Welcome back to Throwback Thursday. This week we look at a modern, 3D, critically acclaimed Sonic title - yes, you read that right! Join me for a tale of love and heart break as we travel back to 2010.

Sonic Colours is the pinnacle of 3D Sonic titles and my favourite of the entire series because it finally nails the formula after years of getting things wrong. With a dodgy history of glitches, masses of crazy gimmicks and falling in love with a human princess, Sonic had a very tarnished reputation after entering the third dimension but Colours went a long way to fixing that.

Ditching the bizarre control methods of previous Sonic titles on Wii, such as tilting the Wiimote from side to side or using the nunchuck to run and the Wii Remote to swing a sword, it's clear from the offset that SEGA wanted Sonic to go back to his roots whilst also being a 3D title. Controlling Sonic in a traditional manner, even with the ability to use a GameCube controller, Colours promises to deliver new and exciting experiences in the form of great level design as oppose to ‘innovative’ input methods.

The first level has you running forwards in a fairly linear path to get you used to the streamlined 3D Sonic we’d grow to love, like a mix of the day levels of Sonic Unleashed and the more linear stages of the Sonic Adventure titles such as City Escape. Running, grinding and bashing into robots with your homing attack, the first level does a great job of introducing you to a fluid and fun 3D Sonic, the kind of thing fans had been hoping for since they saw his eternal rival Mario perfect the 3D formula in 97.

Continuing on to level 2, you're thrown into a side-on view, which plays a lot like classic Sonic titles whilst retaining the homing attack to really ramp up the pace. This is also where you're introduced to Wisps, a breed of alien set to help Sonic on his journey by temporarily turning him into a different being. Wisps initially sounded scary and a return to the unwanted gimmicks of Sonic’s past but they all work really well and help break up the gameplay, whether turning you into a drill to speed your way underground or into a blimp to float high up into the sky, all the transformations are fun to do and easy to pull off. 

This sets the tone for Sonic Colours, as the rest of the game will have you switching from 3D to 2D perspectives whilst racing and jumping through beautifully designed levels that flow incredibly well without an annoying glitch in sight.

The graphics in Sonic Colours are as beautiful as any Sonic game on PS360, the music is fantastic, both the techno and orchestral styles, the controls sublime and simple after a wave of overly complicated, gimmicky or just broken methods seen in previous outings and the cut-scenes wonderfully cheesy, but in a tongue-in-cheek Steps kind of way.

The whole game has a great sense of humour and is always very self-aware, with constant throw-backs to previous games and a more light-hearted pantomime hatred between Sonic and Eggman as oppose to the super serious ‘I’m going to destroy the world and everything in it’ 90’s style the previous games have.

A story of love

My first experience with Colours was in the Summer of 2010 at an event I’d call ‘heaven on earth’ but what is otherwise known as ‘Summer of Sonic’, a day where Sonic enthusiasts (uh oh) all come together to dress up as their favourite characters, partake in competitions, sing Sonic music (imagine karaoke with deaf people) watch an interview with Yuji Naka and most importantly, try out new Sonic games.

The Wii and DS versions were on display and whilst the DS one was there for the taking, the Wii game had a queue of about half an hour - The Wii version is a Zack Morris whereas the DS version is more of a Screech. Whilst waiting in the Wii line we were surrounded by some very eccentric folk including a pretty neat Ulala from Space Channel 5 and a scary looking Big the Cat. But why am I telling you all this? Well, this is not just a story of gaming events, Sonic Colours or Ulala, this is a story of love.

If you’re as in love with SEGA as I am, you’ll no doubt remember the days of their YouTube channel hosting Free Stuff Friday, a weekly Twitter/YouTube giveaway where all sorts of awesome rare and weird memorabilia was given away. They had a few hosts, but one that caught my heart in a way Bieber or Zefron never could, now head of the official Sonic Facebook and Twitter pages.

As an American, he was always stuck behind my computer screen out of reach... until that day. I was looking around, bored in the queue when suddenly I heard angels/Chao sing, my heart went aflutter and there he was, the illusive ‘fit Twitter guy’ from SEGA. I wanted to go and introduce myself along with all the other cosplayers/fans but wondered where I would take it from there. Would I stumble? Slur my words in a panic? Stutter and have to break into a verse of Scatman John? The moment passed, he got lost within the crowds and my brief moment of Euphoria was over – there wasn't even a yellow umbrella I could try and return to him.

Acceptance 

Sonic Colours is just like that day, a beam of light in an otherwise dark world of misunderstood and somewhat scary Sonic titles, much like that SEGA employee was a beam of light in the terrifying crowds you'd only find at a Sonic convention. Both experiences were very fleeting, no sooner had I seen that guy had he disappeared back into the mass of scary fans forever – and no sooner had I experienced a fantastic 3D Sonic game had it been ripped away from me and replaced with Sonic Boom, a 3D Sonic title so universally panned its reputation is nearly as bad as ‘Sonic 2006’. Yes, Sonic Colours is great, but sadly it seems like a rare one off.

Sonic Colours Facts:

-With a metacritic score of 79, Sonic Colours is the highest rated 3D Sonic game in the franchise. 

-CashCash, the band responsible for the Sonic Colours theme, gained mass popularity in 2013 with 'Take Me Home' reaching #4 in the UK dance charts, making them by far the most successful band to have done a Sonic theme. 

-The script for Sonic Colors was written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, writers of gory Wii title MadWorld and early internet phenomenon Happy Tree Friends. 

The future is blue

Whilst Sonic Colours and the PS3/360 title Sonic Generations were fantastic, it seems that SEGA have once again lost their way as far as Sonic games are concerned but with fierce rumours of a new Sonic title this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary, we can still hope that Sonic Team haven’t completely forgotten what made Colours so great.

Whatever happens to Sonic in the future though, whether he once again turns into a wolf, or travels back to medieval times, or suddenly finds himself in bandages and a trendy scarf, we'll always have Sonic Colours to look back on as a reminder of how great Sonic can be in 3D.