Sonic Colors is still great and was what Sonic needed at the time though it really feels like the wrong lessons were taken from this for Lost World and especially Forces in terms of gameplay. The wisps are great here but they've never been used all that well in the subsequent platformers. Now thematically, it has one of my favorite set of stages in the series with great art direction and amazing music.
Agreed. Lost World and Forces being the proof of Sonic Team's learning(or listening) the Wrong lesson's and Just shove everything Colors had into the Future games thinking that's why People loved it.
Yeah. The Wisps were great in Colors because of how they enhanced the gameplay without being intrusive. There were only about 3 times I can think of where they were mandatory in the entire game, Lost World on the other hand made them 100% mandatory almost every time they were used, while also making them control like garbage, and giving no story exclamation for why they were there. It's quite literally the textbook definition of "shoehorn". I think Forces actually handled them better, in the sense that they were basically superfluous, but that comes at the cost of any depth they may have had. Three of the Wisp abilities are slightly different elaborations of the same thing (Burst, Hover, and Cube literally all have the same function, flight). But I think Void, Lightning, Asteroid, and especially Drill are all useful enough to be incentivized while still being optional. The main problem comes with Forces' trash level design, with zero alternate pathways. Leading to the only incentive to use a wisp being security or speed, and never Exploration (where they thrive).
If anything, I feel Sonic Colors has become a victim of its own legacy. Since it was the start of the massive shift in the series' tone, and overuse of 2D which sadly overshadows a lot of what it does really well on its own. Had Colors not had the sort of impact on future games it had, it'd be really easy to look at the weird tone of the story and characters, and large use of 2D sections as odd, but okay for the sake of something new and different to chew on for a little bit. But more importantly, it'd be wayyyyy easier to appreciate and love the game for its intricate, branching level design, neat powerups, amazing art and environment design, and its sheer polish. Here's something I will say with confidence: I hope with all my heart the meta era with come to a close not just because I want the old tone and style back. But also because it'll make it so much easier to appreciate Colors for what it is without having to worry about any negative influences future games took from it.
@@JsReviews Honestly Colors didn’t have to be the victim of its own success after what 06 and undeservingly Unleashed caused. But, the ways Sega made and Iizuka felt towards Sonic at the time kept chasing after a success without understanding why it was a success. Just like everyone else, I hope this potential end of the Meta Era ends in a final high note. Change will always happen and for Sonic, embrace your legacy one final time and begin an era of a new future. So for the new fans, here’s to their era of Sonic a good one…it’s the least Sega could do.
Same as much as I love the meta era its my favorite era I want it to end with ultimate as something as a final thank you gift to everything the era stands for like I say colours I want sonic needed at the time but with ultimate coming soon I think its time to move on to bigger things
I love how J's review acknowledges how it sucked for him to find out that the ytbers at the time we're very critical about the dark era, and doesn't decide to be hypocritical and repeat the same pattern with the 2010s era, and unfairly bash these games, unlike certain other RUclipsrs....
@@ShonkTeHonktalks i mean he Is even bad at the games, but i think the intention Is Just to make fun content Look how game grumps didn't finish Sonic 06 and they reeeeeally were playing bad in Shadow's story
This game has alot of unfortunate optics that make its change in reception pretty fascinating. What ultimately just tried to be a fun, simple little romp got put on this lofty pedestal by fans and critics alike simply for not being like what came before it, which helped foster the aggressive, overreactive backlash we have nowadays. I think alot of the discourse surrounding this game has always been pretty unfair, both to the games that came before it and the game itself.
@@JsReviews I thought you weren’t a fan of the Wii version of Sonic Colours (for more reasons than its story) on your review of some of the Meta Era (2010s) Sonic games, but this video proved me wrong (I think the Wii version is decent, but the DS version is the definitive version and if only Sonic Colours Ultimate would fix what was wrong with the Wii version like the story that feels like a typical Nickelodeon sitcom).
It feels refreshing seeing a review that isn't just "Colors bad", you made good points here. I wouldn't say Colors is the game to blame for shifting the Sonic series but is a symptom of that, the Wisps kept coming back, the stories got worse and Generations ended cementing the returning stages into the series. Sonic Colors is not a bad game, in it's own merits, it looks like a fun game.
@Cameron Douglas i honestly i think generations has the best writing of the meta era games the characters aren't trying to tell obnoxious jokes the entire time and from the few times we interact with the extended cast they act like how there suppose to. your right there's very little of a story in generations but that's probably why i think its the best story of the meta era games cause if there barley a story they can't screw it up.
Plenty of people sucked the dick of this game when it came out including all the big critics. What do you mean all the reviews are saying this game is bad? That's just a new phenomena that cropped up in the sonic fandom which was sorely needed after everyone else treating this game like the coming of jesus.
@Cameron Douglas i feel like lost world is when the writing started to go downhill even as a 9 year old i could tell something wasn't right with the characters in that game.
Honestly the PAs was the part where Pontac and Graff's writing was actually great, would have been cool to have them come up with new lines like that in Forces in areas directly under Eggman's control.
Personal favourites are these three: “This aquarium is home to many rare and endangered species. Enjoy them with a delicious soy glaze at the Bucket O’ Sushi restaurant!” “The Bucket O’ Sushi! Now with fish!” “Remember to keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times. Because there are tiny asteroids moving at incredible speeds hurtling through space. Keeping your hands and feet inside the car won’t prevent you from being hit, but our lawyers tell us we have to say it anyway.”
"Would the owner of a white car shaped like report to the security office? Your car is being broken into pieces, repeat! Your car is- Wait a minute WHAT THE HECK?!"
And the one where he goes "why am I even telling you that spikes are dangerous? It's obvious, these clients man, wait, am I still recording?" He doesn't exactly say what I wrote that's the meaning, and it's hilarious.
This is one of those rare reviews of Sonic Colors that doesn't praise it solely because of not being Shadow - Black Knight. You really dissected this game and disclosed its individual identity. 22:01 - 22:13 lol
yeah i remember you and ruby of blue once said that people often praise sonic game on what they don't have it always annoys me how in most sonic mania reviews reviewers always feel the need to start the video off by bashing older sonic game when they know there are fans of the those games. you guys are right that is a toxic mindset
I loved the light-hearted tone of Colors and Generations. They're fresh breather episodes after the heavy stories that the Dark Age had. But I think I had enough of it by the time Lost World was released.
Balance is always something cool to have in a series like this imo. Just like we had Heroes after SA2 and Rush/Rush Adventure coming after Shadow/Unleashed respectively, Colors was a good breather after Black Knight. Problem is that we've never gone back to something more serious since (ignoring Forces' failed attempt), if anything it's only gotten more denser and wackier and not even in a good way.
@@felipe_drawmania1604 Generations has what is called an excuse plot. It has a story but it does so little with it that it might as well be non-existent. It's an excuse to revisit old levels.
@@MegaGlassguy I think that Sonic Generations had what Turtles Forever had, which is a meta narrative as stated in J’s review of Turtles Forever (Tv movie and true series finale of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series).
I am glad you mentioned that you really only come to Sonic for action/adventure stories. Because I feel like it's a perspective people tend to not really understand when someone talks about why Colors' story (And by extension most of the 2010s stories) doesn't do much for them. Look, if you want to tell a comedy story with Sonic characters go for it, but I don't think the games, seeing as they're the main source of the series' output should really be this overtly comedic ever. It kinda defeats the point of all the time, effort and money that goes into the action oriented gameplay Sonic is known for when the story is such a left turn away from that.
The people who you say don't get it see AoSTH as the definitive Sonic characterization since that was the big talking Sonic moment of the '90s when the Blue Blur debuted in a big way. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner cross-on-speed wisecracking, chili dog-chomping, Robuttnik-kicking cartoon teen funnyhog hero. Not all that butt rocking, friend-cluttered, backstory-heavy, magic jewel-harnessing, even-slightly-serious "nonsense". They INDULGE in the Meta Era mocking the past, and those who know Yuji Naka wanted actual seriousness for Sonic call him mad for it and take Sega of America's side. They consider it Sonic rebelling against crazed intentions for him.
Colors is such an important game to me. Despite nowadays I see it more of its flaws and wouldnt consider it great it still holds a special place in my heart. I grew up with it.
My favorite of Eggman's announcement voice lines is the one on the world map after you reach the final area. The one where he goes "Critical system failure! Repeat: Critical system failure! All attraction access is temporarily suspended. Please exit the park via the emergency exit ahead. This is all your fault." I like it because he just sounds so serious when he says it. He sounds _almost_ like he's concerned for the safety of his park's visitors... but also with an edge of seething hatred toward Sonic, which is of course why he says "this is all your fault" at the end.
I love Sonic Colors. It’s one of the few games from the Meta Era that I enjoyed playing. Unlike most of the games from the Meta Era which pander towards nostalgia, Sonic Colors manages to have originality and it does it very well. The game is really good in terms of gameplay but I can’t say the same for the story. The story isn’t very strong to begin with but the cringeworthy jokes and the sometimes subpar voice acting from Roger Craig Smith really makes me dislike more than I want to. Other than that I love Sonic Colors.
Perfectly summed up my view on Colors. Even though Colors is far from my favorite Sonic game and preferring the older games like Adventure 2 and Unleashed the hate it gets beyond the story is kinda unfair imo.
i think it's a solid game, i prefer generations and unleashed but this game ain't bad. i can see why people like it, it's just that the level design isn't what i'm looking for in a boost game, though that doesn't mean the level design is necessarily bad. not a fan of the story either, i prefer the adventure games type stories, but i thought there were some funny jokes and the story is inoffensive at least. most of the jokes are cringeworthy but i can let it slide since this is a more lighthearted game, unlike something like forces which is supposed to be serious but has cringeworthy jokes throughout the whole game. the music is pretty good and the ending is very epic.
Some of these optional routes are kinda cool, forgot about that. Still, I'll never be able to forgive Colors for wasting it's themepark theme. How come Sonic Adventure managed to have 10 times the themepark rides and setpieces in ONE LEVEL then Colors ever did over it's entire game. Outside of the rollercoasters in asteroid coaster, the themepark rides have no presence on the gameplay at all. Oh well, focus is supposed to be on the Wisps, I guess. Heh, thanks for not referring to Colors as a 3d game. J: Forgive me for having the gameplay footage a little squashed and not in the optimal FPS. Me: Eh, that pixelated mess conveys my point well enough. Moving on.
I never really thought about the fact the levels didn’t have an amusement park theme. I think it’s because Eggman barely got started building anything but I’m not sure.
Probably the most insightful review on colours there is Personally I was never the biggest fan of colours but I’m glad people like it. I just wish SEGA had learned what was good about it (interesting level themes, lots of things to discover, polished gameplay) instead of what they thought people liked about it (no story, wisps)
@@crowkid5553 Wisps were fine but it was not the reason people liked it. Certainly not the literal aliens at least, just the basic concept of power ups.
The humor in Colors is kinda dry for me too, but the cutscene when Sonic gets hyped about winning a bet with Tails before a boss fight and Tails saying "we didn't bet" with him walking away disappointed and cutting right to the boss fight always makes me laugh.
Honestly that's a good example on how the humor is at its best when it's not trying too hard to push it. Had they had Sonic argue back on how they did bet and Tails insisting they didn't would have only killed a simple funny moment like this.
I've never been down with the Colors slander that's been happening in the last few years. Yeah, we get it, the story sucks, but I feel like people blind themselves to just how fun it is. Colors was the first video game I ever owned personally, And I absolutely loved it. I remembered making up my own Wisp concepts, and listening to the soundtrack on repeat. And there was nothing more satisfying than collecting that final Red Ring, and getting rewarded with Super Sonic. As much as people look back on it sourly, and claim that it was "the downfall of the series". They often seem to forget that it's also literally what saved the series. Listen... I love ambition in Sonic games. I love it when a game feels like it has a genuine sense of scope... But not every single game needs to be the next big thing. Sometimes some simple fun is all you need.
Even as someone who genuinely hates Sonic Colors, i feel 90% of it is bandwagoning, since my reasons are different from others. I even love the story being simple and a Sonic 1 callback, even if the writing leaves much to be desired. But it feels lots of it is just to bandwagon
@@nugenefranklin561 it can take a bit but the main thing I dislike isnt the focus on 2D but the levels themselves. Aquarium Park is brilliant but i find the gravity swap of Asteroid Coaster unbearable, there were too many railroaded segments in the game, and some of the bosses like the Tropical Resort, Planet Wisp, Aquarium Park and Sweet Mountain bosses are unbearable for being too easy or too boring. I'm not a fan of most of the wisps either, and i also dislike the, as I call it, intentionally bad level design meant to "encourage" you to come back with a later wisp powerup. Theres a script I made (not shameless plug, this will prolly be out in like 6 years at my rate lmao) and notes I took down about each individual stage, but i think its just a boring game, not even terrible. I do like some aspects though. Wisp, Drill and to a lesser degree Spike I enjoy, Aquarium Park is 4 great stages, and three bosses are some of the best in the series. Plus like I said I do enjoy the setup of this story. Its hard to fully give my thoughts but i get the appeal, i just dont like the level design much
I honestly share many of the opinions expressed in this video. The meta era as we call it only really started to negatively affect my views on the Sonic Franchise after Generations. Sure Colors started many of the trends that would lead to what Sonic eventually became and Generations had worrying signs concerning everything about Sonic outside of gameplay. However strictly speaking gameplay early meta era was a very positive experience for me and still is. I love colors and generations and always will.
It's very similar to the new super mario bros series though not many people talk about it. New super mario bros ds was fire but all the games after that followed every trend set by the ds title and as a result were very cookie cutter and forgettable.
