Barbie: Explorer (2001)

## The Game

Barbie Explorer is a 3D platformer game taking place in 4 locations: the African jungle, Tibet, Egypt and Babylon. The goal of the game is to find the ancient artefacts in each location while getting past their guardians. The artefacts are needed to complete the mystic mirror in the museum.

### Story

The game begins witch a flashback, where Barbie climbs down a ladder in a cave location somewhere in the tropics. She picks up an orange crystal that's been kept there, after which the cave begins to shake. She jumps down into a riding mining cart, which takes her to the exit, but that's where the railroad ends, and there's a river down below. As the cart falls, she jumps and grabs onto a vine, swings forward and falls onto a raft, and the crystal falls into her hands.

Present day. Barbie talks to the professor in the museum, as they walk towards a large shattered mirror with 5 gaps in its frame, one of them has a red crystal inserted into it. She asks him what happened, and he replies that he only found one piece for the mirror. He says that, behind the mirror, he found an ancient map with the locations of the remaining pieces. He needs someone to help him find them and complete the mirror to unlock its power. Barbie decides to go on a journey to recover the missing artefacts.

Barbie visits the African jungle, Tibet and Egypt, where she finds the sapphire shield, the ruby mask and the emerald scarab broach respectively.

Finally, Barbie goes to Babylon, where she picks up a green key, finds a large door behind the guardian and enters. She walks over the bridge and approaches a podium with a key hole. She inserts the key, and from the podium rises the golden statue.

Back in the museum, Barbie and the professor insert the artefacts into the mirror's frame, and it magically gets fixed. The cutscene ends with the words "To be continued...".

### Game Modes

VR Training is what new players should play through first. This is where they learn the basics of the game. Lives are unlimited for this mode.

1-Player Game is the main mode of the game. The player has access to the 1st level of each location except Babylon. Each location consists of 4 levels which are unlocked in consecutive order, with the final one being a guardian level. To gain access to Babylon the player must collect the artefacts in the other locations.

In 2-Player Game the players compete in better completion of a select level. The second player controls Barbie's friend Teresa. The players go through the level independently from each other (each with their own checkpoints, lives and gems), taking turns upon each other’s death.

**Location Select Menu (artefacts collected)**

African JungleTibetEgyptBabylon
### Gameplay

Aside from jumping, Barbie can roll, walk slowly, climb walls, get across pits using monkey bars, swing on vines, push and pull blocks and pull levers. Obstacles which block the way but leave a wide gap below can be rolled under. Walking slowly allows moving carefully (you won’t fall off an edge), crossing shaky paths without breaking them and sneaking past certain animals. To grab onto monkey bars you must jump while holding still. Try not to stand on still platforms for too long, as they’ll most likely fall under your feet.

The game, particularly the 3rd level of every location, contains puzzles, where the player repeats audio sequences, moves blocks onto special tiles, pulls randomized levers until they get the desired outcome and more.

### Levels

#### African Jungle

1. Deepest Rain Forest
2. Native Village
3. The Lost City
4. Python Alley

African Jungle level select menuAfrican Jungle briefingDeepest Rain ForestNative VillageThe Lost CityPython Alley
#### Tibet

1. Mountain Trail
2. Mountain High
3. Temple City
4. Yeti Pass

Tibet level select menuTibet briefingMountain TrailMountain HighTemple CityYeti Pass
#### Egypt

1. The Desert
2. Valley of the Kings
3. The Great Pyramid
4. Croc River

Egypt level select menuEgypt briefingThe DesertValley of the KingsThe Great PyramidCroc River
#### Babylon

1. River Approach
2. Garden Walls
3. The Tower
4. Flytrap Run

Babylon level select menuBabylon briefingRiver ApproachGarden WallsThe TowerFlytrap Run
### Collectibles

The game’s levels are full of collectibles. Some of them are hidden in treasure chests, which are opened by simply being run into. Guardian levels don't have collectibles aside from the artefacts. When a finished level is retried, all collectibles respawn.

#### Hints

Hints are only present in VR training. They're depicted as pink question marks. When they're collected, the game enters demo mode to show an action, and Barbie explains how to do it. They respawn right after.

#### Gems

Gems are the most common type of collectible. They come in different colors depending on the location: blue in the jungle, purple in Tibet, green in Egypt and yellow in Babylon. Some chests contain 4 gems each. Gems fill up a part of the progress bar, but don’t grant any rewards. When a level is finished, the game saves a high score of collected gems for it (1-Player Game only).

African Jungle gemTibet gemEgypt gemBabylon gem
#### Hearts

Hearts are used to earn extra lives, they come in different colors and sizes. The HUD contains two heart bars that consist of 5 hearts each, the bigger hearts the player collects the more they fill up the bars. When the heart bars are fully pink, the player earns a life, and the bars reset. How much they fill the bars is described in the Platform Differences section.

Hearts can be, in order of efficiency ascending: yellow, green, blue and red. Red hearts can only be found in chests.

Yellow heartGreen heartBlue heartRed heart
#### Power-Ups

Power-ups are different collectibles found in chests which serve to help the player. They only last a short while after being activated.

* Running Shoes – increases running speed, however jumping resets it back to normal.
* Hiking Boots – negates the slippery effect of mud / ice slides.
* Slow Platforms – lowers moving platforms’ speed.
* Shield – negates damage from animals.
* Magic Torch – places an arrow on the ground pointing towards a secret location.
* Spring Shoes – increases jump height.
* Tip Toes – allows running on shaky surfaces without breaking them, and stepping on quicksand without sinking.
* Invulnerable – prevents the life counter from going down, but knockback remains.

