Voice Compare » Sonic the Hedgehog » Shadow the Hedgehog

New opinion. Jason and David are tied for the best. David got the Shadow feeling and Jason got the badass tone, which Shadow is both. For Kirk, just no, just stop voicing Shadow and never voice him again.

Is it odd for me to prefer Kirk "Saix" Thornton over all of them including the somewhat forced "dark" Jason Griffith.

Gah oh Shadow. My favorite Sonic character of the franchise with Knuckles following close behind. Honestly, they all sound great! It's too hard to choose but if I had to choose, I'd go with Jason Griffith. It already astounded me that he did Sonic as well though I prefer Ryan as Sonic but Jason, he just screams "Shadow the Hedgehog" in my opinion.

1. Jason Griffith
2. Kirk Thornton (Dark and alluring but refined. I love the combination)
3. David Humphrey (He's classic for me. I'll always have a soft spot for his VA performance of Shadow)

Jason sounds the best I think, but Kirk is great as well. The only current Sonic franchise voice I don't like is Cindy's Amy Rose. David sounds a tad bit bored.

All three of them are really good, I can't choose.

The more I hear Kirk's Shadow, the more it's growing on me.

I'm going with Kirk. The others sound bored.

BEFORE THIS IS ALL OVER, I'LL SHOW YOU THE TRUE POWER OF CHAOS CONTROL!
That is why David is the best for Shadow.

I gotta hand it to Jason Griffith, at least he voiced Shadow a lot better than he voiced Sonic.

Each one is good, but has their own fault to the performance. David Humphrey sounds a little too hammy, Jason Griffith (in the earlier ones) sounds more like he's reading off the script, and Kirk Thornton has the age factor. All do action sounds and Chaos Control wonderfully, though.

How is Jason Griffith winning? His only good performance as Shadow is in Shadow The Hedgehog. In the anime, Shadow had an unfitting aristocratic quality to his voice which made a return in The Black Knight. And in '06 he just sounded like a sad emo. David Humphrey gave a Shadow a more natural voice that was dark, but not at all emo or even emo-like.

Thornton has a great kind of style to his voice making his performance much more memorable than Humphrey's performances to me. But.... Griffith gets my vote hands down. Griffith gave Shadow a fantastic quality to his voice that made him likable and actually emotional especially during the storyline and cutscenes in "Shadow the Hedgehog"

Here are my opinional standings:
#1, David Humphrey
#2, Jason Griffith
#3, Kirk Thornton

I believe David Humphery to be the best. I think the man gave Shadow, a very badass character, a very badass voice. The voice acting wasn't bad either. Jason Griffith sounded way too emo for my taste and far too generic. And Kirk Thornton....while I love his previous voice work, the man isn't a good Shadow. He sounds a bit too old.

I think Jason Griffith was the best.

Jason Griffith was the Best. David did alright, but Kirk stunk because he tried to combine Jason and David's so he is bad.

Here's a fun fact for you guys: Some unused audio clips uncovered from SA2 suggest that Ryan Drummond may have at one time voiced Shadow, before David Humphrey was brought in.

David all the way! Sonic Adventure 2's one of my favorite games and he definitely stole the show in that.

Kirk is pretty cool too, having this sinister aura about him yet cocky enough to make him more relatable and fun.

Jason was too boring and uncharismatic for my taste. There's being stoic, and then there's just being a bad actor.

Jason Griffith is the real Shadow voice! ;)

David is my favorite. He sounds really natural and fitting for Shadow, not to mention he earns brownie points for that cool British accent he'd slip into so often in the games.

I can see why Jason has so many fans. Unlike most (95%) of the 4kids cast, Jason's voice actually fit the character he was playing. My peave with him is that his acting was very much so "Christian Bale Batman-ish" (forced, unintentionally funny, screams "I have lung cancer"). Overall he was ok. Generic and not very memorable, but ok.

I can't really give a fair opinion on Kirk because I haven't heard that much from him. Everyone sucks on their 1st try in thier roles so I can't judge his Trent Lane-like performance in Sonic Free Riders. He had only one line in Generations so I really can't judge that. I need to hear him in more games to tell if he's good, ok, or just bad.

David does a decent Shadow voice as it does have that dark feel. One problem I have with him is that some of his lines felt a bit forced, I hope that was the case of bad directing since Sega is notorious for its bad voice acting in their fourth generation era.

