Sonic Colors

"Eggman! I am going to save this planet! And I am going to free these aliens! No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!"

- Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic Colors (ソニック カラーズ) in Japan and North America, or Sonic Colours in Europe and Australia, is a game for the Nintendo Wii console and Nintendo DS. It was first announced on 26 May 2010 in a press release by Sega for Italy and included a teaser trailer.

In the video game, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower investigate the Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, where Doctor Eggman admits to the public that he has turned over a new leaf and has made an amusement park for his misguided past deeds. Unfortunately, this turns out to be false; as Eggman is actually capturing planets and kidnapping the natives of those planets, known as the alien race as the Wisps. With the power of the Wisps, Sonic goes through the planets to stop Eggman's plan.

Development
Sonic Colors came out on the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS in late 2010. Much like Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors for the Wii seamlessly combines both 3D and classic 2D game play perspectives, while the Nintendo DS version takes full advantage of the console's dual screen, similar to the Sonic Rush series. The Wii version was developed by Sega and Sonic Team where the DS version was developed by Sonic Team and Dimps.

The head supervisor was Takashi Iizuka. Morio Kishimoto directed the Wii version of the game. Takao Hiyabayashi directed the DS version.

Wii
After developing a sense of remorse for his past misdeeds, Dr. Eggman, opens an amusement park in space made up of several planet-sized attractions. Suspicious of the doctor's intentions, Sonic and Tails investigate in the amusement park before the opening day. There, they meet a Wisp named Yacker. In order to communicate with Yacker, Tails builds a translator in his Miles Electric. Through communicating with Yacker, they learn that the other Wisps have been kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, who plans to harness their energy for his nefarious schemes.

Allying with the Wisps and using their powers, Sonic visits multiple planets, liberating the Wisps and shutting down the generators that link them to the amusement park. Eventually, Sonic soon learns that Dr. Eggman is transforming the Wisps into Nega Wisps and using them as fuel for a mind-control cannon to make Earth the star attraction of his theme park. When Dr. Eggman tries to fire the cannon at the world, a piece of wreckage, created by an earlier boss fight which Sonic defeated, causes it to malfunction.

As the amusement park begins to explode, Sonic sends Tails back down the space elevator while Sonic faces Dr. Eggman who is using a robot that harnesses the negative energy of the Wisps. With the help of every type of Wisp, Sonic defeats Eggman with the Final Color Blaster. The malfunctioning cannon creates a black hole that consumes the amusement park and the defeated Eggman. While even Sonic is unable to outrun a black hole, all of the Wisps use their energy to neutralize the black hole and save Sonic as he lies fainted. Yacker changes the Nega Wisps back to normal. Sonic wakes up back on Earth, breathing heavily and looking tired. Tails reprimands Sonic for pushing him into the space elevator but thanked him for handling Eggman all by himself. Yacker arrives and thanks them and then goes back to his planet along with the Wisps.

Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS version of the game has the same scenario, but more brief and no jokes added. The difference is that the translator works perfectly in the DS version. After each world is beaten, Sonic unlocks missions for that planet and his friends appear in it (most of his friends did not appear in the Wii version). Thus, after all of the Chaos Emeralds are collected from Special Stages, there is a special boss called Nega-Mother Wisp. She is actually Yacker's mother who is possessed by the Negative Hyper-go-on energy. Sonic has no choice but to fight her in the form of Super Sonic.

After fighting her, she is able to turn back to her normal form, Mother Wisp. Sonic found out that she is not only Yacker's mother but is the mother of all Wisps and the creator of Planet Wisp. Eggman captures the Mother Wisp before the cutscene "Hyper-go-ons Charging" as it can be assumed the "giant alien" was her. At this point Sonic had just cleared Aquarium Park. However, Eggman does lose control of the Mother Wisp before Sonic clears the 3rd mission in Asteroid Coaster, but he has already turned her into a Nega-Wisp by then.

