Collector’s Corner
Our latest collector enjoys the Jaguar and several other classic systems
For the most part, Paul Megara’s collection story is a pretty normal one. His favourite system is a pretty common one in the Mega Drive and his favourite game is one that featured on our very own cover fairly recently. But what sets Paul apart is that he has a real penchant for the underdog machines out there. Before we get into that though, we were interested to find out what Paul’s earliest gaming memories are. “Waking up early on Saturday morning to try and beat my brothers to be the first one on the NES!” he’s quick to say before going back a bit further. “Playing Star Wars on the Atari 2600 thinking it was the best game ever and playing ET while not really understanding what’s going on, too.”
Being brought up on a diet of Atari and Nintendo is never a bad thing, and it’s easy to see where Paul’s passion for gaming began. His urge for collecting started at a young age, too, well before the current boom, as he explains, “It all started in about 1997 when I got my hands on a clearance Atari Jaguar at Electronics Boutique. It cost me $50 for the console and I suddenly knew that I had to get my hands on as many games as I possibly could for it while the prices were still cheap. So I would go around finding more Jaguar games at bargain prices in places like Kaybee Toys and Boscovs. Before long my collection had filled out nicely.” Paul doesn’t just have a penchant for Atari’s last home console, though. “In 2001 I was lucky enough to pick up a Turbografx-16 with the CD add-on as well as a Turbo Express handheld, 37 games on both Hu-card and CD for a grand total of just $80! I had no idea the console would become so popular among collectors. When I got it I played it for a little bit then just tucked it away in storage for a number of years.”
Even with these great finds Paul, like many other collectors, still has those holy grails that have alluded him “I would absolutely love to find an Atari Jaguar CD add-on” wishes Paul before telling us what his collecting goals are for the future. “I would really like to complete my sets for the Dreamcast and Atari Jaguar. The Dreamcast because it was the first console I bought with my own money and the Jaguar because it’s just so rare and obscure.”
Readers take us through the retro keyhole