There is nothing "Ultimate" about this "remaster".

To preface, Sonic Colors is one of those games where I played it once on the Wii, had an absolute blast, enjoyed it very much, then never felt like replaying it. It just felt like a chore. All I wanted to do was play as Super Sonic across like 6 stages total and nothing else.

The stages should have been longer, but were split into 6 acts. That's why there are so many boring, mindless 2D levels where you're just waiting for platforms to move, etc.

Another thing that irks me is the fact that to get an S rank, you need a high score, and the only way to get a high enough score in the majority of the levels is to activate a Wisp powerup and just WAIT. Wait until it runs out, then activate another, and repeat. You literally have to grab a drill, circle around till it runs out, then grab another and repeat if you want an S rank.

All that aside, though, this "remaster" is a disgrace and pretty much unplayable without mods and fixes. The Re:Rainbow mod is pretty much required among other things.

Without mods, this game is a mess. They couldn't even fix the audio issue where sound effects only play in one ear, so they made the entire game's audio mono in a later update. And the game doesn't let you adjust the volume of sound effects separately. They are tied to the music volume. Even with mods, many issues persist, such as falling platforms always slightly shaking when not stepped on, and not shaking more when actually stepped on, thus giving no indication that they will fall.

As well, this game has Denuvo.

Either get this on a steep discount, or just stick to the superior Wii version.

This game stutters every 5 seconds and has crashed twice already. I also had to install a mod (project re rainbow) to make the game look good. Just play it on dolphin. I thought it be cool to try this version but no just play the dolphin version with the 60fps code. It looks better here but the game is so buggy.

edit: after actually playing the game i can confirm this. Its full of bugs. Stuff not loading in, many many crashes, TPOSING SONIC WITH NO ANIMATIONS, falling through the level, stuttering, invisible sonic on the menus. Whenever i pick up a life my game stutters

The aquarium park boss has been hugely buffed by an insane amount to the point its complete rng trying to get the achievement for 3 hits. It is actually impossible to consistently hit the boss as drill unless you perfectly align yourself in this one specific spot i found because its just too fast for you to keep up.

Sonic Colours has never been one of my all time favourite Sonic games, but it is still a fun game that's worth playing if you're a fan of the franchise or the platforming genre, while also being great for first time players to enjoy. The same cannot be said about this remaster, which is by far the worst Sonic remaster of all time.

I've come to appreciate the very different take on the level design in this game. Levels are focused less of fast reactions or constant high speed thrills and are much more exploration focused with secrets to discover. Wisps make repeat plays worthwhile as you use their unique abilities to reach areas Sonic himself cannot as well as 5 red rings in every level.

Presentation is stellar and the game looks nice especially for the Wii. It controls really well with very few instances of jank throughout. The game itself has aged like fine wine and still holds up today. It's not without its downsides - the writing is awful with the character personalities removed for the purpose of comedy, there's a bit too much 2D for my liking and there are several slow sections that make repeat plays less enjoyable.

The Egg Shuttle is a great inclusion. Once you beat the game, you replay all the levels back to back in one sitting and try to aim for the highest score across all 45 levels much like the Mega Drive Sonic games for a true arcade-like experience, complete with rankings and leaderboards. Wish more Sonic games had this feature, to be honest.

For those that never played this game before, that's a quick summary of my thoughts on the Wii original. Colours is a good game that I would absolutely recommend. But this remaster from Blind Squirrel Games is terrible and is not a good way to experience it.

It all starts with the visual downgrades - this remaster looks worse than the original Wii game that I put a lot of hours into. Many environments appear over-saturated, and the bloom effects are far too excessive making it look less appealing to look at than it did on Wii. And no, I did not lower the graphics settings to make this game look bad - there are no graphics settings whatsoever on PC, nor is there a way to turn the bloom off. The new UI also looks worse, especially the Navigator hint messages that displays as a static text box and the Options Satellite which just appears instead of fading in.

Much like Sonic Adventure 2's HD port, the sound mixing is pretty bad, except this is far worse. I enjoy the music in this game but I can barely hear it most of the time due to the obnoxiously loud sound effects, and Eggman's hilarious P.A. announcements during levels are way too quiet so you can barely hear them at all. There are sliders to adjust music and sound volumes, but they're both on the same slider so turning down the sound effects also turns down the music.

Tails saves replace the original lives system, and I really did not like this change at all. While one could make a case for lives being obsolete nowadays, this should've been an optional Easy mode in an already beginner friendly game. They can also be used to exploit the scoring system - grabbing a red ring and falling off the map with Tails saving you results in the red ring respawning allowing you to collect it again for bonus points without resetting your score. I've cheesed several S ranks this way where it wasn't possible on Wii. This also extends to the Egg Shuttle mode, making it feel less of an Arcade mode and more of an Endurance mode. There are no Game Overs in this remaster.

Also removed from the Wii version is multiple save slots. Up to 6 files could be saved on the Wii, but Ultimate limits you to just one. Online leaderboards from the original Wii game that let you compare your best times and scores with your friends are also nowhere to be seen in the remaster which is baffling when Adventure 2, Lost World, Forces and Generations on Steam include them.

