Sonic Advance 2

Sonic Advance 2 is a side-scrolling platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Dimps and published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. The game was released in Japan on December 19, 2002, in North America on March 9, 2003, in Europe on March 18, 2003. It is based on a modified version of Sonic Advances game engine.

Gameplay
Basic gameplay is an improvement on Sonic Advance, with much of the earlier features intact. Compared to its predecessor, Sonic Advance 2 is faster, contains more and larger level designs, is more challenging, has a faster paced sound track, and offers better control over the playable characters. There are seven zones, each containing two acts and a boss battle, and there is a final zone at the end of the game that consists purely of boss fights. Obtaining all of the Chaos Emeralds unlocks the Extra Zone.

All characters can now perform various stunts when flying through the air and not curled in a ball (i.e. after being launched from a spring or similar). These are activated by holding a direction on the D-pad and pressing the R button. Some of these stunts can be used to destroy enemies.

Press the D-pad UP and the R button to move upward.

Press the D-pad Right and the R button to move forward.

Press the D-pad Down and the R button to move downward.

Press the R button alone to move backward.

Another new feature is shattering the sound barrier. If a character runs as fast as possible for a period of time without stopping or slowing down, they will shatter the sound barrier and leave a trail of afterimages behind them. While in shattering the sound barrier, it is possible to run over water, and the attack used with the B button becomes more powerful. The delay before reaching shattering can be decreased somewhat by collecting rings. Certain objects in the level (red booster wheels, for instance) will instantly force the character into the state. This also shows that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and Amy can run faster than the speed of sound, although this is mixed up and scrambled in later games.

In each act, there are seven Special Rings. Collecting all seven of these and completing the Act, without dying, will take the player to a Special Stage, where a player can win a Chaos Emerald. The stage accessed and emerald obtained both depend on which zone the player was in when they accessed the stage. Unlike Sonic Advance, emeralds are not shared between characters.

All bosses in this game, except for the final boss, take place while running along a horizontally wrapping area, akin to the Mushroom Hill Zone boss in Sonic and Knuckles. Rings will appear in groups of three. This format causes many attacks to be completely useless, and once the player has lost his or her rings, it is difficult to regain them as they fly off the left side of the screen.

Characters

 * Sonic is playable from the start, He can jump higher from a rail that ends in mid-air by pressing the A button in the end of it.
 * Tails is playable after Music Plant is completed as Sonic.
 * Knuckles is playable after Sky Canyon is completed as Sonic.
 * Cream and her Chao, Cheese are playable after Leaf Forest is completed. This is Cream's first appearance, with the exception of artwork in Sonic Mega Collection. She is about as fast as Sonic (she is slower), and she can fly by flapping her ears; however, this is half the speed of Tails' flight power, and still yet half as long (she can even stop flying in mid-flight by pressing the B button, unlike Tails). Cream only uses Cheese to attack enemies if you press B.
 * Amy Rose is playable after the other four characters each get all seven Chaos Emeralds and clear the game (she was originally meant to be in Cream's place). Unlike in the first Advance game, Amy can use the Spin Attack and Spin Dash, She can jump higher from a rail that ends in mid-air by pressing the A button in the end of it.
 * Vanilla the Rabbit, Cream's mother. She is a non-playable character who plays a small role in the game, getting captured by Eggman. After viewing this cutscene, Sonic, with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, transforms into super Sonic and goes after Eggman to save Vanilla. This takes place in True Area 53.
 * Dr. Eggman, the main antagonist of the Sonic series. He appears as a boss in every zone.
 * Super Sonic is playable after completing the game with all 4 characters and getting all the Chaos Emeralds with Sonic.

Pre-release version
Although this game marks Cream's first appearance, her playable debut was originally planned for Sonic Heroes. Sonic Team shifted her debut game to Sonic Advance 2 to help the game feel fresher. The game was originally supposed to star Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, just as the original Sonic Advance had. Additionally, early videos of Sonic Advance 2 showcased the game with a completely different, more laid-back soundtrack and re-used character select graphics.

Reception
The game received mixed and positive reviews, but ratings showed the game was better received than its predecessor.