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OB1 · 18th February 2004, 1:03 PM

First screens and info! From 1UP.com:

Quote:It's understandable that Sonic Team doesn't want to mess with a proven formula. The two Sonic Advance titles already available -- both done in the tradition of the Genesis games that built Sonic's name in the 90s -- were major hits on the store shelves, sure, but there really wasn't much that changed between the two carts. The blue guy and his friends were a little easier to control, they had an odd new special move or two, but that was about it. Even so, however, you'd be hard-pressed to find many people complaining about this -- the GBA Sonics are already a masterpieces of GBA platforming, after all.
Sonic Advance 3, due out from THQ and Sonic Team sometime later this year, may help shake up the formula a bit. The newest addition to this sequel is a "partner" system, not unlike what console owners saw in Sonic Heroes a month or so back. When you start a stage in SA3, you're asked to choose a player character and a partner character from the standard Sonic stable (no new characters this time around -- or, at least, Sonic Team hasn't revealed any yet). You only control one character in each level (the guy you chose as your "player"), but your choice of partners has tangible effects on your avatar's abilities. Case in point: if you choose Sonic as your player and Tails as your partner, then Sonic will inherit a bit of Tails' high-jumping capabilities. That sort of thing. This system can give you a fair degree of power over what your character can do -- and that, in turn, can open up new routes and access to hidden items in each level.

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This partner setup is fully multiplayer-ready, too. Two players with two cartridges and a link cable will be able to play through the entire game in a sort of "co-op" mode, each exploring wholly different parts of each zone at the same time. This mode, of course, is in addition to the usual single- and multi-cartridge subgames that have historically been a staple of the series.

Another new feature (regrettably not shown in this batch of early screenshots) is the Zone Map, a heavily-enhanced version of the 2D maps you selected stages with in the first two Sonic Advances. In SA3, the Zone Map works like an actual, full-sized stage, where you and your partner run around and search for entrances to other stages -- a setup that hasn't been seen in 2D-land for a while. Think of it as a new zone, separate from all the others, and you have the basic idea.

More information on the new portable Sonic will hopefully come shortly, so be patient.

Wow, I'm really looking forward to this. The past two SA's were quite good, and with a little more improvement the series might reach Sonic 3's level of awesomeness one day. I especially looking forward to the co-op, granted that I can get one of my friends to buy the damn game.

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OB1 · 25th February 2004, 12:13 PM

Not one single person here likes Sonic? The GBA games have been really good, you know. Certainly better than the 3D ones.

OB1 · 25th February 2004, 12:22 PM

Well I'm gonna post new screens anyhow. Just for myself. Pfft.

[Image: sonicadvance3_022404_000.jpg]

Courtesy of IGN.

***A Black Falcon*** · 25th February 2004, 1:53 PM

When I do post an article I delete those "Advertisement" lines... :p

OB1 · 25th February 2004, 1:54 PM

Hahaha...

shut the hell up. :p

alien space marine · 25th February 2004, 4:53 PM

I liked Sonic as a Kid , I thought their first dreamcast game was pretty decent other then camera angle issues.

OB1 · 25th February 2004, 7:05 PM

Alright...

big guy · 26th February 2004, 1:50 AM

that sonic is just so packed with attitude...

yup...attitude...

although in one of those pictures it looks like he's packing something else...of knuckles'...

it's the 11th from the top, i think.

***Weltall*** · 26th February 2004, 6:41 AM

Hahaha.

I never played any of the Sonic Advance games.

Geno · 26th February 2004, 7:12 AM

I love the Sonic games. They're among the only games that haven't had too much of a decline in quality recently. And yes, the GBA Sonic games are excellent and this one looks promising too. So, is Amy anywhere in the game? Not that it matters since Amy sucked in the first game and probably sucks in the second game too. (I haven't unlocked her yet in SAdv2.)

***Weltall*** · 26th February 2004, 7:52 AM

Geno Wrote:I love the Sonic games. They're among the only games that haven't had too much of a decline in quality recently. And yes, the GBA Sonic games are excellent and this one looks promising too. So, is Amy anywhere in the game? Not that it matters since Amy sucked in the first game and probably sucks in the second game too. (I haven't unlocked her yet in SAdv2.)

The Sonic Adventure games were boring. :(

OB1 · 26th February 2004, 10:43 AM

The Sonic bits were fun. Not nearly as good as the 2D stuff, but fun nonetheless.

