A PAL for Life
Karl Taylor tells us about his love for Nintendo
When we speak to numerous collectors they often tend to have a goal and Karl’s is one we’ve heard many times before and even indulged in ourselves.
“My focus was to collect the entire PAL library of SNES carts, but it came to a point where I was becoming exhausted and it basically consumed me,” he tells us.
Karl decided to hit the breaks and put a copy of Vampire’s Kiss on ebay. The move not only helped refocus his collection (which began four years ago) but also led to a friendship with fellow collector, Justin Hickman. “One guy messaged me in regards to checking it out,” Karl recalls. “We made some small talk before getting down to this Castlevania cart he so desired and then I presented it to him. He looked very disappointed and asked to borrow some polish and kitchen roll, which left me completely perplexed.” Justin’s sharp eye and use of cleaning products had revealed the cartridge was fake and Karl got his first lessons in one of the more disappointing aspects of collecting – counterfeit games. “Needless to say he left empty-handed, but we formulated an amazing relationship and we speak to each other virtually every day now about collecting,” Karl tells us.
Karl might no longer being going for a complete collection, but he still has a passion and love for Nintendo’s consoles. “I focus mainly on NES/SNES because I had those systems as a youngster,” he explains. “I spent hours holding the pads and they still fit like a glove to this day.” Those early experiences also mean he’s a proud PAL collector, and has no interest in collecting anything else. “PAL is what I knew as a kid and I wasn’t really aware of any differences until I started to dig deeper,” he continues. “It has actually dawned on me whether NTSC would have been a better road to go down, but it’s not just about the gameplay for me, it’s about having the whole item, and let’s be honest, NTSC boxes look horrendous compared to their beautiful PAL counterparts. Famicom on the other hand…” That aesthetic beauty is important to Karl because he’s very keen on ensuring his items are in as good condition as possible. “I want to preserve them as best as I can, so I don’t play any of the ‘physical’ games I collect as they are for display only. I have a modded SNES Mini and NES mini, so I jump on and still play them.”
So what advice would Karl give to other would-be retro game collectors? “Pick something that means something to you,” he concludes. “It’s very easy to
get wrapped up in collecting something because you’re bored or because everyone else is doing it. And don’t let it consume you. It’s extremely easy to become addicted to buying anything, so it’s very important to have a focus point and stick to it. I’ve witnessed too many people spend money they haven’t got because they are in too deep.”