I imagine Battle in particular carried a lot of that time, because its nature as a fighting game meant it needed a lot more animations. (Plus the larger roster compared to the actual Advance games)
Even when I were a kid who didn't know how to articulate my feelings on a game's graphics, I could still recognize that these sprites came the closest to replicating Uekawa's dynamic artstyle in playable form. Heck, I still think that to this day, with Unleashed being the only game that has offered up any real competition.
The GBA games are easily the “coolest” Sonic has ever looked. There’s something so appealing about the silhouettes and the color palette that really makes these characters pop. This was the perfect aesthetic for Modern Sonic, which is why it’s disappointing no other game matches the attitude on display here. Frontiers got the vibe down, but doesn’t quite deliver on the polish. A lot of Shadows animations in SxS is looking really promising though. I certainly have a lot of nostalgia for this era though, Sonic sprite fight animations were unironically a large part of my childhood.
That’s actually a bit of misinformation- It wasn’t Yuji Uekawa’s art style, it was Satoshi Okano who created the art style you see in Adventure. Unless you’re talking about the art created after, like in the Rush games, Yuji Uekawa helped but didn’t do any more than Okano did.
@@orzi_gami he created initial drafts for sonic design expressing new sensibilities for the franchise but uekawa developed the characters look we see now It was a contest held at Sega between artists uekawa won the contest that's why he was the main designer for adventure Adventure was the first time we see the new designs That's what I know
@@aymenjbaili I though Uekawa just did the colors? Okano did all the inking, drafts and whatnot from what I heard. After all Uekawa's current art isn't remotely similar to the older work he's supposedly credited for.
Cream always seems to have strange quirks that has her so overpowered to cheese the game. Reminds me of Sonic Chronicles where she's one of the strongest characters you can get(but is optional to unlock) because she has a skill that can replenish your party's PP, but you can upgrade it to increase the amount of PP your party gets... INCLUDING HERSELF, so potentially making the skill free PP. At least the downside is that her health is very low, and she can only attack once lol
The GBA was in my opinion "The Golden Age of Pixel Art Animation" If the Snes and Genesis managed to evolve the art styles and art direction, then the GBA is definitely the evolution of the Movements and Animation! (Not saying that it wasn't a thing in the old games, look at the arcade games for example, the animations are amazing , but ya know what i mean!)
I've seen a lot of videos explain the differences between NES and SNES animation/art, but I've never seen anyone go over what the GBA could do that other consoles can't (or vise versa). The sprite rotation that Dan mentioned sounds like a big deal!
@@timothymclean While I can't explain how it works in technical terms, if you haven't, check out the sprite work in golden sun. In particular some of the battle animations are kind of silly to imagine are running on what is essentially a supped up portable SNES.
Being a huge pixel art sprite nerd, I always emphasize how important GBA and DS are. So many hidden gems you wouldn't believe were constrained to a handheld, not only art-wise but gameplay-wise.
As someone who's worked on and witnessed development of various sonic fangames, these dimp animations are almost always referenced, whether directly or just in an attempt to replicate the feel of them. It seems to me it's widely appreciated that these sprites are how the modern cast should be animated. This video does a great job at pointing out exactly why that is among other things. Good stuff as usual
I always thought these games looked amazing. When you said Dimps was made by ex-SNK employees, it all made sense. Old SNK games still have top tier pixel art, Metal Slug being some of my favorites visually.
It’s unreal that they got Metal Slug to look like that in the 90’s!! I remember the first time I seen that on my friends PS1. I was literally speechless
0:20 That explains SO MUCH! SNK always had good sprite quality, but seeing that some of the old members formed Dimps explains why the sprite quality in the Advance trilogy and Battle look so good!
In Sonic Advance 2, if you press jump right at the end of a rail they do a special trick animation and jump higher. Might be the animation you mention having seen Sonic do.
The Sonic Advanced series is what really made me a fan of the series. Dimps' work on the Pixel Sprites are so good that it's still used by fans to this day.
These sprites were so good that back in the day. So many people had Scene creator games on New Grounds. You could basically make your own scenes and movies
I kinda want to see Dan Floyd and This Dan -argue- discuss whether Sonic's run stages should start with a walk. This Dan likes it, Dan Floyd doesn't, and I think it would be interesting to hear each defend their opinion.
One thing I love about the Sonic Advance trilogy's spritework is how seamlessly they flow into the sprites for Sonic Battle; it's too easy to use Sonic's sprites from across all four games for all sorts of fight scenes, and I can't say I'm too surprised that people are still taking advantage of that to this day. Great video!
Sonic Advance, the whole series, is one of the best looking Sonic games of all time, and it says a LOT about what they did to make that happen. The sprite work design, the animation, the feel of these games are so timeless that it doesn't hit you right away that these are almost 23 year old games.
