Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball

aka: STH Pinball, Sonic Spinball
Moby ID: 6620
Genesis Specs
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Description official descriptions

The evil doctor Robotnik has a new plan to take over the world. He has built a new weapon, the Veg-O-Fortress on Mount Mobius and with it, he is transforming all creatures into robots. Sonic sneaks into the fortress and tries to stop Robotnik.

Use Sonic as a pinball in 4 dangerous levels. Score points, get rings, collect Chaos Emeralds and destroy the boss at the end of each level.

Spellings

  • ソニック・スピンボール - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Genesis version)

51 People (38 developers, 13 thanks) · View all

Programming
Game Design
Art
Sound and Music Effects
Director of SEGA Technical Institute
Producer
Art Director
Marketing Product Manager
Lead Testers
Testers
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 71% (based on 28 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 61 ratings with 1 reviews)

A tacky cash-in on Genesis' greatest platform game series.

The Good
Nice-looking cover.

The Bad
Did you ever own a ZX Spectrum, C64, Amiga, Atari or any other computer on which the Dizzy games were released? These consisted of two sets of games. There were the platform/puzzle games which were great, and then there were the spin-offs. Occasionally the spin-offs produced a really good game (like the ZX Spectrum version of 'Kwik Snax'), but more often than not they were nothing but tat with the name Dizzy tacked on to help them sell. Well, this game is like a Sonic version of the Dizzy spin-offs. Yes, it has Sonic in it, and there are appearances by Dr Robotnik, but basically it's something nobody would give a second glance if Sonic hadn't been put in it. I've never been a fan of the pinball levels in the good Sonic games, so making an entire game out of those kinds of levels didn't seem inspiring somehow. Especially when it's a game in which the collision detection is rubbish, the graphics and music lack the style and detail of other Sonic games, and the whole thing becomes boring and repetitive very quickly.

The Bottom Line
Sonic must collect rings, bounce around pinball-like environments and defeat the occasional boss. Same as most Sonic games, except without the fun.

Genesis · by Gary Smith (57) · 2005

Trivia

Development

This was the first (and thus far, only) Sonic game to be developed entirely in the USA.

On the final day of Spinball's development, the team was throwing their 'end-of-project' party when the Japanese group working on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 dropped in to see how things turned out. Among the group was Hirokazu Yasuhara, who, upon seeing the start-up sequence, wondered how the Spinball team talked Sega into paying for the rights to the original Sonic theme song. It turns out that the Spinball team was completely unaware that the rights for the original Sonic music belonged to Dreams Come True, who had become quite famous since the music was composed two years prior. Their asking price was more than Sega was willing to pay, so at the very last minute composer Howard Drossin whipped up a new opening jingle which became Spinball's theme.

References

The animals you free in the bonus games at the end of Toxic Caves and The Machine include Tails, as well as the supporting cast of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Archie comic book: Princess Sally, Boomer/Rotor, Bunnie, and Muttski. The Cluck bots that invade Toxic Caves and Lava Powerhouse are based on Robotnik's mechanical pet, also from the same show. Finally, the chicken bots circling the capsule in The March bonus are based on Scratch, one of Robotnik's incompetent cronies from The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 6620
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Bahz.

iPad added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. iPhone, Wii added by Sciere. Windows, Linux, Macintosh added by Foxhack.

Additional contributors: paul cairey, Alaka, Martin Smith, MegaMegaMan, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】.

Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified March 11, 2024.