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RK128 · Mar 18, 2016

This is a classic

. Sonic got a few spin-offs on the GBA outside of Sonic Advance Trilogy and this alongside Sonic Pinball Party were the 'main' ones. Sonic Battle was developed by Sonic Team and it is a sudo-3D brawler!

I loved this game when I was growing up and still have a soft spot for this game. For a Game Boy Advance title, Sonic Team made a 'big' game using some fun fighting mechanics.

So, how does Sonic's second round in the ring after Fighters fare? Lets find out!

- - - - - - - -

Lets start with the story first. Now, one must ask "Wait....a story in a fighting game?!" Why yes, a large story mode was created for this game and takes up a significant amount of gameplay time.

So before I dive into how the fighting works, lets start with the plot!

The story is of Eggman finding a very old robot named Emerl:

Eggman learns it can take in the Chaos Emeralds and become stronger the more it 'eats'. If this reminds you of Chaos from Sonic Adventure, then you are right! Eggman just never learns, does he :').

Anyway, he ditches the robot and Sonic ends up finding it. After showing it his power, it forms a 'link' with Sonic and begins following him and his friends around. Everyone wants the robot, with it bonding with the core Sonic cast (Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, ect) as he joins them on adventures and brawls.

This all leads to Eggman making a new Death Egg and its up to Emerl (due to having the seven chaos Emeralds inside him) to fight Eggman in the Death Egg.

This......doesn't go too well and we end up having to put down our new friend by the hands of Sonic and the game ends with us morning the death of our robot buddy :'(.

What I like about this game is that the story while not super interesting, has a lot of great character moments. For the Dreamcast Era games, this has my favorite Sonic story out of all of them in that era and that is from the character interactions.

Emerl takes in personality elements form Sonic and friends over the game and its nice seeing this robot grow into a new character in the series; we see why the cast likes him from various interactions.

We also get insight to the lives of Sonic and friends; Rouge flirts with Sonic and that grosses him out, Amy is like a mother figure to Emerl, Emerl and Shadow have a special connection, Knuckles and Emerl but heads due to Emerl having Sonic-like treats and its great seeing characters like Gamma (though not the same one from Adventure, a version called 'Chaos Gamma instead) and Chaos again.

I really liked this story and a handheld fighting game having a better story then the console games.....I don't know if I can say that its impressive or funny XD! But yah, a fighting game with a great plot

.

- - - - - - -

The combat mechanics are a lot of fun, as they are simple with two attack buttons (B and R) but you have a ton of hidden depth. Each character has a launcher, three hit combo and slam attack with B button. But the R button has a lot of different moves. You have three types of attacks for R that you can 'equip' before fights; melee attacks that can do a lot of damage, distance attacks, or throwing/placing bombs.

But its different for each character. Sonic has a wave attack that has him spin dashing in place and when he revs up, he launches a wave and his air attack has him slamming into the ground ala bounce attack......or you could have Sonic do an airral wave attack and him having a homing dash that is linked to a tossed ring.

Shadow is another example, as you can use Chaos Blast in unique ways (either turning invisible then unleashing the attack or having it be a air attack that auto-slams into the ground) and his bomb can be controlled with the D-Pad.

Every character has a ton of depth and it makes fights a lot of fun. You also have guarding (tap L) and healing (holding L) too.

Emerl is really fun here as his entire moveset can be customized. As you play the story mode, he 'learns' abilities from everyone and this leads you to having a ton of flexibility for movesets. You can give him Knuckles Glide, Shadow R attacks, Amy's B attacks and Sonic's stance and color pallet for example.

You have literally hundreds of combinations to play around with, making him a lot of fun to play as

! It takes the 'create a fighter' ability most fighters have and turns it on its head.

Overall, fun core mechanics and the levels work well with them. Due to everyone having a double jump (jump + dash/glide/flying/ect), it makes the swiftness of Sonic and friends apparent as you fight. Hidden areas can be used to buy sometime to heal yourself or you can position yourself to have a nice spot to use some distance R attacks.

- - - - - - - -

The presentation for this game is really impressive honestly. It takes the strong sprite work from Sonic Advance and gives it more animations, detail and adds 3D movement into the mix.

Sonic and friends have a great style here too, with more 'tough' looks to reflect the fighting push this game has and the strong style of the Dreamcast Era shines through.

