Megathread MT | Sonic Colours Ultimate

[KHCast]

Chocotopus did a…interesting video covering Colors Ultimate 

kinda surprised he finds wall jumping unnatural for modern Sonic. He’s also complaining about platforming being a thing “in a franchise that wants you to always to go fast” according to him, despite saying he played the classics a bunch as a kid? Lol.

Kinda hope he takes a look at Generations (none of the big gaming YouTubers seem to want to when it comes to covering the modern Sonic games). Apparently he’s gonna be covering 06 next…*sigh*

[Roger_van_der_weide]

Problem with the platforming in Colors is that it isn't well intergrained with the speed, more then any other Sonic game before.
Constantly slow elevators, pressing a button to open a slow moving door. Wisp puzzles.
When you master the levels and Sonic's moveset, you can relatively move your way quickly trough these bits without losing too much momentum I suppose, but new players not immediatly getting into that groove? Oof. Heck, I never got into that groove.
So much so I scoff at the idea this plays like Unleashed, it's more like an entire game made out of Sonic 1's more obnoxious levels.
Just with a SpeedRun friendly escape route build-in if you're good enough.
The occasional brief Unleashed/ Dash speed moment just makes the slowness of the platform parts stand out even more.

I was almost laughing at playing Starlight Carnival act 1 recently, out of the 5 minutes of "gameplay", It felt like I spend 1 minute playing the level and 4 minutes just waiting. Either for all the in-level cutscenes to stop, or all the stupid elevators, doors, launchers and ceiling crushers. Even some of the "gameplay" parts just feel like you do little but wait, like these Sonic Dash moments that don't have a point besides just hopping left and right for 30 seconds until it ends. "Boost to win" huh? More like Wait to win.

Another part of Colors that shows you why this game has a bad rep of being slow is this:

I love this, I saw that happen in at least 2 levels. The game gives you a running start, even going down the hill for extra speed momentum and then
BOING.
Complete dead stop, all momentum gone. Like sending you off blasting at 500 MPH and then immediatly crashing you headfirst into a wall. Thanks Colors.
I'm sure other Sonic games are guilty of this, all the speed sections have to come to an end eventually, but at least they give the speed section a POINT and don't immediatly shoot it down within 2 seconds.
Everytime my brain's like "Hey, this part is fun, finally some speed/ 3d gameplay", the game just immediatly smacks me in the face within 20 seconds to instantly switch back to more puzzle area's. This game just can't let me have fun for more then a few seconds.

I mean heck, the camera settles in a static point of view in several points in the game whenever you get a more puzzle-ey platform section, even the classic games never have anything like that happen.
And put those moments smack dab after a brief Sonic Unleashed style boost section and it just feels like you go from 500mph to 2 mph in a split second.
That's why Colors "platforming" has a bad rap. I guess after you master the game and S rank all levels, you don't notice anymore.

Argh, I just can't get into this game, I tried to give it a new chance, but I'm just non-stop in a state of confusion and irritation with Colors.
The level envirements are amazing, tough. Too bad they aren't in a better game.


It's like, what if you take the Sonic Adventure games, where you have pure Sonic stages and a bunch of gimicky levels with lesser gameplay. But then throw it all into a blender. And the gloop of all these parts together then pretend to be pure Sonic levels again. Even tough after every 10 seconds of Sonic gameplay, you just run headfirst into a Big the Cat or Emerald Hunting section.
That's what Colors feels like to me. Heck, the Sonic 06 loading screens are even intergrained into the gameplay considering how much I constantly have to wait for elevators and doors.
At least Unleashed and Adventure give me proper pure Sonic levels where I can enjoy being Sonic uninterupted for 5 minutes.
Colors has it's Sonic moments shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, split across 60 puzzle levels.

If you think Sonic Colors is pure Sonic gameplay with no gimicks or weird level design, I don't want to hear you ever complain about the Werehog or Amy in Adventure 1 ever again.
 

[StaticMania]

I'm in total agreement that Colors' platforming sucks the pacing dry, but random youtuber complaining about Sonic having platforming and isn't  just non-stop speed is too common of a thing.

[Sonicka]

At last! The PS4 Physical edition is finally arriving in the post tomorrow (damn European delays).

