Summary
Sonic the Hedgehogfans can’t believe thatSegais officially drawing attention to Shadow’s iconic but underused Inhibitor Rings in a new video forSonic x Shadow Generations.
A few months ago,Sega confirmed that 2024 was going to be Fearless: Year of Shadowand it’s certainly lived up to that so far.Not only is the edgy hedgehog starring in his own gameandplaying a major role in Sonic 3, but he’s also been at the forefront of pretty much everything that Sega has had to say about the Sonic series lately.
While some of those conversations have been a little controversial (like it being claimed that Shadow isn’t inspired by Dragon Ball Z’s Vegeta), it’s clear that Shadow currently means a lot to the series. So much so, in fact, that attention is even being drawn to elements of the character that have basically been ignored for the past decade.
Sega Has Mentioned Shadow’s Inhibitor Rings For The First Time In Ages
Yesterday,Sega shared a video that focused on everything that you need to know about Shadow the Hedgehog, ranging from his air shoes to his use of the Chaos Emeralds for special abilities like Chaos Control. The video also drew attention to an iconic part of Shadow the Hedgehog’s character - his Inhibitor Rings.
Bonus points to Sega here as they actually call the Inhibitor Rings by their Japanese name - “Limiter Rings”. This suggests that this is the official name going forward.
These special rings are a core part of Shadow’s arsenal and are used to, as the name implies, limit how much power he can use. Although they were a key part of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic X, and Sonic 06, they’ve barely been mentioned since and have just appeared as a part of Shadow’s design that doesn’t play much of a role in his story.
Despite this, it seems that Sega has found a new appreciation for them, as they’re one of the key things that Eggman mentions when talking about Shadow in the video. This has surprised fans, who can’t believe that the Inhibitor Rings are being mentioned,such as Twitter user PersonthePerso2, who said, “INHIBITOR RINGS MENTIONED IN OFFICIAL SONIC MEDIA IN 2024?!?”.
Fans have quickly theorised that their mention in the videomight mean that Sonic x Shadow Generations pays a bit more attention to them and directly explains how Shadow got them. They also think we might get a scene where he takes them off and gets a lot more powerful, although we’ve not seen any evidence of this yet.
Either way, though, it’s nice to see Sega paying a bit of attention to Shadow’s history and lore leading up to the release of Sonic x Shadow Generations. Here’s hoping that the Inhibitor Rings do a bit more than hang from Shadow’s wrists and make him look even cooler than usual.
