The game box.
Sonic Advance 2 is a side-scrolling platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Dimps and published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. The game was released in Japan on December 19, 2002, in North America on March 9, 2003, in Europe on March 18, 2003. It is based on a modified version of Sonic Advances game engine.
Story
Dr. Eggman is capturing all the furry forest animals and turning them into robots. He has also kidnapped Sonic's friends Tails and Knuckles got tricked (again). As such, Sonic rushes off to stop Dr. Eggman, rescue his friends and collect the Chaos Emeralds once again and saves Cream.
Characters
Sonic the Hedgehog- Sonic is the main hero of the game, and naturally the fastest of the bunch. At the get-go, he's your only choice, but you unlock other characters as you play as him. His B button move is a somersault followed directly by a slide, the latter occuring automatically. His midair A button move is the insta-shield from Sonic 3 and Sonic Advance. Also, if an enemy is nearby, he will perform a homing attack.
Miles "Tails" Prower- Sonic's sidekick and best friend. His B button move is a tail swipe, and his midair A button move is his ability to fly - continually flying will allow the player to gain altitude until Tails gets tired and falls back to the ground.
Knuckles the Echidna- Sonic's friendly rival, who has been tricked again. His B button move is a double punch. His midair A button move is his signature glide, and gliding into solid walls once again allows Knuckles to climb the surface's available space.
Cream the Rabbit- A polite rabbit child in her first appearance. Her B button move is her Chao attack, in which she'll send Cheese out to attack nearby enemies. Her A button midair move is flight, largely the same as Tails' ability, except she uses her large ears instead of her tail, and her speed is half of Tails' yet lasts twice as long.
Amy Rose- Amy is unlocked in a different way than Sonic, Knuckles, Tails or Cream; she is instead unlocked after the four other characters collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and complete the game. Unlike the first Sonic Advance, Amy is able to use the Spin Attack and Spin Dash.
Bosses
The bosses are similar to the boss of Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic and Knuckles in that they're constantly scrolling right, with the only exception being the final boss in the XX Zone. Rings appear quickly from the right side of the screen in mid-air groups of three, but are finite in their total amount. Each Boss is a new attachment to the Egg Mobile and are all driven by Dr. Eggman except for the Eggsaucer in Sky Canyon which is driven by Knuckles if you play as Sonic. After you beat Knuckles once, Eggman is the driver of the Eggsaucer from there on no matter which character you select.
Boss Gallery
Special Stages
This time, instead of finding a relatively easy Special Spring, hitting it, and playing the Special Stage, you must track down the 7 special rings in each act. This can be extremely difficult, as the rings can be found anywhere on the stage. To make matters worse, they must be found in one go, meaning that death will cause collections to disappear. In the Special Stage, the player moves in a full 3D space and collects rings while dodging the robot E-100 Zero. The environment accessed depends on both the zone and character played at the time. The reward is a Chaos Emerald. Getting all 7 as Sonic to unlock True Area 53, while repeating this with the other three characters unlocks Amy as a playable character.
Zones
The zones in order are as follows:
- Leaf Forest is a hidden paradise of green grass and towering emerald green formations, complete with a small lake.
- Hot Crater is a bustling volcanic mine, with lava and machinery at every turn.
- Music Plant is a place where you can unlock the inner child in you. With gigantic xylophones and a "bouncy" carnival like feel, you are bound to want to spend a large amount of your time in this zone.
- Ice Paradise is a frozen city, filled with chilly caverns and icy Badniks.
- Sky Canyon is a floating island, similar to Angel Island, that is complete with crags, labyrinths, and windmills. In the first time around, you fight Knuckles as the boss.
- Techno Base is a gigantic computer-like area filled with neon lights and digital rails for you to grind on.
- Egg Utopia is a large Death Egg-like base floating about in the sky. It is similar to Egg Rocket/Cosmic Angel from the previous game.
- XX is the final stage for all characters except Sonic. All the bosses from throughout the game are fought once again, although more easier and faster to destroy. The last boss is a giant Eggman robot, similar to Sonic 2.
- True Area 53 is a Doomsday Zone-type Super Sonic level, set in deep space.
Tiny Chao Garden
To unlock the Tiny Chao Garden, the player must collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds as any character. The Tiny Chao Garden is mostly the same as it was in the original Sonic Advance, except the rock-paper-scissors game has been replaced by a Breakout-esque game where the player collects rings as Cheese, while Cream bounces him on a spring.
Artwork
Badniks
Trivia
- A number of Badniks in this game where taken from Sonic Adventure. Most likely as a tie in with Sonic Adventure DX which was set to be released the same year as this game.
- Cream's artwork from this game appears on a sign in Sonic Adventure DX.
- Knuckles was tricked into fighting Sonic by Dr. Robotnik in this game, just like in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX.
- Cream replaced Amy from Sonic Advance in this game in many ways: She is the only female in the main 4. She is present at the sound test screen (Just like Amy was in Sonic Advance).