Why This Barbie Game Is Still the Horse Game to End All Horse Games

Perhaps you’re already aware of this, but I am unapologetically a horse girl. I grew up a horse girl, pretended I “grew out of it,” and in the twilight years of my twenties have come full circle and embraced horses once again.

As such, I’ve got a lot of years of horse-ish-ness under my belt. This means I’ve played many, many horse games. From the shovelware of my youth to the physics behind the horse animations in Red Dead Redemption 2, I’m hip to the modern horse game scene—even more so now that I’ve had the privilege of talking to the Horse Game Expert, Alice Ruppert. There are lots of good horse games, good games with horses in them, and plenty more that leave a lot to be desired.

However, in the wake of all this Barbie hullaballoo, I can’t get one particular title out of my mind. And that game, of course, is none other than Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue.

Literally perfect gameplay, no notes

The problem with a lot of horse games is they just … get boring. You get one horse to kinda sorta customize, and one or two worlds to explore. You can compete with your horse, pet it, brush it, and all that, but beyond basic horse maintenance, there’s not much else. This is why Wild Horse Rescue slapped so hard when I was a kid: it fulfilled my horse-loving fantasies and then some.

Playing as Barbie (with a very 2000s wardrobe), you explore the world around Silver Valley Stables as you try to rescue some horses and foals that got loose during a storm. There are multiple trails to explore, each with its own unique geography and tricky zones to traverse. Even for a game made in 2003, the worlds are incredibly charming and pretty, giving Barbie plenty to do. You can collect coins and boxes to unlock more outfits, lead foals through “dangerous” situations, and investigate old buildings on foot.

Of course, the horses and riding mechanics are the shining stars of this game. You can fully customize the many horses you collect over the course of the game, and for a 2003 game, the horses are remarkably good-looking. There are a number of coats to choose from and mix and match with their manes, tails, and tack. And while this is all mostly window dressing with no change in stats, who really cares? The window dressing is the fun part! That’s the wish-fulfillment, baby: having a full barn of pretty, pretty ponies you don’t have to pay money for.

The other side of that wish-fulfillment is (of course) the riding, which looks and feels fantastic. When Red Dead Redemption 2 came out, everyone called it a knock-off of Wild Horse Rescue, mostly as a joke but also partially seriously. Why? Because few other games have made horseback riding feel as good as these two—Barbie was just that bitch way before Rockstar ever tried to be.

Now, regarding the eponymous “wild horses”: no, the horses aren’t actually wild, so you can’t “tame” them. But see, this is where the game truly shined. No other game, not one, even ATTEMPTED to broach this concept before Wild Horse Rescue did. And what a missed opportunity for all those other games. Because let me tell you from personal experience: little girls will see anything related to wild horses and eat that shit up. The Cloud documentaries? My Friend Flicka? “Wild Horses” by Nellie Furtado??? That shit was my bread and butter.

So for Wild Horse Adventures to give you the prettiest ponies and the prettiest zones to explore, PLUS wild horses to lasso and then call your own??? Absolute bad bitch maniac behavior. For this mechanic alone, the game had young me in a chokehold. The euphoria of Barbie laser-focusing on a wild horse in the distance and watching the shitty PS2 camera zoom in on that dirty bad boy who was in desperate need of customization … *chef’s kiss.

The gateway drug to other video games

Yes, BHA: WHR is pretty dated by now, both graphically and technically. Yes, there are other horse games out there that I’d technically call “more fun.” But Wild Horse Rescue is still the queen of horse games simply because it was so good. No joke, the game singlehandedly inspired a whole generation of girls to get into gaming.

I mentioned Red Dead 2 earlier, but the game only got on my radar thanks to the horses in the trailer. And my initial thoughts weren’t, “Oh this looks so violent, I’ve never seen a gun in real life let alone played a video game with guns.” My initial thoughts were, “Oh my god this is just like Barbie Horse Adventures.”

Wild Horse Rescue was everything a good horse game should aspire to be. It gave the player freedom to explore beautiful worlds on the backs of a multitude of beautiful horses. It gave us a lot to do with those beautiful horses, from runnies and jumpies, to snackies and brushies, and even a lil’ bit of tamies. And thanks to BHA: WHR, I’ve become a much more well-rounded gamer. But I still subconsciously compare every single game with horses to Wild Horse Rescue. Even Tears of the Kingdom couldn’t compare to Wild Horse Rescue when it came to equine panache.

Wild Horse Rescue isn’t just the penultimate horse game. It’s one of THE most influential video games of all time, period. Bella Sara and Howrse could never.

(featured image: screenshot/TSM Channel/Vivendi Universal Games)