Born a year before video killed the radio star, Nikoda was a child of the 80s. She had a Cabbage Patch Kid, a GloWorm, an AlphieII, and a Computron amongst many other 80s staples. She also had an Atari 2600 and an original NES. The Atari was a hand-me-down from her brother, the NES hers and hers alone. It stayed with her for many years. Her parents were of the “You have two gaming systems and both work, you don’t need any more.” variety, leaving her in a bit of a geeky drought for a few years. Visits to her cousin’s to play Super Mario 2 and 3 and Dr. Mario on Super Nintendo was her only small bit of solace.
Eventually, her older brother moved back in and brought with him a Sega Genesis. With this came Mortal Kombat and X-Men. Her geekiness was back on track. She longed for a DreamCast next, but her following console would be the original Playstation. Money constraints left her playing only the demo disk until her brother generously sent her a myriad of games that he no longer played. Among these was MDK, Ridge Racer, and Wild Arms. She can’t remember the others because once she put these games in, there were no others.
After these, another gaming drought came about until her household acquired its first computer and internet access. She was still unable to play most games, but she could read about them. Ironically, the Internet also gave her her first taste of D&D.
That ultimate in geekiness led her to her husband. A husband who owned every console she had ever wanted, including a DreamCast. A husband who was intent on purchasing an Xbox when they very first shipped along with Halo.
Since then, the droughts have mostly ended. Her geekiness is protected for the long haul.
Creation of Kitsune Games
First and foremost, Nikoda is a writer. When she isn’t writing, she’s playing games, when she’s not playing games, she’s writing. Occasionally, there’s food and hiking and Frisbee thrown in for kicks, but your best bet is with writing and gaming (or in the case of Tensided.com, both at once—major geekgasm).
One day, Nikoda was looking for a review of Sudeki. It was a game she had picked up very cheaply because she wanted a cheap game and it looked miles better than any of the sports games around it. Still, when she returned home, she wanted to know what she was getting herself into.
The reviews were ultimately terrible. Either the reviewers shat themselves over the game or shat on the game without any regard for middle ground. Her favorite? The one that said in all honesty: “They say this game has anime roots. Unless anime is rooted in big tits and enormous eyes—which it isn’t—they don’t know what they’re talking about.” That same review also referred to all of the female characters as sluts because of their outfits even though there’s not really much sexual interaction in the game.
Nikoda read this and saw that over a hundred people had clicked the “Was this review helpful to you?” button. She thought of the poor people that made the game and how their livelihoods and future creative endeavors were reliant on things such as good, honest reviews, and was mortified.
Immediately, she made Kitsune Games and the rest, as they say, is history.
