The Sonic game we all overlooked

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:44 pm

Early last year, Sega set about the task of destroying any kind of clout or credibility Sonic may have accumulated over the years. You know the mind boggling story of Sonic Riders, Sonic Rivals, Sonic Next, and Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis. What you don't know is that Sega just didn't think they were being thorough enough and decided to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sonic Schoolhouse by taking another crack at the edutainment genre.

[url=http://www.leapfrog.com/Primary/SkillSets/GradeSchool/Math/PRD_lg_sonic/Leapster+Game+Sonic+X.jsp?bmUID=1168461715384&bmLocale=en_US]Leapfrog's website[/url] <-(nested link) wrote:Leapster Game: Sonic X

Appropriate For Ages 5 - 7 Years (Kindergarten - 1st Grade)

Help Sonic save his friends from the evil clutches of Dr. Eggman! Jump, run, spin-dash and soar through different zones as you master math skills and collect gold rings to rescue Amy Rose and Knuckles in this fast-paced spinning game.

Cartridge is for use with LeapsterÃ¢â€žÂ¢, Leapster L-MaxÃ¢â€žÂ¢ and Leapster TVÃ¢â€žÂ¢ learning game systems.

What it Teaches

Counting

Sequencing

Addition

Subtraction

It was released last fall according to this document. Having not so much as a screenshot to go by, I'd like to nominate this as best Sonic game of 2006.

Cuckooguy · Post by **Cuckooguy** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:00 pm

Leapfrog makes lots of edutainment based on various franchises, you can probably find them at any department store (I've seen the Sonic X one before). I'm thinking of trying out the Disney Princess version.

Well, actually no I'm not.

Post by **Segaholic2** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:05 pm

Totally buying this.

jenkins · Post by **jenkins** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:38 pm

Hah, Tails corrupting innocent minds. Americans are so paranoid; Tails was always my favorite character. Wait a minute...

VGJustice · Post by **VGJustice** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:02 am

Hey, all us guys enjoy chasing a little tail now and then.

... oh, that didn't come out right at all.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:59 am

I saw this at my local Wal-mart yesterday in the clearance toys. $24.

The screenshots on the box are a bit odd. The game uses sprites from the Genesis games - Sonic 3, specifically, it seems - but the environments are clearly Sonic Advance era (and brand new, too - not recycled). It makes me kind of curious, though, because the game says you meet up with Knuckles, Tails and Amy. If they're using Sonic 3 sprites, how does Amy look? She wasn't on the box (Only Sonic and Tails were; Tails was trapped in some kind of machine, doing his Super Tails pose).

KitsuneDarkStalker · Post by **KitsuneDarkStalker** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:07 pm

Leapster is MEH. The technology is there, but the way they're using it is just MEH. I dunno how they're going to entice kids with it, there's not NEARLY enough voice samples in the games, and that's what attracts kids. Does ARM even LOOK at the final products their processors are used in?

V-Tech has a 32-bit 3D capable CD-based system out called the V.Flash. I've tried out the Spiderman game, and the best comparison I could make is "N64 with Redbook audio".

If a Sonic game came out for THIS system, that might be worth noting.

And this is off-topic, but the V-Tech boasts "mp3-quality" sound. It's ironic because while it's cooler than saying "CD quality", it's actually implying that the quality is LESS than CD.

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:10 am

This really deserves an entry on the timeline, if not an eventual museum page.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:38 am

Yeah, I'm torn about that. I guess if Sonic's Schoolhouse gets a museum page it's hard to justify not giving one to this, but PC is at least relevant hardware. I have a hard time looking at the Leapster as anything more than an (overpriced) toy. Am I mistaken, or does it basically just play flash games? Then there's the fact that it carries the Sonic X license. If I'm going to include even just a timeline entry on the Sonic X game, what of the multiple soundtracks or even the comic book?

It is most vexing.

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:00 pm

Well, you gave Sonic Jam for the Game.com part of a museum page. This can't be less relevant than a system by Tiger. You've also defended including UFO catchers on the timeline just because they're coin-op hardware, so there's definitely a precedent for games on obscure media. I understand what you're saying bout the label, but I think we should make an exception for sizable electronic games because they're the medium of the foundation of the site.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:15 pm

For the time being I guess I'll at least give it a listing on the timeline. Do we have a release date any more precise than "sometime in the latter half of 2006"?

