Eggman snaps the planet into seven pieces, and Sonic answers with a buddy system. Pick any two of five heroes, throw your partner at the problem, and chase a brand-new robot called Gemerl to the edge of space.
Released7 Jun 2004 (US) · 17 Jun 2004 (JP) · Jun 2004 (EU)
DeveloperSonic Team and Dimps
PublisherSega; THQ in North America
ZonesSeven, plus Altar Emerald and Nonaggression
PlayableSonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream
DebutGemerl
Title
Sonic Advance 3 Japan: ソニック アドバンス３
Platform
Game Boy Advance; Wii U Virtual Console (Japan only)
Developer
Sonic Team and Dimps
Publisher
Sega in Japan and Europe; THQ in North America, which also handled European distribution (Wikipedia describes THQ as co-publisher in both regions). Our original page credited Sega, THQ and Sega Europe
Sonic Advance 3 closes the Game Boy Advance trilogy with its biggest idea: you never play alone. Every run pairs a leader with a partner, chosen from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Cream, and the second character is far more than a follower. Hold R and they jump into your arms; let go and they launch you, carry you or charge ahead, depending on who they are.
That makes for twenty different teams, and the game was built to reward experimenting with them. Each of the seven zones splits into three acts and a boss, all strung together by a small explorable hub, and hidden Chao are tucked into corners only some pairs can reach. Find them all and you earn a shot at a Chaos Emerald.
Running alongside it all is Gemerl, a new robot Eggman built from the remains of Emerl, the hero of Sonic Battle. He rides shotgun in every boss machine and, if you collect all seven Emeralds, turns into the final boss himself. Critics enjoyed the looks, the music and the replay value; the team system and the level design split opinion, and they still do.
Route 99.A Tag Action with Tails.A Special Stage.
Third Title in Franchise Racing Off Store Shelves
The headline of the press release that marked the North American launch on 7 June 2004, under the line “Sonic Advance 3 now available for Game Boy Advance”. The release came almost nine months after THQ first announced the game in September 2003.
— Official description: press release of 7 June 2004, headline as cited by Sonic Retro; announcement date from Wikipedia. One line quoted; the rest summarised.
Quick Answers
The short answers, with the detail further down the page.
When did Sonic Advance 3 come out?
On 7 June 2004 in North America, 17 June in Japan and 18 June in the UK. More →
Who is Gemerl?
Eggman’s new robot, built using what was left of Emerl from Sonic Battle. He co-pilots every boss machine, and he becomes the final boss if you have all seven Emeralds. More →
How does the partner system work?
You always control a team of two. Hold R to pull your partner close, then release for a Tag Action: Tails launches you upwards, Knuckles is thrown like a missile, Sonic sends you into a boost, and so on. More →
How do you unlock the other characters?
Sonic and Tails are ready from the start. Clearing Act 3 of Sunset Hill as Sonic frees Knuckles, Toy Kingdom frees Amy and Cyber Track frees Cream. More →
How do you reach the Special Stages?
Find all ten hidden Chao in a zone, then pick up the Special Key and finish an act with it. That opens the Special Spring on the zone map, good for one attempt per key. More →
How do you get the true ending?
Collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, then clear Altar Emerald with Sonic in the lead. That opens Nonaggression, where Super Sonic and Eggman team up against Ultimate Gemerl. More →
Is there voice acting?
Yes: one language per region. It was the last game for the original English cast before the switch to the Sonic X voices, and Deem Bristow’s last work as Eggman. More →
How well did it sell?
It sold quickly at launch, and more than 100,000 copies in the UK alone. Worldwide figures were not published. More →
Can I play it today?
Outside Japan, only on the original cartridge. Japan got a Wii U Virtual Console release on 25 May 2016. More →
Plot / Story
Gemerl.
Some time after Sonic Battle, Dr. Eggman salvages the data of Emerl, the robot who fought alongside Sonic and his friends, and builds a loyal copy: Gemerl, a fighting machine that learns new moves and can plug himself into any mechanism the doctor hands him.
