Sonic Colors: Ultimate

Following the release of Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Team and Dimps decided to try a new approach based on fan feedback that saw Sonic returning to his roots. Not only would they make Sonic the only playable character, but the balance between speed and platforming would hearken back to the Genesis days and there wouldn’t be any gimmicks as in Sonic and the Black Knight. Additionally, there would be two notable personnel changes: Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, best known at the time for their work on Happy Tree Friends, would take over writing duties and the entire English dub cast would change once more, with the exception of Mike Pollock continuing his role as Doctor Eggman. This approach led to mostly positive reviews in 2010, though the game would only see a release on the Nintendo Wii and DS.

A decade later, Sonic Colors would receive a remastered release, Sonic Colors: Ultimate, due to both the influx of fans from more recent games and the first Sonic the Hedgehog film, as well as the fact that Colors remains locked to the Wii and DS platforms. Blind Squirrel Games would develop this remaster, based on the Wii version, and add in a good amount of new content, including mechanics meant to help beginner players. Unlike the original game, however, Ultimate would receive more mixed reviews due to a number of newer bugs and glitches. Although I bought a PS4 copy day one back in 2021, as I had never owned or played the original Colors, the controversy over the release led me to waiting until well after the “Play Date” had passed before taking a crack at playing it. I may be biased, but after coming right off of Sonic Superstars, I found Sonic Colors: Ultimate a rather enjoyable, if flawed, experience.

Doctor Eggman has opened Egg Planet Park, an interstellar amusement park consisting of five planets chained to the center, as an apology for his prior transgressions. Sonic and Tails are suspicious and enter the park (via Eggman's Ultra-Accelerating Space Elevator) before opening day to investigate. It isn’t long before they meet Yacker, an alien Wisp who communicates via a translator in Tails’ Miles Electric, and subsequently learn Eggman’s evil scheme to harness the energy of the Wisps native to the planets that make up the amusement park. With Yacker by their side, Sonic and Tails set out to free the Wisps from Eggman’s clutches.

For their collaboration with the Sonic franchise, Ken Pontac and Warren Graff did a decent job with the writing. Colors may not have as much depth as some of Shiro Maekawa’s work, but it goes at a good pace and is very easy to follow, which fits for the idea of sticking closer to the Genesis games, and I can see how it would have felt like a breath of fresh air at the time. While certain cutscenes do occur at certain points, the game feels written in a way that it doesn’t matter what order you play through the park Areas. Although I’m used to Orbot and Cubot’s presence after their introduction in this game, their execution here feels uneven, as though they still had some growing pains. I didn’t mind the more humorous approach, as certain moments still had an emotional impact when needed, but the humor at times feels stuck in the year it came out and certain jokes overstay their welcomes, mainly Cubot’s voice chip changes and Tails’ mistranslations.

We did get this great line though.

 

Since I played this game right after Sonic Frontiers and Superstars, I found the gameplay rather solid, with a better mixture of 2D and 3D Acts than Frontiers and though there are issues, they felt far less frustrating and demoralizing than Superstars, with more creative level design than either one to boot. Acts typically don’t last that long and it’s obvious at times that the game was originally designed with the Wii in mind, but I liked the general emphasis on trimming the fat and that most of the time, if I did face a more difficult challenge, I felt like I could overcome it.

While Sonic’s gameplay takes influence from the Genesis games, don’t go in expecting something exactly like Sonic Mania. In fact, Sonic has a few moves that the 2D and 3D Acts take into account. For example, Sonic has a Boost Gauge that increases his speed by Dashing, attracting nearby Rings and knocking back enemies in the process, as well as letting him kick certain objects and sometimes run across water. At times, he can also Drift through tight turns, which provides a neat spectacle if nothing else. Boosting and Drifting are both mapped to the same button, likely a holdover from the Wii’s limited button layout, but both actions are context sensitive, so you’ll never accidentally Boost when you mean to Drift. 3D Acts can also have Quick Step sections where you can step between multiple lanes to dodge obstacles, including small steps that can trip Sonic and briefly remove control from the player. Sliding and wall jumping are also incorporated into some of the Act designs, sometimes for the purpose of exploring alternate routes (a Genesis staple). You can also collect Park Tokens that let you unlock cosmetic items.

Colors has a good balance of 2D and 3D Acts.

 

Familiar mechanics also come with some nice quality-of-life changes. Although Sonic may sometimes face water Acts, complete with the classic air bubbles, he can now “swim” through the water by jumping, which helps mitigate the risk of drowning and speeds up some underwater platforming. Bottomless pits come with a warning onscreen, giving you a better idea of whether or not lowering your elevation will help with traversing an Act. The classic Homing Attack now has a visible “sweet spot” where timing it just right will also increase Sonic’s Boost Gauge, which makes it just a little more satisfying in certain scenarios. If you die prematurely, a Tails Save will bring Sonic back to the nearest safe spot rather than force the player to restart from either the beginning of the Act or the last checkpoint. However, Tails Saves are consumable and can feel useless in later Acts, especially if you haven’t collected a sufficient number of them by that point.