The soundtrack is classic Sonic and it makes the GBA sing

The mini games I never really used due to needing a friend to play with you but the Green Hill Stage rocks

!

- - - - - - - - -

Overall, this is one of my favorite handheld Sonic titles and it does a great job being a fighter. It brings the genre to the GBA in a great fashion and I love how Sonic Team made a great story here.

Love this game and highly recommend you all give it a look

!

Ultimadrago · Mar 18, 2016

Cream's Recovery Moves and Chao Shot were the GOATs.

RK128 · Mar 18, 2016

Ultimadrago said:
Cream's Recovery Moves and Chao Shot were the GOATs.

Giving them to Emerl is almost a crime XD! Her recovery moves restored so much health :').

TheDinoman · Mar 18, 2016

It always really bothered me that Sonic's moveset in Smash Bros. never took anything from this game, something that Project M rectified. For example, they made his forward air the Sonic Eagle.

Strange thing is, both Smash 4 Sonic and Project M Sonic do some sort of kick motion for their down smashes, but while PM Sonic's is cool/stylish and actually references an attack from one of his games, Smash 4 Sonic's is just a generic spacie kick. Bleh.

cyborg009 · Mar 18, 2016

I think this is one of the few games that don't feature super sonic.

RK128 · Mar 18, 2016

TheDinoman said:
It always really bothered me that Sonic's moveset in Smash Bros. never took anything from this game, something that Project M rectified. For example, they made his forward air the Sonic Eagle.

Strange thing is, both Smash 4 Sonic and Project M Sonic do some sort of kick motion for their down smashes, but while PM Sonic's is cool and stylish and actually references an attack from one of his games, Smash 4 Sonic's is just a generic spacie kick. Bleh.

Was going to put something commenting on that in the OP but I felt it would of been distracting.

Yah, its something that always bothered me.....but at least Project M fixed that

.

shotgunbob04 · Mar 18, 2016

Loved this game as a kid!

I totally agree with you, OP. The story was good for a Sanic game, and I really enjoyed having a character who I could make my own throughout the game and with whom the familiar Sonic crew would interact. The art style and color choices were great as well.

The included support for linking up four GBA's to duke it out between your friends made this game a real winner, in my opinion.

RK128 · Mar 18, 2016

shotgunbob04 said:
Loved this game as a kid!

I totally agree with you, OP. The story was good for a Sanic game, and I really enjoyed having a character who I could make my own throughout the game and with whom the familiar Sonic crew would interact. The art style and color choices were great as well.

The included support for linking up four GBA's to duke it out between your friends made this game a real winner, in my opinion.

Never played the MP with people (had no friends back then

) but I loved the story

.

Slermy · Mar 18, 2016

A fantastic game. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would have.

I wish more people had given this one a chance. It was impressive visually too.

PSqueak · Mar 18, 2016

I remember Cream being somewhat broken in this game cause she could charge meter faster than everyone else (Super moves in this game are regular specials that kill in one hit).

Good times were had with this game.

Mr-Joker · Mar 18, 2016

I am gonna be honest but I did not like this game, the fighting system just didn't feel fun and after I did Sonic's story I just dropped it.

It also has the honour of being one of three story arc that Sonic X took from the game and made it heartbreaking.

Nickle · Mar 18, 2016

Hope it gets released on Steam, I'd love to play it again.

PSqueak · Mar 18, 2016

Mr-Joker said:
I am gonna be honest but I did not like this game, the fighting system just didn't feel fun and after I did Sonic's story I just dropped it.

Early chapters are a chore cause some times you were stuck playing as a severely underpowered Emerl (i remember being stuck at a Knuckles fight for an hour or more due to not having access to decent moves) but once you get a few, the game becomes waaaay more enjoyable.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

PSqueak said:
Early chapters are a chore cause some times you were stuck playing as a severely underpowered Emerl (i remember being stuck at a Knuckles fight for an hour or more due to not having access to decent moves) but once you get a few, the game becomes waaaay more enjoyable.

That is one of the very few issues I have with the game sadly

.

The game gets hard early on with Emerl being under-powered at the start. But things get a lot better over time

.

Village · Mar 19, 2016

This story was rad. It made tails look rad.

Made shadow look even radder

" you remember that time i was sick and injured and still slapped all ya'll's shit. I did that "

Everyone looked rad in this though, rouge got to be an actual character, which is rad, because when she gets to be an actual character she's pretty cool. Those days gone though, even in comic form.

