Developers Animation Magic Composers Tony Trippi Genre Educational entertainment | Publishers Davidson Platforms Windows, Macintosh Publisher Davidson & Associates | |
Genres Literature, Edutainment First release The Little Samurai
1995 Games The Princess and the Crab, Liam Finds a Story | ||
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. 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.
Contents
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.
History
The series was introduced at the 1995 MacWorld trade show.
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.
Critical reception
The Exceptional Parent recommended the series to parents who wanted to "develop [their] child's interest in words and reading".
Computer Shopper said of Magic Tales: The Little Samurai, "this is the most magical storybook we've ever seen".