Update (9/15/2021 1:40 PM EDT): On Tuesday, September 14, the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account announced the first Sonic Colors: Ultimate Nintendo Switch patch went live and that more patches “for all platforms” are forthcoming. VGC has since confirmed that this patch fixes a glitch that could potentially cause seizures in people with epilepsy. The original story continues below.

In a very unfortunate turn for Sonic players, some Sonic Colors: Ultimate glitches are reportedly capable of causing seizures in people with epilepsy. Sega’s remastered version of Sonic’s 2010 Nintendo Wii romp recently launched across all major platforms (at least for those who digitally pre-ordered Sonic Colors: Ultimate).

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

While some players are enjoying Sonic’s speedy journey to stop Dr. Eggman from harvesting the cute and powerful Wisps to fuel his latest doomsday weapon without incident, others are reporting various game-breaking bugs and glitches while playing Sonic Colors: Ultimate. While this is a problem across all platforms, most of these glitches are reportedly occurring with the Nintendo Switch port of Sonic Colors: Ultimate. This version of the game was already noted to be a graphical step down from its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One brethren due to its lack of 60fps and 4K support, as well as arguments saying it is only a marginal improvement over the Wii original.

According to Kotaku, the launch state of Sonic Colors: Ultimate may be worse than previously anticipated. In addition to reports of Sonic freezing in place while trying to use his Cyan Laser power or the game world breaking down into a glitchy mess without warning, there are now claims that Sonic Colors: Ultimate’s visual glitches are capable of causing seizures in players with epilepsy. Viewers with epilepsy should avoid viewing it or playing the game themselves until the problem is fixed, but a gameplay video shared by JustLemres on YouTube shows the potentially dangerous visual effects in question.

Sega has since acknowledged the various technical issues involving Sonic Colors: Ultimate and has promised to resolve them a few days after the game’s digital edition went live. Not all of the bugs reported by Sonic Colors: Ultimate players can be confirmed to be the fault of Sega, though, as it has been reported that some of the glitchy videos making the rounds online were actually recorded on illegal Nintendo Switch emulators. This adds to the difficulty of trying to figure out what to fix in a forthcoming update patch.    

Still, there are enough legitimate issues with the console versions of Sonic Colors: Ultimate that Sega needs to correct sooner rather than later, especially the ones that could affect players’ health and wellbeing. Most video games carry a risk of triggering seizures in people with epilepsy, but – in its current state – Sonic Colors: Ultimate comes with an even greater danger because of the unpredictable nature of the offending visual glitches. Hopefully, Sega can fix these problematic and dangerous glitches quickly for the sake of player safety.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate will be available for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 7, 2021.

See also  Harrison Ford Joins the 'Anchorman 2' Cast

Sources: Kotaku, JustLemres/YouTube

Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ Shiny Rates Might Ruin Scarlet & Violet

About The Author


J. Brodie Shirey
(1354 Articles Published)

J. Brodie Shirey is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe, but aren’t we all? He currently lives in York, Pennsylvania. He is a big comic book, video game, and science fiction fan, and likes writing articles for ScreenRant or scripts for some of his crazy TV show ideas.

A graduate from York County School of Technology, he’s self-published several books on Amazon, and once won 1st place at a regional computer fair for a CGI animated short. He might post it on Youtube someday. He hopes that working for this site will be his first step into the larger universe of online writing, since Megazord technology hasn’t been invented yet and he doesn’t seem to have any Force powers. You can check out his work at The Uncanny Fox, purchase his books on Amazon.com, see his posted scripts on Script Revolution, or see his portfolio here or here. He can also be followed on Twitter @FoxUncanny.

More From J. Brodie Shirey