Support NeoGAF

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

This is the final platforming title for the Sonic series on the Game Boy and it is in many ways, the Sonic 3&K for the Advance series. The highest stakes for the story, large cast of playable characters and it also re-introduces the Tag Mechanic that Knuckles Chaotix had.

Do I enjoy this game? Yes.......but some annoying bits get in the way at points :l. It is a fun Sonic venture that has some issues holding it back at points.

Now, lets run into some hills!

- - - - - - - - -

The story opens with Eggman shattering the world into pieces....damn O_O! Now THAT is rising the stakes right from the start! This story idea was brought back in Sonic Unleashed but, ya, Eggman shatters the world.

Sonic and Tails work together to solve this problem by beating Eggman across the seven zones and finding some buddies along the way like Knuckles, Amy and Cream.

This next bit ties into a game I covered already; Gemerl

This robot is our friend from Sonic Battle, Emerl. After Sonic defeated him on the Death Egg, Eggman rebuilt him and he is a frequent boss that is in every zone. You always fight him one-on-on and he morphs into different mechs Eggman makes; he is a consistent threat and its great to see that. Making our former friend the main foe was a great move on Sonic Team's and Dimps part honestly

.

- - - - - - - - -

The core design of the game is different then past Advance games so I have to break it down into a few areas; Hub World, Tag System, and Special Stages.

Hub Worlds appear for the first time in a 2D Sonic adventure and every zone in the game has one. You explore for optional mini games to get more lives, access stage rings (to go into different acts) and jump into a giant ring to access an interactive menu.

This explorable location allows us see how many Chao we have collected, swap our playable characters and go into different zones.

The system in place here is....something I don't really like

. It feels like busy work when you just want to jump to stage-to-stage. Hub worlds can work in 2D games very well but for Sonic, that is something that really doesn't mesh with me.

I can deal with them due to them being small enough not to become a problem but it does feel unnecessary honestly.

The Special Stages are back! And they are BS just like in Advance 2. In that game, you have to collect seven special rings before running into the goal lane, then you speed up and dash into special stages.

With Advance 3, its a better on paper and a bit more fair. You have three/four Chao you collect in each act and after you collect all the Chao, a special key spawns in a random spot in any of the three acts. You collect this and find a locked spring in the hub world.

After you unlock it, you play a special stage where you are on the Tornado and like Sonic 2, you have to collect X amount of rings for each lap. You can hit boost sections to morph the Tornado into its X Form from Sonic Adventure, allowing you to move around easier.

I can say I like how you can see how many Chao you collected in the interactive menu when you jump in the giant ring in the hub and you can see the Chao you saved in a little Chao Guardian. So, its fairer then in Advance 2......but I still don't like it. You have to go out of your way just to access the special stage when it was so simple in past games

. I never played a single specials stage in Advance 3 and I feel no need to do so, as while you have a extra final boss, you can't play Super Sonic in stages.

The busy work would be worth it if I could run through foes as Super Sonic but that isn't the case, so.....I ignored them like I did in Advance 2 :l.

The last element is Tag Actions and this ties into the gameplay, which I will touch on soon. You can use your selected partner with the R button and after you held on to it long enough, you can use a special action. Either jumping really high, boosting and more! It changes depending on who you pick as the partner but still, nice system in place.

Now, all my complaining must mean I don't like the game, right? Well, I enjoy this a lot and its core gameplay is quite fun

! Its just those above points I had issue with distract from the fun at points.

- - - - - - - - -

The core gameplay is Advance 2, but with a stronger focus on platforming that was in Advance 1. In many ways, its trying to be the Sonic 3&K of the series; you have upper and lower paths to take in some zones and you can use the team abilities to explore new locations in zones.

Sonic and friends control great here like they did in Advance 2 and the Team abilities work great. Unlike in past games that attempted this like Knuckles Chaotix, you don't have a band tethering you with your partner, they just run around like how Tails wondered about in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3.

