While there are no current plans for a return yet, Sonic Team leader Takashi Iizuka has told VGC in an interview that they would love to bring back the Sonic Advance games, if the opportunity were to present itself.
There’s currently no plans for the Sonic Advance series to be remade or remastered, but we don’t know what the future holds.
Katsuyuki Shigihara was a director on Sonic Origins, which took Sonic 1, 2, 3 and CD, and we remastered that and brought it out for fans to enjoy. And if we have the chance, if there’s an opportunity for the Advance series to also get that treatment, or whatever circumstances may pop up, we’d love to do it.
Takashi Iizuka, VGC interview
Why do people like the Sonic Advance games?
If you didn’t know, the Sonic Advance games were exclusive to the Game Boy Advance, and we’re very popular entries that people look fondly back on now. At that time, Sega was purely focused on the 3D adventures Sonic was having, so they got Dimps to make this trilogy, as well as the Sonic Rush games on Nintendo DS. Oddly enough, Sega didn’t publish the original game outside of Japan, leaving THQ to cover that in North America and Infogrames in the PAL regions.
The Sonic Advance games played in a traditional 2D style for Sonic and friends but had unique levels and themes that really made it stand out. It’s also well-known in the Sonic fandom for giving Cream the Rabbit and her chao friend, Cheese, their debut. They’re fast-moving and hectic, just about everything you want from a 2D Sonic game. By no means are these games perfect, though. The chaos emerald levels are tough to get and there are plenty of death traps that are aggravating. With some tweaks, it could be a great return.
Will Sonic Advance ever come back?
It is very strange that Sega has shown no interest in re-releasing the Sonic Advance games. They got no representation in the 3DS version of Sonic Generations, which would have been perfect, and the Game Gear of all things got brought back in the recent Sonic Origins Plus. People growing up in the 2000s loved these games, and there is demand for them to return. Of course, we’ve been saying the same thing about Sonic Adventure for just about as long.
At this point, we would say the odds of Sega bringing back Sonic Advance are very low. Unless it’s the Game Gear, Sega tends only to show love for their mainline console games. Hopefully, we can be proven wrong and someday see the Advance and Rush games return.
