Sonic X Shadow Generations review: Sega finally lives and learns

How can we learn from our past mistakes if we’re all too scared to confront them?

That’s been the story of the Sonic the Hedgehog series for several decades now. Anytime the series has hit a roadblock, its developers have refused to pump the brakes. It’s a healthy strategy in some regards, one that reflects the “never give up” attitude of the Blue Blur himself. But that refusal to stop and reflect on our mistakes, learn from our harshest critics, and accelerate again can be harmful too. You don’t always clear a Sonic stage on your first try; it’s only through failing that you learn to ace a level with panache.

With its latest game, Sonic X Shadow Generations, Sega models the importance of that process — even if it’s inadvertent. The package contains a remastered version of 2011’s Sonic Generations, a nostalgic, though imperfect, victory lap that came when the series needed it the most. It was fairly well-received at the time, giving Sonic the momentum he needed to start a second act. Rather than following that up with a fine-tuned sequel or spinoff that took criticisms to heart, Sega would instead stumble through another tumultuous decade of forward-focused experiments while its loyal fanbase only became more combative toward its perceived haters.

Now, Sega has finally delivered the fine-tuned sequel we should have gotten a decade ago thanks to Shadow Generations, a new game that turns the collection into a double feature. It’s a revelation placed next to the comparatively shallow Sonic Generations, and one that will almost make you angry that it took so long for Sega to take honest feedback to heart. It’s a collection that should serve as a reminder about how past mistakes can pave a path to the future if we’re willing to slow down and reflect.

Revisiting Sonic Generations

To understand why Shadow Generations feels like such a step forward, we need to set the time machine in reverse. The first priority of the package is to dust off Sonic Generations, a game that at one time felt like it would be a turning point for the series. Like many installments around that era, Generations had a gimmick, but it was a good one: Sonic teams up with his past self and jumps through a greatest hits collection of levels from Sonic the Hedgehog to Sonic Colors. It was an ingenious idea in which old school Sonic would complete a 2D version of the stage, while modern Sonic would tackle it in the 3D formula of the time. It was a great idea in 2011 and it’s still a great idea today, but now with cleaner visuals and more consistent performance.

The early stages of Sonic Generations sell that idea incredibly well. We start in a familiar recreation of Green Hill Zone only to have that space entirely reimagined as the 3D gauntlet fans always dreamed of. The same is true in reverse when old Sonic gets to dash through 2D versions of levels from the Dreamcast era onward. Sonic Adventure 2’s iconic truck chase makes for a great retro thrill ride, as Sonic nabs skateboard power-ups to escape a truck that rampages in from the background. The best levels — on both sides of the coin — are thoughtful design experiments that really think about how a new perspective shapes levels.

Sega

A lot of the systems and set dressing around the stages themselves pump up the idea. In the 2D stages, I’m bouncing on enemies and using my trusty old spin dash. In the 3D ones, I get to hone onto enemies and boost so long as I have enough energy. I get to feel the exact difference between those design philosophies and study how they work, making it the perfect game for Sonic historians. At its best, Generations is a playable museum, complete with classic songs (and excellent remixes), collectible art, and nods to every major character in the franchise’s history.

But Sonic Generations is not without some defects, some of which were called out by critics at the time and others that are more apparent over a decade later. It features a shallow story that makes it feel about as substantial as a clip show. Its stages are broken up by largely awkward boss fights that are a nightmare to control. Its later levels are its weakest ones, culminating in an arduous 2D Sonic Colors level that grinds the momentum to a halt at the finish line. Even its glut of challenge stages have plenty of misses that trade in the base adventure’s fast action for character-based gimmicks that slow levels to a crawl.

The remaster doesn’t do much to fix it up, but I’m glad that it didn’t.

Its bigger issues, though, are all too familiar to someone like me who has been alive for the franchise’s entire history. The thrill of Sonic’s early adventures comes from their non-stop speed. The series is at its best when it feels more like a racing game than a platformer. Any game that has dared to betray that truth has learned this the hard way. While Sonic Generations is still one of the better modern Sonic games post-Adventure, it still struggles to consistently follow its golden rule. My speed is constantly broken up by slow platforming segments that only increase in frequency as the stages go on. My boost button in 3D mode doubles as a suicide button; pressing it too often sends me veering off the course. The more I need to slow down, the less control I feel I have.

