Sonic's Edusoft

As the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series of platform games has grown in popularity, its publisher Sega has expanded the franchise into multiple different genres. Among these are several educational video games designed to appeal to young children. The first attempt to create an educational ''Sonic'' game was Tiertex Design Studios' ''Sonic's Edusoft'' for the Master System in late 1991, which was canceled despite having been nearly finished. When Sega launched the Sega Pico in 1994, it released ''Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld'' and ''Tails and the Music Maker'' for it. Orion Interactive also developed the 1996 Sega PC game ''Sonic's Schoolhouse'', which used a 3D game engine and had an exceptionally large marketing budget. In the mid-2000s, LeapFrog Enterprises released educational ''Sonic'' games for its Leapster and LeapFrog Didj.

History

''Sonic the Hedgehog'' is one of the bestselling video game franchises ever, selling over 80 million units for the combined series as of 2011. The original game, a side-scrolling platform game, was developed by Sonic Team in Japan. Released by Sega in 1991, it greatly increased the popularity of the Sega Genesis in North America and established Sega as Nintendo's main rival in the console market. With the game's popularity, the series began to expand into other genres. While '' Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' began development in late 1991, the Manchester-based Tiertex Design Studios began to work on an educational video game set in the ''Sonic'' universe called ''Sonic's Edusoft'' for the Master System. ''Edusoft'' was made using sprites ripped from the original game. Despite having been nearly finished, it was canceled. The game was not licensed by Sega, but the company did express interest in it and could have potentially published it jointly with US Gold.

In 1994, Sega released the Sega Pico, an " edutainment" device powered by the same hardware used by the Genesis. The system was designed appear similar to a laptop, a stylus called the "Magic Pen", and a pad to draw on. As Sonic had become Sega's mascot, Sega released two educational games featuring characters from the ''Sonic'' franchise, ''Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld'' and ''Tails and the Music Maker''. ''Gameworld'' was developed by Aspect Co., the studio that produced the majority of the Game Gear ''Sonic'' games. Another educational game, ''Wacky Worlds Creativity Studio'', was released for the Genesis in 1994. Though it is not a ''Sonic'' game, Sonic does feature in it.

In 1996, Sega and Orion Interactive collaborated to produce ''Sonic's Schoolhouse'', an educational game in the Sega PC brand for Microsoft Windows. It was developed using a game engine similar to '' Wolfenstein 3D''s and ten educators and psychologists helped create the game's challenges. A cartoon clock was originally the star of the game but was replaced with Sonic; thus, ''Sonic's Schoolhouse'' is only tenuously connected to the rest of the franchise. The game was released as part of Sega's 20 million "Blue is Back" marketing campaign to promote six ''Sonic'' games releasing in the holiday shopping season; advertisements for the game were run in magazines and it was promoted in store displays. ''Sonic's Schoolhouse'' also came bundled coupons worth 40 in discounts for ''Sonic'' merchandise, including comics and plush toys.

In the mid-2000s, LeapFrog Enterprises published two educational ''Sonic'' platformers: Torus Games' ''Sonic X'' and Realtime Associates' ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', for the Leapster and LeapFrog Didj, respectively.

Games

''Sonic's Edusoft''

* Release date: Unreleased (developed in 1991)
* Developer: Tiertex Design Studios
* Planned publishers:
* Platform: Master System
''Sonic's Edusoft'' would have been the first educational ''Sonic'' game, the series' third entry overall, and the first ''Sonic'' game that was not developed in Japan. The game was aimed at five-year-olds and centers around a series of minigames that feature math and spelling questions. Minigames are accessed from an isometric hub world and more non-educational games can be unlocked after a certain number of educational ones are beaten. The game was virtually unknown until one of the game's programmers created a Wikipedia page about it, which was deleted after being deemed a hoax. The programmer later emailed screenshots to ''Sonic'' fansites but was unable to prove it was real. ''Edusoft'' was confirmed to be real after its ROM image was eventually leaked.

''Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld''

* Release date:
* Developer: Aspect Co.
* Publisher: Sega
* Platform: Sega Pico
''Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld'' was the first of two ''Sonic'' games to be released for the Sega Pico. The game takes the form of a picture book and changes the set of tasks the player must accomplish when a page is turned. Aimed at children ages four to seven, ''Gameworld'' stars Sonic, Tails, and Amy and features 13 minigames that are designed to teach the player problem solving.

''Tails and the Music Maker''

* Release date:
* Developer: Appaloosa Interactive
* Publisher: Sega
* Platform: Sega Pico
''Tails and the Music Maker'' was the second ''Sonic'' game to be released for the Sega Pico. It features Tails and is designed to teach children ages three to seven about making music. ''Tails and the Music Maker'' uses the same picture book form that ''Gameworld'' uses. The game features several minigames, including "Travels with Tails" (in which the player guides Tails through three levels) and "Percussion Pinball" (in which Tails is placed in a pinball environment).

''Sonic's Schoolhouse''

* Release date:
* Developer: Bruce Austin Productions, Orion Interactive
* Publisher: Sega Entertainment
* Platform: Microsoft Windows
''Sonic's Schoolhouse'' is aimed at children aged five to nine and takes place in a 3D environment viewed from a first-person perspective. The gameplay has been likened to '' Doom'' (1993), but the primary difference is that players must solve spelling, math, and reading questions in several difficulty levels based on age group. Sonic is not playable, instead acting as a guide.

''Sonic X''

* Release date:
* Developer: Torus Games
* Publisher: LeapFrog Enterprises
* Platform: Leapster
''Sonic X'' is based on the anime series of the same name and was released by LeapFrog Enterprises for the Leapster handheld game console. It stars Sonic and Chris Thorndyke, a character created for the anime series, who must save Tails, Amy, and Knuckles from Doctor Eggman. The player must guide Sonic through three levels, periodically stopping to answer math questions. The three levels, Station Square, Angel Island, and Eggman's base feature sequencing, addition, and subtraction respectively.

''Sonic the Hedgehog''

* Release date:
* Developer: Realtime Associates
* Publisher: LeapFrog Enterprises
* Platform: LeapFrog Didj
The Didj version of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' is a side-scrolling platformer similar to the original Genesis ''Sonic'' games, but has numerous minigames that are designed to teach spelling. It is aimed at children ages seven to ten.

Reception

''Jeuxvideo.com'' regarded the educational ''Sonic'' games as obscure. According to the programmer who worked on ''Sonic's Edusoft'', the game was tested at a primary school in Didsbury, Manchester and was well received. '' Retro Gamer'' expressed disappointment that it remained relatively unknown and offered praise for its "chunky" visual style. They also wondered "if the kids realised how lucky they were to get to play an unreleased and often forgotten Sonic game". Reviewing ''Sonic's Schoolhouse'', ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' was strongly negative, calling it "a bare-bones edutainment title" that "offer neither education or entertainment of any sort." They criticized its voice acting, visuals, lack of difficulty and educational value, and poor use of the ''Sonic'' license, deeming it a "rather cynical attempt from Sega to tie it in with their mascot" and urging readers to instead play the Leapster games. '' GamesRadar+'' said ''Sonic's Schoolhouse'' was only "vaguely educational" and "a grade-schooler's nightmare."

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{{Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog
Children's educational video games
Windows games
Video game franchises
Educational video games
Sega Pico games
Master System games
Sega video games
Realtime Associates games
Aspect Co. games
Appaloosa Interactive games
Video games developed in the United States
Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off games