Shadow (character)

Shadow the Hedgehog is a prominent anti-hero and the rival of Sonic the Hedgehog in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He was created to be the "ultimate life-form" by Dr. Eggman's grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Shadow does whatever is necessary to achieve his goals, and because of this he has fought both alongside and against Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and Shadow's rivalry mirrors Mario and Wario and Kirby and Meta Knight's rivalries. Shadow's primary abilities are his supersonic speed, his ability to use Chaos Control to manipulate time and space, and his other Chaos based attacks.

He was voiced by Jason Griffith, along with Sonic the Hedgehog and Jet the Hawk, in his first three Mario crossover appearances, and is currently voiced by Kirk Thornton in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Shadow is a playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. He's on Sonic's team. His character type is Speed, equaling him with Sonic but he has higher stats than Sonic in other events. In Dream Fencing, his special move is to glow gold and charge forward with multiple stabs of his epéé. His Dream Table Tennis move is to glow gold, jump up and twirl vertically, land, suck in thousand of gold lines and fire the ball super fast at the opponent. Shadow has the lowest level stamina among all the characters.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Shadow also appeared in the sequel, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. He appeared as a speed character, like in the predecessor. However, unlike with the previous game, Shadow is slightly slower than Sonic, but he has the strongest acceleration abilities in the game.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Shadow makes another playable appearance in the third installment of the Mario & Sonic series; Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Like the previous installments, Shadow is a Speed type character, alongside Yoshi, Daisy, Sonic, and Metal Sonic.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
Shadow is playable again in the fourth game of the Mario & Sonic series; Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Like previous games in the series, he is classified as a Speed type.

Super Smash Bros. series
Shadow appears as an Assist Trophy character in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Shadow is an unlockable Assist Trophy, unlocked after the player unlocks Sonic, though in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U he is unlocked by default. Shadow uses Chaos Control to temporarily slow down time around opponents (having the same effect as the Timer). In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, he is also now voiced by a different voice actor in different regions (e.g., he has a French voice in France) along with Sonic.

Profile
''Like Sonic, Shadow is an extremely fast hedgehog that can give his more famous blue rival a run for his money in most Speed events. Additionally, his accuracy will help give him a leg up in the events like the archery and fencing.''

Profile
''Shadow the Hedgehog, in his black fur and red stripes, returns to test his skills in the Olympic Winter Games. With the ability to harness the power of the Chaos Emerald, Shadow can perform Chaos Boost on the Wii and DS, and Chaos Control on the DS.''

Trivia
Although Shadow never smiled in any of the Sonic games, in the intro CG cutscene of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, when Luigi, Yoshi, and Shadow are jumping hurdles, when the camera zooms in on Shadow, (just immediately after Luigi is zoomed in) you can see a slight smile on Shadow's face.