Thoughts on the project shadow mural theory? What other Sonic theories should we look at?

I’m partially curious whom Gerald got the hedgehog DNA from. I’m half expecting it being an ancestor of Sonic’s.

Some of Biolizards roars sounding like Perfect Chaos’ is another thing that supports Biolizard being based off of Perfect Chaos

“I think i’ve discovered what the ultimate life form is… it might be you!”

Imagine having your cousin and grandfather killed by your Government. I can see how Eggman became such an anarchist. Honestly it makes sense that he thinks he can rule the world better. And why some iterations have him build theme parks as his utopia. He's off his rocker, but deep down it comes from a misunderstood place.

I think Gerald might've interpreted the mural as himself creating Shadow using a chaos emerald.

I'm glad that SEGA is starting to care about Sonic's continunity, because now stuff like this is possible, and it's just as cool as the games themselves.

Sonic: you see now thats what I called Foreshadowing. Get it.

Corny, but back in the day I wanted to do a Sonic fan comic, one story would be Gerald hiring Fang's father/grand father to lead him to Angel Island where they would encounter Knuckles predecessor who I had named "Brass" (keeping with corny Sega naming). It would end some what in tragedy and explain to an extent why Knuckles was alone all his life.

So what you’re saying is… The mural was… ForeSHADOWing?

Man, I really wish Sonic Team wasn't so afraid to make another deep lore Sonic game since the 2006 dissaster.

So if Gerald was in Angel Island 50 years ago, who was guarding the Master Emerald? Knuckles wasn't born yet, he's just 18 or something, Knuckles doesn't know about his ancestor, he never talked about his upbringings so it's safe to assume he doesn't know who his parents are, if Perfect Chaos wiped out the entire civilization, then it must've been a relatively recent event prior to those 50 years or so

I have a feeling that this theory was the actual intent of the original Sonic Team who worked on the original Genesis games up to SA2

Okay, let me say this for eight bajilliondieth time in 20 years... In SA2 (for the Dreamcast), if you play the final battle long enough Shadow will say that he believes that Sonic is the Ultimate Lifeform. Making this current fan theory absolutely accurate because Sega all but confirmed it a quarter of a century ago. Shadow is mimicking Sonic, his speed is granted by rocket shoes, his power does not last as long, and Sonic was able to use Control with a single fake Emerald.

Sonic Theories might make for a fun mini series.

I thought the mural was just supposed to represent some sort of prophecy about a super hedgehog battling a mustache thief trying to steal the master emerald.

All of this lore is actually addictive to watch, after watching this I kept binge watching shadow the hedgehog lores. 🤓

Man, Shadow's backstory is DARK...........just like him, but darker. 😂

1:18 actually shadow wasn’t created to achieve immortality he was created to be the cure of diseases

i love this sonic theory and for a long time believe that it is THE one, it feels so good to know that its canon because it just makes Shadow's creation make so much more sense and in return makes Sonic even cooler lol

Having Shadow's timeline laid out like this makes things make a lot more sense, like how Shadow could forget about Maria's promise after being launched to Earth. The answer? Gerald did work on him *after* Maria died.

Sonic background story : 😉 Tails background story : 😢 Knuckles background story : 🤨😐 Shadows background story : 😵‍💫💀😈

Exact same abilities and appearance? He's got hot sauce on his head, cuz!

If the fact that Prof. Gerald had set foot on Angel Island is confirmed to be true, this brings up a different question not relating to Shadow. How did Knuckles end up on Angel Island? Unless what remained of the echidna tribe were not near the Master Emerald Shrine, but then wouldn't there be a guardian of the emerald itself before Knuckles? Food for thought.

Because Shadow wasn't already Vegeta enough, we may now have textual confirmation his entire life is owed to becoming the legendary super Sonic. And getting owned by an invader. And stealing Knuckle's girlfriend.

The biggest mystery on everyones minds is still yet to be revealed, will the Chao Garden make a return??

The fact that they can use old ass lore in new content and somehow make it seem planned out from the beginning is freaking unbelievable. 😅

It's likely that the alien DNA was obtained after the creation of the Biolizard. Since the details are vague it could even have been that creating the Biolizard attracted the attention of Black Doom. Because we don't know how Gerald and Black Doom came into contact so it could have been that or just Black Doom initiating contact with the space station on a whim on one of his many visits to Earth since they couldn't enter the atmosphere. Possibly he wanted to either destroy or capture the space station but ended up making the deal with Gerald.

