The remaster of Sonic Generations features things that were not in the original. First, there were slight control changes to the remaster to better line up with Shadow Generations. Another change made to Sonic Generations for the remaster is that now, the drop dash move is featured. The drop dash ability was first featured in Sonic Mania, which came out in 2017. To use the drop dash in Sonic Mania, just press and hold the jump button. It is basically the same here. Another change made to the Sonic Generations remaster is that three Chaos (creatures in the Sonic the Hedgehog series) are featured in each act, and can be collected. When they are collected, as far as I am aware, nothing much happens, but it is cool to have. The most controversial change in the Sonic X Shadow Generations version of Sonic Generations is the rewrites. Basically, the Sonic Generations remaster featured rewrites to feature many more references to past Sonic games, and also because most of the voice actors of the original Sonic Generations have since been replaced. Even for the characters where the voice actor did not get replaced, they re-recorded the dialogue. Many Sonic fans were not happy with those changes. Personally, I do not mind the rewrites because Sonic Generations is a game that does not have that big of a story. However, I will admit that in my opinion, the voice acting was better in the original game.

Shadow Generations is similar to Sonic Generations because Shadow Generations is a celebration of Shadow the Hedgehog and the games he has been in, like how Sonic Generations is a celebration of Sonic the Hedgehog and the mainline games he has been in. I am going to be honest, I have not played a single Sonic the Hedgehog game where Shadow was playable until Shadow Generations, but spoiler, I enjoyed it. At the title screen, there is an option to learn about Shadow the Hedgehog’s backstory, which is a good inclusion for those who do not know about Shadow the Hedgehog’s history. Basically, Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s cousin, Maria Robotnik, had a disease that was not curable on Earth, so Maria and Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s Grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, moved to space to try to cure her disease. Gerald tried to cure Maria’s disease, but he repeatedly failed. Eventually, Gerald makes a deal with Black Doom to make the ultimate life form, Shadow the Hedgehog, and hopefully get Maria cured. Shadow the Hedgehog and Maria became friends. Eventually, the government thinks Gerald’s experiments start to become too dangerous, so the government raids the Space Colony Ark, where Gerald and Maria lived. Shadow and Maria try to make it to an escape pod, but only Shadow does, and Maria gets shot. Gerald gets arrested and then subsequently executed. Shadow Generations starts with Shadow missing Sonic’s birthday because he senses something on the Space Colony Ark. While on the Space Colony Ark, Shadow sees the fake Chaos Emerald that Tails tried to trick Dr. Robotnik in Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow takes the fake emerald. While all of that happens, the Time Eater eats time and space, so Shadow and all of his levels are a part of that. That thing Shadow sensed was Black Doom returning as a result of the Time Eater. Also, Shadow Generations takes place at the same time as Sonic Generations. Because of that, Shadow Generations features levels that are a part of Shadow the Hedgehog’s past. Just like Sonic Generations, Shadow Generations (from what I could tell) brings back old levels in new and refreshing ways. Like Sonic Generations, the boss fights are also from previous games. The boss fights are the Biolizard from Sonic Adventure 2, Metal Overlord from Sonic Heroes, and Mephiles (also known as Memphis Tennessee among Sonic fans) from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). As the game progresses, Shadow gains new abilities because Black Doom gave Shadow those abilities. These abilities include Doom Spears, Doom Surf, Doom Morph, and Doom Wing. Shadow also has the Chaos Control ability, but he has always had that ability. The Doom Spears allow Shadow to stun an enemy for a couple of seconds. The Doom Surf allows Shadow to surf on the water. The Doom Morph allows Shadow to go in the purple stuff by homing attacking a Doom Morph Sphere that is by the purple stuff. Chaos Control allows Shadow to freeze time for five seconds, and can be unlocked by defeating enemies throughout the stage, or by hitting a Chaos Control box. The Doom Wing allows Shadow to glide. In order to activate the Doom Wing, at least fifty rings are needed, and the rings get lost over time after activating. The levels, boss fights, and open world use these abilities very well. For example, the Metal Overlord boss fight has Shadow use the Doom Surf ability, where the entire boss fight is on the water. Another example is the Memphis