So after 4 years of it being out I finally got Sonic Colors Ultimate on sale for $11 on black Friday

I had already beaten the game twice, once in 2019, again in 2021, and now w third time this year, here's my thoughts on how it's held up today with a breakdown of all the worlds:

Tropical Resort - Still a great introduction to the game, looks very pretty, the level design is simple but effective while doing a good job introducing the wisps to the player, and the music is great (for this game I set the soundtrack to the original version, I've heard some of the remixed songs and they're incredibly hit or miss so I set it back to the original), the boss fight at the end is lame tho, FAR too easy and the only memorable part is the music. So yeah, good start to the game 

Sweet Mountain - Another mostly solid world, only part that stuck out as aggravating to me were the Egg Pawns having deceptively long reach and blindsiding you when you're jumping, other than that though the atmosphere of the stage & the music slap, and it's a fun one to run through. The boss fight is unremarkable once again tho, not as bad as the Ferris wheel though. The Drill and Rocket wisps are good additions to the game as well and make traversing the stage more fun while adding quicker ways to get to the end

Starlight Carnival - This is probably the world that's aged the most overall, it was my favorite as a kid and it still looks and sounds excellent to me, but the level design is incredibly mixed for me. Act 5 in particular I REALLY enjoyed because of how well the hover wisp was utilized, and the cube wisp is fun and adds depth to the platforming, but the first act in particular is INCREDIBLY automated while the only input you have to do is dodge the lasers, homing attacking the squares in space is fun tho and the 2D sections are decently designed outside of the green orb obstacles and the pressing machines which aren't as aggravating to me now like they were as a kid, but still slow the pace down. The boss here is the first REALLY good boss in the game, encourages forward momentum and homing attacking them using the laser wisp on the ship is incredibly satisfying. So yeah, not the absolute best world but far from bad

Planet Wisp - A great world conceptually with Eggman enslaving the wisp population and draining their resources for land development, love when Sonic games touch on stuff like that. Oh yeah, and the levels themselves are pretty good too, only part I found annoying was the moving platform section and the spike wisp is easily my least favorite in the game, it still feels incredibly stiff and awkward to control. Other than that the music and visuals are excellent and the level design is still good for the most part and the wisps outside of Spike compliment the acts well. Reused Ferris Wheel boss still blows though

Aquarium Park - The. Best. World. In. The. Game. By. Far. Everything in this world has aged beautifully, from the visuals & music, to the level design, to the way the wisps are utilized, everything is just *chefs kiss*. Even the water sections are good in this level, they give you the ability to jump infinitely in the water and it makes traversing the levels a blast to play. While the game isn't *as* open ended as other 3D titles I still enjoy the emphasis on platforming here and still giving players alternate routes to take within the stages, in retrospect I don't understand how the narrative spreaded about this game being dry design wise, I've noticed things in the game going back that I didn't notice before and it's easier to appreciate aspects of the game that felt fresh and interesting even today. Even the boss fight here is just Sweet Mountain's but better, having to guide the missiles to break the switch's casing and using the drill wisp to ram into Admiral Jelly feels FAR more satisfying and the music as usual bumps. Great world and still my favorite in the game 

Asteroid Coaster - This feels like what Starlight Carnival should have been to me, it maintains the great atmosphere but imo it has FAR better and more open level design than that stage did. Definitely the most intense world in the game, gives off that final world vibe very nicely topped with that excellent Adventure games-esque music. This world also introduced the Frenzy wisp which I love to bits, eating as many things as possible while increasing speed has a nice rhythm to it, once again complimenting the level design. Literally my only gripe with this world is the final act before the boss, that level was just obnoxious and if you die even once it becomes an absolute drag to get through, not fun, but thankfully it's rectified with an excellent boss fight which once again is a reskin of Starlight Carnival's but more challenging and uses the rocket wisp. Once again a great world and my 2nd favorite in the game behind Aquarium Park

Terminal Velocity - This is the only world in the game I feel they shit the bed on, and they didn't even have to. I LOVE the intense music that really adds to the "everything is falling apart and we gotta get out of here" vibe to it, and the level itself starts off well, but then the third section with the robot chase happens and it completely derails the potential it had by blindsiding you with lasers during the moto bug section that give you VERY little reaction time and you practically have to cheese to win, easily the worst stage in the game. But thankfully it doesn't stay that way for long because the final boss fight is a great way to close out the game with. It's not a very challenging fight, but the phases are designed well with the cube parts being my favorite, the music especially during phase 2 is epic, and the final color combination attack to finish off Eggman is sweet. Not the most difficult final boss fight but the way it's designed and the atmosphere make up for it, so yeah good way to close off the game (not counting Act 2 cause it's basically an afterthought)


Overall, Colors still ranks as one of my favorite Sonic titles, I can come back to the game after not playing it for years and still have a good time with it. It does suck how much the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction for the game after the cringe culture boom of the mid to late 2010s made it "not ok" to like Sonic games, with this and the adventure games being hit the hardest by it. I still think it's a great game with plenty of fun levels, great music, nice visuals and loads of charm to it. It's not perfect of course, I could go without the way certain acts are designed, the spike wisp just controls poorly and certain levels in the final stretch are obnoxiously designed, but it's made up for with plenty of awesome ones, mostly good boss fights at least in the second half (even if they're just reskins), the wisps actually feeling fresh compared to later games due to the level design actually complimenting the wisps well with the exception of the obvious, all topped off with a great final boss fight to close it out 

I avoided commenting on the story until now due to the very controversial way the writing is viewed now especially due to the way it influenced the later  games handled it, but I don't think the overall plot is super complex or as layered as previous games are, however I appreciate the unapologetically cheesy tone it has with good voice acting and some of the dialogue I feel like is grossly overhated for what it's worth, it's not all zingers but some do land 

The opening and ending themes are among some of my favorites in the franchise, they just activate the happy chemicals in my brain. They're very auto tuned but they mesh well with the great instrumentals and I can't go without singing along to them at least once

As for the Ultimate edition, in it's current state it's not a bad version of the game at all. SOME parts are still whack like the loading times between stages are longer than I'd like them to be, the models are fine but lack the personality of the Wii original, and some of the music tracks were absolutely MASSACRED. But on the other end, the remixed opening and ending tracks, the newly added ghost wisp, the character customization, and the addition of Tails rescuing you when you fall down a pit, these are all great additions that I feel genuinely enhance the experience, alongside that I prefer using an Xbox and PlayStation controller for the boost games, outside of the default controls on PlayStation having Circle be boost while Square is crouch, but thankfully that's easily rectified in the options 


I had a blast getting to experience this wonderful game again, and it makes me excited for when I can finally get the Sonic X Shadow Generations remake which looks awesome and is of easily my favorite boost game overall, but Colors still holds it's own today as a great platformer and a great Sonic game overall. Please don't let the detractors dissuade you from trying this if you haven't already, it's more than worth at least one playthrough, highly recommended ❤️

The Sonic Colors 2025 Experience