Hi! We figured out that Shadow is faster than Sonic, so it's time for another question. Am I faster than YOU?! What do you think? I say...YES >:) mwahahhahhaha

Why did the Ultimate Lifeform turn out to be a hedgehog

Grant: Shadow, the edgy- Me: You can stop talking, I love him already.

Eggman outruns them both. Nuff said.

"Nintendo gave Shadow his own game"

0:42 Wait, Nintendo is responsible for Shadow the Hedgehog? And here I thought only Sega could make a game that bad.

Love how you say Shadows shoes raise him above the ground (kinda like air hockey) but the scene you mention it is him halfway in snow running

"Where is that damn fourth chaos emerald"

I’ve seen shadow run in the comics (without his sole shoes) and he seems to run at the same speed as sonic. Shadow is faster and more powerful than sonic, but sometimes having too many attacks confuses the user instead of using his good ol’ trusty moves (like sonic: spin dash, homing attack, and just keep running)

your saying how his shoes are like rockets, but what is the fuel? WHERE, is the fuel. Unless Shadow himself. he is the one powering the shoes, focusing his energy into the shoes, and it shoots out like a rocket.

Do gohan the story you never knew

you know there could be more about shadow that is unknown. like... a strange power that no one knows about

Wait a sec AMY has those same ring bracelet things 😨😨😨 so is any darker than we think.

Don't forget that Eggman is the fastest.

Sonic's speed is almost impossible to determine. We are told he can run faster than the speed of sound, but he never actually does this in a game. I mean, it would be incredibly hard to control if he actually did run that fast, so I can see why he would be scaled down. But then you have the "Light speed Shoes", which allow Sonic to travel along paths of rings at... light speed? I don't know, should we take that literally? It's kind of hard to believe, but maybe Sonic never reveals himself either, for the same reason that Shadow does. I mean, the entire purpose of the Ultimate Lifeform was to channel Chaos Energy, but Sonic did that FIRST. Without being designed to, he just could. It's entirely possible that Sonic and Shadow are equals, but they both scale themselves down equally. I don't know, though, Sonic doesn't strike me as being that smart. Either way, Shadow is the one constantly running missions and training, while Sonic lazes around. Shadow should be able to beat him, faster or not.

Wow...he's fast! Hey, it's not his speed. He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp!

shadow is faster by science. his shoes has no traction.

1:10 that's where you went wrong sonic was declared faster by shadow himself

not trying to be cancerous, but in the sonic comic issue 175, when egg man destroys sonic`s home in his new egg suit. He constantly mocks sonic until he snapps and disappears, snivly then looks for him on the map and we can see that egg man was in the center of the continent (which was basically America), and that sonic was at the edge of the continent in less than 4 seconds. I´m sorry if I sound like a butthurt sonic fan but I would just like to point that out.

Those shoes actually slow him down. Imagine if shadow took off all those restrictors AND his shoes, he would hypothentionally be fast enough to not use chaos emerald!

You know, based on that clip you showed from 06, i think shadow has as much chaos energy as 4 emeralds. During the fight, Mephiles has 2 chaos emeralds in his possession which he uses to create an insane amount of clones. And Shadow simply removes 2 inhibitor rings and absolutely destroys them. So assuming each ring inhibits the same amount of Chaos energy, Shadow has enough power in him equivalent to 4 chaos emeralds. And it's probably even more if you factor in Mephiles' raw power.

