Sonic Advance 3...

[Phos]

It wasn't completely unforgiving like the special stages in Advance 1, and the pseudo 3D isn't deceptive at all. Just put your lead character where the rings are going to intersect the screen, and you'll get them no problem.

[GiantMainProtagonist]

I personally liked this game alot. It wasn't the best game of the series in my opinion, but it was really fun (plus, multiplayer FTW)

I seem to remember another Super Sonic code that had his spines pointed up and, by pushing up, allowed you to fly. Also, the animations were smoother.

[Awesomer]

Advance 3 is definetley overrated imo, and there are far too many bottomless pits which make you lose your temper! XD Plus having two characters at the same time is alot to handle when you make a wrong move, in spite of this I have a great soft spot for Sunset Hill Zone!

[Wyde]

I'm afraid I group myself with the apparent minority who preferred Advance 3 to the original. Yes, some of the level design was pretty unforgiving, but I was willing to learn as much of it as I could. Additionally, I know many of the character combinations were pretty poor (I'm looking at you, Amy and Cream), but there were a few that I especially liked, namely Knuckles and Amy in that order. Spin-dashing up walls still isn't getting old to me.

[SuperStingray]

To be honest, I didn't see anything in the main game itself that was considerably "unforgiving" beyond the ice stage boss.

Edited May 3, 2009 by A Ham Sandwich

[Cany the hedge]

In my opinion, I prefer number 2 than 1 and 3 together, it just seemed faster to me. besides, I just wasn´t into team playing, it just seemed like a drag...but I still like the game desing though, much to explore in fast ways....but the bosses where a PAIN, a PAIN I tell ya...

[Ell678]

2 & 3 were atrocious. The only decent one was Advance 1. Even Rush was appalling...At least SRA was better. Speed is not my thing, being able to blast through the levels is something you can do once you have learned the levels a little bit, not 'LOLHOLDRIGHT'.

Nobody could be very fast in the Genesis era games until they had played them a bit. That is the key - learning the levels and being fast then, not this hold right mentality. It's crap, and there is no challenge.

[Eileanach]

I guess that is a fair point Ell, holding one button for an entire time and not having much else in the way of skill applied to it is not really all that enjoyable. I agree with the MegaDrive games though once you learned the levels you could zip through them and it took skill. It was great fun. Holding Right and not having to do much else does take a lot of fun out of a game about speed. There should be a certain degree of challenge in it.

[Reading]

2 & 3 were atrocious. The only decent one was Advance 1. Even Rush was appalling...At least SRA was better. Speed is not my thing, being able to blast through the levels is something you can do once you have learned the levels a little bit, not 'LOLHOLDRIGHT'.

Really? I think 3 has a good amount of things besides holding right...which is why I like it. It's not the best, but it's still there.

As I mentioned earlier, I agree that 2 was atrocious. 1 would've been great if it was a little more...interesting.

[Thirsty Pocket]

I think it's the second best Sonic Advanced game, the first one being the best. It sure beats the pants off Rush and Rush adventure if you ask me.

But on starmen.net there's a "How would you fix Sonic" thread, and one person brings up Sonic Advanced 3 like.. every other post and it's getting annoying. Then again that whole thread is annoying. "Call Eggman Robotnik and get rid of the characters. Boost forever"

[Tornado]

Quite frankly, its the worst in the Advance series, and scarily close to the worst of the handheld titles overall (ignoring Sonic Jam, of course). The level design is atrocious, being made up of a series of death pits, cheap enemy placement and bland areas, none of it being able to decide whether it wants to do platforming or speed (making the obvious changeovers incredibly jarring). The gameplay is poor, trying to mix Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2 gameplay together, completely ignoring that Sonic Advance 2 only worked (just barely, mind you) because the level design and gameplay was designed purely to work off of the speed (imagine platforming being a core focus of Advance 2 and you get my problem). MOAR SPEED was perfectly acceptable in Advance 2 as a nice change of pace. MOAR SPEED was awful in Advance 3 because Dimps made it obvious that they felt it was a good idea worth pursuing, as well as deciding it would be good to actively punish you for attempting it.

The team gimmick is painfully drawn out, with your teammate being completely useless until you run into whatever completely arbitrary obstacle that Dimps decided to put in your way to pad game length. The music quality is awful in spots, as if they used the sound driver from a GBA launch title (something that Sonic Battle also suffers from even worse). And worst of all, Dimps didn't seem to get the message and made Sonic Rush about the same (though that game also has some problems of its own).

I did like the special stages, and I do like that they made actually getting to them not as tortuous as it was in Sonic Advance 2, but you still had to play the game to get to them.

[Iceman Etika]

Quite frankly, its the worst in the Advance series, and scarily close to the worst of the handheld titles overall (ignoring Sonic Jam, of course). The level design is atrocious, being made up of a series of death pits, cheap enemy placement and bland areas, none of it being able to decide whether it wants to do platforming or speed (making the obvious changeovers incredibly jarring). The gameplay is poor, trying to mix Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2 gameplay together, completely ignoring that Sonic Advance 2 only worked (just barely, mind you) because the level design and gameplay was designed purely to work off of the speed (imagine platforming being a core focus of Advance 2 and you get my problem). MOAR SPEED was perfectly acceptable in Advance 2 as a nice change of pace. MOAR SPEED was awful in Advance 3 because Dimps made it obvious that they felt it was a good idea worth pursuing, as well as deciding it would be good to actively punish you for attempting it.

I like your explanation of how SAd2 basically was a epinephrine trip of maximum adrenaline, which worked quite well. And it was quite obvious that in SAd3 the platforming and speedy gameplay conflicted a bit.

Storyline was good, definitely more thrilling and captivating than it's previous games.

Music to me, was off the motherfucking hook, I mean goddamn, I don't think I ever headbanged to a GBA track as hard as Ocean Base 3. Well, maybe the trainer battle theme from Gold and Silver.

Music counts a lot for me, so it received my favor from that. I don't think the game tanked, but it did fail in many aspects it tried to succeed in.

-Iceman

[SuperStingray]

Sonic Advance 2 may have been the speediest of the three, but if I wanted to have a game I could play with my eyes closed, I would have bought a blank cartridge. Alright, I will say that it had the best bosses and level art of the three, but the main gameplay provided virtually no challenge.

Edited May 5, 2009 by A Ham Sandwich

[Iceman Etika]

Sonic Advance 2 may have been the speediest of the three, but if I wanted to have a game I could play with my eyes closed, I would have bought a blank cartridge. Alright, I will say that it had the best bosses and level art of the three, but the main gameplay provided virtually no challenge.

Yes, but when you look at some of Sonics most successful titles, you'll see that just holding the stick in one direction for a majority of the game, with occasional jumps and spindashes, is all they have. Sonics luster somewhat dimmed a bit when this aspect of his games was dropped.

-Iceman

EDITZ: I'll get me some eeveedense to reinforce this

Edited May 5, 2009 by Iceman Etika

[Crystal Kingfisher]

It's nice to see I'm not the only one who found it overrated as hell. I remember back when I used to go to the Sega forums, I always said how much SAdv3 was overrated, and everyone bashed me. Good thing people here agree with me that it's overrated.

[Tornado]

Music to me, was off the motherfucking hook, I mean goddamn, I don't think I ever headbanged to a GBA track as hard as Ocean Base 3. Well, maybe the trainer battle theme from Gold and Silver.

Keep in mind that I don't think the music itself is bad. Rather, the actual quality of the presentation. The composition is nice, but for whatever reason it comes off as scratchy and, in some places, a bit tinny.

Sonic Advance 2 may have been the speediest of the three, but if I wanted to have a game I could play with my eyes closed, I would have bought a blank cartridge. Alright, I will say that it had the best bosses and level art of the three, but the main gameplay provided virtually no challenge.

Don't get me wrong, I agree. I think the majority of the fun to be had with Advance 2 is simply the experience of the speed. Advance 2 was perfect only if you played it in short bursts, which was good because the game was largely structured in a way that allowed you to do so. Advance 3, however, tried to replicate this while at the same time punishing you for not going slow in order to (cheaply) ramp up the difficulty, which completely misses the point of why Advance 2 was even enjoyable.

[JezMM]

I'm going to actually try to beat the first level with my eyes closed on Sonic Advance 2 and see how right you are A Ham Sandwich, lol (Advance 2 was my fave as it's the most pick-up-and-playable).

EDIT: Well I did it, and it was actually kind of fun and exciting for some reason, but you couldn't do that for the whole game... lol.

Edited May 5, 2009 by JezMM

[SuperStingray]

Yes, but when you look at some of Sonics most successful titles, you'll see that just holding the stick in one direction for a majority of the game, with occasional jumps and spindashes, is all they have.

The only other game I really feel that in is Rush. At least in most other titles there are hindrances and threats that keep you on your toes. Edited May 5, 2009 by A Ham Sandwich

[ovarloard]

I'm going to actually try to beat the first level with my eyes closed on Sonic Advance 2 and see how right you are A Ham Sandwich, lol (Advance 2 was my fave as it's the most pick-up-and-playable).

I would do this, but I've already played Sonic Advance 2 so many times I know all the levels pretty much inside and out. So I could easily beat the level with my eyes closed, but not for the reasons you are trying to prove.

[Gabz Girl]

I don't know what to think of Sadv3. I've only played a bit of the first level and quite frankly, it bored me to death. The first level seemed so...empty. Nothing much was going on. And the speedy as hell parts ended abrubtly because of either an enemy or some randomly placed spikes. Oh, or dreaded bottomless pits! 8D

The first Sadv will always be my favourite. Yes it's slower and yes it has alot less of a storyline and stuff. But it just seems sooo much better than holding the right button during almost the whole friggin' stage ala Sadv2. >_> Sadv2 was definitely the worst of the bunch, to me. I hate the bottomless pits, the holding right to run gameplay, the Eggman bosses that you have to run at...sheesh! The only good stage is Music Plant, because it's unique, has great music and it's FUN unlike 99% of the game.

Btw, all three Advance games have crappy special stages. But Sadv2's is the worst of them all! Way too hard to control. D=

[ovarloard]

Btw, all three Advance games have crappy special stages. But Sadv2's is the worst of them all! D=

This.

Like I said before, I can get past Sadv2's levels no problem.

But when it comes to the special stages... suffice it to say that I have never gotten a single Chaos Emerald in Sadv2.

[Gabz Girl]

But when it comes to the special stages... suffice it to say that I have never gotten a single Chaos Emerald in Sadv2.

Woah, really?

I did get some of the Chaos Emeralds in Sadv2's special stages but...it wasn't easy, I can tell you that. X_x I haven't even got that many anyway. I think I only got 4 with Cream and..2 with Tails And to beat the whole game with the Final Boss and everything, you need to have EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (including Amy!) collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds! No, just no.

[3thmthm]

But when it comes to the special stages... suffice it to say that I have never gotten a single Chaos Emerald in Sadv2.

I've never entered a special stage in Sonic Advance 2 which makes it the only Sonic game that i couldn't beat yet. SO DAMN HARD!!!

[ovarloard]

Ah, good to know I'm not the only one.

I found out how to enter the special stage from YouTube, but even YouTube doesn't help with actually getting the Emerald.

[Mollfie]

I havn't played it but I really want to as I like Advanced 2 (I don't think I've played 1...). It's intersting reading everyone's views though, I'll have to give it a go so I can post my views!