Line #46 YMMV/SonicAdvanceTrilogy


1	* AnticlimaxBoss:
2	** The final boss in ''Advance 2'' (at least, other than True Area 53's TrueFinalBoss) is the only boss in the game to be stationary rather than [[HighSpeedBattle a chase battle]], which makes it much easier than almost all the other bosses. Though it does come off the heels of a pretty difficult BossRush.
3	** Similarly, the "final boss" in the first game (once again, not including the TrueFinalBoss) is pretty disappointing, basically just being Dr. Eggman's mobile with a few weapons attached.
4	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Amy Rose in the first ''Sonic Advance''. Some enjoyed her unique gameplay style and the new challenge she provides to levels because of it, while others disliked how slow and how differently she plays compared to the others and wished she was made more consistent with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. ''Advance 2'' made her moveset more consistent with Team Sonic (mainly because her unusual playstyle wouldn't mesh well with the speed-focused gameplay at all), which likewise divided fans on whether it made Amy play better or made her lose her uniqueness. ''3'' made a bit of a compromise by giving her back her more unique ''Advance'' moveset on her own, but also allowed the player to use her ''2'' moveset by pairing her with Sonic.
5	* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Best Level Ever]]:
6	** The best level in the entire ''Advance'' trilogy is, by most people's estimation, [[BandLand Music Plant]] from ''Advance 2''. Its bright, colorful atmosphere plus very memorable mechanics make it a huge favorite among those who play any of the handheld games.
7	** The third game has Chaos Angel, which is very memorable for being one of few final levels in a ''Sonic'' game to not be in a factory or space area, instead being floating ruins that are on Angel Island. It is incredibly challenging, has great music, and looks stunning, and it's even less cheap than levels preceding it, (save for [[ThatOneLevel Act 3]], making it feel like a worthy effort to reach.
8	** While it definitely falls into ThatOneLevel territory, Egg Rocket is also pretty awesome. The whole level takes place inside a rocket, and you have to climb up to the top of the rocket before it seperates its segment. It's a really unique gimmick that makes the level feel very tense, yet rewarding once you make it into outer space.
9	* BreatherLevel:
10	** Techno Base in ''Advance 2'' is easier than Sky Canyon before it, especially the boss battle. This doesn't mean Techno Base or its boss are ''easy'' by any means, but it has a lot less of the instant death.
11	** ''Advance 3'' has Ocean Base Act 3. The first two Acts are incredibly long and vertically designed, but the third is a lot shorter, and the only hard parts (getting crushed and drowning in an underwater section) are easily avoided by taking a different path. Twinkle Snow is also easier than Toy Kingdom and Cyber Track, the two levels it's sandwiched between. [[ThatOneBoss Other than the boss.]]
12	* BrokenBase: [[RunningGag It]] ''[[RunningGag is]]'' [[RunningGag a Sonic game, after all.]] For ''Advance'', it's the question of how accurate are the physics to the classic trilogy? Near pitch-perfect and a worthy successor? Or an inferior mockery of the classic games? The chief complaint is how weighty the characters feel in comparison to the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]] games, taking slightly longer to get to top speed and having shorter jump lengths in comparison to the first three games. Some don't notice a difference and/or consider it necessary for the smaller screen of a handheld, while others say it makes the games nigh-unplayable.
13	* ContestedSequel:
14	** The trilogy as a whole is this to the original classic games. Depending on who you ask, they're either worthy successors that stay true to what made the original Genesis games great, while evolving the formula at the same time, or they're poor attempts that pale in comparison to the classic games and have too many gameplay and design flaws to be considered on par with them. The more widely acclaimed ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' would further increase the divide, with ''Advance'' series fans considering the trilogy a worthy predecessor that indirectly helped lay the groundwork for ''Mania'' and critics seeing ''Mania'' as doing everything the ''Advance'' trilogy wanted to do without its various problems.
