Sonic Spinball was a game I experienced back in the late 90’s when I was around 6-7 years old. I never heard of the game until a friend of mine, who was also into Sonic, demonstrated it to me along with Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. As far as I can remember, my initial response upon seeing Sonic Spinball was: “Sonic, in a pinball game? This is going to be interesting!” When I played the game for the first time, it was a very interesting experience for me, which compelled me to ask my friend if I could borrow the game for a little bit. After I got home and sat on my ass playing the game, it kicked my ass. It kicked my ass to the point where I got frustrated out of my mind. This was the very first time I ever found myself raging at a video game and it was one of my nightmares during my childhood. In 2005 I managed to acquire the Sonic Mega Collection for the Nintendo GameCube due to my Mega Drive/Genesis breaking down on me a few years prior. Upon seeing Sonic Spinball on the back of the case, it brought back unpleasant memories. They were so unpleasant that I immediately ended up playing the game after I beat Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles to see if I could finally beat it. I failed time and time again, but once I mastered the mechanics of the game, I was able to finally conquer my childhood nightmare. But enough backstory, it’s time to review Sonic Spinball! Sonic Spinball, as the incredibly lame pun implies, is a pinball game. If you’ve played pinball before, then you should immediately know how it works. In this game, Sonic is the pinball, but unlike the traditional pinball game, you can influence Sonic in mid-air, so that’s one thing that already makes Sonic’s iteration of pinball unique. This makes it easier to go wherever you need to go, adds extra precision, and can potentially save you from possible deaths. The game has four levels to offer: Toxic Caves, Lava Powerhouse, The Machine, and finally, The Showdown. Each level in this game has a unique theme to it; being based off a sewer, a geothermal power station, a robot factory, and a launch pad system. The level themes are not exactly relevant to this review, but I thought it was nice to mention. Your main goal in this game is to collect the Chaos Emeralds scattered around the stage, which are all coloured blue in this game for some reason. Not to mention that there’s a total of 16 Chaos Emeralds to acquire. 3 in Toxic Caves, 3 in Lava Powerhouse, 5 in The Machine, and 5 in The Showdown. I often wonder if the developers of this game knew how many Emeralds the series had at this point. Anyway, besides collecting the Chaos Emeralds in each stage, you also have to take down the boss that each stage offers you to advance to the next one. If you beat a stage fast enough, you’re given a time bonus, which can give you a total of 10 million points. By completing a stage, you’re thrown into a bonus stage, which marks the first time that characters from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Saturday AM cartoons make their debut in a Sonic game. Each bonus stage has a simple objective and if you beat a bonus stage, it adds up to the game’s final score upon beating it. Graphically speaking, it looks very nice. While they are certainly not as colourful as other Sonic games, they offer some nice variety and get the job done. However, when it comes to the sprite artwork, it’s a mixed bag. Sonic’s sprite and animations are so poorly done. The frame rate is also noticeably choppy, as there are times where the game decides to slow down all of a sudden, which is exceptionally noticeable when Sonic jumps. Speaking of the controls for Sonic himself outside of the pinball table, they suck, big time. However, the times when you are not on the pinball table are very few and far between, so the chances are is that you’ll just spin dash back into the pinball table. Musically speaking, it’s great for the most part. I’m really not a huge fan of The Showdown theme and the option/credits menu theme just rapes my ears. The music seems to take on a more rock-like style. This was probably due to the fact that rock was a huge thing in America back in the 90’s. As for Sonic Spinball’s soundtrack, it’s definitely worthy of being Sonic music and something I can jam to all day. The Mega Drive/Genesis style, especially with the kind of instruments this game is using, makes the soundtrack feel a little aged, though. As for the difficulty level, it can be brutally difficult at times. This is especially apparent in the games’ final stage, The Showdown. The 3 levels that come before it are nothing in comparison to this cruel stage. I understand that it’s the final stage and it’s supposed to be challenging, but the difficulty spike on this stage is just staggering. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I died on this stage upon getting to it back in my early teen years. It took me so long to finally master the level’s layout and how to approach all of its obstacles. Sonic Spinball is a fun, yet underrated Sonic spin-off that has its own merits. The graphics are pretty colourful, the soundtrack is great in most areas, and it’s certainly one of the most underrated gems in the Mega Drive/Genesis library. If you’re a fan of Sonic and a fan of pinball, please, give it a shot. It’s not for everyone, but I think this game has aged pretty well, despite some design flaws and it has a certain charm that has yet to be replicated. If I can give this game a score out of 10, it would be around 7.5. It’s a good, fun game. While it’s hard as hell sometimes, it’s a unique twist of the traditional pinball formula.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:18:54 +0000