Sonic Shuffle

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Sonic Shuffle
System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team, Hudson Soft, A.I, JAM
Peripherals supported: Jump Pack, Visual Memory Unit, Dreamcast VGA Box
Genre: Party Board Game (パーティボードゲーム), Table
Number of players: 1-4
Official in-game languages: 日本語 English Français Deutsch Español
Release Date RRP Code Rating JP 2000-12-21 ¥5,800 (6,090) HDR-0125 US 2000-11-14 $39.95 51060 EU 2001-03-09 €? MK-51060-50 EU (White Label) 2001 €? ? UK 2001-03-09 £39.99 MK-51060-50 DE 2001-03-01 DM ? MK-51060-50 FR 2001-03-09  ?F MK-51060-50 ES 2001-03-09  ?Ptas MK-51060-50 PT 2001  ? ? AU 2001-06-03 $? ?

Sonic Shuffle (ソニックシャッフル) is a video game for the Sega Dreamcast and was Sega's answer to the successful Nintendo party game, Mario Party. The game was co-developed by Hudson Soft, who also developed the Mario Party series of games.

Despite Hudson's success with the Mario Party series, this game failed to meet expectations. It was criticized due to the confusing rules in some mini-games, excessive load times, poor music, an unfulfilled promise of network play, and an AI which would frequently cheat and steal the player's best cards. The game manual and in-game tutorial was largely unhelpful to players as well.

Story

The story involves Sonic the Hedgehog and his companions finding themselves in a land called Maginaryworld. A villain named Void has shattered the Precioustone into many pieces and Lumina Flowlight and the rest of Maginaryworld are counting on Sonic to restore it. At the end of the game it is revealed that Lumina and Void both are Illumina, the Goddess of the land who disappeared when the Precioustone was shattered.

Gameplay

Board gameplay showing Sonic losing Rings.

In Sonic Shuffle, the player can select one of the main characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The game supports 1 player in Story Mode and up to 4 players simultaneously in Versus Mode and the Sonic Room. The four players can play in teams and play against one another on a giant game board, going around and playing mini-games to collect Rings. The overall goal of each board is to collect the most Precioustones, out of a total of 7 (though this number can be reduced in Versus Mode). After the final Precioustone is collected, everyone plays a "Stage Clear" mini-game for one last chance to collect Rings, and then Emblems are handed out based on collected Precioustones and other accomplishments. Whoever has the most Emblems at the end of each board wins.

The gameplay involves playing randomly given Magical 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 a player's character would move on the board. The Special Cards can be used for movement, and can be played as a 7 if the player using one has decent timing as the card changed from 1 to S, but they can also be used to exchange cards with another player or steal up to 7 random cards from another player. The Eggman Card spells bad fortune for one or all of the characters and would generally cause trouble for the players in myriad ways if used. Players can also acquire items known as Forcejewels that can be used for their benefit or to disrupt other players. A full game could take anywhere from 20 minutes to two and a half hours, depending on how many Precioustones the player(s) decided to be available to collect at the beginning.

Battle gameplay showing Sonic fighting a monster.

Players will also be fighting monsters whenever they land on certain spaces. Players fight by playing a card to start a roulette which rolls from 1 to the number value of the card, and whichever number the player stops the roulette on is their attack power. They must roll a number equal to or higher than the card shown above the monster in order to defeat it and win a Forcejewel as well as the opportunity to steal Rings from another player selected by roulette (Versus Mode only). If the player rolls the same value as the opponent's HP, they will land a critical hit which awards them a greater bonus: in Versus Mode, they can steal twice as many Rings from another player, while in Story Mode they will get 2 Forcejewels. If the player rolls a lower value than the opponent's HP, the monster will attack the player and take away some of their Rings, ending the battle in failure. If the player does not have any Rings when they are attacked, they will have to miss a turn. Wild cards can also be used in battle: If a Special Card is played, the player can use their character's special battle ability, but if an Eggman Card is played, the player immediately loses the battle.

When landing on Precioustone Spaces, a player must battle a monster for the Precioustone, and if they lose, they will be sent back the number of spaces they traveled to reach the space, and any damage the monster has taken will be carried over to the next time a player engages that monster (e.g. If a player deals one damage to a Precioustone monster with 4 HP, that monster will have 3 HP remaining the next time it is engaged by any player). When the monster is defeated, the player who defeats it wins the Precioustone, and another one will appear elsewhere on the board. Dr. Eggman will also drop a weight on the player who was furthest away from the Precioustone, taking away half of their Rings.

The game features around 50 mini-games and around 30 mini-events. Mini-games range in variety and challenge and 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 is given at the end to determine a player's prize or punishment. As well as having a single-player Story Mode and a two- to four-player Versus Mode, the game has a “Sonic Room” where the player can unlock and view content.

