Rewrite that Story: Heroes-Shadow

[Kuzu]

If you want people to rewrite, it doesn't matter what SEGA had planned.

[Cola]

I like Ananze/Zinos' idea. It fixes up a good deal of the plot without ripping some giant plotholes in the Canon.

[Tornado]

How about the fact that they intended to give Shadow his game long before he debuted?, kind a means they had more intentions with him.

Sauce?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Sauce?

Here ya go.

Fourth Paragraph in the A of the Q&A, straight from Iizuka himself: "We've been interested in featuring Shadow in his own adventure since we first introduced him in Sonic Adventure."

I'm going to assume they meant SA2 and say that was a typo, but read it yourself.

[Blazey Firekitty]

I'm not sure if this was ever confirmed anywhere, but wasn't Rouge calling Shadow a robot at the end of Heroes a mistranslation? I've heard that in the Japanese script, Rouge was simply asking Omega if he knew that Shadow was an artificial lifeform, as opposed to one that had been born naturally. Of course, that doesn't explain what Omega would be saying that "the real Shadow may still be alive..."

[Goldenlink64]

I would keep everything about Sonic Heroes normal except for one detail.

At the end of the game after beating Metal Overlord, the same "YEAH WE'RE SONIEK HEROES!" cutscene plays and cue the credits. THEN, halfway through the credits, everything stops and we find out Metal Sonic STILL isn't done yet.

So, Metal Sonic does Chaos Control and it sends our SONIEK HEROES into Stardust Highway and the TRUE Final Boss plays with a race between Sonic and Metal. After beating Metal, Sonic blindly runs into Shadow for no reason at all and then by a convient head injury, Shadow gets his memory back and Shadow the Hedgehog never gets released along with Sonic Adventure 3 being released in it's place. Oh yeah, and cancer was cured also.

The End.

Hey look, I didn't kill off Shadow. XD

[Johnny Boy]

I would keep everything about Sonic Heroes normal except for one detail.

At the end of the game after beating Metal Overlord, the same "YEAH WE'RE SONIEK HEROES!" cutscene plays and cue the credits. THEN, halfway through the credits, everything stops and we find out Metal Sonic STILL isn't done yet.

So, Metal Sonic does Chaos Control and it sends our SONIEK HEROES into Stardust Highway and the TRUE Final Boss plays with a race between Sonic and Metal. After beating Metal, Sonic blindly runs into Shadow for no reason at all and then by a convient head injury, Shadow gets his memory back and Shadow the Hedgehog never gets released along with Sonic Adventure 3 being released in it's place. Oh yeah, and cancer was cured also.

The End.

Hey look, I didn't kill off Shadow. XD

[Sparky]

I would keep everything about Sonic Heroes normal except for one detail.

At the end of the game after beating Metal Overlord, the same "YEAH WE'RE SONIEK HEROES!" cutscene plays and cue the credits. THEN, halfway through the credits, everything stops and we find out Metal Sonic STILL isn't done yet.

So, Metal Sonic does Chaos Control and it sends our SONIEK HEROES into Stardust Highway and the TRUE Final Boss plays with a race between Sonic and Metal. After beating Metal, Sonic blindly runs into Shadow for no reason at all and then by a convient head injury, Shadow gets his memory back and Shadow the Hedgehog never gets released along with Sonic Adventure 3 being released in it's place. Oh yeah, and cancer was cured also.

The End.

Hey look, I didn't kill off Shadow. XD

[Goldenlink64]

But you werent supposed to make neither game nonexistent. YOU ARE BANNED FROM LIFE!!! AND DEATH!!!!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well anyway, think about it. If Shadow has his memories back, then there's no reason to make the game right? Even if he DID get a spinoff reguardless, it would be probably end up as a COMPLETELY different game and possibly even have a different title.

Moral of the story, Time Paradoxes are confusing...

