After 10 years of one of Sonic's best titles being left on the Nintendo Wii, Sonic Colors: Ultimate sees the Nintendo-exclusive title released onto other, more recent platforms with a fresh coat of paint. While the game includes a new Wisp, a Metal Sonic Rival Rush Mode, and a Tails Save feature instead of normal lives, some fans have wondered if the glitches used for skips in speedrunning would be fixed as part of it. With review copies out and Early Access players able to experience the game, the skips have been found to still be possible with a little something extra thanks to Blind Squirrel Entertainment.
Sonic Colors came out back in 2010. Since then, the speedrunning community has had its hand in trying to beat the game as fast as possible, with the current world record being for the original Wii version at 55 minutes and 56 seconds by CriticalCyd only 9 months ago. Those on the current rankings can take pride that when they can play the more up-to-date version, they can try their luck with the same skips and tricks.
RELATED: Sonic Colors: Ultimate for Switch Near Unplayable Due to Glitches [UPDATE]
In videos testing the speedrun tactics, players can see how the glitches are still activated in the exact same way, but Tails also has specific lines played when the skips activate. Kate Higgins, the voice actor for Tails in Colors, was brought back to record new lines that play as fans run through the stages. For one example, if gamers use a Wisp to warp through the stage improperly, there's a chance Tails will say "what just happened?" Or "Sonic, I don't think we should be here."
The lines don't fit too many other situations, meaning that the lines specifically activate when players go out of bounds, which many skip glitches speedrunners use require. It's a nice addition to the game, which makes up for how speedrunners have found that the jump height in Sonic Colors: Ultimate has been fixed, making some tricks harder to achieve.
Even with the jump height adjustment, fans have still praised the new lines, as it isn't very often that games make a point to acknowledge the exploits speedrunners use for their records. If the glitches are ever acknowledged, they mostly get patched out, let alone left in and playfully referred to in-game.
As SEGA and Blind Squirrel Entertainment have its hands full trying to fix the glitches of the Nintendo Switch version of the game, these little nods from Tails mean that these skips and glitches likely won't be fixed as part of it. Hopefully someone at the next Games Done Quick has fun confusing Tails as they try to beat CriticalCyd's world record on a new platform.
Sonic Colors: Ultimate releases on September 7th for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: The 10 Best Sonic Games To Speedrun If You've Gotta Go Fast