THE GAME IS BEATABLE!! I have video proof of beating Lethal Highway Hero, Air Fleet Dark, Black Comet Hero, and the routing of Black Comet Dark. They are horrendously tedious levels and not at all viable to do, so I made very bad LOTADs for them (emulator, savestates, just to prove it was possible) If you're interested I could send you the footage and record BC Dark. Lethal Highway and Air Fleet's health bar does not reset with death, and Black Comet needs to use the worms as a bridge on the first room and the respawning fruits to farm for Chaos Control for the big pool after the 2 checkpoint. Then its a matter of careful checkpoint management for dark and just CCG spam for hero. So yes, it is possible to beat the game without using the main mechanic of the game. Horray.

For his neutral special he wields a *NOTHING*

i find the “no throwing things at enemies” rule funny, as the reason of “this isn’t really something you’d expect another sonic character to do” is thrown completely out the window by unleashed and the manpig

25:36 Vector gleefully yelling "The Computer Room!" made that whole moment way funnier!

This was basically "What if Shadow the Hedgehog was a regular Sonic game" and I love it.

17:49 I just love how shadow casually flips Rouge off compeltely and quite literally without a care in the world just for some shield.

This run proves that the most unquestionably good act one can perform is helping Vector find the computer room. The absolute torrent of good karma raining upon shadow for doing this even while he was putting himself through a difficult trial like this was enough to propel him further than a full bar of hero meter could even hope to.

In speedruns, the spot you're stuck on is actually casually done by charging up a spindash and the going *around* the big tower, since the path forward is down below.

This looked very fun, it was especially surprising that you willingly took 82 minutes on the iron jungle egg breaker, if thats not dedication I don't know what is, what do you have planned for the next video

POV: Shadow got accepted to Super Smash Bros. 25:15 Jokes aside, great video. I feel so bad that you had to sit through that Egg Breaker fight for our entertainment.

25:15 This Is Far More Awesome Than It Has Any Right To Be.

22:35 You made the movie 25% better by using that song during the invasion. Pass me a drink, a like and a sub.

I've given this some more thought because I wanted to the challenge myself: 1. Lethal Highway Hero. The Gamecube version has a bug where its health stays the same between deaths. I'm not sure about the PS2 version, but theoretically you could spam homing attack and avoid checkpoints, then jump of the edge when the ship escapes, starting again. It might take 3 laps or so to pull off. Plus, a second person might be able to help by controlling Sonic. 2. Air Fleet Dark. The game has a bug where it will track the mission as completed for about five seconds after it actually is. If you destroy the pod, wait half a second, then jump off, the game registers it as completed even though you start from the beginning, giving you a 00:00:00 completion time. You could technically use guns to destroy the pod then jump off and win at a new attempt where no guns (or even movement) was used. It's bending the rules a little but maybe it still counts? I've tried doing this with Iron Jungle Hero but the window, if there is one, is much more narrow. You are welcome to give that a try if you want. 3. Another variation of this challenge could be no guns but vehicles are allowed. It would open up Black Comet (while making the dark mission insane in difficulty), and maybe even the Ark's dark mission could be done although it would be hard without using the bird's homing missles.

23:01 i dont know if it was intentional but the cut here is a real slick transition between levels with the backwards homing attack chaining the clips together, esp well done because id been anticipating you homing attacking back to the platform since you said the 5 hits left thing, so the cut there worked even better than it would have otherwise. if intentional, i noticed and i applaud you, nice work :)

4:41 Actually it doesn't just work 'whenever it feels like it.' To make a very long story short, if you're on a straight path, no up ramps or down ramps to mess with the physics, the homing attack can be used exactly 3 times before it won't home in anymore, exactly 3 strikes, then you gotta land and wait a split second or two before resuming the attack again, rinse and repeat, the devs must have set up a hard capacity to how many homing attacks you can do to the thing to balance it out or.. something, i dunno. And if you're going down a downward slant or long ramp, you're gonna need to basically wait until you nearly touch the thing before you homing attack it. If you're going up, this is the hardest angle to work with basically, the only hope you have is to at least match the exact height of the black craft itself, otherwise your homing attack will just.. you know, miss as usual if it's got no target. Basically, 3 attacks max, then you gotta land, then you can rinse and repeat -- anytime there's a slant or ramp up or down though, you'll just have to sort of feel out the proper strike times. side note, i didnt even think to test chaos blast on it, like, ever, the thing's just too damn fast, neat idea buddy.

