Did you know that spinoff Mega Drive title Sonic Spinball is going to be 30 years old this November? Well you probably did actually, because you’re a huge Sonic fan just like us. It seems that Sonic Team in Japan has remembered this fact, as they are focusing on an iconic scene in the pinball action game for its latest art piece.

Posted on the official Japanese Sonic Channel Twitter account, the new artwork features the blue blur chilling out in a handy drum barrel as he paddles his way through the game’s first stage, Toxic Caves. He seems rather embarrassed to be there – probably because whoever is controlling him can’t keep him on the pinball table. Still, it beats swimming in all that green gunge, doesn’t it Sonic?

Weirdly, the Twitter post accompanying this art piece mentions that this is a “commemorative illustration of “Sonic Spinball” celebrating its 30th anniversary this month” (via machine translation – emphasis ours). Sonic Spinball’s original release date in the West was actually November 1993, and in Japan it was the following month in December – so unless Sonic’s been using some leftover Time Stones that we’re not aware of, Sonic Channel might be getting a bit excited ahead of time here.

Still, it’s really nice to see some Spinball representation from the Japanese ‘Team, and we’re all here for it.