Really looking forward to trying this bad boy out again to see if it recaptures my imagination a third time over.

[JezMM]

Since we're on the topic of slow-paced platforming, I wanna talk about something that's been eating away at me for a decade but I always forget to talk about.

The launchers in Starlight Carnival.

What the hell are those things?  The first one you encounter launches you up off-screen and to the left, and then you awkwardly have to navigate back into the stage with no visual cues whatsoever - failing to do so might drop you back onto the same launcher for another go.  It's such a bizarre and non-intuitive moment that almost feels like the game has made a mistake.

And then the second lot, there's three in a row.  You land on the first, it launches you to the 3rd.  The 3rd then launches you to the second.  The 2nd then launches you to the next area.  Now, with foreknowledge of this, you can leap straight over to the 2nd one, or (if I recall) even dodge the trigger zones for them altogether and hop straight up to the next area if you're clever (but at least the first of the two, if I'm remembering that wrong).  But without that foreknowledge, it's just such a weird setpiece.  It's like an automated thrillride section except there's no thrillride or spectacle.  You just sit and watch Sonic get flung around excruciatingly slowly for about 20 seconds.

These parts have always just stuck out to me as a totally bizarre thing considering they would have had to have been planned, designed, programmed, tested, and at no point during development did anyone say "this is a really stupid piece of level design".

Sonic has always had a tendancy to fill each zone with a bunch of unique "platforming toys".  The classics are full of them, some fun (the bouncy platforms in Ice Cap, the popping bubbles in Collision Chaos), and some that are just kind of odd, like the developers were just going with any idea for a unique movement they could come up with even if it wasn't particularly fun (the springy balls in Game Land that release a single ring at a time when hit but otherwise don't really do anything, the platforms in Flying Battery that have a really unique appearance but then their whole thing turns out to just be... "raises up slightly and then goes down to the next area" as if that's like... somehow more engaging than just a regular platform that just goes down when stepped upon).

If the "platforming toys" spectrum goes from "fun, interactive, full of potential variety of use" to "uh... yeah that's a thing that can happen in a level sometimes I guess", the launchers of Starlight Carnival are probably on the absolute tail-end of that spectrum and I feel like they're the poster-child of half-baked ideas that Colours tends to present at times.  Even though there's nothing offensive in Colours and everyone tends to have a fun time with it, stuff like these add up over time and I think it's the reason why, for a hard to pinpoint reason, no-one really ever says Colours stands tall among the platforming greats even though it's such a non-offensive and "generally fine" game.

I hope this hyper-specific rant speaks to at least one other person than me. At least said launchers only show up those two times illustrated above, lol.

[Wraith]

This is why I've never understood why Sonic Colors is seen as a pure Sonic title. It's the same shallow toe dip into another genre we always get with this series, except this more closely resembles a Nintendo game so it's better, I guess.

[Kuzu]

Think what Indigo said is depressingly true; perception and reputation matters more than content.

 

It doesn't really matter of Sonic Colors is just as guilty as other Sonic games at pacing, but rather if people believe its good.

[caitash]

5 hours ago, Son-icka said:

At last! The PS4 Physical edition is finally arriving in the post tomorrow (damn European delays).

Really looking forward to trying this bad boy out again to see if it recaptures my imagination a third time over.

Same, arriving tomorrow, I guess I’ll have to wait for the patch(es?) to download and install before I can actually get to play it though.

[Sonicka]

Well, as pre-orders go mine ended up in the post today. So I'm going to post my personal impressions so far having almost finished the game:


- Visuals - It's Sonic Colours, but prettier, and in HD, and at 60FPS. Glorious. Apart from the bloom being slightly distracting in some areas... gosh darn they did a good job on this that Youtube videos just don't do justice. Sure, it's not a full on RE-make, and a lot more work could have been put into polishing and tidying this up even moreso... but I can't complain since I thought the original was pretty dazzling for a Wii release, so getting to play this at all in this state on my big screen Telly is nothing short of wonderful. Also really prefer the Sonic Model they've recreated with this one, something always felt a bit "off" on the original Wii model version to me - I like the chunky solid, and more colourful approach of his visual here.


