Gaming Target - Game Boy: Sonic Advance

Written by Matt Swider on June 20, 2001

First Impressions: Still kicking some Robuttnic on Mario territory

Over the past decade, Sonic has played the role as Sega's mascot starting with the Genesis era, back in 1991. As the company ventures onto developing for other consoles, Sonic and pals have decided to come along for the ride, and are set to appear on the newly released Nintendo portable, Game Boy Advance. In past, the Sonic franchise has appeared on Sega's own portable, Game Gear, with many sequels and spin offs, and has also landed a single title on SNK's now lifeless Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Staring in an all-new 2D adventure, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy must collect those chaos emeralds to stop that evil Dr. Robuttnic, I mean Robotnic, who is up to his no good, and fiendish plans once again. During the game's debut, behind closed doors at E3, we got a chance to witness Sonic in motion for the first time; however, no one was given a chance to play the game even though it was running off the Game Boy Advance hardware at the event. Nevertheless, the shown demo did entail a good deal of information and details of what the game should to bring us in the Fall of this year. When progressing through the game, playing each of the four characters, players will be able to pull off many new moves, for example Sonic's rail-grind, which you can also find in Sonic Adventure 2 for Dreamcast.

Much like the speed we have known the Sonic character to boast over the years, Game Boy Advance seems capable of keeping up, packing swift 2D scrolling action through each of the levels and multiplayer modes. Yes, you heard correctly, Sonic Advance will include some addictive multi-player mayhem, utilizing the link cable for such games as the Chaos Emerald Hunt and head-to head battles.

Although the Sonic Team greatly stressed that this Sonic title was a brand new adventure, you won't have much worry about when you meet up with many of the traditional enemies, such as a final battle with Super Sonic, and learn that many of the classic elements of gameplay from the our numerous Genesis and Game Gear encounters with the blue ball, have returned as well. Come November, we will all be to busy collecting rings, gathering chaos emeralds, warding off enemies, blasting through and uncovering hidden areas, all while being indulged in Sonic Adventure's super smooth framerate.