The real Anneliese escapes Nick and Nack, but is turned away from the palace because the guards think the Princess (Erika) is already inside. King Dominick introduces himself to the disguised Erika over time, the two fall in love, but Erika worries about what will happen if she is found out. Preminger is surprised when Erika, disguised as Anneliese, presents herself at the palace. Julian, doubting the letter, asks Erika to impersonate the Princess, saving the engagement while he investigates Anneliese's disappearance. That night, Anneliese and her cat Serafina are abducted by Nick and Nack, who leave a forged letter saying she ran away.
The two bond over their shared troubles and become fast friends. Anneliese and Erika meet and learn they are identical, apart from their hair color and the crown-shaped birthmark on Anneliese's shoulder. Anneliese hears Erika, who is performing in the street to earn money for herself, but Madame Carp collects it as part of her debt.
Julian takes Anneliese for a day out into the kingdom so that she can be free for once there, she witnesses the poverty caused by the kingdom’s bankruptcy. Upon learning from his henchmen, Nick and Nack, that the Queen has arranged Anneliese's marriage to King Dominick, he decides to make Anneliese 'mysteriously disappear', which will cancel the engagement after which Preminger can pretend he has found the Princess, earning her hand in marriage, and allowing him to accede the throne and become king-himself. Unbeknownst to the Queen, the reason behind the kingdom's bankruptcy is her adviser Preminger has been stealing gold, emptying the royal mines. The Pauper Erika is an indentured servant, working off her parents' debt at Madame Carp's Dress Emporium, but dreams of becoming a singer and seeing the world. Several years later, Princess Anneliese is betrothed by her mother, Queen Genevieve, to the wealthy King Dominick to save the nearly bankrupt royal treasury however, she is in love with her young tutor Julian. It also is pretty easy on the eyes too so it has that going for it also.In an unnamed kingdom, a blonde princess and a brunette pauper are born at the same time. It is ideal for kids who love Barbie and who are just getting into games as it is played at a slower pace and is easy enough to get through all the levels. I do think that this is a decent enough looking game and the animations are not to bad either.īarbie as the Princess and the Pauper is a decent little (all be it rather short) platform game. To be fair, while it will not win any prizes for the way it looks. There are many of these Barbie games and they all have a similar look. Clearly, this is a game that is aimed at the younger demographic and there is nothing wrong with that. There are two difficulty levels here, but neither one is all that hard. There are these harder, boss like levels to that you have to do before moving onto the next level. There are four different areas in the game and each of the areas has its own levels that you need to complete. As a platformer, it is a pretty standard affair. If you expected Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper to be a 2D platform game then well done, you win a prize! The game sees you pick two of the characters to play as and you will need to make use of their abilities to get through the level. I am actually impressed at how much variety there is to each character. The two cats also have abilities! Serafina has the ability to climb up the trees and Wolfie is able to dig for stuff. The Pauper can use magical notes to reach hard to get items and so on. The two human characters each have a special ability. One of the interesting things about Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is that it has four playable characters. Basically, there is a big bad who wants to bring chaos to the kingdom and only the Princess, the Pauper, and their two cats can save the day. Instead, you play as The Princess and the Pauper along with their two cats. However, you do not technically play as “Barbie”.
Look, I have not seen the movie so I do not know how closely this follows the movie. The one we are looking at today is for the Game Boy Advance and if you are a Barbie fan or know someone who is, it could be worth checking out.
There were many Barbie movies during this time and most of them had a video game tie in. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is a straight to DVD movie that was released back in 2004.