Back in 2014, this was the first GBA game I posted on the blog. Two years later, this would be the first GBA game I would play for my channel.
The Arcade mode lets you play the mini-games.
The only difference between Easy and Normal mode is the inclusion of hearts for a health meter; on Easy mode, you can take damage as much as you want and there is no such thing as a health meter.
Cloud Queen's Throne Room
Yep, another full-length feature starring Barbie made into a game. In this one, you play as the headstrong Princess Annika. The game starts with Annika talking to her sister Brietta, when all of a sudden her friends throw a surprise birthday party for her. Before the party can get underway, everyone except Princess Annika is turned to stone. We soon find out who the guilty party is: Wenlock, whose laugh fills the room.
Go to the right and jump up the two platforms to get the Wand of Light. From there, you can use the B button to swing the wand around near the statues to change them back into people again. You can also use Up and Down on the Control Pad to swing upwards and downwards, respectively. The downwards swing is actually more of an overhand swipe, and it can be used to hit low-lying enemies.
When you change the statue nearest the wand back into human form, I swear that she has this expression on her face that looks like awesome.jpg. I kid you not. Same with the guy next to her. You are going to be seeing this a lot throughout the game.
When you change everyone back, you'll meet Wenlock, who rides into the castle on his gryphon and reveals he turned everyone in the land into stone for the sole purpose of getting Annika to marry him. (Could he have tried any harder?) When she refuses, Wenlock changes Brietta into a flying pegasus. Annika wants to change her back with the Wand of Light, but in a twist that is perhaps best suited to TF art, Brietta is perfectly okay with this and is all like "Well, since I'm a pegasus, I can fly you places." Annika does just that.
Since I've played the game, I've also seen the movie. If you compared this with the movie, you'll notice that the plot of the game is very loosely based on the movie. Annika isn't around in the beginning, and she's a Pegasus at first before becoming turned back into a human. Also, Annika had to create the Wand of Light herself; there certainly wasn't one within easy reach inside the castle. Stranger still, Annika and Brianna's parents don't show up in this game at all.
Cloud Palace
Annika and Brietta land in another area of the castle, and there are still many more people who need to be freed from their stone forms.
The icon in the lower left lists how many people you have yet to free. When you free someone, one of the purple circle turns into the shape of a human. Free everyone to enter the next level.
You'll also see the Wand of Light in the upper-left corner. This will show what wand power you currently have.
Enemy roll call for this one: birds that just sit there on the statues, bugs that crawl around on the floor that can be hit with the downward swing, and miniature gryphons. The regular gray stone is your only means of attack; you cannot attack with any of the other jewels you find in the game.
You'll find the Flutter Jewel in this stage. Switch between the Wand of Light and the Flutter Jewel with the R button and press B to use it. This will allow you to reach places that Annika normally couldn't jump to.
The block with the heart on it contains a heart, and you can get it by hitting the block with the Wand of Light. The heart replenishes only one heart, so be careful.
Cloud Palace 2
Password: Wenlock, Pegasus, Annika, Ollie
Yep, even some Game Boy Advance games had passwords. At least the ones in this game are mercifully short. After all, this is a Barbie game.
Anyway, if there are stone blocks in front of you, you can use the Flutter Jewel to break them instantly as you rise into the air.
There are platforms that go up and down throughout this level, but the Flutter Jewel makes them much easier to reach.
One of the people you free here will have a key. When you pick up a key, you can press Up in front of a door to open it. Luckily, the door is close by. In every key room, you can find a costume...if you can get it before the time runs out. Luckily, this room is so dreadfully easy that only the slightest of hand-eye coordination is involved. Just break the blocks and jump to grab the costume. There are three more costumes in the game besides the one you start with and the one in this room. You can change costumes whenever you want, but other than a cosmetic change for Barbie, they don't do much else.
Cloud Palace 3
Password: Castle, Wand, Wenlock, Pegasus
We have balconies instead of windows! Variety!
A few of the mini-gryphons are flying around, but you can easily swat them out of the air with your wand.
Fight With Wenlock
Password: Castle, Wand, Annika, Wenlock
After everyone in the palace is accounted for, Annika meets Wenlock and his flying gryphon again. There's still more of the land to free from stone, but before you can deal with that, you'll have to deal with Wenlock himself.
The game actually tells you straight up how to beat him: use the Flutter Jewel to stand on the chandelier hanging on the ceiling, causing it to fall. When Wenlock stands in the center of the room after gingerly walking from one side of the room to the other, that's your cue to stand on the edge of the chandelier after getting up there with the Flutter Jewel so it can come down and hit him. After three hits, it's on to the next destination.
Bonus Stage 1
Password: Annika, Pegasus, Annika, Castle
Before you enter the next stage, you'll be flying around on Brietta the Pegasus landing on clouds. Keep pressing A to stay in the air. When you land on them, you can then collect a coin. You'll need all ten to unlock a picture from the movie. It takes time to land on the cloud, bounce off of it and get the coin, so don't do this too close to the left edge or you'll miss the coin. If you play on Normal Mode, you'll also get an extra heart that will increase your maximum health. If you don't get all 10 coins, you can play the bonus stage again until you get it right.
You'll eventually enter the Kingdom Village, which is full of snow and has a lot of houses.
If you press Select, you can switch between any of the costumes that you can collect in the bonus areas. The new dresses don't change the gameplay and are simply for show.
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