Sonic Advance 2/General Mechanics

BUTTONS:
A:

• Makes the character jump. In air Sonic does a moved referred to as "Instant Shield" which makes him do a forced attack while in his ball form. Tails and Cream both fly when using the A button in the air. However Tails can fly noticeably further than Cream. Knuckles glides forward in a slow descending line and will stick to walls in his path. Amy spins her hammer around her in a similar manner to Sonic's "Instant Shield".

B:

• The attack button. Sonic does a sliding kick along the ground the halts all momentum. In air sonic immediately stops all forward momentum and curls up into a ball. He then proceeds to slam into the ground allowing him to break blocks on the ground. Tails does a tailspin in front of him slowing his momentum considerably. The button has no affect in the air. Cream sends her chao, Cheese, to attack a nearby enemy. The move can also be done in the air, and will also cancel her fly if she is doing so. Knuckles does a double punch in front of him while taking 2 steps forward. The move halts all momentum in the process. Amy slams her hammer in front of her. In air Amy spins her hammer horizontally around her, while falling to the ground like sonic.

• The characters also have grounded B actions while in "boost state". Sonic does the same sliding kick but it instead has a aura around it, and he keeps most of his momentum after doing so. Tails does the same attack while losing very little momentum. Cream has Cheese spin around her as an attack. Knuckles does a helical thrust forward while losing some momentum. Amy does a face plant losing a little bit of speed, but proceeds to run while preserving boost state.

<^v>:

• Moves the character around. Holding up does a "taunt" of sorts, and pressing down while moving puts the character in a roll, which either needs to be jumped out of or the character must come to a stop to exit. Also holding down and hitting A while standing still will make the character do a spindash propelling them quickly forward from a standstill.

R:

• Trick button Only available in air after jumping off a ramp or bouncing off a spring.

• Sonic does a spin kick if you use R+</>. R+^ yields a double jump, which allows you to reach higher areas. R alone will send Sonic flipping backwards, while R+v sends Sonic into a bounce attack that's just about worthless except perhaps in score attacking. Amy's set is almost identical to Sonic's.

• Tails and Cream have similar sets as well. Their R+</> tricks both send you on a slightly upward angle while still going right, which is helpful on some occasions. R+^ yields the same double jump, while R alone has a similar "flip back." R+v is different for each; Tails does a slam downward propelled by his tail, and Cream does her "butt stomp" move.

• R+</>: Knuckles goes into a fast-descending, uncontrollable glide which ends in a tumble. Knuckles ends up rolling, slowing him considerably. R+^: Knuckles does a midair uppercut. You get roughly the same upward boost as the other characters, but you can only move after you reach the peak of the jump. R+v: Knuckles does a helical fist attack towards the ground allowing him to break brick floors to open new passages. R alone: Knuckles sticks out his elbow and flies straight backwards, is able to defeat enemies, and is able to run normally afterwards.

BOOST STATE:

The most important thing to go fast in this game. Gameplay is completely centered around keeping it for as long and as early as possible. Boost state is obtainable by either running a far enough distance, hitting a boost pad, or hitting some horizontal springs. Boost state in turn is lost by hitting a wall(hitting a wall in the air does not lose you boost state so long as you are able to have appropriate speed when you land on the ground), landing on the ground while going to slow or going to slow in general, or hitting an enemy. One thing to about the boost state is that the more rings you have the easier it is to build up speed, and also makes the distance to enter boost shorter. In quite a few levels this is manipulated to get boost before some crucial areas allowing for faster movement.

AIR-DASH(Sonic only):

The most ridiculous mechanic in this game. It's easily abused allowing you to gain ridiculous amounts of speed quickly. Sometimes so fast that you can actually go faster than the game screen is set to scroll. The reason this happens is because doing an air-dash removes all friction from sonic in the air, so he does not slow down. To perform an air-dash you need to be in the air and then quickly double tap forward: A > >. Another way to do it that is faster is to jump in the middle of the 2 forward inputs: > A >.

STARTS:

At the begging of every level is the starting countdown. If you hit and hold forward when the announcers says "GO" (roughly a 3 frame window) you will get a boost and be able to save a second or two.

SLOPES AND JUMPING:

Slope use is also a huge part of this game, and knowing how to use them is your biggest friend. It's very hard to explain on paper so a video will be posted here in the future: (https://www.youtube.com/user/znubzx).

ROLLING:

A smaller part of the speedrun but a very useful trick that saves bits of time along a whole level. Rolling is Primarily used to gain speed on downward slopes. Rolling however is not useful on upward slopes because you do not gain any speed by holding forward, and it is solely based on momentum. Its helpful in loops but is only optimal on the downhill side of the loop. Rolling is sometimes also used to get into small areas that you can't normally get through while standing. Also rolling is a form of an attack so you can roll into and through enemies and boxes without losing speed, or having to go around them.

MISC CHARACTER TRAITS:

Sonic can jump off the end of a rail doing a flip. He is then able to trick as if he has jumped of a ramp or spring. Tails will defeat enemies above him if he is flying and collides with them. For Cream, Cheese will not attack if you spam the B button. The action is on a cool down of around 4 seconds. Knuckles "taunt" replicates his B attack, and it also hits enemies. Amy can do a cartwheel off a rail in a similar manner to sonic allowing her to trick.