>the ages are gone
>Cream's still the only character who lives with her parent(s?)
So is Cream the only character we can definitively classify as a preteen?

>>531663081
THE SIZE. OF A HUMAN. MOTHER.

Advance 1 feels like a more unique redo of Pocket Adventure, but I hated the "Angel Island" and Egg Rocket Zones.
Advance 2 is when they really overdid it on the Emerald requirements, and it changed the gameplay to prototypical Rush/boost, lackluster bosses.
Advance 3 is more like Chaotix 2 and is a far better game, Special Stage requirements are still ass though and hubs were unnecessary and shouldn't be confusing to navigate.
Overall 3 > 1 >> 2

Vanilla isn't canonically a virgin.