Shadow the Hedgehog is “not Vegeta in any way,” and is “not friends with Sonic,” his creator says

Shadow the Hedgehog’s creator, Takashi Iizuka, has shut down the comparisons of his dark hero and Dragon Ball’s Vegeta, noting that he’s “not that kind of character,” and he doesn’t want him to be.

At Gamescom 2024, I had the chance to sit down with Sonic creative officer Iizuka – as well as Sonic x Shadow Generations game director Katsuyuki Shigihara and producer Shun Nakamura – to talk about all things Shadow, as well as Sega‘s upcoming high-speed platform game. Via interpreter, Iizuka tells me Shadow is his favorite Sonic character, largely because of his “tragic backstory” which makes him “interesting and compelling,” but I was curious to find out if, as his creator, he felt fans have interpreted Shadow in a different way over the years than how he originally expected or intended. The answer? A resounding ‘yes.’

“So yes, there are some ways that people interpret Shadow that are not how the team is intending,” Iizuka begins (via translator). “I think the biggest one, if you look online, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, this is Dragon Ball Vegeta.'”

As far as Iizuka is concerned, Shadow is “not Vegeta in any way.” He explains: “Vegeta really starts out as an enemy and then later becomes a friend and an ally and kind of, like, fights for justice and trying to save the world and whatnot. Shadow is not like that. I never want him to be like that. Shadow is doing his own thing, he’s not friends with Sonic, and he’s gonna go off and, you know, do whatever he feels is correct or right, or what he needs to do. And it’s not like, ‘Well, okay, we used to be enemies, but we’re friends now. Let’s save the world.’ He’s not that kind of character, and [I don’t] want him to be that kind of character. 

“So when people are always online saying, ‘Oh, it’s Vegeta, it’s Vegeta,’ it’s like, it’s not Vegeta,” he laughs.

Perhaps Sonic X Shadow Generations and the upcoming third Sonic the Hedgehog movie might be able to set this record straight for good, but for the time being, just know that the Sonic team definitely doesn’t see Shadow as a Vegeta counterpart. 

Be sure to check out our ranking of the best Sonic games.