It's a good thing Gerald didn't model Shadow after the *other* figure on that mural...

Shadow being associated with WMD’s just made me realize he was one of the many weapons experiments of the Cold War 😮

0:03 Knuckles the unmovable force.

I'm... almost positive this Gerald Robotnik journal is from an old Japanese strategy guide. I read this on a Sonic website in like the early-mid 2000s and it's always made sense to me. Chaos mural in the Mystic Ruins led to the design of the Biolizard, S3&K Mural led to the creation of Shadow. Though I think the wing is just another spike.

Oh, so that's why Shadow thought Sonic was a "faker". Guess it does make sense afterall...

Now that we're learning more about Shadow's origins I hope we get to know more about the other Sonic characters and not just Shadow. For example, Knuckles's family, who are his parents? Who raised him? Who was originally guarding the Master Emerald? Why is he so strong that his strength can be compared to Sonic's speed? Then there's also Silver The Hedgehog. Why is Silver able to control and use chaos energy? Why is he able to go super? Where did his telekinesis come from? Some have theorized he's Shadow's future descendent but that theory was debunked by someone from Sonic Team. Then there's Sonic The Hedgehog. Why is he so fast to the point where he can move in dimensions such as White Space from Generations where time doesn't exist, which is a requirement for one to move. And how is he restoring time and space with his speed alone? Why is he able to also use chaos energy? Shadow even asked Sonic what is he and even Sonic doesn't know but, only that he's a hedgehog that loves adventure. The Edchina tribe even predicted his existence so why is he so strong? There's so much mystery in the Sonic games that it makes me extremely happy we're beginning to explore more of the lore.

My theory add why Gerald Robotnik chose speed as Shadows power, Sonic did a small time traveling and Gerald witnessed this and made shadow have speed, this also why Gerald gave shadow the light shoes too, to make him faster than the mysterious blue hedgehog, I don't believe sonic interacted with Gerald only that he went back in time fought with a few black arms aliens and went back to his time, but secruity cameras recorded Soinc's speed. This theory is to add to the mural theory and other things Gerald saw and research, not all hedgehogs have super speed so this makes sense on why he is just as fast as sonic but faster thanks to his shoes and using chaos emeralds.😊

0:20 MATPAT WOULD SHREAD A TEAR 🥹

I'm not sure if it was intentional but Sonic running into Knuckles like an idiot in the opening was funny.🤣🤣

Yeah I've always been a fan of this theory, it does hold a lot of water imo. I wonder if they will confirm another theory that the Space Colony ARK was actually designed or based off of the Death Egg.

My favorite part of mural theory is that there's a chance he based the Ark on depictions of the Death Egg present on Angel Island, and Eggman for sure based the Death Egg on the Ark. Its a self-contained loop of inspiration in history.

Welcome To Sonic Theory, the show where the world's fastest Hedgehog has the world's slowest looooore!

It just makes too much sense not to be true. Like we have no other context as to why Gerald would choose to make Shadow an Anthropomorphic hedgehog or why Shadow looks like Super Sonic. SA2 was back when they still made an effort to tie into the classic games too so it tracks that the devs would still have the mural in mind

Originally, I think the mural was supposed to signify that they were going to do a Super Sonic battle at the end of 3 and Knuckles. Remember, you could only get that ending if you had all the Chaos Emeralds, and then got the Super Emeralds (If you had them both connected. Otherwise, just the chaos emeralds will do). So it was a secret boss battle. Today, Sonic just goes Super. But back then, hinting to the player that there was a secret boss battle with a mural? It was a big deal. But we, being big lore heads, want to dive deeper into that because everything needs a deeper purpose. So, writers can now come up with reasons outside of "We were trying to tell you that there's a secret boss battle." As a writer myself, I know that feedback from readers tends to push you to go deeper into what you write. You learn plot holes or find out what people are most interested in that you might have never noticed, and it builds you to be better. Sega realizes that Shadow's backstory was weak, but it wasn't a big deal if people weren't telling Sega that Shadow is requested. But then Shadow gets ranked above even Tails in the character votes, and people go crazy for him with the reveal in the movie, and people ask about Shadow's whereabouts during Sonic Frontiers, and "You know what? We need to make a Shadow game, but not one that just tries to focus on the edgy swearing." Generations was one of our highest selling games. He already has a sprite and work done in that. Shadow Generations! Let's do it! It's easy money! And make sure the story makes sense here. Pull from the lore of Sonic Adventure 2. That was our highest point in story telling.

