How does the Special S rank work for Shadow?

[Juken]

Hello, I am replaying Shadow Generations and got an S where he holds the Shadow the Hedgehog emblem for a second time on Bullet Train Act 1. The only time I thought you got this was from Space Colony ARK Act 1 in story mode.

Is this just a thing when doing the first run-through of the story or is it achievable when replaying levels/doing Online Mode?

[Sixtyfivekills]

It's the former, you only get it the first time when playing the game.

[jurando]

you get this animation from picking up the symbol thingy item doom's eye drops after homing attacking it for the first time in each stage it appears in. fun fact those are actually missable and required for the final stage of the game, even though avoiding them is harder than picking them up