Shadow's "memories" of Gerald's execution could simply be from the last video journal seen during SA2. Shadow was on the ARK like everyone else when that part automatically played as ARK-fall started.
To be fair, Gerald did continue working on Shadow and implanted his revenge plans while imprisoned. So Shadow would have been around to some extent when Gerald died.
Shadow would have been in stasis his whole time on Prison Island. If he wasn't, he would have immediately broke out. Gerald could have implanted some memories of the Island into Shadow while working under arrest there. But it would be impossible for him to show Shadow the moment of his own death.
@@Havik61 Exactly, hence why I mentioned that the moment of Gerald's death is in the recording that was broadcasted on the ARK when the seventh Emerald was placed in the controls and the ARK started to fall. Shadow could have seen THAT, which could be feeding into the nightmare in Dark Beginnings. I'm definitely not ruling out Black Doom feeding Shadow the imagery, either, though we don't yet know how much (if any) influence Doom is having on that premonition/nightmare. But even without Doom's influence, there's still a good explanation for where the imagery comes from.
the emerl scene just SCREAMS you may know everything *I'M* going to do, but that wont help, because I know everything *YOU'RE* going to do STRANGE, ISNT IT?
The only thing that stuck out of that dam OVA (aside from the ending to metal being paralleled in mecha mkII in scrapnik island) And good lord is it still legendary
Maria's condition of NIDS and the low gravity keeping it in remission and the fact that she's only ever lived on the ARK as a result was information in Rouge's report, canon to the games but Japanese exclusive supplementary material. I really appreciate these shorts making such hyperspecific lore super accessible and use it to further to story of the game
@@windy3935 Not even in JP SA2 but specifically in SA2's Japanese strategy guide as it had some additional infos on the story including Rouge report to GUN about the ARK incident. And yes that does mean that important lore was hidden away behind a Japan only strategy guide you had to purchase separat.
@@rynobehnke8289 Yeah, unfortunately is the case with some other game series too. But yeah Sonic also has had some lore exclusive to the JPN dub not found in the ENG dub (spinoffs included). Additionally, SA2 had A LOT of cut content, especially even contextual story cutscenes.
@@micahheyward5342 if you fought someone in reality on a life or death situation, would you want music playing in the background or would you want to get straight to business?
@@VeeDoubleYuu Considering that nearly every fight scene in TV, movies, and other forms of media has some music playing, I have reason to expect it here
“And I’m going to make Casino Night and Chemical Plant BAD, as well as making you fight me more than 3 times in every zone! As for you, Classic Sonic, I’m going to give you visions of the aformentioned 1992 gambling zone…BUT WITH ALL THE FUN SUCKED OUT OF IT!!! Man, I am SO good at being evil!” Meanwhile, with Cyber Super Sonic and The End: Sonic: “Any other underwhelming diabolical schemes on your agenda?” End: “I’m still trying to recover from…whatever our battle was.” Sonic: “That beatdown gave you a head start. If anything, you’re the one at fault for trying to destroy *literally everything!* “ End: “Look, if you had the ability to stop at nothing until everything you know and love is destroyed, I think you would’ve done the same--“ Sonic: “No I wouldn’t.” “Unless it was Green Hill.” End: “I like the way you think!” And thus, the one combination Green Hill/Chemical Plant fan has never been the same.
I liked the interpretation from others that “That was no mere nightmare,” not only implies there’s something else going on, but that he’s had nightmares like that before too
Shadow: GOOD LORD, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THERE!? Maria: Aurora Borealis? Shadow: Uh... Aurora Borealis!? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the universe, localized entirely infront our space station!? Maria: Yes. Shadow: ...May I see it? Maria: ….Yes
I believe due to the fact that the Time Eater is messing with time, Shadow is suddenly is getting remnants of black doom. Meaning while in the process of the Time Eater bringing BD back, BD may be already trying to control Shadow. Also, I believe this Shadow is literally present day Shadow, like Frontiers Present. This might mean that he may be the reason why there was a destroyed Death Egg robot in Chaos Island. Meaning the Shadow in Gens isn't this Shadow, but the "past" shadow (From the time during Gens)
Yeah, but we have a Sonic Vs Shadow boss fight, the one from Gens, but in Shadows perspective That would debunk this theory, unless they have a coherent way to explain it...
God seeing this short just solidifies my wish for them to greenlight a full on series like this- Biggest fun fact about the people behind these episodes is that they used *Blender*. *BLENDER*. I hope they do some behind the scenes stuff for these...
See, this is literally what Knuckles and the Sonic movies should be. Not that Live action shit. Imagine Sonic 1 and 2, with this quality of lore work + action. No contest.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 animated stuff like these as movies don't do very well. they appeal to sonic fans and sonic fans only, and that's not great for a movie going big. currently the episode sits at 680k views on the official sonic channel which is pathetic for box office numbers. live action movies are easy cash-ins and its why paramount went with that. as an episodic series (cartoon / anime) it would probably do well enough, it needs to pull off an Edgerunners if it needs to take off
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 I don't have an issue with live action I just wish they had cooler fights in 2 and 1 but personally I like the movies especially 2 and some fights are pretty cool and I'm hyped for 3
26:34 He definitely wasn't there, that wouldn't make any sense. But surely Shadow had seen Gerald's message before. Shadow *must* have seen it at the end of SA2. The message was broadcasted everywhere, right?
On the topic of Emerl's breakout, this was partially explained in Gerald's Diary in Sonic Battle, which can be obtained entry-by-entry whenever you finish a chapter after beating the story once. In Entry 5, Gerald says that higher ups(G.U.N. maybe?) were threatening to shut down Project Shadow at any moment. So, to buy himself more time to research, he reluctantly handed Emerl over to them, with the strict instructions to never let him absorb(copy?) dangerous technologies. However, the other researchers didn't listen, discovering in the process that a Gizoid's Link can be overridden if shown greater power than its previous master. Then, in Entry 6, Gerald goes over how his worst fears came true. Emerl absorbed too much stuff and went out of control, as Gizoids were designed to destroy anything and everything once they gain enough knowledge to do so. Despite having only one emerald at the time, Emerl apparently destroyed most of the Ark before being subdued and sealed away. Realizing that he's not worth the trouble, Gerald tried fo destroy Emerl, but nothing worked. So, he settled on reprogramming Emerl's A.I. instead, giving us the goofy goober we see in Battle. I imagine we'll get some kind of revised version of this stuff in the new SxSG journal, though. An interesting theory I've seen floating around is that someone, perhaps from G.U.N, secretly formed a Link with Emerl and ordered a hit on Gerald to make it look like an "unfortunate accident," thus allowing them to shut down Project Shadow and seize both Shadow and Emerl. By the way, for what it's worth, NIDS _has_ been mentioned by-name in some Japanese texts before, including Gerald's Diary from Battle, but localizations seemingly removed it at the time.
Something I was thinking about and this has nothing to really do with the game or it's story as much as maybe the explanation of why Shadow knew that this was more than just a dream But the more I looked at Shadow's facial expressions particularly in the beginning with how it transitions from him spaced out to him acting normal then combine that with later on how Shadow stated that GUN arrived too quickly. A question came to mind. As the Ultimate Lifeform in the same way that it's confirmed that Shadow is Ambidextrous. Do you think Shadow is a Lucid Dreamer? Cause if so I feel like that implies so much. The fact that he's casually talking to Maria makes me think that he dreams about Maria on a daily basis. Perhaps reliving his memories as a way to cope. That could also explain why he states that GUN is arriving too quickly. It's supposed to happen later in the dream. After he defeats Emerl and spends more time with Gerald and Maria
It is possible, however... It's also possible that this is a new thing, and that he was just 'stuck in the moment' and didn't realise what was going on until after fighting Emerl. He'd definitely think about Maria and Gerald all the time, I don't know about dreams though, since he would have instantly known what was going on/ what it was and wouldn't have been confused with GUN's arrival
From what I remember in Battle, Shadow's memory is still foggy from Heroes and he only remembers some of it Some scientists accidentally activated Emerl and he went rogue, and because of the fatal accidents he caused in the Ark, GUN decided to shut down all projects, Project Shadow included Shadow having images of the future is just because he's dreaming a memory in the Ark, hence why he's saying that "this isn't right" "everything is happening too fast", so its not future vision, it's just memories are being mixed up
Just a note you might wanna replay Sonic Battle again as a lot of your questions here were answer in that games Gerald journal entries. From mentioning that Maria was ill and Shadow was created to cure her. To that Emerl broke out because just like Eggman in the end of battle the researchers gave him to many weapons until he became uncontrollable. Also I think you get way to hung up on the glitch effects and make the same mistake people did with Sage trying to link her to Infinite in Frontiers lead up its just a visual short hand for "things aren't right". We did also saw Black Doom directly mess with Shadow's perception of reality in the intro cut-scene to "The Doom" in Shadow's solo game too. So its almost certainly Black Doom that is doing the messing around with Shadow's mind thing.
