JUST A FEW BITS

Barry Harmon’s haul is a Sega treasure trove

It shouldn’t take anyone long to work out where this month’s collector’s interests lie – with Ryo Hazuki, Ulala, Beat and Akira Yuki to all present, this is most definitely a Sega collection. Our collector, Barry, is one of the administrators of Segabits, a site that covers everything related to the Japanese gaming giant.

“My dad was an early adopter of technology, and I think he felt like I should dive into that, so he asked me what I wanted for Christmas, if I wanted a videogame machine,” explains Barry, telling us how he got started.

“It really came down to me seeing the Sonic commercials and saying, ‘I want whatever system plays Sonic.’ When

I got it for Christmas in 1991, it was the Genesis Sonic bundle. I think from then on I was confused, like, ‘Wait, it doesn’t play Mario?’ I was young at the time!” Over time, Barry’s interest in gaming remained strong, and the collection developed naturally. “After college, I moved into my own place and amassed all my videogames. When I assembled everything onto one shelf it was like,

‘Oh, I have a collection going.’ It seemed rather small, I had maybe a dozen Dreamcast games, a dozen Genesis games, a handful of Xbox and PS2 games, so I just always kept my eyes open for whatever interested me – I’ve never been a completionist.”

By that point, Sega was no longer in the running as a hardware manufacturer, but Barry’s interest remained strong. “I really enjoy how accessible and ‘pick up and play’ their games are, and I really like that they span a broad number of genres. You look at Capcom and you’re pretty much looking at fighters, you’re not going to say, ‘Oh I love Capcom’s racers,’ it’s much more pigeonholed, same with SNK. But when it comes to Sega, and I guess it was the nature of having a console that they had to tick all those boxes, I came in playing Sonic games but when I saw all the other stuff, everything looked so fun, colourful and accessible. And those arcade roots meant that a lot of stuff was quick bites, it’s not like you were putting in 80 hours into every single Sega game. So a collection of a dozen Sega games, at the time it was everything that I needed.”

That passion saw Barry writing for a number of Sega blogs before joining the website Segabits in 2010, where he is now an administrator alongside the site’s founder George Gidim. “Highlights are attending events like the Sonic 25th anniversary party in San Diego, and the interviews – getting to interview the likes of Tom Kalinske, and voice actors like Roger Craig Smith,” he tells us. “Honestly, my favourite ones are when I’ll talk to people and they’ll say, ‘You know, no one’s talked to me about this game since it released.’ Just the ability to talk to people and really pick their brains about things, and kind of contribute to unearthing videogame history.”

Despite owning everything from the Shinobi LCD game to a Sonic toaster, there are still items Barry is keen to hunt down, though they relate to a tough target. “I would love to get that Segata Sanshiro doll that they had. It almost looks like a joke to me, I don’t believe it’s real, but that’s one that I’d like.”

“I’m really into the oddities, so to have any Segata stuff – I only have a handful, my Segata collection is lacking.” Of course, that might just be the lingering fear of a nasty judo throw talking!