Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball | |
---|---|
Windows, Game Boy Advance | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action, pinball |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, also known as Sonic Spinball, is a 1993
Sonic Spinball was developed by the American staff of Sega Technical Institute, as the Japanese staff was occupied with developing
Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, with critics praising the novelty and graphics but criticizing the controls. A second pinball game,
Gameplay
Sonic Spinball is a pinball game in which the player controls Sonic the Hedgehog, who acts as the pinball.[4] The majority of the game takes place within the "Pinball Defense System", which resembles a series of large pinball machines.[5] The game comprises four levels,[6][7] each containing numerous flippers that can be used to aim Sonic's trajectory and launch him through the level. Sonic can be maneuvered while airborne with input from the directional pad, which can be used for better positioning following an impact with a bumper or target or when Sonic is descending toward the drain, bumpers or flippers.[8]
The goal of each level is to collect all the
Sonic starts the game with three
Plot
The evil scientist
Development
The marketing/research folks indicated that Sonic's casino levels were among the favorites, birthing the idea of the overall direction. I honestly don't know who came up with that, but it sounded fun and doable, so STI [Sega Technical Institute] jumped on it.
Peter Morawiec in a retrospective interview with Retro Gamer.[18]
Sega's research suggested that the Casino Night Zone was one of the most popular levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This provided designer Peter Morawiec with a direction for the new game. Morawiec drew inspiration from the 1992 Amiga game Pinball Dreams to combine pinball mechanics with the gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog. Collaborating with three colleagues, Morawiec designed basic animations depicting Sonic as a pinball. The animations were demonstrated to Sega's senior management, who approved the project.[18]
The game would have to be completed in under a year to be ready in time for the 1993 holiday season. Morawiec considered this a "tight" schedule for a game that would capitalize on the series' popularity in North America.[20] To speed up production, Sega sent veteran staff from Japan to assist, including regular Sonic the Hedgehog artist Katsuhiko Sato. Despite the transfer of these staff, the game was still not predicted to be complete in time. As a result, Sega Technical Institute staff changed the programming language from assembly to C, an unusual choice for Genesis games at the time.[20][21] Morawiec said the choice caused frame rate and optimization problems, but greatly accelerated development. In the space of 61 days between June and August 1993, the project evolved from a roughly playable build with no collision detection systems or character animations to a completed game.[20]
Immediately before the game was due to ship, the team was informed that Sega did not own the rights to the Sonic the Hedgehog theme tune. Morawiec recalled uproar among the team after Hirokazu Yasuhara, the lead designer on Sonic Team, explained that the tune was owned by the Japanese band Dreams Come True, whose member Masato Nakamura composed the soundtrack for the first two Sonic games. Morawiec tasked lead composer Howard Drossin to write a new theme within two hours.[22]
Release
Morawiec believed that the game would face "acceptance challenges" from both fans and the gaming media, as Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball strayed away from the traditional platforming genre. After returning to the United States from Europe, Morawiec was surprised to find that the game had sold well, and was pleased that it benefited from the franchise's popularity. Nonetheless, he regretted that the team had lacked time to "polish" the game.[23]
After the
Sonic Spinball has been rereleased on 11 different platforms.
Reception
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Mean Machines Sega | 81% (Mega Drive)[40] |
Electronic Games | 93% (Genesis)[41] |
Entertainment Weekly | C (Genesis)[42] |
MegaTech | 86% (Mega Drive)[43] |
The Genesis version received generally positive reviews upon release. Laurie Yates of Electronic Games gave it a highly positive review, with scores of 90% for graphics and sound, and 95% for playability and replayability.[41] Scary Larry of GamePro gave it a positive review, calling it "a fun, fast, and frenetic" pinball game.[38]
The visuals were generally well received.
Bob Strauss of Entertainment Weekly felt that the game initially boasted a terrific concept, but had an ultimately flawed execution, saying that Sonic, acting as a pinball, often moved like a "leaden marble".[42] Rich Leadbetter from Mean Machines also expressed concern over the game's lack of replay value, saying that despite its addictive gameplay, the four levels were not enough, especially given the price.[40]
Andromeda of GamePro, in a mixed review of the Game Gear version, criticized the control configuration and felt that the game was a mediocre example of a pinball game, but admitted that it had a similar feel to previous Sonic the Hedgehog titles.[39]
Retrospective
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Nintendo Life | 4/10 (Virtual Console)[47] |
Retrospectively, Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, holding a score of 61% at the video game review aggregator GameRankings.[45]
In a retrospective review, Lucas Thomas from IGN felt that the game's graphics matched those of later Sonic games on the Genesis, and considered Spinball's minigames to be "visually distinct and well-done."[9] A reviewer from Jeuxvideo.com thought the graphics were "generally good", but indicated that there were other visually superior games for the Genesis.[44] In similar vein, William Avery of GameSpot noticed that the game contained some slowdown.[48] Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead criticized the game's sluggish frame rate and slowdown that occurred when "things threaten to get hectic" in-game, noting that it suffered from "the old Mega Drive problem".[46]
Various aspects of the gameplay garnered a mixed reception from critics, though the game's control scheme received the most criticism.
