Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
Sonic Colors is over a decade old. A significant shake-up upon release, Colors was the series’ first mainline offering to feature its current voice cast and an English localization by writers Ken Pontac and Warren Graff. The latter two are seemingly no longer on SEGA’s payroll. Similarly, the mascot’s latest voice actor, Roger Craig Smith, also left earlier this year… only to announce his return yesterday. Nevertheless, these developments, along with today’s reveals, have gotten me to reminisce about the Wii game. And oddly enough, the part of Colors I’m remembering most fondly is one neither party played any significant role in defining.
Dr. Eggman’s Nega-Wisp Armor, seen in 2010’s Sonic Colors (Image: SEGA)
Here’s some trivia: last year I workshopped a “Character Chronicle” article about Super Sonic, the hero’s Super Saiyan-esque transformation. I sidelined it in favor of other projects, but one detail discussed therein is the series’ formulaic finales. What was a cool, impressive idea in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Adventure – seeing Sonic go golden to combat a colossal monster or robot, usually one who usurped Dr. Eggman – grew into an exhausting ritual by 2008’s Sonic Unleashed. But then a pleasant surprise came through Unleashed’s sequel, which took a different approach…
The Nega-Wisp Armor’s History
Sonic Colors is set throughout Dr. Eggman’s “Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park,” a multi-planet attraction supposedly built to atone for his previous crimes. Seeing through the charade, Sonic and his sidekick, Tails, sneak aboard to investigate. Soon, they discover the Doctor is inconspicuously draining the local Wisp aliens of their energy. A versatile power source, he’s scheming to use the Wisps’ essence to fuel a mind control device and “invincible” robot. Manning the mech, Eggman intercepts the duo as they evacuate during the climax, initiating another showdown between the azure mammal and mad scientist. Sonic inevitably triumphs, scrapping the Nega-Wisp Armor and ending Eggman’s hold over the cherubic aliens. Colors also scored a Nintendo DS approximation by third-party studio Dimps. The Nega-Wisp Armor is similarly fought therein as its penultimate boss (assuming the Chaos Emeralds were gathered, a Super Sonic fight follows).
So, what’re my thoughts on the Nega-Wisp Armor?
Shortly before the fight, Sonic pushes Tails down the elevator to safety. The fox tries communicating with Sonic afterwards, but his transmission is too garbled to hear. (Image: SEGA)
Sonic Colors is not a perfect game, but it was a needed breath of fresh air in 2010. Gone were the overwrought, “epic” narratives of prior games. In their place was the reliable one of yore: Dr. Eggman’s harassing cute critters, so Sonic runs off to stop him. Augmenting this was a script attempting (mostly unsuccessfully, admittedly) to interject humor into the affair. Sonic games from Adventure onward infamously featured several playable characters, something that grew into a point of contention among critics. Colors avoided that, focusing solely on Sonic and the Wisps, a new gimmick granting one-time use “Color Powers.” Some were fun and others weren’t, but the alien visitors certainly weren’t offensive. These traits – lighthearted scripts, Sonic roaming solo, the Wisps – all became the norm in Colors’ successors, consequently drawing the ire of some longtime fans. But despite that and Colors’ shortcomings, it was received positively, mostly handled these elements decently, and did advance the franchise, unlike the year’s other “big” Sonic outing. And they organically built towards a climactic scuffle against Eggman, who was finally serving as Sonic’s final obstacle in a 3D platformer.
Visually, the Nega-Wisp Armor lives up to its name and energy source. Following an Eggman design precedent, the mech resembles a corrupted, angry Wisp (specifically the Purple Frenzy variety, which are “Nega-Wisps” created through Eggman’s experimentation). The Armor’s corruptive qualities extend beyond its veneer, too. Heretofore, only Sonic could utilize the Wisps’ abilities, and when he did so, an announcer proudly yelled the name of each blob’s respective skill. Now Eggman was stealing both, using those powers against Sonic while those enthusiastic voice clips blare (the DS Colors distorts the latter). Although Sonic’s jovial nature was openly displayed throughout Colors, he did acknowledge the Armor as a threat, ensuring Tails’ safety before battling it. If there’s one flaw in the fight’s presentation, it’s in its music. The Armor’s first theme is rather generic, a low point in Colors‘ otherwise stellar score. Furthermore, it takes too long for Tomoya Ohtani’s orchestral “Reach for the Stars” remix to begin playing, and once it does, you’re probably preparing the finishing blow (Dimps somewhat rectifies this, using a snappier version of the song).
A forgettable fight in handheld land, Dimps’ take on the Armor tweaks its design and at least offers a 2D interpretation of the brawl. (Image: SEGA)
Similarly, the Nega-Wisp Armor is Colors’ uncontested best boss in terms of gameplay. Colors never attains its predecessor’s breakneck speeds, and certain abilities – particularly Sonic’s “quickstep” – are only usable during segments dedicated to them. The Nega-Wisp Armor largely sidesteps those pitfalls; Sonic is always moving forward, so it matches his pace and keeps ahead of him. When attacking, Eggman’s contraption fires select Color Powers and later uses multiple ones conjointly. You evade his attacks by running and quickstepping around them, a test of your reflexes befitting the boost-centric gameplay. Because of this, the Armor uniquely lacks any 2D segments, something Colors relied on extensively. Unsurprisingly, however, damaging the Armor isn’t an offensive or challenging task, but it isn’t particularly engaging either. Boosting into it or using Sonic’s homing attack, the latter a glorified quick time event, is how Sonic retaliates.
While the final blow is also technically a simple button prompt, Colors does something fun with it. Sonic gradually frees the imprisoned Wisps throughout the fight, and once every one flies by his side, they combine their powers into the “Final Color Blaster.” So Sonic liberates his allies, unites them for one last hurrah, and tosses the powers Eggman cruelly abused back at him. It’s a triumphant moment, recalling the empowering feeling of being Super Sonic while doing something fresh. It also doubles as an homage to the “Final Prism Blaster” of Kamen Rider Double fame; the tokusatsu show’s announcer even voices Colors’ in its Japanese release.
White Wisps, which are regularly vacuumed up by the Armor, are extricated by hitting the machine, giving Sonic energy to boost. The other Wisps are freed gradually. (Image: SEGA)
Cutting his losses, Dr. Eggman never gave the Nega-Wisp Armor a second whirl. It did, however, serve as a blueprint for his final mechs in Sonic Lost World and Forces. Both recycle the Armor’s attack patterns, the former’s defeat animation mirrors the Armor’s, and the latter bears an analogue to the Blaster. But neither enjoy the context, novelty, or quality that elevates their pioneering purple powerhouse. Since 2010, my fairly glowing opinions of Sonic Colors have faded somewhat, but it nailed its final boss. Colors kindly subverted the Super Sonic cliché with the Nega-Wisp Armor, a finale so good it became a cliché all its own.
Congratulations, Nega-Wisp Armor! The colors feel so right!
After wrecking the mech, Sonic tries to flee from a black hole… and fails! The neon extraterrestrials save him, ending Colors by thanking Sonic and saying goodbye. (Image: SEGA)
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