Sonic Advance 2 (InstanceTopic, 19)

From Compile Worlds

Sonic Advance 2 is the sequel to Sonic Advance, running off of a modified version of the latter's engine and adding the pathetically weak Cream the Rabbit to the roster. You might think it sounds alright so far, but this game's got running bosses, annoying enemy and spike placement, bottomless pits everywhere, unwinnable Mode 7 Special Stages that rehash Sonic Adventure characters for marketing ploys and, worst of all, Techno Base. In fact, everything else pales in comparison to Techno Base, so I could have just said that and only that in the first place.

However, despite its misgivings, it features some really great music and includes the most epic Super Sonic showdown ever in the form of the True Area 53 (unrelated to Area 51, mind you).

Also worth noting is Vanilla the Rabbit's first official appearance is in this game, and is the last game in the Gameboy Advance series to feature Dr. Eggman as the true antagonist.

Some argue that since Sonic Advance is the only official candidate for a proper Sonic 4, this would technically make Advance 2 the only proper Sonic 5. However, this is utter rubbish, as outlined below.

Rigorous proof that Sonic Advance 2 is not Sonic 5

Suppose, for a contradiction, that Sonic Advance 2 is Sonic 5. Note that each game in a series must be better than the previous ones. Therefore, somehow, the complete abomination described in the first paragraph must be worthy of that. But if that was the case, ol' Sonic Adventure would easily qualify to be Sonic 4, therefore Sonic Advance would not be Sonic 4 because it came out after Sonic Adventure, therefore Sonic Advance 2 would not be the sequel to Sonic 4, therefore cannot be Sonic 5. Q.E.D., bitches!