One thing I would like to add to Tails sprites in the Advance games. There is actually a bit of character development for him shown between games. In Advance 1 when Tails tries to do his standing winning pose does he always mess up the spin and falls on his butt. But in Advance 2 does he do the same pose for one of his win animations and nails it. Advance 3 also reflects Tails general character development since advance 1. in Advance 1 when he points you forwards does he appear a bit shy about it while in Advance 3 does he scoute a head and determinedly points forward. Yes Cream does have the best poses she is just so damn adorable. As for Classic Sonic. Yes that is kind of one of my big issues with how Sega treats him. He is kind of stuck in the 90s in what he is visually allowed to be/do. At times downright behaving as if there were no other 2d Sonic games released between 3 and Superstar beside Mania.
i watched a speedrun of sonic advance 1 a couple days ago and realised i never noticed how absolutely beautiful the sprites in the advance series are its like the universe read my mind with this video
The Sonic Advance games have such an amazing and timeless artsytle, especially 2. There's nothing more satisfying than hitting top speed and seeing that afterimage, idk if a Sonic game has ever made me feel that fast before or after that
I remember playing Advance 1 as a kid at my aunt's old house, it was always really fun to wander around and see the character interactions. A little later I got infatuated with sprite art animations on Newgrounds, with Dimps making 4 Sonic games on the GBA all in the exact same art style it ment that kids / beginning artists had probably the most decked out set of pre existing animation sets out there out of any game series up to that point in time. & frankly, it showed! A good couple of these NG animations were absolutely spectacular with their use of the characters, how they act behave and some made good use of that in the thought up stories in these animations. I hope people today will discover the sprite sheets of the Advance games again because there's still so much untapped potential.
Had no idea DIMPS was ex-SNK people, but it totally makes sense. Sonic Advance was my 3rd ever GBA game back in the day and I loved it a lot (and still do!). These games really need to be on NSO or in a collection of some kind!
Sonic Advance is the peak of animation and art style in Sonic games. I remember all the fan-made sprite comics and animations I indulged in back in the day using these sprites and Sonic Battle's.
You did a great job going into detail on what makes the Advance series so good! The characters' designs and animations being attributed to their personalities, as well as the extravagant colors for each game, are so appealing and influential. I was relatively surprised to find out how similar Sonic and Knuckles' animations are, even if it's a simple portrayal of Knuckles being a strong foil to the speedy Sonic. Their movement and harm animations look so similar outside of their heads and gloves! Heck, even Knuckles' glide sliding was reused for Super Sonic, Sonic's somersault kick was reworked for one of Knuckles' dash attacks, and Knuckles' uppercut was worked around into Sonic's Super transformation in the first game!
I really hope sega goes back on their word of pixel art won’t be a “viable” style within the future THEY HAD SUCH A GREAT STYLE WITH THE ADVANCE GAMES BUILD OF IT
0:44 There was Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic Pocket Adventure between XD Great Video! I’ve always loved the squishy spin dash revving animation as well as it’s very convenient. I wish it was in every Sonic game!
Not even 3 seconds in cus i have to say- I've been DYING for a professional analysis of the amazing sprite animation work of these games. As an animator and game developer myself going on 4 years now, I've studied the hell out of the sprite sheets for these games, and even recreated quite a few of them in 3D! Excited to hear what you have to say
Thank you for making this!! Sonic Advance 2 is the greatest Sonic game ever made, imo. 😄 Makes so much sense that Dimps has a connection to the Metal Slug games!
I've been looking forward to this one lol. The Sonic Advance games and Battle are some of my favourites in the Sonic series and I've always loved how incredible and full of personality and life the animations are, and I wish the mainline 3D games had even half as much attention to detail with their animations. W video🔥
I want to know if they actually drew these sprites out on paper and then scanned them into a computer to turn them into sprites (like they did with the Aladdin and Lion King games) or if they just drew and animated them pixel by pixel as is. This is one of the best videos youve ever done, dude. I really hope Sega gives these awesome games a rerelease some day.
Thank you! And yeah I'm not sure, they may have just been skilled enough to do it freehand as pixels, though I imagine there must exist some rough drawings to go by.
These games were my childhood, thank you so much for making this video. As much as the Mega Drive games deserve their reputation, the Advance Trilogy (and Rush games) deserve more love too for how much passion, effort and fun Dimps put into every last kilobyte of data
I think I was at the dentist around that time and one of the kids in the waiting room was playing a Sonic game on GBA. I didn't know which one it was, so I was envious.
@@IkeOkerekeNews Before Adventure he only spoke like one line, in a game that few played, and so hidden away that even most who played that game wouldn't have heard it.
This was the Golden Age of Sonic no other time would be as amazing the amount of love and care and dont get me started on the music 🫠🫠 what a time to be a sonic fan. I wish dimps still made more 2D games
Again Game developers Animations are KEY 🔑 literally have the characters react, interact with almost everything weather it's running through water or running over rocks Hell standing for a while ESPECIALLY IN 2D games literally have no excuse not to give the characters multiple Animations
Watching this makes me appreciate the amount of work that went into the character animation in these games, and makes me wish Sega would port these games to modern hardware because they look super fun (ditto for the “Rush” duology, which are also amazing games).
I love the animation in the Sonic advance games too. One bit I wish it was mentioned is that I love the animation the characters have in Advance 1 when they react to the fake Knuckles. If I recall correctly Sonic is like "Alright! Bring it!" Tails is like "Hey! Wait a minute!" Knuckles is angry And Amy is like "What's wrong with this idiot" as she looks at the player
Fantastic analysis and breakdown Dan! The advanced games are truly an animation treat to behold and in a GBA of all places! I do agree i wish Superstars had a bit more animation flourish but maybe they kept it simple on purpose like the classics? Hopefully they go mich harder for the next one! And i really appreciate you covering super sonic at the end!
All the Dimps games are pretty underrated in terms of their animations; if you want a point of comparison closer to Superstars you can look at Sonic 4: Episode 2. Similar 2.5D type of game, but Sonic and Tails are both super expressive. Especially with their ears, which is unusually rare for a franchise featuring anthropomorphic animals.
