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Shadow of the Colossus
Developer(s)	SCEI
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Designer(s)	Fumito Ueda
Engine
Latest version	{{{version}}}
Release date(s)	October 18, 2005 (N. America) October 27, 2005 (Japan) February 24, 2006 (Europe)
Genre	Action adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) CERO: 12+
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Media	1 DVD-ROM
System requirements
Input

Shadow of the Colossus (Japanese: ワンダと巨像, "Wanda to Kyozou", roughly "Wanda and the Colossus"), is a video game for the PlayStation 2. It was developed by the same team responsible for the cult-hit video game Ico. Shadow is published internationally by Sony, and was released in North America on October 18, 2005. The game's official tagline is: "Some mountains are scaled; others are slain."

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Japanese Packaging 3 Story 4 The Colossi 4.1 Reminiscence Mode 5 Characters 5.1 Wander 5.2 Mono 5.3 Agro 5.4 Dormin 5.5 Emon 6 Story Speculation 6.1 Dormin's Character 6.2 Connections to Ico 7 Weapons 8 Gameplay unlockables, secrets, and extras 8.1 Fruit Trees and Lizards 8.2 Time Attack 8.3 Controlling Dormin 8.4 Climbing the Temple 8.4.1 The Garden 8.4.2 The Bridge 8.5 The Wooden Board 8.6 Birds and Fish 9 Composer and soundtrack 9.1 Track listing 10 Viral marketing campaign 11 External links 12 Sources

Synopsis

Shadow of the Colossus is an unusual adventure game in that there are no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters with which to interact, nor any enemies to defeat other than the game's sixteen Colossi. The lands are vast and completely empty; the entire game consists of traveling across the near-lifeless expanses of the world on horseback to each colossus, and kill each one, in the hopes of reviving a fallen girl.

Each of the 16 Colossi is found in a similar manner. First, Wander's sword is used to pinpoint its location. The sword emits eight beams of light when held up in a sunlit area. The direction of the Colossus to be found is indicated when the beams converge and focus. The player then has to simply make their way in that direction. When a Colossus is finally encountered, it must be defeated by locating its vital points (indicated by a blue sigil) and stabbing them with the sword (the Colossi can be injured by other means, such as a bow and arrow, but only the sword can kill them). The vital points are usually found high up on the Colossus, so the player must figure out how to reach or expose it. Each Colossus must be defeated in a different manner, however, as they all have remarkably different anatomies. Notably, the only weapons available to the player during the game are a sword and a bow. For this reason, Shadow of the Colossus is largely regarded as both an action/adventure game and a puzzle game.

In a manner similar to Ico, very little plot is revealed to the player at the beginning of the game, and little more is known even after the end credits roll. You are to save the girl, but no identity or further information is given concerning the main character or the woman, and initially it isn't entirely clear as to why (or if) killing all 16 Colossi will revive her. However, very small plot details are revealed during the game, much like the way the story unfolded in Ico.

Japanese Packaging

Front box art

Rear box art

Disc art

Booklet cover

Story

The story of Shadow of the Colossus begins with a young man, known only as "Wander", traveling by horseback along a massive stone bridge suspended on arching pillars. The bridge leads him into a vast, desolate landscape, finally terminating at the entrance to a great temple, the Shrine of Worship.

