Sonic Spinball
| Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball | |
|---|---|
US cover art by Greg Martin | |
| Developer(s) | Sega Technical Institute[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Producer(s) | Yutaka Sugano |
| Designer(s) |
|
| Artist(s) | John Duggan |
| Composer(s) |
|
| Series | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Platform(s) | Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, Windows, Game Boy Advance |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Pinball |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, also known as Sonic Spinball, is a 1993 pinball video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It is a spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, who must stop Doctor Robotnik from enslaving the population in a giant pinball-like mechanism. The game is set in a series of pinball machine-like environments with Sonic acting as the pinball.
It was developed by the American staff of Sega Technical Institute, as the Japanese staff was occupied with developing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. When Sega management realized that Sonic 3 would not be completed in time for the 1993 holiday shopping season, they commissioned another Sonic game. After a hasty nine-month[5] development, Sonic Spinball was released for the Sega Genesis in November 1993, with ports for the Game Gear and Master System releasing in 1994.
Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, with critics praising the novelty and graphics but criticizing the controls. A second pinball game, Sonic Pinball Party, was released in 2003, and a Sonic Spinball spinning rollercoaster opened in Alton Towers theme park, in 2010. Spinball has been ported to various consoles and included in Sega compilations.
- ^ "Mega Doraibu" メガドライブ [Mega Drive]. SEGA Sonikku Channeru SEGA ソニックチャンネル (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.
- ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball for GameGear - overview". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 22, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
- ^ "Master System Review: Sonic Spinball". Sega Pro. Paragon Publishing. February 1995. p. 48. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
- ^ "Interview: Peter Morawiec (STI Programmer) – Sega-16". www.sega-16.com. April 20, 2007. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
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