I know that we joke about seeing a little girl getting shot, but actually seeing not only Maria but also Gerald getting shot was definitely a shock. This is speculation of the highest caliber, but what if Black Doom was the one who tipped off G.U.N that something happened aboard the ARK and that’s was why they came to investigate? They may have been funding the project, but the fact that they most likely didn’t know about Gerald’s deal tells me that there was other stuff on here, like the Gizoids, that Gerald probably didn’t want G.U.N to know about, but for reasons unknown, they came here anyway
I’m rlly curious of what the “accident” is. Cuz this entire time we all just assumed the accident WAS GUN going onto the Ark but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe Emerl’s attack on Gerald was the accident and caused GUN to rethink the safety of the Ark…
I think the start of Shadow Generations may start at the end of his Rival Fight, we see Sonic and Shadow fighting each other in the PS5 dual sense trailer and in an earlier trailer, Shadow seemingly meets the Time Eater on the Ark in the same style of animation as the Sonic vs Shadow fight.
Canonically, since everything is now canon, I think that the reason why everyone's personality seems off and subdued in 06 is due to the fact that a horrifying invasion of demonic aliens just happened about a year ago at most, it explains why everyone is on edge.
Sonic Adventure to Sonic 06 is basically all within a year, so yeah, there's a lot of stuff people were going through. We got a ton of character arcs during that era.
*Child nearly faints from terminal illness* Chariii: "This is good! This is good!" Jokes aside, I don't think Project Shadow was "not working" necessarily, just that they hadn't gotten there yet until the eventual GUN raid on the ARK.
I do agree on hoping that Emerl does play a role even as a boss fight in the game because when it comes to the people the robot arguably connected to the most in learning from were Cream and Shadow (and given how those two's episodes were before Emerl's), but also just yeah how much Shadow by Emerl's existence gave him a crisis of a reminder of his past events in SA2 of the threat both himself and Emerl were so much so that he was willing to let humanity be rid of them both as a means of securing peace. I think it showed he was not just at a loss of what to do after the fallout of his game, but even suicidal, as Sonic even expressed his shock by Shadow's disregard of his own life. Really is a shame some people missed out on Shadow's characterization in Battle and all the more why it was a bigger deal from his character development in 06 from his willingness to work with GUN and his iconic line that he'll fight like he always has even should humanity betray him again and deem him a threat to be put down that he's not just going to throw his life away like he was willing to do in Battle. I wish it were addressed if Gmerl really is Emerl, but to me it seems like it likely it is just in a spiritual sense (even when the final boss in Advance 3 theme is Emerl's theme remixed ominously and the irony that Eggman who was responsible for Emerl's death now has to team up with Sonic who had put Emerl down last time to save him kinda making up for his wrongdoing). It's just that given a theme with this series on the subject matter especially with Eggman having robots under his control gaining "souls" and how data is with remnants of one so it's not entirely impossible that Eggman may have managed to saved whatever was left of Emerl and thus his soul and had him reborn as Gmerl. Who knows if this game or the idw comic will ever address it if they are one and the same.
I honestly think it's much more powerful for Emerl's story if he stayed dead. Even if his soul was put into Gemerl. Both in his alliance with Eggman and his reprogramming, he acts nothing like Emerl so he would be living on in something that does not reflect him at all. I am more than fine with IDW treating Gemerl as his own person and leaving Emerl to rest, not acting like they share anything except a similar name and appearance.
Maria's Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome was actually brought up in Sonic Adventure 2 Perfect Guide, which was released 4 months after the original SA2 came out, but that book is Japanese exclusive. There's an epilogue to SA2 in it framed as a report Rouge is making, as a run down of what happened 50 years ago, that's where its mentioned. Windii has a translation of it up on their website. I think the only other time it was brought up after that till it became more relevant is actually Sonic X, like you point out in this video, but the point I'm making is that it didn't come out of nowhere.
Ahh, it's in the epilogue section. I checked Maria's bio in the Perfect Guide too but it made no mention of it. I was so confused because that book is also listed as a source mentioning her NIDS, but I couldn't find where.
I think Black Doom might have some kind of psychic connection to Shadow, since Shadow was created from Black Doom's DNA or something, or maybe it's just part of Black Doom's powers to mess with people's heads or something, but either way, it's definitely something about Black Doom that's just giving Shadow some kind of mindf-ck. And that would mean that the visuals he sees doesn't necessarily need to line up with what actually happened.
Off topic but I love that the lightning energy thing from the movies is being incorporated into more of the games and its related media. It’s just such a cool visual. On topic, I think the answers Shadow wants to look for is how his mind, memories and maybe dreams are being manipulated. I could be wrong. Gotta wait for episode 2 😅 Side note, I’d imagine Maria was born on Earth and her condition was picked up during her mother’s pregnancy or something. I assume Gerald has a similar IQ to Eggman so I can easily see him figuring out that low gravity would hold off Maria’s condition; maybe not right away but still. If so, I’d imagine Maria would’ve been taken to the ark probably between the ages of 3-7, depending on when the ARK began construction and how long it took. Side-side note, I don’t think the glitch effect is anything to do with Infinite. It’s likely just a way to show that something’s off like with the use of Dutch angles in the cinematography.
Wait, did he watched the recording of Dr. Gerald's Execution in SA2 to have that memory to remember, or would he Would have actually been there to witness that?
You think it's possible that Black Doom had a hand in controlling Shadow's memories in a similar vein as Gerald did? Maybe that's what we're seeing here.
This is not a theory and more of a what if, but What if the Black Arms are an evolved ancients that instead of fleeing the End they decided to worship it as a god Crackpot theory I know
@@King-el2sg You know some of the black arms look similar to the ancients but I don’t think everything is going to be connected to the Ancients. It would be sick though and that’s a cool theory.
That could be the case, But I would think they are both two different sets/ civilizations of aliens that crossed paths, maybe that's why Chaos Island is in Shadow Gens...
details from like how Emerl immediately copies Shadow's Spin Attack, the moon being blown-up, Maria's NIDS, and even the fact that Shadow has the Yellow Emerald really does help to sprinkle in lore and canon and make everything feel cohesive to the overall story.
Ayyy!! Before the Sonic central, it’s actually been a while since you reacted to something from this game. Glad to see you reacting to the game’s things again. Anyways, keep up the great work. You’re awesome 🤩🤩👍🏻
From what ive heard emerl attacking the ark has been a thing in its backstory since the begining just its only mentioned in geralds journals or something.shadow fighting him though is new.
“White space is a version of cyberspace” is one of the coolest ways they could do to tie together, the Time eater, The End, the Ancients and Black doom. You were cooking dude
This and the new Shadow manga have the same opening. The only difference being the G.U.N. soldiers invaded the ark in the manga, while here Emerl breached the containment.
This was really good as this Explores Shadow’s Past with him sensing that’s tampering with Reality, we get the Half Moon that’s not RWBY, and his relationship with Maria is so Wholesome and Heartbreaking you wish she had Survived and you wonder is he was Referring to Doom or Emerl? It’s obviously Doom.
I Just gotta say. Thank you Charii. Without you i would never know most of all the references that appeared in there. And i just screamed and giggled the whole time because of that. Thanks.
