Sonic Advance Series
System: Gameboy Advance
Release: 2002 - 2004
System: Gameboy Advance
Release: 2002 - 2004
Who remembers the Sega Game Gear!? I do... and I regret ever picking the thing up. All it had going for it was a backlit colored screen, a burial ground for AA's and a bunch of loud mouthed ads that said the same thing over and over, "It's colored, therefor it's better. HA!" If it was so good, where was the Game Gear Pocket, or the Super G.Gear? What about... Sonic titles? I'm not talking about those awful ports from the Master System, I'm talking about the mascot selling games that will make you feel like you wasted your parents money on something halfway decent. Well boys and girls, while those nitwits were playing such bland titles as Super Mario Land 2, Link's Awakening, and Wario Land on that black and green joke of a system, us cool kids were playing titles like Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Drift and Tails' Sky Patrol all in glorious color!
... And so Sega went under, quit the console biz and after 10 years, we're getting some handheld titles staring Sonic... On the Gameboy.
"Sega does what Nintendon't," huh?
Sonic Advance 1 through 3, let's dive in...
STORY
Eggman plots to take over the world with Chaos Emeralds. Sonic vows to stop him. Friends tag along... It's the same thing... It's ALWAYS the same thing. Look, I know when it comes to video games, as long as the gameplay is good you don't need a great storyline... but that doesn't mean you can't try. The first two has practically no story to speak of, just stop the Doctor turning animals into robots... again... like always. The third just involves Eggman using Chaos Control to tear up the planet.
...
Look, the lack of story isn't the only problem, it's the lack of originality. How many times is Sonic going to let Eggman create a theme park of death right under his nose? How about, I don't know... a new villain? Someone that doesn't have anything to do with the round guy? Just let him take a vacation already so he can think of a new way to take over the world.
... That doesn't involve Chaos Emeralds... Robotic monkeys are ok, though.
SCORE: Pass
DESIGN
The point of this series was for the fans to revisit the Sonic most fans grew up with but with the new series mixed in with it, so we got classic gameplay with nods to the Adventure series... interesting. Each game has roughly nine worlds with two stages and a boss along with the traditional Super Sonic in space thing... which means a slew of special stages. Oh, and two new guests; Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit. Do they add anything extraordinary to the stories? Absolutely not. But whatever the case, the games give you a decent amount of characters to select from, each with their own abilities for the roads ahead. Now, the first two games had you play as each character through out the same stages, in the same order. Now, why can't the character's have their own levels? Why does it always have to be the same level order? Why- oh, who cares.
The third title, on the other hand, introduces something... pretty unique to the series. This time it gives us a tag team feature that allows the player to mix and match characters to see how much it effects the gameplay. The buddy system seems to be inspired by Sonic Heroes and the ever so popular Knuckles Chaotix... except this time around the controls aren't a mess and you don't have to play through the same levels over and over and over and over...
SCORE: 
out of
out of GAMEPLAY
For me, each game had something to offer. The first title was easy to pick up and play, with fun levels and a fair challenge... then it's over before you know it. Advance 2 is a lot more fast paced and the there seems to be more difficult sections throughout this one. Lastly, Advance 3 has a fun and unique buddy system that really gives it some life, but eventually I stop caring about the swap feature and focus on finishing the game... then I get a little bored... then I go off to play something else. But that's just me.
At it's core, it feels and acts like classic Sonic, something a lot of fans have been waiting for.
SCORE: out of
out of PRESENTATION
The overall look and feel of the game is the Adventure titles but set up in a 2D format... with 16 bits to back it up. The level designs are bright and detailed, which are great for the handheld. It's a fresh take on the 2D series and I like it.
As for the soundtracks, their nice on the GBA, but don't expect to be humming any of the tunes afterwards. I'm serious, I just got done playing through each one of these titles and the only thing I can remember are the opening chimes.
SCORE: out of
out of OVERALL
While not first Sonic title made portable, these are the ones I would recommend for Sonic on the go. Of the three, I personally prefer the first just because of how easy it is to pick up and play, but overall these titles are worth checking out. If you need Sonic on the road, then give these games a shot... just avoid Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for the Gameboy. It's really as bad as they say it is.
SCORE: out of
out of 
