The Ultimate Life Form ~ Shadow the Hedgehog for Smash Ultimate! (Maria...)

[TCT~Phantom]

Well, it has been a journey.

For a support thread that only lasted for a few months, we really grew. We were a silent majority of sorts. Honestly seeing so many people come out of the woodwork to support Shadow was great to see. What was even better was people warming up to him. No longer was Shadow the worst thing ever. People generally seemed to tolerate him, rather than see him as a joke.

Shadow not being seen was rough, we did not know if he was in until the bitter end. Shadow in our eyes was the perfect echo fighter. He fights like Sonic in the canon. He fills the niche of a Second Sonic rep. He was certainly popular enough to make it. So why did he not?

Part of it may be that Sakurai does not think Sonic needs a second rep. Perhaps DLC will change that, but I doubt it. Maybe he thinks that Shadow would not be popular enough, we only became vocal for smash rather late when echos were a thing. If the game had a bit longer in the pipeline, maybe we would have made it.

Shadow being updated is nice. His chaos emerald reference was great to see, as it made him feel more like the Shadow from SA2 that I grew up with. It sucked to see him deconfirmed, but I was happy to see him at least get an update.

Where do we go from here? Who knows. If we make a stir, we could potentially get in as DLC. But I think the greatest lesson we need to learn is to be loud. We need to make sure that for the next game, Sakurai and those at Nintendo know that we want Shadow. We need to make sure we do not go too quietly. Do not harass anyone, but do not be quiet. Still support Shadow. We grew a lot in less than 6 months. What if we had a few years?

It was an honor serving with you all as your captain. To the next game, to the DLC game, and onward.

 

[BandanaWaddleDee]

I've wanted Shadow in Smash ever since I saw Sonic as a little 8 year old. I love the character, and I thought that either echo or unique, I'd be happy to see him in the game. Welp, much like Isaac fans, we were unnecessarily strung along for way too long to just end up disappointed. I have no idea why he did it the way he did, and I just really did not like it.

 

[Tempest]

TCT~Phantom Myself and my friends are not giving up. Not yet. Sakurai announced the Fighter Pass, and now is the time to show him how we feel as fans of Shadow the hedgehog.

Attention Everyone!!!

Here is an image one of my friends created made for us to start campaigning.

https://i.imgur.com/qRKBgA8.jpg - (Credit Nin*Rose , Youtuber)

We have not given up hope, there is still a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, with the DLC fighters Pass. Please if you are a Shadow the hedgehog fan, feel free to share this image. Share it on any social media platform you like, twitter, instagram, facebook, discord, etc. Remember to contact and spread this image to any official Nintendo, Sega and Smash bros orientated pages. This includes tweeting Nintendo, and including hashtags, such as #Nintendo or #Sega.

Please spread the word.

 

[Giga Kaiju]

Passing by to offer my condolences.

Damn. I swore we were going to get Shadow but still, the gae isturning out still great.

Who knows guys, with DLC in the horizon, there might be a chance, so do not give up and carry on.

There might be another chance in the future for Shadow, we just have to wait and like the post above says, make ourselves heard.

So, let's go ahead~!


.

 

[NiceTea]

To be fair Shadow is one of these characters. One who is the object of fan contempt (OW THE EDGE lololo meme) and one who is constantly reviewed negatively by who loves the franchise. Have you seen SomeCallMeJohnny and his hate towards the character? His thumbnail for the Nintendo Direct, his playthrough of the Shadow the Hedgehog game, Edgy the Edgy™, etc..

I mean just look at this.

Spoiler

Shadow is a complex character who is unfortunately plagued by many things to be truly played safe, unlike Tails, Knuckles, and so on.
He literally splits the fans in two, those who love him, and those who dislike him.
You have to ignore the memes, to ignore the badly written lines and to understand him slowly to truly like him. Unfortunately not everybody is willing to do so.

So my theory is that Sakurai originally wanted Shadow to be an echo. Why first show Knuckles as an assist trophy? Why make a new animation for the Chaos Control?
It might be that Sonic Team felt ike including Shadow, without including the likes of Tails, wouldn't have been a safe move, so they passed. They might have feared fan backslash. And who can blame them?

Just my two cents.

 

[xAquaCrystal]

I hope many Shadow fans are not giving up. I was thinking that we should team up with a big group like Isaac fans to get our two characters to be playable since both our characters are ATs. We have to let Sakurai know we want Shadow to be playable!

