Adibou
Adibou | |
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English : AJ's World of Discovery)1991 | |
Latest release | Adibou: La Chanson d'Adibou (English: Adiboo: The Song of Adiboo) 2022 |
Adibou (English: Adiboo) is an educational video gaming series first developed by Coktel Vision in the 1990s. The franchise expanded into comic books, music and television series (such as Adiboo Adventure (2009)[1]). Titles in the series follow Adiboo, a young alien who teaches children about a variety of topics including nature, maths, and language. Most stories are set in the world of Celesta.
The series is divided into different categories based on target market: Adi for 10-14 year-olds, Adibou for 4-7 year-olds, and Adiboud'chou for 18 months-3 year-olds,[2] and characters have different names in different regions. The name Adibou is derived from the French acronym ADI meaning Accompagnement Didacticiel Intelligent (English: Intelligent Accompaniment Tutorial). Adibou games are now supported by ScummVM's "Gob" engine.[3][4]
The series was created by Roland Oskian, CEO of Coktel Vision and the brains behind the original Adibou concept as well as coordinator of the game's development; Manuelle Mauger, who managed the development of the content; Arnaud Delrue, responsible for the game's technical development; and finally, Joseph Kluytmans, who was responsible for the visual quality of the universe. The games were designed specifically to be applicable within a classroom context.[citation needed]
In October 2005, Coktel Studio was sold by Vivendi Universal Games International to French publisher Mindscape which itself closed in 2011.[5][6] More than a dozen titles were published until 2009 when the series went dormant.[7]
Following the closure of Mindscape, the IP rights to Adibou were sold to Ubisoft, and in 2020, French company Wiloki, a french educational start-up founded by the children of Adibou creator Roland Oskian, partnered with Ubisoft to revive the character. In May 2022, Wiloki released a brand new title titled Adibou: La Chanson d'Adibou for browser, iOS and Android under their partnership with Ubisoft.[8]
The new version of the game is now available in French, English and German.
Titles
This list is far from complete; there were dozens of titles in the series, some more documented than others.
Title | Year | Platform/s | Developer/s | Details | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adibou (English: AJ's World of Discovery) | 1991 | Atari ST, DOS | Coktel Vision | Minigames for children including jigsaw puzzles, maths lessons, English lessons, racing, and drawing. | [9] |
Adiboo: Magical Playland | 1996 | Windows | Coktel Vision | Teaching lessons in reading and singing, Adiboo fights an evil "monster-blob". | [10] |
Adibou: Discover Music, Melody & Rhyme | 2000 | Macintosh, Windows | Knowledge Adventure | Minigames about music. | [11] |
Adiboo: Discover Nature, Animals & Planets | 2000 | Macintosh, Windows | Knowledge Adventure | Minigames about nature, animals, and planets. | [12] |
Adiboo: Discover Mazes, Numbers & Puzzles | 2000 | Macintosh, Windows | Knowledge Adventure | Minigames about maths and puzzle-solving. | [13] |
Adibou Présente la Magie | 2000 | Macintosh, Windows | Coktel Vision | Minigames for children including rock paper scissors and lessons in magic tricks. | [14] |
Adibou & Le Secret de Paziral (English: Adiboo & Paziral's Secret) | 2003 | PlayStation, Windows | Vivendi Universal Games, Neko Entertainment, Coktel Vision | 3D action adventure in which Adiboo must save the people of Tonies Island from the evil Paziral. Varied gameplay including racing and platforming. | [15] |
Adibou & Les Voleurs d'Energie (English: Adiboo and the Energy Thieves/The Energy Thieves) | 2004 | PlayStation 2, Windows | Coktel Vision | Adiboo discovers that robots are stealing resources from Celesta to power a massive drill - he sets out to stop them. The game alternates between the 3D third-person hub world of Adiboo's home, minigames in the hub world. Gameplay is simple and Adiboo frequently breaks the fourth wall to inform and assist the player.
|
[16] |
Dis-moi ADI: Français - Maths CE2 | 2005 | Macintosh, Windows | Coktel SAS | Lessons for children in maths and French. | [17] |
Adibou et les Saisons Magiques (English: Adiboo and the Magical Seasons) | 2009 | Wii | Mindscape SA | Garden-themed minigames that teach children about plants, insects, and the seasons. | [18] |
Adibou: L'app pour apprendre et s'amuser de 4 à 7 ans (English: Adibou: the app to learn and have fun for 4 to 7 years old) | 2022 | iOS, Android, Browsers (Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari) | Wiloki | First new entry in the series since 2009. |
TV series
An animated series, Adibou: Aventure dans le corps humain (Adiboo Adventure), aired on french channels France 5 and TiJi, each of the 40 episodes usually lasting around 5 minutes.
Critical reception
Referring to AJ's World of Discovery, Feibel felt there were better run and jump games available [19] whereas Jeuxvideo argued that Adibou games were a good option for children but were too short.[20] The Argus praised the series for its music but criticised its "daft" title.[21] PC Mag praised Adiboo: Discover Nature, Animals & Planets for offering educational content and "hours of entertainment".[22]
By 1997, the series had sold over 1.5 million copies.[23] Today, the series is inactive and little in-depth information exists online apart from a few Let's Play series and articles.
References
- ^ "Adiboo Adventure". Tvtime.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adi Series". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Gobsmacked". drmccoy.de. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "ScummVM". wiki.scummvm.org. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
- ^ Poischich (21 October 2005). "VU Games cède Coktel à Mindscape" [VU Games sells Coktel to Mindscape]. Gamekult [fr] (in French). Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ Crookes, David (28 December 2018). "From the Archives: Coktel Vision". Retro Gamer. No. 189. Future Publishing. pp. 44–47.
- ^ Choppin, Damien (2018-10-25). "On vous présente Muriel Tramis, pionnière du jeu vidéo et première femme du secteur à recevoir la Légion d'honneur". Business Insider France (in French). Retrieved 2019-09-03.
- ^ "Meet Adibou, the Alien Who Introduced Many French Speakers to Videogames".
- ^ "A.J.'s World of Discovery". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adiboo: Magical Playland". Giantbomb.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adiboo: Discover Music, Melody & Rhyme". Artsandculture.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adiboo: Discover Nature, Animals & Planets". Artsandculture.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adiboo: Discover Mazes, Numbers & Puzzles". Artsandculture.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "ADIBOU présente la Magie". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adiboo & Paziral's Secret". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adiboo and the Energy Thieves". pc.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Dis-moi ADI: Français - Maths CE2". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Adibou et les Saisons Magiques". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ "Alle Spiele - Adiboo & das Geheimis von Paziral". feibel.3q.de. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
- ^ "Test du jeu Adibou et le Secret de Paziral sur PS1". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved 2019-09-03.
- ^ "Review: Take note of Adiboo | The Argus". www.theargus.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
- ^ PC Mag. Ziff Davis, Inc. 2001-03-20.
- ^ "Adiboo: I can read, I can count! - PC & Macintosh Review - Coming Soon Magazine". www.csoon.com. Retrieved 2019-09-03.