Colors’ biggest innovation, however, is the addition of Wisps, alien beings that each grant Sonic a unique ability. While they could be classified as a “gimmick”, much like the gimmicks the game tried getting away from, they’re woven so well into the Act design that Colors would feel lifeless without them. When Sonic collects a Wisp, he can use its power for a limited time (with the exception of White Wisps that increase his Boost Gauge), but can extend the duration by picking up the same Wisp while its power is active. He can also “buffer” a new Wisp by picking up a different one while another’s power is active, letting him activate it as soon as the current timer ends. Personally, I found using them rather fun as a good balance of power and spectacle without sacrificing the need for skill, plus there’s a satisfying announcement voice when you use one. They also provide good replay value, as newer Wisps can appear in earlier Acts as the game goes on; you can even see which Wisps are available in each Act before you start (other stats are also constantly tracked to aid in completion). My personal favorites were Cyan (Laser), Green (Hover) and Orange (Rocket) Wisps, as they opened up new traversal options and the Green Wisp ability also successfully incorporates the Light Dash from the Adventure duology in 2D. However, I found the Blue (Cube) Wisp clunky and Yellow (Drill) Wisps harder to control at times. I’m aware that the Jade (Ghost) Wisp didn’t exist in the original Colors, but I respect that they actually altered some Act layouts to compensate for its presence.

Ultimate adds the Jade Wisp.

 

As for the bosses, I didn’t find them too bad. Most of them are rather easy, including one that I beat in only two hits without realizing what I was doing. The final boss fight against Eggman does feel like more of a marathon, including a relatively slow start and increasingly difficult phases, but I still found it far more tolerable than the final boss in Superstars, as it only took me a handful of tries and I found adapting to his attacks much smoother. I do wish there was a little more variety overall, however, as a few bosses felt like slight variations of others.

Then there are some flaws that stood out more than others. While nowhere near as bad as Frontiers, the precision platforming required in certain Acts can get pretty tricky and led to too many avoidable deaths. Mobile springs exacerbate this issue, as you need to make sure you don’t let it outpace you while moving it around. While I liked Asteroid Coaster’s unique presentation, Act 4 felt like it went on a bit long despite its very short length. Similarly, I liked how Terminal Velocity, the final Area, reminded me of Space Colony ARK from Sonic Adventure 2, but Act 1 felt almost too difficult at times, even though it didn’t take too many tries before I passed. Most of the difficulty there came from exposing the biggest issues with the annoying limitation where getting hit just once removes your entire Ring count instead of just a fraction. There usually isn’t much issue with recovery, but in this case, just one hit can quickly make the difference between success or failure, rewarding memorization over actual skill, not to mention how this mechanic directly affects the scoring system that also encourages getting high Ring counts (an otherwise easy task in Colors). On a more minor note, dying doesn’t reset or revert the timer, so you can’t make many mistakes or get too bad of a start if you care about your final time in an Act.

Aside from completing the main game, there are a couple other game modes available. Throughout each Act, players can collect up to five Red Star Rings, which this game introduced. Collecting enough of them will unlock access to Game Land, where you can play the Sonic Simulator, an additional challenge for 1, 1.5 or 2 Players; 1 and 1.5 Players include an Assist Hedgehog. These challenges amount to bonus stages built around the game’s platforming mechanics. Completing enough Acts will grant a Chaos Emerald and collecting all seven Emeralds unlocks the ability to play as Super Sonic in many of the main Acts. I didn’t go through the effort of unlocking Super Sonic myself, but this does add some great replay value for those who want a playable Super Sonic and feels like a good incentive for collecting the Red Star Rings compared with Frontiers.

Collecting fifteen Red Star Rings within an Area will also unlock Rival Rush, a mode where you race Metal Sonic to the end of a designated Act. It’s not much, but it does add an extra challenge that tests how well you know the Act.

 

The last extra mode is the Egg Shuttle, a challenge mode where players try to beat the entire game, or at least as far as they’ve unlocked, in one go. Players cannot use Super Sonic or collect Red Star Rings and any Rings or boost energy accumulated up to that point carry over. Once the player burns through all of their Tails Saves or hits Restart, they start all the way back at the beginning (Tropical Resort Act 1). I didn’t have the stamina to attempt this challenge, though you would get bragging rights if nothing else.

For the most part, Sonic Colors: Ultimate looks decent, with some great designs and level themes, though I suspected some lighting differences from the original Colors (despite not playing it). Since this represents a major shift in the voice cast, I thought everyone did a good job on their first go, mostly Roger Craig Smith and Kate Higgins. Kirk Thornton and Wally Wingert did fine as Orbot and Cubot respectively, though the voice filter doesn’t do them any favors. On the upside, the game has some great music and sound effects and those who prefer the music as heard in the original Colors can choose that as an option.

Despite its faults, I wouldn’t dissuade someone from playing Sonic Colors: Ultimate, especially if they don’t have a Wii or Wii U handy. I’m sure I would have a different opinion if I had either played the original Colors or not come right off arguably the worst 2D Sonic game, but I don’t regret the few hours that I spent on it.