G&C Podcast - Episode 217: The Games That Shaped Us #18: Detective Barbie!

[00:00:00] Hey everybody! On this episode of Gaming and Collecting, me and Alex are going to be taking a look at another game as part of our The Games That Shaped Us series, particularly a game from Alex's childhood. We'll be looking at Detective Barbie and the Carnival Caper. It is sure gonna be an experience. But anyways guys, on with the episode.

[00:00:39] Are you having a stroke over there? So how you been? I thought I was gonna burp and then it didn't come out. Great. I was trying not to burp on the podcast. I've been good. I still haven't started my job yet. I'm kind of going insane. I'm running out of things to do.

[00:01:07] But it's finally warm enough where it's biking time again. So I've been biking. I've biked for the past three days. Every day. Good. Can I hear my miles? Sure.

[00:01:23] So on Monday, I did just about 23 miles. I went to a park in our town. It was pretty nice. And then yesterday, I only did like 11. I think it was only like we did like 12. But I went on a bike ride with a friend. It was more of a leisurely catching up with a friend bike ride. But then today, I did 25. Yeah. Nice.

[00:01:53] Nice. I don't know if I'll go biking tomorrow. I'm still I'm debating it. I might charge my I have an e-bike. So I might charge the battery just in case. But yeah, I did 25 today. Nice. Nice. I'm tired. I went all the way to, um, I basically went all what? Dog docks us.

[00:02:13] No, no, I wasn't gonna tell you tell docks the location. I was just gonna say I basically went almost to, um, Pooh's groomer. So I like went right before the bridge. Nice. Nice. Oh, the Bratwurst place. I was across from there. There's a little park there. So I bike through that. Nice.

[00:02:36] No one will be able to find out. No one knows. Yeah, I went up the whole street and I almost thought I was gonna die like three times. Don't do that. To some well, it's not like so I I bike with the traffic because that's what you're supposed to do. Um, but there was a couple close calls were like people like when there was no really lame for me to bike and it was like I was on the line. And like they did not move over and I was like Jesus, I'm gonna die.

[00:03:07] But thankfully most people were pretty nice and like I don't bike in the road. I try bike on the side because I feel like that's the good courteous bike thing to do, but there's some sections where I just can't. Uh, so yeah, so I almost died, but it's fine. Don't die. It's fine. It's not my plan. But you know, if it happens. Oh, well, I lived a good life.

[00:03:38] I'm kidding. That just got morbid. I got on the clown music. That'll make it un-morbid. No, I think it'll be. Just because that's what's going through your head as you're thinking these things. Well, you know, someone hits me with their car while I'm biking. Like if you don't die, you get a nice settlement. Yeah. So I got two options.

[00:04:07] Uh, I got that. Speaking of cars, I got to pull mine out today. Finally, take it out of hibernation. Ah, Veruca. No, Veronica. No. And I, that was a character from chowder. Do you remember Endive? No, I don't remember chowder. I fucking love that show. I know that show was like your humor though. It was so fucking weird, but it was great.

[00:04:38] No, I pulled my Mustang out of, out of hibernation. I put gas in it and was she musty? No, cause I leave the windows down while it's in the garage. You do? Yeah. Are you supposed to? It's a garage. It's not like it's outside. Oh, true. I don't know. I guess like I, I don't consider my garage outside. Yours is more insulated than mine. Yours is like part of your house where mine's separate.

[00:05:07] Yours is a little shack out in front of your house. Yeah. Yeah. I used to work out in there and I'd like laughing at YouTube videos, forgetting that it was connected to your neighbor's garage. It's okay. I've definitely like, Oh, like parked in my garage before and hit the side of the wall and just went fuck. And then like my neighbor, I can hear my neighbor laughing on the other side of the wall. So I'm like, Oh, sorry. Yeah.

[00:05:38] You know, it happens when you share a space with someone and it's not soundproof. They hear fucking everything. Yeah. I guess that's the one upside to mine being connected to my house is like, I don't have to worry about that. Yeah. So Bill, what's this Friday? We're going to a concert. Who are we seeing? Three days, Grace and disturbed.

[00:06:09] Now you're supposed to go. I can only ever do it sometimes. Hold on. Hold on. No, but didn't happen. I thought I was feeling the burp again. I keep feeling. I thought you were like, I thought you were just like preparing for like the greatest David Draymond impression ever. No, it would be. Yeah. That one was so rough. Your mic just said, nah, I can't do that. Can people hear me talk?

[00:06:39] No, I can't make that fucking sound. Yeah, that's going to be fun though. I have to leave work that Friday at like 10. I'm going to lose half a day's pay, but it's fine. The only way we'll make it to Boston. It's worth it. Cause well, we're going early for, we're doing a meet and greet, which we've never done before. So that should be pretty cool. Uh, but yeah, so we got to get there early. Um, I have to figure out what I'm going to wear. I'm going to wear my St.

[00:07:09] Sonia shirt. I don't know what it's going to be like. I figured that out. Yeah. I figured that out. So I don't know if I got it. I don't know if I got it down with the, uh, I'm brain farting disturbed, disturbed. I don't know why. Like I know them, but for some reason, the name has just been like leaving my brain all week. Uh, I never got disturbed shirt.

