Wisp

The Wisps are fictional life-forms appearing in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series published by Sega. Wisps are a race of extraterrestrial creatures who live on a grassy, lush planet called Planet Wisp. The mother of all Wisps is a much larger, pink one named Mother Wisp. She created Planet Wisp and raised all of her children. Wisps speak a common language which Sonic and Tails cannot understand, though Tails builds a translation device in the game Sonic Colors. Their Japanese and English name comes from Tails' translation of a word in their language; other characters in the game refer to them as "aliens". Wisps are composed of an energy force called "Hyper-go-ons", which they can use to phase into the body of playable protagonist Sonic and give him temporary elemental powers. They come in numerous breeds, each carrying one of many elemental powers known as "Color Powers". When Sonic collects a Wisp, he can use its power once at will; however, he can only carry one at a time.

There are numerous types of Wisps, each with its own special ability. Colors introduced ten types between the Wii and Nintendo DS versions of the game; some only appear in one version. For example, Purple Wisps, whose "Frenzy" ability turns Sonic into a difficult-to-control demon that can chomp through obstacles, is exclusive to the Wii version, but Violet Wisps, which scale up Sonic's density to black hole-like levels and causes him to absorb enemies, obstacles, and rings, appear only in the DS version. However, others appear in both versions, such as Yellow Wisps, which allow Sonic to drill underground and find otherwise inaccessible areas. Lost World introduced more types of Wisps while keeping some old types. Among these are Magenta Wisps, which bounce Sonic across paths of musical notes by having the player tap them on the Wii U's touch screen, and Black Wisps, which turn Sonic into a bomb that can roll over enemies and explode. The Colors manual describes each type of Wisp as having a different general personality; for example, Cyan Wisps, which allow Sonic to bounce off surfaces, are scatterbrained and energetic, while Orange Wisps, which blast him rapidly into the air, have fluctuating and explosive emotions.

In Sonic Colors, Eggman builds an amusement park spanning the Wisps' planets under the pretense of making up for past transgressions. Suspicious, Sonic and Tails investigate and rescue two Wisps from Orbot and Cubot. One of them, a talkative male White Wisp named Yacker, tags along with Sonic and Tails during the game. It turns out that Eggman is converting Wisps to a corrupted, purple (Wii version) or violet (DS version) state to fuel a mind control ray and control the universe. Sonic frees Wisps from their confines in each level, then uses several of them to defeat Eggman at the end of the game. However, Eggman's mind control cannon malfunctions and creates a black hole, which sucks Sonic in until the Wisps combine their power to pull him out and neutralize the black hole. Yacker frees the remaining Wisps, reverts them from their corrupted form, thanks Sonic and Tails, and leaves. The DS version features Mother Wisp as a post-game boss, as she was corrupted by the corrupted Wisps' Hyper-go-ons. Wisps have also appeared in the level "Planet Wisp" in Sonic Generations and the comics. Iizuka stated in an interview that the Wisps were added to Colors to "expand and strengthen the platform action gameplay" without forcing the player to switch to other playable characters. Another goal was to encourage players to revisit already-played levels; Sonic Team accomplished this by adding segments requiring certain types of Wisps to levels preceding their first appearances. Iizuka has said that he now considers them a staple in the Sonic series.

Critics have given mixed opinions toward Wisps and their integration into Sonic gameplay. IGN's Arthur Gies called them "the big addition" to Sonic Colors, outshining its polished physics and controls. Dave McComb of film magazine Empire called them "cutesy" and "strange", while John Meyer of Wired found them "cuddly" and Dale North of Destructoid called them "a cute little alien race". Randy Nelson from Joystiq called them "plush" and speculated that they could easily lend their image to profitable merchandise. Positive attention has been directed at the variety of Wisps available in Sonic Colors and Lost World and at the variety of gameplay styles they brought to the titles: for example, Gies stated that "almost all of them add interesting quirks to Sonic's basic abilities." Reviewing the Nintendo DS version of Colors, Tim Turi from Game Informer stated that "each adds an interesting new gameplay mechanic" to the game. Gies and Turi also praised the ability to revisit old levels with Wisps unlocked afterwards. Nintendo Power 's Steve Thomason identified them as "a truly interesting addition to the Sonic formula" amidst a series of missteps, and praised their "cleverly designed" variety. Computer and Video Games writer Chris Scullion described Wisps in Lost World as "familiar power-ups that emulate mechanics in Mario's Wii adventures" as part of a larger, ambivalent point about the game being derivative of Super Mario Galaxy. However, control and pacing aspects of the Wisps in general, as well as of individual types, have been criticized: for example, Turi opined that "for almost every useful ability there is a complete dud" and bemoaned the Wii controls. Justin Speer from GameTrailers thought similarly and added that the Wisps "don't really feel like they belong". Hardcore Gamer Magazine 's review of Lost World stated that none of the Wisps make satisfying use of the Wii U's gamepad. Chris Shilling of Eurogamer found them to "lead to clumsy touchscreen or gyro interludes that kill a level's pacing."

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 * Wisps appear in Sonic Presents... Chao in Space, and its tie-in/prequel comic book series Behind the Scenes.