After entering the shrine, Wander descends down a circular tower which leads into a massive hall lined with sixteen huge stone idols. A huge circular aperture allows sunlight to stream in through the ceiling, and beyond that is a wide set of steps leading to a stone altar. Wander leads his horse, Agro, to the foot of the steps. It is then revealed that Wander carries a body wrapped in a heavy cloak. He lays the body upon the altar and removes the cloak; the person is shown to be a maiden dressed in white. (Her name is "Mono", although we do not learn this until her name is mentioned in the ending credits.) More of the story is revealed in a sudden flashback; an owl-like mask appears, shrouded in fog and accompanied by a voice that recounts what sounds like a legend, and a warning: one may be able to bring people back from the dead here, but traveling to these lands is strictly forbidden. While Wander gazes at the girl with sadness, several dark shadowy beings crawl out of the stone floor behind him. He turns in surprise, and unsheathes his sword, which emits rays of light; the beings disintegrate. A voice, which sounds like a male and female speaking conjointly, booms down from the aperture, expressing disbelief that Wander has the "Ancient Sword". Wander recognizes the voice as belonging to a being known as Dormin. Wander says he has heard that Dormin can restore the souls of the dead; he asks Dormin to return the maiden's soul, revealing that the maiden was sacrificed because she had a cursed fate. At first Dormin scoffs, saying that the mortal world shouldn't bring back the souls of the dead, but he then states that it "may not be impossible" to revive her, again noting Wander's possession of the Ancient Sword. He gives Wander a challenge - destroy all sixteen idols lining the hall of the shrine. The only way for a mortal to destroy the idols, however, is to slay the Colossi, the living incarnations of each statue, with his sword. Dormin also warns him that his actions may come at a very heavy cost, but Wander ominously says that it does not matter, and begins his journey through the forbidden lands.

Wander uses the power of his sword to guide him to the Colossi, and he slays them using its power. Each time he kills one, it is enshrouded in black shadows, and shadowy tentacles flow from the Colossus into Wander, who passes out and wakes up in the temple. Upon returning to the shrine, he is welcomed back by a number of shadow beings (the number correlates to the number of Colossi he has destroyed) standing motionless in a circle around him, looking down at him. The camera pans to the idol corresponding to the Colossus that Wander slayed. The idol gives off a brilliant light and explodes. The camera then pans back to Wander; the shadows surrounding him have disappeared, and he wakes up. After he slays the eighth Colossus, Wander has a dream of the maiden waking up and sitting up on the altar. (It is notable that for every colossus he defeats, Wander's physical appearance deteriorates. His skin becomes paler and scarred, his clothes tattered and bloody, and his hair blacker. This change in Wander becomes very apparent at about this point.) After he slays the twelfth Colossus, the game cuts to a small group of horsemen approaching the entrance to the Forbidden Lands. Their leader, seated on a white horse, wears the owl-like mask from the vision. While on his way to slay the last Colossus, Agro fails to make the run across a collapsing bridge, and plunges into a river at the bottom of a canyon. Wander, despite this heavy loss, must continue to the final battle. After slaying the sixteenth Colossus, Wander is shown laying unconscious near its body; his skin is turned unnaturally white, and two small horns are coming out of his head. He looks to be completely dead now - the changes in his degrading appearance have reached their apogee. He suddenly floats in the air and is "carried" back to the Shrine. This reveals that he was not instantaneously transported back to the Shrine whenever he killed a Colossus. (Whether this was always the case is likely, but unknown.)

The six horsemen reach the shrine. They carry crossbows and swords, except for their leader, whom they address as "Lord Emon", the short elderly man who was wearing the owl mask. They enter the shrine quietly and cautiously, as if expecting an ambush at any time. They reach the main hall just as the last idol is destroyed, much to the horror of Emon and his men. They see the maiden lying on the altar, and Lord Emon begins to perform a ritual over her. However, they hear a sound behind them. They turn around. It is Wander, who has suddenly appeared in the middle of the hall. The sword falls next to him; for the first time, Wander is not holding or carrying the sword. His appearance is as ghastly as ever; his eyes are glowing, his voice is severely distorted, and his hair is now dark blue. He barely has enough strength left in him to stumble on to his feet as the shadows of the slain colossi, no longer restrained to standing around him, enclose on him. (It is theorized that the sword had carried some sort of protective power, explaining why the shadow creatures did nothing to him earlier or, possibly, how he was able to survive the black tendrils.) At this point we learn from Emon that Wander had stolen the sword and used the "forbidden spell" (that is, he killed the Colossi using the magic powers of the sword). Emon orders his men to put Wander out of his misery, noting his possession by the dead. Wander takes a crossbow bolt in the thigh and falls over, but continues to struggle on towards Mono. Another soldier stabs him in the chest to deliver a coup de grace. Wander gets up and struggles to reach Mono, but cannot; he grabs the sword by the blade and pushes it out onto the floor. He collapses.