You could still play off the amnesia card, but you can take it in a much different direction than ShTH went. In fact, you don't even have to call it ShTH, as you can completely rename it and make Sonic play through the game while Shadow plays as a villain who's trying to recover his memories, and in no way does it go against the OP as the game is still part of the canon while under a different name and main character than what the original was.

[Diogenes]

Well anyway, think about it. If Shadow has his memories back, then there's no reason to make the game right?

Not entirely. There's still room for him to decide what he wants to do with himself, now that everyone he knew is long dead and he's no longer driven by revenge. In a better, more introspective series, it's a situation that could lead to some serious soul-searching.

Even if he DID get a spinoff reguardless, it would be probably end up as a COMPLETELY different game and possibly even have a different title.

"A completely different game" is kind of the point of the topic. Why would the name change, tho'? "Shadow the Hedgehog" is by far the most obvious and fitting title.

[Badnik Zero]

I'm a fan of Shadow and Omega's EMPIRE OF MACHINES ending, where Shadow thinks he's an android. The Androids, and Shadow's struggle choosing between Eggman and GUN, the present and past, makes good conflict. Also Rouge should have become a manipulative factor in Shadow's life.

[Goldenlink64]

You could still play off the amnesia card, but you can take it in a much different direction than ShTH went. In fact, you don't even have to call it ShTH, as you can completely rename it and make Sonic play through the game while Shadow plays as a villain who's trying to recover his memories, and in no way does it go against the OP as the game is still part of the canon while under a different name and main character than what the original was.

But...Shadow, got his memories back due to plot convience. How would he still have amnesia?

Not entirely. There's still room for him to decide what he wants to do with himself, now that everyone he knew is long dead and he's no longer driven by revenge. In a better, more introspective series, it's a situation that could lead to some serious soul-searching.

Well said.

"A completely different game" is kind of the point of the topic. Why would the name change, tho'? "Shadow the Hedgehog" is by far the most obvious and fitting title.

Well, everything I'm stating right now is all in theory really. If Sonic Heroes turned out differently (In this case, having the total "Ass-Pull" I put in there for the lulz), it's sequel could have turned out as a completely different game than Shadow the Hedgehog (due to story-line relavance). While "Shadow the Hedgehog" would be the definite name in our case in Real Life, if Heroes were to be altered, it's sequel could possible be titled Sonic Adventure 3 or something else instead (Shadow's Prototype name was SA3 too IIRC).

The same thing applies for the game being different itself. Like ChaosSupremeSonic said, the gameplay could have featured Sonic being playable instead, while (as you stated) Shadow spends most of the game dinking around while doing some serious soul searching.

[Burnt Ash]

I agree with Diogenes here. Also, this is just me, but I'd like to see Shadow and Omega as brothers(?) kind of like Sonic and Tails, except to a lesser extent.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

But...Shadow, got his memories back due to plot convience. How would he still have amnesia?

Before I answer that, what plot convience would give him his memories back? Because I'm not understanding you right now.

[Diogenes]

He said Sonic and Shadow bump heads and that un-amnesias Shadow.

Although this clearly means that Sonic should have amnesia.

[Blazey Firekitty]

...I'd buy a game where Shadow thinks he's a different person every time something is dropped on his head.

[The Man On The Inside]

Sonic Heroes:

-Team Dark opening cutscene begins with a super-in depth, plothole filling expository on everything that happened concerning team dark between it and SA2, most importantly showing how shadow survived falling off of the ARK.

-He doesn't have amnesia.

-From there, do what you like.

Shadow the Hedgehog:

-Directly follow on from the events in Heroes (whatever they were), and get rid of black arms. You may go back to the ark if you wish and revisit more of professor gerald/maria, however.

-Then go nuts

[Phos]

The requirment for Shadow to survive is furrowing my brow and giving me typhus. SA2 pulled a lot out of its ass, a lot of stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense to go unnoticed until now, such as the secret organization with no sense of subtlety and the giant space colony built it part by Robotnik's ancestor that no one talks about or even seems to know of. That's a pretty big mystery and having someone there who could just tell them wtf screws all that up. I would use amnesia, except I'm not on track to create the nadir of video game narrative.

