Retro Gaming Collections - Terry 'Page' Hunter AKA @PageVGP AKA Atari KING

After some great feedback from a whole host of people on Twitter we find ourselves looking at loads of amazing pictures of peoples retro gaming collections on a regular basis.


For this article we will be focusing on Terry 'Page' Hunter who can be followed on Twitter @PageVGP - Go and do it now!!

TGS: Hi Terry, Thanks for agreeing to have a quick chat with us about your collection.
How many systems do you own, console & handheld?

TH: At last count, 31. Here is the list:

Atari 2600
Atari 400
Atari 800Xl

PC Engine
SNES
Master System
Xbox
Saturn
Wii
PS1
PS2
PS3
Megadrive and Mega CD
DreamCast
XB 360
GameBoy Original

GameBoy Colour
GameBoy Advance
GameBoy Micro
3DS
PSP
WonderSwan
GameGear
NeoGeo Pocket
N- gauge
Pokemon Mini
GameCube
Spectrum
Flashback 3
N64
Various Mono handhelds

TGS: WOW... That's an impressive haul!! How many games do you own (at a guess)?

TH: A conservative 300




TGS: How many years have you been collecting?

TH: Around an embarrassing 33 years



TGS: Not at all embarrassing, That's something to be proud of!! 

How about your Geographical location?

TH: I am in the South East of England, as far South as you can get without getting your feet wet.








TGS: Interesting fact about you / your collection?

TH: My collection is unique to me, and intern I am unique. I mean, how many 43 year old Fathers of 6 kids do you know that still regularly enjoy a run out on his Longboard or fires up the Scalextric or hosts mass Sonic speed run contests in his front room?



TGS: I honestly cant think of any.. Sounds like you are enjoying life and I'm sure all 6 of your kids appreciate it!

Can you tell us what is your earliest gaming memory?

TH: The discovery of colour space invaders, by using clear coloured tape stuck to the screen. I found this at my local swimming pool and soon found my sessions in the water getting shorter and shorter. Was even worse when they installed Lunar Lander...



TGS: That's amazing. Colour tape was an amazing invention for gaming! :) 

How have you built this collection and do you have any tips to would-be collectors on how to pursue this as a hobby themselves?

TH: I buy what I like, not what is trendy or 'rare'. Games are worthless if they are not enjoyed. One of my fave games is not the most valuable, but you cannot put a price on the fun I have playing it. If you collect games to make money then you are in the wrong place. Try antique hunting at boot sales instead. My very best tip is simple, if its free, take it. I have had a lot of stuff 'donated' to my collection. Most was sold on or swapped as I had duplicates, but there were some cool games among them.



TGS: Great advice! We hope that some of our readers will take note and and donate loads of stuff to The Games Shed :) 

What is your most treasured retro gaming item and why?

TH: Has to be my Atari 400, I am a HUGE Atari fan, and used to sell them back in the 80's in a shop called 'Silica Shop' in Sidcup, Kent. It was a very successful independent games shop,probably the most successful in the South East, The staff were just amazing,like an extended family. I'm still in touch with a few of them. As to why, this machine is built well, works well and looks just amazing. And of course, you can play Star Raiders on it!

TGS: Is there anything you wish you had in your extensive collection which you do not have?

TH: I want and Atari 800 and an810 disk drive. The 800 has the very best feel to a keyboard bar none. Even the mighty Apple cannot serve a more perfect input method than the 800, and of course Rescue on Fractalus will be epic played as nature intended!



TGS: What would you say was the best bargain you have ever picked up?

TH: My Atari 800Xl at a boot sale was a steal at £10. It had a box full of great games and three boxed CX 40's!



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? (Doesn't just have to be gaming related)

TH: My Ataris.



10 quick fire questions:

1) Favourite System: Atari
2) Favourite Sports Game: Everybodys golf on the PSP
3) Favourite Multi-Player Game: Gauntlet
4) Favourite Beat ‘em up: Way of the Exploding Fist
5) Mario or Sonic: Sonic (of course!!!)
6) Favourite HandHeld: 3DS
7) The worst game in your collection: Freeway on the 2600 (Its SHOCKING, even more shocking when you realise David Crane designed it)
8) Favourite arcade game: Starwars (Sit down, Vector)
9) Game spent most time on: Elite


10) Finally – and probably the hardest – Favourite EVER game: That's like asking me to choose between my children. I can narrow it down to: M.U.L.E, Elite, Gauntlet,Theatre Europe, Keystone Kapers and Pitfall!



TGS: Last thing, do you have anything else you would like to talk about? (Feel free to plug at this point if you’d like)

TH: I love games, but hate the word retro games. It implies that the games are somehow old and inferior to the new HD 5.1 Dolby fare that is served up these days. I miss real arcades too, nowadays you can play 'Stack and Grab' or crane games till the cows come home but where are the vertical shooters? Seeing my name at the top of the 'Mr Do!' leaderboard added a certain strut to my exit from the gloom of the neon lit hall, despite knowing that when the arcade powered down for the night, my score that had gorged itself on my meagre stack of 10p's would be reset and I would have to visit the arcade again after another bout of chores and paper rounds to get those initials back in their rightful place. I feel very sorry for the new generation of gamers that have not experienced a real arcade, its on my list of things to do but one day I will get a register of the very best in the land for you guys to enjoy.

I am a feature writer for www.retrocollect.com and it is just about the very best job I can think of (unless Atari or SEGA require gametesters and they are not telling me!) I love to write, I love to play games. Retro Collect allows me to do both, and they don’tmind me going off on the odd tangent while I am doing it! Fans of games reading this should check them out and have a look at the game tracker, its a brilliant way to see just what you have got in your collection, oh and you might even want to look up some of my articles there!

Keep gaming, keep collecting and keep going to arcades!

Page



A big thank you to Terry for letting us into his gaming life, its been a pleasure to get a totally different perspective and we would appreciate if you all go and follow him on twitter. @PageVGP




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