is a ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...
''-themed
party game
Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Lillian; ...
developed and published by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
for the
Dreamcast
The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...
in 2000. The game plays like a
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
much in the same vein as
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's ''
Mario Party
is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPU (gaming), CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with mi ...
'' series, with up to four players moving their characters across a game board filled with a variety of spaces which can trigger different events. Some spaces will launch
minigame
A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...
s that pit the players against each other in short competitive events.
Sega contracted
Hudson Soft
was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...
, the developers of ''Mario Party'', to assist with development. For the game's graphics, they used the same cel shading technique used in their earlier game ''
Jet Set Radio
(originally released in North America as ''Jet Grind Radio'') is a 2000 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. The player controls a member of a youth gang, the GGs, as they use inline skates to traverse Tok ...
'' (2000). An online multiplayer mode was planned, but it was pulled so the game could launch in time for the 2000 holiday season. Although critics praised the graphics, the game's excessive load times and poorly explained, overly complex minigames were found to be significantly detrimental to the overall experience. Critics classified ''Sonic Shuffle'' as an inferior
clone of ''Mario Party''.
Gameplay
''Sonic Shuffle'' is a
party game
Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Lillian; ...
for up to four players, playing like a
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
in a similar fashion to the ''
Mario Party
is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPU (gaming), CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with mi ...
'' series.
The game is set in a
dream world called "Maginaryworld", where a fairy asks
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
,
Tails,
Knuckles the Echidna
is a fictional character in Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. He is a red anthropomorphic short-beaked echidna who is Sonic's best friend and former rival. Determined and serious, but sometimes gullible, he has the ability to punch enem ...
, and
Amy Rose
The '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game franchise began in 1991 with the game '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' for the Sega Genesis, which pitted a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic against a rotund male human villain named Doctor Eggman (or ...
to retrieve "Precioustones" to help her save Maginaryworld from Void, the game's villain.
The players can choose to play as one of these four characters, or
Big the Cat
Big or BIG may refer to:
* Big, of great size or degree
Film and television
* ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks
* '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show
* ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...
,
E-102 Gamma
The ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game franchise began in 1991 with the game ''Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game), Sonic the Hedgehog'' for the Sega Genesis, which pitted a blue anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic the Hedgeh ...
,
Super Sonic
is a title character and the main protagonist of the video game series of the same name published by Sega, and appears in numerous spin-off comics, animations, and other media. He is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at super ...
, and a
Chao if unlocked later. Each character has unique abilities they can use to traverse the game boards.
Players take turns moving across the board in an effort to collect the most Precioustones; this is done by picking cards and moving the amount of spaces specified on it. Each player is dealt seven cards at a time, and their deck is visible on their personal
VMU screen in their controller, keeping it a secret from other players. When it is a player's turn to move, they can choose to play a card from their hand, or play a random card from another player's hand. There is also a card which can be used to steal cards, swap hands with another player, or move one to seven spaces as decided by a short
slot machine
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...
style game. Finally, there is a card that will summon
Doctor Eggman
Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, ...
, who will steal the player's
rings
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
or swap their position on the board with another player.
There are a variety of different spaces on the board. The most common spaces increase or subtract the player's ring count.
Rings can be used to purchase
power-up
In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...
s in the form of "forcejewels" at special shop spaces.
These stones can give the player numerous advantages, such as selecting more than one card in one turn or teleporting to other players' positions. Battle spaces pit the player that lands on the space in a short card game against an enemy. There is also always one space that harbors a Precioustone. When one of these is collected by a player, another one is placed on the board. The goal of each game is to collect the most Precioustones.
Finally there are
minigame
A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...
spaces. These spaces will launch a random minigame with either all the players, or just the player that landed on the space. The solo minigames are story-like sequences where the player must answer a question to win rings or gems, or lose them if answered wrong. The minigames that involve all the players come in a wide variety. Some are free-for-all games, while others pit the players against each other in two-versus-two or one-versus-three situations.
Development and release
''Sonic Shuffle'' was developed by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
,
with assistance from the
Hudson Soft
was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...
team behind
''Mario Party'' (1998),
and supervision from
Sonic Team
is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights ...
.
Most sources attributed Sega as the developer
although some attributed the game to Sega's internal development team
Smilebit
or Sega Sports R&D is a defunct development division of the Japanese video game company Sega. It was previously known as Smilebit, one of nine semi-autonomous studios which Sega established in 2000. Smilebit was previously known as R&D6 or AM6 w ...
