Megadrive Longplay #21: Sonic Spinball

Channel:

HIDEFACES

Subscribers:

23,500

Published on December 30, 2015 11:00:08 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd02VyZwyR8

Game:

Sonic Spinball (1993)

Duration: 58:18

5,482 views

42

Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, or Sonic Spinball (ソニック・スピンボール Sonikku Supinbōru?), is a pinball video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was originally released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1993, and later ported to the Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System in 1995.
The term "Spinball" is a portmanteau on pinball and "spin dash", a move Sonic performs. It, along with Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine were the only two Sonic games released to use characters and elements from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons.

Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball is a pinball game in which the player controls Sonic the Hedgehog, who must navigate upward through (and ultimately destroy) the Veg-O-Fortress, the setting of the game created by the main antagonist Doctor Robotnik. The majority of the game takes place within the "Pinball Defense System", which resembles a series of gigantic pinball machines. The game is split up into four such levels,[1] each containing numerous sets of flippers that can be used to aim Sonic's trajectory and launch him upward through the level. While Sonic is moving, he can be moved left and right 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.

The goal of each level is to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds that serve to stabilize the volcano the Veg-O-Fortress is built upon and subsequently defeat the newly-accessible boss enemy located at the top of the level. Some Chaos Emeralds are blocked off by some sort of obstacle that requires certain switches or bumpers to be hit in order to be alleviated and create a clear path to the Emerald. The boss enemies at the top of each level each require a specific strategy to defeat. Hints toward such strategies and encouraging messages when progress is made are displayed on the "status strip" at the top of the screen.

Following the defeat of a boss enemy, a bonus round is initiated. These bonus rounds are depicted as regular pinball machines with Sonic at the controls. The player is given three balls to shoot around the board with the purpose of accumulating points by hitting as much bumpers and targets as possible. Pressing the A, B and C buttons simultaneously triggers a tilt shake that rattles the table and affects the ball's trajectory. However, if this mechanism is used too often, the flippers will lock and a ball will be lost. When the given goal of the bonus round is fulfilled or if all three balls go down the drain, the bonus round will end and the next level will commence.[4] When all of the game's Chaos Emeralds are collected and all four boss enemies are defeated, the game is won.

Sonic starts the game with three lives. A life is lost when Sonic is allowed to fall through a drain and be victimized by the enemy or hazard below. An extra life can be earned by accumulating 20,000,000 points, which can be built up by hitting bumpers, navigating through loops, collecting rings and destroying obstacles and enemy characters. If the player runs out of lives, the game ends prematurely.