Overview

Shadow the Hedgehog

Got to follow my rainbow

Plot

"I'm outta here!"

Rouge's Report

50 years ago, the current President of Nations contracted Professor Gerald Robotnik to research the possibility of immortality. Gerald initially refused, comparing it to to playing God. But when his niece, Maria Robotnik, contracted the terminal (and as-of-yet incurable) disease NIDS (Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome), Gerald reconsidered the project as a means to extend her life. The top-secret "Project Shadow" (as it became to be known due to the secrecy of the research) took place on the Space Colony known as ARK and began researching the effects of Chaos Emeralds on living tissue.

One experiment, designed to accelerate the rate of cell regeneration seen in some species of lizards, turned disastrous - the "Biolizard" subject grew ten times its normal size and became violent, nearly killing several scientists before being contained. When Military Organization G.U.N learned of the disaster aboard the ARK, they sprung in to action in order to silence Project Shadow (violently, if necessary). When they arrived aboard the ARK, Professor Gerald was already putting the finishing touches on what he called the "Ultimate Life-form", an immortal black hedgehog, named after the project he was born from: Shadow. Not knowing what the military would do with something like Shadow, Gerald entrusted Maria to take him to an escape pod and head down to the planet below.

They were intercepted by G.U.N soldiers, who, in an effort to kill Shadow, accidentally shoot Maria. With her last dying breath, she sealed Shadow in the escape pod and ejected him to earth. When Professor Gerald heard the news of his niece's death, he flew in to a rage; the very project he took part in to save her life ended up being the key to her death. Before being captured by G.U.N and sentenced to death for the "accident" on ARK, Professor Gerald gave Shadow strict instructions to carry out his revenge for what happened to Maria. Shadow was sealed in stasis to ensure that the truth about what happened on the ARK was never revealed.

Levels

Hero

• SONIC: City Escape
• KNUCKLES: Wild Canyon
• TAILS: Prison Lane
• SONIC: Metal Harbor
• SONIC: Green Forest
• KNUCKLES: Pumpkin Hill
• TAILS: Mission Street
• KNUCKLES: Aquatic Mine
• TAILS: Route 101
• TAILS: Hidden Base
• SONIC: Pyramid Cave
• KNUCKLES: Death Chamber
• TAILS: Eternal Engine
• KNUCKLES: Meteor Herd
• SONIC: Crazy Gadget
• SONIC: Final Rush

Dark

• EGGMAN: Iron Gate
• ROUGE: Dry Lagoon
• EGGMAN: Sand Ocean
• SHADOW: Radical Highway
• ROUGE: Egg Quarters
• EGGMAN: Lost Colony
• EGGMAN: Weapons Bed
• ROUGE: Security Hall
• SHADOW: White Jungle
• ROUGE: Route 280
• SHADOW: Sky Rail
• ROUGE: Mad Space
• EGGMAN: Cosmic Wall
• SHADOW: Final Chase

Last Story

• ALL: Cannon's Core

Unlockable

• SONIC: Green Hill Zone

Soundtrack

• "It Doesn't Matter - Theme of Sonic" by Jun Senoue and Tony Harnell
• "Believe in Myself - Theme of Tails" by Jun Senoue and Kaz Silver
• "Unknown from M.E. - Theme of Knuckles" by Kenichi Tokoi, Marlon Saunders, and Hunnid-P
• "Throw it all Away - Theme of Shadow" by Fumie Kumatani, Heigo Tani, and Everett Bradley
• "E.G.G.M.A.N. - Theme of Doctor Eggman" by Jun Senoue and Paul Shortino
• "Fly in the Freedom - Theme of Rouge" by Fumie Kumatani, Tabitha Fair, and Todd Cooper
• "Live and Learn - Main theme of Sonic Adventure 2" by Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli from the band Crush 40
• "Escape from the City - ...for City Escape" by Jun Senoue, Tony Harnell, and Ted Poley
• "Kick the Rock! - ...for Wild Canyon" by Tomoya Ohtani
• "A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup - ...for Pumpkin Hill" by Tomoya Ohtani
• "Dive Into The Mellow - ...For Aquatic Mine" by Tomoya Ohtani
• "Deeper - ...for Death Chamber" by Tomoya Ohtani
• "Space Trip Steps - ...for Meteor Herd" by Tomoya Ohtani