11:52 Eggman polluted in the first game to further his goal of finding the chaos emeralds (though in the first game he mostly just said he'd dig up all of South Island if he had to) and later to build his Death Egg (while the pollution was only mentioned in the US and EU manual, it's implied in the gameplay but only the US and EU manual straight up explained _why_ he was doing it. The Japanese manual just mentioned his robots digging for the emeralds again while also burning forests to try to find them. The Death Egg was apparently unrelated to this in the Japanese manual). It's the SatAM and Archie version of Eggman, Dr. Robotnik, who pollutes for pollution's sake.

well he uses chaos energy like super sonic, has the super sonic quills and was on a mural so i buy it

Deep within the ARK, there's a replica of the Master Emerald Shrine ie, Hidden Palace

Makes sense, Grandpa Gerald went mad after the lose of his granddaughter and this began a legacy set on destruction, I believe his family simply misunderstood his grief of his loss for hunger of conquest.

is kinda funny that the Ark got turned into an Anti-Alien weapon and yet all that remains is replicas from multiple alien legacies

Matpat is proud

it's not JUST based on the mural, there are perfectly sculpted statues of Sonic all over Hydrocity Zone - not only can you see that in Sonic 3, but you can even see it in Sonic Mania

I pretty confusing detail to me that's in the Journal for Pre-Order, is that the Master Emerald is on the Upper land shrine in Sonic Adventure. I was under the impression that when Perfect Chaos exterminated most of the echidnas, the Master Emerald was moved down to the Sonic 3/Mania shrine. But if Gerald saw the Master Emerald above land, then that means the Master Emerald was moved much later than expected, and for what reason? Was Gerald's discovery what initated it? I guess that would make sense. But then again, if Gerald was close enough to see the Master Emerald, wouldn't he see the current guardian, or the current guardian see him (maybe spying at him, like Knuckles does in the Fang comics) and confront Gerald for being close to the Master Emerald? Make it make sense!!!

I wonder how much royalties GUN owes Shadow as he is the last survivor of the Gerald Robotnik Estate. (Eggman would be too far removed)

One of the best explanations I’ve ever heard. I’m an og 90s Sonic fan too. Been playing Sonic since 1994. Well done

love how you broke this down in depth

Or someone at Sega was playing Prototype and thought "Dude, those infection weapon designs look kinda sick lol"

So Prof. Gerald pre-ordered his Sonic The Hedgehog?

0:20 I read this like the narrator of the sonic zombie thing series

Also shadow calls sonic the ultimate life form in SA2 during the biohazard fight at the end of the game if u wait long enough during the fight.

Seems reasonable, and a REALLY cool way to reference Sonic 3K in an organic way. Since Ian Flynn is writing all the new Shadow stuff in Sonic X Shadow Generations and is part of the series' lore team now, I'd bet anything it was his idea. One thing he's always been really good at, even back in his days writing the Archie book, was connecting old Sonic stuff with newer stuff in organic ways.

With them tapping into angel island lore there’s something I want them to teach us that not only most of you reading but they themselves probably forgot. Why tf were there 2 sets of emeralds? Sonic and tails had the emeralds from sonic 2. But tails had a device that was picking up strong chaos energy when egg man was landing on angel island. And on top of that when knuckles visited the shrine it was said the “super”emeralds lost their glow. They later got restored with Sonic’s set. So maybe this is a case of the earth and namekian dragonballs where there were 2 sets made and one was founded or made for earth

This theory I assumed to be true because it's the only thing that makes sense, but it would be nice to have an official confirmation.

I always get teary whenever I listen to the Extras Menu music from Sonic Mega Collection.

It also proves that the real faker is Shadow. I guess Sonic can be happy now

If this theory turns out to be true, I would love to see Sonic and Shadow's reactions to it. I think Sonic would find it absolutely hilarious, especially considering their whole "No YOU'RE the fake!" argument they had

you forgot the best part, during the battle with "final hazard" shadow will have a chance to say "sonic, maybe you're the ultimate life form"

I always thought in the back of my mind that Shadow was the final product of Metal Sonic that Robotnik had been trying to make.