These are some of the best subtitles I've ever read despite the fact they have arbitrary line breaks in them. You don't need to arbitrarily limit the width of the subtitles just because RUclips renders them wider than the video sometimes. 0:30-0:33 moves a bit too fast for some people to probably read and there's a bad split at 0:55. The word 'designs' is part of the previous item in the list, so move it and adjust the timing as necessary. Some subtitles also linger on screen long after the sentence has ended, and there's no "lead-in" for the sentence after it. There are also some missing commas and apostrophes here and there. An example is at 1:47, where the comma should be a semicolon or an em dash. More bad splits: 1:52 2:20: split before "to make it seem" The subtitles aren't perfect, but they're still a cut above the rest whereby the lazy git has used an AI that barely recognises what they're saying and doesn't know where the sentences end. It seems like making these actually USEFUL for deaf people isn't a priority for them, and that slow readers and colourblind deaf people don't exist. WHEN THEY DO. By RUclipsr standards the subtitles are very good. Just needs a few improvements to make them excellent. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback! I tend to write my script in cut up sentences so when I paste it into the Uploader it has an easier time breaking it up and auto-syncing it, though it's not always perfect. If I find time I'll tweak those awkward breaks.
I never played the games, but wow, they look great! I especially like Amy's aerial cartwheel, and the various midair-boost animations, like Sonic's spinning kicks when going forwards, or Knuckles' back-elbow when going back.
Thanks for making this video. Such personality in these charaters. I'm glad you highlighted Amy in particular, as when i went back to re-play these games about a year ago, i found myself having the most fun with Amy's gameplay style, and just being astonished at the level of detail in her animations. (i cracked up at her impatient idle animation). I mean it's just one of these things where you can appreciate the human-ness in it. Like someone, somewhere sat down and put their heart into breathing life through this character, meticulously adding all the little subtleties that that entails. I found myself saying "man they didn't have to add that little extra spice, but they did and that's awesome". Man, that's what Sonic's all about imo. The soul, the attitude, that extra fluidity that makes Mario look like an old guy commuting his 9 to 5. This game really exemplifies these things ten fold, which makes me feel as though it's a proper follow up to the Genesis titles; something that Sonic Team themselves hasn't even been able to make feel as authentic. I also wanna point out that Cream hyper-actively waving to the camera while grinding, as if to say "LOOK MOM AND DAD, LOOK LOOK" is so freaking cute man. They really went above and beyond at making these characters feel like FRIENDS rather than just 'characters'. I'd really love to see more modern games take notes. I do find it funny tho that Sega beat Nintendo to the punch on this one when it comes to Sonic Advance vs Mario Wonder, haha.
Sonic Advance 2 was the first Sonic game I ever owned and beat. I love the sprites and animation. These were used a lot in fan flash animations and it’s no wonder why. Sonic Battle had the same sprites as well.
Awesome stuff dude! Those idle animations are so cool. I can see why you wanted to do a long form vid for these games, sooo much stuff going on in them! BEW!!!
Wow 2001 crazy to think how long ago that was.. i remember downloading an obscure video file like windows media or QuickTime cant remember to watch the E3 capture of Sonic Advance 1. It was a shocker and strange to get my head around the fact that sega as a leading gaming console titan was effectively dead since i grew up with the megadrive and nintendo was the rival (sworn marketing enemy). I remember watching the short clip over and over (as you did back then because disk space and download speeds were ridiculous pre mega) GBA/NDS was an absolute marvel of a machine keeping the 2d pixel games well and truly alive in an era the gaming industry was hell-bent on needless change. Something like a Steam deck (without wifi) was a futuristic fantasy.
I've always adorded the sprites from this game. Just kinda an iconic modern Sonic style. Makes me wish I could see other characters in this style, like Shadow, Rouge, Omega and the Chaotix.
19:50 in advance 3 if you're playing as sonic with amy as your parrtner her running animation is changed so that she has her arms in front of her at all times like she's holding her chest
Cream is cute, Cream is POWERFUL. I love how she's found her way to be one of the stronger characters in most games, either outright or implied like how in Heroes she as a child can carry Amy and Big without any issue.
The GBA Sonic games are filled with lots of great animation and expressions and it’s conveyed really well through the character idle animations, In Advance 3 when you pair Sonic & Amy together you get a unique idle and walk animation for her as your partner. Overall, SNES and GBA are the best console and handheld for providing sprites for Newgrounds Flash Animations. Anybody familiar with Smash Kingdom, Super Mario Bros Z and Final Fantasy Sonic X?
The Sonic Advance sprites are actually how I got my start at being an artist. I learned how to modify sprites in MS Paint back on Windows XP and used that to start designing OCs and making sprite comics. Eventually that started to become drawing, and making animations in Flash using those sprites, and now I'm studying 3D animation for video games and movies. I cannot imagine where my life would have led me had I not discovered those sprite sheets on the Mystical Forest Zone. They'll always have a place in my heart for that.
Something tells me that nowadays Sega doesn't want to make a game where kid-friendly characters beat each other senseless. Especially fake Gamma electrocuting others.
