Current thoughts on Sonic Colors Ultimate?

[Sonic2024]

I thought it would be better to create a discussion for this.
This remaster has been........pretty inconsistent. At one point we think it's bad [lighting], then it improved [customisation and rival rush], then it got bad [new features], then it improved [visuals] and it's back to bad again....[glitches]

Now that it has released, it is time to decide how this game [PC/Xbox Version] fares compared to the original. As far as I see,

The CONS of Ultimate:
1. Tropical Resort looks too dark and Starlight Carnival has intense bloom.
2. The Game has glitches, visual bugs and crashes that needs to be patched out.*****
3. No toggleable options for Tails Save and the remixed Soundtrack.
4. The new UI elements look awful with lags and pop ups.
5. Sonic's Eyes are not animated and his mouth looks hand-drawn.

The PROS of Ultimate:
1. 4K 60FPS with remade textures for objects and backgrounds and a new HUD.
2. The Lighting and the Bloom gets along with other stages so they look fine or even better.
3. Sonic's Model blends well with the environment.
4. Timing the Homing Attack perfectly awards you with Boost. (Which was a welcoming change in Colors since the boost was locked to the wisp capsules and only in some enemies)
5. Sonic is more responsive and controls much better.
6.. The Jade Ghost Wisp is essentially the Hover Wisp which can phase through walls to find and explore new areas. Some of the red rings positions have been altered for this new wisp.
7. Metal Sonic is actually very challenging in Rival Rush Mode.
8. Collecting Park tokens allows us to customise Sonic with different gloves, auras, boost effects etc.., and while this might feel underwhelming, it is actually pretty neat and is implemented well for a first attempt.

So yeah, as of now, the pros ONLY LOOK higher than cons. The actual reality is that the #2 con itself destroys all the Pros of the game. I feel like it's a decent port but the bugs and glitches really bring down the experience. Currently, Ultimate is indeed not "Ultimate" and is not a recommendation, but ONLY AFTER those bugs and glitches are ironed out, it could be a good decision to try the game out. IF #2 con gets fixed by the upcoming patch they are making from our feedback, THEN:

1. If you enjoyed Colors originally, then go for it.
2. If you never played Colors, then it's a high recommendation.
3. If you didn't enjoy Colors, well, then it would probably be best not to buy it.

[And I feel like during these times, instead of whining about the Game's fault and unexpected outcomes, it would be best to support the developers by sending them feedback about where the game faltered so as to help improve the game as much as possible.]

[And No. We are not here to call the game bad because of it's PC or Switch versions. We are here to look at the game itself.]

[NBOX21]

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

supermichael7님이 먼저 게시:

Why in the world did Sega think we want to play as a Avatar, when there a lot of other characters to play as.

Maybe because creating your own favourite Sonic Character who interacts with Sonic himself is a cool thing? I mean, that's one of the only things I like about Forces and this was surely an amazing idea. But the execution was off.

At the same time, I really miss playing as Tails and Knuckles in a 3D game. If there's one thing Sonic Team can add to the boost formula that they haven't tried before, it's not wisps, not classic Sonic, not even the avatar - it's bringing back Tails and Knuckles with their own way of doing boost.

[Sonic2024]

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

At the same time, I really miss playing as Tails and Knuckles in a 3D game. If there's one thing Sonic Team can add to the boost formula that they haven't tried before, it's not wisps, not classic Sonic, not even the avatar - it's bringing back Tails and Knuckles with their own way of doing boost.

Sure. But regarding forces, what I was saying is that the making your own Sonic Character who helps in saving the world was a cool thing that almost everyone would love to see. Giving your OC a type of species, a color, a design, a weapon and a victory pose etc.., have been really done well and looks awesome tbh but alas, the execution in the real gameplay and story was not that great.

Also, how would Tails and Knuckles having their own thing of "BOOST" work? Tails flies faster? Knuckles punches faster? It seems interesting but I don't think that would work. The Gameplay they had in the SA games and in some fan games like Project Sonic Hero feel more fun to play as them.

[NBOX21]

One thing I do find pretty insulting, however, after seeing this video myself on the current state of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MffOarlu4BQ
The highlight I'm specifically referring to is from about 5:31 to 6:26 of this video, where SEGA themselves deliberately went out of their way to make the original Wii version look as bad as possible by recording the Wii game under the worst possible circumstances, that being in 576i and 4:3, as well as making the original game appear darker than it actually does on real hardware.

BTW it is true that the original game was as dark as it was represented in the trailers, both on Dolphin and on real Wii hardware, but that's only if you're playing the PAL version of Sonic Colours running at 50hz. But like most Wii games, the PAL version of Colours supports 60hz, 480p and 16/9; when playing under those circumstances, the game looks a lot better.

The only reason companies do this is so that they can get away with as little effort as possible for as much profit as possible, which was exactly what happened when SEGA released trailers for Colours Ultimate, in an attempt to trick people that never played the original version.

[Sonic2024]

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

One thing I do find pretty insulting, however, after seeing this video myself on the current state of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MffOarlu4BQ
The highlight I'm specifically referring to is from about 5:31 to 6:26 of this video, where SEGA themselves deliberately went out of their way to make the original Wii version look as bad as possible by recording the Wii game under the worst possible circumstances, that being in 576i and 4:3, as well as making the original game appear darker than it actually does on real hardware.

BTW it is true that the original game was as dark as it was represented in the trailers, both on Dolphin and on real Wii hardware, but that's only if you're playing the PAL version of Sonic Colours running at 50hz. But like most Wii games, the PAL version of Colours supports 60hz, 480p and 16/9; when playing under those circumstances, the game looks a lot better.

The only reason companies do this is so that they can get away with as little effort as possible for as much profit as possible, which was exactly what happened when SEGA released trailers for Colours Ultimate, in an attempt to trick people that never played the original version.

I also like J's reviews videos but I suppose I have to disagree here. I do agree that to make the Wii Version dark, the game should be a PAL version running on 50hz with 576I resolution using a component cable. But that's not ONLY it.

The Wii originally did NOT contain the composite cables in its package. You had to buy one separately. It was shipped with AV cables. These AV cables is the one most people used and experienced the game. These cables made the game look a bit darker and thus, such a comparsion.

[NBOX21]

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

The Wii originally did NOT contain the composite cables in its package. You had to buy one separately. It was shipped with AV cables. These AV cables is the one most people experienced the game. These cables made the game look a bit darker and thus, such a comparsion

I'm pretty sure the progressive scan you're referring to here is actually component cables. The composite cables are the red, yellow and white cables (AV) which came in the box. It was component (YPbPr) you had to buy seperately for a better image quality.

BTW you don't need component to use 60hz on a PAL TV, as the Wii also has an interlaced 60hz mode you can toggle from the system settings. Interlaced 60hz looks just as bright as progressive 60hz, the only difference is that component looks a lot cleaner without the fuzziness you get from composite.

[Sonic2024]

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

The Wii originally did NOT contain the composite cables in its package. You had to buy one separately. It was shipped with AV cables. These AV cables is the one most people experienced the game. These cables made the game look a bit darker and thus, such a comparsion

I'm pretty sure the progressive scan you're referring to here is actually component cables. The composite cables are the red, yellow and white cables (AV) which came in the box. It was component (YPbPr) you had to buy seperately for a better image quality.

Yeah the Composite cables are the AV cables. It's just that AV cables are more commonly known for me.

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

BTW you don't need component to use 60hz on a PAL TV, as the Wii also has an interlaced 60hz mode you can toggle from the system settings. Interlaced 60hz looks just as bright as progressive 60hz, the only difference is that component looks a lot cleaner without the fuzziness you get from composite.

Actually, No. Composite/AV cables are never able to produce the same brightness, color and quality as the component ones. It's not just Sonic Colors. Even this:
https://youtu.be/a37DbvgSe34

[Lumanator]

isnt the switch version seizure inducing

[NBOX21]

Luma님이 먼저 게시:

isnt the switch version seizure inducing

Yes it is, and apparently it could be due to a memory leak issue on the Switch version which occurs if you exit the world map multiple times in the same session.

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

Actually, No. Composite/AV cables are never able to produce the same brightness, color and quality as the component ones.

Sort of. I never said they produce the exact same quality as I even said component gives a much cleaner image quality than composite, but in the case of Colours, the brightness, colour and saturation is exactly the same regardless.

[Sonic2024]

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

Actually, No. Composite/AV cables are never able to produce the same brightness, color and quality as the component ones.

Sort of. I never said they produce the exact same quality as I even said component gives a much cleaner image quality than composite, but in the case of Colours, the brightness, colour and saturation is exactly the same regardless.

How though? The AV cables are what made Colors Dark. Not only Colors but even the video I shared. That's the version most people experienced...

[NBOX21]

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

How though? The AV cables are what made Colors Dark. Not only Colors but even the video I shared.

No it wasn't. I found this tweet that clarifies everything you need to know on the matter:
https://twitter.com/RetropolisZone/status/1413490698310098947

This happens even when running the game in HDMI or component cables, and also happens on Dolphin. I can tell you now, it's not an AV problem.

It was most likely due to a bug in the original game. The Ultimate trailer obviously recorded the Wii version in PAL running at 50hz and in 4:3 to make the original game look a lot worse than it actually is, most likely to trick customers into thinking the remaster looks a lot better.

[Sonic2024]

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

How though? The AV cables are what made Colors Dark. Not only Colors but even the video I shared.

No it wasn't. I found this tweet that clarifies everything you need to know on the matter:
https://twitter.com/RetropolisZone/status/1413490698310098947

This happens even when running the game in HDMI or component cables, and also happens on Dolphin. I can tell you now, it's not an AV problem.

The game looks fine? It seems to be using the component ones in both the screenshots and thus, it looks bright and colorful. I will tell this, to get a darker version of Colors, you need to use a 476i 50hz resolution in the PAL version of Colors OR use the AV cables.

NBOX21님이 먼저 게시:

It was most likely due to a bug in the original game. The Ultimate trailer obviously recorded the Wii version in PAL running at 50hz and in 4:3 to make the original game look a lot worse than it actually is, most likely to trick customers into thinking the remaster looks a lot better.

Though I will agree that they took the worst version of Colors. But the darkness is a thing everywhere and the version people experienced the most when they played Colors.

[Ikagura]

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

supermichael7님이 먼저 게시:

Whitehead fixes Sonic Team mistakes, while Sonic Team doesn't fix their own games.

Sonic 1 & 2 on PS2/GC/Xbox 360/PS3/Steam never got fixed. But Whitehead fixes any mistakes and adds bonus to those games. Even Sonic CD.

That's because he was solely given this purpose BY SEGA to fix these things in the classic games. Why was he out of all people chosen? My guess is that he was chosen because of his abundant love and passion towards the classic series and being a great coder for the classic games.

supermichael7님이 먼저 게시:

We need people like Whitehead that likes their games to be perfect and goes beyond what the game originally has. We don't need people like Sonic Team who can't fix their games.

Highly Disagree. I give credit to Christian Whitehead for being such an amazing person to fix almost every single problem present in the classic games with passion, but Sonic Team have their hands full on learning from their past mistakes and continue making games so that the series can continue. If they made something bad, then all they can do is learn from what mistakes they made and ensure not to make it again. [Ofc, that doesn't mean they will never do mistakes again.] It's not their decision to fix things or not. SEGA decides whether they should do something or fix something. And an even bigger company, SEGA Sammy Decides what SEGA themselves have to do. If they are given the orders to fix things, then they will do it.

Agreed, Whitehead should be in charge of the franchise honestly.

[Sonic2024]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X95gfjYcKdw
Modders: We won't fix Sonic Colors Ultimate's issues.
Also Modders: We are bored. So we are fixing some issues.

Here is my take on this mod:

Honestly, This looks mostly better than what Ultimate is looking like currently [Even better than the Dolphin Version in my opinion.] I think the problem was that there was TOO much bloom added to Ultimate than necessary, which resulted in Colors looking washed out. But I don't think COMPLETELY removing the bloom is the solution either. [But it is better.] Maybe have a small considerable amount of bloom in the game and we will have the definitive remaster! I hope SEGA can take some notes from these modders regarding Ultimate's look and fix it. They have to do something similar to this in not only PC's but consoles as well. {I am not disrespecting SEGA. I just said "take notes". So pls don't take me in some other meaning. I have full respect for them and I just want them to improve and also fix the game.}

Edit: As you can see, more than half of the glitches and bugs are not there in the PC Version of the game. But still, some bugs are there. At 9:31 and 12:33.

[Sonic2024]

https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/1437793265303101449
Finally. It's about time. Sonic Colors Ultimate got a patch for the Nintendo Switch. This patch fixes the seizure inducing glitches present in the game. But all the other issues are still there. But at least they removed the worst thing in SCU for the switch with this patch. They also informed us that this is just one of the several patches that are going to be released soon. I assume those other patches will fix issues present in the game.

[Ikagura]

Sonic2021님이 먼저 게시:

https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/1437793265303101449
Finally. It's about time. Sonic Colors Ultimate got a patch for the Nintendo Switch. This patch fixes the seizure inducing glitches present in the game. But all the other issues are still there. But at least they removed the worst thing in SCU for the switch with this patch. They also informed us that this is just one of the several patches that are going to be released soon. I assume those other patches will fix issues present in the game.

About time...

Maybe the physical release will get patched already.