[00:07:38] Who did I get at that concert? I don't know if I got a shirt at that one. No, I think you got an altar bridge shirt. Oh, I did. Yeah. I got the long sleeve one. I don't really want to wear long sleeve. I might just get a shirt there. Probably for the better. Cause I don't have a three days gray shirt. I only have the, I have the St. Sonia shirt. Yeah. But it should be fun. Should be, should be fun. Yeah. Um, so we found out your cat's obese. Yes, we did.

[00:08:06] She's going to the groomer on the day after the concert, which should be interesting. A disaster. Yes. Uh, well, it's just going to be tough waking up. Probably. Probably. But you know, I have to get up regardless. Well, same. Well, you have the thing I have to get up. I have to give her to the groomer. Uh, I, it is hard.

[00:08:36] If you get off schedule, anyone who has a long haired cat, if you get off your groomer schedule, good luck. You'll never get back on. You'll be messed up for so long. And she needs it. She needs her nails trimmed bad. I think I'm going to ask them to shave her. Spinks. Spinks. No, I'm kidding. I, I've been thinking about it just to see like how low her belly hangs. She would look so weird. Oh my.

[00:09:05] Well, this is actually kind of sad, but also kind of nice. So there was a, I've been following the story on, uh, on Instagram reels of this cat named Garbanzo. Um, and she had basically found these kittens, um, and Garbanzo was one of them and basically took them in, raised them and helped get them adopted. Uh, and unfortunately the person who adopted Garbanzo was a piece of shit.

[00:09:30] Um, and Garbanzo basically overfed, like Garbanzo, like they said my cat was obese. Garbanzo was obese, um, overfed the cat. Cat was stress eating. They were abusing the cat and eventually just set it outside. Um, and then it was picked up by animal, um, animal security. I don't know what it's called animal control, animal control.

[00:09:56] The cat was picked up by animal control and the, um, she had it. Tat, she had all of them, um, the QR, not QR code, the tags, the chips. She had the chip on the cat. So they actually ended up contacting her. She contacted the person. They basically blew her off. Um, eventually told her a bunch of lies and stuff, but abused the cat to the point of when she had adopted them, the cat, it was the sweetest cat too.

[00:10:26] When she first got the cat, um, back and was gonna kind of re-socialize it. It would just hiss. It would attack. Like completely different cat. Uh, but long story short, cat's doing so much better. I've been following the journey. Now that Garbanzo will come up to her, meow, purr. So it just shows like the environment of like how you treat your animals can really change the nature of your pet.

[00:10:53] Um, but Garbanzo had to get a surgery done, which involved them shaving Garbanzo. And Garbanzo was very fat. And oh my God, the belly. The fur can't hide it anymore. They just showed it everywhere. Oh, which I felt so bad laughing at because of the poor thing, but they, they actually did so much better after shape because the fur was all matted and gross and um, so yeah,

[00:11:23] maybe I'll shave food is just see how chunky. Cause I, mom's like my, our mom will joke and she'll be like, she's just fluffy. And I'll be like, I don't know, mom. I touched the sides of her and it is solid. It's not fluffy. She's fat. Uh, so long story short, follow Garbanzo the cat story. It's a very sweet, well, you feel terrible, but you're glad the cat's doing a lot better.

[00:11:49] But also, uh, tell my cat to stop begging for more food because she's not going to get more. She's on a diet. A diet. Nice. Um, that was long. Sorry. I've been reading the soul of like manga. I know you told me. You told me you couldn't resist. Uh, cause every episode ends in the fucking most annoying cliffhanger.

[00:12:16] Bill, this is why I'm waiting until the, until it's fully out. Uh, what's been dubbed so far? Uh, they just finished the hell dungeon. Okay. The demon castle. How much have you read so far? I just got up to the start of season two. So the, uh, the red gate, I feel like you can't go past. You got, no, you have to wait. Uh, I need you, you went ahead.

[00:12:45] Well, yeah, but the show was our, I, when I went ahead, it was already season two wasn't out yet. You have to wait at least until season two. You can't spoil it for yourself. That's not fair. It's not spoiling. If you're reading the official source material. All right. Well, at least you'll see like some of the differences and some of the stuff you might have missed too. I love how deranged some of the art is. Oh yeah. Like the scene where. Oh, you go first.

[00:13:14] I was going to say like the scene where he grabs Gina's face during the apparent teacher conference. And it's just like. Yeah. Well, I feel like there's a lot of, I mean, but I feel like that's with a lot of animes. Like you can't always translate everything perfectly. And you do miss some of those character moments. I will say though, I saw screenshots of like the next, uh, like the big fight that's coming

[00:13:40] up and I can't say I, I'm a little disappointed with how they animated one of the characters. I'm a little disappointed. I feel like they could have done a lot better. This is supposed to be a very threatening character. And in the man, why they see more threatening and how they animated. I don't know. I've only seen screenshots, but I'm not, I'm not super impressed. I think they could have done better. You have to wait to see the animation. Yeah.

