Today’s announcement of Sonic x Shadow Generations brought all kinds of love for Sonic’s dark doppelganger as longtime fans celebrate Shadow’s return after being absent from recent projects like Sonic Superstars and Sonic Frontiers. However, players won’t need to wait for the fall launch of Sonic x Shadow Generations to enjoy speeding around as Shadow, as Sega also announced it is celebrating today’s announcement by releasing a free equippable DLC costume to Sonic Superstars on February 15.

Sonic Superstars already includes several other skins you can equip onto your characters, ranging from Lego costumes to a Santa costume for Sonic to even the original prototype rabbit design. No screenshots or photos have been released for the newly announced Shadow costume in Sonic Superstars.

Still image from Sonic x Shadow Generations announcement trailer

In July 2023, I asked Sonic Team creative officer Takashi Iizuka why Shadow isn’t in Sonic Superstars. “Shadow is from the Modern series of characters and gameplay that we have introduced,” Iizuka says. “The Classic series exists before the Modern series, so they haven’t met at that time. There’s no relationship, so we won’t be bringing Shadow into the Classic series. Unfortunately, Shadow was in a capsule at that time.”

By adding Shadow as an equippable skin, Iizuka and the rest of Sonic Team are able to circumvent the lore reasoning for leaving Shadow on the sidelines for Superstars. This year is shaping up to be the Year of Shadow for the Sonic brand. Shadow is coming to Sonic Superstars as an equippable skin, he’s co-headlining the aforementioned Sonic Generations remaster in the fall, and he figures to be one of the main attractions in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film when that hits theaters in December.

Sonic Superstars launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on October 17, 2023. The free Shadow costume arrives in Sonic Superstars as free DLC on February 15. For more on that game, check out our review here. You can also visit our exclusive coverage hub by heading here.