Is this the DARKEST, CREEPIEST Sonic Game?! A Sonic Spinball Review and Retrospective

[@HillTopTerebi]

FUNKY ACTION! Thank you for watching this video! Any likes, comments, shares, subs etc. greatly appreciated! What are your thoughts on Sonic Spinball? What Sonic games would you like to see me cover next? I'm thinking of making my way through all the non-mainline ones. 3D Blast might be next! Thanks again for watching!

[@sethmoses6279]

Believe it or not, this was my first Sonic game I ever played, and Sonic X was the cartoon/anime that got me hooked. As a matter of fact, Sonic X was the very first time I ever saw Sonic the Hedgehog.

[@spinballpac-man]

Flickies Island, not 3D Blast! We’re British, man! 🤣

[@aliastheabnormal]

In the early Archie continuity there were more than seven chaos emeralds. There were hundreds if not thousands spread across the universe like Kryptonite. It wasn't until Ian Flynn came and cleaned house that the number was retconned to seven. And after the Genesis waves it was retconned to be just like the games.

[@vaguerant]

0:46 "It was produced almost entirely by western developers, a first for the series, while Sega of Japan continued work on Sonic 3." *pushes up glasses* Sonic 2, Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3 & Knuckles were all made at Sega Technical Institute in California, USA. Sonic 2 was very much a collaborative effort between the American and Japanese staff at STI, but there was some cultural clash between the two groups and Yuji Naka refused to work with an American development team for Sonic 3. As a result, STI was split into an American team who worked on Spinball and a Japanese team (still in California) who worked on Sonic 3 & Knuckles. So while it's true Spinball was the first one made "almost entirely" by a western team, it wasn't really Sega of Japan doing Sonic games in the early/mid-'90s. They did Sonic 1 and Sonic CD; everything else was western-made--albeit with a number of natively Japanese staff. Then you come to 3D Blast and then the Saturn, with the entirely western-made Sonic X-treme and Sonic R. SoJ didn't really take back control of the Sonic franchise until Sonic Adventure in 1998. It's a pretty fascinating story, really. Sonic is strongly identified as a Japanese franchise, but its whole design goal was to appeal to Americans and the early era was mostly developed *in* America (or the UK in the case of 3D Blast). I think a video on how weirdly American this extremely Japanese franchise was early on could be pretty interesting and novel. All that said, Tommy Tallarico says he was the first American to ever work on Sonic when his company contributed tracks to Sonic and the Black Knight in 2009, so maybe I'm wrong.

[@nomuru2d]

Not only did I play this game a few times, but I managed to get 100% on the last time I played it (all rings on every level, all targets on bonus stages). The aesthetic was always something I thought would fit Sonic as a one-off title, and given later entries Sega seemed to like to experiment more with dark aesthetic themselves.

[@novelezra]

This game has always been extremely uncanny, mostly because it has that Western 'toxic grunge' aesthetic that a bunch of games had like Comix Zone and McDonalds Global Gladiators. Really dark shading, tons of luminous greens and intense sprite detail. It's clear that a lot of Western developers were inspired by Amiga games of the time. What also really unnerved me (and many others I'd imagine) is the music done but Howard Drossin. Howard is an incredible composer and the music's shrill nature is less to do with him and more to do with the fact that it was made on the GEMS sound driver. Which is essentially the 'Fruity Loops' of MD sound drivers. Howard worked on Sonic 3's soundtrack, which is one of the most polished MD ost's ever. But even if you put the crunchy samples to the side, the music is still absolutely unnerving. It's use of grungy deep bass and metallic chords just give a strange vibe that sticks with you as a kid. And finally, I think the most uncanny part of this game is the fact you don't feel like you are playing Sonic. It almost feels like you are helping him. He feels more powerless than usual and by extension, you do as well.

[@jadedheartsz]

Yeah I remember being awed at the dark atmosphere in this game.

[@Egg-enjoyer]

I like to think this game is in its own, Weird, creepy, and strangely cool little continuity, due to the fact that Robotnik seemingly just dies at the End of the game, note that same DEMONIC scream Scorpius also makes.

[@espelhodasconstelacoes]

Really glad to see other people share my headcanon. Never understood why people want a unified timeline so much, I always saw Sonic as a sprawling multiverse: Classic & Modern are the unified prime timeline while Master System (& other platforms), AoStH, Archie, SAT AM, Underground, Fleetway, Boom, Movie, OVA, etc. are all parallel universes

[@VestedUTuber]

It's directly based on but not canon to SatAM, which also has that weird, creepy and strangely cool feel to it.

[@theaxxorite9415]

@@espelhodasconstelacoesI feel like master system games could be connected

[@espelhodasconstelacoes]

@@theaxxorite9415 yeah, I see the MS games as their own unified continuity

[@theaxxorite9415]

@@espelhodasconstelacoes I meant with the rest of the timeline (at least a few of them whatever the hell knuckles was on during triple trouble was insane)

[@ECartmanist]

The 16 Chaos Emeralds are in the game, because SEGA implied the idea of multiple sets of Chaos Emeralds existing pre-Adventure. Sonic 3s Japanese manual states Knuckles is after Sonic's SET of Chaos Emeralds ( I think Sonic The Comic said this as well in their Sonic 3 adaption). It's why their change shape in between games and amount ( Sonic 1 having 6 for example )

[@nicholastosoni707]

I like to think Eggman was testing ersatz Emeralds as a backup. These didn't work very well, so he needed many of them arranged harmoniously to stabilize his operations.