[00:14:10] No, I will. I won't judge until I actually see it. But from like the stills I've seen, I've just been like, cause they've been kind of doing the comparison of like the manga versus that the man, well versus the anime. And I'm like, this is the one time where like, I kind of kind of have to agree that doesn't look as threatening. That's a, that's the only thing I'll argue is that when something is supposed to be intensely threatening and scary, like make it fucking scary.

[00:14:38] It didn't feel scary to me. You can't, you can't scare the little babies watching. Oh, boo hoo. The little babies are upset that he cried over his mom. Yeah. Bill. Ugh. What? Why does it still look crooked? I ain't moving it again. It looks, I know it's not, maybe it's just cause the, it's not as bad as it was.

[00:15:08] Uh, but it is a little crooked still. I just stopped saying. What? Are we going to anime Boston? Uh, I haven't bought the tickets. So probably not. We'll have to see. I don't think it's anytime. When is it? I don't think it's soon.

[00:15:38] I have no idea. When is it? Oh, it's not until May. We'll have to see. It's May 23rd to the 25th. When's the Rhode Island anime? Uh. If they're super close together, that's my only concern. I don't think so. June.

[00:16:08] Oh, actually that is kind of close. Cause it's May 23rd to the 21st versus June 7th to the 8th. Yeah. That, that's a little close. Like I. Yeah. That's a little close for me. No, I agree. All right. We'll just try the new one this year. Yeah. Ah. So. Anyways guys. Thanks so much for watching the Gaming and Collecting. No.

[00:16:41] What is wrong with you? What are you drinking? Put on the music. It's a sparkling ice. It's the same thing I drink every time. What flavor? Uh. Fruit punch. Give us a fact. It's flavored sparkling water. Give us at least the sodium.

[00:17:12] Give us something different. It's got zero pretty much everything. Good. That's good to hear. So zero sugar, zero sodium, zero whatever else is in there. Sure. It's got vitamins. It's got vitamins. That's all I'm giving you. Uh. Uh. Nothing else. What are you drinking? I'm drinking. A.

[00:17:41] Chi forest. Sparkling water. Zero sugar. Zero calories. Grape. Delight. Ah purple. Purple. Purple. Natural. Ultimate experience. Uh. Oleven point one six fluid ounces. Which is three hundred thirty milliliters. Um. Mhm. Let's see.

[00:18:11] We got. It's less than one percent juice. Then what is it? Um. One can. Is zero calories. Zero fat. 15 milligrams of sodium. 5 grams of carbs. Zero sugars. 5 grams of erythritriol. Zero grams of protein. 10 milligrams of potassium. That's enough.

[00:18:41] It's carbonated water. Everything seal. Natural flavors. Citric acid. Potassium sorbate. To ensure freshness. Sodium bicarbonate. You just give the same facts every time. This is boring. This is the ingredients. Sodium bicarbonate. It adds a negligible amount of sugar. This is where everyone's clicked off the podcast. Distribute.

[00:19:06] It's clicked off. They love this segment. Bill, what would you rate your drink? On a scale of. 55 mermaid princess Barbies. What would you rate it? Three sketchy guys in a trench coat. Trying to sneak into a movie theater? Sure.

[00:19:38] Bill, give me a rating scale. What would you rate yours out of race car tunnel of loves? Uh. I would rate it. Well, how many? One out of five. I would rate it. Two. It's not that great. And it kind of has like that fake grapey flavor. There is no grape flavor. It's purple. God damn it. Oh, that's what you meant. Uh. Yeah.

[00:20:08] There's no artificial. Artificial grape does not taste like grape. It is purple. Well, especially because I ate grapes earlier. Which I can say. Whoever sells grapes with seed in it. Like seeds in it. Why the fuck do you do that? No one wants that. No one wants to eat a grape and feel a crunch. Of a seed. Some people might. It fucking ruins it. No. Some people might enjoy it. Some people might just swallow them whole. The thing is. No. You shouldn't do that. The thing is.

[00:20:37] Is the grapes that I got. It was mixed with green grapes that didn't have seeds. It was. Then it was red grapes that did have seeds. So, I ate the green grape and went. Yummy grape with no seed. And then I ate the red grape and went. Why is my grape crunchy? See. It was immediately disgusting. The weirdest. Then I'd eat the grapes and like pick out the seeds. I don't want to fucking eat the seeds. Because I don't want my grapes to be crunchy. See.

[00:21:07] The weirdest. The weirdest. The weirdest food quirk I've ever seen was a guy eating starbursts. But he wasn't. What didn't unwrap them? Well, yeah. You can eat the paper. You're not supposed to. No, you can. It's edible. You got to eat it. It's part of the experience. You don't eat the paper? No. I just saw. I'm just not even unwrapping. No, that's normal. No, it's not. Everyone eats them with the paper.

[00:21:37] Everyone is stupid. Well, that's rude. I'm leaving. Oh. How did your podcast go after I interrupted? It was fine. Also, was Matt mad? No. It was just random. Was he confused? We were all a little confused. That's okay. Should I just pop in on a 3DO next time?

