Sonic Advance 1

Personally I enjoyed all the Sa Series, just for playability, something different and fun. Sonic battle was awesomely fun(story mode playability was bullshit). only GBA game I despise is Sonic 1 GBA :P

 

Which in my opinion looks like shit because it's swirling from the knee, and not the hip. At least the old one was semi-believable, but this looks so totally unnatural.

Otherwise, a lack of decent depth perception in the special stages, turning into a lead weight when jumping and a barely playable Amy. These are the bad points of what could have really been a nice little game.

Love the soundtrack though. It's fighting with Sonic Advance 3 and Sonic Pocket Adventure for best (Post 8-bit. I love GG Sonic 2) handheld Sonic Soundtrack.

 

Advance 1 was damn good. I can't even play Advance 2 and 3, it feels really unplayable for some reason.

 

I feel the same.

I really enjoyed Advance 1, everything about it was pretty good. The levels feel really similar to something you would find in Sonic 2 or 3. Though I hated the special stages. Overall I liked it almost as much as SPA, and I LOVED SPA. It's the only advance game that I've actually played all the way though several times.

Sonic Advance 2 and 3 weren't bad really, they were just too different from the classic sonic feel for me to enjoy them at all.

 

I agree with the majority here. While I enjoyed all of the Advance games, the original had a different feel than the rest—it felt like a real Sonic game, something that could come out in 1994 and fit right in. The physics, the badniks, the level cliches, and the level design—they all came together in a way that really screamed "classic Sonic" to me. This was probably the last Sonic game that didn't focus on nothing but speed, and had an engine that could account for platforming well (unlike Sonic Advance 3, which added platforming sections, but not the ability to actually land on platforms without falling off...).

The music is also extremely Retro, though I have to admit I'm less than pleased with the sample quality; that's a system issue, though, and not a game issue, so it's forgivable. And, I mean, when's the last time you really felt like a Sonic tune was extremely memorable and fitting of a level? You don't get that anymore; it's either nothing but the amen break, the same techno beat, or the same guitar riffs. It can be okay, but it lacks... personality. Hrm. This game has lot of personality, though, which is why I think it's one of the better Advance games.

I think the most definitive "classic" feature of this game was the fact that you could pair up Sonic and Tails via a secret code. Seriously, fuck yeah! :D

 

I was surprised playing it and hearing the classic invincibility music. It showed me how much I miss that theme. It did have its problems, being slow - although I like the fact that it wasn't just a press forward, but I felt it was slower than previous 2D Sonic's. But apart from that its the closest we have got to a new game with a classic feel.

 

This is really the main reason I feel it was the last "Genesis" game thus far, and why Sonic Advance 2 and 3 both seem horribly broken to me. In the classics, it wasn't just about speed - that's why there was a limit to how fast you could run without any powerups. In the other GBA games, you basically get a red spring handed to you while you're running. All of the stages had a nice flow without being boring or frustrating, because the speed never conflicted with the actual level design, and vice-versa (my main issue with both Sonic Advance 2 and 3). The bosses themselves are also more classic-oriented than those of its sequels. This is even arguably the last Sonic platformer (ever...?), 2D or 3D, to not completely abuse bottomless pits like we see today, which is actually kind of amazing. The circular running animation, boss remakes, stage names, and classic invincibility music are really just icing on the cake when it comes to how "Genesis" the game is.

 

I liked both 1 and 2. 2 could have been a lot better if they didn't do the stupid "3, 2, 1" stuff. Plus the special stages were almost impossible to find and beat.

But yeah 1 was good. I enjoyed it. ... In the end though, 2 was probably my favorite, at least level wise. I don't know why though. I really thought they'd get it perfect with 3 but it was another one step forward and two steps back deal.

 

Yeah its hard to find Sonic Advance 1 now a days. I always see the Sonic Advance/Sonic Spinball cart everywhere I go. I personally haven't tried this game yet. I'll download the rom soon and let you know what I think.

