Nintendo brings Sonic Spinball and other Genesis classics to Switch Online

You can’t keep a good Sonic game down. As Sonic fans flail about, overjoyed that Sonic Origins will be launching soon, some fans expressed dismay that the franchise’s blue-headed stepchild Sonic Spinball seems to have been forgotten in all these anniversary bundles and rereleases yet again. Nintendo heard those cries of injustice and is adding the “what if Sonic was a pinball?” game to the Sega Genesis library in the Switch Online Expansion Pack.

Released in 1993 on the Sega Genesis, Sonic Spinball is a clunky pinball platformer. Sonic rolls around, buffeted by player-controlled paddles, in search of, what else, Chaos Emeralds. The controls are fiddly, the platforming can get very confusing, and the game churns like an arthritic milkmaid whenever there’s more than two moving things on the screen. But it’s Sonic, and I love him so this is what I’m going to occupy my time with while I wait for Sonic Origins. It’s a hard life.

For the Sonic agnostic, Nintendo is also releasing tactical RPG Shining Force II and rail shooter Space Harrier II. I wish I knew more about these games but you can tell where I invested my childhood time, sorry.

These new additions bring the total number of Genesis games available on the Expansion Pack premium service to 25 and are available to Expansion Pack members today.