Development History

Trivia

• This is the last Sonic the Hedgehog game produced exclusively for Sega hardware. Near the end of the game's development cycle, Sega announced they would no longer be producing console hardware and were transitioning in to becoming a software-only company. One of the first cross-platform releases was a Nintendo Gamecube port of Sonic Adventure 2 entitled "Sonic Adventure 2: Battle". It contained more polished graphics, tweaked level designs, and an expanded multiplayer mode.
• Big the Cat (from the original Sonic Adventure) cameos in a secret location in nearly every level in the game. Additionally, by pressing A B simultaneously during some cutscenes, Big the Cat will appear and play a secret animation. All of these cameos were removed for the Gamecube port.
• Prior to the game's release, SonicTeam went to great lengths to keep the identities of Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat a secret. Only a couple of wide-angle or extreme-close-up images of Shadow were released initially, and Rouge was never mentioned - until toy manufacturer ReSaurus accidentally spilled the beans upon announcing Sonic Adventure 2 action figures. Though ReSaurus went bankrupt before producing these figures, Joyride Studios eventually produced Sonic Adventure 2: Battle action figures.
• In one of he earliest previews on the game, descriptions were given for a number of Sonic Adventure 2 concept drawings. Of them were the first descriptions of Good/Evil Chao and Rouge the Bat (then called "Nails the Bat"), but most interesting were descriptions of concept art involving Shadow the Hedgehog (referred to as "Dark Sonic" in the preview) - images were described of him bearing a scar across his eye and some pieces of art even featured him missing an arm. Other pieces of concept art describe a small troll-like creature with a big nose (possibly Professor Gerald), an angelic woman (most likely Maria), and a monster made out of eyes. These concept images have never been seen publically.
• The Sonic Adventure 2 demo packaged with Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast contained a number of subtle (and not-so-subtle) changes, including a different logo, different road-side billboards in City Escape, more loose controls and game physics, different sound effects, an instrumental-only version of the song "Escape from the City", and mild swearing in the game's opening cutscene. The biggest change comes in the form of Sonic's shoes: as the demo was produced before Sega struck a merchandising deal with shoe manufacturer Soap Shoes, Sonic instead wears his classic red sneakers in the demo.
• In the retail version of Sonic Adventure 2, when Sonic busts out of the Helicopter at the start of the Hero Story, he is still wearing his classic red sneakers. When he straps the piece of metal to his shoes, they change in to Soap Shoes.
• Based on texture/model file names on the Sonic Adventure 2 disc, Shadow the Hedgehog's original name was intended to be "Terios". In Japanese, "Terios" translates to several meanings, most notably "Reflection", hinting at his relation to Sonic.
• Sonic Adventure 2 establishes "Robotnik" as Doctor Eggman's official family name, reinforcing that "Eggman" is simply a nickname given to him by Sonic.
• Though impossible to read in-game, a number of texture files in Sonic Adventure 2 are actually high resolution images featuring lengthy amounts of text detailing normally unseen story elements, such as a computer read-out on The Biolizard detailing the creature's life cycle.
• Two lost cutscenes near the end of the game were discovered among Sonic Adventure 2's dialog files; the first is a scene between The President and his Secretary - the President does not believe that heroes exist and has doubt that Sonic and Shadow will be successful in saving the earth, but his secretary urges him not to give up believing in heroes. This scene was restored in the Sonic Adventure 2 anime adaptation featured in the TV series Sonic X, and is referenced in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog. The second lost cutscene is during the credits roll, while Tails and Eggman are reminiscing about Professor Gerald; Eggman turns to walk away, but stops mid-step, declaring he will still conquer the world and he and Tails make a pact that the next time they meet, neither will hold back.
• There are a number of poorly translated lines of English dialog in the game; most notably in a scene near the end of the game, Shadow declares "Is that what Chaos Control is?" - the line, if properly translated, should have read "Was that Chaos Control?", or even simply "...Chaos Control?" Other examples include a number of characters shouting Japanese exclamations in plain English (Sonic's "TERIA!" and Eggman frequently saying "Yosh-i!")
• Shortly after completing this game, Steve Broadie, who voiced the President (as well as E-102 Gamma in the original Sonic Adventure), died.

Credits

Producer

Director

Art Director

Main Programmer

Sound Director

Game Designers

Field Art Director

Field Artists

Programmers

Assistant Director

Scenario Writer

Lead Event Artist

Event Scene Artists

Lead Chao Programmer

Chao Programmer

Lead Chao Artist

Chao Artist

Music & Lyrics

Sound Effects

Sonic the Hedgehog

Miles "Tails" Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Rouge the Bat

Dr. Eggman

Amy Rose

Maria Robotnik

Pr. Gerald Robotnik

President

President's Secretary

Omochao

Misc Voices