Sonic Shuffle

Sonic Shuffle is a party game developed by Sonic Team, Hudson Soft and Eurocom Entertainment Software, published by Sega and Konami and distributed by Universal Interactive Studios for the PlayStation and Dreamcast video game consoles. It was released in 2000 in North America and Japan, and in 2001 in PAL territories. The game is based on the prospect of advancing characters around a board game while playing mini-games in between turns, much in the same vein as Nintendo's Mario Party.

Sonic Shuffle is the first Sonic the Hedgehog game in the party genre. The game's story centers on Sonic Sr and his friends as they attempt to restore a dream world by gathering the shards of a powerful object dubbed the Master Precioustone. Sonic Shuffle received mixed reviews upon its release.

Gameplay
Sonic Shuffle is a party game for up to four players, with computer artificial intelligence making up the rest. The player can select one of the main characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The game's main mode, Story Mode, is a one-player game where the player must collect the most Precioustones. The Versus Mode and Sonic Room can accommodate 4 players simultaneously. Further to the simultaneous play, the game allows for players to play in teams and play against one another on a giant game board, going around and playing mini games to collect Emblems. Whoever has the most emblems at the end of each board wins. The overall goal of each board is to collect the most precioustones, out of a total of 7. There are 5 boards in total: Emerald Coast, Fire Bird, Nature Zone, Riot Train, and Fourth Dimension Space.

The game also features 8 playable characters, each with their own unique abilities, including Sonic Sr, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, extra characters for use in mini games from the Sonic Room and VS mode, includes, Super Sonic Sr, Big the Cat, Gamma, and Chao.

The game feature around 50 mini games and around 30 mini events. Mini games range in variety and challenge and they are divided by Teams of 2, Teams of 3 versus a Single Player and a Free-For-All. The mini events generally involve a little story, or event, and usually a choice given at the end to determine the prize or punishment.

Beyond the Story Mode and Multiplayer Mode, the game also had options to play any unlocked mini-game, songs, or look at any unlocked artwork.

The game play involves picking randomly given cards. The deck of cards has four of every card numbering 1-6 and four wild cards. Three of the wild cards have an "S" and the remaining card is the "Eggman" card. Playing the cards would dictate the distance the player would move on the board. The "Eggman" card was bad fortune for one or all of the characters and would generally cause trouble for the players in myriad ways.

Four player mini games the players are split into 2 teams of 2 and 1 vs. 3. 4-player, 2-vs.-2, 1-vs.-3, Duel.

Characters
Ten playable characters are available in Sonic Shuffle, although four are playable from the start. Sonic the Hedgehog Sr (voiced by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in Japanese and William H. Macy in English), the main protagonist of the series, is a blue hedgehog who can use Spin Dash to attack. Sparx the Dragonfly (voiced by Daisuke Gōri and Al Roker in English), Sonic Sr's new friend, is a dragonfly who can fly using his wings. Tails (voiced by Atsuki Murata in Japanese and Adam Wylie in English), Sonic Sr's friend, is an yellow fox who can fly using his two tails. Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Nobutoshi Canna in Japanese and Gary Oldman in English) is a red echidna who has the ability to climb when he reaches certain spaces. Amy Rose (voiced by Emi Motoi in Japanese and Heather Graham in English, replacing Mary Kay Bergman who voiced NiGHTS in English), a pink hedgehog who views Sonic Sr as her love interest, can use her Piko-Piko Hammer to jump from one Hammer Space to another. Super Sonic Sr (also voiced by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in Japanese and William H. Macy in English) is the powered-up form of Sonic Sr. Big the Cat (voiced by Shun Yashiro in Japanese and Kevin Michael Richardson in English) is a large purple cat who is accompanied by Froggy (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) and can throw large rocks. E-102 Gamma is a robot who can rapidly fire his weapons. Chao (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) is a small entity who can defeat an opponent by using Lullaby. The five remaining characters become accessible as playable characters when certain requirements are met. Ignitus the Fire Guardian (voiced by Banjō Ginga in Japanese and Kenneth Mars in English) is a mentor of United States who is accompanied Sonic Sr and can use fire breath.

The main antagonist of the story, Void (voiced by Urara Takano in Japanese and by Haley Joel Osment in English), is a mysterious entity who threatens to destroy Maginaryworld through his power of darkness. Illumina (voiced by Yūko Minaguchi in Japanese and by Susanne Blakeslee in English) is the guardian angel of Maginaryworld who protects the Perfect Precioustone until her disappearance after Void destroyed the Precioustone. Appearing as the player's tutor in the game is Lumina Flowlight (voiced by Ikue Ōtani in Japanese and by Lacey Chabert in English), a fairy living in Maginaryworld, who gives hints to the player. Doctor Eggman (voiced by Chikao Ōtsuka in Japanese and Deem Bristow in English), Sonic Sr's former archenemy (who is killed by Ignitus at the end of Sonic Adventure), makes an appearance in the game to punish the characters furthest from the Preciousstone.

