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Sonic Shuffle is a video game for the Sega Dreamcast and was Sega's answer to the successful Nintendo party game, Mario Party. (And was co-developed by Hudson Soft, the developers of Mario Party.)

In Sonic Shuffle, the player can play as one of the main characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The game supports up to 4 players and 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 the game is to collect the most precioustones. The game featured 5 different “game boards” and had 8 playable characters, 4 of which needed to be unlocked: Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Super Sonic, Big the Cat, Gamma, and Chao. Each character had a special ability that was unique to them.

The story involves Sonic and company getting caught up in a mess in a land called Maginary World. A villain named Void has shattered the Precioustone into many pieces. Lumina Flowlight and the rest of Maginary world are counting on Sonic to restore it.

The game featured around 50 mini games and around 30 mini events. Mini games ranged from 1 vs 3 to every one for them selves. The mini events generally involved a little story and choice given at the end to determine your prize or punishment. As well as having a single player story line it had a vs mode for 4 people to play, also it had a “Sonic Room” where you could play your favorite mini games with your friends without starting a full game.

The game play involved playing randomly given cards. The deck of cards had four of every number 1-6 and four wild cards. Three of the wild cards had an “S” and the remaining card was the “EGGMAN” card. Playing the cards would dictate the distance your player would move on the board the S cards could be played as a 7 if you had decent timing as the card changed from 1 to S. The EGGMAN card was bad fortune for 1 or all of the characters and would generally cause trouble for the players in a myriad of ways. A full game could take anywhere from 20 min to 2.5 hours depending on how long you wanted to make it.

Sonic Shuffle wasn't as successful as its competitor. Most of this is due to its mini-games, many of which were confusing or frustating. The loading times between the mini-games and the boards were too long. Additionally, the Computer-Controlled players would very often cheat at the game - stealing the best cards from the other players to win minigames and get to the Precioustones first. This made playing Sonic Shuffle with Computer-Controlled players extremely difficult.

Playable Characters

Game Boards

  • Emerald Coast
  • Fire Bird
  • Nature Zone
  • Riot Train
  • Fourth Dimension Space

