What was your experience with rent-only games?

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

You know how there were some games - mostly N64 ones - that were only released to Blockbuster and similar retailers and couldn't be bought, resulting on you having to rent them out every time you felt like playing them?

How did you go about that?

Did you rent them constantly? Got them once out of curiosity and never again? Ignored them completely?

I *THINK* my older sister got one of the Ren & Stimpy ones from Blockbuster to kill a weekend, but didn't like it at all, and was ultimately disappointed that she couldn't find it anywhere else, so the game was never rented or mentioned again and that was the extent of our experience.

What about yours?

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

Only ones I could think of were the ones on the N64 like Beast Wars and Clayfighters, both of which I was only able to play via emulation. 63 1/3 the Sculptor's Cut was alright, but the N64 controller is so abysmally terrible for fighting games, and it makes setting things up in an emulator tricky as well. Beast Wars Transmetals is horrible, but the Japanese version is one of the dozen or so games that makes use of the Transfer Pak outside of Pokemon Stadium and Mario Tennis.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Beast Wars Transmetals is horrible

It genuinely is! But that's a cool fact, man!

 

[Tekki]

I mostly overlooked them. By the time I was able to save enough money for my own gamecube as a kid, rental stores were very few and far between. The few times I'd rent some of the gamecube games from Rogers, they were usually relatively mainstream titles such as the Mario Party games.

However, I mainly knew about them existing due to youtubers who discussed retro games.

 

[MajesticSiN]

Rentals were the way of life for me back in the day.
There was only one game I could never rent because it was always out and that was Final Fantasy Tactics.
Ended up just buying that one.

 

[Deleted member 913503]

wasn't allowed to rent games as a kid. Parents thought it was a waste of money.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

wasn't allowed to rent games as a kid. Parents thought it was a waste of money.

That sucks, dude :/

 

[GuyZero32k4]

I'd be in a race against myself. Try to beat games in the 3 day rental time from Blockbuster and Hollywood Video.
Among the games I sat down and tore into (that I remember) were like Revenge of Shinobi, Shinobi III, Ninja Gaiden II on the NES, Castlevaina Bloodlines, Godzilla on the NES.

 

[Jeff]

For me, whenever I rent games from a video store such as Blockbuster or West Coast Video/Super Video store, I just play the games for fun and understand the controls rather than beating them and decided to get them once they're on sale. The rental only games are very rare and not seen in stores, games like Ren & Stimpy would be a rental exclusive because it's a short game. I rented it and it was pretty bad. Sometimes games would have the video store end label sticker at the back of the cartridge.

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

It genuinely is! But that's a cool fact, man!

Yeah, if you connect "Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle" to your N64 via the Transfer Pak while playing "Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals" you'll unlock "Megatron X" (Powered up BW Megatron, fused with G1 Megatron, similar to his Transmetal 2 body). He is still available in the North American version of the game as a secret boss and can only be encountered by reaching then end without dying once.

It should also be noted, that the Beast Wars II GBC game, is also the origin of the game original character, Star Upper, who turns into a Kangaroo. He made a few cameos as a background extra in the Beast Wars Neo animated series, and was a minor character in the Beast Wars II comic. He was the winning entry of a fan design contest, and he sadly never got a toy.

 

[Zerpina]

As anyone who has read a few of my articles knows, as a teen, I had a friend whom I call Jez here. While I worked part-time at a gas station, she did the same at a local video store. I vaguely remember her saying that they received some exclusive games from time to time.

It was a Blockbuster, so unless other video stores could get them, I think only they had the rights to rent them out. I know she said they received them a few days before they were to be displayed for rent. She also could rent them out ahead of time, as long as they were back on display day.

Again, this was years ago, so I might be misremembering what it was called. Anyway, I know we played Clayfighter: Sculptor's Cut for the N64 a few days ahead of time, and if I’m not mistaken, Final Fight Guy for the SNES.

And again, this was well over 20 years ago, so I might be misremembering.
But I do know that the Clayfighter game sucked. As for renting games here, at least when you rented a game on a Friday, and I think it was $3, you kept it until Monday, the same time you rented it on Friday without paying a bonus charge.
Of course, we rented a lot of games over the years since she got them at a discount. I also pirated ALOT of the games/Movies we rented too, As I Mod chipped her PS1 along with mine....

 

[BrawlMan]

I have not rented the video game since 2002. I got a game fly account a few months ago but is mainly to get certain used games on sale.

 

[Rocket2049]

for SOME reason i had a 5 day rental of Mario RPG and didn't finish it, absolutely rushed the final boss
just to get my ass kicked as my brother and I both recall. it's about a 20 hours game on SNES
(SHORTER on Switch btw, cause it's easier/faster for some couple reasons)

no idea how i did NOT finish it on 5 seperate days lol. 4 hours a day and i'd be done back then i gamed FAR more than that, daily, more than i should have been considering school and such.
just some history from me, i beat Dragon quest 3, FF5 and 6, before playing mario RPG ever.
so i wasn't no casual RPG player, and mario RPG is the EASIEST RPG I'VE EVER SEEN to this day!

