• Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Xpike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,676
Finally getting to play Colors (Wii) for the first time.

Why is this game stuck on the Wii?

It's such a delight to play. Great aesthetic / level themes, tight gameplay (this feels like the tightest modern 3D Sonic game to me?), actual level design that doesn't just encourage "hold button to run fast", and a really fun soundtrack. The levels may be short, sure, but there are a lot of them, and they feel much more fun to me than pretty much any level in Generations, as well as (the admittedly little I've played of) Forces.

A remaster of this game would kick ass. It's a shame it's stuck on the Wii.
my favorite part of colors is how SEGA was absolutely shocked at its positive recepton
They were somehow surprised a completely original and creative Sonic game without any forced gimmicks did well.
 
Oct 25, 2017
485
- The loss of Hideki Naganuma on the soundtrack is definitely felt. Not a bad OST, but it feels like the composers were trying to ape his style and didn't quite have what it takes. Also, the cutscene music sounds a little too familiar...
- The gameplay in levels seems a little easier compared to Rush. It's certainly much more trivial to get boost since the trick system is a lot more generous. I'll have to play more to see if it gets more challenging.

I will say I used to think Rush Adventure had a much inferior soundtrack, but over time and after playing it enough it really is an effort I'd qualify as a pretty strong contender in its own ways. Funnily enough the first two stage themes are really not good imo, but upon hitting Coral Caves it becomes a string of real bops topped off by the strangely on-theme and oddly low-key-yet-energetic Pirate Island. The OST goes really well with the game's better sense of flow than Rush and, like the game, feels a bit more even overall; you'll be able to tell that they definitely toned back on the egregious hang-ups of Rush while still providing a somewhat gradual difficulty curve.

Speaking of gameplay and music working together I'm reminded that Rush Adventure has a unnecessarily dope rhythm game in there too.
 

maximumzero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,896
New Orleans, LA
So I have two "Sonic X" plush that I bought direct from UFO Catcher back in 2003 when the anime first premiered in Japan and the two lone listings I'm seeing on eBay has them going for over $100, which is frankly baffling to me. Does anyone know anything about these?

 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,807
I'm not particularly fond of colors, I thought it was ok at the time. And as time went on its aged very poorly and is kind of the harbringer of a lot of bad things that have now become " gimmicks" themselves in sonic both gameplay wise and not. Particularly level design , scene direction and tone. I think coming from unleashed its a giant step down and looks more and more like one as time goes on.

That said, sega being surprised that people like a thing is never surprising when you consider its very clear they don't really understand why people like...anything about sonic and who likes what and why. All the people who understand, both in a gameplay , and non gamplay perspective don't work there anymore. And the people who do, don't work there. Or in some cases don't have the power to do anything.
 

Deleted member 48897

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 22, 2018
13,623
Colors was OK but I don't feel much interest in going back to play it a third time. I know the S-ranks don't actually matter in that game, but it's such a bland grind most of the time, especially in levels where the drill wisp exists. I guess it's a bit more platforming-focused than the previous titles, but it's really bland platforming that stands out. It also has some of the least ambitious 3D sequences in the series.
 

ConfusedOwl

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,125
Canada
I'm a bit of a lapsed Sonic fan but all this talk of the Sonic movie got me into playing and possibly re-falling in love with this franchise. Replayed the original games with the Sega Ages releases and played Sonic 3 & Knuckles on PC. Now I'm playing through Mania for the first time. I even went and bought Sonic Colors and Unleashed off Ebay. Beat Colors before but have only played the first hour or so of Unleashed on the PS2 a long time ago.

I even watched some episodes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, that show is still good fun. I think I still have some VHS tapes of it and Satam lying around somewhere as well.
 

Supaidaman

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
890
The 360 also performs much better than the PS3 version. Prepare yourself for a lot of frame drops :/
 

BlazeHedgehog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
702
The PS3 version also has an unlocked framerate so even when things are "fine" it still feels wildly more inconsistent than the 360 version, because some levels almost hit 60fps but it's really all over the place.
 

