Gamer Girl

One of my proudest moments as a child was when I was the only one in my house who was able to defeat Bowser on Super Mario 64.

I realize that this is dating me, but that game is my earliest memory of playing - and loving - videogames.

Now, I'm not what many people associate with a gamer girl. I don't have collector's editions, multiple systems, or posters to celebrate my love of gaming. I've never been to a gamer convention (though they look like fun!) and I don't know if the introvert in me ever will.

But there is something about video games that makes them a favorite pastime of mine.

Growing up, we started out with one system - the N64. Games such as Paper Mario and Mario Party were favorites, and my siblings and I would revel in the shared experiences of gaming and beating levels or bosses that stumped the others. Mario Party was the favorite for a number of reasons. There are 4 Ross kids, and four controllers, so we could all play together. In addition, we all have very competitive natures. This was our Monopoly, and there were many sour losers over the years.

The next addition was the Gameboy, with the Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong. Many fights over who got to play in the car, using the light, of course, were had. Thankfully I enjoyed reading as well, so if my siblings won, then I still had something to do.

Then we really started branching out with the GameCube, which is where my love of the Metroid Prime series began (yes, the series started much earlier, but this was my introduction).

I'm sure you're beginning to notice a trend; we were very faithful to Nintendo, and still are.

We got the Wii, of course, and enjoyed games like Just Dance, Rock Band, and Wii Sports. For the longest time, that was the only way that I was good at bowling. Honestly, that's probably still the case. We had the Wii U as well, but after its mediocre reception, there weren't many new games there.

Finally, enter the Switch. We got one closer to the time I moved out, so I would only get to play when I was visiting. When I moved out of state, I resigned myself to not having any game system. Not that I had the time to play anything between work and finishing my master's degree.

After a few years, my Dad gave me his old Wii, so I had a gaming system again! It was easy to find games at a discount, since we were already two systems removed. So I was able to play Call of Duty and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games, just as I had with my siblings when we all lived under the same roof.

Then, one year, my brother got an updated (special edition - my brother is the big gamer in the family) Switch, and he sent me his old one. Along with a copy of Breath of the Wild, which I'd sped run through when I was home for Christmas the previous year. This opened up a whole new world of games for me, especially considering the fact that I could just buy digital copies instead of physical games. The ability to play Mario Party and Mario Kart with my brother online was just icing on the cake.

This was when my obsession with Assassin's Creed began. The third game was on sale, so I took the opportunity to play one of the games that I'd heard so much about online. I was hooked. I loved the storyline and the mechanics, which led me to watch "game movies" on Youtube to find out the full story of the series.

One thing led to another, and I found myself watching the God of War Series, which I'd always wished I could play because of my love of mythology but didn't have the game system for, and Mortal Kombat. I think part of it is because I admired the ingenuity required to make coherent and engaging storylines in gaming, as a writer myself.

If that wasn't enough, I played my fair share of PC games before I switched over to Mac; Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and the Sims.

We're not going to go into my obsession with the Sims. If you know someone who plays it, you know that we do strange things. Just accept it and move on.

I still don't have as much time to game as I like, mostly because I have to spend time working on my goal of finishing and publishing a novel, but I do love the times when I get to kick back and game a little bit. I've been making time since my birthday to play Tears of the Kingdom, another well-timed gift from my brother.

So no, I'm not a gamer girl in the mainstream sense, but I do enjoy playing them. What about you?