| Arthur's Birthday | |
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 Living Books CD Rom 1994 (Version 1) and 1997 (Version 2) | |
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Released |
June 24, 1994 |
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Characters |
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Language |
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Pages |
13 |
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Arthur's Birthday is the seventh Living Books PC CD-Rom Game and the second Arthur Living Books game based on the 1989 storybook written by Marc Brown, what Matthew Fieck requested to be read by Malcolm & Eddie actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner and was originally released on June 24, 1994 and then V2 released in 1997.
Plot[]
The story opened with Arthur finishing up his invitations and going to school to hand them out to the boys and girls, who were sure to come. Then, he proceeded to hand one out to Muffy, who replied that she's having a birthday party, too. Arthur and Muffy both get surprised because they were born on the same day. As a result, Muffy said that the Saturday which Arthur had his party on, it was also the day she would have hers. They couldn't reschedule nor postpone their parties because a lot had been planned already. The classmates then discussed about whose party they could go to, and struggle to figure it out. After getting some gifts and more decorations, Arthur met up with Francine a few days later to tell her all about a solution to the problem. Then, they write invitations and deliver them to everyone's mailbox and a special one goes to Muffy, telling her about a present too big to fit in a box, so she must be at Arthur's house to get it. Everyone makes it there, and they all surprised Muffy by having both parties at the same house. Muffy said that it should happen every year (saying, "Maybe we must do this every year".). Mrs. Read said, "But next year at your house". The story ended with Francine giving Arthur a bottle labelled "Spin the Bottle", which she had been pestering him about earlier on.
Games on Version 2[]
- Mystery Present
- Pin the Tail on the Donkey
Characters[]
- Arthur Read
- D.W. Read
- Jane Read (Mom)
- David Read (Dad)
- Thora Read (Grandma)
- Aunt Bonnie (only appearance)
- Cousin George (only appearance)
- Buster Baxter
- Binky Barnes
- The Brain
- Francine
- Muffy Crosswire
- Sue Ellen
- Fern Walters
- Prunella
- The Twins
- Baby Kate Read (debut)
- Store Manager
- Francis Haney (Principal) (second and last appearance; cameo)
- Donkey
- Uncle Bud (mentioned)
Voice Cast[]
- Henry Dawson As Arthur
- Eleanor Mitchell As Jane Read
- Harley Mills As David Read & Weston
- Freddie Poole As Principal Francis Haney
- Nash Harper As Cousin George
- Millie Johnson As D.W. Read
- Patronilla de Quintana As Fern Walters
- Hannah Bennett As Muffy, Francine, Sue Ellen & Baby Kate Read
- Madelyn Granholm As Grandma Thora
- Angela Goddard As Buster, Cali, Great-Aunt Briar & Store Manager
- Harrison Lee As The Brain & Victor
- Linden Thompson As Binky Barnes & Brandon
- Chance Holcomb As Delivery Man
- Maryam Martin As Aunt Bonnie
- Sebastian Goddard As The Twins
Pages[]
- 1. Arthur is excited for his birthday party and writes invitations for his friends.
- 2. Arthur invites his friends in class to his party while Muffy invites them to her party.
- 3. Arthur and Muffy have conflicting schedules with their birthday parties being on the same day on Saturday.
- 4. At the playground, Arthur meets with the boys, while Muffy meets with the girls discussing their parties.
- 5. Arthur goes shopping with his Mom at the party store for birthday supplies.
- 6. Arthur gets mail, including birthday cards and a package. A special mention goes to his uncle Bud.
- 7. The next day, Arthur meets with Francine on the way home from school and discuss a plan.
- 8. Arthur and Francine go to Arthur's tree house to write invitations.
- 9. Arthur and Francine walk around the neighborhood early next morning delivering letters.
- 10. Arthur's family work on the decorations for his birthday party.
- 11. Arthur's friends come over to his house for his party.
- 12. Arthur and his friends wait for Muffy to come. / Everyone yells, "Surprise," when she arrives.
- 13. Arthur shares the birthday party with Muffy and his friends and family celebrate both of their birthdays.
Locations in Elwood City[]
Songs[]
- Yeah We're Dishes
Quotes[]
Page 1[]
Arthur: I'm so excited!
Page 2[]
Binky: This will be great!
The Brain: Hmm, chocolate cake.
Arthur Read: Three whole dollars.
Page 3[]
Arthur: Can't you change it to another day? Muffy: Are you kidding?
Page 4[]
(When the chimney is clicked on, the chimney and window curtains do a jazz dance.)
Page 5[]
Store Manager: Can I help you? (Arthur's Mom wears the Groucho Marx mask.)
Jane Read (mom): I need all the help I can get.
Store Manager: Hmmph!
Page 6[]
[When the user clicks on David Read's grocery bag, he reveals the ice cream flavors. This is ice cream for Arthur's birthday party.]