Rlan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
823
Wellington, New Zealand
That RSCP3 playthrough of Sonic Unleashed is real nice though:



I still find my issue with Unleashed is that it's TOO FAST. It's just insane and requires so many more "duck here" or "go left and right here" points that I just didn't like it at all. Colors and Generations were more open, a tad slower overall, and felt more fun to play.

My favorite part of Colors is that they changed the X Y X X Y LB RB A B Y garbage to "press A 5 times", and pressing A 5 times feels SO GOOD.
 

Mesharey

Member
Dec 7, 2017
2,755
Kuwait
Finished Lost World, surprised me of how good it is, was different than most of the 3D games, it has good platforming & it's not just about speed, many new ideas in it & most of them were good, liked the funny cutscences, need a sequel 8.5/10

One of the best Sonic 3D games.

I liked also the DLC stages, Nights, Zelda and Yoshi, they all have nice ideas, I liked the hidden ones too.
 

ConfusedOwl

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,125
Canada
I watched some videos on Unleashed PS3 before buying it so I know what I'm getting into. I figure it's still playable enough to enjoy it at least and it is one of the good 3D games I've not really played. It's better than hoping for a PC port anyway.

While I wait for that and Colors to arrive I finished a playthrough of Sonic Mania. What a fantastic experience that was. I just finished a replay of the other 2D Sonics so all those levels were still fresh in my mind when I went in. Seeing all the remixed levels was a lot of fun. I bought the DLC so will now mess around with that.
 
Oct 25, 2017
6,877
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still the king. Casino Night in particular is an example of the pinnacle of proper platforming design in light of the game's physics. Obviously, using Sonic as a pinball in the midst of a bunch of flippers and bumpers is genius, but even in things like the final boss, where understanding the physics of the spin dash and how to come off of a wall that you've spun-dashed up at the right time to get the arc you need to hit something is SO GOOD.

Top ten game ever made, IMO.
 

Deleted member 48897

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 22, 2018
13,623
Forces is free on PS+

I'm not brave enough to download it, and I willingly downloaded Detroit: Become Human.

It's not a bad game and most of the writing is really good (I think it's true that Infinite is too much of a one-note shounen character for a story that's trying to be a more serious resistance-y kind of thing) though it does suffer from questionable editorial decisions. It's on a tier similar to Colors, just less light-hearted and more retreads of Green Hill and Chemical Plant because apparently someone isn't completely sick of them at this point.
 

Nocturnowl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,072
It is out of sheer morbid curiosity with the character creator that I'm considering downloading Forces.

I wish I had saved the post with your creations, I believe you had a Roman Reigns design as well lol
I think it was more a garish hot cop dawg with stache, I could see BIG DAWG potential in there though...with skinny sonic limbs

I actually thought I still had the pics but I guess they never made the jump to this laptop.
RIP my wrassle birds and Puyo Poodle
 
OP
OP
Professor Beef

Professor Beef

Official ResetEra™ Chao Puncher
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,498
The Digital World
I think it was more a garish hot cop dawg with stache, I could see BIG DAWG potential in there though...with skinny sonic limbs

I actually thought I still had the pics but I guess they never made the jump to this laptop.
RIP my wrassle birds and Puyo Poodle
I FOUND THE POST

www.resetera.com

Sonic the Hedgehog Community |OT| There’s no end to this franchise!

You asked for it Beef, you got it, eventually Beef, I request you use your mod powers to make these the official mascots of Wrasslegaf, I'm sure they will be very appreciative of the grapple based birds since they love to bring up the Sonic franchise so much. For other horrors to ensure JC...

It's #932 in case the link doesn't go there. I had forgotten all about the name BioBear lmao, but he's the one that had that big dog style to him
 

Nocturnowl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,072
Wonderful Beef, and said post reminds me of our favourite cake monstrosity.

Guess hot cop wasn't among those, but yes bio bear is the top guy, the original creation for my forces playthrough in fact.
 

Deleted member 48897

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 22, 2018
13,623
It's really not that bad. The worst thing I can say about it is that it's easy. Its most similar predecessor might be the PS2/Wii Unleashed in terms of complexity and length, but it's a lot faster than that.
 

