Trilogy: Which is the Best Sonic Advance Game?

Sonic games on a Nintendo handheld?!?

Ah yes...the Sonic advance trilogy. One of the best of the platformers on the GBA with Sonic in it. Sure, Sonic always had problems when it came with experimentations and failing to capture the formula but not in the case of the handheld era where Sonic games were developed by Dimps who has managed to capture the formula of the classic Sonic series while adding new things to the table.

And as pictured, these games are still exclusive to the GBA(sure Sonic Advance technically got released on N-Gage but that's terrible so you're better off with the original version) but each of them is different while still identical.

What happens when you just only want to get one of them if you have a bad taste in Sonic games as of now with the constant mediocre games that have been released? What if you could only afford one GBA game and nothing else? What if your skepticism can only convince you to at least try one of them? What if even after the conclusion, you're still not convinced which one to pick?!?

Well this post discusses just that! Which of the games is right for you as we're gonna pick the ones that have the best collectibles, replay value, innovation, speed, story, and level design. If you're wondering why we're not talking about the best looking game of the bunch as well as the music, its because they all share the same graphics and are some of the best looking games for the GBA while having few tweaks of animations that make them look different than the others.

As for the music?  A subjective matter and the songs are catchy and memorable for each game so you need not worry about listening to something terrible here. With that out of the way, let's get started!

Sonic Advance

Platform: GBA
Release date: 2001
Developed by: Sonic Team & Dimps
Type of platformer: Straightforward
Collectibles?: Yes it has and they are required to 100% the game.
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Total number of levels: 14(including the extra boss)

Sonic Advance 2

Platform: GBA
Release date: 2002
Developed by: Sonic Team & Dimps
Type of platformer: Straightforward
Collectibles?: Yes it has and they are required to 100% the game.
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Total number of levels: 23(including the boss acts and the extra boss)

Sonic Advance 3

Platform: GBA
Release date: 2004
Developed by: Sonic Team & Dimps
Type of platformer: Straightforward
Collectibles?: Yes it has and they are required to 100% the game. Goal medals are optional though.
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Total number of levels: 23(including the extra boss)



Which game has the best innovation?

Sonic Advance has very basic stuff that replicated the classic Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy and it does that fairly well. There are very few new things added here besides Sonic being the only one who can jump on rails(it came from Sonic Adventure 2 though).

I guess each character has some additional moves they can do besides just jumping on bad-nicks. Sonic besides jumping on rails can do a somersault, backflip, skid and jump dash. Tails can fly as well as do a tail attack. Knuckles besides gliding and climbing on walls can also float on water when on the surface and can punch as well.

As for Amy, besides being the only character that can't damage enemies while jumping, her hammer is used for attack, jumping higher and jumping further which helps to pass through..slopes.

Meh...its something.

Sonic Advance 2 now allows everyone to grind on rails. On top of that, now each character can perform a trick action depending on the direction pressed which can either give additional heights or defeat enemies mid-air.

With enough momentum and enough rings collected, you can now go very fast in steroids and this is the rewarding part of the entire game. Besides that, new moves are also unlocked for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles that don't do much but are some nice additions that can be used to destroy certain platforms.  Sonic for example can now do a homing attack. Each character can also attack while in boost mode which can benefit greatly when enemies get to close.

The new thing here though is Cream and she can fly briefly like Tails as well as summon Cheese who can practically destroy anything he chases.

Pro tip Eggman..you don't want to mess with the rabbit's Chao.

Outside of that though, nothing much and plays like your typical Sonic game.

Now Sonic advance 3 on the other hand...is totally different.

In advance 3, you select one character and a partner and it kinda works like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 only much better. Depending on which partner you use, your abilities change. For example, if you select Sonic as the main one and Tails as the partner, Sonic can do trick actions but can't do his Jump Dash and Insta-shield. But the partner with Knuckles and he can do an upper attack and a homing attack.

Partnering with characters adds different moves to the mix which can be rewarding if using the right partner or annoying since a certain combination can remove moves that were fine earlier.

Why can't Knuckles glide when pairing with Sonic?!?

So that's the moveset for the games, so what about level design and bosses? Now by level design, we're not talking about how well the levels are designed here but rather, how original they are which helps to make them stand out.

Well I can tell you right now that Sonic Advance isn't the most innovative here. The level designs are mostly generic and just replicate the classic Sonic games and nothing new here is added. Heck the first level itself is called Neo Green Hill Zone.

If you have seen a gimmick at a level, it's mostly from the classic games and that is all there is to it...ok maybe one level is new but that's as far as it can go. As for the bosses? One or two stand out but that's about it.

Advance 2 has only a few new levels here and there. Music Plant and Techno Base are the ones that come to mind. Nothing seems to make me remember the other levels. As for the rest of them, only a few new things like ice slopes that give chill and can't move except jump in ice paradise come in mind. Nothing much of theme gimmicks here that stand out for the rest of the levels.

The boss fights are unique however. Instead of how it's done in Sonic Advance, they are now done in scrolling which means you need to build enough speed to jump on Eggman with the right timing.

This kinda works and kinda doesn't since you can't have full control of yourself during these sections while at the same time, you get some form of tension.

But man oh man..Sonic Advance 3 takes it to the skies here! Every level feels fresh and new while still having a familiar theme. Route 99 is my favorite first level because of its theme being city-based. Then you have Toy Kingdom..a level about toys. Something which you don't see Sonic games do.

Chaos Angel also stands out having a theme centered in ruins with its platforming sections as well. Each level represents their gimmicks nicely and is almost well executed to make them feel new.

On top of this, now we have hub worlds instead of a level select. Now sure, it may seem like a bad idea but they're not the end of the world here and the worlds are fairly done well here.

But that's not all. The bosses are the most unique and have their own set of gimmicks as well and they are the most fun of them all. One example I can give is that there is one where Eggman uses a ball machine and rolls all over the level and you have one platform that is timed to avoid him squashing you. So while you have to avoid him, you also have to jump on the right time to deal damage to him.

Talk about timing! And with that, the winner here is(drumroll please?)...

Yes, folks..its Sonic Advance 3 if it wasn't that obvious. The partner system alone adds new things to the table and enhances the replay value of the game if you're curious enough of which partner does what. And even if you don't like specific pair-ups, simply pair up with what works best for you.

Not only that, but there are too many things that Sonic Advance 3 did and the efforts are ambitious! It has a fresh level design that stands out which makes them memorable. It has unique boss fights that are fun.

And if that isn't enough, it's even innovative on the music side of things. I know I said earlier that music is subjective and that should not be part of this. But I'm just saying here that the music feels new and it's catchy. Sonic Advance and Advance 2 just use the same type of music one another. But 3 takes it a step further.

And it does all of this while still feeling like a Sonic game. It's personally my favorite of the trilogy. With the partner system, new level designs and fun bosses, Sonic Advance 3 is the best innovative game of the trilogy!


Which game has the best speed?

Before we get any further here, Let me tell you that all the games have fine physics replicated like the classic Sonic games. What I'm here to tell you is which of the games lets you develop the most speed?

Sonic Advance speed is similar to the classic games. You run and build momentum to pass through loops and slopes. Besides that, you run into boosters and poles to develop speed. And that is all the speed there is to it.

That speed animation bothers me for some reason?

Sonic Advance 2..oh boy. It takes it to a higher level. When you collect enough rings and build momentum, you build a boost and you go super fast the more you build the momentum. And since you can build speed as long as you stay away from hazards and bad nicks. You can even build speed right at the start of the level!

Now that's MUCH better! Shadow effects to tell you're the fastest of them all!

So how does Sonic Advance 3 do? eh...it really depends on whether your partner is Sonic or not of if you play as Sonic.

If you have Sonic on your side, then you can go fast and build momentum at ease at similar levels like Advance 2.

So the game with the most speed goes to(drumroll please?)...

Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 3 have a mix of platforming sections that always don't allow you to go entirely fast. And sure, Sonic games are also about platforming as well(because otherwise, we wouldn't have this topic about which Advance game is the best!) But we're talking about the game that allows you to get more speed and Sonic Advance 2 does just that.

Now there are times where you do platforming. But this happens in small sections of the levels that it hardly matters. On top of this, you can use abilities while in boost form to maintain the speed. Its honestly odd that speed boost powerups are here even though they are not required.

With being able to go fast and having less of platforming, Sonic Advance 2 is the fastest of the trilogy!

If you pull the trigger right, you get a slight boost!

Which game has the best story?

Honestly, I don't know why we're having a discussion about this. All of them have the focus of defeating Eggman whether you get the Chaos emeralds or not. But...there are some differences.

In Sonic Advance, there aren't any cutscenes except for the intro, ending and the special boss. In Sonic Advance 2, there are cutscenes with Sonic during game progression as well as the endings including the special boss. With Sonic Advance 3, only the beginning and the endings have cutscenes. And sure in between the game there are a few but those are just seconds.

So with that out of the way, the winner of the best story goes to(drumroll please?)...

So why a game with the least cutscenes get the win? Because the other two just pad the plot further and ultimately ruin the surprise because in the end, Eggman is the main guy to beat. Sure, Advance 2 may have a moment with Cream during the special boss but that's so minor.

And Advance 3 has even confusing matters that really..it should have just been Eggman taking over the world thanks to the master emerald and Sonic Advance does that just right.

With the simple plot with little to no confusion, the best story of the trilogy is Sonic Advance!

The thing that puzzles me here is if its the master emerald or a chaos emerald?

Which game has the best level design?

The most important aspect here. The level design. We're not looking at new level themes and all in this section but rather how well the levels are designed here so that you'll not get frustrated to a large extent.

Let me get this out of the way that checkpoints as well as getting extra lives are not the problem in any of the games as they are given in fair amounts and all the games give you ways of getting extra lives.

That being said, let's start off with Sonic Advance. The level design here is a mix of speed and platforming. The levels generally ensure that you do some form of platforming while having speed sections as linear as possible. What I mean here is that the speed sections are less than what you would do in platforming.

But that's not bad because again, Sonic games are platformers and besides, the classic games also had some form of platforming so it does that momentum right. As far as balance goes, it's done well enough. The only sections where it can be unforgiving is the last few levels in the game adding spikes at odd positions, enemy placements being cheap and some bottomless pits being here and there.

In terms of how straightforward the levels are, pretty much a lot since the only things you need to search here are the chaos springs and luckily, you only need to get all the chaos emeralds for one character and just beat the levels with the other characters making the whole thing less stressful in that regard.

Bosses are also fairly easy and straightforward. Some are reminiscent of the classics while others are different but are pretty obvious what you're suppose to do.

I will admit that playing as Amy feels weird at times...

Now let's go to Sonic Advance 2. Like I said earlier, you're doing more speed than you are at platforming. The levels are designed with the emphasis of speed in mind. As a result, the speed obtained here is quite exhilarating.

But then there comes a price. Since you're going fast, you're bound to get hit by enemies and fall into bottomless pits which have a lot of even during the second stage. So if you don't know what you're doing, the level design will not be in your favor. And let's not forget that since the Special Rings are scattered around, you have to go through levels in specific routes to get all seven of them without losing a life.

As for the bosses, besides the scrolling thing mentioned earlier, they can range from being fair to being unfair simply because of requiring the momentum and careful timing to beat them. And given with how less of control you have in these boss fights, it can be quite problematic if you are trying to build a strategy to win them.

Speed is nice..as long as you know what you're doing!

And then we finally come with Sonic Advance 3..oh boy. Alright the good thing here is that it is similar to Sonic Advance and you don't always do speed. With the right partner, most levels won't be a problem to beat and the Chao are less tedious to get thanks to the partner system and how forgiving it is in general. So even if you end up losing a life, the Chao is saved for good.

But then there are its problems and the main problem is how the spikes and enemies are placed. which means that unlike the first two games where to an extent you don't get hit constantly by the enemies and other obstacles, Advance 3 has spikes and enemies placed in places where you will end up colliding with them.

There are also a lot of blocks that can crush you if you did not anticipate them coming to you. And it's because of this reason that many would consider the other two games over this one. But once you get past to the earlier levels, the later ones have a fair placement of the enemies and spikes.

It would have been nice if they were generous for the invincibility power-ups but even those are scarce

As for the bosses. While they are unique, they can be dealt with if you know what to do. Some of them will make you scratch your head on what you're suppose to do on how to beat them, while some others require being responsive. But the bosses are not unfairly designed unlike Sonic Advance 2 so rest assured that is not the case here.

Route 99 has so many spikes and enemies placed unfairly that it saddens me as it's my favorite level.

But let's talk about the special stages briefly in each game since they are levels after all. Now Sonic Advance.. you just move your board to upcoming rings and perform tricks at the right time to get more rings. The rings can be annoying to get due to the depth perception but with time, you can get used to it.

Sonic Advance 2 has the stages in mode 7 format where you roam the level getting the rings before the time runs out. You get chased by a robot of some kind so if it touches you, you lose rings. The more rings you get rapidly, you increase your multiplier which increases your ring amount.

And Sonic Advance 3 just makes you control the turbo plane from Sonic Adventure 2 to get the rings. Again, just like Sonic Advance but only slightly better and the blue rings act as multipliers as well.

So of the three, Advance 2 is considered easier(and it should be given the process of getting to the stages!) while the others are only hard with the last emerald.

So with that out of the way, the best level design goes to(drumroll please?)...

The problem isn't that Advance 2 and 3 are not fun. The problem is how their level designs don't work for what they are trying to achieve.

Sonic Advance 2 tries to make the speed aspect its fun factor..but you are at risk if you don't know what to do at times considering its share of bottomless pits. And since you also have to deal with getting the special rings, you can't go as fast as you like always.

Now I love Sonic Advance 3 and personally, it's my favorite of the bunch. But even I have to come to terms that at least earlier stages have unfair parts that should have been tweaked. If the later levels came first instead of the earlier ones, a lot of people would have tolerated the game and would have changed their views about it. The partner system cannot fix the unfair placed spikes and enemies.

With Sonic advance, the levels are designed to feel like a Sonic game that is identical to that of the classic games and it works for that reason. Rarely do the levels have cheap enemy placements and spikes. Finding the chaos springs requires simple platforming that even Sonic can get them.

And when you go fast, you aren't always at peril since the speed sections are done in a matter that you can't fall off to bottomless pits(which the game rarely has) because you can go as fast as you could in Advance 2 and 3.

With the level design carefully crafted, the best level design of the trilogy goes to Sonic Advance!

Which game has the best collectibles?

Let's start with the collectibles. After all, the collectibles help to make the level designs feel less empty. Now all the games have your typical rings, monitors that have your basic ring counter, random ring generators, speed boost, invincibility and shields with the basic one and the electric one.

Where the difference stands from them all is the process of getting the Chaos emeralds? You know those seven colorful diamonds that you have to get to get the best ending?

That last purple emerald is always a ***** to get no matter which games it's on!

So how do you get the chaos emeralds in each game?

Well in Sonic Advance, its pretty simple. just find a chaos spring hidden somewhere in the levels and beat the special stage. Sonic Advance 2 does something...different. 

As mentioned earlier, instead of finding the Chaos spring, you must find seven special rings hidden somewhere in the level, then complete the level and then complete the special stage. The catch here is that you must do this without losing a life because if you do end up losing a life

But what about Sonic Advance 3? Unlike 2, you have to find ten Chao hidden somewhere in the levels. Once you get the Chao, you have to get the SP key from somewhere in the levels, find the Chaos Spring in the hub world and then beat the special stage.

Unlike Advance 2 however, it isn't very tedious because of three things. Firstly, once you get a Chao, you get it permanently even if you quit the level halfway or get a game over. Secondly, You can go to the Chao Garden and find out how many Chao you have gotten and which Chao is missing in which act.

And thirdly, getting the SP key is easy because even though it is randomly generated, the probability of it coming at the very first section of the level is good enough that you don't have to waste time searching the key.

Now I'll admit that its still unneeded...padding. But compared to Advance 2, this is a better approach.

So with that out of the way, the winner of the most collectibles is(drumroll please?)...

Now why Sonic Advance 3? Well lets discuss it in terms of quantity here. Advance has no additional collectibles. Even if you include the Chaos Springs as collectibles, there's like..only seven of them. And you won't easily find them on your first playthrough as you require someone like Knuckles to get them.

But after you get them all, you still have to beat the game with all the other characters so they aren't exactly satisfying either other than being straightforward and that Eggman won't laugh at you...

Advance 2 like Advance has only seven special rings as additional collectibles at each level. And those collectibles can be quite a pain to get for specific characters since you have to go to levels in specific paths to get them all.

On top of that, given how the levels are designed with speed in mind, you aren't given specific hints on which sections you're missing the rings like how Colors or Generations give a hint through the interface that the red ring is hidden somewhere earlier or later in the levels. If they at least did that here in Advance 2, you'd get an idea of where you're missing those rings.

Good luck backtracking those special rings! Especially with SONIC!!!

With Advance 3, there are ten Chao in each of the three acts. And like I said before, getting them isn't anywhere as tedious as it is in Advance 2 since you only need to get them once and that you are given a hint as to which act as the mission Chao giving you the motivation to explore the levels to find them.

And if that's not enough, Advance 3 has one more collectible and that's the goal medal! Why is this important? Well depending on how fast you complete the level, the goal medal will change to either gold, silver or bronze. And depending on which medal you get, the animation of the characters changes(except for boss fights), as well as the music and it, makes it all the more rewarding to see!

Dat Knuckles....so edgy!

So then it comes to the padding between Advance 2 and 3 when talking about the Chaos emeralds. While advance 2 has lesser things to get those emeralds, to 100% the game, you have to like get them all five times!

I'm not kidding here! Even if you just want to like get to the special boss, you still have to get all the emeralds using Sonic and beat the game with Knuckles, Cream and Tails. And those special rings can be a pain to get just for Sonic since he lacks the abilities the others have that can make getting those special rings less tedious. Not to mention like before that if you lose a life, you may as well start the level all over because all that effort you put getting those rings is lost.

With Advance 3, getting the Chao is rewarding because of how they are permanently added as well as making you explore the levels which are possible to backtrack for the most part. While some of the Chao are locked behind blocks that require you to use Knuckles, at least they are possible to backtrack.

And that SP key is like...nothing really. And you can get as many of them if you want to try the special stages unlike in Advance 2 where you only have one shot to do it. And you can use any variable here that makes it easier for you to get them both and the best part is if you just want to get all the Chao, you can use Knuckles and he'll get them all for you pretty easily.

Now..yes, the idea of getting Chao and the SP key just to get the Chaos emeralds is still not the best way to do it..but put it this way, would you rather get special rings all over again rather than just getting the Chao once?

With more to collect and having a rewarding experience, the best collectibles of the trilogy go to Sonic Advance 3.

You gotta admit..they are so cute. :3

Which game has the best replay value?


Sonic Advance has so little with replay value. Besides beating the main game, all you're doing is just getting the seven chaos emeralds and beating the game again three more times. Other than that, you get Time Attack as well as multiplayer modes that follow.

VS mode: Play up to four players and face head-on on who wins. It even has team modes that have two players competing against the other two players.

Race: Straightforward as it is. Just race to the finish line with four players.

Chao hunt: Up to four players can play the game. The objective is to catch the most Chao before the time runs out.

Collect the rings: The same thing as Chao hunt. The only difference is that you have to get rings..yay.

And let's not forget every Sonic fan's favorite part...the Tiny Chao Garden

How is this so fun?

The only games you play are matching pair and rock paper scissors. While the game is basic, you at least can link it to Sonic Adventure DX or Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and like...transport your Chao in those games to make them participate in races and battles?

But that's the replay value of Sonic Advance. Let's look at what Sonic Advance 2 has to offer...and its a lot.

Let's get the multiplayer thing out of the way first because its exactly the same as Sonic Advance with the only difference being that Chao Hunt is not there, and the second game in the Tiny Chao garden has you controlling Cream to launch Cheese in a spring platform to get all the rings at the top.

But Sonic Advance 2 does something different here. Unlike Sonic Advance, There is a good incentive to actually replay the game. For one thing, the characters are locked so you have to make progress to unlock them. When you attempt to get Chaos emeralds for each character, you unlock something. Granted its not major but still..has the incentive. And you have to like get the Chaos emeralds to even unlock the Tiny Chao Garden.

So yeah that's the replay value you get for Advance 2. Now let's look at what Sonic Advance 3 has to offer.

Like Advance 2, you have to beat the last act with Sonic to unlock the other characters for whatever reason. Then to unlock the special zone, simply get all the Chaos emeralds. But upon doing that, you get a cheat code that lets you play just the special stages..so that's something.

Other than that, you have goal medals to get the fastest time at each level and plus there's time attack(what's the difference here?) As well as Battle which is the same as before.

What's sad here is the tiny Chao garden is removed(the horror...) But I guess you can do co-op here where each plays a different character and plays the same levels again that is in a single player which is nice.

So with that out of the way, the game with the best replay value goes to(drumroll please?)...

Now after we went through that collectible part especially requiring to get those special rings to get the emeralds like five times to 100% the game, why Advance 2?

And you're right. The Special rings as well as getting the Chaos emeralds here are some of the worst ever and is practically the main reason why I don't like revisiting this game ever. But at the same time, you have the incentive.

Sonic Advance 3 handled the Chaos Emeralds slightly better than Advance 2 without a doubt. But is that alone enough? Sure the partner system can spice up the replay value but that can only do so much and it depends on which one is your preference to play the game. 

Advance 2, on the other hand, adds an incentive to get the Chaos emeralds four times since you unlock stuff as odd as it sounds especially when Sonic Advance gave you that all from the start. And being how much speed you can get in the game, it makes going to time attack all the more rewarding.

When you play Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 3, there's no other incentive besides getting the Chaos emeralds. But with Sonic Advance 2, you not only experience the levels with different characters but you also unlock new stuff in the way. It is one of those reasons alone that Sonic Advance 2 gets the win.

What's the point of the Silhouette if the colors on the left and the design on the right make it obvious who it is? 

So at the end of the day, which game to pick? Honestly, that's up to you. As you can see, there is no winner here and its a draw. All I can say is use what I said as a piece of advice to what Sonic game you want to play on the GBA. 

If you want a game that plays like a classic Sonic game, you go for Sonic Advance.

If you want more speed and some form of replay value, you go for Sonic Advance 2. But if you want something new while still trying its best to be a Sonic game, you go for Sonic Advance 3.

Either way, all the games are great so why not play them all and decide which one you think is the best. In fact, mention in the comments here of which Advance games is your favorite and why if you can.

One of the last Sonic games with the playable cast for a while...

So there you go, another platforming topic from SPG! Until next time, this is me saying...

                                                    QUIT RUNNING AND START JUMPING!