OW! THE EDGE

A brief history of Shadow The Hedgehog

■ Shadow was created as the result of a dark pact between Dr Gerald Robotnik and Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms aliens, with the goal of curing the terminally ill Maria Robotnik.

■ Shadow’s disdain for humanity and initial villainy come from his memories of GUN soldiers invading the ARK space colony and fatally shooting Maria Robotnik, while he was helpless in an escape pod.

■ Although Shadow appears to die at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, his popularity saw him return in the very next game, Sonic Heroes – though a legion of Shadow robots muddied the waters as to his real identity.

■ In his own spin-off game Shadow The Hedgehog, the Black Arms invade Earth and promise to restore Shadow’s memories in return for his aid – but he can opt to fight against them instead.

■ Shadow returns in Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) as a main character alongside Sonic and Silver. As an agent of GUN, he can use the kinds of weapons and vehicles that he first got in his own game.