The Magic School Bus (video games)

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 The Magic School Bus book series and public television series.

Most of the original titles 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 software series was created under that umbrella.

Though in the cartoon series, the bus was obviously animated in the usual way, in the CD-ROM games, it is typically animated with computer generated imagery. 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 have about seven different locations, including the classroom. There is always some goal for the user in each one. (Tip: However the CD rom series feature the same characters from the TV series and TV tie in books; not the original series by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen.)

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.

This game is essentially a computer version of the book The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System and the cartoon episode "The Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space," except that Ms. Frizzle is lost as soon as the bus flies away from Earth. 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 the Friz. To do so they have to play a "whatsit" game to earn a token 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. This game is also one of the few in the series in which Liz can talk.

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