The Sonic Advance Appreciation Thread

[edge.]

I don't know but y'all, but SAdv3 was my shyt. That was ultimately my favorite out of the three. It reminded me a little of Knuckles Chaotix (which I love also) with playing two characters instead of one in the two games before.

[SefHighwind]

I don't know but y'all, but SAdv3 was my shyt. That was ultimately my favorite out of the three. It reminded me a little of Knuckles Chaotix (which I love also) with playing two characters instead of one in the two games before.

Ya, I'd agree with that. SAdv3 did remind me a lot of Knuckles Chaotix (which is why I probably come back to it more than the others). I think the whole team bit was a great idea, and it also gave the game a bit more re-playability.

[Rusty Spy]

After my initial thoughts, after playing the game again, I quite like the uniqueness of the special abilities for each team combo. Perhaps inspiration for moves in later games?

I'll admit, Adv 3 was not bad, the game was fun and challenging and the way the levels split into many alternate paths does make for the fun times, but the main problem with it is that the levels just go all over the place. There's no rhyme or reason to where the levels go and it's all a confusing mess making understanding the layout nearly impossible. It's like two levels were stacked on top of each other and got all their layouts tangled up. The levels don't feel like they are an actual (semi)logical place.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Black Spy

[Indigo Rush]

I'm mixed on opinions with Sonic Advance.

The gameplay was extremely fun and addicting, and had that ever so luscious classic taste to it. I also loved the ability to attack with the B button! That, and Sonic's dash attack when pressing the D-pad to the left-right twice when in the air.

However... the sprites were ugly, the music was unmemorable as well as the levels themselves. Sure, they were colorful, but I didn't take to them as well as Hydrocity or Emerald Hill. Also, the grinding mechanic needed work.

[novelty]

Although I like Sonic Advance, problem was that it was not immersive. The gameplay, graphics, music, and etc. were very great, more-or-less cream-of-the-crop of the Sonic era so far; but it lacked intuitive gameplay of that time. I liked Sonic Advance as a "hold right-a-thon", than a goal-oriented game.

[SefHighwind]

Although I like Sonic Advance, problem was that it was not immersive. The gameplay, graphics, music, and etc. were very great, more-or-less cream-of-the-crop of the Sonic era so far; but it lacked intuitive gameplay of that time. I liked Sonic Advance as a "hold right-a-thon", than a goal-oriented game.

That did get to me a bit though, however Advance 2 felt like that too me. The original had some of these moments, but Advance 2 takes the cake for me. Hell halve of the enemies jump over you, and also it seems that there were little to no enemies at times.

[Nattala]

I actually really like Sonic Advance 1. Part of this may be because I prefer handhelds to consoles but Sonic Advance is one of my most played Sonic games. I love playing Time Attack through the levels, dodging all the obstacles and trying to get on the right paths is really fun and I find the action to be really fast paced, though that may be because I've practically memorised where all the obstacles are so I know when to dodge, though it doesn't always work. Mecha Knuckles is an awesome boss, you think you've beaten him then he starts shooting missiles at you! I didn't like the Special Stages at first, I couldn't complete them let alone find the springs. However recently I've gotten better at the Special Stages and now love them although I still haven't gotten all the chaos emeralds.

Oh and I love playing as Amy. IMO one of her best playable appearances, she really makes use of her hammer abilities. She can defeat bosses with ease, the first boss can be beaten in about 5 seconds. The Down B move while in the air is awesome, using it to bounce across a row of enemies is heaps of fun and lets you get to high areas that are usually too high to reach.

[Phos]

So, I finally got my PSP back to where it would run things again, and got some more time with this game (Because playing a game that was intended to be portable on a PC wouldn't be right), and I'm having a lot more fun with it now, primarily thanks to figuring out the timing for hitting that ice stage boss.

Still seems as though this game was made out of a much smaller number of chunks than the Genesis games or something. It's lacking discernible landmarks. You usually have some idea of where you are in a level in th Genesis games, but in this game it seems you only know where to go because the sign post is to the right. It seems to be something DIMPS has a hard time with in general, though Advance 1 suffers the least from this out of the Advance games. I can't image the cut down resolution helping, but Sonic Pocket Adventure was able to mostly avoid this problem. SPA's levels were partly based off of the layouts from Sonic 2, so they had that going for them. Yasuhara mentioned in an interview that he likes to remind the player of short, mid, and long term objectives from time to time.

[azoo]

Pocket Adventure sort of saved itself from being too cramped up on a small resolution screen by making Sonic smaller, which allowed the amount of stage you could see to be bigger. Advance constantly centered the camera on Sonic and made it a little too close to Sonic, hindering you from really being able to see exactly where you're going. I think that if the resolution would've been much larger (especially in a widescreen resolution like NSMBWii), gameplay in this game would be much more relaxing and beautiful, and allow you to see where you're going.

[Blacklightning]

Y'know, I honestly get the impression a lot of those problems could be fixed if they just used a minimap or something. Sure, bigger screens or better player/level ratio works too, and probably looks prettier to boot, but simply being aware of your surroundings could easily be enough to go by and would be a hell of a lot easier to implement to boot. I dunno, just throwing a possibility out there.

Edited January 3, 2010 by Blacklightning

[Phos]

That might lead to people playing by looking at the map.

Pocket Adventure sort of saved itself from being too cramped up on a small resolution screen by making Sonic smaller, which allowed the amount of stage you could see to be bigger. Advance constantly centered the camera on Sonic and made it a little too close to Sonic, hindering you from really being able to see exactly where you're going. I think that if the resolution would've been much larger (especially in a widescreen resolution like NSMBWii), gameplay in this game would be much more relaxing and beautiful, and allow you to see where you're going.

