Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball is a pinball action video game developed by Sega Technical Institute (USA development division of Sega) and published by Sega of Japan. Released in 1993, it is set in the continuity of the Sonic the Hedgehog TV animated series.
Sonic the Hedgehog in a pinball video game? It may not be popular with my fellow Filipino gamers during that time, but it was pretty good for me anyway.
The Story
Sonic The Hedgehog bounces into pinball insanity! Dr. Robotnik's latest diabolical creation is the Veg-O-Fortress, a volcano island powered by the Chaos Emeralds and protected by the Pinball Defense System. Go wear your Power Sneakers for cool new Sonic moves! Sonic blasts into space bounces from levers, and balls up for a high-altitude jump! Plenty of wild Sonic action through shiny caverns, poisonous toxic pools, and boiling lava pits!
The Graphics and Sound
The game has very good graphics. Everything looks nice as you would expect from a Sonic game. It seems to have a bit more anime look to it than the other Sonic games.
The sound is the usual standard Sonic fare. Nothing there really catchy, but nice music and sound effects by the game console standards of that era. There is nothing particularly annoying or good aside from the instant kill by lava sound effect.
The Gameplay
It is your task to guide Sonic the blue hedgehog through 4 long and intricate levels. Sonic will spend most of the time curled up the ball in a huge pinball game. But, there are sections where he will be able to travel overland, jump on platforms, or anyway move through the levels in different ways, which add gameplay variety.
In each of the 4 levels, you will have to find some Chaos Emeralds in order to open the boss room. Once done, you will have to make your way up there and just defeat the boss to proceed to the next level. Not so easy as the later levels are pretty large, and it will take some exploration before you can get all the items you need. Secondly, finding where the emeralds are also meant you will have to make your way to where they lie, which involves further exploration and some nice puzzle work. Finally, there are also the extras in every level you can use to score points and more... and of course, you will have to deal with enemies and plenty of traps and hazards.
There are also bonus games to be found in between levels.
Controls are simple and great. Sonic games have always been outstanding in this department, and this one is no exception.
Replay value is very good. This game is kinda hard to beat but fun. Even if you manage to finish it with the normal speed setting, you can still go for the fast one.
My Verdict
I recommend Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball unless you hate pinball video games or Sonic games with a passion. It still is fun to play and is a kind of game that still has appeal. It is simple in its concept. You definitely won't be digging this one out only on stay-at-home quarantine.
Play it on the beloved Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console or play it on your easy to use, favorite emulator.
Let's keep on gaming in the free world!
