completely unironically i think shadow the hedgehog is a great game like yea it was stupid and edgy but guess what. it was for 12 year olds. and 12 y olds still love the familiar/comfiness of sonic while also wanting to be more "mature"

and to kids "mature" is the guns and death and stuff - but you can heal any human enemies with the right weapons...and. the game does present while not a complex moral system...a moral system more complex than most little kids would dealt with at that point in fiction

also i very very much think shadow the hedgehog is one of the very few pieces of childrens media that does not condemn children for rejecting abusive family members...and everyone i know with some attachment to that game really needed to hear that as a kid

i think shadow the hedgehog set out to do something and succeeded greatly. idk. i have way too many thoughts for a twitter thread and my wrist hurts so i wont type it all out rn