You probably don't need me to tell you this, but Sonic Spinball - a game that already plays poorly on the Genesis - is a disaster on the Game Gear.

I know this is the least shocking news ever, but this black brick that sucks down AA batteries like water isn't exactly the best piece of hardware for a video pinball game. The framerate is choppy which makes it irritating to navigate each table, Sonic has a tendency to flicker around all over the place after hitting bumpers, and the hitbox for flippers feels inconsistent. Yet again, this is a Game Gear Sonic game with a Master System equivalent, which I actually did not know until after I beat it. So, the usual asterisk applies here: the Master System version is probably better. Maybe.

Backhanded as this may sound, one thing I think Sonic Spinball for the Game Gear has going for it are its table designs, which are pretty good considering its limitations. Sure, there's some pretty egregious overuse of repeating layouts and gimmicks remain very simplistic throughout, but it's a Game Gear game, and I felt each table was intuitive enough to navigate. The problem is entirely in how good it feels to navigate them, and unfortunately 8-bit Spinball's technical shortcomings just make the whole experience aggravating.

Sonic Spinball was the last Sonic game released on the Master System, which is a pretty sad note to go out on. Unless you count the Brazilian port of Sonic Blast that hit the console in 1997, which is just tragic (it's not even considered a good port.) Kinda irrelevant since I'll have to play both games on the Game Gear anyway, but I just thought that was a neat fact.