- Bugs/Glitches - Noooope. Happy to say I've encountered no issues in my play-through thus far. I would say that perhaps the Menu's are a little slow to react to the controller input and the text fonts they have picked for this remaster are right ugly as heck - a bit like that static metal sonic selection screen - but in context of the rest of the game this cue/pop-up isn't just used for Metal Sonic alone and these things are elsewhere too.
If I come across anything game-breakingly awful I'll note it later. But so far so good. 


- Music - A mixed bag on the new tracks, much of this has been discussed in great detail already. I probably like 65% of the remixes. HOWEVER props to whoever at SEGA listened to feedback as they have for rearranged the tracks back around to the originals versions for Planet Wisp. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the original tracks attuned to acts 1-3 when I reached this area. Now, if they could do this for some of the other areas that would be fantastic. 

- Gameplay - Whilst I appreciate this won't be for everyone I genuinely adored this title on the Wii. I'm happy to see they haven't broken it during the port so I still found myself smiling all the way though areas like Sweet Mountain, Starlight Carnival, Planet Wisp, and Aquarium Park. To its credit, for the sheer variety of ideas thrown into this game, Sonic Colours does hit more than it misses (The Wisp Gimmicks, Swim Mechanics, Multi Layered Level designs, Bosses, Red Rings collectathons actually having a reward, Gameland, Super Sonic playable in main levels etc...etc...). There is a real sense of fun and passion thrown in here with a lot to offer the player if they go looking - it is an interstellar theme park after all.  

I think perhaps it's fair to say that Sonic Generations mastered the 2D/3D segments a little more... solidly in the gameplay department I suppose (although I miss the double jump that was implemented in Colours as it makes platforming sections much easier to navigate IMO).

There is also a heck of a lot of acts on offer here, and we get some real lengthy set pieces alongside the shorter, Mario-esque, bonus feeling side levels. Whilst I've seen a lot of comparisons recently between this title and Sonic Forces for it's shorter level design, the issue with Sonic Forces is the level structure. By the time you get going the ride is suddenly over, then you are shipped over the globe to the next part of the story with another character.  In Sonic Colours levels either have a natural endpoint or they continue where you left off on the following act (much like previous Sonic titles). 

Also I don't have many/if any issues with the level designs or Sonic's controls on offer here - some wonky physics aside - they work in tandem as far as I am concerned which is more than can be said for games... well, like Sonic Forces. There is also a lot of playability with lots to go back for in each act (which opens up even more when you unlock more wisps) and this makes the game and it's acts feel very open and explorative in nature. most levels give the player the option to push forward and rush through should they wish (or know the best route), or spend time messing around finding secret trinkets and playing about with the Wisps. So it never feels like a standstill to me as there is lots to do and the pace rarely breaks. HOWEVER, if you are purely in it for the Boost-to-Win formula... then  can see why some players don't get as much enjoyment.

I do agree that the 3D segments are very much more "spectacle" than gameplay too, and some of Sonic's regular/recent 3D move-sets have been stripped down to only work in certain scripted sections - but it works for the scenarios on offer. More impressive is the interactive spectacles they've pulled off here... I mean, running around giant burgers and exploding candy rockets? Riding rollercoasters and rushing across planetoids? Zip-zapping through the Starlight Carnival's spaceships? (probably the real highlight) - it all makes me feel very much like I'm part of an interactive set piece from the Sonic Unleashed CGI opener. These are impressive and immersive ideas to pull off on a Wii era title.


Overall, I feel this is a very solid port and I'm personally pretty happy as far as remasters go. I've always enjoyed Sonic Colours anyway for its consistent gameplay and because it injects fun back into the series. Ultimate is also far from the broken mess I anticipated, so far I think all I'd say is that this could have with a another few months of polishing. 
 

10 hours ago, Wraith said:

This is why I've never understood why Sonic Colors is seen as a pure Sonic title. It's the same shallow toe dip into another genre we always get with this series, except this more closely resembles a Nintendo game so it's better, I guess.

I'd also ask what a "pure" (3D) Sonic game experience is as well. Sonic Team constantly upend this idea with each new instalment.

Whilst I'd argue against Colours only toe dipping into the Wacky Nintendo warehouse of ideas (I think it went pretty full in for once - or twice if you count Sonic Lost World), the milage will vary with each gamer and their expectations/wants, especially when Sonic Team themselves can't exactly determine what it means to create "a Pure Sonic Game".  

