The best Sonic the Hedgehog video games of all-time

Sonic Colors – 2010 – Nintendo Wii

Sega released the abysmal Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic ’06) after Yuji Naka decided to “reboot” the series so it could appeal to a wider audience. Unfortunately, the game’s many issues (which included ridiculously long load times, a broken camera system, and several game-breaking bugs) led to Sonic ’06 failing spectacularly.

Sonic Team responded with a new entry that placed a renewed emphasis on Sonic’s speed instead of stupid new gimmicks (like Sonic’s “werewolf” form in Sonic Unleashed). The newly focused team than created Sonic’s best 3D outing to date: Sonic Colors. Although the Wii was vastly underpowered compared to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Sega released Sonic Colors exclusively for Nintendo’s best-selling home console.

Sonic Colors was an incredibly balanced 3D game that featured responsive controls, game-changing power-ups, and an incredibly upbeat soundtrack. The game’s setting cleverly featured an amusement park (fitting since Sonic games are often compared to roller coasters) filled with levels that switched gameplay from 2D to 3D seamlessly.

The gameplay’s smooth transitions between 2D and 3D really stood out to me, complemented by an improved physics engine. Another new innovation added was the “Wisps,” an alien race that gave Sonic several new abilities, which injected more variety into the gameplay.

Sonic games aren’t known for epic storytelling, but the lighthearted narrative in Sonic Colors gave the story a nice “Saturday morning cartoon” vibe to it. While many gamers preferred the Sonic Adventure series, I believe that Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game ever created.