Sonic Colors for Wii was released a few months ago with some great reviews. Many of you have had a chance to play, and maybe even beat, the game already. Now that you’ve had some time to explore on your own, we want to share some tips and tricks you may not know about to get the best scores and discover some hidden secrets in the game. We’ll look at an act in a different zone each week, and give you everything you need to know to get the most out of that act. If you’re still wanting more, you can pick up the Sonic Colors Strategy Guide by Brady to get the inside scoop on all of the acts and zones in the game.

For our first week, we’re starting with the first thing you play in the game — Tropical Resort, Act 1.

Level Details

You’ll start off with 320,000 points. To get a C rank on this level, you need a score of 450,000. To get a B rank, you need 650,000. For an A rank, you need 800,000 and to get the much-coveted S rank, you need 1,150,000 points.

This is a relatively short act, with time over at 4:51. Once you exceed this time, you’ll get 1,100 points deducted for each second you’re over.

Play well, and you’ll get a no-miss bonus. If you have no lost tries, you’ll get 280,000 bonus points. For 1 lost try you get 210,000 points, for 2 lost tries you get 182,000 points, for 3 lost tries you get 56,00 and for 4 lost tries you get 28,000. If you have 5 or more lost tries, you don’t get any bonus points.

The only Wisp power you have on your first playthrough is the White Wisp, which gives you boost power. However, many early acts have awesome areas that are inaccessible until you unlock other color powers later in the game, and then come back to replay. Once you’ve cleared Tropical Resort, Act 3 you will be able to get and use the Cyan Laser in this act, and once you’ve cleared Sweet Mountain, Act 1 you will be able to use the Yellow Drill in this act as well.

There are three enemy types in this act: Egg Pawns, Spinners, and Moles. The Egg Pawns are 1,000 bonus points, the Spinners are 500, and the Moles are the big point earners at 5,000. However, you’ll only encounter the Moles underground, so you can only get to them once you’ve unlocked the Yellow Drill power and come back to play this level with it.

Level Map

See a full-size map here.

Walkthrough

From your starting position, run through the line of golden rings, then the first Wisp capsule to release its inhabitants. These are the White Wisps, and releasing them fills your boost gauge in the lower left corner of the screen. Now you can press the boost button to get an extra burst of speed.

Continue through the first Welcome arch and run through the dash panels. This accelerates Sonic down the next stretch. Get centered in the road, because a grind rail begins just under the next Welcome arch. You can hit your boost button and then jump, or just double jump up onto the rail. If you nail the landing on the rail, Sonic grinds through a line of rings plus one special ring (also known as a red ring, because it looks like a red circle with a red star in the middle) at the rail’s end. This earns you both a special bonus as well as a grind bonus.

Proceed to the passage filled with colorful, floating balloons. These are exploding balloons! If you jump, a red lock-on cursor appears on the nearest balloon. You can then press the jump button again to unleash a homing attack on the balloon, which explodes and propels Sonic higher. This can help you reach otherwise unreachable bonus targets. But there’s nothing above these balloons of value, so save yourself some time and just sprint under the balloons.

Continue down the passage to the bank of springs. Run into any of them and Sonic will bounce up the wall and land on the next level. Use a short jump to hop up the next ledge and a spin attack to jump up the higher ledge after that.

Continue until you meet some Egg Pawns, including one waving a “Welcome” sign. Don’t be fooled by this fake hospitality — he’ll attack if you get too close! Jump as you approach the first enemy, and a red lock-on cursor will appear on him. Quickly hit the jump button again (while you’re still in mid-jump) to unleash a homing attack. Keep pressing the jump button to take out the other two with more homing attacks.

After eliminating the Egg Pawns, you can jump again to trigger another lock-on cursor — this one appears on the handle of a winch cable. Press jump to grab the handle, and the winch automatically pulls Sonic up to the next level.

Continue on to more springs and bounce up another level. There are three Spinners hovering in the next passage. Use the homing attack to zap from one to another. Just keep pressing the jump button!

