Magic Tales

Genres Literature, Edutainment
Developers Animation Magic
Publishers Davidson
Composers Tony Trippi
Platforms Windows, Macintosh
First release The Little Samurai
1995
Latest release The Princess and the Crab
1996

Magic Tales is a series of interactive storybooks for children, developed by Animation Magic and produced by Davidson, which were distributed by Capitol Multimedia, Inc. on CD-ROM for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows.[1] The series began with the release of The Little Samurai (an adaptation of the Japanese Folk Tale) in 1995. The stories are narrated by the central character Grandpa Mouse, who reads them to his two grandchildren while they are having a boring time.

Commercial performance

100,000 copies of the first three Magic Tales titles were distributed around retailers around Christmas. The series gained recognition from the Parents Magazine. Three new titles out of 3000 children's titles would be chosen for three additional products to be released the following Spring.[2]

Games in the series

Title Country of Origin Based on Release date Number of Pages Notes
The Little Samurai Japan November 1995[3]
Imo and the King Africa September 1995[3]
Baba Yaga and the Magic Geese Russia September 1995[3] Also released in Arabic[4]
Sleeping Cub's Test of Courage Native America 1996
Liam Finds a Story Ireland 1996
The Princess and the Crab Italy 1996

History

The series was introduced at the 1995 MacWorld trade show.[5]

Gameplay

The games featured three-dimensional art; approximately 30 minutes-worth of animation, over 500 "click-and-explore" options; and original music. The stories were influenced by the ethnic backgrounds of their source material, and aimed to teach children moral lessons. The games were targeted at children aimed 3-9.[3]

Critical reception

The Exceptional Parent recommended the series to parents who wanted to "develop [their] child's interest in words and reading".[6]

Computer Shopper said of Magic Tales: The Little Samurai, "this is the most magical storybook we've ever seen".[7]

Availability

See also

References

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