Unlike his Sonic voice, Jason's Shadow was excellent from the start. He really sounds like a badass and gives out that anti-hero feel. While it is debatable if he is a good Sonic voice actor or not, he is definitely Shadow material and my own personal favorite.

Kirk I feel is underrated, while I do think his voice as Shadow is a bit too smug, I do feel that he has the best range of emotion for Shadow. I feel that given time, he would become a better Shadow voice actor and possibly match Jason's performance, he just needs more guidance. He is definitely not a bad VO though as shown with his Orbot performance.

My ranks for Shadow....

# 1 - Jason Griffith.
# 2 - David Humphrey.
# 3 - Kirk Thornton.

Its a tie between Jason and David for me. I gotta say they both portrayed the character quite well in the games!

Jason is my favorite
David is 2nd but didnt have to much emotions
Kirk tried to mix jasons and davids shadow came out bad

Jason Griffith was also the best Shadow voice to me.

kirk thorton

1.Grifith maybe not all the voice samples picked where good but he is my favourite in other events if that makes sense
2. Thorton (captain kirk XD) he gets a good voice for shadow, there's not alot of lines I've heard to judge him on but Grifith is just that bit better
3. Humphrey its not that he's bad, just some of his lines sound to forced to me, that's all, but some he does really well like: "before this is all over I'll show you the true power of CHAOS CONTROLL

People honestly need to give thornton a chance. I mean all he was in was free riders and generations as a side character. He needs to be a main character again so thornton can give us the performance we're looking for.

Gah! I'm torn between Humphrey and Griffith's performance (Sorry, Thorton. I wasn't feeling it too much) I fell in love with Shadow's voice when he first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but now that I hear his voice side by side with these other performances, Griffith just sounds better. However, the game Shadow the Hedgehog was GOD-AWFUL!! So now I have to pick: great game with an "okay" VA, or a terrible game with a great VA.
OH, I can't decide! D:

Honestly, I don't like any of these voices... David Humphrey had the best voice and he's the voice I think of when I think Shadow the Hedgehog, but his acting was amazingly wooden. Still, he did sound very cool and left a lasting impression.

Jason Griffith is definitely an improvement in acting, but not by a large amount and it still felt stilted in places. I also don't like how Shadow went from arrogant yet serious to extremely troubled and insecure, but that was a fault of the writing rather than Jason Griffith's personal take on the character, I believe.

Kirk Thornton is a great actor, but I think he's miscast here; his voice is much too cocky and his arrogance feels too "fashionable", for lack of a better term, when he should sound darker. His acting is the most believable, though, even if it is a poorer match for the character.

Overall, I don't really feel like any of them are very good, but I would give my vote, by a small margin, to Kirk Thornton for sounding natural, at least, followed by David Humphrey for getting the voice down about perfectly.

Wow this was a long post for me.

Kirk Thornton for me; Humphrey and Griffith aren't necessarily bad, but Thornton, I feel, gives a much more natural performance for the character. He sounds cocky, but not too evil or dark. I hope he gets the chance to shine with the character in a future Sonic game.

Humphrey would be my second choice, as his version was also natural, but he kinda got a little hammy at times, particularly in Sonic Heroes (though, that may be more the fault of the director). Griffith, while he improved during his time as Sonic, his Shadow always seemed forced and went TOO dark for my taste.

Kirk Thorton just isn't doing it for me. I'd gladly take Jason or David back over him, anyone I feel would do a better job. I feel he and Cindy Robinson are the weakest of the new voice actors.

1. Jason Griffith
2. David Humphrey
3. Kirk Thornton

I think Crispin Freeman would be perfect as Shadow.

David is better, Jason was even worse.

David is pretty decent, but I really like Jason's voice for him the best. Kirk just kind of stretches his vowels to much so it sounds nothing like Shadow. He also is a little to high-pitched for him.

David Humphrey sounds the most sinister, which is what Shadow OUGHT TO BE, as opposed to the emo anti-hero he is today.

Jason Griffith and Kirk r good voice actors

David Humphrey - I'm not saying he's bad, but he's trying WAY too hard to sound epic.
Jason Griffith - Jason's Shadow had the most awesomely stupid lines in the entire series. But in all seriousness, I think he's good; he got a lot better after Sonic X.
Kirk Thornton - Um... I'm still not sure what to say, except for: "YOU'VE GOT THIS SONIC!!!"