And again, they should have made like 6 of these

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

Village said:
This story was rad. It made tails look rad.

Made shadow look even radder

" you remember that time i was sick and injured and still slapped all ya'll's shit. I did that "

Everyone looked rad in this though, rouge got to be an actual character, which is rad, because when she gets to be an actual character she's pretty cool. Those days gone though, even in comic form.

And again, they should have made like 6 of these

I agree, the game was really damn rad

.

I don't think they should of made six games (that is a bit too much XD) but I would of loved a sequel or two that expanded the story and brought more of the Sonic cast into the story new & old.

Would of been nice catching up with Mighty and Ray with some brawling

.

HueyFreeman · Mar 19, 2016

You're pumping these out too fast, RK - give them some time to breathe, you've put a lot of work into them!

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

HueyFreeman said:
You're pumping these out too fast, RK - give them some time to breathe, you've put a lot of work into them!

I know XD! Been home this week thanks to Spring Break so I've had a lot of time to make these threads :'). Will slow down a bit now that I only have a few games left to cover.

Want to get the Advance 3, Ristar and Pinball Party threads out so when I cover Shadow......I can take a break for a bit

.

Shadow is going to be a MASSIVE thread, as it might as well close out the Dreamcast Era. But I want to cover it out on a high note, so going to think of a good game to cover last before I move on to the Modern Era with Sonic & Secret Rings......

Might cover Sonic Rush after Shadow & Sonic Genesis as a pallet cleanser

.

Cameron122 · Mar 19, 2016

I loved this game! I remember my dad bringing it home as a surprise

Samemind · Mar 19, 2016

I loved this game, dribbling ground bounce combos and crazy bullshit moves you could unlock for the customizable fighter. One of my fondest memories is freezing my hands off just outside of school before classes, the one time I was able to gather all the hardware and people necessary to play a GBA game with 4 players. Even though we only played the minigames.

I really hope a new Sonic Fighter gets made someday

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

Samemind said:
I loved this game, dribbling ground bounce combos and crazy bullshit moves you could unlock for the customizable fighter. One of my fondest memories is freezing my hands off just outside of school before classes, the one time I was able to gather all the hardware and people necessary to play a GBA game with 4 players. Even though we only played the minigames.

How were the minigames? I could only play the Knuckles one, so I couldn't comment on them in the OP in great detail.

Samemind · Mar 19, 2016

RK128 said:
How were the minigames? I could only play the Knuckles one, so I couldn't comment on them in the OP in great detail.

Ha, I'll hardly remember at this point since it was a one time occurrence. I believe one of them was like a vertical version of balloon fighter, using a flying character and trying to get as far up as possible while avoiding floating bombs. Then there was another I'm more foggy on, may have been sort of 2d overhead sumo-like game where you tried to bump into others to knock them out of the ring.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

Samemind said:
Ha, I'll hardly remember at this point since it was a one time occurrence. I believe one of them was like a vertical version of balloon fighter, using a flying character and trying to get as far up as possible while avoiding floating bombs. Then there was another I'm more foggy on, may have been sort of 2d overhead sumo-like game where you tried to bump into others to knock them out of the ring.

Thank you for the answer

! They sound fun enough

.

vIsik · Mar 19, 2016

I enjoyed this game a lot back then and the art style was awesome.

themagicalkitsune · Mar 19, 2016

Anybody ever managed to get all those rare cards? I used to spam Sonic's Combo with Emerl on Virtual Training but after a while the battles became too long to get one.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

themagicalkitsune said:
Anybody ever managed to get all those rare cards? I used to spam Sonic's Combo with Emerl on Virtual Training but after a while the battles became too long to get one.

I never got all the rare cards. But remember getting the Shadow or Sonic one. Man was it over powered XD!

SatoAilDarko · Mar 19, 2016

Isn't the story of this game actually important to the story of Sonic Advance 3?

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

SatoAilDarko said:
Isn't the story of this game actually important to the story of Sonic Advance 3?

Notice how I posted this thread before the Advance 3 one

?

It is important and due to that, had to cover it first. Will cover it in more detail in the Advance 3 thread this Sunday (giving some breathing room for this, the Advance 2 thread and the Samba De Amigo thread) but Emerl has a major role in Advance 3's story.

