GOING FULL TURBO

This month’s collector has a particular love for NEC’S Turbografx-16

TTHE ADVENTURES OF LOLO

“I’m cheating here, as I own most of the games in the series and love them all. The Lolo games are my favourite in the puzzle genre, too. Here’s a tip for Lolo fans – the puzzles in the Famicom and NES versions are different, so it’s worth owning both versions.”

PAID: $30

his month’s reader, Pete, is a clever old soul because his impressive videogame collection has grown along with him. “I started with the

Atari 2600,” he tells us. “I held onto most of my games, and as I reached my mid-twenties I started to buy older games I missed out during my childhood. So I think that was the tipping point when I also became a collector.

Many of us covet the games we didn’t own growing up, and Pete is no different. In his case, a regular income allowed him to focus on a complete collection for the Turbografx-16, a console he used to love playing at his neighbour’s house. “Once I started collecting games in my twenties, I became fascinated with the console again,” he says. “There were only 138 titles released in the United States, so it didn’t feel like an overwhelmingly large amount of games to collect. I decided to try and collect a full set, complete in their flimsy boxes. The games themselves are already on the rare side, so collecting copies with the boxes made it extra challenging.”

The challenge has been worth it to Pete, though, as it meant he met a lot of other Turbografx collectors as he completed his collection. “It took many years and a lot of patience,” he admits, “it was a really fun journey to hunt each title down.” That quest took Pete 15 years, with things becoming more challenging in the final two as he finished off his collection. Pete’s pride led him to showing his gear off on Instagram and he certainly recommends joining the platform. “The community of collectors on Instagram are a great group of people, lots of positivity,” he continues. “I got to meet some collectors through Instagram who helped me complete my sets. Beyond that, I started to really enjoy taking the pictures. It was another reason to go through my collection and replay some of the games.”

Focusing on certain systems means that Pete has been more than aware of the rising price of collecting, but he maintains there’s a good reason why it’s happening. “The number of people interested in these games continues to grow,” he explains. “Old games haven’t become outdated as new game consoles are released, they’re still fun to play! I feel very fortunate that I have been able to experience the history of videogames, from the Atari 2600 all the way to the present and beyond. It’s a very exciting hobby because there’s an endless amount of games to play and history to discover.”

So with all that in mind, what tips does Pete have for those wanting to build their own collections, Turbografx-focused or otherwise? “Take your time and enjoy it,” Pete advises. “It’s all about having fun, and most importantly, playing the games. Plus, it’s great to meet other collectors and talk about the games! If you’re going for a full set, it can become very stressful, so patience is important. Also, so many retro game sets can be super expensive, so if you want to avoid the expensive titles, consider collecting a subset. For example, I just finished collecting every Sega Genesis game with the classic black grid case art. There was no game in that subset that was terribly expensive, and a vast majority of those games are super fun to play, too.”