The Jade Ghost Wisp sounds like a cool addition to the game, allowing you to pass through walls and access areas impossible to access otherwise, but even this has issues. While it's nice that new routes were added to take advantage of the new wisp and some of the red rings were moved to these new areas, some sections were not designed with this in mind at all. There was also one case where using it got me trapped with no way out as no wisp capsule spawned, forcing me to restart the level.

Metal Sonic now appears in levels after grabbing 15/30 red rings in a zone. These are just glorified time trials disguised as races making this a very insubstantial addition. Where this addition rears its ugly head are those horrendous pop-ups that appear when you unlock and/or win a rival race. They just... appear with no transition or anything, which hinders this game's presentation and make it look even worse than it already does. These races are also inferior to the Vs. mode from Colours DS which let you race against a CPU and felt like a real race.

This remaster was far worse at launch than it is now with even more game breaking issues and technical problems. A lot of these have been fixed and my game only crashed once, but sadly, several major issues still persist in the version I played. I experienced major stutters on occasion which I'm not sure if Denuvo is the cause for this (I've played other games with Denuvo that don't have this issue) and there still exists several visual bugs that are easy to notice like in Starlight Carnival Act 3's intro where Sonic slowly falls down instead of quickly landing on his feet.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3410183704
Using the Cyan Laser creates a ghosting effect which is not only distracting but makes it much more difficult to aim when this was never a problem on Wii.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3410190941
This wisp capsule in Asteroid Coaster Act 1 which was easy to collect on Wii is impossible in the remaster as you just phase right through it.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3410223458

They didn't even fix one oversight that existed in the original Wii game where if you hit Try Again on the results screen, then quit the level before completing it, progress made since starting the level will be wiped, losing any red rings obtained or records beaten. Controls were not updated for this remaster at all, so the double jump and homing attack are still on the same button, and quick step is still on the left stick instead of the bumpers.

The one cool addition to this remaster is the extra skins you can apply to Sonic. These are unlocked by spending park tokens, which can be used to buy cosmetics from the Options Satellite and IMO is how cosmetic unlocks in Forces should've been handled. I still wouldn't call this an amazing addition that makes it a must-buy, but it's nice to see regardless.

If you own a fully working copy of this game on Wii, stick with that. The new additions do not make up for all of its issues and downgrades that still exist even to this day. Even recommending this on sale is difficult as you can still find plenty of Wii copies for dirt cheap online, at half the price or lower of this remaster. It's also compatible with a Classic or GameCube controller so you don't have to deal with forced motion controls, and works wonders on Dolphin if you really want to play it on PC. Also consider giving the DS version of this game a try - it's a much better game that plays more like the Rush games with none of the slower parts and the writing is far better.

Sonic Colours deserved better - this game was Wii exclusive making this the perfect game to remaster for modern systems. It's too bad that it turned out the way it did. This remaster felt more like a cheap cash grab by SEGA instead of a genuine passion project to make the definitive version of an old game across all modern platforms.

I think I misjudged the wii version too hard....

Okay so it may be glitchier than the original… but overall it’s still a fun game and I hate it when something like the price or a shoddy port causes people to not recommend the game even if they enjoy it

Okay so to put things bluntly this "remaster" is ass. Not Silent Hill HD collection levels of ass, but still ass nonethless. It's a complete downgrade from the original Wii game and that's that, and I really would not recommend it AT all in its vanilla state. That being said, I only bought it after the fan mod "project re-rainbow" came out, which actually fixes the whole damn thing and makes it an actual remaster. I played the game mostly using that mod and it's really great, although I'm still not gonna give this port a good review because I'm mainly reviewing SEGA's product, not the fan fix.

Might be worth on sale just for the Project: Re-Rainbow mod, but it's otherwise a mediocre port job. Not as awful as, say, SADX, Sonic Genesis or... uh... *checks notes* Sonic Jam for the gamecom... sure I'll go with that.

Feels OK to play but you can really tell this used to be a Wii game by how limited the controls are. They didn't bother fixing that up, no drift and no extra moves unless you're in specific sections. Which, judging by how the game is based more on exploration that fast-paced platforming, it should be okay... except it doesn't. These sections where you can only drift or sidestep feel like padding when you're not holding a glossy white glorified remote in your hands and its gamecube stick friend (sold separately).

RIght. Speaking of. Sidestepping isn't even mapped to the bumpers! Go figure. In a game where you literally need to spam the move to get an S Rank in one of the bosses, why isn't it even an option? Most of the buttons on the controller could've been used for SOMETHING, but ♥♥♥♥ that. Let's make the drift button the same one as the boost! Oh, and leave one of the face buttons completely untouched, because activating Wisps with the bumper is easier than using those for aaaanything else. Surely it won't be extremely awkward to control in the year of our lord 2021. Wait, 2023?? Oh right, Epic Games Store, haha. Yeah I forgot about the part where they alienated half their PC playerbase.

All in all, very unfortunate fate for a game that deserved much more out of a remaster.

Colors DS is better anyway :p

Very cool that this was the first time a sonic game had color, and the first to have sonic openly come out... Would have been cool to include the DS version of this "Ultimate" port though. Also, damn, the credits were like over 30 minutes long.

This game is amazing it has cutscenes good bosses but the graphics got worse than the normal sonic colors like way worse it looks like im playing a colorless game while its called "sonic colors"

Other than the issues its still sonic colors