THIS IS CRAP!!! (Staff review #8)If you saw my Genesis review of this game, you'll know what to expect from this horrible port. If not, take a look at it.
Note that both Master System and Game Gear ports are the exact same, except for a screen size difference.
Sonic Spinball, a game that was very fun for it's time, despite it being only 4 levels that don't stop increasing difficulty so fast. The Genesis version had to be the best of all the ports. When the Game Gear / Master System versions came out, SEGA failed to make it live up to the Genesis and made different level layouts.
Instructions: Obviously, you play as sonic, and he has to stop robotnik with his pinball abilites. You collect the chaos emeralds in each level. In levels 1 and 2, there's only 3 emeralds. In levels 3 and 4, there's 5. There's 4 levels, and in the portable versions, you can use continues, either 3, 5, or 7. You can get more by finding secret places in the levels, but it shall not be spoiled in any way. You also find extra lives and a special code in secret spots. That can't be spoiled not even 1 bit. There are bonus stages after every level except for the level, but instead of pinball bonus rounds to earn jackpots when winning, it's a crappy bonus round where you have to either collect rings or bumpers to advance in the bonus stage until the end with a set time limit.
Graphics - 6
Same old graphics. It gets way too old, but it's only 8-bit, give it a chance. Not very perfect, but it does make things stand out ok. The textures are ok. There are less colors used than the Genesis, though. The character sprites and enemies look the same 8-bit graphics every time, except for the first 2 sonic Game Gear games. The colors in all ports of Sonic Spinball stand out good. The sprites are ok, and the same with the background and other stuff.
Sound - 4
It's crappy sound. This port has completly different music than the Genesis, which sucks. 8-bit can't do 16-bit music correctly, but really? 100% of all music changed? Sadly, no music or any sound effects seem good to even get in your head.
Addictiveness - 2
This is only 4 levels, and it's that short. All versions had 4 levels. Pathetic! You'd find yourself rather playing the original classic Genesis game than the big bad porter versions. It's harder to die in the ports but there are several glitches. Mostly from cheat codes in the game gear / master system ports.
Depth - 3
4 levels. What do you expect from that? Besides, it should be longer! No more 4 levels! No more short games! We need more longer games, like the classic 1985 Super Mario Bros game with 32 levels. SEGA made the original Sonic Spinball just 4 levels, so they did the short amount of levels for the ports.
Story - Not Applicable
There is no such story, other than waiting in the title screen, you see sonic holding onto the plane, getting shot at by a green lazer (not shown in Game Gear ports making the crappiest story opening ever.) which makes sonic fall into the very depth water. Then the game begins.
Difficulty - 9
I haven't even talked about how hard it is to get anywhere. It is so hard to control sonic in the game gear port, and you do move too fast in acceleration. A spindash can result in some speed issues, and you can fall fast, barely at the top speed in the Genesis game. You do get only 3-7 continues, but the Genesis was even harder without any continues. Although the game had some weird difficulty-decreasing things in it, like the electric line on the flippers after playing for a little bit.
Overall - 6.2
Overall, it's ok, despite all the issues. But give the game a chance, ok? The graphics are ok, but overall, it makes me give the final say: Play the original Genesis game, and stay away from the handheld Game Gear and Master System ports. I do hate the game gear / master system port, due to how watered down it is compared to the classic Genesis version. In the Genesis game, everything was better, and had nice soundtracks, but this port has a brain smaller than a atom. Dumber than a rock, probably. For people who like the game gear ports, play the Genesis version whenever you need to play Sonic Spinball, because many, many people hate the game gear port, and websites have negative reviews on the 8-bit versions. (Master System and Game Gear) Do yourself a favor, and try staying away from the 8-bit port.
(This has been a special Stevie 764 review. Reviews will come fast in the next week and a half before Month 3.)
[Month 2, review #2 for November]
Graphics
6 Sound
4 Addictive
2 Depth
3 Difficulty
9