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

This is just a guess, but SEGA probably only allowed Nintendo to make Sonic into a playable character, which can probably explain why Knuckles and Shadow are Assist Trophies, while Tails's only confirmed appearance (so far) is in spirit form.

 

[KurouKamen]

Hello, we at Super Bomber Bros are looking for artists for a diorama featuring many assist trophied characters and other neglected favorites left behind. We are looking for an artist to do Shadow. We already have an artist for Bomberman and currently are looking for artists for Isaac and Skull Kid too.

Our Bomberman artist made our site’s graphics as well as the famous Bomberman banner.

https://mobile.twitter.com/superbomberbros/status/1024520922580086785

https://www.superbomberbros.com/

Contact FuzzyPickles for more details, he is a writer for SBoards by the way

 

[Sirfishe]

Still pretty bummed

 

[Luigifan18]

Hello, we at Super Bomber Bros are looking for artists for a diorama featuring many assist trophied characters and other neglected favorites left behind. We are looking for an artist to do Shadow. We already have an artist for Bomberman and currently are looking for artists for Isaac and Skull Kid too.

Our Bomberman artist made our site’s graphics as well as the famous Bomberman banner.

https://mobile.twitter.com/superbomberbros/status/1024520922580086785

https://www.superbomberbros.com/

Contact FuzzyPickles for more details, he is a writer for SBoards by the way

It would probably help if you tagged him, like so: FuzzyPickles

 

[BravadoMan_13]

This was such a wasted opportunity. I was so sure that Shadow would be in based on Richter getting in. It would've been a blast to play as the Ultimate Life Form. Seeing the Shadow and Isaac ATs was pretty disheartening...

 

[Ridrool64]

While I must admit that I dreaded Shadow being in as a semi or unique, he didn't deserve to get Assisted after everything went his way all for nothing. And now he's Waluigi tier in likelihood. Unless SEGA just said "no" and didn't want him as a Fighter, for some reason, why wasn't he Sonic's Echo?

I propose that Team Shadow should join Ashley, Waluigi, Isaac, and Skull Kid in hoping for Assist DLC promotions. While I don't think they're possible myself, I see no reason to give it a shot until outright confirmation. After all, working together is better than staying solo. And all of them went through repeat disconfirmations, Shadow and Waluigi in particular being 3 for 3 (Lyn too, but people will whine about FE yet again if she's promoted).

 

[DarkFoxTeam]

I thought I'd take some time to relax and really think about this before I made a post, but I'm still bummed out about all this. I told myself I wouldn't get too attached to the idea of Shadow being playable because I got King K. Rool. K. Rool was by far most requested character, but having to see all the signs for Shadow (Knuckles as an AT, the idea of Echoes, and the lack of Shadow for longest), I thought this might have been his time. Nope.

I think I would've been perfectly fine had Shadow have been revealed as an AT early on, but instead they decided to show us Knuckles. Like, why? So that they could rework his AT model? If so, then that was just pointless. I'm pretty sure Sakurai has this idea that it's some sort of honor to give characters like Shadow and Issac this role as a AT, but it's really just a sad reminder that they're not playable.

I know many of you are banking on Shadow (along with others like Issac) to be DLC, but I'm definitely not getting my hopes up for that. I get that Sakurai has never de-confirmed the idea of an AT from being DLC, but I don't see him changing their status like that. They're likely AT's because he didn't want to make them characters in the first place. So we're likely getting 5 new original characters. And if I'm being honest with you, I'm not excited for any of them. Everyone I wanted aside from K. Rool is an AT, so there's really nothing for me to look forward to. Hopefully, many of you have a different mindset than I do, but I'm personally not excited for any of it.

Overall, I'm still getting the game, but this direct has still left a sour taste in my mouth. It's a shame too because Shadow really is my favorite Sonic character and having to hold out hope for so long has pretty much left me pretty sad. I'm not banking DLC or even another Sonic character. What I'm gonna do now is try to get past this and just enjoy K. Rool when the game releases. But it's gonna be a while before I get over this.

I do want to say it's been awesome discussing his chances with you all here though. You guys really made it fun, so thanks for that. Here's hoping Shadow at least has a bright future in other titles. I know I'll never stop being a fan of his.

 

[Mastermiine]

I still can't believe he is not in the game. Months and months we all thought he was a lock. Months of getting excited by each direct hoping he was announced. And he is just gone liked that. We were baited and teased till the last moment. I just feel so sad. Waluigi and Shadow are not in smash and I am sad to say I think they may never get in.

