HOLIDAY SEASON MAY FAVOR TOYS TRIED AND TRUE : BARBIES, MORE THAN EVER.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Nicole Corrado started nudging Mom and Dad months ago about what she wanted for Christmas. Barbies. Lots of Barbies.

And that's what the 3-1/2-year-old will get: the new twirling and teacher models and a closet full of accessories to go with her 17 or so other versions of the classic plastic gal.

``This is Barbie's year,'' said her dad, Michael Corrado of Chicago.

For the second year in a row, what's old is new again under the Christmas tree. The classics - such as GI Joe, Lego, Bugs Bunny, Play-Doh and 101 Dalmatians - are poised to be the best sellers, say toy makers, parents and retailers.

Sure, there are some new toys that kids will clamor for, particularly those based on Warner Bros.' ``Space Jam'' movie starring basketball superstar Michael Jordan, Bugs and a gym packed with animated teammates. And video game sales are picking up with the introduction of Nintendo 64, Nintendo Co.'s new 64-bit video game.

That's one reason why toy sales are expected to rise about 4 percent from the $20 billion spent last Christmas, according to a forecast by battery maker Duracell International Inc.

But so far, there's no ``gotta have'' blockbuster to match Cabbage Patch dolls or Power Rangers, according to Kim McDonald's experience with her 6- and 9-year-old boys.

``If there's something they see advertised, I hear about it,'' said the Lakewood, Ohio, mother. ``But I haven't heard about anything.''

Toy watchers agree. ``There's a more balanced offering with a lot of things happening on different fronts, which is probably a healthier situation,'' said Frank Reysen Jr., publisher of Playthings magazine.

Healthy, at least, for the bottom lines of Mattel Inc. and Hasbro Inc., the world's two biggest toy makers.

Both companies are offering a lineup of the old, the new, and the old updated for the computer age.

Take, for example, Hasbro's venerable board game Monopoly. The tabletop version is expected to sell quite well. So is its CD-ROM cousin for personal computers.

``These classic brands are really more popular than ever,'' said Gary Serby, a spokesman for Hasbro, the maker of best-sellers as Lincoln Logs and Mr. Potato Head. ``The key is they keep evolving.''

That's true also for Mattel's Barbie, who is plugging into the cyber-world at the ripe age of 37 with a computer game called ``Fashion Designer'' that lets kids dress their dolls on a computer screen.

For the material-world Barbie, the Toy Manufacturers Association of America expects strong sales of the Holiday Barbie, the Twirling Ballerina Barbie, the Star Trek Barbie, as well as her sidekick Ken. Sales of the perennial favorite already are up about 25 percent so far this year, analysts said.

``Barbie is having an incredible year,'' said Sean McGowan, a toy industry analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison.

The Barbie brand sold $1.4 billion of merchandise worldwide last year, and Holiday Barbies represent a growing niche for Mattel. Industry observers attribute the demand to adult collectors who prize the limited edition dolls.

Finding the special-edition doll was all but impossible after Thanksgiving last year. Toy stores sold out and Mattel ran out of stock. For the first time in its history, the company sold vouchers, which promised delivery of the doll - but long after Santa had come and gone.

The El Segundo toy maker contends there are plenty of the dolls this time.

``We didn't want to disappoint again this year, so we increased our production and shipped earlier than normal,'' Mattel spokeswoman Sara Rosales said Friday. Shipments started in July, instead of September, she said.

Still, demand is outstripping supplies in some markets.

In Athens, Tenn., the Wal-Mart stopped carrying the doll because there weren't enough to go around.

Sick of adults throwing tantrums over unmet demand for Holiday Barbie dolls, some store owners have limited sales - and one stopped selling them altogether.

Store manager Dee Hughes said customers have been calling at 6 a.m. to see if a shipment arrived overnight. Sometimes they harass sales clerks, convinced that the seasonal Barbies - in their glittery gold gowns, dark velvet coats, white fur hats and hand muffs - are stashed in a back room.

Hughes' solution: Stop selling Holiday Barbie.

Such a frenzy hasn't been reported in the Valley, where store managers characterize sales as steady, not spectacular.

Films likely to boost sales

Movies, predictably, will likely write the script for some of the hottest sellers.

``Space Jam,'' a live-action and animated film that opens Nov. 15, looks like a sure-fire hit. That bodes well for its licensees, which include Playmates Toys Holdings, which will sell action figures, plush toy maker Play by Play Toys & Novelties Inc., and Tiger Electronics, which has a hand-held game.

``The whole industry has underestimated how strong this thing can be,'' said Neil Wasserman, vice president of the retail division at Play by Play.

Mattel also is likely to get a boost as the licensee for products linked to Disney's live-action remake of the classic animated ``101 Dalmatians,'' which opens Nov. 27.

Tyco Toys Inc.'s Tickle Me Elmo, a stuffed ``Sesame Street'' character, and beanbag animals called Beanie Babys from Ty Inc. are expected to be hits, as well.

Kids are also going high-tech. Tyco is offering a video camera for children that sells for less than $100. Meanwhile, Tiger Electronics's ``My First Laptop'' is a computer keyboard with oversized keys for preschoolers that hooks up to Mom and Dad's PC or can be used on its own. It sells for about $60.

Video game players, scarce under Christmas trees in recent years, are making a comeback.

Nintendo 64 will probably be the winner in a shoot out with Sega's Saturn and Sony's PlayStation. The Nintendo system, introduced in September, sold out 350,000 units in three days. Nintendo plans to ship 1.2 million units through the end of the year, up from the initial 500,000. The company said it expects that to ``partially meet demand.''

Supplies already are low at some stores. At a Toys ``R'' Us Inc. store in Chicago, there were only about 10 units left already. ``If you wait until next month, it will probably be a sold-out situation,'' said Toy Book magazine publisher Jim Silver.

That kind of demand may be just what Toys ``R'' Us needs, after the chain-store retailer was hurt in recent years by weak demand for video games.

For a real lift, though, the world's biggest toy seller may have to wait until next year, when as Toys ``R'' Us Chief Executive Michael Goldstein put it, things ``get to be exciting.''

That's when theaters will be screening potential blockbuster films such as the rerelease of the ``Star Wars'' trilogy and sequels to ``Batman'' and ``Jurassic Park.''

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Photo: (1--color) Dolly Yoffe of Tarzana examines a Barbie doll at Toys ``R'' Us in Woodland Hills. Barbie is expected to sell well this year.

(2--color) Sales of Dalmatian toys are expected to benefit from the release of the remade ``101 Dalmatians'' on Nov. 27.

David Sprague/Daily News