Why would robotnik build his own space station when there's already one in space? Why was Robotnik so indifferent to learning the fate of his grandfather and why did he show no specific ill will towards GUN? Why did gun not destroy shadow when it's obvious they had no plans for him and saw him as such a huge threat? How was shadow familiar with Rouge's position as a government agent? All the idiosycrosies with SA 2's plot creat opportunities if you want to run with them, even if the shift in tone was uncalled for and rediculous.

Easy version: you let me rewrite SA2 as well. It's a story about Sonic trying to figure out why everyone is colorblind while Eggman is possessed by the spirit of a pretentous artist who really has no talent trying to make his perfect version of sonic. Figure out the symbolism.

Iizuka

Iizuka isn't a very good source considering his tendency to lie in interviews.

[azoo]

I'm going to assume I can change anything I want about the games, short of erasing them or killing off Shadow.

*post*

I wish I was to post what I thought was a good idea, but dang sister, Dio's got it in the bag. I would have been way more than appreciative for those two games to go this way rather than the way they did. The games would have at least been SA-quality if so (well, if you also add not moving to Renderware and instead continuing work on the SA engine).

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Iizuka isn't a very good source considering his tendency to lie in interviews.

[Goldenlink64]

That...doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me if that's what he meant. Even more, that's a cheap way to un-amnesia Shadow and not an effective way to do it if you ask me.

I never really intended for my post to be taken seriously (although, everything up to racing Metal Sonic in Stardust Speedway in 3-D would be pretty sublime). In theory, I could have thought of an extremely elaborate way to un-amnesia Shadow, but the amount of thought I would probably put in it would have resulted in a huge wall of text that most people would have probably ignored.

I'd rather post something short and easy on the eyes...

He said Sonic and Shadow bump heads and that un-amnesias Shadow.

Although this clearly means that Sonic should have amnesia.

Whoops, didn't think that one through... XD

Okay in that case, it's Metal Sonic that bumps into Shadow and THEN we get a Spin Off of Metal Sonic using Mechs and Mobile Suit Gundams to regain his memory (even though it's completely illogical for a Robot to get amnesia). The concept is so ridiculous and redundant that critics will have to award it with Game of the Year for no reason at all.

It'll be like Metal Arms or MechWarrior or something...lol.

[Dejablue]

in Sonic Heroes. Uh.

The plot is okaaaay but I say take Shadow and Team Dark out entirely. Why? Its bad writing for Shadow to die in SA2 and the come back the very next game.

Maybe in Heroes we just see androids. Incomplete androids as many people have said before, and not the real Shadow. So it's a lot of circuitry and metal plating but no skin. Basically Terminator Shadow.

Maybe Metal Sonic knows Eggman is replacing him with an Android of Shadow/Shadow Army and doesn't like it? So he locks Eggman away and tries to destroy the factories but a few of the prototypes are already online and are able to fight him off. (Epic cutscene material there)

So Metal Sonic decides to self upgrade and actively fight Sonic n Co before the androids are finished. He tempts Sonic out into the open planning on killing him to prove to Eggman that he is the better of the Dr.'s creations.

In a twist of irony. Metal Sonic uses both Sonic and the Androids to gain his upgrades. Because I R Lazy. The Chaos Emeralds are once again the McGuffin. They will absorb into Metal Sonic's form and make him stronger. Why are the emeralds all over the place again? I dunno uuuuuuuh They dispersed when Sonic and Shadow used them at the end of SA2. They fell back to Earth. Knuckles is looking for them. Knuckles now has an excuse to not be on Angel Island.

But how is he going to find them? I think Metal Sonic would find a way to use the Androids to his advantage even though he hates them. Possibly by creating a robot Eggman to control them or using robot Eggman as a red herring. Either way he finds a way to establish control. Possibly by managing to find at least one chaos emerald on his own.