.
Smilebit had previously developed ''
Jet Set Radio
(originally released in North America as ''Jet Grind Radio'') is a 2000 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. The player controls a member of a youth gang, the GGs, as they use inline skates to traverse Tok ...
'' (2000) for the
Dreamcast
The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...
which was well regarded for its
cel shaded
Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic th ...
visuals. Sega used the same cel shading techniques in ''Sonic Shuffle''.
Sega revealed that a ''
Sonic Adventure
is a 1998 platform game for Sega's Dreamcast and the first main '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' game to feature 3D gameplay. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, and E-102 Gamma in their ...
'' spin-off was in development alongside ''
Sonic Adventure 2
is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega. It was the final ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game for the Dreamcast after Sega left the home console market. It features two Conflict between good and evil, good-vs-evil stor ...
'' in October 1999. The game was revealed in the June 2000 issue of ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' (''EGM'') with the tentative title ''Sonic Square'', shortly before the
E3 trade fair that year. Sega had planned to reveal information about ''Sonic Adventure 2'' to ''EGM'' for the issue, but decided the game was not ready to be shown, and shared ''Sonic Square'' instead.
Support for online multiplayer through
SegaNet
The Dreamcast is a home video game console by Sega, the first one introduced in the sixth generation of video game consoles. With the release of the Dreamcast in 1998 amid the dot-com bubble and mounting losses from the development and introducti ...
was planned, it was ultimately cut so the game could ship ahead of the 2000 holiday season.
''Sonic Shuffle'' was released for the Dreamcast in North America on November 14, 2000,
in Japan on December 21,
and in Europe on March 9, 2001. The game was expected to appear in the 2002 compilation ''
Sonic Mega Collection
is a video game compilation developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2002 for the GameCube. It is a compilation of several ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games originally released on the Sega Genesis, along with a few other Sega-published title ...
'', but was ultimately not included.
Reception
Critics were quick to identify ''Sonic Shuffle'' as an inferior
clone of ''Mario Party''.
They found the minigames to be overly complex, poorly explained, and generally not as enjoyable as those in
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's flagship party series.
Both ''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' and ''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' felt as though the minigames were an afterthought, only appearing sparingly whereas in ''Mario Party'' they were central to the experience.
''GameSpot'' noted that it was possible to play through an entire game without ever playing a minigame, and felt that they were "a test of who can decipher the needlessly bewildering gameplay first".
''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' complained about needing to land on certain tiles to play the minigames.
''
Official Dreamcast Magazine'' (UK) argued that the minigames interfered with the main board game.
GameSpy
GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...
felt that they were inconsistent in quality, and wished there had been an option to turn them off.
The long load times when transitioning between the main game board, the minigames, and other scenes was another common complaint.
''GameSpot'' wrote: "The combination of the unbearable load times, the smattering of minigames, and the poor minigame design make ''Sonic Shuffle'' a boring diversion at best."
''Eurogamer'' felt that ''
Samba de Amigo
is a rhythm game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. The game was released in arcades in December 1999, and for the Dreamcast video game console in 2000. A port for the Wii was also developed by Gearbox Software and Escalation Studio ...
'' (1999) was a better party game.
Most reviewers praised the colorful and cartoon styling of the cel shaded graphics.
''
GameRevolution
''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots ...
'' praised the environment textures and felt the graphics were of the same high quality as ''Jet Set Radio''.
However, the graphics were not enough to convince critics.
''Eurogamer'' wrote that the visuals and audio were "deceptively good", hiding the bad gameplay underneath.
''
Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'' appreciated the visuals, but wrote that "ultimately, the game is dull. Under the dark shadow of ''Sonic Adventure 2'', this tepid, diluted affair will have difficulty proving itself, even to franchise stalwarts".
''Official Dreamcast Magazine'' (UK) and
its American counterpart both felt that the game was more fun with human players rather than computer-controlled opponents, and complained about the lack of online support.
''Game Revolution'' agreed, finding it boring waiting for computer players in single-player mode.
''Official Dreamcast Magazine'' (US) felt that with more development time and support from Sonic Team, the game could have been saved.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
2000 video games
Digital board games
Dreamcast games
Dreamcast-only games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Party video games
Sega video games
Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off games
Video games about dreams
Video games about parallel universes
Video games scored by Yoshitaka Hirota
Video games with cel-shaded animation
Video games developed in Japan