[00:22:07] That would be random. I could just pester with more questions. Just for Thrac, not you. That would be funny. Anyways, moving on. No. We have a topic for this game. No. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Where is it? I did actually burp that time. Good. So we're doing another... You didn't have to edit it out!

[00:22:35] We're doing another games that shaped us. I don't want to. But this is a game that shaped you. Well, shit. It must be terrible, because I'm awful. So we're talking about... One of the most weirdly complicated license games I think we ever played. We're talking about Detective Barbie, the Carnival Caper.

[00:23:02] You used to play this game a lot. I did? Yeah, because you would constantly be like... I've been a part of this game. I thought this was a game you played. This joke isn't even funny. Move on. Yeah. So... Yeah, this game, like... You would play this game constantly.

[00:23:32] Because the reason I know that is because you would constantly be like... I'm stuck. I need help. Well, I was like five. I was a child. Still. So, did you know that this is actually a series of games? Yeah. There's three of these. Yeah, there was... I did not realize there was three. I only played the original. I did not play the Vacation Mystery or the Mystery Cruise.

[00:24:02] I also love how they titled it Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper. Then Detective Barbie 2, the Vacation Mystery. And then it just said, never mind. We're not going to continue with the numbers. And we're just going to say Detective Barbie, the Mystery Cruise. Yeah. Yeah. The first two games were created by Gorilla Systems. And I'm pretty sure most people only know about the first one. I'm not going to lie.

[00:24:32] This game is very interesting. It is like a... I don't want to say point and click. It's kind of like a point and drag Barbie along the screen. Adventure Mystery game. Yeah. And I always remember the one thing about this game that was always super crazy and unique was the fact that the naming... Because you could name yourself in the game and Barbie would say your name.

[00:25:01] There is so many name options. And this is way before AI was a thing and made up voices. Some voice actress just recorded every fucking name. That Barbie actress recorded all of these names. Which is... I love to because you'll get to say like Catherine. And there will be like six different ways to say Catherine. But I'm pretty sure they just use the same damn line for each one of them. Yep. Well, there's different spellings. Yeah. But all of those sound the same.

[00:25:30] A lot of those names that I always laugh. Because I'm pretty sure they just use the same voice clip. So they didn't have to do every single one. They also did a lot of male names, which I find very interesting for the time. So... Hey, you... Boys can play Barbie too. I know. I've played this game many times. I know. And you had a great time. You have to admit, you had fun. I was desperate to play video games at the time, so... Yeah. Well, and... It was just fun going on a mystery.

[00:26:01] Yeah, this game's fully voiced too, which I find very amusing. Like, it's like... So the plot is really dumb. Essentially, Barbie and her sidekick, Becky, have just graduated from... It was in a wheelchair. Yes. Detective College. And they also look almost identical. And I think... I think Becky was an actual doll you could buy. I mean, because that was the gimmick with, like, most of these kids' games at the time.

[00:26:28] Like, you could always buy the Barbie that was associated with it. Yeah. So I believe you could buy Detective Barbie Barbie. But I think you could also buy the side character. I already forgot her name. What was her name? Becky. Becky. I believe you could also buy Becky. Becky. Which was also nice that they were making. Because, I mean... Think about it.

[00:26:55] How many dolls represent kids who are, you know, in wheelchairs? There's not that many. So it's always nice when they make stuff like that. It's better than the one with the removable pregnancy belly. Yeah. We have. Yeah, that was... I remember that one particularly. Yeah. Looking back on that, I remember as a kid, I didn't have one. But our neighbor across the street had one. And I remember... Way to call them out.

[00:27:24] Well, our next door... I didn't call their name. But our neighbor next door that we grew up with, she had one. I doubt they listen. But that's going to be real funny if they do. It's not... It's not what she bought. Her pants bought it for her. And, like, I remember playing with it. And I remember, like, being like... This isn't weird or anything. When I was a child, you don't think about it. And it's like... That is, like, one of the funny things they reference in the Barbie movie. Is they do go, like...

[00:27:53] That might not have been the great choice for children. Well, it's like that. And then I think of, like, the one that, like, was, like, the puberty Barbie. Where you could, like, spin her arms around. Oh, when you wind the arm? We could do a whole podcast on just, like... Well, eventually we gotta do... Eventually, we gotta find all the Barbie movies. And we gotta do a Barbie movie marathon. I have most of them. I just need a couple more. I always remember that one because we'd had show and tell around, like, middle school. Or not middle school.

[00:28:23] Elementary school. And one of the girls... I was gonna say middle school? If someone's bringing their Barbie to middle school, they would have been bullied. The fuck? I'm not judging. I'm not judging. I would have been bullied if I had done that. One of the girls brought in the Barbie, the puberty Barbie. And I remember because it famously, you would rotate the arms and a certain part of the anatomy would grow. And I just remember... Yeah.

[00:28:49] And I just remember this one, like, shithead kid, like, grabbed it while it was sitting on the thing. And he's like, guys, look! And he kept, like, going back and forth. And I'm just like... Of course, all the dumb child, like, children were laughing. But growing up in hindsight, you're like, that was really weird. Just like the pregnancy belly. And the worst part was, is like, in the belly, like, fit the baby, too. Yeah, it was just little baby. You could simulate, like, the Barbie fucking giving birth. And, like, that's so fucking weird, like, to have your kids do. But, okay.

