Could an SatAM/Archie character work in a Sonic game?

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:25 pm

Ngangbius wrote:I'll always remember Sonic Spinball as the first Sonic game that disappointed me.

And i'll always remember it as the ugly duckling of the series that gets so little of the respect it deserves.

Sniffnoy · Post by **Sniffnoy** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:30 pm

And I'll always remember it as that fun game which I avoid playing because of the tedious final boss which seems to take up almost half the time I'm playing it.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:23 pm

And I'll always remember as the only Sonic game I beat could only using savestates.

Shadow Hog · Post by **Shadow Hog** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:31 pm

And I'll always keep on forgetting about it.

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:05 pm

And let's snap this wretched post chain shall we?

And I'll always remember it as that fun game which I avoid playing because of the tedious final boss which seems to take up almost half the time I'm playing it.

The whole level leading up to it is that brutal. If I have better things to do than turn my face red trying to not plummet down the drain, i'll stop after The Machine.

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:26 am

I liked the game. It's pretty difficult, but still quite manageable. Can't get enough of that pinball action.

Incidentally, Spinball was based on early concepts of the show rather than the series itself.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:12 pm

CM August wrote:Incidentally, Spinball was based on early concepts of the show rather than the series itself.

That's probably why it's still good. I'm amazed we don't get to see the Super Sonic Smash Squad.

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:42 pm

It really wouldn't have made a difference in gameplay.

Scratch is seen in one of the bonus games, but no Grounder or Coconuts unfortunately. It was a nice little easter egg though.

Anon · Post by **Anon** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:09 am

Scratch? I only remember seeing Cluck, Robotnik's pet mecha-bird in SatAM. (Then again, I didn't get too far in the game.)

CM August wrote:Incidentally, Spinball was based on early concepts of the show rather than the series itself.

Judging from Sally's design, I always thought that it was based from the early issues of the Archie series.

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:59 am

That's because Archie, too, was based on early concepts for the show.

I wish I could grab a screenshot of Scratch, but... oh wait, there's one on the GHZ's Spinball page.

cjmcray · Post by **cjmcray** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:02 am

That's how all of the levels in Sonic Pinball Party should've looked.

I always like the design of the Spinball special stages.

Arcade · Post by **Arcade** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:02 pm

Spinball is better than Shadow the hederhog, you cant take me that..

gr4yJ4Y · Post by **gr4yJ4Y** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:13 pm

I liked Spinball when it first came out, but maybe I didn't know any better. I also remember seeing Rotor and Bunny in the game.

Pokemon Pinball is where the real pinball action is at.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:00 am

gr4yJ4Y wrote:Pokemon Pinball is where the real pinball action is at.

Yeah, I remember having a lot of fun with Pokemon Pinball. But 3D Pinball Creepy Nights still wins as the best pinball game ever.

Did Bunnie have the robotic enhancements?

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:16 am

Yes, Bunnie is partially roboticized as usual.

Post by **Crazy Penguin** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:36 pm

j-man wrote:It's all about Psycho Pinball. Now there's a game to show to the grandkids.

I second this. Haven't played the damn thing in years though.

Sonic Spinball's bonus games were more fun to play than the main levels. The concept of Sonic in a giant pinball world had a huge amount of potential, they just failed miserably with the execution. The controls were too stiff, the stage design sucked and the graphics and music were distinctly un-Sonic like.

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:46 pm

Crazy Penguin wrote:The controls were too stiff

Of course they are, it's a pinball game. You're not supposed to be able to steer the ball around; pinball games are all about your accuracy with shooting the ball towards stuff with the flippers. But since the ball is an actual character they granted us some leeway. And not too much leeway either - otherwise there's less point to refining your aim.

Or did you mean the platforming controls? Yeah, those are nutty alright, but aren't used for much beyond reaching/accessing stuff so I can forgive that end of it.

and the graphics and music were distinctly un-Sonic like.

What was that blurb on the back of the japanese box? "Funky american action game"? Yeah. This makes perfect sense too. Consider the target audience.

But frankly, i've never cared one way or the other about the style, not even when I didn't know better. All I knew back in the day was that it was a Sonic game and it was fun and cool. I used this same mentality to justify enjoying SA2 with it's cryptic backstory and "realistic" setting and what-all that's not "Sonic-like"; I still do.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:16 pm

I agree with CP in that I also found the art direction ugly and 'un-Sonic-like' at the time of its release which added to the disappointment.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:17 am

True. When it came out, s lot of magazines over here were talking about the "third Sonic game". I remember playing it right after its launch and thinking to myself "This is not Sonic 3. There is NO WAY this is Sonic 3. There's gotta be a REAL Sonic 3."

EDIT: Even though the game was really fun to play.

gr4yJ4Y · Post by **gr4yJ4Y** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:08 pm

When I was a kid I always took it as Eggman's (or then Robotnik's) counter-plan after what happened in Sonic 2. He caught Sonic off-gaurd. And since it was completely Eggman's volcaneo island, it gave the entire game a darker look.

Rob-Bert · Post by **Rob-Bert** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:50 pm

Sonic Spinball looked pretty dark the whole way through. I mean, it starts out in the raw sewage pipes underneath the fortress. The wall down there had growth all over them.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:18 pm

True. Spinball is dirty. I think it goes a lot with the 90s anti-pollution hype that came right after the Eco 92 world convention.

So Robotnik not only evil because he hates Sonic and harms little animals, but also because he pollutes.

Thinking about it, Spinball and CD are the only games where Robotnik is a menace to the environment. If you don't count missiles and space lasers, of course.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:22 pm

What about Scrap Brain, Oil Ocean, or Metropolis?

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:18 am

Those were only industrial facilities. Scrap Brain was mainly a factory, and a very clean one, may I say. Metropolis was the same thing, but more old-fashioned (30s maybe) and mixing a bit of Fritz Lang's take on the future. So apart from a bit of smoke from some of the machinesm those are clean. Cleaner than a gas fueled car probably.

Oil Ocean did cross my mind, but even so, it didn't have the same feeling as the Spinball levels. And on the future time of the Sonic CD levels, we could clearly see that a whole lot of time with Robotnik working there, most places would become a dump.

I think it's funny how the Good Future shows a world where nature and machines actually live together. I guess not even Sonic can stop progress.

Rob-Bert · Post by **Rob-Bert** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:45 pm

Eh, Sonic and Captain Planet would've made one hell of a team back then.