Astral Dog · Mar 19, 2016

SatoAilDarko said:
Isn't the story of this game actually important to the story of Sonic Advance 3?

yes Advance 3 is a pseudo sequel, but you dont need to play either game to understand it.

Its more like a cool reference.

bman94 · Mar 19, 2016

I loved this game. Really wish Sega had expanded on it, the gaming world needs more 4 player fighting games. It was packed with single player and multiplayer content and I loved the idea of making your own character using moves found from other characters. Not to mention all those moves were represented by cards so a collectible aspect was added as well. Truly awesome game, damn near all of the Sonic GBA games are stellar.

@MUWANdo · Mar 19, 2016

SatoAilDarko said:
Isn't the story of this game actually important to the story of Sonic Advance 3?

Nah, you could play SA3 without ever playing Battle and it wouldn't really matter. It's mostly just a rationale for them recycling a shit-ton of sprites from Battle, basically.

DjDeathCool · Mar 19, 2016

Maaaan! So many memories with this game and yet I had forgotten about it until you posted this. Thanks!

HUELEN10 · Mar 19, 2016

I want to make an important correction.

E-102 Gamma is not playable. Instead, you play as E-102 Chaos Gamma. Not the same character at all. He has 2 hands as opposed to 1 and a gunner arm. Additionally, unlike Gamma, Chaos Gamma has a tragic end, being confused by tormenting quest for revenge. This is Chaos Gamma's only game.

FluxWaveZ · Mar 19, 2016

One of the games I played the most on my GBA SP. I remember it being pretty good, and the story actually being alright. I remember having some problems with the movement and combat systems, but I had fun. Definitely had the potential to turn into an actual series.

tomtom94 · Mar 19, 2016

Fun game. Story mode is a little repetitive though.

NEO0MJ · Mar 19, 2016

I remember enjoying the heck out of it.

HardRojo · Mar 19, 2016

Played the hell out of it back in the day. Loved the story mode and improving Emerl's moveset with those cards. Might try it again and see if I play it properly now.

Azure Dream · Mar 19, 2016

This was a great framework for doing a Sonic fighting game. Always thought they should revisit it as a digital release. Make lots of Sonic history characters as DLC (granting new Gyzoid moves as well). They'd have to do it with 3D models, though; the sprite sheets for this game are unreal.

WPS · Mar 19, 2016

Sonic Generations has a pretty good remix of the first stage from this game, but the 3DS version has an additional remix that's even better but impossible to find. :/

I enjoyed this game. It wasn't the most complex fighter, but it was fun, especially customising Emerl, and the advance era was a golden age for character sprite work (though I feel Sonic 3 did bg sprite work better).

My favourite moves were the Ultimate Air spin, which basically let you fly, and Cream's air bomb which is a 2-hit KO on anyone. I don't think it was supposed to be.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

Azure Dream said:
This was a great framework for doing a Sonic fighting game. Always thought they should revisit it as a digital release. Make lots of Sonic history characters as DLC (granting new Gyzoid moves as well). They'd have to do it with 3D models, though; the sprite sheets for this game are unreal.

I wish we got another one too buddy

.

More in-depth stories, bringing in more characters into the ring (Silver: Its No Use! Take this!) and maybe bringing things in to 3D (sorta like Power Stone).

ShadowSwordmaster · Mar 19, 2016

I barely remember this game when it came out.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

ShadowSwordmaster said:
I barely remember this game when it came out.

I don't remember how I got the game myself :l. I must of got it in 2005 or something and played it through that year

.

Sonic Advance 3 I know got a nice launch in 2004 (remember asking for it during Christmas that year)

.

MrBadger · Mar 19, 2016

Between Emerl and E102 Gamma, it's funny how the only Sonic characters with good character progression are robots. Always liked this game from a narrative perspective and it's pretty cool how Emerl made a return in Sonic Advance 3

Sonic Chronicles explored the Gizoid stuff as well. I don't know to what extent because I stopped playing the game long before this part due to damaged ears.

As for the game itself...meh. Great music (given for Sonic) and it was rather fun to customise Emerl, but once you realise you can break the fights by just spamming special moves, it's not amazing.

Mr-Joker said:
I am gonna be honest but I did not like this game, the fighting system just didn't feel fun and after I did Sonic's story I just dropped it.

It also has the honour of being one of three story arc that Sonic X took from the game and made it heartbreaking.

