On December 20, 2001, pigs flew in the video game industry when Sonic the Hedgehog finally made his debut on a Nintendo system with the release of the first ever original Sonic/Sega game to appear on a Nintendo system after Sega's switch to software manufacturing. The game was also released the same day in Japan along with the Nintendo GameCube port of Sonic Adventure 2, known as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, with the Western version being released a few months later.
Sonic Advance is a game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series for the Game Boy Advance. Co-developed by Sega and Dimps and designed in the vein of the classic Mega Drive/Genesis side-scrolling platformers, this game is essentially lip-service for older fans, with some elements of Sonic Adventure thrown in.
This was the first 2D side-scroller in the series to feature Amy Rose as a playable character. The game was also ported to the short lived Nokia N-Gage as Sonic N, but suffered from being transposed from the horizontal screen of the GBA to the vertical screen of the N-Gage (it also removed the Tiny Chao Garden).
The game would be followed up by two sequels, Sonic Advance 2 in 2002, and Sonic Advance 3 in 2004.
Sonic Advance provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: The Android version of the first game only allows you to play as Sonic, with the other playable characters being either Demoted to Extra or completely absent.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: In the first game, Knuckles was the Balance, with a moveset oriented both for exploration and speed; Sonic was the Power, with a moveset oriented entirely for plowing through enemies and getting to the goal without frills; Tails was the Skill, with a moveset geared for exploration (both flying and swimming); Amy is the Gimmick, since she cannot curl into a ball like the boys and must attack and maneuver with her hammer, which has completely different mechanics and range.
- Border-Occupying Decorations: The Sonic N release of the first game lets players choose between the N-Gage's unusual 11:13 and a scaled-down 4:3 ratio. For the latter, the game fills the borders with blue, plus Sonic and his name at the top.
- Boss Bonanza: The "X-Zone" doubles as a Nostalgia Level by presenting you with the first bosses of the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 before the actual Final Boss, the Egg-X.
- Boss Rush: In the X-Zone, before you fight the Egg X, you must go through memory lane by battling the ball-and-chain mobile from Sonic the Hedgehog and the infamous drill mobile from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in that order, both made easier by taking half the number of hits to beat (both bosses are accompanied by GBA-style rearrangements of the boss themes from their respective games).
- Casino Park: Casino Paradise.
- Clumsy Copyright Censorship: The 2011 Android port replaces the remix of the Invincibility theme from Sonic 1 with the game's intro theme, and the Sonic 1 and 2 boss remixes in X-Zone with boss songs from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 due to the rights to the music from Sonic 1 and 2 being owned by Dreams Come True and meaning Sega has to pay royalties to them every time they use the songs.
- Collapsing Ceiling Boss: The first game's Egg Spider's sole attack is to drill into the ice ceiling and make stalactites fall on the player's head. These stalactites must be used as platforms to reach the machine and bop it.
- Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: The playable characters actually grow impatient and start scolding you if you leave them idle.
- Continuity Nod: Angel Island Zone is a throwback to both Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure. The level itself consists of floating ruins like the Sky Sanctuary Zone from Sonic 3, but with Mayincatec flair adopted from the Echidna civilization depicted in Sonic Adventure—further, the far right of the background depicts the Lost World temple rising out of the forest below, revealing the level to be floating above the Mystic Ruins.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
- Pressing down while dashing throws the brake on Amy's momentum by making her crouch, as opposed to having her roll into a ball like it does for the other three characters (see also: like it does in every 2D Sonic game up until then). As you might reckon, this little handicap got removed in 2 and 3.
- Despite the physics of the game being a close replica of those of the Classic games, there's still a few minor differences that can make it feel off for those who have mainly played the Genesis games. Most notably, the characters feel more weighty than they do in the Classic Sonic games, taking longer to get to top speed and the jump arcs lasting far shorter, making it easy to throw off those expecting lighter physics like the old games.
- Demoted to Extra: Since the 2011 Android version of the first game forces you to play as Sonic, the rest of the playable cast fell victim to this.
- Eternal Engine: Secret Base, Egg Rocket, and Cosmic Angel in the first game.
- Fan Remake: One
exists for the Android version of the first game, fixing the problems the original port had, as well as making all the other playable characters available like in the GBA version. Doubles as a Fan Translation because the original port was Japan-only. - Frigid Water Is Harmless: Ice Mountain Zone contains underwater segments that allow Sonic and friends to swim freely in the icy water with no harm. The zone's boss is even set underwater.