I personally feel that Boost and Lost World's parkour need each other to really shine and that the former shouldn't allow you to just mindlessly plow through foes but rather be a brief speed burst that isn't dependent on collecting stuff or doing tricks to fill a gauge but instead requires a cooldown period. But your assessment is still fair and good. And Colors's story could've led into Eggman being redeemed as the space amusement park thing could work as a way for Eggman to build Eggmanland without making trouble for anyone. Yuji Naka did suggest once that Eggman was merely misguided, and that combined with his Sonic Jam profile and all the stuff in the rooms of SA1's Egg Carrier that look like they belong in a kiddie arcade suggest that Eggman's just a manchild who wanted to show people the joys of robotics but was scorned for being careless about it and thus turned spiteful. And at least Generations had a sufficient plot explanation for why only the Sonics were playable (at least in the main story); only their speed could rattle everything back into motion as they raced by it. But it still sucks that it's a legitimate Colors followup instead of a mere joke game, and even outside of that we have bullshit like Tails RUNNING NORMALLY instead of his signature hover-running, having to catch his breath afterwards, and Amy DECKING Knuckles with A MERE BACKHAND. Gross.
@@CarbonRollerCaco I can agree with marrying the boost and parkour mechanics together. I think together they would complete eachother and make boost gameplay a lot less two-dimensional. Adding in platforming challenges on walls and ceilings as you speed by and is also much more player agency focused. I would have to disagree with nerfing the boost though as I personally always responded negatively to nerfing the best thing about these games. Instead I favor the more involved level design approach. Unleashed is my favorite boost title because it was entirely designed around the mechanic and discouraged mindlessly holding down the boost button because there were traps you would run straight into if you didn't pay attention. As time went on it truly became a parody of itself and became the win button because the levels you played in had nothing to make you consider letting the button go.
Gotta admit you surprised me with this video. I love Colors and I was expecting this video to dunk on the game or just call it mediocre (I still would have respected that opinion though). I kinda gotten used to this kind of talk about Colors. After Forces, there has been a big increase in fans trashing Colors because of its story, level design, Wisps and affecting future games. I agree Colors has legitimate flaws that need to be spoken, but fans seemed REALLY done with that game. It felt like it was slowly becoming the new "blacksheep" for Sonic fans. While I'm fine with people not liking Colors, it was a little disheartening to see. A game that was once appreciated is slowly being treated like how some Dark Age games used to be treated. I gotta thank you for making this video. It felt like a breath of fresh air. My favourite part was you explaining how alot of the level design and Wisps offered a good amount of exploration. At the end of the day, despite the unappreciation Colors gets, I will always love the game. It was a memorable part of my childhood and it officially pulled me into the Sonic series.
Still one of my top five favorite Sonic games, maybe even top three. Obviously it's presentation pales in comparison to the rich and grand scope of Unleashed, and most of the bosses aren't nearly as engaging imo, but I think it still does so much right.
"A game that was once appreciated is slowly being treated like how some Dark Age games used to be treated." And for less good reason than Adventure 2, though still more so than Adventure 1. It's sort of a midway between those two games in terms of proper Sonic game design: generally good gameplay, but inspired the wrong gameplay trends (a la SA1) and was a story derailment (a la SA2).
I find it really weird that the game having a large amount of 2D sections is used as a criticism for the game. It rarely goes much more in depth than that. Like, 2D sections does not equal bad level design, and I find most of the 2D sections fun to play through. In my opinion, it's lazy criticism to say that the game is worse because of it having more 2D sections. At least come up with a reasonable thing to critique like level design being reused in multiple acts, or the fact that some acts take 30 seconds or less to complete, making them feel pointless.
Fun Fact: In the Japanese version of the game, the wisp announcer is voiced by the same person who did the sound for the Gaia Memories from Kamen Rider W
I think the meta era is bad but I also can look at the positives and colors is one of them. It’s kinda sad people hate this game because of its effects on the era as I don’t feel it’s colors fault Sega got the wrong idea of what to do in the future. The game has good ideas and the final boss fight is truely one of the last great one’s personally. Even the voice acting isn’t bad. Roger started with actual potiential like all Sonic actors it’s just the future games and writing that squandered that, it’s why I’m not angry he is gonna still be sonic because I can see his skill clearly in various forms. Heck this game gave us Kate as tails and while I prefer Colleen I still think she started the great voice of tails. Also Mike is halarious in this game he had so much fun with the lines he was given and I gotta say I’m happy for that.
I agree. Also Mike's Eggman is honestly just perfection for me. Not saying he's the only good Eggman voice, but I just can't help but think of him when imagining Eggman, whether it be comedic and hammy or even serious too.
Colors wasn't special to me since it focused more on unpolished 2d platforming than riding all on the high of total boost and quick reactions from unleashed. I still plan on getting ultimate. Good video.
I think it's just because Colors was meant for a Mario audience much like Lost World and Sega assumed that what fans loved so much about Mario was the 2D platforming
Sonic Colours is one of those games where I've not played it in so long and doubted how much I remembered liking it, but I'm definitely looking forwards to checking it out once again with Ultimate. I've gone through all ends of the spectrum, from loving it as a kid, to kinda not liking it, to returning to a point of view of appreciation for what it is. Here's hoping it stays that way, as it probably should. Edit: It did!
The final boss music was purely epic. I think it’s the last main theme turned orchestrated. Which is sad to think about since it 06, unleashed and colors to end it. We haven’t seen it come yet in decade.
While I don't love it as much as I used to, this is still easily one of my favourite Sonic games. Everything still looks and feels great all these years later. Well, at least to me.
Grew up with the DS version and had just as much fun a time as the Wii version if not more. But I really did appreciate the Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic in the story
The flaws may be tolerable now, but let’s just say that Sega didn’t take the best lessons from this game in the long run. Still, it’s good to appreciate this game for what it is and not its legacy in the future.
Colors was the first game that got me into the Sonic franchise I’ve always loved this game and without it I probably wouldn’t be that into Sonic. It always sucked that this came gets current hate but I can understand some of the reasons. However I’m still excited for the remaster and I’m glad it’s getting attention.
Now you know how I feel about all the rampant hate the Sonic Adventure games get. If you like Sonic Colors, more power to you. I had fun with it despite simply finding it to be okay at best, and I do look forward to revisiting it when Sonic Colors Ultimate comes out.
My impressions of Colors had always been a mixed bag from day 1, literally. I still remember 12 year old super excited when he received the game on Chritmas and playing it that same day. It was the first Sonic game to make me think "That's it?" after completing certain levels such as Tropical Resort Act 4 or just completing the game in 2 hours. I remember being so pumped when the Phase 2 music of the final boss kicked (absolute masterpiece even today) but then was quickly let down by seeing that nothing new was really happening in the fight. Even so, little me was excited at unlocking those extra levels and kept on going, and ended up getting multiple weeks of fun. Colors is really a game that is meant to be played with the intent to find every nook and cranny to really enjoy it, but even then it always felt like it was always lacking in something to me. And for the reception at the time, it was also mixed for me. Seeing a Sonic game get so much great reception felt amazing, but it quickly started to get muddled when seeing people use the game as an excuse to bash everything that came before (not unlike how some would use Mania in years to come).
I think the best way to enjoy sonic colors is to not think of it like Unleashed/Generations. Those games were more about quick reaction and memorization, but Colors focuses more on platforming and exploration. It’s still not perfect but I don’t think it was ever meant to be seen as a super ambitious fast paced game. Hell, they literally only put it on Wii for a reason. I still prefer Unleashed slightly more but Colors is always a fun romp, and I’m glad you’ve warmed up to it a lot more than you used to. Although even if you still didn’t like it that’s still a valid onion
Yeah, I made the mistake of trying to play Colors as if I would be able to Boost through the levels often, which is part of why I consider it to be okay at best; I don't get to Boost enough in it.
I think Colours style of writing really got grating as the series went on, but coming off a decade of dark and story heavy (for Sonic) games, it was a welcome change of pace at the time.
Heroes I feel does a better job of being light hearted. It still has its moments of intensity. Even so at the time, Colors was a welcome breath of fresh. By the time Generations came, people wanted another serious game again and we just didn't get one.
Heroes gets a lot of shit on too for being not as good compared to Adventure 1 or 2 in terms of storytelling. But of the trilogy, I really enjoy Heroes’ story. The more whimsical, feel free and heartfelt story with set pieces and action moments of intensity make Heroes a really good finale of the Adventure trilogy. Sometimes one upping previous entries can result in failure but living up to the standard is more than enough for a game. Hence that’s what Heroes did, lived up to the previous adventure games, but didn’t try to one up its sequel, which imo, had a much worse story than Adventure 1
Colors is amazing. Dolphin too is the reason I skip the Switch remaster but I don't think it matters much. The stages are fun, the humour in my opinion is funny and the music very catchy (especially Aquarium Park and Planet Wisp). Plus, the amount of supported input methods was insane! Next to Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this game was the best looking thing on Wii back in the day.
As a 12-13 year old in 2010, I remember waiting for Sonic Colors. I was going to quit the series if they didn't have a "completely good game". Thankfully, Colors came at the right time for idiot younger me who thought Unleashed was bad because "Werehog=bad".
Man, this game is a masterpiece in my opinion-- ESPECIALLY the DS Version! Sonic Colors has so much personality, unique gameplay mechanics, a fun story, excellent voice acting and graphics for its time, the S O U N D T R A C K O M F G, and STELLAR gameplay! I still return to it to this day and I appreciate this video!
Cool that you have a newfound appreciation for Colours, and great video as always, but personally, this is a game that's gotten worse with age. Ignoring the games that came after, I'm just not down with this kind of humour for a more comedic Sonic game, especially when other games seem to have a better take on that kind of direction, on top of primarily playing a 2.5D game with a gameplay style I don't think is greatly suited to a higher emphasis on platforming, and the acts that were either split in two, or were filler are yet another contributing factor. Really can't understand how people lauded this as Sonic's proper transition to 3D. But who knows, maybe I'll eventually find a newfound appreciation for the game too.
I'm really glad I only played this and generations in the meta era until forces, cause it's absolutely a game that gets more unoriginal and bland the more others try to copy it.
Like many others, My opinion on Colors was soured after Lost World, Forces, and to a lesser extent Generations. But I went through the Wii and DS version to prep for Ultimate. Colors ain’t perfect. It set a precedent for a lot of the negative behaviors in future installments, BUT, Colors is still a classic to myself and many other people.
Even though the story may be crap, I’m gonna enjoy the game. And I don’t mind the wisps at all, they’re like pretty good power-ups since the likes of the invincibility, and shield boxes
That's honestly the kind of opinion I have on Lost World too. But I think the extra material that has been provided in the leadup to Sonic Colours Ultimate is retroactively making the plot better overall.
1:41 I know Colors usually gets a lot of flak for the dialogue but this was actually pretty gold. Sonic mentions blowing up a "giant killer robot" and that's so normal for them Tails is like "oh word? Shopping??" Like let's forget about Baldy McNosehair and Sonic mentioning copyright law for just a second to appreciate the few jokes that actually land
You’re right. Going forward we need to make good and fair points for the 2010s Sonic games, we need to do better than the generation that came before us, and not unfairly criticize the games that younger Sonic fans might themselves love We can’t ignore the flaws tho, if it came down to me I’d have to just say this: these games aren’t bad, but they could be much better, I want Sonic Team to DO better, and learn the right lessons from each game they make, and not give up on something when it doesn’t quite work the first time.
I got this game for Christmas and I played the crap out of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved all the planets with Sweet Mountain and Aquarium Park being my favorites. The soundtrack is beautiful omg. I almost 100% the game but I couldn't get the S Rank on the Final Boss. Yes, I even collected all the Red Star Rings and Chaos Emeralds. Sadly I don't have my Wii anymore. RIP my 99% complete Sonic Colors file ;_;
And here I thought I was the only one that found super sonic wasn't fun in colors. You cant use wisps and he's pretty much just infinite boost. You also have to 100% the game to get him so you don't even get the satisfaction of using him to get red rings. Overall great review. I like Colors' ending. Was fun.
I really hate how this game and generations get lumped in with the stinkers later on. It started many of the trends, but back then, it wasn't oversaturated to death. People need to realize this was a breath of fresh air compared to the past years.
Generations I feel gets a pass for its lackluster storytelling or its somewhat boring challenge gates because that game was supposed to be an anniversary and celebration of Sonic’s 20 years. Even if the adventure isn’t super new, its just Sega showing their love and care for Sonic by bringing in all the classic stages and references from some of my favourite games in the franchise. Not by being blantant nostalgia or something just so people can buy our buck, but by showing care and celebration for the Blue Blur’s 20 years. I wish we got another game like that this year for Sonic’s 30th anniversary
"being disappointed with Ben 10 ultimate alien" that's an interesting topic for a video ngl. I personally felt the daggon arc in season 3 was weaker than the season 3 of alien force
Ultimate Alien is where I fell off the franchise. It just started off so boring. Looking it up, it does sound like it gets more interesting, so maybe I'll give it another chance (if I ever run out of stuff to watch).
@@NinjaPieceLOL true. The only bit I liked about UA was the Kevin arc and the ending. Omniverse restored my interest in the franchise but it doesn't help that many think that Omniverse is complete shit
Honestly, Colors does well what CD needed to improve: exploration. In CD, since there are too many weird platforms and spring placements on top of the time travel, the exploration didn't feel that great. In Colors, you can explore using the Wisps and the boost, you have a double jump to help you get to higher zones and you have 3D sections that are incredibly fun. This is my opinion tho, if you disagree, feel free to do so
@@smashmaster521 Back then, I had the choice between that and Disney Universe, and I chose Mario and Sonic. Sometime later I got Sonic Colors DS, and it ended up being my first Sonic game.
Every game has its flaws. Colors is still great because of its gameplay and concepts, meanwhile having cruddy characterization. Like other games, Colors is still appreciable in its own ways, like how 06 was a mess, yet could still be appreciated of its ideas, or even Unleashed for bringing great gameplay AND a great story, yet Werehog gameplay is debatable.
when it comes to the werehog it really just depends on your taste like if your only playing a sonic game to go fast then maybe unleashed is not the game for you. it is for me though.
