Sonic Shuffle

Sonic Shuffle (ソニックシャッフル) is a video game for the 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 Mario Party.

Story
The story involves Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy getting caught up in a mess in a world called Maginary World, which they inadvertently stumble upon one day when Lumina sends a vortex to take them inside the dream world. A villain named Void has shattered the Master Precioustone into many pieces, resulting in chaos in every part of the world. The dark magic of dreams that can no longer be suppressed by the Precioustone is reaking havoc all over the various worlds inside of Maginary World. Lumina Flowlight and the rest of Maginary World are counting on Sonic to restore it and bring Illumina back, who mysteriously disappeared after the disappearance of the Precioustone.

The game progresses in multiple story lines and playing as each different character will allow the mystery of Void to finally be realized. After each world is successfully restored the chosen character will confront Void with Lumina, as they interrogate him the chosen character is able to finally realize the true meaning of what Void is trying to say. Each Character has a different story and will realize that Void is the emptiness that allows Dreams to be created in the first place.

Overview
In Sonic Shuffle, the player can select one of the main characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The game supports up to 1 player in Story Mode and up to 4 players simultaneously in Versus Mode and the Sonic Room. 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 seven. There are five boards in total:
 * Emerald Coast
 * Fire Bird
 * Nature Zone
 * Riot Train
 * Fourth Dimension Space

The game also featured 8 playable characters, each with their own unique abilities, and 4 of which needed to be unlocked. The available characters were: Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Super Sonic, Big the Cat, Gamma, and Chao.

The game featured around 50 mini games and around 30 mini events. Mini games ranged in variety and challenge and they were divided by teams of two, teams of three versus a Single Player and a Free-For-All. The mini events generally involved a little story, or event, and usually a choice given at the end to determine your prize or punishment. As well as having a single-player Story Mode and a two- to four-player Versus Mode, the game had a "Sonic Room" where you could play your favorite mini-games, after unlocking them, with your friends without starting a full game in a place called the "Toy Box", as well as a stereo to play your favorite soundtracks. Both of these must be unlocked by buying Photos from the Photo Album.

Gameplay
The game play involves playing 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. Each hand given to the four players contains seven cards, one of which is always a wild and two are always 4 or higher, the remaining four cards range from the normal 1-6. Playing the cards would dictate the distance your player would move on the board. The S cards could be played as a seven if you had decent timing as the card changed from 1 to S, it could also be used to swap your deck of cards for another players deck. The "EGGMAN" card was bad fortune for one or all of the characters and would generally cause trouble for the all players in myriad ways. A full game could take anywhere from twenty minutes to two and a half hours, depending on how many Precioustones you decided to be available to you at the beginning.

The Card System
The special format and layout of the card distributing system never allows the player and computers to get the same deck ever again, as there are over 33,145,523,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations. Also some restrictions are placed on which card a character gets, for example the player will receive no more than 3 of the same number since there are only four of each and if the player receives three 4, 5, or 6's they will most likely not receive the S card and will get the Eggman Card instead. Rarely, absolutely great hands are given to a player or computer, for example one 3, two 4's, two 5's, three 6's, and an S Card. But sometimes absolutely terrible hands are given to an unfortunate player or computer, an example is three 1's, one 2, the Eggman Card, and two 4's. This causes a great equillibrium in both the game and the players strategy.

In Story Mode, the Card Distributing System is a little more gracious with its distribution of cards and will usually equalize the chances of both good and bad cards for all players.

In Vs. Mode, the Card Distributing System is much less gracious with how it gives out cards. It will sometimes equalize the chances of a good to bad card ratio, but other times it will give great hands to some players and terrible hands to others, this is to both cause tession on the game board and get more strategy involved when playing with friends.

Computer Artificial Intelligence
The computer artificial intelligence of the game has been regarded as to advanced for it the settings that it pertains to. Even if a Computer character were to be set on Easy, they would still perform at a level worthy of a Hard setting. For example the computer, will steal good cards from players, outperform in mini-games, always get the selected card number in battle.

Many fans are at other ends of the dispute. Some fans say that the computer's artificial intelligence makes the game more fun as there is actually a challenge at hand that was not present in other games. Some fans say they don't mind it at all, and other fans say that it was to challenging that they couldn't even beat or have fun playing the game.

