Shadow the Hedgehog

is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an experimental artificial life form in the design of a black, male, anthropomorphic hedgehog that was created around 50 years prior to the events of Sonic Adventure 2. He resembles Sonic in many ways, such as how his hover skates propel him at extreme speeds to rival those of Sonic; He has been featured in a variety of media, including his own self-titled game. Shadow is an anti-hero, and easily works together with either Sonic's group or Dr. Eggman, depending on what suits his own needs.

The character of Shadow was conceived by Takashi Iizuka, director of Sonic Adventure 2, the game in which Shadow was first introduced. The character was first shown to the public in a game trailer; however, his name was not revealed. Takashi Iizuka said that they maintained the mystery around the character of Shadow the Hedgehog and had wanted to feature him in his own game since he was introduced. After feeling that it would be inappropriate to give Sonic's character a gun as fans had requested in mailings, The character was featured as a guest announcer and performed other promotional work for the game's release during a wrestling show set up by the Japanese league, Pancrase, in December 2005. Shadow's design was influenced by films such as Underworld, Constantine, and the Terminator series.

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