Sonic Advance 3

Sonic Advance 3 is the third game in the Sonic Advance series, known for putting two characters together as a team akin to Knuckles' Chaotix and Sonic Heroes. It's also the most polarizing game of the trilogy due to its level design. Notably, this is the last Sonic game to feature the English voice cast that was used from Sonic Adventure onward.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info

Unused Graphics#

Artwork	Description
	Animation of Sonic performing a trick on his board while rail grinding when paired with Amy, an action he never performs in-game.
	Animation of Sonic jumping off a rail on his board when paired with Amy. Although the sprites are used in a separate animation, this looped version goes unused.
	Leftover animation from Advance 2 of Sonic performing an aerial trick after after launching off the edge of a rail, an action he cannot perform in-game.
	Leftover animation from Advance 2 of Cream performing her Chao Rolling Attack, a move she cannot perform in-game.
	Leftover animation from Advance 2 of Cheese performing his Sweet Roll Mid-Air Trick. While Cream can perform this move when paired with Amy, unlike in the previous game, Cheese does not use his corresponding animation.
	Frames of Tails turning around while using his High Propeller Flying move. Only the first frame is used for this action in-game before the move's entire animation is replayed from the start.
	Alternate/early animation of Tails after winning a round in the Special Stages. It also serves as an updated version of his Act 2 victory animation from Advance 2.
	Unused animations of Knuckles hanging from and climbing over the top of a wall after reaching it with his Dash Climb move when paired with Amy. Note: The black silhouette sprites are how the first animation appears after raw extraction due to having an unset palette.
	Unused alternate animation of Knuckles performing a spin, differing most noticeably in its first four frames. It is likely related to the previous animations and the unused Dash Climb mechanic, as the sprites are located directly after them in the game's data.
	Leftover animation from Advance 2 of Knuckles reaching a wall while gliding. In-game, only the static frame is used.
	Unused animations of Knuckles hard-landing after gliding, wall-climbing, and performing his Spiral Upper attack. Unlike previous games, he regains full control immediately upon touching the ground after gliding or climbing. The landing animation for his Spiral Upper attack went unused in Advance 1 as well.
	Leftover animation from Advance 2 of Knuckles performing his Big Air Mid-Air Trick, accompanied by the separate flame animation. Unlike in Advance 1, his Spiral Upper attack uses a different flame effect that is incorporated directly into that animation rather than being displayed separately.
	Animations of Tails and Amy performing an unidentified mid-air spinning move.
	Animations of the entire playable cast hard-landing after using a spring. For the third consecutive time since Advance 1, these animations were updated but ultimately left unused.
	Alternate versions from above, showing the characters landing while carrying their partner character.
	Animations of the entire playable cast turning around while running and carrying a partner. No animation is used for this action in-game. Notably, Knuckles is shown wearing Sonic's shoes.
	Frames of Sonic, Cream, Knuckles, and Amy turning around while being carried by Tails during flight. No animation is used for this action in-game.
	Animations of Sonic, Cream, Tails, and Amy hanging onto Knuckles while he glides at high speed. Only their first normal version is used for this action in-game.
	Leftover animations from Advance 2 of the entire playable cast being hit while running at full speed, along with their unused hard-landing animations. This behavior does not occur in-game.
	Leftover animations of Sonic, Cream, Tails and Amy performing their Quick Reverse Mid-Air tricks from Advance 2, actions they cannot perform in-game.
	Leftover animations from Advance 2 of the entire playable cast running, originally used in Leaf Forest Zone Act 2. This behavior is not seen in-game.
	Leftover animations from Advance 2 of the entire playable cast floating, originally used in Sky Canyon Zone. This behavior is not seen in-game.
	Leftover animations from Advance 2 of the entire playable cast spinning while hanging from a pole, originally used in Egg Utopia Zone. This behavior is not seen in-game.
	Animations of the entire playable cast landing after being hit during a Special Stage. No animation is used for this purpose in-game.
	Animations of the entire playable cast turning around after completing their Special Stage victory animations. This behavior is never seen in-game.