@@jdawson7877 Personally, I think the Werehog has some questionable design choices that make it less fun to play as a hack n' slash. That's just me though
@@jdawson7877 Statistically the Werehog levels take up the majority of the gameplay,so If you don't like those levels you pretty much won't like more than half of the game.
I see Unleashed as having an boost gameplay an unique idea. Just heavily flawed with how inconsistent the gameplay & level designs can be at times. Plus the Werehog; which I don't hate, but doesn't like it all that much either. Colors almost redefined it by taken some bad parts from Unleashed and added some unique ideas like the Wisp to be better. But sacrifices itself from the heavy blocky and questionable level designs. But than we got Generations, which nearly perfected it. Way more engaging gameplay, superior level designs, tighter controls, & having Classic Sonic into the mixed was interesting to say the least. Than everything was ruined when Forces came out. What was once near perfected in Generations, got completely butchered in Forces. That's the way I see it.
Great that you have a newfound respect for Sonic Colors, it was always one of my favorites (maybe even my absolute favorite) and yeah I know that’s weird when considering Unleashed and Adventure 1 and 2 and yeah I adore those games (especially Unleashed) but there was always something about it that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe the level concepts and designs? I dunno but all I know is that Sonic Colors was never ever bad.
couldnt agree more with the story aspect, I never really looked at this to be a significant part in the sonic series and kinda brushed it off as a side story until I noticed the wisps were used in later games and was somewhat dissapointed that sonic was just gonna be in this static state and never move on with all these side characters doing nothing. Maybe Forces changed that but I havent decided to check it out, for reasons we all know
I just wish people wouldn’t get mad over people liking this game. We all have different tastes and we can’t change it. If people are mad over how the franchise changed, they should go after the critics. Anyway ignoring that mini rant great video :) Edit: Ugh they even invaded this video
I mean, I get a lot more mad about people calling it a return to form(which is misunderstanding the classic games completely) than people liking it. Because I myself like Shadow the Hedgehog and that is not the most popular game of all time.
Or the opposite end, convincing yourself you only like it cause of nostalgia. The amount of people I've seen in comment sections bashing on this game that are all like "wow I can't believe I liked this game" like they can't form their own damn opinion is maddening.
Really I don't think Colors is warranted a passionate hatred of any kind, and I say that as someone who bought the game as a kid and wound up dropping it out of disappointment (it was marketed as basically Unleashed but just the day stages and as someone who only had a Wii and didn't own Wii Unleashed, I got Colors instead, and found it to be lacking in the frantic, high speed 3D gameplay Unleashed offered. But I think Colors is probably the most well executed out of the "meta era" games and deserves far less scorn than the games that followed because the issues aren't really most of what Colors did, what it did was what the series needed at the time, but what SEGA learned from Colors' success. Which was, as usual, all of the wrong lessons.
Finally! I was waiting for this one!😍 Sonic Colors was my first ever sonic game and I'm deeply attached to this game. It isn't perfect, but still it's really great. Can't wait for Sonic Colors Ultimate! I've already pre-ordered the physical version of it.... But I'm in Europe so yeah who knows when it will arrive. Btw, really great video! Your reviews are so entertaing! I'm always waiting for a new one.
While I honestly appreciate seeing people give actual explanations why people like Sonic Colors, I can't bring myself to like the game. It's surprisingly good for the Wii, but having sections limited to just linear areas like the drifting is really bland and boring. I can't even see how people say this gameplay is the better version of the Day time stages of Unleashed. Those two are so much more different, and I would say Generations did it the best.
Personally I wouldn't say Unleashed day stages are inferior at all but VS the WHOLE game with it's 30min werehog stages and medal collecting? No contest for me. Generations is still king for me though.
Same not to mention the damn writing, it's cringy as all get out. I find Colors a water down version of Unleashed. People hate Unleashed due to the werehog stages but Unleashed has so much charm and passion. Something SEGA team has yet to replicate.
@@grimsonforce7504 All sonic stories are cringey as hell. It's why the son fanbase is one of the few where fan stories don't feel different from the source.
Sonic Colours is, and will always be, my favourite Sonic game, ever. It's the first Wii game me and my brothers got (with Mario Kart and a sports game) and the second Sonic game I've ever played (Sonic rush was my first). I've always enjoyed playing this game, loved the music and still do and never really minded any of the bugs or the filler level. This game is apart my childhood (I was 8 when we got it, on Christmas 2011) and that was the beginning of me actually focusing on the sonic games. Now, we've got several sonic games, like Unleashed and dark knight, but also the ds version of Sonic generation and Chronicles (which I did enjoy, the sound effects were horrible and I'm still confused on why you can restart the whole story with maxed out characters) and still have Sonic rush. We do have generation on steam aswell and also got Colours ultimate (which, by the way, has several bugs, and for some reasons gave me 99,999 tokens :^) but I still love playing them. It will always be something I enjoy playing.
It is such a Sega move to basically perfect the boost formula by generations and then decide to completely abandon it. Then to not only bring It back later, but actually make it worse.
Tbh I liked the first three boost games even better than the Adventure era even if I'm nostalgic for the Adventure formula and am genuinely hoping for them to bring it back (especially since the jank can hopefully be fixed and the more aged elements can be given modern improvements). Not sure what happened with Forces given how well they did it's formula three games in a row.
@@heavydonkeykong5190 Agreed. I love the adventure games and if they ever release them I will buy them in a heartbeat, but the boost formula is where Sonic should be at. The issue with forces was a few things. Some of these things are more personal, some of them I feel they were more objective. On the personal side, bringing back classic Sonic and shoving in the OCs, pulled focus away from the actual fun of the game. Imagine if we didn't have those two game types bogging down the experience, how much more focus would have gone into Sonic's gameplay. The issue with gameplay is that the physics are nothing like the first three boost games and added with simplified level design, means that repeat playthroughs get very boring very fast. Sega or more accurately, Sonic team, needs to learn that gimmicks are not inherently fun. Every time they seem to have something good, instead of refining it, they just bog it down with gimmicks. Colors is fine, but I hate the wisps and planet wisp is the one level that I absolutely despise in generations. I do not understand why Sonic team keeps killing the fun of playing a Sonic game, by making you stop going fast just to do the mini game that they set up for you.
@@mathewhaight Classic Sonic feels like an attempt to add more playstyles without having to use one of Sonic's friends. It worked for a game like Generations but in Forces, it's weakly justified. Heck even the Avatar feels like a way to take advantage of the Resistance element without using one of the other characters.
@@heavydonkeykong5190 Exactly. I don't actually have particular issue with the classic stages in generations as that was meant to be a anniversary game. On top of that, I feel those classic stages are actually well designed. Forces however, feels so underwhelming and it's designed.
@@heavydonkeykong5190 What happened with Forces is that the developers spent 3 years on the graphics and 1 year on the actual gameplay, not to mention that there were only 3 level designers and two of them had no experience with making a Sonic game (the other one was one of the developers of Sonic Lost World). Combine that with Forces' engine being a modified Lost World engine, and you have a recipe for disaster.
One of the things I don't like is how Sonic was to quick to assume Eggman was doing something evil which he was but he didn't even give a second thought just "Oh Eggman built a amusement park he's plotting something evil"
As someone who grew up playing colors, it's actually nice to see that someone else still has a positive opinion on it. After Johnny's review I was beginning to question if Colors really was as good as I thought it was, but I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who still loves colors. Before any of you accuse me of being Nostalgia biased, when I was younger I used to hate colors, probably because I was playing with a Wii remote on its side and that is not fun in 3D sections, besides I usually don't like using nostalgia as a factor for why I think the game is good. So yeah colors is and always will be one of my favorite Sonic games of all time. Thank you for the enjoyable Review J! ^^
Since everyone's thrown their 2 cents i'll do it too, Honestly I *did* enjoy the game I just didn't want to play the game after I got super sonic and there was no stage to really use him, it soured my mind as I looked back on the game but as you explain here, I remember that despite my completion feeling hollow the journey to it was fun. It felt great have so many routes in a stage meaning no run can be the same. I may of never liked the 6 acts in an area but that doesn't change the fact that the stages were open.
Ah, Colours. What an interesting game it is. Loved it when it came out, but afterwards began to like it less and less. I recently sold it to CEX for Transformers money. It's not just that the story's garbage, because I can skip the cutscenes, it's the form the level design takes during a lot of the 2D sections. Other Sonic games generally feel like a world, even if it does have floating chunks of land and loops. There are hills, lakes, open sky, mountains, etcetera. But Colours' levels often feel like they were made in a level editor, just repeating chunks of blocky terrain. Also, that double jump. It's not _really_ a double jump, it doesn't seem to take Sonic higher or further than his normal jump in other games, or at least it doesn't feel that way. It feels more like a single-jump that you have to press A twice to use. I'd also echo the sentiment in this comment section that, regardless of opinions on whether Colours is enjoyable or not, SEGA took the wrong lessons from it and tried to repeat the things about it that didn't work as opposed to the things that did. Also I must say that, of all the approaches to Super Sonic, Colours had my least favourite, besides Forces making it DLC. I'm a narrative guy, I can't help it, and I love it when Super Sonic gets brought out at the climax of the story. I like it less when it becomes something Sonic can do from about the middle of his adventure- It kinda removes all the tension from the plot when he gets to spend half the story as an invincible golden god. Also, it comes with the bane that is _Super Sonic Music._ But Colours... well, Colours makes Super Sonic a level-only thing, but also puts him behind a barrier that stops you from accessing it until the end of the game anyway. And if in-level Super Sonic is just for replaying levels after already beating the game... why not have a Super Sonic boss and then unlock him for the levels after that? (In all honesty, my ideal Sonic game has a Super fight at the end of the game, but if the player puts in the effort to get Super form before that, then the Final Boss is harder and you get Hyper form instead)
Here’s the thing with colours The game was what the franchise needed at the time, due to the reaction and response from the “dark age” of sonic games, the next game couldn’t be a failure of any kind, otherwise it would feel like the series wouldn’t survive. We couldn’t have another massive mob full of hateful criticism across the board from reviewers to fans alike. Back then and even now, the werehog got so much hate that any boost game that didn’t have the werehog was automatically better and well received. So when people saw colours without the werehog, people were ecstatic since many people wanted a game that was based entirely on the unleashed day time stages. However this one change was enough to make people overlook all the flaws that colours had back in 2010. Regardless of these flaws the game was praised, this gave sonic team a false sense of reality as to what the fans wanted since even izuka was surprised by the positive reception. An thus we got more games similar to sonic colours, this included all the flaws that fans failed to address during colours initial release. Over reliance of classic elements Over abundance of 2D sections Bland 3D sections The change in tone and charm, becoming more light hearted and meta The writing (bad jokes etc) Shorter and easier stages And especially the wisps To many people this was the best thing that fans had gotten in a long time. So these flaws were glossed over back then. Regardless Sonic team did it. They managed to regain the faith and trust of the fans and even the reviewers. And many people thought that it would only get better from here, however that wasn’t the case. These flaws that I highlight earlier become very prominent in the later sonic games, especially forces and it seems people are looking for the root cause of this. That’s why people are blaming Colours and throwing hate for starting this trend that nobody wanted. Fans didn’t think it could get any worse but it did, because people couldn’t get past their hate for unleashed and see that there were bigger problems infront of them, these flaws have now crept their way into the current and future sonic games
I mostly agree with you that Colors negatively affected the series, but only because Sonic Team took all of the negative aspects from Colors and nothing positive. No game since Colors besides Generations has come close to the quality of level design of Colors. And at this point, Sonic Boom is much more to blame for the current characterization right now and is likely the reason we're stuck with Roger as Sonic forever. Also, Unleashed was disliked for more than just it's werehog stages. The game was just bad. The fps was terrible and the stages consisted of nothing but hallways and QTE's, there were only a handful of said levels and a bunch of awfully designed optional acts, and the game is home of the worst final boss and final level in the series. The werehog was just the absolute low point and was such a glaring issue because it had no place in a sonic game and it's mere existence affected the design of the day stages. It's blatantly apparent that more effort obviously went into the level design of the night stages than the day stages.
