Image: Nintendo Life / Mike DruckerHave you ever wondered what it might be like to be employed at Nintendo? Few companies feel quite as impenetrable when it comes to discovering their inner workings, but after speaking with comedian and author (and former Nintendo employee) Mike Drucker and reading his new book Good Game, No Rematch, life at Nintendo of America sounds reasonably normal, actually. Well, as normal as an impromptu paintball match with Reggie Fils-Aim could be.For Drucker, who would go on to write on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the idea of working at Nintendo felt like something of a pipedream. So much so that he went into his initial interview with the company (specifically Nate Bihldorff, who's currently Senior Vice President of Product Development and Publishing) fully expecting it to be little more than a learning experience.As luck would have it, though, his low expectations allowed him to remain calm and not freak out at the prospect of speaking to someone high up at Nintendo (Apparently, some people cry, he told us), putting him near the top of the pile.Druckers interview and subsequent stint at Nintendo of America is just one of many stories that make up Good Game, No Rematch, a comedy chronicle of his life and experience with video games written during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. From his initial experience as a child with Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. to a heartbreaking tale of friendship and loss with Nier Automata during the height of COVID, this is a piece of work that, above all else, celebrates games and the impact that they can have on our lives.Image: Mike DruckerIndeed, at a time in which the world feels more divided than ever and groups within the gaming community are seemingly locked in an endless, pointless culture war, Drucker describes the book as his own personal antidote. While fierce passion for the medium can often lead to negativity, he wanted to "write something that had the same amount of passion, but channel it into something good, demonstrating how powerful games are and how much they help us.This comes across wonderfully, and despite Drucker's enviable writing career, so much of it feels instantly relatable. Whether its queuing up for hours just to play a few minutes of an upcoming game (Super Mario 64 in his case) or building an unmanageable backlog of titles that you promise to yourself youll get around to clearing one day, this is very much a glimpse not only into the mind of Mike Drucker, but the minds of gamers everywhere.If it were just that, however, you could argue that you could get similar gratification by having a chat with your mates down the pub. Thankfully, Good Game, No Rematch is also full of stories that give us, as Nintendo fans specifically, fascinating glimpses into a world that most won't ever experience firsthand.Image: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo LifeFor starters, Drucker tells the story of how he came up with the name for Groose, the hulking yet bumbling resident of Skyloft in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Given just how popular Groose would prove to be, its surprising how little time it took to land on the name. I started to think about asshole birds, he tells us, boshing out the name 'Groose' in a single meeting. We wont divulge the whole story here, but its a great little peek into how localisation works (or worked at the time, at least) at Nintendo.He also covers the work that went into the localisation of Kid Icarus: Uprising, along with the copious emails that he would receive from none other than Masahiro Sakurai. Given Sakurais hands-on approach and perfectionism, its surprising just how much freedom he gave Drucker and the team in localising the game for the West. When Nintendo took Drucker on, they were simply after someone who could tell jokes, and this is 100% evident in Uprising's sharp, witty dialogue.The book is packed with hilarious anecdotes; it'd be impossible to cover them all here, but we were particularly fond of how Drucker became the natural 'middle-man' whenever Nintendo came to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He would help out with the setup, almost like when you're asked to reset your parents' internet router or get their ageing Sky Box back online.Anybody can read Good Game, No Rematch and have a grand ol' time with it, but if you're a gamer in your 30s or 40s, this book was made for you. A lot of the stories from Drucker's childhood will resonate more if you were around at the same time, and those on the younger side might wonder what all the fuss was about. That said, this is a true celebration of gaming and, by extension, Nintendo itself. If you're after something lighthearted that will elicit more than a few giggles.Image: Nintendo Life / Mike DruckerThanks to Mike for speaking with us and providing a copy of the book. Good Game, No Rematch is published by Harper Collins and is available now at bookstores across North America. A release in the UK is confirmed, but a date has not been nailed down at the time of writing.Buy Good Game, No Rematch: A Life Made of Video Games