Sonic Colo(u)rs Ultimate released for Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Epic Games Store

One thing that I think often gets overlooked in discussion of Colors is that it was never meant to be the second coming of Sonic games, and a lot of the complaints about it (like stale level design in spots) can be summed up by Sega just not thinking it was that big of a deal. It was a dinky little Wii spin-off in the vein of the storybook titles (its status as a "mainline entry" seems to be retroactive), that ended up resonating extremely well with the fanbase because it was the first time Sonic Team actually tried making a modern Sonic game without either overloading it with terrible alternative playstyles or featuring a poorly-executed, melodramatic story (or usually both). "It's like an episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" was a selling point in fan circles back then, with 06 still fresh on everyone's minds.

This game came out around the same time as Sonic 4, which is what Sega was really pushing as the game "for the fans." I remember there being a convention where both games were featured, and they were interviewing a Sega rep who only wanted to talk about Sonic 4, and kept acting surprised every time the interviewer pivoted to asking about Colors, and even openly wondered why they were so interested. Colors actually looked fresh and exciting by comparison, whereas all the gameplay footage of Sonic 4 at the time could be most charitably described as Worse Green Hill Zone. I imagine the team behind Colors felt considerably less pressure to revitalize the franchise in the same way that basically every game in the series is hyped up as the glorious return of good Sonic games, and it probably goes a long way towards explaining why it's one of the better entries in the series. More relaxed environment = better for creativity and polish, and lower expectations from the fans.

Kind of funny how you almost had the same dynamic in reverse with Forces and Mania - Sega pushed "Project Sonic" hard at first, and it ended up being a total dud compared to the humble little fan game-with-a-budget Mania being hailed by the first great game in the series, without any qualifiers, arguably since the Genesis.

 

Late reply, but those re-releases were from an era (the 2000s) when Sega was releasing multiple Sonic games every year. The series has dramatically cut back on output since then. Pandemic notwithstanding, we didn't even get one major Sonic release (or re-release) last year at all, IIRC.

We've also been through this cycle before with Forces and Lost World, where people unhappy with those games were coping with the thought of another Sonic game made by a different group within Sonic Team being due for release shortly afterwards; which ultimately did not happen. It wouldn't surprise me if a Colors remaster is the only thing Sega has on schedule for Sonic after four years of no new platforming games.

 

Lost World filled in a similar gap. After 2 years of nothing they dropped it on PC, then after 2 more years then we got Mania and Forces.

This might be the longest release gap though. Not a thing since TSR, not even a word or a hint.

 

I mean, Sonic Team might not be the one who's developing this remaster. I wouldn't be surprised if it was outsourced to another developer, or if another Sega branch is handling it. There was that advertisement mentioning that there was more than one game planned for 2021, so I think it's more likely than not that a Colors rerelease won't be the only thing we get in 2021.

 

Enjoyed Colours enough to 100% it back in the day - one of only a few games I fully completed on Wii - so a rerelease sounds good to me; a PC version would provide good opportunity for modding, and if it's ported to current consoles a Switch version would be great to allow playing the game on the go. Here's hoping they make some tweaks here and there, such as making the various smaller acts optional rather than mandatory.

Admittedly a "Sonic Boost Collection" - featuring Unleashed, Colours and Generations all packaged together, would be my ideal release, but I appreciate that'd be a lot to fit on a single card/disc...! If there is a console version, here's hoping they might be tempted to port at least Generations too at some point.

 

They've been working on a new game the past couple of years: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-03-17-a-new-sonic-game-is-in-development

 

Christ, at this point I just hope the community channels communicate something soon. I think not having any idea of where Sonic is going after Forces is the worst part. While Forces isn’t a complete mess of a game, its shallow gameplay and presentation with lip service to previous concepts and characters made for a deeply disappointing release when, up to that point, things seemed to be taking a turn.

I feel that I speak for a lot of people when I say that I want to see what SEGA’s response is to the backlash towards Forces, and while bringing one of the best received games in the franchise to current hardware is a good idea, it’s not at all telling of what we can expect going forward.

