I think Sega is unsure of a lot of things. Yes, yes, you can nominate that as "Understatement of the Year," but it’s something I was thinking about. There’s the fact that they couldn’t keep the wonderful Dreamcast above water, the fact that they’ve dropped out of the console wars (at least for a while), and, more relevant to this article, the fact that they seem confused about what to do with their mascot and his games.

As any hardcore gamer that was playing in the 90’s could tell you, there was a little feud (or was it a marketing ploy?) between Sega and Nintendo. More specifically, the Genesis and the Super Nintendo. Nobody had both. Well, yes, I’m sure some kids had both, but most people had one or the other. And the arguments between Sega fans and Nintendo fans were intense. Ridiculous, perhaps, in hindsight, but intense. I was all about Sega. I espoused the superiority of Blast Processing, darker games and, of course, Sonic over Mario. Back then, Sonic wasn’t just a video game character. For a lot of people he represented rebelliousness and creativity. I bought Sonic 2 the day it came out. Same with Sonic 3. Same with Sonic and Knuckles. That’s where it peaked; that’s where the Sonic Team topped themselves. The ingenuity behind making a game that could piggy-back onto the previous games in the series and allow the user to explore previously inaccessible areas with a new character was astounding. You better believe I played the first three Sonic games all the way through again with Knuckles.

Well, it’s been mostly downhill from there. Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D were released, and were less than good. Sonic CD was good, but it wasn’t enough to stop the plunge that Sonic games took (and not that many people had Sega CDs to play it on). Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast was great looking and had awesome music but for some reason wasn’t that fun. Sega added characters in an attempt to attract new gamers with characters like Amy and Big the cat, but they were lame and generic. So you would think that games which echo the glory days of a 2D Sonic doing loop-de-loops and fighting Dr. Robotnik (later named Dr. Eggman…ugh…) with speed and an attitude to match would be welcome.

Well, it was. Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2 were fun games done in the old 16-bit Sonic style. With Sonic Advance 3 coming out, though, my first thought is "Hasn’t this game has been played already?" I mean, the levels will be a little different, and the bosses will be a little different, but is this what we’re left to hope for? Would Sonic fans rather watch Sonic do the same old shtick rather than evolve into something that hardly resembles Sonic? I don’t know. I’m not sure that the side-scrolling Sonic games will ever get old, per se, but I must admit that it depresses me slightly that in this age of innovation, where there are seemingly no limits to what games can strive for and accomplish, Sonic can’t adapt. Mario’s done it, in many different forms. From Mario Party to Paper Mario to Mario Golf, Nintendo has taken their mascot through potentially dangerous territory and emerged triumphant almost every time. They took Mario from his very familiar 2D environment and placed him in a new and strange 3D world with Mario 64, and the gaming world is better because of it. What does Nintendo know that Sega doesn’t?

Well, regardless of my disappointment in the Sonic Team’s failure to make a next generation Sonic game that is both new and yet still reminiscent of the classic Sonic experience, I do admit that the Sonic Advance games are a blast, and Sonic Advance 3 looks to be no exception. In fact, contrary to my initial concerns about yet another Sonic Advance game, it’s looking to be a somewhat new and refreshing game experience. The levels are beautiful, the character models, while updated, are still very familiar, and in fact look very good. What sets this version of Sonic apart from the other side-scrollers is that there is a teamwork element infused into this game. You can play as one out of five different characters, and can then choose one more to be your sidekick as you try to stop Dr. Robotnik (I refuse to call him Eggman) and his new super strong robot from getting the 7 chaos emeralds. I have only seen parts of the game that show Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy (although I believe they changed her name now), so I’m not sure who the fifth character is.

Using your teammate you can explore different parts of the levels that you’ll play through, somewhat akin to the action in Sonic Heroes, although perhaps more like playing Sonic 2 or 3 with Tails at your side. You can count on Tails flying, Knuckles climbing and punching, and Sonic racing a full speed, so at least you’re guaranteed three good gaming experiences. Plus, using the link cable, you and three friends can battle each other in some 2 vs. 2 action. Sweet!