SEGA!!! Who hasn’t heard this wonderful chime before during their years of gaming?  This company is by far known for one main reason, which is the fact that they were considered to be Nintendo’s ultimate rival during the late 80’s to the early 2000’s. As every time Nintendo progressed forward in the gaming market with a new revolutionary console, Sega was also in the creation of another gaming system to battle against their considered rival company and it seemed that this would be a phase with no end in sight. But....sometime after Sonic Adventure 2’s release to the Dreamcast the company’s profit started falling drastically to the point where they had thought their company end was in plain sight and In the darkest time despair of Sega’s initial downfall, Nintendo decided to reach out a helping hand to the same exact company that they had been competing with for so many years, with this offer being greatly accepted a new series of Sonic games were in full rotation onto the newest handheld system known as the Game Boy Advance with the title: Sonic Advance...will this game actually live up to the older Sonic games or even the most recent ones? Only one way to find out which is to advance down to the review below!


Graphics: 9 out of 10

If you’re unfamiliar with this trilogy of Sonic games let me enlighten you, basically the Sonic Advance games go back to the 16 bit roots of this hedgehog’s games with features added in from games like Sonic Adventure 2 with its rail grinding movements. So this game isn’t going to look as great as recent games that had come out in the previous year/years, however the sprite for Sonic does resemble his look from adventure 2 with his green eyes and body shape. Either way I believe that the graphics compliment the scenery as well as the gameplay nicely for example: The Neo Green Hill Zone which starts off which starts off with a nice tropical beach like area to relax and ease you into the game with a nice upbeat tune playing in the background while you begin to head into the somewhat similar look to the Green Hill Zone we love from the original game on the genesis, however that’s just the look as the layout has most definitely changed. All the way to levels such as the Egg Rocket Zone where you must hurry to a certain part of the stage in a certain amount of time otherwise it will take off without your hedgehog hide, also I’m not sure if it’s just me but it also looks like there is a sunset during your race through this frantic level...either way I’d say the graphics are above average but not incredible so I guess a 9 out of 10 would be a perfect score for the games graphics. 


Sound: 9 out of 10

So now that Sonic has been put onto a Nintendo handheld I guess the greatness of this series music has been demolished into ruins, am I right...WRONG! This games music is spectacular for the GBA but does that mean that it’s on par with the Genesis games music, so sorry but no I don’t think so however; does that mean that it’s my least favorite in the entire hedgehog’s series? Well as Hades from Kid Icarus would say: “Sorry my dear pitty pat but things aren’t that simple, like how your assumptions are” Basically what I mean is that I like the music but it is without any doubt NOT my favorite throughout all the Sonic games released. Just as a reminder I said above in the graphics department that I enjoyed Neo Green Hill Zone’s upbeat and tropical like music, if there was one game I could compared this to it’d be like picturing Super Mario Sunshine’s music and having that play in Sonic Advance. Another example of a song I enjoy from this games soundtrack is the acts of the stage Angel Island Zone since it gives you a sense of exhilaration as if you’re just walking across the sky covered with clouds, is this my favorite game for sound out of this trilogy...ehh close but no dice as my favorite music actually comes from Sonic Advance 3 but that’s a story for another time so I’d say the sound
is pretty good and deserving of a 9 out of 10.


