Sonic Spinball (Sega Genesis, 1993)

Soinc Spinball was a spin-off of the regular Sonic series on the Genesis. It was released late in 1993 between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and featured Sonic as the ball in a pinball themed game. This game was mainly developed as a stop gap to have a Sonic game available for the holidays since Sonic 3 was not going to be completed in time.

The control scheme is somewhat unique in that in addition to more conventional pinball physics, you can also control Sonic's direction while in motion. Due to the speed and limited visibility, this could be difficult. However, considering the game only had a two-month development cycle it was pretty impressive and a decent game overall. Graphics, sound and music were all pretty much up to the standard of other Sonic games and while the control scheme wasn't perfect, it wasn't terrible either.

The goal of Sonic Spinball is pretty much the same as any Sonic game in that you have to defeat Doctor Robotnik and his minions. One interesting item is that this game is the only one set in the Sonic animated universe. You must collect all of the Chaos Emeralds scattered throughout the various levels and defeat the four bosses to win the game.

Despite a few problems, the game got mixed but mostly positive reviews. If you like Sonic and you like pinball then it is definitely a game to try. However, the control scheme can definitely put pinball purists off and if you are just a fan of the Sonic platform games and not of pinball then there isn't much to like here, despite the Sonic theme.

If you do want to give it a try then there are a variety of ways to play it. In addition to the Genesis release, there was also a Game Gear and Sega Master System release the following year. In addition, the Genesis version was released as part of the Sonic Mega Collection on the GameCube, PS2, Xbox and PC, as part of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3, on Wii's Virtual Console, and via Steam and Nintendo Switch Online. The Game Gear version was an unlockable game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the GameCube and PC and was released as part of the Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube and PS2.