15	** The two sequels get this in comparison to the first ''Advance'' game. The second game's absolute focus on speed made an exhilarating experience that would later be expanded on by ''VideoGame/SonicRush'' and ''[[VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure Rush Adventure]]'', but was also criticized for making the levels feel on-rails and repetitive. The third game is especially criticized for issues like its obstacle and enemy placement bordering on FakeDifficulty and the {{Hub Level}}s being [[FakeLongevity labyrinthe and unnecessary]].
16	* DisappointingLastLevel:
17	** ''Sonic Advance''[='=]s Egg Rocket/Cosmic Angel can come off as this to some for going overboard with the hazard placement and not being as fun as the levels before it.
18	** ''Sonic Advance 3''[='=]s Chaos Angel doesn't apply completely (the first two Acts are closer to BestLevelEver), but the third Act of it is just standing on moving platforms avoiding obstacles and killing enemies every so often.
19	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Vanilla the Rabbit has little role besides being Cream's motivation in the second game, but she did star in the trilogy's SignatureScene and her design is considered attractive enough that she frequently gets to be fanart fodder.
20	* FandomRivalry: One inner rivalry has popped up between fans of the trilogy and fans of ''VideoGame/SonicMania''. Largely over which is the better direction to take the 2D classic gameplay. Many prefer ''Mania'' due to it being closer to the Genesis games both from a visual and gameplay standpoint, while others prefer the ''Advance'' trilogy due to them doing new things with the classic gameplay and not being as reliant on nostalgia as ''Mania'' was. Unsurprisingly, debates on whether or not ''Mania'''s traditional and classic approach is better than the ''Advance'' trilogy's bold and modern approach or vice versa tend to get quite heated.
21	* FirstInstallmentWins: Most consider the first game in the trilogy to be the best, largely due to its level design, physics and general mechanics being the closest to the classic Genesis games. Its sequels tend to be more {{contested\|Sequel}} by comparison (though still by no means bad), due to both titles deviating from the Genesis games in some way.
22	* FranchiseOriginalSin: ''Advance 2'' is frequently cited as the earliest blueprint for the Boost Era games, which have their own share of base breaking regarding gameplay decisions ("GOTTA GO FAST!" in spite of everything). That being said, ''2'' was an acclaimed, popular game exactly for its exhilarating speed and flair.
23	* GameBreaker:
24	** Cream. She can fly anywhere she wants to, and trivializes bosses by sending out Cheese to attack from a distance. Tails and Knuckles are too, to a lesser extent, as since the levels are primarily designed for Sonic, their flight and gliding trivializes all platforming.
25	** Sonic's air dash, which was by all accounts pathetic in the first game, is massively buffed in the sequel. Not only is the input timing far more lenient, it roughly doubles his forward momentum, making it the most efficient way to reach max speed.
26	** Some of the character combinations in the third game can be this.
27	*** Note Sonic with Cream, where Sonic can not only get a fair bit of height, gain use of the homing attack and Cheese for enemies, but also breathe underwater, without a major sacrifice to his innate abilities that you would expect as some combinations often neuter one character.
28	*** Knuckles with Tails gives not only Tails' height skills, but Knuckles can double jump before gliding, making this pair ''very'' good for exploration. (The other way around is nowhere ''near'' as effective, due to Tails clumsily imitating Knuckles' gliding.)
29	*** Knuckles and Amy is basically the same, only replace the double jump with the insane ability to spin dash up walls.
30	*** Tails with Amy improves Tails' flying speed and height drastically, and allows him to use a hammer while flying. The hammer has a much larger attack radius in midair, rendering most of the levels extremely easy.
31	*** Amy as a partner in general is very broken. At the price of no longer spinning when they jump (Which has to be done manually with the attack button), every character's ground attack is switched out for Amy's piko-piko hammer attack, granting them access to Amy's double-power spring technique using said hammer. [[NotQuiteFlight Not being able to spin-jump becomes trivial when you're soaring across the skies above the screen.]] Sonic and Amy also mutually gain a lot of speed and athletic options along with access to R-Trigger techniques. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Sonic grinds rails on his snowboard from the first game!]]
32	*** It's worth noting that Amy and Sonic (specifically in that order) essentially turns her into a MasterOfAll, combining his speed with her air options and hammer offense. There's a reason speedruns use this pair almost exclusively once she joins.