Like many others I just want them to stick at something that works or to see a game mechanic through for all of its potential. Sonic Colours, Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World each had excellent qualities that they bought to the table, but they just moved on after each instalment rather than expand or develop this further.

I mean, I'm glad they at least kept the Wisps about as I do think they are a very neat addition to the Sonic Universe...but continuity wise this also makes no sense considering the end of Colours story, which again shows they planned them as a one and done idea.

[Wraith]

1 hour ago, Son-icka said:

I'd also ask what a "pure" (3D) Sonic game experience is as well. Sonic Team constantly upend this idea with each new instalment.
 

Basically I want a speedy platformer with a strong focal point. One central mechanic like rolling with most of the other mechanics supplementing that.

It doesn't even have to be rolling. It can be a boost game if they want. Just make a boost game if you're going to make that. Don't make half boost half god of war.

[NoKaine]

A "pure Sonic title" in this board is whatever game you grew up with, attached yourself to, and arbitrarily decided is more "pure" than the other titles because when it comes to the fandom of individual games in this franchise, you might as well be dealing with entirely different franchises (SEGA isn't helping by essentially making "Classic" and "Modern" Sonic into their own mutually-exclusive brands).

It's not surprising that "perception and reputation matters more than content" is said here like it's some profound and meaningful statement and not complete nonsense, as if the critical and casual public arbitrarily decided that Colors is magically more better than all the other 3D Sonic games through no merit of its own, or worse, the idea that it's "more of a Nintendo game" because I guess the only difference between Mario and Sonic is the shape of their platforms? 

There is absolutely no difference between New Super Mario Bros. and Sonic Colors, no sir. 

If it wasn't for the egregious problem unique to the port, then Colors Ultimate would have had the exact same score the original did in 2010, which wasn't an amazing score by any means, but it shits over most Sonic games and even despite the consistent problems of the port, critics generally still believed that Colors at its core was a good game. In comparison, the Adventure games had much, much lukewarm reception in their rerelease compared to their original release. I assure you that games like Heroes and Unleashed and Black Knight would encounter a similar phenomenon.

Here's a thought: people like Colors because it's a good game that is especially bereft of dumb bullshit gimmicks that hampered even Sonic games with great potential. In reality, no one wants to go through treasuring hunting or shooting or fishing or awkward team gameplay or gimmicky missions or absolute jankiness or poor God of War clones or whatever Lost World chooses to do every other level, and it's not a coincidence that the only other 3D Sonic game with a similar reception to Colors is Generations, which similarly cuts the bullshit.

What "other genre" is Colors supposed to be? Is waiting for a shit a new genre now? How does that compare to changing the entire gameplay on a whim?

[BadBehavior]

"perception and reputation matters more than content"

I mean, its true. Forces would've gotten a similar reception if it wasnt so soul-crushingly insipid that it shattered the illusion.

also, colors isnt free of its own gimmicky bullshit wrt the wisps & forced mini levels.

[Kuzu]

Fans and critics were so tired of Sonic gimmicks that they pretty much would eat up any game that didn't have it regardless of its content.

Am I saying Colors is a bad game? Absolutely not, its perfectly functional and even I like playing it now that I had a chance to revisit it.

But why do you think the "Sonic had a rough transition to 3D" meme came back recently? Most of the reviews for Colors were treating it like it was 2010, as opposed to 2021. Critics are STILL under the impression that Sonic 06 was the previous game in spite of the fact its been 15 years.

Critics mainly review Sonic games on the spectrum of "Is it as bad as 06" and on none of its other content. I'm not saying critics need to know the ins and outs of every game, but ffs, I'm so sick of needing to be reminded of 06 every time there's a new fucking game, its like clockwork.

 

That's why I can't really give any credit to this game's reception. There are definitely people who genuinely like it for what it is, and I'm one of them and I think the discourse surrounding it is stupid. But at the same time, I know for a fact that as far as the general perception of Colors is concerned, its pretty much "the first good Sonic game for not having Sonic kiss a human"

And it sucks that pretty much every other positive from the series is all but ignored.

