How to make Sonic Advance Hard

So, I love me some Sonic the Hedgehog. Always have, always will. I downloaded a bunch of GBA roms under the impression that Acekard 2 would be able to play them. Kinda pissed- whole other story, but when that didn't happen, I decided to go ahead and start playing them again on my laptop. I'm big on portability, so I really want to be able to play them on the DSi, but whatever.

So anyway, I'm playing the original Sonic Advance, the first Sonic title, if I'm not mistaken, to be released on a Nintendo Console. While Myomoto was dancing happily across Naoto ?shima's metaphysical grave, I was interested in the new portable Sonic. It didn't disappoint, in fact, it was a great, retro experience. If you know Sonic, you know the drill. Robots, Rings, Emeralds, and run motherfucker run!

Now, for those of you who are familiar with the Sonic series, you may remember that there are a couple of ways to bring spiny death unto your robot enemies and free the tiny animals trapped within. The first is to curl up into a ball and spin dash into them, and the second is the Mario-perfected jumps.

Not Amy. When she jumps, she jumps like you've just hit a bouncy thing. If you push down and jump, like someone trying to do a spin-attack, then she does a little jump that helps her run faster. She's got a big-ass hammer, and with a little practice, it's possible to learn how to use it while jumping... But goddamn.

I'm placing Amy as the official "expert" mode on that game. There's no spin dashing into enemies, there's no jumping into Robotnick, none of that shit. If you want to get through this game as Amy, you'd best be fucking amazing at Sonic.

Here's what really bothers me about this shit, ok. Amy is a hedgehog, like Sonic. She has spines, even if she combs them down or whatever. Tails is a fucking fox (or Keaton or whatever), and he can spin dash. He has no spines. But he understands the basic physics of mimicking Sonic and defeating enemies. Also, in Sonic Heroes, she can totally jump and spin dash, so I don't know what the hell this shit is. But if you want a good challenge, play through Sonic Advance with Amy.