When Nintendo first came out I remember sitting around with some guys in 5th grade and talking Zelda and Super Mario.
Having played "Pong" on my dad's Atari and "Frogger" on his old school computer, it was exciting to see the advanced graphics and plot lines of these new games.
I played Burger Time where you had to try and build a burger while deranged eggs and sausages tried to stop you. It was intense.
When these games came out we didn't yet have the internet so you had to read a gaming magazine to keep up with all the cool secret moves and hints for the harder levels.
On weekends I would rent games from the local video store and make my sister play with me. I pretty much sucked at every game so I would take out my frustrations by punching my sister and telling her she "made me die." She would then go and tell our mom and I would get in trouble.
Sucking at play didn't stop me from exploring more games (or standing inches from the screen during Duck Hunt so I would get a high score).
When I was in sixth grade I met a girl named Katie who had moved down to the South from Michigan.
Katie got me involved in figure skating and we would often have a Friday night sleepover before her parents would take us to the rink on Saturday.
Friday's at Katie's meant pizza, video games and staying up late to watch Standup Spotlight on VH1.
Katie had two older brothers who were really good hockey players. One was named Steve and his favorite thing to do was find a way to bully me and Katie.
This took several forms; headlocks, pinching and shooting at me and Katie with a pellet gun while we were swimming in the family pool. He referred to the latter as "whaling."
There was some good to Steve however and this turned out to be his skills at gaming.
There was one game in particular that we loved to play and that was "Metroid." The game takes place in the creepy underground of some faraway planet and the character you play is an armored bounty hunter.
When Katie and I got caught on a hard level we would get Steve and truce between the sexes would be called.
Some weeks later while Katie and I were on the school bus she would tell me that her brother had beat Metroid and that the bounty hunter was a woman.
My mind was blown and ever since I've held a special place in my heart for that character, Samus Aran.
The character would later return for future incarnations of Metroid and sadly become more sexualized as time went on.
She would make an appearance in a comic called "Captain N, The Game Master" where she was reduced to a jealous, immature mess.
Yes, the young woman who had single-handedly defeated nefarious forces throughout the galaxy was nothing more than a love-sick nag.
Now do you see why we need more women in game development?
In ninth grade I would discover the Secret of Mana.
This game allowed you to fly on a dragon and have a 360 degree view of the world under you.You could buy spells and armor and play the three main characters with two other people.
I played on that game a total of 72 hours with my boyfriend at the time, eating sunflower seeds until my tongue went numb.
Sadly, I would never finish the game as dick face and I broke up after I learned he was cheating on me.
I don't like zombies or stealing cars or blowing up enemy combatants in a first person view so I don't play games anymore.
Every now and again though, I think back fondly on those Friday nights where me, Katie and Steve would try to reach and destroy Mother Brain with the help of a brave woman in mysterious armor.
Having played "Pong" on my dad's Atari and "Frogger" on his old school computer, it was exciting to see the advanced graphics and plot lines of these new games.
I played Burger Time where you had to try and build a burger while deranged eggs and sausages tried to stop you. It was intense.
When these games came out we didn't yet have the internet so you had to read a gaming magazine to keep up with all the cool secret moves and hints for the harder levels.
On weekends I would rent games from the local video store and make my sister play with me. I pretty much sucked at every game so I would take out my frustrations by punching my sister and telling her she "made me die." She would then go and tell our mom and I would get in trouble.
Sucking at play didn't stop me from exploring more games (or standing inches from the screen during Duck Hunt so I would get a high score).
When I was in sixth grade I met a girl named Katie who had moved down to the South from Michigan.
Katie got me involved in figure skating and we would often have a Friday night sleepover before her parents would take us to the rink on Saturday.
Friday's at Katie's meant pizza, video games and staying up late to watch Standup Spotlight on VH1.
Katie had two older brothers who were really good hockey players. One was named Steve and his favorite thing to do was find a way to bully me and Katie.
This took several forms; headlocks, pinching and shooting at me and Katie with a pellet gun while we were swimming in the family pool. He referred to the latter as "whaling."
There was some good to Steve however and this turned out to be his skills at gaming.
There was one game in particular that we loved to play and that was "Metroid." The game takes place in the creepy underground of some faraway planet and the character you play is an armored bounty hunter.
When Katie and I got caught on a hard level we would get Steve and truce between the sexes would be called.
Some weeks later while Katie and I were on the school bus she would tell me that her brother had beat Metroid and that the bounty hunter was a woman.
My mind was blown and ever since I've held a special place in my heart for that character, Samus Aran.
 |
| Samus in her armor. |
 |
| Artist's rendering of Samus Aran with her arm cannon. |
The character would later return for future incarnations of Metroid and sadly become more sexualized as time went on.
She would make an appearance in a comic called "Captain N, The Game Master" where she was reduced to a jealous, immature mess.
Yes, the young woman who had single-handedly defeated nefarious forces throughout the galaxy was nothing more than a love-sick nag.
Now do you see why we need more women in game development?
In ninth grade I would discover the Secret of Mana.
This game allowed you to fly on a dragon and have a 360 degree view of the world under you.You could buy spells and armor and play the three main characters with two other people.
 |
| Cover art for the Secret of Mana |
I played on that game a total of 72 hours with my boyfriend at the time, eating sunflower seeds until my tongue went numb.
Sadly, I would never finish the game as dick face and I broke up after I learned he was cheating on me.
I don't like zombies or stealing cars or blowing up enemy combatants in a first person view so I don't play games anymore.
Every now and again though, I think back fondly on those Friday nights where me, Katie and Steve would try to reach and destroy Mother Brain with the help of a brave woman in mysterious armor.
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