This was so wild when I first saw this, I had the exact same reactions you did with this episode, it's so freaking good. The whole beginning of this was really sending me in for a loop too, the fact they explain about why Maria has to be up on the Ark and what happens to her if she pushes herself too much. I just- gah- and the Animation for the fighting was just amazing! The Moon being destroyed still is also incredible. I really can't wait for the next episode! There's definitely some crazy things going on if Shadow's memories are getting a bit weird, how the GUN Soldiers storming the ARK was too soon and what not. There's some weird funky things going on for sure, and the fact Doom being potentially alive?? I'm going nuts man, cause the whole potential of Infinite being related to this really could be a thing. Doom is probably more likely of course, but Infinite is also a possibility which drives me bonkers. I'm so excited for more! Seeing them just tie everything together, this is definitely gonna be awesome! And you stay Safe and Stay Awesome Charriii! 🌙⭐
I haven't seen enough people talk about how in 3:04 maria literally wipes the anger off of shadow... such a beautiful feeling in scene form that only lasts for 4 seconds!
Great breakdown as always man! The fact that we have this much to talk about involving Shadow in 2024 is mind-blowing honestly. For the last handful of games, Shadow's story hasn't progressed at all. He's been nothing more than a cameo. I'm so damn happy that Sega is diving back into his backstory, filling the gaps, giving us more lore to pour over and theorize about, etc. What a time to be alive.
yeah the Moon staying blown is the silliest de-retcon Sonic Team has done: Basically the Moon has stayed Blown but all of Sonic's adventures just happens to align when the Un-blown side is facing Earth
I feel like it needs to be established that G.U.N. used Emerl in their raid of the Ark. So that it makes more sense that Shadow couldn't simply fight them off. Because as it stands, it still goes unexplained why the ultimate life form apparently couldn't fight off measly human foot soldiers.
The accident does refer to Emerl going berserk on the Ark. In Gerald's journal in Sonic Battle he states that a researcher forced Emerl to absorb experimental weapons, and it caused his link to break with Gerald. It's also implied that Emerl going berserk was the result of sabotage. My theory is that Black Doom was responsible for Emerl going nuts, since Doom's Eye was on the Ark at this time.
regarding emerl: in the gerald notebook entries in sonic battle, he documents emerl loosing control on the arc. im assuming him breaking out of the experimental weapons wing was that
the prologue is going to be in the game for you to see so i dont think thats an big issue, but i do get it when you say they should be the cutscene but this also to build up hype
So from what I've gotten from this is that Shadow is still suffering side-effects from the phantom ruby. It's also implied that the phantom ruby originated from the Black Arms
Since now seems like the perfect time, here's my head cannon. Since Shadow had a Chaos Emerald in his hand when he woke up from this "nightmare" I'm going to assume that this is a new chaos ability that Black Doom warped with his own powers. (Yes this is just an excuse for me to make a new Chaos ability, continue to read if you're interested 🤷♂️)
Chaos Projection: Allows user to create, access and or live through one's (or their own) memorys. It can also allow the user to manifest and live though whatever they'd like in they're imagination (kinda like vr) making what ever a perfect world looks like in their eyes. With enough power and mastery, you could bring whatever you made up, into reality. The max capacity with one emerald are only inanimate objects, and spaces as big as houses (or things to that scale). With a Super form, the user can perform this on a much greater scale.
@@33pandagamerI remember that being said somewhere (SA1 I believe) and I wanted to expand on that more. Shadow waking up with the emerald just reminded me of that.
I just had a thought. In one of the trailers, you see Omega in the distance, implying that Shadow will have to free people like Sonic did. What if you fight Emerl, and that frees Gemerl, facing its past and moving on to its future and playing to the themes shown in the trailers. 1 month left
They tricked us in the first half, making us think it's when GUN storms the ARK and kills Maria. Glad they didn't do that---That would've been SUCH a huge jump. Also, the animation, as I noticed when I saw the preview a few months ago, is stellar! It's smooth and gorgeous. I knew some staff members who helped behind ROTTMNT were behind this because of the animation. Anyways, I love how Shadow is having premonitions of the future; Gerald's execution, GUN storming the ARK, a GUN member shooting Maria....I honestly can't wait for ep2 to come out! (Which is on October 4th, I think).
May i put something on the table? They went and changed his iconic Green Emerald to the Yellow one. Could this kind of a reconnection to the Sonic Adventure 2? Because, after all, how do we know if that couldn't be actually the Fake Yellow Emerald that Sonic used for his first Chaos Control? Maybe he kept it as a memento of how these guys were able to help him do the right thing?
It's less so that we didn't know, but that it's never been explicitly confirmed in the games. If you only play the games and read the manuals, Maria is just a girl who lived on the ARK, was friends with Shadow and then died, but there was no stated reason why she was on the ARK and couldn’t be on Earth until now.
@@Charriii5huh, weird, there's this information about her disease even being named, being something akin to Space AIDS, wonder if someone just made it the fuck up Also Project Shadow and "The Ultimate Lifeform" being the chase after a lifeform that is imortal to all means of time and disease to find a cure to Maria and every other disease know or unknown to mankind is also the information I lived by since, was this really only implied?
I am so damaged by the internet. When She said "Aurora Borealis" I was half expecting Shadow to be like "At time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?!"
Okay, so I do agree that having Shadow's enemies team up against him would be awesome, but they don't necessarily have to in order to get that boss fight. Because while we may not have Emerl, we do have Gemerl. So imagine if Black Doom managed to corrupt Gemerl somehow, and had him watch all of Shadow's fights, and the penultimate fight is Gemerl using the moves and abilities of EVERY PREVIOUS BOSS THAT WOULD BE SO HYPE
I think, to sort of bounce off of what you said about Shadow, having seen or visualized Gerald's death... perhaps it's from the footage that played back on the ARK when everyone was there after the last Chaos Emerald was put in place. Because there is a moment where you can hear the soldiers ask Gerald is he's said all he needs to before the firing squad take aim, and the footage repeats. Maybe you're right in that this is how Shadow had envisioned it in his mind... The way all of this seems to me is that Shadow had maybe looked into the night sky, and when he saw the ARK, that's when he remembered... Point 1. He remembered how close he was to Maria, and how frustrated he was that they were no closer to finding a cure... Point 2. He remembered that he had fought with Emerl when Gerald's life had been threatened by him. Not entirely certain what let him out, but maybe you're right in that it's either Infinite, the Moo- I mean... The End, or maybe even Time Eater and Black Doom! Point 3. During his remembering the fight, Shadow sort of has this moment where maybe his fight or flight response sort of kicks in, maybe it's PTSD from everything, and his memories blip to the night when GUN boards the ARK. Maybe hat's why he says it's happening too quickly? Not because it had for him, but more so that his memories are skipping around... He knows what happens after they board, that Gerald's put in prison, sentenced to death... but, with his memory skipping - or maybe he's filling in the blanks, rather, now knowing what he knows from his time on the ARK... or, of course, it could be Doom manipulating Shadow's mind? - to his envisioning of the firing squad. He desperately wants to reach out to him as he slowly starts to realize he's having a premonition, but he knows he can't... it's an impossible task... right? Point 4. He's enveloped by the darkness of his mind... the Void of his mindscape where two of his worst fears lay to rest... but now, are both taking center stage: Maria's unfortunate death, followed closely behind by the eerie thought of "What if... Black Doom survived, and is still out there...?" The menacing Black Arms and the havoc they caused on the world... the looming figure slowly comes into vision, and... BAM!! He snaps out of it, uses the Chaos Emerald to attack, only to find that he's alone...
I have a thought that Shadow does have some of Gerald's memories. Maybe that is why he can go to Chaos Island from Frontiers. Also, with the Moon Ian Flynn said, the Sonic's Earth has multiple moons confirmed through SuperStars. Also, Sonic's world is called Earth in this animation. It's nice to get dropped. I can't wait for the other 2 episodes.
i'm not sure if you'll read this or not, but back then they released a "perfect guide" for sonic adventure 2 in japan, containing info from shadow's backstory, and project shadow. n.i.d.s was first mentioned there, i believe. it's not originated from sonic x, or the sonic x comics.