[@TroboTicTac]

I just assumed there were 6 in Sonic 1 because eggman forgot about the last one 🗿

[@gigaslave]

@@TroboTicTac IIRC it was due to the 7th emerald being sealed away inside West Side Island (Sonic 2), and it has never left that place until Sonic and Tails visited it.

[@3D_Land_Enthusiast]

Would this mean there would be more than 7 Super Emeralds?

[@gigaslave]

@@3D_Land_Enthusiast The Super Emeralds are just the 7 Chaos Emeralds resonating with the Master Emerald and being amplified by it.

[@minimalbstolerance8113]

So here's a bit of a weird headcanon. The Veg-o-Fortress isn't just a Badnik factory, but also a prison. For a brief period before Sonic 1, Eggman dabbled in genetic engineering (inspired by his granddad no doubt) trying to clone himself. However, Eggman quickly learned that his talents in robotics far exceeded his skill in genetics, and after creating a number of hideous biomechanical abominations (including Scorpius, the boiler heads and the big-teeth thing from the bonus stage) he dumped them in the fortress to rot and decided to concentrate on robots. The giant Robotnik in the final boss fight was Eggman's genetics program's single almost-success: an Eggman clone with gigantism who proved competent enough for the real Eggman to put it in charge of the fortress to oversee the roboticiser and act as a jailer for the rest of the freakshow. Also, in my headcanon, Tails' new plane is called the Mistral. No particular reason beyond that it sounds cool and fits the storm/wind naming conventions of his mecha.

[@BeckyNosferatu]

I love this idea! It would explain several things, and it's a really cool idea that matches the darker part of this game.

[@Hankubya]

The egg broiler used to terrify me as a kid lol. The way that they used to vomit magma...😬

[@mistersomaru]

Omg, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! It simply terrified me. I would always run off when my dad got to it.

[@MarioSonic46]

Glad im not the only one...

[@5UBJ3CT3GG]

Dont forget that Robotnik programmed Scorpius TO FEEL PAIN

[@fang4223]

"ARGHH H"

[@passingrando6457]

3:23 that's actually pretty simple. It's a different set of Chaos Emeralds. Adventure retconned it to one set, but the 2D Sonic canon in both the US and Japan was actually that every region of the world had its own different set of emeralds. It's why Sonic 1 has 6 emeralds, and why Knuckles attacks Sonic for his Chaos Emeralds at the start of 3. The JP manual says he mistook the 7 West Side Island emeralds from 2 for the 7 Angel Island emeralds and thought Sonic had stolen them.

[@opaljk4835]

That transparent reflection effect is actually super nice for a genesis game

[@legerdokai581]

I'm surprised you never mentioned this game's notorious options music track.

[@michaelschlag]

yea lol that was what i clicked on this for. what an insane track. cool vid tho anyway!

[@TheUnbearded]

Was going to say this. DUUURNN DURRNNN DURN DURN... DUUURNN DURRNNN DURN DURN!

[@camendiv]

I had never before, and have never since seen the music on an options screen go so hard XD

[@BeckyNosferatu]

Beat me to it. I LOVE that song... gives my brain a good itch.

[@AniFAE_Productions]

Man, every time I see the SatAM characters in this game, makes me think of that cancelled SatAM megadrive game they were working on. Would of loved to seen that back in the day! Always love giving this game a blast still to this day! Love the work man as usual!

[@HillTopTerebi]

Thank you! I wonder if we'll ever see more of that SatAM game or if what is out there is literally all there was to it? Cheers!

[@JomasterTheSecond]

​@@HillTopTerebi The latter. The "game" wasn't worked on in any capacity. The only thing that ever existed was of that SatAM game was the pre-rendered Amiga cinematic made to pitch the game.

[@HillTopTerebi]

That's a shame. Thanks for the info though!

[@owendinostudios1200]

"Are they machine or flesh" They're called Robo-heads lol

[@HillTopTerebi]

Hahaha fair point

[@wyn9693]

but nonetheless a robo-tnik is primarily flesh

[@MarioSonic46]

A hot dog sure aint a dog. Unless ya'll into that lol.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

I mean they could be called that because flesh is contained inside the mechanical head

[@clownymoosebean]

Robotnik is the villain that Neo Cortex strives to be, but can't fully commit to because he still has a tiny black heart in him, where Robotnik has an empty hole and his mind is chaos.

