Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings Gets Surprise Release This Week

Sonic x Shadow Generations is a new bundle of Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog games that’s releasing in October, but ahead of that, there’s a short animated series Sonic fans will be able to watch beforehand. It’s called Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings, and it serves as a prologue to the story of Shadow the Hedgehog, the edgy, fan-favorite character from the Sonic fandom who’ll be making his theatrical debut in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings series will be split into three episodes, and Sonic fans will be able to watch the first of those as early as tomorrow.

Sega announced the start of the Sonic series in its Sonic Central event that aired this week. A new teaser trailer for Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings was shared alongside other announcements with Sega confirming that the first episode in the series will be out on September 25th. For those interested in watching it right as it drops, you’re in luck, because you’ll have to look no further than YouTube to see Episode 1, so no streaming services or subscriptions involved with this one.

“Past and present collide in a frantic chase for truth and understanding! Shadow is haunted by the memories of battles fought and lives lost,” a description of the animated series from a past teaser explained. “But these nightmares aren’t just lingering pain! They’re prompted by a force Shadow thought was destroyed. Join Shadow as he embarks on a mission of discovery in the upcoming 3-episode prologue animation, Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings, coming this fall!”

“This fall” has now become September 25th, October 3rd, and October 10th because that’s the schedule the episodes will follow, Sega announced. The newer teaser above offers a taste of the animation style that we’ll see in Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings with this series in particular already looking a bit grittier than some other Sonic shows, though that’s partially to be expected given that it’s centered on Shadow.

This series again is a precursor to Sonic x Shadow Generations which will release on October 25th. This collection includes the original Sonic Generations game which released in 2011 as well as a new game called Shadow Generations. We’ve seen some of this game already including a massive collector’s edition bundle that’s being offered, too, and during the Sonic Central event, it was confirmed that the PlayStation version of the game would have “extended prologue animations.”