that shadow game was awesome. #Shadow

*BOW YOUR HEAD LOW! ALL HAIL SHADOW*

*If I had to guess, I'd say that, taking all your reasoning into account, Shadow is faster, stronger, and a better hand-to-hand combatant than Sonic but only in their standard forms. As super-hedgehogs, I'd speculate that they're probably equals:* *1) Despite the levels you mentioned being called "Mach speed zones", Sonic has never been shown running in any game at what would be visibly or physically equivalent to mach speed-* Were that speed fully translated & represented in gameplay, even Mach 1 would make it borderline-impossible to control Sonic while navigating the environments. Our eyes wouldn't even be able to keep up with or make sense of the surroundings because that's how fast Mach speed is. *2) Sonic changes speed depending on terrain and circumstances in battle, so it stands to reason that he typically holds back his true speed as well-* If Shadow can control and change his level of exertion & speed output, there's no reason Sonic couldn't. If the Blue Blur literally always ran at top-speed, the trail of sheer force created behind him would be massive, especially wind-force as he passes objects (Ex- *Ghost Rider, Matrix Reloaded* ). Not to mention, the exhaustion. *3) While ground and air resistance are avoided in Shadow's case, he still relies on the technology of his shoes to match Sonic's speed. Therefore, it's possible that his power in sneakers under leg-power alone would be inferior-* Granted, as you said, Shadow's "Inhibitor Rings" on his wrists & ankles restrain him. So it's entirely plausible that the opposite is true. If Shadow ran without rocket shoes or any rings, his speed and power could highly increase. However, as we haven't yet seen Shadow run without rocket shoes or ankle-rings, there's no evidence to support that factoring into the true NATURAL extent of his speed. Then again, some fans have theorized that the source of Sonic's speed is actually in his shoes? *4) Both hedgehogs display almost immeasurable increase in speed, strength, and power in super-forms-* Both can move at high speed without running due to levitation, although Shadow has displayed "Chaos Control" in the *Shadow the Hedgehog* game allowing him to zoom through levels even outside super-form. As we've never seen Super-Sonic or Shadow pushed to their limit in the games, it's as yet unknown which would be faster if they went all-out in these forms. *Overall, there's still too many unknowns to factually prove who's faster. But I think that's the point of their rivalry.*

I think treesicle might actually be better than game theory.

I don't find this hard to believe since Metal Sonic is faster than Sonic.

Until I see Shadow run so fast that he goes back in time or through different dimensions, he will never be faster than Sonic.

shadow is above aLL MY FAVORITE CHARACTER so this was good knews for me! this was a good theory ;)

"Nintendo gave him his own game" what? Also that's not what Alter-Ego means.

Wait... why would assume that "power" equates to speed? Your footage showed that removing his restraints lets Shadow smash tons of enemies, but by your own evidence he didn't actually get FASTER.

"Sonic Adventure 2 gave us a new character, Shadow The Hedgehog." And Rouge.....

omg im not the only one who noticed the other rings yesssssssss

But what if sonic isnt showing his true speed /0o0\ DUN DUN DUNNNNNN

Shadow is the fastest because....he is the ultimate life form. Case closed.

0:40 Shadow the Hedgehog (game) was made by Nintendo ?

The problem with Shadow taking off his inhibitor rings is that he only gets a short term power boost from doing that as it causes him to drain all of his stamina at once, causing him to almost faint after he runs out of energy. Sonic doesn't have that stamina problem. I heard from other people that there is also a chance that his body would take damage from the unrestrained chaos energy coursing through his body, the damage could sometimes be enough to kill him.

Shadow: why hello perfect cell of the sonic universe here

I've heard of this for over a decade now due to Shadow's run skill card in Sonic Battle, which is faster than Sonic's.

So if shadow had no rings he would be faster than ever

"Holes in the soles" Lol

I wonder what would an ultimate life form hedgehog would taste like?

You forgot to mention that WHILE its true the more inhibitor rings he removes the stronger he becomes, it is also the quickest way he will use up his energy and become fatigued. While his inhibitors do hold him back they are also what helps him have god like endurance to the point where leaving them on wont matter much in most cases because he will out endure his opponent.

i think the shoes shadow wears is how the rings on his angles hold up

This is a cool theory, really enjoyed this. I almost forgot about the other two inhibitors on Shadows ankles, it's pretty safe to guess that we haven't seen his full potential. I've always loved how Shadow seemed to have additional powers/techniques, based upon his advanced control over chaos energy. But despite all that, I've been imagining for a while now that the only reason Shadow could keep up with Sonic was because of chaos control constantly being used in unison with other tricks during all their encounters to even the playing field. Shadow may very well have an edge in variety and uncertainty. But what's that worth when there are obvious examples in past games to suggest that Sonics base power, his speed included, has improved tremendously over time. Maybe beyond anything Shadow is currently capable of, in terms of said speed.

