The Shadow Android[1] (シャドウ・アンドロイド[2] Shadō Andoroido?), also known as Android Shadow, is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They are mass-produced robots created and used by Dr. Eggman that are almost identical to Shadow the Hedgehog in both appearance and abilities.
Appearance[]
The Shadow Androids essentially look identical to the original Shadow the Hedgehog, wearing similar white gloves, replicas of Shadow's Limiter Rings and replicas of Shadow's Air Shoes. There are seven Shadow Android variations. Two of them look exactly like Shadow, with one of them having yellow body stripes as opposed to red. The others are silver with black eyes, fully red sensor-like pupils, and several different body stripe colors ranging from red, blue, orange, light magenta and green. The silver variant is known as the Metal Shadow Android (メタル・シャドウ・アンドロイド[2] Metaru Shadō Andoroido?). Two of the Metal Shadow Androids each have a modified Grenade Launcher mounted to their left arm, while the other two have Sub-Machine Guns.[3]
Game appearances[]
Sonic Heroes[]
Shadow Androids in capsules, from Sonic Heroes.
The Shadow Androids made their debut in Sonic Heroes during Team Dark's story, though they are not named in the game. A Shadow Android that had been severed from the waist down was discovered by Shadow the Hedgehog shortly after the team defeated a fake Eggman, with Rouge the Bat expressing concern for Shadow. This discovery led to Shadow wondering if he wasn't the original Shadow but an android copy as well.
They made another appearance in the ending of Team Dark's story. After the trio had defeated "Dr. Eggman" and his Egg Emperor, Rouge went in search of the Doctor's rumored treasure trove on the flagship of the Egg Fleet. What she actually found was a room packed with Shadow Androids suspended in tubes just like the one she had discovered the real Shadow in. E-123 Omega then walked in and stated his intention to destroy the entire place, but before he could do so, he assured a distraught Rouge that the original must exist somewhere as there is no way anyone could make Shadow Androids without the real Shadow. With this new information, Rouge left Omega to his work. Whether Omega successfully destroyed the room and its Shadow Androids or got side-tracked after the incident with Metal Overlord is unknown.
Shadow the Hedgehog[]
Shadow facing one of the many Shadow Androids, from Shadow the Hedgehog.
The Shadow Androids reappeared in Shadow the Hedgehog, serving Dr. Eggman as part of his army. They appear as enemies in the single-player mode's Iron Jungle, Iron Jungle's boss and Lava Shelter. Upon their defeat, they grant the player 300 Hero points.
They first appeared in Iron Jungle, where Shadow came face-to-face with a troop of them while they were receiving their orders from Eggman about how to take care of the Black Arms. The Shadow Androids mainly appeared within rooms of the Iron Jungle base and attacked the real Shadow in groups of three and later tried to assist Eggman when he battled Shadow and Omega in his Egg Breaker. They later tried to keep Shadow out when he infiltrated Eggman's Lava Shelter in his new quest to destroy Eggman.
The Shadow Androids also appear as playable characters in the multiplayer battle mode of the game where they play the same as Shadow.
Other game appearances[]
Sonic Speed Simulator[]
In Sonic Speed Simulator, many different colored versions of the Metal Shadow Android appears as unlockable playable characters. They are referred to as "Android Shadow" and one (specifically Android Shadow Orange) was found offline by Mechanic Tails. He tasks the player to find enough Rebirth Energy in order to boot up Android Shadow Orange and find out what Dr. Eggman is up to.
Personality[]
In the multiplayer mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, the Shadow Androids are shown to be able to speak; each of them are egotistical as all of them claim themselves as the real Shadow the Hedgehog while calling the other Shadow Androids "fakes".
Powers and abilities[]
Two Shadow Androids with built-in weapons, as displayed on the player select screen, from Shadow the Hedgehog.
The Shadow Androids seem to have all the physical capabilities of Shadow and can withstand more damage than the average Egg Pawn. They fire tracer missiles from their hands[4] (similar to how Shadow can launch Chaos Spears from his hands) and can defend themselves from physical attack by jumping and mimicking the Homing Attack, so the only way to defeat them is with a weapon or the Spin Dash.[5] The Shadow Androids seem to be the only enemies that Shadow encounters that are resistant to punches and kicks.
Shadow Androids can move at great speed, just like Shadow. The two variations of the Shadow Androids that look more like Shadow can use a variety of weapons, while the Metal Shadow Androids ones have unlimited ammunition in the form of bullets and explosive shells. However, the Metal Shadow Androids cannot pick up any weapons, as the weapon they use is merged into their arm, disabling the use to pick up another weapon. The Shadow Androids appear to talk identically to the real Shadow, unlike many other of Dr. Eggman's machines that are capable of speech like Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic Mark II, E-123 Omega and E-102 Gamma.
Transformations[]
Hero Shadow Android[]
The Shadow Androids are capable of achieving the Hero Shadow Android transformation when its mind is fueled by thoughts of justice. In this state, the Shadow Android is temporarily invincible and can perform large scale uses of Chaos Control. However, this form only lasts for a short period of time.
