
We all know that 2005's Shadow The Hedgehog was intended by Sega to be a more mature, darker take on the whole Sonic the Hedgehog universe – but it seems it could have been a lot more M-rated.
Jason Griffith, who voiced the title character, has spoken to GameLuster about working on the game, and reveals that Sega initially wanted an M-rating (thanks, Nintendo Everything):
Back when I was recording for that game, for Shadow the Hedgehog, I don’t remember what year it was, but they sat me down in the studio and they weren’t sure what rating the game was going to get.
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.
In the end, Shadow the Hedgehog would gain an E10+ rating from the ESRB due to "mild" profanity and violence, so it still went some way to making the series a little more moody and mature – just not as far as Sega might have done at one point.
[source gameluster.com]
Comments 11
Wouldn't have made it any better though.
Vivziepop’s Shadow the Hedgehog
Oh man now I wish they kept that in. The only somewhat redeeming thing about that game is how hilariously edgy it is, and that would have just been the cherry on top! I mean, it wouldn't have made the game any better, but at least the YouTube clips would have been even funnier to laugh at
@BetaRabbit64
That damn chaos emerald.
Yes, I had too.
No, I regret nothing.
I never played Shadow the Hedgehog but if the M version came out i would definitely give it a shot and have a good laugh for sure!
Even though I liked the game, this would have been lame, so I'm glad that they held back, it would have been way too edgey and try-hard for no worthwhile reason, and would be hated on even more than it currently is. The soundtrack is fantastic, though.
This was the period where Ubisoft tried to make Prince of Persia edgey as well with part 2, the whole story, the sex appeal of nearly-nude women the Avenge Sevenfold music during the credits. Yeah, it was cringey, thankfully Ubisoft scaled it back for part 3.
Let's not forget Capcom making Final Fight Streetwise, yeah edginess was all around during the mid-2000's.
The PC version of Bomberman had a ton of swearing in it that was removed.
Luckily it's still in the games files!
I think targeting an M Rating sheds a lot of light on why this game was poorly received.
Urgh, I can take Shadow being an "edgelord" character, but I'm glad that Sega dropped the plans to go this far.
It could sit right there with the NBA Jam SNES "beta" (a joke version more than serious development) known as NBA Jam XXX to the fans where the announcer is like "He's on f***** fire!" and "Get that s*** out of here!".
In real life, he has to deny any involvement and claim it a fake game.
@BetaRabbit64 Yeah! Hell damn fart!
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