I miss Cream, it feels like Sega is trying to get rid of her. She wasn’t in Forces and Omochao of all people is taking her spot on Team Rose in Team Sonic Racing
@@TheMuslimMan1337 i think its more ignorance than trying to appeal to memes. Because if they wanted to appeal to meme cultural it should be Infinite, or mephis, or zazz in the game not Zavok. He's a contendor for the most forgettable villan in the main series
@Strider Xanthos A she was in 3 in fact she is playable in all 3 Sonic Riders games. WHY SEGA WHY SUMO WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT HER IN TEAM SONIC RACING INSTEAD OF OMO-CHAO OF ALL CHARACTERS!
Not only do you get points depending on how fast you’re going when you beat a stage, you also get more for how quickly you can come to a stop after crossing the finish line. Nobody I see talk about the game ever seems to bring up that last bit...
The best place to land being the blue area because of it being a middle zone, meaning you need to be going pretty fast and stop in the middle for maximum score. Of course it's also possible to miss the entire thing and get no reward. And if I remember rightly, that in itself doesn't matter when you get all of the Special Rings in a stage since the character instead just keeps running until the results finish and hit warp speed to enter the Special Stage. It's really an oddball thing when you think about it...
I don't know how I forgot about that mechanic. I loved it. It was especially exhilarating when the finish line snuck up on me, and suddenly I'm like STOP STOP STOP! I need to play this game again. It's been like, a decade.
I actually remember that mechanic, think it's easy to discover when Sonic comes to a stop by himself and has the point number show up. You could also press the up button for the character do to the level start animation, and I think blast off with a bit of speed?
she was powerful in every playable appearance even in dark brotherhood, she is the best healer cause once she lv 2 in pep she can pretty much have everyone spam specials
Probably the reason why SA2's my personal guilty pleasure game, in a way I love to plug it in now and then and blast through the levels as a diabetes-inducingly adorable, yet blazing fast rabbit youngling, without too much insane brain power intended. And she has lots of lovable animations too. Makes it more sadder in hindsight how Cream's been dropped out of Sonic-series as of late, I think she had some novelty to her character in the cast. And well, I would have loved to see her in same funny motions as characters in Team Sonic Racing Overdrive-animations.
TIME TRIAL MODE THOUGH. This was literally the first Sonic game I spent HOURS perfecting a run on given stages. This game was built for speed.... and I love it, uniquely so.
I absolutely love the Sonic Advance series with all my heart they were important games in my childhood. Used to play them all the time while riding the school bus as a kid. The best ending of Advance 3 gives me tons of feels because the voice actor of Eggman Deem Bristow passed away after this game and would be the last we’d hear of him. It also makes me more sad because it’s the game before the dark age of Sonic started to begin. Shadow the Hedgehog wasn’t that bad and I had a blast with that game too. I also love how so many Newgrounds parody videos used Sprites and Animation from the GBA Sonic games. Also Sega seems to forget Cream the Rabbit exists and didn’t even put her in that new racing game.
Could it be? Someone who actually understands that 3D Sonic does not have to be a 1:1 recreation of 2D Sonic and can use its strengths to make the player feel more like Sonic rather than master momentum and shit?
I don't really like 3D Sonic outside of my nostalgia for the first Sonic Adventure and even that only goes so far, but I get that people really like it and don't begrudge them that. I just wish Sega would stick to making both instead of trying to mash them together. Classic fans don't want to play the 3D parts and 3D fans don't want to play the classic parts yet they keep throwing classic Sonic or other 2D segments into the 3D games making nobody happy.
I fell in love with the Sonic series about two years ago now, and part of the fun in playing every game has been in how it feels almost archeological; I'm coming to these games so long after the fact and trying to take each one in context. Aside from your articulate and entertaining analyses, what I really enjoy about your videos--and what sets you apart from other channels, is the way you give historical and personal context to each game. It helps me appreciate them on a level outside of just the text. Thank you :)
The game's fatal flaw is the following vicious circle: it's the game where Special Stages are most difficult to get to, and Chaos Emeralds are needed to unlock _everything._ That's the game's only issue right there.
You'd think they'd tie the Special Stages into boost mode. Something like Enter Boost mode with 50 rings teleports you to the Special stage or if you reach the goal while in Boost mode you enter the special Stage, something like that.
Just when I saw your next review is gonna be called "Sonic Advance 3, an underrated legacy", I immediately got excited. That's easily my favourite of the trilogy and one of my favourite Sonic games in general.
Advance 3 is hated for an absurd amount of trial and error, as well as a few teams being disfunctional. Some also despise hub worlds and ridiculous boss fights. I personally fucking LOVED it, though. Absolutely beautiful art style, one of the best soundtracks in the franchise DESPITE shitty GBA chip, great balance of speed and platforming (not nearly the level of classics, tho, but way fucking better compared to other Advances and Rushes). And boss fights? Best in the series, hands down; boss fights SHOULD take time to figure out, it's the freaking point of having a unique encounter
@isCasted "Advance 3 is hated for an absurd amount of trial and error, as well as a few teams being disfunctional. Some also despise hub worlds and ridiculous boss fights." I will take the trial and error in Advance 3 over Advance 2 and even Sonic 2 anyday. The former is all about speed with repetitive level design so it's hard to remember where the hazards are, the latter doesn't even have a save feature. Yes, a few teams do suck (Tails and Cream, or Knuckles and Sonic) but most of them are fun to play, I like the hub worlds because it makes the levels feel connected and feel like I'm exploring a world, plus it's a good opportunity to try out all the different teams and see which ones you like and dislike. Also, the boss fights are actually good (for the most part) whereas the Advance 2 bosses were just obnoxious. "great balance of speed and platforming (not nearly the level of classics, tho, but way fucking better compared to other Advances and Rushes)." I would argue it nails the balance a little better than the first 2 games although it's not quite up there with Sonic 3 or Sonic Mania. I also agree that the boss fights are mostly the best in the series. Recognizable strategies, challenging gimmicks, putting up an actual fight, and instead of the boring "wait for an opening" patterns, it's the more sensible "how you approach the weak spot" patterns, making the bosses more fun thanks to brisk pacing.
"Honestly, after more consideration, I find Sonic Mania and Sonic 3 to be an absolute chore to play through" Pretty much my opinion on Sonic 2. A chore to play through.
16:30 Oh my god is that the same jerk from the Metroid Prime 3 review? Will his shenanigans ever end? (But in all seriousness it warms my heart that my silly comments have been memorable enough to be mentioned in not one but two of your videos).
First waiting until after he finishes an annoying task to tell him he didn't need to do it, and now making bad name puns. Who's going to stop this man?
thesquirt64 No this is the jerk who told Josh he didn’t need to get all the energy cells in Prime 3 only after going through all of the pain of getting them all. From my experience he’s super obnoxious, I see him all the time across UA-cam and Twitter.
Notification Squad. I love this series. I binged the 3D part then a few days later the Advance 1 review came out. This review will be fun to watch. Well see ya next time and don't worry, I'll keep geeking.
Sonic Advanced 2 is the only one I like. This is the closest to what I wanted in a modern 2D sonic. It never felt as on rails'y as you make it out to be.
Well at least you sorta mentioned the trick system, but I wish you'd mentioned that you could dash in _any_ direction with the R button, not just forward. It doesn't fully negate the enemy placement issues but it's a good way to save yourself from some of the pits and adds another level of flair to the game. It's really sad that they removed it almost entirely from 3.
