History TearJerker / SonicAdventure2

* The backstory of Shadow is quite sad: he had a happy life that was taken when the government stormed his home and killed everyone there, under the pretense that he was a danger to everyone. He watched Maria (essentially a sister to him) die in front of him, and his "father" Gerald was arrested, went insane from grief (a TearJerker in of itself) and was executed. And then they locked him away for 50 years, of which [[AndIMustScream he was likely conscious the whole time.]] [[TheWoobie Poor Shadow REALLY needs a hug.]]

* Even though [he is ultimately responsible for setting up the major final obstacle and setting Shadow on the path to complete it, Gerald's story is tragic when you realize he only did all this ''after G.U.N destroyed his life'', killing people he worked with as well as his uninvolved and hinted to be terminally-ill granddaughter, imprisoning him to continue his work under ''their'' supervision and ultimately sentencing him to death.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGzhKV8SVIk music that plays during the final scene]] is easily the saddest in the entire franchise, both story-wise and meta-wise. Story-wise in that it has all of the main characters reflecting on Shadow's sacrifice and how the world's greatest scientist nearly destroyed all of humankind mere minutes ago. Meta-wise in that this was the final Sonic game produced before the failure of the Dreamcast and Sega’s subsequent buyout and “[[ExecutiveMeddling retooling]]” by Sammy Corp. It really does feel like the EndOfAnEra.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGzhKV8SVIk music that plays during the final scene]] is easily the saddest in the entire franchise, both story-wise and meta-wise. Story-wise in that it has all of the main characters reflecting on Shadow's sacrifice and how the world's greatest scientist nearly destroyed all of humankind mere minutes ago. Meta-wise in that this was the final Sonic game produced before the failure of the Dreamcast and Nintendo's subsequent buyout by Nintendo. It really does feel like the EndOfAnEra.

* Tails' theme, "Believe in Myself." It reuses the lyrics from ''Adventure'', and, well, see the song's entry on [[TearJerker/SonicAdventure that game's Tear Jerker page]]. However, the tune is changed completely, removing the LyricalDissonance and making it sound just as sad as the lyrics imply. There are a lot more minor keys in this version, and the tune overall sounds more wistful and melancholy, with just a faint bit of hope in the chorus

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGzhKV8SVIk music]], which is easily the saddest in the entire franchise, ties all of this together — story-wise and meta-wise.

** During the final battle, there's some of this on Sonic's end as well. As the fight progresses more and more towards the time limit, Sonic begins to realize that there's something wrong with Shadow: that he's losing power, which ultimately leads to his [[spoiler:near-death]]. Unfortunately, given the current situation -- the five minutes until the planet is destroyed, and all -- there's not much he can do to provide direct aid.

** Amy's reaction when Sonic [[spoiler:"dies" inside the exploding capsule]]. Just ''listen'' to the heartbreaking way she says his name when she realizes that [[spoiler:her crush has apparently been killed, before breaking down in tears.]]

* Even though [[spoiler:he is ultimately responsible for setting up the major final obstacle and setting Shadow on the path to complete it]], Gerald's story is tragic when you realize he only did all this ''after G.U.N destroyed his life'', killing people he worked with as well as his uninvolved and hinted to be terminally-ill granddaughter, imprisoning him to continue his work under ''their'' supervision and ultimately sentencing him to death.
--> '''Gerald''': [[spoiler:I plan to give you a taste of my revenge, once all the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected -- once I initiate this program, ''it cannot be disabled.'' All of you ungrateful humans, who took '''everything away from me'''... will feel my loss... and ''despair.'']]
--> '''G.U.N. Soldier''': [[spoiler:Is there anything else you want to say?]]
--> '''Gerald''': [[spoiler:[[LittleNo No...]]]]
--> '''G.U.N. Soldier''': [[spoiler:(''gives the execution order'') '''''[[WhamLine Ready!]]''''']]

* The Last Story ending, with Shadow's HeroicSacrifice when he uses the last of his power to warp the falling Space Colony ARK back into orbit using Chaos Control-- as shown in the page picture.