Addictiveness: 8 out of 10

Quite sadly however even though this game does have its great points here and there the addictiveness isn't quite as high compared to other features of this game, I’d say it’s nice to pick up maybe every couple months or so. Just like the previous games you do get to select between different characters to play as including: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy however; their gameplay doesn't change that much compared to the adventure games though so that is one downside like I mentioned earlier. You have 6 normal zones to progress through before you get to the final zone of the game which is almost the same amount as Sonic 3 on the Genesis (however this game only has 2 acts while Sonic 3 had 3 acts) so that’s decent enough, although if you collect all 7 chaos emeralds from the special stages in the game then you can travel to an alternate area called the Moon Zone where as you would expect you fight on the Moon as Super Sonic against Robotnik in a final showdown and receive the true ending. One thing I’m glad that they did keep inside this game is a kind of similar version of the Chao Garden from SA & SA2 the only thing that makes it less addictive as before is that fact that you can only take care of one chao at a time...the good news is that if you have SADX or SA2 Battle then you can transfer your chao from those games onto Sonic Advance’s Tiny Chao Garden with a Nintendo Link Cable. The final thing I would like to talk about for this section is the Special Stages as I actually do find them to be quite fun and interesting, why is that well because the stage is new and innovative than ever because it takes a chance by sort of mixing Sonic 2’s special stages with new features as just like in Sonic 2 for the Genesis you must collect a certain amount of rings before you can gain the emerald. In addition to this stage you also have new moves by pressing A or B...the A button will move you forward while changing your pose to being more horizontal in order to get through small gaps, on the other hand the B button will make Sonic do a spin with his board that he travels on and what you must do is whenever you see a flashing spot in the stage you have to press B button at the right time to be awarded more rings. I think that’s enough rambling on here though so time to give the score for the addictiveness which is a solid 8 out of 10 in my opinion.


Story: 3 out of 10

This is where the line starts to hit us really hard for the fact that this story and I should say if it even really has much of a story is really short and not detailed at all in the game or game box/description. I tried digging really deep to find any other information that could help me try to explain the story, but to no avail as I couldn't find much more information at all so I figured it might be best if I described it like this: Everything was peaceful on the lands across Neo Green Hill Zone until the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) has come back seeking the 7 Chaos Emeralds in order to harness their power in order to take over the entire world, but if the Doctor thinks his plans are going to go smoothly then he’d better be prepared for his rival Sonic the Hedgehog alongside his trio of friends Amy Rose, Miles “Tails” Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna who've all come together to foil his plans...so basically it’s about the same story as the Genesis games but with some minor details thrown in. It doesn’t lead up to having a great story like you would expect from a new sonic game and just seems like wasted potential by not creating a different plot, so sadly the story only gets a 3 out of 10 for it seems very lacking in my eyes.


Depth: 8 out of 10

While this game does lose points in some areas about the game, it kind of makes up for them with other perks such as the music & extra features. I already mentioned that this game has a Tiny Chao Garden that you can play at any time while playing by exiting to the menu screen and selecting the garden from the main menu, even though you can only have one chao in your garden at any given time I actually sort of find that to be a good thing for the fact that if you want to focus on leveling one certain chao of yours then you can do it in this garden. If you also want to earn some rings to buy things for your Chao and don’t feel like playing through stages for rings then they have 2 mini games you can play, one of them is really just like a (Rock, Paper, Scissors) type game where you have to hit the correct symbol with your piece in order to knock it away and earn rings however; the second game is more so like a memory game where you have to match together corresponding cards in order to win as much rings as possible. During your adventure through this game you’ll travel through many different environments ranging from tropical beaches to lands covered with winter’s cold chill and even through an engineering fortress as you try and reach the rotten Robuttnik’s position. One last thing I would like to say is if you enjoy the older sonic games where Tails was with you while playing Sonic then I have good news for you because there is actually a secret that will let you play as Tails, what you’re going to want to do is go into the character select screen and enter the following buttons: up, right, down, right, L, right, R, right, finally press A...afterwards select a course then you should’ve have a computer tails follow you just like in Sonic 2. Putting all this information together I’d say that an 8 out of 10 seems pretty fair for the depth of Sonic Advance.


Difficulty: 7 out of 10

Out of all the Sonic Advance games I’d probably say that this one is the hardest in terms of level layout mostly for the fact that if you go too fast you could either end up missing a platform causing you to go back through a certain part of the level again or you end up falling off the map and losing a life in the process. Besides this fact I’d say that this game is pretty solid in its difficulty level as for the most part there aren’t really any cheap deaths, the bosses aren’t mind crushing, and the controls handle perfectly with the handheld so if you didn’t jump in time then all fault lies with you the gamer and not the game itself sort of like other games such as: Super Mario World, Metroid, Sonic & Knuckles and tons of other games. There was really only one boss I had a hard time with and that was the boss at the end of Level 5 Act 2 which is basically a robot version or Knuckles created by Eggman he seems pretty easy at first by just repelling your move away from himself but if you attack him enough times he’ll start to break down and will very often begin to shoot missiles towards you which are basically heat-seeking which can be difficult to avoid especially on your first playthrough. Nothing else that I can really think to say here so let’s give the difficulty rating to which I believe earns an average level of 7 out of 10.


By accepting that helping hand in the beginning it seems one of the world’s greatest gaming icons has been spared the fate of obscurity and was able to be revived to the gaming world once more anew. All though it was a huge shock to many gamers that this game was on a Nintendo handheld, this was just the beginning of Sonic’s adventures on the GBA and it seemed like the only way Sega could continue to keep the blue blur running...was to Advance!

                                                                                                                                                                                       Sonic57tm
                                                                                                                                                                                    (Erick Davis)

mohammedroxx3 : The review is finished so here's your summons!

GenesisJunkie : Here's your summons to my latest review, I sincerely hope you enjoy!

Razor-987 : My latest review is finished so I'm sending you this summons.

camjim12 : I know you might not get this summons in time but here is yours as well.

Eirinn : I've submitted my next review so here is your summons!

Barathemos : I know how much you dislike having to read my reviews ( XD just kidding)  so I'm summoning you to this one. 

Yet again, a super long review. You have alot to say and you know how you want to say it. You did a great job. I wish I could do what you do. I have so much to say about something but can never find a way to do it like you do.

This is one of the best games for the gba (that is not saying much though, I do not have a high opinion of this console). For me it is sad and feels dirty in a way to play a Sonic game on a console that is not made by Sega. That being said I did enjoy the Sonic games for the GameCube. It is good that Sonic didn't just go away because I don't think he can just go away. Sonic was such a popular character (voted the number one most well know character in the UK I believe). I really wish Sega would have just sat out a generation and come back with a new console but it didn't happen.

I do have a question, I had one of the Sonic Advance games, was this one the one you could hook up to your GameCube and trade choas over?

GenesisJunkie : I agree with you completely that I don't really enjoy playing Sonic games when they aren't on a Sega Console but when they stopped making consoles after the dreamcast, It was really our only option. Also like you said I wish they would've waited a while so that way they could make a new console, there was rumors about a new Sega console this generation but I always figured that was false.

There were actually 2 games in the advance series where you could trade chao's over, those 2 games are of course this one & Sonic Advance 2. Sonic Advance 3 got rid of the Tiny Chao Garden that you had in the previous 2 games.

Nice job again man! Your reviews are mind blowing with how lengthy, detailed and descriptive they are. And the way you come out and conduct your review is superb, you are bold and certain with what you wanted to say and you came out and said it. So nice job. Plus your reviews are lengthy and detailed and well organized as always which is always nice in a review.

I must say man, you are very good at this, I try to model my reviews after yours and Eirinn's, you do a fantastic job and you never fail to impress me with your reviews. Keep doing what you are doing to get these awesome, professional reviews man because it is working. I can't really recommend anything because I think this review is already perfect the way it is. But I am sure you will find a way to make your next review even better. Keep up the great work and keep on making these awesome reviews man, I look forward to your next one!

Razor-987 : Thanks Razor, I'm glad you enjoyed the review I was planning on having it uploaded earlier but I was having technical difficulties so I had to finish and upload it today. It's also really great that I'm able to make my reviews nice and interesting for you even to the point where you start looking over my reviews in order to help you out with your own work I will continue to write these reviews for as long as I possibly can,  many thanks for the reply and I'll let you know when I've finished my newest work .

I got to say, awesome job man! Your reviews are so lengthy, detailed, and interesting to read as usual man! I just love to read them everytime! I don't know what else to say but keep it going my friend!

mohammedroxx3 : I knew you'd enjoy it man, especially the beginning and ending! I'm definitely not planning on leaving anytime soon since my 2014 list is already planned out.

This game is a really great port to the Gameboy Advance. It's got most of what makes Sonic, and they even added some flare from the current gen Sonic. It's a shame they continue to struggle putting in Sonic in games nowadays, but the handheld games have no problem.

pacman1755 : I definitely agree with you about the fact that it's a really great port  and adds some concepts that are used in the recent games of Sonic. It's strange how some game series work out better on a console and some actually work out better on a handheld. Either way I'm glad you check out the review and I hope you enjoyed it.