@@broom2839 The fact sonic team took all the negatives from sonic colours is exactly why its currently receiving hate that doesn't exempt sonic colours from taking the blame for this current trend because these factors originated from that game however it is not solely colours fault many factors contributed to the current trend of things. Also i don't really agree about sonic boom being the blame for sonics characterization as that is a spinoff game which also didn't succeed financially whereas sonics characterization shift started with sonic colours which came before boom and that was well received hence why i said it gave sonic team a false sense in reality in terms of direction of the series. But i can see your perspective as the line between sonics characterization in boom and the mainline games is very thin, but roger returning for colours ultimate the game that debuted him as sonics voice shows the impact colours had on sonics characterization as rogers tone fits the direction the series has taken since 2010. Also in terms of unleashed, while it did have many flaws the major consensus was day half good, werehog bad which would turnoff people from the game and remove any chance of the game being given a fair chance, the other flaws are minor nitpicks that in my personal opinion are exaggerated such as unleashed being hallways referring to linearity, sonic games have always had a form of linearity in terms of going from point A to point B unleashed is a game that has several alternate pathways and routes such as dragon road, skyscraper scamper, arid sands, jungle joyride, eggmanland, the hallway criticism implies the level design being restrictive and linear when the game is very much open as its very easy to die in the game since it doesnt have invisible walls, QTE's I feel is a personal preference as many games such as spiderman use them frequently and get praised but when sonic does it, its bad. The QTE's adds challenge and makes its cinematic however its execution in unleashed is somewhat flawed as the time requirement to complete the sequence may be too short for those who don't have fast reflexes causing frustrating and unnecessary deaths. However thats not to say they are completely bad as it makes alot of the boss fights very dynamic and cinematic as the button prompts correspond with the visuals making it more interactive. Admittedly the frame rate wasnt optimised the best but because the gameplay was so revolutionary for its time and the execution and presentation was the peak standard for sonic, the frame rate didn't affect my enjoyment of the game or hinder the gameplay for me. It just meant that the experience could have been better. I cant take away from your experience of the game as each to their own but personally i found the final boss for this game to be one of the best as it was unique, cinematic and climactic in execution. I personally found the worst super sonic boss fight to be generations time eater for being uninspired, poorly telegraphed, generic and a boring mess of a boss fight. In terms of the optional acts i don't know what you are referring to by awful specifically but if its the design then i found it challenging and rewarding to complete. These days people equate difficulty as being bad which is why we get games like forces or colours that make levels easier and simpler for younger kids and critics while on the other hand making it less satisfying for long time fans that grew up in a era where sonic games actually challenged the player. I cant understand how you can praise colours for its level design when its barely has any 3D scetions, and the few scetions it does have are automated, simplistic and shortlived. I appreciated unleashed for not only making such innoative, exhilarating, challenging levels that requires fast reflexes and mastery which offers a visual spectacle that is unparalleled but also providing an experience that feels immersive with its environments, hub worlds and inhabitants, the extra levels and dlc stages offers more replay value, the story had the perfect dynamic of serious and light heartedness creating a balance that coheses with the night and day dynamic, the music conveyed a sense of culture and atmosphere throughout the different locations you travel to, the cutscenes are of the same quality of a Pixar animated film. Unleashed is more than just day levels and night levels its an immersive experience that feels like a true world adventure and was shunned due to the radical change of adding the werehog. Hence why when people saw colours they associated it as unleashed without the werehog especially since the game was clearly inspired by the day stages, which was the gameplay style most people enjoyed from unleashed. However because of the criticisms unleashed had, because people dismissed the good qualities of unleashed, fans were reluctant to see that there were much detrimental issues in games like colours and onwards. Unleashed imo is the best sonic game we have ever received and people are only now realising the amount of quality, effort and passion that game had after a whole decade of mediocrity. This isn't universal but as someone who has seen the franchise shift and grow from the classics onwards its very unfortunate how empty and soulless these games feel You talk about the frame rate being awful im unleashed but now we have games with a stable frame rate but no substance or depth. Now we have recycled bosses that are worser iterations with each instalment, now we have levels that play itself and require no involvement, now we have stages that are still linear but barely last longer than a minute, now we have gimmicks that remove punishments by lifting players out of pits due to a self made errors or removing lives making rings and death meaningless, now we have super sonic as a dlc rather than a reward you earn, now we have less multiple playable characters and more contrived wisps inclusions. Personally i find that much worse. All that being said i dont hate colours its one of my favourite games and i believe its getting overhated for trivial reasons but I'm not afraid to admit the problems it has, and what its caused from its reception during a environment where sonics reputation was on the verge of collapse.
Am I the only one who thinks the Meta era is just kind of an inverse of the Dark Age? They both kinda excel at what the other lacked. Like, the Meta era had polished games and decent critical reception but lacked ambition/stories/originality (and vice versa for Dark age).
@FuckOuttaHere Everything before Meta era (especially Dark Age) is perceived as 'ambitious' because the Meta era generally played things very safe in comparison (by reusing old zones, mixing in 2D/Classic Sonic, less depth with stories, etc)
Maybe I'll be the 1st comment lolz Anyways, despite Reach for the Stars being a banger, it's funny to blast that song in the car with friends who get embarrassed XD
Sonic colors is good but my problem with it is that there’s barely any 3D gameplay. It’s basically a 2D sonic game. It’s a great game though overall. I especially loved aquarium park, that’s one of my favorite levels.
@@smashmaster521 I just think they should have advertised it as a 2D game. I laugh whenever someone calls it a 3D sonic game. All of the 3D parts are just hallways too.
@@slwoo7432 I’m not sure where you got 39% from but yeah even so that’s really low. Also the 3D parts themselves are lame, they’re mostly hallways or drifting sections.
While I didn't grow up playing a lot of Sonic, I have a friend who did. For the longest time, Sonic Adventure 2 was the game we would always go back to. But then he boots up Sonic Colors, and I was mind blown when I saw Sonic running through this beautiful green planet with colorful aliens and mechanization, which then transitions into a 2D section like Super Mario Galaxy. And I remember him beating the final boss, only to die over and over on Terminal Velocity Act 2. Anyway, I think it actually dethroned Adventure 2 as his favorite in the series, and I'll have to experience it one day. Though, I won't do it the..."Ultimate" way.
It’s funny. I was playing this game last night again after a few years since I last played it. I expected myself to hate it like I did years ago. I ended up having fun. The level design is great, the soundtrack is amazing, and even if the story is cringeworthy and unremarkable I can just ignore it and *play the game.* Unlike later games where the Wisps became a gimmick, they actually contributed to the stages in this game and offered so much in terms of exploration, seeing new paths, collecting goodies, and being rewarded with Super Sonic again after so many years of being a final boss spectacle just felt so damn good. Unfortunately, this would be the last time Sonic Team would be original with their level themes and just rely on nostalgia pandering over and over until everyone pretty much hates Green Hill now (it was fine in Generations but after we should have been done with it).
Don't forget that the Wisps were actually integrated into Colors' story rather than simply being a power-up. Also, if SEGA has to pander to nostalgia, I'd rather they bring back Emerald Hill instead of bringing back Green Hill and Chemical Plant over and over. Yeah, I know Emerald Hill is just Sonic 2's Green Hill, but I like Emerald Hill more and it still fills the Green Hill quota, so they may as well bring that level back instead.
Oh my God. This is the first Sonic game I ever played back in 2011, and honestly? This single game, to this day, is easily the BEST Sonic game I've ever played. Despite all its issues, I still love this game, both Wii and DS, to this very day. The best part about this game, hands down, is the incredible music. Ranging from the happy-go-lucky pop music of Tropical Resort, the spacey sounds of Starlight Carnival, and of course, the traditional and Jun Senoue-esque rock tracks of Asteroid Coaster and Terminal Velocity. I love this game so much that I was HYPED when I saw it was getting a remaster. Can't wait to see what Sonic Colors Ultimate can do!
I find it so hilarious that I used to hate this game for a short period of time because I thought it controlled like garbage after replaying it, only to realize a few days afterwards that the TV I switched my Wii to had delayed inputs.
I could never hate or even dislike this game. This is my most nostalgic game of all time. I remember getting it for my birthday the year it came out. I remember this game kicking my butt A LOT when I first played it, but it was still the first game I ever beat, and I love it. I appreciate it way more now and enjoy it more too now that I’ve 100%ed the game on dolphin.
2010 was the year Sonic Colors released, that same year, Hasbro released the 4th generation of My Little Pony that being Friendship is Magic. Now in September 2021 a Sonic Colors remastered is coming and a new My Little Pony movie starting the next Generation is also coming. Coincidence, I think NOT.
Man the cutscenes really show how the proportionsof the sonic characters make them hard to animate well. Except Eggman, he's the only character that is animated well. I just think some squash and stretch is needed to make these designs look good in cutscenes. Just so the proportions aren't as restricted to their movement. Cause weirdly enough, sonic boom's cutscenes added some squash and stretch. And they look really good, animation wise
I'm watching this with just a little over an hour until the colors ultimate pre-order release, and I gotta say. You're video is amazing. Recently colors has been getting a lot of hate because it's just not unleashed or generations. And I like that you've addressed that its simpler than unleashed, and you're not unnecessarily ripping the game, you're viewing it from a fair standpoint. And I appreciate that. I definitely plan to watch your other Videos soon
I played colors when i was still a small child, I haven't played a lot of sonic games ever, I've played colors, unleashed and a part of generations, and I can still say with confidence that back when I played Sonic colors, It was the best sonic game to ever come, I've seen gameplay from some other sonic games, and I still stand by the fact that in my mind, no sonic game will ever rival colors, the joy I felt during the final eggman boss fight with the music, the struggle of trying to beat the levels because i sucked at games back then, sonic colors was a vital part of my childhood.
This game also came out around the time where the episode "Freak the freak out" from Victorious came out. Sooooo I kinda assign that song with Sonic Colors a bit.
Ah Sonic Colors my first ever Sonic game. I will forever love this game and (most of) the boost games. There is a good reason why this game was (and sort of is now) praised
God I’m so glad this was a positive video. I’m so tired of this “Colors ruined Sonic” from zoomer fans who don’t like 2010 Sonic and are butthurt this gets a remaster and not unleashed
“no copyright law in the universe is going to stop me” Idk why but I always found that line to be funny makes me thinks that’s how we got sonic in smash bros.
It's even funnier when you remember how Archie Sonic ultimately got cancelled after being gutted with the reboot thanks to Ken Penders suing Archie for his characters...oh, wait, that's not funny at all. It's actually quite depressing.
I don't care what everyone says how crappy the story is or how cringey the voice acting is this is my favorite Sonic game and I'm glad this game is getting a remaster
My copy of Generations got trashed years ago and threw it away in 2019 when it couldn't function beyond the white space before entering the first modern Sonic level. I have a digital download of it now with the casino DLC this time and got all the achievements I failed to figure out last time.
Colours being my first home console sonic game I owned and definitely has a soft spot in my heart and is on my top 5 favourite sonic games loved this video btw it really related with me and other colours fans
I pretty much agree with your opinion. I think Colors it's still really fun, and I love collecting the red rings in the stages. Sad to think about that this was the last time where the ranking system was good because I love getting S ranks in this game. It always felt really satisfying.
Sonic Colors is still great and was what Sonic needed at the time though it really feels like the wrong lessons were taken from this for Lost World and especially Forces in terms of gameplay. The wisps are great here but they've never been used all that well in the subsequent platformers. Now thematically, it has one of my favorite set of stages in the series with great art direction and amazing music.
Agreed. Lost World and Forces being the proof of Sonic Team's learning(or listening) the Wrong lesson's and Just shove everything Colors had into the Future games thinking that's why People loved it.
Yeah. The Wisps were great in Colors because of how they enhanced the gameplay without being intrusive. There were only about 3 times I can think of where they were mandatory in the entire game, Lost World on the other hand made them 100% mandatory almost every time they were used, while also making them control like garbage, and giving no story exclamation for why they were there.
It's quite literally the textbook definition of "shoehorn". I think Forces actually handled them better, in the sense that they were basically superfluous, but that comes at the cost of any depth they may have had. Three of the Wisp abilities are slightly different elaborations of the same thing (Burst, Hover, and Cube literally all have the same function, flight). But I think Void, Lightning, Asteroid, and especially Drill are all useful enough to be incentivized while still being optional.
The main problem comes with Forces' trash level design, with zero alternate pathways. Leading to the only incentive to use a wisp being security or speed, and never Exploration (where they thrive).
So what Sonic needed is a terrible writing ?
@@iceman92211 he didn’t say that
@@Jackattack359 well he said this game is what Sonic needed at the time and this game has terrible writing so
If anything, I feel Sonic Colors has become a victim of its own legacy. Since it was the start of the massive shift in the series' tone, and overuse of 2D which sadly overshadows a lot of what it does really well on its own. Had Colors not had the sort of impact on future games it had, it'd be really easy to look at the weird tone of the story and characters, and large use of 2D sections as odd, but okay for the sake of something new and different to chew on for a little bit. But more importantly, it'd be wayyyyy easier to appreciate and love the game for its intricate, branching level design, neat powerups, amazing art and environment design, and its sheer polish.
Here's something I will say with confidence: I hope with all my heart the meta era with come to a close not just because I want the old tone and style back. But also because it'll make it so much easier to appreciate Colors for what it is without having to worry about any negative influences future games took from it.
Agreed, we are really seeing it be a victim of it's own legacy with this...remaster.
@@JsReviews Honestly Colors didn’t have to be the victim of its own success after what 06 and undeservingly Unleashed caused. But, the ways Sega made and Iizuka felt towards Sonic at the time kept chasing after a success without understanding why it was a success.
Just like everyone else, I hope this potential end of the Meta Era ends in a final high note. Change will always happen and for Sonic, embrace your legacy one final time and begin an era of a new future. So for the new fans, here’s to their era of Sonic a good one…it’s the least Sega could do.
@@JsReviews I'm not sure what you're implying here. Should it not have been re released?
Same as much as I love the meta era its my favorite era I want it to end with ultimate as something as a final thank you gift to everything the era stands for like I say colours I want sonic needed at the time but with ultimate coming soon I think its time to move on to bigger things
@@Soniman001 i think should've re released some older 3d games first
I love how J's review acknowledges how it sucked for him to find out that the ytbers at the time we're very critical about the dark era, and doesn't decide to be hypocritical and repeat the same pattern with the 2010s era, and unfairly bash these games, unlike certain other RUclipsrs....
What other youtuber?
@@Mepphy99 *coughegoraptorcough*
@@Mepphy99 preeemmmy!
@@ShonkTeHonktalks i mean he Is even bad at the games, but i think the intention Is Just to make fun content
Look how game grumps didn't finish Sonic 06 and they reeeeeally were playing bad in Shadow's story
@@Fungiarts oh wow i didn't see much from him, It Is that bad?
This game has alot of unfortunate optics that make its change in reception pretty fascinating. What ultimately just tried to be a fun, simple little romp got put on this lofty pedestal by fans and critics alike simply for not being like what came before it, which helped foster the aggressive, overreactive backlash we have nowadays.
I think alot of the discourse surrounding this game has always been pretty unfair, both to the games that came before it and the game itself.
I think that's a great read, and I totally agree with it.
Embani, I miss your videos.
@@JsReviews I thought you weren’t a fan of the Wii version of Sonic Colours (for more reasons than its story) on your review of some of the Meta Era (2010s) Sonic games, but this video proved me wrong (I think the Wii version is decent, but the DS version is the definitive version and if only Sonic Colours Ultimate would fix what was wrong with the Wii version like the story that feels like a typical Nickelodeon sitcom).
right on the dot
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios Yeah, those too (not the good ones though, but half of the ones of post-2012),
It feels refreshing seeing a review that isn't just "Colors bad", you made good points here. I wouldn't say Colors is the game to blame for shifting the Sonic series but is a symptom of that, the Wisps kept coming back, the stories got worse and Generations ended cementing the returning stages into the series. Sonic Colors is not a bad game, in it's own merits, it looks like a fun game.
colors and generations didn't have the best writing but they were at least tolerable
lost world and forces stories on the other hand
sonic fans are the only ones saying colors was bad, the general consensus is that it was a good game
@Cameron Douglas i honestly i think generations has the best writing of the meta era games the characters aren't trying to tell obnoxious jokes the entire time and from the few times we interact with the extended cast they act like how there suppose to.
your right there's very little of a story in generations but that's probably why i think its the best story of the meta era games cause if there barley a story they can't screw it up.
Plenty of people sucked the dick of this game when it came out including all the big critics. What do you mean all the reviews are saying this game is bad? That's just a new phenomena that cropped up in the sonic fandom which was sorely needed after everyone else treating this game like the coming of jesus.
@Cameron Douglas i feel like lost world is when the writing started to go downhill even as a 9 year old i could tell something wasn't right with the characters in that game.
Say what you will about the Eggman PAs, but the one where his car was getting broken into was perfection.
Honestly the PAs was the part where Pontac and Graff's writing was actually great, would have been cool to have them come up with new lines like that in Forces in areas directly under Eggman's control.
Personal favourites are these three:
“This aquarium is home to many rare and endangered species. Enjoy them with a delicious soy glaze at the Bucket O’ Sushi restaurant!”
“The Bucket O’ Sushi! Now with fish!”
“Remember to keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times. Because there are tiny asteroids moving at incredible speeds hurtling through space. Keeping your hands and feet inside the car won’t prevent you from being hit, but our lawyers tell us we have to say it anyway.”
@@sonicrunn3r895 Yes, those are all some of the better ones.
"Would the owner of a white car shaped like report to the security office? Your car is being broken into pieces, repeat! Your car is- Wait a minute WHAT THE HECK?!"
And the one where he goes "why am I even telling you that spikes are dangerous? It's obvious, these clients man, wait, am I still recording?" He doesn't exactly say what I wrote that's the meaning, and it's hilarious.
This is one of those rare reviews of Sonic Colors that doesn't praise it solely because of not being Shadow - Black Knight. You really dissected this game and disclosed its individual identity.
22:01 - 22:13 lol
yeah i remember you and ruby of blue once said that people often praise sonic game on what they don't have it always annoys me how in most sonic mania reviews reviewers always feel the need to start the video off by bashing older sonic game when they know there are fans of the those games.
you guys are right that is a toxic mindset
Unleashed was the only good game of those 5 games.
@@mason2978 that's your opinion
@@jdawson7877 it was tho. Unleashed deserves more appreciation.
@@mason2978 respect their opinions
I loved the light-hearted tone of Colors and Generations. They're fresh breather episodes after the heavy stories that the Dark Age had. But I think I had enough of it by the time Lost World was released.
Balance is always something cool to have in a series like this imo. Just like we had Heroes after SA2 and Rush/Rush Adventure coming after Shadow/Unleashed respectively, Colors was a good breather after Black Knight. Problem is that we've never gone back to something more serious since (ignoring Forces' failed attempt), if anything it's only gotten more denser and wackier and not even in a good way.
Generations didn't even had a story.
@@felipe_drawmania1604 Generations has what is called an excuse plot. It has a story but it does so little with it that it might as well be non-existent. It's an excuse to revisit old levels.
@@MegaGlassguy I think that Sonic Generations had what Turtles Forever had, which is a meta narrative as stated in J’s review of Turtles Forever (Tv movie and true series finale of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series).
We should the 2010s games, the Light Age because of how light hearted most games are.
I am glad you mentioned that you really only come to Sonic for action/adventure stories. Because I feel like it's a perspective people tend to not really understand when someone talks about why Colors' story (And by extension most of the 2010s stories) doesn't do much for them. Look, if you want to tell a comedy story with Sonic characters go for it, but I don't think the games, seeing as they're the main source of the series' output should really be this overtly comedic ever. It kinda defeats the point of all the time, effort and money that goes into the action oriented gameplay Sonic is known for when the story is such a left turn away from that.
It fits better with the Rise Of The Wisp promo that serves the purpose of advertising the adventure.
The people who you say don't get it see AoSTH as the definitive Sonic characterization since that was the big talking Sonic moment of the '90s when the Blue Blur debuted in a big way. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner cross-on-speed wisecracking, chili dog-chomping, Robuttnik-kicking cartoon teen funnyhog hero. Not all that butt rocking, friend-cluttered, backstory-heavy, magic jewel-harnessing, even-slightly-serious "nonsense". They INDULGE in the Meta Era mocking the past, and those who know Yuji Naka wanted actual seriousness for Sonic call him mad for it and take Sega of America's side. They consider it Sonic rebelling against crazed intentions for him.
Colors is such an important game to me. Despite nowadays I see it more of its flaws and wouldnt consider it great it still holds a special place in my heart. I grew up with it.
Same, I'd had experience with sonic before, through Sonic X, Sonic Underground, some of the Archie Comics, but Colors was my first Sonic Game.
My favorite of Eggman's announcement voice lines is the one on the world map after you reach the final area. The one where he goes "Critical system failure! Repeat: Critical system failure! All attraction access is temporarily suspended. Please exit the park via the emergency exit ahead. This is all your fault."
I like it because he just sounds so serious when he says it. He sounds _almost_ like he's concerned for the safety of his park's visitors... but also with an edge of seething hatred toward Sonic, which is of course why he says "this is all your fault" at the end.
I love Sonic Colors. It’s one of the few games from the Meta Era that I enjoyed playing. Unlike most of the games from the Meta Era which pander towards nostalgia, Sonic Colors manages to have originality and it does it very well. The game is really good in terms of gameplay but I can’t say the same for the story. The story isn’t very strong to begin with but the cringeworthy jokes and the sometimes subpar voice acting from Roger Craig Smith really makes me dislike more than I want to. Other than that I love Sonic Colors.
Perfectly summed up my view on Colors. Even though Colors is far from my favorite Sonic game and preferring the older games like Adventure 2 and Unleashed the hate it gets beyond the story is kinda unfair imo.
Every Sonic game from Colors onward I just use the Japanese voices. I cannot stand Roger Craig Smith as Sonic for the life of me.
i think it's a solid game, i prefer generations and unleashed but this game ain't bad. i can see why people like it, it's just that the level design isn't what i'm looking for in a boost game, though that doesn't mean the level design is necessarily bad. not a fan of the story either, i prefer the adventure games type stories, but i thought there were some funny jokes and the story is inoffensive at least. most of the jokes are cringeworthy but i can let it slide since this is a more lighthearted game, unlike something like forces which is supposed to be serious but has cringeworthy jokes throughout the whole game. the music is pretty good and the ending is very epic.
@@megaman15ish eh your entitled to your opinion
@@megaman15ish I just use the German dub, is pretty solid for the most part.
Joker: If you explain a joke, THERE IS NO JOKE!!!
Some of these optional routes are kinda cool, forgot about that.
Still, I'll never be able to forgive Colors for wasting it's themepark theme.
How come Sonic Adventure managed to have 10 times the themepark rides and setpieces in ONE LEVEL then Colors ever did over it's entire game. Outside of the rollercoasters in asteroid coaster, the themepark rides have no presence on the gameplay at all. Oh well, focus is supposed to be on the Wisps, I guess.
Heh, thanks for not referring to Colors as a 3d game.
J: Forgive me for having the gameplay footage a little squashed and not in the optimal FPS.
Me: Eh, that pixelated mess conveys my point well enough. Moving on.
I never really thought about the fact the levels didn’t have an amusement park theme. I think it’s because Eggman barely got started building anything but I’m not sure.
@@TimDespairBear11 No creativity and making everything look like candy monopoly
@@bryanc7094 lol that candy level obviously looked like candy but I don’t think other levels do
@@bryanc7094 This makes no sense, the only uncreative level in Colors is maybe Sweet Mountain
Agreed and keep up the great content
Probably the most insightful review on colours there is
Personally I was never the biggest fan of colours but I’m glad people like it. I just wish SEGA had learned what was good about it (interesting level themes, lots of things to discover, polished gameplay) instead of what they thought people liked about it (no story, wisps)
People actually liked the wisps, it was just they overused it in the next games
@@crowkid5553 Wisps were fine but it was not the reason people liked it. Certainly not the literal aliens at least, just the basic concept of power ups.
The humor in Colors is kinda dry for me too, but the cutscene when Sonic gets hyped about winning a bet with Tails before a boss fight and Tails saying "we didn't bet" with him walking away disappointed and cutting right to the boss fight always makes me laugh.
Honestly that's a good example on how the humor is at its best when it's not trying too hard to push it. Had they had Sonic argue back on how they did bet and Tails insisting they didn't would have only killed a simple funny moment like this.
I've never been down with the Colors slander that's been happening in the last few years. Yeah, we get it, the story sucks, but I feel like people blind themselves to just how fun it is.
Colors was the first video game I ever owned personally, And I absolutely loved it. I remembered making up my own Wisp concepts, and listening to the soundtrack on repeat. And there was nothing more satisfying than collecting that final Red Ring, and getting rewarded with Super Sonic.
As much as people look back on it sourly, and claim that it was "the downfall of the series". They often seem to forget that it's also literally what saved the series. Listen... I love ambition in Sonic games. I love it when a game feels like it has a genuine sense of scope... But not every single game needs to be the next big thing. Sometimes some simple fun is all you need.
People need to learn how to like something for what it is
Even as someone who genuinely hates Sonic Colors, i feel 90% of it is bandwagoning, since my reasons are different from others. I even love the story being simple and a Sonic 1 callback, even if the writing leaves much to be desired. But it feels lots of it is just to bandwagon
@@OnlyGoken Just curious but why do you hate it.
@@nugenefranklin561 it can take a bit but the main thing I dislike isnt the focus on 2D but the levels themselves. Aquarium Park is brilliant but i find the gravity swap of Asteroid Coaster unbearable, there were too many railroaded segments in the game, and some of the bosses like the Tropical Resort, Planet Wisp, Aquarium Park and Sweet Mountain bosses are unbearable for being too easy or too boring. I'm not a fan of most of the wisps either, and i also dislike the, as I call it, intentionally bad level design meant to "encourage" you to come back with a later wisp powerup. Theres a script I made (not shameless plug, this will prolly be out in like 6 years at my rate lmao) and notes I took down about each individual stage, but i think its just a boring game, not even terrible.
I do like some aspects though. Wisp, Drill and to a lesser degree Spike I enjoy, Aquarium Park is 4 great stages, and three bosses are some of the best in the series. Plus like I said I do enjoy the setup of this story. Its hard to fully give my thoughts but i get the appeal, i just dont like the level design much
@@OnlyGoken that’s understandable, nice to know that you enjoy some aspects of the game
I honestly share many of the opinions expressed in this video. The meta era as we call it only really started to negatively affect my views on the Sonic Franchise after Generations. Sure Colors started many of the trends that would lead to what Sonic eventually became and Generations had worrying signs concerning everything about Sonic outside of gameplay. However strictly speaking gameplay early meta era was a very positive experience for me and still is. I love colors and generations and always will.
It's very similar to the new super mario bros series though not many people talk about it. New super mario bros ds was fire but all the games after that followed every trend set by the ds title and as a result were very cookie cutter and forgettable.
@@littlemoth4956 I thought New SMB Wii was great. And if only the Meta Era games were just forgettable.
I personally feel that Boost and Lost World's parkour need each other to really shine and that the former shouldn't allow you to just mindlessly plow through foes but rather be a brief speed burst that isn't dependent on collecting stuff or doing tricks to fill a gauge but instead requires a cooldown period. But your assessment is still fair and good.
And Colors's story could've led into Eggman being redeemed as the space amusement park thing could work as a way for Eggman to build Eggmanland without making trouble for anyone. Yuji Naka did suggest once that Eggman was merely misguided, and that combined with his Sonic Jam profile and all the stuff in the rooms of SA1's Egg Carrier that look like they belong in a kiddie arcade suggest that Eggman's just a manchild who wanted to show people the joys of robotics but was scorned for being careless about it and thus turned spiteful. And at least Generations had a sufficient plot explanation for why only the Sonics were playable (at least in the main story); only their speed could rattle everything back into motion as they raced by it. But it still sucks that it's a legitimate Colors followup instead of a mere joke game, and even outside of that we have bullshit like Tails RUNNING NORMALLY instead of his signature hover-running, having to catch his breath afterwards, and Amy DECKING Knuckles with A MERE BACKHAND. Gross.
@@CarbonRollerCaco I can agree with marrying the boost and parkour mechanics together. I think together they would complete eachother and make boost gameplay a lot less two-dimensional. Adding in platforming challenges on walls and ceilings as you speed by and is also much more player agency focused. I would have to disagree with nerfing the boost though as I personally always responded negatively to nerfing the best thing about these games. Instead I favor the more involved level design approach. Unleashed is my favorite boost title because it was entirely designed around the mechanic and discouraged mindlessly holding down the boost button because there were traps you would run straight into if you didn't pay attention. As time went on it truly became a parody of itself and became the win button because the levels you played in had nothing to make you consider letting the button go.
The nostalgia that Reach for the Stars makes me feel. Sonic Colors for DS was one of my first Sonic games and that intro animation is just. Great.
Gotta admit you surprised me with this video. I love Colors and I was expecting this video to dunk on the game or just call it mediocre (I still would have respected that opinion though). I kinda gotten used to this kind of talk about Colors. After Forces, there has been a big increase in fans trashing Colors because of its story, level design, Wisps and affecting future games. I agree Colors has legitimate flaws that need to be spoken, but fans seemed REALLY done with that game. It felt like it was slowly becoming the new "blacksheep" for Sonic fans.
While I'm fine with people not liking Colors, it was a little disheartening to see. A game that was once appreciated is slowly being treated like how some Dark Age games used to be treated.
I gotta thank you for making this video. It felt like a breath of fresh air. My favourite part was you explaining how alot of the level design and Wisps offered a good amount of exploration. At the end of the day, despite the unappreciation Colors gets, I will always love the game. It was a memorable part of my childhood and it officially pulled me into the Sonic series.
Still one of my top five favorite Sonic games, maybe even top three.
Obviously it's presentation pales in comparison to the rich and grand scope of Unleashed, and most of the bosses aren't nearly as engaging imo, but I think it still does so much right.
"A game that was once appreciated is slowly being treated like how some Dark Age games used to be treated."
And for less good reason than Adventure 2, though still more so than Adventure 1. It's sort of a midway between those two games in terms of proper Sonic game design: generally good gameplay, but inspired the wrong gameplay trends (a la SA1) and was a story derailment (a la SA2).
I find it really weird that the game having a large amount of 2D sections is used as a criticism for the game. It rarely goes much more in depth than that. Like, 2D sections does not equal bad level design, and I find most of the 2D sections fun to play through. In my opinion, it's lazy criticism to say that the game is worse because of it having more 2D sections. At least come up with a reasonable thing to critique like level design being reused in multiple acts, or the fact that some acts take 30 seconds or less to complete, making them feel pointless.
Fun Fact: In the Japanese version of the game, the wisp announcer is voiced by the same person who did the sound for the Gaia Memories from Kamen Rider W
Fumihiko Tachiki? Interesting...
This is still my favorite tid-bit about any Sonic game.
LMAO I wish they implemented a cyclone and joker Wisp power
I think the meta era is bad but I also can look at the positives and colors is one of them. It’s kinda sad people hate this game because of its effects on the era as I don’t feel it’s colors fault Sega got the wrong idea of what to do in the future. The game has good ideas and the final boss fight is truely one of the last great one’s personally. Even the voice acting isn’t bad. Roger started with actual potiential like all Sonic actors it’s just the future games and writing that squandered that, it’s why I’m not angry he is gonna still be sonic because I can see his skill clearly in various forms. Heck this game gave us Kate as tails and while I prefer Colleen I still think she started the great voice of tails. Also Mike is halarious in this game he had so much fun with the lines he was given and I gotta say I’m happy for that.
I agree. Also Mike's Eggman is honestly just perfection for me. Not saying he's the only good Eggman voice, but I just can't help but think of him when imagining Eggman, whether it be comedic and hammy or even serious too.
Deem Bristow will always be my favorite
Colors wasn't special to me since it focused more on unpolished 2d platforming than riding all on the high of total boost and quick reactions from unleashed. I still plan on getting ultimate. Good video.
Alot of the games after 2010 used to much 2d platforming which is just eye rolling
I think it's just because Colors was meant for a Mario audience much like Lost World and Sega assumed that what fans loved so much about Mario was the 2D platforming
@@kaobunn I’m a Mario fan.
@@traviscunningham7062 I never would’ve guessed😏
In all honesty Sonic Unleahsed was only 1/3 of what you described.
Sonic Colours is one of those games where I've not played it in so long and doubted how much I remembered liking it, but I'm definitely looking forwards to checking it out once again with Ultimate. I've gone through all ends of the spectrum, from loving it as a kid, to kinda not liking it, to returning to a point of view of appreciation for what it is.
Here's hoping it stays that way, as it probably should.
Edit: It did!
Here’s to Reaching for the stars once more
The final boss music was purely epic. I think it’s the last main theme turned orchestrated. Which is sad to think about since it 06, unleashed and colors to end it. We haven’t seen it come yet in decade.
While I don't love it as much as I used to, this is still easily one of my favourite Sonic games. Everything still looks and feels great all these years later.
Well, at least to me.
Grew up with the DS version and had just as much fun a time as the Wii version if not more. But I really did appreciate the Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic in the story
@@jaretco6423 the Dual Screen version was my childhood.
@@traviscunningham7062 Réel mec
The flaws may be tolerable now, but let’s just say that Sega didn’t take the best lessons from this game in the long run. Still, it’s good to appreciate this game for what it is and not its legacy in the future.
Colors was the first game that got me into the Sonic franchise I’ve always loved this game and without it I probably wouldn’t be that into Sonic. It always sucked that this came gets current hate but I can understand some of the reasons. However I’m still excited for the remaster and I’m glad it’s getting attention.
Now you know how I feel about all the rampant hate the Sonic Adventure games get. If you like Sonic Colors, more power to you. I had fun with it despite simply finding it to be okay at best, and I do look forward to revisiting it when Sonic Colors Ultimate comes out.
My impressions of Colors had always been a mixed bag from day 1, literally. I still remember 12 year old super excited when he received the game on Chritmas and playing it that same day. It was the first Sonic game to make me think "That's it?" after completing certain levels such as Tropical Resort Act 4 or just completing the game in 2 hours. I remember being so pumped when the Phase 2 music of the final boss kicked (absolute masterpiece even today) but then was quickly let down by seeing that nothing new was really happening in the fight. Even so, little me was excited at unlocking those extra levels and kept on going, and ended up getting multiple weeks of fun. Colors is really a game that is meant to be played with the intent to find every nook and cranny to really enjoy it, but even then it always felt like it was always lacking in something to me.
And for the reception at the time, it was also mixed for me. Seeing a Sonic game get so much great reception felt amazing, but it quickly started to get muddled when seeing people use the game as an excuse to bash everything that came before (not unlike how some would use Mania in years to come).
I think the best way to enjoy sonic colors is to not think of it like Unleashed/Generations. Those games were more about quick reaction and memorization, but Colors focuses more on platforming and exploration. It’s still not perfect but I don’t think it was ever meant to be seen as a super ambitious fast paced game. Hell, they literally only put it on Wii for a reason. I still prefer Unleashed slightly more but Colors is always a fun romp, and I’m glad you’ve warmed up to it a lot more than you used to. Although even if you still didn’t like it that’s still a valid onion
Yeah, I made the mistake of trying to play Colors as if I would be able to Boost through the levels often, which is part of why I consider it to be okay at best; I don't get to Boost enough in it.
Honestly I love the fact Colors has a lighthearted story, Heroes had one as well, it doesn’t hurt for another game to have one
I think Colours style of writing really got grating as the series went on, but coming off a decade of dark and story heavy (for Sonic) games, it was a welcome change of pace at the time.
Heroes I feel does a better job of being light hearted. It still has its moments of intensity. Even so at the time, Colors was a welcome breath of fresh. By the time Generations came, people wanted another serious game again and we just didn't get one.
Both plots are simpler, but Heroes isn't necessarily light-hearted imo
Heroes gets a lot of shit on too for being not as good compared to Adventure 1 or 2 in terms of storytelling. But of the trilogy, I really enjoy Heroes’ story. The more whimsical, feel free and heartfelt story with set pieces and action moments of intensity make Heroes a really good finale of the Adventure trilogy. Sometimes one upping previous entries can result in failure but living up to the standard is more than enough for a game. Hence that’s what Heroes did, lived up to the previous adventure games, but didn’t try to one up its sequel, which imo, had a much worse story than Adventure 1
Heroes doesn’t have extremely cringe jokes in it and don’t treat the characters like they’re memes
This is my favorite game ever. Both the the Wii and DS version show some great level design and fun.
Colors is amazing.
Dolphin too is the reason I skip the Switch remaster but I don't think it matters much.
The stages are fun, the humour in my opinion is funny and the music very catchy (especially Aquarium Park and Planet Wisp).
Plus, the amount of supported input methods was insane! Next to Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this game was the best looking thing on Wii back in the day.
As a 12-13 year old in 2010, I remember waiting for Sonic Colors. I was going to quit the series if they didn't have a "completely good game". Thankfully, Colors came at the right time for idiot younger me who thought Unleashed was bad because "Werehog=bad".
The only way I can describe Sonic Colors is "2010's good vibes"
I feel like nobody talks about Colors DS, it's so good
It's Sonic Rush but with more defined level structure and with a brighter art direction
He talked about the DS version in his Sonic Rush video.
Colors DS is actually my favorite version for that exact reason.
Man, this game is a masterpiece in my opinion-- ESPECIALLY the DS Version! Sonic Colors has so much personality, unique gameplay mechanics, a fun story, excellent voice acting and graphics for its time, the S O U N D T R A C K O M F G, and STELLAR gameplay! I still return to it to this day and I appreciate this video!
Cool that you have a newfound appreciation for Colours, and great video as always, but personally, this is a game that's gotten worse with age. Ignoring the games that came after, I'm just not down with this kind of humour for a more comedic Sonic game, especially when other games seem to have a better take on that kind of direction, on top of primarily playing a 2.5D game with a gameplay style I don't think is greatly suited to a higher emphasis on platforming, and the acts that were either split in two, or were filler are yet another contributing factor. Really can't understand how people lauded this as Sonic's proper transition to 3D. But who knows, maybe I'll eventually find a newfound appreciation for the game too.
I'm really glad I only played this and generations in the meta era until forces, cause it's absolutely a game that gets more unoriginal and bland the more others try to copy it.
Like many others, My opinion on Colors was soured after Lost World, Forces, and to a lesser extent Generations. But I went through the Wii and DS version to prep for Ultimate.
Colors ain’t perfect. It set a precedent for a lot of the negative behaviors in future installments, BUT, Colors is still a classic to myself and many other people.
I would love to see Sonic Riders make a return, maybe Sumo digital can work on it.
I hope so, free rides really killed the series
Even though the story may be crap, I’m gonna enjoy the game. And I don’t mind the wisps at all, they’re like pretty good power-ups since the likes of the invincibility, and shield boxes
The story isn't crap. It's just simpler. The writing and English script is crap tho
@@precieux6303 yeah, you’re right
That's honestly the kind of opinion I have on Lost World too. But I think the extra material that has been provided in the leadup to Sonic Colours Ultimate is retroactively making the plot better overall.
@@precieux6303 You can make a story simple without making it a glorified stand up comedy act. Look at Heroes, for instance.
@@chrisdelgado4621 heroes story was perfect
1:41 I know Colors usually gets a lot of flak for the dialogue but this was actually pretty gold. Sonic mentions blowing up a "giant killer robot" and that's so normal for them Tails is like "oh word? Shopping??" Like let's forget about Baldy McNosehair and Sonic mentioning copyright law for just a second to appreciate the few jokes that actually land
You’re right. Going forward we need to make good and fair points for the 2010s Sonic games, we need to do better than the generation that came before us, and not unfairly criticize the games that younger Sonic fans might themselves love
We can’t ignore the flaws tho, if it came down to me I’d have to just say this: these games aren’t bad, but they could be much better, I want Sonic Team to DO better, and learn the right lessons from each game they make, and not give up on something when it doesn’t quite work the first time.
I got this game for Christmas and I played the crap out of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved all the planets with Sweet Mountain and Aquarium Park being my favorites. The soundtrack is beautiful omg. I almost 100% the game but I couldn't get the S Rank on the Final Boss. Yes, I even collected all the Red Star Rings and Chaos Emeralds. Sadly I don't have my Wii anymore.
RIP my 99% complete Sonic Colors file ;_;
And here I thought I was the only one that found super sonic wasn't fun in colors. You cant use wisps and he's pretty much just infinite boost.
You also have to 100% the game to get him so you don't even get the satisfaction of using him to get red rings.
Overall great review.
I like Colors' ending. Was fun.
I really hate how this game and generations get lumped in with the stinkers later on. It started many of the trends, but back then, it wasn't oversaturated to death. People need to realize this was a breath of fresh air compared to the past years.
Most people do still like Generations. Usually that’s considered the best of the modern 3D stuff since 2010.
Id say everyone's main issue is the terrible writing trend it brought on and making the wisps basically more important than sonics friends.
I can't really over the fact the writing got so childish
Generations I feel gets a pass for its lackluster storytelling or its somewhat boring challenge gates because that game was supposed to be an anniversary and celebration of Sonic’s 20 years. Even if the adventure isn’t super new, its just Sega showing their love and care for Sonic by bringing in all the classic stages and references from some of my favourite games in the franchise. Not by being blantant nostalgia or something just so people can buy our buck, but by showing care and celebration for the Blue Blur’s 20 years. I wish we got another game like that this year for Sonic’s 30th anniversary
@@cloudshines812 Imagine if the secondary missione had a separate stage, that would have +2 points
Its all about how everything in the game works with each other, and how much the wisps add to the exploration and fun, i love it
"being disappointed with Ben 10 ultimate alien" that's an interesting topic for a video ngl. I personally felt the daggon arc in season 3 was weaker than the season 3 of alien force
Damn, that's saying a lot
I felt disappointed for Ultimate Alien but everyone else seemed to really love it, so I never spoke about it
Ultimate Alien is where I fell off the franchise. It just started off so boring. Looking it up, it does sound like it gets more interesting, so maybe I'll give it another chance (if I ever run out of stuff to watch).
