Things trending on Twitter can be confusing sometimes and when gamers saw Shadow Man trending on Sunday, they didn’t know what to make of it. A lot of them had no way of knowing it was a promo for a Sam and Colby series focusing on the two YouTube personalities exploring haunted houses. This week’s episode was a big premiere and centered on a haunted hotel in Florida that the eponymous Shadow Man calls home. A lot of their fans were only too eager to get in on the hashtag and get it trending. But, a lot of video game fans thought it could be referring to an old Acclaim title called Shadow Man.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The game has seemed to get a second life as many YouTube reviewers have focused on the strange title. Back in 1999, the developer was ready to unleash it’s mature action-adventure game on the world. One of the best tweets under the trend focuses on a bizarre ad campaign that ended up being infamous for what some outlets termed “bad taste.” Basically, if people would put small billboards for ShadowMan 2 on gravestones of love ones, then Acclaim would pay them for it. The ad caught some extra flack because it singled out poorer families as parties that would be more interested.
But the confusion among people didn’t stop there as Mega Man fans were also confused. They responded with various images of the Robot Master from Mega Man 3 and other titles. In those games, Shadow Man is a ninja-themed robot with a giant shrunken. That’s obviously very different from a YouTube horror series, but you can never really guess when it comes to Twitter as a platform. (If you’ve ever scrolled by and seen a celebrity name trending, that’s why we always fear the worst.)
FINALLY
— Matt McMuscles (@MattMcMuscles) February 16, 2020
HE’S STEPPING OUT FROM THE SHADOWS pic.twitter.com/5xucsgahw6
Even some Sonic the Hedgehog fans started chiming in that they thought the trending topic was the announcement of a Shadow the Hedgehog off-shoot of the recent film featuring the Blue Blur. Now, Sonic has had an amazing opening weekend with impressive box office numbers. It will be some time before fans get to see what shape Sonic’s next adventure will take. The initial returns have been so strong that an announcement could come quickly confirming the sequel, though. So, that one might be a bit of a reach, but things will make sense if you just do a little bit of digging.
Check out some of the fun responses below:
Gravestone promo
I see #ShadowMan trending, and I think of one of the worst marketing campaigns of all time: Acclaim offering to pay to advertise ShadowMan 2 on gravestones, an offer that might “particularly interest poorer families.” pic.twitter.com/VJoE08JOpO
— NBA Jam (the book) is OUT NOW in print + digital (@nbajambook) February 16, 2020
Not a faker
#ShadowMan saw this trending and my first thought was shadow the hedgehog he stay badass no matter what and if people say sonic movie is good then sonic 2 this man better be perfection pic.twitter.com/t1MHBzWDoT
— king (@king72171212) February 16, 2020
Sorry to get your hopes up
You telling me #ShadowMan isn’t about this guy? pic.twitter.com/7orxhn10Bz
— Megamando (@Megamandonerd) February 16, 2020
Unfortunately…nope
So I see that #ShadowMan is trending and we’re not talking about one of the tightest robot masters to walk the Earth? Y’all are wack! pic.twitter.com/t97ABrw9Gq
— EctoBurger (@EctoBurger) February 16, 2020
Robot Master art
Wanted to try that whole “draw a trending topic” thing and heard that #shadowman was….Probably not even the one I’m showing lol#scribbledguy #megaman #gameart pic.twitter.com/SoTc7i291C
— ScribbledGuy (@ScribbledGuy) February 17, 2020
This person is a FAN
Apparently, #shadowman is a thing. Nows a good time to remind people that this game is fucking awesome. pic.twitter.com/sTrCXxLQgT
— Gilamasan (@fishwicksol) February 16, 2020
Princess and the frog fan???
#ShadowMan I thought this was about this shadow man and I was about to be so excited lmao pic.twitter.com/93lGumyyfJ
— Leah 👌Frank&Ryan Stan (@RyanRossIsBaby) February 16, 2020
