The North American box-art.
Number Island, known as its full English name Number Island: Fun With Numbers (ナンバーアイランド：ミステリアスな楽しいアドベンチャー in Japanese and Island of Numbers: Mysterious Fun Adventure in Europe) is an educational kids shame for the PlayStation released in March of 1997. It was made by Roundhouse Kick Shames, with the Japanese version called ナンバーアイランド：ミステリアスな楽しいアドベンチャー being released in June of 1997, and the European version called Island of Numbers: Mysterious Fun Adventure being released in 1998. A North American version was released called Number Island: Fun With Numbers, however that version is actually very limited, because the shame was so bad it was pulled off shelves only 5 MINUTES after it was in stock. The North American CD now sells for around 8,000 to 15,000 UnDollars.
Plot[]
Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!!
The shame is relatively short; the average player could easily beat this in 10 minutes. Here is how it plays:
The shame starts with a cutscene of 2 sitting on the beach, drinking a martini with Mini-2. Suddenly, a disguised thief suddenly steals Mini-2 and 2 tries to chase the thief, and fails.
The shame then pans to Number 3, the protagonist and amateur detective. The shame shows dialogue of 2, who says "Please help me, 3! My baby has been stolen. I cannot find him anywhere on Number Island!"
The shame then tells you the objective: Find clues of the evil thief. The first clue is in 3's front yard; a ripped off fabric piece that was part of a cloth. The second clue is in Number Pasture; it is gloves presumably used in the kidnapping. The final clue is in 5's barn. It is footprints leading up to none other than 1's castle. You need to verify that it is 1 who kidnapped Mini-2, though.
You go back to your house and analyze the evidence found from the gloves. It has been verified: 1 had kidnapped Mini-2. You confront 1, who says he kidnapped Mini-2 "for an experiment". He sends the Number Police to 1's house, and find Mini-2 being operated on with anesthetic and a formula called "Formula X2".
1 then explains: He kidnapped Mini-2 to experiment on his new funded formula called X2. It is a formula that can let numbers grow relatively quickly to normal size. However, it seems it has not worked; all it has done is soothe Mini-2 in smoothness and waxiness. You then bring back Mini 2 to 2, who then thanks you for your service. The shame ends there.
Reception[]
The shame was terrible. IGN criticized it for being a terrible children's shame, saying this:
The shame fails at what it is supposed to do. It's a kid's shame, however it introduces the kid to a whole new world; our actual reality. We can't let kids learn about it early on!! We people at IGN rate this a 1/10. Horrible shame.
—IGN employee
Other critics also rated it a very low rating. Some had to say this on Metacritic:
The game is VERY BORING. The fact that it is an educational kids shame blows my mind. THE PLOT IS TOO MUCH FOR A TODDLER!! Especially the fact that the shame is about solving a CRIME involving KIDNAPPING a baby, I'm glad it was pulled off shelves here.
—Metacritic dude