Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Boom)

"No. Justice must be had by any means necessary."

- Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

Shadow the Hedgehog is a character that appears in the Sonic Boom series. He is an anthropomorphic hedgehog of incredible power and the arch-rival of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Appearance
Shadow's appearance is mostly the same as his main series counterpart, except for a few physical and clothing differences. He is slimmer and has longer arms and legs, and more pronounced shoulders, giving him a taller appearance, and he has cowlick-like spikes that sticks out from his top side quills. His attire includes white gloves with red backs which have long red and black cuffs with fasteners. His shoes look much like the Hover Shoes, except his has large red tongues and longer red and black cuffs. Around his wrists and ankles he has golden ring bands.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
In Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Shadow silently watched Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic from a distance at Lyric's Tomb, which Team Sonic had gotten themselves locked within, before leaving. He soon after confronted Sonic and Tails at the Abandoned Research Facility where both of them had opened a portal to travel to the past which Shadow refused to let them go through. Taunting Sonic for being weak due to his loyalty to his friends, Shadow engaged them in a fight across time. On the verge of defeat, Shadow was kicked into a portal by Sonic that sent him to the near future, after Team Sonic had defeated Lyric the Last Ancient. Although prepared to fight again, Shadow instead gave the team him approval when he saw the beaten Lyric before walking away, chuckling.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
Finding Lyric excavating an area, Shadow confronted the villain, but did not object to Lyric's dark sense of justice when he sought to seize the Lost Crystal of Power. Grimly, Shadow declined as Lyric took an interest in making him his slave, only for Lyric to plant a Mind Control Device on him.

Under Lyric's control, Shadow confronted Team Sonic, but was beaten by Sonic in a race who knocked him unconscious. When he awoke, Shadow had been freed from Lyric's device. As Shadow had Tails analyzed his former Mind Control Device, a hologram of Lyric appeared to warn the group not to cross him. Shadow threatened Lyric come and face, but the villain declined his threat, so Shadow left on his own to hunt down Lyric and get his payback.

Shadow finally found Lyric when he was about to destroy Team Sonic with a cannon, whom Shadow saved by disabling Lyric's weapon. He then kicked Lyric away and Sonic opened a trapdoor, sending Lyric falling to his death. While everyone agreed their teamwork made the difference, Shadow called them out for being pathetic and left, calling himself Sonic's superior.

TV series
Receiving invitations from Dr. Eggman, Shadow came to Eggman's lair where he joined Eggman's league of villains in their mission to defeat Sonic. However, Shadow quickly grew tired of their foolishness and disputes and left the group. He soon showed up again to destroy Sonic himself after Team Eggman proved incapable of if. After an intense battle, Shadow got the upper hand, only to be distracted by a geeking Eggman, allowing Sonic to take him down. Fed up with Eggman, Shadow warned Sonic that they would soon fight again, but on his terms, and teleported away.

Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom
Shadow is scheduled to become a playable character in Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom.

Personality
Shadow is a cold and edgy character. He comes off as blunt, arrogant and uncaring and does not take kindly to outside interference, swiftly disposing of whoever gets in his way. Extremely aggressive and lacking in inhibitions, he is perfectly willing to eliminate a foe rather than merely subduing them, unlike Sonic, and believes that justice must be had by any means necessary. Despite his villanous tendencies, his motivations to fight are related purely to his pride. Because of this, he is often very destructive and even brutal in battle. Still, he usually maintains a calm, if not aloof and indifferent, attitude, and shows a general interest in nothing. Shadow has a strong sense of purpose and sticks to his goals with grim determination and intense focus, not resting until it is fulfilled. He is also not one to run away from a confrontation.

Shadow is fiercely independent and a lone wolf, believing friendship to be a sign of weakness and refuses to serve anyone but himself. Even when joining forces with others, he has no interest in collaborating or the group's plans unless it aligns with his own goals. He is likewise very serious and has little patience for silly behavior, having no issues criticizing others harshly or speaking out his low opinions for others. He despises weakness and people he deems weak, but is willing to at least give compliments when deserved. Shadow is also vengeful and is not one to let go of grudges easily; once free from Lyric's control, he spent most of his time hunting down Lyric to make him pay for enslaving him.

Powers and abilities
Shadow is a very powerful individual, being able to match Sonic's speed and abilities. He can move at speeds that rivals Sonic's and is exceptionally strong, kicking Sonic into the ground with such force that he made an impact crater in the ground. Shadow has as well impressive durability; even after taking a direct hit from Sonic's spin attack while his guard was down and getting knocked through a house, Shadow instantly got back up. He is also able to project red energies for a variety of purposes; he can envelope himself in a red aura which empowers his attacks and makes him virtually invulnerable, throw energy bolts named Chaos Spears to attack his enemies and unleash an explosion of energy named the Chaos Blast. He is also capable of teleportation almost instantly across space.