[Soniman]

15 hours ago, NoKaine said:

A "pure Sonic title" in this board is whatever game you grew up with, attached yourself to, and arbitrarily decided is more "pure" than the other titles because when it comes to the fandom of individual games in this franchise, you might as well be dealing with entirely different franchises (SEGA isn't helping by essentially making "Classic" and "Modern" Sonic into their own mutually-exclusive brands).

It's not surprising that "perception and reputation matters more than content" is said here like it's some profound and meaningful statement and not complete nonsense, as if the critical and casual public arbitrarily decided that Colors is magically more better than all the other 3D Sonic games through no merit of its own, or worse, the idea that it's "more of a Nintendo game" because I guess the only difference between Mario and Sonic is the shape of their platforms? 

There is absolutely no difference between New Super Mario Bros. and Sonic Colors, no sir. 

If it wasn't for the egregious problem unique to the port, then Colors Ultimate would have had the exact same score the original did in 2010, which wasn't an amazing score by any means, but it shits over most Sonic games and even despite the consistent problems of the port, critics generally still believed that Colors at its core was a good game. In comparison, the Adventure games had much, much lukewarm reception in their rerelease compared to their original release. I assure you that games like Heroes and Unleashed and Black Knight would encounter a similar phenomenon.

Here's a thought: people like Colors because it's a good game that is especially bereft of dumb bullshit gimmicks that hampered even Sonic games with great potential. In reality, no one wants to go through treasuring hunting or shooting or fishing or awkward team gameplay or gimmicky missions or absolute jankiness or poor God of War clones or whatever Lost World chooses to do every other level, and it's not a coincidence that the only other 3D Sonic game with a similar reception to Colors is Generations, which similarly cuts the bullshit.

What "other genre" is Colors supposed to be? Is waiting for a shit a new genre now? How does that compare to changing the entire gameplay on a whim?

Basically I agree with all of this. Frankly after playing the game again I find the comparison of the slower paced (compared to its predessesor) platforming on the same level as the many maligned alternate game play styles kind of insulting and just really bafflingly misses the point of WHY the game did well. Yes the gimmicky levels are kinda lame, they're also REALLY short and don't even compare to the fuck ton of hours one could spend treasure hunting, werehogging etc, it's not rocket science why the many people who enjoyed the game don't criticize this as much.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

40 minutes ago, Soniman said:

Basically I agree with all of this. Frankly after playing the game again I find the comparison of the slower paced (compared to its predessesor) platforming on the same level as the many maligned alternate game play styles kind of insulting and just really bafflingly misses the point of WHY the game did well. Yes the gimmicky levels are kindalame, they're also REALLY short and don't even compared to the fuck ton of hours one could spend treasure hunting or werehogging it's not rocket science why people don't criticize this as much.

Yeah, honestly, there's some baffling equivalence going out when people try to claim that Colors is some bog standard game on par with the bad ones.

It really isn't some big secret on why Sonic Colors is valued more when it basically irons out much of the kinks from Unleashed.

Sure, it's not perfect, but acting like it's no different in terms of quality from the rest when it's clear why it got better reception,  is just silly.

[Danj86]

My physical copy of SCU arrived yesterday.

I'm not the most observant person around, but I had noticed that in Game World, level 5-1, it appears I can't advance further without letting a platform raise me up, but it's the same platforms that are used to squash Sonic, so when it moves me up, it kills me.

Also...I don't know if this had anything to do with the download code that came with the game which gave me additional profile icons, but on my second boot up, I had 99999 part tokens. I didn't get that many in my first boot up.

Those are the only issues I've had so far. It's a shame because I don't recall any significant glitches from the original version.

[Dr. Detective]

8 hours ago, Soniman said:

Basically I agree with all of this. Frankly after playing the game again I find the comparison of the slower paced (compared to its predessesor) platforming on the same level as the many maligned alternate game play styles kind of insulting and just really bafflingly misses the point of WHY the game did well. Yes the gimmicky levels are kinda lame, they're also REALLY short and don't even compare to the fuck ton of hours one could spend treasure hunting, werehogging etc, it's not rocket science why the many people who enjoyed the game don't criticize this as much.

