Sonic Colors: Ultimate Is a DESPICABLE ''Remaster'' 

There are Nintendo and Criware development tools that have never been available to the public before packed inside the game files. Modders will be quite thankful for this release

20:46 METAL SONIC PASSES YOU THE BOOF. Do you accept? X - Yes O - No

If Sega can’t even rerelease an 11 year old wii game properly then I am terrified for the sonic game next year

You know, for the longest time I always thought SEGA's problem with Sonic was some crazy incompetence. But having learned on the production of a few Sonic game, I see now that it's GREED. They know Sonic games will sell well on franchise name alone, so what do they do? Produce the games as quick and cheap as possible to maximize profits, who cares about quality? As long as it has SONIC written on the cover it shall sell. In the end It's all about the money. Don't you just love corporations?

> SEGA "Taking more time to assure quality" > Sonic games coming slower than ever, still on release being as/more broken than during the 2000s where games came almost yearly

The fact that people are adamantly trying to downplay this just because they never encountered some of these glitches or because patches will eventually be coming in speaks volumes of how desperate some are to try and paint this in a better light. Neither of those are good excuses when this remaster was made available to the public in the state that it was in, and it fails to surpass the original, a 480p 30fps Wii game in 2010.

It's a shame, because a Colors remaster could have improved the original work. Why didn't Sega just delay the remaster's release? Didn't they learn from their past mistakes?

The worst part about this remaster is that some great extras were cut. According to promotional matiral and other things, there was going to be a ghost race mode where you competed against the ghost of other players to beat their times and go up the leader boards, you could unlock metal sonic according to some text left in the code, there was going to be online multi-player, etc... It's so sad to see many cool and better extras than the ones we got not making the cut.

I think what’s the worst part is that ultimate only has one save slot, while the original had SEVERAL.

when the seizure-inducing shenanigans started up i actually said "oh no" out loud out of pure horror

Thanks for acknowledging that the issues are not just exclusive to the Switch version. People are a little too switch-centric these days.

If Colors Ultimate remains in this state, it's entirely possible that several years from now, it's going to seriously damage Colors' reputation. It happened to Sonic Adventure. To this day SA1 and SADX are commonly mentioned interchangeably, as if they're the same product. The same thing will happen to Colors.

Say what you want about 06 or Rise of Lyric, but if a game genuinely puts you in physical distress when playing it (the epilepsy stuff), then that's absolutely inexcusable and bottom of the line for me.

Sad. Such a disappointment for Sonic fans. Such a disappointment for Emulator and Rom Archive enthusiasts. Such a blemish on Sega. Such a Blemish on remasters.

Seems like HD remasters are a low priority for a lot of game companies which is sad because that version is usually going to be the most assessable version

Patch 1.04 released for the Switch and exclusively fixes the seizure glitches. Patch 1.04 for the other platforms also released, and doesn't seem to fix any of the visual issues. Audio seems slightly improved in terms of volume level? But panning issues and music failing to play still exists. The game still crashes, as well. The game's been out for a month now, and by and large it is still unfixed. What a shameful display by Sega and Blind Squirrel.

Remember the Simpson’s episode where Homer was putting together a grill? This may as well be accurate for Sonic fans seeing Sega serve them a bad port.

Why do I have a feeling that copies of Sonic Color Wii are going to spike in price after the incompetent disaster that is this “””Remaster”””

