Sonic Shuffle

Sonic Shuffle
North American box art
DeveloperSega
PublisherSega
ProducersHirokazu Kojima
Shuji Utsumi
DesignerHidenori Oikawa
ProgrammerYasuhiro Kosaka
ArtistHisashi Kubo
SeriesSonic the Hedgehog
PlatformDreamcast
Release
  • NA: November 13, 2000
  • JP: December 21, 2000
  • PAL: March 9, 2001
GenreParty
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Sonic Shuffle is a 2000 party video game developed and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. A spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the game plays like a board game similar to Nintendo's Mario Party series, with up to four players moving their characters across a game board filled with a variety of spaces which can trigger different events. Some spaces will launch minigames that pit the players against each other in short competitive events.

Sega contracted Hudson Soft, the developers of Mario Party, to assist with development. The game's graphics use the same cel shading technique first seen in Jet Set Radio (2000). An online multiplayer mode was planned, but it was cancelled so the game could launch in time for the 2000 holiday season. Sonic Shuffle received mixed reviews from critics. Although it was praised for its graphics, the game's long load times and poorly explained, overly complex minigames were found to be significantly detrimental to the overall experience. Reviewers classified Sonic Shuffle as an inferior clone of Mario Party.