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,735
NoVA
It's really not that bad. The worst thing I can say about it is that it's easy. Its most similar predecessor might be the PS2/Wii Unleashed in terms of complexity and length, but it's a lot faster than that.
damning with faint praise. the speed is pretty meaningless when the levels don't challenge you to work around it or react in any significant way.
 

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,501
Colors DS took its good time getting here, but it finally got here.

This game is GREAT. Easily my favorite of the three Rush-style games and I'd even say I rate it almost as highly as Colors Wii, which is one of my favorite Sonic games in general. For starters, I love that they finally brought Sonic's moveset up to date with the 3D Boost games by giving him the stomp and air boost (as well as the slide, which I actually wish they hadn't added since it's barely used and impossible to ever tell where it's needed until you've already slammed into a wall). They also got rid of the trick system which I think is for the best as it could get pretty repetitive and annoying after a while to simply mash B and hear a million sound effects go off after every jump.

Most importantly though, Dimps finally figured something out... no one likes getting killed all the time! Asteroid Coaster is the only Zone with any notable instakill moments, but they're nowhere near the terror of a stage like Altitude Limit, and you build up such a surplus of lives that you'll never fear a game over. Instead, the Red Rings and alternate Wisp routes incentivize replays. Sure, it makes the game far easier, but way more fun.

As for the stages, they find a great balance between going fast and slower platforming (usually). Tropical Resort and Sweet Mountain feel like your typical action-packed Rush stage with some optional Burst Wisp routes, Aquarium Park is the highlight of the game with speedy Laser Wisp and Drill Wisp options, Asteroid Coaster has lots of destructive Void Wisp fun, and Starlight Carnival is filled with cool rail grinding bits. The only level I didn't like as much was Planet Wisp, which is superb in the console version but is here filled with a lot of slow, mandatory Drill Wisp sections - unfortunate since it's not only the most annoying Wisp to control when confined in those tight underground spaces, but its loud irritating theme pulls a Werehog and constantly drowns out the excellent stage music.

The bosses are great too, like the Wii version they get recycled a bit but they're all creative and don't take too long to beat once you know their tricks. I also liked the special stages reminiscent of Rush's - not quite as good as those IMO since they never really get challenging, but fun nonetheless. I sort of rushed through the game to see all the acts, but it looks like there's still plenty to do between the missions, S-Ranks, and red rings.

Oh, and I have to give a shout-out to the music. Yeah, it's the same as the Wii version's, but these are some great DS conversions. They even put some compressed versions of the Wii version's orchestral themes in there. I love smaller-scale handheld versions of console games that give their all to try to give an equally awesome experience.

It's really not that bad. The worst thing I can say about it is that it's easy. Its most similar predecessor might be the PS2/Wii Unleashed in terms of complexity and length, but it's a lot faster than that.

Forces desperately needed an Egg Shuttle type mode. Every time I want to go back to it for fun I get annoyed having to go through the menus and watch the lengthy victory screen for such short and simple stages.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 48897

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 22, 2018
13,623
Oh, and I have to give a shout-out to the music. Yeah, it's the same as the Wii version's, but these are some great DS conversions. They even put some compressed versions of the Wii version's orchestral themes in there. I love smaller-scale handheld versions of console games that give their all to try to give an equally awesome experience.

I especially like the DS arrangement of Tropical Resort because it carries along almost the same RnB riff as the first stages of Rush and Rush Adventure so it feels like an obvious continuation of that idea.
 

Supaidaman

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
890
I absolutely love the Special Stage theme from Colors DS and used to let it play in almost an endless loop.

 

BlazeHedgehog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
702
I was pretty lukewarm on Colors DS. Levels are dense and compact, but don't flow super well. It inherits problems from Colors Wii, where you're only allowed to do certain moves (like the wall jump) on specific, predetermined surfaces. And good lord, it has some of the most bland spritework of just about the entire Sonic franchise. All of the levels look so BORING. Especially Starlight Carnival, which almost looks like it fell out of the Sega Game Gear.
 

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,501
And good lord, it has some of the most bland spritework of just about the entire Sonic franchise. All of the levels look so BORING. Especially Starlight Carnival, which almost looks like it fell out of the Sega Game Gear.

