I'm with you there.
Although because of obvious reasons, the advance titles are bound to be better than the gamegear, I still thought that the new graphics, control and all around layout of the game was bad compared to the originals. In those first games, the controls were tight, the character's responded well, generally and the layout of the levels made it out for smooth and yet challenging the first few times around. In advance 1 which I did finish, I thought the new graphics made for sloppy control. The levels seemed over simplified. It isn't the worst (3d blast?) but just the same, its not like it used to be.