Dormin, whose female voice can now no longer be heard, makes his move. He assumes Wander's body and grows into a gigantic shadowy beast, while stating "Thou severed Our body into sixteen segments for an eternity in order to seal away Our power...We Dormin, have arisen anew! We have borrowed the body of this warrior...". Dormin, who is controlled by the player at this point, attacks Lord Emon and his followers. He is too slow in the cramped confines of the shrine, however, and they successfully make their escape with the Ancient Sword. As they leave, Emon hurls the sword into the dark pool at the bottom of the tower from the top of the stairs. A portal opens, summoning powerful gusts that suck Dormin into the pool, stripping him away from Wander. The player then gets to control a shadowy Wander as he tries to escape the portal's vacuum. Ultimately, Wander gets sucked into the portal along with Dormin. The horsemen flee with great speed as the magic holding the massive bridge together fails. Meanwhile, Mono finally awakens, still on the stone altar, now completely alone. As she looks around silently, Agro enters the Shrine and limps towards her, having only sustained a broken leg from his fall. She seems to recognize the horse, and pets him gently on the nose. The credits roll.

As the horsemen escape from the collapsing bridge, Emon expresses relief that no one will be able to trespass on these lands now. He wishes that if Wander still lives, assuming that anything can indeed survive in this land, that he will someday be able to atone for what he has done. The credits resume. The scene cuts to Mono and Agro, who are walking towards the tower that housed the dark pool. It is empty now, except in the middle lies a small, naked baby with horns. Mono cradles the child in her arms. Agro begins to walk up the path to the top of the tower, and Mono follows. The horse leads her to a beautiful garden, and they are greeted by a baby deer and a handful of doves. Above them a hawk flies over the mysterious lands, and in the distance, a storm brews. The hawk cries out one final time, soars past the storm, and the screen fades to black.

The Colossi

The gameplay of Shadow of the Colossus is focused solely upon defeating the Colossi - there are no other enemies. There are 16 colossi, each progressively more challenging.

No.	Representation	Designation	Proper Name	Latin Name	Agro?*	Time Attack Times** (Normal Mode / Hard Mode)
1	Ogre	The Minotaur	Valus	Minotaurus Colossus	No	2:30 / 2:50
2	Bull	Seaside Cave Dweller	Quadratus	Taurus Magnus	Yes	4:00 / 4:30
3	Knight	Earth Knight	Gaius	Terrestris Veritas	No	6:00 / 5:00
4	Horse	Equus Prime	Phaedra	Equus Bellator Apex	Yes	5:30 / 5:00
5	Bird	Delta Phoenix	Avion	Avis Praeda	No	5:30 / 5:30
6	Bearded Giant	Goliath/Temple Guardian	Barba	Belua Maximus	No	3:30 / 6:30
7	Electric Eel	Thunder Ripple/Sea Dragon	Hydrus	Draco Marinus	No	12:00 / 8:00
8	Lizard	Wall Shadow	Kuromori	Parietinae Umbra	No	8:00 / 7:30
9	Turtle	Storm Echo	Basaran	Nimbus Recanto	Yes	7:30 / 5:30
10	Sand Worm	Sand Tiger	Dirge	Harena Tigris	Yes	6:00 / 5:00
11	Tiger	Flame Guardian	Celosia	Ignis Excubitor	No	5:30 / 5:30
12	Basilisk	Great Basilisk	Pelagia	Permagnus Pistrix	No	9:30 / 10:00
13	Flying Serpent	Traildrifter	Phalanx	Aeris Velivolus	Yes	12:00 / 13:00
14	Lion	Destruction Luster	Cenobia	Clades Candor	No	9:00 / 9:00
15	Warrior	The Sentinel/Sentry	Argus	Praesidium Vigilo	No	11:00 / 11:30
16	Sorcerer	Grand Gigas	Malus	Grandis Supernus	No	9:30 / 13:00