Legacy
A second pinball game in the series, Sonic Pinball Party, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 to generally favorable reviews.[49]
In 2010, a spinning rollercoaster,
References
Citations
- ^ "Mega Doraibu" メガドライブ [Mega Drive]. SEGA Sonikku Channeru SEGA ソニックチャンネル [SEGA Sonic Channel] (in Japanese). Sonic Team. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
- ^ "Sega names the day". Evening Post. November 20, 1993. p. 13. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
On November 23 Sega will be releasing their trio of Sonic titles. Sonic Three on One Day, as it will now be known sees the worldwide release of Sonic CD (Mega CD), Sonic Spinball (Mega Drive) and Sonic Chaos on Master System and Game Gear.
- CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon October 22, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 3.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 8.
- ^ a b Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 7.
- ^ Leadbetter 1993, p. 70.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 8-9.
- ^ a b c d e f Thomas, Lucas (March 27, 2007). "Sonic Spinball VC review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 13.
- ^ a b "SEGA Flips Sonic Spinball App into the App Store". IGN. Ziff Davis. December 16, 2010. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 15.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 17.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 11.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 14.
- ^ Mean Machines staff 1993, p. 11.
- ^ Sega Technical Institute 1993, p. 2.
- ^ a b c d Machin 2011, p. 37.
- ^ Retro Gamer staff 2007, p. 30.
- ^ a b c Machin 2011, p. 38.
- ^ Horowitz, Ken (April 20, 2007). "Interview: Peter Morawiec (STI Programmer)". Sega-16. Archived from the original on March 15, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
- ^ Machin 2011, p. 38-39.
- ^ a b Machin 2011, p. 39.
- ^ "First Shots". Computer and Video Games (151): 11. June 1994.
- ^ Thorpe, Nick (March 22, 2014). "The History of Sonic on the Master System". Retro Gamer (179). Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Liu, Johnny (January 12, 2002). "Sonic Mega Collection Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- GamesRadar. Future plc. Archived from the originalon February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon October 22, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- ^ Bramwell, Tom (October 6, 2005). "Sonic Gems Collection". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- ^ Carter, Chris (August 18, 2015). "Crazy Taxi 4 pitch revealed by former SEGA employee". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
- ^ Shea, Cam (March 20, 2007). "Sonic Spinball rolls to AU and UK Virtual Console". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- CBS Interactive. Archivedfrom the original on 27 March 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
- ^ Musgrave, Shaun (19 May 2015). "SEGA Culls Their App Store Catalog: Here's The Hit List". TouchArcade. TouchArcade LLC. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Nunneley, Stephany (September 14, 2010). "More Sega Genesis games added to Steam". VG247. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball and other Sega Genesis games come to Nintendo Switch Online". Eurogamer.net. April 22, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- ^ a b c Electronic Gaming Monthly 1994, p. 48.
- ^ a b Scary Larry (January 1994). "Genesis ProReview: Sonic Spinball" (PDF). GamePro. Vol. 6, no. 1. pp. 48–9.
- ^ a b c GamePro 1994, p. 136.
- ^ a b Leadbetter 1993, p. 72.
- ^ a b Yates, Laurie (December 21, 1993). "Video Game Gallery: Sonic Spinball". Electronic Games. Vol. 2, no. 4 (January 1994). p. 90.
- ^ a b c Strauss, Bob (February 11, 1994). "Sonic CD; Sonic Chaos; Sonic Spinball; Sonic 3 reviews". Entertainment Weekly. No. 209. Meredith Corporation. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- ^ "Game Index". MegaTech. No. 42 (June 1995). May 31, 1995. pp. 30–1.
- ^ a b c d "Test Sonic Spinball sur MD". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. January 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- ^ CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Whitehead, Dan (May 18, 2007). "Virtual Console Roundup". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- ^ a b McFarren, Damien (March 13, 2007). "Review: Sonic Spinball (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- CBS Interactive. Archivedfrom the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- ^ Sterling, Jim (January 9, 2010). "Sonic Spinball rollercoaster coming to UK theme park". Destructoid. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
Publications
- Semrad, Ed; Carpenter, Danyon; Manuel, Al; Sushi-X (March 1994). "Review Crew: Sonic Spinball". ISSN 1058-918X. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- Andromeda (September 1994). "ProReview: Sonic Spinball" (PDF). ISSN 1042-8658.
- Machin, Cole (January 2011). "The Making of: Sonic Spinball". ISSN 1742-3155. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- Mean Machines staff (August 1993). "CES Show: It's Sonic Mania in Sonic Spinball!". EMAP: 11. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
- Leadbetter, Rich (December 1993). "Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball review". EMAP: 70–72, 109. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
- Retro Gamer staff (March 2007). "Company Profile: Sega Technical Institute". ISSN 1742-3155. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- Sega Technical Institute (August 1993). Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball instruction manual (PDF). Sega. pp. 1–22.
External links
Sonic Spinball can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive