I’m no stranger to the Sonic games. Starting my Sonic journey with Sonic The Hedgehog on the Sega Game Gear I’ve never really liked the 3D Sonic games or some of the modern takes on 2D Sonic. But Sonic Advance is the most fun I’ve had playing a Sonic game since the days of trying to beat the game before the Game Gear drained another 6 AA batteries.

Given the option I always play as Sonic. Well it is called SONIC The Hedgehog after all. But this time I played as Knuckles and holy cow it’s an entirely different game. Sonic is limited to a spin dash and that’s it. But in Sonic Advance Knuckles can glide, climb and even fight. That’s as well as the usual spin dash.

The levels are as well designed as any old-school Sonic game. Starting out easy and ramping up the difficulty stage by stage. In usual Sonic style there are multiple ways of reaching the goal with low, mid and high paths to take with secrets to find in almost every level. With each stage culminating in a boss battle that is tricky but not overly difficult. Mostly.

None of the levels give you much trouble except for the last one. It’s long, very long and easy to get lost in and run out of time. The game manages to stay challenging without becoming frustrating though.

So if you have the means to play this game you absolutely should. It won’t take long to beat it once. But you will definitely need to play through it multiple times to find everything this game has to offer.

Reviewed via emulator on a PS Vita

Where to play in 2023

Since the closure of the Wii U eShop Sonic Advance is only available on the GameBoy Advance. The loose cartridge will cost around £14 with boxed copies selling for around £35.