Easy Mode

 * The Computers know where every single card is and what number they are, they however can not see the wild cards, S and Eggman, for what they truly are.
 * When the computer runs out of any numbered card 4 or above, they will steal a card from another player who still has a card that is 4 or above. After all these cards are gone they will resume using their own again.
 * The Computer character does not know if a wild card is an S or Eggman card, and will randomly use or steal any wild card even if they still have their own. Since they can't see them, they will even pick the Eggman card when they could have picked a 5. There is about a 1 to 7 chance they will use or try to use a Wild Card on any given turn or battle.
 * Since the computer will randomly use a Wild Card in battle, they might use an Eggman Card and lose right off the bat.
 * The Computer Players constantly shuffle their cards around, so you can never assume you will get a good card as one moment it will be good and another it will possibly be bad.
 * In Battle, the computers will try to get critical hits against the enemy and will typically use the number displayed for the monster's hit points.
 * In mini-games the Computer Players can typically understand what is going on and will excel quite well.

Normal Mode
The Computer Players perform exactly like they do in Easy Mode but are much more on point, and can anticipate card usage and understand the Wild Cards better.
 * In Mini-games they excel much better than they had in Easy Mode, essentially making them very difficult.
 * The Computer Players no longer take chances in Battle, if they have higher cards than they need in Battle like if the Monster had 2 hit points the computer may use a 4 card to fight it.

Hard Mode
The Computer Players perform at an extremely difficult and intellectual level. They know everything now and can anticipate future events like where Void will appear after a Precioustone is collected.
 * In Mini-games, they easily perform at their highest level without breaking a sweat.
 * To compensate for the extreme difficulty, the game will sometimes make the computers make bad mistakes in Battle, like going too early to fight a Precioustone when they don't have the right cards, use a really good card card like a 5 on a monster with 2 hit points, or by accidentally picking an Eggman Card.

Counteracting the Computers
Several features in the game allow the player to manipulate both the computer characters and their friends.

Shuffling
When you are not moving across the board and someone else is picking cards, pressing the X button will Shuffle your cards around inside your hand which makes it harder for a computer, who knows where your cards are, to pick a good card from you.

This can also confuse friends in Vs. Mode if everyone can see your cards, depending on if you have enough memory cards.

ForceJewels
Using Forcejewels to your advantage can be especially helpful when computers or friends are approaching a Precioustone or Quest Space. Some Forcejewels can be used to destroy cards, force player to move against their will, warp them to somewhere else and so on.

Game Board Spaces
Every game board in the game is vastly different from one another, but the basic mechanics of the board are relatively the same. Each game board has special features that are activated by landing on the various spaces on the board. Some spaces are Specific Character spaces that only Tails, Amy, and Knuckles can use.

Rings Spaces
Two Rings spaces, Blue and Red Rings Spaces, allow the player to receive or lose rings.

Combo Multiplier
Going on Blue Ring Spaces and/or Red Ring Spaces multiple times in a row allows for a combo to be built, the number of times in a row amounts to the combo, which in turn changes the multiplier of how many rings you receive. The Combo Mulitplier maxes out at 5.

Plus Ring Space
The Blue Ring Space is arguably the best space on the board. Going on a Blue Ring Space will allow the character to receive between 1 to 50 rings. This depends on the effect placed on the Rings Spaces.

Minus Ring Space
The Red Ring Space is the worst space on the whole board. Going on a Red Ring Space will make the character to lose between 1 to 50 rings at a time. This depends on the effect placed on the Ring Spaces.

Blue Ring Spaces
After a combination of all the characters landing on the Blue Ring Spaces amounts to 15 times, Eggman will appear to shrink them as punishment. With the Blue Ring Spaces shrunk the character will only receive between 1 to 5 rings when they land on them under normal conditions. If the last Precioustone is on the board then the ring range doubles to 2 to 10 rings. If the Red Ring Spaces are shrunk, t his in turn makes the Blue Ring Spaces larger and the amount of rings received ranges from 5 to 25, or 10 to 50 on the last Precioustone.

Red Ring Spaces
After a combination of all the characters landing on the Red Ring Spaces amounts to 10 times, Eggman will appear to make them bigger as an extra punishment, he however makes a mistake and shrinks them instead. With the Red Ring Spaces shrunk the character will only lose between 1 to 5 rings. If the last Precioustone is on the board then the ring range doubles to 2 to 10 rings lost. If the Blue Ring Spaces are shrunk, t his in turn makes the Red Rings Spaces larger and the amount of rings lost ranges from 5 to 25, or 10 to 50 on the last Precioustone.

The Last Precioustone Bonus
When the last Precioustone is on the board it doubles the amount of rings received or lost on All Rings Spaces, no matter what other effect is on them. This creates a new range of 2 to 50 rings, instead of the original 1 to 25 range.