Playable

 * Sonic the Hedgehog/Super Sonic
 * Virtual Hedgehog (exclusively for co-op)
 * Mii (exclusively for co-op) (Wii)

Non-Playable

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Yacker
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Knuckles the Echidna (DS version)
 * Amy Rose (DS version)
 * Silver the Hedgehog (DS version)
 * Blaze the Cat (DS version)
 * E-123 Omega (DS version)
 * Rouge the Bat (DS version)
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (DS version)
 * Charmy Bee (DS version)
 * Vector the Crocodile (DS version)
 * Espio the Chameleon (DS version)
 * Cream the Rabbit (DS version)
 * Cheese (DS version)
 * Big the Cat (DS version)
 * Chao (DS version)
 * Mother Wisp (DS version)
 * Nega-Mother Wisp (DS version)

Enemies

 * Egg Pawn
 * Spinner
 * Buzzbomber
 * Burrobot
 * Mole
 * Motobug (Big and Small)
 * Crabmeat
 * Spiny
 * Orbinaut
 * Chopper (Big and small)
 * Jawz
 * Sandworm
 * Aero-Chaser
 * Big Chaser
 * Eel
 * Asteroid Coaster sub-boss

Voice actors
This game (not counting Sonic Free Riders) is the first game in the main series to feature the new English voice cast, with all voices except for Eggman's being changed.

Stages
The stages (except special stages in the DS version) are accessed by a world map. The 8 stages listed below, Challenge Mode (where each act is played consecutively), and the Options Menu can be selected from the world map.

The Wii version, including boss fights, features seven acts for each of the first six stages, while the seventh stage (Terminal Velocity) has three. In addition, the Game Land area serves as the game's Special Stage equivalent, containing seven "zones" with three acts each, making a grand total of 66 stages to play through. A wonderful space park with a view of Sonic's home planet, the visitors riding in their hover cars can enjoy shopping, sight-seeing and lots of fun in the luxurious paradise. Centered around a lush tropical vegetation and urban industrialism, this resort is just to relax and enjoy. A very "sweet" and joyous land comprised of different types of food ranging from candies to hamburgers and even to popcorn. This planetoid is very distinct from the others the entire landscape is mixture between military industrialism and a seemingly infinitely layered cake ground. Sweet Mountain is very beautiful with its candy cane grind rails to its towering burgers, even its mechanical side is breathtaking. Additionally, one of the most beautiful features is its pinkish, peach-orange sky. Starlight Carnival is a space armada set in the darkness of space illuminated by the glowing neon lights that cover everything in sight. The space fleet comes out of worm holes, which transport it around space and bring its big festive light show around the dark space. The tour along pathways of light, through festive starships and across their illuminated and colorful decks is truly an amazing experience. Planet Wisp is the home planet of the Wisps. It was once a lush and harmonious little planet in far away space, but the evil Doctor Eggman took the peaceful Wisps' home planet with a powerful tractor beam, and it is currently being constructed into a theme park, so this area is off-limits to park-goers. Planet Wisp is filled with very prominent alien vegetation with a beautiful Earth-like sky, but, due to Eggman, machinery takes at least half of the planet, and lakes of toxic waste can be seen taking over the once clear waters. Aquarium Park is a gorgeous and amazing oriental-themed underwater aquarium. Visitors can enjoy the amazing city of pagodas and the countless pools and aquariums filled with all sorts of sea life (and mechas). The Aquarium Park is a planet with a flooded surface; therefore it's made up of many underwater spheres holding cities and sea life combined. Its most comical and famous location is it's sushi restaurant "The Bucket-O'-Sushi", where apparently the food is terrible. They have recently added fish to the menu, primarily an endangered and rare species. Asteroid Coaster is a theme park centered around wild and dangerous rides. The large rock planet is surrounded by a huge, endless asteroid field, that's also used for the countless roller coasters. These rides run through the asteroid field, vast space, and large planetoids filled with toxic sludge in dangerous curves, loops, and corkscrews in spiky, draconic, skeletal roller coaster carts. The Asteroid Coaster is the wild, cool, and awesome world for the boyish love of danger, action, and extreme rides. Terminal Velocity is a hay-wire space speedway that takes place on the space elevator, a transportation tower connecting Sonic's home world to Dr. Eggman's amusement park with extreme acceleration and velocity. After a system failure it's starts to crumble leading chunks of the pathway ascending from out of place. Game Land is Dr. Eggman's artificial planet of arcade games, that houses its most popular game, the Sonic Simulator, in which players run through 21 levels with an optional pal. Here the player can unlock levels by collecting Red Rings from the other amusement parks to in turn finish the third act of each level which gives the player a Chaos Emerald.
 * Tropical Resort
 * Sweet Mountain
 * Starlight Carnival
 * Planet Wisp
 * Aquarium Park
 * Asteroid Coaster
 * Terminal Velocity
 * Game Land

Note: Game Land's levels act as Special Stages. If a set of 3 acts are completed, the player gets a Chaos Emerald at the end of the third. As with most Sonic games, collecting all 7 Chaos Emeralds awards the player with the ability to transform into Super Sonic, although it has to be enabled using the Options Menu.

