Sonic Advance 3 100% FAQ

Sonic Advance 3 100% FAQ

FAQ about General Gameplay - http://pastebin.com/EtCgzRXp


Q:
What's the 100% definition?

A:
Two Parts:

1. Unlock all characters. You only start with Sonic & Tails. Knuckles, Amy, and Cream are unlocked after you beat Act 3 of Sunset Hill, Toy Kingdom, and Cyber Track, respectively, with Sonic as the leader. For this reason, I must beat these three stages with a S+? team (in this run, S+T)

2. Beat Nonaggression, the super sonic boss. This requires getting all 7 chaos emeralds and already having beaten the game (so I must beat Altar Emerald twice!). To get a zone's chaos emerald, I have to find the 10 chao through its levels and hub, then grab a special key, then beat the special stage via the hub's special spring.

The chao are always in the same place, and you do not have to finish the stage to keep them.

As for the special key, contrary to popular belief (i.e. people bashing this game for thinking there's only one special key per zone, they're stupid), there are several special keys in every stage. Every act has two sets of special keys, and whichever set is selected is random. Thus, I have to route the last level I do such that I'm guaranteed to get a special key with both patterns. When I get the special key, I have to finish the rest of the act without dying or else I lose it. Dying resets the pattern, so I could get a different set or the same set. The only level where I'm not guaranteed a key is Twinkle Snow 3, which is a 50% chance to find it after the last chao per attempt or else I have to suicide and try again.


Q:
Version Differences?

A:
You can see the list of version differences here - http://pastebin.com/a9wraBK9
Thanks to the ring acceleration mechanic, JP/EU version saves a little bit of time here and there in most standard stages. However, since it's such a core mechanic change with a very tiny effect, it's impossible to have a flat "conversion" of version differences. On the other hand, JP/EU is known to lose ~6 seconds (about 2 for each of three bosses).

Ultimately, I choose to run on JP version because the ring mechanics make a few jumps more consistent and easier. Furthermore, this cuts out a team swap for Cyber Track 1, where I can stick to using A+S instead of K+S since one barrier is no longer a power barrier. This isn't as significant of a timesave as one might expect, because it requires a minor (and dangerous) detour in the middle of the level to get the chao backwards, but it is a small timesave.

Ultimately I don't imagine any version saving a huge amount of time (at least ~15ish seconds) over other versions, so I don't think it's worth splitting categories.

Japanese text saves time on chao text, but that's not a version exclusive feature since you can set the text to any available language in any version of the game.


Q:
Real Time? Not In-Game Time?

A:
100% (and Any%) go by real-time, starting from a new file's character selection, and until the in-game time ends on the last boss. Real-time is the clear choice since there's significant navigation in the hub world and collecting chao, and special stages to do. Completely getting rid of those is pretty silly. While I personally admit to preferring in-game time to diversify the game more, the all-stages category already exists for that purpose.


Q:
What's the record / Is there a TAS?

A:
The current record is my personal best. It doesn't mean much since nobody has ever ran this category seriously besides myself and mike89 several years ago. My current goal is a 1:18.

Dashjump more recently worked on a 100% TAS in 1:09:59. However, it's important to note that for entertainment purposes, in-game time for each stage was prioritized (i.e. the TAS did some team swaps that are faster for specific stages but slower for RTA). You can see it published here - http://tasvideos.org/4930S.html


Q:
Which teams are used?

A:
Quite a few teams are used in the current route. Here's a quick overview:

Tails + Sonic - The fastest horizontal team and very flexible. Has access to boost state, tricks, and flying. Tails does not lose speed when flying so you can combine it with Sonic's Tag Action. Being able to fly also gives this team some flexibility with vertical mobility if needed (though it's slow). For these reasons, this is one of the more dominant teams of the run.

Sonic + Tails - Another very solid team equally as flexible as T+S. Has access to boost state and tricks. This team is suited for vertical mobility with Tails' Tag actions, but tricks and boost mode make it flexible for speed. On top of this, since many chao require vertical mobility, and unlocking other characters requires Sonic to be the leader in a few stages, this team is frequently used.

Knuckles + Tails - A popular team for exploration, with jump-gliding, climbing, power attacks, and Tails' Tag Actions. While this team can't boost nor trick like S+T, I need a power team to get a chao in Ocean Base 1. K+T is my best option at this point in the run, and the lack of boost/tricking doesn't compensate for the time cost of swapping and navigating the hub, so I use this team for the entirety of the zone.

Amy + Sonic - Another fast and flexible team for horizontal movement. While this team can't fly like T+S, Amy has a hammer which compensates by making this team very vertically mobile if there's a spring available. This team is primarily used for the skip in Twinkle Snow 2 (which requires a team with a hammer) and Chaos Angel 1+2; it's a bit slower than T+S for other areas, but not enough to warrant swapping to T+S.

Tails + Amy - This team is used solely for one stage, Chaos Angel 3. This stage has three autoscrollers, but all three can be skipped with certain teams, and this is the fastest team for this stage because of Amy's tag actions, and ridiculous acceleration with Tails' flight (with the tradeoff of only flying for 4 seconds).

Sonic + Knuckles - To fight Nonaggression, I have to have Sonic as the lead for my refight in Altar Emerald. This also happens to be the best team in the game for that fight, thanks to having a very fast vertical-reaching attack. The tradeoff is that this team loses ~7-8 seconds on the Chaos Angel Hub map, compared to S+A (my other alternative for endgame), but this team is much more reliable and a bit faster.

Unfortunately Cream will never be used in the run despite being unlocked. S+C is a team that could've potentially been used for Chaos Angel, and is a bit faster than A+S for Act 1, but A+S is significantly faster for Act 2 and makes the Cyber Track Boss much safer. S+C also could've been useful for endgame but is outclassed by S+A. You'll see Cream in the credits though!