Jason

No offense, but the fact that Shadow got a new voice (to me at least) makes no sense. According to what SEGA's been saying, Shadow never ages. Therefore, he shouldn't have this new voice. ...But that's just me.

I vote for Siax, I mean Kirk Thornton! LOL

Shadow: "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald?!"
Yakko: "*sighs* The stuff they're gettin' away with on kid's games these days."
Dot: "*To Shadow* You go to your room until you can clean up your language young man!"

Is it true that David Humphrey already recorded the lines in Shadow the Hedgehog, but then when they changed the casts they redid the lines with Jason?

Why is everyone acting resistant against Kirk Thornton??? He's easily the best Shadow. He's obviously the most skilled when it comes to acting, and his voice actually sounds NATURAL. Not like he's trying to purpose make himself sound breathy.

Jason was pretty good and David was bad at acting. People really need to stop putting the Sonic Adventure cast on a pedestal. Sure, they're nostalgic and a lot of us grew up with them. But, most of them were bad at acting, to be quite honest!

It really depends on how you think Shadow should sound like, I mean he is kind of a hard character to voice in my opinion.

They may not all be perfect, but I vote for Jason Griffith: he may have started dodgy but got good after a while, and I always though he was more fitting.

David Humphrey was OK, he did sound a bit smug and arrogant but he was good in Sonic heroes.

When I heard Kirk Thornton as Shadow I was like "What the hell?!" but he just needs to get used to this role in my opinion.

I don't know on this one. I think Jason's voice is a little more fitting, but David has more emotion. Kirk is kinda weird sounding, but I think he just needs a little more adjusting to the role.

My top three of Shadow's voice actors are pretty much like many other people but some of these comments below got me thinking a lil here:

1) Jason- He sounds the best. But as some of you guys said, unlike David, he lacks some emotion or inner-Shadow-ness. I only like him better because he sounds most like Shadow.

2) David- As for David, I'll never change my mind on how brilliant Shadow's voice is with that british accent. It's something noone can forget! To me, it suits the hedgehog just fine.

3) Kirk- Like many others would say, Kirl is kinda the worst of all three. But I definitely agree that since he's newer at this voice acting role, he many not be so good until he gets more experience. He just needs practice!

P.S. I'm surprised at the username availability.

I wish someone would delete my comment when I said, "Jason Griffith. Period!" because I don't like Jason Griffith in the Sonic franchise anymore.

I wish someone would delete my comment when I said, "Jason Griffith. Period!" because I don't like Jason Griffith in the Sonic franchise anymore.

Jason was the best at sonic and shadow.

Shadow - "Before this is over, I'll show you the true power of CHAOS CONTROL!!"
SonicG - "And I'LL show you what TRUE speed REALLY IS."
SonicD - "I found you! FAKER!"

David-Ok (i kind of love the British accent)
Jason-Also Ok (i love his work in the pre-Sonic Colors games)
Kirk-Kind of getting used to (he's sounds like one of those arrogant bounty hunters who doesn't play by the rules)

I like Thorton the most, and I know saying this will make people mad but I feel David and Jason are equally bad. I don't feel they fit SHadow that well and lacked a certain Anti-hero feel. Plus from David's clip I hear how bad his acting is and while I haven't heard Jason in everything as Shadow I felt his acting was better then David.

Thorton just felt like an anti-hero and I could tell he could act circles around the other to and with I know about Kirk, he can bring out more depth then either of the other two.
So Kirk in a clear first and Jason and David in a tied second place.

Thorton

I'll do a little top 3 here:

1. David Humphrey- Personally I don't think these clips did him justice, he really got better at acting the role out toward the end.

2. Kirk Thornton- I'll put him at number 2 because he has the potential to be the best Shadow. Right now he feels like he's kinda finding the character, and since Shadow's appearences in these games have been limited, and even the ones where he's in there, he's usually on the side, and has no purpose for being there. I trully feel that one's Kirk Thornton is given the opprotunity to get Shadow when he's at the center of things, and he's really given Shadow's deeper personality to work with that he'll nail it like nobody has, he's an amazing voice actor, but sadly he has yet to have that opprotunity. So Humphrey get's my vote, but I have the feeling I'm gonna change it someday.