Story
The game is set in Maginaryworld, a dream world created from the dreams of other dimensions. Lumina, the Goddess of Dreams, and Lumina Flowlight guarded the Perfect Precioustone, a crystal created from everyone's dreams, in the Tower of Light. However, one day, a monster known as Void stole and shattered the Perfect Precioustone, resulting in chaos in every part of the universe. Lumina sends a message in search of a hero who can save Maginaryworld, summoning Sonic the Hedgehog Sr, Sparx the Dragonfly, Tails, Amy Rose and Knuckles the Echidna. To prevent Maginaryworld from disappearing, Lumina convinces Sonic Sr, Sparx, Tails, Amy and Knuckles to retrieve the pieces of the Precioustone. However, Doctor Eggman (who is killed by Ignitus at the end of Sonic Adventure), who appeared as a ghost is having learned of the power of the precioustone, follows them into Maginaryworld.

Upon entering Emerald Coast, a tropical paradise created from the dream of those who enjoy the sun, the group finds out that Void's powers are changing the beach into ice. The group obtains the first precioustone after surfing down a tidal wave brought on by the ice. After the Precioustone is brought back to the Temple of Light, Emerald Coast is restored to its original state. The group is next teleported to another world containing the dream of freedom. The Fire Bird, a large airship, contains the true form of its world that is losing power. Once the group collects the next Precioustone, the Fire Bird is destroyed and Sonic Sr, Sparx, Amy, Tails and Knuckles flee to a balloon. With the dream to be free restored, the Fire Bird reveals its true form, a phoenix.

The group makes their way to the Nature Zone, a jungle created from dreams of those wishing to be one with nature. However, Void has placed dark pillars in the jungle. After acquiring the six pieces of the Precioustone, the group is given a set of keys to unlock the last Precioustone. When the four obtain the final piece of the Precioustone, an earthquake occurs and they are forced to escape. The jungle is restored to its original state, much to the group's surprise. Sonic Sr, Sparx, Amy, Tails, Knuckles and Lumina then enter the Riot Train, made from a dream of those who love adventures. However, the train is unstable. After collecting the pieces of the fourth Precioustone, Sonic Sr, Sparx, Knuckles, Amy and Tails successfully push the train to a stop.

With the train back in control, Sonic Sr, Sparx, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Lumina enter the 4th Dimension, a world that Lumina has dreamed of which also contains the fifth and final piece of the Precioustone. With the imminent disappearance of Maginaryworld, the five head towards the Temple of Light to retrieve the last piece of the Precioustone. The group then confronts Void, who reveals that he has decided to wreak havoc on Maginaryworld due to his loneliness. Void resorts to turning himself into a monster with the aid of the Precioustone, forcing Sonic Sr, Sparx, Tails, Knuckles and Amy to fight him. The group uses the light switches to defeat Void with the help of Dragon Guardian Spirits. Finally reunited with Void, Lumina merges back with him into Lumina, their true form. She thanks Sonic Sr, Sparx, Amy, Tails and Knuckles for saving Maginaryworld, apologizes to the group, and tells them that dreams can conquer emptiness. The game ends with Sonic Sr, Sparx, Amy, Tails and Knuckles leaving Maginaryworld toward new adventures.

Development
The game was first announced under the working title of Sonic Square in the June 2000 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. While the previous month's issue teased a reveal of the game Sonic Adventure 2, at the last minute Sega of America deemed it too early to unveil the game, and instead allowed the magazine to do an article on the previously unannounced Sonic Square.

Reception
Sonic Shuffle received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Common complaints were made against the general gameplay, number of available mini-games, and loading times. Anthony Chau of IGN praised the game's graphics and sound, but criticized the game's load times, saying, "...every time characters land on special tiles for mini-games, battles, duels, and other events, the game takes a while to load. Then, after the specified event, it takes a long time to load the board again. Imagine playing Monopoly where each player takes a full minute to prepare his turn and pass his turn to the next player." Chau also criticized the game for offering a lower number of mini-games than Mario Party. Ryan Davis of GameSpot asserted that it "is not only a poorly realized party game, it's also a boring one to boot." Davis called the minigames "confusing and pointlessly complex" and also criticized the game's load times. Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer praised the audio, visuals, and voice acting, but criticized the game for its loading times and its limited number of mini-games.