July 2003: Bobosama Interviews Bunnzy

Bobosama says: Thank you for agreeing to this interview. When did you first become involved with Abandonware? What was your first site?

Bunnzy says: I first became involved around.. 97 or 98... I was a lurker, looking for old games. I was too scared to talk to people online :-) My first site was BA [Bunnzy Abandonware], which started in 2000.

Bobosama says: When did you release version 2.0 of BA? Could you describe the original for us?

Bunnzy says: Version 2 was… mid 2001. It was first black and orange :-)

Bobosama says: Who were some of your first contacts in "the scene"? Which sites, webmasters and rings are you most fond of?

Bunnzy says: Fond of... aww. My first contact was sheppy. The people I am most of fond of are the people from #abandongames infinity-irc. But im pretty good friends with nearly everyone :-)

Bobosama says: BA aside, are there any sites or rings which have a special meaning to you?

Bunnzy says: Well, being over on AP is cool! And there are a few places that I have fond memories of that I wish were like they used to be. I guess I don’t have as much to do with abandonware forums or anything like I used to. Things in the http abandonware scene aren't like they used to be. In some ways they are better, in other ways they are not.

Bobosama says: I know what you mean :-)
What are your plans for the future?

Bunnzy says: For me or for my site?

Bobosama says: Both

Bunnzy says: BA will continue to live on. I don’t add many games, because im restricted, I would love to expand, but we just don’t have the facilities. I also like to keep it controllable, and gord and the small group of people that help me out are my angels. We'll keep it going. It’s what i know and love - abandonware. Myself, well... My mum has had her cancer cleared, so I can once again plan ahead for what I wanna do. I'm moving overseas in 6 months

Bobosama says: To where?

Bunnzy says: I have an on year around the world ticket, I can go wherever i want

Bobosama says: Stop by New York :-)

Bunnzy says: for sure. you can buy me a coffee :-)

Bobosama says: Haha, will do Bobosama says: Is there any title which means something to you? Such as your first game, etc.

Bunnzy says: I can’t remember my first game, but when I think of old games I think of Race! A game by Carl Erikson.. the game that i used to play with my cousins. Collecting spanners n stuff, crashing and burning. Those were the awesomest times of my life

Bobosama says: :-)
Bobosama says: On a closing note, what are your thoughts on EchoRing 4 and Bobosama's quest to revive it?

Bunnzy says: Stick with it. The abandonware scene needs growth. Things are never easy, but we all get there. and good for you :-)

Bobosama says: Thank you for the kind words. Good luck with Bunnzy Abandonware 3.0. See you in 6 months :-)

Bobosama

I first learned about Bobosama through his websites EmuGateway and WizardWare, which revolved around Abandonware Emulation games and Anime. Very nicely designed and user friendly websites. He then immersed himself into the abandonware community and was a likeable character. With ambitious momentum he also started EmuWare, which had been an Abandonware/Emulation ring. My interest with abandonware had been phasing out and I had less and less to do with it at this point (2003/2004) and NeoPickaze and myself called it a day with our abandonware ring 'EchoRing' and the .com had been sold off (more on this scandal in the future) against my wishes, however I had retained the .co.uk for keep sake.

Starting an abandonware ring (or any website) from scratch was not (and is not) easy if you are not used to endless days of websites not updating, no new sites joining - it can all seem a bit pointless after a while, if you are doing it for external interaction. I believe he felt like that with EmuWare and had eventually closed that project. He then reached out to me and told me he had been a fan of EchoRing when he was a member of it and wanted to revive it. I appreciated that there had been someone that was a fan of the ring and didn't want it's legacy to end the way it had done (dormant and sold off - more on this scandal in the future) so I threw my support fully behind him and offered any behind the scene help I could do. He breathed new life into Echoring, had a decent sized crew, added features that NeoPickaze and I had not thought of and was able to attract members to the ring we had been unable to do so ourselves. After 18 months or so, the natural evolution happended and EchoRing closed with his farewell message. I understand he had stayed in the scene for a while, concentrating on his website EmuGateway.

Quite a few years afterwards I learned from Diskboy that he had sadly passed away. This left me quite shocked. For me, Bobosama epitomised - new blood, change, progress and ambition. I feel very fortunate that I had became friends with him and felt honoured that he had been a fan of a website I had something to do with and helped revive it.

At the time he was in charge of Echoring, he published a series of interviews with people in the Abandonware community of that era - which I retained and feel it would be fitting to publish them here, once again.

Rest in Peace Boris - thank you for your everything.