It’s hard to believe that up until now Sonic the Hedgehog has never had a pinball table to call his own. Mario has a terrible Gottlieb table but Sonic, despite having pinball-themed levels in almost every game and even an entire Sonic Spinball Genesis cartridge, has had nothing in all this time. That oversight is finally being rectified thanks to Jersy Jack Pinball, who have fully unveiled its Sonic the Hedgehog pinball today. Granted, the pinball is silver rather than blue and spikey, but everything else screams classic Sonic from his Genesis beginnings through current-day friends and rivals.
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Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball looks pretty much exactly like what fans would hope, with the Green Hill theme of the bottom changing into a mechanical Robotnik/Eggman style near the top. Table art includes cast members both obvious and less so, from Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy through Cream, Silver, and whatever an Espio the Chameleon might be. Table toys for Sonic and Amy are on either side of the playfield, while at the top an Eggman in one of his contraptions doesn’t just look cool but acts as a moving target on a secondary upper playfield. There’s a lot going on to make the table looked crammed full, despite being fairly open and designed for high-speed play.
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In addition to the playfield, Jersey Jack has a large twenty seven inch screen on the back, which is generally better for those watching someone play than the actual player, but still adds a bit more flair to an already colorful machine. More easily appreciated by the player is the soundtrack, which includes recognizable remixed tracks from Sonic history. With as much post-Genesis content as there is available to pull from, the most recognizable bits are still from the original 16 bit games, although series fans are bound to find plenty of Sonic Generations content in the backglass tv screen.
As for the feel of the gameplay, that’s going to have to wait on finding a table in the wild, but there’s reason to be optimistic seeing as Sonic was designed by pinball legend Steve Ritchie. If that name rings a bell it’s because he’s the designer of all three Black Knight pinballs, both High Speeds, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and more modern games like Stern’s excellent Star Trek and the classic Star Trek: Next Generation. That’s the kind of legacy that game designers dream of, running from the late seventies through today, and with consistent quality over the years as well. Sonic Pinball is in excellent hands, and there’s good reason to expect it to have the gameplay to live up to its license.
There are three ways to experience Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball, and like all pinball it starts at “expensive” and only goes up from there. The basic unit is the arcade version, not as fancy as the others due to it being designed for the general public to get their careless hands all over but identical in gameplay to both other versions. The Special Edition features different cabinet artwork, non-reflective glass, a shaker motor for haptic feedback, a topper for the backglass, and other goodies. Finally, the Collector’s Edition has sparkly cabinet art, a mechanical topper with Sonic and Eggman facing off against each other, Collector’s Edition plaque, and other embellishments. The editions are $9,999, $12,000, and $15,000 respectively, or (hopefully not more than) the standard $1 a play if you have a pinball arcade nearby.
Sonic the Hegehog Pinball seems like it should have happened long ago but that oversight is finally being corrected. The new table looks to be everything Sonic fans could hope for, fantastically decorated and promising lightning-fast gameplay without the danger of running into a spike trap, although no promises the side lanes won’t be hungry. The volume of detail in the art and clean-looking table toys bring the playfield to life, and even the rings have LEDs inside them lighting up in various patterns. There’s a huge amount of attention to detail giving Sonic his due, and for fans with deep pockets and the space for a pinball table this should be just about irresistible. For the rest of us, we’re just going to have to haunt our local arcades to knock Eggman out of the skies again.