Post by **big_smile** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:41 pm

Do we have a release date any more precise than "sometime in the latter half of 2006"?

Here is a reply from Leapfrog's (US) customer service team:

I do not have the exact date this was released, it varied by the store and location. All I can really tell you was that it was between November and December.

Thank You for choosing Leapfrog!

^_^

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:27 pm

Smile is too professional for me. I just spent the morning on Google. From my research they seem pretty confused. These two articles from their site say it's a spring 2007 title:

http://www.leapfroginvestor.com/phoenix ... ight=sonic
http://www2.leapfrog.com/content/press_ ... apster.pdf

But it's obviously been available before then. A review on Amazon testifies that it was listed as coming soon on Leapster's site on January 8th 2007.

Box, manual, and screenshots:

[quote="AngieMe "Lovebug0528""]The game is about counting and numbers. Through each place on the map there are three levels to play. Each level you can get 99 rings to get a jewel. You don't get anything special if you do though like I thought, no secret game to unlock, just the satisfaction of getting them all. Through each level it ask you to find the correct number that comes after what ever number they give you, like 123... what comes next? you have to find the 4. If you touch the wrong number it will make the right number glow. So if your child doesn't know the right answer, they aren't running to you to tell them. Then there are robots that catch you and you have to do some special math game, every place on the map has a different game. Most are adding and subracting and you can't move on till you get it right. This might be the hardest part, even I had trouble with this because on one game you had to circle some robots to add them to your bucket but they moved so it was hard to draw a cirlce around something that's moving.[/quote]

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:55 pm

I would like to know more about Eggman's Super Sucky Machine.

Shadow Hog · Post by **Shadow Hog** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:44 pm

It's a machine, and it sucks. What more is there to know?

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:58 pm

Has "sucks" been accepted into the general lexicon? Because when I was growing up it was a vulgarity.

Shadow Hog · Post by **Shadow Hog** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:38 pm

While I'll admit that the exact meaning of "sucks" in my sentence is left up to interpretation, its most frequent use in common conversation bears no sexual connotations whatsoever and has indeed been accepted into the general lexicon as, as Popcorn once put it, "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME", no more, no less.

Yami CJMErl · Post by **Yami CJMErl** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:31 pm

I find it amusing that the game actually recycles Sonic 3 sprites--I honestly expected something more akin to a custom job for this.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:03 pm

I was a sucky sucky machine tonight. Unfortunately my teeth kept on getting in the way. I think I got out of practice in the last couple months.

Oompa Star · Post by **Oompa Star** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:25 pm

Zeta wrote:I was a sucky sucky machine tonight. Unfortunately my teeth kept on getting in the way. I think I got out of practice in the last couple months.

I...didn't need to know that. I also find that kid's facial expression in the manual scan very colorful and humorous.

gr4yJ4Y · Post by **gr4yJ4Y** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:21 pm

Shadow Hog wrote:While I'll admit that the exact meaning of "sucks" in my sentence is left up to interpretation, its most frequent use in common conversation bears no sexual connotations whatsoever and has indeed been accepted into the general lexicon as, as Popcorn once put it, "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME", no more, no less.

It's funny that I was thinking this as I was driving to school this morning, before having read this here.

It seems to be a matter of opinion on wether it's acceptable or not. We had a guest speaker at my church who said something sucked and some people had surprised looks on their face Eventhough most of them probably use it in their everyday language, they probably weren't expecting to hear it there or something.

I think the word "butt" and the phrase "shut up" were both also somewhere between being accepted and not when I was growing up.

Shadow Hog · Post by **Shadow Hog** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:12 pm

Yeah, apparently "shut up" has some connotation I never really understood. i always thought it meant "stop talking", no more, no less.

Senbei · Post by **Senbei** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:21 am

It's blunt and rude. I always used to use "be quiet" as a less harsh alternative when dealing with my brother. I was usually able to get away with it too, under my parent's noses.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 1:37 am

I always like a quick snappy 'Quiet you!'

cjmcray · Post by **cjmcray** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:45 am

Sucks was a taboo word too, when I was a kid.

Never encountered problems with shut up though..