Sonic Colors (Wii)

Unused AudioCut tracks and voice clips. Unused ObjectsObjects from Sonic Unleashed and more. Unused AnimationsNow you're in quickstep mode. Unused GraphicsE3 and unseen menus

Early Levels#

actstgmission.lua#

This file contains developer notes to identify each level layout.

Tropical Resort

Sweet Mountain

Starlight Carnival

Planet Wisp

Aquarium Park

Asteroid Coaster

Game Land

This reveals that almost all of Game Land's Acts are based on levels from Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Unleashed, and the main game. The only Act whose source is unknown is 3-3; the basis is listed as "Prototype".

Thanks to Windii for translation help.

Internal Level Structure#

The previous file reveals that Sonic Colors was originally going to follow the same level structure as previous Sonic games like Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Sonic Advance 2, and Sonic Unleashed: two main Acts followed by a boss. The other Acts would have been optional side-missions, which explains why they all reuse level geometry from other levels. In most cases, the two main Acts were split into separate Acts. The original act format was, as follows:

• Tropical Resort Act 1 was split into Acts 1 and 2, while Act 2 became Act 3.
• Sweet Mountain Act 1 was split into Acts 1 and 2. Act 2 was split into Acts 3 and 5.
• Planet Wisp Act 1 was split into Acts 1 and 4, while Act 2 became Act 6.
• Aquarium Park Act 1 was split into Acts 1 and 4, while Act 2 became Act 6.
• Asteroid Coaster Act 1 was split into Acts 1 and 2, while Act 2 became Act 6.

Starlight Carnival and Terminal Velocity did not see any Acts split, though the former's Act 2 became Act 5. It's unclear why these changes were made, though it is presumed they were done to pad out the game's length.

Note that the DS version of Sonic Colors is structured almost identically to this; every area has 2 acts, a boss, and 3 side missions.

To do: Add images showing the splits.

The splits seem to have been made fairly late in development, as the geometry for what would have remained of the levels (excluding objects and enemies) is still present and can be accessed through glitches or hacking. With the exception of Tropical Resort Act 1, they're all fairly easy to spot in-game:

• What became Tropical Resort Act 2 exists behind the ending room of Act 1, but it can't be glimpsed in-game without glitches due to the wall obscuring it. This makes it the only split that can't be seen via normal means. The wall texture behind the Wisp Prison depicts a door; it's possible that the player would have run through the door to access the part that was split.
• Sweet Mountain Act 1 ends directly where what became Act 2 begins. The beginning of Act 2 can easily be seen in Act 1.
• Likewise, Sweet Mountain Act 3 ends directly where what became Act 5 begins, and the beginning of Act 5 is clearly visible in Act 3.
• The beginning of what became Planet Wisp Act 4 can be spotted in the background of Act 1's final 2D section, though it's not clear how the two sections would have been connected originally.
• Aquarium Park Act 1 ends right before what became Act 4 begins. At the start of Act 4, the player can backtrack into Act 1's final 2D section, with a different object layout, to find a shortcut.
• What became Asteroid Coaster Act 2 is visible at the end of Act 1; it's likely that the player would have used homing-attackable asteroids to continue to it. It's actually possible to reach it with a well-timed jump and boost, although you won't get far due to the lack of objects.

Unused Sonic Simulator Levels#

To do: Get videos of these up. These screenshots are from the US version of the game, are they any different in other releases?

There is data for six unused Sonic Simulator levels, in varying degrees of completeness. actstgmission.lua reveals that these levels were all based on stages in the main game.

• stgA20, themed for area 4, is probably the most complete of the group, with only one small camera bug remaining. This stage uses the Spike Wisp inside a large maze-like structure. This stage is based on Sweet Mountain Act 5 (the second half of the old Act 2).
• stgC20, themed for area 2, seems more like a rough draft, having obvious misalignments and lacking smooth camera triggers. This stage provides the Drill Wisp to speed through some dirt. This stage is based on Sweet Mountain Act 1.
• stgC30, themed for area 2, is an easier stage, with one small Spike Wisp climbing section. This stage is based on Sweet Mountain Act 3 (the first half of the old Act 2).
• stgE10, themed for area 4, contains a rail section, Rocket Wisp sections, and a quick step section. This stage is based on Planet Wisp Act 1.
• stgF10, themed for area 6, starts with a bare quick step road, then transitions to a water area. The largest water zone contains a bug that doesn't allow the player to use the Drill Wisp. This stage is based on Aquarium Park Act 1.
• stgF20, themed for area 6, is probably the largest of the group, but improper camera triggering in water makes it nearly impossible to complete. The final section features a Big Chaser sequence. This stage is based on Aquarium Park Act 4 (the second half of the old Act 1).