Anyway Sonic would most likely find the other emeralds first. Metal Sonic sends the androids down on top of him. And swipes the emerald when Sonic is too busy fighting. It's a triple win. Getting one over on Sonic, destroying the androids, getting the Emerald.

Hmm dunno. It's hard to picture how that would end.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Dejablue

[midori]

Yay I can write my stupid ideas here.

In Heroes Shadow remembers everything. He hacks Metal Sonic to use his gathered power of every character to warp to the past and save Maria, whose death he couldn't bear. She is to live on the Ark in the present because NIDS is still considered incurable.

However, the time meddling could not take place without any negative consequenced. It has resulted in wrath of the gods, who decide to punish the characters for their audacity. Shadow is thus put into an endless cycle of the events that took place in his past - from when he was born to the time of the raid.

All this time he remembers all the previous cycles. At some point he's unable to bear the burden and asks Rouge for help. Sadly, she doesn't know what to do about this and Shadow has to repeat the cycle. However, it turns out that Rouge remembered that request and after a few cycles she finally understands Shadow's situation and decides to help him.

She calls Eggman, Sonic and his friends for help. They figure out the reason of the punishment after talking to Maria after she confesses that she would have been dead if Shadow from the future didn't save her. The plan is then settled: the heroes have to use the Chaos Emeralds to stop this event and restore the orginal time flow. To do this, they have to defeat Metal Sonic first.

...

After everything is done Shadow loses his memories, cue the actual events of Sonic Heroes etc.

[Dejablue]

Interesting but that is some heavy duty amounts of time travel.

I don't really have a rewrite idea for SHtH. I could see Heroes and SHtH being its own little mini saga of Shadow's eventual return. Depending on how Heroes ended, it would set the tone for the following game.

In SHtH, everyone should be realistically surprised to see the genuine Shadow ALIVE. I guess the game would start like Team Dark's opening in Heroes. Rouge gets information that the real Shadow has been hidden away somewhere and goes to find him. (Why? I dunno. She may still be working for GUN or she has an ulterior motive) She finds him in some underground base area and releases him. No more aliens. That was really uneeded. Let us say that at the end of Heroes, Sonic and Co defeat Metal. Or at least they THINK they defeated Metal. Just like he made a robotic eggman he also created a robotic decoy of himself. And while the heroes were fighting the decoy final boss. Metal Sonic was somewhere else using his newly granted chaos powers to convert the Shadow androids into Metal Sonic androids. Effectively creating the Metallix. The Metallix and Metal Sonic are the bad guys in the Shadow game and they storm station square to conquer it. Rouge was sent out to locate Shadow at any cost. Omega would be her partner.

Oh and where the heck is Eggman? I suppose the game's first objective would be to find him. Either that or he was found at the end of Heroes or between the two games.

Oh and no branching stories. I don't think there is a need.

EDIT: Actually after quickly re thinking. Maybe there should be SOME sort of path branching. But not the mindless "do what Black Doom says" or "Do what Eggman says" or "Do what some other Sonic character says" It should simply be options presented and you the player are given the opportunity to decide which direction Shadow takes in his quest to discover his identity and/or Stop Metal Sonic's take over. Depending on what you choose, a previous path may become unreachable for the remainder of the game. By the end of it all, Metal Sonic is put down, Eggman helps you a little but states that he really dislikes joining forces with Sonic and hopes to never have to do it again as he drags Metal Sonic's corpse off into the sunset. And Shadow may know if he is real or android.

He should just cut himself or something. (Lol not cuz he's emo) If he's organic wouldn't he bleed? Yeah I know that's too much for a Sonic game but still that'd save everyone a lot of trouble. For the sake of satisfying everyone, the truth remains ambiguous. The truth he discovers isn't specifically stated but the character development comes from him accepting it.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Dejablue