[00:29:19] Like, here. But also... Well, they had to compete with Bratz, I mean... I think that came out before Bratz. No. I don't... The thing that, uh... Barbie used to compete with Bratz was the Mycene dolls. And they did a couple of those Mycene movies, too. The lore, Bill. The lore. I believe they also tried to sue Bratz, too. Yeah, they got them taken off the market for a while.

[00:29:49] Yeah, but... They're back! But then... It's so funny now, too, though. You remember the Bratz movie? That was so horrendous. I fucking love those movies. My favorite one was Bratz Genie Magic. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The live-action Bratz movie. Oh! We could do a podcast on the Bratz movies! Oh, we're adding it to the list, Bill. We're gonna watch... I'm not watching the live-action one. No, that's how we gotta finish it. We gotta finish with the live-action. We gotta watch...

[00:30:17] I'm pretty sure the director of that movie knew it was garbage and went out of their way to make it as trash as possible. Anyway, we're gonna do that, too. Just wait, guys. Barbie movies is coming, and so will be the Bratz movies. But... It's just funny now that they sued Bratz for, like, making dolls. But then now, like, you have, like, the Monster High dolls, which are basically Bratz, but, like, monsters. And, like... I gotta say, I would've fucking loved those as a kid.

[00:30:47] Like, I'm so jealous of the dolls they have now. They're so much more fun and cool. So, I'm jealous. Every time I walk by, I'm like, shit, I wish I had those as a kid. You could buy them if you want. No, now you buy figures. I mean, I... Yeah, I have... I have stuff now that I buy. Alex doesn't buy female figures. She buys men. That's Alex's dude. JoJo's men. And other men. Yeah. But anyways, that was a tangent. Getting back to the game, though.

[00:31:15] The plot is basically, Barbie and Becky just graduated from detective school. And they're going to, like, a summer charity event. Because, of course, they are. And Ken got kidnapped and all the charity money's gone. And I love how they, like... They're like, Ken was kidnapped. Along with the charity money. It's like, which thing do they care more about? The money. The money. Fuck Ken. Give us the money.

[00:31:43] So, essentially, the game is kind of like a... I don't actually think so. The game is basically like a point-and-click, like, adventure. It's like a whodunit. Where you got to... We walk around the park, search for clues, talk to people, interrogate them. And then... Yes? Oh. I was just going to say, similar to if you've ever played Putt-Putt. But every time you go and replay it, the game changes and shuffles things up.

[00:32:12] So, you won't always play the same story. And you won't always have the same culprit. Yeah. But Ken will always be missing. But you really just want the money. The best part is, but the Ken is, like, sometimes it's like, he's here. And other times, he's here. And it's like, you always laugh. Because sometimes it's a location that you walk past. Don't you see him, like, tied up, too? Don't they have, like, a photo of, like, isn't he tied up? In a screenshot. At one point.

[00:32:39] The pre-rendered models in this game are so fucking ugly, too. I mean, they look like dolls. So, I guess, like, they did that. All the budget went into the Barbie one. And then, like, all the other ones are so, like, ugly. Oh, Barbie and, like, um... Whatever. Becky's just a palette. Becky's a palette swap. No, they have very different faces. Look at them. If you actually look at the side by side... Look at them.

[00:33:09] Look at them side by side. You're fucking different. I don't know. They both look like Barbie dolls. They don't look the same at all. You're fucking... They look like... Anyways. I'm looking at them. Their nose, like, their face shape is different. Their eyes and noses are different. Everything's different. I'm like, what? They do... You know what triggers me? Ken looks scary. He does. You know what triggers me?

[00:33:37] The fact that on the cover, she's wearing a purple suit. But then, in-game, it's black. It's just... Yeah. Well, they had to make the cover look fun. But also, it makes sense that they actually had her in the black coat. Because this... The game is very colorful. There is a lot of purple use. If they had used purple, she probably would have blended in a lot. So, that's probably why they went with black. I love this screenshot of, like, Barbie just standing over Ken.

[00:34:06] And Ken just, like, looks like... He looks like a legit lifeless doll. Who are some of the characters? There's the handyman. He just looks like a predator. I'm not going to lie. He does not look safe. He shouldn't be around kids. I don't trust him. He has exactly the... I like how you bring up him and not the fucking clown that owns the park. Well, he came up first. I haven't seen the clown man yet.

[00:34:35] Where's the clown man? I don't know. I can't find him. Oh, God! There he is. Yeah. You know who he looks like? He looks like... Like, they definitely reused his face design. He looks like one of the villains in Barbie and the Princess and the Pauper. Yes.

[00:35:02] And he has a song in that movie, and it's great. Anyways, that movie's underrated. I can't wait for us to watch it, Bill. So, um... Because you're going to watch all the Barbie movies. The thing that I found the most interesting about this game, too, is the fact that, like, you could just randomly ride the rides for no reason. There's no reason. Yeah. There's only... There's only a reason later in the game, because eventually, like, as you uncover clues, you'll start seeing, like, this mysterious stranger in a trench coat running around,

[00:35:32] and sometimes you have to, like, get on specific rides to see him run into random places. Like the slide? I hate the slide, because the freaking controls on that are so fucking dumb. Also, that slide... No way that would work in reality. Because, like, the left and rights, like... A child would just go face-first into the wall. And just die. That would fucking hurt so bad.