For me, I don't have much of an interest in comparing it to the other gameplay styles. I just don't like the majority of the Sonic stages in this game and unlike Unleashed or SA2, the gimmicky stuff is being shuffled into the Sonic stages themselves here. I can play through the Sonic stages in those games just fine and I've found it thrilling but for Colors there's nothing else to turn to because the Sonic gameplay itself is now bathed in a bunch of slow, plodding nonsense.

I liked the Sonic stages in those other games. With Colors, if I don't like the Modern Sonic stages, I'm out of luck because that's the game.

There's also the fact that I tend not to mind the gimmicks in the other titles. I'm usually someone who values taking things for what they are and enjoying them based on that. I do actually rather enjoy the treasure hunting and I found it fairly relaxing just exploring those beautiful enivornments as the werehog. I absolutely understand why other people didn't though.

However, after just beating Colors Ultimate yesterday, I realized that unlike those games, when I got tired of the gimmicks and just wanted to run through a stage as Sonic, I couldn't because... it's just what most of the Sonic stages here are. Some aren't but remembering which ones is tough.

There's also no accounting for what some people find fun. Like, I also revisited Heroes not too far back and yeah, I still have a blast playing it. It's still a ton of fun to me. It's open, it's big, it's fast, and all my favorite characters are there. It feels like I'm on an adventure.

The game has a lot of jank in it but I can forgive that so long as I'm having fun and its the kind of game I tend to like playing. Colors has always been sound on a technical level but there's very little to it that I've found exciting.

Plus, with Unleashed and Generations' Sonic levels out there, the game gives me very little to go back to aside from, I guess, the level themes. Sweet Mountain is a great place to be in.

[Soniman]

If you don't  like the core game that's fine, that wasn't the argument I was making anyway. Like you said there's no accounting for what people find fun, people found the game fun, which reflects in the review scores. So asking "how can people like this when they hated x gimmick from Sonic game I like" feels like willful ignorance given the context and implementation of the things being compared here 

[Dr. Detective]

3 minutes ago, Soniman said:

If you don't  like the core game that's fine, that wasn't the argument I was making anyway. Like you said there's no accounting for what people find fun, people found the game fun, which reflects in the review scores. So asking "how can people like this when they hated x gimmick from Sonic game I like" feels like willful ignorance given the context and implementation of the things being compared here 

Yeah. I was just offering my two cents since it's often hard to explain to people why I'd prefer games like SA2, Unleashed, and Heroes over a game like this. 

Most like to assume you're just crazy or letting "nostalgia" cloud your mind.

[Kuzu]

When you get down to it; most of the public opinion right now is "Colors good, everything else but the Classics bad." Fans are always going to prefer and love different parts about the franchise, but we're at the point when the nostalgia and love for the Adventure games has reached its zenith in the fanbase. 

So it can be somewhat annoying that the public opinion about those games is that they're still terrible, while Colors is the game that gets chosen to be remastered and given all of this promotion. 

 

Its not logical in the slightest, but you can't really predict or dictate how people feel about stuff like this, so its best not to really try and think about it too much and just let people feel how  they wanna feel regardless if you agree with it or not. If people don't like Colors for whatever reason, just let them. The game is already considered good, I don't think a few disgruntled Sonic fans who don't like it really matters at the end of the day .

[JonoD]

I must be having a really rough go of it. I’m noticing all sorts of problems on PS4 (but playing on PS5).

The most obvious for me is the audio bugs. They’re absolutely everywhere. Wisp music frequently doesn’t play, results music not playing fairly often as well. I’ve even had boss music not play once.

Graphically, mostly all right apart from Sonic just... disappearing from Starlight Carnival 3’s intro completely and his rotation kinda bugging out during Starlight Carnival 1’s automated sections. I did notice the “speed” menu’s animations flat out stopped working after some frames in Game Land.

Shadows also look distinctly poor in places too. Namely spinners which seem to have only 2 frames which it switches between slideshow-style.

The options/customisations menu. Why on earth is it so laggy? I counted entire seconds of pauses between switching through various options. Is the game struggling that much?

The laser wisp feels kinda broken too when in aim mode, don’t know if anyone else has noticed this. The screen darkens and the pertinent “interactable” elements remain on screen, but darkened. There are highlighted elements on screen, but are actually duplicates of those elements, which will do a whole lot of nothing if you aim for them, leading to a ton of misses given the aiming line is darkened so much, and the stuff to aim for is made less visible by the darkening effect. 
 

