A strange little side quest
Before the next round of Fashion Tips With Ellie, here is a piece of the bigger picture. Barbie Fashion Designer became a major software hit in 1996, selling more than 500,000 copies in two months and proving there was a large audience for fashion-focused computer play. There is another connection worth keeping in the same mental pocket: Nintendo's Donkey Kong arrived in 1981 and introduced the character first known as Jumpman, who later became Mario. The screen is modern; the urge to test skill, pattern and timing definitely is not.