@@NinjaPieceLOL true. The only bit I liked about UA was the Kevin arc and the ending. Omniverse restored my interest in the franchise but it doesn't help that many think that Omniverse is complete shit
@@majesticmo5048 Ben doesnt kill Aggregor but wants to kill Kevin, aight. UA S3's ending is also boring. Tho I do love UAF
Honestly, Colors does well what CD needed to improve: exploration. In CD, since there are too many weird platforms and spring placements on top of the time travel, the exploration didn't feel that great. In Colors, you can explore using the Wisps and the boost, you have a double jump to help you get to higher zones and you have 3D sections that are incredibly fun. This is my opinion tho, if you disagree, feel free to do so
Both the Wii and DS versions of this game were my first 3D and 2D Sonic games respectively. And I have Mario and Sonic 2012 to thank for that.
Oh? Why's that?
@@smashmaster521 Back then, I had the choice between that and Disney Universe, and I chose Mario and Sonic. Sometime later I got Sonic Colors DS, and it ended up being my first Sonic game.
Every game has its flaws. Colors is still great because of its gameplay and concepts, meanwhile having cruddy characterization. Like other games, Colors is still appreciable in its own ways, like how 06 was a mess, yet could still be appreciated of its ideas, or even Unleashed for bringing great gameplay AND a great story, yet Werehog gameplay is debatable.
when it comes to the werehog it really just depends on your taste like if your only playing a sonic game to go fast then maybe unleashed is not the game for you.
it is for me though.
@@jdawson7877 Personally, I think the Werehog has some questionable design choices that make it less fun to play as a hack n' slash. That's just me though
@@jdawson7877 Statistically the Werehog levels take up the majority of the gameplay,so If you don't like those levels you pretty much won't like more than half of the game.
I see Unleashed as having an boost gameplay an unique idea. Just heavily flawed with how inconsistent the gameplay & level designs can be at times. Plus the Werehog; which I don't hate, but doesn't like it all that much either. Colors almost redefined it by taken some bad parts from Unleashed and added some unique ideas like the Wisp to be better. But sacrifices itself from the heavy blocky and questionable level designs. But than we got Generations, which nearly perfected it. Way more engaging gameplay, superior level designs, tighter controls, & having Classic Sonic into the mixed was interesting to say the least. Than everything was ruined when Forces came out. What was once near perfected in Generations, got completely butchered in Forces. That's the way I see it.
Great that you have a newfound respect for Sonic Colors, it was always one of my favorites (maybe even my absolute favorite) and yeah I know that’s weird when considering Unleashed and Adventure 1 and 2 and yeah I adore those games (especially Unleashed) but there was always something about it that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe the level concepts and designs? I dunno but all I know is that Sonic Colors was never ever bad.
I did NOT expect J to give a positive review of Sonic Colors.
Neither did I. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. Not too fond of the shade he threw at Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, though.
Awesome video J, I thought you were going bash the story in this game but I was very surprised when you didn’t
Nope this games like crappy sonic games like 06 black night the werehog etc the dark age games are shit
Ik this is a video about Sonic Colors but when he mentioned Cosmic Destruction, the memories and nostalgia kicked in so hard
People sleep on the DS version but it was great as well. Basically a sequel to Sonic Rush.
Lucky for me, I've never slept on a game that good. ruclips.net/video/fiwn3IoSTVA/видео.html
couldnt agree more with the story aspect, I never really looked at this to be a significant part in the sonic series and kinda brushed it off as a side story until I noticed the wisps were used in later games and was somewhat dissapointed that sonic was just gonna be in this static state and never move on with all these side characters doing nothing. Maybe Forces changed that but I havent decided to check it out, for reasons we all know
I just wish people wouldn’t get mad over people liking this game. We all have different tastes and we can’t change it. If people are mad over how the franchise changed, they should go after the critics.
Anyway ignoring that mini rant great video :)
Edit: Ugh they even invaded this video
I mean, I get a lot more mad about people calling it a return to form(which is misunderstanding the classic games completely) than people liking it. Because I myself like Shadow the Hedgehog and that is not the most popular game of all time.
Or the opposite end, convincing yourself you only like it cause of nostalgia. The amount of people I've seen in comment sections bashing on this game that are all like "wow I can't believe I liked this game" like they can't form their own damn opinion is maddening.
I don’t get mad at people for liking this game I just don’t like the game as much
@@rvght_YOU DON’T LIKE GAME. EEBSISNWW JSKXMD DEBEHSJDHBEEBSBSN.
jk
Really I don't think Colors is warranted a passionate hatred of any kind, and I say that as someone who bought the game as a kid and wound up dropping it out of disappointment (it was marketed as basically Unleashed but just the day stages and as someone who only had a Wii and didn't own Wii Unleashed, I got Colors instead, and found it to be lacking in the frantic, high speed 3D gameplay Unleashed offered.
But I think Colors is probably the most well executed out of the "meta era" games and deserves far less scorn than the games that followed because the issues aren't really most of what Colors did, what it did was what the series needed at the time, but what SEGA learned from Colors' success. Which was, as usual, all of the wrong lessons.
The tough palace: alright sonic, how tough are ya? sonic: I outran a blackhole. t-this way please
Finally! I was waiting for this one!😍 Sonic Colors was my first ever sonic game and I'm deeply attached to this game. It isn't perfect, but still it's really great. Can't wait for Sonic Colors Ultimate! I've already pre-ordered the physical version of it.... But I'm in Europe so yeah who knows when it will arrive. Btw, really great video! Your reviews are so entertaing! I'm always waiting for a new one.
It was my second Sonic game. Sonic X on Leapster (the most obscure sonic game of all time) was my actual first.
When I first heard "Final Color Blaster", I felt like I went from a kid to a man. Such a hype line to finish up the final boss
While I honestly appreciate seeing people give actual explanations why people like Sonic Colors, I can't bring myself to like the game. It's surprisingly good for the Wii, but having sections limited to just linear areas like the drifting is really bland and boring. I can't even see how people say this gameplay is the better version of the Day time stages of Unleashed. Those two are so much more different, and I would say Generations did it the best.
Personally I wouldn't say Unleashed day stages are inferior at all but VS the WHOLE game with it's 30min werehog stages and medal collecting? No contest for me. Generations is still king for me though.
Well tbf people have opinions
Some may not enjoy Unleashed
Same not to mention the damn writing, it's cringy as all get out. I find Colors a water down version of Unleashed. People hate Unleashed due to the werehog stages but Unleashed has so much charm and passion. Something SEGA team has yet to replicate.
@@grimsonforce7504 All sonic stories are cringey as hell. It's why the son fanbase is one of the few where fan stories don't feel different from the source.
Sonic unleashed was held back by some awful physics in the game like drifting and the stiffness u had while boosting
Sonic Colours is, and will always be, my favourite Sonic game, ever. It's the first Wii game me and my brothers got (with Mario Kart and a sports game) and the second Sonic game I've ever played (Sonic rush was my first). I've always enjoyed playing this game, loved the music and still do and never really minded any of the bugs or the filler level. This game is apart my childhood (I was 8 when we got it, on Christmas 2011) and that was the beginning of me actually focusing on the sonic games.
Now, we've got several sonic games, like Unleashed and dark knight, but also the ds version of Sonic generation and Chronicles (which I did enjoy, the sound effects were horrible and I'm still confused on why you can restart the whole story with maxed out characters) and still have Sonic rush. We do have generation on steam aswell and also got Colours ultimate (which, by the way, has several bugs, and for some reasons gave me 99,999 tokens :^) but I still love playing them.
It will always be something I enjoy playing.
It is such a Sega move to basically perfect the boost formula by generations and then decide to completely abandon it.
Then to not only bring It back later, but actually make it worse.
Tbh I liked the first three boost games even better than the Adventure era even if I'm nostalgic for the Adventure formula and am genuinely hoping for them to bring it back (especially since the jank can hopefully be fixed and the more aged elements can be given modern improvements). Not sure what happened with Forces given how well they did it's formula three games in a row.
@@heavydonkeykong5190 Agreed. I love the adventure games and if they ever release them I will buy them in a heartbeat, but the boost formula is where Sonic should be at.
The issue with forces was a few things. Some of these things are more personal, some of them I feel they were more objective. On the personal side, bringing back classic Sonic and shoving in the OCs, pulled focus away from the actual fun of the game. Imagine if we didn't have those two game types bogging down the experience, how much more focus would have gone into Sonic's gameplay.
The issue with gameplay is that the physics are nothing like the first three boost games and added with simplified level design, means that repeat playthroughs get very boring very fast.
Sega or more accurately, Sonic team, needs to learn that gimmicks are not inherently fun. Every time they seem to have something good, instead of refining it, they just bog it down with gimmicks. Colors is fine, but I hate the wisps and planet wisp is the one level that I absolutely despise in generations. I do not understand why Sonic team keeps killing the fun of playing a Sonic game, by making you stop going fast just to do the mini game that they set up for you.
@@mathewhaight Classic Sonic feels like an attempt to add more playstyles without having to use one of Sonic's friends. It worked for a game like Generations but in Forces, it's weakly justified.
Heck even the Avatar feels like a way to take advantage of the Resistance element without using one of the other characters.
@@heavydonkeykong5190 Exactly. I don't actually have particular issue with the classic stages in generations as that was meant to be a anniversary game. On top of that, I feel those classic stages are actually well designed. Forces however, feels so underwhelming and it's designed.
@@heavydonkeykong5190 What happened with Forces is that the developers spent 3 years on the graphics and 1 year on the actual gameplay, not to mention that there were only 3 level designers and two of them had no experience with making a Sonic game (the other one was one of the developers of Sonic Lost World). Combine that with Forces' engine being a modified Lost World engine, and you have a recipe for disaster.
One of the things I don't like is how Sonic was to quick to assume Eggman was doing something evil which he was but he didn't even give a second thought just "Oh Eggman built a amusement park he's plotting something evil"
As someone who grew up playing colors, it's actually nice to see that someone else still has a positive opinion on it. After Johnny's review I was beginning to question if Colors really was as good as I thought it was, but I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who still loves colors. Before any of you accuse me of being Nostalgia biased, when I was younger I used to hate colors, probably because I was playing with a Wii remote on its side and that is not fun in 3D sections, besides I usually don't like using nostalgia as a factor for why I think the game is good. So yeah colors is and always will be one of my favorite Sonic games of all time. Thank you for the enjoyable Review J! ^^
Since everyone's thrown their 2 cents i'll do it too, Honestly I *did* enjoy the game I just didn't want to play the game after I got super sonic and there was no stage to really use him, it soured my mind as I looked back on the game but as you explain here, I remember that despite my completion feeling hollow the journey to it was fun. It felt great have so many routes in a stage meaning no run can be the same. I may of never liked the 6 acts in an area but that doesn't change the fact that the stages were open.
I wish J was my boyfriend. That way I could play Sonic games all day.
He may be interested in you
@@williamwhite1036 Why? Has he said anything?
@@MJ-mp1ns i was joking
I think someone has a crush 👀
@@williamwhite1036 A girl can dream 🤷♀️
Ah, Colours. What an interesting game it is. Loved it when it came out, but afterwards began to like it less and less. I recently sold it to CEX for Transformers money.
It's not just that the story's garbage, because I can skip the cutscenes, it's the form the level design takes during a lot of the 2D sections. Other Sonic games generally feel like a world, even if it does have floating chunks of land and loops. There are hills, lakes, open sky, mountains, etcetera. But Colours' levels often feel like they were made in a level editor, just repeating chunks of blocky terrain.
Also, that double jump. It's not _really_ a double jump, it doesn't seem to take Sonic higher or further than his normal jump in other games, or at least it doesn't feel that way. It feels more like a single-jump that you have to press A twice to use.
I'd also echo the sentiment in this comment section that, regardless of opinions on whether Colours is enjoyable or not, SEGA took the wrong lessons from it and tried to repeat the things about it that didn't work as opposed to the things that did.
Also I must say that, of all the approaches to Super Sonic, Colours had my least favourite, besides Forces making it DLC.
I'm a narrative guy, I can't help it, and I love it when Super Sonic gets brought out at the climax of the story. I like it less when it becomes something Sonic can do from about the middle of his adventure- It kinda removes all the tension from the plot when he gets to spend half the story as an invincible golden god. Also, it comes with the bane that is _Super Sonic Music._
But Colours... well, Colours makes Super Sonic a level-only thing, but also puts him behind a barrier that stops you from accessing it until the end of the game anyway. And if in-level Super Sonic is just for replaying levels after already beating the game... why not have a Super Sonic boss and then unlock him for the levels after that?
(In all honesty, my ideal Sonic game has a Super fight at the end of the game, but if the player puts in the effort to get Super form before that, then the Final Boss is harder and you get Hyper form instead)
Here’s the thing with colours
The game was what the franchise needed at the time, due to the reaction and response from the “dark age” of sonic games, the next game couldn’t be a failure of any kind, otherwise it would feel like the series wouldn’t survive. We couldn’t have another massive mob full of hateful criticism across the board from reviewers to fans alike.
Back then and even now, the werehog got so much hate that any boost game that didn’t have the werehog was automatically better and well received.
So when people saw colours without the werehog, people were ecstatic since many people wanted a game that was based entirely on the unleashed day time stages. However this one change was enough to make people overlook all the flaws that colours had back in 2010.
Regardless of these flaws the game was praised, this gave sonic team a false sense of reality as to what the fans wanted since even izuka was surprised by the positive reception.
An thus we got more games similar to sonic colours, this included all the flaws that fans failed to address during colours initial release.
Over reliance of classic elements
Over abundance of 2D sections
Bland 3D sections
The change in tone and charm, becoming more light hearted and meta
The writing (bad jokes etc)
Shorter and easier stages
And especially the wisps
To many people this was the best thing that fans had gotten in a long time. So these flaws were glossed over back then.
Regardless Sonic team did it. They managed to regain the faith and trust of the fans and even the reviewers. And many people thought that it would only get better from here, however that wasn’t the case.
