Shadow Generations - Space Colony Ark Act 2 (S Rank, No Damage, All Collectibles, Japanese)

This video took much longer to come out than I intended, due to my primary goals for this challenge run changing slightly over time. Originally, I was going to just replay every single stage, challenge act and boss in Shadow Generations, and simply achieve an S-rank in all of them, without much consideration for the overall narrative in the game. However, I slowly realised that I wanted to represent this game in a way that is faithful to the progression of events that the average player will experience when casually going through Shadow Generations. It is for this reason that I decided to restart the run on a fresh save file and record each respective mission as I go, rather than just replaying the missions on a 100% save file. With that out of the way, let’s talk about the second act of Space Colony Ark. This is the moment where you get to witness the general structure of acts each stage in Shadow Generations has: Act 1 of every stage is fully 3D, whereas Act 2 is fully 2D (with one major exception). This structure is the polar opposite of Sonic Generations’ act structure, where every Act 1 was fully 2D and every Act 2 was “fully” 3D. I use the word fully quite loosely in the context of Sonic Generations, as anyone who has played that game knows the 3D:2D split in it is incredibly uneven. The inclusion of 2D sections in 3D Sonic games has garnered much controversy over the years from many Sonic fans, ever since Sonic Colours had a large abundance of them in its levels. Truth be told, I’ve never “hated” their inclusion in the Boost-era Sonic games in a vacuum, as I do genuinely believe that 2D sections can still be pretty enjoyable provided they don’t overstay their welcome. The only Boost games where I actively dislike the inclusion of 2D sections were Sonic Colours and Sonic Forces because in those games, it felt like they were used as a crutch to create the illusion of substance in their stages. Not to mention, especially in the case of Colours, hyping up a Sonic game as 3D in the trailers when around 80% of it is spent in 2D sections is just false advertising. One aspect of Space Colony Ark Act 2 that I would like to bring attention to is how much of an emphasis there is on the “top path/bottom path” design that largely defined the levels from the original Sonic games on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. For those who aren’t in the know, the “top path/bottom path” design refers to how levels were usually designed in a two-pronged manner, with regard to how fast you blaze through an act as Sonic. The higher routes in a stage were trickier to reach, often requiring you to take full advantage of Sonic’s physics to get access to instead of simply holding right. The routes also consisted of more precise platforming compared to the lower routes, but the ultimate trade-off was that these were always the faster route. By contrast, the lower routes were easier to reach and remain on, but they were considerably slower than the higher routes due to the increased presence of speed-obstructing hazards e.g. spikes, enemies, water etc. Shadow Generations brings back this recurring design philosophy, although the execution of it is rather unique compared to the games it originated from. Since Shadow doesn’t really operate on the same physics values that Sonic did in the 2D games, this means that the way Shadow accesses higher routes in his stages is quite different. You won’t really find yourself accessing higher platforms by Spin Dash-jumping off inclines or using slope physics to build up momentum and launch higher up on the map. Instead, as you’ll see twice in this level, Shadow will have to make smart use of Chaos Control to get onto these higher routes. I’ve been itching to talk about Chaos Control as a mechanic in Shadow Generations because it plays a core role in the level of replay value Shadow’s stages have, so let’s finally talk about it. Shadow can accumulate Chaos energy by defeating enemies which, when full, allows him to activate Chaos Control for 5 full seconds. When this is active, not only is the in-game timer paused, but Shadow also becomes immune to damage from missiles. The true benefit of this property is that Shadow can USE the missiles as actual platforms to facilitate accessing areas that would be otherwise out-of-reach. Many of the higher routes in Shadow’s stages are designed in such a way that using Chaos Control in this manner is a requirement, and this is where the fun begins. In the latter part of the stage, Shadow is chased by Black Doom’s essence before being imbued, albeit temporarily, with the power of the Doom Wings. I decided to show this particular instance, despite it going against my “No Doom Wings” restriction, because the in-game cutscene only triggers once. Plus, I plan to make separate videos of S-ranking Shadow’s stages both with and without the Doom Wings anyway.