SONIC ADVANCE

GAME BOY ADVANCE, 2001

The first Sonic game to be developed primarily for a Nintendo console is a pretty straightforward 2D platformer that is much like the Mega Drive games, right down to the ability to have Tails follow Sonic with a handy cheat code. In terms of mechanics, grind rails are the main new addition to Sonic Advance, which have been carried over from Sonic Adventure 2. While Sonic obviously features as a playable character, he’s also joined by Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose, and they all play differently to each other as you’d expect, which greatly expands the game’s 12 levels. The minigame Tiny Chao Garden lets you raise Chao and send them to the Gamecube Sonic Adventure games, and there’s also a multiplayer mode if you can find three friends with the game. Sonic Advance also marks the first involvement of Dimps, the development team responsible for most of Sonic’s new 2D and handheld games in recent years.