I just thought of this after hearing some theories about what Shadow’s story will be in Sonic X Shadow Generations: what if Shadow’s abilities from the Black Doom DNA used in his creation includes a sensitivity to distortions or changes in time? We are all wondering what Black Doom is doing here in this upcoming game. From the promotional material leading up to this game’s release we know that Shadow has an ominous premonition, leading him to go to the ARK on suspicions that Black Doom/the related aliens have returned somehow. We also know from gameplay that Shadow awakens or acquires new abilities that come from the Black Doom DNA used in his creation. If Black Doom’s existence in this game is because of an ability it has related to time, it could explain why Shadow got such an ominous premonition perceived as remembering past events differently, as if perceiving a change in time. No one else seems to have noticed such a thing from what we can see, other than Rouge having collected data on the Time Eater for G.U.N. But it would be interesting to see Shadow have an ability for time perception of some sort because of the Black Doom DNA.
Black Doom could be a piece of The End. In the final boss fight of the game, their monologue states "I saw your mind as you ran through my prison. You have fought machines and gods. They were mighty? They were finite. I am infinite. I am nothing." And in Team Sonic Racing, the Japanese Script states that Sonic still remembers Solaris from Sonic '06. Which could imply that The End is a being that transcends all realities and timelines. It is the abyss that lies beyond anything Sonic and his friends could ever hope to defeat. It is only something that can ever really be stalled. Since it should also know about Time Eater if it knows Solaris.
23:26 Could be that Emerl was being experimented on. Since Emerl was a weapon that supposedly wiped out an entire civilization by itself, it is possible they used some of Emerl's data in order to make Shadow along with Black Doom's influence. Maybe Emerl was created to help an ancient civilization to destroy Black Doom or The End. Or some other being with a connection to both. Emerl may have been activated, and his programming recognized Shadow as a threat, and Gerald as the person who experimented on him. This could have been the incident that led to Gerald giving Emerl a soul. Because people died on the Ark.
29:08 I think that the timeline was they found Emerl. Studied him. And used him as a basis for Shadow and Biolizard. A sort of melding of technology and biological components. Black Doom offered his assistance as the last piece, with the intention of using Shadow later. Emerl wakes up, and attempts to kill Gerald, with numerous lives being lost in the process. Gerald creates a soul for Emerl after Shadow subdues him, but by that point someone had already sent information to G.U.N. Maybe someone related to The Commander? Perhaps someone in his family had a military connection and that's how he ended up with them? Because he mentions his family, and then Maria in Shadow The Hedgehog before shooting at him, it is possible his family was potentially betrayed by the military once word got out that one of Gerald's experiments went haywire. Plus, this is just headcanon. But maybe The Commander joined G.U.N to try and fix some of the corruption that led up to the raid on the Ark. Edit: Looked up the Gerald Journals from Sonic Battle. I was maybe correct on the timeline. Gerald Journal 5: "The higher ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new 'Link' is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria." This takes place during the creation of Shadow, but before Emerl went haywire. Emerl WAS the accident. And Emerl was found after the Biolizard being considered a failure, and the very start of Project Shadow. Shadow wasn't completed until well after Gerald realized Emerl was a threat that only formed a Link with a strong Master. But... Other Journal entries imply Emerl itself may have been connected to The End. Journal 3: Gerald found a stone tablet that states "When the figure falls from the heavens, and the Stone of the Gods is joined, all that exists will become one again." referencing Chaos Emeralds perhaps. And Emerl states in the English translation to Gerald "Show me your true strength, and I shall obey. I am all things, and all shall belong to me." In Japanese: “Show me your power. Then I shall obey. I am the manifestation of all things, the possessor of all things" The End speaks of itself in a way like it is trying to restore balance. That death and destruction are what is necessary for life. Which follows a pattern. Civilization makes contact with an otherworldly entity. And either makes weapons to destroy it, or work with it, and betray it later.
Also, I have another thought, so we don't ever get to see how the time eater affects others in real time. It might be the same as we saw in generations, but maybe shadow experiences it differently due to his ties to black doom My thought is basically shadow's having these nightmares because he can feel his own past changing in real time, and it's fucking with his memories and it'll likely get worse as the time eater gets closer and closer to completion since with each thing eggman changes causes shadow to get closer and closer to one of his evil endings where he joined the black arms.
Something is making shadow remember these certain times in his life to draw him back to the arc where doom appears, not sure how but he does, then at the end of the level the time eater appears and breaks the timeline, now I have no clue if this is post frontiers shadow or pre generations shadow
Shadow's "memories" of Gerald's execution could simply be from the last video journal seen during SA2. Shadow was on the ARK like everyone else when that part automatically played as ARK-fall started.
Actually it is implied that Black Doom put those memories in Shadow’s mind.
@@thedoglovinggamer5825 Gerald could've gave Shadow those memories as well.
To be fair, Gerald did continue working on Shadow and implanted his revenge plans while imprisoned. So Shadow would have been around to some extent when Gerald died.
Shadow would have been in stasis his whole time on Prison Island. If he wasn't, he would have immediately broke out.
Gerald could have implanted some memories of the Island into Shadow while working under arrest there. But it would be impossible for him to show Shadow the moment of his own death.
@@Havik61 Exactly, hence why I mentioned that the moment of Gerald's death is in the recording that was broadcasted on the ARK when the seventh Emerald was placed in the controls and the ARK started to fall. Shadow could have seen THAT, which could be feeding into the nightmare in Dark Beginnings.
I'm definitely not ruling out Black Doom feeding Shadow the imagery, either, though we don't yet know how much (if any) influence Doom is having on that premonition/nightmare. But even without Doom's influence, there's still a good explanation for where the imagery comes from.
the emerl scene just SCREAMS
you may know everything *I'M* going to do, but that wont help, because I know everything *YOU'RE* going to do
STRANGE, ISNT IT?
The only thing that stuck out of that dam OVA (aside from the ending to metal being paralleled in mecha mkII in scrapnik island)
And good lord is it still legendary
it isn’t strange wdym
@@KaidentheJeezyfanatic2K24 ..... watch the sonic OVA, you'll understand what they mean
@@idosarts_and_krafts i get the reference i’ve watched sonic the abridgehog you can’t fool me
@@KaidentheJeezyfanatic2K24 wait
Since when was sonic the abridgedhog a thing?
2:16 This comment is so wild out of context.
(Kid nearly faints)
Chariii: "Ohh... This is good!"
Maria's condition of NIDS and the low gravity keeping it in remission and the fact that she's only ever lived on the ARK as a result was information in Rouge's report, canon to the games but Japanese exclusive supplementary material. I really appreciate these shorts making such hyperspecific lore super accessible and use it to further to story of the game
Cool to know
Are you saying the NIDS was only mentioned in JPN SA2?
@@windy3935 Not even in JP SA2 but specifically in SA2's Japanese strategy guide as it had some additional infos on the story including Rouge report to GUN about the ARK incident.
And yes that does mean that important lore was hidden away behind a Japan only strategy guide you had to purchase separat.
It’s doing a much better job at conveying all this information than the previous games did.
@@rynobehnke8289 Yeah, unfortunately is the case with some other game series too. But yeah Sonic also has had some lore exclusive to the JPN dub not found in the ENG dub (spinoffs included). Additionally, SA2 had A LOT of cut content, especially even contextual story cutscenes.
*was giving a detailed explanation on story*
“GYAAAD DAMNNNN THESE FIGHT SCENES!!!!”
I loved that 😂
Had me rolling 🤣
NGL, the fight scenes felt empty without music playing, at least in my opinion.
@@micahheyward5342 if you fought someone in reality on a life or death situation, would you want music playing in the background or would you want to get straight to business?
@@VeeDoubleYuu Considering that nearly every fight scene in TV, movies, and other forms of media has some music playing, I have reason to expect it here
@@micahheyward5342 Then doesn't the lack of music set it apart from most fight scenes? It feels a lot more serious without it.