Battle Spaces
The Battle Spaces are purple spaces with angry eyes on them. When these spaces are landed on the character will initiate a battle with a monster that is specific to the board that they are currently on. The monsters have no effect on the outcome of the battle. The Monster has a card of its own, which is used for its health and attack power. The player must pick a card that either equals or is higher than the number of the monster to defeat it. Once a card is selected it will spin rapidly from 1 to the number it is. Example, a 4 will spin from 1, 2, 3, 4, then repeat, until the character presses the A button to select the number.


 * If the character gets the number that matches the Monster's card, then it will be a Critical Hit. In Story Mode this means you will receive two ForceJewels instead of just one. In Versus Mode, it will double the amount of rings you can steal from an opponent.
 * If the character selects a higher number, they will defeat the Monster but will only get one ForceJewel in storymode, and will only be able to steal the normal amount of rings in Versus Mode.
 * Choosing a number lower than the Monster's Card will result in defeat and the Monster will attack. The character loses the amount of rings equal to the Monster's card multiplied by 10. Example, if the Monster has a 3 on its card the character loses 30 rings.
 * Losing a Battle when the character had no rings, will result in the character having to rest the next turn. If the character had at least one ring before the Battle they will be safe but will have no rings afterward.
 * Choosing the Eggman Card results in the character's immediate defeat.
 * Choosing the Special Card activates the Special Ability of the character who used the card. Sonic can attack from 1 to 7, Tails and Knuckles pick two cards to use together for combined power, Amy automatically does 5 damage no matter what. The four bonus unlockable characters also have specials as well.

Event Spaces
The Event Spaces are green with an Exclamation Point on them. When these spaces are landed on by a character, it either triggers a Mini-Game or a Mini-Event.

Mini-Games
When a Mini-game is activated, a type of Mini-Game is then selected. The Types are, One for All Vs. 4 mode which has all players fighting for themselves against the others, 2 Vs. 2 mode which has the four characters split into teams against each other, 1 Vs. 3 mode which has the character who landed on the Event Space being the alone character against the other three.
 * Peformance in the Mini-Game effects the results at the end.
 * Any rings lost or gained will be deducted or added at the Result Screen.
 * In some Mini-Games the amount of rings won, effects what character wins the Mini-Game.
 * Getting first place results in the biggest after-win bonus which ranges from 20 to 50 rings for some Mini-games.
 * In some Mini-Games getting second or third will result in rings won, but the reward is smaller then the character who got first. It is usually 10 and 5 rings, respectively.
 * Losing badly in some Mini-Games causes the character to lose even more rings at the Result Screen.

Precioustone Space
The Precioustone Space is the host of both Precioustone Pieces and Void's Black Warp Hole. This space is circular, and is purple with a triangle in the middle. This triangle has spherical corners and changes colors. The Space has no effect unless it is hosting a Precioustone Piece or Void's Black Warp Hole.

The Precioustone Piece
When a Precioustone Piece is located at the Precioustone Space, if a character lands on the Space a Battle will start with the Monster inside of that specific piece. Each piece has its own Card which does not change from board to board. The first six pieces contain the same Precioustone Monster on each board, but the final seventh piece has a unique Monster to the specific board.
 * Precioustone Pearl- Has a 2 Card, it is the First Piece.
 * Precioustone Crystal- Has a 3 Card, it is the Second Piece.
 * Precioustone Garnet- Has a 3 Card, it is the Third piece.
 * Precioustone Onyx- Has a 4 Card, it is the Fourth Piece.
 * Precioustone Amethyst- Has a 5 Card, it is the Fifth Piece.
 * Precioustone Diamond- Has a 5 Card, it is the Sixth Piece.
 * Full Precioustone- Has a 6 card, it is the seventh Precioustone that was completed by collecting the other pieces.

Void's Black Warp Hole
After the second Precioustone Piece is collected, there is a chance that Void's Black Warp Hole will materialize at any of the unoccupied Precioustone Spaces. When a character goes on this space Void will suck them up into the Black Hole. He will then come out of a Vortex and ask if the character would like to steal a Precioustone Piece from another character for 50 rings. If they respond yes, Void will call a roullette wheel which will spin.
 * If they select a player with a Precioustone Piece, they will successfully steal it from them. After receiving the Piece the character is then randomly sent to any space on the board.
 * This even includes the space next to Void's Space or the next Precioustone Piece.
 * If they do not select a character with a Piece, Void will leave and the character will not be teleported anywhere.

Board Specific Spaces
Every board has its own specific spaces. While these spaces perform basically the same function, they have different effects to which they are performed.

Dolphin Space
The Dolphin Space appears in Emerald Coast. When landed on it summons a flying dolphin which will take a character to another section of the board, whether it be just a few spaces or not.

Cargo Lift Space
The Cargo Lift Space appears in Fire Bird. When landed on it summons a Cargo Lift Crane that will take the character to a space on a wing of the plane or to a space on the main body of the plane.

