March 9, 2001. The game was expected to appear in the 2002 compilation Sonic Mega Collection, but was ultimately not included. Reception Critics were quick to identify Sonic Shuffle as an inferior clone of Mario Party. They found the minigames to be overly complex, poorly explained, and generally not as enjoyable as those in Nintendo's flagship party series. Both GameSpot and Eurogamer felt as though the minigames were an afterthought, only appearing sparingly whereas in Mario Party they were central to the experience. GameSpot noted that it was possible to play through an entire game without ever playing a minigame, and felt that they were "a test of who can decipher the needlessly bewildering gameplay first". IGN complained about needing to land on certain tiles to play the minigames. Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) argued that the minigames interfered with the main board game. GameSpy felt that they were inconsistent in quality, and wished there had been an option to turn them off. The long load times when transitioning between the main game board, the minigames, and other scenes was another common complaint. GameSpot wrote: "The combination of the unbearable load times, the smattering of minigames, and the poor minigame design make Sonic Shuffle a boring diversion at best." Eurogamer felt that Samba de Amigo (1999) was a better party game. Most reviewers praised the colorful and cartoon styling of the cel shaded graphics. GameRevolution praised the environment textures and felt the graphics were of the same high quality as Jet Set Radio. However, the graphics were not enough to convince critics. Eurogamer wrote that the visuals and audio were "deceptively good", hiding the bad gameplay underneath. Edge appreciated the visuals, but wrote that "ultimately, the game is dull. Under the dark shadow of Sonic Adventure 2, this tepid, diluted affair will have difficulty proving itself, even to franchise stalwarts". Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) and its American counterpart both felt that the game was more fun with human players rather than computer-controlled opponents, and complained about the lack of online support. Game Revolution agreed, finding it boring waiting for computer players in single-player mode. Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) felt that with more development time and support from Sonic Team, the game could have been saved. Notes References External links 2000 video games Digital board games Dreamcast games Dreamcast-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games Party video games Sega video games Sonic