When Sonic Generations released over a decade ago, fans of the series around the world celebrated the blue blur’s most successful Sonic title in years – one that bridged the gap between classic Sonic and modern Sonic. Now, Sega is going back to one of their most critically acclaimed Sonic titles with a re-release of Sonic Generations that includes new content in the form of Shadow the Hedgehog levels. And much to my surprise, that new content is incredibly fun.
The Summer Games Fest demo for Sonic + Shadow Generations separates the two Sonic levels from Shadow’s newly-built content. For Sonic, the two courses available were Green Hill Zone as Classic Sonic and Green Hill Zone as Modern Sonic. To call these levels drastically different, or even slightly different, from the original release of Sonic Generations would probably be a stretch. Both Green Hill Zone stages are functionally the original release running at a higher resolution. This is not a remake of Sonic Generations in any way and it should not be expected to be one.
That said, Sonic Generations is popular for a reason, and both these levels were still fun to play. In the Classic Sonic version, the shorter and apparently younger Sonic goes through a traditional version of Green Hill Zone that could have been pulled out of any of the older 2D titles. Modern Sonic, meanwhile, grinds on rails, stunts on enemies, and escapes from a giant robotic fish in the air while boosting through.
The Shadow side is where the Sonic + Shadow Generations gets interesting, providing brand new and more modern content in Shadow’s own revisiting of his past. The only platforming stage available for Shadow is Space Colony Ark paired with the boss fight for the Biolizard, both from his debut game of Sonic Adventure 2. The latter level was in the 3DS version of Sonic Generations, but this was made from the ground up for this release and is not ported from that 3DS version.
In Space Colony Ark, the level pingpongs Shadow along a massive space colony. It tutorializes Shadow’s Chaos Control ability, which freezes time and all objects around him to attack or use as platforms. A missile barrage coming from an enemy cannon can be an option to get to a new path with proper use of Chaos Control, which is time-limited. If you fail, it’s just one more reason to replay the level and try to get better.
Through the Ark, Shadow will occasionally engage in cinematic moments, like using Chaos Control on a missile so large that he has to punch it numerous times to send it backwards into the space fortress it came from, blowing it up.
Halfway through the level, a familiar alien creature visits Shadow, transforming the world around him. He lands in a crimson city that looks similar to Westopolis from Shadow’s own game from 2005. As Shadow chases the alien nemesis through a world literally being built around them, the speedster hedgehog interrogates the villain through ambient dialogue and short cinematic scenes. For the Shadow fans in the audience, you need not worry that they dialed back the story for this iteration.
The other Shadow level, the boss fight with the Biolizard, is less ambitious but still fun. It is a standard Sonic series boss fight that largely involves dodging energy waves on the ground and then jumping up to the boss’ weak point for some punches and kicks the way Shadow loves to do. The ending once again has Shadow beating up a large blast of energy back to the opponent, but it does not cease to be cool even if it has been used before.
At the end of every phase, Shadow uses his homing attack to reach the top of the Biolizard’s back and deliver major damage. It’s a classic Sonic boss fight trope, but the act of making it up there still feels frantic and fun.
I cannot overstate how unnecessarily hard Sega goes on these Shadow levels. For what feels like a small addendum to an otherwise no-frills release, it is clear Sega is trying to make something decently memorable within the series for the Sonic Generations’ new content. It might be a trite comparison that makes veterans of the 16-bit console war bristle, but like Bowser’s Fury was the standout inclusion with Super Mario 3D World on Switch, I suspect that Shadow’s levels will steal the show for Sonic Generations.
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