[00:35:58] You'd get one child into the wall, and then the next one would probably catapult over him to his death. That's how that would work in real life. You know, but, Bill, remember? Remember that the fact that it's a fucking Barbie game? I don't care. I'm talking realism here. Also, why was there a stripper pole in the basement? Oh, no, it's not that. Okay. I looked at it. I was like, what the heck is that? It's a little platform. Yeah, my favorite part, too, is, like, you talk to people, and I swear to God, everybody was, like, guilty as fuck.

[00:36:28] Like, every time you... Yeah. Well, I feel like in any of those situations, like, when they're interviewing people, like... Like, for me, like, I know, like, that, like, I had to take the drug test for my new job. I know I didn't do drugs. I know I haven't done anything. But I still was, like, worried and, like, felt guilty, even though I've done nothing. So, I don't know.

[00:36:54] I just feel like sometimes people are just like, eh, eh, eh, you're asking me questions. Or maybe I'm a serial killer. Yeah. Who knows? And then there was also, like... So, there was, like, the random carnival rides you could go on. But then there was also, like, these, like, minigame rides. Like, the Tunnel of Love, which was actually, like, a racetrack. Yep. And then the bumper cars. And I always remember they were so lame. Yeah, but remember, it was a PC game.

[00:37:24] There was the... You could go on the carousel. Oh, yeah, and fucking fairy tales and memories. Because it had a song for no fucking reason. Like, most carousels have a song. That's why it had it. Also, I remember... They both, all the time, they play music. That's part of the carousel experience. My favorite part about the rides, too, was, like, anytime you would get on one of them. Because our computers had issues. They would just...

[00:37:52] The struggle bus would just start whenever they'd try to play the cutscenes. Yep. And it'd be, like, the game would just, like, be, like, I'm dying as it was trying to load. I think there's also... There is bumper cars. I'm pretty sure there's bumper cars. And then there was also one of those games where you have, like, the water gun and you had to squirt it in the mouth. But it was frogs. Yes. Yeah. And you would win. It was, like...

[00:38:19] It was, like, reality where you would win even if you lost. Who are some of the... I know there was, like, the... There was the son of the clown. Well, there was her. Yeah. And she's all, like, look at me. I'm famous. Who gives a shit about the kid that's missing? And she says that regardless of whether she did it or not. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The maintenance guy's name was Artie. Artie!

[00:38:50] And I always remember, too, because, like, a lot of times he'd be the helper at the end of the game. And they'd be, like... Someone was leaving us clues, by the way. Or just cut to his, like, goofy face. He'd be, like, thanks for all your help, Artie. You were real friends. Why the fuck didn't you actually do anything? Yeah, I know. Like, Artie, fuck you! Like, why'd you give us clues instead of just helping us? I remember the one time you were playing, too, and you got stuck behind the...

[00:39:17] You went behind a building and got stuck somehow. Well, yeah, because glitches in games. Yeah, I always remember, like... Yes. You go. Well, I always remember, too, because the games, like, would be very predictable. Like, you'd search around and talk to people. And then it'd be, like... You'd get on a ride and you'd be, like, ooh, there's a strange figure running around there. And you'd almost catch them and you'd get, like, a videotape.

[00:39:46] And then you'd watch the videotape and it would reveal where Ken was. Also, just... How wacky is this that the person who, like, kidnapped someone and stole the money is just hanging around the park still? It's just like... Wearing a black cloak. And running around like a maniac. Like, making it seem like, yeah, that person's not suspicious or anything. Like, if... Especially the fact that it's someone in the park is always it.

[00:40:13] Like, if they had just stayed in their normal outfits and probably just minded their own fucking business, they would have never found out. But they had to be a goofy sideshow character and go, Oh, I'm gonna go torment everyone in the park. How can... I couldn't go away with it! I also remember there was, like, a ton of shortcuts in this game that you could unlock and none of them ever made any fucking sense with the map. Like, you'd go through a shortcut and end up in a place. It's like, how? How does that work?

[00:40:43] Yeah, like, there's no way that these buildings connected, but in the game, apparently they did. And you're like, alright, I'm just gonna go along with this and hope for the best. I always hated to when you needed to get in a certain place and then it would... The person that would... Sometimes, like, there'd be rooms that would have people in them. And, uh... Sometimes you would need to, uh... You'd need to, like, be in there, but then you'd go to go in and then the person would be there and it would be like, Oh, I guess you can't go in right now.

[00:41:11] I have to say, one thing we haven't brought up is that, though the game is very colorful and, like, bright and happy, there were some scary fucking sound effects in this game. Like, some of the noises and some of the things were so eerie, like, it would be like, bleh! Like, I remember it, like, kind of scaring me as I was playing it. Well, because it's a dark, empty theme park. That's just always kind of creepy and inherently. But, like, a lot of the sound effects.

