My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Keza Macdonald, author, games editor The Guardian.
Mar 3, 2026
Keza Macdonald, Scottish games editor at The Guardian and author of Super Nintendo, reflects on two decades covering games. She recounts interviewing Nintendo legends, structuring her book around cultural themes, and early magazine life. Conversations touch on breaking into games journalism, battling online harassment, and how key games reshaped play and careers.
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Character Based Structure Reveals Cultural Themes
- Structuring a Nintendo history around characters lets you probe cultural themes rather than just chronology.
- Keza uses franchises (e.g., Pokémon for connection, Metroid for gender portrayal) to explore wider social ideas.
First Love Moment With Super Mario 64
- Keza's first transformative game was Super Mario 64, which she anticipated after reading Nintendo magazines in Sainsbury's as a child.
- She describes the visceral joy of finally playing and struggling with 3D controls, then spending years getting every star on every save slot.
How Amplitude Won Her Cred At GamesTM
- Amplitude became Keza's entrance to rhythm games and a source of social currency when she worked at GamesTM at 16.
- She practiced Expert mode, topped leaderboards, and even later backed the PS4 remaster with a $500 Kickstarter pledge.
