The familiar worlds of Ariel, Cinderella and the other Disney princesses are featured on this platform game for the GBA. There are six different environments, each inhabited by a particular princess who must navigate her way to the end without losing all her health points in the process. Sharks, guards, snowmen, and possessed trees are just some of the enemies they'll face.

Kids will be able to play as either Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, or Snow White. While the worlds are different in their localities and inhabitants, the basic gameplay is the same throughout: collect coins and specific items for each world, as in keys for Ariel, jewels for Snow White, etc., and shoot and/or avoid the bad guys. For the most part, avoiding the bad guys isn't too difficult, but some of the princesses' shots are delayed ones, and this can cause them to be hit before getting a shot off.

True to Disney's mostly non-violent themes, the princesses for the most part don't do much damage, but just knock the creatures either unconscious or asleep, except for Ariel, who vaporizes the underwater critters she meets with her handy trident (it's ok to kill fish, but not animals, apparently). Snow White lulls fruit throwing trees to sleep by her voice, Aurora uses magic wands to put the evil queen's co-cohorts to sleep, Cinderella knocks the cat, Lucifer, unconscious with her broom while cleaning, Belle throws snowballs at her enemies to knock them out, and Jasmine uses a scimitar to stun guards.

There are three levels for each of the six worlds, for a total of eighteen levels, plus a bonus level that opens up on successful completion of the game. The levels are a mixture of platform running and jumping while dodging enemies, and puzzle-oriented levels which mostly feature opening doors in maze-like corridors of rooms. Some of these are pretty interesting, such as the first level of Cinderella, which features her washing out Lucifer's footprints around the house, while trying to prevent him from making more by knocking him out with her broom. While cleaning, she also must find objects one at a time to deliver to her step-mother. Some levels are rather boring, as in the first level of Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) which features her wandering around the forest in search of three wands to turn butterflies back into fairies. However, for the most part the levels are well-done, as in the second level of Belle which requires searching behind curtains and doors for her enchanted friends such as Lumiere and Cogsworth.

The graphics are very nice and capture the essence of Disney well, with wonderfully drawn characters and colorful backgrounds. The characters are a trifle stiff in their movements, however, and at times are difficult to maneuver around enemies, resulting in more hits than necessary during play. Jasmine appears to be the most fluid of the princesses, except when flying on her carpet, which is again hard to manipulate across the screens.

Each world features great music that is very reminiscent of the particular movie featured. A calypso beat is present in Ariel's levels, and Belle's theme music sounds almost exactly like some of the songs in Beauty and the Beast. Unlike much of the musical effects in GBA games, these tunes will please everyone!

Of course, with the name "Princess" in the title, girls are the main target for this game, but it's a game that is completely playable by girls and boys. Unlike many GBA games for young players, this game has actually (gasp) been designed with the little fry in mind and features a good variety of easy platform jumping, slow-moving enemies and interesting puzzles. Granted, some of the levels are ho-hum, but most of them offer sufficient challenge and variety to occupy the kids for a fairly long time.

There are three difficulty levels, but these only change the number of health points available to the princesses, not the levels themselves. Still, there are ample opportunities to build health back up by finding hearts which are hidden in some of the treasure chests lying around. The game is mostly easy to play, with the best age range probably being five-ten. Parents should note that the password system is horrible, and requires writing down an enormous amount of small and capital letters each time.

Disney is on a roll with their latest GBA games, with the excellently designed Piglet's Big Game GBA and now Disney Princess, which, while not quite as good as Piglet, is still a solid game for young children and much better than many earlier Disney GBA games. Parents will definitely want to check out this game for the kids, especially if they have girls who love Disney.
 

Graphics: 8 
Excellent graphics, although some of the levels are pretty dark.

Sound: 8
The music is really nicely done, and matches the Disney movie themes wonderfully. Each world has its own unique theme music.

Concept: 7.5 
Having six different characters, each with their own special movie-themed environments, is a little different than the usual kiddie fare. Offering different types of gameplay for each level within the worlds is not that usual, either.

Overall: 7.7
A fun children's game that offers a decent variety of levels. Some problems include awkwardness of movement for some of the characters, which can lead to losing health points, and also an unnecessarily complex password system, but the game in its totality is a good one for young children.