* Denotes whether or not Agro is able to join the fight. Note that although Agro helps out with Colossi 2 and 4, he is largely unnecessary in these fights. He can, however, with a skilled practitioner, be useful in taking "shortcuts" to climb them faster in Time Attack mode, by "launching" off of him onto an otherwise unreachable spot.
** See "Time Attack", below.

Reminiscence Mode

After each Colossus is slain, its body becomes encrusted with stone where it fell, and a massive pillar of light shines through the sky directly above it. Should a player wish it, they can challenge a defeated Colossus again by approaching its corpse and praying before it. Doing so allows the player to enter "Reminiscence Mode", where the player re-fights the Colossus, with a grainy sepia overlay akin to an old silent film.

Characters

Wander

Voiced by Kenji Nojima.

Wander is the protagonist of Shadow of the Colossus. He brings Mono, wrapped in a sheet, to the Shrine of Worship with the hopes of reviving her. Dormin, a disembodied voice that seems to look over the temple, agrees to revive Mono if Wander finds and slays the 16 colossi that inhabit the land, represented by the sixteen stone idols in the hallway of the shrine. However, he warns that this wish will come at a heavy price; Wander, undeterred, replies that it does not matter. Armed with only a sword, bow, and his horse, Agro, Wander sets out to complete Dormin's task.

Mono

Voiced by Hitomi Nabatame.

Mono is the woman Wander seeks to revive by going to the Shrine of Worship. Other than that, not much is known about her. Her relationship to Wander is uncertain, but she is speculated to be his lover. Mono awakes after most of the events in the ending, with Agro greeting her as she gets up. They then walk over to the portal where Dormin is sealed in. It is here that Mono finds a baby with horns. It is interesting to note that as Wander defeats more and more Colossi and becomes increasingly dishevelled and darker in appearance, Mono conversely appears to get more vibrant and radiant while lying on the altar as the game goes on. Just as a new shadow appears around Wander with every Colossus he defeats, white doves begin appearing around Mono on the altar, one for each Colossi slain. Mono's faint voice can be heard in the "white tunnel" scenes that occur when Wander is being warped back to the Shine of Worship after defeating a Colossus. Her voice gets louder and clearer with every Colossi defeated, but no subtitles are given for her speech and it is still barely audible. Many fans claim that her lines are spoken in English and claim that she is trying in vain to dissuade Wander from continuing his quest to revive her.

Agro

Agro is Wander's horse, and as such his means of transportation. Agro is very loyal to Wander; he always stays as close to him as possible. He even returns to the Shrine of Worship every time Wander defeats a Colossus, and is "carried" back by Dormin. Agro proves to be a key asset in beating several Colossi, particularly Dirge (#10) and Phalanx (#13). Before approaching the final colossus, Wander uses Agro to cross a collapsing bridge. The bridge collapses before Agro can jump to the other side, but he throws Wander off of him at the last second. Wander makes it safely across, but Agro falls to the bottom of the canyon into the river below. Wander never sees him again, and Agro is assumed to be dead. However, shortly after Mono wakes up, Agro returns limping to the Shrine; he has suffered a broken leg and can barely move. Despite his impediment, he leads the girl to both the horned baby and the garden high atop the temple.

Dormin

Voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata (male voice) and Kyoko Hikami (female voice).

