While I respect Iizuka for having his own opinion…

https://www.sonicstadium.org/news/games/takashi-iizuka-insists-that-shadow-is-not-like-dragon-balls-vegeta-and-never-will-be-r2542/

I gotta disagree with him on one thing: while I think it's fair to not compare Shadow so much to Vegeta from DBZ (even if they are similar with in more ways than one), I don't believe that should rule out of the possibility of Shadow ever being friends with Sonic.

Personally, I think Sonic and Shadow would make great friends, they have a lot in common. They're hedgehogs, they move at speeds faster than the speed of sound, they're thrill-seeking daredevils, the only real difference between them is their approach to certain things as in where Sonic has a clearer view on justice and morality, Shadow will do almost anything to achieve his goals, which is what really triggers their conflicts with each other, but they always put it aside when the real threat is too big for either of them to take on alone.

Deep down, after all they've been through together, I think Shadow may have come to truly respect Sonic and even care about him, even if he never admits it. I don't expect them to be best buddies like Sonic is with Tails or even sometimes with Knuckles, but at least Sonic tries to give Shadow the benefit of the doubt and have faith in him it comes to doing the right thing. Funny thing is Shadow seems to think the opposite of Sonic considering how reckless he can be, but he can be just as reckless sometimes, so it comes of as hyprocritcal when he comes out of nowhere to attack him as if to punish him rather than talking it out and hearing his side of the story. I understand Shadow may not like Sonic for his personality among other things, but I can tell he's grown to at least tolerate him. Reminder that Shadow went through some trauma that Sonic couldn't imagine, so it's not hard to understand why he may have difficulties forging new friendships with Sonic or anyone with the exception of Rouge and Omega to a degree. Still, I think if the oppotunity should ever come up, they may find they're not so different.

I don't think Iizuka knows as much about Vegeta as he claims, I feel like he gave a very brief and abridged description of Vegeta's character analysis, he makes it sound like he went from evil to neutral to good just like that. But that wasn't the case, it took years for Vegeta to develop and lots of harrowing experiences for him grow into the person he is now. Vegeta isn't some big righteous hero of justice like say Gohan as Great Saiyaman, he only defends the world for his family, Bulma and Trunks and Bulla, the only people he really cares about and he's come to accept the Earth as his home. He's definitely not close friends with Goku as Iizuka thinks, he barely recognizes him as a fellow Saiyan. He hated Goku at first for being a low-class Saiyan who proved to be much stronger than him as a Saiyan Elite, then for being the first to become a Super Saiyan in over a millienium, then just for being stronger than him in general, all of which was a big blow to his Saiyan pride and ego, so he trained hard to surpass him at every opportunity. It wasn't until the final battle with Majin Buu that Vegeta had his epiphany and finally came to respect Goku as a warrior. While he still finds Goku's personality and habits annoying, he still manages to tolerate being around him, if even he drives him mad.

Sorry for the long post, but it's been bothering me for a while, so I needed to get it off my chest. Iizuka gives me the impression that he doesn't want any character growth and development for Shadow or any Sonic characters really. Not only is that childish and selfish, but it hold back a character's potential for the future. Not only is that damaging to the character, but it can also negatively affect the perception of many fans like myself. I don't like how Shadow has been portrayed in the last decade, but I still consider him my favorite in the hopes of him one day reaching a similar light of portrayed he had from SA2 to S06.