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Message: [QUOTE="Strategist, post: 215058, member: 767"] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="639px" alt="1748139819314.png"]72883[/ATTACH] [I]One of the last Blockbusters in Puerto Rico having a clearance sale.[/I][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]Remembering Blockbuster Video[/HEADING] Sometimes inspiration for articles comes from the strangest of places. As I was driving by my old neighborhood, I caught a glimpse of an abandoned building that triggered a few core memories for me. This old building used to house a Blockbuster Video store that I would visit every Friday afternoon with my father. We would head there first and search for the the latest and greatest movies and SNES games to rent. A movie, a game, some popcorn and soda and we were ready to roll into the weekend. It was fun times and allowed for some solid male bonding. It was a short period of time I remember fondly for some reason and every time I pass by that old building I'm brought back to that era. Funny how memory works some times. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="861px" alt="1748139876329.png"]72884[/ATTACH] [I]This building may not mean much to many of the passersby, but this is where I developed a lifelong passion for gaming and Japanese media.[/I] [/CENTER] A lot of people associate rental places with annoyance. We were often racing to the store on Friday after school if a new movie had just reached the store. Copies of popular movies and games would often rent out fast, leaving us with limited options. My younger self didn't find it that problematic. When it comes to games, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It helped me familiarize myself with the deep cuts of the SNES catalog and I developed an appreciation for the RPG genre, given those games were generally not that popular. Games like Final Fantasy II US, Ogre Battle, Act Raiser, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Wanderers of Ys, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and Lagoon became regulars in my rental rotation. Even when it comes to movies, it helped me explore some of the less frequented parts of the store (such as the Anime section) and try them out. In an indirect way, Blockbuster helped shape my taste in popular media. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="338px" alt="1748140209729.png"]72887[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="349px" alt="1748140377633.png"]72891[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="362px" alt="1748140387890.png"]72892[/ATTACH] [I]I swear, I must’ve been the only kid at the store who played these games. They were always available.[/I][/CENTER] Ultimately Blockbuster died because of services such as Netflix and Redbox eating into their market share. Blockbuster tried to compete with their own online DVD by mail service, but Netflix’s streaming services really caught the market by storm. Blockbuster stubbornly stuck to their brick and mortar approach to movie and video game rental to diminishing returns. By 2010, the company had declared bankruptcy. By 2013, Blockbuster had completely ceased operations in Puerto Rico. The old building still remains unused after a decade, a stark reminder of the unforgiving advance of technological progress. By the way, in 2000, Blockbuster turned down an opportunity to purchase Netflix. It would turn out to be a serious miscalculation by them. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="1748140604354.png"]72900[/ATTACH] [I]Alanis thinks that’s Ironic.[/I][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]5 Random Blockbuster Factoids[/HEADING] [B][SIZE=6]1. Blockbuster used to host gaming championships. [/SIZE][/B] I don’t recall any qualifiers being hosted at my store but apparently they had tournaments in larger stores across the US. The winners of each tournament were flown into the championships to compete for a trophy and prizes. [CENTER] [I][MEDIA=youtube]gsEAan9o1Xs[/MEDIA] The ad campaign had all sorts of "The Wizard" 90's flair.[/I] [/CENTER] They even made a special cartridge of Donkey Kong Country for the 1994 Blockbuster Championships. Apparently it included a time attack mode, where the contestants only had 5 minutes to rack up the highest possible score across a handful of early levels. These cartridges are now considered collector items. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="1748140807575.png"]72903[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]2. Blockbuster was sued by Nintendo. [/SIZE][/B] If anyone was under the illusion that Nintendo being a shitty company was a recent development, think again. A lobby of Software Publishers (including Nintendo) tried to prevent rental companies like Blockbuster from renting any computer software and sued them. A compromise was achieved when they accepted to end the rental of computer software if they were allowed to rent console game disks and cartridges. Nintendo, being the petty bitches they are, tried a second lawsuit to stop them from renting their games because of their practice of including photocopies of their game manuals. Blockbuster stopped including manuals with their rentals and settled the lawsuit with Nintendo. If you ever wondered why Blockbuster game rentals didn’t include the manuals, now you know who to blame. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="vk_attorney.webp"]72920[/ATTACH] [I]Nintendo's lawyer? Probably this guy.[/I][/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]3. You could rent and demo gaming consoles from Blockbuster. [/SIZE][/B] I remember renting the Virtual Boy and the N64 a few times from my local store. Blockbuster saved me and my parents a lot of money by allowing me to experience some of the most hyped up consoles of the 90s without dropping ridiculous sums of money. Some may not remember, but the Panasonic 3DO was one of the most hyped up consoles I could remember and had an equally ridiculous price tag (599.99, if I remember correctly). I was able to demo it at my Blockbuster and that pretty much killed the hype for me. The games were so bad, I didn't even bother touching it again. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="1748141378158.png"]72908[/ATTACH] [I]This is what a rental case for a Virtual Boy looked like. If you had a credit card on file, you could rent it for 5 days for about 19.99. Headache inducing red LED display was included, free of price.[/I][/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]4. Blockbuster introduced a lot of North American kids to Anime.[/SIZE][/B] Some may not know this but there was a time, before CrunchyRoll, Adult Swim and Toonami, when Japanese Anime was not readily available for people in North America. Blockbuster had a dedicated section to adult animation and it included many Anime theatrical releases and direct to video series (OVA). Some of my fondest memories of watching Anime was renting Akira, Ghost in a Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Battle Angel Alita, Ninja Scroll and other 90’s classics from Blockbuster. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="530px" alt="1748141678879.png"]72911[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="394px" alt="1748141705510.png"]72912[/ATTACH] [I]Two of the many classic Animes available at Blockbuster back in the day, if you had a cinephile parent who didn't care about age restrictions.[/I][/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]5. There are still some remaining Blockbuster stores. [/SIZE][/B] The last few remaining US stores closed down in 2018, with the exception of the locale in Bend, Oregon. With the closure of the last store in New Zealand in 2020, the store in Bend is the last remaining Blockbuster in the world. The store hosts Blockbuster themed sleep overs through Airbnb and hosts new versions of the Blockbuster Video Game championship. The 2023 event was held in the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. [CENTER][MEDIA=youtube]TYXiLkum1hk[/MEDIA] [I]Chronicle of the Blockbuster exhibit at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Looked kinda fun, not going to lie.[/I] [ATTACH type="full" width="696px" alt="The_Last_Blockbuster_storefront2.jpg"]72924[/ATTACH] [I]The last remaining Blockbuster in the world. Apparently, I'm not the only Gen Yer with nostalgia for this relic of the past.[/I] [/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]And that is it for today...[/SIZE][/B] Did you enjoy this article? Do you have any interesting memories of rental places such as Blockbuster? Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading. [/QUOTE]

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