Dormin is the mysterious disembodied voice that looks over the Shrine of Worship. Dormin refers to itself as "We" and speaks with two voices at once, one male and one female (however, the male voice is the more prominent of the two). He agrees to revive Mono if Wander can slay the 16 colossi. During the ending, it is revealed that the 16 colossi contain parts of Dormin's essence. Slaying the colossi would ultimately release Dormin, which is why Emon is determined to stop Wander. The nature of Dormin's character has been debated to no end by fans, many questioning whether or not Dormin really was the villain of the story. Dormin did indeed warn Wander at the start of the game that his quest would exact a heavy price, and he did keep his promise of bringing Mono back to life in the end. Dormin has been surmised as a very ambiguous character with a dual nature, doing both good and evil at the same time, representing both light and dark at the same time and speaking as a male and female at the same time.

Emon

Voiced by Naoki Bando.

Lord Emon (as he is addressed by his men) narrates the vision in the game's intro, after Wander first lays Mono on the altar - but he is not actually seen in person until the cutscene that plays after the defeat of the 12th colossus. In this scene, he is wearing an owl mask; we do not see his face until the very end of the game. He also has a small group of soldiers under his command. Emon arrives at the Shrine of Worship to stop Wander from resurrecting Dormin, and to take back the sword Wander had apparently stolen. He seems to be ambivalent towards Wander; on one hand, he orders his death after he sees what has happpened to him, and he casts a spell that quickly consumes both Dormin and Wander. In the end, however, he expresses hope that Wander (whom he calls a "poor ungodly soul") can atone for what he has done, if he is alive in any shape or form at all.

Story Speculation

Dormin's Character

The character of Dormin was apparently inspired by the biblical character Nimrod. The main connections made are the following;

• "Dormin" spelled backwards is "Nimrod".
• Nimrod was a warrior king who was said to have killed a bull with his bare hands and took to wearing its horns on his head as a crown. He is also the one responsible for the building of the Tower of Babel. In some respects, the castle in the center of the forbidden land could be seen as a representation of the Tower of Babel.
• Upon Nimrod's death he was cut to pieces and spread throughout the earth. Dormin's soul was separated into sixteen parts and sealed in the colossi, who are spread out across the world.
• After Nimrod's death, his wife, Semiramis, became known as the Queen of Heaven; she said that Nimrod had become the Sun God. Whenever Dormin is talking to Wander, the camera pans up to a large hole in the ceiling of the Shrine, showing a great deal of sunlight coming in from above.
• Semiramis had a son named Tammuz whom she claimed was a virgin birth and Nimrod reborn. This is very much like the image we are left with at the end of Shadow of the Colossus, where Mono is left with an infant with horns, possibly Dormin (or Wander) reborn.

In game, Dormin's rebirth changes his voice to male only signifying that a part of him was separated. The part that left him had a female voice and may possibly have been the one to possess and/or ressurect Mono.

Connections to Ico

In an interview with Fumito Ueda, he states that Shadow of the Colossus is not a sequel to Ico. He considered it more of a "spiritual successor." However, this hasn't stopped people from thinking the opposite: it's a prequel.

Many fans believe that Mono will indeed become the evil Queen in Ico (that would explain her "cursed fate"), suggesting that Shadow of the Colossus is a prequel to Ico. This is largely due to Shadow's ending. At the end of the game, it appears that Mono is sealed in the castle along with the horned infant. It is thought that Mono eventually becomes the Queen of the castle, waiting for Wander to return, while the horned infant is the first cursed being with horns, an obvious descendant of which being Ico.

Dormin was the one believed to begin the curse of the horned children in the game Ico. The protagonist (possibly Dormin's incarnate) was fated to kill the Dark Queen (possibly Mono, or Semiramis' incarnate) of the castle. Ico would save Yorda; who was to sacrifice herself to become the next body of the queen's soul, and escape together.

Yorda herself may very well have been Mono's reincarnate trying to escape the spell of the Dark Queen. Its also speculated that Ico could have been Wander's reincarnate as well, since the two share facial similarities, and Wander would have redeemed himself in the end as Ico if this were to be true. Both of them can also use the Queen Sword. There is also the fact that Agro leads Mono to the horned baby in the end, and that the baby appeared right at the moment Wander dies. If Yorda is possibly Mono's reincarnate, it would be poetic justice if Wander were Ico as well.

