Genre: Action
Perspective: Side view
Gameplay: Platform, Puzzle elements
Visual: 2D scrolling
Published by: SEGA of America, THQ
Developed by: Dimps Corporation, Sonic Team
Released: 2002
Platform: Game Boy Advance (GBA)
The gameplay Sonic Advance includes a mixture of genres of different generations of games of the series Sonic the Hedgehog. The player is required to pass several levels, along the way destroying the bad guys and collecting gold rings. According to the story, the main hero, the hedgehog Sonic, together with his friends, continues on the South Island to fight against the villain Dr. Eggman, who wants to capture the whole world with the help of Emerald Chaos.
The project was jointly developed by the Sonic Team and Dimps studios, and was created for the 10th anniversary of the release of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. Most of the employees worked earlier on Sonic Pocket Adventure. During the development of the platformer has changed in terms of design levels and some game elements. After the release of Sonic Advance received positive feedback from the press and was commercially successful. Of the merits of the game, observers called graphics, gameplay and the presence of the chaos-garden, but they criticized the high speed of the running of the characters. In December 2002, the sequel was released Sonic Advance 2.
Sonic Advance is a genre platformer, executed in 2D graphics. The game takes place on South Island. In the story of the hedgehog Sonic and his friends - fox Tails, echidna Knuckles and hedgehog Amy Rose - again continue to pursue the villain in the face of Dr. Eggman, who wants to re-conquer the whole world.
The player has to pass from seven to nine levels (depending on the scenarios) called zones (Neo Green Hill, Secret Base, Casino Paradise, Ice Mountain, Angel Island, Egg Rocket, Cosmic Angel "," X "and" Moon "), each of which is divided into two acts and filled with various enemy robots - Badnik (English Badnik). The character of the player can attack the enemies by folding into a ball in a jump, or by using a spin dash (except for Amy, she lacks this ability), dispersing in place and attacking with a high-speed blow in the roll. During the passage of the level, the player collects gold rings that serve as protection from enemies, and when collected 100 pieces give extra life. If the character is dealt damage, he will lose all the rings, and without them, with a second attack, he may die. In this case, the passage of the game begins either anew or from a control point. Rings can be reassembled in a limited time and no more than 20 pieces. In addition, the zones are scattered numerous bonuses stored in special capsules - for example, extra life, temporary invulnerability or acceleration. The passage of each act is limited to ten minutes; Depending on the time spent at the end of the act, the player is awarded bonus points. To complete the passage on the first act, you must touch the tablet with the image of the Eggman; at the end of the second act is a battle with the boss - Eggman himself (except "Egg Rocket"), or a metal copy of Knuckles on "Angel Island". In addition to the main game, in Sonic Advance there are three additional modes. The first one - "VS" - is a multiplayer game that can be played by the four of us; In this mode, the following missions are available: Collect the Rings, Chao Hunt and Race. For multiplayer you need to connect the portable set-top boxes with a special cable. "Time Attack" offers the player to pass any level in minimum time, and "Sound Test" - to listen to music from the game.
Sonic Advance can go through four different characters - for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy - pre-selecting a certain character in the menu. Each hero has his own qualities. Sonic is able to make a jump in the jump, increasing the radius of attack to defeat the enemy and without touching it. The main ability of the Tails is the ability to fly - thanks to the fact that it has two tails and rotates them like propellers. If the action takes place in the water, then it can swim the same way, but in any case after ten seconds the fox is tired and will be drowning. Knuckles can soar in the air and, thanks to his crustacean gloves, attack the enemy in the air; also echidna knows how to climb walls and break obstacles. Jerzy Amy uses his giant hammer "Piko-Piko Hammer" to attack opponents and rebound.
Special level
In Sonic Advance there is a Special Stage, designed to collect Emerald Chaos. To get there, on the levels you need to find a special spring and jump onto it. A special stage is presented in the form of a multi-colored long pipe. The player must collect the required number of rings and avoid bombs, in collision with which the character loses a dozen dialed rings. In the case of a successful passage, the character receives the Chaos Emerald and additional points for the collected rings. If the player has collected all seven stones, then the last level "Moon" opens, where the hedgehog Sonic in his super form fights with Eggman in space. The character's stay in this form is limited by the number of rings he has, which decreases every second. If Sonic failed to collect all seven Emeralds, then after passing through the zone "X" he falls to Earth, where he, with the help of his Tornado aircraft, catches Tails. For the remaining characters collection of Emeralds does not affect anything and their entire storyline ends at the level of "X".
Chao-garden
Chao-garden is needed for growing virtual pets.
In addition to the main game, in Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance console there is Tiny Chao Garden. Chao are small pets living in the Sonic world. Their settlement area is small gardens that are also present in the games of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. With the special GCN-GBA cable, a player can move his beast from the above games to the GameCube console in Sonic Advance on Game Boy Advance. Unlike the chaos-garden in the main console games of the series, the tea garden in Sonic Advance has several limitations: pets do not display age, you can only use fruits and three toys that must be bought in a special store for the rings, and in the garden itself there can be only one chao. Like some animals, chao begin life cycle with eggs. They can be stored in the garden if the player does not have any animals.
In "Tiny Chao Garden" there are two mini-games: maps and "scissors-paper-stone." In the first game, you need to find two matching cards in the deck, and in the second - to predict the outcome, selecting the icon in the special window with a gesture. For each correct pair of cards or a player's victory is awarded with additional rings, and in case of loss, the number of rings decreases.