Sonic Spinball - Sega Genesis

My best friend lent me this game back in 1993 to play. He said that it was too hard and too stupid. Granted I don't like pinball or pinball type games. But I did like the Sonic games, so I figure I give it a shot. I really don't remember much about the game, only that I got really good at shooting the ball(sonic) where I wanted him to go. Thanks to the release of all the sonic games, I was able to go back to this classic and give it another shot.

My overall feeling for this game?..Its damn fun, really fun. I didn't mind dying and doing the stage over again, which is how all good games should be. I enjoyed trying to shoot and hit targets and get the elaborate (OK, not that much) set ups in the game.

The game play itself is sonic trying to stop eggman, but this time he has to get to eggman via a pinball system. Hit this thing to open that thing, and shoot through this hoop to hit the marker and ping yourself to the next level. Its really fun.

I'll admit that later on, it gets to the point where if you miss a shot, you can easily be sent screaming back to where you just started, But for once I didn't mind. I found it really entertaining bouncing my way back up to the top with all the bumpers and switches.


I think the reason that this game was not received well was the main reason of the game. Its a pinball game. I admit, I don't like them either, but this was really fun, something new and different, and even playing it today I had great fun. I finished the game, all 4 worlds in under 3 hrs. It was a great time. But If I had bought this game back in the day and paid $50 for it, I think 3 hrs would have been a jip. It has some replay value, trying to hit all the markers make certain events happen that one would normally have to work hard for, rock slides, volcanoes etc.


But overall, for a 1st time run through, this was a great memorable play.
7.5/10

Has a treat, mainly because I started working in a new industry making video games, I thought it was cool that I found a sprite sheet of sonic for the game.



Its people like these that I don't understand. Everyone likes games, but how much do you have to play it to hit every part dead on, everytime, its crazy. Even a friend of a friend I know plays street fighter 4 religiously, that's all he plays, for 4-6 hrs a day. He doesn't play video games, except this one and only game. I guess if you play nothing else but one game, you have to become an idiot savant.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection - PS3

I love Retro games,anything 8-bit, 16 bit, vector, Basically anything that I remember playing or seeing when I was a kid. So when a company releases a compilation of all their games on one disc, I usually pick it up. I'm a sucker for old nostalgia type games. I got quite a few of them for the PS2 and recently they released a compilation of them for the PS3 called Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Its almost the same game compilation that came out for the PS2, with minor changes here and there and more games added.

What can I say, I'm a big fan of these types of releases, especially the Genesis. There are over 40 plus games on this thing and all of them were games that I wanted to play when I was a kid, but either didn't because I couldn't afford them, or something new came out that I wanted to play more. Anyway, its a great trip down memory lane for me.

The game is set up to look like a Genesis system, with selectable carts on the right and the console on the left. Its really kick ass!! They all come with a little blurp about the game and includes game art. Their are interviews, but if you own the PS2 one, its the same interviews. Also it has a number of arcade titles that you can play, so you keep hitting the button to insert more quarters. So one can finally finish one of those money pot games without having to spend your months allowance trying to finish Altered Beast.


They also included Mulitplayer on these games, so you can play with friends on coop games such has streets of rage and Sonic 2. Its a really great feature.

The best thing of all, it has TROPHIES!!! yaaaaaayy, I love trophies and getting trophies based of requirements for these old titles were really fun. I have to say that out of all the games I own with Trophy's. This game by far was the easiest and some of he funnest ones I had ever gotten. I don't know if it was because of the old retro feel, but I had super fun getting the trophies here.


An example of some trophies were, reach this stage, or for Ecco the Dolphin, eat 200 fish, collect 100 rings or get 10,000,000 pts in sonic spinball in the first level. And in trying to get each of these, I found myself enjoying playing the game itself.

I really don't have any gripe with this game except, when I first turned on the game there was sound, then when I selected a game and the game started, the sound disappeared. I thought that the game was screwed up or the emulation of the games on the disc was done wrong. Instead the sound for the game runs on the same line has my headset. So the sound was being played through my headset. So if you unplug your headset or change the settings in the PS3, it works just fine.
I really enjoyed this game and you will be happy to know, that this title got me my 3rd Platinum Trophy, yeeeehaaaa. I am really sad that I finished this game, but its always still fun to go back to old titles with a friends and just go through levels. Its a great time, if you are a fan of old retro games, than you will love this title. I think my rating for this game will be a little bias than most gamers, so its a little higher on my list than most people would rate it.

8.5/10