JumpStart universe

Most JumpStart games take place in fictional universes that vary from the real world in various ways. Continuity between JumpStart games is usually nonexistent, but characters and universes may appear in more than one game.

Classic universes
All the classic grade-based games feature different characters and settings with little connection to each other, and the characters from different games were not seen together in any games, apart from cameos.

While the 3rd - 6th Grade games had very different settings, the basic premise of the Preschool - 2nd Grade universes are rather similar, featuring anthropomorphic animals in schoolhouse environments. In most games, humans were shown to exist as well.

Games other than the grade-based series always re-used a cast of characters from the grade-based games. In games that were based on both grade and subject, the characters from that grade were always reused.

"Merged" universe
Starting in about 1998, a continuity was introduced in which the characters from the Preschool - 2nd Grade games all exist and interact with each other. Eventually, this became the standard universe in which most JumpStart games, at least those for that grade range, took place.

In the early days of this "merged universe", minor characters from games, such as Bebop, Cecil, Roquefort, and Jack, would appear. But for the most part, only the main characters from the classic games - Casey, Eleanor, Kisha, Pierre, Hopsalot, Frankie, CJ, and Edison - appear in this universe. They are usually shown living in a town called JumpStartville, which, according to JumpStart Around the World, is located on an island off the coast of California. (This is also alluded to by CJ in JumpStart Languages, when he says, "Hey, the United States is just a hop, skip and a jump from where I live!")

Despite the presence of anthropomorphic animals, the JumpStart world for the most part seems very similar to our own, having the same geography and history, and also includes non-anthropomorphic animals and humans. (Humans are rarely shown interacting directly with the main characters, but their presence is often acknowledged, such as in pictures.) JumpStart Explorers somewhat deviated from this by depicting historical figures as anthropomorphic animals.

Characters from the 3rd - 6th Grade games were also occasionally shown to share a universe (in JumpStart Adventure Challenge and the JumpStart Spy Masters series). Adventure Challenge features the characters in a place called Adventure World, perhaps mimicking to the "Adventures" subtitle the characters' native games had, but it is not clear if the characters actually live here or not. In the early days of the shared universe, it seemed that the Preschool - 2nd Grade characters and 3rd - 6th Grade characters may have lived in the same universe, as early maps of JumpStartville would show a gateway to Adventure World. JumpStart Spy Masters does not take place in Adventure World and no connection with any other JumpStart games is shown.

Current universe
Today, the JumpStart universe retains many characters from that shared universe (Frankie, Hopsalot, Kisha, Pierre, Eleanor, and CJ), and also includes Botley. This world contains both fantasy and sci-fi elements, though fantasy elements tend to be especially plentiful. The different worlds and lands in the game tend to contain different kinds of elements - FutureLand is heavy on sci-fi while Windy Hollows is oriented around fantasy, and other areas tend to be more realistic, such as DownTown.

Like previous versions of the JumpStart universes, anthropomorphic animals and humans exist alongside each other, the humans usually being Jumpeez. There are also other kinds of creatures, such as Punk-Punks, mythies, fairies (such as Ivy), and Petz.