When Shadow spin dashes at Emerl and then Emerl instantly copies it! AHHHHHH
Infinite: Mwahaha I’m gonna give you visions of Green Hill *with SAND!!!*
This scene:
Underrated
Green Hill's looki-
Sonic: I hate sand...
Green Hill's been lookin' a lot more like *Execution By Firing Squad* Hill!
“And I’m going to make Casino Night and Chemical Plant BAD, as well as making you fight me more than 3 times in every zone! As for you, Classic Sonic, I’m going to give you visions of the aformentioned 1992 gambling zone…BUT WITH ALL THE FUN SUCKED OUT OF IT!!!
Man, I am SO good at being evil!”
Meanwhile, with Cyber Super Sonic and The End:
Sonic: “Any other underwhelming diabolical schemes on your agenda?”
End: “I’m still trying to recover from…whatever our battle was.”
Sonic: “That beatdown gave you a head start. If anything, you’re the one at fault for trying to destroy *literally everything!* “
End: “Look, if you had the ability to stop at nothing until everything you know and love is destroyed, I think you would’ve done the same--“
Sonic: “No I wouldn’t.”
“Unless it was Green Hill.”
End: “I like the way you think!”
And thus, the one combination Green Hill/Chemical Plant fan has never been the same.
I liked the interpretation from others that “That was no mere nightmare,” not only implies there’s something else going on, but that he’s had nightmares like that before too
Shadow: GOOD LORD, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THERE!?
Maria: Aurora Borealis?
Shadow: Uh... Aurora Borealis!? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the universe, localized entirely infront our space station!?
Maria: Yes.
Shadow: ...May I see it?
Maria: ….Yes
Nice Steamed Hams Reference.
@@jonahabenhaim1223 thx
steamed chilidogs
I believe due to the fact that the Time Eater is messing with time, Shadow is suddenly is getting remnants of black doom. Meaning while in the process of the Time Eater bringing BD back, BD may be already trying to control Shadow. Also, I believe this Shadow is literally present day Shadow, like Frontiers Present. This might mean that he may be the reason why there was a destroyed Death Egg robot in Chaos Island. Meaning the Shadow in Gens isn't this Shadow, but the "past" shadow (From the time during Gens)
Sorry but the busted death egg robot just blew up cuz of the heat apparently
@@Darkthefox-nu9bw oh…..Sadge :(
Yeah, but we have a Sonic Vs Shadow boss fight, the one from Gens, but in Shadows perspective
That would debunk this theory, unless they have a coherent way to explain it...
@@AAlex-wg8ml oh yeah, damn
Maybe that Sonic is Frontiers Sonic 🤷♂️
@@alonsovenegas4444 also I'm pretty sure shadow has the same emerald he had in gens.
I really love how we get an insight into shadow and Maria’s relationship in the first bit. I’m actually playing SA2 as we speak 😁
Same
God seeing this short just solidifies my wish for them to greenlight a full on series like this- Biggest fun fact about the people behind these episodes is that they used *Blender*. *BLENDER*. I hope they do some behind the scenes stuff for these...
See, this is literally what Knuckles and the Sonic movies should be. Not that Live action shit.
Imagine Sonic 1 and 2, with this quality of lore work + action. No contest.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99People said the same thing about Transformers, only for Transformers One to fail at the box office.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 animated stuff like these as movies don't do very well. they appeal to sonic fans and sonic fans only, and that's not great for a movie going big. currently the episode sits at 680k views on the official sonic channel which is pathetic for box office numbers. live action movies are easy cash-ins and its why paramount went with that.
as an episodic series (cartoon / anime) it would probably do well enough, it needs to pull off an Edgerunners if it needs to take off
@@noba04 *sad react*
Shame, this is a the quality Sonic deserves, but I hear ya.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 I don't have an issue with live action I just wish they had cooler fights in 2 and 1 but personally I like the movies especially 2 and some fights are pretty cool and I'm hyped for 3
26:34 He definitely wasn't there, that wouldn't make any sense. But surely Shadow had seen Gerald's message before. Shadow *must* have seen it at the end of SA2. The message was broadcasted everywhere, right?
To be fair, Gerald did continue working on Shadow while imprisoned. It's how he messed with his mind to turn the ARK into a weapon.
On the topic of Emerl's breakout, this was partially explained in Gerald's Diary in Sonic Battle, which can be obtained entry-by-entry whenever you finish a chapter after beating the story once.
In Entry 5, Gerald says that higher ups(G.U.N. maybe?) were threatening to shut down Project Shadow at any moment. So, to buy himself more time to research, he reluctantly handed Emerl over to them, with the strict instructions to never let him absorb(copy?) dangerous technologies. However, the other researchers didn't listen, discovering in the process that a Gizoid's Link can be overridden if shown greater power than its previous master.
Then, in Entry 6, Gerald goes over how his worst fears came true. Emerl absorbed too much stuff and went out of control, as Gizoids were designed to destroy anything and everything once they gain enough knowledge to do so. Despite having only one emerald at the time, Emerl apparently destroyed most of the Ark before being subdued and sealed away. Realizing that he's not worth the trouble, Gerald tried fo destroy Emerl, but nothing worked. So, he settled on reprogramming Emerl's A.I. instead, giving us the goofy goober we see in Battle.
I imagine we'll get some kind of revised version of this stuff in the new SxSG journal, though.
An interesting theory I've seen floating around is that someone, perhaps from G.U.N, secretly formed a Link with Emerl and ordered a hit on Gerald to make it look like an "unfortunate accident," thus allowing them to shut down Project Shadow and seize both Shadow and Emerl.
By the way, for what it's worth, NIDS _has_ been mentioned by-name in some Japanese texts before, including Gerald's Diary from Battle, but localizations seemingly removed it at the time.
I always like hearing Charriii's thought process when analyzing stuff.
Man Shadow's gonna cry alot when talking to maria in game.
Something I was thinking about and this has nothing to really do with the game or it's story as much as maybe the explanation of why Shadow knew that this was more than just a dream
But the more I looked at Shadow's facial expressions particularly in the beginning with how it transitions from him spaced out to him acting normal then combine that with later on how Shadow stated that GUN arrived too quickly. A question came to mind.
As the Ultimate Lifeform in the same way that it's confirmed that Shadow is Ambidextrous. Do you think Shadow is a Lucid Dreamer? Cause if so I feel like that implies so much. The fact that he's casually talking to Maria makes me think that he dreams about Maria on a daily basis. Perhaps reliving his memories as a way to cope. That could also explain why he states that GUN is arriving too quickly. It's supposed to happen later in the dream. After he defeats Emerl and spends more time with Gerald and Maria
The thing I'm actually most remembered off as the Shadow 05 stage "The Doom".
It is possible, however...
It's also possible that this is a new thing, and that he was just 'stuck in the moment' and didn't realise what was going on until after fighting Emerl.
He'd definitely think about Maria and Gerald all the time, I don't know about dreams though, since he would have instantly known what was going on/ what it was and wouldn't have been confused with GUN's arrival
From what I remember in Battle, Shadow's memory is still foggy from Heroes and he only remembers some of it
Some scientists accidentally activated Emerl and he went rogue, and because of the fatal accidents he caused in the Ark, GUN decided to shut down all projects, Project Shadow included
Shadow having images of the future is just because he's dreaming a memory in the Ark, hence why he's saying that "this isn't right" "everything is happening too fast", so its not future vision, it's just memories are being mixed up
Just a note you might wanna replay Sonic Battle again as a lot of your questions here were answer in that games Gerald journal entries.
From mentioning that Maria was ill and Shadow was created to cure her.
To that Emerl broke out because just like Eggman in the end of battle the researchers gave him to many weapons until he became uncontrollable.
Also I think you get way to hung up on the glitch effects and make the same mistake people did with Sage trying to link her to Infinite in Frontiers lead up its just a visual short hand for "things aren't right".
We did also saw Black Doom directly mess with Shadow's perception of reality in the intro cut-scene to "The Doom" in Shadow's solo game too. So its almost certainly Black Doom that is doing the messing around with Shadow's mind thing.