 

[VioletSmashfan]

I still can't believe he is not in the game. Months and months we all thought he was a lock. Months of getting excited by each direct hoping he was announced. And he is just gone liked that. We were baited and teased till the last moment. I just feel so sad. Waluigi and Shadow are not in smash and I am sad to say I think they may never get in.

The main reason why they will never get in is simply because of the fandoms that they both represent, Nintendo does not want to represent the negativity that comes with those characters if they got in!

Waluigi's fandom is huge (I myself love Waluigi as he's one of my favorites), but for the wrong reasons (his fandom exploded the moment he became an assist in Brawl), and Nintendo just literally flat-out hates the character and they have been this way ever since his introduction in Mario Tennis for the N64 back in the 90s, unless Nintendo ends up getting new executives that sees the potential he brings and decides to finally get him out of the "spin-off mode" that he's been stuck in ever since those days and he gets into a mainstream Mario or Wario game, he's never getting in, EVER! This is the main reason why Daisy got in over Waluigi in the first place (she had met the requirements, literally being in one mainstream Mario game will get you a roster spot, if you're a spin-off character who has no importance to the main series, you're out).

Shadow is the same way (2nd most popular character in the Sonic fandom but for the wrong reasons, even though he started out very promising), but once Shadow the Hedgehog the game came out, it completely tarnished Shadow as a character possibly forever, as long as that one game exists to the fans' eyes, Sonic will never get a 2nd rep (and likewise Shadow will stay as an assist for the foreseeable future), in fact I really hope Nintendo cuts Sonic in the next Smash game and he never shows up again period (Sega doesn't need Sonic in Smash anymore), because at this point Sega is treating Bayonetta FAR better than they are to their own main mascot (same goes with Capcom and Street Fighter, and they are treating Mega Man the same way Sega is treating Sonic now), Jeanne is probably going to end up being the 3rd Sega rep due to that 3rd Bayonetta game coming out next year (which is right around Smash Ultimate's DLC period so she's a lock), the only way Sonic gets a 2nd rep now is if Sega decides to outright reboot the series and slowly re-introduce the gang (start with a Shadow who's kind of like what he is now, but more likeable and outgoing while keeping some of his darker personality), but for that to happen first the fandom needs to revamp who they are as fans in general (and it can be easily done, by making everything that came out post Sonic Adventure completely non-canon and start from where the Classic era left off and then go from there (kind of like what Disney did with Star Wars, but let's not go there), stick with a formula that works and if the fans like it enough, they will come back, another alternate possibility that could fix Sonic is to give Shadow another game of his own (or even remake the atrocity that tarnished him in the first place).

Speaking of Waluigi and Shadow, Gardevoir from Pokemon is also in the exact same boat as the two characters that I mention, she's very popular but for all the wrong reasons (this also literally hurts the other Gardie-clones' chances as well such as Gothitelle. Delphox and Tsareena).

Point is fact is that Sega KNOWS just how toxic the Sonic fandom has been ever since Shadow's introduction back in SA2 (and they are still toxic if not moreso after the direct) and have been slowly phasing Sonic out in favor of Bayonetta (Sonic's fanbase is just as bad as the DBZ fanbase if not worse, they are basically the video game version of said fanbase), at this point Bayo's going to end up being the new Sega mascot in the near future while Sonic will be forgotten, just like Alex Kidd, Billy Hatcher and NiGHTS before him.

Safe to say, I'm never supporting a 2nd Sonic rep EVER again until the Sonic fanbase completely cleans up their act and admits to their mistakes, if they can do that then Sega will start treating Sonic and his series better and maybe they'll get a 2nd rep, but until then Sonic will stay as a one-character franchise permanently, if not cut completely out of Smash altogether.

I hope many Shadow fans are not giving up. I was thinking that we should team up with a big group like Isaac fans to get our two characters to be playable since both our characters are ATs. We have to let Sakurai know we want Shadow to be playable!

I already gave up, and you should too as should everyone else!

Sakurai, Nintendo and Sega have clearly spoken and it's final, Shadow's never getting in as a playable fighter, EVER!

 

[magiciandude]

Heads up, Chrom still appears as Robin's FS.

 

[VioletSmashfan]

Heads up, Chrom still appears as Robin's FS.

Wait? WHAT?