Do one where the Black Arms, Black Doom, Chaos 0 and the Ancients may be connected. Chaos 0 was confirmed to be related to them but I also noticed Black Doom (and the humanoid Black Arms soldiers such as the Oak and Warrior) has an EERILY similar shape and body features. Could it be possible that Black Doom may have been one of the Ancients but was corrupted or something?

I discussed this with a friend recently because we were talking about how Shadow was based off of the Ultimate Life-Form Mural in Mystic Ruins, here's the thing though...where were the Echidnas? Gerald and likely a team of scientists landed on the island, at this point, thanks to SA1, we know that pretty much every Echidna is gone and past. Save for Knuckles, who is rather efficient at patrolling the island as we've seen time and time again. He would have KNOWN they were there, but my friend mentioned that this was 50 years ago and Knuckles wouldn't have been around...so like...is there just some large gap of time where there were no echidna on the island, or were they willing to co-operate (doesn't seem likely-) because to even SEE the mural, Gerald would need to have gotten VERY CLOSE to the Master Emerald. Sure his goal wasn't to nab it, but like...I feel like any echidna worth their punch would have been like "Nah, sorry man" I feel like this might just be a simple situation of wait and see, but I also feel like this is a very big gap in logic based on what we know and have learned about the echidnas, and especially Knuckles.

By itself it may not have any massive bearing on the lore, but I noticed something that could make this theory even stronger. The mural depicting what we assume are events of Sonic 3 could be interpreted to also fit with events of Sonic Adventure 2. Think about the climax of both games. In the space above the planet, Super Sonic battles Eggman's mech powered by the Master Emerald. In the space above the planet, Super Sonic and Super Shadow battle the Biolizard pulling the Space Colony Ark (a creation by Gerald that bears a resemblance to Eggman and his own creations) towards the planet, which houses and makes use of the Master Emerald (it was split and then fully assembled on the Ark). Gerald going to Angel Island and possibly seeing that mural would not only lead him to create Shadow based on the appearance of Super Sonic, it would mean he then directly put into motion the recreation of events on the mural he witnessed, even if he was long gone by the time they would occur.

Then you realize that Eggman has probably been through some pretty tough wars. Guess the stress would turn some people into egomaniacal techies.

Sonic Battle out here being a fundamental thread of Sonic History

How the fuck did Gerald look at the shrine and see someone who looks like him and think oh yeah I’ll make this thing

I'm happy that finally we are focusing on Sonic's side characters once again. Shadow the hedgehog is one of my favorite characters and I cannot wait until this game is released I got the digital deluxe edition pre ordered. Now I'll wait for Sonic movie 3. Sonic Adventure 2 is my favorite sonic game ever.

My headcanon is that that one red and white spinning thing in Carnival Night Zone that you HAVE to get past as Sonic and Tails is a prototype CIA torture device. You know, in THAT one room...

Perfect chaos, eggman's grandad's name, artificial ultimate lifeform...is Sonic's lore also inspired by DBZ?

yo nice video your videos are still popping off

oh man. i noticed that sonic mega collection music drop. that's a gem i haven't heard in almost 14 years though i first got it 18 years ago i think. that theme is a winner.

I’ve just realized something, if he did see the mural then what did he think about seeing eggman on the mural since they look alike

One theory I have is that there was a hedgehog clan before the echidna clan, that used the power of the Chaos Emeralds to see the future and then create these murals I also theorize that Knuckles was born from the ancient era but was sent to the present by a time machine created by this hedgehog clan

To add to your theory, this explains why there are those chaos clone robots in the ARK missions. That damn game came out 23 years ago and has been a big part of my life since. How am I just now drawing these connections?

You forgot a critical story beat in SA2: that Rouge found a report on the Ultimate Lifeform after it was shot out in an escape pod during the raid on the ARK. And it said the Ultimate Lifeform was never recovered. She even asks Shadow, point-blank, “who or what are you?”

I think you are right and they are retroactively making it more solidified. Him making him like the mural has always been canon

2:13 I thought Biolizard was the prototype?

This one lone individual happens to be something of a seer... A SEER WARNS OF A DEADLY FATE.

1:59 From left to right: Prance, Twinkle, Bukakke, and Jacky-arm. But there isn't one for Stamina, which you get for being a fruit. Because you are what you skeet.

