Recently I've been playing a lot of Sonic games, something that was brought on by replaying Sonic Rush. Playing though these games also reminded me just how long it has been since games like the Sonic Rush series and the Sonic Advanced series came out. Advanced was 2001-2004 and Rush was 2005-2007. With 2D Sonic back on the mind with the success of Sonic Mania, wouldn't you say it's time for a comeback?
The Sonic Advance and Rush games were developed by Dimps and Sonic Team and played as 2D platformers much like the original Sonic titles. While you don't have a perfect one-to-one recreation of the original games physics here like Sonic Mania, these games excelled in their own areas. The Advanced games expanded the 2D Sonic cast with the likes of Amy and Cream and even experimented with unique systems like doing tricks. The Rush games introduced the Boost mechanic which allows you to blaze (haha!) through levels at top speed via a meter that fills as you perform well and depletes as you do poorly or use the boost.
Going forward with Sonic, I would love to see more takes on the 2D approach. These games have their own flavor for the classic Sonic formula. It would be great to have new 2D titles developed by other teams to go along with Sonic Mania. I personally would love another Sonic Rush title! More than anything though, I really would like a new way to play these games with an updated port. Games like Sonic 1 and 2 get tons of re-releases but it feels like the Advance and Rush games are becoming a forgotten moment in Sonic's history.
Please show me your love for these games!