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

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by MH MD, Apr 9, 2021.

  1. Josh

    Josh

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    Thanks for posting these links, I'ma try 'em out. :D

    I'm really intrigued by what Dario said in his follow-up tweet: "Drop this on SonicColorsUltimate\content\acorn. No mod loader is required. The game can already load Godot's .pck files as mods." That's NICE.
     
  2. raphael_fc

    raphael_fc

    Overthinking Sonic timelines. Member
    Oh thank god, that motion blur is something that I really disliked.
     
  3. DigitalDuck

    DigitalDuck

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    At the risk of restarting this mess, this is NOT "the only reason Sonic was ever good" - if anything, Naka is a distant third to Oshima and Yasuhara. The original Mega Drive games being fun to play is not just due to the ball physics (which are... barely present in most layman's experience of the game), but due to being momentum focused in design the whole way through; level designs which hint to the player about how fast they should be going, graphics that look great when stationary and even better in motion, a banging soundtrack, a main character that looks aerodynamic and is clearly most comfortable at his running speed, a gameplay system which doesn't punish the player too hard for mistakes and allows them to use the speed they've built up to attack enemies and destroy walls and monitors.

    Now, just because a game doesn't follow this formula doesn't make it bad. Super Mario Bros. doesn't follow this formula, and few would say it was a bad game. The Adventure games are popular despite not really leaning into momentum too much, because they offer other things that are also enjoyable, like multiple level objectives, and generally being good to explore in. The Unleashed trilogy is popular despite using momentum in a very different way, because it feels like a well done racing/platformer hybrid and encourages multiple playthroughs with different routes, score/time attacking etc. Amazingly enough, some people think this is not only fun, but more fun than ball physics.

    Chaotix, by the way, uses Naka's "amazing ball physics".

    0/10 must troll harder
     
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  4. ArmonteSalvato

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    I respectfully disagree. Sonic being good is due to a series of factors working in concert. Good looking levels, memorable music and more importantly the level layouts. They reward skilled players for well timed platforming and momentum, but they also allow for a ton of exploration if one is more inclined to do so. Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Sonic Mania also feature branching paths for each character, making the levels more replayable. The level layouts synergize with supplementary mechanics, e.g. spindash, monitor powerups (in particular the elemental shields to deal with hazards), and I really like the extended camera system from Sonic CD (perhaps one of the few things I like about that game, and I wish Mania had it at least as an option). Finally, the characters feel great to control in these environments, even when not in ball form.

    There are hacks of the genesis games and mods of Sonic Mania that make use of the "ball physics" but fall short in many other areas - either the levels are uninspired (slight variants of another zone's graphics), too linear, or the object placement is terrible, destroying the flow of the level. Not to mention many of these hacks lack the extended camera from CD - it's grating to go through a loop or a downward slope, only to crash into a bunch of spikes or fall down a pit.

    Also, I'm sorry to say, but Chaotix was like having a bad acid trip. Good music, but the graphics were hit and miss - the sprites and animation for Knuckles and Espio are absolutely cursed and so is the Special Stage. As for the level layouts - I can't explain too well, but it seems like the levels blend in with one another? Like I'm playing the same level over and over again and nothing is distinct? Perhaps because the layouts are repetitive, go on forever, I can never figure out where I am or where I need to go... IIRC there are no loops in Chaotix either. I didn't even mention the obvious inclusion of the rubber band, which the Genesis games didn't have.
     
  5. synchronizer

    synchronizer

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    Is the day-1 patch out? If so, what is in it?
     
  6. Beltway

    Beltway

    The most grateful Sonic fan of all time this week Member
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    Review aggregate update.

    Opencritic
    - 73 "Fair" (43 reviews), 49% of reviewers would recommend

    Metacritic: PS4 - 74 "Mixed and/or average" (39 reviews), XBO - 72 "Mixed and/or average" (5 reviews), NSW - 65 "Mixed and/or average" (5 reviews), PC - N/A (no reviews)

    The discrepancy between the “early access”/pre-release batch of reviews and the post-release reviews pouring in is becoming all the more apparent. Gonna be interesting seeing where the final aggregate scores lay.
     
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  7. ArmonteSalvato

    ArmonteSalvato

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    I kind of want to wait for the user/audience reviews, to make an in-depth comparison =P
     
  8. Mana

    Mana

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    After this weekend I have to say Colors Ultimate is really fun and one of the best 3D games in the franchise.

    Searching for Red Rings was a blast.

    Very visually attractive game with great platforming challenges and it reminds me the good state this franchise was in during the Colors to Generations era and I miss it and hope we can return to it someday.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2021
  9. Yash

    Yash

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    So I got the PC version for early access and while I enjoyed it, PC gaming isn't really my thing (my laptop isn't amazing for gaming), but it's also crashed several times which to me feels like kind of omen. So I've only played up to the first level of Sweet Mountain.