The architecture in the forbidden land is eerily similar to that found in Ico. The main castle in Shadow of the Colossus itself shares a number of similarities with Ico's castle. At first glance, Shadow 's castle is obviously not as immediately large as the one in Ico, though this has led some fans to believe that the castle is somehow expanded and changed over time. Shadow's castle also features many dead souls that Dormin summons up, which surround Wander after he defeats a colossus. The dead are represented by black shadows that rise out of the ground - they look almost identical to shadow creatures that are found in Ico's castle, who are the ghosts of all the horned children that died before Ico's arrival at the castle.

Weapons

Shadow of the Colossus features a very limited number of weapons - the player is only given a sword and a bow, and obtains nothing else (however, it is possible to obtain different swords and arrows by completing a Time Attack minigame unlocked by playing through the game once. These include the Whistling Arrow, which can distract a Colossus, the Flash Arrow which can do real damage to a Colossus, the Sun Sword which can reflect light even in foggy or dark areas and the Queen's Sword from Ico). In many ways, this simple weapon setup highlights the puzzle aspect of the game, in that the player must figure out how to defeat the Colossi with the limited tools that they are given.

When held up in a brightly lit area, the sword emits eight soft beams of light, pointing away from each other. As the sword is pointed more towards the Colossus, the beams converge and focus, thereby pinpointing its direction (or location, if the player is close enough). Once a colossus is found, the sword is also used (in the same manner) to detect a Colossus' weak points, which glow on its body when the sword's light is focused at them.

The bow, while not being your primary attack weapon, is almost as important as the sword in many respects. Many of the Colossi require that you use your bow to shoot at their weak points in places that would not be within easy reach of your sword. The bow may also be used to get a Colossus' attention simply by shooting at it. In addition, it can also be wielded on horseback, which is utilized in a few of the game's battles.

Gameplay unlockables, secrets, and extras

Fruit Trees and Lizards

The world is populated with a number of lizards. Most are there only for looks, but some of them can provide a permanent boost to Wander's stamina. These lizards have white tails; at least one can be found at every save shrine in the world, but they can also be found in other places, preferably by using the "Lizard Detection Stone" (see Time Attack Rewards below). Fruit trees are mostly found in the southern half of the world and bear several fruits - once shot off the trees with the bow and arrow, the fruit can be eaten to provide a noticeable increase in Wander's maximum health. If desired, the player can travel around the lands collecting and eating fruit until his health bar spans the entire screen.

If a new game is started off of a cleared file, the player will begin with the amount of health and stamina he had when he killed the last colossus in the previous playthrough.

Time Attack

Once the game is complete on either difficulty, a "Time Attack" mode is open. By praying at the idols of the Colossi in the main hall of the Shrine, the player may enter a special challenge: defeat the Colossus in under the alloted time. Defeating any two Colossi within the time limit triggers a short cutscene: the camera pans to the pool room in the back. A special item is in the pool, indicated by a bright glowing spot on the water.

The rewards for clearing these challenges vary from Normal and Hard mode; additionally, Normal mode items cannot be "transferred", in any way, to a Hard file, and vice versa. There are eight items to be collected in each mode:

Time Attack Rewards - Normal Mode Clear any TWO challenges to obtain these items. # Reward Description 1 Whistling Arrow An arrow that gets the attention of a Colossus when fired. 2 Cloak of Force A black cloak that increases Wander's strength (damage). 3 Mask of Strength A mask that, like the cloak, enables Wander to do more damage. 4 Lizard Detection Stone Displays all lizards near the player on the world map. 5 Fruit Tree Map Displays every fruit tree in the world on the pause-menu map. 6 Mask of Power Increases Wander's strength. More powerful than the Mask of Strength. 7 Cloak of Deception Turns Wander invisble; the Colossi cannot see him. 8 Flash Arrow An arrow with an explosive on the tip. Inflicts heavy damage.