The most important piece of a platformer like this comes down to trust falls. You have to know that if you go launching off a ramp that the designers will catch you. Sonic Generations too often fails that test, conditioning me to move through its stages at a much slower pace than I’d like. For all its strengths, it’s still a platformer that was always in need of some fine-tuning. The remaster doesn’t do much to fix it up, but I’m glad that it didn’t. That just makes its second half all the more triumphant.

Enter Shadow Generations

By the time I finished Sonic Generations‘ fun but almost patronizingly nostalgic story, I was skeptical that Shadow Generations would be much different. I expected a game that felt about the same and utilized the same hollow storytelling to deliver a greatest-hits collection centered around the series’ antihero to pump up his star power ahead of his big screen appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

I can not tell you how happy I was to be proven wrong.

Shadow Generations, without hyperbole, is the best Sonic game since its Dreamcast days. There are some immediately obvious ways it accomplishes that. For one, it’s more serious about how to shape a meaningful narrative around its self-reflective premise. We’re not revisiting famous levels just to celebrate an anniversary; we’re following Shadow through a therapy session. The story has him confronting his tragic backstory — child murder and all — and grappling with his fear that he doesn’t have a future. The retreads through levels from Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Frontiers, and yes, even Sonic’s infamous 2006 outing have thematic weight to them as they’re a way for Shadow to directly face his demons.

Shadow Generations finally feels like the future of the series.

The 2D/3D twist is still retained here, but the level design is significantly more thrilling. These are certified roller coaster rides that warp time and space. Buildings twist and turn as if they’re pulled from a Doctor Strange movie. The speed-based platforming is the same, but it’s often happening through spectacular, cinematic moments that feel like they were inspired by Sonic’s successful move to Hollywood. Even the presentation is a major step up over Sonic’s tale (as it should be after over a decade), with more drama loaded into cutscenes that feel like they were pulled from top-shelf anime.

In general, everything just feels more cohesive. Sonic Generations is a structurally loose game, with levels, collectibles, and challenges all sort of mashed together. All of the same basic ideas are there, like collecting keys to unlock boss doors, but everything is organized into an explorable hub that takes cues from another excellent remaster pack-in, Super Mario 3D World’s excellent Bowser’s Fury. That hub is just as fun to explore as the levels themselves, as it’s packed with collectible art, coin-collecting challenges, and little platforming gauntlets that I’m able to complete as I unlock abilities.

Sega

All of this is great, but it’s not actually why Shadow Generations stands out as much as it does. The real reason is much simpler: Sonic Team finally figured out how these games should feel. I very rarely have to slow down during a level. The trust falls pay off, the movement is tighter, and levels are built to keep my momentum going. Even additional twists like my time-slowing Chaos Control power or my spear never ask me to stop so I can use them. Compare that to the recent Sonic Superstars, which implements powers via an awkward radial wheel that’s virtually impossible to use while running. I can achieve that split-second precision I want from a Sonic game with more confidence.

Though there are still some hiccups here and there, Shadow Generations never loses its step for long. Its levels only escalate in speed while remaining complex, something that Sonic’s A-side struggles with. It’s the movement system and level design that I’ve always wanted from a modern Sonic game fully realized in a sleek, blockbuster adventure that leaves me actually wanting to dive back in and hunt for collectibles. More than any Sonic game that’s ever come before it, Shadow Generations finally feels like the future of the series.

And if I’m being honest, it’s a little infuriating.

Live and learn

Nothing that Shadow Generations gets right comes as much of a surprise. For decades, fans and critics alike have given Sega plenty of feedback to work with. Complaints about the series’ momentum-halting design decisions are so old now that they can probably vote in the upcoming 2024 U.S. election. Its riveting boss fights aren’t just a significant step up for Sonic Generations, but miles beyond the frustrating battles of the very recent Frontiers and Superstars too. Even the very idea of giving Shadow a new solo adventure has been a request from those who saw potential in the character despite his failed, gun-toting solo outing.

This is the Sonic Generations sequel one would expect a developer like Sega to release in 2014. So why in God’s name are we only getting it now?

