We got an NES in Christmas 1988 when Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt came bundled with the system. It wasn’t the first video game system I played as my dad was a gamer and had an Odyssey and an Atari 2600 that I remember playing when I was a really little girl. But the Nintendo was the first system that really left a mark on me, and the reason I still enjoy video gaming today.

The Nintendo was the first system that introduced me to stories in games. Before this, I had always just played arcade-style games either in the arcade or on our early video game systems, where the games were just a fun distractions, but really didn’t have too much to them. Now, I really found myself getting immersed in games, really wanting to get to the ending to finish the story. This love of story-based games that I found came to a head when I discovered the graphic adventure game. The graphic adventure genre is still my favorite of all video game genres even today, and my love for them started with Maniac Mansion on the NES. :)