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Kel Mitchell, star of All That, Kenan and Kel and other 90s favorites, is a gamer. Anyone familiar with his more recent work knows this: Mitchell has returned to his childhood home of Nickelodeon to star on Game Shakers, a new sitcom about two girls who stumble upon success with the launch of their very own mobile game.
Mitchell plays a P. Diddy-esque mogul who helps fund the preteen entrepreneurs' projects. "All of the games on the show can actually be downloaded" through the channel's website, he told us at New York Comic Con this afternoon. He also spoke highly of the fact that a TV show about gaming stars "two girls who can code. That's a first for Nickelodeon."
In real-life, gaming is important to the actor, who reminisced about hosting a Pokémon-related event back in the early 2000s after noticing my Pokéball pin. Mitchell remains a fan of Nintendo's monster collecting franchise.
Mitchell's gaming habits and favorites generally tend to skew old-school, he revealed to us. When asked if he played current hits like Destiny, he instead named a very different series as his favorite.
"I still like Sonic the Hedgehog and the original Sega Genesis," he said, before whipping out his phone to scroll through his collection of Sonic games. He boasted about playing through the mobile ports of Sonic's classic hits.
Mitchell continues to indulge in his past through his involvement with The Splat, Nickelodeon's programming block that salutes the 90s kids who still love the kids' channel.
We asked Mitchell to explain what's behind the romanticization of the past that's become a huge trend right now. "I just think it's in the air," he replied. From his personal taste in gaming to his current projects, it appears that Mitchell has no problem sticking close to his past.
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