Movie Shadow coming to Sonic X Shadow Generations

2024 has been a long time coming for Shadow the Hedgehog fans. The Year of Shadow has been nothing but delights and with the third film in the Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise on the way, fans will finally be able to see the enigmatic anti-hero on the big screen! But don’t worry, you won’t have to wait much longer because on December 12 you can step right into movie Shadow’s Air Shoes right on PS4 and PS5! With the just-announced Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Movie Pack, get immersed in gameplay and cinematics voiced by the iconic Keanu Reeves!

We took a seat with series producer, Shun Nakamura, to get some deeper insight into the behind-the-scenes of this groundbreaking content as well as what to expect when it drops later this year.

At what point in development was it decided to include DLC in the title?

Nakamura-san: This title has been developed to satisfy not just the Sonic game fans, but also those who see the Sonic movie and become fans of Sonic and Shadow for the first time.

But of course, we didn’t expect to have Shadow from the movie included in this game, as the world for the movie and game are different – we thought that it would be challenging to do so.

However, we saw an almost festival-like opportunity where we have the movie and game being launched almost at the same time. We decided to pursue it and have work on movie-related content with development starting last Autumn.

What was the thought process on including the Movie version of Shadow?

Nakamura-san: Since the game and the movie pack content are releasing before the film, we thought it would be ideal to have people to play the game and have their feelings about Shadow, then go out and see the movie. After experiencing the film, hopefully they would want to come back to play the game again as Shadow. 

We imagined that with so many new Sonic fans who love the movies, perhaps this will be the perfect motivation to jump in and play Sonic X Shadow Generations if Shadow from the movie would appear. 

Hopefully, this makes this holiday season and the Year of Shadow even more exciting for all types of Sonic (and Shadow) fans out there.  

How is this content pack related to the movie? (Without spoilers of course!)

Nakamura-san: This content will not have a story which per se that would relate directly to the movie. Rather, as you can see in the trailer, it will be set in Tokyo, where Shadow visits in the movie. 

The development team also lives in Tokyo, so we tried to develop this setting an enjoyable place as a Sonic game but also clearly showing the Tokyo-likeness. We even went out for research to the actual area being used in the game for inspiration. 

We feel it is very exciting to play as Shadow in a real existing city, so please look forward to it. 

And how does this DLC fit into the larger Sonic X Shadow Generations game? How does this experience differ?

Nakamura-san: Basically, it should be positioned as bonus content. 

In the base game, Shadow has his own dedicated story including achieving his new Doom Powers and reliving the memories of his creation, which is unique to this game. 

There are things bit different in the movie – that is why I think saying this as a bonus content would be suitable. But you can play and control Shadow like you have played in the base game. 

We can’t reveal too much, but please stay tuned to see how it connects to the movie world! 

Do you have any fun stories from working with the Sonic Movie team?

Nakamura-san: Information on the movie was revealed to very few members even within Sega, so when we developed this content, we worked with a very limited materials, which were provided by Paramount. We primarily discussed and worked with Iizuka-san who clearly knew about the movie too. 

We actually haven’t seen the final scenes in the movie yet, so we are excited to see how close our game ends up being to the movie!

What was it like working with the confidential Hollywood voice talent for this DLC?

It was an incredibly secretive process, so when we started to implement the voice in the game, we actually weren’t told who this voice is. The voice recording was handled by Iizuka-san in the US, so when we received the recorded voice files, we listened to it and felt, is this that actor…?, so we were also surprised after the official announcement from Paramount! 

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The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie 3 pack is included with the Sonic X Shadow Generations Digital Deluxe Edition, and with pre-orders available now, it’s the best time to lock in for the additional content dropping on December 12. Our chat with Nakamura-san was brief (he’s a busy guy!), but after talking we know he’s cooking up something really special. Shadow fans, dinner is almost served.