Sonic Colors celebrated its 15-year anniversary on November 16, 2025. Below, we look back at how the game shifted the nature of Sonic games with new gimmicks.Sonic Colors marked a significant turning point in Sonic the Hedgehog's gaming career. Four years prior, the franchise had hit a horrifying low with Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. Two years after that, Sonic began a slow and shaky climb from rock bottom with 2008's Sonic Unleashed. And in 2010, Sonic Colors finally brought the blue hedgehog back into gamers' good graces, becoming the best-received 3D title since the Adventure games of the late '90s and early 2000s. Things were finally starting to look bright again for the franchise--but with the good came the bad as well.Up to that point, 3D Sonic games had learned more heavily into their narratives, with the Sonic Adventure duology and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 standing out as significant examples. For Colors, the plot was scaled back considerably, harkening back to the simpler stories of Sonic's classic games. In fact, like most of the classics, Colors foregoes an opening cinematic completely. Once the player moves beyond the title screen, they're immediately dropped into the first level. Only then does the story begin to take shape: Sonic and Tails have made a trip to space to investigate Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, a creation of the mad doctor designed as penance for his evil misdeeds in the past.Continue Reading at GameSpot