@@artey6671 That's weird, usually it's Nintendo the one that makes stuff kid friendly and not too violent, but with Smash Bros existing, guess that means Nintendoes what Sega's to scared to do XD
at 25:00 when you're talking about the reflections in the windows of the buildings in route99, that effect is achieved by simply having transparent pixels in the windows that show the cloud asset that's underneath the building asset
I was in highschool, and sonic advance was the first Sonic game I ever bought (though I did play my friend's/cousin's genesis versions for a few hours in the 90s)
The only problem I have with looking back at GBA - And to a lesser extent the DS, though the change had started then - spritework and animation is that it always makes me sad that those major studios that did keep doing 2d games have almost universally shifted to using 3d models for entirely 2d games by now, when a lot of these GBA titles just look so much better than even well animated 2d games with 3d models. And, don't get me wrong, indie stuff is often fabulous looking, but... Definitionally, indie games don't have the budgets available that larger studios do (even if larger studios aren't always willing to spend those budgets)
For a second I thought this was a follow up to new frame plus sonic animation epic, still excited to get more break down of the interesting animation history of sonic
17:56 small precision there. Amy & Sonic can perform tricks when u tap the jump button at the tip of the rails, that's what u saw with Amy and Sonic thus had one too. It's a backwards somersault quire reminescent of his SA2 grind trick animation
4:24 In Sonic Advance 1 only Sonic and Amy have that rail grinding feature, If not wrong :( 7:18 Fuck yes >:( 13:15 Ah, Ice Mountain Act 1 theme Is sooooo nice (-^_^-) 16:45 That's pretty cool especially because If you time going forward at the right you start running faster than normal :3
The attention to detail in idle poses meanwhile the 3D games took forever to give ones that didn’t look like a default one in 3D model software with their symmetrical stances even as they pushed for more higher fidelity CG style game models, this was maintained until 2013 when they finally gave Sonic a more asymmetrical stance. Just look at the idle pose in Generations when the camera is 2.5d to see what I’m talking about
I friggin love the Advance Games!!! thanks for checking out their animations❤ might i suggest you look into an indie game called One Step From Eden, its like Battle Network on steroids
Where was I in 2001? Not even old enough to go to school, since I was 4 years old. Living in my mom's old house. I did get a Gameboy Advance as a kiddo, though I never had this game. Still played Pokémon Sapphire like no tomorrow.
I would be so happy to get a Sonic Advance series remaster. The remaster itself more or less just being increased screen space to suit modern hardware, and an updated version of the OST preferrably by Tee Lopes on by default, but the original version still available in options. But it would be cool to get Cream added to Advance 1, Amy playable from the start in 2, and perhaps a new playable character in all three games, like Shadow or, preferably, Emerl. And Sonic Battle should absolutely be included in the remaster.
Been saying for years (decades, oh no) that Sonic and co is bursting with personality, charm and appeal. That push back on Sonics "s***** friends" from casual fans and critics of the mid-2000 caused so much lasting damage to this franchise that it's just now getting rid of. Can't wait for Shadow on friday, ir seems like the most Advance-like in its care for its characters this series has been in a long, long time. Excellent video. Will be sharing around. I even learned a thing or two about games I've played for hundreds of hours.
Thanks for the special shout out at the end :) Excellent video!
The games that launched a thousand flash animators.
SMBZ!
Also sprite comics. So many sprite comics were made using sprites from the Sonic Advance era...
The world without Sonic Advance and Mario & Luigi sprites would be hell
I imagine Battle in particular carried a lot of that time, because its nature as a fighting game meant it needed a lot more animations. (Plus the larger roster compared to the actual Advance games)
Even when I were a kid who didn't know how to articulate my feelings on a game's graphics, I could still recognize that these sprites came the closest to replicating Uekawa's dynamic artstyle in playable form. Heck, I still think that to this day, with Unleashed being the only game that has offered up any real competition.
The GBA games are easily the “coolest” Sonic has ever looked. There’s something so appealing about the silhouettes and the color palette that really makes these characters pop. This was the perfect aesthetic for Modern Sonic, which is why it’s disappointing no other game matches the attitude on display here. Frontiers got the vibe down, but doesn’t quite deliver on the polish. A lot of Shadows animations in SxS is looking really promising though.
I certainly have a lot of nostalgia for this era though, Sonic sprite fight animations were unironically a large part of my childhood.
Unleashed doesn't look like uekawa
That’s actually a bit of misinformation- It wasn’t Yuji Uekawa’s art style, it was Satoshi Okano who created the art style you see in Adventure. Unless you’re talking about the art created after, like in the Rush games, Yuji Uekawa helped but didn’t do any more than Okano did.
@@orzi_gami he created initial drafts for sonic design expressing new sensibilities for the franchise but uekawa developed the characters look we see now
It was a contest held at Sega between artists uekawa won the contest that's why he was the main designer for adventure
Adventure was the first time we see the new designs
That's what I know
@@aymenjbaili I though Uekawa just did the colors? Okano did all the inking, drafts and whatnot from what I heard. After all Uekawa's current art isn't remotely similar to the older work he's supposedly credited for.
Not only Cream warm you heart with her animations, you'll probably finish the game the first time with her because she's so powerful.
She was definitely the character I completed the game with first.
Same here lol
Cheesing through the game, right?
I mean, you literally "cheese" through the game. That's the joke from sonic team
Cream always seems to have strange quirks that has her so overpowered to cheese the game. Reminds me of Sonic Chronicles where she's one of the strongest characters you can get(but is optional to unlock) because she has a skill that can replenish your party's PP, but you can upgrade it to increase the amount of PP your party gets... INCLUDING HERSELF, so potentially making the skill free PP. At least the downside is that her health is very low, and she can only attack once lol
Dimps being born from the ashes of SNK explains a lot about the quality of their pixel animations
"All characters can command Cheese" has to be among the best out of context statements of our time.