3. Jason Griffith- Now, a lot of people will definatetly disagree with me here, but Jason Griffith sucked, and here's why: While, I must concede he did perfect the voice for Shadow, much like he did for Sonic, he had little to no acting ability whatsoever. This clip they use are his highlights, but if any of you remember quotes like "Black Doom, you're evil plan ends here, and it ends now!" or "I am Shadow the Hedgehog, and I am the Most Powerful Hedgehog in the Universe, this is who I am!" you'll know what I mean. Fact is, Griffith had a 78 episode anime series, a spin-off game where Shadow was the main character, a game where he had is own story mode, and a bunch of token appearences to nail Shadow, but he was only sufficient at acting Shadow's surface, never his inner emotions. Kirk Thornton has only had token appearences, if he had those opprotunities I bet he'd be number 1 hands down.

Jason by far seems to catch Shadow's voice perfectly in terms of "getting straight to the point."

Thornton makes Kisame fun to imitate.

Humphrey just needs more time to get used to it.

David Humphrey: He's my favorite Shadow voice because his voice is very unique and something that was well put together. He captures Shadow's emotion, feelings, and sounds like he's enjoying voicing the character

Jason Griffith: I find his Shadow's voice a little lazy and uninteresting and when he's talking it's like there's no emotion being put into the voice; It's not that he sounds emo, it just sounds boring. He also sounds like he is forcing himself to yell and it would slip into his Sonic voice during his early performance, but he got a little better over time like Sonic. Even though he is not perfect, he was passable.

Kirk Thornton: Though he is the weakest of the two voices, I think he has the potential to be the best Shadow voice out of the two, I can't wait to hear his performance in Generations.

Watched some Generations stuff. ...I'm still pretty disappointed with Kirk Thornton's Shadow. He would have been awesome, but he missed the mark. :/ I'm giving it to Jason Griffith.

Jason by far for me, I really liked how he captured his dark, mysteries and smug sides. Plus he never had a bad performance.
David wasn't too bad, he did a good job in SA2 besides a few times where he sounded fake. I really didn't care for his performance in Heroes though....
I really don't care for Kirks Shadow whatsoever, but he does a great Orbot. He'll probably will get around David's range sometime in the future. I really can't image him ever saying "Chaos Control!".

David Humphrey for me. Griffith isn't too far behind, but he never quite nailed the voices for me, he lacked a certain edge that the characters he played really required. As for Kirk Thornton...well, there's always that one person who just missed the mark completely, and for Shadow, he's the one.

Shadow the Hedgehog

1. Jason Griffith (King of Hedgehogs)
To those of you who say that he sounds like an emo Sonic, I'll say this once: HE'S LIKE A MIRROR REFLECTION OF SONIC!! It would make sense for Sonic and Shadow to sound alike! Plus, you already know this: They share a voice actor! What'd you expect Shadow to sound like? Darth Vader?! I mean, Vegeta and Piccolo share a voice actor and they sound almost EXACTLY alike! And I've never heard ANYONE complaining about that!! And FYI, people are NOT voting for Griffith out of pity, or going with the crowd! That just means that they're desperate! That's right! They're NOT giving him "pity votes"! They like Griffith! So, let them!


2. David Humphrey
He was okay as Shadow. He expressed his dark persona, but what I didn't like about his voice, though, is that he sounds like he's constantly flirting with other characters unintentionally... That, and he sounds like he's playing around EVERY SINGLE SECOND!! Like he's the freaking Joker!But, overall, he was okay...

3. Kirk Thornton
I'll give him time to improve, but he just sounds AWFUL!! Just plain AWFUL!! He sounds like a potential rapist, trying not to speak British. To me, he's just imitating Frank Frankson's voice for Specter, from the Ape Escape series! But, like I said, I'll give him time...

My favourite is Jason, I grew upp with him but I think he has much more animation and emotion in his voice than Humphrey or Kirk. Humphrey and Kirk are alright, but I think Jason has something special in his voice. Although I grew up listening to Jason as sonic and shadow, I enjoy listening to the passion in his voice.

Also, am i the only one who thinks Shadow is the only Sonic Character to swear?

OMG, this was a tough descision, it's really hard to choose, they all sound good.

But if i have to choose, i think i will vote for Griffith. He sounds good when he says ''Where's that damm fourth vhaos emerald.