After hitting the third Spinner, a lock-on cursor appears over another Egg Pawn on the far platform. Use the homing attack to land on his platform, then run through one of the dash panels to launch Sonic onto the next grind rail. Ride the rail to the next platform.

The nearby Cyan Wisp capsule will be empty the first time you play through this level. But once you’ve cleared Tropical Resort, Act 3 you’ll find Cyan Wisps in this capsule. If the capsule is empty, just proceed down the hall and clear the Egg Pawns with homing attacks. If there are Cyan Wisps in the capsule, run through it to release the Cyan Wisps, then face directly toward the first Egg Pawn in the line. Activate the color power to transform into the Cyan Laser. Aim the dotted targeting line at the first Egg Pawn, and then release. This shoots Sonic in a straight line down the passage, slamming all 10 Egg Pawns at once.

After eliminating the Egg Pawns, run up the ramp to launch across the chasm. Run downhill through the first checkpoint gate. Now, if you lose a try, you’ll return to this checkpoint instead of restarting the stage — as long as you have tries remaining.

Continue on to the Yellow Wisp capsule. If you’ve completed Sweet Mountain, Act 1 this capsule will have Yellow Wisps in it. (If not, skip down a few paragraphs.) Run through the Yellow capsule to release the Yellow Wisps and acquire the Yellow Drill power. Walk to location 10 (marked on the map above) and activate the color power to transform into the Yellow Drill. Drill straight downward into the dirt until Sonic pops out in the lower chamber that holds a Cyan Wisp capsule. (If you have the Yellow Drill, you have the Cyan laser, as the Yellow Drill comes later in the game than the Cyan Laser.) Release the Cyan Wisps to acquire their power, but don’t activate it yet. Jump and stomp to bust through the breakable floor. Sonic will drop to a lower passage with lines of rings between six floating prisms. Stand in the middle and activate the Cyan Laser, aim it up at a prism, and release to watch Sonic ricochet off the prisms and collect all the rings!

Before we move forward, a word about mines and Moles. Look for exploding mines while burrowing underground in Yellow Drill form. Passing near a mine triggers a countdown timer, causing the mine to pulse red, then explode. Sometimes explosions reveal valuable objects such as super rings, special rings, or extra lives. Be careful though — although Sonic is invulnerable when in Yellow Drill form, a nearby mine detonation can knock your ring total down to zero. And if you hit a mine near the surface, the blast can knock Sonic out of the dirt, which ends the Yellow Drill form. Keep an eye out for Moles (red and blue) while underground, too. You can hit them when in Yellow Drill form to gain 5,000 bonus points apiece, and again, Sonic is invulnerable as the Yellow Drill. But your ring total drops to zero if a Mole hits you from behind. If this happens, be careful once you emerge in regular Sonic form.

OK, so you’ve used your Cyan wisp to bounce around the prisms and get all the rings. Now use the spring on the left to bounce up the ledge. Continue left until you find a special ring hovering above bunches of exploding balloons. Jump and use the homing attack to bounce upward from one balloon to the next until Sonic bounces high enough to get the special ring. When Sonic finally drops to the floor, watch out for an Egg Pawn patrolling from the left.

Now head back to the right, using the springs to hop up to the dash panel that propels Sonic up a slope. Follow the narrow path under the green pipe, hold the slide button to duck under the low ceiling, then run the loop until you end up in an alcove with another Yellow Wisp capsule.

Ahead lies a large, mine-filled underground dirt section that is available for exploration in the Yellow Drill form. The Yellow Wisp capsule at this location constantly regenerates after using it, so you can return to the alcove to reacquire more Yellow Wisps after exploring the dirt as the Yellow Drill. There are 4 main ways you can go.

1. If you drill straight down, Sonic ends up in a lower passage guarded by an Egg Pawn. From here, you must jump your way up several levels, using a winch, a spring, and/or explosive balloons to reach the final grind rails.
2. Start drilling, then veer upward into the large tract of dirt studded with mines surrounded by circles of rings. Keep drilling back and forth through the area to trigger the mines. Look for a super ring to appear inside the leftmost circle after a mine there detonates.
3. After drilling in the large tract of dirt, veer upward and emerge above the tract. There’s another Yellow Wisp capsule on the top of the small hillock for more drilling.
4. After burrowing through this area, you can drill through the breakable block on the far right and dive into the green pipe. The pipe’s route leads you to a spot near location 21 on the route map.

