Adventures with Barbie: Ocean Discovery

Last updated
Adventures with Barbie: Ocean Discovery
Adventures with Barbie Ocean Discovery cover.jpg
Developer(s) Gorilla Systems Corporation
Publisher(s) Mattel Media
Release1997
Genre(s) Adventure

Adventures with Barbie: Ocean Discovery is a 1997 video game developed by Gorilla Systems Corporation and published by Mattel Media for Windows. The Game Boy Color version is titled Barbie: Ocean Discovery.

Contents

The game was Mattel Media's first adventure game featuring the character Barbie. [1] Its financial success led to Mattel Media producing further girl's games over the next few years. [2]

Gameplay

The PC and GBC versions are slightly different; The dolphin plays a more significant role in Windows than it does in the Game Boy Color version. [3]

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly felt the game was "underwhelming". [4] The New York Times thought the game's mentions of Barbie's marine biology degree was a "nod toward enlightenment" for the girl's game genre, [5] while From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games thought the game saw the series branching out from the "true pink fluff" exemplified in titles like Barbie Fashion Designer. [6] French reviewer PVG24 felt the game successfully penetrated the local market. [7]

Promotion

In a promo with Coca-Cola for its line of Barbie Software Products for Girls during the holiday season and into 1998, Mattel Media arranged a $5 coupon for Adventures with Barbie Ocean Discovery and Barbie Magic Hair Styler inside 12- and 24-packs of Coca-Cola "Santa Packs." [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Mortal Kombat 4</i> 1997 video game

Mortal Kombat 4 is a 1997 fighting game, the fourth main installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise, and a sequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat 3. It was developed by Midway Games. Released to arcades in 1997, Mortal Kombat 4 is the first title in the series, and one of the first made by Midway overall, to use 3D computer graphics. It is also the last game of the series to have an arcade release. It was ported to the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PC, and Game Boy Color in 1998. An updated version titled Mortal Kombat Gold was released exclusively for the Dreamcast.

<i>Mortal Kombat 3</i> 1995 video game

Mortal Kombat 3 is a 1995 arcade fighting game developed by Midway Games and first released into arcades in 1995. It is the third main installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise and a sequel to 1993's Mortal Kombat II. As in the previous games, it has a cast of characters that players choose from and guide through a series of battles against other opponents. The game avoids the tournament storyline of its predecessors, as various warriors instead fight against the returning Shao Kahn, who has resurrected his bride Sindel and started an invasion of Earthrealm.

Scorpion (<i>Mortal Kombat</i>) Mortal Kombat character

Scorpion is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. A ninja dressed in yellow, his primary weapon is a kunai rope dart, which he uses to harpoon opponents. Debuting in the original 1992 game, Scorpion has appeared as playable in every main installment except Mortal Kombat 3 (1995).

<i>Mortal Kombat Trilogy</i> 1996 video game compilation

Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game released by Midway in 1996 as the second and final update to Mortal Kombat 3 for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and PCs. Further versions were also released for the Game.com and R-Zone. It features a similar basic gameplay system and the same story as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, but adds characters and stages restored from Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II. New additions to the game included the "Aggressor" bar. The Brutality mechanic was introduced with this installment. The game was met with positive to mixed reviews upon release.

<i>Mortal Kombat II</i> 1993 video game

Mortal Kombat II is a fighting game originally produced by Midway for the arcades in 1993. It was ported to multiple home systems, including MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, 32X, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and PlayStation only in Japan, mostly in licensed versions developed by Probe Software and Sculptured Software and published by Acclaim Entertainment.

Since Barbie's introduction as a teenage fashion model in 1959, the doll has been portrayed with many careers. Dolls are sold with sets of clothes and accessories that fit the career being portrayed. For example, the Lifeguard Barbie playset includes a Barbie, an outfit with shoes, a lifeguard chair, a dolphin, and a life preserver, while the Spanish Teacher Barbie includes a Barbie, an outfit with shoes, flashcards, a Spanish quiz, an easel, a notebook, a key chain, and a hairbrush.

<i>Barbie</i> (1991 video game) 1991 video game

Barbie is a multi-platform video game developed by Imagineering for Hi Tech Expressions. It is based on Mattel Inc.'s doll of the same name and was created in an attempt to get more girls to play video games. As such, it is one of the few explicitly girl-oriented NES games. The game takes place in a dream where Barbie must travel through three different worlds to gather accessories before attending a ball to meet Ken. Despite it having been of little interest to typical gamers at the time of its release, critics including staff writers for Velikij Drakon and Allgame have praised it as "not bad" for a generic platformer. Others including Justine Cassell and Nathanael Ng of the Georgia Institute of Technology have advanced the view that its genre is not appropriate for its content.

