Tales of collecting 1

Once upon a time, there was a teenager who didn’t really fit into the crowd. He wasn’t insane or crazy, he just wasn’t that social, not in real life. He lived on the Internet though. This outcast fellow was named Michael. Michael was always interested in computers and machines, since he was way small. He used computers since he was 3! Of course his dad was introducing him to the machine, the magical Atari 800XL. Mike didn’t get to personally own that little magic box until his dad got an IBM-compatible PC. The little kid had fun with his computer, but one day the horror NES came along and he wanted one of those. His dad made him choose, and he picked the NES and the poor little magical Atari went away.

That was about 15 years ago, and now I’m 19. I am one of the few who actually have an interest in retro-computers and retro-video games at a young age, since I was 14 maybe. At one point, I was going to collect old game systems and related things, but I realized that it was slightly pointless. There were million of games and consoles are limited. Emulation has taken care of that part, but I get to buy games that are on CD and DVD now. I’m basically collecting for the systems I own, at least games I would want and think will be good. I currently own Playstation 2, GameCube, X-Box, Dreamcast, Playstation 1, Saturn, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Gear. I’m most active with the three main consoles of today, but also Dreamcast. Dreamcast was a wonderful system and I, in some terms, collect games for it except for children’s and some sports games. I of course buy games for the newest systems, trying to get all the games that look good and I would want, as I said.

Game consoles are limited. All you can do with them is put in a game and it plays, and there are so-so accessories for these machines. There’s not much interaction with the machine itself physically (of course I love the systems of the past 8 years, but I’m retro systems are limited.) While this might be true for game systems, its not true at all for old computers. I love retro-microcomputers. These systems are actually worth collecting because it’s hands on, you get to really interact with each computer, and you get to see the unique way they look, too. Computers are not limited at all; they can do multiple and different tasks from games to music to programming. Then there’s the hardware. With collecting retro computers, you get to collect all this cool hardware to go with each system. Retro computers just seem to have a bigger area of enjoyment through physical means than collecting old game systems.

What do I collect then for retro-microcomputers!? I’m a new collector, I don’t have much in my collection yet. I was luckily enough to get an Atari 800 and an Atari 1040ST from my dad’s friend. Those are my first major pieces in my collection. I do plan on collecting home mass-produced microcomputers from the late 1970s and 1980s. I won’t collect IBM clones or IBMs that are new enough to run Windows 3.1. I collect any software and selective hardware for each of these retro computers as well. The greatest part is that you get to mess around with all this old technology and see how things were. Preserving computer history is very important, and I’m glad many people are out there doing it too.

I also collect anime. I love Japan and love their animation. Anime is also as uncommon as collecting old computers. However, awareness of anime is really growing in America. For anime, I only buy them on DVD, and make sure that there’s an uncut subtitled version on the disc before buying. Collecting also means buying Japanese toys and other Japanese things. Of course there’s Manga too, but I don’t own much yet.

That’s where my money goes to mostly. Well, I hope you enjoyed...

Long live computer history and collecting!

- Michael