[@FireBomberBassist]

The howl the bosses made when you hit them along with that evil sounding music. 😨

[@sauvagess]

I'm not surprised that you missed out on it, but there's actually a fourth pinball table. It's called "Clucker's Defense" and it only appears when you collect all of the rings in any stage. Doesn't matter which, every stage all-ring bonus goes to Clucker's Defense. Once you get all of the rings, a sparkle ring will show up somewhere in the level (the last flippers towards the boss in Toxic Caves, directly under the boss drain in Lava Powerhouse, on the drop-floor in front of the boss entrance chute in The Machine, and in the middle of the green balloons before you start climbing to the rocket ship in Showdown) that you can jump into in order to enter the multiball level. The pinball cabinet itself is just two Cluckers (from Sonic 2's Wing Fortress) lined up in front of a Crawl (the crab with a bumper shield from Sonic 2's Casino Night) and the objective is to just hit them until the Crawl explodes. All of them have _ridiculous_ amounts of health: the Crawl requires 40 hits from behind to avoid the shield, at which point it will drop the shield and then the next hit will kill it completing the stage. Winning awards you at least 1 million points per completion. As many times as I've beaten the game, I've only ever collected all the rings in Toxic Caves, as every other level was much too large and treacherous for younger me to bother with, especially since it's always the same bonus level.

[@RadikAlice]

That exists? Well shit, today I learned

[@Moleoflands]

Toxic wastes is easy to get them Lava tricky Others are too high risk imo

[@sauvagess]

@@Moleoflands I tried really hard to get them in Lava Powerhouse and The Machine, but could not for the life of me find them all. No way in hell did I attempt Showdown.

[@dhazedxz007]

As a kid this game terrified me a bit with the opening scene and the bosses, but man it felt so good defeating them and winning at the levels. There’s just something very satisfying about hearing the screen outright being demolished and you emerge victorious as you fly off the screen. I’m 35 years old and I still enjoy this game, even if the final boss is extremely cheap against you, those damn socks

[@The_Future_isnt_so_Bright]

You missed the hidden bonus game in the machine. You should always set the game speed to fast in options. The boss theme is the theme to all my nightmares, I love it.

[@joeszymanski3540]

Despite being a pinball spinoff I remember this game being pretty good. The Sat AM show was surprisingly dark & well written.

[@gamemaniack]

i always liked the way sonic looked in this game...even though we rarely see him out of the ball sprite. kinda wish we had a proper game using it.

[@BeautyMarkRush]

"The darkest Sonic game... before Shadow the Hedgehog" Jokes aside, I really loved Spinball when I was a kid and how well the sprite animations were, and also the pro pinball gamer face Sonic makes during the bonus stages lol

[@Fellthrogures]

Every time sonic died I hear a scratchy distorted laugh. It was creepy nothingness

[@GrazzaD]

With the music there's also the game starting music, the game over music, both creepy...the boss music, scary and sad...and the options music, that one is something else!

[@TheBeird]

Scratch’s laugh is burned into my brain. Flares up whenever I fail in life 😮

[@KelvinShadewing]

The mainline classic games have such a distinct look and soundtrack that sets them apart so far from other Genesis games that this game's gritty, almost DOS-era textures and heavy use of the metal buzz in music makes it the most "Genesis"-feeling of the entire franchise.

[@klaushammer8687]

This was a game genie game for me as a kid. That 4th level was super hard

[@VioletaVolnutt]

Yes it is creepy, I feel scared just by the thought of replaying this thing lol

[@HillTopTerebi]

Haha glad it's not just me then!

[@yousefslimani99]

Yo what up sonia fan 👋🏻

[@Troll_Ha]

You wuss.

[@Troll_Ha]

You wuss.

[@justapeckneck]

I think the sonic game where a character arc ends in suicide is marginally darker than "what if sonic but pinball"

[@AGwolf2097]

1) Definitely loved the aesthetic, as well as the nods to some of the western properties in the bonus levels... As a kid, you tend to consume anything and everything involving A Thing you like, so I was absolutely no stranger to AoStH and SatAM. I could recognize at the time that the cartoons were simply inspired by the vague/generic tropes from the first two games, I was never confused about how different they were, but it was a small treat to see parts of the shows represented in an actual cartridge I could stick into my console and play. 2) the animation was great, it gave sonic a lot more character and made the environments much more tangible than the stages in the normal games where you'd mostly just be careening along. The boss were super creepy, and I fkn LOVED it as a kid... it was so cool. I especially loved the roboticizer in The Machine, it was finally a chance to fill in the gap between the badniks we've been stomping and the little animals that pop out. It wasn't very elaborate, but it was the only time any of the games actually acknowledged and showed this part of the experience. (also, it lowkey annoyed me when the animal sprites would come down the tubes, because one would be inside/behind the tube graphics, and the other would be on top of the tube graphics lol) 2a) yeah robotnik in the final stage is giant, he's very much an imposing figure and I wholeheartedly love it. It's an exaggeration, just like so much of the other western sonic media at the time. 2c) the bonus stages also have fantastic graphics... I love the fact that they were able to create such a convincing sense of transparency in the glass around the table, with the building lights layered on sonic's reflection... Each table is a fun escape from the struggle of the main game, and Scratch is divine. As a kid, there was a promo for the Genesis model 2 that my mother got me for christmas, and one of the free games on offer was Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. The combination of mean bean and spinball reinforced the presence of "western sonic" in my awareness of the games, so I never really felt that the spinoffs were so far removed from the main series because there was representation all over the place... music) nice to hear someone who thinks the soundtrack is appropriate for the experience. ngl i can jive to all the themes in the game, but you're right, Showdown's BGM isn't quite as oppressive as a traditional 'final stage' theme might be... that may be because the stage is the biggest struggle in the game and you're still working your way up, literally, off the planet to chase robotnik's ship as it launches away. Once you get there, cue the same cold, heartless, gnarly boss theme, with an extra air of panic. I'll gladly fall back down to earth (mobius?) and listen to showdown a little bit more as I try to climb my way up again. "videogame comfort food" is absolutely the way to frame this game, I'm stealing that.