Characters

The game features 8 playable characters (four of which need to be unlocked), each with their own unique abilities. The characters available from the start and in Story Mode are Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. The unlockable characters are Big the Cat, E-102 Gamma, Chao, and Super Sonic, and cannot be used in Story Mode.

	Sonic the Hedgehog
	Special Movement Ability: Spin Dash — If Sonic plays the same number card for two consecutive turns, he will move twice as far on the second turn. So, if Sonic moves 3 spaces one turn, then plays a second 3, he can move 6 spaces on that turn. Sonic cannot perform this ability twice in a row, so if he plays a third 3, he will only move 3 spaces. Special Attack Ability: Light Speed Spin Attack — When Sonic plays a Special Card in battle, he will roll a card roulette from 1 to S (7).
	Miles "Tails" Prower
	Special Movement Ability: Propeller Flight — Tails can move through the air across special spaces with his tails on them. Special Attack Ability: Rapid Spin Attack — When Tails plays a Special Card in battle, he will draw two cards to attack with, with his total attack power being the sum of the two cards. If he draws an Eggman Card, he will lose his chance to attack. If he draws another Special Card, that card will be ignored and he will draw another card.
	Knuckles the Echidna
	Special Movement Ability: Climbing — Knuckles can climb walls that have Knuckles Spaces on them. Special Attack Ability: Maximum Heat Attack — When Knuckles plays a Special Card in battle, he will draw two cards to attack with, with his total attack power being the sum of the two cards. If he draws an Eggman Card, he will lose his chance to attack. If he draws another Special Card, that card will be ignored and he will draw another card.
	Amy Rose
	Special Movement Ability: Hammer Jump — Amy can jump from one space to another when passing through a pair of Amy Spaces. Special Attack Ability: Revolving Hammer Attack — When Amy plays a Special Card in battle, she will inflict 5 points of fixed damage to the opponent.
	Big the Cat
	Special Movement Ability: Froggy — If Big plays a 6, he can stop wherever he likes from 1 to 6 spaces. When this ability is used, Big will chase Froggy to the selected space. Special Attack Ability: Power Throw — When Big plays a Special Card in battle, he will attack by throwing a huge rock at the opponent. He draws a regular card as normal, and his attack power will be whatever number the roulette stops on plus 1 (e.g., if Big rolls a 4, his attack power will be 5).
	E-102 Gamma
	Special Movement Ability: Rolling Mode — Gamma switches to Rolling Mode if he plays a 4, 5 or 6, protecting him from losing Rings if he lands on a Minus Ring Space. Special Attack Ability: Gun — When Gamma plays a Special Card in battle, he will roll two card roulettes, each numbered 1 to 3. Gamma's attack power is the sum of the two cards.
	Chao
	Special Movement Ability: None Special Attack Ability: Lullaby — When the Chao plays a Special Card in battle, it will draw a regular card and attack as normal. If the Chao does not defeat its opponent, the opponent will not retaliate.
	Super Sonic
	Special Movement Ability: Light-speed Spin Dash — If Super Sonic plays the same number card as he played in his previous turn, he will move twice as far. So, if Super Sonic moves 3 spaces one turn, then plays a second 3, he can move 6 spaces on that turn. Unlike Sonic's movement ability, Super Sonic can consecutively use this ability on his third and fourth turns. Special Attack Ability: Sonic Rumble — When Super Sonic plays a Special Card in battle, he will roll a card roulette from 4 to 6.

Boards

The game has a total of five boards to choose from, and all of them are freely available for Versus Mode. In Story Mode, each board is played in order.

	Emerald Coast
	The first board, where Void's presence has thrown the tropical paradise into an unseasonal ice age, and players must collect the Precioustones to thaw the ice.
	Fire Bird
	The second board, where a phoenix has been trapped within a mechanical shell, and players must collect the Precioustones to set it free.
	Nature Zone
	The third board, where Void's presence has caused pillars to appear and slowly kill the plant life, and players must collect the Precioustones to liberate the jungle.
	Riot Train
	The fourth board, where a train is unable to stop by itself, and players must collect the Precioustones to stop the train before it crashes.
	Fourth Dimension Space
	The final board, and the realm where the dreams of everyone are stored.

Mini Games

VS 4

Sonicola	Stop and Go	Over the Bridge	Sonic Gun Slinger	Sonic Live	Psychic Sonic	Sonic Tag
Shadow Tag	Frosty Rumble	Great Escape	Egg & the Chicken	Sonic Tank	Fun Fun Sonic	Jump the Snake
Zero G Snap Shot	Thor's Hammer	Over the Rainbow	Twister	Number Jump	Egg in Space	Tractor Beam Tag

2 VS 2

Sonic the Thief

Shoddy Work

Bucket-O-Rings

Bomb Relay

1 VS 3

Wrong Way Climb	Bungee Jump	Manic Maze	Sonicooking
Gargantua	Eggbot's Attack!	Sonic DJ

Accidents (VS 4)

Sonic Parasol	Ring Tide	Rapid Climb	Sky Bridge	Croc-Attack
Ring of Fire	Thru the Tunnel	Ring Lasso	Final Frontier

Stage Clear

Sonic Surfing

Sky Diving

Earth Quake

Stop the Train

Void Battle

Play Order

Sonic Darts

Sonic Hi Lo

Sonic Slot

Sonic Room

The Sonic Room.