I guess when Chrom is playable Alfonzo take his place in Robin's Final Smash!

Alfonzo: Leave it to me!

Now I can't wait to see Chrom getting bodied by himself in Robin's Final Smash!

 

[TyrantLizardKing]

Well that was rough. After seeing Box Theory become true and those three seconds of Shadow doing the same thing he's been doing for ten years was like having my heart whacked with a two-ton hammer. I was pretty bummed about the deconfirmation for the next day or so, though now I've mostly gotten over it.

To say this is baffling is an understatement. For months I had been betting on Ken and Shadow getting a double reveal much in the same way Chrom and Dark Samus did, and when Grinch leak appeared my hopes were raised further (although I had my doubts). I had been playing Adventure 2 lately to get myself ready. I had Shadow's gamecase next to me during the Direct for support. I'm something of a logical person and having 8 Echoes -3 third party with 3 first party added to balance it out- felt very obvious. So just seeing Sakurai cut off the Echo train right there after talking about Ken being added for the exact same reasons everyone was betting on Shadow was a tough pill to swallow. I was disappointed, my friends were disappointed, and the internet is (mostly) disappointed. If I can compliment anything, I like his improved model and new animation with the Green Chaos Emerald in his left hand, a nice double reference.

However I'm not dropping my support. Call me stubborn, defiant, or just a fanboy. I'm not giving up.

I don't think there's as many "rules" as people would say. Countless R.O.B.s appear as enemies in Brawl on top of our playable one. Rathalos pulls double duty as a boss and Assist. Heck we just learned that Robin's Final Smash still summons Chrom, despite the latter being playable. We know Sakurai loves his series-firsts, and that companies love money. So having Shadow be an Assist and playable fighter is not as farfetched as most people would tell you.

Is there a chance for him this DLC season? Almost certainly no, unless he is one of the choices coming later to trip everybody up. But I think Shadow is an AT no one would be upset over being disabled. Why? Because Shadow's function has always been nigh-identical to the Timer item, likely a result of his late inclusion in Brawl. This means that his effects are still available as an item for those who like it, and his AT only needs to be disabled if he is in a match at all.

Furthermore, no Echo DLC is both a bane and a boon. A bane because we all know how obvious an Echo he would have been, however a boon because now this constriction no longer exists. Sonic is right there waiting to be used as a base on top of characters having repurposeable moves (Wolf's Blaster for Chaos Spear, Mewtwo's Teleport for Chaos Control). More time and work can be put into new animations matching Shadow's personality. We can get a stage like Radical Highway or Westopolis along with some music from his game.

My ultimate point is, we've been dealt a serious blow, but not a fatal one. It's only fatal if we drop our support and leave things as they are. No. We have to be loud and let Nintendo and SEGA know that new interest has been generated that they can both absolutely profit from. No matter how long it takes, Ridley and K. Rool are living proof that dreams do come true. It's up to us to let the developers know that we want that dream to become a reality.

You can laugh and shrug off this post, or whatever. But I'll remain vocal about my support for Shadow for as long as I need to, and I hope my fellow supporters will stay motivated with me.

 

[Oracle_Summon]

Coming in from the Isaac support thread saying that a movement could help Shadow become playable. Since Shadow and Isaac were shown as the last characters they are still fresh on people's minds and could help us. The movement is #UpgradeAssists and is planned to unite all the Assist Trophy fanbases to get us noticed.

 

[TyrantLizardKing]

Coming in from the Isaac support thread saying that a movement could help Shadow become playable. Since Shadow and Isaac were shown as the last characters they are still fresh on people's minds and could help us. The movement is #UpgradeAssists and is planned to unite all the Assist Trophy fanbases to get us noticed.

Excellent, I'll take a look in the Isaac thread about it. Let's work together everyone, and make our voices heard.

 

[AntagonisticGalaxyCetacea]

At first I made this account to talk to some fellow Shadow fans and give em a bit of hope/excitement of him being playable. Seems like I counted my chickens before they hatched. And like many of you mentioned, I shared a similar reaction after the direct. I was spoiled ahead of time due to being at work that Shadow was simply an Assist Trophy. I was angry, sad, and then started to not care. I'm not hostile towards Sakurai or any party involving this, but you have to admit that this was really screwed up.