[@beerasaurus]

Sonic spinball is like a fever dream. Which didn't help because the first time I played it was on a dark winter night with a high fever lol.

[@warioland523]

Yeah I think of the Sonic games this one was probably the one most influenced by the West back when the Westernization of Sonic was a thing. This game feels very bleak and foreboding in terms of a general atmosphere even compared to some of the more vibrant areas in other Sonic games. Compare Green Hill to the Toxic Caves as a first level and you'll see. But it' not just that which adds to the oppressive feel. The environments of the Veg-O Fortress are very cruel. This is a very difficult game. I think the farthest I got was World 3 and by that point I just stopped playing. I didn't know about the lives trick but something tells me if I did I'd end up still struggling with the final world. As such I could never defeat Eggman in this game and from what I've seen of his boss fight it's difficult because he has defenses that are specifically made to remove you from the boss room. This game also is the first Sonic game which I think shows how the mainstream Roboticization process occurs. Basically small animals are captured and then they are taken to an assembly line (In this case The Machine) where they under go a painful conversion process of being converted into a battery for a Badnik. This makes destroying the Veg-O Machine all the more satisfying due to what it's doing to those poor Flickies. Another thing worth noting is this game seems to use characters from the TV shows. Bunnie, Rotor, and Sally appear as characters trapped in capsules that need to be freed in one of the bonus stages. Also Cluck from SatAM appears in this game under the name Cluckbird being a Badnik used by Eggman to guard the Lava Powerhouse. This marks the only time a SatAM Badnik was created by Dr. Eggman and integrated into the mainstream games. The only other time was the SwatBots used in Sonic Chronicles. Lastly mass produced versions of Scratch from AOSTH are used guarding a capsule in another bonus stage walking around it. This game I think really captures how terrifying Eggman could be. The overall atmosphere really does show it.

[@HillTopTerebi]

Well said!

[@Hack_Man_VII]

I never finished this game. I always got stuck on level 2, and quit out of frustration.

[@teranokitty]

Same here. It was too easy to slip into death on the bottom layer of flippers from the second level onward.

[@jekw23]

Yep. Did the first level so many times it’s burned into my head. Only vaguely remember level 2 and I never completed it so know nothing of the rest of the game

[@chesspunk489]

I also could not beat level 2.

[@TroboTicTac]

I was never able to pass the first section of the game lmao

[@paolaanimator]

Great video! I wish there would be more Sonic games that had more SATAM references since I enjoyed the SATAM show and the Sonic comics. It's a unique Sonic game, I like the darker aesthetics too, something different in a 2D Sonic game. Honestly for me if I tried to play the game, I may struggle a lot since I'm not the greatest with pinball sections.

[@infjmale91]

6:46 - "Honey, why aren't you enjoying Sonic Spinball?" | Great video, I always shared the same thoughts as you so glad I wasn't alone. Subscribed. Keep it up.

[@swempytimes]

I don't think I ever made it past the first level in this game as a kid. I was too freaked out by the music, the visuals and like you said, the tone

[@HybridAngelZero]

As a kid who was pretty much entirely into fun, bright colorful games like mainline Sonic, Mario, Kirby and many of the similar platformers of the day, this and the Genesis/Mega Drive TMNT Tournament Fighters were my first exposure to something with a really creepy, dark atmosphere and it fascinated me in a way I didn't know how to describe as a kid

[@chesspunk489]

I take it you never played Mortal Kombat as a kid?

[@HybridAngelZero]

@@chesspunk489 I was aware of it, and my friends had it, but I didn't really like it and I'm still not really a fan of the series outside the first 90s movie. That said, MK never seemed dark or creepy to me. Once you get past the shock value violence, it feels like pretty par for the course 90s comic book fare (that isn't a bad thing, btw. It's a product of its era and that's something that makes it special)

[@XperimentorEES]

Spin offs can be some of the most interesting entries for how different they get to be from the main games, and this one is no exception!

[@kchrules775]

The music is rad as hell in this game. The boss music is some of my favorite in the whole series

[@psyhodelik]

Love so much this games as a kid. Thanks for nostalgie

[@Degalon]

Yeah Spinball always came off as a survival horror game to me, even as a kid, with its monster designs, ominous music, dark lighting, etc.

