[W.A.C.]

I forgot to mention that I was amazed how long Egg Rocket Act 1 is compared to pretty much any 2D Sonic level I have played. That is one long extremely long level.

This post has been edited by W.A.C.: 16 October 2010 - 10:27 PM

[Covarr]

So I went and played Sonic Advance 3, for a while. Damn, that level design is good. It's mazelike the way Sonic 3&Knuckles was, but with an upper/lower path dynamic more like Sonic 2. I was playing as Tails and Sonic, so it was easy to switch paths, and do a bit of exploring.

What I don't particularly like is the hub worlds. They don't serve a lot of purpose but to waste time.

What I particularly hate is the Twinkle Snow boss. It gets unfairly hard when Tails decides not to jump.

edit: I also wasn't a big fan of the toy level. The first time a game ever did a toy level, the concept was already overused. The same applies to the music zone in Sonic Advance 2, which is basically lifted thematically straight from Rayman.

This post has been edited by Covarr: 16 October 2010 - 10:47 PM

[Aerosol]

I've only ever played the Sonic Advance 3 beta, so I don't have a fair assessment of it.

I enjoyed Sonic Advance 1 and 2 a heck of a lot though. Yea, I said it. I enjoyed Sonic Advance 2. Go ahead, try to lynch me.

[Dark Sonic]

I've only ever played the Sonic Advance 3 beta, so I don't have a fair assessment of it.

Ya you do. It's really almost the finished product. Consider it like those 4 Sonic 2 near final betas.

[MarkoMan]

For me, the Sonic Advance series kinda mimicked the Sonic games on Sega Genesis in terms of... well, something.

Sonic Advance 1, just like Sonic 1, is a game that I can play maybe so often, but like, I don't find a reason to play those games over Sonic Advance 2 and 3, and Sonic 2 and 3K, respectively. I liked Sonic Advance when it came out. It was awesome, but then, you know, Sonic Advance 2 came out and blew the game out of the window for me.

Sonic Advance 2 is just like Sonic 2. Now while I'm not too sure if Sonic 2 is in fact that fastest of the three games, it damn sure feels like it is. And Sonic Advance 2 is definitely the fastest of the three Sonic Advance games. And that speed was something that I enjoyed about the game. I got a real kick out of trying to run through the various multiple paths (that do, in fact exist) in boost mode all day.

Sonic Advance 3 I felt was definitely the Sonic 3 & Knuckles of the series for me. It wasn't too fast like Sonic Advance 2, it wasn't too slow like Sonic Advance 1, and the game just seemed like the ultimate playground for me, similar to how Sonic 3K feels for me. The best part about Sonic Advance 3, however, was that it did not force me to play as characters that I do not want to play as, and I think that more Sonic games should follow this rule. Like, if Sonic games could literally have 20 playable characters and I don't have to even touch the characters I don't want to play as, that would be perfectly fine with me.

And then even with the greatness that I feel is Sonic Advance 3 and Sonic 3K, I always feel the urge to go back to Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic 2 without regret. Sonic 1 and Sonic Advance 1... not so much.

*cracks open a flame shield for not liking Sonic Advance 1 as much as the others*

edit:

edit: I also wasn't a big fan of the toy level. The first time a game ever did a toy level, the concept was already overused. The same applies to the music zone in Sonic Advance 2, which is basically lifted thematically straight from Rayman.

Don't quote me on this since I'm not a Ristar fan, but I think Music Plant is pretty much taken from Ristar... as are a number of other levels...

This post has been edited by MarkoMan: 16 October 2010 - 10:59 PM

[Vertex]

Advance 1 was my favorite GBA game. I have played the first level literally hundreds of times. I think the physics are fine, the music is good, and the special stages were alright, too.

Advance 2, on the other hand, was not so good. My friend owned it, and I played it quite a lot. I absolutely loved the music, but the level design and bottomless pits etc. were horrible. His copy was 100% complete, though, so I got to play through the Super Sonic fight without having to go through the whole process.

Advance 3, I played in an emulator rather than on real hardware. I think it's a good combination of the two. Better physics than SADV2, but that isn't saying much. The team concept turned out alright, though maybe it could have been done better.

