Sonic Advance 1

Sonic Advance really is the closest to a Genesis-style Sonic there will probably be for a while. Playing it, though, I didn't feel like the level design had as good a sense of "place" as the original trilogy. They usually start out strong enough, but get kind of bland somewhere in the middle. Part of it may just be the fact that I've played and replayed the old games so much as a kid that the layouts are burned into my brain, but I think I'm just more comfortable inside a Yasuhara designed zone. Accessing and winning the bonus levels in Advance is really tedious and unrewarding. Playing as Amy is a chore. The whole concept of a more cartoony/anime Sonic is great though and held against the standards of other handheld platformers it's way up there.

In the end I prefer Rush and Rush Adventure because they are more confident and exciting overall packages, but when it comes to modern Sonic, Advance can't be beat for real platforming/exploration.

 

I enjoyed Advance 1 and 3. Advance 2 was just too odd for me, especially the sprites. Advance 3 had some good levels in it, and the sounds at the end of the bosses really wrapped it up.

 

I've heard that Dimps was formed from ex SNK people, leading me to belive that the Sonic Advance games were animated by the same poeple who did Metal Slug. I can't find the credits for Metal Slug, and I don't feel like beatng it again, so I can't be sure. But the point is, the sprites are really good.

And SAdv 3 special stage is my favorite out of ALL of the special stages.

 

I actually like ALL 3 Sonic Advance games, but SA1 is definitely more classic Sonic that any others. But it makes me sad that they couldn't have just used a modified version of the SA1 engine to create Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis. Think this:

Original Mode: Sonic The Hedgehog recreating EVERYTHING the same as the original Sonic 1 in the Advance engine.
Anniversary Mode: Sonic 1 recreated using Advance style graphics and such.

Maybe we can eventually get a sweet level editor for Sonic Advance 1. Until then, stick this in you pipe and smoke it:

 

The ONLY sonic game of the modern era that I have found to be worthy of my time is Sonic Pocket Adventure.

 

I liked Sonic advance 1 and 3 for a little while, but Sonic advance 2 was just weak. I beat that almost exclusively holding right.

I enjoyed the first two levels of SA3, but it wasn't as fun after that.

Sonic Battle got repetitive quickly.

I do however, enjoy the Sonic Rush games. Best thing to happen to the series since SA2.

 

Actually, it was a game issue that was inspired by the horrible speaker; the GBA can actually produce much higher quality audio (check out the game Rhythm Tengoku), but many developers don't even bother since back then, and still today (more like in the last 5 years or so) people have stopped caring about game sound and music on handhelds, and tend to just turn it off. How anyone can enjoy a game without it I will never understand, but it really takes away the incentive to do a good job.

 

I felt the original Sonic Advance, despite adopting the classic Sonic physics engine, felt pretty uninspired. Felt very much like it was just simply "going through the motions", almost like a generic Sonic fangame.

I suppose that's not horrible, just leaves a lot of room for improvement. Part of me wonders what would've happened if Dimps tried to keep making Genesis-style Sonics instead of making Sonic Advance 2 what it was.

 

<!--quoteo(post=201857:date=Jun 21 2008, 02:28 PM:name=Overlord)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Overlord @ Jun 21 2008, 02:28 PM)

Sky Canyon and ESPECIALLY the Bitchslap Of Death is the worst fucking Sonic Zone & Boss combo ever.[/quote]
OH god I forgot about that.. yeah that was horrible. A one hit kill has no place in the Sonic universe.

 

Um........bottomless pits? Things that crush you? They're one hit killers. But indeed that boss is a pain.

 

err yeah let me reword that

A one hit from a boss kill.. one hit kill that a boss do... You know what I mean

 

Bottomless pits have no place in Sonic games either.

Crushing stuff is fine though.

 

I always liked Sonic Advance, probably because it felt truly like a classic Sonic. However it also has many differences.
To point out its bigger difference from the classic Sonic, let me quote something from the Smash Dojo:

This his its bigger difference.
Sonic games always used only 1 button for everything (Even Tails'flying and Knuckles'gliding. The only exception is Chaotix, but the other buttons activated other functions, since the character moves were all triggerered by one button).
Advance instead gave all characters a special move which, in my opinion (But Amy is an exception!!), were also rather useless. Classic Sonic games were simple, and even if someone may consider them to simple, they were still simple, and their simplicity was a key characteristic in my opinion.

Sonic Advance 2 was less inspired than the first one, but it had 2 major problems:

1 - The most retarded Special Stage ever and the most retarded way of access to a Special Stage ever.

2 -
<!--quoteo(post=201857:date=Jun 21 2008, 09:28 PM:name=Overlord)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Overlord @ Jun 21 2008, 09:28 PM)

Sky Canyon and ESPECIALLY the Bitchslap Of Death is the worst fucking Sonic Zone & Boss combo ever.[/quote](bolded for emphasis)
Couldn't said it better. That boss is the most fucked bastard ever in a Sonic game. Final Bosses in Sonic games must kill sonic in one hit, but this is absolutely not allowed for other bosses.

As for Sonic Advance 3, well, it may seem weird, but I think it could be summed up like this: Let's take as much thinks we can from all Sonic games and put them all in 1 game.
But I admit that I actually liked SA 3. It had a big nostalgia effect.

 

I hated the SA2 bosses in general. SA1 on the other hand felt like the old games (not that old is always better, but in this case it is).

 

Sorry if this has been mentioned. Haven't paid a lot of attention.

One thing that I really hated about SA2 is the final zone. You had to do every boss again, hitting Robotnik 8 times; and then you had to fight another boss! What is the point in that (?!)

 

I beat it... but I was using an emulator and saved every few seconds.