David Humphrey comes 2nd and Kirk 3rd.

Actually, I really like Jason's voice for Shadow better. It makes Shadow sound like he's a warm-hearted hero out there and because of his voice, I trust him.

To me, I personally like both David and Kirk. Humphrey started off Shadow as a likeable character (to which Shadow got pretty dull to me after Heroes, whereas makes me wonder: if he is meant to be the ultimate life-form as he claims, why would Sega make the opportunity to have him wield weapons and ride on transportation?) and his emotion is actually presented out well... In fact, I never actually got tired of hearing that voice at all.

As for Kirk, I like the presentation of him combining both of David and Jason's tones together, to make a pretty nice replacement for the latter... There is one problem: Thornton can sound a little too much like Kisame, and the gritty tone is nice and all, but some improvement can be looked forward to, maybe?

As for Jason "Hi! I'm Jason Griffith!" Griffith, I won't say he's terrible or miscast at all, or even emo in this case (if you fangirls wanna jump on me like the parasites you are), but with the actor previously voicing Sonic, Jet, and Shadow, it sounds a bit strained at times, making me feel uninterested.

And as for the rest of you who think Shadow may sound a bit dumb and pathetic with whoever was typecasted, I just wanna say that Shadow is pretty much ageless, being that it wouldn't matter if he sounded old or young. Appearance-wise, he's about Sonic's age, but in reality, he is WAY older than that, according to my theory.

Overall, I vote for David Humphrey, but if it's anyone who is a legend, credit goes to the all-seeing Koji Yusa!

Hee hee, where's that d*** 4th chaos emerald?! Defenitly Jason's for me!!! :)

I though Krik look like Nicholas Cage for a sec.
I think Jason or David. Hard to tell

i dont like Kirk Thornton. He makes shadow sound stupid.shadow used to sound sexy.well he still does kinda but not as sexy. they shouldnt have changed his voice in the first place.i liked David Humphery and Jason Griffith.

I've always wondered why do some fans think Shadow is emo?

Shadow was never emo except in one uncanon ending in his game I say the reason he's being labeled as Emo because most people don't even know what the word actually means and just brand to use the word with no specific reason what is up with that? :P

1 David Humphrey
2 Kirk
3 Jason

David is the best for one, he is the original actor for him. He made Shadow, Shadow! Not to mention he is the only one who actually gave Shadow emotion other than emo-ness. He expressed joy, sly, mad, dark, haughty, ect in Shadow by the mastery of his voice.
David Humphrey ALWAYS FTW.

Second Kirk is a mix between David and Jason.
Kirk adds more emotion to Shadow than just "i dont know who i am but i will do this and this, why am i always mad" like Jason did.
He has more of a snake like-ness to this with this voice but at least it adds more than one mono tone. And give him time, he will fit into Shadow in no time.

Jason in my opinion sucks the most, first of all since he does both Sonic and Shadow, if Shadow is too high it is Sonic, if Sonic is too dark it is Shadow. I hate that! Not to mention Jason gave no emotion to Shadow, only, "why do i hate myself, who am i, why do i hate the world". Talk about dumming down the bar that was set so high for Shadow with David. I hate that Jason didnt do so well with expressing Shadow.

Final Verdict
David will always be my fav. I curse the day the fan-ficed Sonic X was made, that changed the best Sonic voice cast to ever be chosen. Not to mention the stupidity that Sonic X is, it is sooo fake/cheap...

RIP David and Ryan
You were the best!

~Mephilez

Humpherey because he was the original and I don't know but when I look back at it it sounded dark and ominus sometimes to a point where I liked Shadow's Character.
Jason's though it's famous to several and all I find it a bit too deep and it's ok but also an overrated one but he did a nice job . wish the direction with shadow's character didn't go that way.
Kirk I'm gonna wait and see and hope for the best

Jimmy Zoppi's James in pokemon would suit this character.

1. Griffith
2. Thornton
3. Humphrey

I'll come back to this after I hear more of Kirk Thornton's Shadow because he has the potential to be the best Shadow. But, overall, I liked David Humphrey's the most. It's unique, and of all the old cast, he stood out being the best. He could have projected more, but I liked it.

I have only herad Kirk and Jason and I think Jason is better.

CHAOS CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!!

