Gamers with early copies of Sega’s Sonic Colors Ultimate have taken to Twitter to complain about the game’s bugs and glitches.
As some obtained early copies via the Digital Deluxe edition or press codes, social media has featured many complaining about the game’s bugs. Alongside YouTube videos of compilations and reviews, social media included many clips of the issues.
While impossible to tell which came before or after a day one patch; the issues included physics launching the player off the course or being able to enter out-of-bounds areas, invisible walls and camera angles being applied to the wrong parts of the level, pop-in, missing textures, textures flickering and glitching out, crashes, save data corruption, sounds and music not playing, animation errors, and more.
In addition, the ending credits are now longer with additional staff; so when the music tracks end, the rest of the credits play in silence. On Nintendo Switch, the load times were not only longer than the Wii original, but longer than the loading time in some levels of the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
You can find a compilation of the bugs and glitches below. Update: Additional tweets have been added.
So… Sonic Colors Ultimate (Switch) loading screens, huh? pic.twitter.com/3eLur6xkxR
— A Blob (@AnotherBlob) September 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/_eternalyn/status/1433844205999181830
If you must pick up Sonic Colors Ultimate, please don't buy it on Switch. It's even missing the Eggman firework. #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Yf2nCzURVL
— CallieMacN (@CallieMacN) September 3, 2021
Sonic Colors Ultimate Spoiler-
Just beat the game and the credit is so much longer than the original that the music just disappears. That's great.#SonicTheHedgehog #SonicColorsUltimate pic.twitter.com/MroaLuPVfC— JashuoN (@JashuoN) September 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1433891132325318656
https://twitter.com/ShiverInk/status/1433913656253747201
seizure warning #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/hiatXJdQX0
— Smonc (@Smoncdahonk) September 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434043941179953152
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434044248932831237
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434052392790548486
actual creepypasta shit #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Kx0COt52Lf
— Smonc (@Smoncdahonk) September 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434060087736213509
https://twitter.com/soggymarsh/status/1433938405432311810
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434176028952305668
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434176845298077698
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434181177372397569
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434181355957407748
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434185647351164929
https://twitter.com/MiNado_Meta/status/1434185952813977604
https://twitter.com/soggymarsh/status/1433905526996299778
I no longer feel safe playing #SonicColorsUltimate. #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/kJV69xS6KP
— trendybrendy.bsky.social (@TrendanBrendan) September 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/soggymarsh/status/1433960768865640452
https://twitter.com/soggymarsh/status/1433976456934137857
Pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen… #SonicColorsUltimate #XboxOne pic.twitter.com/qgVpAge4tT
— Alfie Lawrence (@alfielawrence31) September 4, 2021
WHAT THE SHIT #SonicColorsUltimate #XboxShare pic.twitter.com/XDUBDX5vQT
— 🐊Tex the Croc Frien – (trickytex.bsky.social) (@CrocodileTex) September 4, 2021
Twitter user Another Blob has also gathered additional tweets under an event showing issues with the game. It should be noted there are videos on YouTube showing gameplay with no glitches occurring.
As the game has not officially released, there are no user reviews on Metacritic, and there will not be for 36 hours after the game launches [1, 2]. The critic reviews thus far include two on Nintendo Switch, and 34 on PlayStation 4. There are currently none on other platforms.
The PlayStation 4 Metascore is 76 as of this time of writing, while there is the average score of 70 on Nintendo Switch (80 and 60 respectively). Criticisms note that other than having the same issues as the original game (and of other 3D Sonic games), the game suffered from technical issues and poor controls.
You can look forward to our review soon.
UPDATE: At least one Twitter use, Kotaru Extra, admitted to playing the game via an emulator. While the user’s account is now deleted, others took a screenshot of the message. Kotaru’s now deleted clip had shown Sonic T-posing.
They had been discovered due to a mouse cursor appearing on screen during gameplay. Nonetheless, others have taken to Twitter to reaffirm that their footage was genuine.
— Smonc (@Smoncdahonk) September 5, 2021
One Twitter user, Cyan Reality, defended Blind Squirrel Entertainment; the studio who helped port the game and taking most of the flak from fans.
They cited how the studio rejected crunch time and would have not been used to a project of this type, such as needing to make adjustments for the Nintendo Switch version. Meanwhile, Sega would have allegedly given them a short deadline that would have demanded crunch time. Cyan cited Balan Wonderworld and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric as similar examples of Sega’s alleged development methodology.
Blind Squirrel Entertainment have stated an upcoming patch will fix the credits failing to acknowledge the use of Godot Engine technology. Nintendo are also reportedly offering refunds; after many had claimed the issues were primarily on Nintendo Switch.
Sonic Colors Ultimate launches September 7th for Windows PC (via the Epic Games Store, and Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Image: YouTube