This makes things very controllable, as you don't have to worry about your partner getting in the way of going fast or platforming. The Tag Actions then come into play, with different teams having unique abilities. Sonic & Tails/Amy & Cream have the R trick action from Advance 2, Sonic & Knuckles/Knuckles & Sonic offers strong melee attacks and can break steel objects, Cream & Anyone gives you broken attacks that make fights easier, ect.

This makes replaying zones once you unlock everyone very rewarding and taps into its inner Sonic 3&K; replaying past locations as different teams offers new paths to take and it can be a lot of fun.

But.....the level design. Man, its a mess at points

. You have zones like Sunset Hill which is mostly great and Twinkle Snow that have solid level design but some parts of Route 99 can be really prickish with crushers and spikes everywhere (mind you Route 99 is the FIRST zone in the game.....).

I get the impression that Dimps wanted have half-and-half with Sonic Advance 3; they wanted the platforming from Advance 1 but the speed from Advance 2. But they fail to get a nice middle ground leading to some zones having really annoying level design while others are honestly enjoyable.

Overall, the gameplay is great and the level design is mixed. The bosses are great in Advance 3, as instead of the auto-run ones in Advance 2, they are stationary like in Advance 1. They push your platforming ability and team abilities, leading to rewarding fights.

- - - - - - -

The presentation is hands down one of the GBA's best, as it has the same great sprite work from Advance 2 but with locations filled with detail. Scrolling background with a lot of depth, effects when fighting bosses, and some really great artistic design in places like Sunset Hill and Chaos Angel really shows how far Dimps was able to play with the GBA graphical hardware.

!

We got one more handheld game to tackle before we show our Edge, so lets have a Pinball Party latter!

Waylon Drums · Mar 20, 2016

I wish the GBA games would come to the Wii U VC.

ColtraineGF · Mar 20, 2016

Sunset Hill Act 3 is hands down my favorite track from all the Sonic Advance games (especially that beginning, YES). So good.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Waylon Drums said:
I wish the GBA games would come to the Wii U VC.

Sonic Advance and Advance 2 are on the Wii U VC in Japan currently, so they should be coming out in NA/EU soon enough

.

Ginger Hail · Mar 20, 2016

Waylon Drums said:
I wish the GBA games would come to the Wii U VC.

Seems the first came out on Wii U in Japan, but I wonder if the weird publishing deals for the non-JP versions is holding them back.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Ginger Hail said:
Seems the first came out on Wii U in Japan, but I wonder if the weird publishing deals for the non-JP versions is holding them back.

I think they are just waiting for Advance 3, Battle and Pinball Party to land on the service first in JP, then they can release all five games at once in NA/EU as part for the anniversary for Nintendo gamers.

nkarafo · Mar 20, 2016

Um, that Sunset Hill music video sounded horrible to me. It's like random instruments at the wrong time playing and even some notes are completely off...

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

nkarafo said:
Um, that Sunset Hill video sounded horrible to me.

It was a remix of Advance 3 and the normal Green Hill theme.......if its an issue will edit that part in the OP and replace it with the normal act 1 theme. Fixed that now. Sorry for the mistake guys

.

nkarafo · Mar 20, 2016

RK128 said:
It was a remix of Advance 3 and the normal Green Hill theme.......if its an issue will edit that part in the OP and replace it with the normal act 1 theme.

Actually i figured it out when i clicked the link.

So i listen to this instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNbp8Bf5P7s

Still very bad (for me).

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

nkarafo said:
Actually i knew this.

So i listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNbp8Bf5P7s

Still very bad (for me).

Ah, I understand

. Its a 'Epic' version of Green Hill, so I completely get if you don't like the theme. Some would prefer the original iconic track instead

.

nkarafo · Mar 20, 2016

RK128 said:
Ah, I understand . Its a 'Epic' version of Green Hill, so I completely get if you don't like the theme. Some would prefer the original iconic track instead .

