Shadow the Hedgehog first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 on the Sega Dreamcast. He is basically a palette swap of Sonic, which in itself is no bad thing - after all Mario and Luigi started out as a palette swap. Shadow isn't unique as a Sonic palette swap though as Knuckles is just a red Sonic, which his spikes slicked back and the later Silver the Hedgehog is just a white Sonic with extra spikes who was very poorly received by gamers. Like Knuckles, Shadow was popular enough to get his own game, but Sega decided to give him a more adult themed game with guns and motorcycle chases. Sadly, this meant the game was too adult for the usual child friendly Sonic audience, but still nowhere near an adult game. Also it came out in an era where all the 3D Sonic platformers were getting very mixed reviews so the game didn't help launch Shadow out of Sonic's shadow. Which other iconic gaming characters were ruined by stupid creative decisions? Share your thoughts in the comments thread.