All the stages above (besides Game Land), once selected, will take the player to the stage-specific area map. Each area map has 6 acts and a boss selectable, and 7 "S" ranks and 30 Special Rings to be earned. However, Terminal Velocity being the final stage has only 2 acts selectable plus the final boss, with no Special Rings to collect.

Special Stages
The DS version has Special Stages in which by completing each, a Chaos Emerald will be received. It is entirely similar to the Special Stages that were used in Sonic Rush, except instead of collecting rings, Sonic will have to collect colorful balls, like in Sonic Heroes. The player needs to collect the spheres of the same colors as the top screen. The rainbow ones can be collected at any time and count as 2 spheres. If they have a number on them, they count as the number they have. There are also checkered ones, that if the player has collected all of them a 10 sphere bonus will be received. Also, there is a special checkered sphere before the end of each round (there are 3 rounds, each one requiring a different sphere color), and if the player touches it, many required colorful spheres will roll from the one side to the other. But the player has to be careful as touching any balls that aren't in the right color will shove them out of the course, disabling their collection.

Wisps
Sonic Colors is the first game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series to introduce the Wisps, the following games they appear in being Sonic Generations and in Sonic Lost World. Wisps are an alien race, whose members serve as power-ups used in the game. Utilizing a certain Wisp makes Sonic use its Hyper-go-on to activate different Color Powers, which can be used by the player to reach alternate paths, collect special rings, destroy enemies or simply to proceed through the stage.

Music
"Since the game has an amusement-park setting and a more fantastical visual style, they're trying to expand the usual "cool" Sonic sound and focus on making fun, up-tempo music that will really get players' blood pumping.""

- Takashi Iizuka



The game had its own soundtrack called ViViD SOUND X HYBRiD COLORS produced by Wave Master. It also consists of the main themes and the in-game level music.

The theme song of the game is Reach For The Stars, sung by Jean Paul Makhlouf from the band Cash Cash. The ending theme of the game is Speak With Your Heart, which is also sung by Cash Cash.

The Nintendo Power Magazine praised the music by saying it is "annoying, catchy and rubbish," which was what they liked about the music in Sonic games.

Previews
A preview of the Official Nintendo Power Magazine gaming studios said that the action was fast, the levels were nice and long, and that there were loads of different routes available through each level. Their favorite Wisp was the Drill Wisp. In the end they mentioned that Sonic was at his best at mimicking Mario elements similar to 2010's hit game Super Mario Galaxy 2. They said the game will be the equivalent of all-daytime stages of Sonic Unleashed.

IGN said that Sonic Colors might be, "The best Sonic game of this generation", praising its level design and fully-packed action with vibrant colors. It also was also nominated as the Best of E3 by IGN, but however, it did not win. Sonic Colors was nominated for Best Platformer Game at Gametrailers E3 2010 awards. Later IGN had given their own review giving it a very positive score of 8.5 which is awarded as the "Editors Choice award" on IGN's behalf on both DS and Wii.

For the DS version they had said that it is one of Sonic's best portable platformers and it had a little classic touch in it. They said that upward slopes and pits was very frustrating, but the boss-fights were great. They said that the levels were very fun as it had great pacing, but one major problem was that the game had no checkpoints and that the player would have to start from the beginning of the level even if the player is in a boss-fight.

For the Wii version, they said that it is one of the most attractive looking games for the Wii that year because of its great animation. They said the music was good for the huge amount of visual stages, from Casino, to parks and interstellar space areas. In addition, they were pleased in the fact that the cast of characters was greatly reduced.

They noted that the game's platforming was good and was similar the platforming of the Mario series. They complained on the game having many extra competitions that made it frustrating, and that the Co-op screen wasn't very fun, noting that "one screen isn't enough for two Sonics."