Yeah, it's music after all so it's a matter of taste.

Still, it's not the instrumentation that bugs me. It's that many notes are off compared to the original version. And the bassline is... weird. The Generations version, for instance, is incredible. You get better instruments and the notes are spot on.

But yeah, music, tastes and all that

B4s5C · Mar 20, 2016

Evilore is scum. This forum should burn.

Its time to Reset this new Era.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

B4s5C said:
If there is one thing these threads have done, its raise awareness for me of how many Sonic games there are that I haven't played.

I did emulate Sonic Gems collection and play Sonic Fighters which was pretty wild.

My appreciating goes out to you for raising awareness of these games and providing some good information to take into account for trying them out.

No problem

.

Sonic has ALOT of games XD! If you look at the retrospective thread, I have well over......I think 30 threads made already....and I have a lot more left to cover XD!

Love the series and I want to do it justice via covering threads with a lot of detail

.

Happy you are enjoying them and consider giving some more games a look if you can

!

themagicalkitsune · Mar 20, 2016

nkarafo said:
Actually i figured it out when i clicked the link.

So i listen to this instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNbp8Bf5P7s

Still very bad (for me).

Yeah, Sunset Hills sounds like Green Hills ingested helium.

However, that Chaos Angel theme makes up for everything.

Also Nonaggression is ace, and the theme is actually the same one used in Emerl's stage in Sonic Battle. Pretty fitting.

Best track however is the credits theme.

Best extra boss in the series because you tag-team with Eggman and can throw him at the boss.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

themagicalkitsune said:
Yeah, Sunset Hills sounds like Green Hills ingested helium.

However, that Chaos Angel theme makes up for everything.

Also Nonaggression is ace, and the theme is actually the same one used in Emerl's stage in Sonic Battle. Pretty fitting.

Best track however is the credits theme.

Best extra boss in the series because you tag-team with Eggman and can throw him at the boss.

Haven't listened to the credits theme in a while.....its so soothing and relaxing; almost like a slow paced Casino Night or Star Light Zone

.

Thank you for sharing that

! I know Sunset Hill is a more 'mixed' track but have a soft spot for it

.

Rewrite · Mar 20, 2016

ColtraineGF said:
Sunset Hill Act 3 is hands down my favorite track from all the Sonic Advance games (especially that beginning, YES). So good.

Fuck yes it is. That intro is just so fucking godly.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Rewrite said:
Fuck yes it is. That intro is just so fucking godly.

Epic Green Hill Zone rocks

.

Trike · Mar 20, 2016

That sprite of tails flying from behind has an anus

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Trike said:
That sprite of tails flying from behind has an anus

:l.............

Why did you have to bring that up

?

I have no idea why Dimps/Sonic Team added that detail to his sprite but man, that is a gross thought to think about X(.

Timeless · Mar 20, 2016

Did you ever play Ultimate Flash Sonic? http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/151706

Dr. Black Jack · Mar 20, 2016

Trike said:
That sprite of tails flying from behind has an anus

just dug this out the other day, bought it for like 10 when kmart clearance was still a thing

NoKisum · Mar 20, 2016

Ugh, come on Nintendo, let me download the Advance & Rush/Colors series onto my 3DS, pretty please? I don't want to be stuck with Generations 3DS and Boom forever.

RomanceDawn · Mar 20, 2016

I'd love to play this game. By the time it came out I think I had my fill of GBA Sonic.

I hate to say it but I did not like the sprites either. I loved how they moved just not how they looked. I really hated Sonic's run animation in advance 1 and all of Tails' run and fly animations. I could never get passed that and just enjoy the games.

BalishChannel · Mar 20, 2016

Tails has a butthole?

Psxphile · Mar 20, 2016

RK128 said:
Chaos Angel Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqwgj5CI1jI&index=33&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n

Better "Remaster"

Best version

it's not orchestrasted, just an arrangement

Best thing to come out of Advance 3.

nkarafo · Mar 20, 2016

BalishChannel said:
Tails has a butthole?