I have got to say that Shadow has always been one of my favorite characters and I love watching theories about him.

I completely forgot about shadows inhibitor rings for like two years.

"Shadow is faster than sonic" *Uses sonics speed from sonic 06* Yep.. I bet he is

Shadow is literally a living chaos emerald and a alien spieces who has natural super human qualities from a entity that conquers planets all in one. It's odd he wouldnt be as fast as Sonic natutally.

First of all I'd just like to say, excellent video, I've watched your content for a long time now and I never get tired of that seemless, fluid editing style and voiceover. :') The concept itself is also a fun and intuative one to cover, with your hypothesis laid out perfectly, but I.. CAN'T say I agree 'entirely', not to throw shade at you or the video, since you're fully entitled to your own personal opinions, as is everyone, but - being the internet, a rebuttal is bound to happen, and being a Sonic theory-creator myself; here's my angle on it. I'd love if you gave it a read and offered your thoughts! (GREATEST APOLOGIES FOR THE LENGTH OF THIS POST!) The world "cheating" is thrown around with Shadow quite a bit, now despite the argument that "hover-shoes" are the element in which Shadow draws his speed, Shadow's physical aptitude has always shown us that his level of speed is part of his natural makeup, evidenced through his agility, heightened senses and so-on. "Chaos Control" (and other Chaos-energy-related powers) is also one of the aforementioned cheating factors people harp on about, since it's a form of matter moving from one point to another, i.e. teleportation, it can't be considered Shadow's natural speed, especially since Sonic is capable of it too, alongside many other side-characters. Now I know you mentioned that Shadow's maximum potential had to be stilted by the inhibitor rings, due to the shear magnitude of said potential. But bare in mind, that no matter how much power Shadow HAS in his "unrestrained" state.. or even IF he was to remove his anklet rings as well, it still can't compare to a Chaos Emerald-induced "super-state", like Super Sonic and/or Super Shadow for instance, like the kind needed to defeat god-level threats such as Perfect Chaos in Sonic Adventure. In these super-forms, the users abilities are seemingly multiplied to an unspecified extent, making their overall power hard to gauge, but for years; believed to be unmatched by any mortal being... EXCEPT SONIC. Sonic has surpassed his own limits and grown to a level of strength and speed that rivals his former SUPER SONIC appearences in the Adventure - post-SA2 era! As evidenced in Sonic Generations, the blue-blur can tango with the water god Perfect Chaos in his BASE-form, non-super, utilizing only his natural, raw speed and power in the form of the "Boost" technique, a technique that looks very 'similar' to Shadow's attack against Mephiles in 06's finale, but SHADOW needs to be unrestrained to use it, Sonic.. does not. Yes, since then Shadow himself has also learned a "Boost-like" ability, but this evidence alone gives us clear indication that Sonic's genetic speed has outgrown limits that are equivalent to gods and beyond the laws of nature. While you mentioned that "Shadow does not want to be seen as a threat to humanity" and so-forth being the reason as to why he keeps his "true speed" hidden, look at the character from an in-game psychological perspective. He's incredibly rivalistic towards Sonic, butting heads with him over the most ridiculous of reasons, not to mention Shadow DOES possess a stellar ego too! He masks it well, but it has come out of the closet in certain instances. So I ask with all this.. why Shadow would bother restraining himself at all? Especially with the chance to upstage his bitter rival! And when speaking strictly "in-universe" and not 4th dimensionally, in other words; speaking of the GAME'S story itself, i.e. the nature of the game's UNIVERSE, the world in which Sonic-lore and it's characters reside in: Sonic has always been widely represented as being the "fastest" verbally by other characters, never once has Shadow. Shadow has merely been described as "similar", "nearly as fast" or "close" to Sonic's level. Sonic has defeated Shadow single-handedly many times, in a plethora of titles, that alone should wipe away any smear of doubt left lingering about the match-up between these two, or the force of their overall speed when compared to one and other! Remember, Shadow was created to be the "Ultimate Lifeform" or so they say, but that was at a time when Sonic didn't exist. :'D Since then, Shadow's "ultimate" status has been challenged many, MANY times by the hedgehog-hero and even demolished. But again, that's just my "Sonic Theorist"-y outlook out the subject matter, sorry for the rambling, dude! Just really had the itch to throw in my two cents there ^.^

