recording feel as natural as possible and rewriting/trimming it. After that it's just a lot of splicing and masking and tweening. But it keeps things fun.
That tfw feel when is truly something
it started as an inside joke on streams with things like "What the wtf" and "lol out loud" and of course "that tfw feel when" and even if I'm the only one laughing it's one of my favorite gags.
I prefer a soft pretzel, personally. That's my only gripe about the video. Great job.
Now back to my regularly scheduled Sonic R on PC distributed exclusively by EXPERT Software.
I also prefer soft pretzels
This COULD be a metaphor about self hatred, exceeding expectations, or going outside your own preferences;
but it's actually an nsfw joke I made with a friend like 5 years ago. 😂