These flaws that I highlight earlier become very prominent in the later sonic games, especially forces and it seems people are looking for the root cause of this. That’s why people are blaming
Colours and throwing hate for starting this trend that nobody wanted. Fans didn’t think it could get any worse but it did, because people couldn’t get past their hate for unleashed and see that there were bigger problems infront of them, these flaws have now crept their way into the current and future sonic games
The dark age wasn’t good you dark age Stan go back and play 06
I mostly agree with you that Colors negatively affected the series, but only because Sonic Team took all of the negative aspects from Colors and nothing positive. No game since Colors besides Generations has come close to the quality of level design of Colors. And at this point, Sonic Boom is much more to blame for the current characterization right now and is likely the reason we're stuck with Roger as Sonic forever.
Also, Unleashed was disliked for more than just it's werehog stages. The game was just bad. The fps was terrible and the stages consisted of nothing but hallways and QTE's, there were only a handful of said levels and a bunch of awfully designed optional acts, and the game is home of the worst final boss and final level in the series. The werehog was just the absolute low point and was such a glaring issue because it had no place in a sonic game and it's mere existence affected the design of the day stages. It's blatantly apparent that more effort obviously went into the level design of the night stages than the day stages.
@@schakiarligonde1736 Dude, we get it. You hate the "dark age". Let others have their opinions.
@@broom2839 The fact sonic team took all the negatives from sonic colours is exactly why its currently receiving hate that doesn't exempt sonic colours from taking the blame for this current trend because these factors originated from that game however it is not solely colours fault many factors contributed to the current trend of things. Also i don't really agree about sonic boom being the blame for sonics characterization as that is a spinoff game which also didn't succeed financially whereas sonics characterization shift started with sonic colours which came before boom and that was well received hence why i said it gave sonic team a false sense in reality in terms of direction of the series. But i can see your perspective as the line between sonics characterization in boom and the mainline games is very thin, but roger returning for colours ultimate the game that debuted him as sonics voice shows the impact colours had on sonics characterization as rogers tone fits the direction the series has taken since 2010.
Also in terms of unleashed, while it did have many flaws the major consensus was day half good, werehog bad which would turnoff people from the game and remove any chance of the game being given a fair chance, the other flaws are minor nitpicks that in my personal opinion are exaggerated such as unleashed being hallways referring to linearity, sonic games have always had a form of linearity in terms of going from point A to point B unleashed is a game that has several alternate pathways and routes such as dragon road, skyscraper scamper, arid sands, jungle joyride, eggmanland, the hallway criticism implies the level design being restrictive and linear when the game is very much open as its very easy to die in the game since it doesnt have invisible walls, QTE's I feel is a personal preference as many games such as spiderman use them frequently and get praised but when sonic does it, its bad. The QTE's adds challenge and makes its cinematic however its execution in unleashed is somewhat flawed as the time requirement to complete the sequence may be too short for those who don't have fast reflexes causing frustrating and unnecessary deaths. However thats not to say they are completely bad as it makes alot of the boss fights very dynamic and cinematic as the button prompts correspond with the visuals making it more interactive. Admittedly the frame rate wasnt optimised the best but because the gameplay was so revolutionary for its time and the execution and presentation was the peak standard for sonic, the frame rate didn't affect my enjoyment of the game or hinder the gameplay for me. It just meant that the experience could have been better.
I cant take away from your experience of the game as each to their own but personally i found the final boss for this game to be one of the best as it was unique, cinematic and climactic in execution. I personally found the worst super sonic boss fight to be generations time eater for being uninspired, poorly telegraphed, generic and a boring mess of a boss fight.
In terms of the optional acts i don't know what you are referring to by awful specifically but if its the design then i found it challenging and rewarding to complete. These days people equate difficulty as being bad which is why we get games like forces or colours that make levels easier and simpler for younger kids and critics while on the other hand making it less satisfying for long time fans that grew up in a era where sonic games actually challenged the player. I cant understand how you can praise colours for its level design when its barely has any 3D scetions, and the few scetions it does have are automated, simplistic and shortlived. I appreciated unleashed for not only making such innoative, exhilarating, challenging levels that requires fast reflexes and mastery which offers a visual spectacle that is unparalleled but also providing an experience that feels immersive with its environments, hub worlds and inhabitants, the extra levels and dlc stages offers more replay value, the story had the perfect dynamic of serious and light heartedness creating a balance that coheses with the night and day dynamic, the music conveyed a sense of culture and atmosphere throughout the different locations you travel to, the cutscenes are of the same quality of a Pixar animated film. Unleashed is more than just day levels and night levels its an immersive experience that feels like a true world adventure and was shunned due to the radical change of adding the werehog. Hence why when people saw colours they associated it as unleashed without the werehog especially since the game was clearly inspired by the day stages, which was the gameplay style most people enjoyed from unleashed. However because of the criticisms unleashed had, because people dismissed the good qualities of unleashed, fans were reluctant to see that there were much detrimental issues in games like colours and onwards.
Unleashed imo is the best sonic game we have ever received and people are only now realising the amount of quality, effort and passion that game had after a whole decade of mediocrity.
This isn't universal but as someone who has seen the franchise shift and grow from the classics onwards its very unfortunate how empty and soulless these games feel
You talk about the frame rate being awful im unleashed but now we have games with a stable frame rate but no substance or depth. Now we have recycled bosses that are worser iterations with each instalment, now we have levels that play itself and require no involvement, now we have stages that are still linear but barely last longer than a minute, now we have gimmicks that remove punishments by lifting players out of pits due to a self made errors or removing lives making rings and death meaningless, now we have super sonic as a dlc rather than a reward you earn, now we have less multiple playable characters and more contrived wisps inclusions. Personally i find that much worse.
All that being said i dont hate colours its one of my favourite games and i believe its getting overhated for trivial reasons but I'm not afraid to admit the problems it has, and what its caused from its reception during a environment where sonics reputation was on the verge of collapse.
@@schakiarligonde1736 Ignorant statement, goes to show you didnt bother to read my comment.
Am I the only one who thinks the Meta era is just kind of an inverse of the Dark Age? They both kinda excel at what the other lacked. Like, the Meta era had polished games and decent critical reception but lacked ambition/stories/originality (and vice versa for Dark age).
@FuckOuttaHere Everything before Meta era (especially Dark Age) is perceived as 'ambitious' because the Meta era generally played things very safe in comparison (by reusing old zones, mixing in 2D/Classic Sonic, less depth with stories, etc)
Maybe I'll be the 1st comment lolz Anyways, despite Reach for the Stars being a banger, it's funny to blast that song in the car with friends who get embarrassed XD
I'm gonna be sad when we get to end. These are EASILY my favorite videos reviewing the sonic series on youtube.
Sonic colors is good but my problem with it is that there’s barely any 3D gameplay. It’s basically a 2D sonic game. It’s a great game though overall. I especially loved aquarium park, that’s one of my favorite levels.
Yeah, that is a big problem Sonic Colors suffers from.
@@smashmaster521 I just think they should have advertised it as a 2D game. I laugh whenever someone calls it a 3D sonic game. All of the 3D parts are just hallways too.
It’s still better than pretty much all the dark age games like 06 this guy is an idiot he likes crappy games
I wouldn’t say barely it’s 39% 3D but I get your point
@@slwoo7432 I’m not sure where you got 39% from but yeah even so that’s really low. Also the 3D parts themselves are lame, they’re mostly hallways or drifting sections.
While I didn't grow up playing a lot of Sonic, I have a friend who did. For the longest time, Sonic Adventure 2 was the game we would always go back to. But then he boots up Sonic Colors, and I was mind blown when I saw Sonic running through this beautiful green planet with colorful aliens and mechanization, which then transitions into a 2D section like Super Mario Galaxy. And I remember him beating the final boss, only to die over and over on Terminal Velocity Act 2. Anyway, I think it actually dethroned Adventure 2 as his favorite in the series, and I'll have to experience it one day. Though, I won't do it the..."Ultimate" way.
It’s funny. I was playing this game last night again after a few years since I last played it. I expected myself to hate it like I did years ago.
I ended up having fun. The level design is great, the soundtrack is amazing, and even if the story is cringeworthy and unremarkable I can just ignore it and *play the game.*
Unlike later games where the Wisps became a gimmick, they actually contributed to the stages in this game and offered so much in terms of exploration, seeing new paths, collecting goodies, and being rewarded with Super Sonic again after so many years of being a final boss spectacle just felt so damn good.
Unfortunately, this would be the last time Sonic Team would be original with their level themes and just rely on nostalgia pandering over and over until everyone pretty much hates Green Hill now (it was fine in Generations but after we should have been done with it).
Don't forget that the Wisps were actually integrated into Colors' story rather than simply being a power-up.
Also, if SEGA has to pander to nostalgia, I'd rather they bring back Emerald Hill instead of bringing back Green Hill and Chemical Plant over and over. Yeah, I know Emerald Hill is just Sonic 2's Green Hill, but I like Emerald Hill more and it still fills the Green Hill quota, so they may as well bring that level back instead.
The dark age games suck especially 06 sonic fans are idiots
@@schakiarligonde1736 Oh, be quiet, you.
24:42 how cool is that?! Can't wait to see that in beautiful 4K 60FPS in Sonic Colors: Ultimate!
Just binged your older sonic stuff perfect timing
Oh my God. This is the first Sonic game I ever played back in 2011, and honestly? This single game, to this day, is easily the BEST Sonic game I've ever played. Despite all its issues, I still love this game, both Wii and DS, to this very day. The best part about this game, hands down, is the incredible music. Ranging from the happy-go-lucky pop music of Tropical Resort, the spacey sounds of Starlight Carnival, and of course, the traditional and Jun Senoue-esque rock tracks of Asteroid Coaster and Terminal Velocity. I love this game so much that I was HYPED when I saw it was getting a remaster. Can't wait to see what Sonic Colors Ultimate can do!
I find it so hilarious that I used to hate this game for a short period of time because I thought it controlled like garbage after replaying it, only to realize a few days afterwards that the TV I switched my Wii to had delayed inputs.
I could never hate or even dislike this game. This is my most nostalgic game of all time. I remember getting it for my birthday the year it came out. I remember this game kicking my butt A LOT when I first played it, but it was still the first game I ever beat, and I love it. I appreciate it way more now and enjoy it more too now that I’ve 100%ed the game on dolphin.
2010 was the year Sonic Colors released, that same year, Hasbro released the 4th generation of My Little Pony that being Friendship is Magic.
Now in September 2021 a Sonic Colors remastered is coming and a new My Little Pony movie starting the next Generation is also coming.
Coincidence, I think NOT.
Interesting 🧐🧐🧐
Sweet Celestia, stop making me feel OLD!
Man the cutscenes really show how the proportionsof the sonic characters make them hard to animate well. Except Eggman, he's the only character that is animated well.
I just think some squash and stretch is needed to make these designs look good in cutscenes. Just so the proportions aren't as restricted to their movement. Cause weirdly enough, sonic boom's cutscenes added some squash and stretch. And they look really good, animation wise
I'm watching this with just a little over an hour until the colors ultimate pre-order release, and I gotta say. You're video is amazing. Recently colors has been getting a lot of hate because it's just not unleashed or generations. And I like that you've addressed that its simpler than unleashed, and you're not unnecessarily ripping the game, you're viewing it from a fair standpoint. And I appreciate that. I definitely plan to watch your other Videos soon
I played colors when i was still a small child, I haven't played a lot of sonic games ever, I've played colors, unleashed and a part of generations, and I can still say with confidence that back when I played Sonic colors, It was the best sonic game to ever come, I've seen gameplay from some other sonic games, and I still stand by the fact that in my mind, no sonic game will ever rival colors, the joy I felt during the final eggman boss fight with the music, the struggle of trying to beat the levels because i sucked at games back then, sonic colors was a vital part of my childhood.
I'm really looking forward to the Generations review.
This game also came out around the time where the episode "Freak the freak out" from Victorious came out. Sooooo I kinda assign that song with Sonic Colors a bit.
Sonic Colors was my 3rd 3D Sonic game I ever played, after playing Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) followed by the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed.
After hearing the phase 2 music for the final boss, I finally decided to preorder ultimate. Thank you J
I personally don't like colors story but the gameplay is pretty good
Ah Sonic Colors my first ever Sonic game. I will forever love this game and (most of) the boost games. There is a good reason why this game was (and sort of is now) praised
God I’m so glad this was a positive video. I’m so tired of this “Colors ruined Sonic” from zoomer fans who don’t like 2010 Sonic and are butthurt this gets a remaster and not unleashed
As much as I'd like to see Unleashed get brought to Switch, I'd much rather have the Sonic Adventure games get brought to Switch first.
Funnily enough, J's also made a video on why Sonic in the 2010's is a waste
“no copyright law in the universe is going to stop me”
Idk why but I always found that line to be funny makes me thinks that’s how we got sonic in smash bros.
It's even funnier when you remember how Archie Sonic ultimately got cancelled after being gutted with the reboot thanks to Ken Penders suing Archie for his characters...oh, wait, that's not funny at all. It's actually quite depressing.
@@smashmaster521 yes when I heard the news I was upset I remember reading them a lot back in elementary and middle school
I don't care what everyone says how crappy the story is or how cringey the voice acting is this is my favorite Sonic game and I'm glad this game is getting a remaster
My copy of Generations got trashed years ago and threw it away in 2019 when it couldn't function beyond the white space before entering the first modern Sonic level. I have a digital download of it now with the casino DLC this time and got all the achievements I failed to figure out last time.
Does anyone feel like the main theme song reach for the star has a secret message about moving forward and having no regret
Huh, never thought of that
Colours being my first home console sonic game I owned and definitely has a soft spot in my heart and is on my top 5 favourite sonic games loved this video btw it really related with me and other colours fans
Sonic Colors was a breath of fresh air… that has since become stale.
I pretty much agree with your opinion. I think Colors it's still really fun, and I love collecting the red rings in the stages.
Sad to think about that this was the last time where the ranking system was good because I love getting S ranks in this game. It always felt really satisfying.