33	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
34	** The final ending in ''Advance 2'', in which we see a tear-eyed Cream [[TheGlomp glomping]] her mother upon being reunited with her after Sonic rescued her.
35	** The final ending of ''Advance 3''. EarnYourHappyEnding at its finest. [[spoiler:After losing him in ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'' to a HeroicSacrifice, Emerl is finally allowed to live happily and peacefully.]]
36	*** The PostCreditsScene in ''Advance 3'' has Cream chasing Gemerl against a black screen until she trips and hurts herself; then Gemerl comes back and comforts her, after which she gets back up and they happily run off together.
37	* HighTierScrappy: Cream is rather infamous for her game-breaking Chao, which makes defeating any enemies, and most bosses, a simple matter of hitting the B button -- as long as the enemies are onscreen, Cheese will hit them. This, coupled with the fact that her other ability is basically a copy of Tails' already overpowered flight (with the added option to cancel it at any point), gave her the dubious reputation of being basically "Tails for toddlers".
38	* ItsHardSoItSucks: ''Advance 3'' has gotten this complaint, particularly for several instances of borderline FakeDifficulty in its level design.
39	* LowTierLetdown:
40	** Surprisingly, Sonic himself gets this in these games. He was inexplicably {{nerf}}ed here, no longer being able to turn into Super Sonic in regular levels, lacking his elemental shield attacks from ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', and losing his Insta-Shield's invincibility. Add to that fact he doesn't have any truly unique abilities like the others other than his rail grinding in the first game (where it felt really tacked on). As a result, choosing Sonic makes the games harder to play than with the other characters (except for Amy). Even in ''Advance 3'' where he is made more unique, his speed and speed boost Tag Action aren't as useful as the other more exploration-based Tag Actions, with only a small handful of areas even requiring Sonic's instant speed boost; most ramps simply have their own speed booster. Averted in ''Advance 2'' where he's DifficultButAwesome once you adjust to his harder platforming, as his incredible natural speed flows very well in the high-speed levels of ''Advance 2'', and he's arguably the next best boss-killer after Cream.
41	** In ''3,'' Cream + Tails is arguably the worst team-up, as this combo inexplicably replaces Cream's useful flight for a far less useful umbrella hover and offers no real benefit to make up for it. Tails' tag actions are also rather redundant on her, since if you wanted to gain extra height with Cream, you'd just pair her with someone else and use her regular flight ability while also gaining tangible buffs from her partner.
42	* MemeticBadass: Thanks to her GameBreaker status in her debut game, Cream is often joked as being one of the series' most powerful characters and an unstoppable force of nature that can destroy entire armies solely through her pet.
43	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: So what if it defies gravity? The ending to ''Advance 2'' is arguably the most badass in the series. [[spoiler:To elaborate, if one collects every Chaos Emerald with Sonic, it opens the secret last zone. Eggman kidnaps Cream's mother, Vanilla, and takes her into space. Sonic goes Super Sonic to rescue her, and he hangs onto the capsule she's trapped in as they plummet back to earth. Sonic loses his super power, the capsule breaks open, and Sonic dives to [[TakeMyHand catch a hold of Vanilla]] while falling faster as the music intensifies. Of course, Sonic saves her, but the buildup is perfect. Sonic saving the world and foiling Eggman's schemes is all well and good, but him saving a little bunny girl's mom from a villain who at that point is just doing it out of petty revenge makes the blue hedgehog feel truly heroic in a very personal way.]] That sweet ''VideoGame/MegaManX''-style guitar riff that plays when the capsule busts open adds to the awesomeness.
44	* {{Padding}}: All three games require the seven Chaos Emeralds and a full completion to get to the TrueFinalBoss, which for the first two requires clearing the game with all of the playable characters individually as well (besides Amy in ''Advance 2'' due to being a SecretCharacter). Clearly Creator/{{Dimps}} thought that just using unique springs to reach the Special Stages in the first ''Advance'' was too easy. However, because the second game requires finding ''all seven'' Special Rings in a stage before finishing it to take a shot at an Emerald; missing a single one requires doing the entire stage over again. And the third game requires finding ten Chao in a Zone so the game will generate a special key to take a try, though thankfully you can replay stages to build up the collection rather than having to do it in one run. Only mostly dedicated fans and completionists have usually seen the true endings as a result of the excessive method of forcing play time out of a few handheld titles.
