For The Champion character, launch-week community reports say Color 5 requires completing all team Episodes; the other gameplay colors follow roster-wide or character-specific routes.
Champion color route
Community report: Colors 1–4 are available by default. The Champion’s Color 5 is reported to require all Episodes, rather than only one team Episode.
Community report: Color 6 unlocks roster-wide after playing ten online matches; reports specifically correct “win” to “play.” Confirm the live unlock notice after match ten.
Survival and Lesson colors
Community report: Color 7 unlocks for the roster after clearing all 100 Survival opponents, with The Champion appearing at the end of the run.
Community report: Color 8 is character-specific and requires that character’s Action Checks and Combo Challenges in Character Lesson; level-up missions are reported as unnecessary.
Animated Chromatic is different
Official: the Ultimate Edition includes an Animated Chromatic color unlock for all 20 launch characters. This is edition content, not the same thing as beating The Champion or completing Survival.
The standard and Digital Deluxe edition descriptions checked here do not list that Animated Chromatic unlock.
Evidence boundary
PlayStation confirms Episode Mode and the Ultimate Edition bonus, but the checked official pages do not publish the Colors 5–8 gameplay table.
Therefore Colors 5–8 remain community-reported until reproduced in the live game or documented by an official source. Patch changes should replace, not be blended with, this launch-week map.