It's still in 3 but the button seems to not respond as well to the command. However, the Tag Action felt weird being assigned to the R button when the L Button continued to go unused, why didn't they just assign the Tag to L and the Tricks to R?
@@CrystalGreymon To be fair, it does technically exist in 3, but you can only do it with Sonic, and even then only if you have Tails as your partner, and EVEN THEN you can only do the forward dash spin kick thing. It's really lame.
I remember having the best time ever with this game as a kid! I never bothered with completing it but all the stages and bosses were a blast to go through.
I love how you brushed the whole emerald and special stage like it's nothing. Having to find the rings, with every character, and play that special stage made for trial and error. God forbid if you try to find the rings without a map or FAQ. That alone made me take a buttload of time to ever see the super sonic boss battle.
Sonic Advance 2 is my favourite of the advance series. Absolutely loved it when I first got it and still play it now and again! Looking forward to watching your thoughts on it
7:30 THANK YOU! I feel like the "Gotta go fast" meme has created a mindset that Sonic games are about "going fast", instead of being momentum based platformers where you have to EARN the speed.
I've never been quite as hype for a guy talking about video games as I am to hear the best sonic reviewer talk about SA3, one of the only 2D games I liked.
"Hold right to win"? More like hold right to die in a 5+ seconds deep death pit, amirite? lol And your point about the unlockable stuff being stuff Advance 1 gave you at the start does apply to Amy Rose too. (and if getting all the chaos emeralds as Amy unlocks anything, I never heard of it)
So great to see you continue reviewing Sonic. I watched your other videos when I was between jobs a few years ago and it's good to watch you again. Really excellent writing and phenomenal editing as always, I really appreciate your thoughts on games.
This was the only Sonic game I've actually played to completion. I was very young and as such, inexperienced. I cheesed the hell out of this game before the cartridge disappeared.
Given his comparison of the level design between Advance and Advance 2, I'd say that only 3 levels should've been the way they were in Advance 2. The first level, the snow level and a rail grinding level. The first level helps you anticipate what might come up later by featuring the kinds of things that will be more speed focused while giving you a sense of fun at blasting through an easy level. The snow level feels right given his mention of a ski resort which could be further emphasized by adding various snowboard sections that allow for it to make sense about why you're going downhill with lots of cool tricks for you to perform when you're flung into the air. A rail grinding level would help keep the ideal focus on rail grinding confined to a more localized area and allow the wouldbe non-downhill levels to feel more well-placed and welcoming. The use of rails as shown in many different Sonic games could easily be used to moderate between upward and downward paths giving a sense of directional choice to the player and filling out its own gimmick well.
Sonic Advance 1 didn’t leave much of impact on me when I played it as a kid. And while I can appreciate it more now, some of the stages like the casino stage are too much like stages from older games and the music and boss fights don’t stand out either.
@@brazencoronet17 As much as I've played Advance 1 (beaten it 5 times) I can say for sure that the levels are far from forgettable. Just because they're not big and flashy or that they resemble classic levels is not a bad thing.
I remember seeing the sonic adventure adventure 2 and advance trailer parts of the gamecube sonc collection and i thought that i could unlock them I never did.
This video hits every single note that I had when (once again) playing this game recently. I played this game to death as a child, but as an adult the flaws really stuck out.
I'm so glad that Sonic Advance 3 really turned things around and made the gameplay slower and more complex again. Sonic Advance 3 is my favorite 2D sonic game...I can't wait to see the review! Wait, you never came close to completing it? Jeez, it's the only 2D Sonic game that I actually tried to complete 100%.
I do wanna add, someone in another video I watched recently commented on that the level layout for Advance 2 is more built on knowing the right path to take. Normally in most Sonic games, this meant taking the upper path because it tends to be the fastest. In Advance 2, it breaks that formula and sort of punishes you for relying on that automation, with the "easier to take path" being ones that are trying their hardest to keep you off the correct, fastest path which could be at any point in the level's overall path. I'm assuming this is what leads to most of those speed traps and cheap enemy placements like that Buzz Bomber you kept hitting. I haven't played this entry myself to know for sure, I'm mostly just guessing. An easy example the commenter pointed out is how you interact with some springs in this one, where you easily use them just by colliding with them.
Thank you for being a Classic Sonic fan that actually doesn't hate Adventure 2 for the greater spectacle and action and not seeming to hate Rush or Unleashed or Colors for not being the Classic games either.
Those special rings are the reason I bought an Xploder cheat cartridge. Eventually I found a guide on how to get them but whoever had time to find each one made me feel a huge amount of respect whilst simultaneously feeling inferior for not learning it myself especially since I've beaten Sonic 3 & knuckles multiple times and can beat every special stage in one play through, I'm embarrassed to have resorted to cheating just so I could see the final stage.
Great video I'm glad to see you and so many people still love the advanced trilogy. It is a pain to 100% complete, but hey after I beat shadow the hedgehog and spinball this was like a walk on the beach. Also I can't believe you managed to talk about labyrinth zone in a positive way because I personally can't say or think of anything great about that stage.
One good point you couldn't help but miss is the technical marvel of the visual effects. The game really shows off what hblank can do. Nearly every stage does something new with it. Multiple parallax speeds for different heights of the same background (most impressive effect in the game). Sine sweeps of the backgrounds. Palette animations. Spotlights (personal favorite). Pseudo transparent fog.
You know, it's funny. I expected that you wouldn't like this one anywhere near as much because of your positions and comments you've had for the other games in the series, but to me that's why I loved this game, as well as the other speed-focused Sonics. I had both Advance 1 and 2 as a kid, and I know I played this one a whole lot more because of how speedy it got. I didn't grow up with the series on Genesis, so my introduction was SA2 on the Gamecube. And I absolutely fell in love with the speed and skillful platforming. A lot of Sonic fans don't like it, but I really don't mind it when the game lets you enter into a kind of automated speed section, such as the long slides in Hydrocity Zone. Sonic Advance 2 has a lot more of that, and to my teen self who loved going fast in the 3D games, being able to blast through levels here was, well, a blast. I know it's not super skillful and I know it's not super great that a bunch of design hinges on remembering where the enemies or pits are, but I think those complaints can get levied against parts of the Genesis titles as well. I've played Sonic 2 multiple times at this point but never beaten it because things just get a little unfair around Metropolis Zone, where I always felt like the developers were just constantly putting enemies in the way of speed. A lot of people like to talk about speed as a reward for skill, but I think Advance 2 still has that. Getting through an early level in a minute's time with all the special rings does require skill and memorization, just like finding the fastest route through Chemical Plant Act 1 in Mania or Rooftop Run Modern in Generations does. I suppose the difference here is that if you mess up, it doesn't take you very long at all to get back to a high speed in Advance 2, where messing up in Chemical Plant would send you to the slow vertical water tunnel for example. Failure in the older games led to slow movement, and skill rewarded you with speed. Failure in Advance 2 leads to less speed, and skill leads to blistering speed. It's definitely not perfect though, and you hit a lot of good reasons why this is nowhere near my favorite Sonic game. Everything from Sky Canyon onwards leans a bit too far into the bottomless pits and bad enemy placements, that boss in Sky Canyon is the worst because of the hand, and the Special Rings don't encourage exploration of the levels because they're usually also on the fastest path through. And I didn't really think about it until you mentioned it, but it's true that despite having 5 playable characters, I really only ever played as Sonic because the level design doesn't really work with the others's playstyles. Sonic Advance 2 is a game I absolutely loved for its high speed when I was younger, and still like a lot to this day. I guess I've just always been a "speedy" Sonic fan since that's what I started with. To this day, Generations is still probably my favorite game because of how much I loved learning the Modern levels and blasting through them. Mania's been a close second in trying to learn how to go fast in a Classic environment. Advance 2 isn't the best Sonic, but it was still near and dear to my heart growing up.