The GBA was in my opinion "The Golden Age of Pixel Art Animation"
If the Snes and Genesis managed to evolve the art styles and art direction, then the GBA is definitely the evolution of the Movements and Animation! (Not saying that it wasn't a thing in the old games, look at the arcade games for example, the animations are amazing , but ya know what i mean!)
I've seen a lot of videos explain the differences between NES and SNES animation/art, but I've never seen anyone go over what the GBA could do that other consoles can't (or vise versa). The sprite rotation that Dan mentioned sounds like a big deal!
I'd add the DS as well because the games that used 2D art, Mario, DK, Yoshi, Kirby, Sonic etc looked phenomenal. Bowser's Inside Story comes to mind
@@timothymclean While I can't explain how it works in technical terms, if you haven't, check out the sprite work in golden sun. In particular some of the battle animations are kind of silly to imagine are running on what is essentially a supped up portable SNES.
Yeah, fire emblem
Being a huge pixel art sprite nerd, I always emphasize how important GBA and DS are. So many hidden gems you wouldn't believe were constrained to a handheld, not only art-wise but gameplay-wise.
As someone who's worked on and witnessed development of various sonic fangames, these dimp animations are almost always referenced, whether directly or just in an attempt to replicate the feel of them. It seems to me it's widely appreciated that these sprites are how the modern cast should be animated. This video does a great job at pointing out exactly why that is among other things.
Good stuff as usual
Big fan of Dans talking about Sonic animation on RUclips.
Man, Battle honestly deserves a video of its own. That game is LUDICROUSLY well-animated.
I always thought these games looked amazing. When you said Dimps was made by ex-SNK employees, it all made sense. Old SNK games still have top tier pixel art, Metal Slug being some of my favorites visually.
It’s unreal that they got Metal Slug to look like that in the 90’s!! I remember the first time I seen that on my friends PS1. I was literally speechless
Their shoes being visible in the rolling poses is a nice touch
0:20 That explains SO MUCH! SNK always had good sprite quality, but seeing that some of the old members formed Dimps explains why the sprite quality in the Advance trilogy and Battle look so good!
I LOVE how in Sonic Advance 3, if you’re paired with Cream, Cheese becomes a character Chao! It’s super cute!!
In Sonic Advance 2, if you press jump right at the end of a rail they do a special trick animation and jump higher. Might be the animation you mention having seen Sonic do.
I seeeeeeee, well that explains a lot. Wish I'd have gotten more footage now.
The Sonic Advanced series is what really made me a fan of the series. Dimps' work on the Pixel Sprites are so good that it's still used by fans to this day.
SAME , Sonic Advance 3 was my first Sonic and gba game ever and it’ll always have a special place in my heart
These sprites were so good that back in the day. So many people had Scene creator games on New Grounds. You could basically make your own scenes and movies
I kinda want to see Dan Floyd and This Dan -argue- discuss whether Sonic's run stages should start with a walk. This Dan likes it, Dan Floyd doesn't, and I think it would be interesting to hear each defend their opinion.
I don't know if I _like_ it as such, more that it's interesting. I think it's performed better in these games than in Sonic 4.
"Where were you in 2001?"
Trying to wiggle my way down some tubes and into an egg
One thing I love about the Sonic Advance trilogy's spritework is how seamlessly they flow into the sprites for Sonic Battle; it's too easy to use Sonic's sprites from across all four games for all sorts of fight scenes, and I can't say I'm too surprised that people are still taking advantage of that to this day. Great video!
Sonic Advance, the whole series, is one of the best looking Sonic games of all time, and it says a LOT about what they did to make that happen. The sprite work design, the animation, the feel of these games are so timeless that it doesn't hit you right away that these are almost 23 year old games.
God this makes me feel so old lol
One thing I would like to add to Tails sprites in the Advance games. There is actually a bit of character development for him shown between games.
In Advance 1 when Tails tries to do his standing winning pose does he always mess up the spin and falls on his butt. But in Advance 2 does he do the same pose for one of his win animations and nails it.
Advance 3 also reflects Tails general character development since advance 1. in Advance 1 when he points you forwards does he appear a bit shy about it while in Advance 3 does he scoute a head and determinedly points forward.
Yes Cream does have the best poses she is just so damn adorable.
As for Classic Sonic. Yes that is kind of one of my big issues with how Sega treats him. He is kind of stuck in the 90s in what he is visually allowed to be/do. At times downright behaving as if there were no other 2d Sonic games released between 3 and Superstar beside Mania.
Wow never knew that SNK connection, makes a lot of sense. Now I’m just dying to replay all these again!
i watched a speedrun of sonic advance 1 a couple days ago and realised i never noticed how absolutely beautiful the sprites in the advance series are
its like the universe read my mind with this video
The Sonic Advance games have such an amazing and timeless artsytle, especially 2. There's nothing more satisfying than hitting top speed and seeing that afterimage, idk if a Sonic game has ever made me feel that fast before or after that
I remember playing Advance 1 as a kid at my aunt's old house, it was always really fun to wander around and see the character interactions.
A little later I got infatuated with sprite art animations on Newgrounds, with Dimps making 4 Sonic games on the GBA all in the exact same art style it ment that kids / beginning artists had probably the most decked out set of pre existing animation sets out there out of any game series up to that point in time.
& frankly, it showed!
A good couple of these NG animations were absolutely spectacular with their use of the characters, how they act behave and some made good use of that in the thought up stories in these animations.
I hope people today will discover the sprite sheets of the Advance games again because there's still so much untapped potential.