Then Eggman overreaches. An experiment with the Chaos Emeralds and the power of Chaos Control goes badly wrong, and the planet is torn into seven floating chunks. The plan, as far as there is one, is to build a slice of the Eggman Empire on each piece. The blast scatters Sonic’s friends too: Sonic wakes up with only Tails beside him, while Knuckles, Amy and Cream are lost somewhere on the shattered world.
So the two set off through the city streets of Route 99, picking up their friends one by one as they go. Each zone ends with Eggman waiting in a new machine, and each time Gemerl is in there with him, helping to drive.
A world in seven pieces
The opening shows Eggman about to break the planet apart. From then on the game is held together by hubs: every zone has a small zone map, with Act Rings leading to the three acts, a capsule to the boss and blue capsules to two bonus mini-games, while the Sonic Factory is the place to swap partners or go back to an earlier zone. The Chao Playground keeps track of every Chao and Emerald you have found.
The experiment.Gemerl in Route 99.The Sonic Factory.
Two endings and a robot who changes sides
The showdown comes at Altar Emerald, a temple at the end of the line, where Gemerl and Eggman wait in back-to-back battles. Win without the full set of Emeralds and the pair make a run for it, Gemerl stopping to glare at the heroes before leaping off the edge after his master. The Master Emerald puts the world back together, Omochao takes a group photo, and the credits remind you that seven Emeralds are still out there.
Win with all seven as Sonic and things go differently. Gemerl turns back, slams into Sonic and knocks the Emeralds loose, and the faulty code he inherited from Emerl finally kicks in. He absorbs their power, turns into a huge orb-shaped machine, flings Eggman at Sonic and escapes to space. In Nonaggression an unlikely team gives chase: Super Sonic and Eggman, with the doctor charged up and fired like a cannonball. Gemerl is destroyed, his broken body washes up on a beach, and Tails rebuilds him with a kinder program. The last scene shows him at Vanilla’s house, playing with Cream.
Altar Emerald.Smile for Omochao.Nonaggression.
Zones in Sonic Advance 3
Seven zones of three acts each, every one with a boss act and a zone map. Then the final temple, and an extra zone for players with every Emerald.
Route 99Acts 1–3 · boss: Egg Hammer 3A city of highways and skyscrapers, instead of the usual tropical first level. Sonic and Tails start their search here.
Sunset HillActs 1–3 · boss: Egg Ball No.2Green Hill at dusk, right down to the checkerboard palm trees, with water slides, bungee cords and poles to swing from. The music is a remix of Green Hill Zone.
Ocean BaseActs 1–3 · boss: Egg FootA secret base on the sea floor. Tall, twisting acts with waterfalls you can climb and crushers that grow spikes.
Toy KingdomActs 1–3 · boss: Egg CubeA playroom-cum-theme-park of jack-in-the-boxes, toy rockets, balloons, elephant slides and panda teacups, guarded by toy soldiers.
Twinkle SnowActs 1–3 · boss: Egg ChaserSnow that slows you down, mine carts, ice machines that fire you out frozen, and the northern lights overhead.
Cyber TrackActs 1–3 · boss: Egg PinballCyberspace again, with gravity that flips on its own. Arrows on the walls warn you, and the pits are everywhere.
Chaos AngelActs 1–3 · boss: Egg GravityAncient ruins floating in the sky, lit by lanterns, with a moon and storm clouds outside.
Altar EmeraldFinal zone · Gemerl, then Hyper EggroboA short, straight run to two boss fights in a row, in the spirit of Death Egg Zone.
NonaggressionExtra zone · Ultimate GemerlOnly for players with all seven Emeralds who clear Altar Emerald with Sonic in the lead.
To earn a Special Stage, find the ten Chao hidden across a zone: usually three in each act and one on the map. A Special Key then appears somewhere in the zone’s acts; finish an act holding it, and the Special Spring on the map opens for one try.
Sonic BattleGame Boy Advance · 2003Where Emerl, the robot Gemerl was rebuilt from, made his debut. Advance 3 picks up its story: Gemerl exists because of what happened to Emerl.
