10 Video Games With An Insane Level Of Detail (That No One Noticed)
7. Shadow The Hedgehog Has 326 Individual Story Scenarios
Although Sonic the Hedgehog has become the endlessly endearing and beloved character he is today, Sega have always had a bit of a dilemma maturing him somewhat. As Sonic became popular with young children, requests from older fans to bring in more of an 'edge' started to make themselves known as well.
As having Sonic shooting cops just didn't seem right, Sega decided to create the 'anti-Sonic' in the form of Shadow. His darker rival proved to be quite popular, enough to have his own game. But for a title featuring a secondary character who is no more than Sonic's less popular, forever-scowling and dark-skinned third cousin, Sonic Team still put quite a lot of unappreciated effort into it.
Sega decided to implement a morality system in which a level can have a 'good', a 'bad', and a 'neutral' finish. Unlike most other games' morality systems where player choices are generally superfluous at best, each choice Shadow made affected the next level and the final ending you could get. Based on the number of levels and choices, Sega mapped out a total of 326 possible story scenarios that can lead to one of the 10 possible endings. That is a lot of math, mapping, and story for a Sonic game.
The effort is much appreciated, Sega, but to get gamers to replay Shadow the Hedgehog 3 times is quite the ask, let alone another 325 times.