Long story short. The Wii original release of Sonic Colors is way more polished than the Sonic Colors Ultimate. The fact that Sega rushed it with Blind Squirrel's development of the remaster and the Poor QA decisions that happened before release makes even Sonic 06 a more playable game than a port of pretty solid Sonic game from the Nintendo Wii. This is the kind of nonsense that happened before that I was worried about back in my high school days, which is Sega rushing their games to meet deadlines, even after things have been pointed out even before release that the game in discussion is not yet ready. I'm beyond tired of such inept and poor decisions by whoever is running Sega overseeing their games. All this means is that I'm better off sticking with my Wii Sonic Colors copy for now, because all these problems need to be fixed before I even consider touching the Sonic Colors: Ultimate video game. Sonic has not been having some good days, and our iconic character has been made into memes and jokes of some of his games. Heck Sonic: Lost World is a more polished game than that of Sonic Colors Ultimate, and it was divisive over the fact of the gameplay changes to Sonic's movements and other actions, and that it takes cue from Super Mario Galaxy. Yet that game you never have to worry about glitches much. Furthermore, if this kind of shoddy work gets sent out by Sega in such a disrespectful way, then it's making me worry about Sonic Rangers, and after this, it may be the make or break for Sonic as a franchise series. The only Sonic game still worth more fun is Sonic Mania (Plus). And that was mostly done by people who are still fans of Sonic. This is unacceptable and Sega should have known better than to make the same mistakes as they did with their previous games, Sonic 06 still being a prime example.

It always looked pretty barebones at best. Dunno why so many people gushed over it pre-release. I also used to think that it was pretty disappointing that they didn't try to port Unleashed and Generations (especially since people have been clamoring for an Unleashed remaster for years at this point). I guess we dodged the bullet, eh? You know, I think Sonic is in a pretty weird position these days, I wouldn't be surprised if the series ended up becoming Sega's equivalent of Pac-Man - still highly marketable, but mostly riding on nostalgia with no "proper" new games to speak of (aside from re-releases and occasional low-budget game). I know the series is still "active", but I feel like the games themselves aren't the main priority for Sega anymore.

So as of right now when I'm posting this some of the glitches in the switch version have been proven false but that doesn't mean the other glitches are false its a real shame that we have to prove our glitches are real, now the community is in this state of confusion over what to do now without ultimate. Also the fact that sonic 06 is more stable than ultimate right now is just a big disappointment

Crazy how at the same time Project 06 released the Shadow build after a year and that has some NICE ass polish and exciting upgrades to what was already there

This was very disappointing. I was 8 years old when the original came out and it’s very sad to see a terrible remaster of a game that I spent so much time on as a child.

So this is Sega's response to Balan Wonderworld? Impressive.

If Sonic Generations gets a re-release, I hope Sega just does a straight up port. No changes, no extras, just a straight port. And Generations isn't the most stable game out there either, but if Colours Ultimate is telling me anything, it's that I can't seem to trust them to just put out a straight port.

Can we all agree we need to blame sega on this one everytime theirs a bad game the Devs take all the abuse blame sega not their tired employees

STOP COMPLAINING!!!!!!! SEGA ARE GOING TO FIX THIS WITH A DAY 1 PATCH!!!!!!! OH WAIT THE GAME IS OFFICIALLY OUT!!!!!! THEY WILL FIX IT WITH A DAY 2 PATCH!!!!!!!!!

I feel like Sega executives forced Blind Squirrel to rush the remaster out, this could’ve used a few more months of development and it’s clearly unfinished (if the cutscene assets in the base install are anything to go by, because there’s no reason to have those assets there if that isn’t the case).

2:18 the Frenzy Wisp is supposed to stutter like that its eating whats in the way and growing size.. The thing is if you look at Colors Ultimate they removed effects and animations making the game look worse

That seizure inducing footage actually hurt my eyes, dear god, how did they release something like that? What were they thinking? It’s like how balan wonderland had to get a day 1 patch for some seizure related incident during the final boss(It was a few months ago I’m not 100% on the details)

It’s sad that a game that was impressive on the Wii was made even WORSE than anyone thought it could be

Thank you for subjecting yourself to more of “The Sonic.” Puts into words everything I feel watching one of my favorite games get butchered and remembered for being a technical disaster that it never was… Until they “updated and enhanced” it. Sure hope Sega learns their lesson, this is not acceptable, period.

This is unacceptable! The day one patch is twice the size of the original file size and it fixed nothing! 12.34 GB for a port of a Wii game?! This is absolutely evil!

I once did a tropical resort rival rush, and when I changed a rail, it teleported me to a platform before the rails

I'm so glad to see such an unbiased look into this release. This is not acceptable, and more people need to be aware of what this port is like.

