is a 2002 platform game developed by Dimps and published by Sega for the Game Boy Advance. It is an installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the sequel to 2001's Sonic Advance. The story follows Sonic as he sets out to save his friends and retrieve the seven magical Chaos Emeralds from Dr. Eggman. Gameplay consists of the player completing various levels as one of five characters, each with their own unique attributes. After each zone is completed, the player faces Dr. Eggman in a boss battle.
Development began in February 2002 and lasted eight months. Sonic Advance 2 was programmed using an updated version of the original's game engine and the team aimed to make the game larger and faster-paced than the original. Sonic Advance 2 was released to positive reviews; critics praised the updates made over the original Advance and its improved replay value in comparison to past games. Some journalists, however, disliked its high difficulty level. A sequel, Sonic Advance 3, was released in 2004. Sonic Advance 2 was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in February 2016 in Japan.
Gameplay
thumb|left|alt=Gameplay screenshot showing Sonic fighting the EggHammerTankII, the first of the game's several auto-scrolling bosses.|Gameplay screenshot showing [[Sonic the Hedgehog (character)|Sonic fighting Doctor Eggman]]
Sonic Advance 2 is a side-scrolling platformer similar in gameplay and style to the original Sonic Advance (2001). The player controls Sonic the Hedgehog, who can unlock three other playable characters: Cream the Rabbit and her Chao named Cheese, Tails, and Knuckles the Echidna after defeating Doctor Eggman in specific boss battles. The player collects rings as a form of health; when the player is hit by an enemy or obstacle, their rings bounce in all directions, and can be recollected before they disappear. Each character starts the game with three lives, and will lose one if they are hit without carrying any rings, fall into a bottomless pit, crushed, drown, or fail to finish the act within 10 minutes. Other game modes include a "time-attack" mode where the player tries to beat a specific act in the shortest amount of time, and a multiplayer mode, where players can race each other through unlocked acts. The game also marks the first appearance of Cream the Rabbit in the Sonic series; the character was originally designed for 2003's Sonic Heroes, though she was added to Advance 2 before the release of Heroes to help make the game easier for beginning players.
The game's musical score was composed by Yutaka Minobe, Tatsuyuki Maeda and Teruhiko Nakagawa. Sega announced Sonic Advance 2 on July 1, 2002, and showcased it at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2002. and in Europe on March 21, 2003.
The game was published by Sega in Japan and Europe (with Infogrames as distributor for the latter) and co-published by THQ in North America. The game was re-released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan on February 24, 2016.