Barbie (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
464A playthrough of Hi Tech Expressions' 1991 license-based platformer for the NES, Barbie.
Wildly popular and highly controversial since her introduction to the American public in 1959, Mattel’s Barbie has provided young girls a fashion savvy, boy crazy friend on whom they could depend to provide countless hours of entertainment. Throughout their lengthy tenure at toy stores domestic and abroad, these iconic fashion model dolls have been exploited to endorse and advertise products in several different marketing sectors – by the 1990s, Barbie’s shiny plastic visage could be seen gazing longingly at consumers from a full range of branded “girl” products, including books, clothes, perfume, and a pink Corvette Power Wheels electric car.
Despite being upheld as a role model for girls ages 3-9, Barbie has committed several presupposed social faux pas over the course of her lengthy shelf life. Having come to be regarded as a prominent thorn in the side of the modern, liberated woman, Barbie has been subjected to intense scrutiny by social crusaders for half a century: her dangerously unhealthy body proportions, alleged anti-feminist agenda, and the willful reinforcement of disempowering stereotypes (courtesy her fixation on shopping and the color pink) have all secured her perpetual placement in the crosshairs of both the media and of advocacy groups. But eager to take up the mantle in Barbie’s fashioning as a social pariah, Hi-Tech Expressions’ NES game Barbie furthers this cause successfully by providing a vehicle through which the unsuspecting preteen girl is fed thinly veiled, ham-fisted social commentary, fittingly complemented by an utterly banal example of platform gaming.
Our somewhat modern, albeit hilariously irrelevant, portrayal of an American teenage girl all begins “once upon a dream.” Late one evening, Barbie relaxes in bed curled up with her favorite book (about mermaids, what else?), thinking about all the things that she has to do the following day. With a packed schedule that includes having lunch, going swimming, buying an outfit, and going to a party with Ken, she makes the prudent and responsible decision to turn in for the night.
The instant she closes her eyes, Barbie steps into the most fantastic of dreams. Envisioning the fun she’ll have the next day, Barbie’s imagination carries her through five stages, each representing a mental projection of the anticipation and excitement she feels. Exploring the mall, the beach, and the soda shop, Barbie has to overcome deadly obstacles (possibly birthed as manifestations of Barbie’s own sense of self-loathing) to piece together the perfect ensemble for her evening with Ken.
At the shopping mall, Barbie must take care to avoid being injured by a wide variety of aggressive consumer goods including sporting equipment, beach balls, and possessed tank tops while navigating around sporadically functioning fountains filled with leaping fish. As she narrowly avoids becoming a victim of capitalist greed, Barbie should be on the lookout to collect large coins stamped with her initial - if successful, she can make a wish by throwing them into a fountain at the end of the area, thus granting her a visit from a toucan who gifts her with a beautiful ball gown.
Once finishing at the mall, Barbie visits the beach, where she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a mermaid. Dodging dangerous currents and homogenously assembled legions of ill-tempered seahorses and jellyfish, a flippered Barbie must collect pearls and rescue the king and queen crabs from their kidnapper. Successfully completing the jailbreak, Barbie may return the found pearls to a huge oyster, who will show his appreciation by giving her a gorgeous sparkling tiara.
Finally, Barbie hurries toward an Elvis-era soda shop where she must remain on guard from coffee cups, hamburgers, energetic french fries and a massive ice cream sundae, all while collecting gold records. Upon successfully escaping the soda shop, Barbie can use the records to form a magical stairway leading to a pedestal in the sky where a dazzling pair of glass slippers lie in wait.
The graphics and sound in Barbie aren’t awful, but they’re extremely unappealing, and the controls, though responsive, are super stiff.
It's not by any means broken or unplayable, but Barbie‘s NES debut comes across as a gratuitous cash grab. Little girls from the early 1990s would have likely been enticed by the prospect of playing a Barbie videogame. Most, however, would have walked away with a sense of disappointment and frustration upon realizing that “games for girls” was really a just a euphemism for “games that suck because nobody cares enough about what young girl game players want to warrant more effort,” thus earning Barbie another point in the cultural sensitivity contest.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video