** What also makes it tear jerking is the people of Earth realizing that they're saved, they're not going to die... and then they all cheer him.
* The closing cutscene after the True ending to ''Sonic Adventure 2'' gives closure and underscores the tear-jerking nature of Shadow's heroic sacrifice. Three words: ''Rest easy, heroes.''
-->'''Sonic:''' He was what he was -- a brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save the planet. Shadow the Hedgehog!

* [=SA2=]'s ending, if not for Shadow's sacrifice, then for the heroes and villains' conversations with one another. Tails and Eggman's heart-to-heart, in particular --

--> '''Tails:''' I dunno, but what I do know is... we all did it together!

* Sonic's goodbye, especially since he was unknowingly [[MeaningfulEcho echoing Maria]]-
--> '''Sonic:''' Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog...
* [[http://i.imgur.com/RGTcHl.jpg Rest easy, heroes...]] That really was the final blow.
* The backstory of Shadow was quite sad: he had a happy life that was taken when the government stormed his home and killed everyone there, under the pretense that he was a danger to everyone. He watched Maria (essentially a sister to him) die in front of him, and his "father" Gerald was arrested, went insane from grief (a TearJerker in of itself) and was executed. And then they locked him away for 50 years, of which [[AndIMustScream he was likely conscious the whole time.]] [[TheWoobie Shadow really needs a hug.]]

* When a Chao dies, a short funerary-sounding jingle plays. In addition, this game removed the Chao's ability to die through running out of HP by being hurt by player attacks. A Chao will only die if its happiness is too low at the end of its life. While a Chao's decision to reincarnate is visible through its the color of its death cocoon in the rereleases, on the Dreamcast version a Chao will be looking down and shaking its head if it is going to die. It's not hard to intepret it as DeathByDespair.

* Oh how depressing and tear-jerking the "Fake Emerald" Scene was... Let us count the ways.
** Amy being held at gun-point, helpless.
** The sudden realization by Tails that Sonic is in grave danger.
** Sonic's last words --
--> '''Sonic:''' [[AllUpToYou I'm counting on you, Tails!]] And Amy... ''take care of yourself.''
** Amy's reaction when Sonic [[spoiler:"dies" inside the exploding capsule]]. Just listen to the way she says his name when she realizes that [[spoiler:her crush has apparently been killed, before breaking down in tears.]]
** The battle against Eggman as Tails, especially since he's fighting the man who killed his best friend.
-->'''Tails:''' For the first time, Sonic asked me to do something for him... I won't let him down! ''I WON'T GIVE UP!''
** Switching roles, after you defeat Tails as Eggman, Tails utters the line ''"Forgive me... Sonic..."''. That gives you the impression that he has failed to avenge his best friend, whom he fully believes has died.

* As [[{{Narm}} narmy]] as the theme songs are in [=SA2=], it's kind of sad listening to the full version of Unknown from M.E. (Knuckles' theme). Though there are obvious offenders ("But every time he looks for the sun can't find it") the worst line is rather difficult to make out the few times you hear it: "Freedom will be waiting when serenity is restored". We never really get the idea that Knuckles resents the whole 'guardian' thing in-game (A little in the original [=SA=], but not here.) but there are a few other lines that reference 'fighting for his destiny'. It's a little depressing to think that he may be fighting for freedom from his duties when it's quite obvious that it's not going to happen. [[MoodWhiplash Of course, the lyrics switch focus so often that it's easy to forget the above]].

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGzhKV8SVIk music]], which is easily the saddest in the entire franchise, ties all of this together - story-wise and meta-wise.

** [[FromBadToWorse And the ride doesn't stop there, folks.]] Not only was he sealed away right after a traumatic event, but according to Gerald, [[FakeMemories his mind and memories had been tampered with]] to make him believe Maria desired revenge for her death rather than for humanity to live on peacefully. Imagine what it must have felt like to go to sleep one day mourning your best friend and wake up the next with a sudden, inexplicable-yet-unquenchable lust for revenge. With how much Shadow recollects on his memories of Maria and how zoned out and depressed he gets about it, you almost get the impression that he KNOWS something is wrong with the whole scenario, but can't bring himself to not respect(What he thinks is) his friend's dying wish. [[EpiphanyTherapy Amy talking some sense into him and helping him remember Maria's true wishes]] becomes even more of a heartwarming moment with all that in mind.

