Dr. Eggman (AKA Dr. Robotnik) is once again turning the animals of Mobius into robots using his monstrous contraption, the Veg-O-Fortress. Only Sonic can penetrate the Pinball Defense System to free the animals, retrieve the Chaos Emeralds, and put a stop to Dr. Eggman’s fiendish plans!
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A Sonic pinball game, on paper, makes sense. Casino Night Zone is often cited by fans as one of the most memorable levels in Sonic 2 and that had plenty of flippers and bumpers that were a joy to navigate. Surely Sonic Spinball will be just as laid back and fun as Casino Night Zone, right? Well....not quite. Sonic Spinball is like a less friendly, gloves-off approach to the pinball genre that is punishingly hard, easily the hardest Sonic game I've played.
What I admire about the game is it's ambition. The level's are designed to be more interesting than your run-of-the-mill licensed pinball game, sprawling in scope with visuals more akin to a platformer game than a flashy pinball game. The first level, Toxic Caves, is really fun and satisfying to vertically scale...but the difficulty starts getting ridiculous in Lava Powerhouse with some very finickity jumps and some brutal bottomless pits. I've never completed the game without the help of modern save and rewind features, the final level always defeated me as a kid.
More than anything else though I have a soft spot for Sonic Spinball because of it's design is informed by an American perspective and it's the only game in the series to incorporate elements of the SatAM cartoon series (Princess Sally and co make cameo appearances) which is pretty rad. Honestly, the soundtrack slaps hard as well. That distinctly grimy, industrial sound the Mega Drive sound chip was known for works perfectly work and compliments the slightly grittier style of the game's graphics.
What I admire about the game is it's ambition. The level's are designed to be more interesting than your run-of-the-mill licensed pinball game, sprawling in scope with visuals more akin to a platformer game than a flashy pinball game. The first level, Toxic Caves, is really fun and satisfying to vertically scale...but the difficulty starts getting ridiculous in Lava Powerhouse with some very finickity jumps and some brutal bottomless pits. I've never completed the game without the help of modern save and rewind features, the final level always defeated me as a kid.
More than anything else though I have a soft spot for Sonic Spinball because of it's design is informed by an American perspective and it's the only game in the series to incorporate elements of the SatAM cartoon series (Princess Sally and co make cameo appearances) which is pretty rad. Honestly, the soundtrack slaps hard as well. That distinctly grimy, industrial sound the Mega Drive sound chip was known for works perfectly work and compliments the slightly grittier style of the game's graphics.
Arguably the first truly broken Sonic game. long before the rough transition to 3d age where i grew up with sonic.
This game is fun to play but not to beat, not to get a highscore, but its bonkers fun to try and break via speedrun.
This game is fun to play but not to beat, not to get a highscore, but its bonkers fun to try and break via speedrun.
sonic gets traumatic brain injury from pinball flippers
Another oddball entry in the series, Sonic Spinball for consoles is a pretty unique game that I do like, but is absolutely not something I go back to a whole lot.
Dr Robotnick has built a trap tower built with the power of Chaos Emeralds, and it’s up to Sonic to collect them and stop him. Not much there but I do think the aesthetic and vibe of this one is very different to what you would expect. The sound effects for one, are super crunchy and piercing, the enemies are pretty vicious looking and the overall energy is a lot more dank compared to the classics.
The game is pinball with a twist, you play pinball as you would anywhere else, but your aim is to not just get a high score, it’s to collect the chaos emeralds in every stage. You have influence over Sonic’s movement and when not on the pinball table you can control Sonic on the ground Spindash and all. But despite this you are gonna go flying all over the place trying to find your way around. Doesn’t help that the game is pretty glitchy and sometimes death can just happen.
There’s only 4 stages but it gets pretty brutal towards the end of the game. Boss fights can go either way, you can get lucky or often get ejected from the boss arena. The amount of precision required in some parts is rediculous, so like I said, it’s a fun game when it works, but it’s a hard sell to come back to.
I like the music and the vibe the game gives off, but definitely approach this one with caution.
Dr Robotnick has built a trap tower built with the power of Chaos Emeralds, and it’s up to Sonic to collect them and stop him. Not much there but I do think the aesthetic and vibe of this one is very different to what you would expect. The sound effects for one, are super crunchy and piercing, the enemies are pretty vicious looking and the overall energy is a lot more dank compared to the classics.
The game is pinball with a twist, you play pinball as you would anywhere else, but your aim is to not just get a high score, it’s to collect the chaos emeralds in every stage. You have influence over Sonic’s movement and when not on the pinball table you can control Sonic on the ground Spindash and all. But despite this you are gonna go flying all over the place trying to find your way around. Doesn’t help that the game is pretty glitchy and sometimes death can just happen.
There’s only 4 stages but it gets pretty brutal towards the end of the game. Boss fights can go either way, you can get lucky or often get ejected from the boss arena. The amount of precision required in some parts is rediculous, so like I said, it’s a fun game when it works, but it’s a hard sell to come back to.
I like the music and the vibe the game gives off, but definitely approach this one with caution.
mitada
Played on my cousins' Xbox 360 through Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Not a fan of pinball games myself, so I will not be returning to this game.