Time Attack Rewards - Hard Mode Clear any TWO challenges to obtain these items. # Reward Description 1 Harpoon of Thunder A javelin-like weapon that causes as much damage as a full sword stab. 2 Sword of the Sun A sword that shows the Colossi's locations even when in the dark. 3 Fruit Tree Map Shows all of the fruit trees, just like the Normal item. 4 Shaman's Cloak The cloak worn by Emon. Increases Wander's defense. 5 Lizard Detection Stone Detects all neraby lizards, just like its Normal counterpart. 6 Shaman's Mask The owl-mask worn by Emon. Also increases Wander's defense. 7 Cloth of Desperation A parachute that can be used to prevent falling damage. 8 Queen's Sword The Queen's Sword, from Ico. Can kill a vital spot with one charged stab.

Clear all the time attack challenges on normal to unlock brown Agro, and hard mode to unlock white Agro—provided you hold the circle button down on the title screen. Furthermore, using a memory card with an Ico save file on it will change the patch on Agro's forehead to resemble the stylized "I" in the title Ico.

Controlling Dormin

While Wander is possessed by Dormin, the player can control him. R1 makes him crouch, Triangle makes him jump, Square causes him to smash the ground, and he can breathe fire by pressing Circle and X at the same time. You can also control the shadowy Wander while trying to escape the portal's vacuum, but his fate is inevitable; the ending remains the same no matter what you do in these two sections.

Climbing the Temple

It is possible to climb up to the garden shown in the ending cinema, as well as reach the top of the giant bridge. On the northeast side of the temple there is a climbable spot which will eventually lead to the other side of the temple's back door, as well as the bridge that spans halfway across the world.

The task seems daunting, but it is possible to climb up the temple with very little stamina. This involves a technique known as the "diagonal jump". (When the player jumps diagonally after charging up a jump halfway, almost no stamina is used in the process. This is a glitch that has been used to reach the top of the temple from the very beginning of the game, and in the game's demo.) Upon finishing the climb, there are two ways to go. Going left and up the stairs takes you to the garden, or one could simply opt to walk across the bridge.

The Garden

The garden does not have the fawn seen in the ending, but is a very beautiful place nonetheless. There are trees bearing a great deal of fruit, but eating the fruit will decrease your maximum health and stamina significantly. This is likely a mechanism implemented by the game's developers to give players wanting a challenge the chance to go back through the game with minimum health and stamina again, without starting a new file. However, because of the nature of the garden both with respect to the fruit's nature and to events in the ending, players have drawn many parallels between this "Secret Garden" and the biblical Garden of Eden (especially given all the parallels drawn between Dormin and the biblical character Nimrod, as seen previously).

Other than that, there is nothing to do in the garden. Of interest is a stack of blocks in the back; one of them that would enable the player to climb even higher is missing - there currently is no discovered way to continue climbing the Shrine.

The Bridge

The bridge takes approximately 8 minutes to walk across, but Wander will eventually arrive at the entrance to the forbidden lands. He can go no further: if he tries to exit, blowing winds push him back. This wind barrier, while a necessary game boundary, can also be interpreted within the context of the story as a supernatural manifestation ensuring that Wander cannot return to the outside world, bound to the cursed land by his pact with Dormin. There is otherwise nothing to do here besides fall off the bridge or go back.

The Wooden Board

During the fight with the eleventh Colossus, a board of wood is knocked from its pyre. The stick is an essential part of winning the fight; however, if the player simply leaves the battle with the stick and saves at a shrine, the stick is kept in his inventory. It is a relatively useless weapon - you cannot stab or attack with it - but at the very least it makes for an interesting keepsake, especially for Ico fans (the first weapon that Ico uses is a wooden board).