*I loved how he stopped just to admire the amazing fighting animation* 😂
The cut before Shadow says “I need answers” might be where one of the PS exclusive scenes go 🤔
Wow he really hates trees. He really just woke up to kill it. It was just existing then ZAP! Dead
I'd prolly destroy a tree too if I just broke out of an ultra trippy nightmare and thought someone might be behind me.
It snuck up on him.
@@michaelcarlton1484😂🤣
I know that we joke about seeing a little girl getting shot, but actually seeing not only Maria but also Gerald getting shot was definitely a shock.
This is speculation of the highest caliber, but what if Black Doom was the one who tipped off G.U.N that something happened aboard the ARK and that’s was why they came to investigate? They may have been funding the project, but the fact that they most likely didn’t know about Gerald’s deal tells me that there was other stuff on here, like the Gizoids, that Gerald probably didn’t want G.U.N to know about, but for reasons unknown, they came here anyway
Pretty sure Emerl causing that incident was what made G.U.N. investigate and eventually raid the ARK.
2:09 "At this time of year, at this time of day, viewed from this part of the ARK, localised entirely on Earth?"
@@SmollerishBean Yes
@@albertopoku2808 May I see it?
@@SmollerishBean No
@@albertopoku2808 G.U.Nshot noise
You gotta admit, the fight between Shadow and Emerl was awesome.
Fr This is why prime shadow is a fraud for getting jumped by 4 robots by nine
I’m rlly curious of what the “accident” is. Cuz this entire time we all just assumed the accident WAS GUN going onto the Ark but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe Emerl’s attack on Gerald was the accident and caused GUN to rethink the safety of the Ark…
I think the start of Shadow Generations may start at the end of his Rival Fight, we see Sonic and Shadow fighting each other in the PS5 dual sense trailer and in an earlier trailer, Shadow seemingly meets the Time Eater on the Ark in the same style of animation as the Sonic vs Shadow fight.
Canonically, since everything is now canon, I think that the reason why everyone's personality seems off and subdued in 06 is due to the fact that a horrifying invasion of demonic aliens just happened about a year ago at most, it explains why everyone is on edge.
Sonic Adventure to Sonic 06 is basically all within a year, so yeah, there's a lot of stuff people were going through.
We got a ton of character arcs during that era.
I'm SO glad that sonic is going back to its shonen roots.
*Child nearly faints from terminal illness*
Chariii: "This is good! This is good!"
Jokes aside, I don't think Project Shadow was "not working" necessarily, just that they hadn't gotten there yet until the eventual GUN raid on the ARK.
I like how he tries to explain something plus the fight scene is so good he just can't help but praise it 😂😂
I do agree on hoping that Emerl does play a role even as a boss fight in the game because when it comes to the people the robot arguably connected to the most in learning from were Cream and Shadow (and given how those two's episodes were before Emerl's), but also just yeah how much Shadow by Emerl's existence gave him a crisis of a reminder of his past events in SA2 of the threat both himself and Emerl were so much so that he was willing to let humanity be rid of them both as a means of securing peace. I think it showed he was not just at a loss of what to do after the fallout of his game, but even suicidal, as Sonic even expressed his shock by Shadow's disregard of his own life. Really is a shame some people missed out on Shadow's characterization in Battle and all the more why it was a bigger deal from his character development in 06 from his willingness to work with GUN and his iconic line that he'll fight like he always has even should humanity betray him again and deem him a threat to be put down that he's not just going to throw his life away like he was willing to do in Battle.
I wish it were addressed if Gmerl really is Emerl, but to me it seems like it likely it is just in a spiritual sense (even when the final boss in Advance 3 theme is Emerl's theme remixed ominously and the irony that Eggman who was responsible for Emerl's death now has to team up with Sonic who had put Emerl down last time to save him kinda making up for his wrongdoing). It's just that given a theme with this series on the subject matter especially with Eggman having robots under his control gaining "souls" and how data is with remnants of one so it's not entirely impossible that Eggman may have managed to saved whatever was left of Emerl and thus his soul and had him reborn as Gmerl. Who knows if this game or the idw comic will ever address it if they are one and the same.
Emerl is just old people bait for the trailers it won't be in the game.
I honestly think it's much more powerful for Emerl's story if he stayed dead. Even if his soul was put into Gemerl. Both in his alliance with Eggman and his reprogramming, he acts nothing like Emerl so he would be living on in something that does not reflect him at all. I am more than fine with IDW treating Gemerl as his own person and leaving Emerl to rest, not acting like they share anything except a similar name and appearance.
22:51 you voice impression for shadow was perfect
Maria's Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome was actually brought up in Sonic Adventure 2 Perfect Guide, which was released 4 months after the original SA2 came out, but that book is Japanese exclusive. There's an epilogue to SA2 in it framed as a report Rouge is making, as a run down of what happened 50 years ago, that's where its mentioned. Windii has a translation of it up on their website.
I think the only other time it was brought up after that till it became more relevant is actually Sonic X, like you point out in this video, but the point I'm making is that it didn't come out of nowhere.
Ahh, it's in the epilogue section. I checked Maria's bio in the Perfect Guide too but it made no mention of it. I was so confused because that book is also listed as a source mentioning her NIDS, but I couldn't find where.
You're a very analytical and observant guy. I like it.
I love how breathy Maria’s voice gets at certain points because it shows how she’s really struggling to even speak at times. It’s such a good detail.
Bro, this is the earliest I've ever been for a charriii5 video💀
Wrd😅
Same dude 🤣
@@TaMarvio2129 Yup same
Shadow NEEDS a conversation with Gemerl in the present about how Emerl caused G.U.N. to investigate and eventually raid the ARK.
Honestly its nice knowing that Shadow having a place to stay and think about Maria, a gaint field of flowers by an ocean side, in view of the arc
I think Black Doom might have some kind of psychic connection to Shadow, since Shadow was created from Black Doom's DNA or something, or maybe it's just part of Black Doom's powers to mess with people's heads or something, but either way, it's definitely something about Black Doom that's just giving Shadow some kind of mindf-ck. And that would mean that the visuals he sees doesn't necessarily need to line up with what actually happened.
Off topic but I love that the lightning energy thing from the movies is being incorporated into more of the games and its related media. It’s just such a cool visual.
On topic, I think the answers Shadow wants to look for is how his mind, memories and maybe dreams are being manipulated. I could be wrong. Gotta wait for episode 2 😅
Side note, I’d imagine Maria was born on Earth and her condition was picked up during her mother’s pregnancy or something. I assume Gerald has a similar IQ to Eggman so I can easily see him figuring out that low gravity would hold off Maria’s condition; maybe not right away but still. If so, I’d imagine Maria would’ve been taken to the ark probably between the ages of 3-7, depending on when the ARK began construction and how long it took.
Side-side note, I don’t think the glitch effect is anything to do with Infinite. It’s likely just a way to show that something’s off like with the use of Dutch angles in the cinematography.
Wait, did he watched the recording of Dr. Gerald's Execution in SA2 to have that memory to remember, or would he Would have actually been there to witness that?
You think it's possible that Black Doom had a hand in controlling Shadow's memories in a similar vein as Gerald did? Maybe that's what we're seeing here.
This is not a theory and more of a what if, but
What if the Black Arms are an evolved ancients that instead of fleeing the End they decided to worship it as a god
Crackpot theory I know
Ehh, kind of lame if that was the case since not everything needs to be connected to the ancients.
Not everything has to be connected but it would be quite interesting. @@keelanbarron928
@@King-el2sg You know some of the black arms look similar to the ancients but I don’t think everything is going to be connected to the Ancients. It would be sick though and that’s a cool theory.
That could be the case,
But I would think they are both two different sets/ civilizations of aliens that crossed paths, maybe that's why Chaos Island is in Shadow Gens...
11:07-11:08 I GET, I GET, YOU SAID THE THING FROM THE SONG!!!
details from like how Emerl immediately copies Shadow's Spin Attack, the moon being blown-up, Maria's NIDS, and even the fact that Shadow has the Yellow Emerald really does help to sprinkle in lore and canon and make everything feel cohesive to the overall story.
