Spin Jump

The Spin Jump (回転ジャンプ), also called the Super Sonic Spin Attack or Jump, is one of the first and most basic maneuvers in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a mid-air variation of the Spin Attack, where the user curls up and jumps into enemies or obstacles, dealing damage. It was first introduced in the original 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Description
When performing the Spin Jump, the user first jumps up into midair and then curls into a ball, like when performing the Spin Attack and starts rolling around at high speed. While performing the Spin Jump, the user can deal damage to any enemies that he/she makes successful and undisturbed physical contact with, and also break breakable objects in the Zones, such as item boxes, barriers and certain floors.

To perform the Spin Jump in gameplay, the player usually has to press the jump button in the respective games. To control the direction the Spin Jump is moving, the player has to use the movement controls.

Overview
The Spin Jump is one of the most basic attacks that can be performed in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and arguably the most common maneuver as well, given that almost every playable character in the series has at some point been able to perform it. Depending on the game though, certain characters are unable to do Spin Jump, such as Amy Rose, Silver the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)), Charmy Bee (Knuckles' Chaotix) and E-123 Omega (Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)).

In the earlier games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Spin Jump is a very useful and often vital attack for the player, due to it having greater movement control than the Spin Attack and Spin Dash, and is often needed to defeat bosses and certain enemies.

The Spin Jump does not affect certain enemies that has projection, armor with things such as spikes on them or wielding weapons in the player's path which can damage the player instead of destroying enemy. When the playable character transforms into a Super State, the Spin Jump increases in height and speed.

A game mechanic for the Spin Jump is that it increases the jumping height of the playable character by jumping into the enemy/object from higher places or from the right angle and then getting bounced higher than the playable character is normally able to jump. The player is able to do this by pressing the jump button down until the player hits the targeted enemy. Depending on how long the player keeps the jump button down, the higher will the playable character will bounce. Outside the Genesis games, this technique is functional in the Sonic Adventure titles, the Sonic Advance series and the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations, though only for Classic Sonic.

In the earlier games for the Sega Genesis, the player is able to perform the Spin Jump simply by pressing, or  on the controls. Simply by moving the D-pad, the player can move in mid-air while doing Spin Jump. In most cases, when the player is performing the Spin Jump, the playable characters turn themselves into rolling ball when they jump into the air, such as Sonic, Tails or Knuckles. However, certain character can have different performances or variants of the Spin Jump; when Tails and Cream is performing the Spin Jump, Tails' twin tails and Cream's ears can be seen hanging from behind their respective curling ball form. Also in Knuckles' Chaotix when Espio and Vector is performing the Spin Jump, Espio whirls around like a tornado and Vector curls into a wheel. Additionally, Blaze has her own variant of the Spin Jump, the Axel Jump, where she becomes a tornado of flames.

In the later games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, when the player presses the jump button twice, the player can perform another move during the Spin Jump, such as the Insta-Shield and Homing Attack, a double jump, or, for certain character, allow the player to fly or glide.

In the first main games for the Sega Genesis, depending on how many enemies the player destroys with a single Spin Jump, the points that the player receives from defeating each enemy increases. While defeating one enemy is worth 100 points, destroying two enemies in a chain by doing the Spin Jump once increases points to 200, and destroying three enemy in a chain gives 500 points in total. After destroying four to fifteen enemies, the player receives 1000 points, and for any chain of destroyed enemies larger than that, the player earns 10000 points for each destroyed enemy.

In the later 3D games in the Sonic the hedgehog series, the player is still is able to do the Spin Jump, though it is sometimes rendered somewhat obsolete due to the various other attacks introduced since its introduction. Since Sonic Unleashed, Sonic has been given a bluish aura around him, whenever he is performing the Spin Jump.

Trivia

 * Earlier US manuals for Sonic games in Sega Genesis have a few name variations for the Spin Jump. Originally both the Spin Jump and Spin Attack are refered to as the Super Sonic Spin Attack in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. In the US manual of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, the Spin Jump was referred to as the Spin Attack, while the Spin Attack itself is called the Super Spin Attack. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the first game to refer the move as the Spin Jump in US manual, while the name has been the same in Japan since the beginning.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is the only main game in the series where the Spin Jump does not destroy enemies, but instead makes the playable character go through the enemy and take damage from it, likely because the game was rushed.
 * In most 3D games, a colored aura will surround the character when performing the Spin Jump.