I love how the most replayed part of this video is the timestamp the video warns you about in the very beginning

Sega: *another mediocre game for my collection* What baffles me the most is that out of all the possibilities this was almost foolproof to be a good product and Sega still screwed it up

headcanon: Colors Ultimate is just Sonic drugged out of his mind, reliving the events of Colors but with trippy, psychedelic visuals.

You also have a keen eye like KingK's review. You deserve more viewers on your content. I can tell you but alot of time and effort into all your work. Another great video.

When a game looks like a LSD high, something almost certainly went wrong. Usually with executives forcing the game out without enough time to iron out bugs. Not even Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing was this bad.

It’s interesting. Blind Squirrel Games are a great company. This leads to one conclusion… the game was rushed! Yaaay!

The ghost wisp and Tails literally break the game. I've seen people get similar glitches from the ghost wisp as from Tails.

Jesus that memory leak issue is so disgusting for them to leave in.

Well, what a surprise... Sega went full Sega again and released a rushed product. This is disrespectful not only to the consumers but also to the developers because they are the ones that end up taking all the hate. Sega's management has been a complete shit show since... forever, pretty much. They have been doing this sort of shit since the 90s. Bad decision after bad decision that led to a ton of flawed games, cancellations and bad products (like the 32X). I grew up with a Genesis/Mega Drive and i admired the company but now i know that they are some of the worst out there. They mostly go under the radar because EA, Activision Blizzard, 2K and others are more open about their terrible practices. I have been disconnected from the franchise since 2017 when Sonic Forces turned out to be a disaster. I had high hopes for that game but it ended up as the most disappointing game of the previous decade for me. I decided to always keep my expectations at the lowest possible level after that. Now, i know i was right. I don't expect anything at all from the next main title for next year. It will probably be another case of Sonic Forces: three or so years just for developing the engine and pre-production and only a year into actually making the game. I'm already expecting the worst.

Boy did they cuck this up. Sonic rangers has no chance. Sega hates sonic.

That why old games are better left as it is.

I bet SEGA thinks the word "Delay" means a type of computer.

Damn, Sega really trying to ruin the reputation of even the games people unanimously liked. Can't wait for next year's Generations remaster to give the "the classics are the only good ones" people even more ammo!

I'm glad you are still making reviews, these put a smile on my face :) Keep it up!

This almost reminds me of the situation with Cyberpunk 2077 I mean not even Sonic 06 had glitches this bad and seizure inducing. It's funny that people say that Sega won't use hyper sonic anymore because of the seizures yet they allow glitches like that to happening

Bad, Awful, Horrible, Insignificant, DESPICABLE!

This is all a real shame. At least a kind of proper HD remaster of this game exists on Dolphin if you increase the internal resolution, apply the 60fps hack (although there are a few glitches if you enable that hack), and apply HD textures. Really, this is inexcusable! Hopefully this could all be cleaned up with patches. Nearly everything that you mentioned sounds like something that could be fixed up with some updates, although who knows if Sega will properly patch the game. Even is Sega does properly patch the game, it was not okay to release the game in this state in the first place.

Oh boy... the audio section cracked me up, and the gameplay section had me in utter shock. You did an amazing job here showcasing the game compared to the original! I sincerely can't believe some of these issues exist LOL

Dammit guys i was so pumped for this and there goes my faith in sonic team Hire the modders, they're honestly doing better

I love how after this video the game was never patched again. So it’s still for sale despite being so despicably bad.

21:40 this actually made me laugh when I saw it. Ive only seen such a thing happen *once* and it was when I ran a game from 2002 on my modern computer. The fact that nearly 2 decades later Sonic Team did the same thing is as hilarious as it is pathetic.

Remember, Sega had been warned many years ago “When will you learn , That your actions have consequences “

Fun Fact this game is made with the Godot Engine. A Free Game Engine

This remake/remaster is embarrassing. How does a company struggle to re-release their old game. Sega has been pulling off this stunt with Sonic Adventure DX (not a bad re-release, but not as good as the Dreamcast), Sonic Genesis on the GBA and finally now with this game. I was excited for this one, but hey the original is always available.

Kiryu is Sega's iconic character now🐉🌚

Finally a honest review. Anyway, a few things from me: - is it just me or does the Ready? UI in Rival Rush mode seems like straight up from Sonic Unleashed Wii? - I agree with the patch thing, I do not like this modern trend of the industry at all - half-assed games fixed after with gigabytes upon gigabytes of patches Also, these seem like Sonic 06’s levels of bugs, and the fact that people give it a pass whereas in 06, if it had all of these bugs, they wouldn’t, is irritating

I am genuinely happy that you made this video, the amount of blind Sonic fans making up excuses and even lies as an attempt to try to hide the truth is baffling and this video was very important for that reason alone and hopefully will stop the misinformation from spreading.

This port is a fucking dumpster fire. 15 years after 06 and we STILL have this problem.

Back in 2006, a release this broken was enough to damage SEGA as a company for years to come. Today, we are so used to _expecting_ broken garbage from big AAA companies that Colors: Ultimate was pretty much mostly forgotten just a month or a few later. And (not all, but) most of the great stuff, meanwhile, we get from smaller indie and mid-tier studios. Weird times...

So now this is the norm for video game companies, release awful "remasters" of older beloved titles. Blizzard did it with Warcraft 3, Atlus did it with SMT 3: Nocturne, and now Sega makes this.

Thank you for giving a definitive look at all aspects of the game and not just the bugs. It really puts the whole game in perspective.

Excellent video! This game deserves far better and you did a great job explaining everything that's wrong with this remaster.

Yeah, this is very disappointing. Just when I thought Sega would learn from their past mistakes. It doesn't bolster our faith in that they'll try to finish other future titles properly. It's really a shame.

This makes Forces even better than this!

Sega fails Sonic again.. sigh.

at this point, if they just ported the wii version to PC with no remaster treatment, the backlash would be considerably smaller

9:34 you completely missed the oportunity to say "I take one step foward and two steps back"

Sega doesn't know what to do with the franchise. It's sad but my hype is inexistent for the new game.

Another victim of SEGA Sammy's apathy towards videogames. For those of you that don't know, SEGA Sammy is SEGA's parent company who bought SEGA simply to use its name to rebrand itself after becoming one of Japan's most hated companies for their Pachinko business which prey on people with problems with gambling addictions. On Shareholders meeting, they even admitted to not caring about videogames and were responsible for the bad rereleases (giving the remasters to very small developers plus tight deadlines) and other poor business choices SEGA has made lately.

in 14:00 you click on "new game" and it asks you if you want to delete your previous save file. does that mean this version has only 1 save file? it sounds weird and I Cant find anything online

Why are people on Twitter still defending this game?

Came from KingK’s recommendation at Twitter. Very well done video

Adventure 2 was flawed, but full of effort. Shadow was bad, but full of effort. '06 was a disaster, but full of effort. ... Lost World cynically apes Mario Galaxy. Forces is soullessly mediocre. Colors Ultimate is cynically rushed and priced. Origins is cynically rushed and priced, and they took the separate games off stores. There was always effort and heart that made me hope confidently for a better next game. That is now gone.

Sega never learns.

Wow this is disappointing for those who didn't play this game during its original release, but I expected the typical sega shenanigans and even going as far is to turn this into a cash grab and a buggy mess. I'm worried for Sonic 2022.

Many of these instances aren’t actually Pop in, they are actually meant to appear and disappear for the original aspect ratio of the Nintendo wii, sega just didn’t adjust this for this new version which is an even bigger issue my opinion

