I’m an avid vintage Barbie collector, and it was something I bonded over with my mom and my aunt (her sister) my whole life before my mom passed away. Generally, every Barbie collector I’ve ever known tends to be incredibly passionate about the hobby, and when I got my first glimpses of Atari’s upcoming Barbie Rewind, I could tell right away that people who are passionate about the doll and her history were involved with the development.
I got the opportunity to go hands-on with the game at PAX West over the Labor Day weekend. Barbie Rewind has two parts: room decorating and classic Barbie games. The room decorating has the player sprucing up the iconic 1982 Dream House with eight rooms and sections of the house to decorate: the living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, guest room, study, backyard, and driveway. Much like in the Animal Crossing games, there are multiple menus for the different furniture types (seating, tables, etc.), and the player simply chooses the item the want, rotates it, and places it. Small decor can be placed on top of tables and some decor can be placed on walls.
I was incredibly impressed by the sheer amount of truly iconic, recognizable furniture sets included in the game. Here’s a list of everything that was available during the PAX West demo, with both their in-game descriptors and the official names of the furniture sets accompanied by their original release years:
- Chic: Magic Kitchen (1998)
- Classic: PlayPaks — The Beach Scene (1978), Picnic Badminton Set (1983)
- Cute: So Much to Do! (1995)
- Dreamy: Dream Furniture (1984)
- Everyday: Living in Style (2003)
- Fairytale: DreamHouse (1996)
- Festive: Happy Birthday Barbie (1990)
- Fresh: Trendy Loft (2003)
- Outrageous: Café Today (1971)
- Pop: Generation Girl My Room Tori (2001)
- Pretty: Flower Garden (1997)
- Professional: Travel Agent (1986)
- Radical: California Dream (1988)
- Retro: Dream Furniture (1978), DreamHouse Dream Furniture (1979)
- Rosy: Pink Sparkles (1991)
- Stylish: Barbie ‘N Skipper Living Room Furniture Group (1965), Go-Together (1964)
- Tropical: Beach Blast (1989)
- Vintage: DreamHouse (1962)
It was one nostalgia hit after another for me as I was decorating each room. The So Much to Do! living room and kitchen sets and the Flower Garden set were in regular rotation in my Barbie houses when I was growing up. It was amazing to me how seeing the in-game rendering of random pieces of furniture, like a bar stool or a stove, could bring back such strong memories of playing with these toys as a kid or looking at my mom’s collection. As I was placing the pink and green striped couch from the DreamHouse Dream Furniture set into the living room, I kept thinking about how the real thing feels in-hand: the smooth plastic, the somewhat rough striped fabric. Seeing the stereo and receiver set from the So Much to Do! living room made me think of my dad picking up the pieces and admiring them when I was playing with them, saying how he appreciated the attention to detail with the knobs and tuners on the front of the receiver.
One furniture group that felt a little thin was the bathroom furniture. There were a number of bathtubs to choose from and a couple of sinks, but it didn’t feel like there was enough furniture in this group to fully decorate a bathroom. I don’t even remember seeing a toilet (and Barbie has definitely had toilets over the years). Hoping that this gets addressed before launch because that was a little disappointing.
Somehow, despite growing up playing with both Barbies and video games, no one in my family ever got me any of the Barbie games that came out over the decades. At the same time, I never asked for them because I didn’t even know they existed, so if you’re like me and you’ve never played a single Barbie video game, Barbie Rewind has you covered. There are 19 retro Barbie video games available to play, spanning the NES, SNES, SEGA Genesis, Game Boy (GB), Game Boy Color (GBC), Game Boy Advance (GBA), PC, and Sony PlayStation 1 (PS1). These titles include:
- Barbie (NES, 1991)
- Barbie Game Girl (GB, 1992)
- Barbie Super Model (SNES and Genesis, 1993)
- Barbie Vacation Adventure (SNES and Genesis, 1994)
- Barbie Ocean Discovery (GBC, 1999)
- Barbie Race & Ride (PS1, 1999)
- Barbie Super Sports (PS1, 1999)
- Barbie Fashion Pack Games (GBC, 2000)
- Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise (PS1, 2000)
- Barbie Pet Rescue (GBC, 2001)
- Secret Agent Barbie: Royal Jewels Mission (GBA, 2002)
- Barbie Groovy Games (GBC, 2002)
- Barbie Gotta Have Games (PS1, 2003)
- Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race (GBA, 2003)
- The Barbie Diaries: High School Mystery (GBA, 2006)
- Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (GBA, 2006)
- Barbie as the Island Princess (GBA, 2007)
From a games preservation standpoint, I was impressed that for each game, the original manuals have been scanned and are available for the player to read to understand the game’s basic premise and mechanics. But given that this game is being published by Digital Eclipse, I shouldn’t be surprised. The company’s north star is “to give video game history the respect it deserves by focusing on the craft and legacy of classic video games,” specifically with the goal of “preserv[ing] gaming history for future generations.” Big thanks to them for the work they do and have done in this game, as well.
I decided to give Barbie Super Model on the SNES a shot and while it’s not going to get much praise from me in terms of gameplay mechanics or really anything else, I will say it was certainly entertaining. Between driving like a maniac in her pink Corvette down the streets of Hollywood, somehow managing to lane split without getting her car wedged between the other two on either side of her, there are educational games to play that are aimed at a very young audience. Test your memory and match Barbie’s outfit to what she was wearing on a magazine cover or practice her moves for a fashion show.
While the games are charming, part of their appeal is in how deeply ingrained they were in the childhoods of so many people. While I was discussing Barbie Rewind with the girl who was manning the booth, she said that so many people, including a lot of men, were getting excited scrolling through the list of retro games, remembering when either they had the game or someone they knew had it. She said a group of guys had come to the booth and were talking about how one of them had a sister who made him play one of the Barbie games with her before relinquishing the PS1 for him to play on. So as a result, he was well-practiced in Barbie Super Sports and knew all of the tricks and shortcuts.
I also got an in-person look at the special edition Barbie that will be part of the game’s deluxe physical edition, which will be a Switch exclusive. She’s wearing a black Atari tee with a pink version of the company’s logo on the front, with a pair of skinny jeans and white sneakers. Only 20,000 of these will be produced and each box will be individually numbered.
Barbie Rewind is a love letter to Barbie collectors and fans of those Barbie games from their childhoods. It’s also a nice way to experience Barbie history and enjoy some of the best furniture sets in the best DreamHouse she’s ever had (in my humble opinion), especially for those who don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on the ever-increasingly-expensive hobby of retro Barbie collecting. The game launches November 12, 2026 and I’m looking forward to seeing what other classic furniture sets and hits of nostalgia Atari manages to pack into the final version.