This was my favorite of the advanced series lol. I see why people wouldn't like it and definitely understand it's issues. But at the end of the day, I love the levels and have a blast playing them. This is probably one of my favorite advanced games actually:P
I strongly disagree that Advance 2 is 100% speed all the time. I understand where the sentiment comes from, but the key to mastering A2 is understanding its level design. It uses "hold right to win" stretches and moments of automated spectacle to lull the player into a false sense of security. When you find yourself in one of these stretches, it's a clue that you are on an unideal path in the level, that it ultimately slower more treacherous than the other paths. It sounds farfetched, but this kind of design is littered all over the game. The pinned comment on Pariah695's Sonic Advance 2 video goes way more in-depth with this idea, I would recommend checking it out if you want to know more.
I remember I could never get past Sky Canyon as Sonic because I had to do that weird "lift up my hand and magically propulse myself upward" trick. I had to watch the demo in the title screen to learn that move even existed.
One thing that I dunno how much it matters because I haven't played the game in years but I remember my frustration at how the B Button changed function completely from Sonic Advance 1. In 1, you were often required to hit B multiple times to form a combo of sorts however, in SA2 you push it once and you do an entire attack and that meant that Sonic's and Knuckle's attacks were shortened. But it also meant that those two, since they can't fly like Tails nor do they have way to avoid death pits like Cream and Tails, got added Boost mode attacks that had two functions : Sonic got his all-in-one roll-slide kick with a new effect, while Knuckles got a drill punch that worked two fold : it made you attack in a way as effective as the roll and it also slowed you down, the polar opposite of what the roll has been doing in Sonic all these years. So know, while you were running, I would often get into stages that I could see "clues"(obvious traps to slow you down like you said) and press the B button to attack and anticipate the enemy or gap and with that reduced speed, since I'd have a brief second before the afterimages disappeared and before the characters could go fast again, I'd weight my options and proceed accordingly. But then again, I love the speed stages in SA2 and practiced until I was great at them, so doing that for the GBA seemed natural for me. And because every stage being the downward slope of Chemical Plant Zone 2 was my dream ever since me and my brother got our first games(Sonic 2), I can see how I might have been the only target audience for that game.
This was the first Sonic game I ever owned. I remember being so stoked that I finally got a Sonic game. I played Sonic the hedgehog on Sega Mega drive (Genesis) before that but only when I visited my cousins house. This was my standard for a Sonic game and I absolutely loved it.
But that's not really idle. You have to actually make the characters do that. Idle is them standing still long enough to become bored. You lose the ability to actually look above you for an animation the characters should perform over time. That's not really a good trade-off.
Oh Sonic Advance 2 Your review was very well done, while some of the rough edges of SA1 and a bunch of other games are no dealbreaker for me (I guess they aren't either for you) it's fair to mention them, and in the end everyone will have their own preferences, so something can be only a minor thing for someone while for others it's of more importance. The only things you missed were the bonus for stopping at the goal(the faster you stop the higher of a bonus you get), the additional moveset that characters get (almost everyone has some kind of stomp move now) and I think the Tiny Chao Garden is unlocked by default. Guess you could also count on how you NEED to play as Sonic to unlock other characters, something that continued in SA3. Interesting point about the Idle Animations (some seem to have something related to that though) you can press up through for the characters to do their level start animation again (and I think start off with a bit of a faster speed) Was glad that you also got to some points where I felt like I'm only one of a few people that noticed them, like how it's aiming for SA2's gameplay. I do agree what with you said about the presentation, the fast paced fluid gameplay surely leaves behind a good impression, however, I guess due to the lack of other things it kind of ends up being largely the same in the end. SA2 had more "Quick Time Events", be it Homing Attacks, Light Dashing a row of rings, sommersaulting under barriers and pulling off tricks, plus way less speed levels in total due to the mixed gameplay per story. The Homing Attack is in this game but it's rather short ranged, tricks are in it as well but they're more for keeping the flow going and reaching certain areas. I didn't really mind the rails, think the use there was kind of similar to what we'd have in later games. They did give it a higher focus on running with the boost mode though, seems like a nice idea but could've been improved in some ways, like maybe giving you a bit of time once you slowed down to pick up speed again and keep on going. Due to the speed focus, it felt like one should be going fast all the time, which would make other things fall a bit short, such as: -Character Abilities (Most don't really work with the higher speed, which makes it feel like the characters aren't too different. Same can be said for the attacks) -Level Gimmicks (like you said, it felt more like a punishment than anything else) -Enemies (I think it was more the cheap placed ones in later levels) -Special Stages (I have no idea why they made it a system like this, why the heck would they NOT allow you to collect the rings only once and keep them? Either way, entering the special stages, as well as playing them in general was kind of mixed in Advance in the first place) Speaking of SA2, some of Sonic's Animations are even SA2 like, such as one of the victory ones or the way how he mostly runs in that jog animation before going into the full run when you have enough speed. I wonder if they saw the SA2 Gameplay as the definitive way that they'd want to do Sonic Gameplay now, that falling short and later leading to the gameplay we had in Heroes and 06 (while other Handheld Titles, as well as Secret Rings and Unleashed tried to continue this gameplay) Level Wise, I really liked the different Stage Environments and Designs as well as the Music, especially Music Plant. It feels like the diversity with Level Tropes mostly's gone now, after Colors still got a lot of different new environments, Lost World tried to simply follow what the NSMB Formula would do and Forces only adds little to the mix. Do think the Levels could've done with different layouts depending on route as it's like you said, everything kind of blends in. Also not sure what's up with some of the bottomless pits, it honestly doesn't feel like they're even meant to be a obstacle (like in case of Music Plant) in some stages, while others like Sky Canyon were a bit more annoying with that. I wonder how well the game would've done if warning signs like in Sonic Colors popped up on the screen to indicate pits, maybe it would've helped more here. I think speed wise, Advance 1 wasn't doing bad, maybe you got less speed down slopes (which instead was compensated with boosters) but I still remember some fast paced bits like you'd have in the classics like in Chemical Plant 2. As for Rush, I think it's a ok game, I'm not the biggest fan of it's music directions, and honestly I feel like the level design got much cheaper or "Dimps-like" there, doesn't help that Bosses also have instadeath attacks. From first looks on it, it looks like it was made to be Advance 4, that being changed up once it was changed into a DS Game. There's even some Advance sprites in there and I think under certain circumstances it's possible to get them to show instead of the 3d Model. Were all of the bosses really easy? Not sure but I don't think there was a infinite amount of rings. The Tank Boss from the Second Zone could already be troubling, don't think I need to say something about Ice Paradise's and Sky Canyon's had that Instadeath Attack. Cream is this game's easy mode, her Flight seems to be slower than Tails' and can't hurt enemies and while she does have Cheese, he's mostly useful during Boss Fights as regular stages don't really have troubling enemies most of the time. She's