Had no idea DIMPS was ex-SNK people, but it totally makes sense. Sonic Advance was my 3rd ever GBA game back in the day and I loved it a lot (and still do!). These games really need to be on NSO or in a collection of some kind!
Sonic Advance is the peak of animation and art style in Sonic games. I remember all the fan-made sprite comics and animations I indulged in back in the day using these sprites and Sonic Battle's.
You did a great job going into detail on what makes the Advance series so good! The characters' designs and animations being attributed to their personalities, as well as the extravagant colors for each game, are so appealing and influential.
I was relatively surprised to find out how similar Sonic and Knuckles' animations are, even if it's a simple portrayal of Knuckles being a strong foil to the speedy Sonic. Their movement and harm animations look so similar outside of their heads and gloves! Heck, even Knuckles' glide sliding was reused for Super Sonic, Sonic's somersault kick was reworked for one of Knuckles' dash attacks, and Knuckles' uppercut was worked around into Sonic's Super transformation in the first game!
I really hope sega goes back on their word of pixel art won’t be a “viable” style within the future THEY HAD SUCH A GREAT STYLE WITH THE ADVANCE GAMES BUILD OF IT
Atleast a hand drawn style of animation would be cool
@@hamstersandwich9917 Sonic with a hand drawn style would be insane
I’d like to see a remaster trilogy of the advance games
0:44 There was Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic Pocket Adventure between XD Great Video! I’ve always loved the squishy spin dash revving animation as well as it’s very convenient. I wish it was in every Sonic game!
erm actually (jk hello TSF!)
Not even 3 seconds in cus i have to say- I've been DYING for a professional analysis of the amazing sprite animation work of these games. As an animator and game developer myself going on 4 years now, I've studied the hell out of the sprite sheets for these games, and even recreated quite a few of them in 3D! Excited to hear what you have to say
Thank you for making this!! Sonic Advance 2 is the greatest Sonic game ever made, imo. 😄 Makes so much sense that Dimps has a connection to the Metal Slug games!
I've been looking forward to this one lol. The Sonic Advance games and Battle are some of my favourites in the Sonic series and I've always loved how incredible and full of personality and life the animations are, and I wish the mainline 3D games had even half as much attention to detail with their animations. W video🔥
I'm so glad there was a video made on this, i've always been so intrigued by the animations of the Advance series.
I want to know if they actually drew these sprites out on paper and then scanned them into a computer to turn them into sprites (like they did with the Aladdin and Lion King games) or if they just drew and animated them pixel by pixel as is.
This is one of the best videos youve ever done, dude. I really hope Sega gives these awesome games a rerelease some day.
Thank you!
And yeah I'm not sure, they may have just been skilled enough to do it freehand as pixels, though I imagine there must exist some rough drawings to go by.
These games were my childhood, thank you so much for making this video. As much as the Mega Drive games deserve their reputation, the Advance Trilogy (and Rush games) deserve more love too for how much passion, effort and fun Dimps put into every last kilobyte of data
The idea of even Sonic needing to deal with things like blisters and pulling muscles as a runner is so funny
The Advance era is easily my favourite set of Sonic games from a visual perspective, appreciate the deep dive
In 2001 I was playing Golden Sun on my GBA while my brother played Sonic Advance :D
I think I was at the dentist around that time and one of the kids in the waiting room was playing a Sonic game on GBA. I didn't know which one it was, so I was envious.
The Sonic games I believe has the best frames of animation. They each got so much personality, and that's great for a game with little to no dialogue.
Sonic went downhill when he started talking.
@@todesziege
He always talked.
@@IkeOkerekeNews Before Adventure he only spoke like one line, in a game that few played, and so hidden away that even most who played that game wouldn't have heard it.
@@todesziege
I'm talking about in surrounding media.
@@IkeOkerekeNews I figured that, but the games were the "canon", and in those he didn't really speak until Adventure.
Peak Sonic Animation right here
This was the Golden Age of Sonic no other time would be as amazing the amount of love and care and dont get me started on the music 🫠🫠 what a time to be a sonic fan. I wish dimps still made more 2D games
Again Game developers Animations are KEY 🔑 literally have the characters react, interact with almost everything weather it's running through water or running over rocks
Hell standing for a while ESPECIALLY IN 2D games literally have no excuse not to give the characters multiple Animations
The Sonic Advanced Games were sooooo good!!! I LOVED playing them on my GBA
Really looking forward to the MMX video!
I remember looking at these animations, too, and I said. They should look like this on console all the times.
Watching this makes me appreciate the amount of work that went into the character animation in these games, and makes me wish Sega would port these games to modern hardware because they look super fun (ditto for the “Rush” duology, which are also amazing games).
You nailed it with this. The Advance games don't get enough love, especially 2.
They deserve to come back.
"Where were you in 2001?"
I was a baby, idfk.
learning that the developers of sonic advance are some of the best pixel artists to ever do it is the least surprising thing i've heard this year lmao
I love the animation in the Sonic advance games too.
One bit I wish it was mentioned is that I love the animation the characters have in Advance 1 when they react to the fake Knuckles.
If I recall correctly Sonic is like "Alright! Bring it!"
Tails is like "Hey! Wait a minute!"
Knuckles is angry
And Amy is like "What's wrong with this idiot" as she looks at the player
Fantastic analysis and breakdown Dan! The advanced games are truly an animation treat to behold and in a GBA of all places!
