Barneystein: The Death of the Dinosaur (1994)
Created in 1994, the Barneystein patch is one of the earlier examples of what has become known as “modding”; modifying the graphics, sounds or operation of games to reflect improvements, cultural references, or humor. (Examples range well into the 1980s and earlier.) The original program, Castle Wolfenstein 3D, was a shareware hit and one of the earlier examples of iD Software’s technically proficient and happily bloody gameplay that would reach a later apex with DOOM and Quake.
This program was created at the height of the Anti-Barney the Dinosaur online craze, when the popularity of the children’s television program “Barney and Friends”, known for simplistic singing and “Barney the Purple Dinosaur” merchandise permeating many stores. The distribution disk this material comes from included anti-Barney writing from Usenet newsgroups, including fiction and “analysis” materials parodying or ranting against Barney.
Samples of Beavis and Butthead, as well as Barney the Dinosaur, permeate this game, as well as remixed graphics of the walls and enemies. The level design and gameplay appear to be left completely intact.
The original Wolfenstein was a very easy game to mod; you could use fan-made tools to create new maps and redraw all the sprites. So there was a little cottage industry of Wolfenstein mods, some of which would pop up in the shareware booths.
Gory Wolf, with the blood turned up to “disgusting,” was one. Another was Barneystein, which was quite a strange package of material. There was the game, with Beavis and Butthead replacing the standard Nazi guards and then-popular children’s TV star Barney The Dinosaur replacing Hitler. But also on the disk was a text file containing “Day Of The Barney,” a lengthy piece of violent, grotesque fanfiction about a malevolent Barney taking over the Earth and murdering anyone over the age of 13. That sure wasn’t on the label!
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