Sonic Shuffle is a Sonic the Hedgehog-themed Party Game for the Sega Dreamcast that was released in November 2000.Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are asleep one night when they receive a mysterious summons from Lumina, a fairy. Sonic assumes that they are dreaming, and they are; as Lumina explains, she brought them here to save Maginaryworld.The world of dreams is threatened by the existence of Void, an evil, lonely being who shattered the Precioustone that grants people's dreams. This action also imprisoned Illumina, the Goddess of Dreams, rendering her unable to fix things. So Sonic and friends set off to recover the pieces of the Precioustone and save dreams for everyone.That,and play mini-games.The game was done by Hudson Soft, the same company who Nintendo trusted with the Mario Party series as well as the creators of popular multiplayer games like Bomberman. However, despite having the same people who worked on Mario Party work on the game, Sonic Shuffle failed to live up to Mario Party's success and is generally considered a failure for reasons such as Loads and Loads of Loading, a AI of such a cheating degree that Save Scumming is almost required in single-player, a complex ruleset for both the board game and minigame elements, and lackluster minigames.
This game contains examples of:
Anvil On Head: Eggman's punishment to the player furthest from the Precioustone.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Eggman's plans range from killing everyone with lightning in Thor's Hammer to...shaking a can of soda in Sonicola.
Cel Shading: One of the few Sonic games to use it.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Even on Easy, they seem to hit exactly the right numbers and steal your best cards (even when every player has a full deck!). They're very good in Mini-Games too, even luck-based ones. It is to the point where a player will need to save-scum to complete the one-player mode.
While the AI and the frequent loading are generally pointed to as the cause for Shuffle's mediocrity, playing with more players at least alleviates the former problem. Good luck on the loading times, though.
Contemplate Our Navels: Lumina and Void both do this, angsting about their purpose and loneliness. Justified as they are part of the same being; they fuse to bring Illumina back. In fact, it was Illumina's own contemplating that planted the seed of doubt that started this whole mess.
Cool Train: The Riot Train starts off as a runaway steam locomotive, but once the Precioustone is restored, it becomes a silver, winged, flying train.
Fusion Dance: Lumina and Void do this to bring back Illumina.
Green Aesop: The Nature Zone's plants and trees are dying because of odd machinery and structures. Clearing the board destroys the machines and makes a huge, beautiful tree grow.
The final map, 4th Dimension Space, took longer to load than the others since it was very graphic-intensive.
Looking at it glass half-full, at least the load times themselves are not that long, they just happen frequently, since disc access is required anytime gameplay is moved off the board map.
Luck-Based Mission: Some of the mini games, such as 'Sonicola'. 'Egg In Space' is pretty random, too.
Schrödinger's Gun: Some of the Mini-Events work out like this; a hooded boatman can either be Illumina, Void, or Eggman, each with different responses.
Secret Character: Four; they are Gamma, Big the Cat, a Chao, and Super Sonic.
Spoiler Opening: The opening movie, which is played before the title screen, shows Illumina disappear into a flash of light, which Lumina and Void emerge from. Guess what's revealed at the end?
Stop Helping Me!: If you're not aware of Sonic's special move at all times, you can overshoot where you're trying to go, since with the double-move you must move the required double amount of spaces.
Trippy Finale Syndrome: 4th Dimension Space has no real floor, letting you walk upside down, sideways, and diagonally in space.
Whammy: The Eggman card will cause him to do something bad to the user. This can range from losing a turn to losing all your rings. In a battle, it makes you automatically lose.
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