"sonic spinball" was created by the american staff of sega technical institute. this was because the japanese staff was busy with making "sonic the hedgehog 3" and "sonic &amp; knuckles". when sega management realized that "sonic 3" would not be finshed in time for the 1993 holiday shopping season, they created another "sonic" game. the game was quickly designed. it had short time constraints. most of the work happened in two months. "sonic spinball" was released for the sega genesis in november 1993 and for the game gear and master system in 1994.