Shadow the Hedgehog (SMBZ)

Shadow the Hedgehog, born Project Shadow, is a resident of Sonic's World, and one of the main protagonists in Super Mario Bros. Z. He debuted in the first episode alongside Sonic, albeit without a speaking role.

Appearance
Shadow is a hedgehog with black spines and red stripes on his quills, around the edges of his eyes, and on his arms and legs. He has red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, and his muzzle is tan. He has six quills on his head, four of which curve upwards and two that curve downwards, two spines on his back, and a small tail. He wears white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues, and Air Shoes which, like his gloves, have black cuffs and red tongues. On each of his wrists and ankles, he wears a single gold ring.

History
Shadow is a dark, short-tempered, and intimidating character on Mobius who most people try to avoid. He was created as part of "Project Shadow" by Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Dr. Eggman, to be a specialized living weapon and a possible way to cure a disease called Neuro Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (N.I.D.S). However, production was difficult, leading to Gerald becoming desperate and contacting an alien race known as the Black Arms for help.

After a deal was struck involving the Chaos Emeralds, Prof. Gerald used the powerful blood from Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms, to perfect the project, and Shadow the Hedgehog was born. Shadow quickly befriended Prof. Gerald's granddaughter Maria, but when Gerald was deemed insane for making his deal with the Black Arms, Project Shadow in its entirety was condemned. His laboratory was raided, and Maria was killed during the struggle to silence survivors.

Shadow escaped, having been ejected from Space Colony ARK by a dying Maria, and since then he has been deeply emotionally scarred, a trait that has led him to fight either against or alongside Sonic the Hedgehog many times. Shadow's past later caught up with him during the Black Arms' invasion, which greatly affected his moral code. However, he has ultimately chosen the side of good, vowing to forget his past forever.

Personality
Shadow is famous, or rather infamous, for his cold and intimidating nature. He is described to be that of a lone-wolf, preferring to be by himself and handling things his way. Although silent most of the time, Shadow is usually blunt and is never afraid to speak his mind. He also takes pride in his power as the "Ultimate Lifeform." Despite clashing with Sonic in terms of personality, he does share his smug attitude, overconfidence, and tendency to mock his opponents. Shadow is one for focusing on the task at hand and cares little for anything else. He wants to quickly acquire the Chaos Emeralds and destroy Metallix without any interruptions, and is quick to be irritated should anyone (or anything) impede him of his progress. In battle, Shadow is ruthless and attacks his foes with much aggression, wanting to end the fight as quickly as possible.

Powers & Abilities
Being the final product of Project Shadow and often being referred to as "The Ultimate Life Form", Shadow is an immensely powerful fighter. Shadow's Hover Shoes allow him to glide along the ground as if he's skating on thin air, thus rivaling the speeds of Sonic (however, it has been implied and even to a degree demonstrated in certain forms of media relating to Sonic that he can still rival those speeds even without them). In addition to this, he possesses superhuman strength that even surpasses that of Sonic's. He is also very agile and athletic, being able to react to imminent danger within seconds. Because of Project Shadow, he is effectively immortal and does not show signs of age.

Shadow's fighting style focuses on brutal, unrestrained, and powerful hand-to-hand combat. In line with his nature and potent abilities, Shadow has adopted a style where he fights his opponents using powerful blows, such as swift punches and roundhouse kicks. With the speeds Shadow can move at, he can disable the opponent through the force of his blows alone while leaving them at the mercy of his incoming attacks. Unlike in the games, Shadow rarely uses the Spin Attack.

Shadow's signature technique is his natural ability able to tap into the powers of any nearby Chaos Emeralds and utilize their chaos energy to perform a wide variety of moves, most of which he does not even need a Chaos Emerald to use. Shadow's trademark power is Chaos Control and is the most adept known user of it. With Chaos Control, he can manipulate space and time to slow down time and even teleport. While he mostly uses this for himself, it's been shown that he can teleport others too. When acting in conjunction with the capsule, Shadow was able to warp himself and Sonic through dimensions and into the Mushroom Kingdom. He also can use Chaos Spear, a technique where he throws a large bolt of condensed chaos energy, and Chaos Blast, where he releases a burst of chaos energy in a massive explosion surrounding himself. All of Shadow's chaos abilities increase in power with the number of Chaos Emeralds he possesses.