Sonic Colors Saved Sonic–And Set It Up For A Troubling Decade

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Sonic Colors turned fifteen on November 16, 2025. Let’s take a look back at how this game changed the Sonic series by introducing new and interesting gameplay elements.

Sonic Colors was a real turning point for Sonic the Hedgehog. The series had struggled for years, hitting a low point with the 2006 game and then slowly improving with Sonic Unleashed in 2008. By 2010, Sonic Colors successfully brought the franchise back to popularity, becoming the most well-received 3D Sonic game since the classic Adventure titles. While things were looking up, challenges still lay ahead.

Previous 3D Sonic games, like Sonic Adventure and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, featured complex storylines. Sonic Colors took a different approach, simplifying the plot to resemble the more straightforward stories of the original Sonic games. In fact, Colors doesn’t even have an opening cutscene. Players jump right into the first level, and the story unfolds as they play: Sonic and Tails travel to space to check out Eggman’s new Interstellar Amusement Park, which he claims is meant to make up for his past wrongdoing.

Okay, so me and Sonic totally didn’t believe Eggman when he pretended to be nice. We figured he was up to no good, and we were right! Turns out his whole ‘amusement park’ was a cover for something seriously messed up – he was trying to enslave aliens and steal their energy to power a giant mind-control machine…and yeah, take over the world. Basically, it’s the classic Eggman plan! Now I’m racing around six different planets he’s captured, trying to free everyone. Honestly, it’s a super silly, over-the-top plot, and after some of the more serious stories the Sonic games have tried lately, it’s a really fun change of pace.

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The game featured a lighter, more comedic tone, so Sega hired American writers Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, known for their work on Happy Tree Friends, to write the dialogue. While the characters still felt like themselves, they were noticeably more sarcastic and witty. This was especially clear in Dr. Eggman’s announcements throughout the park. Between levels, Eggman would make PA announcements – sometimes offering silly warnings, like not to lick the rides at Sweet Mountain, and other times giving absurd advice, such as reminding players to hold their breath on the vacuum-filled Asteroid Coaster.

The short, quick lines in the game were genuinely funny, but the longer conversations weren’t as successful. Many jokes were stretched out for too long, losing their impact. While Sonic is known for witty one-liners, much of the dialogue in Sonic Colors felt like a forced attempt at humor – like someone telling a bad joke and then overexplaining it. If you’ve ever encountered the infamous gaming phrase “Baldy McNosehair,” this is where it came from. The writers, Pontac and Graff, weren’t very familiar with the Sonic series when they started working on Colors, and they continued to write for Sonic games through 2017’s Sonic Forces. Their work contributed to a noticeable change in the series’ tone that characterized that era of Sonic games.

Sonic Colors marked a return to classic, fast-paced Sonic gameplay, something fans had been wanting after several games experimented with different styles. The ‘boost’ feature, which let players reach incredible speeds with a button press, was back after proving popular in a previous game. While the original version on the Nintendo Wii wasn’t as visually impressive as it had been on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 due to the Wii’s weaker hardware, it still worked well. The game also brought back sections that switched between 3D and 2D perspectives, emphasizing platforming. However, this platforming often felt slow and awkward, lacking the smooth, speedy feel of classic 2D Sonic games.

One of the most exciting new features was the addition of wisps – tiny, energetic aliens that gave Sonic new abilities. By absorbing their power, Sonic could transform into different forms: a fast, cyan laser, an upward-shooting orange rocket, a ground-burrowing yellow drill, or even a blue cube that turned objects into platforms. These transformations felt like natural extensions of Sonic’s usual moves, unlike some past games that changed the gameplay drastically.

When Sonic Colors was released, it received a lot of praise, and for good reason. After years of trying strange new things with the series – like team-based games, guns, and even human love stories – it was a welcome return to the classic Sonic formula. However, it also simplified things a bit, which unfortunately became a trend for Sonic games throughout the 2010s. So, it was both a positive step forward and a warning sign of what was to come. Luckily, newer games like Sonic Frontiers, with the help of veteran writer Ian Flynn, have revitalized the gameplay and story. Sonic is currently in a good place, and it’s possible we wouldn’t be here without the changes – both good and bad – that Sonic Colors brought to the series 15 years ago.

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2025-11-17 18:40