The episode begins with Sonic enjoying a Sunday afternoon joyride in the canyon in his Sonic Speedster vehicle when Tails arrives in his own vehicle with a hoverboarding Knuckles behind him; Sonic challenges him to a race, and he accepts, all the while not paying attention to Knuckles colliding into several rocks and getting increasingly dazed. However, Sonic must abruptly call off the race when Amy contacts him on his Communicator for something important... asking for eggs so she can complete a recipe. Sonic activates his pedal-powered boost and speeds toward Hedgehog Village, leaving Tails and a barely-conscious Knuckles (who says he "can live with" Sonic ending the race prematurely) in his dust. However, on his way in, he splashes a grocery-buying Eggman with mud, annoying the doctor; apologizing for the accidental mud bath, Sonic allows him a chance at retribution by splashing him with mud, but Eggman's attempt only gets him more soaked. Furious, Eggman summons his robots to attack Sonic, but as per usual, the hedgehog wins the battle, and Eggman only gets jeers from the villagers as a "reward". Considering himself the victim here, Eggman wonders what could have possibly brought this jeering about, and Sonic, as with most other things, is quick to pin the blame on the supervillain's regular misdeeds; this gets Eggman thinking of a way to improve his image.
It doesn't take long for Eggman to find inspiration in this plan; he comes across a crowd of villagers buying a just-released Tommy Thunder video game, and it is massive— Mark the Tapir can hardly keep the crowd back, failing entirely when Tommy himself says stock is limited and getting trampled upon. And so Eggman gets to work on his own video game, which he's titled 'Stache Smash. Upon the game's completion, he puts it on sale and attempts to get the villagers to buy it, but everyone passes him by, disinterested. Tails and Knuckles come nearby, and Eggman tells them about the newest, coolest game on store shelves, but of course, they (and an injured Mark, who somehow managed to make it to the job) mention different games entirely. Upon Eggman's explanation of what his game is and how it plays, Tails and Knuckles pass on buying it for being "old-fashioned", with Tails adding that the best games use motion-capture technology.
Further influenced by this advice, Eggman decides to make an enhanced version of the game with motion-capture called Super 'Stache Smash; he later attacks Hedgehog Village with his robot hordes, Spy Bots in the wings to record Team Sonic in battle so he can recreate their abilities accurately in the video game. After a short while, Team Sonic inevitably dismantles the robots, and Eggman tells the Spy Bots to record him as he exits the Eggmobile and performs his own stunts... which are, as you would imagine for a man of his athleticism (or lack thereof), completely horrible. A confused Team Sonic watches this trainwreck of a performance unfold, with Sticks wondering if they should retaliate against him or if his moves are embarrassing enough; Sonic responds by saying that he'd feel bad Spin Attacking Eggman over the horizon, but immediately puts that feeling aside to, well, Spin Attack him over the horizon.
After returning to his lair, Eggman watches the footage along with Orbot and Cubot, and while he's satisfied with his motion-capturing of Team Sonic, he doesn't feel so confident about his clumsy stunts. Taking Orbot's subsequent suggestion (as his own, anyway) and deciding he needs someone with far better fighting skills than himself to serve as his motion-capture stand-in, Eggman endeavors to find a foe of Sonic he knows that can really give him a challenge. He later finds the foe in question blazing a dark red trail through a canyon. He stops the speeding entity by getting in front of it, revealing it to be none other than Sonic's dark counterpart, Shadow the Hedgehog. Eggman offers him a proposition, but that's as far as he gets; Shadow immediately shuts the attempt down by telling him to get someone else to do his dirty work, as he never wants to team up with the doctor again. That's not hard to believe, considering that the one time such a team-up did happen, Eggman only succeeded in cementing himself in Shadow's eyes as a pathetic excuse of a villain and a waste of his time to interact with (and Eggman's premature "victory selfie" that kept him from landing the finishing blow on Sonic in their duel didn't help matters). He subsequently orders Eggman to get lost, and knowing that the no-nonsense hedgehog's decision not to help will remain firm (and that there's probably more of a likelihood of Shadow "helping" him into a body cast, should he not take the hint... if not a coffin), Eggman has no other choice but to comply and walk off, all the while grumbling to himself in irritation.
The direct approach may not have worked out, but Eggman doesn't give up on his plan. He goes to Sonic's Shack and interviews Sonic about Shadow with microphone and camera in tow, hoping to get him to insult his rival into attacking. Instead, Sonic answers the doctor's questions with neutral remarks; he mentions that he realizes how tough Shadow is, in spite of the "whirlwind" that was their last showdown, and hasn't thought about seeking another fight with him. Eventually, he gets impatient and cuts the interview short by walking off, much to Eggman's annoyance. Later, Shadow gets his brooding rudely interrupted when Eggman enters the cave he apparently lives in. Fortunately for the mad scientist's continued existence, Shadow reacts to this with annoyance rather than violence, and his unwelcome visitor shows him the recording of the interview with Sonic... but not the way it was originally filmed. Eggman was forced to work with what little he got out of the Blue Blur, so he took the clip apart and spliced it back together in a way that makes it sound like Sonic did trash-talk Shadow. Somehow failing to notice that Eggman's editing skills are lacking (and by "lacking", we mean "horrendous"), Shadow doesn't appreciate Sonic's insults, swearing vengeance on the hero and his friends.
