This post is part of Mashable's You're Old Week. Break through the haze of nostalgia with us and see what holds up, what disappoints, and what got better with time.

I will never forget the first time I became Nancy Drew.

As a little girl, I wasn’t allowed to play video games — which meant I played video games, but only through well-executed schemes. At the crux of my early, forbidden play experiences was the Nancy Drew computer game series. I’d sneak them into the Scholastic book order forms we’d get at school, right under my parents’ noses.

While the rest of the house slept, I sleuthed until night turned into dawn. By the light of the blue screen, I squinted at hastily written notes scrawled down in a notebook about potential leads. I questioned suspects with a balance of skepticism and open mindedness, because that’s how you got to the bottom of things.

Today, gazing bleary-eyed at identically messy research notes jotted down during source interviews, I put the puzzle pieces of this article together. I’m still hunting for the truth. I never stopped, ever since those stolen moments with Nancy, late-night sleuthing. Some things never change.

The Nancy Drew book series, vintage and modern covers Image: Julia Ewan/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

In the case of the nearly century-old teen heroine of Nancy Drew, everything has changed — except the impact she continues to have on women and girls.

From the beloved girl book series first published in 1930, to the popular computer game franchise today, Nancy has taken every form imaginable. Since the beginning, her legacy was built by carving out places for women in male-dominated spaces , giving girls and women the permission to become the people we didn’t even dare to dream of becoming.

“Everyone casts themselves in the role of Nancy,” said Melanie Rehak, best-selling author of Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. “That's what was so powerful about the books: You were reading about her but they spurred you to action, made you believe [in your own capabilities.]”

Dynamite Comics' Nancy Drew & The Hard Boys: The Big Lie #3, written by Anthony Del Col and art by Werther Dell'Edera Image: dynamite

Throughout decades of existence and countless iterations, Nancy’s proved most successful in mediums that inspire self-identification and agency in the audience. In the beloved Her Interactive games she’s the politely stubborn and doggedly persistent world-renowned teen protagonist, flourishing over two decades and 30 titles, reportedly selling more than 9 million copies.

For the criminally underserved audience of girls and women who love games, it’s one of the few franchises that was actively welcoming us to play since 1998. Amid an unrelenting onslaught of male power fantasies and protagonists, there was always Nancy: a video game hero who gave us the chance to embody our empowerment narratives and wish fulfillment.

"Nancy was persistent and strong in a world where women aren't always encouraged to speak out and be strong.”

The r/NancyDrew subreddit is full of stories echoing mine: Girls discovering Nancy and themselves in the process, creating long-lasting friendships by banding together to solve the toughest cases.

“Nancy Drew games were such a formative part of my adolescence, Nancy's intelligence, confidence, and gumption were an inspiration to me,” wrote Redditor angelxallow in a thread request for stories about what the games meant to fans of the franchise.

She played the games with her cousin all the way through college, staying “up all night, taking turns at the helm while the other one took notes,” she recounted. “These games made me feel smart and good at puzzles when the world told me that girls couldn't be successful in logic-based fields like math and science. Nancy was persistent and strong in a world where women aren't always encouraged to speak out and be strong.”

It’s important to note, though, that the relationship between the fan community and Her Interactive has soured since it changed CEOs in 2015 and laid off a majority of the designers and talent from previous games. New ones used to release biannually, but the next installment, originally slated for fall 2015, most recently has a Spring 2019 release date. Her Interactive attributes the delay of Midnight in Salem to overhauling the game engine.

Though the games’ future is uncertain, its success as a modern adaptation of Nancy Drew remains unique. Over the decades, Nancy’s failed to translate to TV and film despite dozens of attempts . Rehak believes this is because the voyeurism of just watching Nancy negates her core impact. “In an interactive video game, she's more appealing again because it goes back to that action. You're controlling her, making those decisions,” she said.

Like the books, the games allow players to figure out the mystery themselves. Also, you never see Nancy because you are Nancy. She’s not reduced to a single actress who inevitably falls short of being who we need Nancy Drew to be: A reflection of our deepest desires and greatest potential.

"Nancy became and has remained a blank slate for female ambition."

Some criticize Nancy Drew for being a Mary Sue , the inhuman, unrealistic ideal who can do everything while lacking flaws and specificity. And to them I say: That is exactly what we need from mythic heroes and idols. If boys and men can have James Bond, Luke Skywalker, Superman, Nathan Drake, BJ Blazkowicz, and countless others — then for the love of god, let us have Nancy Drew.

However, a very valid criticism many have pointed out is how Nancy Drew’s feminist legacy is entrenched in white upper class privilege, with abundant classism and racism in the original books. Though a product of its time, it manifests in more subtle ways now.

You might never see Nancy in the games, but the way others treat her indicate she’s white and well off. Presenting that as the assumed default is in itself an issue. To this day, there are limits to who is invited to see Nancy as empowering wish fulfillment. Thankfully, other modern adaptations are aware and hope to address this issue, with the Nancy Drew NBC series that’s been in the works since 2016 promising to bring diversity to her lily-white origins. A recent comic book series by Dynamite is also credited for diversifying the world of Nancy Drew.

Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew in the 1978 TV show "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries." Image: ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images

For Rehak, her intersectional limitations are important to address, but also do not invalidate her social effect. She even sees the traces of Nancy’s widespread influence in the fearless call for justice that is #MeToo, and the tenacious investigative journalism being done by women.

“Women project onto her their own aspirations of finding out what the facts are, and holding bad guys accountable,” she said.

Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — all these powerful justice seekers point to the influence of the same teen icon.

The most recent Nancy Drew comics, written by Kelly Thompson and art by Jenn St-Onge. Image: dynamite

“For all her two dimensionality, Nancy became and has remained a blank slate for female ambition," explained Rehak. "So you see women in journalism, and law, and all kinds of other professions having been exposed to her as girls because it plants the seed that you can do it, too.”

As a journalist and games writer today, I am reminded daily of where it began — who gave me the first rush of using only my own wits to crack the code, do what is right, and speak truth to power.

No one tells me I can't play games anymore.

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