Sonic Colors: Ultimate Glitches

About

Sonic Colors: Ultimate Glitches refers to a series of glitches present in an early-access Nintendo Switch version of Sonic Colors: Ultimate, a remaster of the 2010 Sonic the Hedgehog video game Sonic Colors. The glitches, which affected the graphics, audio and gameplay, were wide-ranging and made the game impossible to play for many people following the early-access release on September 3rd, 2021. The glitches caused widespread discussion and controversy, especially after animator and YouTuber Arin Hanson expressed excitement at the prospect of playing the game.

Background

Sonic Colors: Ultimate was announced on May 27th, 2021, for a release on September 7th, 2021.^[1] On September 3rd, four days before the game's official release, it became available for people who pre-ordered the game's Digital Deluxe Edition. Hours after the game was unlocked, multiple players on the Nintendo Switch version reported serious glitches.

The earliest report of a glitch was by Twitter^[2] user AHobbykids, who posted a tweet with a video (seen below) featuring audio and gameplay glitches on September 3rd.

uhhhh, so i bought sonic colors ultimate and this happened while playing pic.twitter.com/ihOyrlSmCB

— Anti Hobbykids (@AHobbykids) September 3, 2021

Development

Many other glitches were captured in the days leading up to the game's official release by others online. For example, Twitter^[7] user MiNado_Meta posted a video to their feed on September 3rd, 2021, that showcased glitches, receiving over 991,000 views, 16,900 likes and 3,300 retweets in five days (seen below).

This game costs money…. #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/uiSxZl6Fug

— MiN (@MiNado_Meta) September 3, 2021

On September 4th, Twitter^[8] user Smoncdahonk then also tweeted a video of various glitches, receiving over 475,000 views, 23,300 likes and 5,000 retweets in four days (shown below).

actual creepypasta shit #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Kx0COt52Lf

— Smonc (@Smoncdahonk) September 4, 2021

Also on September 4th, Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, host of Game Grumps, quote-tweeted^[3] the above video of a glitch by Twitter user MiNado_Meta, expressing his interest in playing the game specifically to experience the glitches. Hanson's tweet received over 19,000 likes and 2,500 retweets and quote-tweets in five days and became a trending topic on Twitter.^[4]

As news of the glitches spread, they began to become a source for memes. On September 4th, Redditor Higashi_Nakamura posted a meme about the glitches to /r/SonicTheHedgehog.^[5] The post received over 2,000 upvotes in four days (shown below).

Official Response

On September 5th, Katie Chrzanowski, social media manager for the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account,^[6] posted that the development team was planning on patching the game to fix the glitches.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References