Firstly, showing Knuckles as the seemingly new Assist Trophy for the Sonic franchise. This was the major tease that we saw for Shadow being promoted to playable. The concept of Echo Fighters as well, it gave characters who normally wouldn't have a chance a shot at being playable. Then we got Isabelle, who was thought about being a Echo Fighter but was made unique due to her differing personality. At that point I would've just wanted Shadow to be playable in some sort of way but instead we got absolutely nothing.

This honestly killed my excitement for launch. Yes, I am very happy with the returning cast (especially Wolf and Snake, my mains in Brawl) and I always felt that Shadow would've been the cherry on top. I want to believe a lot of people saw Shadow coming as at least an Echo Fighter and seeing it not happen is absolutely bizarre. Could it have been time constraints that he simply didn't make it base roster? Could it be involvement with Sega? Or could there be a chance Tails is DLC? Whatever the case is, I feel its not worth debating and trying to figure out.

I've lost the excitement to speculate what will be added in Smash next. But to be honest there is no rule saying that Assist Trophies cannot be playable fighters. Yes, characters like Shadow or Isaac will not make it for our first five DLC characters but what's stopping them from becoming a part of a second wave of DLC? Those two are very requested and have a lot of vocal fans, it's very confusing to me how this all happened and my only assumption is that time ran out for them. While this is a minor nitpick, I don't think Shadow being an Assist Trophy hinders him being playable as well. They could either reskin the Assist Trophy much like Legacy XP did, or they could just not alter it at all, because there are Shadow Androids that look exactly like Shadow. Robin's final smash still summons Chrom so I think Sakurai doesnt really care about any rule that we've been making up.

Here's some concept art I doodled a while ago. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Palettes based on the Shadow Androids from Shadow the Hedgehog and a dark stranger

Shadow's Forward Smash to replace the windup punch, I pictured all of Shadow's moves having the green aura from Sonic Battle artwork

Shadow's neutral combo, just one I did for fun and to show off the aura effect

Shadow echoing Wolf's Blaster; I envisioned the weapon being the Shadow Rifle

 

[zerkerxror]

I was originally going to choose the Shadow Android palette (the yellow one), but I suppose it won't be the case anymore.
These are some really nice designs and concept art!
Kudos to you homie!

 

[Arsenal234]

Hey everyone I'm from the Isaac support thread. Seeing as though Shadow was also thrown into the assist trophy jail I thought we should team up. We are trying to start a movement called #UpgradeAssists. I feel if the Isaac, Waluigi, Shadow, Ashley, and Skull Kid supporters all joined together we may be able to collectively get Nintendo and Sakurai's attention. By signing one petition we may have enough people to make a real difference. Anyone interested can sign here (you don't need to use money to chip in just spreading it around is enough).

 

[Arkaizer]

I'm glad not everyone's given up hope on Shadow's chances. If he gets in now, then he'll most certainly have to be a unique character, complete with a themed stage and songs, which is nothing short of a good thing compared to just being an Echo. It's too bad, though, since we'll probably have to fight with the Tails fans over Shadow getting in, since I doubt Sakurai will be generous enough to give us two playable Sonic characters.
In other news, Shadow's confirmed to be a 3-star spirit that can evolve into a 4-star spirit, so I'll definitely be getting one so he can at least be there in... uh, spirit. I suppose that'll do... for now, anyway.

AntagonisticGalaxyCetacea , Those doodles are great! Do you plan on doing any more? I think having a theoretical moveset for reference will help for campaigning for Shadow since it'll be easier for people to see what he can do. Personally, I don't think he'd need the Shadow Rifle to echo Wolf's blaster since he won't be an Echo for DLC, so they'd definitely be willing to just have him do a regular Chaos Spear attack without the need of a gun.

 

[DarkFoxTeam]

I'm not saying I believe Shadow has a chance of being DLC (because in my opinion it's just not happening), but if it did I think it'd be pretty cool if his role of AT was replaced with Silver, but only if someone is playing as Shadow on a stage. If not then Shadow still appears as normal. I think the same can apply to Issac with Felix taking over his role as AT when he's on the field.

 

[kodoru__]

I thought about many things during the weekend after Direct. Personally, I am skeptical about the possibility of AT being promoted in DLC. Of course, in Smash Ultimate, many of the rules that we believed in were broken. I don't think it's impossible at all, but I don't want to be disappointed anymore. But I believe that someday, there will be a day when there will Shadow in Smash. I think there will be an opportunity to show support for Shadow in Smash Ballot or otherwise. Until then, I will continue to support Shadow while enjoying the Smash Ultimate.