A level select preview graphic for Altar Emerald. This zone cannot be accessed via the Sonic Factory, Time Attack and VS Race, so this graphic goes unused.

The following content may induce seizures and has been hidden by default. Click to reveal:

Some small numbers which can be found at 0xD9AAA0 in the ROM, right before the character selection graphics.

By digging around in the game's internal data, there are graphics for Act 4, that suggest that this game was going to have 4 acts instead of the usual 3. However, this was never implemented for unknown reasons.¹

Unused Music#

The two songs listed below can be heard in the Sound Test.

Intact Music 1#

This track is found at entry #17. This could have been intended to play in a hub area given its close proximity to tracks for other hub areas.

Intact Music 2#

An extended version of the Final Clear jingle heard after beating the final boss. It is found at entry #47.

Truncated Music#

These two songs are used in the cutscene that happens after beating Altar Emerald as Sonic with all the Chaos Emeralds, but due to the nature of the cutscene, large portions of them cannot be heard in normal play. You can listen to the entirety of these songs in the Sound Test.

EX Demo 1#

Only the first 18 seconds are played before it's interrupted by the next song, cutting out 58 seconds from normal play. It also loops.

EX Demo 2#

The cutscene ends after the first 22 seconds have been played, making the remaining 43 seconds go unused. It also loops.

Unused Sounds#

This is an unused voice line of Knuckles saying "Cool!", which would've played if he were to do a trick. However, for unknown reasons, he is incapable of doing tricks with any character that's paired with him, therefore, this voice clip goes unused. It is listed in the sound test as #108.

Here's the Japanese version of the same sound clip:

Unused Metatiles#

A good number of 96x96 metatiles are unused during the game.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There's bound to be more in other zones. The metatiles for the hubs/minigames were gotten out of the way because they're all much smaller than the actual levels and thus easy to search around in.

Zone Maps and Minigames#

The address for the hub/minigame metatile data is at 0x3B4640. Some of these unused metatiles indicate that the hubs/minigames would have had loop-de-loops.

Build Dates#

There is a build date at E7E700 in the US ROM, E758D4 in the Japanese ROM, E7EA90 in the European ROM, E87FC4 in the European Prototype, and CAEB70 in the Japanese demo. The Japanese Wii U Virtual Console ROM has the exact same build date and offset as the original Japanese release.

Wed Apr 14 20:24:28  2004

Sun Apr 18 21:26:47  2004

Sun Apr 18 21:37:53  2004

Mon Mar  1 18:35:08  2004

Wed Apr 28 16:01:34  2004

Debug Save#

Not having an SRAM chip on the cartridge will unlock everything in the game. This is also the case for the other Sonic Advance games.

Regional Differences#

To do: More comparisons, specifically audio comparisons.

Gameplay#

• Collecting more rings gives the player more air control and acceleration, but in the US version, this effect is far less significant compared to the Japanese/European versions and Sonic Advance 2.
• Control is locked from the player after defeating a boss. For the Egg Hammer 3, Egg Ball No.2, Egg Foot, Egg Cube and Egg Gravity, the player regains control about 1 or 2 seconds after Dr. Eggman has left the screen in the Japanese and European versions, while in the US version the player regains control immediately when he's off the screen.

Japan/Europe	US

• This corridor, found near the beginning of Toy Kingdom Act 3, has two power barriers in the US version. The leftmost barrier was removed in the Japanese and European versions.

Japan/Europe	US

• The last Chao in Cyber Track Act 1 is surrounded by two barriers. In the Japanese and European versions, the barrier to the right is not a power barrier, meaning the Chao can be collected with any team. In the US version, both barriers are power barriers, thus Knuckles is required.

Audio#

• Due to size constraints, the game features only one voice track on the cartridge, depending on the region. The US and European versions have English-language voices while the Japanese version contains Japanese-language voices. However, the language options for the in-game text remain the same throughout all versions.
• Two sound effects were changed between the Japanese and localized versions of the game. The first is the pulley sound in Route 99, and the second is the sound of a rocket exploding in Toy Kingdom.

References#