History YMMV / ShadowTheHedgehog

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Taking too long on the Last Story allows you to hear [[spoiler:Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Eggman slowly choking to death on nerve gas, still cheering you on with every last breath]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: '''Big time.'''

* TheWesley: What the [[YourMileageMayVary other half]] of the ''Sonic'' fandom sees Shadow as.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: What do you expect from something in the [[CrowningMusic/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic series]]?

* BaseBreaker
** To elaborate, the base was already pretty broken over if Shadow's return in Heroes was a good thing or not. This game did nothing but add fuel to that fire.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: What do you expect from something in the [[CrowningMusic/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic series]]?
** For themes with lyrics we have all of the ending themes, but especially ''All Hail Shadow'', and ''I Am All of Me'' for the main theme. Most of the background music also counts.
** And for the final Ending music, we have ''Never Turn Back''.
** Listen closely to the song that plays when Shadows transforms into his Super form - Towards the end, the guitar riff from "Live & Learn" can be heard.
** Not necessarily from the game, but m-flo's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BRAWLNaA1g remake of Tripod Baby]] for the game is rather interesting.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: "Where's that [[{{Narm}} DAMN]] ''fourth'' Chaos Emerald?!".

* FridgeBrilliance: Why does [[TacticalSuicideBoss Egg Dealer]] have a Shadow Fever option, you may ask? Why, to power up his army of ''Shadow'' Androids, of course!
** How can the ARK's cannon fire [[spoiler: in the Last Story, when Shadow was using the Chaos Emeralds to maintain his Super form, when it was stated in SonicAdventure 2 that the Chaos Emeralds were the power source for the cannon? Because ''the cannon never fired in [=SA2=], so it's using the remaining power from when Eggman tried to use the Emeralds to fire the cannon at the end of that game.'']]

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Shadow, to about half the ''Sonic'' fan base.

* {{Narm}}: Some of the Dark endings are hilarious, with Shadow announcing his intent to [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds destroy the earth]], conquer the universe, or be ''the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking ultimate Hedgehog.]]'' Then he laughs maniacally.
** If you want Narm, just watch the opening video. It is impossible to take seriously simply because it's about Shadow. It would work if it was about a human character, but not a 3 foot tall hedgehog. Regardless, it is still a riot (in more ways than one).
** There's more than that. Some would argue that virtually ''everything'' in the game is Narm-y ("Find the computer room!" and "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald?" come to mind.) But one of the Narmiest scenes in the game has to be where Black Doom reveals his plans at the start of the Last Story. [[spoiler:After Chaos-Controlling the Black Comet down to Earth, [[ToServeMan revealing his]] [[ImAHumanitarian "humanitarian" objectives]] (see CompleteMonster above,) and paralyzing everybody with nerve gas, he then summons some Black Leeches and says "Ah, my dear offspring... [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment eat and devour]] these savory dishes!!!" The Black Leeches then crawl towards Sonic and friends... and proceed to just bob up and down in front of them while the [[CanOnlyMoveTheEyes hapless]] heroes scream in horror. Really, it looks like the Black Leeches are just... well... humping the heroes' legs, which kinda puts a damper on the whole "horror" aspect of the scene (and turns a [[HorrorHunger big-time]] {{Squick}} into a [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong lesser]] {{Squick}}.)]] In other words... BodyHorror + SpecialEffectsFailure = {{Narm}}.
** "Shadow.... ANDROID?! Am I... an... android TOO?!"
** Essentially, this was the first (and last) Sonic game to use swearing. It was also the ultimate proof of why Sonic games didn't need swearing in the first place.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: '''Big time.'''

* LoveItOrHateIt: The fanbase for this particular installment is [[BrokenBase incredibly polarized]]. While the story is a point of contention, the gameplay is considered an improvement on Heroes's, with the stunts actually working the way they're supposed to, the MarathonLevel length being at least ''partly'' addressed, and Sonic Team ''finally'' mapping the roll, light dash, and Spin Dash actions to separate buttons.

** Interestingly, according to Sonic Retro's article, the game came about because a young fan wrote to Sega asking them to make a game where ''Sonic'' used a gun. Sega decided that Shadow was [[CaptainObvious the better choice for that sort of thing.]] YourMileageMayVary on whether or not that's a good thing.

** Lost Impact is annoying to complete the hero mission (Maria's) for, since getting all the health packs requires a lot of time and backtracking, although it's not so much difficult as it is tedious.

* For themes with lyrics we have all of the ending themes, but especially ''All Hail Shadow'', and ''I Am All of Me'' for the main theme. Most of the background music also counts.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: For themes with lyrics we have all of the ending themes, but especially ''All Hail Shadow'', and ''I Am All of Me'' for the main theme. Most of the background music also counts.

* "Shadow.... ANDROID?! Am I... an... android TOO?!"