also unlocked right away and someone that you can't miss, meanwhile in Advance 3 they did make her the last unlockable character (one would assume due to her power) and I think Cheese was also adjusted slightly, needing to actually have a direct line of sight for attacking enemies. I do think that the SA2 Gameplay in 2d can be done, but it's best done on a wide screen, as well as moving the camera depending on speed. The latter is something that Advance 2 slightly did though. The GBA screen was unfortunately painfully small, and I really think that a bigger screen would've helped with various things, such as: Being able to see what's ahead of you and as such react in time. Better object spacing (stuff would have to be less cramped, bosses could give one more room to move around in) Having a easier time to tell where you're in the level (I had kind of a difficult time in some Advance 1 and even some Advance 3 levels when I played them years ago) It really sucks that the GBA had such a small screen, even the HTML5 Port of Sonic Advance (fanmade, based on a Java Version for Mobile?) seems to be on ice. That one would've allowed for dynamic screen sizes and upscaling (from 1x to 2x to 4x and I think even 8x), would've loved that for Advance 2 and 3. The game interestingly enough showed some speed related issues which would appear in further games. Such as how fast gameplay would mean trouble with running into enemies. Sure, Boost does add flexibility in that regard or when you want to go fast, but it would also lead to making most enemies useless. The one that wouldn't be would most likely be a annoyance. To be fair though, enemies were never that much trouble in the first place and the homing attack also took quick care of them in 3d games. Putting other characters with their own abilities into such a gameplay setting also doesn't work well, as noted above, maybe that's why Heroes was done in this way? Interestingly enough, was it this game that set the design of the modern red dash rings? I know that they were a thing since Sonic Adventure, but I don't think they looked like this until Advance 2. I'll always remember Leaf Forest (Visuals) & Ice Paradise (Visuals & Music) though due to Ultimate Flash Sonic (even if Sonic on Angel Island was the first game I played)
I saw so many people bash this game without many arguments because they felt it was obvious and it was just garbage, making it very opinionated and one sided. You on the other hand made clear the shortcomings of this game and I understand a bit better where they are coming from. I still prefer this game over the first one, but I can definitely see and respect how you feel about it as well. Great unbiased review
Man, the trailer for this game on Sonic Mega Collection was the most experience I had with this game for s e v e r a l years. Also, the Idle animations are still in the game. Instead of standing idly for a short time, just look up and it'll play a little animation instead of having the character look up. Kinda weird, but at least they're still there.
I would like to see a ROM hack of Sonic Advance 2 with less-speed focused level design and making it easier to get Chaos Emeralds, while keeping everything else (the zones themselves, graphics, music, etc) the same.
A lot of people love this game and I get why, they were trying to do what Sonic 2 did to Sonic 1, streamline the platforming to give the gameplay an adrenaline shot in the arm. Visually it's beautiful compared to the bland levels and environments of the first game. Unfortunately they went too far in accommodating the speed, resulting in super bland level design and gameplay. I feel like Dimps managed to take what they were trying to do in this game and make it better in Sonic Rush which, while I enjoy more, still has some of the same issues as this game. Unfortunately it is thanks to this kind of level design that people decided all 2D Sonic games were about "holding right to win" as you said, even if it's not entirely true. You're right, starting with this game Dimps was no longer trying to make classic Sonic, they were trying to make 3D Sonic in 2D and it just didn't work. Unfortunately by the time we got to Sonic 4 whoever was responsible for the first Sonic Advance was either gone or completely forgot how to make Classic Sonic game physics. I bought Enter The Matrix too. I even let the EB Games guy talk me into buying the strategy guide with it. We were all fooled into playing that shitty game, don't feel bad. I was a very stupid teenager.
I used to play this game so much the "right arrow" button on the GBA's d-pad stopped working properly. Not joking.
What is this possible? These bottoms can really take a hit you must play it a lot
F in the Chat bois.
F
same. I loved playing it, but my right button became absolutely useless and I had to press extremely hard to get it to work.
I'm firmly convinced it's the reason the R button no longer works on my Micro.
Well, that and carrying it around on my keyring for like seven years.
I miss Cream, it feels like Sega is trying to get rid of her. She wasn’t in Forces and Omochao of all people is taking her spot on Team Rose in Team Sonic Racing
:'(
But Omochao iS a FuNNy IroNIc MemE Amirite?
@@TheMuslimMan1337 i think its more ignorance than trying to appeal to memes. Because if they wanted to appeal to meme cultural it should be Infinite, or mephis, or zazz in the game not Zavok. He's a contendor for the most forgettable villan in the main series
Wait what. That's actually ridiculous lmao
somasora7 technically it’s a bunch of chao but omochao is the center of the group
Cream is essentially the Funky Kong of Sonic Advance 2.
*New Creamy Mode*
Ooh woo?
New meme is born
@Strider Xanthos A she was in 3 in fact she is playable in all 3 Sonic Riders games.
WHY SEGA WHY SUMO WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT HER IN TEAM SONIC RACING INSTEAD OF OMO-CHAO OF ALL CHARACTERS!
And their grandmother would be Maria Rhenard from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, eh?
CREAMY MODE OHBOY
I miss when Cream used to be a staple member of the main Sonic cast
Ikr
14:27
I can't get over how well this edit visualizes the point you are making.
That Tails to Knux transition is so smooth
Not only do you get points depending on how fast you’re going when you beat a stage, you also get more for how quickly you can come to a stop after crossing the finish line.
Nobody I see talk about the game ever seems to bring up that last bit...
My guess is they never figured that out
The best place to land being the blue area because of it being a middle zone, meaning you need to be going pretty fast and stop in the middle for maximum score.
Of course it's also possible to miss the entire thing and get no reward.
And if I remember rightly, that in itself doesn't matter when you get all of the Special Rings in a stage since the character instead just keeps running until the results finish and hit warp speed to enter the Special Stage.
It's really an oddball thing when you think about it...
I don't know how I forgot about that mechanic. I loved it. It was especially exhilarating when the finish line snuck up on me, and suddenly I'm like STOP STOP STOP!
I need to play this game again. It's been like, a decade.
I actually remember that mechanic, think it's easy to discover when Sonic comes to a stop by himself and has the point number show up.
You could also press the up button for the character do to the level start animation, and I think blast off with a bit of speed?
@@r543Blitzsonic I don't think it sped you up at all to do the "hold up" animation.
Cream is way too op in this game...AND I LOVE IT!
She great for the bullshit on rails bosses in sonic advacne 2.
The reason she's been absent for a while is because Sega can't figure out how to contain the terrifying power of Super Cream and Super Cheese
she was powerful in every playable appearance
even in dark brotherhood, she is the best healer
cause once she lv 2 in pep she can pretty much have everyone spam specials
yes. She's also op in sonic chronicles dark brotherhood and its awesome.
Probably the reason why SA2's my personal guilty pleasure game, in a way I love to plug it in now and then and blast through the levels as a diabetes-inducingly adorable, yet blazing fast rabbit youngling, without too much insane brain power intended. And she has lots of lovable animations too.
Makes it more sadder in hindsight how Cream's been dropped out of Sonic-series as of late, I think she had some novelty to her character in the cast. And well, I would have loved to see her in same funny motions as characters in Team Sonic Racing Overdrive-animations.