I have to disagree there, I really like the visuals. Starlight Carnival is definitely the odd man out though, you get the dingy mechanical background for Act 1 and what should be a 2D recreation of the gorgeous technicolor space armada of the Wii version for Act 2 is instead just a bunch of static ships on a black void.
 

Moose the Fattest Cat

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 15, 2017
1,439
I played Forces to completion recently because it was heavily discounted. I was resisting playing it because of everything I'd read about it. It wasn't good but not as bad as I was expecting. IMO it was about exactly as enjoyable as Sonic Generations (which I thought was over-rated; in both that and this I don't think they've successfully captured the feel of "Classic Sonic" and should just stick to the Modern boost / occasional sidescrolling and just have One Sonic)

In conclusion, my feelings on Sonic Forces is... they should try making a modern Sonic game with just the Modern Sonic stages?? Just do that and only that.

Character selects for spin-offs and DLC (like Episode Shadow) is cool. Playing through Modern Sonic stages as Tails or Knuckles or Blaze would be good.

And just do it? Give the Mania team the license to do a 2D sequel and... collect all the money and praise?? Why is this so hard
 

Moose the Fattest Cat

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 15, 2017
1,439
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still the king. Casino Night in particular is an example of the pinnacle of proper platforming design in light of the game's physics. Obviously, using Sonic as a pinball in the midst of a bunch of flippers and bumpers is genius, but even in things like the final boss, where understanding the physics of the spin dash and how to come off of a wall that you've spun-dashed up at the right time to get the arc you need to hit something is SO GOOD.

Top ten game ever made, IMO.

Agreed. Sonic 2 is the best. It's also the perfect length.

The only downside is the special stages are almost impossible unless you have 2P for Tails or are going solo or you've memorized each one.
 
Oct 25, 2017
6,877
Agreed. Sonic 2 is the best. It's also the perfect length.

The only downside is the special stages are almost impossible unless you have 2P for Tails or are going solo or you've memorized each one.

I honestly hammered on the save states to complete them because I knew that it was the only way that I'd ever finish like the last five of them successfully with the lack of time that I have available (and the abundance of games that I have to play).

Back when I was ten and had a lot of free time, I could do these stages with Tails as the CPU without even thinking about it. I can't believe that I miss having the skill of beating the game on one life while getting all the Chaos Emeralds by the middle of the Aquatic Ruin Zone, but I do!
 

Zippo

Banned
Dec 8, 2017
8,256
I'm going to try to get some insight from some contacts soon, but I'm extremely curious what happened to the working relationship between SEGA and Dimps. Seemed to be working well, none of their Sonic games ever flopped as far as I'm aware, and most of them were pretty well received, with the obvious exception of Sonic 4 and Lost World 3DS. Yes, Xenoverse and Street Fighter have been big successes for them, and they're still getting continuous updates, but Sonic was no slouch for them, either. They just...stopped. Gonna investigate this.
 

Deleted member 51691

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 6, 2019
17,834
I'm going to try to get some insight from some contacts soon, but I'm extremely curious what happened to the working relationship between SEGA and Dimps. Seemed to be working well, none of their Sonic games ever flopped as far as I'm aware, and most of them were pretty well received, with the obvious exception of Sonic 4 and Lost World 3DS. Yes, Xenoverse and Street Fighter have been big successes for them, and they're still getting continuous updates, but Sonic was no slouch for them, either. They just...stopped. Gonna investigate this.
Probably Sega decided to shift its focus from handheld games, so they had no reason to keep giving Dimps contract work.
 

TreIII

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,280
Columbia, MD
I'm going to try to get some insight from some contacts soon, but I'm extremely curious what happened to the working relationship between SEGA and Dimps. Seemed to be working well, none of their Sonic games ever flopped as far as I'm aware, and most of them were pretty well received, with the obvious exception of Sonic 4 and Lost World 3DS. Yes, Xenoverse and Street Fighter have been big successes for them, and they're still getting continuous updates, but Sonic was no slouch for them, either. They just...stopped. Gonna investigate this.
There's also (Super) Dragonball Heroes in arcades and Dragonball Legends on mobile. Bamco alone has been pretty much giving Dimps consistent work over the last few years, albeit it's all been DB.

