Sonic the Hedgehog 3 comes to the screen with the promise of a stellar new character. Just as Sonic 2 launched with Knuckles as its primary selling point, Sonic 3 puts Shadow the Hedgehog front and center. Shadow has been around for over two decades now, but he often changes regularly between portrayals. Unlike a lot of Sonic characters, Shadow got to star in a game. That title, Shadow the Hedgehog, bizarrely armed Shadow with a selection of realistic and fictional firearms. Could Sonic the Hedgehog 3 follow that example?
The Sonic movies are in the upper echelon of video game adaptations. They're not mind-blowing accomplishments, but they are well-crafted children's films that brought the beloved characters to an excited new generation while also pleasing longtime fans. Their quality supports the idea that video game movies have moved toward a point of normalcy. The genre can exist alongside every other kind of movie with some good entries and some bad ones. Given some luck and a lot of hard work, Sonic 3 might even stand among the best of the best.
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Shadow uses guns in one game
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Developer |
Sega Studios USA |
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Publisher |
Sega |
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Director |
Takashi Iizuka |
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Platforms |
GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
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Release Date |
November 15, 2005 |
As all Sonic fans know, Shadow the Hedgehog starred the titular ultimate life form in a follow-up to his debut in Sonic Adventure 2. While it maintained many of the mechanics of that title, it also added third-person shooting gameplay that was more-or-less completely new to the franchise. Tails and Eggmans' levels in Sonic Adventure 2 arguably had gunplay elements, but they were far less explicit with their use. Shadow the Hedgehog was Sega's attempt to make a Sonic game for a more adult audience. They aimed to earn a T for Teen rating from the ESRB rather than the series' typical E for Everyone. The 2005 game featured human enemies that Shadow could violently murder, light swears, and an evil narrative path that would allow players to become the villain. The most striking visual element, established in the game's opening cutscene and beyond, is that Shadow wields several realistic firearms in his quest. The talking hedgehog armed himself with real-world pistols, rifles, rocket launchers, and even a minigun.
The Sonic movies feature firearms
Though they're never prominent, the two existing Sonic the Hedgehog movies have a few guns lying around. A PG rating has no specific restriction on characters carrying or wielding guns, allowing the franchise to use them as occasional props. Wade Whipple, the comic relief deputy sheriff of Green Hills, wears a SIG-Sauer P226 pistol on his hip while he's on the job in the first entry. He brandished the weapon in a scene near the end of the film, giving the audience a more detailed look. The soldiers who respond to Sonic's appearance walk around with standard-issue M4A1 carbines. Guns are less common in the sequel. Wade still has a holstered pistol (though it's a different brand), but the G.U.N. Soldiers ironically dispense with the weapon their name refers to. They mostly use Tasers with a few mysterious futuristic-looking laser weapons in wide shots. The film does feature a few mounted heavy machine guns and at least one M1 Abrams tank with its usual armaments. These weapons are almost never fired, but they are set dressing in various scenes.
The Sonic movies love to make references
While the Sonic movies aren't direct adaptations of the games, they are full of callbacks and references. Letting Shadow wield a gun would be a straightforward nod to Shadow the Hedgehog. That could be reason enough to allow Shadow to snatch Wade's Glock 17 out of his holster and attempt to wield it against Tails. Of course, this is a kid's movie, so he probably won't do that. It's far more likely that the film will, at some point, reference Shadow's history with guns in a more comedic manor. It was always pretty funny to see the animated woodland creature pump an MP5 like a shotgun with the moon at his back in Shadow the Hedgehog's opening cutscene. He's always been the poster hog for trying too hard. Using guns also creates a slight logical flaw. Shadow is capable of running much faster than a bullet can fly and dealing more damage than a rocket-propelled grenade. That's all before considering his absurd supernatural powers, which leave him somewhere in the realm of a Dragon Ball Z character. There's no reason for him to use a gun. Lampshading the very funny visual by addressing the logical fallacy might be the ideal way to play with this element of Shadow's history.
Giving a cartoon character a gun has always been a shortcut to comedy. It's funny when Shadow, a hedgehog who unironically celebrates taking candy from babies in his debut appearance, picks up a M1911A1 and peels out on a custom motorcycle. Shadow doesn't need a gun for any reason other than comedy. If it comes up at all, it'll likely be quick, silly, and good for a laugh. In that way, the question of Shadow's gun ownership is a microcosm of the Sonic movie franchise as a whole.
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