<i>Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3</i> Fighting video game

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, developed and released by Midway to arcades in 1995. It is a standalone update of 1995's earlier Mortal Kombat 3 with an altered gameplay system, additional characters like the returning favorites Reptile, Kitana, Jade and Scorpion who were missing from Mortal Kombat 3, and some new features.

<i>Mortal Kombat</i> Video game series and multimedia franchise

Mortal Kombat is a media franchise centered on a series of fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kung Fu Factory</span> American video game developer

Kung Fu Factory is an American video game developer located in Los Angeles, California in the United States. The company was formerly known as Just Games Interactive, which developed Mortal Kombat: Unchained and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, and worked on UFC Undisputed 2009. Kung Fu Factory is the first third party developer to have worked on a Mortal Kombat game. Recently the company has released several #1 Mobile games including the Adventure Time: Card Wars Series, SpongeBob Moves In, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run. The company's latest Top Grossing mobile F2P game is WWE Champions, which was developed in partnership with Scopely and WWE. On February 19, 2021, it was announced by Kung Fu Factory that a majority stake of the company was acquired by Netmarble.

<i>Mortal Kombat</i> (2011 video game) 2011 fighting video game

Mortal Kombat is a 2011 fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the ninth main installment in the Mortal Kombat series and a soft reboot of the series. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 systems in April 2011, and a PlayStation Vita port was released in May 2012. An expanded version of the game, titled Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition, was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in February 2012 and for Microsoft Windows in July 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattel Interactive</span> Video game publisher and software distributor

Mattel Interactive was a video game publisher and software distributor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasmin Kafai</span>

Yasmin B. Kafai is a German American academic who is Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, with a secondary appointment in Computer and Information Sciences at University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. She is a past president of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS), and an executive editor of the Journal of the Learning Sciences.

<i>Mortal Kombat 11</i> 2019 fighting video game

Mortal Kombat 11 is a 2019 fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the eleventh main installment in the Mortal Kombat series and a sequel to Mortal Kombat X (2015). The game was announced at The Game Awards 2018 and was released in North America and Europe on April 23, 2019, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One—with the exception of Europe's Switch version which was released on May 10, 2019. It was released on Stadia on November 19, 2019.

<i>Mortal Kombat X</i> 2015 fighting video game

Mortal Kombat X is a 2015 fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Versions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were also due to release, but both versions were cancelled. It is the tenth main installment in the Mortal Kombat series and a sequel to Mortal Kombat (2011), taking place 25 years later after the events of its predecessor. High Voltage Software developed the Windows version of the game, with Polish studio QLOC taking over the work on it shortly after the release of Kombat Pack 1.

Detective Barbie is a series of three mystery themed point and click adventure games starring the character Barbie. The series consists of Detective Barbie In the Mystery of the Carnival Caper! (1998) Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery (1999), and Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise (2000). The first two games were developed by Gorilla Systems Corporation and published on the PC by Mattel Media/Mattel Interactive. The third game was developed for the PlayStation by Runecraft.

<i>Barbie Fashion Designer</i> 1996 video game

Barbie Fashion Designer is a dress-up computer game developed by Digital Domain and published by Mattel Media for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS in 1996. The game allows players to design clothing and style outfits. Players can then print off their designs and create clothing for their real-world Barbie dolls. Barbie Fashion Designer was the first commercially successful video game made for girls. After its success, many other girl games would be made, leading to the girls' games movement.

Let's Talk About Me is a 1995 girl-oriented activity centre video game developed by GirlGames Inc. and team smartyPants!, and published by Simon & Schuster Interactive. It was released on Macintosh, Windows, and Windows 3.x. A sequel entitled Let's Talk About Me Too was released in 1997.

<i>Magic Fairy Tales: Barbie as Rapunzel</i> 1997 video game

Magic Fairy Tales: Barbie as Rapunzel is a 1997 educational adventure game developed by Media Station and published by Mattel Media.

References

  1. Davis, Ziff (1998-03-10). PC Mag.
  2. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2000-02-19.
  3. GARCIA, ERICA (4 July 1999). "GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN DIVE INTO AN OCEAN OF DISCOVERY WITH BARBIE". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  4. "Adventures With Barbie: Ocean Discovery; Talk With Me Barbie; Rockett's New School; Zero Zero". EW.com. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  5. Hafner, Katie (1998-09-10). "Girl Games: Plenty And Pink". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  6. Shade, L.R. (Winter 1999). "Just add girls and stir? [review of "From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games"]". IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. 18 (4): 35–36. doi:10.1109/MTAS.2000.808847. ISSN   1937-416X. S2CID   24619138.
  7. PVG24. "Barbie Ocean Discovery (par PVG24)". www.pvg24.com. Retrieved 2021-06-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. "Promos break for Barbie software". adage.com. 1997-11-18. Retrieved 2021-06-19.