Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet

¡Vámonos! Let’s go!

NA release: 13th October 2005
EU release: 15th December 2005
JP release: N/A
Developer: Monkey Bar Games
Publisher: Global Star Software
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Dora and Boots witness a UFO crashing on Earth. The aliens inside – Flinky, Inky, Plinky, Dinky, and Al – are stranded. Luckily, Dora knows an Iguana that has a space ship. After she consults the map, it’s time to head off across multiple levels and worlds to help the aliens get back home, making sure to collect enough space gems along the way.

As the game is for little kids, it’s very simple, with all the face buttons being the action button. This is usually jump, but also interreacts with objects (mainly getting Boots to search something). Dora moves quite slow and the levels, while occasionally giving the illusion of freedom, are pretty much following a straight path. It’s certainly simple enough for young children, but also quite boring. There’s also no enemies and no way to get hurt.

Dotted across each level are space gems. There are between 30-40 on each level, some on the path, some hidden in objects (ones that shake slightly) and some that you can’t avoid at all. There are also some basic minigames between each level that also give you these games. By the end of each world (consisting of three or four levels) you need to collect a whopping five gems. I don’t think it would be possible to collect fewer, even if you tried.

While edutainment games don’t always work, I feel like Dora the Explorer would be a perfect candidate for one. In the show, Dora asks the viewers questions and says “well done”. Dora does the same thing in this game and it’s baffling – surely letting the player pick an answer (with infinite guesses) when this happens would be the most basic thing for a Dora game?

Poor

Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet can be a fun adventure for young children who are learning their first school-related skills, like how to count, pick out colors, etc. The fact that it’s tied to a highly popular television show is certainly a bonus as well. There are a couple drawbacks, like the fact that it doesn’t actually teach in any way, and there might be a confusing section or two. For the most part though, the game does a good job of presenting simple puzzles with the Dora the Explorer franchise in a way that will please and entertain young kids.
Chris Roper, IGN

Remake or remaster?

Not really for this one.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to buy Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet