Barbie Treasures in Time/Time Traveller (non-existent build of GameCube/PlayStation 2 video game; 2002): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:58, 18 November 2022

The box art of Barbie Treasures in Time.

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

Barbie Treasures in Time/Time Traveller is a canceled sequel to Barbie Explorer for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2. The release date of this game is still in debate, with IGN claiming an Expected Release on the 2nd of June 2003 ^[1] even though this information is very likely to be inaccurate since the prequel to this game (Barbie Explorer) has its PC release in 2002^[2] and Amazon reviews of this game dating back to the 3rd of December 2002 ^[3]. This game has been developed by Runecraft (as discovered by feministbatman on Tumblr) ^[4] and published by Vivendi Games itself ^[5].

History

In Barbie Treasures in Time. Barbie goes on a time-traveling trip to find lost treasures. Within the game you visit: Lagoons, Ancient Cities, Shipwrecks, Secret Caves, A castle in a medieval world, Futuristic Gardens, Lush Forest, and a Futuristic Theme Park. On your way, you obtain so-called "Magic Items" to unlock new movement like rolling, diving, and jumping which helps you move over obstacles ^[6].

Unfortunately, Barbie Time Traveller/Treasures in Time doesn't have a definitive title. The game has 2 working titles. It isn't sure if Barbie Time Traveller was supposed to be a title for the earlier version of the game, a title for the PlayStation 2 release, or an EU localization. It is sure that Barbie Treasures in Time was a name for the GameCube release^[7] and/or the North American release of the game^[8].

Status

On the 3rd of December 2002, an Amazon account named DeRosset Myers posted a 5-star review showing excitement about the game while also showing doubt that this game will be ever released and on the 31st of August 2003 another amazon user named Valeria Gonzalez account made a review on the games page looking for the game

The 2 reviews under the amazon listing of the game

claiming that they tried to visit the store Toys R Us to no avail with Toys R Us claiming that they had this game on the store shelves a long time ago but not anymore. Valeria ends the review by asking for resellers of the game to contact them ^[9].

On the 10th of May 2019, a Twitter account named duhprotagonist replied with a poll to a tweet saying, "only if you can prove you're a real gay mergirl pop quiz: Have your 100%ed Barbie Treasures in Time for the Nintendo Game Cube" with the answers "Yes" and "Not a gaymer"^[10]. The Twitter account pinkyhonos replied to set tweet on the 26th of June 2022 with the text "Do you have the game?"^[11], unfortunately, duhprotagonist has not interacted with the reply and still has their direct messages on Twitter closed.

In 2021 accounts named nikaleeee, normandy and Brain Abortion began a search for information on the Russian social media app VKontakte revealing 2 screenshots of the game.

On the 2nd of April 2021 a VKontakte user named Йерне Хэтчет shared 2 more screenshots of the game from the website cube-europe.com

On the 26th of June 2022, a Barbie videogame speed runner nicknamed PinkyNoice found a LinkedIn account of the Senior Producer of Vivendi Games (The games publisher).

On the 27th of June 2022, a Barbie videogame speed runner nicknamed Pachblank found a cover of an instruction booklet for the game which further shows evidence that the name Barbie Time Traveller is possibly the name of the game for the EU release ^[12].

Also on the 27th of June 2022, a Barbie videogame speed runner nicknamed Soulcloset sent out a message to the senior producer's LinkedIn which unfortunately had been ignored by the Senior Producer. Even though they had been active on the account the message has been ignored The message that they sent.

On the 30th of August 2022, a Barbie videogame speed runner nicknamed PinkyNoice found a LinkedIn account of the concept work creator for this game who has included in their work description " including ‘Premier Manager 2002’ and 'Barbie – Treasures in Time for PS2, X-Box and GameCube." Revealing a possible Xbox release. ^[13] Also on the same date, on the French website, senscritique.com PinkyNoice discovered a comment from a user lulu654 on a Barbie Time Traveller forum that states "an attribué 6/10 au jeu Barbie: Time Traveller" which translates to "Rated 6/10 to the Barbie: Time Traveller game."^[14]

Rumors

WARNING: THESE ARE ALL RUMORS WITH NO CONFIRMATION OR SOURCE. THE PERSON WHO THIS RUMOR ORIGINATES FROM HAS DECIDED TO NOT SHARE EVIDENCE. TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT A tumblr account earlier mentioned in the article called feministbatman has made a post about the game saying that she has talked to people affiliated with the game. After an anonymous tumblr user has asked a question saying "hey sorry if this is weird but did you ever find out if a playable version of barbie: treasures in time existed?? the info im finding is conflicting :/ tysm!" with feministbatman replying "No it did never exist. It never finished development past concept work. And it´s not a weird question, I was the one who tracked down all the information about it!"

With PinkyNoice asking for evidence of such claim with feministbatman replying that she spoke to a studio developer who made the claim with also saying the developer also saying that the game was cancelled due to the studio going under. Including "I am not sure what specifics I could provide besides screenshotting my messages with the developer."^[15]

Pinky replied with "If you could possibly provide screenshots of the conversation it would suffice. Even though i gotta ask... If the game never made it past concept art why on sites like n-europe.com are screenshots of the game and more in-depth information about it from a "playtester"?" with feministbatman replying

"Hi, I'm not going to provide screenshots of the message I received because I think it's a bit weird to provide emails to strangers online, especially when that email is eight whole years old and was written when I was a teenager. I will say the following:

1. The game did make it past the concept art stage, I can't find anywhere where I stated that it hadn't.

2. N-Europe is a nintendo fan site-- take those old typo-riddled forum type posts from 2002 with a grain of salt. The information they had reads like something out of a leaked press packet that got shelved due to delays. They don't claim to have playtested, nor have I seen anyone online who has claimed to have played the game.

3. The animator I spoke to worked on the game for a very limited amount of time-- based on the timeline of the studio's demise he was probably hired on when people started to leave the company due to the change of hands, and he left 6 months later. ^[16] ^[17]

Even though there is an inconsistency within who feministbatman actually contacted saying both an animator and a developer of the game but it might be a mistake or 2 different people, but the rest said seemed reasonable and trustworthy