Everyone has one..

Waylon Drums · Mar 20, 2016

Any thread that turns into a discussion of Tails' anus is a winner in my book.

J@hranimo · Mar 20, 2016

I played this back in...2008? Dang it's been a long time. Strangely I enjoyed this one a lot more than Sonic Advance 2 and in some ways Sonic Advance. I agree with RK128 that it's the best OST of the Advance trilogy. I absolutely love Cyber Track and Twinkle Snow themes including the map. I think my least liked levels are Toy Kingdom.

Level design is just eh.

I somehow enjoyed looking for all the chaos then too. It was crazy satisfying to go through most of the levels with different character combos to find all of them and made me appreciate more of the level design for that fact.

Chaos. Angel. Act 3. Need I say more?

themagicalkitsune · Mar 20, 2016

Waylon Drums said:
Any thread that turns into a discussion of Tails' anus is a winner in my book.

you ever played Tails Adventures?

Astral Dog · Mar 20, 2016

This game here is my favorite of the Advance series, it edges out A1 due to feeling more polished and complete overall, feels like its the result of what DIMPS and Sonic Team learned on the first two games and combined the best parts of both. new abilities, amazing music, more platforming, and while accessing the Special Stages still sucks, its at least more fair than Advance 2, using a guide there is not much trouble, and the EX boss and ending is the best of the Advance series.

also one thing i noted is the similarity between some stages in A2 and this one, mostly because i prefer the A3 versions a bit more, and they have better music.

Techno Base -Cyber Track, The Snow levels-Music/Toys (both are good here) and the Angel Island.

gelf · Mar 20, 2016

Best soundtrack in the series especially the Chaos Angel stages. Thankfully the game brought back platforms and stationary bosses too. Much more enjoyable then Advance 2.

Ferr986 · Mar 20, 2016

I kind of hate this game (not as much as Advance 2) but that music.... Ocean Base was my jam.

RK128 said:
:l.............

Why did you have to bring that up ?

I have no idea why Dimps/Sonic Team added that detail to his sprite but man, that is a gross thought to think about X(.

I don't think it was intentional lol

Magnetic_North · Mar 20, 2016

RK which out of the 3 Sonic Advance games do you like the most??

Personally mine is 2 since it was the first one I played out of the advance games

Marow · Mar 20, 2016

Had no idea Sonic Team did the music. That explains why it's so different.

Still hoping for some sort of Advance Saga collection with the trilogy and Battle.

Village · Mar 20, 2016

Knuckles and tails literally turn this game into cake walk levels. And essentially break the game.

and then cream breaks the next to final boss.

NotLiquid · Mar 20, 2016

Never knew how you could break so many levels of the game with certain combinations until AGDQ.

Honestly as a kid playing this I didn't even know about what the combinations did until halfway into the game.

WPS · Mar 20, 2016

My favourite of the advance trilogy, though adv 1 was probably technically better, I think I've played this more. A lot of people seem to really dislike it, but I can't understand why. It's definitely better than adv 2. I'd love to see them try to add stages from this to a hypothetical generations 2. At least it got some notice with a remix of Route 99 and the time break theme being half from cyber track.

I've never actually finished the game however. My save file is still stuck on 6/7 emeralds and the last special stage is too much for me, especially with how tedious it is to get keys to even attempt the thing.

J-Spot · Mar 20, 2016

I really wish I liked this game more than I did. The team-up aspect is great in theory but some of the combinations are useless. Tails + Cream made it so Tails couldn't even fly by himself, Knuckles+Sonic took away wall climbing, etc. If you were chao hunting there was no reason to use anyone other than Knuckles+Tails or Knuckles+Cream which gave you gliding, wall-climbing, flight, and the ability to smash through walls.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Magnetic_North said:
RK which out of the 3 Sonic Advance games do you like the most??

