Sonic x Shadow Generations

January 23, 2025

Sonic X Shadow Generations takes a format I loved from Super Mario 3d World + Bowser's Fury and runs with it. Rather than two independent experiences from the aforementioned Mario release, Shadow Generations actually operates within the same world as its companion piece. Specifically, the new story occurs in the background of Sonic Generations. It also relies upon (and improves upon) mechanics that were laid out in Sonic's 2011 effort.

As a result of this simple conceit, the new material acts as a huge gift to diehards of the original. At the same time, Shadow Generations has the goods to stand on its own strengths. The Shadow content feels a lot more responsive and polished, a testament to how improved the Sonic franchise has become over the past few years. This may actually be the best a 3D Sonic has ever felt to control. Other areas too are improved, I'm thinking about how you traverse from stage to stage. Borrowing heavily from the underrated overworld of Sonic Frontiers. It is clear that the team is iterating on that formula in positive ways.

An even better example of the improvement here is with the 'remixes' where you have to return to a previously played stage to complete a specific task. This was present in the original Generations title, but felt like a way to pad out that game, making you pick the least bad challenge from a menu of terribles. Now the challenges are improved, and there are less of them to chose from. The curation is warmly welcomed.

Still, unfortnuately, the game does once again fall into a some well traversed traps that have plagued 3D Sonic titles for years--specifically, having segments where you know what needs to be done but the controls or homing systems actively work against your intended action. I can recall times during boss encounters where I was essentially waiting in rest, hoping for the right sequence to replay itself so that I could issue a course correction from my prior attempt. It makes the mistakes hurt even more when you have another 30 seconds or so to wait before you can address it.

There are plenty of ways to do a remake or a remaster, but I am finding myself to be a fan of these 'the original + a new twist' packages.