Between that and some of the staff leaving to go (re)join SNK, I can certainly see a scenario where there really just wasn't any bandwidth for Dimps to do any more Sonic content, and not so much any type of falling out.
 

Xpike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,676
I'm going to try to get some insight from some contacts soon, but I'm extremely curious what happened to the working relationship between SEGA and Dimps. Seemed to be working well, none of their Sonic games ever flopped as far as I'm aware, and most of them were pretty well received, with the obvious exception of Sonic 4 and Lost World 3DS. Yes, Xenoverse and Street Fighter have been big successes for them, and they're still getting continuous updates, but Sonic was no slouch for them, either. They just...stopped. Gonna investigate this.
It's likely there just isn't that much of a demand for a constant supply of Sonic games as before, back in the GBA and DS era you had Sonic Team making the "main" console games so DIMPS had the task of doing the handheld market, but the handheld games don't really exist anymore, and the Switch can just get ports of whatever console games release.
 

Deleted member 51691

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 6, 2019
17,834
Dimps probably has its hands full with Xenoverse 3. I'm sure Bandai Namco contract work more than made up for the contract work they used to get from Sega.
 

Zippo

Banned
Dec 8, 2017
8,256
There's also (Super) Dragonball Heroes in arcades and Dragonball Legends on mobile. Bamco alone has been pretty much giving Dimps consistent work over the last few years, albeit it's all been DB.

Between that and some of the staff leaving to go (re)join SNK, I can certainly see a scenario where there really just wasn't any bandwidth for Dimps to do any more Sonic content, and not so much any type of falling out.

Yeah, I don't think there was any feud/internal struggle going on, just them moving away from platformers and whatnot. First I've heard about employees going back to SNK though. Interesting.
It's likely there just isn't that much of a demand for a constant supply of Sonic games as before, back in the GBA and DS era you had Sonic Team making the "main" console games so DIMPS had the task of doing the handheld market, but the handheld games don't really exist anymore, and the Switch can just get ports of whatever console games release.
That could indeed be the case. People wonder why there's less output for Sonic games now, and Dimps was SEGA's biggest contract developer for that kind of stuff.
 

Xpike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,676
hell just any kind of rerelease really, none of the 3d sonics have been rereleased apart from adventure 1 and 2 on ps360, the only 3d sonic games avaiable this gen is forces (!) if you dont have a pc
 

TreIII

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,280
Columbia, MD
Yeah, I don't think there was any feud/internal struggle going on, just them moving away from platformers and whatnot. First I've heard about employees going back to SNK though. Interesting.

Yeah! Probably the most famous example is one of modern SNK's public faces: Yasuyuki Oda. His career spans working with the old/classic-era SNK, joining Dimps along with a number of other old SNK ex-pats, and staying there until 2014, where he got the offer to re-join SNK Playmore with a number of his old pals and make SNK's newest resurrection actually mean something, this time.

I don't know exactly how many Dimps personnel left to go back "home" with him, much less if there was any of the Sonic talent in that number. But considering Metal Slug is the last major franchise of theirs that SNK is eying for a revival, I guess having people that are familiar with either brand and/or action-platformer experience in general would be a good thing to have.
 

Moose the Fattest Cat

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 15, 2017
1,439
Recently played the new version of the fan game Sonic Robo Blast 2 (v2.2)

Once you get used to the controls, it's pretty intoxicating
 

Zippo

Banned
Dec 8, 2017
8,256
Yeah! Probably the most famous example is one of modern SNK's public faces: Yasuyuki Oda. His career spans working with the old/classic-era SNK, joining Dimps along with a number of other old SNK ex-pats, and staying there until 2014, where he got the offer to re-join SNK Playmore with a number of his old pals and make SNK's newest resurrection actually mean something, this time.

I don't know exactly how many Dimps personnel left to go back "home" with him, much less if there was any of the Sonic talent in that number. But considering Metal Slug is the last major franchise of theirs that SNK is eying for a revival, I guess having people that are familiar with either brand and/or action-platformer experience in general would be a good thing to have.

This kind of stuff is super fascinating. Thank you for all of the insight.