Cutscene leftovers#

Level Entries#

In actstgmisson.lua there are unused entries referencing cutscenes

   -- ev(イベント専用ステージ)
   {
      missions = {

         -- ev110,130,410,450（リゾート面Act2ゴール周辺）
         {
            name        = "stg010",
            data        = "stg010",
            player_pos  = { 16850.0, -1931.77, -9420.0 },
            player_dir  = 90.0,
         },

         -- ev140,170（リゾート面Act1後半建物エリア周辺）
         {
            name        = "stg011",
            data        = "stg010",
            player_pos  = { -2300.0, -259.25, 0.0 },
            player_dir  = 90.0,
         },

         -- ev310（ウィスプ面Act2ゴールエリア周辺）
         {
            name        = "stg041",
            data        = "stg041",
            player_pos  = { -1100.0, 3500.0, -10400.0 },
            player_dir  = 180.0,
         },

      },
   },

}

Tropical Resort Boss Cutscene#

The map seen in the pre-rendered cutscenes before and after the Tropical Resort boss fight is stored as part of the boss stage itself. The cutscene area is stg190_01 while the background is stg190_02. The area is loaded during the boss fight but is out of the camera's viewing range, and most of the pieces are culled out. The use of this map for the cutscenes is strongly supported by the lack of a similar map in Ultimate's collection of leftover cutscene maps.

Leftover Cutscene Room#

An early version of the room created to render the cutscene before the Planet Wisp boss still remains on the disc, in the stg490 directory. It uses the filename stg490_02 and references textures that weren't put on the disc (listed below). The textures have the letter code "evn" (likely for "event") and were used to texture the generator platform and the tractor beam chain.

• evn_o_tb1_bcs01 - evn_o_tb1_bcs07
• evn_o_tb1_black
• evn_o_tb1_parts01 - evn_o_tb1_parts03
• evn_o_tb1_stairs
• evn_p_tb1_ant

Some meshes have their normals swapped. The generator is unfinished because the skull pattern is not modeled as is in the final and the top is not slanted at the front. Additionally, a copy of part of Tropical Resort's boss ring (of which the Planet Wisp boss is a copy) exists in the same folder, with the name stg490_04.

Unused Models#

Rotatatron and Refreshinator Missiles#

Rotatatron (the Tropical Resort boss) and his upgrade Refreshinator (the Planet Wisp boss) both have an unused missile attack. Both bosses have a unique missile model loaded with them, which each have their own unique textures. Unlike most models in the game, these textures have the shadows baked into the texture. Both bosses have an animation of moving the cylinders on their back, referred to as shot_loop which would have been used to launch the missiles. (Ever wonder what those tube things were for? Now you know.) Refreshinator never uses this animation, but Rotatatron uses it when launching the glowing pink ninja stars from his face.

Motobug Cannon#

Inside the common Motobug enemy model is a pair of tube-shaped weapons that match up with the top-most spots on the body. Each tube has a glowing spot on the front and a square hole on the back. They are rigged to bones called PartsL and PartsR, aligned in such a way that the cylinders can easily move out from the position of the spot. Each one also has a bone named WeaponSpot aligned with the glowing spot on each cylinder. The larger Motobug enemy has the same bones but does not have the hidden weapons. None of the model's animations use any of the weapons' bones.

This feature appears in the game's concept art, which depicts a spherical object of some kind being ejected from the hole on the back of the tube. Since the holes face backward, it is likely that Motobugs would use these weapons while driving ahead of Sonic.

Internal Project Name#

The game's internal project name is Sonic2010, according to paths in the executable, source paths in Sonic Lost World (which was built on the Colors codebase), and [[Sonic Colors: Ultimate/Development Leftovers|the development leftovers in Sonic Colors: Ultimate]].

Oddities#

Sprinkler Name#

In actstgmission.lua, Sprinkler, the floating Badnik that follows the player in Tropical Resort Act 4 and Planet Wisp Act 2, is referred to as Jugemu (ジュゲム), the Japanese name of the Super Mario Bros. enemy Lakitu. This suggests that the developers based the Sprinkler on Lakitu, as the enemies have similar behavior (floating, following the player through a level, and dropping spike balls on them).

"Wisp Use" Sound#

The sound when using Wisps is actually two separate clips that play together. This might indicate that they were planned to alternate when they were played. Subsequent games use a combined sound clip.

Terminal Velocity Texture#

At some point, this texture was changed. However, they forgot to swap out the modified specular map for it. As a result, lighting effects on this texture will look odd. None of the other textures resemble this modified design.

elv_o_ty1_mecha01	elv_o_ty1_mecha01_spc

Filename Oddities#

Many models and textures have "SD" at the end of their filenames. This could be a leftover from the canceled Wii port of Sonic Generations, as that game uses "HD" at the end of its filenames. That would also explain the number of shared Badnik models and the unused animations leftover from Sonic Unleashed.

Terminal Velocity#

The strange sound heard during the loading screen of Act 2 is stored as the "normal" (non-boosting) background track for Terminal Velocity Act 3 (bgm_stg730_elv_wav)... for whatever reason, because there is no such Act in the final game. The "fx" (boosting) variant is an early version of Act 1 for an even stranger reason.

Starlight Carnival#

The "normal" variants of the level tracks are misspelled "nomal".

Regional Differences#

To do: The SEGA logo color difference should probably be documented.

The game is known as Sonic Colours for the European release (also used in Australia in this case), as the word "color" is spelt with a "u" in those regions. Canada also uses the "u" spelling, but as per usual, it shares a version with the United States, so that isn't reflected here. There is an ESRB notice above the copyright notice ("©SEGA") in the North American version.

Japanese	USA	European

Same applies to the "Project Sonic Colors/ Colours" logo.

USA	European

References#