Sonic Advance/Gameplay

Sonic Advance attempts to play as a classic Sonic platformer, adopting many elements from the Genesis era Sonic games while incorporating newer elements from the Dreamcast Sonic games to keep the formula fresh. Along with the three classic main characters established in Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Sonic 3, Advance adds a new character introduced in the Genesis era, now playable for the first time. As is usually the goal in Sonic games, collect rings, find the seven Chaos Emeralds, speed through a variety of zones, and take down Dr. Eggman.

Characters

There are four playable characters in Sonic Advance: Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, and Amy Rose. For basic controls, see the controls page. For details on their specific move sets, click on the image of that character. Use the advantages of the different characters to find the Chaos Emeralds laid out within each zone and go for the good ending!

Items

Image	Name	Purpose
	Ring	The blood of our heroes. These allow you to take damage. End up with none and you'll lose a life in one hit. Every hundred collected gives you an extra life. Get hit and your collection will scatter, giving you a brief moment to pick up as much as you can of what you've lost.
	Item Box	Hop onto one of these for a treat. Possibilities include 5-40 Rings, a Barrier which protects you from one hit, a Barrier which attracts rings, a temporary increase in speed, temporary invincibility, and an extra life.
	Bubbles	Found underwater. Reach one to extend the time you have to get back to the surface.
	Dash Panel	Pass over one of these to gain an extra boost.
	Pole	Have the hero grab onto one of these to be sprung up to their destination or boosted forward.
	Point Marker	These act as checkpoints throughout the stage. Die and you'll be sent back to the last one you passed.
	Spring	Self-explanatory; bounce on one of these for a boost up.
	Special Spring	Hop onto these to be sent to Special Stages. Finding these throughout the zones are the key to getting a good ending.

Enemies

Image	Name	Location	Description
	Caterkiller	Angel Island	Based off of an enemy from Sonic 3. They float around in the air, looking to harm unsuspecting passerby.
	Crabmeat	Neo Green Hill	Based off of an enemy from Sonic the Hedgehog. Walks back and forth along the ground, occasionally shooting projectiles from its claws.
	Drisame	Ice Mountain	Found in the underwater portions of Ice Mountain. They drill through the water with great speed, but unlike many other enemies in the game, they only travel in one direction.
	Grounder	Secret Base, Egg Rocket, Cosmic Angel	Robots that act like moles, popping out of the ground at will to surprise the heroes.
	Hanabi	Casino Paradise	Robots which bear the appearance of lizards. They roll along the ground and spit out bombs to trip up the heroes.
	Kero-Kero	Neo Green Hill	Hops around like a frog.
	Kiki	Neo Green Hill	Based off of an enemy from Sonic Adventure. Climbs up and down palm trees and throws bombs at the heroes.
	Kura	Ice Mountain	Found in the underwater portions of Ice Mountain. Swims around slowly, and occasionally guards itself with a large electric barrier.
	Leon	Angel Island	Chameleon-like robots which attack using their long tongues.
	Mirror	Egg Rocket, Cosmic Angel	Found in the later stages of the game. They open up and shoot lasers to attack; this is when they are vulnerable to attack.
	Oct	Egg Rocket, Cosmic Angel	Found in the later stages of the game. Float around, dropping a time bomb down onto the heroes every now and again.
	Penguinator	Ice Mountain	Based off of an enemy from Sonic 3. Waddles around like a penguin, launching snowballs at the heroes.
	Pierrot	Casino Paradise	Clown-bot which juggles and rolls around on a ball. It'll do no good to attack the ball; only attacking the clown will get rid of this enemy.
	Puffer	Secret Base	Based off of an enemy from Sonic 3. Floats around, seemingly harmless until it lets out its spikes.
	Rhinotank	Neo Green Hill, Angel Island	Based off of an enemy from Sonic Adventure. Charges around like a rhino at high speeds.
	Slot	Casino Paradise	A bat-bot which flies around, carrying with it what seems to be a large gold coin. Walk under them and they'll drop the coin, breaking it into pieces.
	Stinger	Neo Green Hill, Angel Island	Based off of an enemy from Sonic 2. With an appearance based off of wasps, it flies through the air, firing bullets out of what should be its stinger.
	Tento	Secret Base	A robot with the appearance of a ladybug, flying around and firing what it can at the heroes.
	Yukimaru	Ice Mountain	A robot with the appearance of a snowman. It fires snowballs up at any hero who dares to jump over it. A side-attack like a Spin Dash would be best for this one.