Great logic for the most part, but saying that Sonic can run at mach 1 because he has sections called "Mach Speed Zones" is not evidence for his speed at all. Now I'm not saying that Mario is faster than Sonic but I don't think we ever get Sonic running at scaled mach 1 (where the distance he travels in a given time frame is enough distance to qualify him for traveling at mach 1 when scaled to Sonic) in any of the games. It's completely irrelevant to your claim though and its really great so keep up the good work :)

Shadow's role was to be sonics twin

4:33 So Shadow is Broly now XD

I honestly thought those rings on his ankles were also inhibitor rings, but I never thought they'd limit his speed.

0:40 you just committed the biggest sin in the Sonic franchise! You punishment is kissing a dead hedgehog!

Edgy-mc-Shadow here is the first ultimate gary stu and is the king of all Edgy-mc-perfect people.

Everyone knows that shadow is the fastest

Mr. Treesicle not to a poke hole in this, but Shadow's air shoes allow him to keep up with Sonic's base running speed not overcome it. Sonic has a move known as the figure 8 peel out. The figure 8 peel out is Sonic's top running speed. The Archie Comics made good use of this ability on multiple occasions the best use was in issue #175. Where Sonic went from the center of a fairly large continent to the east coast in mere seconds then went back at Eggman at Top speed. Snively (one of eggman's lackeys) even told Eggman Sonic had broken all previous records of speed they had seen before. If Shadow were to take off his bottom inhibitor rings it would at most allow him to match Sonic's top speed. Sonic and Shadow are best known as equals lets not add fuel to a decade old fire.

I mean yeah, if shadow doesn't allow himself to be prohibited, then he could be faster, but in a Lockstin/Gnoggin therory, Sonic naturally limits himself as well, creating a once again fair fight. Its still very hard to say.

0:41 Grant: Nintendo gave me: wait what did you say? grant:Nintendo me: seems legit

I would love to see Shadow take all 4 rings in project Sonic 17

Interesting theory, and I think it is probably correct all except for the extrapolation to shadow's reasoning. He is probably faster at full power, but the inhibitor rings are likely less about blending in and more about his body being unstable if he soaks up that much chaos energy consistently. at least that is my reading of the situation.

I really think you need to sit down with Mattpat and have out why you feel like you have to prove yourself compared to him. I love you both for different reasons and I think you can be confident in yourself as a theorist

Sonic is confirmed to be faster than light in Sonic colors. Checkmate

The road runner does not even classify as a warm up for either Sonic or Shadow

yes I was right shadow was faster then sonic!

wrong Mario is faster than both. but hey that's just a... I'll show myself out

Sonic is capable of moving fast enough to create a sonic boom; he just chooses not to.

Sonic would be screwed if shadow took off all the inHailerwings

shadow got better shoe game than sonic

0:53 Thank you Nintendo for Shadow the Hedgehog

TwelveColours: Black, Gray, White, Pink, Red, Brown, Orange, Apricot ( Peach ), Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet ( Purple ),. Colour Liquids ( Soluble Paints ), Colour Pastels, ( Oil Pastels ), Colour Crayons, ( Wax Crayons ), Colour Pencils ( Pigment Graphites ),. MaggixJinxieMiseryJinxen12, Crayola, Faber Castell, Maped, Prisma Color, Staedler, Pentel,.

Also note that sonic can literally run at the speed of LIGHT and surpass the speed of sound.

3:26 OH MY GOD, YES. SONIC ADVENTURE 2 B*TCH, SONIC ADVENTURE 2

I honestly think like you thought before: Sonic is clearly faster than Shadow, since he doesn't need technology to move as fast and Shadow still cannot outrun him. It was even stated by Shadow himself in the Chronicles. Shadow is stronger, Sonic is faster and that's the philosophy. But if Sonic existed in real life, according to the time theory he would be the slowest thing alive (if you move faster in space, you move slower in time. I'm sure that theory doesn't exist on Mobius)

Those rings on his ankles are only design choices you know that right

Wow this video was actually educational. Your theory on the Ring Inhibitors actually makes sense to why you don't see him remove it from his ankles. It's possible that removing the inhibitors on his wrists makes Shadow stronger while removing it on his ankles would make him faster. I've always found Shadow to be faster because of his hover shoes. Since Shadow isn't touching the ground when he runs (skates) would mean he can become faster than Sonic, who needs to physically touch the ground, when he runs. Again awesome video!

