What's the canon path of Shadow the Hedgehog?

[ClassicKnuckles]

Is it the neutral levels and story, but with the final story as the ending? What levels are canon?

[Tails spin]

My thoughts with the game is that any cutscene that has CGI is canon. So regardless of the paths if you hit a CGI cutscene then it's canon.

[Razule]

There is no canon path. Only things that are definite canon are the first cutscene and final stage unlocked by doing all the other paths.

[Tara]

I tend to think that since the Last Story ends on the Black Comet, the hero path is the canon path.  Or rather, that in terms of continuity, any levels in between Westopolis and Black Comet are completely inconsequential as long as you end up in Black Comet, which entails doing a decent amount of hero missions.  This ultimately justifies Shadow being neither evil nor neutral in subsequent games, because he was ultimately good for the majority of any path that leads to Black Comet, even if the final decision was not so good.

Not that I think the writers had any amount of foresight in this case, since even in self-contained chunks, every story is full of irrelevant and inconsequential plot decisions anyway.  So any inconsistencies with my theory can easily and conveniently be dismissed as a product of the chronic short term memory loss that the characters consistently have throughout the course of the game.

[JezMM]

There is no canon path through the game.  The only events that we can be sure happen are the things that lead to the last story (which is definitely canon):

1. Shadow gathers the 7 chaos emeralds, somehow (The Last Story begins with him obtaining them)

2. Eggman attempts to convince Shadow that he is an android (During the final boss, Eggman apologises for this deception and tells him that he is the real Shadow)

3. The President was evacuated to GUN Fortress (in past topics I said this means the Eclipse Canon was fired and Central City was destroyed, but now that I think about it, this event can follow Air Fleet too, where the President was simply being evacuated from the Black Arm's grasp)

4. Shadow travels to the Black Comet

Since number 2 and number 4 can never happen in one playthrough, it is impossible for any playable path to be canon.  In addition, if number 2 happens, that means the final stage is Lava Shelter, which means the game ends with Shadow killing Eggman, which can't possibly be canon as he is still alive in the last story (so to answer this part of your OP directly - this means no the neutral path definitely isn't canon since Eggman dies at the end - only the part where he tricks Shadow (or at least TRIES to) is canon).

The fact that Shadow works for G.U.N. in Sonic 2006 suggests that Shadow and the GUN Commander patching things up after the game is probably canon too (the GUN Commander sends a message to Shadow during Hard Mode in which he apologises for his actions - it's possible their confrontation on the ARK might be canon due to this, but not 100% necessary.  Not all of the Hard Mode dialogue is canon since you get messages from Gerald and Maria too, but the messages from the GUN Commander don't clash with anything and give him some much-needed redemption).

Basically, every time you play Shadow's normal story mode, you play a "What If?" scenario.  There is no canon path because ALL of these scenarios clash with each other on one basic fact - the chaos emeralds are always found in the locations Shadow chooses to go to based on your actions.  These aren't just possibilities from one start point, the chaos emeralds don't magically change location because Shadow decided to kill 60 GUN Troops in Level 1. These are completely alternate realities we're talking about.

 

So yeah, the short version is, certain key events of the game are canon, but it's impossible to take a path through the story where all of those events happen in one playthrough.

 

(I feel I last gave this explanation not so long ago, how does Shadow's confusing story keep coming up recently? lol)

[blueblur98]

yes?

[Shadowlax]

Hero path, the last story is kinda assuming that you teamed up with all your buddies to fight black doom. 

[NintendoSoul]

There isn't an official canon route, but I think it's easy to assume the pure hero route is the one taken.

[Flyinpenguin117]

I worked out what was to me a plausibly canon path. I forget what exactly it was, but I think I had Shadow starting out helping the Black Arms, but his loyalty waivers over the course of the campaign and ends on the Black Comet level with Knuckles. I think it was just the choice that brings you to the end of the level.

[Almar]

I just assume Hard Mode is canon and Shadow visits every stage at least once. Neither going all the way with being in Sonic's Posse or the Black Army until Last Story.