I do agree i wish Superstars had a bit more animation flourish but maybe they kept it simple on purpose like the classics? Hopefully they go mich harder for the next one! And i really appreciate you covering super sonic at the end!
Yeah, I don't want to be harsh on Superstars, because it still looks nice.
All the Dimps games are pretty underrated in terms of their animations; if you want a point of comparison closer to Superstars you can look at Sonic 4: Episode 2. Similar 2.5D type of game, but Sonic and Tails are both super expressive. Especially with their ears, which is unusually rare for a franchise featuring anthropomorphic animals.
These sprites made my childhood on newgrounds! So good!
Would not have minded a full hour version going over every single animation, PERSONALLY...
These are some of the best subtitles I've ever read despite the fact they have arbitrary line breaks in them. You don't need to arbitrarily limit the width of the subtitles just because RUclips renders them wider than the video sometimes.
0:30-0:33 moves a bit too fast for some people to probably read and there's a bad split at 0:55. The word 'designs' is part of the previous item in the list, so move it and adjust the timing as necessary. Some subtitles also linger on screen long after the sentence has ended, and there's no "lead-in" for the sentence after it. There are also some missing commas and apostrophes here and there. An example is at 1:47, where the comma should be a semicolon or an em dash.
More bad splits:
1:52
2:20: split before "to make it seem"
The subtitles aren't perfect, but they're still a cut above
the rest whereby the lazy git has used an AI that barely
recognises what they're saying and doesn't know where the
sentences end. It seems like making these actually USEFUL for
deaf people isn't a priority for them, and that slow
readers and colourblind deaf people don't exist. WHEN THEY DO.
By RUclipsr standards the subtitles are very good. Just needs a few improvements to make them excellent. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback!
I tend to write my script in cut up sentences so when I paste it into the Uploader it has an easier time breaking it up and auto-syncing it, though it's not always perfect. If I find time I'll tweak those awkward breaks.
I never played the games, but wow, they look great! I especially like Amy's aerial cartwheel, and the various midair-boost animations, like Sonic's spinning kicks when going forwards, or Knuckles' back-elbow when going back.
Thanks for making this video. Such personality in these charaters. I'm glad you highlighted Amy in particular, as when i went back to re-play these games about a year ago, i found myself having the most fun with Amy's gameplay style, and just being astonished at the level of detail in her animations. (i cracked up at her impatient idle animation). I mean it's just one of these things where you can appreciate the human-ness in it. Like someone, somewhere sat down and put their heart into breathing life through this character, meticulously adding all the little subtleties that that entails. I found myself saying "man they didn't have to add that little extra spice, but they did and that's awesome". Man, that's what Sonic's all about imo. The soul, the attitude, that extra fluidity that makes Mario look like an old guy commuting his 9 to 5. This game really exemplifies these things ten fold, which makes me feel as though it's a proper follow up to the Genesis titles; something that Sonic Team themselves hasn't even been able to make feel as authentic.
I also wanna point out that Cream hyper-actively waving to the camera while grinding, as if to say "LOOK MOM AND DAD, LOOK LOOK" is so freaking cute man. They really went above and beyond at making these characters feel like FRIENDS rather than just 'characters'. I'd really love to see more modern games take notes. I do find it funny tho that Sega beat Nintendo to the punch on this one when it comes to Sonic Advance vs Mario Wonder, haha.
Excellent analysis! Everything about Cream is adorable. We need an official Advance collection, so more people can admire the animation!
I find it ironic that sonic on a what use to be a competitor's console had so much life and love given to it
Sonic Advance is peak 2D Sonic and this video proves it!
Sonic Advance 2 was the first Sonic game I ever owned and beat. I love the sprites and animation. These were used a lot in fan flash animations and it’s no wonder why. Sonic Battle had the same sprites as well.
I didn't play the Advance games much, but I still play Sonic Battle sometimes. I think some of the combat animations look really cool.
Awesome stuff dude! Those idle animations are so cool. I can see why you wanted to do a long form vid for these games, sooo much stuff going on in them! BEW!!!
Wow 2001 crazy to think how long ago that was.. i remember downloading an obscure video file like windows media or QuickTime cant remember to watch the E3 capture of Sonic Advance 1. It was a shocker and strange to get my head around the fact that sega as a leading gaming console titan was effectively dead since i grew up with the megadrive and nintendo was the rival (sworn marketing enemy). I remember watching the short clip over and over (as you did back then because disk space and download speeds were ridiculous pre mega)
GBA/NDS was an absolute marvel of a machine keeping the 2d pixel games well and truly alive in an era the gaming industry was hell-bent on needless change. Something like a Steam deck (without wifi) was a futuristic fantasy.
I've always adorded the sprites from this game. Just kinda an iconic modern Sonic style. Makes me wish I could see other characters in this style, like Shadow, Rouge, Omega and the Chaotix.
19:50 in advance 3 if you're playing as sonic with amy as your parrtner her running animation is changed so that she has her arms in front of her at all times like she's holding her chest
Cream is cute, Cream is POWERFUL. I love how she's found her way to be one of the stronger characters in most games, either outright or implied like how in Heroes she as a child can carry Amy and Big without any issue.
Nice video! I appreciate the section on the technical stuff.
Yes! More love for these games!
I'm forever traumatized by my mother accidentally throwing away my copy of Advanced 2.
The GBA Sonic games are filled with lots of great animation and expressions and it’s conveyed really well through the character idle animations, In Advance 3 when you pair Sonic & Amy together you get a unique idle and walk animation for her as your partner.