Though David was cool I like Jason more. I think Jason was really cool as Shadow in Sonic X and love hearing him say, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

I miss David Humphrey, the guy had such a unique performance back when Shadow was actually cool. Jason started out pretty bad, though he did get better later on. Kirk's alright so far, but my vote ultimately goes to David.

1. David Humphrey - I think he gave Shadow the most serious, mysterious, "ultimate life-form" voice.
2. Jason Anthony Griffith - I like that Griffith's Shadow voice was very similar to David's.
3. Kirk Thornton - I haven't heard enough of it to give a good solid opinion just yet, but so far, his Shadow voice seems really good.

List:
1. David Humpherey.. (BEcause he was the orignal)
2. Kirk THorton ( though he's only been in one game his voice sounds closer to Davids version)
3. Jason Griffith it's different I'll give it that but the lines given made him sound all emotional almost all the time after Sonic Heroes to Sonic 06 It felt off .

yea
1.David Humphrey
2.Jason Anthony Griffith
3.Kirk Thornton
mostly because i loved him in sonic adventure 2 and felt that that was his best voice actor but Jason is a close second.

1. david Humphrey
2.Jason griffith
3. Kirk Thornton

David:Great
Jason:Also Great
Kirk:.......not even gonna touch that one.

Here's my list:

1. David Humphrey

He's my favorite Shadow voice by far. David gave Shadow a very unique tone to it. To me, he was a very good driving force for Shadow's character. Compared to many of the actors in SA2, David was one of the better voices and managed to provide decent acting in some scenes, while sounding epic in other scenes. There were a few instances where his projection could've been improved, in both SA2 and Sonic Heroes, but overall, he did good for the role.

2. Kirk Thornton

I like how Kirk kinda sounds similar to David. However, the way he talks in that voice is kinda mixed with me. He sounds like he extends certain syllables longer then he needed to. I'd like to hear him talk a bit faster too, since he sounds a bit retrained when talking in his Shadow voice. But I'm willing to hear him in more games before I completely judge him. I think he has good potential.

3. Jason Griffith

Even though I rank Jason last on this list, that doesn't mean I think he's bad. He actually did a decent job as Shadow, just in a different way than how David and Kirk do theirs. He gives Shadow a more mellow and unenthusiastic type of voice. This can be a good thing, but can also have a few consequences. Jason didn't emote very much as Shadow, and when he did, he sometimes sounded a bit awkward. I remember him sounding like Sonic when he shouted a line in Sonic X. Not to mention, he has a whispering-like hiss when he speaks, and while that may work for some, it doesn't really do Shadow enough justice if you ask me. With all due respect though, Jason did pretty good as Shadow.

None of these actors were bad voices for Shadow. All had a few flaws in certain areas. It's mainly a matter of preference of who someone likes more.

Definitely Jason Anthony Griffith. PERIOD!!!!

I don't have any preference between the first two. David Humphrey was just awesome in Sonic Adventure 2, making Shadow sound really evil, and it was a nice touch how he toned down the voice a bit in Sonic Heroes, reflecting Shadow's amnesia. Another thing I liked about his Shadow was the slight English accent. The flaw was that sometimes, he could sound a bit cheesy. Jason Griffith's is a bit smoother, more suave, and distinct from his Sonic (it took me until very recently to notice the similarities in the voices). The flaw? Sounds a bit generic, while David's was more unique. Kirk Thornton is also pretty good, but I prefer the other two.

1) David Humphrey
2) Jason Anthony Griffith
3) Kirk Thornton

David Humphrey has my #1 vote because his voice had the most texture and character. Jason made him sound not bad but somewhat bland. No complaints about Kirk just yet.

I still ike David since that was the era when Shadow was starting to become kick ass. Griffith was great as well but the lines and setup for Shadow in late rgames made him sound all emo. which would bother me. Jason's voice was fine , the lines kinda suck and the plot with Shadow in some of the other games were weird to say the least. Kirk umm he just started so I'm gonna leave room for improvement and I am hoping he will do fine.