[00:41:41] Like, I remember, like, there was the stage. You'd go on the stage of where the magician lady performed. And, um... One of the things you could do is, like, she had, like, this big, like, heart coffin situation. You could go in it. I just always remember, like, that... Creaking sound of, like, the doors opening was just... Combined with the music was, like... Like, I always thought someone was gonna pop out of there and no one ever did. Unless I was locked in there. Was that Ken's fault?

[00:42:11] No, not in that one, but he would be in the trunk in the basement. Yes. Which is also funny, because, like, there was somewhere just, like, how the fuck is he not in this trunk? And then he wasn't in, and you're like, damn it! See, my favorite, too, is, like, when... Like the, uh, the humongous entertainment games, you would, uh... You basically just click on shit. Yeah. Um, and certain things will do things, but sometimes, like, there'd be, like, stuff hidden. And I always loved, like... There was one room where there was, like... Yeah, the magic behind glass.

[00:42:41] There was one room where I always remember, like, there was, like, a carpet that was sort of folded over, and you'd click on it, and the whole carpet would just go, woof, open. And there'd be, like, a fucking, like, trombone under there. I'm like, how the fuck was that hidden under there? Shh, don't question it. I think that was in the, um... The, the backstage, um... Yeah. Magician room. With, like, the... With, like, there was also one room that had just a bunch of, like, ghosts and, like, pumpkins, which was a little scary. As a kid, I was like, eh! You know what I always liked, too?

[00:43:09] Like, they would put, like, trench coats and, like, hat, the hat, like, the, uh, the fedora. They would, like, leave those in every area where one of the people was just to make it even harder to figure out who the person was. They did make it tough on you. Like, you did actually have to solve the mystery and, like, find the clues. Like, you couldn't just guess. Like, it never really gave you the answer. So it did make you work for it, but... You know what the best, too, was when you...

[00:43:36] Because you could get the keys for all the Ken hiding spots, and whenever you guessed wrong, it'd just be like, nope. Truck tester. Pretty much. Yeah. My favorite, too, was when you'd go to the concession stand, and I remember, because you used to do this on, like, ad nauseum. You'd just go to it, open the popcorn, spill it all over the floor, leave, come back, open the popcorn, spill it on the floor. I'd be like, Alex, stop. No. I was a child. Stop being a terror.

[00:44:06] Bill? I'm sorry. I just saw a screenshot of the guy in the trench coat going up the slide, and it just looks so fucking stupid. Like, why do you think that that was a good idea? Like, ugh. See, I was always more disturbed, like, when, like, he'd be hiding in a ride. Like, either the bumper cars or the tunnel of love, and he'd just kind of creep his head around the corner and be like, ew. That's just weird. Yeah. He was creepy.

[00:44:37] He was a creepy man. Or a lady. Most likely a man, just based on the character. Percentage-wise, it most likely would have been a man, but there was a chance of it being a lady. But it was only one and one-fourth. No, just one-fourth. What am I saying? One-fourth. Blech. I can't. Brain. It's one-fourth chance. Yes. Yeah, Ken's in-game model is horrendous.

[00:45:07] Yes. Yeah, he does look scary. I don't know what Ken they were going for, but that's not the usual Ken. That's like Kevin. That's not Ken. Ken is blind. Ken doesn't have a derpy mouth. He also now looks like a thumb. He looks like one of the thumbies. Like the thumb babies from Spy Kids. Spy Kids. Why does it always go back to Spy Kids? You ruined my dream journal! Anyways.

[00:45:36] That wasn't even Spy Kids. I know, but it's the same thing. It's the same thing. Now all I can think of is that gift that you keep sending me of Aaron Yeager. I love that gift. I love that gift. I love that gift. I love that video so much. It just makes me laugh. You know what I love too at the end? The ending is always like, it's like the Scooby-Doo ending too where the person is like,

[00:46:04] I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling Barbie. Yeah, it really was a little bit Scooby-Doo inspired. I kind of forgot about that, but yes. And then like, they're all like, thanks for helping us. And then Ken makes a stupid quip and they're just like, oh, Ken. And then it's like one of those hyuck, hyuck, hyuck endings. And then shut up, Ken. I also remember too, this was another famous game where you would, it's like, and here's your junior detective badge. You could print it out.

[00:46:32] And this is where Alex would break the printer again, trying to print something out. Yeah, well, that was the thing about all the Barbie games is that you could, uh, but, um, yeah. I fucking love that video. It's really funny though, because like, it's, it's not going to pick up properly.

[00:47:01] So don't. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, you know. Yeah. This is one of those games. It's really fun to watch. Like people play nowadays. And they're all like, what is this? Like, where does it go? Oh, like watching people go back and play. I know.

[00:47:27] I was like looking, like doing some research before and like seeing the amount of people who had playthroughs and stuff of detective Barbie. It did make me happy though. Like knowing that, you know, this was a really fun memory for a lot of people out there. Not just us growing up. Uh, I always like to see, look and see if anyone brings up on Reddit, just because it's always funny when you see amount of people. Um, a lot of people brought it like together with like Nancy Drew.

