Commodore 64's Barbie and the Nintendo Entertainment System's Barbie walked so future Barbie games could run. The easy-to-play games brought many young girls to the medium and might have been the catalyst for some women choosing to work in the field.
The early Barbie video game years included the Commodore 64 Barbie game and the much more entertaining Barbie for the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've talked about them both before, but in the span of only six years, Barbie evolved from a mostly boring simulation game to an 8-bit platformer. I grew up with the NES game. As I was six years old in 1991, this game was perfect for me. I had grown accustomed to platformer games thanks to Mario, so Barbie was a welcome addition to my collection.
In 1993, just a few short years after Barbie for the NES and Game Boy, came Barbie Super Model for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and MS-DOS. The graphics were a huge improvement over the NES and Commodore 64 games, and it's clear this game did take inspiration from the Commodore 64 game.
Barbie Super Model is a very easy game to play, though it could have taken better advantage of the 16-bit consoles. Sealed WATA-graded Sega Genesis copies won't cost you an arm and a leg either. The one-year average for a 9.6 is $312, but every other grade between 9.2 to 6.5 all have prices under $130.
Between 1996 and 2000, Barbie had 19 different games made across a handful of platforms, though many of the games were PC-only release. 1999's Barbie Super Sports was released for the PlayStation and was a fairly standard sports game. The game allowed players to try on different clothes on their Barbie before sending her out to skate, snowboard, and even surf. The graphics were good for the time, and the soundtrack was varied, with different songs playing at each level. This is another game that can be had for not a lot of money. A sealed WATA-graded 8.5 has a one-year average of $35.
From 2001 - 2009 we saw 25 different Barbie games, also made for multiple platforms. The themes of the games began to vary and put Barbie and her friends in a number of new situations. Games such as Barbie: Pet Rescue, Secret Agent Barbie, Barbie Mermaid Adventure, and Barbie and the Three Musketeers were varied and unique and showed young players that Barbie -- and in turn the player -- could be almost anything. The only limit was your imagination!
Barbie and the Three Musketeers was released for the Nintendo Wii, the Nintendo DS, and PC. The game, much like the movie it was based on, was a retelling of the classic The Three Musketeers story by Alexandre Dumas. The action-adventure platformer had bright, colorful graphics and smooth gameplay. The game also has cut scenes from the movie, making this one of the better Barbie games of the era. This specific game can be found on eBay for under $10 -- even for a sealed copy.
Since 2010 we've only seen nine new Barbie games, though that might change with the Barbie movie. These newer games follow the same formula as the early 2000s games by placing Barbie in different situations. One of the most common themes with Barbie is that she can be anything -- President, an astronaut, a pet groomer, and more.
These games absolutely lean on that theme, all while introducing young girls to the world of video games. Most Barbie games are not worth a ton of money, but if you collect Barbie, these video games can be a great addition to your collection.
