Sonic Advance 3: Part 1: Opening & Route 99 Act 1 (All 3 Chao)

Here's the start of the one Sonic Advance game that I actually managed to play in my childhood compared to its prequels.

It's good that I also played this back then AFTER Sonic Battle, as this game actually takes place sometime after that game rather than directly after Advance 2.
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As both openings of this game show, the evil mad scientist, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnix, has planned a new scheme for world conquest. He has somehow acquired one of the 7 Chaos Emeralds, and used it to split the entire world up into 7 distinct Zones.

Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower were able to stay together from this split, but the rest of their friends were spirited away...

They now team up once more to travel through these Zones, fight off Eggman and his forces, find their friends, and somehow use the Chaos Emeralds to change everything back to normal.

However, besides Eggman, himself, the mad doctor had also planned a brand new robot to threaten Sonic with. A robot that was based on the data of a robot that had previously grew up with Sonic and his friends before losing its life...
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In this game, you no longer use a character solo. You will always have to select between picking a leader and a partner to tag along with them. For now, I only have Sonic & Tails to select from, but whether you led Sonic lead or Tails lead, that will affect the different things you can do during gameplay.

Tag Actions let you use some kind of special maneuver that your partner supplies you with. There's a Tag Action on the ground and in the air.

Tails's Ground Tag Action is a leapfrog that catapults you really REALLY high into the air. His Air Tag Action just simply has him carry you around with his propeller flight, just like the good ol' Classic days.

If Sonic is on a team, them he and his partner can use Boost Most when they're in your direct control. The more Rings you collect, the easier and sooner you can use this on your own while running.

Sonic & Tails can also still do Trick Actions when they're together. They're one of the only two special teams that can do this.

Taking a page out of Sonic Heroes' book, there are three types of teams: Speed, Flight, and Power. The team type is based on who's in it, and Sonic ALWAYS influences the team to be Speed the most, even if you have capable and Tag Actions of other types.
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Zones are now selected through playable maps. You have to travel through the maps to reach the Zone Acts you want to play, and this means you can play them in any order.

Throughout a lot of stages are Omochao. Pick one of these up, and they'll give you useful hints such as "Head for the goal".

Throughout every Zone, and split between the Acts and also most of the Maps, you can find REAL Chao somewhere. I will make these videos by Act to show you how you can find all of the missing Chao in one sitting per Act.
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Fascinating that this game's first Zone isn't of a tropical locale, but of a large city complex. Don't get used to this for too long, though!

Route 99 Act 1 has 3 Chao in it. Since you start this game off with Sonic and Tails, it doesn't take too much effort to reach them with that combination.
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Back on the map, there are two minigames you can find and play. One of them has you defeat all of the enemies in a field based on the Zone's specific gimmicks.

To the far left of ever map is a Giant Ring that takes you to the Sonic Factory. Here, you can change your team/characters, switch to a different Zone, and to the far left of that is the Chao Playground where you can see all of the Chao you've found in every Zone as well as any Chaos Emeralds you've picked up.

Getting all of the Chao in a Zone will unlock Special Keys that you can pick up within that very Zone's Acts. Complete the Act with the Special Key and you can bring it back to the map and take it to the Special Spring so you can reach a Special Stage. Beat that, and you'll finally win a Chaos Emerald.

I won't be focused on getting Chaos Emeralds now at this point. I'm mainly going to focus on completing all of the Acts and all of their Chao, and THEN come back for the Special Stages and Chaos Emeralds.
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I usually cover new videos of Sonic playthroughs per Zone, but for this game's case, I'm mainly gonna due it per Act due to the extra things I often do after completing an Act in this game.