Overall, SNES and GBA are the best console and handheld for providing sprites for Newgrounds Flash Animations. Anybody familiar with Smash Kingdom, Super Mario Bros Z and Final Fantasy Sonic X?
The Sonic Advance sprites are actually how I got my start at being an artist. I learned how to modify sprites in MS Paint back on Windows XP and used that to start designing OCs and making sprite comics. Eventually that started to become drawing, and making animations in Flash using those sprites, and now I'm studying 3D animation for video games and movies.
I cannot imagine where my life would have led me had I not discovered those sprite sheets on the Mystical Forest Zone. They'll always have a place in my heart for that.
I always loved the design of sonic advance and especially sonic battle. Wish Sega made modern ports of those games
Something tells me that nowadays Sega doesn't want to make a game where kid-friendly characters beat each other senseless. Especially fake Gamma electrocuting others.
@@artey6671 That's weird, usually it's Nintendo the one that makes stuff kid friendly and not too violent, but with Smash Bros existing, guess that means Nintendoes what Sega's to scared to do XD
@@Fatih_M177 You may have a point there.
at 25:00 when you're talking about the reflections in the windows of the buildings in route99, that effect is achieved by simply having transparent pixels in the windows that show the cloud asset that's underneath the building asset
I _thought_ that's what it was!!
I was in highschool, and sonic advance was the first Sonic game I ever bought (though I did play my friend's/cousin's genesis versions for a few hours in the 90s)
Oh man I've been dreaming of this video since your first Sonic animation vid. I adore the sprite work in these games
The only problem I have with looking back at GBA - And to a lesser extent the DS, though the change had started then - spritework and animation is that it always makes me sad that those major studios that did keep doing 2d games have almost universally shifted to using 3d models for entirely 2d games by now, when a lot of these GBA titles just look so much better than even well animated 2d games with 3d models.
And, don't get me wrong, indie stuff is often fabulous looking, but... Definitionally, indie games don't have the budgets available that larger studios do (even if larger studios aren't always willing to spend those budgets)
I still can't believe we went from Sonic grabbing the bouncy pole back to ball form bouncing. That animation was peak
Never appreciated the spritework as a kid but as an adult it really is impressive.
Sega needs to take notes from these games because they forget that they need to give their characters personality.
Where was I in 2001? I got my drawing put up on the fridge. It was a hand turkey 🦃
Man, Superstars looks like the Corporate Art of Sonic games. And you're telling me that pink thing is supposed to be Amy? Whose bright idea was that?
For a second I thought this was a follow up to new frame plus sonic animation epic, still excited to get more break down of the interesting animation history of sonic
Sonic Advance influenced alot of modern animators. Just ask anyone who grew up watching and playing flash videos
17:56 small precision there. Amy & Sonic can perform tricks when u tap the jump button at the tip of the rails, that's what u saw with Amy and Sonic thus had one too. It's a backwards somersault quire reminescent of his SA2 grind trick animation
i love your videos! my takeaway from this video in short: cream best character (true)
So true!
"Where were you in 2001?"
I didn't exist.
I am old
@@VideoGameAnimationStudytry not to do that, because then it insinuates that people born before 2001 are all old.
4:24 In Sonic Advance 1 only Sonic and Amy have that rail grinding feature, If not wrong :(
7:18 Fuck yes >:(
13:15 Ah, Ice Mountain Act 1 theme Is sooooo nice (-^_^-)
16:45 That's pretty cool especially because If you time going forward at the right you start running faster than normal :3
Will always be present for some Sonic Advance appreciation. Great vid about a great series
The attention to detail in idle poses meanwhile the 3D games took forever to give ones that didn’t look like a default one in 3D model software with their symmetrical stances even as they pushed for more higher fidelity CG style game models, this was maintained until 2013 when they finally gave Sonic a more asymmetrical stance. Just look at the idle pose in Generations when the camera is 2.5d to see what I’m talking about
The animation style is memorable and probably the best out of all 2D Sonic games.
Thanks for taking my suggestion!!! Great video!
I friggin love the Advance Games!!! thanks for checking out their animations❤ might i suggest you look into an indie game called One Step From Eden, its like Battle Network on steroids
If I had a nickel every time an animator named Dan made a video analysing the animation for a huge swathe of the Sonic franchise...
Where was I in 2001? Not even old enough to go to school, since I was 4 years old. Living in my mom's old house. I did get a Gameboy Advance as a kiddo, though I never had this game. Still played Pokémon Sapphire like no tomorrow.
I would be so happy to get a Sonic Advance series remaster. The remaster itself more or less just being increased screen space to suit modern hardware, and an updated version of the OST preferrably by Tee Lopes on by default, but the original version still available in options. But it would be cool to get Cream added to Advance 1, Amy playable from the start in 2, and perhaps a new playable character in all three games, like Shadow or, preferably, Emerl. And Sonic Battle should absolutely be included in the remaster.
Been saying for years (decades, oh no) that Sonic and co is bursting with personality, charm and appeal. That push back on Sonics "s***** friends" from casual fans and critics of the mid-2000 caused so much lasting damage to this franchise that it's just now getting rid of. Can't wait for Shadow on friday, ir seems like the most Advance-like in its care for its characters this series has been in a long, long time.
Excellent video. Will be sharing around. I even learned a thing or two about games I've played for hundreds of hours.
Excellent video, these games are a master class in animation
“We won’t have time to go through every animation of each character” ok but can we cuz I’d watch it
If I had enough time I would love to.