[@shpostmile1510]

I really like the art of Sonic playing the pinball machine, I'm surprised I haven't seen redraws of it yet

[@Molandria]

3:00 "odd" that you have to leave the title screen on to see an intro!??! dude! THAT is HOW it USED TO BE DONE! xD

[@613-shadow9]

there is a theory out there that sonic died when he fell into the water, and this is hell. that's why everything is so nightmarish. honestly, i just love the fact this game is the closest in my mind of what the atmosphere of a sonic game should be like.

[@Mae4Ever]

Am I the only kid who wasn’t disturbed by the game? I was too focus on beating the boss going “SWEET! A BOSS BATTLE IN A PINBALL GAME? BRING IT!” And I was even bopping to the boss music!

[@Jsbehsi9]

I’m pretty sure you were the audience the game was trying to target at, but I still feel like they went a little overkill with some of the elements.

[@Smilifacetf]

Thanks for talking about this game. Memories of this game and its tone, music, and gameplay has always lived in the back of my mind. I miss when Sega used to be all experimental in this way.

[@GottaBGlitches]

For some reason I only ever reached the 2nd layer of the fortress once as a kid, but for the rest of the time I just replayed the 1st layer over and over again.

[@toxicmanbaby1069]

I beat this countless times as a kid, but today I learned something new while watching another video: when you collect every single ring in a level, a spinning portal opens up in the middle of the level, and it gives you access to new pinball machine minigames, just like the ones you get between levels, but totally different ones. Now I wanna play the game again just to get those! Excellent spinoff game.

[@RedTygon]

This is such a nostalgic game for me! I was never great at the game as a kid but was always interested in its concept. And I remember a pull out poster that came in a Fleetway STC comic that was of Sonic Pinball and had some of their best games on the back of it heh! I carried that in my school backback all the time.

[@SamGoodger]

Certainly was an interesting game. I remember playing it a ton as a kid and even managed to obtain every ring in every stage to unlock the secret bonus stages. That took a LOT of effort 😅

[@yousefslimani99]

Long time no see HT Terebi! It’s really good to see you again with new sonic content

[@HillTopTerebi]

Thank you! Good to be back!

[@rhys_11]

Fun fact: the opening theme tune to Sonic Spinball was changed and made within 2 hours, since the composer realised 2 hours before shipping of the game began that his original theme tune used Japanese Sega songs, which the American Sega (who composed Sonic Spinball to get something out in 1993 while Japan worked on Sonic 3) weren’t aloud to use since they were made by a composer from a band (“Dreams Come True”) who no longer worked for them at the time, meaning that he alone had to change it due to copyright problems… crazy!

[@InternetTAB]

That title screen music was way too fast lol the rest of the music was running normal how odd. I love this game. Fun Fact: if you play 2 player and the 1 player never dies the second player will never get a chance to play. Found that out on accident

[@HillTopTerebi]

I thought the music was going WAY too fast! Not sure if it was the capture card, the Lunar 'hack' on the MD mini or something else...? Strange! Hahaha good point about the two player mode. Never thought about that! Cheers!

[@SeonilKim-ry5lj]

Originally the title theme for Sonic Spinball was going to use the same title music for Sonic 1&2. However, due to copyright issues, stating that the title theme is owned by the band Dreams Come True, the Sonic Spinball team had to create a new title music in 2 hours. That kinda explains why the music sounds so fast. All the information is what I've heard from Sonic 3 development stories when they were mentioning Sonic Spinball.

[@tomsbrainhurtsalot]

I could be wrong, but I think Veg-O-Fortress might be a really clunky reference to Las Vegas, given it’s a pinball game. A little like how all the casino stages in the main line games have pinball sections too. So I guess it would be pronounced Vég-O-Fortress or something like that?

[@TopsideCrisis346]

As a fan of the Saturday Morning series, I can appreciate this games multiple references, as well as its decidedly darker sensibilities. Spinball is almost like a "final episode" of the Sonic cartoon, where our heroes have at last infiltrated Robotnik's lair and are ready to put an end to his tyranny once and for all. 💥😎💥

[@DukeApples]

This game gave me alot of nightmares as a kid. In level two, i specifically remember being terrified about hanging on a chain above lava.

[@Leloup6760]

Thank you for taking me back to this wonderful little nostalgia trip, This was one of my favorite sega games back in the day. I've beaten it more times than I can remember, and it was always a fun chill game to go back to.

[@craigschapiro9926]

Out of all the sonic games, I'll always have fond memories playing sonic spinball. It was one of the few games that has a sound track as awesome as megaman 2.

[@Kouvre]

This was my very first game when Santa brought me a Sega Genesis in 1993. Fond memories for sure!

[@KajetSeifert]

I'm shocked there was no mention of the amazing options music

[@girlbuu9403]

Can't believe you didn't mention the options menu music, even after specifically talking about the score.

