Sonic the Hedgehog has seen a lot of spin-offs and side characters, but one of the best is sadly unlikely to ever make a comeback. It's not due to the character being flawed, or even the game itself being a failure. Instead, it was something completely outside the sphere of the games that ended up jeopardizing their future.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was one of many experimental Sonic spin-offs during the 2000s. Chronicles was a turn-based RPG developed by Bioware, the team behind the critically acclaimed Mass Effect games. As one would expect from Bioware, the story is quite intriguing, even moreso than Sonic Adventure 2's memorably strange plot. On the other hand, the gameplay and soundtrack received a fair bit of criticism. The game itself is not the series' best, but it did manage to introduce some good ideas. However, despite ending on a cliffhanger, the game is unlikely to see a sequel due to some unfortunate circumstances.
The most important character to debut in Sonic Chronicles was Shade the Echidna. She is a member of the Nocturnus Clan, a clan of echidnas who were sent to a prison dimension called the Twilight Cage for their crimes. Shade genuinely believes that Ix, the Nocturnus leader, only wants to free their people from the Cage, but defects after she learns his true goal of absolute domination. Shade introduces a lot of interesting dynamics, and much like Sonic Frontiers' amazing theme song, she leaves fans wanting more. She proves that Knuckles isn't the last surviving Echidna, and she has some good interactions with Knuckles and Sonic. At the end of the game, she even escapes the Twilight Cage with them.
Shade Is The Best Character That Might Not Return In Sonic Frontiers
Unfortunately, Shade was caught up in a lawsuit that endangered her future. Former Archie Comics writer Ken Penders filed a lawsuit claiming that the Nocturnus clan had been lifted from the Dark Legion story arc that he penned for the comics. Ultimately, the lawsuit was dismissed three times. Penders has stated his intent to refile if Sega uses Shade again, and between that and Chronicles' underwhelming sales, Sega has avoided using Shade or anything else from Chronicles since. Even though the game's reception was not the best, the fact that the story and characters were never followed up on is a disappointment greater than Sonic Chronicles' original intro going unused.
As for Shade herself, she is one of the biggest cases of missed potential in the Sonic franchise. She only ed Sonic's team in the final chapters of the game, so she didn't get much time to establish herself. Even though her spotlight is limited though, she still manages to be one of the game's more interesting characters, and future appearances could have fleshed her out further. At the very least, Shade and Chronicles were included in the Sonic The Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia, acknowledging them for the first time in years. That offers some small hope that Shade might be able to return one day. Big the Cat is returning in Sonic Frontiers despite his recent absences, so although it looks unlikely, the door may not be completely closed for Shade.
Shade is one of the best characters that has only appeared in one Sonic game. She raises a lot of potentially interesting ideas, and could make for a good member of the series' recurring cast. Unfortunately, due to the woes that came about in the wake of the game's release, it seems unlikely that Sonic the Hedgehog will be able to bring Shade back anytime soon.
