Shadow the Hedgehog Game Almost Got an M-Rating

There are "hours of recordings" of Shadow using f-bombs, says former voice actor.

By Marc Deschamps

In 2005, Sega gave Shadow the Hedgehog his very own video game, which saw the anti-hero wielding guns, and even doing some light swearing. It's pretty dark for a Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off, but Sega almost went even edgier for the game. In an interview with GameLuster, Shadow's former voice actor Jason Griffith revealed that he recorded two versions of the game's audio: the one Sega went with, and a version where Shadow is far more foul-mouthed. Apparently, Sega was considering an M-rating for the game, but opted not to go with it. 

"Right, they were going for an M-rating with this game and they hadn't heard back from the agency if they were going to get it yet. So they had me record two takes for every line, and I swear, the version that was for the M-rating, they had me say f*** in every single line. It was just every sentence, I would be yelling 'Sonic, give me that f***ing Chaos Emerald!' or something like that. I had no idea what was going on but I just went with it, and I had fun. There's a hard drive somewhere with hours of recordings of Shadow yelling f*** at Tails and Sonic and stuff."

Would Shadow be Popular Today if His Game Was M-Rated?

While older Sonic fans would have surely gotten some enjoyment out of hearing the brooding Shadow profusely cursing, the move would have made it a lot harder for Sega to market the character to fans of all-ages outside the game. This is a character that now appears in LEGO sets, on good2grow drink bottles, and on cartoon shows aimed at viewers of all ages. 

Sega is even running a campaign this year known as the "Year of Shadow," which is all about encouraging kids to "stay fearless" in the face of adversity. It kind of goes without saying that sort of campaign would be a tougher sell right now had Shadow starred in an M-rated game. It's honestly hard to say if Shadow would be a household name had Sega gone a lot darker with his only starring role. It hasn't stopped Deadpool from appearing on a metric ton of Marvel merchandise, though the character is aimed at kids a lot less than Shadow is. 

The Year of Shadow

Nearly 19 years after the the release of Shadow the Hedgehog, the game's eponymous star still has a reputation of being the "edgiest" Sonic character, but he's still marketable enough to kids that he gets to play a major role in this year's Sonic the Hedgehog 3, where he'll be played by Keanu Reeves. It's fun to think about how much different the character's path might have been, but everything seemed to work out for the best! 

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Are you disappointed Shadow didn't swear a bunch in his video game? Do you think Sega made the right call avoiding an M-rating? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Nintendo Everything]

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