LogFAQs > #900540579

Wario
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: WarioWare Gold (2018), Mario Tennis Aces (2018), Game & Wario (2013),

It has been a decade since WarioLand: Shake It! for the Wii. Since them, we've had WarioWare DIY and Game & Wario, and now we have a WarioWare compilation coming out. Wario has been in tons of sports and party games, but in terms of "original video game that isn't a 'game maker' or compilation," the well has been dry.

But this is Wario, just Mario but fat(ter) and evil(?). People love him, right? Eh. Wario only seems to get votes out of obligation. Wario is the guy that your asshole friend picks in Mario Kart at a party. Does anyone have a real affinity for him? People who play WarioWare seem to love Mona, Jimmy, Ashley, everyone but Wario. People on this very board were ragging on him for "ruining" the Brawl reveal trailer.

Reminder: Wario didn't even get enough votes in the 2010 vote-in polls and missed the contest. That's pretty bad for a "core" Nintendo character. In 2013 he lost to Wrex from Mass Effect. Sure, Red was also in the poll, but he didn't even come close. Wario falls apart when facing someone with a modicum of actual fans. He's good filler but Wario is never going to be a real threat in that contest.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Sonic Forces (2017)

Sonic Forces was the first time in 10 years that Shadow was actually playable in a Sonic game as a main character in his own missions. His story was free DLC, though, and it was obviously made on a budget because the cutscenes are all just dialogue boxes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0DyBi2Yl64#t=4m30s

Seriously, try to sit through that if you're not a Sonic fan. Yeeeesh.

So that shows where SEGA puts Shadow on the priority list, but at least he has DLC, unlike anyone else in that game.

So far, compared to the rest of Forces, Shadow's story adds way more than any other DLC or even some of the main plot threads like Classic Sonic. However, Sonic Forces didn't sell as well as Mania, and people seem to be taking big dumps on it, so if Shadow had a big chance for a comeback, it might be passed.

People shit on Shadow, but people secretly like him. It's weird to say, but people did tear up back in the day when he FUCKIN' DIED at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. His game was a joke, yeah, and as a result, he missed two contests the same year and the year after (the year of Sonic 06), but regardless of how poorly those games were received, Shadow still gets a spotlight in all the spinoff games.

Shadow is often regarded as the most popular outside of the main three, and in Japanese character polls, he's always #2 behind Sonic. We are at this weird point where everything we hated in the early 2000s is now kind of cool again, or at least ironically cool, as evidenced by Pikachu making waves lately. There's a new generation of Sonic kids who grew up exclusively with the newer Archive comics, the mid-2000s games, and recently, Sonic Boom, which included Shadow in both the terrible game and the TV show. Normally I'd say that younger kids wouldn't come to this site, but younger Sonic nerds? Maybe.

Shadow could potentially do well if given proper bracket placement. All SEGA characters kind of share Nintendo's fanbase at this point, and they will probably receive a boost on a smaller level. I don't think he'll be getting to Round 3 but he might be able to impress. Could Shadow beat Zidane today? Maybe not, but it might be closer than we'd give him credit for.

This write-up was guest-written by my girlfriend who has an expensive Shadow the Hedgehog statue on the shelf next to her so please excuse any heavy bias.
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Is this Elite Beat Agents 2?