The game takes place in a dream where Barbie must travel through three different worlds (Mall, Underwater and Soda Shop) to gather accessories before attending a ball to meet Ken.

Despite it having been of little interest to typical gamers at the time of its release, critics including staff writers for Velikij Drakon and Allgame have praised it as "not bad" for a generic platformer.

[6][7] Along the way she meets a veritable menagerie of animal friends and searches to find Dream-Ups, Glamor Items, and Charms for her bracelet that will help her along her way.

[12] Barbie was designed by Hi Tech Expressions in an attempt to get more girls to play video games,[7][13][14] although the developers tried to make the gameplay appealing to boys as well.

[3] The game has two versions, one of which contains 3 new songs composed by Hi Tech Expressions producer Billy Pidgeon, Ken Kirschner, and Danny Ray.

The pink, cute label art displaying the classic doll in 90s regalia doesn't stare you down as something with any sort of depth, but once you actually start to play it you find there's quite a bit going on in this little platformer.

"[22] On the other hand, critics have pointed out that the game feels like it has been shoehorned into an inappropriate genre for its content and that even for a platformer it is wholly unremarkable.

[9] Barbie was discussed in 1992 by the United States House of Representatives during a hearing chaired by the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration (under the Committee on the Judiciary) in which it was noted that the game had been subject to frequent counterfeiting and related copyright and trademark infringements.