Running ShoesHiking BootsSlow PlatformsShieldMagic TorchSpring ShoesTip ToesInvulnerable
#### Keys

Keys are rare collectibles found in chests which are needed to open locked doors. A unique green key is collected at the end of the 3rd Babylon level, which is used in the ending cutscene to extract the golden statue.

KeyGreen key
#### Artefacts

All the artefacts except the golden statue must be picked up to finish the guardian levels. The player must get the sapphire shield in the African jungle, the ruby mask in Tibet and the emerald scarab broach in Egypt. To end the final level in Babylon the player must approach the large door behind the guardian instead.

Sapphire shieldRuby maskEmerald scarab broach
### Guardians

The sapphire shield in the African jungle is guarded by a giant snake. Jump and roll your way towards the artefact. Touching the snake, whether the body or its head, will result in losing a life.

The ruby mask in Tibet is guarded by a yeti. First you need to run through the corridor, jumping over small snowballs and hiding from big ones. Then you need to cross the bridge while continuing to avoid snowballs. After you get across, the yeti will become scared of you and run into his cave.

The emerald scarab broach in Egypt is guarded by a Nile crocodile. The crocodile will swim towards you and sink rafts, you must jump from raft to raft until you reach the one that will take you to the shore with the artefact. When the crocodile completes its path, it will swim in circles and won't go to the shore.

The golden statue in Babylon is guarded by a giant spitting plant. To get there you must cross a path filled with flytraps. Purple flytraps close in a set period of time, orange flytraps close after you step on them. As you get close to your goal, avoid the giant plant’s projectiles, run past it and locate the door behind it.

Giant pythonYetiNile crocodileGiant plant
### Platform Differences

There's a number of differences between the PlayStation and the computer version. Some of them make the latter easier.

* In the PC version the gem counter, the life counter and the heart indicators are displayed all the time. In the PS version these HUD elements are shown for a few seconds when the player collects hearts or presses the Triangle button.
* In the PC version the player starts out with 40 lives in Easy mode, 30 in Medium and 20 in Hard. In the PS version they start out with 20 lives in Easy mode, 15 in Medium and 10 in Hard.
* In the PS version hearts fill 1, 2, 3 and 10 hearts in the HUD respectively. In the PC version all hearts except red ones have doubled efficiency.
* In the PC version the player can exceed the starting amount of lives, in the PS version it’s capped.
* The PC version plays the boss music from the PS version throughout whole locations. The regular levels in the PS version only play short ambient melodies from time to time.
* Jump controls are more sensitive in the PC version.

## Manual (PC)

Page 1Pages 2-3Pages 4-5Pages 6-7Pages 8-9Pages 10-11Pages 12-13Pages 14-15Pages 16-17Pages 18-19Pages 20-21Pages 22-23Pages 24-25Pages 26-27Pages 28-29Pages 30-31Pages 32-33Pages 34-35
## Trivia

* The game is often compared to Crash Bandicoot and Lara Croft.
* Some obstacles under which the player is supposed to roll can bypassed by bending after a jump.
* What Barbie did with the orange crystal she found in the intro cutscene is unknown.
* For some unknown reason, the sound effect for picking up gems is higher quality in Tibet.
* While the ending suggests a sequel, none was ever released.
	+ Runecraft was developing a sequel named Barbie: Treasures in Time (alternatively Barbie: Time Traveller), but the company was shut down in 2003, and the game was cancelled.
* Overclocking the PS version of the game will cause it to speed up.

### Collectibles

* Some collectibles float too high to be ran into, and can be easily missed if you try to get them in the middle of a jump. You can stand on their shadow, which is directly under them, and jump while holding still.
* The gems’ colors are the same as the artefacts in the locations they’re found in, except for purple gems not matching the red ruby mask in Tibet.
* African Jungle contains 200 gems, Tibet - 194, Egypt - 215, Babylon - 208. When summed up, the game has a total of 817 gems.
* There's no special reward for collecting all the artefacts AND all the gems.

### Location / Level Details

* In Deepest Rain Forest, the first pit where Barbie says “This pit is too long to jump” is actually jumpable.
* In The Lost City, the final puzzle uses Western Zodiac signs.
* Mountain High has a fork where you can jump over / walk past the pit or climb the wall. If you want to collect as many gems as possible, climb the wall first, get the collectibles up there, climb down the same wall and take the path with the pit. As you cross the path with the pit, an avalanche will block it behind you, so you won't be able to go back and climb the wall.
* Temple City features some unique platforms. These platforms are transparent and only have collision on the top side, the player must pass through them to rotate them into the correct position, then get to the next part of the level by jumping on them. The platforms' positions are reset periodically, so the player must hurry.
* In Temple City, you can roll past the peacock without alerting it. This is probably a developer oversight.
* Valley of the Kings features the only wall button in the entire game. Pressing it works the same way as pulling a lever.
* Garden Walls is the only level in the game where the player can control a raft.
* The Tower features the only door in the game which requires 3 keys to open.
* African Jungle is the only location to feature monkey bars.
* Babylon is the only location with animals that don't hurt the player.
* Babylon is the only location containing enemies that attack the player with projectiles.