In the Village Center, Knuckles is telling Tails a bartender joke when Shadow blindsides (sorry, pummels) Knuckles into a wall, with Eggman and his Spy Bots returning to watch the action and capture it from multiple angles, respectively; Eggman commentates throughout on how well certain aspects of the fight will translate into his game. Shadow continues to attack the two Team Sonic members relentlessly, tricking Knuckles into accidentally punching Tails out of the fight with a well-timed teleport and then beating the echidna to a pulp after the latter gasps in shock, realizing his error. Amy and Sticks arrive and attempt to fight him as well, but soon enough, Shadow teleports away... and doesn't show up again for several seconds. The two girls glance around, expecting the dark hedgehog to return at any moment. But the one place they don't look is behind them... which is exactly where Shadow reappears before grabbing them both and lifting them several feet into the air. He doesn't even bother to look at them as he callously tosses them aside to plummet to the ground. Obviously, the landing is not soft, and it leaves Amy with barely enough strength to activate her Communicator and tersely, weakly call Sonic for aid before she collapses.
With concern for his friends' welfare a likely factor, Sonic's on the scene almost immediately after receiving the call, and he's horrified to find his friends in excruciating pain and struggling to get to their feet. And then he spots the culprit: Shadow, floating to the ground and saying it's about time the "slowpoke" arrived. Sonic, not happy about the awful situation unfolding before him, demands to know what Shadow's done, but only receives a shoulder charge from him in response, the strength of the blow causing him to fly through three trees and into the village wall. Not long after, Shadow stands menacingly over a stunned Sonic as he lies in the rubble, once again on the verge of finishing him off and settling the score. This is where the adventure ends for now (yes, an annoyed Knuckles bemoans the cliffhanger ending, as has become tradition), and one thing's for sure: Sonic and company ain't walking away from this battle unscathed... if at all.
This episode provides examples of:
- Call-Back: A call back to "Robots From The Sky Part One" is made when Knuckles complains about the episode ending on a Cliffhanger.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Barring Sonic himself, no one on Team Sonic stands a chance against Shadow.
- Darker and Edgier: The humor in this episode and part 2 is more subdued, and the violence in both parts is not Played for Laughs.
- Deadly Dodging: During Shadow's (brief) tussle with Tails and Knuckles, the former attempts to surprise-attack Shadow from behind as he focuses on the latter. Unfortunately, Shadow notices, and as Knuckles throws a punch, he teleports away at the last moment, causing the punch to connect with Tails instead; the fox is incapacitated by the blow, and Knuckles follows him shortly after realizing he screwed up.
- Glad I Thought of It: After Eggman realizes that his poor fighting skills won't cut it in displaying himself in the best possible light for his video game, Orbot suggests that he motion-capture a foe of Sonic's with enough skill to defeat him and replace their image with his own. Eggman praises the idea... then says the trope name verbatim.
- Knight of Cerebus: Things take a dark turn when Shadow shows up.
- Manipulative Editing: Eggman edits an interview with Sonic he recorded in order to make it sound like he's trash-talking Shadow. When the edited footage is shown to Sonic's dark doppelganger, it's painfully obvious that it's been manipulated, but funnily enough, Shadow, of all people, still falls for the ruse.Sonic: Shadow?-he is-weak-that-wind-bag-could-never-beat-me.-What a-weak-weak-weak-wind-bag-he is.Shadow: This aggression shall not stand. Sonic and his friends shall pay!
- My God, What Have I Done?: Knuckles gasps in horror after being tricked into hitting Tails.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After being tricked into thinking Sonic insulted him, Shadow ambushes Team Sonic out of vengeance and utterly destroys them in what is perhaps the most vicious display of violence they've ever received in the series. To drive the point home, you definitely won't find Boom's usual depiction of injuries here; Sonic's friends are shown having difficulty in getting back up after the beating with clear expressions of agony on their faces, and even though Sonic fares significantly better, managing to fight Shadow on even ground for awhile at the beginning of Part 2, he still gets roughed up a fair bit, and they're all still feeling the injuries by the middle of that episode, long after the fight is over. This all makes one thing very clear: Shadow does not play around.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Shadow delivers a brutal one to Tails before the big fight scene.Tails: Shadow? What are you doing here?Shadow: Fox hunting.
- Roadside Wave: Eggman gets splashed with mud when Sonic drives over a puddle. Sonic apologizes and even allows Eggman to do the same to him, so Eggman jumps in the puddle, which doesn't splash Sonic at all.
- Shout-Out:
- When Tommy Thunder's new video game comes out, Wild Cat says, "Shut up and take my money!".
- When Eggman tries to advertise his new 'Stache Smash video game, he asks Tails, Knuckles, and Mark what the newest, coolest video game is. Tails and Knuckles respectively guess Super Plumber Bros. and Mortal Bloodsport VII.
- Teleport Spam: Shadow overwhelms Team Sonic with this.
