Shadow the Hedgehog Was Almost Killed Off After Sonic Adventure 2

Shadow the Hedgehog almost never made it past Sonic Adventure 2. According to Takashi Iizuka, the Sonic Team head, the character was originally intended to die at the end of SA2 and remain dead, but overwhelming fan popularity changed those plans entirely.

"If you have played Sonic Adventure 2, people may know that Shadow basically sort of died at the end of that game," Iizuka said at Tokyo Game Show. "We were originally intending to just kind of 'die the character out' (kill him off), but the character Shadow was just so very popular that we decided to revive him in Sonic Heroes."

Iizuka also noted that Shadow is his personal favorite character and that he wants to give him more spotlight in the future. The decision to keep Shadow around has shaped the franchise significantly. Beyond his appearances across the Sonic series, Shadow starred in his own game and more recently headlined Sonic X Shadow Generations, regarded as the best version of one of the best modern Sonic games on PC.

Shadow has maintained a strong presence in fan communities as well, with modders regularly creating Shadow-focused mods and ROM hacks. The character also gained prominence through his voice acting by Keanu Reeves in recent appearances. Had Sonic Team followed through with their original plan, the franchise would have lost one of its most recognizable and beloved characters.