Being a fan of SEGA is weird, it almost feels like the death of their consoles killed their love and desire to make better games Not to say games haven't been good since the dreamcast and Gamecube era- but they definitely lost their passion and ambition Look at the Adventures, those were ambitious main titles that pushed the limits of their hardware and storytelling abilities. Then the Dreamcast dies and they tone things down with heroes, keeping some themes of Adventure while turning the tone more kid friendly. Time goes on and Sonic gets progressively squeakier over time, and the criticisms get harsher and harsher not only as the quality of their games decline but as the fanbase gets viewed more toxically especially with the rise of Chris Chan and Sonichu and the Game Grumps lets plays. With more criticism from people viewing sonic from the outside, it almost feels like SEGAs overall moral dropped an they don't put as much love into the games they make. They turn their characters into the caricatures the internet made them out to be, widdle down sonics cast in the games and never let any character that isn't sonic be playable again. Play things safe with the racing games and put them back in karts, people didn't like our riders games right? (wrong u just didn't teach the mechanics well in the first game and butcherd the sequels, give it another go hoverboards and sonic go together like pencil and paper) Which is a fuckin shame bc looking at the games before their crash, they had so much potential. So much passion and style put into their games. Do their games have flaws? Ofc. Have you ever made something you were passionate about? You focus on trying to get the vision out and you get it mostly there but due to limitations, you couldn't get it quite there? That's what SEGA's games always felt like to me. Like what drawbacks there were were because of limitations not their own incompetence Meanwhile their recent titles very much feel incomplete due to incompetence, this being the newest prime example. Which again is such a fkin shame bc imagine if they had the same ambition as they did in the late 90s early 00s. The same drive to *really* make sonic the coolest This game is scary bad, and i's honestly really really hate to see SEGA continue down this path

20:50 - Don't lie, you never got those. Although, I believe you at 20:54 =P 23:15 - I forget which level but in my stream, I completed an act with all 5 red rings but I accidentally hit "retry" (and it didn't confirm if that's what I wanted to do or not). When realising what I did, I exited the level. I got sent back to the map with the level *uncompleted* AND I lost all 5 red rings. Now that's bad!

Colors Ultimate - $40 ($45 for digital deluxe) Colors Wii - I got it for $13

Also does not inspire any confidence at all in the new Sonic game if this is what Sega deems acceptable as a release.

I guess Sonic has failed us again :(

12:28 my theory is they somehow left the audio in some kind of "surround sound" mode... And when the audio is buggy its supposed to play in one of the back/center speakers. But you only get the left/right audio.

I got this video on recommended and I gotta say it's concise and precise. Will definitely be looking at more videos of you when I got time

I don't remember sonic 06 having any seizure inducing glitches soooooooooo 06 is better!!!

I shouldn’t of bought this game. I believed sega when they said they would stop doing this.

The clips from 12:45 to 13:07 sound to me like the misuse of an audio listener attached to either Sonic or the camera, though I'm thinking it's the former case. This would explain why the audio for certain sound effects fade out as you quickly blaze past them, rather than completely just cutting/clipping out. This would also explain why the sound effects from the trick ramp are very inconsistent. As the camera changes angles, the camera is gets closer/further from the listener (since it's attached to Sonic rather than the camera itself) for different angles of the action leading to the audio issues.

How are people playing the game? It says it releases tomorrow for me

Excuse me but WHAT. PLANET WISP REMIXES ARE ONLY IN THE DAMN *D E L U X E* EDITION?1

Another great video, RZ! Probably won't be picking this one up. I may use Dolphin, I ain't never played Colors

You know shit about to get real... REAL when Retro has to make a video about this.

It seems like the switch version took the title “colours” too literally

I ended up glitching one of the stages with the hover wisp because it let me move in 3d in a 2d section, and no matter how many times I killed myself it wouldn't fix itself. Had to redo the whole stage. I just asked for a refund(and got it) so I could put that money towards something else. Very disappointing. Hopefully they fix this up, I'd love to come back and give it another shot.

Damn, the way you carry yourself with your voice has been different the last time I watched a video. All and all, glad you are still doing videos and pretty good criticism.

Great video! One weird thing I noticed is that your tone of voice sounds oddly like a super advanced text to speech program, I couldn't stop thinking about it lol

I had these issues too. I haven't even reached planet wisp yet! 🙃 I know countless others mentioned this already... but the audio drops seem to caused by poor audio mixing, maybe an audio mixing bug? How does that even happen?