Sonic Advance is notable for being the first Sonic game released on a Nintendo console, despite both Sega and Nintendo being well-known rivals on the console market throught the 1990s.

Sonic Advance features four playable characters and marks the first playable appearance of Amy Rose on a 2D title. The game borrows elements from the original Sonic the Hedgehog titles for the Sega Genesis, but with the post-Dreamcast artstyle for the characters which was introduced in Sonic Adventure. The game also includes multiplayer features and mini-games.

The title was also ported to the Nokia N-Gage under the title "SonicN".