No matter how many times I see it, I just can't get over how funny the scene is of Shadow cocking a machine gun as if it's a shotgun

In The Doom, you can actually go into a room shortly after the special weapons crate, and if you spin dash jump off of one of the broken pillars at the right angle, you can clip through the ceiling and make it to the other side of the locked door next to the crate. I found that out specifically by watching an Expert Mode speedrun, because normally there's a switch on the other side of the door that opens it if you lock on to it with the Satellite Laser. In Mad Matrix, you can also spin dash jump off the slope before the first colored tile puzzle, and you'll go high enough that you'll phase through the wall as there's no collision at that height. In Death Ruins, you can break the walls by spin dashing into them. In Gun Fortress, you can spin dash jump off the inner path at just the right time to get to the outside. There actually are weapons in the Egg Dealer boss fight. If you stop 2 slots and ignore the 3rd until Eggman stops it himself, boxes will spawn that have different weapons inside of them. The infinite Chaos Control glitch would've also helped on several of these missions.

The fact that you were willing to sit there for 40 minutes trying to get Shadow up there, and managed to succeed, shows a lot more dedication than I (or most other people) ever would have.

Oh my god, you are the most dedicated Shadow The Hedgehog fan I know, and I thought I was the only one who liked this gam ethat much. Your mastery over the game and your perseverence is impressive, the editing was high quality too! Great job on the video!!

so much respect for you man. also, the comedy in this video is ON POINT. honestly if there's one thing i noticed about this video that was exceptional, was its pacing. just when im about to get a little bored, the little bit of comedy makes me keep going. also i laughed my ASS OFF when you put shadow music over a chicken little scene. i dont even remember the last time i laughed THIS HARD (its way funnier in 2x speed though)

25:15 You can do the same thing for Space Gadget. If you kill just the right amount of Black Arms and make a mad dash to the pulley that brings you to the grind section, you have just enough time to Chaos Control your way to the emerald, and it's hilariously satisfying.

You know, there is one rule in challenge runs: "If you get stuck, watch a speedrun, maybe you'll find something." ^^ Lethal Highway Hero: You can damage the tank in the first section, then die and then repeat. But you need a lot of lifes to do this. Air Fleet Dark: After the second Checkpoint (first outside area), you can do the same as in LHH. Maybe you canget Dark Shadow every time, do a bit of damage, and then die. I don't know about Iron Jungle Hero. Cryptic Castle: After the first giant lamp, you can do a plain spindash around the building ahead of you. And I have to look if The Ark had a clever warp that makes the normal mission possible. Also, I always wanted to see a challenge run of how many rings you have to collect to complete this game. ^^

I appreciate the legitimacy of your attempt, specifically that part around 17:15 of being like, "Hey, no emulators, no tools, no secret shenanigans...this is all completely legit on an actual PS2."

So much dedication to the video I love stuff like this, keep it up!

This man's going places, to play such a masterpiece in such a way is poetic. You don't need guns and vehicles, you just need Chaos and determination.

15:22 I thought of that immediately. I am glad you came up with it too. Very good analysis. Not sure how you only have eleven subs, but I can help change that. Liked and subscribed.

My prediction: literally everything that isn’t a “chase and kill” mission (aka, the UFO with the forcefield and the president’s getaway) is good to go since they don’t require obscene amounts of individual hits to destroy or accomplish on a tight time crunch. So yea, totally possible unless you’re crazy enough to 100% the game too.

For Cryptic Castle, I think you overlooked something: while you can't progress without a torch... I don't think you actually have to attack with it to light anything up, thus you aren't "using" it.

At first I was like "Sure you could, it'd just take forever." Then I remembered Central City, the ARK defense system missions and whatnot and became very curious just how many missions could be done. I think this'll be very interesting.

Excuse me, why do you have so few subscribers? This is very good content

17:49 shadow didnt gaf about rouge, she went *flying*

25:13 "Before this is over, I'll show you the true power of Chaos Control!"

You can light fires passively by holding the Torches. You do not need to swing it, just walk/ strafe into place to light things. I guess just holding things that are weapons breaks the rules, but I believe the active use of durability/ ammo should be the limit

Looking forward to seeing this channel blow up like nitro! Good content!👍

When I revisited Shadow this year, I briefly considered doing a "no gun" run, but after playing a few times I realized it would be near impossible to do. Thanks so much for putting in the legwork. You're a hero in my book.

