Shadow

"I'll tear all of you to little pieces!"

- Shadow

Shadow (シャドウ) is the tertiary antagonist of Mega Man X: Command Mission. Initially an ally Maverick Hunter, he betrays X and Zero, leading them into an ambush and joining the Rebellion Army.

Characteristics
Shadow is a tall Reploid with black and yellow armor. His armor is designed to resemble that of a samurai's, especially his shoulderpads and helmet. He possesses a large beam sword in the place of his left hand, and his back-mounted Pulverizer Cannon resembles a sword in a sheath. Originally he has a normal face, but after his betrayal he constantly has a devilish sneer.

Shadow is described as a hot-shot of a Maverick Hunter. Although he appears at first to be a reasonable individual, his true persona is extremely ambitious, and he will backstab anybody he needs to for his own personal gain. Even as Shadow was losing to X and Zero, he showed no remorse for his betrayal, although he was hoping that X and Zero would have joined him in the Rebellion. He is also shown to be somewhat sadistic and violent, frequently making references to cutting people up to pieces, as well as constantly wearing an insane grin. He also seems to have high respect for Epsilon, however, as he reacted angrily to X's accusations of Epsilon being a Maverick, and was fervently trying to defend the Supra-Force Metal from the Maverick Hunters.

Mega Man X: Command Mission
Shadow is deployed to Giga City's Lagrano Ruins as a Maverick Hunter alongside X and Zero. After X is separated from the group by rubble, Shadow and Zero continue on their own. They rendezvous at the top of the ruins, where Shadow betrays them and reveals he has joined Epsilon. The Rebellion cadres appear and try to convince X and Zero to join, but they escape and are separated.

Shadow is next seen when he confronts X and company in the Gimialla Mines. He reveals the existence of a powerful new resource, the Supra-Force Metal, as well as the fact that its power is why he betrayed his comrades for the Rebellion. Despite using the Supra-Force Metal to fight, he is still defeated when Zero arrives and joins the fight for revenge. However, before his destruction, he makes one last attempt at Zero with his Pulverizer Cannon, only to be intercepted and countered by Spider, who took the blow for Zero and then finished off Shadow once and for all.

Round 2

 * He has 46,000 HP total and two phases to his battle when encountered at the Gimialla Mines. The first half of the battle ends after a set amount of time (8 turns), but the second part will not end until he is defeated. The HP will not be entirely depleted until the second part.


 * Shadow's attacks include various elemental attacks, though it seems he favors Ice attacks. He also performs a regular slash, Fatal Attack (which cuts about 1/3 of the target's total HP), and Pulverizer Cannon, which takes three turns to charge. The Pulverizer Cannon, like the Preon Pod's and Pressure's charge-up attacks, can be interrupted with enough damage. If the Pulverizer Cannon strikes, it hits for around 7000 damage to all three characters in the party. At this point in the game, the only method of surviving the Pulverizer Cannon is with Axl's "Stealth Mode" or Trickstar Spider.

Confrontation at Gimialla Mine
X: You!!

Shadow: Long time no see, X.

X: Shadow! You're gonna pay for betraying us...

Shadow: Well, X... I suppose you came here hoping to find the Supra-Force Metal?

X: Supra-Force Metal?! What's that?!

Shadow: You know very well. It's an improved form of Force Metal that the Rebellion Army is studying to help all Reploids achieve their ideal! You government lackeys can't have it!

Spider: Achieve their ideal? What is it that the Supra-Force Metal does exactly?

Shadow: There's no need for me to describe the effects. Take me on and see for yourselves!

Shadow: X, surely you can tell. I'm stronger now. All due to the power of Supra-Force Metal. I swore allegiance to Epsilon for this!

X: You sold out your friends for that power? That's some "ideal!" All you Mavericks care about is power!

Shadow: How dare you call the great Epsilon a Maverick! X, I had hoped to gain you as an ally, but I hope no longer! I'll take your head, for Epsilon! It all ends here!

(Shadow advances, but is intercepted and knocked back by Zero.)

Shadow: You! You're alive?!

X: Zero!

Zero: Think you could beat me so easily? Shadow! I've got a big load of payback just for you! Time for round 2! Let's do it, Maverick!

Trivia

 * Shadow's appearance slightly resembles that of Zain from Mega Man Xtreme, as both designs are heavily influenced by samurai armor and use oversized katana as weapons.
 * Shadow also shares some similarities with Double from Mega Man X4. Both use a similar color palette in their armors as well as similar designs like the horns in their helmets, and both use a sword as weapon, they also were both traitors of the Maverick Hunters that served to the main antagonists. A notable difference between him and Double, however is that Shadow directly served with Zero, with his betrayal playing a huge role in the latter's distrust of X's new allies in the game, while Double is not known to have interacted with Zero at all throughout his role in the game.
 * Shadow's face prior to his betrayal appears calm and collected, but changes to wide-eyed and crazed for all apparances afterwards. He was also paranoid when he found out Zero survived his attack.