Shrek Adventures: Journey to Oz

Shrek Adventures: Journey to Oz, known in Japan as Shrek: Magical Oz Story (シュレック：魔法のオズの物語 Shurekku: Mahō no Ozu no monogatari), is a video game released for the Game Boy Color. In this game, Shrek must free a mysterious figure who is trapped inside a music box.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Shrek Adventures: Journey to Oz is very similar to Wario Land II. Shrek must take advantage of his enemies' attacks to physically change and access new areas. For example, if Shrek eats a doughnut thrown by a certain enemy, he temporarily bulks up to twice his size, giving him extra protection against attacks and the ability to break certain blocks. While Shrek will always be affected by his enemies, he must also find new powers and abilities in order to progress through the game.

The world of the music box is divided into four different areas, East, West, North, and South, each containing a number of individual stages. Each stage contains four treasures, each of which is locked in a colored treasure chest that can only be opened with the corresponding key. The colors of the chests are, in the approximate order that they are intended to be opened, Gray, Red, Green, and Blue. This order is not fixed, although the game provides hints as to the next stage to travel to and the next treasure to obtain. Often, when a treasure chest in one stage cannot be reached, Shrek must backtrack to retrieve a new item to make it accessible. Finding new treasures usually grants Shrek a new ability or opens the path to a new stage. Whenever Shrek obtains a new treasure, he is transported back to the music box overworld. Time has passed while he was in the stage, and it is now either day or night relative to the time of day when Shrek entered the stage. Some stages change depending on the time of day; certain enemies may be replaced or different paths may open up. Shrek cannot control time initially, but gains this ability when he finds a certain treasure.

Coins can be found in each stage, and are used primarily to play the golfing minigame described below. Shrek can carry a maximum of 999 coins. In addition, eight Music Coins are hidden in each level for Shrek to find. If all eight are found in each of the twenty-five stages, an extra fourth golf hole will be available for play.

In some stages, Shrek will have to play a golfing minigame to progress. He must knock the enemy into the cup without going over par for that hole, while avoiding hazards such as water, bunkers, lava and rough grass. Upon collecting certain items in the game, this golf minigame is available to be played at any time from the overworld map.

Unlike the previous Shrek Adventures game, Shrek has no health points and cannot die, with one exception. The only way to die is to get captured by the game's final boss, Mombi the Witch. This simply returns Shrek back to the music box overworld.

Plot
One day, Shrek and Donkey are having a stroll in the woods. they spent the rest of the afternoon wandering among the trees and underbrush until they stumbles upon a mysterious cave. Inside the cave, they discovers a magical music box and Shrek gets suddenly sucked into it. There, a mysterious figure informs Shrek that he had once ruled the world inside the music box, until an evil being sealed away his magical powers in five music boxes. In exchange for freeing it, the being promises to send Shrek back to his own world and let him keep any treasure he finds. Enticed by the thought of returning to his own world with a cache of treasure, Shrek departs on his quest, in search of the music boxes and the many treasures of this mysterious land called Oz.

After collecting all the music boxes Shrek returns to the temple inhabited by the mysterious being. Once he is there, the music boxes play a medley together. The medley frees the being, who, as it turns out, is Mombi the Witch. It transpires that Mombi is in fact the villain and had been imprisoned by Dorothy and friends, although not before placing the inhabitants under her spell. After Shrek defeats Mombi, he is met by the inhabitants of the music box, now free from the spell. They thank Shrek and transport him back to his own world, along with the treasure that he has collected, as promised.