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Recently we joined RetroCollect.com (I know, we've told you before) and posted up to see if any gaming collectors would be up for a little feature... One of the people that took us up on our offer was Ian. He clearly has massive love for Mega Man and hes not afraid to show it!
Check out our interview with him to find out just how much!
TGS: Hi Ian, Thank you for chatting with us today, we would love to get to the bottom of your amazing Mega Man collection and hope to give a good representation of you as well.
Firstly, can you please tell us a little about yourself before we look at your collection?
IB: My name is Ian Barlow, I live in England in the small town of High Wycombe. I’m a IT Administrator for a Financial Consultant firm.
TGS: So, Mega Man... Can you tell us about the reasoning behind the large amount of love you have for the little blue fella?
IB: It’s a series that I’ve enjoyed ever since I got Mega Man 2 in the early 90’s. As I grew up I stuck with the series and played most of the Classic and X games and then later the Zero and Battle Network series. Eventually I decided to go back and buy a few of the games I missed out on when growing up for one reason or another. I picked Mega Man the Wily Wars as my starting point as I’d always wanted a copy but could never find one and managed to get one off of eBay for just £25. Since then things just snowballed and I decided to collect each unique Mega Man sequel (included the PC and Wonderswan stuff) and then eventually branch out even further and just go for all the regional variants I could find!
IB: At last count it was just over 350 sequels, cover variants and Asians PC releases which may or may not be official Mega Man games.
TGS: How many platforms do they span across? (Guess)
IB: At last count I believe the collection spans across about 19 different consoles/computers/handhelds.
TGS: What is your most treasured Mega Man game?
IB: It’s got to be Mega Man 2 for the NES (UK PAL Version). Its far from the rarest or most expensive item in my collection but it’s the one that started everything and still remains my favourite to this day!
TGS: What is the most you have paid for one of them?
IB: Off the top of my head I’d say it’s the £350 I paid for my PAL Snes Mega Man X3.
TGS: Whats the biggest bargain you have picked up?
IB: Easily both PAL copies of Mega Man the Wily Wars for the Megadrive I own. I got one off of eBay for £25 which was missing the manual but perfect otherwise, and the other off a friend for £40 which is in mint condition. I’m so glad I got these when I did as they go for £180+ now on eBay auctions!
TGS: How long has this collection taken to complete?
IB: I started picking Mega Man games up in the early 90’s with the release of Mega Man 2 but I only seriously started collecting the series in the last 5 years.
TGS: Interesting fact about the collection?
IB: Amonst the rarer/weirder things I’ve managed to amass in my collection is a signed sketch by Mega Man’s “father” KeijiInafune, the original art cells used for the Megaman 7 Snes manual and several weird Asian Edutainement PC games like Mega Man X Math Tornado!
Before we go any further I think it's worthwhile at this point showing a gallery style selection of just how amazing this collection is. Note this is not all of it... See link at bottom of interview for the rest of the images.
TGS: If you dont mind we would like to move away from Mega Man a bit and look at the rest of your collection: How many systems do you own, console & handheld?
IB: Between handhelds, consoles and computers I’ve got 27 different systems.
TGS: What is your earliest gaming memory?
IB: Playing on my old ZX Spectrum. Mainly I remember the nice loading screens waiting for the games to load!TGS: What is your earliest gaming memory?
TGS: Do you have any tips for would-be collectors on how to pursue this as a hobby themselves?
IB: I’ve personally found that getting my collection on the Internet on various forums has helped a ton in getting some of the rarest bits in my collection. Through this I’ve met several other collectors and friends that have since helped me in building my collection up to what it is today.
TGS: Do you have anything on your wishlist which you do not have? (Mega Man or not)
IB: Mega Man collection wise my most wanted piece is the Chinese Rockman X8 Special Edition for the PC. It’s the only PC variant I’m aware of that I’m short, I’ve searched countless Chinese auction sites but have never managed to come across it yet.
Non Mega Man-wise I’m still after the limited edition RyuGaGotokuKenzan! PS3 (for my RGG/Yakuza collection. I’m also trying to track down several of the rarer Game and Watch handhelds like Donkey Kong Circus, and Egg.
TGS: It’s time for the TGS burning building question:
Your house is on fire, you have time to run in and grab as much as you can physically carry in both arms (No bags allowed!); what do you grab? (Doesnt just have to be gaming related)
IB: My cat would probably be the first thing I grab ;) Gaming wise I’d be most inclined to grab the rare Mega Man Game Boy releases (IV and V especially) as out of all of my collection these are the hardest to track down again complete mainly due to it being so damn hard to find Gameboy boxes in good condition these days!
10 quick fire questions:
1) Favourite System: Sega Dreamcast
2) Favourite Sports Game: Virtua Tennis
3) Favourite Multi-Player Game: Micro Machines 2
4) Favourite Beat ‘em up: (at the moment) Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
5) Mario or Sonic: Mega Man ;) (just kidding! Mario)
6) Favourite HandHeld: Playstation Vita
7) The worst game in your collection: Mega Man for the PC. It’s horrible!
8) Favourite arcade game: Marvel Super Heroes
9) Game spent most time on: Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. 265 hours and counting!
10) Finally – and probably the hardest – Favourite EVER game: Still gotta be Mega Man 2
Great stuff, thank you so much for chatting with us and letting us have a glimpse of your amazing collection. We are so impressed and are sure it will keep growing as more Mega Man games get released!
Click here to see Ians post on the Games forum which details each piece of his collection.
Remember to get in touch with us as we'd love to hear from you. We're lonely you see.
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