Sonic Team: "Hey Dimps, How fast are you going to make Sonic for the sequel?"
Dimps: "Yes!"
TIME TRIAL MODE THOUGH.
This was literally the first Sonic game I spent HOURS perfecting a run on given stages. This game was built for speed.... and I love it, uniquely so.
Time Attack is the best part of Sonic Advance 2.
I absolutely love the Sonic Advance series with all my heart they were important games in my childhood. Used to play them all the time while riding the school bus as a kid. The best ending of Advance 3 gives me tons of feels because the voice actor of Eggman Deem Bristow passed away after this game and would be the last we’d hear of him. It also makes me more sad because it’s the game before the dark age of Sonic started to begin. Shadow the Hedgehog wasn’t that bad and I had a blast with that game too. I also love how so many Newgrounds parody videos used Sprites and Animation from the GBA Sonic games. Also Sega seems to forget Cream the Rabbit exists and didn’t even put her in that new racing game.
One of the most rewarding Sonic games to master, but also one of the most aggravating on the first playthrough.
Could it be? Someone who actually understands that 3D Sonic does not have to be a 1:1 recreation of 2D Sonic and can use its strengths to make the player feel more like Sonic rather than master momentum and shit?
Nonsense, that's blasphemy! How dare you try to change the formula!
well SEGA clearly believed that since they hardly enforced "momentum and shit" into their 3d titles.
nobody really said it had to be
I don't really like 3D Sonic outside of my nostalgia for the first Sonic Adventure and even that only goes so far, but I get that people really like it and don't begrudge them that. I just wish Sega would stick to making both instead of trying to mash them together. Classic fans don't want to play the 3D parts and 3D fans don't want to play the classic parts yet they keep throwing classic Sonic or other 2D segments into the 3D games making nobody happy.
Thank you! I'm tired of people complaining about Modern Sonic not using momentum enough. *He can run straight up a wall! Why would he?*
Advance 2 is my favorite in the trilogy BECAUSE it's the fastest. The speed is intoxicating, and the trick system is very fun.
GBA and DS are a home to some of the most underrated games out there
I fell in love with the Sonic series about two years ago now, and part of the fun in playing every game has been in how it feels almost archeological; I'm coming to these games so long after the fact and trying to take each one in context. Aside from your articulate and entertaining analyses, what I really enjoy about your videos--and what sets you apart from other channels, is the way you give historical and personal context to each game. It helps me appreciate them on a level outside of just the text. Thank you :)
I love how I got a recommended video called "Sonic Advance 2: The Best Advance Game?".
The game's fatal flaw is the following vicious circle: it's the game where Special Stages are most difficult to get to, and Chaos Emeralds are needed to unlock _everything._ That's the game's only issue right there.
True. But the game is still grear nevertheless.
14:28 that was some awesome editing. I bet you felt super proud when you thought to do that!
No one:
Sonic Advanced 2: YoU’rE tO sLoW
Can't wait for part 3, man (sorry, I can't spend money) these reviews are coming great!
As a patron, let me just say, GET HYPED!
You'd think they'd tie the Special Stages into boost mode. Something like Enter Boost mode with 50 rings teleports you to the Special stage or if you reach the goal while in Boost mode you enter the special Stage, something like that.
Just when I saw your next review is gonna be called "Sonic Advance 3, an underrated legacy", I immediately got excited. That's easily my favourite of the trilogy and one of my favourite Sonic games in general.
That game is very underappreciated.
Advance 3 is hated for an absurd amount of trial and error, as well as a few teams being disfunctional. Some also despise hub worlds and ridiculous boss fights.
I personally fucking LOVED it, though. Absolutely beautiful art style, one of the best soundtracks in the franchise DESPITE shitty GBA chip, great balance of speed and platforming (not nearly the level of classics, tho, but way fucking better compared to other Advances and Rushes). And boss fights? Best in the series, hands down; boss fights SHOULD take time to figure out, it's the freaking point of having a unique encounter
@isCasted
"Advance 3 is hated for an absurd amount of trial and error, as well as a few teams being disfunctional. Some also despise hub worlds and ridiculous boss fights."
I will take the trial and error in Advance 3 over Advance 2 and even Sonic 2 anyday. The former is all about speed with repetitive level design so it's hard to remember where the hazards are, the latter doesn't even have a save feature. Yes, a few teams do suck (Tails and Cream, or Knuckles and Sonic) but most of them are fun to play, I like the hub worlds because it makes the levels feel connected and feel like I'm exploring a world, plus it's a good opportunity to try out all the different teams and see which ones you like and dislike. Also, the boss fights are actually good (for the most part) whereas the Advance 2 bosses were just obnoxious.
"great balance of speed and platforming (not nearly the level of classics, tho, but way fucking better compared to other Advances and Rushes)."
I would argue it nails the balance a little better than the first 2 games although it's not quite up there with Sonic 3 or Sonic Mania.
I also agree that the boss fights are mostly the best in the series. Recognizable strategies, challenging gimmicks, putting up an actual fight, and instead of the boring "wait for an opening" patterns, it's the more sensible "how you approach the weak spot" patterns, making the bosses more fun thanks to brisk pacing.
"Honestly, after more consideration, I find Sonic Mania and Sonic 3 to be an absolute chore to play through"
Pretty much my opinion on Sonic 2. A chore to play through.
Did you meant to say Sonic 2 isn't a perfect game?
16:30 Oh my god is that the same jerk from the Metroid Prime 3 review? Will his shenanigans ever end?
(But in all seriousness it warms my heart that my silly comments have been memorable enough to be mentioned in not one but two of your videos).
First waiting until after he finishes an annoying task to tell him he didn't need to do it, and now making bad name puns. Who's going to stop this man?
You made me smile :)
Wait do you mean Metroid fusion, if so that was Covarr
thesquirt64 No this is the jerk who told Josh he didn’t need to get all the energy cells in Prime 3 only after going through all of the pain of getting them all. From my experience he’s super obnoxious, I see him all the time across UA-cam and Twitter.
Fun Fact: You can actually clear act 1 of zone 2 by holding right for the whole stage aside from 2 points where you need to move slightly to the left.
Notification Squad. I love this series. I binged the 3D part then a few days later the Advance 1 review came out. This review will be fun to watch. Well see ya next time and don't worry, I'll keep geeking.
Sonic Advanced 2 is the only one I like. This is the closest to what I wanted in a modern 2D sonic. It never felt as on rails'y as you make it out to be.
Well at least you sorta mentioned the trick system, but I wish you'd mentioned that you could dash in _any_ direction with the R button, not just forward. It doesn't fully negate the enemy placement issues but it's a good way to save yourself from some of the pits and adds another level of flair to the game. It's really sad that they removed it almost entirely from 3.
It's still in 3 but the button seems to not respond as well to the command.
However, the Tag Action felt weird being assigned to the R button when the L Button continued to go unused, why didn't they just assign the Tag to L and the Tricks to R?
@@CrystalGreymon To be fair, it does technically exist in 3, but you can only do it with Sonic, and even then only if you have Tails as your partner, and EVEN THEN you can only do the forward dash spin kick thing. It's really lame.
@@LAZY-RUBY You can also do it when Amy and Cream are partners.
Well the spectacle worked there is a reason a lot of people love this one.
I remember having the best time ever with this game as a kid! I never bothered with completing it but all the stages and bosses were a blast to go through.
