I miss renting games from rental stores.

>>3946347
Really? I used to rent a ton, to try things out without buying them. But emulation has taken over that spot. What do you actually miss about it?

Damn, Mike Matei is short

>>3946347
I used to rent games from a video rental store on weekends. I still remember the tobacco smell. Those were happy times.

>>3946347
I don't.

mostly because we only had one place in my 90's recession ruined small assfuck town and they charged stupid prices

3 rentals of a NES/SNES game or buy a game new elsewhere

>>3946347

Me too OP.

I remember when I used to rent some games in a local game shop and going back to my home with special feel about it.

N64 and PSX era.

>>3946352
It's more of a nostalgic childhood thing than a practical thing. Waiting all week until Friday afternoon where you get to pick a movie and a game, the anticipation of it was like nothing else.

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>>3946367
Doesn't that work out to like 15-20$ per rental??? What the fuck were they thinking?

I rented Tales of Destiny from a local blockbuster three times and then berated the manager into selling it to me after I couldn't find a copy to buy anywhere.

>>3946353
jej

Our local gas station used to have a video store in the back.
They charged by the day. So I got to play a game for one night, and my parents would bring it back the next day.

>>3946389
no competition and... I don't know what the fuck

they charged ok rates for videos, probably 'cause there were other video rentals within walking/driving distance

I still liked going there. Sometimes the owner would give the cardboard cutout ads for old movies away for free

>>3946347
>>3946352
>>3946382
Same here.

The thrill of it was being able to get a game and play it through, usually, for a cheap price rather than paying $40 for it. You get the whole experience of it without the pain.

> the pain comes in when you bought it, and now you're arranging some special setup for your controller to keep a button pressed for hours, or grinding away at some nonsensical level to get your Crissaegrim, or any number of other potentially brainwashing activities in order to unlock some damn easter egg that either shouldnt be there or should have been more directly part of the game.

But it was also fun to find out about secret levels or some bonus combo - after you'd already gotten rid of the game or after your first playthrough from the rental.

Now you go rent it again, and either beat your fists on your knees because whatever someone told you about getting a bonus thing was incomplete and you're doing it wrong - or maybe it makes you want to get the full game now so you can properly make it your bitch (after it has since years past dropped probably half price).

Game Rental fed my introduction to Zelda, that golden cartridge, just shortly before my dad made me sell my game system and the tv with it. But that taste of those first 3 dungeons and that huge map with so many places I couldnt go... it demanded more.

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>>3946347
I get where you're coming from OP, but I definitely prefer the convenience we've got today.

>>3946367
>>3946389

We had a convenience store that charged like $2 for a game rental.

Then this thing that went in on the south end of town, shaped like a barn, which catered directly to movies and games and theirs were like $1.50 per rental for games (though it got shut down after a few months, as with all things in that community that tried to thrive, which weren't a long running family niche business)

Then again my town was a 1500 population support community for nearby sprawling farm countryside. So we were still kinda on the agricultural economy model and the recession didnt hit us much because we were already recessed.

>>3946347
I miss spending 4 hours to download a game over an x.25 network and playing it on my game doctor a year before blockbuster had it.

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Renting games from local video club stores was part of the mystique.
I remember one friday, energy went down but I still wanted to rent a game for the weekend, hoping it'd come back.
I remember stepping into the store and it was full of other kids too who were also looking to rent a game, all with lanterns. It's a scene I'll never forget.

I actually bought lots of NES games from local mom and pop rental places when they were clearing stock in the late 90s for dirt cheap. I left the rental stickers on them so I never forget about Video Gallery, Movie Shoppe, Videos 2 Go, etc.

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I also liked playing other people save games

>rent Final Fantasy 2
>start new game
>meh, this shit is slow and kinda boring
>reset, load up a save near the end of the game
>Holy shit, Cecil is a Paladin and Rydia is grown up?
>hop in the Lunar Whale
>tfw this music starts playing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOAuEvDY9c
>fly to the fucking moon

It blew my mind as a kid and encouraged me to keep playing the game to see how the characters got like that.

You only say that because you weren't the one paying.