Sonic PrimeNetflix series · episode “No Escape”Opens with a pixel-art flashback to this game: Sonic and Tails fighting Eggman and Gemerl in the Egg Ball No.2 at Sunset Hill, to the game’s own music.
Sonic GenerationsNintendo 3DS · 2011One of the unlockable pictures in the Collection Room is Advance 3 artwork of Vanilla, Cream and Gemerl.
Sonic Mega Collection Plus2004Gemerl turns up in the compilation’s artwork gallery.
Characters
Five heroes, any two at a time. Every pairing changes what both characters can do, and four of them even get their own team names. The quotes in the “Who they are” column are summarised from the North American manual.
Character
Who they are
In this game
Stats & abilities
Sonic the HedgehogPlayable from the start · Speed type
The free-spirited hero who cannot stand evil, quick to lose his temper but never one to walk away from someone in trouble.
The leader of the story and the only one who can open the true ending. Any team with Sonic counts as a Speed team.
Homing Attack, Skid Attack, Bound Attack
Boost Mode when running flat out
Tag Action: hurls the leader forward straight into Boost Mode
Miles “Tails” ProwerPlayable from the start · Fly type
The two-tailed fox who loves taking machines apart and looks up to Sonic like a big brother.
Stranded with Sonic after the planet breaks up. In the true ending he is the one who rebuilds Gemerl.
Propeller flight and a tail swipe
Tag Action on the ground: launches the leader high into the air
Tag Action in mid-air: carries the leader in flight
Knuckles the EchidnaFreed in Sunset Hill · Power type
Strong and sincere, and as the manual admits, a little too easy to fool.
Any team with Knuckles but not Sonic is a Power team, able to smash barriers others cannot.
Glide, climb and Drill Claw
Tag Action on the ground: thrown forward as a battering ram
Tag Action in mid-air: glides with the leader on his back
Amy RoseFreed in Toy Kingdom
Sonic’s self-appointed girlfriend, never without her Piko Piko Hammer.
Has no team type of her own, but pairs with Sonic as “Lovely Couple” and with Cream as “Team Jubilee”.
Hammer attacks on the ground and in the air
Tag Action: a hammer swing that bats the leader upwards
Cream the Rabbit & CheeseFreed in Cyber Track · Fly type
A polite little rabbit who takes her Chao, Cheese, everywhere, if a bit childish at times.
Flies using her ears and sends Cheese after enemies. Her home is where the story ends.
Flight and Chao Attack
Tag Action: Cheese takes on the leader’s colours and lends them the Chao Attack
GemerlDebut · Eggman’s robot
A combat robot Eggman built from Emerl’s data: obedient, quick to learn, and able to merge with any machine.
Co-pilots every boss, fights Sonic directly at Altar Emerald and, with seven Emeralds, becomes Ultimate Gemerl. Rebuilt by Tails, he ends the game as Cream’s friend.
Boss only: learns attacks; Ultimate Gemerl form in Nonaggression.
Dr. EggmanThe villain · a reluctant ally
The scientist whose Chaos Control experiment breaks the world.
Fought in every zone, then betrayed by his own robot. In Nonaggression he becomes Super Sonic’s partner: Sonic charges him into a fireball and fires him at Gemerl.
Voiced in English by Deem Bristow, in his final role as Eggman.
Vanilla the RabbitCream’s mother
Cream’s gentle mother, introduced in Sonic Advance 2.
Appears in the true ending, where the reformed Gemerl comes to live at her house.
Not playable.
Bosses
Gemerl rides along in each of Eggman’s machines. Screenshots via Sonic Retro; boss names as listed by Sonic Wiki Zone.
Egg Hammer 3Route 99The opening boss, on the city streets.
Egg Ball No.2Sunset HillThe fight Sonic Prime would later restage.
Egg FootOcean BaseWaits at the bottom of the undersea base.
Egg CubeToy KingdomThe toy box’s guardian.
Egg ChaserTwinkle SnowFought in the snow.
Egg PinballCyber TrackCyber Track’s boss.
Egg GravityChaos AngelThe last regular boss, right before Altar Emerald.
Hyper EggroboAltar EmeraldEggman’s last stand, after a duel with Gemerl.