Ayyy!! Before the Sonic central, it’s actually been a while since you reacted to something from this game. Glad to see you reacting to the game’s things again. Anyways, keep up the great work. You’re awesome 🤩🤩👍🏻
From what ive heard emerl attacking the ark has been a thing in its backstory since the begining just its only mentioned in geralds journals or something.shadow fighting him though is new.
“White space is a version of cyberspace” is one of the coolest ways they could do to tie together, the Time eater, The End, the Ancients and Black doom. You were cooking dude
The fact that we can get a 30 min analysis from a 6 min short shows the possibility of this new era for Sonic Stories
This and the new Shadow manga have the same opening. The only difference being the G.U.N. soldiers invaded the ark in the manga, while here Emerl breached the containment.
This was really good as this Explores Shadow’s Past with him sensing that’s tampering with Reality, we get the Half Moon that’s not RWBY, and his relationship with Maria is so Wholesome and Heartbreaking you wish she had Survived and you wonder is he was Referring to Doom or Emerl? It’s obviously Doom.
I Just gotta say. Thank you Charii. Without you i would never know most of all the references that appeared in there. And i just screamed and giggled the whole time because of that. Thanks.
00:25 Charriii don’t worry I’ve already watched it like 3 times.
Roger craig smith is credited at the end. I assume that he’s gonna voice omega like in tailstube
Hey, you have incredible insight on Shadow's story. Definitely better than most of the Sonictubers out there. Instant sub!
This was so wild when I first saw this, I had the exact same reactions you did with this episode, it's so freaking good. The whole beginning of this was really sending me in for a loop too, the fact they explain about why Maria has to be up on the Ark and what happens to her if she pushes herself too much. I just- gah- and the Animation for the fighting was just amazing! The Moon being destroyed still is also incredible. I really can't wait for the next episode!
There's definitely some crazy things going on if Shadow's memories are getting a bit weird, how the GUN Soldiers storming the ARK was too soon and what not. There's some weird funky things going on for sure, and the fact Doom being potentially alive?? I'm going nuts man, cause the whole potential of Infinite being related to this really could be a thing. Doom is probably more likely of course, but Infinite is also a possibility which drives me bonkers. I'm so excited for more! Seeing them just tie everything together, this is definitely gonna be awesome! And you stay Safe and Stay Awesome Charriii! 🌙⭐
I haven't seen enough people talk about how in 3:04 maria literally wipes the anger off of shadow... such a beautiful feeling in scene form that only lasts for 4 seconds!
The sound effects and visuals really made the fight feel more impactful.
22:54 - 23:05 WTF that's a really come impression man...Like holy shit.... I loved this.
Shadow has the damn fourth Chaos Emerald.
Great breakdown as always man! The fact that we have this much to talk about involving Shadow in 2024 is mind-blowing honestly. For the last handful of games, Shadow's story hasn't progressed at all. He's been nothing more than a cameo. I'm so damn happy that Sega is diving back into his backstory, filling the gaps, giving us more lore to pour over and theorize about, etc. What a time to be alive.
11:06 I’m glad you made the reference 😂
yeah the Moon staying blown is the silliest de-retcon Sonic Team has done: Basically the Moon has stayed Blown but all of Sonic's adventures just happens to align when the Un-blown side is facing Earth
This looked amazing and I’m excited for the next episodes
Maria: It's the Aurora Borealis...
Superintendent Chalmers: A- AURORA BOREALIS!?
Notice that he also has the yellow Emerald. The very Emerald that Sonic battles him for in Gens
i thought the accident was the biolizard going on a rampage
I always got the impression that there never was any Accident at all and that's just what GUN told the public as the reason for the Raid.
I just realized why marias voice soundes so familiar her voice actress does orihime in the Bleach dub
6:25 that was when eggman pissed on the moon
I feel like it needs to be established that G.U.N. used Emerl in their raid of the Ark. So that it makes more sense that Shadow couldn't simply fight them off.
Because as it stands, it still goes unexplained why the ultimate life form apparently couldn't fight off measly human foot soldiers.
The accident does refer to Emerl going berserk on the Ark. In Gerald's journal in Sonic Battle he states that a researcher forced Emerl to absorb experimental weapons, and it caused his link to break with Gerald. It's also implied that Emerl going berserk was the result of sabotage. My theory is that Black Doom was responsible for Emerl going nuts, since Doom's Eye was on the Ark at this time.
It’s implied that the memories of Geralds execution were planted into Shadow’s mind by Black Doom.
regarding emerl: in the gerald notebook entries in sonic battle, he documents emerl loosing control on the arc. im assuming him breaking out of the experimental weapons wing was that
Thats when he snaps back to reality, oop they go's gravity
the prologue is going to be in the game for you to see so i dont think thats an big issue, but i do get it when you say they should be the cutscene but this also to build up hype
So from what I've gotten from this is that Shadow is still suffering side-effects from the phantom ruby. It's also implied that the phantom ruby originated from the Black Arms
*WE NEED A FULL SERIES THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS ONE* 🔥💯🐐😫
Since now seems like the perfect time, here's my head cannon. Since Shadow had a Chaos Emerald in his hand when he woke up from this "nightmare" I'm going to assume that this is a new chaos ability that Black Doom warped with his own powers. (Yes this is just an excuse for me to make a new Chaos ability, continue to read if you're interested 🤷♂️)
Chaos Projection:
Allows user to create, access and or live through one's (or their own) memorys. It can also allow the user to manifest and live though whatever they'd like in they're imagination (kinda like vr) making what ever a perfect world looks like in their eyes.
With enough power and mastery, you could bring whatever you made up, into reality. The max capacity with one emerald are only inanimate objects, and spaces as big as houses (or things to that scale). With a Super form, the user can perform this on a much greater scale.
@@mumky They are said to have the ability to turn thoughts into power.
@@33pandagamerI remember that being said somewhere (SA1 I believe) and I wanted to expand on that more.
Shadow waking up with the emerald just reminded me of that.
@@mumky Blaze said it in 06 when talking to Silver.
What makes them different from the Phantom Ruby then, however?
8:25 That was in Archie. So that might be here too, since Ian Flynn is writing.
Could this be possible
"EclipseShadowing"?
@@idosarts_and_krafts Nice one.
@@bowserbreaker2515 thanks😁
I just had a thought. In one of the trailers, you see Omega in the distance, implying that Shadow will have to free people like Sonic did. What if you fight Emerl, and that frees Gemerl, facing its past and moving on to its future and playing to the themes shown in the trailers. 1 month left
I wonder if the reason why the biolizard isn't the ultimate lifeform is because it's missing the final piece of the puzzle, that being Black Arms DNA
They tricked us in the first half, making us think it's when GUN storms the ARK and kills Maria. Glad they didn't do that---That would've been SUCH a huge jump.
Also, the animation, as I noticed when I saw the preview a few months ago, is stellar! It's smooth and gorgeous. I knew some staff members who helped
behind ROTTMNT were behind this because of the animation. Anyways, I love how Shadow is having premonitions of the future; Gerald's execution,
GUN storming the ARK, a GUN member shooting Maria....I honestly can't wait for ep2 to come out! (Which is on October 4th, I think).
May i put something on the table? They went and changed his iconic Green Emerald to the Yellow one. Could this kind of a reconnection to the Sonic Adventure 2? Because, after all, how do we know if that couldn't be actually the Fake Yellow Emerald that Sonic used for his first Chaos Control? Maybe he kept it as a memento of how these guys were able to help him do the right thing?
Sonic fans are eating a five course meal with these shorts
2:35 im suprised people didnt know that
It's less so that we didn't know, but that it's never been explicitly confirmed in the games. If you only play the games and read the manuals, Maria is just a girl who lived on the ARK, was friends with Shadow and then died, but there was no stated reason why she was on the ARK and couldn’t be on Earth until now.
@@Charriii5 yeah
@@Charriii5huh, weird, there's this information about her disease even being named, being something akin to Space AIDS, wonder if someone just made it the fuck up
Also Project Shadow and "The Ultimate Lifeform" being the chase after a lifeform that is imortal to all means of time and disease to find a cure to Maria and every other disease know or unknown to mankind is also the information I lived by since, was this really only implied?
