The ladies of Fusion Frenzy

Whenever I went to my cousin’s house for holidays, we’d play Fuzion Frenzy, Xbox’s very aughts version of Mario Party. The game (whose soundtrack is still inexplicably burned into my brain) featured several playable characters, and I’d always fight tooth-and-nail to ensure I got one of the three girls: Jet, Naomi, or Geena.

At first, I thought it was because I wanted to feel represented while playing an assortment of minigames set in the near future where “the city is a battleground where you compete against your friends.” But eventually, I realized it was because I had crushes on them—and now in my thirties, I know that they each represented my “type” of woman.

Geena’s white cropped tank top, baggy blue pants, and more butch attitude reminds me of all the New York girls I’ve fallen for. Naomi’s flirtatiousness and matching set is the woman I’d let cut me in line at the bathroom at Elsewhere. And Jet’s fuchsia catsuit and devil-may-care attitude is the girl whose roller derby games I diligently attended. — Alyssa Mercante, senior editor