Adibou

Adibou (English: Adiboo) is an educational video gaming series first developed by Coktel Vision in the 1990s. The franchise expanded into comic books, music and television series (such as Adiboo Adventure (2009)[1]). Titles in the series follow Adiboo, a young alien who teaches children about a variety of topics including nature, maths, and language. Most stories are set in the world of Celesta.

Adibou
Genre(s)Educational adventure
Developer(s)Coktel Vision
Coktel SAS
Neko Entertainment
Publisher(s)Coktel Vision
Knowledge Adventure
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Havas Interactive International
Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing International
Vivendi Universal Games International
Mindscape
Ubisoft
Wiloki
Platform(s)PlayStation
PlayStation 2
Macintosh
Windows
Atari ST
DOS
Wii
First releaseAdibou (English: AJ's World of Discovery)
1991
Latest releaseAdibou: La Chanson d'Adibou (English: Adiboo: The Song of Adiboo)
2022

The series is divided into different categories based on target market: Adi for 10-14 year-olds, Adibou for 4-7 year-olds, and Adiboud'chou for 18 months-3 year-olds,[2] and characters have different names in different regions. The name Adibou is derived from the French acronym ADI meaning Accompagnement Didacticiel Intelligent (English: Intelligent Accompaniment Tutorial). Adibou games are now supported by ScummVM's "Gob" engine.[3][4]

The series was created by Roland Oskian, CEO of Coktel Vision and the brains behind the original Adibou concept as well as coordinator of the game's development; Manuelle Mauger, who managed the development of the content; Arnaud Delrue, responsible for the game's technical development; and finally, Joseph Kluytmans, who was responsible for the visual quality of the universe. The games were designed specifically to be applicable within a classroom context.

In October 2005, Coktel Studio was sold by Vivendi Universal Games International to French publisher Mindscape which itself closed in 2011.[5][6] More than a dozen titles were published until 2009 when the series went dormant.[7]

Following the closure of Mindscape, the IP rights to Adibou were sold to Ubisoft, and in 2020, French company Wiloki, a french educational start-up founded by the children of Adibou creator Roland Oskian, partnered with Ubisoft to revive the character. In May 2022, Wiloki released a brand new title titled Adibou: La Chanson d'Adibou for browser, iOS and Android under their partnership with Ubisoft.[8]

The new version of the game is now available in French, English and German.

Titles

This list is far from complete; there were dozens of titles in the series, some more documented than others.

TitleYearPlatform/sDeveloper/sDetailsRef
Adibou (English: AJ's World of Discovery) 1991 Atari ST, DOS Coktel Vision Minigames for children including jigsaw puzzles, maths lessons, English lessons, racing, and drawing. [9]
Adiboo: Magical Playland 1996 Windows Coktel Vision Teaching lessons in reading and singing, Adiboo fights an evil "monster-blob". [10]
Adibou: Discover Music, Melody & Rhyme 2000 Macintosh, Windows Knowledge Adventure Minigames about music. [11]
Adiboo: Discover Nature, Animals & Planets 2000 Macintosh, Windows Knowledge Adventure Minigames about nature, animals, and planets. [12]
Adiboo: Discover Mazes, Numbers & Puzzles 2000 Macintosh, Windows Knowledge Adventure Minigames about maths and puzzle-solving. [13]
Adibou Présente la Magie 2000 Macintosh, Windows Coktel Vision Minigames for children including rock paper scissors and lessons in magic tricks. [14]
Adibou & Le Secret de Paziral (English: Adiboo & Paziral's Secret) 2003 PlayStation, Windows Vivendi Universal Games, Neko Entertainment, Coktel Vision 3D action adventure in which Adiboo must save the people of Tonies Island from the evil Paziral. Varied gameplay including racing and platforming. [15]
Adibou & Les Voleurs d'Energie (English: Adiboo and the Energy Thieves/The Energy Thieves) 2004 PlayStation 2, Windows Coktel Vision Adiboo discovers that robots are stealing resources from Celesta to power a massive drill - he sets out to stop them. The game alternates between the 3D third-person hub world of Adiboo's home, platforming, vehicle chase sequences, and boss battles. There are also several minigames in the hub world. Gameplay is simple and Adiboo frequently breaks the fourth wall to inform and assist the player. [16]
Dis-moi ADI: Français - Maths CE2 2005 Macintosh, Windows Coktel SAS Lessons for children in maths and French. [17]
Adibou et les Saisons Magiques (English: Adiboo and the Magical Seasons) 2009 Wii Mindscape SA Garden-themed minigames that teach children about plants, insects, and the seasons. [18]
Adibou: L'app pour apprendre et s'amuser de 4 à 7 ans (English: Adibou: the app to learn and have fun for 4 to 7 years old) 2022 iOS, Android, Browsers (Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari) Wiloki First new entry in the series since 2009.

TV series

An animated series, Adibou: Aventure dans le corps humain (Adiboo Adventure), aired on french channels France 5 and TiJi, each of the 40 episodes usually lasting around 5 minutes.

Critical reception

Referring to AJ's World of Discovery, Feibel felt there were better run and jump games available [19] whereas Jeuxvideo argued that Adibou games were a good option for children but were too short.[20] The Argus praised the series for its music but criticised its "daft" title.[21] PC Mag praised Adiboo: Discover Nature, Animals & Planets for offering educational content and "hours of entertainment".[22]

By 1997, the series had sold over 1.5 million copies.[23] Today, the series is inactive and little in-depth information exists online apart from a few Let's Play series and articles.

References
  1. "Adiboo Adventure". Tvtime.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  2. "Adi Series". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  3. "Gobsmacked". drmccoy.de. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  4. "ScummVM". wiki.scummvm.org. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  5. Poischich (21 October 2005). "VU Games cède Coktel à Mindscape" [VU Games sells Coktel to Mindscape]. Gamekult [fr] (in French). Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  6. Crookes, David (28 December 2018). "From the Archives: Coktel Vision". Retro Gamer. No. 189. Future Publishing. pp. 44–47.
  7. Choppin, Damien (2018-10-25). "On vous présente Muriel Tramis, pionnière du jeu vidéo et première femme du secteur à recevoir la Légion d'honneur". Business Insider France (in French). Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  8. "Meet Adibou, the Alien Who Introduced Many French Speakers to Videogames".
  9. "A.J.'s World of Discovery". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  10. "Adiboo: Magical Playland". Giantbomb.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  11. "Adiboo: Discover Music, Melody & Rhyme". Artsandculture.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  12. "Adiboo: Discover Nature, Animals & Planets". Artsandculture.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  13. "Adiboo: Discover Mazes, Numbers & Puzzles". Artsandculture.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  14. "ADIBOU présente la Magie". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  15. "Adiboo & Paziral's Secret". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  16. "Adiboo and the Energy Thieves". pc.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  17. "Dis-moi ADI: Français - Maths CE2". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  18. "Adibou et les Saisons Magiques". Mobygames.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  19. "Alle Spiele - Adiboo & das Geheimis von Paziral". feibel.3q.de. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  20. "Test du jeu Adibou et le Secret de Paziral sur PS1". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  21. "Review: Take note of Adiboo | The Argus". www.theargus.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  22. PC Mag. Ziff Davis, Inc. 2001-03-20.
  23. "Adiboo: I can read, I can count! - PC & Macintosh Review - Coming Soon Magazine". www.csoon.com. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
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