I am so damaged by the internet.
When She said "Aurora Borealis" I was half expecting Shadow to be like "At time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?!"
genuinely my only complaint was I wish it was longer 😭 it was so good!!!
Her condition, NIDS was something exclusive to Japanese canon to my memory, it was in Japanese manual of adventure 2
Okay, so I do agree that having Shadow's enemies team up against him would be awesome, but they don't necessarily have to in order to get that boss fight.
Because while we may not have Emerl, we do have Gemerl. So imagine if Black Doom managed to corrupt Gemerl somehow, and had him watch all of Shadow's fights, and the penultimate fight is Gemerl using the moves and abilities of EVERY PREVIOUS BOSS
THAT WOULD BE SO HYPE
I think, to sort of bounce off of what you said about Shadow, having seen or visualized Gerald's death... perhaps it's from the footage that played back on the ARK when everyone was there after the last Chaos Emerald was put in place. Because there is a moment where you can hear the soldiers ask Gerald is he's said all he needs to before the firing squad take aim, and the footage repeats. Maybe you're right in that this is how Shadow had envisioned it in his mind...
The way all of this seems to me is that Shadow had maybe looked into the night sky, and when he saw the ARK, that's when he remembered...
Point 1. He remembered how close he was to Maria, and how frustrated he was that they were no closer to finding a cure...
Point 2. He remembered that he had fought with Emerl when Gerald's life had been threatened by him. Not entirely certain what let him out, but maybe you're right in that it's either Infinite, the Moo- I mean... The End, or maybe even Time Eater and Black Doom!
Point 3. During his remembering the fight, Shadow sort of has this moment where maybe his fight or flight response sort of kicks in, maybe it's PTSD from everything, and his memories blip to the night when GUN boards the ARK. Maybe hat's why he says it's happening too quickly? Not because it had for him, but more so that his memories are skipping around... He knows what happens after they board, that Gerald's put in prison, sentenced to death... but, with his memory skipping - or maybe he's filling in the blanks, rather, now knowing what he knows from his time on the ARK... or, of course, it could be Doom manipulating Shadow's mind? - to his envisioning of the firing squad. He desperately wants to reach out to him as he slowly starts to realize he's having a premonition, but he knows he can't... it's an impossible task... right?
Point 4. He's enveloped by the darkness of his mind... the Void of his mindscape where two of his worst fears lay to rest... but now, are both taking center stage: Maria's unfortunate death, followed closely behind by the eerie thought of "What if... Black Doom survived, and is still out there...?" The menacing Black Arms and the havoc they caused on the world... the looming figure slowly comes into vision, and... BAM!! He snaps out of it, uses the Chaos Emerald to attack, only to find that he's alone...
I have a thought that Shadow does have some of Gerald's memories. Maybe that is why he can go to Chaos Island from Frontiers.
Also, with the Moon Ian Flynn said, the Sonic's Earth has multiple moons confirmed through SuperStars. Also, Sonic's world is called Earth in this animation. It's nice to get dropped. I can't wait for the other 2 episodes.
i'm not sure if you'll read this or not, but back then they released a "perfect guide" for sonic adventure 2 in japan, containing info from shadow's backstory, and project shadow. n.i.d.s was first mentioned there, i believe. it's not originated from sonic x, or the sonic x comics.
I just thought of this after hearing some theories about what Shadow’s story will be in Sonic X Shadow Generations: what if Shadow’s abilities from the Black Doom DNA used in his creation includes a sensitivity to distortions or changes in time? We are all wondering what Black Doom is doing here in this upcoming game. From the promotional material leading up to this game’s release we know that Shadow has an ominous premonition, leading him to go to the ARK on suspicions that Black Doom/the related aliens have returned somehow. We also know from gameplay that Shadow awakens or acquires new abilities that come from the Black Doom DNA used in his creation. If Black Doom’s existence in this game is because of an ability it has related to time, it could explain why Shadow got such an ominous premonition perceived as remembering past events differently, as if perceiving a change in time. No one else seems to have noticed such a thing from what we can see, other than Rouge having collected data on the Time Eater for G.U.N. But it would be interesting to see Shadow have an ability for time perception of some sort because of the Black Doom DNA.
Just realizing that Maria is The Little Mermaid. Not the Disney version, the original fairy tale.
this may be the best incarnation of shadow we've story personality wise.
Black Doom could be a piece of The End. In the final boss fight of the game, their monologue states
"I saw your mind as you ran through my prison. You have fought machines and gods. They were mighty? They were finite. I am infinite. I am nothing."
And in Team Sonic Racing, the Japanese Script states that Sonic still remembers Solaris from Sonic '06. Which could imply that The End is a being that transcends all realities and timelines. It is the abyss that lies beyond anything Sonic and his friends could ever hope to defeat. It is only something that can ever really be stalled. Since it should also know about Time Eater if it knows Solaris.
23:26 Could be that Emerl was being experimented on. Since Emerl was a weapon that supposedly wiped out an entire civilization by itself, it is possible they used some of Emerl's data in order to make Shadow along with Black Doom's influence. Maybe Emerl was created to help an ancient civilization to destroy Black Doom or The End. Or some other being with a connection to both. Emerl may have been activated, and his programming recognized Shadow as a threat, and Gerald as the person who experimented on him. This could have been the incident that led to Gerald giving Emerl a soul. Because people died on the Ark.
29:08 I think that the timeline was they found Emerl. Studied him. And used him as a basis for Shadow and Biolizard. A sort of melding of technology and biological components. Black Doom offered his assistance as the last piece, with the intention of using Shadow later. Emerl wakes up, and attempts to kill Gerald, with numerous lives being lost in the process. Gerald creates a soul for Emerl after Shadow subdues him, but by that point someone had already sent information to G.U.N. Maybe someone related to The Commander? Perhaps someone in his family had a military connection and that's how he ended up with them? Because he mentions his family, and then Maria in Shadow The Hedgehog before shooting at him, it is possible his family was potentially betrayed by the military once word got out that one of Gerald's experiments went haywire. Plus, this is just headcanon. But maybe The Commander joined G.U.N to try and fix some of the corruption that led up to the raid on the Ark.
Edit: Looked up the Gerald Journals from Sonic Battle. I was maybe correct on the timeline.
Gerald Journal 5: "The higher ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new 'Link' is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria."
This takes place during the creation of Shadow, but before Emerl went haywire. Emerl WAS the accident. And Emerl was found after the Biolizard being considered a failure, and the very start of Project Shadow. Shadow wasn't completed until well after Gerald realized Emerl was a threat that only formed a Link with a strong Master. But... Other Journal entries imply Emerl itself may have been connected to The End.
Journal 3: Gerald found a stone tablet that states "When the figure falls from the heavens, and the Stone of the Gods is joined, all that exists will become one again." referencing Chaos Emeralds perhaps. And Emerl states in the English translation to Gerald "Show me your true strength, and I shall obey. I am all things, and all shall belong to me."
In Japanese: “Show me your power. Then I shall obey.
I am the manifestation of all things, the possessor of all things" The End speaks of itself in a way like it is trying to restore balance. That death and destruction are what is necessary for life. Which follows a pattern. Civilization makes contact with an otherworldly entity. And either makes weapons to destroy it, or work with it, and betray it later.
Emerl awakened because he absorbed data on the weapons iirc. It's interesting that they had it happen in the weapons wing then.
Also, I have another thought, so we don't ever get to see how the time eater affects others in real time. It might be the same as we saw in generations, but maybe shadow experiences it differently due to his ties to black doom My thought is basically shadow's having these nightmares because he can feel his own past changing in real time, and it's fucking with his memories and it'll likely get worse as the time eater gets closer and closer to completion since with each thing eggman changes causes shadow to get closer and closer to one of his evil endings where he joined the black arms.
Something is making shadow remember these certain times in his life to draw him back to the arc where doom appears, not sure how but he does, then at the end of the level the time eater appears and breaks the timeline, now I have no clue if this is post frontiers shadow or pre generations shadow