45	* PortingDisaster:
46	** ''Sonic N'', a port of the first game to, of all the things, the Platform/NGage. While the game itself runs fine enough, the vertically oriented screen makes it a ''grueling'' challenge to play due to the significant ScreenCrunch,[[note]]Pressing the # button does scale the game to fit a 4:3 aspect ratio, but this also causes the graphics themselves to become crunched, still making it difficult to see.[[/note]] not to mention the removal of the Tiny Chao Garden and multiplayer.
47	** The first game also received a Java port by the notorious {{Creator/Gameloft}} (who later created the mobile version of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''), which predicable results. The framerate is choppy and borderline unplayable on most phones. Secondly, the soundtrack was changed to cheap MIDI arrangements, with the classic boss themes in X-Zone being replaced with music from ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4 Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I]]'' not helping its case. Other issues include the controls being mapped to a virtual D-pad, and missing visual and sound effects. You're also forced to play as Sonic for the ''entire'' game.
48	** [[RunningGag And finally,]] the first game also received an in-house Android port that [[NoExportForYou never left Japan]]. While significantly more content-filled than the Gameloft port (maintaining all the characters, visuals, and SFX), it ''still'' manages to suffer from a choppy framerate, MIDI soundtrack with music from ''Sonic 4'', and being forced to play with a virtual D-pad. Oh, and Sonic's ''still'' the only playable character in this port.
49	* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: For those who didn't like Amy's much slower style of play in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', ''Sonic Advance'' had a lot of people warm up to her thanks to her playstyle in that game, thanks to it still being fairly speedy yet still incorporating her unique moves.
50	* ScrappyMechanic:
51	** Sonic's Insta-Shield lost its invincibility, and was rendered further useless in ''Sonic Advance 2'', with its level design direction and the fact that Insta-Shield is overriden by the Homing Attack most of the time.
52	** Getting the Chaos Emeralds is a large pain across all three games in some way. In the first game, it's the Special Stages themselves being awkward to do, in the second game it's having to collect the Special Rings in order to access the Special Stages, and in the third game it's having to scour levels for Chao.
53	*** In the first two games, the additional requirement to beat the game with all four characters to reach the final boss.
54	** Super Sonic being locked to the TrueFinalBoss just ends up feeling redundant. While the 3D Sonic games had the excuse of usually changing the gameplay and worrying about the added speed in the third dimension, the ''Sonic Advance'' games heavily take cues from the original trilogy, where Super Sonic was already proven to work just fine in.
55	* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Advance 2'' is a much more demanding, execution-focused game than its predecessor and has some very strict requirements for reaching the final boss. Because of these, it's often seen as one of the most difficult games in the series.
56	* SignatureScene: Ask anyone who grew up on the Gamecube and Advance era of Sonic games what they think stands out as the single most gripping moment in the ''Advance'' trilogy, and it's more than likely they'll relate [[spoiler:the ending of ''Advance 2'', where Sonic rushes to collect the capsule Vanilla's in while it's careening back down to the planet below after beating Eggman, shields the capsule with his body, loses his Super form as the capsule blows up and releases Vanilla following re-entry, and perseveres just a bit more to catch Vanilla as she's falling so he can save her.]] Does it make logical sense? Not really; [[spoiler:there's nothing to suggest Vanilla herself can't survive the fall, given her own daughter can survive a similar drop in her ending of the game.]] But is it a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome that truly captures the character of Sonic the Hedgehog, backed by the best music and visuals the hardware could put out? Absolutely. The scene is so iconic to the ''Advance'' trilogy and the rest of Sonic as a whole that people who recognize Vanilla in ''VideoGame/SonicRush'' and other media tend to do so as a result of that scene featuring her prominently alone.
