Sega LCD - Super Monkey Ball and Shadow

Way back in 2003, McDonalds and Sega got together in order to produce a series of game-themed Happy Meal toys. For this wave of Sega collectibles from the golden arches (these chunky and colourful plastic devices have probably got more nutritional value than the meals they were issued with) there were six units released in total and today we’ve got a couple of these little darlings under the microscope, almost literally since the screens are somewhat on the small side!

Shadow Grinder is a harrowing morality tale about the dangers of failing to adequately plan municipal lavatorial facilities and one hedgehog’s journey to salvation. Not really, it’s a little game where Shadow the Hedgehog is grinding along what appears to be a rail in a construction site (certainly it appears to be high above the ground since the background is of a distant cityscape, but we’re not exactly talking current generation graphics here so it might just be a handrail at the local Asda) and there are perilous gaps. Shadow will need a player’s help to reach some unspecified destination (the car park, perhaps?) and this is where the single red button below the unit’s screen comes in; prodding it makes Shadow hurl himself into the air for a limited period to traverse the otherwise fatal holes in a sort of dumbed down version of Moon Patrol that is less arcade action and more an easy (well okay, easy for an adult so perhaps the target audience might struggle a little more) reaction test.

Sega LCD - Shadow Grinder

The second game is themed around Super Monkey Ball, titled AiAi Banana Catch and, naturally, stars banana fetishist AiAi the monkey (sans transparent sphere for this particular outing) who is feeding his love for yellow, curved fruit; fortunately for our simian hero there are bunches of the things around, in fact they’re falling from the trees! AiAi of course wants to gather this bountiful harvest and, with the aid of a human using the two directional buttons (one either side of the display), can be positioned in one of three places at the base of the screen to catch the falling fruit. Unlike the single button mashing of Shadow Grinder, there is actually some gameplay to be had from AiAi Banana Catch and, once the player realises the AiAi can move between the three columns of descending bananas quicker than they move, completing near to perfect runs becomes possible.

Sega LCD - AiAi Banana Catch

Both games are somewhat reminiscent of the Nintendo Game & Watch series, although the overall design is, as would be expected for something that McDonalds are giving away with some chicken nuggets and fries, even more simplistic; Shadow Grinder in particular is a one trick pony with a design flaw the size of a small planet that makes it hideously easy to play without even the need to concentrate on the screen whilst AiAi Banana Catch is actually quite enjoyable as long as it’s kept to short bursts. Speaking of bursts, the sound is limited to assorted little bleeps for events during play, a six note jingle played at the start of a game (which is the same for both) and a couple of warbles for game over and completion states, the latter accompanied by the “pyrotechnic” of turning all the LCD elements on and off simultaneously.

The 17mm by 22mm screens are somewhat fiddly due to their small scale but as long as there’s a good level of light are reasonable to use and the target audience being children at least means that both units are constructed like brightly-coloured, chunky plastic tanks. One particular plus is that, despite both toys being somewhat geriatric now (they were issued in 2004 when the promotion was run in the U.K. so approaching their fifth birthday), they still function perfectly and the batteries must presumably have a half life approaching that of the main reactor core at Sizewell B. At some point, these things are going to become collectors items (assuming that hasn’t already begun to happen amongst aficionados of such things) but at the time of writing they’re still available to be grabbed through eBay for a reasonable price; if they’re worth purchasing this way as games in their own right is probably debatable but until the prices get ridiculous there is some reason to get AiAi Banana Catch or perhaps the set of six if they’re really cheap as a single lot.