Sonic Colors: Ultimate - Announcement Trailer

[Shadow Chaos Control]

Is it called Sonic Colors Ultimate because it features the Ultimate Lifeform? 
 

[Red Hot Jack]

I'm really digging the footage seen in the Symphony of Colors Ultimate, it may be the third time I say this but keeps getting improved heh. Hopefully it looks 100% good in the release build. Still salty that the new features are kept to minimum though.

[Whatever the WhoCares]

On 6/18/2021 at 1:17 PM, Dejimon11 said:

Most of the issues feel pretty small but when you combined them all it starts to become a big problem. The comparisons to SA1DX are pretty warranted. Although I'm sure when the game comes out the general public and reviewers who probably never played the original game probably won't even give a shit about all these changes.

Ehhhh… not that cut and dry. I mean, Chaos in SADX looked like shit to me before I even knew there was a DC version where its effects looked way better. Likewise, kids are gonna notice that Sonic himself looks kinda shit in Colors Ultimate, even if they’re totally unaware of the Wii version. They’re gonna wonder why that laser effect is so dull, and why it only lights up after being used. They’re gonna wonder why the homing attack makes such an abrasive noise. And so on. 

[Zoomzeta]

Just now, Whatever the WhoCares said:

 

Ehhhh… not that cut and dry. I mean, Chaos in SADX looked like shit to me before I even knew there was a DC version where its effects looked way better. Likewise, kids are gonna notice that Sonic himself looks kinda shit in Colors Ultimate, even if they’re totally unaware of the Wii version. They’re gonna wonder why that laser effect is so dull, and why it only lights up after being used. They’re gonna wonder why the homing attack makes such an abrasive noise. And so on. 

...Man, I don't want to question a child's intelligence, but little me wouldn't have noticed those things all that much back then.

[Sonikko]

The footage in the symphony looked different from the footage we have now, or was that just me?
Tropical Resort looked much lighter

[VO.SUPER]

The symphony footage looked pretty fine to me. Really my only issue is Sonic's lighting and the bloom causing the screen to be blurry. 

[Zenmai]

The footage from the symphony was definitely different and better compared to others we have seen. It could be because of the lighting from the neon sign at the end of the stage but it looked a lot brighter, although we did not many clear shots. But I am liking what I see until now! Quite optimistic about the remaster, also colors remixes (also the whole show) was really really beautiful :'))

[Blue Blood]

51 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

The footage in the symphony looked different from the footage we have now, or was that just me?
Tropical Resort looked much lighter

Yeah I noticed that as well. It was definitely Ultimate, but when they showed Tropical Resort I thought it was the Wii version to begin with.

Like that looks better than the trailer and E3 footage, right?

 

[Sonikko]

I think they're still setting up the omni lights, there's definitely a lot more in those scenes.

The lack of lightfields is still notable but it's not as offensive as it used to be

[Spooky Mulder]

It's not perfect but in that footage today, I do think it looks better than upscaled footage from a Wii emulator.

I'd also argue it's way better looking than Sonic Forces. Forces may have better lighting but it just can't compete with how visually interesting these stages are. Nothing in that game can hold a candle to Starlight Carnival, Planet Wisp, or Aquarium Park.

 

[VO.SUPER]

For anyone conveniently looking for the Colours Ultimate footage, here is it from the show, timestamped [1:00:21]

And I've changed my tune, my stream must've been low quality, because in the video it's absolutely fine looking compared to how blurry it looked for me while the show was live.

[PickleBrows]

Just had a quick look back at E3. These clips of Tropical Resort are definitely updated compared to E3. The two things I've noticed so far (aside from everything generally feeling brighter on the whole) is the laser effect being more pronounced especially on Sonic himself and Sonic's planet is visible again in the distance during the boost section. Looking at the other clips I'd say there's a good chance Tropical Resort will be much more in line with the other worlds rather than how we saw it at the reveal and E3. That one area from Act1 that's been particularly criticised for being so dark should be looking much better once we see it again.

E3:

Symphony:

[Soniman]

Makes you wonder why show off that older version of tropical resort during E3 if there was a better version right there 

[Wraith]

E3 trailer footage is usually months behind where the developers are at. Compare Metroid Dread's trailer on the left to treehouse live on the right.



I think they just genuinely didn't expect the reaction they got from showing it.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

So, what we may have had with this remaster was the mother of all miscommunication on their part (minus the botch Sweet Mpuntsin music, and even that may be optional), good grief.

If the remaster actually does turn out to be fine graphically, they could've saved so much trouble. 

Granted, as far as I know, most reactions outside SSMB weren't quite as harsh or negative,  and a statement that things had significantly improved since the E3 build might've been met with cynicism,  but an attempt probably wouldn't have hurt still.

[Sonikko]

Good news:
Screenshots from Amazon.co.jp, from the collector's edition:

The seams in Sweet Mountain seem to be gone:

Although they're still there in this shot, could be because they're in the normal/bump maps:

 

This shoot doesn't look bad, more light all around, the bloom seems to have been reduced significantly, it actually looks fine:

EDIT: After watching the Japanese Sonic stream thingie, I really want the collector's just for that magnificent artbook, but importing it costs 80€ so that's a big nope, not for Colours

 

[Wraith]

6 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

 

if this is close to the final version then it basically looks fine now. colors fixed, toned down the disgusting ass light sources. hope it looks like this all the time.

[Jango]

This game has the biggest case of multiple personality disorder. Every time we see it it's a different beast.

[Soniman]

10 minutes ago, Jango said:

This game has the biggest case of multiple personality disorder. Every time we see it it's a different beast.

Schroredinger's Sonic Colors 

Anyway, glad it looks good now, hopefully it can stay like that for at least a week 

[PickleBrows]

Sorry, just watched the concert again and realised we actually did see that infamous spot in Tropical Resort. Looking much better now too!

[VO.SUPER]

It's just good to see things are finally shaping up as they should and it's ok to just be excited about the game. The only disappointing new left so far is that it's still Epic Games Store exclusive.

[Mega]

Didn't they already confirm it's going to be on Steam, though? Like on the website for the remaster.

[Zaysho]

There's no Steam indicator on the site. Though that doesn't rule out an eventual Steam release, but I assume EGS has timed exclusivity.

[Sonikko]

2 hours ago, Mega said:

Didn't they already confirm it's going to be on Steam, though? Like on the website for the remaster.

The website was a copy paste job from the Persona 5 Strikers website, so it had leftover data. It's EGS exclusive for the time being, but to my knowledge, all the EGS exclusives come to Steam after a year or so.

[Shade Vortex]

I mean, that website showed Steam initially, but it was replaced with EGS. It will likely still come to Steam too, but that'll be a whole year after release.

Now that all the visual issues are seeming to be getting fixed, I guess the people who said things like "Blind Squirrel Games is a fitting name" are gonna eat some crow?