I remember playing Sonic Advance with a keyboard way back when when I would emulate GBA games basically as they came out and finished tons of games that way. I don't recommend it, but it gave me an intense fondness for games I've never played with an actual controller, like this one.
Also it means that games like Sonic Advance kind of mush together in my head with their sequels. I was very confused when I booted this up and there wasn't a trick system or rail grinding really, but instead mostly a normal 2D Sonic game that wouldn't feel especially out of place on the Mega Drive.
Sonic Advance lets you play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy and Amy rules. She can't spin dash but she has a huge hammer and a super jump which allows her to take much different paths than the others who I often just end up playing the same as I do Sonic. Sonic has a really fun diving flip move now, it's hard to explain but there's just a bunch of neat animations on sonic as this game tries to re-interpret Adventure style Sonic as a sprite. In many ways this is what I still think of when I think of 2D Sonic, because it was my introduction to it after playing Adventure 2 Battle and Adventure DX on my Gamecube.
Also, this game has an underwater level that's actually pretty good and not super stressful! It's weird this game kind of feels hard to recommend because none of it is exactly unique or stand-out, but it's just very competently made, which is the epitome of GBA games to me.