Make sure you don’t get trapped underground while drilling! Pay attention to your boost gauge — when it’s empty, the Yellow Drill effect ends. Be sure you’re out of the dirt and into open space before the gauge is empty, or you’ll lose a try.

OK, if your Yellow Wisp capsule was empty, continue past the exploding balloons, hop down the short drop, then use the spring to jump up and step on to the dash panel to accelerate around the 360 degree loop. Hit the ramp at the end of the loop to launch Sonic high into the air, then keep punching the controller button displayed onscreen to complete a spectacular four-part trick jump.

Making the jump all the way to “Outstanding!” earns an 8,000 point bonus, and you also grab a handle and ride a high wire down to another yellow wisp capsule on top of a hillock. (This is the same capsule as in route number 3 above.) Drop down the far side of the hillock.

From here, you have two options. If you hop up and ride a grind rail, you’ll find another Yellow Wisp capsule. If you run underneath the grind rail, you’ll go through another loop. If you have the Yellow Wisp unlocked, I’d recommend the top rail, as you’ll get an opportunity to use your Yellow Wisp power soon. Either way, you’ll come to a section with another special ring.

This special ring is surrounded by a grid of rings and exploding balloons. The quick way to get the special ring is to walk under the blue balloon (directly under the ring) and jump straight up. The blue balloon’s explosion propels Sonic up and into the special ring. Now you can hop around, scooping up rings and attacking balloons. When you’re finished, use the springs on the right wall to bounce up on top of one more dirt mound.

Here’s where that Yellow Wisp you just got on the top grind rail comes in handy. (If you don’t have it, you can skip to the next section.) Walk to either side of the topmost mine, then activate the Yellow Drill to burrow onto the dirt mound. Three exploding mines, each surrounded by a circle of rings, are buried below. (DO NOT activate the Yellow Drill over the topmost mine! Doing so causes contact and the explosion bounces Sonic right back out of the dirt, losing the drill form. You won’t be able to get the Yellow Drill power back, and you’ll have to just move on.) Drill in circles past the mines to trigger their timers. When all three have exploded, a special ring appears, buried in the center of the mound! After collecting it, drill straight down to emerge from the mound and drop onto a grind rail. Sonic can then slide out of the area.

If you don’t have the Yellow Wisp, here’s where you pick up. Sonic now rides along a set of parallel grind rails. Tap the control stick to either side to switch rails and grind through a White Wisp capsule. Ride the rail all the way to the end to land on a platform.

Run to the end of the platform and use one of the ramps to make an “amazing” trick jump, punching the controller button indicated onscreen to complete all 5 parts for a 10,000 point bonus. Sonic lands on another set of parallel grind rails.

You’re almost done, but there’s one special ring to go. As you land on the rails, quickly grind step to the right to hit the rainbow ring, which launches Sonic through an arc of rings. Stay on this rightmost rail! There’s another rainbow ring ahead, but this one is slightly above the rail. Jump to hit the ring and it will propel Sonic up through a special ring floating just a bit further ahead! You can now ride the rightmost rail to the end or grind step left to catch the last trio of rainbow rings. The rings bounce Sonic up high and onto the final platform.

There’s a Wisp prison capsule on the platform. Jump onto it to break it open and free the Wisps. GOAL!

Special Rings (aka Red Rings)

There are 5 special rings in this act:

1. On the grind rail under the second Welcome arch
2. In the exploding balloons after the Cyan Laser/prism section (requires Yellow Drill power to get)
3. In the grid of rings and exploding balloons
4. In the exploding mines (requires Yellow Drill power to get)
5. On the rightmost rail at the end of the act.

What’s Next?

We have more zones and acts on the way over the next few weeks, along with a few other goodies. Hope you enjoyed this walkthrough, and happy playing!