Sega

Let’s back up to the very start of this review. On one hand, I have nothing but respect for the way that Sega has chosen to tackle its series over the years. In this medium, it’s so easy to find something that works and do it again and again until that once-exciting idea is ground into a dull gray paste. Nintendo’s top franchises have maintained their staying power for decades because of its willingness to zig when players expect a zag. What if we throw Link in an open world? What if Mario could possess objects with his hat? Those decisions that defy fans expectations are what keep these franchises young, and I will always applaud Sega’s decision to take Sonic to new places rather than delivering Sonic Adventure 3, 4, 5, and 6.

What’s more frustrating, though, is the way that Sonic Team has shrugged off seemingly all criticism while doing that, including repeated notes about the core feel of the series. The more fans identified that something felt off about the speed of these games, the more Sega seemed to shut them out. Opinions on these games only grew more polarizing as a result. That led to an angrier and more protective fanbase that seemed eager to counteract any negative response with an overabundance of enthusiasm. When Sonic Frontiers launched to an eclectic spread of reviews, landing its aggregate score in the mid 70s at launch, the fanbase seemingly banded together to reverse-review bomb its Metacritic user score. They’d go on to stuff the Game Awards’ Player’s Voice Award ballot box in 2022 — a move that would backfire after Geoff Keighley was forced to remove bots from the tally, resulting in a Genshin Impact win.

The more defiant that Sega has become, the more of an echo chamber it has built around itself. Anyone who has something negative to say about a Sonic game is actively boxed out by the publisher and fans alike. They are painted as bad-faith haters out to destroy the series’ reputation. If you so much as mention one of the series’ worst games, even in a context that makes sense, you risk being labeled a saboteur. I’d argue that the opposite is true; surrounding yourself with “yes men” who will cheer on any decision you make is an act of self-sabotage.

I think back to Digital Trends’ controversial review of Sonic Frontiers in 2022. My colleague Tomas Franzese, a long-time fan of the series who had previously given Sonic Mania Plus a near perfect review, just could not find the fun in it. He offered up a dense, detailed review that pulled the game apart down to the minutiae of how the joystick functions. It wasn’t an opinion that he expected everyone to agree with, but his complaints echoed those found in publications like Edge and Slant. Despite that, he was immediately labeled an outsider as social media users distorted his writing to fit a narrative about him that simply wasn’t true. To this day, I still catch fans posting about how they immediately disregard anything this publication has to say because of one harsh but well-reasoned opinion.

I’m not reflecting on that moment to air dirty laundry or call out a strain of toxic fandom that’s slowly suffocating this medium. Stories like this explain exactly how it took so long for Shadow Generations to stick its landing. Too often, we see negative opinions on a game we love and take it as a personal attack. That’s sometimes by design, as it’s in a company’s best interest to mobilize fans into a reputation-guarding army. It’s a move we’ve seen employed with superhero movies — and it’s no surprise that it has led to diminishing returns for studios like Marvel who are happy to write off anyone who dares criticize its increasingly rushed projects and declining visual effects.

We do not grow by plugging our ears, running away from the past, and ignoring anyone who doesn’t say exactly what we want to hear.

But honest criticism is an act of love. When done sincerely, it can offer artists valuable feedback that can perhaps identify an issue that a bought-in fan may not bring to the surface in their total glowing praise. When we criticize Sonic Frontiers, it’s because we want the next one to be better, just as those with mixed feelings in 2011 likely hoped would happen with a Sonic Generations sequel they wouldn’t actually get for 13 long years.

Taken as a complete package, Sonic X Shadow Generations paints a full picture of the series’ long, hard journey. I started by dragging my way through a fun but shallow game that never quite felt right and arrived at a revelatory thrill that feels like the genuine future of the series. The takeaway from all this shouldn’t be to make a third Generations game, put Shadow in the starring role more often, or to even bow down to anyone with a complaint — lord knows that last one is a recipe for disaster these days. Rather, the most positive possible outcome is that it will inspire a moment of self-reflection. We do not grow by plugging our ears, running away from the past, and ignoring anyone who doesn’t say exactly what we want to hear. Growing up is about recognizing our imperfections, and knowing which are worth embracing and which are actually worth working on.

We all deserve to enter our Shadow era. It doesn’t have to take 13 years to get there.

Sonic X Shadow Generations was tested on Nintendo Switch OLED with a retail copy of the game.