 

I can't agree with that.

 

I mean it might not be an overall great game but it has it's moments and some of the wisps power, like the one that eats things and you get bigger, are pretty cool.

It was still the exact game we needed in 2010. Imagine if all we had for the future then was Sonic 4. The fandom would have been in 06 level shambles.

 

As someone who actively doesn't really like Colours (I think it's just boring), I can't call it bad. At worst it's mediocre. Bad implies it's actively broken or has some horrible design decisions that ruin the game, but Colour has neither of those. It's just incredibly mediocre at worst.

To be honest, I don't know why they haven't. As much blame can be put on the pandemic, other companies have been able to at least communicate *something*. Something a la Zelda would have been perfect for Sonic, where we at least knew that they were still working on it, and that development was going well, and then showed off another project to tide people over (in this case Colours could've been that, if they had announced it sooner to actually to the job of maintaining fans hunger for news)... SEGA marketing just seems to not know what they're doing, or to just not care.

Oh no, I do not like the sounds of that. Not at all, no siree. It kind of implies development started in 2019, which means if it releases this year, that's only two and a half years development... what happened to the two years after Forces? Probably twiddling their thumbs whilst writing another lighting engine knowing Sonic Team...

 

I'm not sure if you're excluding Generations from your arguments...because I deem it better than Colors.
I've seen gameplay from Colors and actually played Generations a bunch and seen vids of mods, speedruns and so. I like Gens better, that's all.

 

Keep in mind Sonic Generations (2011) released *after* Sonic Colours (2010), so when someone says that it was "better than anything the franchise had put out for at least 10 years".... of course that doesn't include Generations, because it hadn't released yet at the time lol, and was still a year away.

 

Colors was the perfect Sonic game for its time and was just the level of focus needed to steer the ship away from the trash of 2002 to 2008. It took what people liked from Unleashed, added a simple enough gimmick that didn't deter too much from the gameplay, and had a focused, simple plot that's basically classic Sonic but replace animals with wisps, and eggman wants to build a theme park. All nice and concise.

 

I'm honestly offended because someone else was accused of always saying they hate Colours when I'm the one usually doing that. But it's nice to see there's a "we" when I thought it was just an "I". In any case, my hate to Colours is in fact the same things people like less or not at all from it, plus (this one yes) a genuine hate of terminal velocity by virtue of the memory exercise the laser beams on three rails part was (the point I stopped playing).

If I'm making this post is not to say it again, but because I got a feel of "you're wrong, haters" and I didn't like that at all. If I have to see the game isn't as bad as I say, you should see there aren't that many of you saying it was that good.

 

Honestly, good or bad, we are all sure about one thing: Sonic Colours Ultimate will be developed by a small house(way sure it's hardlight as for forces). Since there is a big "3D new game" incoming, i can't say "oh no, colours HD stole time on a new sonic game!" because... dem, it's just the same colours with some new things. For me, this remake/porting/remastered/cookingmama will be only a good thing. Not for my personal tastes, but just and only for the people that is waiting for a sonic game.

If people accept pokemon pearl/diamond go, why we should complain about one random game that get a remake?

 

I misread the previous argument. It seemed like @Overlord was talking about the last 10 years after Colors, not before ^^"

 

I was playing it and wondering if I had purchased the same game as the people who called it "the first good 3d Sonic game" and "Unleashed without the bad parts", because the Colors I played was about 70% 2d, and its levels were shorter, slower and simplified compared to Unleashed's boost levels.

My current opinion on it is exactly the same as when it came out. Not a terrible game, but an underwhelming follow-up to Unleashed's day levels that did some things right (leaving alternate play styles out, implementing Super Sonic in regular levels (even if he was half-assed)).

 

you're acting like Chip in Unleashed didn't happen

 

Y'know, the more I think about the Roger leaving thing, the more I want this remaster to be true lol. Give him his one last hurrah, especially after the horrors you put him through all these years