I am insanely impressed with all the hard work and effort you put into doing this ambitious challenge and video! I really enjoyed watching and and learning all the little tidbits of this game. Definitely can't wait to see more from you! Keep it the great work!!

0:21 "Beating ow the edge without the edge" is the reason why I'm now subscribed to you, good sir!

This man's been through so much torture and suffering This is hella underrated video :^

I'm glad I found this channel - and finally got around to watching this video! Now I can finally start watching the other videos. Great work, and the computer room sequence was epic.

I'm so glad people keep doing these type of challenges, they're the content I enjoy the most. It's awesome to watch your favorite games finished in a different way. Keep doing these please!

This was really well done for a first video! Shadow is a mess of a game but I've always found it to be a guilty pleasure and I remember looking for challenge vids of it around a year or two ago. Unlike me, you were actually dedicated enough to do one yourself! I would definitely like to see more Sonic challenge videos from you if you're up for it.

You got me to like and subscribe with the 2 weeks you spent on those panels. You put in the work and have my respect. Other favorite parts were when you said "For the first time ever chaos blast is the answer." And that wild 20 seconds long chaos control using the checkpoint to move around that was wild! You gave me some good reminders of Shadow the Hedgehog a game I haven't played in at least 10 years lol. Thanks a lot!

You have a great voice and cadence thanks for the video, just subscribed based on this video’s production quality alone. You’re intro was great, clear and concise with no fluff all product.

Nice job with this! On Cryptic Castle though you can get further than you did by spindashing around the area ahead. Additionally you can spindash jump off the juggler enemy's bombs way easier than the torches.

Watched this a year ago and watched it again now - still an amazing play through. You have a great voice/tone that makes the Challenges satisfying to listen to. Keep doing what you’re doing man! I’ve seen a lot of your newer vids as well and they’re all great. Hope you have fun with frontiers when the new dlc drops!

Man this video is cool. Your dedication is really awesome and doing this on actual hardware is super interesting. I actually really like this game, it's one of my favorites from my childhood. Looking forward to future videos.

I was so thrilled when I discovered this video. I'm glad you attempted this challenge, and am very surprised it had not been covered previously! Good work on making it concise. I'm glad you went over the challenge stage-by-stage, as opposed to discussing ten different story progressions. Great work! Can't wait to see what else you do.

The dedication you put into this game to complete an admittedly crazy challenge is amazing. Thank you for your hard work and research!

This was definitely a fun video to watch. Good content and editing for sure. Also brought me back to one of the best Christmas I ever had as a child.

Fun fact! You actually dont need to use chaos control in cosmic fall. If you have all five secret keys, you can open the key door which contains a switch. This switch does two things. 1. It opens a door right around the corner that contains an extra life. 2. On the path to the computer room, right next to the jump mech, a trail of rings will appear which let's you light speed dash past all the jumping platforms. From there you just need to use some rockets and reach the computer room easily. That all said, shadow flying around space was awesome to see

0:16 I've watched/listened to this multiple times and I only just now noticed what's going on in that YT Search Bar. You really are great at wringing out every last bit of comedy.

This was so interesting to watch, and good on ya for actually going through hell in a few of those stages “looking at over 80 min boss fight” I will for sure check out what other vids you got

Neat run & analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

Although it is not very well regarded, I ve always loved this game so this challenge was a great oportunity to revisit this edgy adventure. Thanks!

this is amazing, i can't believe the amount of patience this must have taken!! seeing someone crack open this game in detail is really cool, especially for someone who's never played it (... guilty)...... thank you for doing this, it's really interesting and made for a fun video!!

Really good job, man! 👍 I will be very glad to see your new videos!

Impressive challenge run, good job grinding through some of the rough parts of this. It's impressive how much you can do without vehicles and weapons. I've always admired how much ambition went into Shadow, and ideas like having objectives in-mission that matter to different factions, branching paths affecting the narrative... obviously it was all handled in about the worst way conceivable, but I can respect how much effort and content really went into this thing.

this was a great anaylsis; thanks for putting in the work

This was a ton of fun to watch. Keep up the good work!

Definitely gotta like and subscribe to you man, mad props to your dedication! I would've lost my mind numerous times. Keep doing what your doing!!

Dang, you have amazing dedication. Great video!

This was incredible. Looking forward to future challenge videos!

Holy shit dude, many a props and respect for the effort it took to complete this. Especially the digital circut, I probably would've given up after a few days but you just don't know when to give up. liked+subbed

Man, now I want to replay this game. Great work!

