PLAYED THE SONIC ADVANCE 2 SP MOD

I have tried many a time to get into Sonic Advance 2 but found that the vanilla game just never clicked with me. Due to how hard it is to get a chance to get the emeralds I never felt motivated to learn the game and get good at handling the speed the game gives you, so I would just end up barrelling forward and damage boosting until the bottomless pits in the later stages made me give up.

This mod has honestly changed all that for me, and has elevated Advance 2 to being one of my favourite Sonic games. I think the biggest reason is the changes to the Emerald Challenge, in the original you needed to get all 7 special rings (SP Rings for short) in a stage which required taking a very specific and perfect rought through an act and a lot of memorization or following a guide (neither of which are all that fun). With two simple changes this is now one of my favourite Emerald challenges, SP Rings are both more plentiful and the requirement has been dropped to 5. Add to that some really solid Special Stages that revolve around managing ring chains and multipliers to get the required number of rings to succeed and you have a winning formula on your hands. It's not all completely easy though as you need to get a good handle of the games controls and tricks to get the SP Rings as they aren't just handed to you.

The other thing that helps is a lot of the cheapness has been removed from the game, particularly in the case of bottomless pits and enemy placement. Not enough to completely throw off someone familiar with these Zones, but enough to give the game a fairer and more reasonable difficulty curve.

Both of these things have actually given me the motivation to actually "git gud" as some might say thanks to the game not kicking me when I am down and giving me an attainable goal to work towards. And thanks to this I have discovered an exhilarating platformer that eschews the manipulation of moment present in the classic games and Advance 1 in favour of fast paced reaction based platforming with an emphasis on movement options.

So far I have only played as Sonic, and have not yet got all the Emeralds to reach the true final boss (only 6 so far), but I will certainly be returning to this game to change both of those things.

I have tried this game multiple times in the past but never really stuck with it, but last week I got a DS Lite and a few game so I decided to give it another shot.

Gameplay wise this isn't that different than the classic trilogy. Physics and other minor things aren't completely one to one, but the levels were designed around them so that isn't really an issue. I found it was a pretty solid experience until the final normal Zone (technically 2 Zones but they are similar enough that they are effectively Act 1 and Act 2 under different names). It suffers a lot from enemies and hazards that hit you before you can notice them.

The biggest problem with the game is probably Amy. She doesn't play like the others, instead she is a very combat heavy and works best if you take things slower. The problem is the game isn't designed to accommodate her, so either the level design will put you in a position where you are going too fast to defend yourself or can't get enough speed to get through some sections of the level without issues. Overall leading to a janky feeling playthrough. Thankfully you don't need to play as her to get the good ending.

One thing I initially wasn't looking forward to was collecting the Chaos Emeralds, because of their bad reputation. So I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it. To enter the special stages you need to find the giant springs hidden in 7 of the 12 acts in the game. This wasn't as hard as I thought because due to being springs they were placed somewhere on the top route, usually with a platforming challenge that is easier to spot than the spring itself.

As for the Special Stages themselves? Well depth perception is definitely an issue, but with enough practice I adapted to it. Initially I thought the stages were too hard, until I realised 2 key things. First of all if you start diving you get pulled into the middle of the stage and can get through smaller gaps than if you were falling normally. Secondly, with the trick Rings you need to do a trick right after passing through it to get the rings and not as you go through like I originally thought.

I will definitely be adding this to my regular rotation of classic Sonic games, although probably just as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles.

This game is like a strange fever dream version of the early Simpsons.

I had problems trying to play this game. Enemy attacks are poorly telegraphed which means that the bast way to fight them is to rush in get in a couple hits and rush out, but then even with jump attacks there was still a decent chance of getting hit. As you can imagine this is made worse when you are surrounded.

Maybe this game works better with two or more players but as a single player game I don't think it cuts it.

A lot gets said about the potential of Sonic 06, and this fan game really puts that into perspective. The controls have been refined in such a way to keep the spirit of the original whilst making it much more fun to play.

But that isn't to say the game isn't without issues. The camera can still be a pain at times, especially in more open areas. And the combat can be kinda repetitive after a few levels, especially with Silver as the objects he launches can still get caught on stage geometry and other objects (although he at least has a few more combat options available to help alleviate that).

This is an absolutely stunning ROM hack. It has a level of polish with the artwork, gameplay and sound that, in combination with the liberal use of graphical effects, make it feel like an official, late release, Mega Drive game.

This is a relatively short hack but it makes up for that with it's fair but difficult challenge. This extends to the bosses, which are well telegraphed and have attack patterns that are easy to learn whilst still offering a challenge.

Definitely give this one a go, there are difficult options to help you find tune the challenge if you desire them.

A game with a lot of heart and sweet passion put into it. All the characters are well represented (outside of the cast of Frontiers probably the best they have been in a long time). The plot, whilst it is lighthearted and humorous, is interesting and gives the writers plenty of room to play with these characters in a different setting.

As someone who is most invested in the characters and world of this series this was a pleasant change of pace from the main series and I hope we get more little things like this in the future (I'll even be willing to pay next time).

This is a really lovely, loss stress collectaphon platformer. No enemies, no possibility of death, just doing little things for various animal people to become a "Professional Friend'.

The cast of characters are wonderful and really memorable, with their own characteristics and personalities. As well as some great queer representation.

And all of this is threaded together with a heartwarming story that is befitting a game that is so centered around healthy and positive relationships.

This is an amazing Kart racer that holds up really well today. It's certainly not an easy one, and there is still lots of extra stuff I can do/unlock still.

The main attraction of this game is World Tour, a campaign mode that mixes standard races with other types of events (like drifting or flying through rings) that can be played single player or with up to 4 Players in a hybrid competitiv/coop mode.

I will probably dip back into this game now and again (to unlock the extra content I need to replay World Tour events at a higher difficulty to get more stars) but for the time being I am done.

Cacee is a really fun character in this game. Her punches aren't as good for combat as it may seem, they are weaker than the attacks of the main cast and can send you flying if you aren't careful.

Where she really shines is in her movement options, with here 1-2 combo offering a pair of dashes in quick succession and an uppercut which sends her high into the sky. With enough practice you can chain these moves together (along with hitting enemies with your attacks) to forge new routes through any stage you throw her at.

Aw yeah this is happening.

This is a great addition to the SRB2 cast, not only does Adventure Sonic feature moves from the 2 Adventure games but he also feels like a combination of the two, whilst still managing to feel like he fits in the game and isn't completely broken.

He can be OP, but the player is required to keep him under control when doing so.