57	* SpecialEffectFailure: In ''Advance 2'', Vanilla's falling sprite animation was inserted into the scene where she was kidnapped, so despite being sucked ''backwards'' into Eggman's mech, her dress and ears are all blown ''forwards''.
58	* SpiritualSuccessor: The first game is sometimes treated as "Sonic the Hedgehog 4" over [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4 the official thing]], due to its closeness to the Genesis games and introducing a playable Amy to a 2D game, just like Tails for ''2'' and Knuckles for ''3 & Knuckles''. Even in the wake of ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' and people dubbing ''that'' "Sonic 4", the sentiment that the first ''Advance'' game gets the title can still be found since while ''Advance'' had all original stages, ''Mania'' mostly reuses old ones.
59	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
60	** The theme for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymPL4gCBDvc Tiny Chao Garden]] is notoriously known for using ''exactly'' the same three notes of the first and second chords of the Underwater theme of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1''. And knowing that this game was originally released [[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance for a Nintendo console]] (it even carries an "[[SuperTitle64Advance Advance]]" title), this sounds more like a ShoutOut.
61	** The boss music from the first game sounds a lot like the ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' theme.
62	** Also from the first game, the first half of the Neo Green Hill Zone themes sounds hilariously similar to the refrain of "Edelweiss" from ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''. (The melodies do eventually diverge, though.)
63	* TearJerker:
64	** Cream's BreakTheCutie moment when Eggman kidnaps Vanilla near the end of ''Advance 2''. The fact that Eggman does it [[EvilIsPetty out of nothing but spite]] just makes it worse.
65	** The third game's ending is a meta example, since within the franchise it marks the EndOfAnAge. It (along with ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'') was the last game to star the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' voice cast before 4Kids Entertainment took over dubbing[[note]]although Creator/RyanDrummond has since returned to voice Sonic in the ''AudioPlay/SonicAndTailsR'' radio drama[[/note]], and also one of the last few games released before the series' "Dark Age" in the late 2000s. As if to acknowledge this, ''Advance 3'''s credits theme has a "goodbye" sort of feel to it.
66	** Gemerl, [[AmbiguousSituation if you subscribe to the theory]] that he's actually Emerl [[ReforgedIntoAMinion rebuilt and reprogrammed by Dr. Eggman]]. Now with no memories of the events of ''Sonic Battle'', he's forced to fight against his former friends until HistoryRepeats and he's exposed to too much of the Master Emerald's energy. This time, however, he transforms into a horrible mechanical monstrosity that goes berserk and flies into space, forcing both Sonic and Eggman to have to put him down once again. Fortunately, this time he ends up surviving and is found washed ashore on a beach by Tails, who restores his original programming and turns him into Emerl again.
67	* ThatOneBoss:
68	** Ice Mountain in the first game, especially as Sonic. As an UnderwaterBossBattle with a high level of water, drowning is always a risk and jumping on the falling stalactites to make it to the surface is tricky. It's easy with Tails, Knuckles or Amy -- the former two because of their ability to swim, and [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman especially the latter]] due to her hammer jump letting her reach the surface easily, and thus completely bypass the otherwise quite-annoying process of getting there to either breathe or attack Eggman -- but not so much with Sonic.
69	** The boss of Sky Canyon in the second game, which is the only boss in the trilogy with an [[OneHitKill OHKO]] attack. And yes, you have to fight it again in the BossRush. It also has a unique boss theme for the first encounter, and it's rather creepy-sounding. [[note]]That track only plays during the first half of Sonic's encounter with the machine (known as the Egg Saucer), when Knuckles is in the cockpit, and switches to the "pinch" theme after four hits. Any other time, including repeat playthroughs with Sonic, Eggman will be in the cockpit and the normal boss theme will play.[[/note]]
70	** The boss of Twinkle Snow in the third game, where you have to ascend platforms that fall when you touch them and get them to hit Eggman. He also has a mace which knocks you into the BottomlessPit below if it gets you. Also, the mace can knock down platforms too, which screws you over if that was the one you were about to jump to. Basically, this boss functionally has ''only'' OHKO attacks, can't be hit directly or by Cheese, and it doesn't matter if you can fly or not. This is one of the bosses where Amy shines at because of her awesome high jump ability.
