Just as good as the original!!! (Sonic The Hedgehog Advance (GBA))

Member Name: RobMeister

Product:	Sonic The Hedgehog Advance (GBA)
Date:	24/02/02 (720 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sonic on Nintendo, Great pick up and play, Excellent Graphics and Sound

Disadvantages: £35 is still too much for a GBA game

Back in the early 90’s when Nintendo and Sega were the last word in video gaming, two characters stood as proud mascots for both companies. Mario was the rotund plumber that featured in many a Nintendo game and Sonic was the sleek super fast Hedgehog that adorned Sega’s consoles. Total opposites in looks and attributes they nevertheless had a huge following with fans. Nintendo and Sega were the equivalent to today’s rivalry between Eastenders or Corrie or PC or Mac. Back then the simple idea of one mascot featuring on a rival console was both wishful thinking but a complete implausibility. It just wasn’t going to happen.

Without explaining the whole shift in videogames and their impact on society I’ll just say that with the release of the Sony Playstation, gaming changed. Whether for the better or worse is still argued by many. But what is significant is Sega slowly lost it’s grip as one of the top video game manufacturers. They still succeed at making quality games they have just had a lot of bad luck with their consoles.

So roughly 10 years since Sonic and Mario battled it out for sales and chart supremacy in games like Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega MegaDrive and Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo; we have a significant event happening in video game history. Sonic the Hedgohog is appearing in his own game on the Nintendo GameBoy Advance (GBA). If you would have said that would happen back in the early 90’s you would have probably been laughed at.

The fact that Sega now make games for rival consoles is a new but growing trend but no game so far is more significant than this.

For those of you who know roughly what I’m talking about, those of you who had those fantastically pointless ‘Sega is better than Nintendo’ or ‘Sonic is rubbish Mario rulez’ type arguments when you were at school; then you will find just to see the Sega logo load up on a Nintendo
GameBoy screen is a very weird feeling. Both fantastic in one way but also disheartening. You can’t quite help but think ‘What happened?, why isn’t there the same competitiveness in today’s gaming environment?, Why aren’t Nintendo and Sega at the top of the tree anymore??’.

Still enough about what was, let’s concentrate on Sonic on the GameBoy (still sounds funny to say that!!!). Firstly you’ll probably read this op and think. Great I’ll go and buy it, but wait. It’s not quite out yet. I saw this category in the game section of the DooYoo menu and thought I’d write about my experience with it so far. I have only had the pleasure of playing this in my local import shop as it’s not released over here until 3rd of March. So obviously I haven’t played it to death and can’t tell you everything that happens (not that I would anyway as that’ll spoil it). But come that fateful day I’ll state right now I think this is one title you should own.

So my impression?, well this is a Japanese copy I’ve played for a few hours. There isn’t a lot of Japanese text to ream through. The only bit’s I saw in Japanese is a sentence underneath the main logo and on each stage. But you’ll most likely all buy the English version anyway.

So after a short introduction where we see the main characters from the game. The Evil Dr. Robotnik: arch nemesis of Sonic; we see the four playable characters.

Sonic the Hedgehog:
The main star of the game. It’s good to see him back in a platform game from a by gone era. None of this 3D malarky. Just good old fashioned 2D side scrolling fun. Sonic is a very fast hedgehog who runs at great speed. His primary weapon is too spin which will kill baddies. Kind of like a blue buzz saw.

Miles ‘Tails’ Prower:
This is Sonics buddy, his sidekick. Tails is a fox who has two tails. H
e can use these like little helicopter propellers which enables him to reach greater heights than what Sonic can. Tails can also spin and is a very fast character.

Knuckles the Echidna:
Kind of like the red Sonic Anti-Hero. Knuckles is similar to Sonic in that he can spin to kill baddies but he can also float for short periods of time and punch evil cretins that cross his path. He also has the ability to climb walls via the spikes across his knuckles. He is an interesting character that has been around for quite a while but kind of lived in the shadow of Sonic. He also seems a little slower than Sonic, but let’s face it who can be quicker than the spiked blue one himself??.

Amy Rose:
Amy Rose is the female of the group. I guess the love interest for Sonic. I’m not sure what she is, she’s very pink and I guess she must be a Hedgehog. Anyway she doesn’t have the spinning abilities like the other three, instead she is armed with a hammer/mallet. She is one of the hardest characters to get to grips with. She doesn’t possess the speed of the other characters to get you out of sticky situations. There could be later levels where she is much needed but from the first 4 zones I’ve played I can get along quite well with the other three.

So that’s the characters. What’s the game like. Well for the benefit of those unfamiliar with these type of games it’s very similar to the first Sonic on the Megadrive some 10 years ago. The basic premise is to take your characters from one level to the next. Along the way you stomp on bad guys, pick up rings and generally have fun trying to find all the secrets and power ups hidden within the level. Rings are a kind of security for the characters. If they don’t hold any rings and they get hit by a baddie then it’s one life lost. However if they carry rings and get hit then they’ll just drop them in a spectacular shower of rings. Which y
ou then need to collect as quickly as you can.

That is the simple premise to Sonic, there is a simple story for the viewer to follow. At the end of each zone we get Dr. Robotnik as an end boss. Usually in some funny contraption that he’s built in order to try and do away with Sonic and his friends. The three end bosses I’ve faced so far are quite easy to defeat although as you can imagine they will get harder to beat. The level designs are also wonderfully wacky. From beach to pinball arcade setting the GBA does a grand job of showing us clearly what’s happenings. (Minus the inherent problem of being able to see the GBA screen of course)

Where Sonic stands out from Mario is it’s pace. Mario is a little more subdued whereas Sonic rockets around each level via speed boosters and loop the loops. All manner of spirals and slides litter the levels for our characters to whizz around. It’s a great accomplishment for the GBA, very quick with very little slow down.

Another treat is the music. A lot of it is new but certain parts, for instance when you get the invincibility power up, you can hear the classic Sonic tune (although a little jazzes up) from the original Megadrive games. So for a relatively new GBA game the sounds and visuals are all top notch. Colours are bright and bold and so typical of the Sonic environment.

As this is not out yet I would think it’ll retail at the same as most GBA games which is around £30 - £35. Personally I think this is too high for a GBA game but that’s another matter.

As a game Sonic is pure nostalgic (for me anyway) brilliance. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to playing Sonic on a Super Nintendo. It’s both great in a pick up and play kind of way but it also has a little depth that will keep you glued when you first play it. I’ll admit right now that, back in my playground days, I was on the Mario side of the fence. I’ve
always loved those games. I’d never owned a Megadrive but had played the Sonic games. I think both games have equal attributes and having been so long since I’ve played Sonic, it was great just to get back into again. Thoroughly recommended to platform, Sonic, Mario and Nostalgic fans alike. You’ll have a blast.

In hindsight I should have placed that bet when I was 10 that Sonic would appear on a Nintendo system. Oh well!!!!!! : ).

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