The people who made it
Credits from the game, as listed by Sega Retro.
Yuji NakaProducer · Sonic TeamHead of Sonic Team at the time; he had little hands-on involvement but came up with the team-up idea.
Akinori NishiyamaDirectorDirected all three Advance games, as the credits of each show.
Yuji UekawaArt directorThe character designer of the Adventure era.
Kouichi Sakita, Yukihiro HigashiProducer and line producer · DimpsRan development at Dimps.
Tatsuyuki Maeda, Kenichi Tokoi, Hideaki KobayashiMusic · Wave MasterPart of the six-strong sound team.
Ryan Drummond, Deem BristowEnglish voices of Sonic and EggmanLeading an English cast that also included William Corkery, Scott Dreier, Jenny Douillard and Sarah Wulfeck.
How it was made
Our original page had no history section. This one combines the staff and company credits on Sega Retro, Sonic Retro’s concept art and hidden-content research, and Wikipedia’s development summary.
Two studios, one big idea
Concept art: Sonic and Amy.Via Sonic Retro
Sega Retro’s credits show how the work was divided. Sonic Team supplied the producer, Yuji Naka, the director, Akinori Nishiyama, and the art director, Yuji Uekawa, while Dimps provided its own producer, Kouichi Sakita, line producer Yukihiro Higashi and much of the planning; Future Creates is credited as a developer too, and Sega’s Wave Master studio handled the sound.
The split had a practical reason: Sonic Team did not have enough people who knew the Game Boy Advance inside out. Naka stayed largely hands-off, but the hook of the game, two characters playing as a team, was his idea, and Sonic Retro keeps concept art of Sonic and Amy paired up.
Faking 3D, saving space
It is still a 2D platformer, but sprites stretch and spin to suggest depth. Voice clips made it onto the cartridge as well, and to fit them in each version carries a single language of speech, English in the West and Japanese in Japan, while menus and text switch between six languages. Wave Master’s soundtrack leans on remixes, such as Sunset Hill’s take on Green Hill Zone.
Files left on the cartridge hint at changes of plan. Sonic Retro found a title-card graphic for an Act 4, suggesting the zones once had four acts, and a level-select preview for Altar Emerald, a zone the finished game never lets you pick in its Time Attack or versus menus.
From press release to shops
A promotional poster.
THQ, Sega’s partner outside Japan, revealed the game in a press release dated 11 September 2003, and it was on show at E3 in May 2004. The finished cartridges date from mid-April 2004; North America had the game first, on 7 June, followed by Japan on 17 June and most of Europe on 18 June.
Firsts: what this game introduced
Sonic Advance 3 introduced ideas no Sonic game had tried in quite this way.
1GemerlThe first appearance of Eggman’s robot, later Cream’s companion.
2Any two of fiveA partner system with twenty possible teams, each changing both characters’ moves.
3Tag ActionsHold and release R to throw, launch or carry your partner, an idea that echoes Knuckles’ Chaotix.
4Team namesUnbreakable Bond (Sonic and Tails), Fighting Buddies (Sonic and Knuckles), Lovely Couple (Sonic and Amy) and Team Jubilee (Amy and Cream).
5Hub zone mapsEach zone gets a small explorable map linking its acts, its boss and two bonus games.
Cheats & secrets
Our original Sonic Advance 3 page had no cheats section. These are the game’s unlockables and secrets, checked against Sonic Retro.
Unlocking the cast
Play as Sonic: clearing Act 3 of Sunset Hill rescues Knuckles, Act 3 of Toy Kingdom rescues Amy, and Act 3 of Cyber Track rescues Cream. Tails is available from the start.
Special Stage mode
Clear all seven Special Stages and a code appears. On the main menu, highlight Main Game and enter it (Sonic Wiki Zone gives Up, R, Down, L, Right, Left) to play the Special Stages on their own.
Boss Time Attack
Earn a gold medal for every act and boss, apart from Nonaggression, to unlock a time attack for the bosses.
Sound test
Hidden until you clear Altar Emerald.