Birds and Fish

Jumping to any of the birds in the game (even the doves around Mono's altar) and holding R1 will make Wander hold on to the bird and be taken for a short ride. Most birds will not take him very far, but one bird - located just south of the tenth Colossus's cave by the old dead tree on the cliff - will take him flying for a long time. Also, if you stand on the bridge that leads off to the west and catch a bird, sometimes (if it doesn't fly you into a wall and drop you), your weight will eventually lower the bird enough so you can see the structure/waterfall below the bridge up close. This is merely a curiosity and you will die trying.

This feature, however, seems to be just for fun - there is currently no discovered method of using any of the game's birds to reach any otherwise inacessible area.

Wander can also grab on to fish in a similar manner. Fish are very rare, but a good one can be found swimming in the small body of water ringing the entrance to the arena of the eighth Colossus. Again, however, hitching a ride underwater on fish has no useful purpose.

Composer and soundtrack

Shadow of the Colossus's soundtrack is considered by many critics to be one of its strongest aspects (Electronic Gaming Monthly, for example, declared it the "Soundtrack of the Year" in their review of the game). The soundtrack was composed by Kow Otani, whose previous work included the soundtracks to PS2 flight-sim Sky Odyssey as well as the PS1 shooter Philosoma. He has also worked on several of the 90's-era Gamera films, as well as a variety of animé movies.

The 1-CD soundtrack was released in Japan (with the title "Roar of the Earth") on December 7, 2005. There is currently no announced release of this soundtrack in the U.S. or Europe.

Track listing

1. Prologue ~To the Ancient Land~	15. Silence ~Battle Theme~	29. Sanctuary
2. Prohibited Art	16. In Awe of the Power ~Battle Theme~	30. Demise of the Ritual ~Battle Theme~
3. Commandment	17. Wander's Death	31. A Pursuer
4. Black Blood	18. The Farthest Land	32. Premonition of Revival
5. Resurrection	19. Creeping Shadow ~Battle Theme~	33. Epilogue ~Those Who Remain~
6. Sign of the Colossus	20. A Messenger From Behind ~Battle Theme~	34. Hope
7. Grotesque Figures ~Battle Theme~	21. Counterattack ~Battle Theme~	35. The Sunlit Earth
8. The Opened Way ~Battle Theme~	22. Sky Burial	36. Memories
9. The End of the Battle	23. A Closed-off City	37. Wilderness
10. Idol Collapse	24. Liberated Guardian ~Battle Theme~	38. Voice of the Earth
11. Green Hills	25. A Despair-filled Farewell ~Battle Theme~	39. Marshlands
12. A Violent Encounter ~Battle Theme~	26. Prayer	40. Anger
13. Revived Power ~Battle Theme~	27. Swift Horse	41. Final Battle
14. Lakeside	28. Gate Watcher of the Castle Ruins ~Battle Theme~	42. The Farthest Land (Reprise)

Viral marketing campaign

In October 2005, a viral marketing campaign was launched: A website called Giantology.net posted links to several websites claiming that, in different parts of the world, five statues of giants closely resembling certain colossi had been unearthed. These giants were:

• An Ice Giant, resembling Quadratus (#2), found in Franz Josef Land, Siberia by Arkady Simkin and his crew
• An Incan Giant, resembling Gaius (#3), found in Nazca, Peru by Andrew and Ellie Sayre
• A "Sunken Giant", resembling Hydrus (#7), found in the Sulu Sea by Ed Guyler
• A giant of Jebal-Barez, resembling Phalanx (#13), found in Kuh-e Jebal Barez, Iran by Casper Shilling
• The Giant of Mahabalipuram, vaguely resembling Argus (#15), found in Mahabalipuram, India after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

External links

• Official North American site
• Official Japanese site
• GameRankings Page (links to Previews and Articles)
• 1up article including video preview and interview with director Fumito Ueda
• "Holistic" Tea Leaves review
• NTSC-uk.com's review of Shadow of the Colossus
• Shadow of the Colossus at MobyGames
• Gaming Platform's Shadow of the Colossus Review

Sources

• Discussion with members of the North American localization team on the official US Playstation message boards

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