Mini Games

  • VS 4
    • Sonicola
      • Purely a game of chance, each player selects one of five cans of soda from a vending machine. One of the five cans was freshly shaken and will spray soda into the face of the unfortunate player who picks it. Of course, since there are five cans of soda, there is a chance that not one will lose and the whole thing ends up in a tie.
    • Stop and Go
      • A game of Red Light, Green Light, on Ice. Each player must walk very softly to the Forcejewel which Eggman is guarding. If any player is caught moving when Eggman change the light from green to red, he or she will be frozen and lose.
    • Over the Bridge
      • A simple race over a windy bridge for a Forcejewel.
    • Sonic Gun Slinger
      • This Western style mini game lets players to shoot at outlaw targets. Players who shoot at the lady targets will lose rings. Player who shoot at an Eggman Target will receive bonus rings.
    • Sonic Live
      • When a spotlight is on for a player, the player must play a tune using the buttons of the controller. If the spotlight is not on a player, he or she will lose rings.
    • Psychic Sonic
      • Players must guess (or see) the revealing card.
    • Sonic Tag
      • This is a normal game of tag, only difference being that the "IT" player cannot grab rings. Being "IT" after a minute of play results in losing the game.
    • Shadow Tag
      • In no way affiliated with the Sonic character of the same name, Shadow Tag is played similarly to Sonic Tag, except that players can also make another player "IT" by touching his/her shadow.
    • Frosty Rumble
      • Players must battle by throwing ice rocks and boulders at each other.
    • Great Escape
      • In a maze that is about to explode for 30 seconds, each player must find a route that will lead to an escape pod.
    • Egg & the Chicken
      • This mini game test the players of who will stand under the hoop with bombs waiting to drop the longest.
    • Sonic Tank
      • A simple shooting tank battle.
    • Fun Fun Sonic
      • A trampoline contest that players must finish by jumping every single trampoline and change the color to the last color, red and pop the trampoline to receive rings.
    • Jump the Snake
      • Players must play jump rope with snakes as the rope. If a player touch the snake, he or she will be knock out of the game.
    • Zero G Snap Shot
      • Players must be in a picture, posing while floating in the air.
    • Thor's Hammer
      • Players must stay in the arena by avoiding Eggman's electrical attack and grab rings when the attack hit the arena.
    • Over the Rainbow
      • The players must press a button on their controllers when prompted to do so. Pressing the wrong button or taking too long to react will cause a player to lose.
    • Twister
      • Players who are caught in a tornado must dodge various objects that are trapped in the tornado.
    • Number Jump
      • Players must jump numerical order from two towers in order to reach Eggman.
    • Egg in Space
      • Players must find the button to launch the trapped Eggman into space.
    • Tractor Beam Tag
      • Somewhat of a 1 VS 3 game, three players are "IT" at the same time and are required to remain side-by-side while trying to catch the other player. Upon catching this player, one player (randomly selected) becomes the free player. The winner is the free player after a minute of play.
  • 2 VS 2
    • Sonic the Thief
      • Two teams of two players racing each other by cracking safes: one must find the numbers and the other will unlock the safe when his or her partner has the correct numbers to crack the safes.
    • Shoddy Work
      • Two teams must create a 'perfect' piece of architecture with various blocks. A team will lose if the project is sloppy when Eggman checks the progress.
    • Bucket-O-Rings
      • Two teams of two players line up between a ring pile and a mine cart. One player scoops up rings in a bucket and then dumps them into his/her partner's bucket, who places them in the mine cart. After 30 seconds, the team with more rings in the cart gets to keep the rings.
    • Bomb Relay
      • Two teams of two partners race each other while passing the bombs to their partner before the bombs explodes.
  • 1 VS 3
    • Wrong Way Climb
      • One player will send objects down the escalator while the other players must reach the top by dodging the objects.
    • Bungee Jump
      • One player bungee jumps from a high platform as the others stand below holding items. Both teams can pick up rings during the game, but the main goal is for the bungee jumper to grab an item from a player below.
    • Manic Maze
      • One player moves the board around to send the other players into the vortex in the middle. The team will win if they survive in the board game for 30 seconds.
    • Sonicooking
      • One player must fry the other players in a pan for cooking them for 30 seconds.
    • Gargantua
      • Eggman powers up a player (?!?) and causes him/her to become about four times bigger than normal. The remaining players shoot the giant with shotguns, trying to drain his/her HP gauge while avoiding getting stepped on. The giant is restricted to taking baby steps and must watch out for land mines that sap a large amount of HP from the gauge. The giant wins if he/she is not killed within one minute.
    • Eggbot's Attack!
      • While the four players run down a city street, one player is placed in a giant walker left in the middle of the road. The player in the walker tries to crush the players on the ground as they race down the street. The team wins if anyone is not crushed after 30 seconds.
    • Sonic DJ
      • One player is the DJ and he /she must scratch the other players on the disc before it reaches to overdrive.
  • Accidents (VS 4)
    • Sonic Parasol
      • Players must avoid the Eggman sunrays which will send the players back to the shack by getting the parasol.
    • Ring Tide
      • Players must avoid the tides, crabs, and various objects that are hitting the shore. If a player is caught by a tide, he/she must rapidly press the A button in order to get back to the shore.
    • Rapid Climb
    • Sky Bridge
      • The players stand on the Fire Bird stage as it passes under low bridges. They can jump to get rings, but they risk slamming headlong into an oncoming bridge and falling off the stage.
    • Croc-Attack
      • Players must very quickly press the A button before being getting eaten by the crocodiles.
    • Ring of Fire
      • Players must grab rings while jump through the fire rings.
    • Thru the Tunnel
      • The players race across the Riot Train stage, trying to be the first to reach the lead car.
    • Ring Lasso
      • Players must use the controller to grab the treasures from remote carts.
    • Final Frontier
  • Stage Clear
    • Sonic Surfing
      • Players must race each other by surfing a tidal wave. The player who is the fastest wins an emblem.
    • Sky Diving
      • The players jump off of the Fire Bird stage and collect rings as they fall. The player who falls the fastest wins an emblem.
    • Earth Quake
      • Players must run and avoid trees and rocks in order to leave the jungle. The player who is the fastest wins an emblem.
    • Stop the Train
      • Players must follow the signals by pressing the A and B buttons in order to stop the train from crashing.
    • Void Battle
  • Play Order
    • Sonic Slot
      • Each players plays on a slot machine that first displays 999, then counts down. Turn order in the main game is based upon how close each player stops the slots to 000 without going under.
    • Sonic Darts
      • The four players each throw darts at a moving target. Turn order in the main game is based upon the proximity of the players' darts to the center of the target.
    • Sonic Hi Lo
      • A simple game of hi lo, with all four players playing at once. The players must act fast to get the card that they want. The winner moves first on the game board.

Trivia

  • A comic tie-in has been done in issue #92 of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog title.

  • This was Corey Bringas' second game as Miles "Tails" Prower, who also voiced Tails for a third time in the following game, Sonic Adventure 2, though he wasn't cast as Tails in the follow up to that game, Sonic Heroes, because of his growing age, and becoming a teenager. The role was thus given to William Corkery from then on.

External links

2000 computer and video games | Party video games | Cel-shaded computer and video games | Dreamcast games

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Sonic Shuffle".

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