Sonic Advance

"Sonic is back to save the world!"

- Tagline

Sonic Advance (ソニックアドバンス) is the first game in the trilogy on the Game Boy Advance, and one of the first few on a Nintendo console. Developed by Dimps as a spiritual successor to Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, the game is a return to Sonic's side-scrolling roots.

Gameplay
The game is the typical 2D side-scroller in the same vein as the Mega Drive/Genesis-era games in the series. The game mixes elements from the original Sonic games with that of the Sonic Adventure series, such as rails and Sonic's ability to somersault. The goal of the game is to get from the beginning of the stage to the end while dodging Badniks, collecting Rings, and finding the seven Chaos Emeralds. This game also introduces Mecha Knuckles as a boss and features the first appearance of rails in a 2D game; although, they can only be used by Sonic and Amy.

Playable characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog - The titular character, Sonic runs the fastest. His attacks include his mid-air attack that expands his range for a split second, and a ground somersault. (It is possible to use the somersault to climb steep inclines). He can grind on rails to reach areas that Tails and Knuckles cannot reach. Sonic's game is the hardest due to lack of any shortcuts and special skills.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower - Sonic's sidekick, Tails, retains his ability to fly. If the player taps A several times after a jump,Tails will fly until he is exhausted. His attack move is his tail-swipe from Sonic Adventure, though it is fairly slow. Tails' game is the easiest because of his ability to fly.
 * Knuckles the Echidna - Knuckles is once again able to glide for short distances and climb some walls. He can also tread the surface of water. His attack move is a 1-2-3 uppercut punch. Knuckles' game is a middle of the ground game because of his ability to glide and climb walls.
 * Amy Rose - Amy's moveset replaces standard spin-dashing and rolling jumps with some complex hammer moves. This eliminates the ability to attack enemies by jumping on them, as done with the other three characters. Instead of a Spin Dash, she has a hop move as a form of quick momentum, making it easy to get up steep inclines. She also has the hardest time building up momentum but has the second highest speed when done so. Also as she jumps, she doesn't turn into a ball like Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles (though she does when going through spinning bowls and pipes). She can also slide down rails like Sonic. Amy's game is a unique challenge that varies based on the times in terms of difficulty but is generally easier then Sonic's due to her hammer moves.

Zones

 * Neo Green Hill Zone - a basic opening level with many properties of Green Hill Zone.
 * Secret Base Zone - an industrial-themed level, containing steam vents and molten metal.
 * Casino Paradise Zone - a classic casino-themed level, completed with flippers, bumpers and flashing lights.
 * Ice Mountain Zone - an icy area. The deep snow inhibits movement and there are several underwater areas.
 * Angel Island Zone - a level themed around the ruins areas of previous Sonic games.
 * Egg Rocket Zone - a one-act zone with no boss, where the player must climb to the top of a segmenting rocket with only five minutes per section.
 * Cosmic Angel Zone - the other one-act zone has gravity flipping, conveyor belts and a fight against Dr. Eggman.
 * X-Zone - the last level for all characters except Sonic, Eggman is fought three times here. The first two fights mimic the first bosses from Sonic 1 and 2, respectively.
 * The Moon Zone - the game's final level, accessible only to Super Sonic, where the player must confront Eggman's final mecha.

Bosses

 * Egg Hammer Tank
 * Egg Press
 * Egg Ball
 * Egg Spider
 * Mecha Knuckles
 * Egg Snake
 * Egg Mobile-H
 * Egg Mobile-D
 * EGG X
 * Super Egg Robot

Special Stages
To collect Chaos Emeralds, the player must first find a Special Spring somewhere in a Zone. Jumping into it will take them to a tube-like stage filled with rings, a certain amount of which must be collected. Also featured are golden gates that the player does well-timed tricks through to get bonus rings, which is a necessity for the later stages. Collecting all seven Emeralds and beating X Zone allows the player access to Moon Zone.

Tiny Chao Garden
When you first enter the Tiny Chao Garden, only a solitary egg will be found. Tapping on it will hatch it into a Chao. Use rings collected in levels and minigames to buy fruits and items for your Chao to help them gain stats. Also, link between Sonic Advance and the GameCube version of either Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut or Sonic Adventure 2: Battle to transfer your Chao to their gardens and to participate in races.

Minigames
Rock Paper Scissors: Select rock, paper, or scissors, and shoot down one of the coinciding cards to gain rings.

Card Matching: Flip over cards and match pairs for rings.

Reception
Reviews for Sonic Advance received critical acclaim from reviewers with Metacritic scoring an 87 out of 100 based on 22 reviews.

Similarities with Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure shares many similarities with this game:
 * The first zone in Sonic Advance is Neo Green Hill Zone, while the first zone in Sonic Pocket Adventure is Neo South Island.
 * The first bosses both are moving vehicles with large hammers; in fact, many boss concepts in this game and the sequel originated in Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure.
 * The second zones in both games are "Secret industrial" zones. Sonic Advance has Secret Base, while Sonic Pocket Adventure has Secret Plant.
 * The third zones are both casinos. Sonic Advance has Casino Paradise, while Sonic Pocket Adventure has Cosmic Casino.
 * Both of the fourth zones have water and on the fifth zone of Sonic Advance, a robot copy of a character is fought. Knuckles himself is fought on the fourth zone of Sonic Pocket Adventure. In addition to that, Mecha Sonic is fought in the 5th Zone of Sonic Pocket Adventure.
 * The "climax" zones, Egg Rocket Zone (Sonic Advance) & Aerobase (Sonic Pocket Adventure) are both one act zones that lead to Eggman's main space station (Sonic Advance) or in the case of Sonic Pocket Adventure, the Aerobase's interior.
 * The final zones in both games have the name "Angel" in it. Cosmic Angel is in Sonic Advance and Gigantic Angel is in Sonic Pocket Adventure.
 * In the normal ending for both games, space stations explode with red/gray chunks of metal flying and Tails rescues Sonic.
 * Finally, before the beginning of both of the Extra Zones, Eggman's space stations, seemingly, do not explode and are apparently abandoned.
 * Both games seem to return to Sonic's 2D gameplay.
 * Both games were released on systems not made by Sega, both of which happened to be handhelds.

Android port
In 25 November 2011, a tweaked version of Sonic Advance was released for the Android mobile devices. It is a Japanese-only title available as an Android application from the Android Marketplace (now Google Play). Unlike previous releases of Sonic Advance, this version is available as a free download.

The game requires an updated version of Android and a strong device in order to compete with the known bugs and lagging issues.

Differences

 * The game's resolution is improved from the original GBA version, increasing by three times than the original to fit all Android devices.
 * The Invincibility theme is changed.
 * There is no Chao Garden accessible.

Cheat Code
There is a cheat code in the game that allows Sonic to be followed by Tails like in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. To activate the cheat code, press up, right, down, right, L, right, R, right and A in the character select screen. The cheat will work if a ring chime is heard afterwards.