[00:47:53] I never read the Nancy Drew books or anything, but, um, or any of the other things, but I know other people did. So I found some people talking about it, but it was great to see a lot of people looking back and remembering it. Um, and memories. I always remember, um, uh, when I think like PC, like mystery games, I always think like where in the world is Carmen Sandiego. Yeah.

[00:48:20] That was another game that we had that we couldn't get past the first screen because we were stupid children. Well, yeah, we were kids, you know, we had so many educational games where we couldn't get past the first screen. Well, some of them were designed for like different grades that like we weren't actually at the time. So it kind of makes sense, but, um, you know, it's just growing up. I'm sure if you went back in it now, you would be able to do it. Great. You know what I love?

[00:48:48] I love reading some of the official reviews for these games. Like this one, PC gamer gave said this game had neither glitz nor glamour. Okay. Super kids said persistence, patience, and good directional abilities were required to solve the case instead of logic and deductive reasoning skill. It's like, I think you're just stupid. It's a child's game.

[00:49:17] I mean, if we were able to figure this out as kids, I don't know. I love how they also highlight just kind of another one that's funny. Like another, it's like Russian website. Seven Wolf wrote that the graphics were simple, but it was a good game for girls to unite around. There must not have been a ton of reviews for this game. Um, I doubt it. I mean, like it was, it's not like it was that big of a game or anything.

[00:49:47] This, the BuzzFeed review said that the best part of the game was the rides and the tunnel of love. Did they even play the game or did they? I would have to say this a lot. I, who knows? It makes me wonder how many Barbie PC games that I didn't play. Cause I remember I played this one. Um, I played this one. You played that weird ocean one. I had, yes.

[00:50:15] Uh, adventures with Barbie ocean discovery. I had that one. You played the horse. I had genie magic. You played genie adventure. What? You had the two. There was two different horse ones you played. Uh, I had Barbie horse adventures, wild horse rescue. And that one was also kind of a mystery. Cause you had to find one of the horses. And then I think I also had riding camp. Yeah.

[00:50:44] No, it was mystery ride. I had mystery ride and wild horse rescue. Yeah. Cause one was like this weird side scroller thing. And then the other was, um, like a full 3d thing. Oh, there is another one. Oh no, that's summer. Yeah. I know I had those. You also had that weird, like extreme sports game. I did have that like sports one. I'm trying to remember which. I remember you played that one the least. Cause you were like, I hate sports.

[00:51:13] No, that one was fun. Well, that one also, there wasn't that much you could do. It was very limited. That's why I didn't play it that much. It was Barbie super sports. What I remember about. You could just get over. Like there wasn't much you could do. What I remembered about that one was you ignored all the sports except for the skate park and you just play right at the skate park. Yeah. Well, I just remember the skate park was the most fun and everything else kind of wasn't that fun. Skate park was the most fun.

[00:51:42] So that's why I played that one the most. And it had the most you could do. There was also that Barbie Explorer game that you could never get past the first screen. Yeah. That one controlled really badly. Cause that was a console game that they stuck on PC. I also had Barbie. I believe I had Barbie fashion show, which that one was, uh, that one was really fun because I loved anything like that.

[00:52:07] And then I think I also had, um, Barbie magic hairstyler. I believe I also had that one. You had that weird one with like the magic mirror too. Oh, that one. I don't actually think that was a Barbie game. Oh, I think that was just a princess story game. I don't know. I'm pretty sure. I know what you're talking about though, but there was a lot of Barbie games.

[00:52:37] I wonder if I'm more on steam. I highly doubt it. I'm going to Google it. I'm sure. Let's see. Barbie project friendship, which looks like it came out. Not that long ago. So no. Damn. I don't think those games would even run on a modern PC. So I can dream. Let me dream.

[00:53:06] Well, for now, I'll just need to find, uh, where can I find all the Barbie movies? I'm sure you could find them. I might have some of them up in my attic. I should go through my attic. Might have some of them. All right. That's my plan. I'm going to go through the ones that I have in that box set and then I'll see what I can find in the attic. And then we'll be doing a Barbie movies podcast. Oh boy. We'll do that next week. Next weekend.

[00:53:34] We'll watch all the Barbie movies. Or I'll have to give you some links and you can watch them. Legally. Sure. All legal means. Yeah. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. Anyways, guys. Uh, once again. No. Thanks for joining us on the gaming collecting podcast. I'm not done yet.

[00:54:04] You like jazz? Uh, you can find us on all the major podcasting platforms, particularly Apple podcast and Spotify. And be sure to check us out over on the super pod network. That is super pod network. Dot com. It's an awesome site with a whole bunch of different, um, podcasts, videos, blogs. We're currently doing a blog series of talking about some of our favorite, uh, PlayStation, uh, one games. So be sure to look out for that. Did you hear that? No. Okay. Good.

[00:54:33] But, um, yeah. Yeah. So anyways, guys, once again, thank you for joining us. We will see you all later. No. Everyone go watch Barbie, uh, fairy topia. That's the best series. Watch the first three movies. There's a character. His name is Bibble. Uh, you'll either hate him or you'll hate him. Either way, it's a great time. Watch the Barbie movies. Do your homework.