An Interview With GirlBandicoot, aka Retro Girl

There is an up-and-coming gaming video producer on YouTube on the GirlBandicoot channel that is beginning to find a nice niche. She specializes in Let’s Play videos that show her live-reaction facial expressions as she plays and provides commentary, including series such as GameTerrors and Retro Girl, which would be the one I discovered her by. This is a Let’s Player with a unique style to her clips, which we will elaborate on, and it turns out that she has a fondness for the older games and classics.

Although she has only been uploading videos for a month, at press time she has already gathered over 20,000 views and a whopping 885 subscribers. I wanted to ask her some questions before she got too famous, and she was kind enough to answer.

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Eric: You have 15 seconds to introduce yourself to somebody. What do you say?

GirlBandicoot: Haha not too sure where to start with this one. Not too good at describing myself but here goes – a girl gamer who doesn’t take herself too seriously and loves to joke around and have fun XD

Eric: Your YouTube channel is gaining subscribers at a fun rate, as you focus on Let’s Play-type videos featuring your reactions to the on-screen goings-on. What made you want to really start doing these vids?

GirlBandicoot: I recently finished University and so had a lot of time on my hands so I set up my channel and I wanted to try and do different types of videos and I don’t really see a lot of people using face cam on Let’s Play videos.

Eric: You obviously really enjoy video games. How long have you been playing them?

GirlBandicoot: I’ve played games since I was really young, around 5 or 6, so about 15 years. I never bought a current gen console after the PS1 however (so I’m more of a retro gamer) and I’m trying to catch up with the modern gen consoles/games now.

Eric: Do you have an all-time favorite game or series?

GirlBandicoot: Crash Bandicoot as you can probably tell from my name on Youtube. I’ve also become very fond of Dead Space since setting up the channel which I have my subs to thank for as they were the people who requested me to play the game.

Eric: I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but one unique aspect of your gameplay videos is your openness about the fact that… well, sometimes you are not the greatest player. What motivates you to keep at it, even after dying multiple times at the same part, for example?

GirlBandicoot: Haha yeah I am not the best gamer in the world but I have fun playing the games and that’s all that matters so I know I have to keep trying to get past a part where I keep dying to finish the video! Don’t get me wrong it is frustrating when you die multiple times at the same part of a game but it makes it that much more rewarding when you finally succeed.

Eric: You have a few different categorical series, like GameTerrors — and one focused on retro video games, called Retro Girl. What is the appeal of classic games, for you?

GirlBandicoot: I grew up playing those games so I always love to go back and play them (they satisfy my nostalgic needs lol). I also think they are not as difficult as modern games and ultimately I find them more fun to play.

Eric: Are there any traits of older games that you think they do better than modern games?

GirlBandicoot: I prefer the atmosphere of older games, they are more cheerful and I love the music as the themes are more catchy than todays games. They are also more user friendly and most of them are easy to pick up and play without much learning of the controls etc. However, I do also love the interactivity of modern games (the detail in modern games is amazing and the graphics are becoming photorealistic!)

Eric: There is a lot of ongoing conversation about the role of gender within video games, the role of female gamers themselves, etc. Care to comment on these issues?

GirlBandicoot: I know that games are mainly played by the male gender and that girls are in the minority but I don’t think it really matters if you are a boy or girl. I find games as much fun as my male friends and I enjoy talking about games with them too. The majority of boys are better at games than girls however in my experience lol. Anyways… What would you like on your sandwich, sir? :)

Eric: I assume the “Bandicoot” in “GirlBandicoot” is a reference to Crash Bandicoot, yeah?

GirlBandicoot: It certainly is! I will be making a Crash Bandicoot special video when I reach 1000 subscribers.

Eric: What’s your idea of a perfect video game?

GirlBandicoot: One that is easy to play, but is rewarding enough if you play it a lot. With a catchy theme and a fun character to play with. Or maybe the atmosphere of one of the classic retro games but with the detail and graphics of one of the current gen games? That would be pretty cool!

Eric: Can you mention any upcoming projects you’re working on or have in mind?

GirlBandicoot: I’m adding more games to my Retro and Game Terrors series and I’ll be playing some other games outside these series too such as Minecraft as I have had a lot of requests from my subscribers to play it. I’ll be doing some dual commentaries soon too with a few people who have messaged me.

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Thanks again for your time GirlBandicoot, and I definitely look forward to your future videos.

Retro Girl can also be found on Twitter @GirlBandicoot and has a Facebook page as well.