Personally, I'm glad to know that many people like Shadow this time. Gaming community in my country is small in scale and they have a very negative view of Sonic. Most of their memories stop at Sonic 3K, they tend to treat Modern era Sonic characters, including Shadow, as disgusting ones. But watching this support thread made me happy to know that there are many people who support and like him. I didn't achieve what I expected, but I'm not just sad. I hope everyone doesn't lose hope while waiting for a chance to come someday!

I'm not saying I believe Shadow has a chance of being DLC (because in my opinion it's just not happening), but if it did I think it'd be pretty cool if his role of AT was replaced with Silver, but only if someone is playing as Shadow on a stage. If not then Shadow still appears as normal. I think the same can apply to Issac with Felix taking over his role as AT when he's on the field.

If that's possible, I think it would be cool to replace AT with illusion Shadow made by Phantom Ruby!

 

[No Sympathy]

TCT~Phantom Myself and my friends are not giving up. Not yet. Sakurai announced the Fighter Pass, and now is the time to show him how we feel as fans of Shadow the hedgehog.

Attention Everyone!!!

Here is an image one of my friends created made for us to start campaigning.

https://i.imgur.com/qRKBgA8.jpg - (Credit Nin*Rose , Youtuber)

We have not given up hope, there is still a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, with the DLC fighters Pass. Please if you are a Shadow the hedgehog fan, feel free to share this image. Share it on any social media platform you like, twitter, instagram, facebook, discord, etc. Remember to contact and spread this image to any official Nintendo, Sega and Smash bros orientated pages. This includes tweeting Nintendo, and including hashtags, such as #Nintendo or #Sega.

Please spread the word.

Give them a chance, to be happy! Right in the feels dude. Makes me think of how excellent SA2's climax was. Unfortunately I have been banned from Twitter and don't really use facebook. Will share this on other sites. This is the promise I make to you!

 

[AntagonisticGalaxyCetacea]

I think making a theoretical moveset would be fun, I've thought about making one for Travis Touchdown recently. Anything that helps spread the word.

Here's just a few things I imagined while speculated. Spoilered due to multiple Gifs

Spoiler

Shadow's Homing Attack would be based on Sonic The Hedgehog, being able to attack afterwards with a short combo.
No additional button presses

Short combo followup (probably just three hits)

Chaos Spear, most likely his Side Special; perhaps its fired at an angle while in the air

Down Smash possibly?

Instead of a rolling backwards throw, Shadow just nonchalantly tosses his opponent away for his back throw.

As for his victory poses:
A pretty straightforward one from his most recent appearance, the plus is that it's a pose he does very often.

The "Chaos Emerald Obtained" victory pose, to mirror Sonic's own one (I would imagine the Chaos Emerald being green however)

Another one from Shadow the Hedgehog, this one's just a personal favorite.

 

[Nin*Rose]

Hey guys, I'm actually new to this thread and I just wanna say my 2 cents... I DON'T WANNA GIVE UP! I refuse to give up! Shadow is one of my favorite characters of all time! Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is my favorite game of all time... and that's why I really want Shadow playable in Smash! So see no Shadow (or any Sonic rep for that matter) not join smash along with Sonic for the 3rd time in a row now... it's just a big slap across the face to every Sonic fan on this god dam planet!

Getting Shadow in Smash bros is the only character I'm gunning for and I dont think I'd request another character ever again when Shadow joins the roster! That said, many of my followers on Youtube has given up but I wanna give them and everyone hope! Seeing Chrom is still involved with Robin's Final Smash really took me by surprise! It just goes to show that Fan-Rules are made to be broken!

This image Tempest posted was created by me! I've trying to point out that characters can be promoted or be both Assist and Playable for years now!



and I've been trying to get the message across since Smash Wii U's Fighter Ballot days! I created this image below too!

As you can see! I've been pushing for Shadow's inclusion in Smash Bros for a very, VERY long time! If we see this issue with Robin's Final Smash! We need to get this public and fast! We need to take every opportunity we can get!

If you guys can, please Shadow the DLC image above to everywhere you can! The sooner this image explodes... the better for Shadow! I'll also be working on new promos to rule out Robin's Final Smash!

 

[TyrantLizardKing]

You guys are making me so proud. We won't give up, our voices will be heard. Heroes rise again!

I think making a theoretical moveset would be fun, I've thought about making one for Travis Touchdown recently. Anything that helps spread the word.