Jason Griffith was the better and much more fitting Shadow voice for me he gave Shadow a strong bold voice but slyer and slow almost like a whisper he used the same tone as Humphrey but he was more serious and threatening in few games He was more realistic the voice connected to the character instantly like they were sort of related somehow

He also made Shadow sound more gruffer and louder in the last few games which featured the 4kids Cast I think he did well in all games but the top three games he did best was....Rivals 2, Black Knight as Lancelot and Shadow The Hedgehog (Game) I was also amazed how he could change his voice from the sarcastic,kind,serious mood he gives Sonic to a dark, deeper and sly mood to a cocky and annoying mood to Jet XD I think he fits the role for all three characters He definately goes first place in my list :) He also gave Shadow strong emotion

David Humphrey was actually good not bad at all He gave the silent tone which Jason did later then, he gave Shadow all different kinds of emotions, he sounded more sinister and evil but kind too the thing David lacked was in some parts and cutscenes he overused the sly voice a bit too much and some lines would sound a bit too weak and huffy overall He did an okay job but comes second I think Griffith is better though His best perfomrance I would say is SA2 and some quotes are good in Heroes but that had awful dialogue O_o

I also agree with Yo on the Emo thing yeah it's getting a bit too cliche and annoying to keep using that as a reason why you don't each voice actor was good for Shadow...seriously you can't keep saying that all the time think deeply about it ask yourselves some questions Why did you not like the voice actor?
Was it something Jason did that David didn't or was it something David did what Jason didn't ask yourselves these and try and have a more sensible or reasonable awnser or just do the asy way but don't try to annoy others who are fans of other voice actors you don't like Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the fighting and Harsh attacks on the voice actor have to stop!

Kirk Thornton...uh I'm gonna leave him out on this one he has captured the tone yes but I feel he is missing a few elements from what the others did maybe to improve he could be a bit more vertasile, bring a bit more what Jason had, bring more what David had or combine all those factors and elements or just try to work harder on the voice

I will leave him out because it takes time to crack on the voice

But for now Jason Griffith will always be my Shadow voice to me as well as Sonic and Jet :)

My comparison of the three...

Humphrey: I will credit him that he has the right tone (silky and low), but he seems to be enjoying the role a little TOO much. I personally see him holding back a laugh in each line.

Griffith: Great. He has the tone that Humphrey has, only he's taking himself a tad more seriously and isn't quite as overly-dramatic about it.

Thornton: Again, he has the silky kind of voice he used with Saix, but he makes Shadow sound a tad too old and dry. No offense to Thornton, he is a good voice actor.

I, personally would have gone with Crispin Freeman, Johnny Yong Bosch, and (if all else fails) Steven Jay Blum. Don't tell me that Blum as Shadow is a bad idea!

David seemed to make Shadow sound slightly English as well. That's one of the things I liked about him.

1) Jason Griffith
2) David Humphrey
3) Kirk Thornton

Jason made Shadow dark and myserious but deep down kind and caring inside and the post amnesia in the game (Shadow The hedgehog) fitted perfectly he gave Shadow emotion and a lot of power He was the Best Shadow voice in my opinion he also put his dark sinister side into him and that's what made Shadow more special and interesting inside He was good in all games

David was ehhh at sometimes he was listenable but mostly Ehhh....I'll leave it at that

I'm not really into Shadow's new voice sounds a lot different from Griffith but similar to David but we will see how it goes in future games...

Kirk thornton's been playing the serious lone wolf archetype characters for years now, but no major complaints about it until he voices Shadow. Ah well

Being the fanboy I am, I always thought he'd make a good shadow, and I like what I've heard so he gets my vote

Kirk Thornton is not that bad sounds so much better than David Humprhey

But for me Jason will always be the truesonic and shadow and jet

But looking forward to what kirk brings in the future

Kirk Thornton added. He's pretty good. And it amuses me that Shadow now has the same voice actor as Don Patch.

@unfortuantely Hes not :( SEGA Is still looking for new voice actors for Free Riders
Its too bad I think He was Much more talented than David

@satoshi I agree David was too forced Jason makes shadow sound better more darker and a bit evil XD....david was really trying but it was a bit too much XD he tried too hard

I don't like either. A lot of David Humphrey's delivery felt too forced and felt really awkward and unnatural. It wasn't terrible just a mediocre performance in general. Griffith really doesn't emote to much and whispers a lot, but it kinda works and isn't as painful to listen to so I guess hes OKAY.

David Humphrey was okay....:| but Jason did a better job with shadow its too bad hes being replaced :(

DAVID HUMPHREY FTW. Jason Anthony Griffith was HORRIBLE as Shadow! David put so much emotion into his performance. Jason made him sound annoying and one sided.