...so fast forward to 2023 (before the switch remake was out)
i grabbed the SNES game rom and emulation, played the game, BLINDLY no guides no lookup at all.
i did NOT use any cheats, save states, or any sort of fast-forward
so anyways i beat the SNES game in ONE SINGLE DAY (about 14 hours, blind no guides)
i missed SO MANY BROKEN THINGS IN MY PLAYTHROUGH:
no red shell armor (the BEST armor in the game) no red shell weapon (marios best weapon)
no ultra cape or super suit (both earned by doing 50 and 100 jumps in a row off an enemy)
I NEVER USED GENO OR PEACH, peach basically give you insane amounts of healing for very little cost, geno can ONE SHOT all normal enemies (and only one boss) with geno whirl,
i just CHOSE not to use them, just mario, mallow, and bowser the whole game.
i beat the final boss without having to heal, items or magic... at level 20 (the max level is 30)
so, i'm just SUPER CONFUSED how i didn't beat it in 5 day rental way back then

BTW it's easier on switch, team super attacks and much more usable item inventory, and various things that just modernize it (fast travel, autosave, way more information and markers, and showing the attack/dodge button timing)

 

[random0nonsense]

I never had access to them. We only had membership to a local video store, not Blockbuster.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

For me, whenever I rent games from a video store such as Blockbuster or West Coast Video/Super Video store, I just play the games for fun and understand the controls rather than beating them and decided to get them once they're on sale.

That's a winning strategy, man.

It was a Blockbuster, so unless other video stores could get them, I think only they had the rights to rent them out. I know she said they received them a few days before they were to be displayed for rent. She also could rent them out ahead of time, as long as they were back on display day.

That's awfully generous of the store to do... I imagine a missing game they couldn't explain later would lead to a massive shitstorm. Your friend was probably a very valuable employee.

View attachment 178200
Yeah, if you connect "Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle" to your N64 via the Transfer Pak while playing "Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals" you'll unlock "Megatron X" (Powered up BW Megatron, fused with G1 Megatron, similar to his Transmetal 2 body). He is still available in the North American version of the game as a secret boss and can only be encountered by reaching then end without dying once.

It should also be noted, that the Beast Wars II GBC game, is also the origin of the game original character, Star Upper, who turns into a Kangaroo. He made a few cameos as a background extra in the Beast Wars Neo animated series, and was a minor character in the Beast Wars II comic. He was the winning entry of a fan design contest, and he sadly never got a toy.

This deserves a million likes — get to it, you lot.

 

[Zerpina]

That's awfully generous of the store to do... I imagine a missing game they couldn't explain later would lead to a massive shitstorm. Your friend was probably a very valuable employee.

Well, the owner trusted Jez a lot. It even got to the point where she was closing the store, so he knew she would bring it back on time

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Well, the owner trusted Jez a lot. It even got to the point where she was closing the store, so he knew she would bring it back on time

That's so cool.

I would love a gig like that.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

I don't know what was better, going to rent games at Blockbuster or going to my local video store
and going into the "back room" behind the curtain where all the bewbs were

 

[Bakuma1997]

Those stores never came to where i lived, only buying

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

I don't know what was better, going to rent games at Blockbuster or going to my local video store
and going into the "back room" behind the curtain where all the bewbs were

View attachment 178308

This how you got to watch the "forbidden" cartoons like "Words Worth".

Finish the quote and get banned from RGT.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

This how you got to watch the "forbidden" cartoons like "Words Worth".

Finish the quote and get banned from RGT.

I got one even quicker, post any (non-hentai) picture of a female and a tentacle in the
same picture and see what happens.

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

I got one even quicker, post any (non-hentai) picture of a female and a tentacle in the
same picture and see what happens.

I'm not sure that will accomplish, but okay...

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Damn it, you guys XD

 

[Badseed Badseed]

I'm not sure that will accomplish, but okay...

You're walking a slippery slope, but I guess the mods like you better.
I put up a picture like this (totally non-sexual)

(the blacked out spots are the tentacles, I'm not going through that again.)
And the mods lost their sh*t.

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

You're walking a slippery slope, but I guess the mods like you better.
I put up a picture like this (totally non-sexual)

View attachment 178414

(the blacked out spots are the tentacles, I'm not going through that again.)
And the mods lost their sh*t.

Oh, but this one kind of looks like the start of a porno. I actually made sure the tentacle I posted was from a real octopus or something. What the hell is this even from anyway? A Resident Evil fan game?