Game Boy Advance

Sonic Advance

Now, the GBA's Sonic Advance doesn't have these little hidden tokens to collect, but it makes up for it by hiding the super secret bonus world somewhere deep in each level...which means, if you simply blast through the game, you'll never gain access to the special worlds, and you'll never find the Chaos Emeralds, and you'll never finish the game with the best ending. Exploration is a good thing, people, and it's what makes Sonic better on the Game Boy Advance than on the Genesis. Add to this the ability to play as four distinctly different characters, and you've got yourself a game that you can play over and over well after you've completed all the levels the first time.

Men på det hela taget är detta ett av de bästa spelen som hittills nått Nintendos nya spelgosse. Jag älskar de nya miljöerna. Speciellt plus för snö och isbanan som i mina ögon är bland det bästa någonsin i ett Sonic-spel. Självklart är den första zonen i klassisk "green hill"-stil. Och det kan ju aldrig bli gammalt eller fel. Fienderna kan ibland vara så små att de knappt går att se. Ett gott betyg till upplösningen på den bärbara krabaten, men frustrerande om man susar fram i högsta fart. Något man gör allt som oftast gör i Sonic Advance. Men då coh då varvas farten med precisionshopp och passager som kräver lite tankemöda. Välbalanserat.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for GameCube, also released in February, sports one of the key GameCube special features, the GameCube/Game Boy Advance connectivity. With the cable, players can take part in a variety of chao races, memory puzzles, and other mini-games. Sending the chao between GameCube and Game Boy Advance works in vein to what Dreamcast and it’s VMU Memory card did.

All in all, Sonic Advance is a fun trip down memory lane for the old-school Genesis gamers. It may be worthwhile to wait for the price to come down, unless you're also planning on buying Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for GameCube, as there will be some interconnectivity between those two games via the soon-to-be-released GBA Link Cable. Other than that, though, while this is an excellent 2D Sonic game, being able to save after every level, while having its advantages, also detracts from the replay value dramatically, and the extra characters really aren't different enough to make up for that. My advice is to rent first, and see if Sonic Advance has enough old-school gaming goodness to be worth your $40.

Sega has struggled in bringing its blue icon to the three-dimensional world of the next-generation systems; Sonic Advance might be a good argument for the fact that the Sonic franchise belongs in 2D. This all-new GBA adventure is – amazingly – graphically superior to any of Sonic’s Genesis adventures, and adds a ton of replay value with no less than four playable characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy) who each have their own unique moves and abilities. To sweeten the pot even further, you can link four GBAs together for multiplayer, and even grow Chaos to import into the GameCube for use in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. It’s too bad the single-player mode is a bit short, or this would have been darn near perfect.

Sonic signe une apparition plus que réussie sur Gameboy Advance. Le jeu reste dans la tradition des premiers épisodes sur SMS et Megadrive, mais le soft est inédit et permet d'incarner quatre personnages différents. Les modes de jeu proposés en multijoueur sont particulièrement variés. Un titre à ne pas rater sur GBA.

Sonic Advance é um grande presente para quem tem saudades da fase clássica de Sonic, mas com algumas modernizações bem-vindas. O único problema é que, como os jogos da época, seu design supõe que você pode vencer todas as fases em uma única jogada - efetivamente encurtando a experiência. Mas se você é daqueles que quer pegar todos os segredos, vai suar para conseguir todas as Chaos Emeralds.

All in all, Sonic Advance is a fabulous game that successfully delivers some of the most enjoyable 2D gameplay on the GameBoy Advance. The mixture of blazing speed and platforming elements makes it even more entertaining then the blue hedgehog’s past Genesis offerings, but the game’s short quest mode is a big letdown. The chao raising and link-up multiplayer modes are valiant attempts at bolstering the game’s lasting appeal, but what’s really needed is a longer single player quest mode. If you are getting tired of Nintendo’s constant milking of old SNES Mario rehashes, then you will probably be ecstatic to actually be getting an all-new Sonic game for the GBA. So is it worthy of your hard-earned cash despite the short single player? Absolutely. You wouldn’t want to miss out on the best Sonic game to be released in the past eight years would you?

Sonic Advance a simple, tried-and-true blast from the past, faithfully recapturing the hog’s legacy and reigning in just enough characters and elements from the new to satiate anyone craving more from their marsupials than just movin to the right at really high speeds.

Since its debut in 1989, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series has seen some of the finest monuments of 2D platforming ever produced. However, as games shifted their emphasis to polygonal graphics and 3D gameplay, it began to appear that Sonic's 2D days were behind him. But, while 2D may be disappearing on home consoles, sprites can be found alive and well in the portable market, thanks to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance--a sprite powerhouse that has quickly become the new home of 2D gaming. Thanks to the 2D renaissance brought about by the capable little system, Sonic is able to put on his best sprites for one more spin dash down the 2D highway in Sonic Advance. While the game is slightly flawed due to some imbalances in its gameplay, it's ultimately a satisfying experience thanks to a mix of classic Sonic 2D gameplay, a familiar cast of characters, and new technology.

This game managed to do something its 3-D counterparts never could: catch my interest and hold on to it. I spent a lot of time simply looking around each level, experimenting with each character and attempting to find the various chao emeralds. Overall, Sonic Advance is a fun title that does a good job of bringing the little blue hedgehog back in the 2-D world. It’s good to know that, with a soon to be released collection on GameCube and a sequel in the works, this won’t be 2-D Sonic’s last adventure.

I do like the stage select feature that lets you bypass those you've completed. The well-orchestrated background tunes range from the mysterious, grinding jams of the Secret Base stage, to the tranquil, peaceful melodies of the Ice Mountain Zone. Extra modes include a two-player race mode and a time trial mode. Although the time trial saves the best times, it inexplicably does not save your initials. Sonic Advance has its share of issues, but it still feels good to see the hedgehog back in 2D.