The Magic School Bus (video game series) facts for kids

The The Magic School Bus video games are a fun series of learning games. They were made by Music Pen and published by Microsoft through their Microsoft Home brand. These interactive adventures are part of the bigger Magic School Bus world, based on the original books and the popular TV show that first aired on PBS.

How the Games Were Made

Most of the first Magic School Bus computer games were created by a company called Music Pen Multimedia. They worked with Microsoft and Scholastic Press, which publishes the Magic School Bus books. Scholastic, who also made the TV show, allowed Microsoft to use their content for the games.

Microsoft created a special brand for home computer games called Microsoft Home. The Magic School Bus games were part of this brand. Back then, many big companies didn't know how to make multimedia projects, so they worked with smaller companies. Music Pen, started by a concert pianist and a composer, was one of these companies. They first made programs to teach music. After getting the contract for The Magic School Bus games, Music Pen grew from 5 people to 40!

By 1997, the computer game market was very busy, and Microsoft Home faced challenges. However, in 1998, Scholastic announced new Magic School Bus Adventure Series games.

The teams making the games listened to ideas from teachers and parents to make their products better. The series won several awards, like the Software Publisher's Association Codie award for Best Elementary Educational titles. It also received the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval. In 1997, the games were named "Top Picks" by the Toy Testing Council.

Just like the TV show, the Magic School Bus in the CD-ROM games was animated. However, the bus itself was often made using computer generated imagery (or CGI). Most of the first games were based on the original Magic School Bus books. In these games, you usually get to "drive" the bus by clicking on the steering wheel to choose a location. (One exception is The Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth, where you use the gear shift instead.)

Most games have seven different places to visit, including the classroom. In almost every game, you need to find a certain number of missing items. (The only game without this "missing collectible" challenge is The Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body.) These games are designed for children aged 5–10. They include many activities to help players learn.

The games had different computer requirements. Games marked for Macintosh could be played on a Macintosh LC 550 or newer. They needed at least System 7.1, 8 MB of RAM, 8 MB of hard disk space, a color monitor, and a 2X CD-ROM drive.

Original Computer Games

The Magic School Bus Explores the Solar System (1994)

This game is based on the book The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System and the TV episode The Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space. You fly the bus to a planet you choose. There, you can do experiments and click on different things. To win, you need to find Ms. Frizzle. You play a "whatsit" game to earn tokens, which give you clues about where Ms. Frizzle is. Once you find her, the bus returns to the classroom, and you can play again. You can visit all nine planets and Earth's Moon. When you visit gas giants, the bus lands on one of their moons.

This game was praised as a "fact-and-fun filled ride."

The Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body (1994, Macintosh; 1995, Windows 95)

This game is based on the book The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body and the episode The Magic School Bus for Lunch. In this adventure, Arnold becomes the class's next field trip! You can drive the bus to 12 different organs. In some places, you can even leave the bus. Each location has a game, a science experiment, and lots to explore. This was the first game where you could sign in and go to the back of the bus. It's also one of the few games where Liz the lizard talks.

Reviewers gave this game scores like 70/100 and 3.5/5 stars. It was noted for getting kids interested in topics like the small intestines. One newspaper called it a "splendid mix of experiments, explanations, and games."

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. The class goes on a field trip to the beach and finds a message in a bottle. This bottle has three clues to a treasure! You explore the ocean and follow the clues to find the treasure. This was the first CD-ROM game to feature the entire class on the bus. It's also the only game where you can't visit the classroom. A Nintendo DS version of this game was released in 2011.

The game won an award for being one of the best programs of 1996. It was praised for combining fun with education.

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. Arnold has lost four rocks and minerals from his collection. Your job is to find replacements for them. You explore places like a canyon, a geode, a fault, a volcano, and an undersea environment. The undersea area includes a subduction zone, a mid-ocean ridge, and an underwater volcano. You can collect rocks in different ways.

This game received a score of 4.3/5 and was called "both educating and entertaining."

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

This game is based on the book The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs and the episode The Busasaurus. Ms. Frizzle's photo album is missing three pictures of prehistoric animals. You travel back in time with the class to seven different dinosaur locations. Your goal is to find live dinosaurs and help replace the missing photographs. When you find all three pictures, you get a mask of a prehistoric animal like a Tyrannosaurus rex, Brachiosaurus, or Pterodactylus.