I love how you brushed the whole emerald and special stage like it's nothing. Having to find the rings, with every character, and play that special stage made for trial and error. God forbid if you try to find the rings without a map or FAQ. That alone made me take a buttload of time to ever see the super sonic boss battle.
Sonic Advance 2 is my favourite of the advance series. Absolutely loved it when I first got it and still play it now and again! Looking forward to watching your thoughts on it
I agree. Its my favorite though i haven't played the first advance.
7:30 THANK YOU! I feel like the "Gotta go fast" meme has created a mindset that Sonic games are about "going fast", instead of being momentum based platformers where you have to EARN the speed.
A new Geek Critique video? AND ON SONIC ADVANCE 2?? LUCKY DAY!!!
I've never been quite as hype for a guy talking about video games as I am to hear the best sonic reviewer talk about SA3, one of the only 2D games I liked.
I loved Sonic Advance 3.
Love your critique videos. Specially about the Metroid series. Kudos!
"Hold right to win"?
More like hold right to die in a 5+ seconds deep death pit, amirite? lol
And your point about the unlockable stuff being stuff Advance 1 gave you at the start does apply to Amy Rose too. (and if getting all the chaos emeralds as Amy unlocks anything, I never heard of it)
So great to see you continue reviewing Sonic. I watched your other videos when I was between jobs a few years ago and it's good to watch you again. Really excellent writing and phenomenal editing as always, I really appreciate your thoughts on games.
This was the only Sonic game I've actually played to completion. I was very young and as such, inexperienced. I cheesed the hell out of this game before the cartridge disappeared.
Wow I watched the sonic advance review yesterday, so the wait felt like nothing 😂
Sonic review on my dads birthday, he’s very happy rn (he was always a sonic fan)
Happy Birthday to your Dad, who is cool for liking Sonic! Tell him to "Enjoy your birthday; it's gonna be great!" :)
ConComEX thank you! I’ll make sure to tell him
@@goosemilkgod Alright! God bless you guys!
ConComEX :)
In terms of Sonic Advanced series I prefer the level design of the first game.
Given his comparison of the level design between Advance and Advance 2, I'd say that only 3 levels should've been the way they were in Advance 2.
The first level, the snow level and a rail grinding level.
The first level helps you anticipate what might come up later by featuring the kinds of things that will be more speed focused while giving you a sense of fun at blasting through an easy level.
The snow level feels right given his mention of a ski resort which could be further emphasized by adding various snowboard sections that allow for it to make sense about why you're going downhill with lots of cool tricks for you to perform when you're flung into the air.
A rail grinding level would help keep the ideal focus on rail grinding confined to a more localized area and allow the wouldbe non-downhill levels to feel more well-placed and welcoming. The use of rails as shown in many different Sonic games could easily be used to moderate between upward and downward paths giving a sense of directional choice to the player and filling out its own gimmick well.
The levels in the first Advance game are bland and forgettable.
But being forgettable doesn't mean bad. They're fairly solid courses. Advance 2 doesn't do that however and have you go through 6 trashy zones.
Sonic Advance 1 didn’t leave much of impact on me when I played it as a kid. And while I can appreciate it more now, some of the stages like the casino stage are too much like stages from older games and the music and boss fights don’t stand out either.
@@brazencoronet17 As much as I've played Advance 1 (beaten it 5 times) I can say for sure that the levels are far from forgettable. Just because they're not big and flashy or that they resemble classic levels is not a bad thing.
Thank you for your analysis, talking about the map, game design etc. It was necessary, even for this game that everyone seems to love.
I remember seeing the sonic adventure adventure 2 and advance trailer parts of the gamecube sonc collection and i thought that i could unlock them I never did.
Lol I also thought SA2 was on Mega Collection when I played it as a kid lol. I was so let down when I couldn't find it on the disc.
Same lol
This video hits every single note that I had when (once again) playing this game recently. I played this game to death as a child, but as an adult the flaws really stuck out.
I'm so glad that Sonic Advance 3 really turned things around and made the gameplay slower and more complex again. Sonic Advance 3 is my favorite 2D sonic game...I can't wait to see the review!
Wait, you never came close to completing it? Jeez, it's the only 2D Sonic game that I actually tried to complete 100%.
I do wanna add, someone in another video I watched recently commented on that the level layout for Advance 2 is more built on knowing the right path to take. Normally in most Sonic games, this meant taking the upper path because it tends to be the fastest. In Advance 2, it breaks that formula and sort of punishes you for relying on that automation, with the "easier to take path" being ones that are trying their hardest to keep you off the correct, fastest path which could be at any point in the level's overall path. I'm assuming this is what leads to most of those speed traps and cheap enemy placements like that Buzz Bomber you kept hitting. I haven't played this entry myself to know for sure, I'm mostly just guessing. An easy example the commenter pointed out is how you interact with some springs in this one, where you easily use them just by colliding with them.
Thank you for being a Classic Sonic fan that actually doesn't hate Adventure 2 for the greater spectacle and action and not seeming to hate Rush or Unleashed or Colors for not being the Classic games either.
Those special rings are the reason I bought an Xploder cheat cartridge. Eventually I found a guide on how to get them but whoever had time to find each one made me feel a huge amount of respect whilst simultaneously feeling inferior for not learning it myself especially since I've beaten Sonic 3 & knuckles multiple times and can beat every special stage in one play through, I'm embarrassed to have resorted to cheating just so I could see the final stage.
I can't WAIT for the Sonic Rush TGC episodes
Holy heck I JUST finished rewatching your Sonic 06 video
That effect at 14:30 low-key blew my mind
This game will forever be undisputed proof as to why having to slow down SOMETIMES in a Sonic game is not a bad thing.
A chao asking about political reform. In an early 2000s game.
Nobody:
Sonic Advance 2: Lets make new character OP
Holy Cow your videos are so amazing and so in depth! I love this channel so much! Keep up the great work!
Great video I'm glad to see you and so many people still love the advanced trilogy. It is a pain to 100% complete, but hey after I beat shadow the hedgehog and spinball this was like a walk on the beach. Also I can't believe you managed to talk about labyrinth zone in a positive way because I personally can't say or think of anything great about that stage.
6:05 - 8:24 You could sense the frustration coming before it hits you.
One good point you couldn't help but miss is the technical marvel of the visual effects. The game really shows off what hblank can do. Nearly every stage does something new with it. Multiple parallax speeds for different heights of the same background (most impressive effect in the game). Sine sweeps of the backgrounds. Palette animations. Spotlights (personal favorite). Pseudo transparent fog.
The only Sonic Advance game that I own.
You know, it's funny. I expected that you wouldn't like this one anywhere near as much because of your positions and comments you've had for the other games in the series, but to me that's why I loved this game, as well as the other speed-focused Sonics. I had both Advance 1 and 2 as a kid, and I know I played this one a whole lot more because of how speedy it got.
I didn't grow up with the series on Genesis, so my introduction was SA2 on the Gamecube. And I absolutely fell in love with the speed and skillful platforming. A lot of Sonic fans don't like it, but I really don't mind it when the game lets you enter into a kind of automated speed section, such as the long slides in Hydrocity Zone. Sonic Advance 2 has a lot more of that, and to my teen self who loved going fast in the 3D games, being able to blast through levels here was, well, a blast. I know it's not super skillful and I know it's not super great that a bunch of design hinges on remembering where the enemies or pits are, but I think those complaints can get levied against parts of the Genesis titles as well. I've played Sonic 2 multiple times at this point but never beaten it because things just get a little unfair around Metropolis Zone, where I always felt like the developers were just constantly putting enemies in the way of speed.
A lot of people like to talk about speed as a reward for skill, but I think Advance 2 still has that. Getting through an early level in a minute's time with all the special rings does require skill and memorization, just like finding the fastest route through Chemical Plant Act 1 in Mania or Rooftop Run Modern in Generations does. I suppose the difference here is that if you mess up, it doesn't take you very long at all to get back to a high speed in Advance 2, where messing up in Chemical Plant would send you to the slow vertical water tunnel for example. Failure in the older games led to slow movement, and skill rewarded you with speed. Failure in Advance 2 leads to less speed, and skill leads to blistering speed.
It's definitely not perfect though, and you hit a lot of good reasons why this is nowhere near my favorite Sonic game. Everything from Sky Canyon onwards leans a bit too far into the bottomless pits and bad enemy placements, that boss in Sky Canyon is the worst because of the hand, and the Special Rings don't encourage exploration of the levels because they're usually also on the fastest path through. And I didn't really think about it until you mentioned it, but it's true that despite having 5 playable characters, I really only ever played as Sonic because the level design doesn't really work with the others's playstyles.
Sonic Advance 2 is a game I absolutely loved for its high speed when I was younger, and still like a lot to this day. I guess I've just always been a "speedy" Sonic fan since that's what I started with. To this day, Generations is still probably my favorite game because of how much I loved learning the Modern levels and blasting through them. Mania's been a close second in trying to learn how to go fast in a Classic environment. Advance 2 isn't the best Sonic, but it was still near and dear to my heart growing up.
didn't watch the whole video yet
just wanted to come here to say that Sonic Advance 2 is the best Sonic Advance game :)
It was my least favourite 💔
This was my favorite of the advanced series lol. I see why people wouldn't like it and definitely understand it's issues. But at the end of the day, I love the levels and have a blast playing them. This is probably one of my favorite advanced games actually:P
I strongly disagree that Advance 2 is 100% speed all the time. I understand where the sentiment comes from, but the key to mastering A2 is understanding its level design. It uses "hold right to win" stretches and moments of automated spectacle to lull the player into a false sense of security. When you find yourself in one of these stretches, it's a clue that you are on an unideal path in the level, that it ultimately slower more treacherous than the other paths. It sounds farfetched, but this kind of design is littered all over the game.
The pinned comment on Pariah695's Sonic Advance 2 video goes way more in-depth with this idea, I would recommend checking it out if you want to know more.
16:22 Nearly 18 years of playing Sonic games, now, *NOW* is when I get that joke.
Shout out for playing the track from Sonic Mega Collection, Advance 2 preview.
Sonic Battle? Sonic Battle.
[ INITIATE BATTLE MODE ]
This was my first Sonic game. I received it for Christmas in 2003 without having even heard of Sonic before then.
16:19 yet another great pun :D
You just made my day better
6:56 What ROM hack is that?
loving these videos man, such a nostalgia trip
I remember I could never get past Sky Canyon as Sonic because I had to do that weird "lift up my hand and magically propulse myself upward" trick. I had to watch the demo in the title screen to learn that move even existed.
In Eggman's personal hell, Cream is throwing Cheese at him over and over again. Seriously, Cream might as well be a tactical nuke for the boss fights.
Sonic didn't Advance enough for me to come back to gba games. S3&Knucks were all I needed.
Why do you love sonic so much when he is blue and not orange?
Oh also, I hope you talk a lot about Gemerl in your next video. He’s such an underrated character who just disappeared after Advance 3.
Despite how he was rebuilt by Tails after the Super Sonic battle in the finale?
I know what you mean...
One thing that I dunno how much it matters because I haven't played the game in years but I remember my frustration at how the B Button changed function completely from Sonic Advance 1. In 1, you were often required to hit B multiple times to form a combo of sorts however, in SA2 you push it once and you do an entire attack and that meant that Sonic's and Knuckle's attacks were shortened. But it also meant that those two, since they can't fly like Tails nor do they have way to avoid death pits like Cream and Tails, got added Boost mode attacks that had two functions : Sonic got his all-in-one roll-slide kick with a new effect, while Knuckles got a drill punch that worked two fold : it made you attack in a way as effective as the roll and it also slowed you down, the polar opposite of what the roll has been doing in Sonic all these years. So know, while you were running, I would often get into stages that I could see "clues"(obvious traps to slow you down like you said) and press the B button to attack and anticipate the enemy or gap and with that reduced speed, since I'd have a brief second before the afterimages disappeared and before the characters could go fast again, I'd weight my options and proceed accordingly.
But then again, I love the speed stages in SA2 and practiced until I was great at them, so doing that for the GBA seemed natural for me. And because every stage being the downward slope of Chemical Plant Zone 2 was my dream ever since me and my brother got our first games(Sonic 2), I can see how I might have been the only target audience for that game.
I just got done watching advance one for the first time when you uploaded this.
You forgot- the background scrolls like the classics! It's great!
Amy can finally roll into a ball this a miracle !
This was the first Sonic game I ever owned. I remember being so stoked that I finally got a Sonic game. I played Sonic the hedgehog on Sega Mega drive (Genesis) before that but only when I visited my cousins house. This was my standard for a Sonic game and I absolutely loved it.
I cant wait till you review advance 3. That game is something else entirely
That game is not only my favorite of the Advance trilogy, but my favorite modern 2D Sonic game.
SA3 > Mania
This is the only Sonic game I owned. I really appreciate this video, because of how I really do like Sonic now.
Huh... as an early '90s Sonic fan, I love Sonic Advance 2. Best 2D Sonic game between Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic Mania, easily.
Love your work dude!
There IS an idle animation if you hold up while standing still, btw.
But that's not really idle. You have to actually make the characters do that. Idle is them standing still long enough to become bored. You lose the ability to actually look above you for an animation the characters should perform over time. That's not really a good trade-off.
Sonic Advance 2 was my first foray into Sonic games as a whole. It was fun.
I think this analysis just gave me some insight on why I never finished this game on my emulator
Oh Sonic Advance 2
Your review was very well done, while some of the rough edges of SA1 and a bunch of other games are no dealbreaker for me (I guess they aren't either for you) it's fair to mention them, and in the end everyone will have their own preferences, so something can be only a minor thing for someone while for others it's of more importance.
The only things you missed were the bonus for stopping at the goal(the faster you stop the higher of a bonus you get), the additional moveset that characters get (almost everyone has some kind of stomp move now) and I think the Tiny Chao Garden is unlocked by default. Guess you could also count on how you NEED to play as Sonic to unlock other characters, something that continued in SA3.
Interesting point about the Idle Animations (some seem to have something related to that though) you can press up through for the characters to do their level start animation again (and I think start off with a bit of a faster speed)
Was glad that you also got to some points where I felt like I'm only one of a few people that noticed them, like how it's aiming for SA2's gameplay.
I do agree what with you said about the presentation, the fast paced fluid gameplay surely leaves behind a good impression, however, I guess due to the lack of other things it kind of ends up being largely the same in the end.
SA2 had more "Quick Time Events", be it Homing Attacks, Light Dashing a row of rings, sommersaulting under barriers and pulling off tricks, plus way less speed levels in total due to the mixed gameplay per story.
The Homing Attack is in this game but it's rather short ranged, tricks are in it as well but they're more for keeping the flow going and reaching certain areas.
I didn't really mind the rails, think the use there was kind of similar to what we'd have in later games.
They did give it a higher focus on running with the boost mode though, seems like a nice idea but could've been improved in some ways, like maybe giving you a bit of time once you slowed down to pick up speed again and keep on going.
Due to the speed focus, it felt like one should be going fast all the time, which would make other things fall a bit short, such as:
-Character Abilities (Most don't really work with the higher speed, which makes it feel like the characters aren't too different. Same can be said for the attacks)
-Level Gimmicks (like you said, it felt more like a punishment than anything else)
-Enemies (I think it was more the cheap placed ones in later levels)
-Special Stages (I have no idea why they made it a system like this, why the heck would they NOT allow you to collect the rings only once and keep them? Either way, entering the special stages, as well as playing them in general was kind of mixed in Advance in the first place)
Speaking of SA2, some of Sonic's Animations are even SA2 like, such as one of the victory ones or the way how he mostly runs in that jog animation before going into the full run when you have enough speed.
I wonder if they saw the SA2 Gameplay as the definitive way that they'd want to do Sonic Gameplay now, that falling short and later leading to the gameplay we had in Heroes and 06 (while other Handheld Titles, as well as Secret Rings and Unleashed tried to continue this gameplay)
Level Wise, I really liked the different Stage Environments and Designs as well as the Music, especially Music Plant.
It feels like the diversity with Level Tropes mostly's gone now, after Colors still got a lot of different new environments, Lost World tried to simply follow what the NSMB Formula would do and Forces only adds little to the mix.
Do think the Levels could've done with different layouts depending on route as it's like you said, everything kind of blends in.
Also not sure what's up with some of the bottomless pits, it honestly doesn't feel like they're even meant to be a obstacle (like in case of Music Plant) in some stages, while others like Sky Canyon were a bit more annoying with that.
I wonder how well the game would've done if warning signs like in Sonic Colors popped up on the screen to indicate pits, maybe it would've helped more here.
I think speed wise, Advance 1 wasn't doing bad, maybe you got less speed down slopes (which instead was compensated with boosters) but I still remember some fast paced bits like you'd have in the classics like in Chemical Plant 2.
As for Rush, I think it's a ok game, I'm not the biggest fan of it's music directions, and honestly I feel like the level design got much cheaper or "Dimps-like" there, doesn't help that Bosses also have instadeath attacks.
From first looks on it, it looks like it was made to be Advance 4, that being changed up once it was changed into a DS Game.
There's even some Advance sprites in there and I think under certain circumstances it's possible to get them to show instead of the 3d Model.
Were all of the bosses really easy?
Not sure but I don't think there was a infinite amount of rings.
The Tank Boss from the Second Zone could already be troubling, don't think I need to say something about Ice Paradise's and Sky Canyon's had that Instadeath Attack.
Cream is this game's easy mode, her Flight seems to be slower than Tails' and can't hurt enemies and while she does have Cheese, he's mostly useful during Boss Fights as regular stages don't really have troubling enemies most of the time.
She's also unlocked right away and someone that you can't miss, meanwhile in Advance 3 they did make her the last unlockable character (one would assume due to her power) and I think Cheese was also adjusted slightly, needing to actually have a direct line of sight for attacking enemies.
I do think that the SA2 Gameplay in 2d can be done, but it's best done on a wide screen, as well as moving the camera depending on speed.
The latter is something that Advance 2 slightly did though.
The GBA screen was unfortunately painfully small, and I really think that a bigger screen would've helped with various things, such as:
Being able to see what's ahead of you and as such react in time.
Better object spacing (stuff would have to be less cramped, bosses could give one more room to move around in)
Having a easier time to tell where you're in the level (I had kind of a difficult time in some Advance 1 and even some Advance 3 levels when I played them years ago)
It really sucks that the GBA had such a small screen, even the HTML5 Port of Sonic Advance (fanmade, based on a Java Version for Mobile?) seems to be on ice.
That one would've allowed for dynamic screen sizes and upscaling (from 1x to 2x to 4x and I think even 8x), would've loved that for Advance 2 and 3.
The game interestingly enough showed some speed related issues which would appear in further games.
Such as how fast gameplay would mean trouble with running into enemies.
Sure, Boost does add flexibility in that regard or when you want to go fast, but it would also lead to making most enemies useless.
The one that wouldn't be would most likely be a annoyance.
To be fair though, enemies were never that much trouble in the first place and the homing attack also took quick care of them in 3d games.
Putting other characters with their own abilities into such a gameplay setting also doesn't work well, as noted above, maybe that's why Heroes was done in this way?
Interestingly enough, was it this game that set the design of the modern red dash rings? I know that they were a thing since Sonic Adventure, but I don't think they looked like this until Advance 2.
I'll always remember Leaf Forest (Visuals) & Ice Paradise (Visuals & Music) though due to Ultimate Flash Sonic (even if Sonic on Angel Island was the first game I played)
This video? Yes.
More Josh? Yes.
Hotel? Webster.
I saw so many people bash this game without many arguments because they felt it was obvious and it was just garbage, making it very opinionated and one sided. You on the other hand made clear the shortcomings of this game and I understand a bit better where they are coming from. I still prefer this game over the first one, but I can definitely see and respect how you feel about it as well. Great unbiased review
9:50 I burst into a bit of laughter when I saw that logo!
Man, the trailer for this game on Sonic Mega Collection was the most experience I had with this game for s e v e r a l years. Also, the Idle animations are still in the game. Instead of standing idly for a short time, just look up and it'll play a little animation instead of having the character look up. Kinda weird, but at least they're still there.
I would like to see a ROM hack of Sonic Advance 2 with less-speed focused level design and making it easier to get Chaos Emeralds, while keeping everything else (the zones themselves, graphics, music, etc) the same.
A lot of people love this game and I get why, they were trying to do what Sonic 2 did to Sonic 1, streamline the platforming to give the gameplay an adrenaline shot in the arm. Visually it's beautiful compared to the bland levels and environments of the first game. Unfortunately they went too far in accommodating the speed, resulting in super bland level design and gameplay. I feel like Dimps managed to take what they were trying to do in this game and make it better in Sonic Rush which, while I enjoy more, still has some of the same issues as this game. Unfortunately it is thanks to this kind of level design that people decided all 2D Sonic games were about "holding right to win" as you said, even if it's not entirely true.
You're right, starting with this game Dimps was no longer trying to make classic Sonic, they were trying to make 3D Sonic in 2D and it just didn't work. Unfortunately by the time we got to Sonic 4 whoever was responsible for the first Sonic Advance was either gone or completely forgot how to make Classic Sonic game physics.
I bought Enter The Matrix too. I even let the EB Games guy talk me into buying the strategy guide with it. We were all fooled into playing that shitty game, don't feel bad. I was a very stupid teenager.
You're really well spoken. I can't wait for more of your videos
Truth be told...I'd love to play a Sonic Advance Mania.
Since leaf forest zone is the only water level in sonic advance 2 it reminds me of sonic 1 since labyrinth zone is the only water level in that game
I loved the endless chase bosses, when I was younger I saw them and just had to buy it!
Okay but can we talk about the fact that this is hands down one of the best super sonic transformations