[Chaos Rush]

I have never played 2 or 3, but I've played 1 millions of times. It really could have been Sonic 4, it had most of the things that S3K introduced, such as at least 3 playable characters, different music per act, completely zone-exclusive badniks (yes, I'm aware Sonic 2 had this as well).

Though come to think of it, I really wish they made some levels bigger. Except Egg Rocket Zone, because that level is HUGE! Okay, since I haven't played Advance 2 or 3, I probably shouldn't say this, but isn't Egg Rocket Zone obviously the largest level in a 2D Sonic game ever? I remember that was one of the first times I realized that you could die from being in a level for 10 minutes (though if I remember correctly, that level had timers where you have to beat certain parts in under 5 minutes, so I guess the level is really about 15-20 minutes long). But Neo Green Hill Zone is so tiny that you could practically memorize the layouts.

But overall, I still really like Sonic Advance 1. And there's even a hidden code to let you play as Sonic w/Tails following, in Sonic 2/Sonic3K style. Oh, and the Special Stages were REALLY hard at first, and after MANY tries I finally got the hang of them, and then I blasted through them.

This post has been edited by Chaos Rush: 16 October 2010 - 11:38 PM

[Solaris Paradox]

edit: I also wasn't a big fan of the toy level. The first time a game ever did a toy level, the concept was already overused. The same applies to the music zone in Sonic Advance 2, which is basically lifted thematically straight from Rayman.

You'd probably love Clockwork Knight.

[W.A.C.]

Just played through Sonic Advance 2 for the first time in 6-7 years. My thoughts? I still love the game. Unfortunately, the bottomless pits, the terrible enemy placement, and the ridiculous system for getting emeralds really hold the game from being far better than it should be. I give it a 9/10. Yes Retro, I actually love Sonic Advance 2. I'm truly in the minority with my opinion of this game. >_>

This post has been edited by W.A.C.: 17 October 2010 - 02:53 AM

[Banoon]

Finally.

Advance 3 remains one of my favourite games in the series, as once you get past the incredibly mediocre first three zones, you get some of the coolest gimmicks (Chaos Angel, Toy Paradise), most interesting art (Cyber Track) and awesome music (Twinkle Snow) seen in Sonic. In those last 4 zones, the level design also often reaches S3K calibre. Wasn't a huge fan of the other two games though; Advance 2 was too speedy and often annoying (I never really had problems with Sky Canyon, but Techno Base is a different, incredibly frustrating story), and Advance 1 was basically S4E1 with less heart and a worse running animation.

[W.A.C.]

Advance 2 was too speedy and often annoying (I never really had problems with Sky Canyon, but Techno Base is a different, incredibly frustrating story),

I easily found Sky Canyon to be the most annoying level in the game because of the extreme amount of bottomless pits. >_<

...and Advance 1 was basically S4E1 with less heart and a worse running animation.

And physics that don't totally suck ass.

[Solaris Paradox]

Advance 1 had the better physics, Sonic 4 Episode I has better levels.

That's my opinion, anyway, take it as you will.

[PsychoSk8r]

Sonic Advance is the only game I pick up to play anymore. I don't really enjoy the other two.
Advance 1 feels like playing the classics, it's got everything down perfect, and I'd love to see a console remake, Only with the correct physics though.

[Azukara]

Sonic Advance is the only game I pick up to play anymore. I don't really enjoy the other two.
Advance 1 feels like playing the classics, it's got everything down perfect, and I'd love to see a console remake, Only with the correct physics though.

This exactly. If Sega could have just taken this game, up the resolution to 16:9, made everything 2.5D (like Sonic Fan Remix), gave every character their Unleashed/Colors model (besides Tails which needs some fixing), and changed the menu/titlecard/etc. style to be more classic.... this game would've been miles better as a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 than what we are getting now. The visuals for the stages, the level design, the badniks, the physics, the gameplay.. it's all there. I love that game so much.

[Diablohead]

I like advance 1 enough to have owned it, grabbed all the emeralds and finished the game 100%, must have sold it a few months later as I was flat out bored with it.

the sequel, ugh biggest turn off ever for me, I gave it a chance and even played it for a bit on my cube gba player but I hated it, sold it.

3rd one was great at the start and then went downhill as the zones became more and more annoying, sold it :P

about 2 years ago I bought them all again along with rush for my brother when I gave him my original DS, he and my little nephew play them a lot as they like sonic.