Thursday's Sonic the Hedgehog presentation started off with a lightning round of announcements. It wasn't long before Sega made its first major new game announcement, however. Introducing Sonic Colors: Ultimate, a remastered version of the popular third-person and side-scrolling platforming game released on the Wii in 2010. Sonic Colors: Ultimate will bring the classic Sonic game to Nintendo Switch surprisingly soon. It will officially launch on September 7.
While the official Sonic Central livestream didn't provide much information about Sonic Colors: Ultimate, it's confirmed that the upcoming Sonic game is a remaster and not a new game or complete remake. This is simply delivering one of Sonic's most popular adventures to new platforms with a visual overhaul. That said, it's possible that Sega's made further improvements or will be adding something new to Sonic Colors. It's probably not best to make any assumptions, however. Expect more information in the months ahead.
Regarding platforms, Sega will have Sonic fans covered regardless of where they choose to play. Sonic Colors: Ultimate is confirmed to be coming to PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and the Xbox One. It doesn't look like Sonic Colors: Ultimate will be innately supported on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S at launch, but it will work via backward compatibility. Another important note is that the PC version of Sonic Colors: Ultimate will be available through the Epic Games Store.
It can't be understated how important this announcement is to the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom. It's not just that Sonic Colors is often argued to be one of the best modern Sonic games that employs 3D visuals, though that's important, too. It's that Sonic Colors has previously been strictly available on just the Nintendo Wii, a 15-year-old console that's not widely available anymore. Sonic Colors: Ultimate will bring the game to a new generation of Sonic fans.
Some might question how easily Sonic Colors will port to modern platforms. After all, it is a Wii game that did allow for some motion control mechanics. Luckily, the game also offered non-motion control options when it originally launched. Sonic Colors: Ultimate will assumedly employ those as its base control scheme.
The short teaser trailer for Sonic Colors: Ultimate revealed an impressive visual overhaul for the remastered game, and Sega did hint that there could be more to the game worth looking forward to. Expect further updates in the weeks and months ahead, perhaps as soon as E3 2021 in June.
Sonic Colors: Ultimate releases September 7 on PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.