Screen palettes
A button press on the title screen cycles colour settings for the original Game Boy Advance, the SP and the GameCube’s Game Boy Player. Oddly, the SP setting, made for a lit screen, is the brightest.
Everything at once
If the cartridge cannot find its save chip, the game unlocks all of its content, like the other Advance games.
Checked against Sonic Retro, November 2026.
Glitches, exploits and oddities
The bug that fans remember is the crushing, but Sonic Retro has catalogued a handful more.
Crushed by nothing
Ocean Base.
Moving blocks are the game’s worst enemy. If even a single pixel of your character ends up between a moving platform and solid ground, you die, sometimes where it looks impossible. The engine shares the problem with Sonic Advance 2, but here it is far more common.
Freezing time in Sunset Hill
Grab the first Omochao in Act 1 at the exact moment a nearby Gekogeko hits you, and time stops: enemies, platforms and your partner freeze, but you can still move. The Goal Ring will not appear until you pick up a Chao, but the trick lets you clear the act in under 12 seconds.
Swapping places
In two-player co-op, if both players hold R at the same moment, the Tag Actions cancel out and the two characters swap positions. In Cyber Track’s reversed gravity this can sink both of them into the ceiling.
Through the floor with Tails
Tails’ mid-air Tag Action can clip the leader into the floor at a corner, which is fatal over a pit. It can also send you into a vertical cannon through the wrong end.
The endless propeller
Fly into a Dash Ring as Tails or Cream and the flying sound keeps going until another sound effect plays.
Left on the cutting-room floor
The code holds an Act 4 marker for the title cards, as if each zone once had four acts; two unnamed music tracks; and voice clips for Knuckles doing tricks, which he cannot do in this game.
Videos & media
A complete run of the game, and the trailer Sega showed at E3 2004.
A full playthrough from the World of Longplays archive.
The E3 2004 gameplay trailer, as archived on YouTube.
Trivia & facts
This was the last game to use the original English voice cast of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Eggman before the Sonic X actors took over, and the last voice work Deem Bristow recorded before he died.
Sunset Hill.Sunset Hill is a love letter to Green Hill Zone, and its music is a remix of the original theme.
It is the only Advance game without the Tiny Chao Garden; the Chao Playground replaced it.
Put Sonic in the lead with Amy as his partner and she gets her own idle, walking and running animations, used by no other team.
Gemerl’s name points straight back to Emerl, the robot he was built from.
Media & artwork
Box art, artwork and screenshots, from Sonic Scene’s own galleries and Sonic Retro. Select any image to view it larger.
North American box.European box.Japanese box.Back of the North American box.Back of the European box.Back of the Japanese box.North American cartridge.European cartridge.Japanese cartridge.The cast.Sonic and Tails.Sonic and Amy.Knuckles and Cream.Cheese the Chao.Ending concept art.Route 99.Sunset Hill’s title card.Ocean Base.Toy Kingdom.Toy Kingdom.Omochao, in the Japanese version.Team type sprites.A bonus mini-game.Boss cleared.Act cleared.A multiplayer race.Single-Pak battle.
Sonic Advance 3 was the end of the line for the Game Boy Advance series; Dimps and Sonic Team moved on to the Nintendo DS and Sonic Rush. Fans still argue about it: some call it the low point of the trilogy because of its spikes, pits and crushers, while others rate it the best of the three for what the teams let you do.
Releases and re-releases
Game Boy Advance (North America)7 June 2004 – $29.99, co-published by THQ.
Game Boy Advance (Japan)17 June 2004 – ¥4,800.
Game Boy Advance (Europe)June 2004 – 18 June in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy; 25 June in France and the Netherlands.
Wii U Virtual Console (Japan)25 May 2016 – The GBA original, ¥702.
Where to play it today
Outside Japan, the original cartridge remains the only official way to play. The Japanese Wii U release was never offered elsewhere.
Sales & reviews
Sales
Wikipedia reports that Sonic Advance 3 sold quickly when it came out and passed 100,000 copies in the UK alone. We have not found a reliable worldwide total.
