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. Following the traditional super transformation, Super Shadow's black fur turns into a golden lemon-cream, but his white chest fur retains its color, as do his red stripes and eyes.

Title
Since Super Shadow's arrival in Sonic Adventure 2, found in the last story, fans of Sonic and Shadow started using the name Hyper Shadow instead of the accurate name, Super Shadow. Fans also sometimes get the body color of Super Shadow mixed up, calling it 'silver'. However, Super Shadow's fur appears that way because of the engine used to render the graphics of Sonic Adventure 2.

Physical Appearance

 * Sonic Adventure 2: When Super Shadow first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2, he was almost the same as Shadow but he was champagne/silver excluding his red streaking. This was changed to a lighter gold-tone for Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
 * Sega Superstars: Super Shadow is in Sega Superstars after the player has collected all the Chaos Emeralds with Shadow.
 * Shadow the Hedgehog: After Shadow transformed, he had a yellow golden glow around him, and like Super Sonic, his quills were pointed upwards instead of them being in their normal stance.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): After transforming along with Sonic and Silver, his colors changed to that of his usual Super State. Only now his spikes remain as they were in his normal form.
 * Sega Superstars Tennis: Super Shadow is Shadow's Superstar move. His quills stay in the normal stance, and his color is similar to that of Sonic Adventure 2.
 * Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing: Super Shadow is Shadow's All-Star move. He looks similar to his appearance in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sega Superstars Tennis.

Powers and abilities
When transformed by the seven Chaos Emeralds, Super 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 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 Finalhazard, 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.

Quotes

 * "Sonic, leave it to me, I'll destroy him!" - Super Shadow during the battle against the Finalhazard.
 * "Here I come, you creep!" - Super Shadow at the beginning of his turn in the battle against the Finalhazard.
 * "Sonic, I just realized who the ultimate lifeform is... it could be you!" - Super Shadow, late in the battle against the Finalhazard.
 * "I must destroy all the evil the Professor has created." - Super Shadow after defeating the Finalhazard.
 * "This is the end of you, and the end to my cursed past!" - Super Shadow after defeating Devil Doom.
 * "Only one thing left to do... To put the past behind me!!" - Super Shadow, as he sends the Black Comet back into space.
 * "A Super-Dimensional being… Heh. This might even be a fair fight!" - Super Shadow's first quote when facing Solaris.
 * "No, it's not over yet!" - Super Shadow after defeating Solaris for the first time.
 * "I will release you from the chains of your past!" - Super Shadow when attacking Solaris in the past.

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.
 * 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.