Dark Shadow Android[]
The Shadow Androids are capable of achieving the Dark Shadow Android transformation when its mind is fueled by thoughts of evil. In this state, the Shadow Android is temporarily invincible and can perform large scale uses of Chaos Blast. Like the Hero Shadow Android transformation, this form only lasts for a short period of time.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
Enemies[]
- Amy Rose
- Blaze the Cat
- Diamond Cutters
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Silver the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Team Dark
In other media[]
IDW Publishing[]
A group of Shadow Androids, from Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper #3.
Past[]
At some point in the past, the Shadow Androids were deployed by Dr. Eggman to kill Claire Voyance, Slinger the Ocelot and Smithy the Lion after he managed to lock them within their holding room.[6]
Urban Warfare[]
Dr. Eggman made use of the Shadow Androids by releasing a horde of them in Eggperial City. They were let go from a Blowfish Transporter to attack Team Dark and Sonic, Tails, Amy, Silver, and Blaze. They proved to be formidable opponents against them, as Blaze's fire attacks were ineffective against them and Sonic and Amy couldn't take them down hand to hand. The heroes were forced to get away from them and fight with Team Dark. Shadow and Omega's attacks were ineffective against them as well. The combined powers of the whole group allowed them to hold of the Shadow Androids, but not eliminate them. The androids then took down Omega and Shadow was convinced to resort to Chaos Control to take them out. This proved to be effective, however, Shadow drawing power from the Giant Fake Chaos Emeralds caused his Chaos powers to overload and destroy his surroundings.[7]
A group of Shadow Androids, from Sonic the Hedgehog #59.
Rouge, Blaze, and Silver soon came back to find Omega and Shadow. They found many of the Shadow Androids trapped under the rubble or destroyed. They managed to get Omega free and found Shadow in the Memorial Garage. Several Shadow Androids blocked their path to them and Omega had to use all his weaponry to clear a way for them.[8]
Quotes[]
- "Let's see which one of us is the fake, then."
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "Get outta my sight, Android!"
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "You can never defeat me."
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "Humph! Are you ready to admit your own foolishness?"
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "Playtime is over. Time to step it up!"
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "Very well. Let's do this!"
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "You have no right to call me a fake!"
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "Let me show you what ultimate power is."
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "It's like I said, I am the Ultimate Life Form!"
- —Shadow Android, Shadow the Hedgehog
Trivia[]
- Shadow Androids could be analogous to Shadow in the same way that Metal Sonic is analogous to Sonic, except for the fact that Shadow Androids look exactly like Shadow.
- In Sonic Heroes, besides the Shadow Androids in Team Dark's story, they also made an implied appearance in Bullet Station of Team Chaotix's story. During the stage, their mysterious client - who is the real Dr. Eggman - gave the Chaotix a mission to destroy the capsules. The capsules' design bore strong resemblance to the capsules used to contain the Shadow Androids seen in Team Dark's storyline. Why Dr. Eggman ordered Team Chaotix to destroy the capsules is never explained, although it can be inferred that he saw it as a viable alternative to Metal Sonic, who had at that point gone renegade, making use of the Shadow Androids for its own purposes.
- In an unused voice clip from Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Eggman mentions that the Shadow Androids were made impervious to Homing Attacks in order to combat Sonic.
- Many of the Shadow Android's renders from Sonic Speed Simulator are reminiscent of previous renders throughout the series.
- The orange and green Shadow Androids' render's pose is based of the real Shadow's render from Team Sonic Racing.
- The blue Shadow Android's render's pose is based of Sonic's render from Shadow the Hedgehog.
- The yellow Shadow Android's render's pose is based of the yellow Shadow Android's render from Shadow the Hedgehog.
- Out of all the Android Shadows in Sonic Speed Simulator, they don't all have the same rarity, as only 4 of them (Green, Orange, Red, and Yellow) are in the Legendary rarity whereas the rest (Blue and Pink) are in the Epic rarity.
- The yellow Shadow Android is the only Shadow Android in Sonic Speed Simulator to be a quest giver.
- The yellow Shadow Android also took the longest time out of the Android Shadows to come to the game after its first tease.
References[]
- ↑ Shadow the Hedgehog (Nintendo GameCube) United States instruction booklet, pg. 26.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Shadow the Hedgehog (Nintendo GameCube) Japanese instruction booklet, pg. 45.
- ↑ Kaizen Media Group (22 November 2005). "Extra Modes". Shadow the Hedgehog: Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games. p. 78. ISBN 978-0761551959.
- ↑ Sega Studio USA (15 November 2005). Shadow the Hedgehog. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/level: Lava Shelter. "Shadow: Hmm. looks like this robotic fake is equipped to fire tracer missiles."
- ↑ Sega Studio USA (15 November 2005). Shadow the Hedgehog. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/level: Iron Jungle. "Shadow: My Homing attack has no effect. Huh... I'll just have to find another way, then."
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper #3, "Betrayal"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #59, "Urban Warfare, Part 3".
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #60, "Urban Warfare, Part 4".
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