If only 7 happened then it'd be a route where:

1. The Chaotix get data on Shadow.

2. The Gun Commander and Shadow have their little talk.

3. Shadow flashbacks to the Ark

4. Eggman tells Shadow he's an Android

5. He's neither a serious enemy to Team Sonic or the Black Arms until he's in Black Comet.

Any routes like that?

[JezMM]

6 hours ago, Almar said:

I just assume Hard Mode is canon and Shadow visits every stage at least once. Neither going all the way with being in Sonic's Posse or the Black Army until Last Story.

If only 7 happened then it'd be a route where:

1. The Chaotix get data on Shadow.

2. The Gun Commander and Shadow have their little talk.

3. Shadow flashbacks to the Ark

4. Eggman tells Shadow he's an Android

5. He's neither a serious enemy to Team Sonic or the Black Arms until he's in Black Comet.

Any routes like that?

Nope, there are no routes where all of that can happen (though we can assume number 1 can happen without Shadow's intervention anyway - Shadow HELPS them but that doesn't mean the Chaotix couldn't do what they do on their own).

10 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Hero path, the last story is kinda assuming that you teamed up with all your buddies to fight black doom. 

 

9 hours ago, NintendoSoul said:

There isn't an official canon route, but I think it's easy to assume the pure hero route is the one taken.

Since Eggman needs to tell Shadow he's an android, the pure hero path can't be canon either even though it seems like the obvious choice on paper.

[ClassicKnuckles]

My thoughts are the neutral route makes the most sense, but even then there's a few plot inconveniences. Though the game seems to be a major game in the Dreamcast timeline, so it's odd that there's no true canon route. The only thing that we know is canon is the intro, and the final story.

[Almar]

Sure, The Chaotix getting the Shadow Data might happen without the hedgehog but the other events I listed can't. So it would still need a route including all of those examples if we don't just have Hard Mode be canon.

[DabigRG]

Personally, I just assume certain key elements like the Chaotix collecting old Gerald data files for a mysterious client, Eggman trying to trick Shadow into helping him, Black Doom allowing Shadow to fight an illusion of Heavy Dog, and Commander Tower confronting Shadow about what happened to Maria happened at some point and that the paths themselves are just alternate ways the story could've played out for gameplay sake. Broad Strokes and all that.

The Archie Reboot seems to kinda follow a similar line of logic if one scene in Shadow Fall is any indication.

With that said, I also heard that one of the Hero paths was considered the most canon by Sonic Team, but don't quote me on that.

[Shadowlax]

20 hours ago, JezMM said:

Nope, there are no routes where all of that can happen (though we can assume number 1 can happen without Shadow's intervention anyway - Shadow HELPS them but that doesn't mean the Chaotix couldn't do what they do on their own).

 

Since Eggman needs to tell Shadow he's an android, the pure hero path can't be canon either even though it seems like the obvious choice on paper.

So that's weird right , So I literally think the good path and that happens. The final story assumes you met up with all your friends, helped them on the way there,  and they show up in the end to keep shadow from falling to the darkside, and at some point he goes after eggman with omega

So a bunch of levels where you help the good guy characters, and the hero path. Like think about it, you can not assassinate the president, with tails and then subsequently going to black dooms ship to confront him again could still happane

[Almar]

How Team Sonic acts when they run up to Shadow in Last Story makes it look like there was significant doubt on whether he would side with them over Black Doom. Which I say suggests that the "canonical" path had Shadow not help them much.

[Shadowlax]

6 hours ago, Almar said:

How Team Sonic acts when they run up to Shadow in Last Story makes it look like there was significant doubt on whether he would side with them over Black Doom. Which I say suggests that the "canonical" path had Shadow not help them much.

To be fair, despite years of him choosing the good guy side, they still act like that about shadow . 

Sonic acts like that about shadow in forces. 

[DabigRG]

On 12/27/2017 at 8:56 AM, Shadowlax said:

To be fair, despite years of him choosing the good guy side, they still act like that about shadow . 

Sonic acts like that about shadow in forces. 

Does he/they?

[SBR2]

The Chaotix's need to be on The Ark. Shadow had to team up with everyone to get to Black Doom. It's probably best to just assume some parts from all stories happened. I tend to think of SonicMovies Shadow The Hedgehog The Movie as the closest thing you'll find to a "True" Path.