Color Powers

Color Powers are special powers used by Sonic the Hedgehog. They first appeared in Sonic Colors, and have since reappeared in Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World. The Color Powers are the power of the Wisps' Hyper-go-onunleashed, which Sonic can harness by temporarily absorbing a Wisp, granting him new powers and abilities.

Color powers serve in gameplay as power-up gimmicks that are needed to either traverse the environment or performing unique attacks fitting a given situation. According to an interview with Takashi Iizuka, Color Powers are set to be features in all future games where they will fit.

Overview
Color Powers are unique abilities for Sonic that are unleashed when he harnesses the power of a Wisp by temporarily absorbing it and tapping into its innate Hyper-go-on reserves, allowing him to use the Wisp to grant himself new abilities and/powers that he would otherwise not have, such as shooting himself forward as a laser, create fire explosions or even manipulate objects within the area. In gameplay, this allows the player to perform specialized and highly powerful attacks, traverse the environment and complete the Acts more easily, or a combination of both.

When using a Color Power, Sonic only needs to harness a fraction of the Wisps' total of Hyper-go-on. Color Powers can only be maintained for a short period of time in gameplay, however, and requires that the player collects more Wisps of the same type before the active Color Power runs out in order to maintain it (the only exception is Red Burst which can also be refilled by touching fire). After a Color Power runs out, the Wisps will pop back out of Sonic, unharmed.

Each type of absorbable Wisp, grants Sonic a different Color Power with its own unique abilities; the Yellow Wispsgrant Sonic the Yellow Drill, the Green Wisps grant Sonic the Green Hover and so forth. Most Color Powers cause Sonic to physically transform into a form better suited for the Color Power's abilities, while others simply allows him to execute powerful attacks, such as the Boost or the Final Color Blaster.

When activating a Color Power in gameplay, an in-game announcer will say the second word of the Color Power, such as "Laser" for the Cyan Laser, and "Drill" for the Yellow Drill.

Combined Form
In the 2 Player mode in the Wii version of Sonic Colors in Eggman's Sonic Simulator, two players are able to combine the Acts Color Powers with each other by activating the two Color Powers at the same time when they are within a certain distance, to create a new special Color Power move, with the combined effects of both Color Powers. However, not all Color Powers are compatible, resulting in separate effects.[2] The Color Powers that can be combined and their effects are:
 * Cyan Laser + Cyan Laser: Two lasers that shoot in a specified direction, spiraling around each other
 * Yellow Drill + Yellow Drill: Two drills that steer cooperatively, spiraling around one another with magnified power while attracting Rings.
 * Pink Spikes + Pink Spikes: Two spikeballs that are connected by a white beam of light, which destroys any enemy upon contact.
 * Yellow Drill + Cyan Laser: A drill that can turn into a laser before the Color Power ends.
 * Yellow Drill + Green Hover: A drill that can move through air as well as water while attracting nearby Rings.
 * Orange Rocket + Cyan Laser: A rocket that can turn into a laser before the Color Power ends.
 * Yellow Drill + Orange Rocket: A drill that can rocket upward. This Color Power ends once above ground.
 * Green Hover + Green Hover: Creates a white beam between the two player which can be used it to knockout enemies when they come in contact with it.