[Rough Game Story Idea] Sonic vs. Shadow

[TheShakuShaku]

Hello everyone,

 

I have an idea for a game where Sonic and Shadow have a valid reason to fight that also fits their character. My story idea is very rough, but here I go.

 

There is a little girl with some dark secret, similair to Cosmo from Sonic X. She might have something inside of her that can or does potentially destroy earth and kill all of it's creatures. Sonic and Shadow are both heroes and both want to solve the problem, but they have different opinions on how to resolve the issue. This should resemble the trolley problem. Shadow thinks utilitarian and justifies killing the girl for the greater good, while Sonic understands the conflict but his deontological view point just doesn't allow him to kill a innocent girl. Shadow isn't a anti hero or villain here, he just sees no other way to save the world and sincerly wants to help. Shadow is very uncomfortable with his choice. Sonic runs away with the little girl to find another way to save her and the world. They travel through the world to find an answer while Shadow tries to hunt them down. Tails and Knuckles join Sonic on his quest, while Rogue and Omega agree with Shadow. The person behind all of this conflict is acutally Dr. Eggman. He knew that Sonic and Shadow would fight each other over their different opinions on saving the world. He used this time to prepare things in the background.

Traveling around the world can be used to get some more character development. Sonic learns more about the little girl, her origins and her fear. Shadow also has some heartfelt talks with Rogue, explaining to her that he almost let earth down once (during his actions in SA2) and that he needs to save earth to keep his promise to Maria (but he seems quite unhappy with that he needs to kill a little girl to save earth). 

There then will be a final battle between Sonic and Shadow with Shadow barely winning. He goes towards the girl to finish her off but then sees the fear in her eyes. He then remembers the fear in the eyes of Maria when she got killed and decides that he cannot finish her off. He felt disgust from the thought that he almost turned into the very same thing that he despised, even when that means that he might not be able to keep his promise to Maria to save earth. Instead, he asks Sonic "What now?". Sonic says: "Glad you asked!" and proposes a plan (not sure how this problem should be resolved yet). 

During the final battle from Sonic and Shadow all of their friends have been taken by Dr. Eggman. He trapped them inside of his big robot, which is powered by the individual powers of Sonic and Shaodws friends. Dr. Eggman is able to use all of the powers from them, but the machine slowly drains the life energy from them. Eggman knew that Sonic and Shadow can easily destroy his machines, but would hesitate when their friends life is at risk. Sonic now faces an issue. Sonic has to defeat Eggman fast and destroy his machine, but without killing his friends in the process. In my opinion this fits Dr. Eggmans behaviour because he often tried to not only kill Sonic and his friends, but make them fight each other, manipulate them, turn animals into robots etc. Sonic and Shadow come up with a plan where Sonic breaks through the part of the machine where one of the friends is trapped, making it explode. Exactly when it explodes Shadow uses Chaos Control to freeze time and save one of their friends. This whole battle should feel like the times when Eggman was more menacing and a real threat. There are lives at stake. Eggmans actions often had a very dark undertone while Sonic was mostly a child inside of his heart.

 

I'm sorry if this idea is very rough, but I would like to know your opinion on this.

[MetalSkulkBane]

To be brutally honest? Not great.

For starters it's been done before tons of times in comics book history. And Shadow himself had similar stories like when he hunted Cosmo in Sonic X, IDW issue 6. Your idea is same thing, only edgier. And "edgy" is overused word, slowly loosing it's meaning, but I mean bad kinda of edgy. As a Shadow fan I don't want to see a story about him planning to kill a little girl, even if he changes his mind.

Everything else isn't worth commenting.

[TheShakuShaku]

30 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

To be brutally honest? Not great.

For starters it's been done before tons of times in comics book history. And Shadow himself had similar stories like when he hunted Cosmo in Sonic X, IDW issue 6. Your idea is same thing, only edgier. And "edgy" is overused word, slowly loosing it's meaning, but I mean bad kinda of edgy. As a Shadow fan I don't want to see a story about him planning to kill a little girl, even if he changes his mind.

Everything else isn't worth commenting.

Interesting viewpoint. How would you like to see Shadow beeing used storywise in future games? Can he still have interesting development in a mainline Sonic game?

"Isn't worth commenting" - do you mean as in bad or not original? I'm interested in your opinion

[MetalSkulkBane]

There is no one true path,  there are many possible scenarios.

If I was making story just for me it would involve government conspiracies, continue Mephiles prophecy that humanity will turn on Shadow, drama, twists and turns. Broadly speaking I would explore Shadow's role as "ultimate life form" and him trying to figure out his place in the universe.

But I was trying to make a story for everyone, well, here's one of my ideas.

(rest was just neutral. Not counting as idea. Broad, general.)

[Diogenes]

Unfortunately I don't think it holds together too well.

First off, I get that this is a rough pitch and it'd be fleshed out in a full story, but it's hard to buy into this idea of some random little girl with a world-endangering "dark secret" without knowing anything about it or how she came to have it or what. The believability of it could make or break the whole story; if the audience can't buy into it, they're not going to see her as a person and sympathize with her and the moral dilemma of how to handle the situation, they'll see her as a contrivance created by the author to force that dilemma.

Second, while I'd agree that Shadow is more likely to solve problems by killing than Sonic and that's a worthwhile angle to explore...it's really hard to buy into the idea that he'd be willing to kill an innocent girl, even for the greater good. Especially given Maria; I just can't buy the idea that it'd take nearly a whole game for him to realize he'd be making about the most direct betrayal of his moral core as is possible. It'd be easier to buy if it was someone or something less obviously "good" or "innocent".

Third, this again might just be a matter of this being a rough pitch, but there isn't anything in here about the girl as a character in her own right. This goes back to her coming off as a contrivance; if she's just there to be cute and innocent while other people decide if she will live or die, if she's essentially replaceable with a puppy, then she's not much of an actual character.

Fourth, there's just no connection between all this stuff and the fight with Eggman. You'd spend a whole game going back and forth on this moral issue regarding the girl, you finally solve it (somehow), and then...that's it for her role in the story, random Eggman fight, roll credits? I mean I get that there's something of a through line, "are you willing to kill to save the world" and all that...but if they already decided to save both the girl and the world, then the moral question's already been answered, this is just repeating it but in a way that's less compelling. If you really want these points to connect, wouldn't it make far more sense to have the girl be the power source instead? Instead of repeating the same question, it'd be a moment of ramping up the tension; she wouldn't simply be dangerous at some unknown future point, she'd be dangerous now, and they'd need to decide and act now on whether and how to save her.

And fifth, the solution to the whole Eggman machine problem, chaos controlling around the explosions to save everyone, just isn't satisfying. There's no meaningful realization, there's no sacrifice, there's no real risk, It's sort of, "turns out we have the power to just win, no moral." Admittedly I don't know what a better solution would be offhand, it would probably require fleshing out the story more to get a sense of what would work both mechanically and thematically.