Well as you said in the last bit, his own journal says that he only really saw the ME shrine and the one temple. He didn't really want to explore much more so I don't think he went and saw any other mural. I do like the idea that Biolizard was based off Chaos, but sadly it's not the case. Biolizard was just a lizard they experimented on. They may retcon that, but that's what it is now I doubt Gerald based Shadow off Sonic and I think it's too much of a reach

What if Maria died of her illness and Gerald planted the memory of her being killed so that Shadow would want revenge? This explains the multiple memories of Maria dying in different ways. One time shes on the floor dying while talking to shadow and another memory is her being shot in the head by a soldier

0:40 Not identical. Oddly _similar_ to _Super_ Sonic though. That said, Terios was just a straight up pallet swap and the script of SA2 was clearly written with his design in mind.... Of course there's also the issue of _Silver_ having similar abilities. Unlike Blaze and Eggman Nega whose origins are confusing, Silver is 100% always from the future, which makes him having similar powers sus AF. There's also one other character who has a golden super form too but that's spoilers for a fairly recent game so I won't mention it here.

Imagine if it was dr. Robotinic who actually created knuckles when he tried to use the chaos emerald to create a perfect life form. Kind of like the theory that sonic is an eternal life form that gets rebirthed each time a human takes advantage of the chaos emeralds. Just like in the matrix with Neo and agent Smith, that was designed as a perfect counter to eachother having gone through this reality at least half a dozen times before the show even begins! Just saying, would be pretty cool if the gem worked as if it was a virtual robot that controls the system around it. Even to the point of creating new creatures to direct its future in the correct path. Like how froggy in bigs story stopped ultimate chaos from forming just long enough for sonic to understand the emeralds powers. That could also explain why tails can create a chaos gem that has tendencies of the original. Maybe because tails is the original creator of the first chaos gem. That gets established in sonic 3. At this point all I'm saying is that this game could make or break the sonic timeline. Genuinely excited to see what they do next!

While Eggman himself make robots and various contraptions, Geralt was more of an archeologist that had a talent in genetics rather than mechanics.

My theory was always that the reason they look so similar is that's just the natural shape for an avatar of living chaos. Much like how in real life, nature keeps evolving crabs over and over because they're just a really efficient shape that works well. So if you engineer a creature that uses chaos energy to go really fast, it always winds up short and aerodynamic and pointy because that's what works. But this theory definitely does sound plausible given the generalized scientist trope in play in sonic. In real life it'd be very strange to have an archaeologist that's also a biologist and also a physicist. But Eggman is already that so whatever.

Summary: Gerald sees the Mural, looks at the small creature then creates Shadow with the Black Arms help but it was Sonic all along which is why both look similar.

"Identical". Someone needs to look up what that means because, while the Sega humans might be dumb enough to confuse them, they do not look "identical".

I hope when General's journal comes out will give us more details.

The sonic lore is crazy😂

This is amazing I absolutely love Shadow but to think that not only did Dr.Gerald Robotnik based off his work out of things he saw in Angel Island but that's also the reason why Shadow's quills are in the same shape as Super Sonic's is an amazing detail. (Perhaps not intentional but I'll take it as canon now)

We saw Shadow get wings in one of the trailers. So it could be still depicting Shadow.

To add to the similarity between Shadow and Super Sonic is that shadow in his base form has a yellow aura when he uses spin dash and homing attack despite his body not actually being that color. Also that his "base form" is actually a limited version of himself as shown in 06 ending. Speaking of 06, if this theory is true, then it's kind of funny to think that Mephilis looks like Shadow due to a self fulfilling prophecy, but Shadow gets his appeaelrwnce based off of a time pardox. It's all so messy.😆

This is actually pretty believable. As a huge fan of sonic, i believe this makes actual sense and I hope sega makes it canon or atleast comes out with a theory confirming shadows origins.

I love this theory because of how seamlessly it fits into the narrative purpose of SA2. Shadow starts out literally standing above Sonic with the power of chaos control. Shadow serves as a catalyst to help Sonic discover he has more potential then even he realizes, and ends with shadow falling to earth, unable to maintain his super form leaving Sonic as the superior being aka the ultimate life form. Shadows my boy and I cannot wait to play this game.

I am so glad this theory has grown so much in popularity over the paat few years. Because im not gonna lie this actaully blew my mind when i first heard it and i assumed that it must be canon with how well it all ties together So it's reassuring to see sega acknowledge it in recent media so it cant be retconned by accident because it was a reletivly unkown theory afew years ago