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

I don't think the people who paid for the game at launch should feel obligated to recant their negative statements. The game is already floating around for 25 bucks in some places and it's going to get cheaper. When it's fully patched I'll get a better experience for much less than the game's biggest enthusiasts did and that feels a little silly. Let it be known that enthusiasts should avoid SEGA's games on launch until they get it together.

 

Sure, that's probably a better alternative. To address @Wraith, I don't think anyone should feel obligated to, either, but that's not what I said.

This sort of thing is getting to be a noticeable pattern. Like, we've always had a few games per year that were obviously hamstrung by a rocky development. Remember how there for a while in the 7th gen, PC versions were suffering? But I feel like there's been something of an unprecedented uptick in unfinished/rushed releases recently, across all platforms and affecting major studios.

It's probably a combination of factors: COVID impacting development, typical next-gen growing pains, the fact that until supply chain issues get sorted the next-gen can't really get off the ground... whatever it is, a lot had to go wrong for games like Cyberpunk 2077, Sonic Colors Ultimate (the Switch version especially), and a remaster of generations-old GTA games to hit launch day in the state they were in.

 

To be fair, I don't think Sonic Colors Ultimate was anywhere near as bad as Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA: The Trilogy were at launch. Those games were borderline unplayable, whereas Colors was bogged down by glitches but still a functioning game.

 

I always remember Assassin's Creed Unity.

 

So I've played around with this more, only this time with mods. As the game is now, with a couple of mods that already exist (and actually still work post patch), this game is pretty close to actually earning its "Ultimate" moniker. I encountered 0 gameplay glitches, the mods that exist fix like 90% of the other sore spots this game had, and it was an overall good, smooth experience.

Obviously this only applies to those who got this on the PC, but at least it shows that this game might just get there. Also for those curious here are the mods I used, they can all be found on Gamebanana with the exception of two patches that fixed Aquarium Park Act 1's draw distance and one that swapped out the 2D wisp sprites with the 3D forces models (both can be found on youtube)

• Debug Menu
• Environment Tweaks
• Final Light Color Adjustment for Environment Tweaks
• Gameplay and UI fixes
• Sonic Model and Animation fixes
• Remix Swap
• Marza Materials
• Unleashed Boost

Last 3 are more cosmetic than anything but like 5 mods and this patch basically fixed 95% of this port's problems.

 

"modders aren't interested in this game" my ass lmao

 

How is the motion blur? I thought it was awful when the game came out.

 

I don't think that was changed, since even though it looks like shit, it was apparently made that way.

 

Just downloaded the update. I’m about to head the airport so I only played a bit of Planet Wisp act 1.

I’m on a base PS4.

The game still is a stuttery mess. May actually be worse than it was prior, but it may also just be me paying more attention considering the update. There is a very bad graphical glitch where the black smoke is flickering in and out, even in areas where it shouldn’t be visible.

That’s really the extent of what I can see. I was hoping it’d improve more than this after 2 months (especially since there have been no improvements on what I played). Fingers crossed that the next patch fixes it, or at the very least, the PS5 can power through the frame rate issues once I pick that up.

 

Its a combination of things as you said.

Something that needs to be considered here, that regardless of the end product, developers do not want to release an unfinished game. They don't just wake up one day and decide "yea let's just make this game unfinished". Its easy to say "just delay it" but that doesn't the additional costs needed to delay a game and the potential revenue lost from that. There's a reason games release in the holiday season, where sales are likely to be at their highest.

 

Which is why it doesn't make sense to me that games get released in an unfinished state in September when it could have had a couple months more time and released in time for Christmas.

 

Sales during the Holiday are high, but also more competitive. The fall is usually a sweet spot for kids games. Diehards with income will pick it up and then it gets a boost for the holidays as gifts. But most importantly when a game/movie/anything has a release date you can't simply shift it. There are long chains of invested parties that plan their shelf space/airtime/profits/etc around it. Even though it's damaging to release an unfinished product, it's not as damaging as Target not stocking your product any more because they were expecting it on time. Or your factory refusing to create the product because you left a giant gap in their production line. Everyone is always operating up to the wire in entertainment and by the time you know something is broken it's often too late to turn around.

 

Wow when this game works as it's supposed to with some enhancements it's actually a very fun, cozy experience. I just got through the egg shuttle and it was so nice not having to dodge broken rates of fire and enemies dropping out of sync and cheap shoting you.. Without the ridiculous broken speeds, Colors is more fun than I remember, and for me anyway this is now my definitive version of colors, especially because it runs, plays, and looks way nicer than it ever did for me on Dolphin (again, using mods though).

 

Figured I'd give the new patch a whirl, and I can confirm that Sonic still doesn't jump as high as he's supposed to in the Switch version.

Oh well, maybe they'll get around to that in the next one. Still seems like a pretty stupid oversight to me, but it doesn't make the game unplayable or anything. Maybe I'm just being nit-picky.

 

Glad to hear it's been patched, but I've already platinumed the PS4 version and don't really plan on going back to it anytime soon, lol. Oh well.

 

One thing that's bothering me the most is how they still haven't fixed the beginning of Starlight Carnival Act 3, like c'mon bro that looks so awkward

 

Shit like this is what makes SCU irredeemable. Like, it's still Sonic Colours, and it's still a fine enough game. But as a product, it's just not up to snuff. There are small things and big things wrong with this remaster that both SEGA and BSC ought to be ashamed of. And I honestly don't know who deserves the blame. Including the new Jade Wisp, a remixed soundtrack so that each act can have unique music, changing the lives system and adding in cosmetics are all positives that put this game above the original in theory. But none of those ideas were implemented particularly well, and the overall product can be described only as "sloppy". SEGA and BSG did not do a good job here.

That such a minor but glaring error managed to make it into the final game and to slip through multiple patches is beyond me and is, frankly, shameful.

 

I feel like this patch focused on technical issues more than graphical ones, so that Starlight Carnival intro is still fucked up but many of the 60 fps glitches were fixed. Hopefully whatever the next patch is focuses on the graphical fuck ups

 

I miss the times when games were finished when they released and we didn't have to do a guessing game to predict which patch was gonna fix which glitch.

 

We all do