 

Sonic Advance/ Sonic Pinball Party, but yah, Sonic Advance is pretty awesome, I picked up that 2-in-1 cart and Sonic Advance was awesome compared to the other two. I only liked Pinball Party due to the NiGHTs content

 

Yeah I never was a fan of Sonic Spinball. I haven't ever tried the GBA one. I did like that Pinball level on Sonic Adventure though.

 

Sonic Advance 3 was too much like Sonic Heroes with the multi-character action. Bleh.

Sonic Advance 2 was okay, but nothing exciting. Bad controls.

Sonic Advance 1 was the awesomeness, taking a step back to the good retro times and starting with a beach/island level, then proceeding to have zones themed similarly to that of the classic Sonic games we know and love from the Genesis. Plus, there's a code you can use that lets you get Tails to follow you around like in Sonic 2. Ah yes, a step back to simpler times... lovely.

 

I like 3 the most, for Advance 1, the pacing was right in line with the classics, but the level design was visually repetitive, making it easy to get lost, and you can hardly tell that you're making progress. And it's also laking the physics toy aspects, leaving you with a Sonic game that doesn't do any of the classic things right. SO, for advance 2 & 3, Dimps just did their own thing, and the games are better for it, IMO. Not classic Sonic, but at least it's fun. And the song for Route 99 & the special stage are so good, I'd put them into a theoretical hack that I haven't decided whether I'm going to bother with or not. The reason I prefer 3 over 2 is that two has sky canyon, aka, the "fling you to your death while obscuring the ground with clouds" zone. It killed Advance 2 for me.

E: I also thought it was funny how Advance 3 handels the team aspect so much better than Heroes. In heroes, there was no situation where Speed or flight was better than power, save for the spots that specifically needed it.

 

Music Plant is still one of the best SoOnic levels ever created.

 

I got this game back when it was first released.

I think that this is the closest to the classic games we have got to date and it managed to alot of things right e.g. optional characters that you don't have to play and Robotnik just trying to take over the world without any stupid plotlines.

SA 2+3 were alright and improved on some areas but on others they went backwards e.g. being forced to play other characters and adding non-essential gimmicks.

One general crticism of the games though is that I think the games lack something but I can't describe it, though I think this is because it is on the GBA where they were limited in several ways I.e. screen size/resolution.

I wonder what it would be like if they updated the games for the DS?

 

I really liked Sonic Advance. It felt like the old games, albeit with slightly worse physics but that's still forgiveable. The music was catchy, the level design was great, only the graphics were a bit generic but still charming. I also kind of liked playing as Amy, she added some variety.
It's definitely better than SAdv2 and SAdv3, while technically less impressive it's a lot more of an actual Sonic game. My favourite GBA Sonic remains Sonic Pinball Party though. :p

 

I enjoyed Sonic Advanced 1 from the start. It felt the closest to the Genesis series to me. The levels reminded me a lot of Sonic 3.

Advanced 2 and 3 I didn't care for as much.

I may be diving off in the other end of the pool on this one though, but is it just me or are many people in the Sonic community stupid at first when it comes to new Sonic games. Because I remember when everyone in the community used to bitch about how terrible the Advance, Adventure, Rivals, and Heroes games all were around their release, and now a some years later many people are starting to say "ya know they really weren't that bad!" Of course there are the inexcusable mistakes such as Sonic 1 GBA and Sonic 06, but besides that. You have some people complaining about Unleashed now are we going to have this same sort of thread in a couple years where people actually think Unleashed is good? :P

 

^ Probably, or bitch about "Oh, Unleashed is gonna suck, the Wii can't handle it, the Hedgehog Engine was rushed *Someone actually said the Hedgehog Engine was rushed, it's been in development for 3 years.* " and then as soon as the game comes out, get it, say they love it, then as soon as there's one person who thought the game sucked, the whole moron central (which turns out to be everyone without common sense or any basic knowledge) says it sucks too.

 

I have the N-Gage version. I need to play it, although it's supposed to be an inferior version to the GBA one.
I should pick up the GBA version, but I'd want the box and manual, which seems like a tall order.