[@wrathchildrocks]

I was about 6 when this came out, it actually kinda scared me back then, the first boss fight is unnecessarily creepy and just the vibe to the whole game was dark like you said. I never did finish it, got to the last level though, might have to revisit it after watching this...30 years later lol.

[@UniqueHandleName]

I played this on a Sega Smash Pack disc for PC. I think it was the first thing that introduced me to the entire Sonic franchise. Back then, that floating barrel always scared me when it started moving by itself.

[@ChrisNeptuneMusic]

This review makes me want to revisit this game. I only tried it once a while ago and couldn’t get past the first level, but I was very impressed with the visuals. I LOVE the fact that the mini games feature Satam characters!

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

The boss theme still haunts me in my dreams to this day.

[@ferretsage8928]

It was a game that was very hard at first, I ignored it for several years in my game library. And then, when I was in middle school, I just rediscovered it at the bottom of the cardboard box, popped it in, and immediately played through and beat the game.

[@BrinIoca]

I never played this game. I liked your approach to it in the video, going over gameplay in a section near the middle. It was an interesting way to describe a game!

[@HillTopTerebi]

Haha I'll be honest: I forgot about it!! It's the same music as the end credits if I recall? Will go look it up now!

[@MystiaLore]

Oh yeah, Spinball. We played this game with friends when we were young, around 8 to 10 too. We had a blast... And we didn't managed to beat Toxic Caves for a while, we had our fun. Then I broke through and made it to Lava Powerhouse... Instantly, the music scared me and the visuals reminded me of childhood nightmares thanks to the red shades and the broken metallic grid in the background. To this day, more than 25 years later, I dread the idea of falling into the gutters and touch the lava in this level, even with the chain which broke after 1 or 2 swings and doesn't come back either. The Machine is less disturbing and more of a break before Showdown, and this last level is quite brutal. "READY TO FRY ?" still haunt me sometimes (But not as much as Lava Powerhouse)

[@Mr.Feather130]

Spinball definitely have that horror vibes by the bosses and the dangerous situations sonic is in (like that damn scorpion boss which looks like something out of a nightmare)

[@Adamwinters]

I appreciate seeing a Spinball appreciation video that doesn't just dismiss the whole thing into the toxic waste pit for not being... as good as the other Sonic 16-bit games. What it lacks in polish and traditional pinball physicals, it more than makes up for in atmosphere. The Bosses really are something, and I don't know if we've seen anything quite like them in any Sonic game since. Fans of retro-gaming just need to be wiling to embrace a little "jank" to fully appreciate the experience. I only wish you didn't lose all your progress in a single level with a cheap death. I had this frustration where I wanted to 100% everything but one death could prove devastating to those runs. The Sega Genesis Classics Collection finally allowed me to feel that sensation of "perfection" with rewind, but I know that's cheating. A shame we didn't get the little in-between level cutscenes in the final 16-bit release. I think the 8-bit versions may actually have the edge in that part of the presentation. The music and graphics aren't for everybody, but I've always enjoyed them (even if I do turn down the sound on the options menu). I am among those who believe the harsh mechanical synth sounds are part of the point in many old games. If you want only pleasant music, then turn on your radio to pop, but if you listen to any great composers for long enough, they will give you dissonance and minor keys to convey a point. That makes the happy little up-beat jingles all the more welcome. Sure, Mario has the better track-record when it comes to the quality of his major game releases, but in the early 1990s, Sega kept us happy with having Sonic fixes in-between the major franchise installments. Fall of 1993 was a great time for the blue hedgehog, even if Spinball was the only Sonic game that came out on a compatible system I owned. @9:10, I used to think the dog-like Freedom Fighter was Antoine (the tongue color was not clear on old CRT sets so I thought it might be his uniform), but now I think it might be a non-roboticized version of Muttski, Sonic's pet seen in a few issues of the Archie comics and rarely in Satam. All the bonus rounds were a lot of fun for me; I always wanted to beat them each time, but if I failed to complete the first and last ones then I genuinely felt bad with the thought that I had left some notable Freedom Fighters behind to become Robotnik's robotic slaves forevermore!

[@cone786]

It's a shame you didn't bring up the best song in the game... the options menu music

[@yousefslimani99]

NGL I never felt it that way, being dark and atrocious, but I like this game overall and I play it as a kid.

[@beauwalker9820]

Alot of Sonic fans write this off as a "bad," or "mediocre" spinoff game, so it's nice to see a more positive review point out it's creativity, good aspects, and surprisingly edgier tone. While you regard it's flaws, it's actually a pretty good game if you give it a chance, or play it like a pinball game without trying to beat it in one go. I still remember where every emerald is too, so it's a little easier for me nowadays, but it still offers good challenges. My first exposure to it was on the 2003 GBAdvance "Sega Smash Pack" version, which while functional, and worked ok, wasn't a perfect port in hindsight as it reuses the same Toxic Cave Music over and over again oddly in every stage. Which is odd, because the GBA was capable of recreating 16-bit games well, so it's odd the games in it had limited music. The "sea monster" between the flippers is actually a "Rexon" badnik (According to in-game pinball text at the top of the screen) similar to the ones in Sonic 2, but interestingly more larger, scarier, and menacing looking. It's interesting to see Rexon and Buzzbombers from previous games redesigned to look darker than previous games too. (Something the video forgot to point out.) Which also adds to the darker tone. I actually like the graphical style too, darker tone, and such. It kinda shows Sonic can be handled in other ways, and it's a shame we didn't get more Sonic games from S.T.I. (Sega Technical Institute, whom helped make Sonic 2 also.)