Here's just a few things I imagined while speculated. Spoilered due to multiple Gifs

Spoiler

Shadow's Homing Attack would be based on Sonic The Hedgehog, being able to attack afterwards with a short combo.
No additional button presses

Short combo followup (probably just three hits)

Chaos Spear, most likely his Side Special; perhaps its fired at an angle while in the air

Down Smash possibly?

Instead of a rolling backwards throw, Shadow just nonchalantly tosses his opponent away for his back throw.

As for his victory poses:
A pretty straightforward one from his most recent appearance, the plus is that it's a pose he does very often.

The "Chaos Emerald Obtained" victory pose, to mirror Sonic's own one (I would imagine the Chaos Emerald being green however)

Another one from Shadow the Hedgehog, this one's just a personal favorite.

Really good ideas going on here. I've had a few more thoughts myself.
-make jab the three hit combo he can perform in his game
-make fair either a double kick like ZSS or the sideways kick he performs on Sonic in episode 52 of Boom
-make uair a backflip kick like Mario's that can combo
-add fire effects to moves that involve kicks in general
-allow Shadow to attack out of teleporting like Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape
-make sure to use the jump sound effect from his game as well as the orange trails
-pummel can be the chop he uses to kill Eggman in his game
-forward throw, the roundhouse kick he performs on a Black Oak in his game's intro
-down throw, grinds his jet shoes into the opponent (from Legacy XP because it looks cool)
-up throw, uppercuts the opponent like when he launched Sonic in ep 52 of Boom
-special lines if he wins a match with Sonic in it (insert whatever you want here, probably a faker comment)

 

[amazonevan19]

I'mma be real with you guys, this campaign and deconfirmation took it all out of me to lead the charge. But seeing all of you not giving up hope is really inspiring and I'll 100% support this renewed effort and more general campaignt to promote assists. Even though I'm pretty certain Shadow's dead for smash 5, if King K Rool's campaign showed us anything, it's that we need to show consistent, positive, LOUD support for our character for later installments. People wanted KKR since Melee and he finally got in. Anything can happen.

And if Sega is the one at fault, then it's even more important that we let them know we want Shadow to change their minds.

"I'll never turn back, again!!!"

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

One could naively believe that Shadow could be made into a playable DLC fighter, but it probably won't be happening with his Assist Trophy status. However, since Chrom still appears as part of Robin's Final Smash, anything could happen at this point.

 

[Rocketjay8]

At first I made this account to talk to some fellow Shadow fans and give em a bit of hope/excitement of him being playable. Seems like I counted my chickens before they hatched. And like many of you mentioned, I shared a similar reaction after the direct. I was spoiled ahead of time due to being at work that Shadow was simply an Assist Trophy. I was angry, sad, and then started to not care. I'm not hostile towards Sakurai or any party involving this, but you have to admit that this was really screwed up.

Firstly, showing Knuckles as the seemingly new Assist Trophy for the Sonic franchise. This was the major tease that we saw for Shadow being promoted to playable. The concept of Echo Fighters as well, it gave characters who normally wouldn't have a chance a shot at being playable. Then we got Isabelle, who was thought about being a Echo Fighter but was made unique due to her differing personality. At that point I would've just wanted Shadow to be playable in some sort of way but instead we got absolutely nothing.

This honestly killed my excitement for launch. Yes, I am very happy with the returning cast (especially Wolf and Snake, my mains in Brawl) and I always felt that Shadow would've been the cherry on top. I want to believe a lot of people saw Shadow coming as at least an Echo Fighter and seeing it not happen is absolutely bizarre. Could it have been time constraints that he simply didn't make it base roster? Could it be involvement with Sega? Or could there be a chance Tails is DLC? Whatever the case is, I feel its not worth debating and trying to figure out.

I've lost the excitement to speculate what will be added in Smash next. But to be honest there is no rule saying that Assist Trophies cannot be playable fighters. Yes, characters like Shadow or Isaac will not make it for our first five DLC characters but what's stopping them from becoming a part of a second wave of DLC? Those two are very requested and have a lot of vocal fans, it's very confusing to me how this all happened and my only assumption is that time ran out for them. While this is a minor nitpick, I don't think Shadow being an Assist Trophy hinders him being playable as well. They could either reskin the Assist Trophy much like Legacy XP did, or they could just not alter it at all, because there are Shadow Androids that look exactly like Shadow. Robin's final smash still summons Chrom so I think Sakurai doesnt really care about any rule that we've been making up.