Shadow is a powerful hand-to-hand combatant, capable of taking on both Sonic and Tails in combat at the same time and has even outfought Sonic. Shadow can as well perform the spin attack where he curls tightly into a concussive ball. In this stance, Shadow can damage, destroy and mow down obstacles or foes when in motion and even equal Sonic's spin attack head-on.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is Shadow's tense arch rival and his equal in both speed, abilities and dashing looks. Despite their similarities, they are polar opposites in every way, with Shadow disagreeing with nearly everything Sonic stands for. While Sonic is joyful, free-spirited and adventurous, Shadow is brooding, serious and violently aggressive. Whereas Sonic draws strength from his friends and believes in teamwork, Shadow is a loner who only relies on himself.

Shadow shares a bitter arch-rivalry with Sonic which go way back, and is determined to defeat him at all costs due to his pride. He finds Sonic extensively annoying and criticizes him for being weak and a disgrace to hedgehog-kind. Shadow also firmly thinks of himself as Sonic's superior, and whenever they meet, they usually end up arguing. While willing to ignore Sonic out of a sense of superiority, Shadow will just as easily pick a fight with him, and will go out of his way to defeat or even kill Sonic to prove how pathetic he is, which Shadow justifies on the grounds that Sonic deserves it for being such a disgrace. In fact, fighting Sonic is one of the few things Shadow ever shows an interest in. For all his animosity towards Sonic, Shadow seems to have a degree of respect for his enemy, willingly complimenting Sonic and letting him go after he beat Lyric.

Dr. Eggman
In spite of their shared animosity for Sonic, Shadow thinks little of Dr. Eggman. While the doctor idolizes Shadow, Shadow thinks of Eggman as a pathetic fool and buffoon who is only a waste of his time, an opinion which he openly tells Eggman. Regardless, Shadow was once willing to join forces with Eggman to plan Sonic's demise, although he left once he got fed up with him. In the heat of battle, Shadow will not hesitate to brush the doctor away, but at the same time finds him such an annoyance that he was willing to drop a fight with Sonic.

Rivals

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (arch-rival)

Enemies

 * Lyric the Last Ancient

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
Shadow serves as the first boss of the game and is encountered at the end of the Abandoned Research Facility where the player must fight him as Sonic and Tails. The battle is separated into three phases, each in a different point in time; the present, the ice age and the prehistoric.

The battle begins in the present where Shadow will launches several balls of energy that will home in on the player (unless they have gotten Shadow to fire at the very boundaries of the stage). After Shadow finishes his attacks, the player must attack him. After some time, Shadow will envelop himself in a red aura and start attacking the player at high speed. While he is in this state, the player cannot touch Shadow without taking damage, so dodge him instead. Once this is over, Shadow will launch some bolts of energy, though afterwards he will be open to the player's attacks.

When Shadow has taken enough damage, the battle will shift to the ice age where the field is enveloped in ice. Shadow's attack patterns in this phase is the same as the first, except Shadow will launch Chaos Spears that will fall to the ground and explode after shortly after. To dodge them, the player must avoid being at close range when they fall and explode.

When Shadow has taken enough damage again, the battle will shift to the prehistoric area in a desolate desert. In this phase, Shadow will use more new attacks, like teleporting around the field and attack the player at high speed, and trigger a Chaos Blast attack that covers a wide area. The teleportation can be avoided by always changing direction as Shadow teleports and the Chaos Blast can be dodged by standing at the opposite side of Shadow, near the edge of the arena (as he also does it in the center). After several attacks at Shadow, the battle will end and the player wins.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
The battle against Shadow is simple: the player must reach the goal before Shadow to end the battle.

Trivia

 * According to Alan Denton, it was initially decided during the writing process of the first season of the Sonic Boom television series that Shadow was not going to be used in the series. The reason was that if they had to, it would have to be in a way that did not make fun of him or made him look stupid or goofy. After a lot of work though, the writers found a way to include him in "It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog".
 * In the Japanese version of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, it is revealed that Shadow is controlled by Lyric through a mind control chip on his head. His Japanese voice is given a mechanical filter to sound more robotic, giving the impression that Shadow was an android. This aspect was not included in the game in other versions, for unknown reasons.
 * Shadow's appearance in the Sonic Boom franchise was first officially hinted to the public as one of two "fan-favorite" characters, along with Metal Sonic, to appear in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric..