Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

Written by Ryan Smotherman  on December 12, 2001

First Impressions: Sonic on a Nintendo systemЕ I feel so dirty...

Tweet

Comments

No, you're not on some bad trip, this is reality -- Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the greatest videogame characters ever created, will be hitting a non-Sega console. One that belongs to Nintendo no less. For everyone who is relatively new to gaming, you probably wouldn't think twice about this. However, all of us who grew up during the great SNES/Genesis wars of the early 90's, we know what a huge moment in gaming this is. Since Sega and Nintendo are developing on the same system, with both Sonic and Mario sharing the spotlight, is the Gamecube an unstoppable force? Probably. That is somewhere down the line though. Mario has yet to grace the GameCube with his Godly presence and this Sonic title is merely a port of the Dreamcast's Sonic Adventure 2, a title I had the pleasure of reviewing when it came out this past summer.

Don't you dare take anything away from it though. Sonic Team isn't just throwing the Dreamcast version onto the GameCube without improvements and extra features, like what happened with one Sega game *cough*Crazy Taxi*cough*. No, my friends (and marsupials), SA2: Battle is a whole new ball gameЕ well, at least it is in extra innings.

The first thing you might ask is Ц where does this "Battle" subtitle fit into the mix? Well, to put it simply, I'll use one word Ц multiplayer. Basically, the game will take the multiplayer options found in SA2, and give them a facelift. They are doing this by implementing a new mode of play and adding new characters from the Sonic universe. Although details have yet to be released on the new mode, except the fact that it's called УBattle ModeФ, you can expect to play as Mecha Sonic, Sonic's mechanical alter ego from Sonic 2, Choas, the bad guy from Sonic Adventure. Even chao driven mechs will be available. These characters are of course in addition to the six original ones that appeared in the Dreamcast iteration.

On the single player side of things, don't expect much of a change. You will still choose between either the hero or the dark side. The hero side of the game contains the main protagonist Sonic, his long time sidekick Tails (gay voice and all), and foe turned friend Knuckles. On the dark side we have probably the most popular character since Sonic himself, the incomparable Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic's arch nemesis Dr. Eggman (a.k.a. Ц Dr. Robotnik), and another newbie Rouge the Bat. The game itself is split into three different types of gameplay styles. Sonic and Shadow's levels are all about speed, Tails and Eggman's levels have them blasting through multiple enemies in their mechs, and Knuckles and Rouge's levels have them on a treasure hunt for pieces of the Master Emerald. In all, if it's identical to the original, expect to see over 30 action-packed levels.

Once again, Sega is showing their innovation. As Sonic Adventure 2: Battle will be the first Gamecube game to take advantage of the Gameboy Advance's link feature. Instead of the DC's VMU, the GBA will be your primary way to raise and train your cute little Chao creatures. You chao fans should be jumping for joy as the GBA well certainly be a welcome alternative to the small screened, battery sucking VMU. There is a twist to this though as you are going to need to own Sonic Advance for the GBA if you want this feature to work. However, if you own a GBA, you will probably own Sonic Advance. At least, you had better own it.

At this point, the visuals in the game look to be an improvement, though a somewhat small one, over the DC version. Textures are cleaner and the pop-up is less rampant. However, don't expect the game to look too different. This isn't exactly a bad thing though as SA2 features some of the best DC graphics to date. Then again, the Gamecube is capable of so much more than that. I have a feeling that Sonic Team will do the GC justice.