In Her PC Games, Barbie Taught ’90s Kids They Could Do It All

It’s Barbie Week at The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, celebrating the doll’s pop-culture history, our favorite Barbie memories, and a certain major movie. Read all of our coverage here!

Greta Gerwig's Barbie, out later this month, marks the doll's first live-action incarnation in her 64-year history, but it's far from the first media interpretation of the timeless toy. There are animated movies, television shows, and even YouTube vlogs. Yet none of them have been as enjoyable as the PC games from the 1990s and 2000s, where players can step into Barbie’s fashionable shoes and go on exciting adventures.

Barbie’s legacy of gaming software technically began in 1984, with Barbie for the Commodore 64 computer, in which Barbie mainly drives her yellow convertible and goes shopping for a date with Ken. But the franchise gained popularity with the 1996 release of Barbie Fashion Designer on PC. As Barbie, players would select from a menu of different clothing styles and accessories based on a certain type of outing. The gameplay was simple, but the possibilities were limitless: Whether you were donning Barbie in an outfit for a dream date or vacation, there were a multitude of colors and patterns to choose from. Wanted Barbie to pair an ascot with athletic leggings? Go ahead! The outfits could be as wild or as chic as players wanted, and my Barbie usually dressed out of the box.

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