Magic Fairy Tales: Barbie As Rapunzel is a 1997 CD-ROM game with a storybook and playthrough option. It was made before the Direct to Video movie of the same name. No, really
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Once when a princess was born, a jealous witch stole her away to trap in a tower with no doors or stairs, out of envy for her beauty. Rapunzel nevertheless grows up to be a kind, polite and graceful woman, with talking birds for company. Things change when her first human friend, a prince named Galen, starts visiting regularly. The witch gets jealous again and banishes Galen with a curse.
This game contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Heroism: In the original fairy tale, the prince definitely had his way with Rapunzel. Here, Galen just troubles Rapunzel for conversation and doesn't take advantage of her naivety, even with how she knows little about the world.
- Adaptational Badass: Rapunzel is definitely more of a Badass Pacifist than she is in the original fairy tale.
- And Then What?: When Rapunzel and Galen reunite, Galen points out that they aren't safe as long as the witch is out there. Rapunzel then comes up with the idea to trap the witch, so she can't hurt anyone again.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Rapunzel is the one who comes up with the idea to trap the witch in the tower and steal her broom, so she'll be trapped.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Galen tells Rapunzel that he's been everywhere except the land across the sea. The witch curses him to go to where he's never been, and Twitter tells Rapunzel. She logically concludes that the land across the sea is the only place he'd be, and is determined to go.
- Determinator: Rapunzel never gives up, even when faced with impossible odds. When the witch curses Galen, so he'll never return to Rapunzel, the princess leaves her tower for the first time and goes to find him.
- Fetch Quest: You have to complete two of them:
- Receive two silver shells to pay for passage from a magic boat. You do that by completing a maze for an ogre and sorting a dragon's treasure.
- Barter for bread and ribbons to give to a goose girl, in exchange for directions to Galen. You help a baker decorate wedding cakes and a dressmaker fix gowns.
- Genre Savvy: Galen knows that he's in a fairy tale and tries to kiss Rapunzel awake when he finds her in an enchanted sleep. Sadly, it doesn't work.
- Gilded Cage: The tower has everything Rapunzel wants and needs, from food to clothing. Sullen will also show her the world outside, with reluctance.
- Important Haircut: When she hears that a cursed Galen needs her help, Rapunzel orders Twitter to get her scissors and cuts her hair to make a rope. Twitter points out it will take years for her hair to get that long again, but Rapunzel is fine with that.
- It Only Works Once: Once Rapunzel cuts her hair, the long braid vanishes from the tower. This is a good thing, since it means the witch can't climb down without her broom.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Rapunzel would have been content to stay in the tower since she doesn't have anywhere to go outside of it. The witch then cursed Galen that only Rapunzel's heart could set him free. This gives Rapunzel the courage to cut her hair to climb down the tower, travel across the sea, and find her prince.
- Spanner in the Works: The witch never knew about Rapunzel's bird friends. They overhear the witch cursing Galen after the former put Rapunzel into an enchanted sleep, and tell the princess after she awakens. Later, Twitter spreads a rumor that leads to the witch flying to the tower, and Peep and Cheep steal her broom.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Twitter makes a Throat-Slitting Gesture when the prince first climbs into Rapunzel's tower.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Rapunzel and Galen walk offscreen talking of their plan to trap the witch. We don't hear it, and only see it play out.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Galen tries to draw his sword on the witch when she enchants Rapunzel. Unfortunately, she immediately curses him and paralyzes him.