Review
Reviews for the game were mostly positive, with a Metacritic ranking of 78 for the Wii version and 79 for the DS version, and a GameRankings score of 78.84% for the Wii version and 77.07% for the DS version. IGN gave both versions a score of 8.5 and an Editor's Choice Award, calling it "the best Sonic game in 18 years," praising its gameplay, level design and vivid graphics, while criticising some difficulty spikes later in the game, as well as the two player co-op, stating, "One screen isn't enough for two hedgehogs." IGN also gave the Wii version the 'Quick Fix Award' in their Best of 2010 awards. Famitsu gave the Wii version 34/40 while the DS version scored 32/40. NGamer gave the Wii game 86%, praising its gameplay and soundtrack, though criticizing some easy and "rehashed" bosses. Nintendo Power gave the Wii version of Sonic Colors 9 out of 10, praising the game as "an unequivocal success", and gave the DS version 7.5 out of 10, criticising the game's short length. On the Nintendo Power awards, Colors won "Best Wii Graphics" and was nominated for "Best Wii Game of the Year." Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 86% for the Wii version and 85% for the DS version. WiiMagazin, a German gaming magazine, gave the Wii version a 92% and the DS version a 90% rating praising a remark saying, "There is a God, and he's a Sonic-fan". Joystiq gave the game 4 out of 5 stars, saying "Sonic Colors succeeds where so, so many other Sonic games have failed." Eurogamer gave the Wii version 8/10, calling it "stupefyingly fast and utterly thrilling." GameSpot gave the Wii version an 8 out of 10 praising the game's level design, sense of speed, and graphics, but criticizing its bare-bones, poorly-designed co-operative play. CNET reviews gave the game 4 stars, praising that the game offers a mix of 3D action and classic Sonic side-scrolling with dazzling visuals and exhilarating platforming. 1UP gave the Wii version a B+ rank, calling it "the best 3D Sonic in ages." Wired gave the Wii version a 7/10, praising its "Excellent music, colorful graphics" and "fun and varied level design" while criticising its "somewhat twitchy jumping controls" and the fact that later levels "are filled with cheap deaths."

GameTrailers was more critical of the game, citing unresponsive controls and underused Wisp powers, giving the Wii version a 6.4, preferring the DS version, which scored a 7.9. GamesRadar gave the Wii version 7/10, praising the game's replayability while criticizing some 'horribly cheap deaths'. Game Informer gave the Wii version a 7.0 score, criticizing floaty physics and inconsistent difficulty, though it did award the DS version a score of 8.5, saying "Dimps continues its run of entertaining titles with Sonic Colors."

Trivia

 * SA-55's real name has been revealed as "Orbot" in this game.
 * This is the last Sonic game to be made for the Wii so far, due to the Wii being discontinued in Europe and Japan.
 * If a customer pre-ordered Sonic Colors at GameStop, the customer got a free hat with the look of Sonic's blue quills on their head.
 * This game marks the first time Sonic is able to perform a double jump since Sonic R (and Super Smash Bros. Brawl if counted).
 * Note that the double-jump replaced the jump dash. However, the jump-dash can be pulled off by boosting in midair when the boost gauge is empty.
 * The Wisps in the DS version are different than those in the Wii version, with the exception of the orange, white, yellow, and cyan Wisps. They can also be used in different way, depending on the version.
 * If the player repeatedly presses the jump button while in water, Sonic will keep jumping higher in the air.
 * This is the last Sonic game developed for the DS, as the handheld version of Sonic Generations is for the Nintendo 3DS.
 * In the E3 demo, when Sonic would activate the "Drill Power" the announcer would say, "Spin!" but in the final version of the game, he says, "Drill!" Also, before activating the power of any Wisps, the announcer would say, "Color!" in the demo version, but in the final build he doesn't say anything until Sonic activated the power.
 * This is the first time Sonic can perform a Stomp Attack on a handheld console.
 * When Eggman's mind control machine explodes, it hits the moon instead of the earth. This is a direct reference to Sonic Adventure 2.
 * While the DS version of Sonic Colors uses the gameplay engine from Sonic Rush, only the Trick system was removed and the Homing Attack is mapped to the Jump button.
 * This is the first main series 3D Sonic game where Sonic can transform into Super Sonic during the normal stages, though he cannot fight bosses.
 * This is the first and so far only main series 3D game where Sonic fights the last boss with no need of a super form and Eggman serves as the final boss. (This only aplies to the Wii version as Sonic fights Nega-Mother Wisp as the final boss in the DS version)
 * An unused Eggman voice clip reveals that the Wisps' Hyper-go-on energy is more powerful than Chaos energy. But this may not be the case as Super Sonic is able to beat Nega-Mother Wisp in the DS version.
 * During one of Eggman's announcements, he mentions a yellow car with license plate "1NOM155" is about to get hit by an asteroid. This could be a reference to Crazy Taxi (another Sega game) as one of the characters, Axel, drives a taxi with the same license plate.MilesElectric.PNG.]]
 * Towards the end of the game, the Miles Electric's screen is shown. Earlier in the game, Tails says that the translations on there are in binary code, but the code shown on the device is in hexadecimal format (Tails may have switched it to a better code offscreen). The bottom line of code translates to: "If you can read this, youXfre a geek!".
 * Unlike the other games, Sonic doesn't get an extra life upon gaining 100 rings in the Wii version. However, he does in the DS version.
 * By achieving an A/S Rank on any act, the player will earn 1/3 lives on both versions respectively. But in the Wii version, the player must reach for all the lives. On the DS version, they are automatically added instead.
 * When Sonic attacks the 'text' while in the result screen (using moves such as Sonic Boost and Stomp), an extra life may pop out.
 * In DS version, Cheese is missing his bow-tie.
 * The DS version uses some CGI cutscene footage from the Wii version such as the opening, but still uses speech bubbles for characters in most cases.
 * Sonic acts surprised that Dr. Eggman captured an entire planet, even though he has already done this with the Little Planet in Sonic CD.
 * During an act, when Super Sonic mode is activated, any Wisps' power cannot be used except from the White Wisp.
 * This is the first 3D Sonic game where, if the player starts a new game, the player is taken to the first stage immediately rather than showing a cutscene first or even saving a file.
 * The DS version of this game takes the drowning tune out of Sonic Rush.
 * In the cutscene after the credits to show what happens to Eggman after the ending, Cubot says "What's up with those things anyway?" However, the subtitles say "What's up with those guys anyway?"
 * In the back of the box of the game (the US Version), there's a text that says "And preform new moves". It is supposed to say: "And perform new moves." Ironically, this is not a misspelling of any sort, but rather the wrong word.
 * Also, in the instruction manual (both versions), "Nega Wisp" is accidentally misspelled as "Mega Wisp".
 * This game is one of the few games where the regular boss fights are against Eggman's unmanned robots rather than Eggman in a manned robot.
 * This is the second main series game where any variation of the Tornado doesn't make an appearance.
 * When Orbot installs a new voice chip for Cubot, he says "The think bone's connected to the talk bone... the talk bone's connected to the mouth bone". This is a reference to Dem Bones, a traditional song written by James Weldon Johnson.
 * There is a typo in the DS version when at the Aquarium Park. They spell aquarium as 'acquarium'.
 * This is the first Sonic game in which none of the stages are on Earth, they are all on individual planets.
 * The Wii version is the first main series Sonic game in which the Chaos Emeralds are not involved in the story.
 * The game brings back some characteristics of the classic games, such as underwater access and pushing boxes.
 * Most enemies are taken from classic games as well, such as Moto Bugs, Buzzers, Crabmeats, Choppers and Egg Pawns.
 * The Frenzy and Void wisps are revealed as Nega-Wisps in the Wii version manual and in the final cutscene.
 * According to a Nintendo magazine from Mexico, named Club Nintendo, this game is considered as a spin-off title. However, this game is actually a main series title from the Sonic franchise.
 * During the cutscene where Tails first translates Yacker, Sonic "breaks the fourth Wall" by looking at the screen, saying that he's "gonna stick with aliens, if that's okay with everyone."
 * The different colored levels in Game Land show similarities to levels in the different areas, such as that the green levels appear similar to those in Tropical Resort.
 * When Sonic runs, his fists are noticeably not closed when they're behind his back. Instead, they're left open similar to his running animation in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, except when boosting, they remain closed. This was also repeated in Sonic Generations.
 * Even though Eggman says he already has a revenge plan at the end of the game, it is unknown what this 'plan' could be, as in Sonic Generations, he seems to abandon it in favor of the Time Eater.
 * In the English version of Sonic Colors, Sonic makes it clear that he will call the Wisps 'aliens'. In the Japanese version of the game, however, Sonic always calls them by their correct name, Wisps.
 * Some parts of Final Boss music sounds similiar to "Endless Possibility" from Sonic Unleashed.
 * In the DS version using on the Sonic Boost on top of or in water changes it from a Rainbow Color to its traditional color.
 * In the DS version, when the black hole is created, Wii wisps are seen in the background and rescues Sonic.  A blue wisp is what is seen rescuing him.