2 Games in 1 : Sonic Advance + Sonic Battle

2 Games in 1: Sonic Advance + Sonic Battle for Game Boy Advance packages two earlier Sonic adventures on one cartridge: the fast 2D platformer Sonic Advance and the arena fighter Sonic Battle. Released in Europe by THQ in November 2005, this SEGA compilation arrived in Japan in January 2006 as Double Pack: Sonic Battle & Sonic Advance. It is a menu-driven double feature rather than a new crossover game, letting GBA players choose between a traditional race through Eggman's traps and a combat-focused story built around a mysterious robot.

Sonic Advance is the earlier half of the collection, originally created for the GBA by Dimps with Sonic Team. Its familiar side-scrolling structure sends Sonic and friends through two-act Zones filled with slopes, springs, enemies, hazards, item boxes and rings. A hit scatters the rings a character is carrying, so maintaining a reserve is central to surviving the speed-driven stages. Each Zone ends with a confrontation against Dr. Eggman, whose plan involves capturing animals and turning them into robots; beating him frees the animals held in the stage capsule.

The platforming game does not limit its route through the adventure to Sonic. Tails can gain height with his flight, Knuckles can glide and climb walls, and Amy attacks with her hammer, while Sonic emphasizes speed, spin dashes and the brief protection of his insta-shield. Those abilities make the same stages play differently and open alternative paths. Special Stage springs lead to a ring-collecting tunnel challenge for Chaos Emeralds, and collecting all seven opens an additional encounter. Sonic Advance also includes the Tiny Chao Garden and supports link-cable multiplayer for up to four players in race and Chao-focused games, giving the standalone adventure activities beyond its main campaign.

Sonic Battle changes the pace completely. Developed by Sonic Team, it places sprite characters in 3D arenas and combines movement, guarding, jumping and attacks in one-on-one and group battles. Its story begins when Sonic finds the damaged robot later known as Emerl at Emerald Beach. Emerl can learn techniques from the characters he fights, and the game makes that ability its defining progression system: players assemble his moves and alter the way he performs in battle. The story moves through chapters led by members of Sonic's cast, with Emerl's growing collection of abilities tying its battles together.

Before a fight in Sonic Battle, attacks are assigned to ground, aerial and guard-related slots, so the choice of skills affects how a character approaches an opponent. The roster includes familiar allies and rivals such as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow, while Emerl functions as the adaptable fighter shaped through the campaign. Battle Mode supports up to four players with the Game Boy Advance Game Link cable, allowing the trained version of Emerl to be used against friends. This makes the cartridge a deliberately varied pairing: one game rewards learning stage routes and managing momentum, while the other centers on spacing, timing and customized attacks.

The double pack preserves the two games as separate GBA experiences rather than blending their stories, controls or progress systems into a single new adventure. That distinction matters for players looking for the original Sonic Advance platform game alongside Sonic Battle's unique combat format. Together they reflect SEGA's early handheld Sonic output after the company began releasing software on Nintendo hardware: one title revisits the series' 2D foundations with character-specific traversal, and the other experiments with competitive action and a customizable newcomer. For a GBA library, 2 Games in 1: Sonic Advance + Sonic Battle offers two contrasting Sonic Team-era approaches from a single cartridge selection screen.