Super Shadow

"Time to unleash the ultimate power!"

- Super Shadow, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Super Shadow (スーパーシャドウ) is the Super State of Shadow the Hedgehog when he harnesses the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Super Shadow made his first appearance in Sonic Adventure 2 and has since then appeared in numerous games. While transformed, all his powers and abilities are enhanced up to their full limit and just like Super Sonic, he requires Rings in order to stay transformed.

Appearance
When transformed into Super Shadow, Shadow's black fur turns into a golden lemon-cream color. Other than that, his additional fur colors, eye color and quill style remains unchanged. He also possesses a golden aura that varies in size, which can be anything from smooth to flame-like in shape. In Shadow the Hedgehog however, his quills pointed upwards like Super Sonic's instead of being in their normal stance.

Powers and abilities
With the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Super Shadow is one of the most powerful beings seen in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, having been able to fight and defeat fearsome monsters and even beings that are considered deities. As Super Shadow, Shadow gains the ability to fly and becomes invincible to all known attacks, except attacks from the most powerful beings in the series, such as Solaris. Also, like other known super transformations, Super Shadow’s physical abilities get an enormous boost as well: His speed and physical strength are vastly enhanced to the same levels as Super Sonic's, allowing him to break through large obstacles and move at light speed. His reflexes are also increased to the point where they can match his upgraded movements and those of his foes.

While transformed, all of Super Shadow’s Chaos Powers are enhanced to their full limit and is a vital part of his fighting style in this form. He can now perform Chaos Control on a massive scale, capable of moving the large Black Comet on his own and the Space Colony ARK (with the help of Super Sonic). Likewise, his Chaos Blast has become so powerful that it can damage Devil Doom and bring massive destruction to the surrounding environment. His Chaos Spear technique has also been upgraded, allowing him to launch smaller Chaos Spears, named Chaos Arrows, in rapid succession or charge them up for greater power and damage. He also gains the ability to perform another version of it called Spear of Light as seen in his fight with Solaris, where he charges up red energy and then launches eight Chaos Lances (an upgraded Chaos Spear). simultaneously, and then hits the opponent at the same time. He also gains access to new Chaos Powers that he cannot usually perform in his normal form.

Super Shadow can also gain more power by assuming the Hero or Dark Shadow state, as seen in Shadow the Hedgehog. In these states, Shadow can increase his Chaos Control and Chaos Blast to an incredible range and renders him unfazeable. However these states only last for few seconds.

Super Shadow can perform the Super Sonic Boost, where he surrounds himself in a golden aura and rams into the opponent at high speed, damaging the opponent. He has, however, not displayed as many different uses of it as Super Sonic has, since he relies more on his Chaos Powers to fight his opponents. He can also perform smaller dashes to perform shorter and more precise movements.

Like most other super transformations, Super Shadow needs Rings to stay transformed. Otherwise he will be forced to power down and return to his normal state.

Sonic X
Just like Super Sonic, Sonic X is the only animated Sonic TV series so far to feature Super Shadow. Super Shadow is also the only other super transformation presented in the TV series besides Super Sonic. His appearance is identical with his Sonic Adventure 2 design, with his physical proportions unchanged and his black fur turns lemon yellow, but is slightly darker. Some scenes, however, depicts his quills pointing slightly more vertically than usual.

Super Shadow first appearance was in the second season. During the Shadow Saga, Shadow became Super Shadow in order to battle the Final Lizard, alongside Super Sonic and prevent the Space Colony ARK from destroying the Earth. In their struggle, Super Shadow removes his Inhibitor Rings to give himself a power boost and together, they send the Space Colony ARK back into orbit with a unified Chaos Control. Afterwards, Shadow is presumed to have died.

Super Shadow later reappeared in the middle of the third season. In a struggle for the seven Chaos Emeralds inside a Metarex fortress in space, Sonic and Shadow ended up entering their Super States in the conflict, and they have a brief battle. Soon after though, a gravitational field inside the fortress treats to destroy Dr. Eggman and his space ship, but Super Shadow manages to save them, by performing a Chaos Control that warps the space ship away.

Super Shadow appeared again, at the end of the third season, alongside Super Sonic, in the final battle against Dark Oak, but they are unable to break through Dark Oak's force field as he prepares to destroy the galaxy. However, thanks to the sacrifice of Cosmo, they manage to finally defeat Dark Oak. After trying to save Cosmo, Super Shadow knocks Super Sonic unconscious and performs Chaos Control to warp himself and Dark Oak's corrupted Planet Egg far away before it explodes.

Archie Comics
Following the comic's adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow entered his Super State to become Super Shadow when he allied himself with Super Sonic to stop the Finalhazard from destroying Mobius with the Space Colony ARK, but the effort from it left him drained of energy and he became lost in space. He entered this form again when he was saved by an alien race called the Bem from drifting through space, by providing him with enough power to become Super Shadow. The reason for this was so he could combat the approaching Xorda. Super Shadow proved unprepared for the Xorda attack, however, and was sent plummeting towards Mobius.

Shadow reached his super transformation once again, this time due to A.D.A.M. pulling all of the Chaos Emeralds in the universe towards Mobius to use their incredible powers for his own gain. After being released from captivity by Dr. Eggman, Super Shadow used his Chaos Control to aid Turbo Tails and sent all of the Chaos Emeralds into the Zone of Silence, thus ending A.D.A.M.'s plans.

Theme song

 * "I Am... All of Me" by Crush 40 - Played during the final battle of Shadow the Hedgehog against Devil Doom. It describes the mystery surrounding Shadow's past from his perspective and his quest to figure it out, while outlining the different paths he can take.

Trivia

 * Super Shadow is the second most frequently used super transformation in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, next to Super Sonic.
 * During the battle against the Finalhazard in Sonic Adventure 2, it is implied with in-battle quotes that Shadow struggles more than Sonic in maintaining his Super State. This could be due to a lack of experience with the transformation (whereas Sonic has used it many times), or that he was exerting himself more in the battle.
 * Many people mistakenly call this form Hyper Shadow, due to a misprint in the strategy guide for the game. While the term is still widely used, hacking and viewing the in-game files confirms the name Super Shadow.
 * When Super Shadow wanted to stop the space colony ark from falling into the Earth with Super Sonic his shoes' light was purple.
 * it is also strange that Shadow use Hover Shoes, while he can fly by his Super State power.
 * The artwork from the Sonic Art Assets DVD is a recolor of an artwork used for promoting Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Its purpose at the time was box art for the upcoming Action Figure 3 pack featuring Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver.
 * In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, when Shadow uses his All-Star Move (Super Shadow), if you look closely, you will notice that his nose is yellow, along with the rest of his body. This is probably a mistake, because his nose remains black in all of the other games Super Shadow makes an appearance in.
 * The fact that Shadow and Sonic can reach a "super" state has lead many people to draw a likeness between Akira Toriyamas Dragonball Z characters Vegeta and Goku to Shadow and Sonic. Both teams are a Protagonist and Anti-hero (antagonists at one point) and both reach a super form (Super Saiyan and Super Shadow/s\Sonic.)