The Sonic Room is an interactive gallery accessible via the main menu. The room features Sonic sitting at a coffee table, with his friends occasionally appearing in the window outside, and the room follows a day/night cycle based on the Dreamcast's internal clock. On a brand new save file, the room will be almost empty, but will gradually fill with more items as the player progresses through the game. The following items can appear in the room:

• Sonic's Gallery: The photo album on the coffee table has a variety of pictures that can be purchased using Rings accumulated and saved in the Sonic Bank by playing Story Mode, however some pictures require the player to meet certain conditions before they can be purchased, and purchasing certain pictures will unlock more features as well as extra characters for Versus Mode. All of the available pictures can be viewed here.
• Toy Box: The toy box allows the player to freely play any mini-game they have seen. It is added to the Sonic Room after purchasing the first picture in the "Another" page in the photo album.
• Stereo: The stereo functions as a sound test, allowing the player to listen to the in-game music. It is added to the Sonic Room after purchasing certain pictures in the photo album.
• Sonic Shuffle Appendix: A laptop on the coffee table offers additional options to use Chinese characters for board spaces as well as hiding cards from all players. It is added to the Sonic Room after completing Story Mode once.
• Aquarium: The aquarium to the right of the room will fill with fish and other decorations as the player discovers each kind of mini-game.
• Plants: Various plants will appear on the left side of the room as the player discovers each kind of mini-event.
• Character dolls: Dolls of each of the playable characters will line the shelves on the sides of the window after winning Versus Mode with each character.

History

Development

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Development

Adaptations

Sonic Shuffle received a single adaptation in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics, as a single "Official Dreamcast Pre-Adaptation" back-up story in issue #92. This story was later reprinted in the digital collection Sonic: The Games - Millennium.

Production credits

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Production credits

Voice actors

• Unlike in Sonic Adventure, there is not any voice option to switch between Japanese and English voice languages. These are defaulted according to the regional version, with the Western versions using the English voices and the Japanese version using the Japanese ones. The voice language option was once again restored for Sonic Adventure 2.
• Unlike in the English dub of Sonic Adventure, Ryan Drummond not only voices Sonic (and counterpart Super Sonic), but also Knuckles. Following Sonic Shuffle, the role was given to Scott Dreier in Sonic Adventure 2.
• This was Corey Bringas' last game as Miles "Tails" Prower, because his voice was noticably deeper. His brother Connor Bringas voiced Tails in the following game, Sonic Adventure 2.
• Amy's Japanese voice is provided by actress Emi Motoi rather than cast regular Taeko Kawata, who was on maternity leave at the time.
• E-102 Gamma is voiced by Steve Broadie in both Japanese and English versions of the game.

Manuals

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Manuals

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  Dreamcast, US

• 

  Dreamcast, JP

Magazine articles

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Magazine articles

Promotional material

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Promotional material

Artwork

• 

  Early logo

• 

  Lumina Flowlight

• 

  Void

• 

  Void

• 

  Void

• 

  Illumina

• 

  US cover

• 

  Prototype EU cover

Wallpaper

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Hidden content#PC content

Physical scans

Reception »

Dreamcast, JP
Cover
Disc File:SonicShuffle DC JP manual.pdf Manual

Dreamcast, JP (Sample)
Cover

Dreamcast, US
Cover
Disc File:SonicShuffle DC US manual.pdf Manual Inlay

Dreamcast, US (Not for Resale)
Disc

Dreamcast, EU
Cover
Disc

Dreamcast, EU (White Label)
Disc

Dreamcast, PT
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Sonic Shuffle/Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	1,209,450,144	2000-10-19	GD-ROM (US)	51060 V1.000
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	1,222,207,392	2001-01-31	GD-ROM (EU)	MK-51060-50 V1.000
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	1,209,948,768	2000-11-15	GD-ROM (JP)	HDR-0125 V1.001
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2001-01-11	GD-R				Page

External links

• Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast
• Sega.com Asia webpage: Dreamcast
• Sega.com Asia webpage (Chinese): Dreamcast

References

Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems
	1998  Sonic Adventure     1999  Sonic Adventure International     2000  Sonic Shuffle     2001  Sonic Adventure 2 | Sonic Adventure 2 Birthday Pack | Sega Smash Pack Volume 1      Demos  Sonic Adventure Taikenban | Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial  Prototypes  Sonic Adventure | Sonic Shuffle | Sonic Adventure 2