Shadow was created by Dr. Gereld Robotnik aboard the space colony ARK. He was raised by Gerald and Maria, whom Shadow adored. He was designed to be an Ultimate Life Form.

The ARK was captured and shut down by GUN, and in the process Gerald was arrested and later killed, Maria was killed before Shadow's eyes, and Shadow was put into a cryogenic sleep with only the memory of Maria's last words in his mind, a promise he would give his life to keep.

Shadow was released once more by Dr. Eggman, whom he told of the Eclipse Cannon, a powerful weapon that could be used to destroy the world. The dark hedgehog became confused with Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic set off to find the impostor hedgehog and stop Eggman's plans of global conquest.

Joining up with the wily theif Rouge, Shadow and Eggman clashed with Sonic's party many times in a heated attempt to gain possession of all seven chaos emeralds. Both sides joined forces to get to the core of the ARK and stop it before it crashed into Earth, and in the process, the Biolizard, the prototype of the Ultimate Life, was released.

Sonic and Shadow, both in super forms, defeated the Biolizard and used Chaos Control to save the ARK from crashing into Earth, but Shadow unfortunately lost his life in the process. He died saving the world, keeping his promise to Maria.

»Sonic
Sonic is the main hero in this game, out on another adventure to save Earth from Eggman's global conquest plans. His main feature is his supersonic running speed, which he uses to race through each level.

»Tails
Miles "Tails" Prower is a two-tailed kitsune (fox) with the ability to fly and build things. In this game he rides around in his self-made Tornado mech, blasting and hovering all the way.

»Knuckles
Knuckles is an echidna whose duty is to protect the Master Emerald from harm. In order to prevent Eggman and Rouge from stealing it, he shatters it and goes off in search of the shards.

»Amy Rose
Amy is a female hedgehog who adores Sonic and would do anything to help him... or help herself to him. ;)

»Eggman
Eggman is the mastermind villain, an obese egg-shaped man with a 300 I.Q. He plots to take over the world and build his own empire by any means necessary.

»Rouge
Rouge is a bat who devotes her life to treasure hunting, and she sets her sights on Knuckles Master Emerald. Secretly, she is a spy working for the President, but that doesn't faze her side motive of collecting emerald shards.

»Dr. Gerald Robotnik
Shadow's creator, he lost his mind when he found out about the loss of his beloved Maria. He sought revenge on those who had done such a deed to him, as was written in his journal entries before his death.

»Maria
Maria was a young girl who raised Shadow since he was young. She died right before his eyes, using her last ounces of strength to make him promise to save the world.

  Okay, if you've beaten SA2, then you know the ending.  Man what a good ending... but back to the point.  So Shadow dies.  Or does he?  I mean think about it for just a moment.  What happened to Sonic or Shadow when they fell off into space in Final Rush or Final Chase?  They burned up in the atmosphere.  I still can't believe they put that into the game.  I freaked out when I saw Sonic burn up.