I had a really weird dream last night. Sega lost the Sonic the Hedgehog rights to this small company with a weird name that starts with an M or an H... (never mind)... because they claimed that they invented Sonic. They immediately got the rights to Sonic and decided that they were going to fix the series, first by making a 2.5 D Sonic game for the main consoles. Now I'm not sure how much of this was pure dream and how much was half-awake wishful thinking on my part, but it was still a nice dream.

***Weltall*** · 26th February 2004, 11:01 AM

:confused2You need therapy.

Geno · 26th February 2004, 11:02 AM

I've only played Sonic Adventure games in stores, so I can't make a judgment on them. I'm sure the 2D ones are better though. I always did prefer 2D platformers over 3D ones. In most cases, at least.

OB1 · 26th February 2004, 11:19 AM

Weltall Wrote::confused2You need therapy.

Are you saying you never have weird video game-related dreams?

alien space marine · 26th February 2004, 11:54 AM

Somtimes.

Geno · 26th February 2004, 4:16 PM

When I was beat Ocarina of Time for the first time ever, the months to follow were filled with dreams dealing with it. These dreams kept giving me nostalgia of the day I began the game, when everything was new to me, and so I was dying to have a sequal because of them. Then Majora's Mask came out and I moved on to other game series. Violin

OB1 · 26th February 2004, 8:41 PM

... why...

***Weltall*** · 26th February 2004, 9:55 PM

OB1 Wrote:Are you saying you never have weird video game-related dreams?

Certainly not ones like THAT.

Geno · 27th February 2004, 6:28 AM

OB1 Wrote:... why...

What, are my dreams supposed to be logical?

Or, regarding Majora's Mask, it was a disappointment, which is why I never completed the game and thus was out of the whole "sequal to Ocarina of Time" obsession.

alien space marine · 27th February 2004, 6:38 AM

I had dreams that I was Mario and Gombas were trying to super glue a shell to my ass.

Geno · 27th February 2004, 8:45 AM

alien space marine Wrote:I had dreams that I was Mario and Gombas were trying to super glue a shell to my ass.

You didn't wake up in the morning to find that you had glued a bucket to your ass, did you?

Forget I asked that.

OB1 · 27th February 2004, 10:39 AM

Weltall Wrote:Certainly not ones like THAT.

I have the weirdest video game-related dreams you could imagine.

What kinds have you had?

Geno · 27th February 2004, 11:27 AM

I once had a dream that I was Cloud and I got it on with Tifa and Yuffie--whoops, did I say all that out loud?

OB1 · 27th February 2004, 11:31 AM

***Sacred Jellybean*** · 27th February 2004, 1:05 PM

C'mon, Bee-wan, you've NEVER had a fantasy about a video game girl? I bet you've had hundreds of wet dreams about that lady who ran the bomb-chu shop in Ocarina of Time.

OB1 · 27th February 2004, 1:27 PM

Hahahaha... no. I like to dream of real ladies, thank you very much. :D

big guy · 27th February 2004, 2:09 PM

i have dreams about warcraft 3 all the bloody time. but they always involve me as a giant human being attacked by tons of tiny orcs or humans or elves or creepy things...and i have an army of my own. i guess i'm kinda like god in those dreams. it's kinda cool but i usually die.

and just the other night i had a dream that i think may have been civ 3 related because i nuclear bomb detonated and miraculously i survived the shockwave and wall of fire unscathed. which is kinda like in civ 3 when you drop a-bombs and the city is still standing there...plus i'd played civ 3 for about 8 hour that day. anyway, i'm pretty convinced any dream would have benn the direct result of playing civ 3, regardless of subject matter because of the way it enveloped my life that day...

i don't think i've ever gotten it on in a dream with a video game character, though one time my girlfriend was represented as the squirrel from spongebob squarepants and she was flying around in a little airplane. how's that for weird?

OB1 · 27th February 2004, 2:28 PM

*slooowly backs away from big guy, one tiny step at a time*

alien space marine · 27th February 2004, 3:40 PM

Nuclear launch detected.

Geno · 1st March 2004, 10:28 AM

I also once had a dream that Diamond Weapon from FF7 was real and he was attacking. Scary, but for some reason fun. (Even though I didn't have any Materia with which to defend myself.)

***A Black Falcon*** · 1st March 2004, 2:05 PM

ooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*BOOOM*

...

Yes, I can remember the Civ II Nuke Explosion sound in my head...

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