Trolley Space
The Trolley Space appears in Nature Zone

Spinning Space and Helicopter Space
The Spinning Space and Helicopter Space both appear in Riot Train. The Spinning Space when passed will randomly either allow the player to safely cross over it or it will send the player back in the direction they came from. If it is landed on no Effect will take place.

The Helicopter Space when landed on will take the player to a space on any of the Train Cars that is passes over.

Rainbow Space
The Rainbow Space appears in the Fourth Dimension.

Comparsion to Mario Party
While based around the same concept, both games are completely different from each other. Some fans are mixed on the fact that it makes it better or worse for this reason.

Advantages

 * The player is able to move around the board freely as they please. As long as they have the right number card the player can choose to play a minigame, battle a monster for a Forcejewel, collect rings from a Blue Ring Space, or go after the Precioustone.
 * Going on Ring Spaces multiple times in a row, turns into combos. By going on a Blue Ring Space or Red Ring Space or a combination of both adds together a mulitplier of up to 5 times the normal amount of rings.
 * If the Ring Spaces are all normal size, the amount of rings received/lost are 3 times the multiplier.
 * If the Ring Spaces are larger, the amount of rings received/lost are 5 times the multiplier.
 * If the Ring Spaces are smaller, the amount of rings received/lost is 1 times the multiplier.
 * Anyone can get the Precioustone, which is the main objective of the board, no matter how many rings or Forcejewels they have. In Mario Party if a player does not have 20 coins they cannot receive a star.
 * If an opponent were to try and steal a Precioustone, there is a chance that they will not get it since Void must setup a roulette wheel to select a player. In Mario Party a player simply selects who to steal a star from and recieve it afterward.

Playable Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose

Unlockable Characters
 * Big the Cat
 * Chao
 * E-102 Gamma
 * Super Sonic

Each character had their own unique ability. With the exception of Chao, who only had one ability, each character has an ability for the Board and an ability for Battles.

Mini Games
There was a wide variety of mini-games found within Sonic Shuffle. In some mini games, the players all play against each other, while in other mini games the players are split into 2 teams of two and 1 vs. 3.

Reception
Sonic Shuffle generally had poor reviews. Ratings from online gaming sites include:


 * Planet Dreamcast: 5.5/10
 * IGN: 4.7/10
 * Gamespot: 4.5/10
 * GamePro: 4/5
 * Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK): 55%
 * Gaming Age: C
 * Game Revolution: B-
 * Electronic Gaming Monthly: 5.5/4.0/6.0

Criticisms
Sonic Shuffle sold very well but was not as successful as its competitors, Mario Party and Crash Bash. Some positives about the game were its graphics and concept. However, some viewed Sonic Shuffle in a negative light which resulted in some bad reviews and opinions, including the following:
 * Many of the available mini-games, were confusing and/or frustrating.
 * The loading times between the mini-games and the boards were very long.
 * The music was annoying, even "horrendous", for some.
 * The game's manual was not as helpful as it should have been.
 * The game's tutorial system was not as explanatory/detailed as it should have been.
 * The artificial intelligence of the computer-controlled players was not as "accurate" or fair as that of those in many other party games. Even if they were set on easy, they would "cheat" in many ways such as stealing the best cards from opponents, therefore not resulting in an "easy" opponent.

Trivia

 * The computer's AI is considered too intellectual no matter what difficulty. This is because of how computer players see cards. The computers will use their cards until all their cards are 3 or below, they will then steal the highest card from an opponent, most likely the player. If the computer were to have six cards left and they had one 5 and two 4s, once they were gone they would steal someone else's who had 4 or above. The CPUs know exactly where each players' cards are, however they do not see the Special Cards as the S or E. They will randomly steal another player's special card even if they still have their own, this could be an advantage if the player is unlucky enough to have an E (Eggman) Card. It is wise to use the S Card if the player has one because a computer may steal it when the player need it.
 * This is one of the few games not to be developed by Sonic Team, but on a Sega system.
 * Sonic Shuffle is the only Dreamcast game not to be re-released on the Gamecube.
 * If the Dreamcast internal clock is set to December 24th of any year, NiGHTS will replace Lumina in Vs. Mode. Also if it is set to April 1st, Reala will replace Lumina in Vs. Mode.
 * This is the only Sonic game where Amy has a different Japanese voice actress.
 * This is the first game where Super Sonic is considered a different character from Sonic, and the two can be played simultaneously.
 * Amy is the only playable character that is a female.
 * Despite Super Sonic getting his own sprite image for his mug shot, during the dart game his dart will have Sonic's mugshot sprite image that's colored yellow instead of the one he gets throughout the game.