71	** The boss of Toy Kingdom in the third game can be somewhat irritating, as the boss [[MookMaker spawns enemies]] that can be annoying to defeat if Amy is involved, and the Gemerl bomb can be hard to dodge and can easily knock you into the inescapable pit. It generally becomes easier as the fight continues, though, as the arena space increases.
72	** Egg Pinball, the boss of Cyber Track can be an utter nightmare for Cream & Amy in the third game. Neither character can spin jump in this formation, with Amy only being able to perform a brief hammer spin, making the task of hitting the colored orbs the boss fires a challenge in patience and precise attacks. Worse, Cream's signature ability has no use here, as the boss cannot be attacked directly, nor can Cheese target the orbs.
73	* ThatOneLevel: The last special stages in the first and third games have a ridiculous DifficultySpike from the sixth stages. Fortunately, retrying them isn't that hard, but you can still expect to spend at least an hour retrying them.
74	** Egg Rocket in the first game can be a pain no matter who you're playing as, especially as Sonic or Amy, as the Zone is quite confusing to navigate, laden with bottomless pits and annoying enemy placement, and has fewer and farther-apart checkpoints than the other zones in the game. It's also timed when you enter the rocket; there are three sections with their own timer, and being left behind in one when the clock hits zero will see you get detached from the Egg Rocket and take a life.
75	** Sky Canyon in the second game can be a pain too with Sonic, as it's just as pitfall heavy as Egg Rocket. And if [[GuideDangIt you don't know about R Button Tricks]], you won't be able to beat it. And once you get to the boss, you have to hope it doesn't pull out [[ThatOneAttack its notorious]] OneHitKill.
76	** The later Zones in the third game, particularly Cyber Track and Chaos Angel, can be pretty damn evil with bottomless pits that are as frequent as the above examples and the level design. In fact, 90% of Chaos Angel Act 3 is a moving platform ride across a colossal pit with a lot of enemies, spikes and other things that will knock you off!
77	* ThatOneSidequest: Unlocking Amy in ''Advance 2'' requires getting all seven Chaos Emeralds...''[[FakeLongevity as all four characters,]]'' which would already be bad enough if ''2'' didn't have [[ScrappyMechanic one of the worst Special Stage access requirements in the entire series]] (scouring entire stages for seven Special Rings, in a largely speed-focused game). And thanks to the new focus on speed in this game, her moveset has mostly been changed to match Sonic's, so [[BonusFeatureFailure you're more or less putting all of that effort in for a palette swap of your starting character.]]
78	* UnderusedGameMechanic: Running over water in ''Advance 2''. Or anything involving water for that matter, since Leaf Forest (the very first level) is the only stage to contain significant bodies of water, and even then they're still relatively rare.
79	* UnfortunateCharacterDesign:
80	** In ''Advance 1'', the [[https://www.spriters-resource.com/fullview/28301/ animation]] for when Tails is being carried by a wind current has a single mysterious dark pixel on his behind. ''Advance 2'' removes it from the first and third relevant frames but not the middle one. Then ''Advance 3'' makes this pixel very noticeable when Tails flies away in the opening or boss clear scenes. Some interpret this to be mere unfortunate shading in the pixelart and others see it as a deliberate anus joke due to Tails being a canine character.
81	** The FinalBoss in the second game looks rather like [[Film/WizardOfOz a giant Tin Man.]]
82	* VindicatedByHistory:
83	** While the games are still rather contested to this day, their appreciation has only grown with time, especially as later 2D platformers with the Modern cast are arguably even more contested and Sega seems to favor the Classic era for newer 2D entries in TheNewTwenties.
84	** Cream the Rabbit herself was once considered one of Sonic's most annoying and useless friends, which could have been a consequence of ''Anime/SonicX'' making her look [[AdaptationalWimp far from impressive]]. Turns out she does have a loyal share of fans (her inexplicable absence in ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing'' likely being a major reason for her reemergence in the fandom), particularly among those who enjoyed how she completely [[GameBreaker broke]] her debut game in half.

Context YMMV / SonicAdvanceTrilogy