[@Quinn-up9mf]

Him jumping into the water off the plane hunted me as a child

[@thegameslibrarian5264]

There is a 4th bonus table in sonic spinball it only shows up once you get all the rings in a level

[@HillTopTerebi]

I never knew this! I have never seen it! Thank you for the information!

[@Cherilllll]

I had this game as a child and I really liked it. I had a small console where I played 16-bit games, and of all the others game was Sonic Spinball.

[@phantomus9963]

Even though I was born in the 2000s, I was still able to play this game! through a little something called Sonic's Ultimate Genisis Collection! which introduced me to a lot of old Sega Genesis games, including this one! I've seen many people giving this game a lot of flak, which really saddens me because I remember loving this game! it really fascinated me because of how different this game was to the mainline games. and because I was curious and couldn't beat it myself, later down in life I looked up the rest of the game. and for songs, by far my favorite song in the game is "The Final Showdown", I love the use of the Sega sound chip here, it really gives it a really gritty and angry feel, AND I LOVE IT. And I personally believe that this game does take place in the SATAM Universe, which makes me like this game even more! and (to me at least) it would explain the inconsistency of all the new Chaos Emeralds! considering how they handled the Rings in that show, I'd say this would be how the Chaos Emeralds would be handled if they were added to the show! ok now I'm really writing a whole paragraph here Arnt I? The point is, I love this game to death, and it's how I look at the classic era of Sonic! it will always be one of my favorite games on the Genesis! :3

[@fwobebe5164]

The Game Over music always scared me as a little kid. Had time hit reset button whenever I lost my last life. XD

[@fang4223]

I remember reading off all the headers in this dramatic announcer voice as a kid back in the day.

[@SoranotRoxas]

*Man, the KZbin notification sucks! Didn't even know you uploaded this one!* Gotta agree with some on the game being a bit disturbing when I was a kid. Especially that Robotnik beetle boss battle 😬

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

Also side note that I don't think was mentioned in the video... But there's ANOTHER bonus round you can play up to 4 times throughout one playthrough. It involves multiball and you have to collect EVERY ring in a stage then finding a special gate to play it. So in turn, you can get up to 7 bonus rounds in 1 game although one of them is being played 4 times. I never knew it even existed until I looked at some "`100%" speedruns a while back.

[@Xarmar13]

I played this game a number of times when I was little. Took me a long time to beat it. I do agree that it does have a dark tone to it. Frankly the Veg-o-fortress looks kind of like Robotnik built a dark castle atop the volcano and an industrial complex at the base. As for how the Robotnik fight works you have to keep track of how many times you press the trigger and to know where you start from as the traps cycle through a series of configurations that go from socks to claws and socks to claws to vulnerable. In that moment you only have a few minutes to do damage to the boss before the socks return regardless of trigger. While the boss is vulnerable you will get an alert from your score box that says "Not Much Time" and not long after that you will get the message "Smell My Socks" which means that the socks are back. You also get this message if you press the trigger one too many times and you miss the opportunity. The key to this fight is to know how many trigger presses it will require to go from socks to vulnerable. I think it was 5 or 6 but I'm not sure since it's been a long time since I played this game.

[@jackmoseley4959]

I imagine that the "Emeralds" we pick up in this games are fragnents of the Blue Emerald Dr. Robotnik broke after an experiment went wrong or something. Either that, or this is a different planet with different rules for such things.

[@DonutSwordsman]

Thanks so much for making your vids. They are so cozy you rock for covering these.

[@HillTopTerebi]

You're welcome! Thank you for watching!

[@Infindox]

There are two games on the Genesis (er, Mega Drive lol) who's music feels me with dread: Ecco the Dolphin and this one.

[@HillTopTerebi]

ECCO the Dolphin is a TERRIFYING game lol. I fear much of what lives in the deep sea. As a result I can't play any of them. The Dreamcast one is the scariest of all imo.

[@NathanSifuGaming]

I didn't own the game as a kid, but I did get to play it on the sega channel quite a bit. I didn't get too far but it was definitely noticeably different than the main line games. Cool video! I'll probably pick this game up again at some point. By the way, I was 7 when the SAtam show came out, Bunnie was my favorite and I think it SUCKS that she wasn't kept through the years!

[@dyl_pickle16-mta48]

I just started playing this game about a month ago, and I think it’s really fun despite the insane difficulty. The music for Toxic Caves is such a bop.

