The Doom

The Doom is a stage in the game Shadow the Hedgehog. The Doom is one of the five fourth stages and can be reached by completing the Normal mission of Cryptic Castle or the Dark mission of Prison Island.

Story
Shadow wanders through the forest after his last mission, back to introspecting about his identity just as he did at the very beginning of the game. Once again, Black Doom manifests in front of the hedgehog, though this time with a more powerful illusion - the entire world melts away as Doom apparently delves into Shadow's memory, to produce a simulacrum of the events on the Space Colony ARK 50 years ago. Watching from afar as his past self flees through the corridors with Maria Robotnik.

This entire level therefore seems to take the form of a flashback; Shadow remembering what he did during the GUN assault that shut down Project Shadow. Not free of moral choices even half a century ago, Shadow can defend the ARK by killing the GUN troops directly in the Dark route, spurred on by Doom's Eye (though whether Doom was physically there on the ARK 50 years ago, or is simply inserting himself into the memory to mess with Shadow's head, isn't clear), do as Maria says and heal the injured ARK researchers by bringing healing units to them, or take the neutral route and simply escape with Maria as fast as possible.

Whichever course Shadow chooses, his and Maria's escape after the level is blocked by the GUN Heavy Dog boss.

Dark
Ranking:

Leads to: The ARK thumb|300px|left

Normal
Escape from the GUN raid!


 * Objective: Reach the Goal Ring.
 * Tips: Grenade Launchers are capable of destroying cracked walls.

Ranking:

Leads to: Air Fleet

Hero
Save the captured researchers!


 * Guide: Maria Robotnik
 * Objective: Use Heal Units on the 10 injured researchers.
 * Tips: The Heal Units are usually close to the researchers they are intended for. Also, if unlocked, the Heal Cannon works just as well, if not better.
 * If a Heal Unit is used on a GUN troop, they will stop attacking. It will also help Shadow fill the Hero gauge.

Ranking:

Leads to: Iron Jungle

Boss: Heavy Dog

 * Boss's Affiliation: GUN
 * Tips: Shadow's Homing Attack is required for the first part of the battle in order to destroy Heavy Dog's guns. After the first gun is destroyed, it becomes a usable 4-Shot RPG. The 4-Shot allows multiple lock-on targets at once. Ammo for the 4-Shot comes from destroying more of Heavy Dog's weapons.

Ranking:

Behind the Secret Door
A switch that will open a cage containing a single ring, once the ring is collected and Shadow steps on the base of the cage, it triggers the platform next to it. To get it to start moving, stand on the platform and follow the path and it will take you through the stage. A big shortcut helpful with the Normal Mission.

You can also trigger the switch of the cage to make the platform start moving without opening the secret door and activating the switch inside. Use Shadow's Punch, Punch, Kick combo in front of the cage.

Trivia

 * In the cutscene before the level itself, the scenery is actually different depending on which level the player went through before, Prison Island makes the forest all green, Cryptic Castle makes the forest all red.
 * This stage is a more violent and tense version of Lost Impact.
 * This stage has more GUN troops to defeat than most dark missions.
 * This is the one of the two times Maria Robotnik is playable.
 * During Expert Mode instead of reaching the Goal you must heal all ten researchers instead. Unlike within the hero mission though, they are all located in one room at the very end of the level, very close to a Heal Unit spawn.
 * The hero mission is considered easier after the heal cannon is unlocked.
 * While playing the Hero mission and running down a slope, Maria comments that Shadow used to race down the slope often. This is the only known mention of what Shadow may have been doing when not solving a problem or spending time with Maria.