The “I am all me” over Chicken Little was great! Actually brought a real laugh out today, good stuff

Man, thanks for this! I also was thinking why nobody did a challange of the Shadow's game, and you make my dream come true! Excelent video!!

I've been listening to these videos while working through sonic unleashed, I enjoy your work!

the sheer dedication of this lad, video was great!

This is actually helpful for beating the game normally. The chaos control exploits seem super useful.

Amazing video! I knew that section in Mad Matrix would give you trouble lol. And OMG 82 minutes in a boss fight? I could never do that. Kudos to you!

Great video! I’m honestly shocked you out in so much effort for your first video! Definitely subscribing!

I'm so glad someone finally did this. I've been thinking about how I'd want to record a video of it, but I just lack the equipment. Thinking about the required vehicles in a few places had me thinking about it

bruh, you just brought back so much childhood memories. This game was one of my favorites growing up.

A huge amount of effort was put into this and I very much appreciate it. I see it especially in how much time you used to beat the Egg Breaker in Iron Jungle.

Well edited and good video. You deserve more views and subs

Man made a channel and dropped a banger in spite of no one doing this before. Hope to see more from you dude

wait how is there so little views on this? the production value is really good and the video itself is really entertaining! great job!!

instant sub, appreciate all the effort put into this video! interesting stuff!!

Shadow damage boosting through toxic waste because he's too good for vehicles has got to be the biggest and edgiest power move I've ever seen.

Great video! Amazing editing and details! Good luck on youtube man! your 305th subscriber has joined!

I was just glad at first to see more content for this game, but this run did make a lot of creative moves to get passed certain parts I'd have expected to end the run. I'd definitely like to see challenge runs for some of those other games you mentioned at the end too.

WOW! An authentic deep dive video into Shadow the Hedgehog! Thank you!

Yooo! Someone else actually did this challenge? Nice! This was actually my stream debut back when I was on twitch! Though I specifically aimed at the guns and allowed melee weapons since everyone's issue with this game seems to be the guns. I can't believe you managed to get passed Mad Matrix and Gun Fortress. Both of those levels were run enders for me. Major props for figuring it out!

Awesome keep going my friend! You earned a subscriber!

That extended Chaos Control section was epic, felt like an acid trip. Awesome stuff. Loved this game as a kid, despite its flaws. Was super interesting seeing such a spin on it.

Fantastic first video. I love this game, completely unironically, and no one can change my opinion!

I love you challenging videos keep up the good work!!!

Man I'm so glad you're finally getting recognized by people, when i first saw this you had like 900 subscribes and now you're over 1k! Well deserved man

The fact that you did this on a real console and game and spent several hours tackling each hurdle deserves recognition. Good shit dude.

Not sure how I’m just finding this. Awesome video man. Keep it up.

What a wild idea! Fantastic effort!

Great video! It was very well structured and really entertaining. I like that you did a challenge run on a game with a, how do I put it, relatively mixed quality. It showes that games can always be made more interesting with challenge runs regardless of the game's quality. I look forward to the next upload!

A very nice video, i liked the editing and all the facts featured about the game. The fact that Sega made it so you occasionally HAVE to use weapons and vehicles really tells me a lot about what they had in mind while making the game back then.

Absolutely loved the video. It's cool to see people doing this kind of stuff in Shadow The Hedgehog. P.S The dedication dude, the in-game timer says it all.

Love shadow the hedgehog! People always do this kind of thing with other games! Thanks for making such an awesome video!

WOW! Phenomenal video. The turret i-frames strategy to fill up the hero bar, and the super long chaos control flight after checkpointing around were my favorite strats. Whereas the part where you had to get past the walls without shooting them (in the mission with Espeo) was the big "pure pain" moment. I really like that you did this challenge without save states, because doing something with save states doesn't prove that a human has the time and patience to do it. Anyways, who knew Shadow was so badass that he could beat his game without guns in 82 different ways!

This is such a strangely high-effort video. Like, good job, really. You answered a question that apparently nobody else before you ever cared enough to ask. And for that, I commend you.

One of the most well written sonic content I've seen lately, keep this up buddy! Also a "funny" idea for a challenge: Sonic Unleashed X360 without upgrading either Hedgehog :)

I binge played the entire Shadow game a month back and had this question the entire time in my head. Glad to see that some gigachad did it, even if a while before i found it

Pretty fun vid honestly. I like how taking this "No guns" route meant some of the true dark paths got cut off. Idk feels fitting that those routes can't be reached when you choose the option of less violence