This game had a unique save feature. If you had too many saved driver's licenses, you could choose an old one to replace when saving a new game. This was also the first of four games to have a closed captioning (CC) option for subtitles.

The Magic School Bus Explores the Rainforest (1997)

The class is decorating their classroom for "Rainforest Day." Wanda brought a special "Right-Away-Rainforest Toolbox," but four "bio-clones" are missing from it. Ms. Frizzle takes the class on a field trip to the Costa Rican rainforest to find the missing bio-clones. This game is based on the TV series episode In the Rainforest. It was the last game created by Music Pen.

This game received an 80/100 score and was described as "fun and interesting" even on slower computers.

The Magic School Bus Explores Bugs (1999)

This was the first game in the series to use new voice actors for the eight children from the TV show. It's based on the book Inside a Beehive and four TV episodes. In this game, the children have designed special biodomes for a contest, but each pair has lost one of the bugs from their projects. Your task 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, Arnold turns into an ambush bug in the meadow, and Keesha becomes a luna moth in the forest.

This game was highly rated, receiving scores like 90/100 and 4.5/5 stars. It was praised for its high-quality multimedia and accurate information.

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

This game is based on two TV episodes, Hops Home and In the City. In this adventure, you need to find four animals that are in the wrong habitats and send them back to their correct homes. If you play the game again, you have two options: "Continue saved game" or "Collect 4 missing collectibles." The second option starts a new game and deletes your previous save. When traveling to certain habitats, one of the children will transform into an animal. For example, Arnold becomes a bullfrog in the swamp, and Wanda becomes a sea otter in the tundra.

This was the first of two games in the series created by KnowWonder Digital Mediaworks instead of Music Pen Multimedia.

It received a high score of 4.7/5. One review said the game was "jampacked with unusual animals, interesting information, games, puzzles, and experiments."

Activity Centers

For the activity center games, Microsoft worked with KnowWonder Digital Mediaworks, just like they did for the last two original software games.

The Magic School Bus: In Concert Activity Center (2000)

This game was developed by KnowWonder and published by Microsoft. It received scores like 76/100 and 60/100.

The Magic School Bus: Lands on Mars Activity Center (2000)

Developed by KnowWonder and published by Microsoft, this game received scores like 77/100 and 50/100. Superkids gave it 4.7/5 stars.

The Magic School Bus: Whales and Dolphins Activity Center (2001)

This game was developed by KnowWonder and published by Microsoft. It received high scores, including 90/100 and 85/100.

The Magic School Bus: Discovers Flight Activity Center (2001)

Developed by KnowWonder and published by Microsoft, this game received a score of 90/100. Superkids gave it 4.3/5 stars.

The Magic School Bus: Volcano Adventure Activity Center (2001)

This game was developed by KnowWonder and published by Microsoft. It received scores like 90/100 and 83/100.

Console Games

Scholastic's The Magic School Bus: Space Exploration Game (1995)

This was the first Magic School Bus game made for a console, the Sega Genesis. The goal was for the Magic School Bus to travel to different destinations, starting with The Moon and going all the way to Pluto. Ms. Frizzle would fly into space, and you, playing as Phoebe, had to find her. Each mission involved flying to a planet, taking photos of space objects, shooting meteors, and collecting "space buoys" for fuel. You then landed the bus, walked on the planet to find Ms. Frizzle, and solved a sliding jigsaw puzzle to finish the stage.

This game received a score of 90/100 from Sega-16.com. A Sega Pico game with the same name was also released in 1995. That game involved visiting various places, including the time of dinosaurs and the Solar System.

The Magic School Bus: Oceans (2011)

This game was developed by Big Blue Bubble Inc. and published by Scholastic for the Nintendo DS console.

Mobile Games

Scholastic also published "Touch and tilt" storybooks with games for Android and Apple devices.

The Magic School Bus: Dinosaurs (2010)

This app was an interactive storybook. It included a game with "7 different levels that explores where dinosaurs lived around the world."

The Magic School Bus: Oceans (2010)

This interactive storybook app featured "1 highly re-playable game that includes over 20 animals in which children can play to earn points for more science facts and to travel to other areas of the ocean."