Tennessee boss fight, where the boss fight is on the purple stuff that allows Shadow to use the Doom Morph, and there are purple spheres that allow Shadow to Doom Morph. Once Shadow Doom Morphs, Memphis Tennessee will drop tilted towers on the stage with the purple stuff where Shadow can use the Doom Morph to climb up, and then defeat Memphis Tennessee. Eventually, Shadow meets Maria and Gerald, and as a result of their interactions, Shadow learned to not be as destructive with his anger and to let go of the past. Also, there was a moment that tied Shadow Generations to Sonic Generations. Shadow looked at the City Escape level, and then came across Sonic. Shadow and Sonic’s dialogue in this cutscene was a callback to cutscenes in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes. Sonic wants the Chaos Emerald that Shadow has, but Shadow needs it to use the Chaos Control ability. Shadow intentionally loses the fight so he can give Sonic the fake Chaos Emerald that was mentioned earlier, and keep the real Chaos Emerald. That means that from Modern Sonic defeating Shadow in  Sonic Generations all the way until the moment before Modern and Classic Sonic take on the Time Eater, the Sonics had a fake emerald, which makes sense because they were not able to become Super Sonic until the Time Eater boss fight. The Shadow Generations levels, like the Sonic Generations levels, feature collectable items that give them great replay value. These collectable items serve the same purpose, to allow the player to unlock character art, music from Shadow’s past, and this time, pages of Gerald Robotnik’s journal. However, the way of unlocking those things is different. In the open world of Shadow Generations, there are boxes with the icons of the collectable items (art, music, and journal page), and it costs one of those to open up the box and collectable. The final boss fight is against Black Doom, who transforms into Neo Devil Doom. This boss fight is really good because it has Shadow use all of the new abilities from this game, and said abilities are used very well. Not to mention that a remix of Crush 40’s “All Hail Shadow” from the game Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) plays in the background, and it sounds amazing. Speaking of the soundtrack, it is filled with remixes of music tracks of previous games, and they sound pretty good. As for the downloadable content (or DLC for short), if you got the Day One Edition of Sonic X Shadow Generations, you could play as Dreamcast Sonic in Sonic Generations. In other words, you could play as Sonic in his Sonic Adventure design. If you got the Digital Deluxe Edition of Sonic X Shadow Generations, you could play as Terios, also known as beta design Shadow, in Shadow Generations. Also in the Digital Deluxe Edition of Sonic X Shadow Generations, you get access to a new app (or at least it is a new, separate app on the Nintendo Switch version) that features new concept art and vocal songs from Sonic and Shadow’s past, such as “This Machine” by Julien-K from Sonic Heroes, “I am All of Me” by Crush 40 from Shadow the Hedgehog, “Live and Learn” by Crush 40 from Sonic Adventure 2,  etc. The Sonic Jam design for Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations is free on the Nintendo Eshop, Steam, etc., and it allows you to play as Classic Sonic with his design from Sonic Jam. Probably the most notable DLC of Sonic X Shadow Generations is the level where you play as Movie Shadow from Sonic Movie 3. Keanu Reeves reprises his role as Shadow for the DLC, and although he sounds better in Sonic Movie 3, he still sounds pretty good here. The DLC level with Movie Shadow is pretty fun, and in general, all of the DLC with different skins for the Sonics and Shadow and the app with concept art and music are all neat additions to the game. Overall, Shadow Generations is a great game with fantastic gameplay, great level design, a good soundtrack, a good story, and great replay value. The only problem with Shadow Generations in my opinion is that it is a bit too short, which even then, that kind of shows that I really enjoyed the game.

To answer the questions at the start of Part 1, Sonic Generations does hold up well in 2025, Shadow Generations is a good game, and Sonic X Shadow Generations is worth buying. In my opinion, both games are a 9/10, which means they are great. As for which game I think is better, I cannot really decide. Although Shadow Generations has a better story and better boss fights, I think I prefer Sonic Generations’s levels slightly and Sonic Generations’s soundtrack is better than Shadow Generations’s soundtrack. There are arguments for and against both, so if I convinced someone through these reviews to get Sonic X Shadow Generations and they say one of them is better than the other, I will not argue against that person. At the end of the day, both Shadow Generations and Sonic Generations are great games, and I recommend those games.