General Mechanics

Spin Dash

When you are standing still, press and hold the D-pad down, then tap A once or twice. Release the D-pad to blast off in a burst of speed. Two tap spindashes are faster than one tap, though there are instances where one tap dashes can be useful. Amy cannot spindash.

Slope Jump

When floors are not level, the incline affects the angle and speed of your jumps. When jumping off an uphill incline, the character will go much higher but not as horizontally far. When jumping off a downhill incline, the character will not gain much height, but will gain much distance (and sometimes horizontal speed).

Loop Jump

A variation on the Slope Jump, which takes place inside a loop. If you enter a loop from the left and jump from its top left, you catch the next corner of the loop and are propelled off, gathering more momentum than usual. You get the same effect if you jump from the top right of a loop after entering it from the right.

Aerial Speed

Sonic Advance 3 is different in that when in the air, your character will accelerate much more quickly than on the ground, even when ascending. This means that one of the best ways for most teams to accelerate (aside from Sonic's Tag Action) is to do a 2-tap spindash, then immediately jump.

Rails

Your character will always land on a rail first try (exception is at specific angle changes, this is seemingly random). However, the moment you jump off that same rail, you can't land on it again. If you want to get off of a rail, just jump again. If you want to land on it, try to aim for spots that aren't angle changes.

Tag Action

The Tag Action is the unique feature in this game that differentiates it from all other sonic games, and adds another layer of depth in execution. This mechanic has so much depth that it deserves an entire section to itself in this page.

In a given team, the second character has the ability to perform a supporting action for the lead character, called the tag action. To perform a tag action, start holding the R button. After 1.5 seconds, the support character will automatically jump into the lead characters hands, and you can release R to perform the tag action at any time after this happens.

While charging a tag action, if the charging animation is interrupted, but R is still held, then the tag action will begin charging as soon as possible, except it will only take 1 second to charge. This is a VERY important mechanic to understand and take advantage of. Interrupting the charging animations includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Taking damage
• Running up a wall or through a loop
• Running through a spiral
• Attacking
• Grabbing a pulley

For example, suppose you need to have a tag action charged as soon as possible after coming out of a loop, but 1.5 seconds is too much time. If you start charging after coming out of the loop, you'll end up waiting a bit to finish charging before using it. However, if you charge before entering the loop, keep holding R, have it canceled by running through the loop, then it will only take 1 second to charge upon exiting the loop, saving 0.5 seconds over otherwise.

What the tag action is depends on two things: who the support character is, and whether it is used on the ground or in the air. Here is a list and analysis of all the tag actions for each support character.

Sonic

Ground Tag Action

Give the lead character a sudden burst of speed forward and puts him/her in boost mode.

Air Tag Action

- Same as ground, but in the air.

Both of Sonic's tag action actually puts the lead character on an invisible grounded boost pad for one frames. This means that by pressing A the frame R is released, the lead character can jump in the air. This can be pause buffered by charging the tag action, pausing, letting go of R and holding A, then unpausing while continuing to hold A.

It's also important to note that by rolling or jumping the frame this tag action is used, the lead character actually goes faster than otherwise. As a result, it's generally best to always either hold down to roll while releasing R, or buffer a jump from the tag action, though there are a few cases where having lower speed helps.

Tails

Ground Tag Action

- Toss the lead character up and slightly to the side.

Air Tag Action

- Fly and carry the lead character.

Tail's ground tag action is similar to Amy's in that it's purely a height gainer. His ground tag action gives a bit more height than Amy's, but sends the lead character to the side (hers sends the character straight up) which depends on the situation. A disadvantage to this is that the lead character cannot perform any air action after being tossed, until landing; this includes charging another tag action.

Knuckles

Ground Tag Action

- Tossed forward by the lead character as a power attack.

Air Tag Action

- Glide and carry the lead character.

Knuckle's tag actions are generally not very useful for speedruns as his ground tag action does not do any extra damage than normal attacks, and being carried by knuckle's glide isn't useful either since Sonic's air tag action works better for horizontal distance.

Cream

Ground Tag Action

- Give the lead character control of Cheese. Pressing B commands Cheese to attack.

Air Tag Action

- Same as ground, but in the air. Also gives the lead character an upward boost.

Cream's air tag action is unique in that it directly amplifies the lead character's vertical velocity. If used at the peak of a jump, the lead character will get some height. If used at the start of a jump, the lead character will gain a lot of height (though not as much as Tails/Amy's ground tag actions). If used off a spring, the lead character goes flying. While Cream's air tag action doesn't give as much height as Tails/Amy, it makes up for that with giving the lead character a lot of horizontal movement during the jump. As a result, this is more versatile.

Amy

Ground Tag Action

- Shoot the lead character straight up with her hammer.

Air Tag Action

- Same as ground, but gives significantly less height.

Amy's tag action is useful in that she tosses the lead character straight up. While her ground tag action gives slightly less height than Tail's, the lead character can immediately start charging another tag action while in the air, which has its advantages. This also applies to her air tag action.