100k+Copies sold in the UK
79Metacritic score
81%Sega Retro average of 10 magazines
85%Pocket Games, US
Reception and review scores
Magazine scores from Sega Retro’s review index, which links each score to a scan.
Pocket GamesUS
85%
Alaab AlcomputtarSaudi Arabia
84%
Nintendo Official MagazineUK
83%
PlayUS
83%
AdvanceUK
82%
NGC MagazineUK
81%
GMRUS
80%
Nintendo PowerUS
78%
HyperAustralia
76%
GameProUS
75%
Nobody complained about the presentation. GameSpot put the graphics and sound up there with the year’s best from Nintendo and Konami, singling out the animation, the rippling water and the layered backgrounds, and GameSpy liked how faithfully it kept the bright, angular Mega Drive look and its jaunty tunes. GamePro’s one complaint here was a garish Toy Kingdom.
The partners were another matter. 1UP thought Sonic Team had finally made teamwork work without spoiling the core game, a sharper result than Sonic Heroes, and GameSpot, IGN and Game Informer all valued the extra replay. Game Informer and GamePro felt the other characters handled too much like Sonic to matter, and GameSpy saw the abilities as a way to find Chao it did not care about. On the levels, GameSpy and IGN were impressed while Game Informer called them simplistic; IGN blamed some cheap hits on the fact that most characters are defenceless coming off a spring.
Honours
Golden Joystick Awards 2004Handheld Game of the YearWinner.
GameSpot, June 2004Game Boy Advance game of the monthLater shortlisted for two of GameSpot’s 2004 awards: Best Platformer and Best Game Boy Advance Game.
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet. Played it? Give it a score out of 10 and tell other fans what you think.
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources below. Sonic Retro and Sega Retro pages were read through Wayback Machine copies from late 2024 to early 2026, because both live sites show a bot check; each Sonic Retro link opens the nearest archived copy. Magazine scores come from Sega Retro’s review index, which links each score to a scan of the original page.
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Sunset HillActs 1–3 · boss: Egg Ball No.2Green Hill at dusk, right down to the checkerboard palm trees, with water slides, bungee cords and poles to swing from. The music is a remix of Green Hill Zone.
Ocean BaseActs 1–3 · boss: Egg FootA secret base on the sea floor. Tall, twisting acts with waterfalls you can climb and crushers that grow spikes.
Toy KingdomActs 1–3 · boss: Egg CubeA playroom-cum-theme-park of jack-in-the-boxes, toy rockets, balloons, elephant slides and panda teacups, guarded by toy soldiers.
Twinkle SnowActs 1–3 · boss: Egg ChaserSnow that slows you down, mine carts, ice machines that fire you out frozen, and the northern lights overhead.
Cyber TrackActs 1–3 · boss: Egg PinballCyberspace again, with gravity that flips on its own. Arrows on the walls warn you, and the pits are everywhere.
Chaos AngelActs 1–3 · boss: Egg GravityAncient ruins floating in the sky, lit by lanterns, with a moon and storm clouds outside.
Altar EmeraldFinal zone · Gemerl, then Hyper EggroboA short, straight run to two boss fights in a row, in the spirit of Death Egg Zone.
Sonic the HedgehogPlayable from the start · Speed type
Miles “Tails” ProwerPlayable from the start · Fly type
Knuckles the EchidnaFreed in Sunset Hill · Power type
Amy RoseFreed in Toy Kingdom
Cream the Rabbit & CheeseFreed in Cyber Track · Fly type
Dr. EggmanThe villain · a reluctant ally
Vanilla the RabbitCream’s mother
Egg Hammer 3Route 99The opening boss, on the city streets.
Egg Ball No.2Sunset HillThe fight Sonic Prime would later restage.
Egg FootOcean BaseWaits at the bottom of the undersea base.
Egg CubeToy KingdomThe toy box’s guardian.
Egg ChaserTwinkle SnowFought in the snow.
Egg PinballCyber TrackCyber Track’s boss.
Egg GravityChaos AngelThe last regular boss, right before Altar Emerald.
Hyper EggroboAltar EmeraldEggman’s last stand, after a duel with Gemerl.