* In some ways, [[PsychoPrototype the Biolizard]] can be seen as this, due to its [[FlawedPrototype very,]] ''[[FlawedPrototype very]]'' [[FlawedPrototype flawed biological makeup]]. Its hind legs are half-formed and useless -- forcing it to move around by painfully dragging itself along the ground -- appears to [[EyeScream have cameras connected into where its eyes should be]] to see, and has evident trouble breathing; needing to pause every once in a while to catch its breath, and relying on a huge life support machine hard-wired into its back and head to survive. Then the second time it's fought, the Biolizard's previously-impenetrable skin [[BodyHorror starts breaking out into huge swelling boils]]. It's almost a mercy kill when Shadow and Sonic finally put the poor creature out of its misery.

* In some ways, [[PsychoPrototype the Biolizard]] can be seen as this, due to its very, ''very'' [[FlawedPrototype flawed biological makeup]]. Its hind legs are half-formed and useless -- forcing it to move around by painfully dragging itself along the ground -- appears to [[EyeScream have cameras wired into where its eyes should be]] to see, and has evident trouble breathing; needing to pause every once in a while to catch its breath, and relying on a huge life support machine hard-wired into its back and head to survive. Then the second time it's fought, the Biolizard's previously-inpenetrable skin [[BodyHorror starts breaking out into huge swelling boils]]. It's almost a mercy kill when Shadow and Sonic finally put the poor creature out of its misery.

* In some ways, [[PsychoPrototype the Biolizard]] can be seen as this. It seems to have trouble breathing, needs to pause every once in a while to catch its breath, and relies on a life support machine to survive. It's almost a mercy kill when the heroes finally put it out of its misery.

->''You have to face it again and again...''

** The battle against Eggman as Tails, especially since he's fighting the man who [[YouKilledMyFather killed his brother.]]

-->'''Tails''': (''weakly'') [[MyGreatestFailure For... give... me,]] [[MyGreatestFailure S-Sonic...]]''

** Similarly, if you run out of HP as Tails, he weakly mutters "Son...ic....." as he dies, which could be either a cry for help or an [[Main/SorryThatImDying apology for failing.]] It gets even worse in the Eggman fight above, especially on a first-time playthrough, since [[Main/ThatOneBoss you will be hearing it a lot,]] and it feels like ''you'' failed Sonic too.

* If you lose the life playing as Shadow in the Dark Team story mode then you will hear Shadow whispering "Maria." when he dies. Sad part, it's as if Shadow is telling Maria that he was sorry that he failed his mission for her.

* Gerald loved his granddaughter, Maria, so much, that her death was the genesis that drove him to wanting to destroy all of humanity as revenge... and yet, he didn't love her enough to ''not'' alter Shadow's last memories of her, twisting his thoughts of her for the sake of revenge, going against everything Maria wanted.

** Amy's reaction when Sonic [[spoiler:"dies" inside the exploding capsule]]. Just listen to the way she says his name when she realises that [[spoiler:her crush has apparently been killed, before breaking down in tears.]]

* Even though [[spoiler:he is ultimately responsible for setting up the major final obstacle and setting Shadow on the path to complete it]], Gerald's story is tragic when you realise he only did all this ''after G.U.N destroyed his life'', killing people he worked with as well as his uninvolved and hinted to be terminally-ill granddaughter, imprisoning him to continue his work under ''their'' supervision and ultimately sentencing him to death.

--> '''G.U.N. Soldier''': [[spoiler:(''gives the execution order'') '''''[[WhamLine Ready!]]''''']]

** Regarding the Chao Transporter Machine, the HD version of the game takes away its menu options except for the Good-Bye option (mainly because of the absence of the GameBoy Advance link). Now it's simply named the "Chao Departure Machine".

* Amy [[PatrickStewartSpeech reasoning with Shadow]] to save the Earth

* Amy reasoning with Shadow to save the Earth

* Sonic's goodbye, especially since he was unknowingly echoing Maria-

** Eggman finally got his way.

* Amy reasoning with Shadow to save the Earth (despite it being very {{Narm}})--

* Amy reasoning with Shadow to save the Earth (despite it being very [[{{Narm}}]])--