Caro From The Nintendo Shack
What is your history with Nintendo?
I grew up as a Sega girl in the early 90s. My uncle gave me the Genesis as my first console for my third birthday with a copy of Sonic 2 in December of 1992. I played the NES and SNES at friends’ and cousins’ houses but never owned one until my younger sister (by three years) asked for a Nintendo 64 for her birthday. I played it mostly while she watched, but she did enjoy Mario Kart 64 and Yoshi’s Story herself. I have been hooked on Nintendo since then, aided by the downfall of Sega’s hardware, and have never looked back.
Favorites consoles?
Nintendo 64 holds a special place in my heart being the first Nintendo console that my sister and I actually owned. I also went through school playing and loving almost every title I came across on the Nintendo GameCube–yes, that includes the ridiculous titles like Mary-Kate and Ashley’s Sweet 16 (a party game where you drove around the board in your cars and competed in random mini-games). I think The Wind Waker, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, Luigi’s Mansion, and Melee make that an easy decision for me. I am loving the Switch more and more now and can tell it will be one of my favorites for years to come just from the awesome game line-up we have already.
Favorite games or series?
The Legend of Zelda takes the cake as my top favorite. When I’m not playing Zelda, I enjoy Animal Crossing and the Bokujou Monogatari series (formerly Harvest Moon, now Story of Seasons in the West). Xenoblade Chronicles is a new favorite based on my obsession with XC2 for the Switch. It’s a “diamond in the rough” game that I believe people don’t seem to be giving a chance. Fantasy Life for the Nintendo 3DS still stands as my favorite 3DS title to this day. Level-5 is something special. Outside of those, I’m always willing to try a good JRPG or life sim game.
What’s one of your favorite Nintendo memories?
Probably the hype around Twilight Princess when it was teased at the end of Nintendo’s conference in E3 all those years ago. Like so many others, I thought Ocarina of Time seemed as real as it got back in its day. Twilight Princess’ graphics just seemed to expound on that, and I was floored when I first saw that teaser even though we saw it through a shaky low-res camera in the dark!
What’s a Nintendo game that you haven’t played or haven’t completed that others will judge you for?
The Metroid series. I have not been very interested in starting a Metroid game even though I like the Metroidvania games (yes, I have played Castlevania). And first person shooters like Prime are not my cup of tea either. I WILL get to playing them starting with the original. Someday. (Ironically, I main ZSS in Smash and own a couple Figmas of Samus as well. Weird.)
What kind of Nintendo Content do you create?
As a graphic designer and illustrator, my first go-to for creating is something in that vein. Aside from doing the occasional illustration (mainly Zelda art), I have been podcasting and creating stuff for a great group of guys over at PSVG (Play Some Video Games). I’m part of the trio of the Nintendo Shack which records every Thursday evening and releases every Friday. If you want to hear me ramble about Nintendo every week, that’s where you should tune in!
What advice would you give someone wanting to start creating their own Nintendo content?
Just START! There have been so many ideas for art pieces I’ve had in my head that I have never been able to actually share with folks until I actually sat down and drew them. As I say that, there are still a ton of things I want to draw and will eventually get out to the good folks interested in my work. Same goes for podcasting–just make your voice be heard. I started out my podcast career as a shy, geeky girl recruited by Donnie Reece from PSVG at our local GameStop. I only wanted to blog for the team. Over a year later, only a couple of pieces written, and countless podcast appearances later, I have really broken out of my shell and (hopefully!) have made my voice known to the Nintendo podcasting community.
Where can we find you and your content?
You can find me personally on Twitter @TheNintenDame (Nintendo + Dame, or a lady, get it?), and on the whole with the PSVG group on The Nintendo Shack, Arcadia Academia, and the flagship PSVG podcast. We have recently merged with another family of video game podcasters known collectively as Make Us Better, and we have a Discord and Patreon that we all share.
Do you have a piece of content that you’ve created that’s your favorite?
Oh gosh, I do, and it’s really outdated!
This is an art nouveau style piece I right before A Link Between Worlds came out. It has every Zelda design starting from the original 1986 Zelda all the way down to Skyward Sword. I want to revamp it a bit since my style has changed over the past five years, and also I need to add my new favorite, BOTW Zelda! I’m thinking of going with a series of full-bodied art nouveau style Zeldas, so stay tuned!