* CameraScrew: Present throughout the game, but is especially egregious in Cosmic Fall, where the camera spazzing out makes it very difficult to judge jumps.

* CompleteMonster: Black Doom qualifies big time, as his ultimate goal was [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream to paralyze]] ''[[KillEmAll the entire biosphere]]'' [[DeadlyGas with nerve gas]] from [[AlienMothership the Black Comet]] so that his offspring could [[ChestBurster feed on the Earth's inhabitants]] [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong at their leisure]]. He even ''called'' humans "an important [[LifeEnergy energy source]]". So, it basically was ToServeMan and pretty much '''''[[FunnyAnimal every single form of animal life on the entire planet.]]''''']] And he would've pulled if off, too, if [[spoiler: Shadow didn't turn out to be immune to the nerve gas ''and'' to Black Doom's nasty MindControl / HannibalLecture combo... granted, Shadow only resisted the second one with some timely assistance from the Chaotix and inspirational words from Professor Gerald and Maria, but still...]]

** How can the ARK's cannon fire [[spoiler: in the Last Story, when Shadow was using the Chaos Emeralds to maintain his Super form, when it was stated in SonicAdventure 2 that the Chaos Emeralds where the power source for the cannon? Beause ''the cannon never fired in SA2, it's using the remaining power from when Eggman tried to use the Emeralds to fire the cannon at the end of that game.'']]

* LoveItOrHateIt: The fanbase for this particular installment is [[BrokenBase incredibly polarized]]. While the story is a point of contention, the gameplay is considered an improvement on Heroes', with the stunts actually working the way they're supposed to, the MarathonLevel length being at least ''partly'' addressed, and Sonic Team ''finally'' mapping the roll, light dash, and Spin Dash actions to separate buttons.

** "Find the Computer Room!" which both the fanbase and SEGA launched on top of to create the sneakiest injoke of Summer of Sonic '09 - in particular, putting up confusing signs to the computer room. Of course, it's also in the placeholder for [[http://www.sonic-city.com Sonic City]].

** On a different path, Shadow deliberately tries to kill the fleeing president, who is previously shown to be almost comically upstanding. Shadow fails to accomplish this as well.

** There's more than that. Some would argue that virtually ''everything'' in the game is Narm-y ("Find the computer room!" and "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald?" come to mind.) But one of the Narmiest scenes in the game has to be where Black Doom reveals his plans at the start of the Last Story. [[spoiler: After Chaos-Controlling the Black Comet down to Earth, [[ToServeMan revealing his]] [[ImAHumanitarian "humanitarian" objectives]] (see CompleteMonster above,) and paralyzing everybody with nerve gas, he then summons some Black Leeches and says "Ah, my dear offspring... [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment eat and devour]] these savory dishes!!!" The Black Leeches then crawl towards Sonic and friends... and proceed to just bob up and down in front of them while the [[CanOnlyMoveTheEyes hapless]] heroes scream in horror. Really, it looks like the Black Leeches are just... well... humping the heroes' legs, which kinda puts a damper on the whole "horror" aspect of the scene (and turns a [[HorrorHunger big-time]] {{Squick}} into a [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong lesser]] {{Squick}}.)]] In other words... BodyHorror + SpecialEffectsFailure = {{Narm}}.

* SoBadItsGood: Amongst the badly BrokenBase, some fans think the [[RuleAbidingRebel barely PG13 violence and language]], ridiculous plot and dialogue and averaging gameplay make the game a camp masterpiece.
* TearJerker: YourMileageMayVary, but [[spoiler: Seeing (and hearing) how depressed Shadow becomes during the Slightly Hero - Hero Ending of the game can count as this.]]
* ThatOneLevel: Cosmic Fall is a MAJOR pain in the ass because of the numerous tricky jumps over rotating platforms, and you'll have to fight with the akward camera throughout the entire level, good luck beating this level on hard mode!
* TooSoon: It's detailed on the page, but let's just say certain goals (like bombing a city and [[spoiler:almost]] assassinating the President of the [[{{Eagleland}} United Federation]]) were a ''bit'' controversial in late 2005.
* UnfortunateImplications" The fact that there are "white soldiers" defending against the "black aliens". Before the game came out, {{VG Cats}} did a comic joking about how Shadow, a black hedgehog, would have a gun, and that the rings would be replaced by watermelons.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids

* BaseBreaker - This game turned Shadow one. The release of the [[http://gamebabble.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/466px-shadow_pose_12.jpg promotional image of the game]] had effects on the fandom.
* CameraScrew - Especially egregious in Cosmic Fall, where the camera spazzing out makes it very difficult to judge jumps.
* ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch - Most of the reviews on websites such as Amazon seem to mostly be complaining about the game's gratuitous swearing and [[UnfortunateImplications possible racial undertones]] rather than the game itself.
* CompleteMonster: Black Doom qualifies big time.
** [[ToServeMan To Serve The Entire Earth]]: [[ImAHumanitarian Black Doom...]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel * shudder* ]] His ultimate goal was [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream to paralyze]] ''[[KillEmAll the entire biosphere]]'' [[DeadlyGas with nerve gas]] from [[AlienMothership the Black Comet]] so that his offspring could [[ChestBurster feed on the Earth's inhabitants]] [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong at their leisure]]. He even ''called'' humans "an important [[LifeEnergy energy source]]". So, it basically was ToServeMan... and Hedgehogs... and Foxes... and Bats... and Echidnas... and Rabbits... and pretty much '''''[[FunnyAnimal every single form of animal life on the entire planet.]]''''']] And he would've pulled if off, too, if [[spoiler: Shadow didn't turn out to be immune to the nerve gas ''and'' to Black Doom's nasty MindControl+ HannibalLecture combo... granted, Shadow only resisted the second one with some timely assistance from the Chaotix and inspirational words from Professor Gerald and Maria, but still...]]
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome - For themes with lyrics we have all of the ending themes, but especially ''All Hail Shadow'', and ''I Am All of Me'' for the main theme. Most of the background music also counts.

* CharacterDerailment - [[spoiler:Gerald's personality in Last Story as a kind old man who wanted to help humanity is in stark contrast to his portrayal as a genocidal, batshit insane madman in ''Adventure 2''.]]
** [[spoiler:Although, Maria being still alive when that plan was made has something to do with it, seeing as what fueled Gerald to rage against humanity was her death...]]
* EnsembleDarkHorse - Shadow, to about half the ''Sonic'' fan base.
* FridgeBrilliance - Why does [[TacticalSuicideBoss Egg Dealer]] have a Shadow Fever option, you may ask? Why, to power up his army of ''Shadow'' Androids, of course!

* LoveItOrHateIt - The fanbase for this particular installment is [[BrokenBase incredibly polarized]]. In particular, SoBadItsGood or SoBadItsHorrible, although there are SoCoolItsAwesome camps out there...
** While the story is a point of contention, the gameplay is considered an improvement on Heroes', with the stunts actually working the way they're supposed to, the MarathonLevel length being at least ''partly'' addressed, and Sonic Team '''''finally''''' mapping the roll, light dash, and Spin Dash actions to separate buttons.
* MemeticMutation - "Where's that [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating damn]] FOURTH Chaos Emerald?"
** Don't forget Vector's "Find the Computer Room!"
*** Which both the fanbase and SEGA launched on top of to create the sneakiest injoke of Summer of Sonic '09 - in particular, putting up confusing signs to the computer room. Of course, it's also in the placeholder for [[http://www.sonic-city.com Sonic City]].

* MoralEventHorizon - Shadow puts his current total of five Chaos Emeralds into the Eclipse Cannon and uses it to completely destroy a capital city. But then this trope is averted thanks to NoEndorHolocaust.

*** His final chance to cross it for certain paths can count as a success. In three of the endings, [[spoiler: he decides to kill everyone's favorite eggheaded scientist.]]
* {{Narm}} - Some of the Dark endings are hilarious, with Shadow announcing his intent to [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds destroy the earth]], conquer the universe, or be ''the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking ultimate Hedgehog.]]'' Then he laughs maniacally.

** Oh, the magic of NarmCharm - or indeed, FridgeBrilliance, making you realize that at this point, either he's done so much running around that the endorphins are making him hysterical, or he's gone completely insane from all the confusion he's been subject to. Either way, he's got the Chaos Emeralds and enough power to blow the planet up.
*** Endorphins? Cue the FridgeBrilliance of the Dark endings.

* RuinedFOREVER - The very first thing shouted at this game when the first promotional image and trailer came out, which emphasized the gunplay. The game itself actually has less gunplay than what was implied in that trailer.
* ScrappyMechanic - The weapons actually work better than you probably expect, but the ''vehicles'' are not so polished -- especially the motorcycle that shows up in the intro movie.
** The walkers work pretty well, though.
* SoBadItsGood - Amongst the badly BrokenBase, some fans think the [[RuleAbidingRebel barely PG13 violence and language]], ridiculous plot and dialogue and averaging gameplay make the game a camp masterpiece.
** And Vector's voice.

* UnfortunateImplications - The fact that there are "white soldiers" defending against the "black aliens". Before the game came out, {{VG Cats}} did a comic joking about how Shadow, a black hedgehog, would have a gun, and that the rings would be replaced by watermelons.

* {{Wangst}} - This is the game that inadvertently set Shadow's characterization among the fanbase as this.
** Ironically, it's also the one where he actually gets over it.
* TheWesley - What the [[YourMileageMayVary other half]] of the ''Sonic'' fandom sees Shadow as.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids
* YourMileageMayVary - This game is either an impressive addition to the Sonic franchise, or yet another piece of crap for poor Sonic to pick up.