I thought Sonic X only adapted the Adventure games. As much as (what I've seen of) this anime is absolutely terrible, I'm rather curious.

ffdgh · Mar 19, 2016

Getting all those ultimate skills was not a pleasant experience....but ultimate grand shot/air shot was so worth it lol.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

MrBadger said:
Between Emerl and E102 Gamma, it's funny how the only Sonic characters with good character progression are robots. Always liked this game from a narrative perspective and it's pretty cool how Emerl made a return in Sonic Advance 3

Sonic Chronicles explored the Gizoid stuff as well. I don't know to what extent because I stopped playing the game long before this part due to damaged ears.

As for the game itself...meh. Great music (given for Sonic) and it was rather fun to customise Emerl, but once you realise you can break the fights by just spamming special moves, it's not amazing.

I thought Sonic X only adapted the Adventure games. As much as (what I've seen of) this anime is absolutely terrible, I'm rather curious.

Will be covering Advance 3, Chronicles and the Sonic X anime, so my thoughts on all three will be clear soon enough

.

Chronicles only covered the Gizoids via them being foes and Sonic & Company commenting on them (like how they comment on the SWAT bots from Satam appearing in this game). Despite how horrid the game is, they do cover a lot of Sonic lore in the game

.

Sonic X adapted Sonic Adventure 1, Adventure 2, Battle and I think something else (um....I know the Chaotix appear in the anime, so maybe Heroes got covered at some point?).

TreIII · Mar 19, 2016

Fun little game. I only questioned why it was stuck on the GBA, when a console version might have given it more attention (especially on the Gamecube).

Either way, Fighters and Battle were both nice experiments. Still question why Sega didn't make for more forays.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

TreIII said:
Fun little game. I only questioned why it was stuck on the GBA, when a console version might have given it more attention (especially on the Gamecube).

Either way, Fighters and Battle were both nice experiments. Still question why Sega didn't make for more forays.

I guess both didn't do very well (though I would be very surprised; the Advance series did very well on the GBA) or that Sonic Team wanted to do something else for Sonic during the modern Era.

Or.....they felt that once Sonic rolled into Smash Brothers, they were like "Welp, Sonic's in that fighter now. Lets wash our hands of the genre and move on to something else" or something like that :l.

Village · Mar 19, 2016

MrBadger said:
Between Emerl and E102 Gamma, it's funny how the only Sonic characters with good character progression are robots. Always liked this game from a narrative perspective and it's pretty cool how Emerl made a return in Sonic Advance 3

God no, Shadow and Blaze exist. The robots are cool to though. Emerl was weird in SA3, emerl felt like this thing they wanted to catch on , but it just never happened. I found that for many being forced to be him and to contruct his moves set was quite annoying in sonic battle. Which was odd for me because I liked him, then again I like seth from Street fighter, so your mileage may vary.

I think if they ever made another excluding emerl or just having him be extra might be way better, they don't really need weird CAF mechanics. I think the characters on their own possibly having variant moves and move sets based on previous appearances in sonic might be way cooler and more valuable. And would allow for people to just play as who they want.

Here is the classic sonic move set
Here is the dreamcast era move set
Here is the modern move set

Here is the Shadow the hedgehog the game moveset
Here is the sir lancilot moveset
Here is the Archie shadow, but not directly address by name because sega will just take their ideas and not give them credit along with the cartoons, moveset.

Like a MKX situation, instead of creating this hodgepodge character that doesn't really work and has too many moves. You could hypothetically make emril like Mokojin from tekken

shaowebb · Mar 19, 2016

Honestly this title felt like it should have been a series. It had a lot goin on and it wasn't bad. Definitely better than that Sonic Chronicles RPG thing they did.

I wouldn't mind seeing them bring this one back.

RK128 · Mar 19, 2016

Village said:
God no, Shadow and Blaze exist.

I agree with Blaze in your statement; she felt like a really great new character for the Sonic series. Will go into this in a lot of depth when I cover Rush, but I love her design, her general character arc and how she was a hybrid of Sonic (fast character) and Knuckles (guardian of Soul Emeralds).

She is a great character and they used her well in both Rush titles

.

Shadow......is a lot more mixed to me :l. I love how he is the 'dark' Sonic and his personality in Adventure 2 and Heroes was strong. But Shadow the Edgehog came out and.......ugh X(. They ruined him

.

06 ironically did a good job portraying Shadow as it was HIS game in many respects. He had the big foe, he did the most action, and he faced the most backstory.

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