Sonic Advance 2
| Sonic Advance 2 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Dimps |
| Publisher(s) | THQ |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release | .svg){kind=small} December 19, 2002 March 10, 2003 March 18, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Sonic Advance 2 ソニックアドバンス2 (Sonikku Adobansu Tsū) 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 10, 2003, in Europe on March 18, 2003. It is based on a modified version of Sonic Advance's game engine.
Gameplay
Basic gameplay is an improvement on Sonic Advance, with much of the earlier features intact. Compared to its predecessor, Sonic Advance 2 contains more and larger levels, the overall difficulty is higher making it a more challenging game, an enhanced sound track, and offers better control over the playable characters. Most levels start in a corner of a map and require to move uphill or downhill.
All characters can now perform various stunts when flying through the air and not curled in a ball (i.e. after being launched from a spring or similar). These are activated by holding a direction on the D-pad and pressing the R button. Some of these stunts can be used to destroy enemies.
Another new feature is shattering the sound barrier. If a character runs as fast as possible for a period of time without stopping or slowing down, they will shatter the sound barrier and leave a trail of afterimages behind them. While in shattering the sound barrier, it is possible to run over water, and the attack used with the B button becomes more powerful. The delay before reaching shattering can be decreased somewhat by collecting rings. Certain objects in the level (red booster wheels, for instance) will instantly force the character into the state. This also shows that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Amy, and eventually Blaze, can run faster than the speed of sound. Although this is mixed up and scrambled in later games.
In each act, there are seven Special Rings. Collecting all seven of these and completing the Act, without dying, will take the player to a Special Stage, where a player can win a Chaos Emerald. The stage accessed and emerald obtained both depend on which zone the player was in when they accessed the stage. Unlike Sonic Advance, emeralds are not shared between characters.
All bosses in this game, except for the final boss, take place while running along a horizontally wrapping area, akin to the Mushroom Hill Zone boss in Sonic and Knuckles. Rings will appear in groups of three. This format makes any attack other than jumping and Sonic's insta-shield (and Cream's ability to command Cheese to attack, of course) completely useless, and once the player has lost their rings it is difficult to regain them as they fly off the left side of the screen; both of these facts have led to the bosses being heavily criticized by fans. Spin-dashing, however, IS possible, but extremely difficult to do in real time: one must go to the right side of the screen, then suddenly brake, and very quickly stop braking, duck and spindash before reaching the left side of the screen; this trick has been heavily used in tool-assisted speedruns.
Characters
- Sonic the Hedgehog is playable from the start.
- Miles "Tails" Prower is playable after Music Plant is completed.
- Knuckles the Echidna is playable after Sky Canyon is completed.
- Cream the Rabbit and her Chao, Cheese are playable after Leaf Forest is completed. This is Cream's first appearance, with the exception of artwork in Sonic Mega Collection.
- Amy Rose is playable after the other four characters each get all seven Chaos Emeralds and clear the game (she was originally meant to be in Cream's place)
- Vanilla the Rabbit, Cream's mother. She is a non-playable character who plays a small role in the game.
Pre-release version
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Although this game marks Cream the Rabbit's first appearance, she was originally planned for Sonic Heroes. Sonic Team shifted her debut game to Sonic Advance 2 to help the game feel fresher. The game was originally supposed to star Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, just as the original Sonic Advance had. Additionally, early videos of Sonic Advance 2 showcased the game with a completely different, more laid-back soundtrack and re-used character select graphics.