Shadow the Hedgehog (Japanese: シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ Hepburn: Shadō za Hejjihoggu) is a character appearing in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise. Shadow was created by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa, and debuted in the series' 2001 installment Sonic Adventure 2.