VioletSmashfan
Smash Ace
Because of this, I'm siding with you!Look, Im a huge Shadow fan, and my first post was going to be mostly be centered around how Shadow like all of you have said, deserves a fighter slot. But maybe, Shadow wasn't meant to be in smash peroid, and theres just many reasons why this is the case. I keep hearing Shadow's the most requested echo and one of the most popular sonic characters ever, so what? Shadow is a still cult status, he's not still not as iconic as Tails, Knuckles and Eggman, more or less he's a second banaana in relevance in all sonic fan demand (in all classic Sonic fundamentals) considering he gets rarer face time in covers and main advertisement as Sonic and the classic characters. He gets more extra content compared to the other newbies but he never gets mainstream exposure that allows characters like amy and knuckles to show up every game, cartoon and comic. It's like he's struggling to make a iconic impact when he's a lesser main character than even Amy is.
Also look at his fanbase, it's full of fujoshi, edgy kids and memetic posting. No one probably takes Shadow seriously anymore as a marketable or favorable asset to nostalgia fan pandering. since he's always been kept back from achieving a position that makes him a house hold name like Ken, Zelda, Tails and Mewtwo. The former has something Shadow doesn't, the ability to have quality success in their gaming legacy thus generating better fan reception to now adult seasoned hobbyists preserving their novelty in fan media and fanservice activities. Shadow.......failed to grow momentum properly after his game and didn't get a much acclaim as Knuckles and Tails once did because those two had more set the bar for quality in their gameplay, he started getting divisive when he came back to life, and theres the demographic of fans he over all caters to.....Mostly kids who grow out of him and girls who ship him as this edge marionette of self serving pleasure pairing him with all the guys more than the girls. Sega probably looks at Shadow as the most inconsistent fan favorite to appeal to after Sonic because he keeps getting less relevant as a character and more a fan magnet that can't decide which type of fans he has to satisfy. The fujos? The SA2 fans? The Archie Fans? The Mariadow fans? Sega keeps Shadow on a stricter lease than the the classic 4 because they don't want to risk another bad game experience after shth bombed, and his personality caters to a specific standard in a theme only a modern platform game can handle, Shadow just is too insufferable to push to a commercial way like say Eggman or Tails. Even on pixiv, he's mostly a teenage girl fantasy and no one older or is actually a dude, would draw Shadow constantly to represent a majority of novelty that allows him to be reguarded as a Smash newcomer, on twitter I've seen amy and tails get heavier push from actual sonic purists that came off as visionaries in taking the characters they grew up with and pushing them with all their hearts to be in smash.
Finally Shadow gets divisive backlash and is still in a bad light with people since his game or even his debut. It's almost like Shadow has to start over and reinvient his impact to video gamers by not being a mix of all sorts of wrong angles to explore in a sonic concept. Shadow needs to be worthy of a iconic playable slot. His games are not critical acclaimed, he himself caters to a census of young try hards and fangirls, he has no real serious fan recognigition outside of modern fans that use his character to prove himself amongst imaginative legends like DK or Bayonetta, and He's stuck in hiatus with all the other characters thanks to sonic teams current mostly reaching attempts to appeal to the fans with only the main character and the main villain.
Shadow was only an icon for for the first two games that he appeared in and since that one game that he starred in he's fallen off and he will continue to fall off until Sega forgets him altogether and that's exactly what they want!
It's time that we give up for good, we've lost, Shadow's never happening as a playable fighter period and Sega knew this (which is why we got Joker, he's the edgy rep the entire time and fits it far better than Shadow ever will!)
Because of this, I hate Shadow the Hedgehog and no longer a fan of him and never will be again, I never want him in Smash (playable or assist) again or want to be a part of the Shadow fanbase again, I'm sticking with Tails, Knuckles or Eggman as the 2nd Sonic rep.
Shadow fanbase, just close this thread now, he's never getting in and no matter how many times you support him, it's not happening, it is final!
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