I'm Gilbert Cruz, editor of the New York Times book review, and this is the book review podcast.

So here's the thing. I love books, and hopefully that's clear if you've listened to even a few episodes of this show.

And I love movies, which, well, maybe has also become clear over the past few years.

To the annoyance of some people in the comments, and to those people, I will not apologize.

But I am also really, really into video games.

And this is something as an adult that I once would have whispered with slight embarrassment.

But no more. No more.

I'm a very proud video game player because it's true, and it has been true for quite a while now,

that video games are one of the biggest forms of entertainment in the world.

And the Japanese company Nintendo is one of the reasons why. Nintendo, the home of Mario and Luigi,

Zelda and Link, Donkey Kong and Pokemon, is one of the most robust creative companies around.

And my guest this week is here to talk about it.

Keza McDonald, the video games editor at The Guardian, is the author of Super Nintendo,

the game-changing company that unlocked the power of play.

Keza, welcome to the book review podcast.

Hello, thank you so much for having me.

You are a video game writer, you're a video game journalist. What does that look like? What is your average day look like?

Well, when I first became a games journalist, I got my first job on a games magazine when I was 16, which was about 20 years ago.

Was that legal? Could you work at that age?

Just about.

I was certainly underpaid.

But I could work.

...