The smaller resolution is a bit of an annoyance, but what I was referring to was how the different paths don't really have anything distinguishing them visually, and how it's hard to tell when you're getting near the end of the level. Sonic 1 and 2 were the best about doing this sort of thing, most of the levels have things in the environment that allow you to tell how high you are and they often level off a bit before the end of the level. Aquatic Ruin is a standout in this regard, with trees, the water, and the columns all being either exclusive to certain altitudes or being used differently on different floors. In levels like Emerald Hill and Palmtree Panic, you can tell that there are paths above you because you can see the landmasses that are supporting them, and sometimes the backgrounds make it appear as though you're in a hole. Advance 2 3, and Rush are pretty bad about it (Rush Adventure appears to be as well, from what I've seen). In Advance 2, they did it a little bit for the first level, but after that, it's just a bunch of ramps with no sense of location.

[Blacklightning]

That might lead to people playing by looking at the map.

It can, but it depends on how you implement it. Sometimes clever use of colour is all you need to avoid that. Take Saints Row 2 for example. If you set a marker or have an objective to follow, the route you have to take to get there is in a bright neon green or blue (respectively), that you can see at a glance or even out the corner of your eye without having to take your eyes off the road (and believe me, keeping your eyes on the road is really fucking important at the speeds some of the bikes and cars can reach). If you were to apply this to Sonic, you'd most likely have a basic (and I mean basic) outline of the surrounding geometry in neon green against a dark background, and you'd still be getting all the info you need without having to constantly stare at the minimap wherever you go.

Anyway, I won't try to push the idea that hard, just bringing up a point some people might not have considered.

[Crystal Kingfisher]

I'm mixed on opinions with Sonic Advance.

The gameplay was extremely fun and addicting, and had that ever so luscious classic taste to it. I also loved the ability to attack with the B button! That, and Sonic's dash attack when pressing the D-pad to the left-right twice when in the air.

However... the sprites were ugly, the music was unmemorable as well as the levels themselves. Sure, they were colorful, but I didn't take to them as well as Hydrocity or Emerald Hill. Also, the grinding mechanic needed work.

How were the sprites ugly? The Advance series have my favorite sprites out of any Sonic game.

[Marcello]

I like Sonic 3 Sprites more.. But the ones in Advance are pretty good, too.

[Badnik Zero]

How were the sprites ugly? The Advance series have my favorite sprites out of any Sonic game.

I think the eyes on Sonic are shaped funny. It gives him a weird profile. I know he's not chubby Sonic in this game, but parts of his body don't seem proportional to long SA1 Sonic either. But it might be my imagination, anyone else think so? I never knew why I didn't like the arms-behind-running in this game, but looking now his arms are actually held up above his shoulders when he does this. All the characters look "furry" on the GBA to me, but I guess that can't be helped. My biggest issue though, and it's probably shared by some people here, is that the wheel his legs make when he runs starts at his knees - that's one ugly run, at least IMO.

Edited January 3, 2010 by Cupcake Hedgehog

[Phos]

The Advance sheet betrayed Nyquist!

That's my overly dramatic way of saying that the resolution is too low for the green eyes. They also kind of drew his quills funny in the jogging speed sprites. Unlike they Genesis sheet, the advance sheet is from a direct profile rather than an angle.

[Tornado]

In Advance 2, they did it a little bit for the first level, but after that, it's just a bunch of ramps with no sense of location.

Holy shit. Dimps made a level after Sonic Advance 1 and before Rush Adventure that wasn't a series of bottomless pits with some scaffolding?

Edited January 5, 2010 by Tornado

[goku262002]

Hey cool an advance topic.

So the guys at Retro found out that Sonic Advance was ported to android and its free...in japan. but someone has released the .apk file so it can probably run on your phone.

But this port differs from others. namely the music has been changed! the invincibility, and the sonic 1&2 boss battle themes have been replaced.

Check the topic out. you can find the download(s) for the game there:

http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=27062&st=15

No music release yet though.

[Sean]

There's a zip link containing the midi files in that topic.

The invincibility theme is an arrangement of the game's opening song. Weird choice.

[goku262002]

Yeah i skimmed.

Here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?18j3ykjli724qq2

So far the changed tracks are:

bgm_49_boss_f1

bgm_50_boss_f2

bgm_28_invincibility

bgm_28_invincibility_speed

Anyone else find anything?

[Blacklightning]

The invincibility theme is an arrangement of the game's opening song. Weird choice.

[Sean]

In all those games, those themes were already recurring leitmotifs. 1ups, invincibility, game over, and so on.

Sonic Advance barely had a leitmotif to call its own. Probably because all of its music is entirely forgettable.

[azoo]

Talkin about ultrabumping. Geez, looking back, I used to be such a nostalgiatard it hurts.

At the same time, Sonic Advance is still the best Advance, and I still think it's one of the best Sonic games out there. Looking back my opinion is still kind of spot-on; music, gameplay, level design and art style were all really awesome, although I kinda question just how much I really care about the sprite stylings of the Advance games.

I'm so glad the game's getting more publicity though. Android release sounds really cool, although I heard it sucks because it lags a good bit.

on the other Sadv games: Sadv2 was great but wasn't very replayable, Sadv3 MUST BURN

[goku262002]

That was the original invincibility btw.

[SuperStingray]

FREAKIN LOVE THIS TRACK