Sonic Spinball Review

During the majority of 1993, there were no main Sonic games.  There were games for the SEGA Game Gear, but we're not talking about those today.  Near the end of 1993, SEGA came out with Sonic Spinball for the Genesis/Mega Drive.  Even though this game was not part of the main story of Sonic, it was still fun to keep that need for speed.  However, this game is infamous for difficulty and control.  How does this game stand against DirectGamers?  Lets find out; this is our review of Sonic Spinball for the SEGA Genesis/Megadrive.

Game Synopsis
Dr. Robotnik is back again to take over Mobius.  With the help of his Veg-O-Fortress, Robotnik is turning the animals of Mobius into robots.  It's up to Sonic to get through the pinball defense and defeat Robotnik.

Gameplay/Game Mechanics

Remember, the screen gives you lots of hints.

As the title states, this is a pinball style game, and Sonic is the ball.  There are 4 stages throughout the game, which are Toxic Caves, Lava Powerhouse, The Machine, and Showdown.  Each stage has its gimmicks and obstacles to stop your progress.  The buttons for the game are relatively easy to understand; the A button is the left flipper, the B button is the right flipper, and the C button are both flippers.  As the player, you can control the movement of Sonic while he is in the air.  The main goal is to get the chaos emeralds, which are more than 7, and defeat the boss of that stage.  The boss battle aren't much of a challenge.

There are special stages after the boss battle, excluding the final boss at Showdown.  The objectives can vary from saving captured friends to knocking out Robotnik's teeth.  Also, by collecting every ring in the stage, you can go into the hidden fourth special stage.  These can be very fun, but there is an issue with this game, which is the control; sometimes Sonic can go in a different direction than you wanted him to go.  Also, the can be somewhat unforgiving about where the ball lands.  Try it for yourself, and you'll know what I mean.

Difficulty
The difficulty in Sonic Spinball is very weird and has a huge spike in it.  For example, Toxic Caves helps you out with a lot of safety nets such as a barrel in toxic waste that can be used as a boat, and opened plugs to give you a second chance in the fight.  By the next level; however, some of those safety nets are gone.  When you get to Showdown, the rocks that sent you into the level are gone and the buttons to get them back are put in awkward places, so make sure your moves are precise.  As I said before, the control is an issue that have made this game so difficult.

Graphics/Sound
The graphics are good for their time, but they can have some glitches.  A representation of this would be when Sonic is away from the flippers a little bit, and you still hit Sonic.  There aren't many glitches in the game, but the ones that are noticeable are helpful.  A marvelous thing to note is that characters from The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and SatAM cartoons are in this game.  The soundtrack for this game is pretty good; I truly like the song from Toxic Caves because of the bass that can be heard throughout the song.  The options melody and spin dash sound effect could have been better, but those are only little issues.

Conclusion

In the end, you'll probably be frustrated at the game.  The difficulty and controls do cripple the game a little bit, and it might make players quit during the game.  It's not terrible as a Sonic game, but it's still fun to play as a pinball game.  I also know that there was a Game Gear version, but that port of the game is atrocious; there won't be a review for that game.  With that said, we give Sonic Spinball a 7 out of 10.  You'll enjoy it, but don't play it for a long time.

Sonic Spinball screenshots © SEGA 1993
DirectGamers 2011