First and foremost, yes we are gamers, but… We are also collectors and today’s guest has been collecting gaming systems since his childhood. Also, with the help of his army of machines he’s showing his more than 130k Tiktok followers what it was like to be a kid in the 80s and in the 90s. Yeah, an avid collector with a huge following, but also a down-to-earth, approachable guy with a vast gaming culture.
Ready to visit his old-tech museum? We have free tickets, today!
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1. Welcome Ashton and many thanks for accepting my invitation. For a starter, please introduce yourself to RGL’s readers.
I’m a musician and music teacher from Ontario Canada. I’ve been dragging home/collecting old computers and consoles since I was a kid.I try to stick to stuff I used either at home, school or at friends/family.
I’m no tech expert, in fact I’m pretty behind when it come to current machines. I’m handy with a soldering iron and love to learn about computers and consoles I’ve used and acquired over the years.
2. What was the first video game you ever played?
I remember the first game I played vividly, “Mimi La Fourmis” a children’s French language learning game for the C64. You press letter keys and a little ant character living in a cottage does an activity beginning with the particular letter.
3. What about the first gaming system you ever owned?
We had a Vic20 and C64, I didn’t have any interest in the Vic20, although I have several now haha.
We also ended up getting a TurboGrafx 16 for Christmas and a used NES from a friend. We continued to use our C64 for gaming well into the 90s.
4. Were you an arcade gamer? If you were, what about your favorite titles back in the 80s/90s?
I loved going to the local arcade! My brother and I would have our birthday parties there. Unfortunately, it closed in the early 90s. Another smaller one opened in our town Mall but closed a few years later. We would then have to go out of town for our arcade fix.
Oh, and my favorite titles were Moon Patrol, Arkanoid, GORF, Simpsons, X-Men and Ninja Turtles.
5. I am going to name a few video game genres: please tell me your favorite retro title for each of them:
I have trouble picking favourites haha, so I’ll go with my most nostalgic:
A. Adventure
Mario 64 (N64)
B. Platformer
JUMPMAN (C64)
C. Puzzle Games
Lemmings (DOS)
D. RPGs
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
E. Racers
Final Lap Twin (TG16) *has a fantastic CaRPG adventure portion.
F. Soccer/Football
International Soccer (C64)
G. Sports Games
Winter Games (C64)
H. Any other games whose genre I did not mention?
Favourite arcade style port is Battle Through Time (moon patrol clone for C64)
Favourite FPS : Wolfenstein 3d (DOS)
6. While growing up, what gaming system did you have the most fun with? Are you still a regular gamer?
My favourite, most nostalgic 3 gaming systems would be the C64, TurboGrafx 16 and Nintendo 64.
I still have all my original gaming systems and machines from my youth, as well as popular consoles and computers I used and picked up along the way.
I don’t really play modern games, I occasionally play GTA V but that’s about it. I pretty much stick to the same games I’ve been playing since I was a kid!
7. What is your relationship with the online gaming world? Do you play online with your friends/family members/random gamers?
I sometimes play GTA V online, that’s about it for modern games but I did play a lot of older online games. We would play scorched earth on PC networks at school and Marathon on the Macintosh, AppleTalk network. Played Jedi knight, StarCraft, Quake, Worms and unreal Tournament online as well.
8. What are your finest memories related to video games?
Just hanging out with my brother and friends, playing games, going to the arcade and relishing being a kid and young adult back in the 80s and 90s.
9. What prompted you to start a TikTok page?
Ahston’s TikTok page: Shtunner
I mostly started TikTok to do voice overs and captions for my Twitter and YouTube. Didn’t gain much traction on those platforms but, I’ve found my niche on TikTok. I like filming and producing 1 minute vertical media, it’s kind of a neat challeng/ quasi “art”, the way I see it anyway. Also, I don’t have a camera or storage for longer videos.
10. What is the goal of Shtunner?
No particular goals on social media, just happy the world gets to see the machines I grew up with and still enjoy.
11. Last but not least: any future plans or secret wishes?
I own a small music academy/school of rock. I’ve always got a few old computers kicking around for students and parents fiddle around with. I’d love to offer a retro computer/raspberry pi build class, showing students how to solder and build their own retro games emulator.
