Sonic Team finally reveals to the world the Official Sonic Advance 2 Website. Packed with new information on the game, The Sonic Stadium’s Dreadknux set eyes on it the very moment it was released. We loosely translated the information on the website to give you a rough idea of what to expect in new sections of the game.
First off, the new character. Cream the Rabbit and her friend Cheese the Chao. Cream and Cheese. Indeed. Not much has been said about this new Sonic youngster, but now, as we all suspected, Cream and Cheese will be the ‘easy’ option throughout the game, should you find Sonic, Knuckles or Tails’ story too hard. Which must mean that Dimps has upped the tempo a little bit. Cream is also designed, it seems, for the ‘easier’ gamer – we mean that beginners won’t find any surprises to the game when playing as Cream, and there have also been moves included at Cream’s disposal. Here’s a rundown of them:
Chao Attack
This is probably why it’s quite easy to play as Cream – by the looks of things, she seems as manoeuvrable as Amy in Sonic Advance 1, but with the aid of Cheese in this attack, the little Chao beggar will home in on any close by enemies and render them scrap metal.
Fan Flight
Well, from what we have gathered, Cream can fly, much like Tails can usually. Via, this time around, her gigantic earholes. Nicely. Cheese will hover around you looking like a blind cat while you do this, so you’re not exactly unprotected. However, like Tails, if you fly for too long you will fall – and if you stop flying, you’ll fall too. The beauty is, if you ‘manually’ stop flying (well, it seems as if you can manually stop flying anyway), you can crash into any badniks on the way down, giving them a jolly good headache. Choice.
Chao Rolling Attack
This move is very reminiscent of Sonic’s Insta-Shield from the good old Sonic 3 & Knuckles days. Ah, memories… Instead of a lightning flashy thing protecting you though, you get…. Cheese! The cheeky Chao will rotate around Cream once, and will destroy any enemies in “the vicinity”. As obviously pointed out in the first sentence, this looks like an air move, but what’s the betting you may be able to do it while spin attacking too? That is, if Cream can spin attack? No, not a lot of chance of that happening, is there?
Boosts and Boost Actions
Now, we couldn’t get through all of the Japanese marketing waffle, but from the looks of things, Sonic has a new style of move too. Called the ‘Boost’, it apparently takes place when Sonic is running extremely fast for a fixed amount of time. But don’t quote us on that 😉
“When you achieve the endurance of speed, you’ll go into Boost Mode”, or something. It seems that the more rings you collect, the faster you’ll be able to eventually go – a bit like Sonic R with the Ring/Speed Booster relationship. See the several Sonic and Cream shadows there? That’s ‘Boost’ in action, that be.
You know, maybe the word ‘Boost’ on the official website is just a fancy word for Sonic being able to run really fast. But then, why the heck would they put that on the site? Everyone already knows Sonic can do a blinding job at running. So there must be something else to it. Oh, and it seems you can do your little slidey tackle when you’re boosting too. Noice.
‘Trick Actions’
Another freakishly cool aspect that has been mentioned on the website about the game is the introduction of a thing dubbed “Trick Action”. In English, this may end up just like an extra attack that each character has, because that’s what the screenshots seem to suggest.
But, like Sonic Adventure 2 before it, it could also mean the start of some combo-racking opportunities. The first screenshot shows Sonic’s Trick Ability, called the Hamming Top. During this move, Sonic spins in all sorts of directions, with the swishy swishy stuff making it look like Sonic’s doing something cool. You can damage nearby enemies with this too, it seems.
The second screen details Cream’s Trick Ability, which we may have mentioned a little bit about beforehand. This is called the Software Bonn Bar (as if that’ll be the name when it arrives on our shores, come on ^_^). Remember when we said that when Cream was flying, she can ‘stop’ and fall, attacking enemies on the way down. Well, this may well be it – the pesky rabbit practically ‘sits’ on enemies faces… hmmm…
Tails’ extra move is titled the Back Rotor, and looks like some kind of backup manouevre when all else fails. It also seems like a kind of reversal to Tails’ classic flying ability – it looks like with this move, Tails can effectively ‘hover’ over obstacles. Nice.
Finally, Knuckles’ Ability Move, and you can all recognise what this is? See? Knuckles is so happy he’s got to carry a move over from Sonic Adventure 2. Well, three guesses what this is going to be called… yes… the Drill Claw. Weird, seeings as that was once Rouge’s move. But still… You should know how Knux will move while executing this move, and it damages the bonces of enemies too. Not sure if you can ‘dig’, but we doubt it.
Special Stages
YES, YES!!! The most exciting part of the game (except for the freebie Sonic Team are giving away – check below)… the special Stage. This is proving to be more in line with Sonic CD than with any of the other Sonic platformers. And we have the INFO on what happens!!! Basically, you’ll find 7 ‘Special Rings’ within each Act (check the first screenshot above to see what these rings look like). You must collect all of these in the Act if you wanna go anywhere else, Jack.
Go and get them all, and you’ll be given a chance to take a bash at the Special Stage once you clear the Act. Once in, the task is to collect the Quota of rings stated at the top of the screen. There are three sections to each Special Stage, where the Quota of rings gets much higher after each one.
It’s also a lot tougher than it sounds, because… Guess who’s back? Back Again? Yuppers – it’s none other than ZERO from Sonic Adventure (you know, the skanky robot that kept chasing Amy). He’ll come after you, as he has been assigned by Eggman to protect the Chaos Emeralds. If you touch him, you lose rings, naturally. And THAT is what the yellow spheres are for, ladies and gentlemen! They are a tally of how many ‘Special Rings’ you have collected over each act! I thank you, I thank you… oh, never mind. Check the screens above for more gorgeous ZERO-ness.
The Sonic Super Seal
Now, we MUST talk about this people! This, if you don’t know yet, is called a Sonic Super Seal. It looks like some kinda sticker, but it sure looks like a collectors item. HEED THE WORDS OF THE SONIC STADIUM, PEOPLE! Unfortunately, this Seal will only be available to people who pre-order Sonic Advance 2, or to put it in the Japanese translation webserver: “Because is benefit only of the first production amount, ahead of time!”. Alrighty then.
Anyway, we’re telling you now, you’ll want one of these, and they may not be available to fans in the UK and North America.
Final Thoughts
Now, I think you’ll agree, Sonic Advance 2 is worth the wait, and THEN some! Dimps has done a fantastic job updating the seemingly cruddy level design of Sonic Advance 1… because – oh we forgot to tell you – we saw the game in motion! For real! And it does run so silky smooth, you’ll feel your eyes melt.
Loops that are reminiscent of the complexity of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, right from the first level. In fact, the first act kinda reminds us of Mushroom Hill for some bizarre reason… and the little animation they have before they start the level… Sonic for instance, acts like he would in an olympic 800M race – warming up and doing the ‘Ready, Set, GO!’.
Keep your eyes on this one peeps, because it seems that this is where Sonic Team’s attention’s been wandering while they’ve been throwing out Sonic Mega Collection. This is one Sonic game you won’t believe! We’re out to drool now… *gargle*