Collection essentials #138: Sonic Spinball (Genesis)

One area in the very popular Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was “Casino Night Zone”, and there were sections of those levels with pinball flippers that could shoot Sonic curled up into a ball as if he were a living pinball. This level was popular, so there was an obvious-but-great idea, what if they made a whole game based around that concept? And so, we got Sonic Spinball.

Pinball video games were not a new concept even at the time. Oftentimes, pinball video games are more or less comparable to a real pinball machine. However, this is not just a regular pinball game with Sonic replacing the ball just to sell more copies. No, this game has actual levels with objectives that must be completed, that are much bigger than an actual pinball table, with some elements that you’d never see in an actual pinball machine. In fact, Sonic is able to stand up and move and even do his trademark spin dash when he’s on flat ground, it’s just that this doesn’t happen very often. The idea is that Sonic must collect a series of emeralds scattered across each stage, which will give him access to the boss chamber, where he must go and defeat the boss. Unlike real pinball, after an initial shot, you can then control Sonic in midair and influence where he falls, so there’s less chance at work. 

Sonic Spinball is good fun. My only real complaint is that they just could have done a lot more with it. There are only four levels, and if you know what you’re doing you can comfortably finish the game in under an hour. Multiplayer is limited to two players taking turns aiming for a high score, which is fine, but simultaneous multiplayer could have been a lot of fun. 

This is another very nostalgic game for me. It was the first video game that my cousins had for their Genesis, so we gave it a lot of play time. We weren’t very good at it, so we almost always only played the first two levels, seldom making it to the third, and I don’t remember seeing the final fourth level at all back then. I eventually beat the game as a young adult. 

If they had aimed bigger with this game, it maybe could have been considered one of the best games of the Genesis. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who calls it one of their absolute favorites, but it’s still a fun little game that’s worth a play if you want a pinball experience that’s outside of the norm. And with a strong dose of nostalgia, it’s easily on my list of essentials.