I am also noticing bonuses being awarded in weird situations, like using Laser sometimes will end up calling up a ton of checkpoint bonuses instead of colour bonuses.

Finally, In terms of bugs, the cutscenes in the extras menu. Why can’t we watch those cinematics in full screen? Is there an option I’m missing? I also noticed the game unlocked the wrong cinematics in that menu because I played through Starlight Carnival before Sweet Mountain, so I watched the “Baldy Nosehair” cutscenes, but ended up unlocking the mind control cutscenes in the menu.

As far as stuff aside from this, the music remixes. Apart from a couple, I really don’t like them and really don’t like how we can’t switch to just the original soundtrack. Also the colour bloom. It’s waaaay too much. Wish we could turn that down/off.

I hope patches make a lot of these better, but this is a categorically worse game than regular Sonic Colours for me so far.

[Zoomzeta]

All right, I'm just going to throw this out and see what other's responses are: How has the remake performed commercialy thus far? Mostly out of curiosity.

[Wraith]

We'll have a better idea toward the end of the month. Check back then.

[JezMM]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:27 AM, Son-icka said:

HOWEVER props to whoever at SEGA listened to feedback as they have for rearranged the tracks back around to the originals versions for Planet Wisp. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the original tracks attuned to acts 1-3 when I reached this area. Now, if they could do this for some of the other areas that would be fantastic.

Are you sure you weren't just playing without the Music Pack add-on installed? (Which comes as standard with Digital Deluxe but has to be paid for extra with the physical edition).  The 3 bonus songs from this "add-on" are the Planet Wisp remixes, and without it, Planet Wisp uses the original songs for all 6 acts.  I've just updated my digital version of the game on PC, and the new remix is still playing on Act 1 for me at the very least.

8 hours ago, JonoD said:

Finally, In terms of bugs, the cutscenes in the extras menu. Why can’t we watch those cinematics in full screen? Is there an option I’m missing? I also noticed the game unlocked the wrong cinematics in that menu because I played through Starlight Carnival before Sweet Mountain, so I watched the “Baldy Nosehair” cutscenes, but ended up unlocking the mind control cutscenes in the menu.

Wow, the lack of full screen in the extras menu for re-watching cut-scenes is absolutely bizarre.  What a weird choice.  And yeah, I noticed unlike the original, the extras menu only lets you view the interchangable Sweet Mountain/Starlight Carnival cut-scenes in the "assumed" order. Guess that was an oversight that it unlocks the "assumed order" Starlight Carnival cut-scene even if you did it in the alternate order presented as a choice.

[Indigo Rush]

I think I've played enough of this game to articulate my feelings about it now. 

So, I generally like Sonic Colors, and I like Sonic Colors Ultimate by extension. I think it's a decent port for the most part in terms of the content it adds, and it'll do an alright job as a "baby's first Modern Sonic game," which I believe is the reason Iizuka-san decided to bring it back post-Movie.

It's an alright puzzle platformer with speed sections that does a good job of engaging the player with the ranking system and red ring hunting, and experimenting with Wisps can be fun.  The bonus stuff is alright, more is usually better, though a toggle for the soundtrack at an act level (or any level, really) would've made sense. But on the whole, good stuff.

...that said, this is one unpolished son of a gun. There is absolutely no reason an upgraded Wii game should be struggling this much on any device, Switch included. Backdrop architecture shouldn't be popping in suddenly, the audio shouldn't be bugging out every time a Wisp is activated, the lighting shouldn't be burning my retinas one second then turning off the lights the next (I'm playing Sonic Colors, not Sonic Contrast), and I want to know who thought having a half an hour long credit sequence with no music (while the Wisp capsules are placed in front of the text occasionally) was a good idea. 

Sonic Colors wasn't some epic masterpiece that changed the scope of gaming, but it certainly deserved better than this. It's a 7.5/10 game packaged in a 5/10 port. I'm not surprised it reviewed well from the start, most Sonic games that have decent, vibrant art direction and a consistent gameplay style tend to do well, but I think it's getting off the hook when it should be scrutinized more for the quality of it's port. 

Anyway, I still had fun after coming back to it a second time. Hopefully they patch things out soon.