Here's some concept art I doodled a while ago. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Palettes based on the Shadow Androids from Shadow the Hedgehog and a dark stranger

Shadow's Forward Smash to replace the windup punch, I pictured all of Shadow's moves having the green aura from Sonic Battle artwork

Shadow's neutral combo, just one I did for fun and to show off the aura effect

Shadow echoing Wolf's Blaster; I envisioned the weapon being the Shadow Rifle

I love most of your ideas on Shadow's moveset, but the gun...

I would have Shadow use Chaos Spear instead. It's one of Shadow's most iconic moves.

 

[Nin*Rose]

I pieced up this image together :D

 

[TyrantLizardKing]

One could naively believe that Shadow could be made into a playable DLC fighter, but it probably won't be happening with his Assist Trophy status. However, since Chrom still appears as part of Robin's Final Smash, anything could happen at this point.

Don't worry, for all my statements I'm not naive enough to believe Shadow is becoming a fighter anytime soon. My intention is try and let Nintendo and SEGA know that there is demand for him to become playable that they could profit from.

I pieced up this image together :D

View attachment 176031

Oh man I love this.

 

[hposter]

I'll say it here; Our journey here in Ultimate is over.
However, if Echo Fighters are still a thing and Sega lightens up, I'm sure Shadow will be one of the first candidates.
All we do now is wait. We'll find our time in the light again soon.
Shadow has the added benefit of staying relevant for a while. I don't think our chances will be lowered with how long we wait.

 

[TyrantLizardKing]

Unfortunately I have to agree. With Sakurai stating the DLC roster has been fully picked with Nintendo, our hedgehog's chances are pretty much gone. All we can do is hope SEGA will try and get him in as an Echo Fighter (perhaps even for free as he was for Forces), but I think our story has concluded for now.

If anything good came out of this we gave Shadow a major boost in popularity among the community, hopefully enough to be noticed and allow him to be considered for the roster in the future. It's been a pleasure speculating with you all and I hope you're still planning to enjoy the game regardless of our Ultimate Lifeform not making the cut (I know I'll have some fun with his Spirit at least).

 

[7NATOR]

If anything came out of Shadow's Confirmation as an AT, i think we need to stop looking at Shadow as some easy Echo. If Shadow were to get in as an echo, he'd probably be in right now, but somewhere down the road, Either Sega or Sakurai felt that Shadow as an echo either wasn't true to his character, or wasn't worth the effort, or etc. We would never know the truth of Shadow's absence on the roster, but all i know is that if Shadow was planned as an echo, but was stopped by either Sakurai or Sega, and instead made an AT again, then honestly, the made The Right Decision. if Sega or Sakurai wasn't interested in putting Shadow in in the first place, then that's unfortunate but eh

...............

If you guys are still gonna try to get Shadow into ultimate through DLC, in the scenario they do more than one Fighter Pass, I think we should be looking to get him in as his own character. No way they are gonna waste re-licensing Shadow for DLC just to get him in as a measly Echo Fighter, It's got to be worthwhile. I'm gonna try to get him in as his own character, I'm not giving up...

That's all

 

[AntagonisticGalaxyCetacea]

I really doubt that Sega would be that stubborn to Shadow being an Echo seeing how he plays similar in multiple games, even the most recent one he's been in (Forces)

I think that Sakurai most likely considered Shadow, and things fell through so he tried to compromise with his Assist Trophy. Could possibly be due to Sega being too late to contact, or whatnot. It's just incredibly fishy to me how this whole situation panned out.

 

[xAquaCrystal]

Shadow chances of DLC are just gone. DLC already been decided by Nintendo and I already have a feeling on the list of characters that already been picked. My only hope is Shadow becomes playable in the next smash game as echo or unique idc I just want the ultimate life form to be playable. I will still support Shadow big time by then but as for now. I will just enjoy this game and hope Sakurai notice Shadow’s popularity and that there are people who wanted Shadow. However most importantly I hope Sakurai gets a break the man looks tired. Lol
Edit: Also it was nice meeting other Shadow fans. I feel like a lot of people look down on Shadow because of his video game and people say he is a bad character because of it. It’s just so much negativity when it comes to Shadow so it was nice to see love and support for his character I hope you all still support the ultimate life form in the future and enjoy smash ultimate!