David Read (Dad): Look! We have chocolate, strawberry, and mocha almond spinach.
[This is a reference to D.W. the Picky Eater. Arthur and D.W get disgusted when their father mentions a disgusting ice cream flavor. It indeed was sickening. The third ice cream flavor Dad really reveals is vanilla ice cream. But he jokingly says it's "mocha almond spinach". And indeed, it is a reference to the D.W. the Picky Eater game.]
David Read (Dad): [laughs] Just kidding!
[He grits his teeth, smiles in an embarrassed smile, and giggles a little.]
D.W Read: Dad! It is not that funny!
(What Dad said really was not funny.)
Page 12[]
Binky Barnes: Oh no, my underwear's on backwards!
Buster Baxter: Just turn around. (Binky Barnes spins around.)
Binky Barnes: That's better.
Trivia[]
- This Living Book was inspired from a guest star reading that Matthew suggested to be read by Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
- This is one of only two Living Books games (the other being Just Grandma and Me) to be updated in 640x480 resolution with activity games in 1997 (known as the "Version 1" and "Version 2" releases).
- The running gag in this Living Book are party blowers and confetti. In some pages, they can be clicked on over and over as many times as you wish, however some pages cancel out that running gag as usual after clicking on it once.
- Part of this game was used as a puzzle when Matthew Fieck was doing his TV Cartoon and Movie cast members' edition of Wheel of Fortune.
- This game's characters were played by Matthew Fieck on the Oregon Trail and Hunger Games Simulator along with the JumpStart Learning Games Music characters, main reason is because he has outgrown those games.
- In 2022, Matthew Fieck went out to Santee multiple times and decided that it was time for this game and the JumpStart Music game to retire from his sessions.
- In V2, D.W.'s extra dialogue is done by her voice actress from the latter three games.
- For some reason, Spanish was omitted from V2 as a language option. This was likely done to conserve space to make room for the activities. However, the Portuguese version of Arthur’s Birthday V2 was released, which also included English as a language option, making Portuguese the only language available for V2.
- Overall, Arthur's Birthday was one of two Arthur Living Books to have language options, along with Arthur's Teacher Trouble.
- In the first four games for V1.1 as well as the 3rd and 4th games for V1.0, the preview for this game also exists in the files, but can only be accessed when you edit the outline file.
- V1 was in low audio quality in 1994. When V2 came in 1997, all of the audio from the original 1994 version was re-rendered in high quality.
- The audio in the newly-added activity games in V2 is in high quality as well.
- Like with Just Grandma and Me and The Cat in the Hat, the audio in the Living Books intro, credits, Options and Quit pages for V2 was left in low quality.
- You leave the book when Arthur says, "Okay, bye!" (if "Yes" is chosen), the same game as Harry and the Haunted House, but you might want to keep playing when he says "Oh, okay." (if "No" is chosen). However the "No" character is a boy (but a Marc Brown created cartoon animal; which is a bear) while the "Yes" character is a girl (a Marc Brown created cartoon animal; which is a cat). As such, Arthur (the main character) is an aardvark, so the "No" character is a bear (like the Brain) and the "Yes" character is a cat (like Sue Ellen). The boy and girl (as the "No" and "Yes" characters) are not the traditional kids, but are cartoon animals like the ones from Arthur.
- Coincidentally, Arthur's Birthday was the first Arthur Living Book to have Arthur characters as the No and Yes characters.
- This demo version can be featured in Dr. Seuss' ABC, Sheila Rae, the Brave, The Berenstain Bears in the Dark, Green Eggs and Ham, Stellaluna, and Arthur's Reading Race.
- Strangely enough, in the credits, at one point when the guy keeps typing on his computer, the following graphic/color errors occurred (1 of 2 Living Books to have this along with Little Monster at School):
- The computer's wires turned dark blue instead of red.
- After the computer explodes, the guy's white shirt turns blue-green (fixed in V2 of Arthur's Birthday).
- The computer's wires and monitor were also blue green (the ceiling-crash sound effect from the credits in later games was used for the first time without being cut off).
- When the computer's monitor was blinking in front of the guy's face after he lies down on his desk, the shining from the computer's blinking red monitor in front of the guy's face was blue instead of red.
- In Version 2, the byline "A Random House/Brøderbund Company" was replaced with "Brøderbund Software, Inc.".
- The 1997 Version has a demo for "Orly's Draw-A-Story".
- While V1 was re-released by Wanderful, V2 wasn't.
- On page 12 (while the kids wait for Muffy’s arrival), one of the doorbell rings from The Jetsons can be heard as the player clicks on the lamp in Arthur's house.
- Starting with this Arthur Living Book, the Arthur characters have updated their character designs. These designs would later be used for the TV series.