Personally mine is 2 since it was the first one I played out of the advance games

I really don't have a personal favorite, as each game does something I love. Advance 1's gameplay + level design, Advance 2's focus on speed being so rewarding, and Advance 3's team abilities and amazing soundtrack.

I would place Advance 2 over everything but that is mainly from personal preference

.

kiguel182 · Mar 20, 2016

This was the only Sonic game I beat and I played it a ton.

But I only played as Knuckles cause he was the only way to get to the secrets. I think I have some of the stuff left to do but I really got into it.

Linkark07 · Mar 20, 2016

Loved this game, had so much fun playing this one.

And of course, music was great. My favorite stages were Sunset Hill and Chaos Angel. The Super Sonic fight was also great.

Special stages were ok, didn't find them annoying.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Psxphile said:
Better "Remaster"

Best version

it's not orchestrasted, just an arrangement

Best thing to come out of Advance 3.

Love Chaos Angel's theme a lot and was really surprised that when Generations 3DS was announced, this wasn't one of the stages for the game.

Such a good theme and despite some cheap level design bit, the levels were great! Though Act 3 can die in a fire :l.

maxcriden · Mar 20, 2016

*taps fingers impatiently for Ristar*

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

Linkark07 said:
Loved this game, had so much fun playing this one.

And of course, music was great. My favorite stages were Sunset Hill and Chaos Angel. The Super Sonic fight was also great.

Special stages were ok, didn't find them annoying.

When I say the specials stages are annoying, its less from them itself but rather the BS you put yourself through to even access it

.

But heck, I might be an exception for this kind of thing, so who knows

.

brinstar · Mar 20, 2016

I remember not liking this one as much as the others, but being able to make any combination of characters was something I wanted them to do in a 2D Sonic game since I was a kid so I was glad to finally see this implemented.

Reading these threads makes me sad. I miss the days when handheld Sonic was coming out consistently and was good

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

maxcriden said:
*taps fingers impatiently for Ristar*

That's coming soon XD! Started a new playthrough yesterday and want to get through most of it before making the thread.

Want to save that to close the Dreamcast era anyway.......after some pinball, we get back-to-back ventures that are quite horrid

.

Want a pallet cleanser and Ristar is the perfect candidate

.

It will be up before this Friday, so wait a bit longer buddy

.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

brinstar said:
I remember not liking this one as much as the others, but being able to make any combination of characters was something I wanted them to do in a 2D Sonic game since I was a kid so I was glad to finally see this implemented.

Reading these threads makes me sad. I miss the days when handheld Sonic was coming out consistently and was good

I get what you mean

.

The Advance games I place next to the Genesis titles in quality (same with the Sonic & Tails games) and the Rush series is great too.

I guess with Generations 3DS, it was just rushed out so thats why it was not as good as it could of been.

Lost World 3DS is really damn mixed with some parts being great and other parts being really stupid (Frozen Factory Act 3, I'm looking RIGHT at you X().

Boom 3DS is a lot better then many give it credit, but that is just personal preference.

mrmickfran · Mar 20, 2016

I really hate the GBA Soundchip.

Imagine how this OST would sound with real instruments.

RK128 · Mar 20, 2016

mrmickfran said:
I really hate the GBA Soundchip.

Imagine how this OST would sound with real instruments.

Man....that would likely push the soundtrack toward Sonic Adventure levels in terms of quality

!

MrHoot · Mar 20, 2016

Aaaah, a RK128 thread.

I missed all your previous advance threads I think (if you made any). Advance 3 is probably the one I played the least (and the few bits I played I was mixed about). But I have great love for Advance 1 and 2 which I think to date are the last (chronologically) good 2d sonic games made, and boy did I love advance 2 for it. And advance 1, while not as fast felt a lot like a classic

Support NeoGAF

Sonic Advance 3 - Portable World Adventure

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Not as deep as he thinks

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads