Alphabet Park Adventure is a platformer game released from 2004 to ~2007, and was published by VTech. This game is under license from Zamperla Amusments Inc.
Gameplay
Learning Adventure
The game is the usual platformer where you have to walk through and save all the power rings that powers the park itself. While going through these stages, you will have to solve a problem relating to learning the Alphabet.
Stages
Toy Shop
Monsterville
Jungle Ride
Bug World
Secret Garden
Fun Fair
Mini-Games
In the revision of the game with the character redesigns, they add new mini-games to the stages.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
Learning Zone
The Learning Zone is comprised of 4 different mini-games with an extra fifth one in the Chinese version. Along with this the version with the different designs has a few older ones replaced with new ones.
- Letter Order
- Letter Cases
- Spelling
- Colors and Shapes
- Quiz Game
Sing Along
The menu for this mode shows a "Dance Moves" feature.
This is the new feature that was added in the revision that changed the characters' designs.
| Song Name | Summary | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabet Song | The ABCS | Link |
| Mary Had a Little Lamb | Link | |
| Row, Row, Row Your Boat | Link | |
| Old MacDonald Had a Farm | Link | |
| London Bridge | Link |
Learning Content
The Chinese version has this game as an English card, and has 5 content, while the others have 7.
- Letters
- Alphabet Order
- Objects
- Shapes
- Phonics
- Vocabulary
- Colors
Pre-Release
The following is the learning content from the pre-release, and is under the "Early Learners" category
- letter cases
- letter sequencing
- objects
- vowels
- consonants
- phonics
- opposites
- colors
- shapes
Characters
| Image | Name | Type | Abilities | Stages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 
|
Jack | Playable | All | Has two designs between revisions.
Only the new version has a name. | |
 
|
Ashley | Playable | All | Has two designs between revisions.
Only the new version has a name. | |
 
|
Grandpa | Friendly | Tells you the stats
at the end of a stage |
None (only on the
Stats, and titlescreen) |
Has two designs between revisions |
| No Appeance | Male Narrator | Friendly | Says instructions,
and selected option |
None (Is for the menus) | Used on the menus of the
original release |
| No Appeance | Female Narrator | Friendly | Says instructions,
and selected option |
None (Is for the menus) | Used on the menus of the
revision |
 
|
Hippo | Enemy | Stand | Toy Shop, Monsterville | Is in Blue, and Purple with large ones only Blue.
Voices the host in Monsterville's Quiz room. Only appears in Monsterville as a background. |
|
Robot | Enemy | Walk towards you
Falls from the sky |
Toy Shop | |
 
|
Jack in the Box | Enemy | Springs out of it's box | Monsterville | |
|
Evil Toxic Bubble | Enemy | Float, split up | Monsterville, Fun Fair | |
|
Duck | Ridable | Allows the player to
navigate on water. |
Jungle Ride | |
|
|
Chick | Enemy | Swim in a direction | Jungle Ride | Same as the Duck, but smaller and not ridable |
| Turtle | Enemy | Jungle Ride | |||
|
Croc | Enemy | Swim in a direction,
chases player through logs. |
Jungle Ride | |
| Butterfly | Friendly | Nothing | Jungle Ride, Bug World,
Secret Garden |
It acts as a background
object, appears as an end stage effect in Bug World, and maybe Jungle Ride. | |
|
Lady Bug | Enemy | Flies around vines | Bug World | |
| Worm | Enemy | Springs from the ground | Secret Garden | ||
| Bees | Enemy | Fly in place, and in
a pattern |
Secret Garden | ||
| Woodpecker | Enemy | Comes out a hole to attack you | Secret Garden | ||
|
Pogo Stick
Clown |
Enemy | Will jump on
platforms in an odd pattern |
Fun Fair | |
|
Unicycle Clown | Enemy | Moves back and
forth on a rope |
Fun Fair | |
|
Bubble
Elephant |
Enemy | Hovers in place
while spitting colored bubbles |
Fun Fair |
Version Differences
Regional Differences
- The title screen has a slight change between the Chinese version, and worldwide release (Original versions).
- Some regions of the game such as German has a line put through the center of the 7, which this doesn't have in the American, or UK releases.
Differences In New Revision
- Overall physics are more quick responding.
- Can't jump off ladders, instead having to fully climb them.
- Large stairs like the ones in Toy Shop act like a slope, unlike the original where you'd fall on the lower part each time.
- Camera will move more smoothly.
- Is possible for it to still scroll while paused, unlike the original.
- The purple arrow is not present at the start of Toy Shop.
- Minor glitches in Toy Shop that causes you to appear on the button despite not landing directly on it is fixed.
- Same with the railing after the first letter order section, it no longer stops you if you jump to high.
- Many animations such as the balls in Toy Shop, and transitions to various player states are more jagged and rough than the original version.
Trivia
- This was one of the pack in title for the V.Smile
- This is one of the most well known games on the V.Smile
- The original version uses pre-rendered images for things like the Titlescreen, cutscenes, and possibly the characters.
- French version of this game's box uses an image of the pre-release console which is barely visible on the box itself.
- The pre-release cartridge label is also in use in the image of the V.Smile shown on the box, though only in official images of the packaging from VTech's site.
- Was this use of the pre-release console also on other physical boxes of the game?
- Some versions of the box art has Jack making different facial expressions.
- Closed teeth in most versions, while open mouth in the German version.
- The game had it's characters re-designed to be the newly introduced characters from VTech. This has happened to other games.
- These characters may have had it's earliest appearance be on the V.Smile game "Learnin' Wheels" (or maybe "Whiz Kid Wheels").
- Those characters also had appearances in other games such as Smart Keyboard.
- The Chinese version may have taught English to the Chinese market judging by the game being known as English Parade over there.
- This game has rare artwork depicting the boy looking at the distance to a structure with some letters falling from the sky in the same way as the Learning Zone mini-game "Letter Order".
- This image also shows a dog/cat character standing next to the kid who outside of this image is never seen, or mentioned at all.
- The cartridge in the console shows what seems to be a rendition of the park's layout on the stage select screen.
- In Toy Shop you can see one of the robots spawn inside the wall that blocks your way
- While VTech rarely shows any kind of violence or weapons in there products, one exception is a puzzle icon of a soldier wielding a rifle which is only seen in the Chinese version of the game on more advanced difficulty settings.
- The only other being a sword in V.Smile Art Studio
- The male voice over present in the original versions of the game that appears in menus, and to give instructions also narrated the stories from Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood Adventure.
- The sound heard when the baby hippos cross the bridge in the Learning Zone game "Letter Order" is actually a snippet from the beginning of Spike Jones' "Der Fuehrer's Face", scrambled and pitched down one semitone.
Known Bugs & Glitches
- On some emulators you can get launched really high up when jumping off a ladder, this happens when on a lower clock speed.
- This is mainly known to happen in some versions of V.Frown from March, 2023 and earlier with a clock speed setting
- A glitch is present where you can walk on air by getting hit and abusing the invincibility frames.[7]
Gallery
Alphabet Park Adventure Gallery
External Links
- Ripped sprites (Google Drive)
- Press Room article on the V.Smile's catalog of games which mentions Alphabet Park Adventure
- A forum post a user has posted on a Chinese forum asking about the V.Smile over in China
- A review of the game which features the new mini-games
- A link to the V.Smile commercial which features many pre-release labels for games, and a few differences in the game, like use of a unused game from a stage, or mini-game, and changes within Toy Park.
- An article talking about the V.Smile console which has the rare render of the game's artwork on the TV.
- The game on sockscap64.com