ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Sonic Colors: How Aliens Helped Revive the Series

Updated on August 23, 2015
The resurrection of a franchise is always bright.
The resurrection of a franchise is always bright.

Lifesaver

After the disappointing Sonic the Hedgehog games of 2006, Sonic the Hedgehog as a franchise was in danger of ending. Those games suffered from poor storytelling, questionable voice actors who also voiced the same characters in the very maligned 2003 cartoon Sonic X, and poorly made games. Its popularity was fixed somewhat with 2008 release of Sonic Unleashed, but even that game received negative criticism at some point mostly due to the introduction of the Werehog and the tedious Night Levels. It was not until the 2010 release of Sonic Colors that people had a more positive reaction to a Sonic the Hedgehog games. Sonic Colors was a game that integrated the mechanics of both the original 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog game and the newly introduced mechanics Sonic Colors introduced without sacrificing the speed that made Sonic the Hedgehog famous, actually made a lighthearted story that actually made the characters, both good and bad, actually fun to hear talk since this game started using different voice actors, and the musical variety in all of the levels was actually fun to hear. Sonic Colors was a return to what made Sonic the Hedgehog as a franchise nearly rival Nintendo's Super Mario franchise in terms of popularity.

Wisps: a contributor to the "colors" part of Sonic Colors.
Wisps: a contributor to the "colors" part of Sonic Colors.

Wisps

Like Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors used a gimmick that gave Sonic some variety in his abilities when it came to exploring levels. Referred to as wisps, these aliens gave Sonic new powers as he progressed through the game. Similar to Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors had to make Sonic acquire a new gimmick. Unlike Sonic Unleashed however, Sonic Colors managed to give the player the choice whether or not to use the new powers. Sonic in Sonic Colors already had special abilities like spinning, sliding, and stomping, but with the addition of various colored wisps, Sonic gained the ability to do different things, mostly the ability to destroy enemy robots through different methods or acquire items normal Sonic could not reach.

The video above gave some examples of what the wisps did for Sonic in Sonic Colors. While that was shown during the development of Sonic Colors, fans already know of most of the wisp powers. The White Wisp gave Sonic the ability to become invulnerable and dash through enemies and destroy them, the Cyan Wisp gave Sonic the ability to reflect and destroy enemies by turning Sonic into a laser, the Yellow Wisp gave Sonic the ability to turn into a drill and easily destroy underground and underwater enemies, the Orange Wisp gave Sonic the ability to turn into a rocket and reach items that were in the air, the Blue Wisp gave Sonic the ability to turn into a cube and destroy enemies by dropping on them or exploding near them, the Green Wisp gave Sonic the ability to turn into a spaceship and rapidly dash across long lines of rings in seconds, the Pink Wisp turn Sonic into a spiked ball to climb walls, and the purple wisp turned Sonic into a monster that literally eats anything in front of him. Sonic Colors made its gimmick work because it did not seriously alter how Sonic played. He was still fast, but all of his more unique powers got remade as their own separate entities.

Bestiality and necrophilia. A bad combination for a video game.
Bestiality and necrophilia. A bad combination for a video game.

Story and Characters

Sonic Colors was a step in revitalizing Sonic the Hedgehog as a franchise because its story was actually humorous. In previous years, Sonic the Hedgehog's stories were serious or took itself too seriously. Games like Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) were examples of bad video games. Their controls were not very good, their stories were not well told, and most of their characters were unlikable.One major example was Sonic 2006 and the bestiality/borderline-necrophilia that occurred near the end. Thankfully, Sonic Colors decided to make a more lighthearted story that was well written and had some hilarious lines.

As this video shows, the plot of Sonic Colors took a more hilarious route when it came to making Sonic and Tails stop one of Dr. Eggman's plots. They made jokes about how Dr. Eggman was probably not up to no good due to the theme park he built to try to atone for his misdeeds, there was a hilarious line where Dr. Eggman specifically says that he built the amusement park as a way to atone for his past misdeeds; and is in no way secretly another plot for some evil plan, and the henchmen who reveal to Sonic and the player that Dr. Eggman really was up to no good and had to be stopped acted like idiots when terrorizing one of the wisps.

If anybody thought of Sonic SatAM with these guys, it was probably intentional. And hilarious.
If anybody thought of Sonic SatAM with these guys, it was probably intentional. And hilarious.

Even though he was the villain of the game, Dr. Eggman and his henchmen were portrayed as thoroughly hilarious. Some of the cutscenes made it clear that Orbot and Cubot, Eggman's henchmen robots, were incredibly incompetent compared to Eggman himself, the dialogue that occurred between the antagonists was both very witty and comedic, and since this was a theme park, the announcements that played while going through the level made the game feel less like an epic adventure, but more like a Saturday Morning cartoon. And despite the fact that Dr. Eggman took part in enslaving aliens, Sonic Colors made sure the player enjoyed the game while trying to save the wisps at the same time.

Awesome Music

What made past Sonic the Hedgehog games and Sonic Colors so appealing to players was the music. Every time a player went through a level, an exhilarating melody always was included. The modern Sonic the Hedgehog games used actual instruments to differentiate themselves from their original games as a way to show-off how much better the franchise has gotten over the years. For Sonic Colors that same idea was used to make the background music, but some of the levels were able to use different tones to sound both hyperactive and graceful at the same time. This idea was clearly heard with the background music for the first level of Planet Wisp.

The beginning piano solo that played gave the player the impression that while this level would be both fast-paced, but at the same time somewhat calm at the same time. Taking place in a vibrant jungle landscape also emphasized how much fun playing through Sonic Colors was. The piano coincides with Sonic beginning at a very fertile looking jungle. But when the player starts going into the are where Dr. Eggman was tampering with the environment, the music became more technological. Symbolically the background music of the first Planet Wisp level of Sonic Colors juxtaposed the harmony of the planet before Dr. Eggman invaded and the chaos that the invasion caused.

A Very Good Game

Sonic Colors was an incredible boost towards Sega in terms of popularity. After many games filled with disappointing games, Sonic Colors actually revitalized the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise as a whole. With its nearly flawless integration of its gimmick with core game mechanics, genuinely funny storytelling, and fantastic music, Sonic Colors was an amazing game for old and new fans and players of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. And while there may have been some flaws with Sonic Colors compared to some on the games that came after it, this game was what made later Sonic the Hedgehog games possible.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)