Retro Gaming Culture

The great thing about social media, it brings people together. I have met plenty of wonderful and interesting people and Sean Tagg is definitely one of them. Upon my initial twitter conversations with Sean, I found him to be very engaging by sharing his video gaming knowledge (which he has plenty of) and also assisting in gaming related queries. Sean is one of those genuinely great people that likes to share information and be helpful – traits that are well admired.

I am digressing! I have been an admirer of Sean’s creative talents for over a year and I thought it was high time I lassoed the gaming warrior and ask him some pressing questions.  Here it goes!

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: So Sean, tell us how it all started – how did you get into video gaming? What are your earliest memories?
Sean Tagg [ST]: My earliest memories of playing video games date back to 1979 -80. My family used to take me to a caravan site in Wales (UK). The site had a barn full of arcade machines. I vividly recall playing some pretty cool arcade machines like; Space Invaders, Missile Command and Battle Zone. I used to have to stand on a milk crate to look through the scope on Battle Zone as I was only 7 years old.

ARG: What was your first console or gaming experience ?
ST: My first game was a LCD pinball game called Wildfire – made by Palitoy. Palitoy was based locally to where I lived and were huge in the day. They manufactured Star Wars and Action Man figures too. I later had other LCD games including Munchman, Frogger and BMX Flyer.

ARG: Were you ever a brand fan (Sega vs Nintendo, Spectrum vs Commodore vs Amstrad)? If so, which side did you take?
ST: I was a Commodore fan. My first computer was the C64c, then I upgraded to the Amiga when I saw Ocean’s Batman game! I was a big fan of Stunt Car Racer, Anco’s Kick Off 2 and many more. Years later, I saw Golden Axe running on a Japanese Sega Mega Drive and I knew I had to have one. I’ve had quite a few of Sega’s machines, all imports – the Game Gear, Mega CD, Nomad, Saturn and Dreamcast.

ARG: You are an oracle of sorts on Sega’s venerable Out Run game (we love your blog site!). When did you first play it and what got you hooked for life?
ST: I first played Out Run the year it was released, 1986. Every arcade on the seafront of our holiday town had the deluxe cabinet version. I suppose it gave me a feeling of being able to drive and show off in a Ferrari, something no other game could do at the time. I think being a fan of sports cars, exotic locations and Caribbean steel drum music helps! OK, the last one was a lie (smiles)

ARG: Speaking of arcade games – what other ones tickle your fancy?
ST: All of Yu Suzuki’s big deluxe machines are fond favorites. I am glad to have grown up and experienced playing Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner, Power Drift, Enduro Racer and R360 in the arcades. These days, I most play Mr Do!, Wonder Boy, Shinobi, Galaga, Robocop, Strider, Ghouls’n Ghosts, Rainbow Islands and Bubble Bobble. [ARG]: A list of classics!

ARG: We are admirers of your Lego video gaming inspired creations – how did this come about and which creations are your favourite?
ST: I play Lego with my 5 year old lad a fair bit. One day, I just thought that it would be cool to try and create the Out Run deluxe cabinet with Lego, incorporating my smartphone running MAME. Check out the stop motion video (below) of it being made. Oh yeh, I also enjoyed making the Lego Sega Mega Drive (smiles).

ARG: Can you give us a scoop – what will you create next with Lego?
ST: Maybe a Sega Hang On arcade sit-down bike (winks). [ARG]: We would love to see that!

ARG: You are also a restorer extraordinaire – tell us about the cocktail table restoration project?
ST: I picked it up on eBay 6 years ago. When it arrived it looked far worse than the photos and I thought “What have I done. It’s junk!”. After stripping it down and cleaning it, I started to take a shine to it. I spent a fair bit of time on a great site called Arcade Controls – the forums helped me to build the control panels, learn how to configure the software and the wiring. 6 years later, between having two kids and moving to Australia (with the machine in tow) it’s finally complete! [ARG]: It looks damn awesome too.

I also built this Bubble Bobble machine from scratch. [ARG]: Oh wow, it looks like we may be paying you a visit in the near future. That machine looks very inviting. I’ll play as Bub.

ARG: Are there any other hobbies you enjoy?
ST: I like art and woodwork. I’ve recently done some Shenmue drawings that I’m pretty happy with. I’m looking to do 4 characters in total.

ARG: Now comes the two hardest questions of this interview:

ARG: What is your all-time favourite gaming system?
ST: When it comes to retro systems, it has to be Sega’s Dreamcast. As for the current generation consoles, Microsoft’s XBox360 is my pick.

ARG: What is your all-time favourite video game?
ST: Easy, Shenmue. [ARG]: What? I would have thought Out Run?
ST: Well, Outrun is in Shenmue, as with many other Yu Suzuki classics (smiles).

Well Sean, that wraps it up. Thank you very much for making time to participate in this interview – it wasn’t that scary after all. We will keep tabs on your wonderful creations and we will definitely be catching up with you in the near future.

To keep tabs on what Sean is up to, you can follow him on Twitter, Instagram and his website.