Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses is a 2D side-scrolling platformer based on the 2006 direct-to-video animated movie of the same name, with the story loosely based on the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The game is different from the PC/PS2 3D version Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses. Barbie is cast as Genevieve, one of the twelve princesses who live with their windowed father King Randolph in a castle. They live a frivolous life, so Randolph brings over his cousin Duchess Rowena to raise them as proper princesses. She makes their lives miserable however and one day Genevieve wakes up and discovers her father has been poisoned and the other eleven princesses have been locked up.

Genevieve needs to explore different locations to free her fellow princesses. With the game being a platformer, she needs to jump to navigate areas and avoid enemies. Initially the gameplay is very basic, but by freeing the princesses, six abilities are provided gradually, such as a butterfly net to attack enemies, magic stilts to cross large gaps, ribbons to create staircases, a mallet to hit croquet balls and operate switches, putting down a book as an additional platform, and running faster. In the DS version the abilities are stored in the lower screen and can be activated by tapping them, changing the colour of Genevieve's dress. With new abilities more difficult environment based puzzles are introduced, for instance when Genevieve has to be guided through two parallel planes. She has three hearts that represent health and the game has some boss fights.

There are several mini-games, for instance one with Genevieve's cat Twyla in a fixed-scrolling platform challenge, butterfly catching, ribbon racing, a time trial run etc. There are two difficulty levels and the unlocked mini-games can be accessed right away from the main menu. The game has a password function to continue playing. In the DS version the player sometimes needs to blow into the microphone to extinguish fires.