The Magic School Bus (video game series)

The Magic School Bus franchise includes many units of educational software published by Microsoft. The video game series of interactive adventures was based on The Magic School Bus book series and public television series (which originally aired on PBS).^[1]

Computer

Most of the original software games were created by the software company Music Pen in collaboration with Microsoft and Scholastic Press, the publisher of the Magic School Bus book series. To access the home market, Microsoft created a video game brand called Microsoft Home, and a software series was created under that umbrella.^[2]^[3]

Like the TV series, the bus was animated in the usual way, in the CD-ROM games, it is typically animated with computer generated imagery (or "CGI"). In all these titles the user gets to "drive" the bus, which almost always involves clicking on the steering wheel and choosing a location. (The exception is The Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth where it is the gear shift instead of the steering wheel.) Most of the games in the original software were based with the book series (the original series books) and TV series. Most of the games also have seven different locations, including the classroom. There is some goal to find a specific number of missing collectibles for the user in almost every game (with the exception of The Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body). In the other games, there is a "missing collectible" minigame where the player has to find three or four missing collectibles. The video game series (both original titles and activity centers) are targeted for children ages 5-10.

System requirements vary among the games. Games with the Macintosh indication can be used on a Macintosh LC 550 or newer with a minimum of System 7.1, 8 MB RAM, 8 MB hard disk space, color monitor, and 2X CD-ROM drive.

The Magic School Bus Explores the Solar System (1994)

This game is based on both the book The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (from the classic series books) and episode The Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space. The user can fly the bus to any planet he or she chooses and play experiments and click on things there. To win the game, the user has to discover the whereabouts of Ms. Frizzle. To do so they have to play a "whatsit" game to earn a token (for a total of three missing tokens in order to find Ms. Frizzle) which gives them a clue as to which planet Ms. Frizzle is on. Once Ms. Frizzle is found, the bus will return to the classroom and the game begins again. All nine planets, plus the moon can be visited. When the gas giants are visited, the bus lands on one of their moons.

The game was one of the chosen few "highly visual scholastic programs" in the Citrus Country library System's new youth CD-ROM station in 1997.^[4] The Spokesman-Review deemed it a "fact-and-fun filled ride".^[5]

The Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body (1994, Macintosh)

This game is based on the book The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body and the episode The Magic School Bus for Lunch. Arnold has become the class' next field trip. The user can drive the bus to 12 different organs. In some locations, the player can leave the bus. Each place has an arcade game and a science experiment and a lot to explore. This is the first game that allows the user to sign in and go to the back of the bus. This is also one of the few games in which Liz can talk. This is the only game to not have a "missing collectible" minigame (where the player must find a specific and fixed number of missing collectibles).

Both Quandary and All Game Guide gave the game 70/100.^[6]^[7]^[8] Superkids gave it 3.5/5 stars.^[7]

The Milwaukee Sentinel was bemused that the program got a kindergartner playtester interested in the small intestines.^[9] Bangor Daily News deemed it a "splendid mix of experiments, explanations, and games".^[10] The Daily Gazette deemed it "delightful".^[11] The Boston Globe tested the problem on the latest Compaq Presario computer, yet experience game-breaking technical issues; the newspaper therefore commented that "Microsoft should be ashamed of itself".^[1] The Economist said the game was less informative than DK Multimedia titles.^[12] The game was the 6th most popular education titles in the education category sold in Software Etc. and Babbage's stores in the Washington area in the week ending September 27, 1997.^[13]

The Magic School Bus Explores the Ocean (1995, Macintosh)

This game is based on The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor and the episode The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten (including its TV tie in book adaptation). The class has taken a field trip to the beach; here they find a message in a bottle, which contains clues to a treasure. The user explores the ocean and follows clues that lead him/her to the treasure. This was the first CD-ROM that featured the entire cast on the bus and is the only game where the classroom can't be visited. A Nintendo DS version was released in 2011.

The game won an award for Home PC - Holiday Gift Guide - The Best Programs of 1996.^[14] The Cedartown Standard praised the game for combining fun with education.^[15]

The Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth (1996)

This game is based on the book The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth and the episode The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top (and its TV tie in book adaptation). Arnold has lost some of the rocks and minerals in his collection. He is missing four rocks. The user (who has to find four missing rocks) explores several places such as a canyon, a geode, a fault, a volcano, and an undersea environment; the undersea environment features a subduction zone, a mid-ocean ridge, and an underwater volcano. The user can collect rocks in various ways. The goal is to find replacements for the rocks and minerals Arnold lost.

Superkids gave the game a score of 4.3/5.^[16] Alamo PC Organization wrote that "the program is both educating and entertaining".^[17]

The Magic School Bus Explores in the Age of Dinosaurs (1996)

This game (in the original software series) is based on the book The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs and the episode The Magic School Bus The Busasaurus. This is the last game in the software which is based with any books from the book series.

Ms. Frizzle's photo album is missing three snapshots of prehistoric animals (from a specific album; meat eating dinosaurs, plant eating dinosaurs, or prehistoric reptiles that aren't dinosaurs). The user travels back in time with her class, to seven different dinosaur locations, in order to search for live dinosaurs and help replace the photographs. When the player finds all three photographs, they are awarded with a mask of a prehistoric animal (matching to an animal from that specific album; either Tyrannosaurus rex, Brachiosaurus, or Pterodactylus).

For saving the game, unique to just this game, if the player has too many driver's license panels saved up already, if they decide to quit and save the game, they can (before exiting) choose an old driver's license to replace/discard to make room for the new file.

Both All Game Guide and Quandary gave it 70/100.^[18] Metzomagic gave it 3.5/5 stars.^[19]

Microsoft donated copies of the game to high school students via the University of Maine Upward Bound Program.^[20]

The Magic School Bus Explores the Rainforest (1997)

The class is decorating their classroom for "Rainforest Day". Wanda brought a "Right-Away-Rainforest Toolbox" that could do the job, but some "bio-clones" (three or four of them) are missing from the kit. Ms. Frizzle takes the class on a field trip to the Costa Rican rainforest to find the missing bio-clones. The Magic School Bus Explores the Rainforest is based on the TV episode The Magic School Bus In the Rainforest. But it's not based with any books from the book series. This is the last game to be based with any adaptation. This is also the last game to be created by Music Pen.

All Game Guide gave it 80/100.^[21]

The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Animals (1999)

This is the first game in the software series to replace the original voice actors of the eight children from the TV series. This is the first of the two games in the original software which is not based with any adaptation (book series, TV series, and TV tie in books). In this game, the user has to find all four missing animals and send them back to their own habitats where they each belong. If the game is played at another time, the player has two options (to "Continue saved game" or "Collect 4 missing collectibles"; the second option "Collect 4 missing collectibles" starts a new game if chosen and the save data from the previous use gets deleted). When traveling to certain habitats, one of the children will be transformed into an animal (for example, Arnold becomes a bullfrog in the swamp).

This is the first of the two games in the software to be created by Know Wonder instead of Music Pen (since starting with this game, Microsoft stopped collaborating with Music Pen and started collaborating with Know Wonder).

Superkids gave the game a score of 4.7/5.^[22]

Bangor Daily News said the game "is jampacked with unusual animals, interesting information, games, puzzles, and experiments".^[23]

The Magic School Bus Explores Bugs (2000)

The children have designed biodomes for a contest, but each pair has lost one of the bugs from their projects. This is the final game in the original software series. The player's task in this game is to find a specimen of each of the four missing bugs in one of four natural habitats. In each habitat, one of the children transforms into a bug; for example, Keesha changes into a luna moth when she is in the forest.

The game was given a score of 90/100 by Tech with Kids (Computing with Kids) and 50/100 by Macworld.^[24] SuperKids gave it 4.5/5.^[25]

Ludington Daily News praised the game for its high quality engaging multimedia and accurate information.^[26]

Sega Genesis

Scholastic's The Magic School Bus: Space Exploration Game (1995)
- This was the only game created on a medium other (Sega Genesis) than PC CD-ROM. The premise was for the Magic School Bus to select a destination (starting with The Moon and reaching all the way out to Pluto). The game would then follow the same format; Ms. Frizzle would take off into outer space, and the player (sd Phoebe) would have to find her. All missions consisted of flying to the planet (while taking photographs of various space objects, shooting apart meteors, and collecting "space buoys" for fuel), landing the bus on a platform successfully, traversing the planet on foot to find Ms. Frizzle, and putting together a sliding jigsaw puzzle to complete the stage.

Sega-16.com gave it 90/100, while Video Games & Computer Entertainment gave it 60/100.^[27]