[@Joe_334]

Yet the bonus stages had such a hilarious bunch of Mechs to blow up. The first one is the funniest for me. You talking about Dark is funny considering this is how I felt with how different and weird Chaotix was. I didn't know these five playable characters(Didn't play Sonic 3/Knuckles), and why Sonic and Tails were missing. I would say the endings to most Sonic games were dark when not collecting all of the chaos emeralds. You actually get to see how dark it could have been in the other games, if you didn't get all of the Chaos Rings in Chaotix. I just didn't know any better as a kid.

[@SorcererLance]

Ah yes... Aside from the over-abundance of Chaos Emeralds, cameo appearances of the Freedom Fighters and the music, especially the infamous Options menu... My main memories of this game as a kid in the 90's were the bosses screaming "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" as if they were demons being shown the crucifix. But seriously, there being like 16 Emeralds was likely because the Archie comics writers presumably thought there were countless of them alongside the rings you always gathered... Not realizing there's supposed to be a finite amount of Emeralds, making them much rarer, far more valuable and stronger... But to be fair, the Emerald designs kept changing between the games on the Genesis, so I can't entirely blame them for that assumption... And we didn't know what the Emeralds did in the games aside from making inflated flowers in the end of Sonic 1 and making Sonic go Super in 2 back in those days. I will say how in retrospect it was fitting for a pinball game to be on the Genesis... because actual pinball tables during the 90's, especially those made by Williams, used the exact same sound chip with the same instruments you'd hear on a Genesis... Also in terms of the title screen music, supposedly early versions of the game had the original title screen tune from Sonic 1, but the devs learned at the last minute by Sega of Japan they didn't have the rights to use that music, so the composer went and quickly made a replacement tune we all know today. ...For the life of me I could never get very far in The Machine, whereas the Game Gear version was a little more beatable to me. I also wonder how a "remake" would be like of this game... not the bonus pinball minigame in Sonic Generations, but made by the gang behind Pinball FX/Zen Pinball

[@passingrando6457]

The emerald thing wasn't a mistake. It was canon that there were multiple sets of chaos emeralds until Sonic Adventure retconned it to one set. It wasn't just an American thing, either. The JP manual for Sonic 3 says that Knuckles mistook the West Side Island chaos emeralds that Sonic had at the start of 3 for the Angel Island chaos emeralds.

[@Delithara]

I’ve never seen anyone mention it, but it does tie into the bonus stages. But if you collect every ring in a stage, a special warp unlocks and unlocks another bonus pinball board.

[@snowyzorua]

I have a deep love for this game since it's one I grew up with and its aesthetics and sound design had a deep impact on me. It's a genuinely difficult game that I still have never beaten, largely because my wrists start to hurt from playing it by the time I reach the last level and I have to stop. This is one of those games along with Cyborg Justice that had this really wild cyberpunk-ish soundtrack.

[@Mia-dt3gl]

The music in the intro sounds different to the rest of the game because it’s a last-minute replacement song. The intro-theme was originally the traditional Sonic theme, but they had to pull it because the music rights for the theme belonged to Dreams Come True and _not_ Sega. Which Sega of America didn’t know about.

[@arkin0x]

I have a memory burned into my brain of Sonic dying on the 3rd level in some cruel mechanical way and his bare skeleton completing the death jump animation. Did I imagine that or was it a glitch or was it real? Crazy that I remember that decades later

[@riicky83]

Quite a hard Sonic game. I think I've only ever beaten it once due to its difficulty.

[@530mentes9]

Dope video! I loved this game as a kid. The scary vibe was a selling point for me... wish they would have made a full side scrolling game like this... actually like this sonic design better than 3's... sonic 2 was the best of the 16bit era imo

[@Crashdicoot]

This game was a big part of my childhood, so damn good.

[@FalloutJack]

It IS dark, creepy, and weird, but I also love it. It's a game that I have fondly defeated through both skill and just a bit of luck, where I narrowly avoided sudden death at the hands of lava or something. It's not actually a hard game if you're a pinball game player, since you have the sense of the angles versus placement on the flipper. (For those who aren't, the tip-flip is your friend alot of the times in this game.) I have managed to fully FULLY defeat the game, though I wouldn't bother anymore because it IS alot of work, trying to get all the rings and beat the secret bonus stages. Incidentally, through MY trial and error, man, the final battle with Robotnik has always been three trigger presses to undo his defenses the first time, and then five times to do it, after they reset. All of this was pretty creepy to me as a kid, though mostly with the bosses. It's that boss music and atmosphere, and yes, Scorpius. You didn't really touch upon the feel of the boss music That just amps up the heebie-jeebies. The developers definitely WANTED you to feel creeped out by this place. These days, it's a cool villain theme, but as I was much younger at the time, this was all a yikes to me.

[@SkipperLB]

I always found this game to be deeply unsettling and uncomfortable, but never figured out why. I felt the same way about some Genesis games; the sharp music noises on top of certain colors and set pieces felt eerie!

[@opaljk4835]

This would be a fantastic game to iterate on. That thing that tries to eat you always freaked me out

[@RaposaCadela]

I've never played it, but I really like it. Awesome content, graphics and music!

[@jonypo928]

I still hear the sound track in my head from time to time.