Shadow the Hedgehog (lost early build of platformer; 2005)
The game's North American box art.
Status: Lost
Shadow the Hedgehog is a third-person shooter game that was released on November 15th, 2005, in the United States for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.[1] While the game has become infamous online for its "edgy" tone compared to other Sonic series of games, what was released as the final product is significantly different from Sonic Team's original plans.
Early builds of the game went for an even darker and more mature feel than the final product.[2] Not only were soldiers in the game seen bleeding red blood and dying on-screen, a cutscene in which a soldier is seen shooting Maria was fully visible. It is also believed that there was stronger dialogue in these early builds, including Sonic using the word "piss" (which was changed to "tick" in the final version of the game).
The ESRB gave the initial version of the game that Sega submitted to them a Teen rating for "Cartoon Violence, Language". However, this same year the ESRB put the new Everyone 10+ (E10+) rating into effect, which Sega felt would be more appropriate/open the game to a wider audience. As such, a number of edits were made, and the released version of the game was re-rated E10+ for "Fantasy Violence, Mild Language".
Status
A few glimpses of the original T-rated version are available online, such as Maria's death uncut, as well as an extended intro that features two cops being shot by Shadow.
While some sites claim that the Japanese version of the game is uncut, this version is identical to all other international versions and was rated as "free for all ages" by CERO.
Gallery
See Also
- Sister Sonic (lost build of cancelled "Sonic the Hedgehog" localization of "Popful Mail" Sega CD side-scrolling platformer; 1993)
- Sonic 3D Blast (found cassette demo tape of unused game soundtrack; 1996)
- Sonic Adventure New Year's DLC (found "Sonic the Hedgehog" holiday-themed DLC; 1998)
- Sonic Boom (non-existent lost episode of animated TV series; 2014)
- Sonic Boom 2013 (lost Crush 40 livestream performance from "Sonic the Hedgehog" convention; 2013)
- Sonic DS (lost Nintendo DS tech demo; 2004)
- Sonic Generations (lost game demo; 2010)
- Sonic Jr. (lost build of unreleased Sega Pico game; existence unconfirmed; 1994)
- Sonic Riders (lost build of cancelled Game Boy Advance port of racing game; 2006)
- Sonic Saturn (lost build of cancelled Sega Saturn prototype of platformer; mid-1990s)
- Sonic Sports (lost build of cancelled Sega 32X sports game; 1995)
- Sonic Synergy (lost original build of "Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric" Wii U action-adventure game; 2007-2013)
- Sonic The Hedgehog (lost build of cancelled Sega CD port of Sega Genesis platformer; 1992)
- Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (lost build of cancelled iOS port of Sega Genesis platformers; 2014)
- Sonic The Hedgehog: Awakening (lost build of cancelled "Sonic the Hedgehog" game; existence unconfirmed; late 2000s)
- Sonic X-Treme (found build of unreleased Sega Saturn platformer; 1996)
- Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (found iOS game; 2010)
- Sonic the Hedgehog "2006" (lost complete build of Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 platformer; 2006)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (lost Tokyo Toy Show prototype build of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive platformer; 1990)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (lost Winter Consumer Electronics Show 1991 demo build of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive platformer; 1991)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (lost build of cancelled Amiga port of Sega Genesis platformer; 1992)
- Sonic-16 (lost build of unreleased Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game based on "Sonic the Hedgehog" animated TV series; 1993)
- Sonic Runners (found endless runner mobile game; 2015)