Way back in 2013, Nintendo had the bright idea to grant Luigi his very own year, thus marking 2013 as the Year of Luigi for all time and eternity. This meant that 2013 was chock full of Luigi-themed releases like Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, New Super Luigi U, Dr. Luigi, and lots of Luigi-themed merchandise, including a Year of Luigi 3DS XL. The Year of Luigi also lost Nintendo $457 million.
Eleven years on from that fateful year of green plumbers, SEGA is ready to follow in their once-rival’s footsteps and try their hand at theming an entire year after a fan-favorite character, Shadow the Hedgehog. Despite the year already being a quarter over, SEGA has officially deemed 2024 as the Year of Shadow with a brand new trailer titled Fearless: The Year of Shadow.
The short trailer features a young girl who seems to be a huge Shadow the Hedgehog fan unloading a moving truck with her dad. They’ve just moved to the suburbs from the big city, she misses her old friends, and she’s reluctant to make new ones until Shadow the Hedgehog bursts into her mind on a motorcycle with encouraging phrases like “Control Your Own Path” and “I Am More Than Enough On My Own” and “BE FEARLESS” until she decides to actually go and make friends with the neighbor kids. All in all, it’s pretty cringe to me as a 30-year-old man, but I can see the appeal for younger kids who will eat up Shadow’s edgy-yet-supportive messaging, I know I would have back when Shadow first burst onto the scene in 2001.
This one trailer isn’t all SEGA has in store for the Year of Shadow either. You can check out all their plans over the the Fearless – Year of Shadow website, but a quick rundown of the year includes a special Shadow-themed Motorcycle that will be on tour for fans to see, as well as SHadow’s appearance in Sonic X Shadow: Generations later this year, and a new Shadow the Hedgehog LEGO set.
It’s not mentioned on the Year of Shadow site, but Shadow the Hedgehog is also expected to make an appearance in this year’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 after being teased in a post-credits scene in 2022’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Is that enough Shadow for you in the Year of Shadow? Is it possible that SEGA has more Shadow on the way? We’ll have to wait and see as the rest of this year unfolds.
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Written by Jaxson Tapp
As a lover of gaming and the written word, Jaxson currently fills his time not only with playing games, but also writing about them. Ready for anything, Jaxson’s passion for puzzle games, JRPGs, tough platformers, and whimsical indies helps him bring a well-rounded opinion to Nintendo Wire’s reporting.
