Sonic Advance (GBA)
	Developer Sega of America Publisher Sega of America Reviewed by Erik "Bondo" Bondurant [Feedback] [Author Bio] Review Date March 19, 2002

Rating (out of 5.0) 3.5 out of 5.0*

Judge for yourself

Strengths Old school Sonic Four unique characters Deep "Vs." mode Weaknesses Awkward special stage Weak Chao mode

* Notes Gaming Voice ratings are based on the technical and/or gameplay merits of a given product as well as the developer's choice of features and delivery of same. Our rating is not an endorsement of the thematic content of a given title. Gamers and parents are cautioned to determine if such content conflicts or coincides with their values and beliefs.

Visually the game hasn’t changed much except for being sharper, but the same level themes are present, be it green hills, casinos, or ruins. One major difference is the difficulty. While the old Sonic games were fairly hard, the ability to save your progress has allowed the developers to turn it up another notch. The levels are less linear, often requiring going to the left, even though the goals are still to the right. Some levels are also quite punishing for mistakes making you fall back and repeat a section.

Still the game isn’t that difficult to beat, at least not with Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails. One enhancement to the game is having four unique characters to play with (the three mentioned above and Amy). Sonic uses speed, Tails flies, Knuckles climbs, and Amy stinks. Unlike the first three Amy lacks any real helpful special ability. Instead of being able to jump on enemies, she must hit them with her hammer that is significantly more difficult. Her only added ability that is helpful is that she jumps higher than the others.

While having the four characters extends the gameplay to a degree, it is still a little lacking. Enter the special stages that in past games were highly creative and extremely fun. You access the special stages by bouncing on a hidden spring in seven levels. Upon doing that you are taken to the special stage that involves collecting rings as you fall in a tunnel. Meet the ring requirement and you get a chaos emerald, get all seven emeralds and you open the Super Sonic battle against the final Eggman form. Unfortunately the special mode is nearly impossible due to a bad visual perspective and thus is no fun. This also makes completing the game fully somewhat of a fantasy.

The thing that saves Sonic Advance is its Vs. Mode. Through the GBA link cable you can compete in a variety of challenges, race through the levels, collect rings, or find the hidden chao. Some options are open with a single cartridge while having one cartridge per system opens up even more options. This competition is what gives Sonic Advance staying power. When it was announced that the two Sonic games would link up through the Gamecube link cable, I was hopeful for an interesting chao mode to be available on the Sonic Advance cart. Unfortunately, aside from the ability to collect coins in the main game to spend on fruit for your chao, it is just a prettied up version of the VMU chao garden from Sonic Adventure 2 on the DC. This makes Sonic Advance not a very worthwhile purchase if your main goal is to be able to expand on your chao experience from the Gamecube.

Sonic Advance makes a decent purchase for diehard fans of the old 2D versions but still it may be a bit of a letdown, as it doesn’t match up with them completely. For newer gamers it is a good chance to get a taste of the past. While Sonic Advance is a fairly good game, it isn’t one that I can make a sweeping recommendation to.