My Favourite game Sunil Patel

The subversive comedian on spending pocket money on Sega Power and playing Skyrim in co-op

Sunil Patel is an award-winning stand-up comedian, returning to the Edinburgh Fringe festival this year for a second performance. In addition to touring the country with his well established brand of nihilistic comedy, he stars in Channel 5 mockumentary Borderline and runs a podcast called Why Is Harriet Crying? with fellow comedian Harriet Kemsley.

What was the first game to excite you?

It was before I had my own console, playing on my cousin’s SNES. It was Super Mario World. We played it endlessly – it was a three-week summer holiday, it was really hot, and all we did was stay indoors, in this house in New Jersey, playing it. I didn’t have a console for ages after that, because I had to wait until Christmas. And then instead of getting a SNES, I asked for a Master System – I don’t know why.

Did you regret that?

I didn’t, actually. I got a Master System because my parents said, “We’ll buy you a console and one game,” and the Master System had a game built in – so I could get the free game built in and an extra game. It was Alex Kidd In Miracle World that was built in. I think I got Shinobi as well. Do people who played games from that era insist that they were harder back then? I feel like they were. It’s like GCSEs, isn’t it?