Sonic is faster than Shadow! Shadow is stronger than Sonic!

THIS THEORY IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shadows the typa dude to fight you with his hands tied and win lol

Sonic is also always holding his true speed back as well so you can't possibly know the truth about their speed

such a unexpected video I love it

You're jumping to conclusions, you even said that he has rocket shoes to make him go faster, even if he took the inhibitor rings off his shoes it would still be the shoes that are making him faster. I doubt that if he were to take his shoes off and then take the inhibitor rings off the shoes that he would be the one getting faster.

What an insult. If he can be called the ultimate life form then I can be called the fastest thing alive

It's definitely cause shadow would die if he took off the rings and pushed himself for too long. Not because he's faster than sonic but because he would over expire due to his imperfections as a clone

Nice vid but I don't think Sega wanted their antihero to surpass their mascot in speed plus they went more into Sonic's speed then Shadows. Sonic's Speed Potential and Limit far exceeds Shadows

**cough** Archie Sonic **cough**

Every time Shadow takes off his rings he's exhausted and sometimes passes out from releaseing so much power. that's reason why he rarely uses it.

Technically this is confirmed in Sonic Battle! In that game, Emerl uses Skill Cards to learn the abilities of other characters. In the description of the Skill Card for Shadow’s Run, it says “Shadow’s Running Skill. With help from his Air Shoes, he can run faster than Sonic.”

I think your misunderstanding Chaos energy and how it works in the sonic universe. The inhibitors limit the users usage of the chaos energy. Allowing shadow to use chaos spear and ect from his hands. and spread it out from the rest of his body, And who's to say that shadows rings around his ankles are indeed inhibitors? and not actual rings? If shadow was that powerful, why would he need to call upon the power of the chaos emeralds to defeat devil doom and Biohazard? Did you neglect the fact that sonic can travel at light speed? And that shadow natively uses chaos control to move freely through time because the chaos energy is already in his body? And if shadow was indeed "faster" than sonic. Why did he constantly need to use it against his enemies when he could just release it? And again, why would the ultimate life form become a hedgehog? Throughout the sonic series, shadow has always been sonics rival. and if he wanted to destroy the world at one point, then what would be the point in holding back? Lets also remember back when shadow had to (but didnt need to) use the power of the real chaos emeralds in SA2 and future series. Sonic used Negative emeralds and fake gems to perform the same abilities shadow could. It's even referenced that sonic can move so fast that time "Stops" moving. I feel like there was alot of stuff that was left out for both sonic and shadow that should've been looked over before making this theory. Besides even shadow stated in sonic chronicles that sonic is faster, while shadow is more brute strength. Just want to note that shadow still isn't stronger than knuckles. which is also proven. This is literally like saying Vegeta is stronger than Goku. Vegeta trained harder. Goku has kaioken. EZ.

i dont see how shadow is faster than sonic... shadow's shoes NEGATE friction... so how does he generate momentum?

So you're saying the reason shadow wears those rocket shoes is because he needs them to keep up with sonic without removing his inhibitor rings.

Huh. I guess Shadow didn't want to win the Olympic Games.

I always figured that Shadow needed his inhibitor rings to keep his energies stable. without them he goes almost super for a short time before burning out. Where as Sonics natural abilities are stable as per course.

Sonic is faster than that faker but i like him

shadow actually admitted that sonic was faster. nuff said.

Treesicle, your theory is true, because shadow never, and I mean NEVER takes off the ones on his ankles

I want Sonic to be faster. Because if he isn't, what does that make him?

My favrite is shadow

also i believe in the anime, shadow matches sonic's speed without even using his shoes, so that means when he IS using his shoes, he's still holding back

Shadow took off all of his rings in Nazo Unleshed, but Nazo just blasted him