    Got the PS4 version yesterday and cruised through the end of Starlight Carnival. I'm enjoying it a lot more here, although I have noticed the sound mixing issues, along with music not playing in certain instances (most often at the results screen). Hope those issues can get patched - when I first heard about them I didn't think it was really a big deal, but playing it myself I can definitely feel it. Still a solid game and the best way to play Colors officially, but yes, I'll agree with those who suggest it isn't much different than playing it on Dolphin at 60fps/4K, the extra features don't amount to much.

    That being said, I still hope the game does well and works towards reintroducing the franchise to lapsed gamers, younger gamers who've never played a Sonic game before, people who saw the movie without having played the games, etc. It's still a great game that I'd happily recommend looking to check out the series for the first time. Likewise, can't wait for the Origins collection as long as it's a competent enough collection of ports.
     
  10. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Ya 70 with 50% recommended sounds like the perfect summation of this game.
     
  11. Mana

    Mana

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    I feel the worst part about this Blind Squirrel Studios situation is that Sonic Youtubers who already dislike Colors are going to be disengenous about why the review scores are lower now.

    Many of them still say Colors is a good game they just can't recommend THIS version which is very glitchy and problematic at the moment. In a couple months, when a patch is dropped that fixes these issues, the sort of rough launch will be forgotten. But Sonictubers will still claim the game got lower review scores while ignoring that if the game hadn't came out so buggy it would have kept the same scores as the original.

    Nobody is winning here.
     
  12. Jay T.

    Jay T.

    It takes an idiot to do cool things... Member
    Some video popped up on my front page (and cell phone) a few days ago by some guy named KingK that called Ultimate "pathetic." Said video has about 258K views as I type this. Not even gonna watch it, no idea who he is, but yikes.
     
  13. RetroJordan91

    RetroJordan91

    The REAL Blue Sphere Guy Member
    KingK is a well known Youtuber who’s done informative and detailed retrospectives on Sonic games (both 2D and some 3D) and the 3D Mario games as well as many others… I watched his video and he basically goes over the bad qualities of the remaster with all the glitches he’s encountered and says that emulating the game via Dolphin is his preferred method of playing.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2021
  14. Wraith

    Wraith

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    It's probably the best review of the game out there at the moment.
     
  15. Jay T.

    Jay T.

    It takes an idiot to do cool things... Member
    Ah. My mistake. Thought it was one of those videos that blew things way out of proportion or something. Sorry about that. Still, it's pretty unfortunate to hear.
     
  16. Sid Starkiller

    Sid Starkiller

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    I mean, given that fucking clickbait-y title, of course you'd think that.

    EDIT: Just picked up my copy. Probably won't actually play until after work, but I'll at least install the update and activate the DLC code.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2021
  17. I like his videos for the most part, though he does come off a little bit jaded that Adventure games aren’t as well received as the classics e.g. making the final 5 min of a Sonic 3&K review about how people shouldn’t shit on the 3D games because the classics have flaws in his opinion. He’s not at all disingenuous with his points within the Color video, but it’s pretty obvious that the titling is over-the-top to get noticed. You think a Sonic fan, especially one of the lesser praised entries, would be aware of the wider ramifications a video like that has on the general public.
     
  18. Josh

    Josh

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    It's weird, it wasn't very long ago when I'd soak up any Sonic-related thing YouTube threw at me. But the current zeitgeist is slanted against many of my preferences, and while seeing different perspectives is fun and interesting for a while, being told your opinions are bad and everything you like isn't "what Sonic is supposed to be" over and over again sure does get old.

    KingK's a friend of mine though, and I know from experience that thumbnails and titles leave little room for nuance... and often reward a lack thereof. Exaggerating a negative point in your thumbnail might be the difference between 20k views and 200k, and that might be the difference between not making rent and getting a sponsorship for your next video. Even if you don't TRY to do it, as a YouTuber, you're absolutely incentivized to.

    Case in point, I enjoyed Yooka-Laylee. But one of my favorite reviews of it is one I almost didn't watch, because the title/thumbnail was so aggressive. It's actually a fair, nuanced breakdown of the issues SSFF had with it, and it really illuminated where "the other side" was coming from for me. It just didn't come across that way before I clicked on it:

    upload_2021-9-8_12-2-38.png

    However, this video is the 5th most-watched on the whole channel. It sucks, but negativity like this tends to get clicks better than anything.
     
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  19. Sid Starkiller

    Sid Starkiller

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    That was actually the first SSFF vid I ever watched. I never hear about these retro Kickstarters before they're over, so all I knew about Yooka-Laylee was "that Kickstarter game that disappointed everyone".
     
  20. MH MD

    MH MD

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    He used the exact same title for Mario 3D collection, so i just think it's a template for lacking ports, just like he use other template for his other videos.

    So if Sonic Origins was a bad collection, he will just make a video called" Sonic Origins is pathetic"
    very convenient really
     
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