What was the last game you remember renting?

[Gloves | 11,788]

Don't recall exactly, but it would have been something on the N64. Either Majora's Mask or Tiggers Honey Hunt. 

To this day I don't know why we rented Tigger, but I remember leaving it in the bathroom at a coffee shop and when I went back for it a few minutes later it was gone. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,544]

1 hour ago, fox said:

Y'all just went out and blindly bought every game you wanted to try in the last 20+ years?

Pretty much.

[Renmauzo | 1,201]

The last two games I personally rented - at the same time - were Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. My cousin (asshole) was coming over for the weekend so my Mom splurged and allowed for two rentals. We chose both of the games mentioned, and when we got back, he promptly started Mario RPG and 'let me' watch the whole time.

2 hours in, he got stuck, got frustrated, shut the game off and switched to CT. Within 10 minutes, he got bored of the story setup, shut it off and declared 'that game sucks'. He dragged me outside and I didn't get to play anything.

When he left the next day, I started playing CT and fell in love with the experience. I extended the rental and got to the point where you're filling out everyone's side stories and brought the game back because I decided I was going to pull odd jobs throughout the summer for the $115 I'd need to buy the game and then play my own copy from start to finish. To date, it's one of my most cherished gaming memories  

Edited July 10, 2022 by Renmauzo

[T-Pac | 7,560]

I don't think I've ever rented a video game... 

But I remember renting Pokemon tapes from a local Family Video when they loaned VHS tapes for free. I still can't believe they did that - it was awesome.

-CasualCart

[fox | 1,667]

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

Plenty of other ways to see if a game is something for you, though. Demos, reviews, word of mouth, video footage, playing other people's copies, and so on.

Demo discs and magizine reviews were good resources, but those could be anywhere from $5-$10 themselves, about the same cost of a rental.  Video game companies kind of got hip to the fact that if they put out a demo, it wouldn't improve sales and would only hurt sales of people found out the game was poo, so you saw very few demos after that.  If you knew other people who played games or could barrow theirs, that was clutch, but gaming was still pretty niche' and not as mainstream as it is today.  Any video footage you found online was prob potato quality and took forever to load.

Blockbuster being the big one.  But also Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, Age of Video, and every grocery store had a decent sized rental section.  So no shortage of rental places.  So renting was always an easy option.

Buy one, get one free Wednesday and free rentals when you filled up your punch card were clutch.
 

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

It was definitely an N64 game. I remember renting WWF No Mercy and MK Mythologies Sub Zero as some of the last games I rented.

[scaryice | 587]

Little Big Planet 3 (PS3) from a Redbox on November 25, 2014.

[Bighab | 58]

The Punisher on the Nes from Blockbuster back around 1993.  Those plastic cases the rentals came in with their permastruct bring back fond memories.

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

I think it was either Kingdom Hearts or Black on PS2 from Hollywood Video.

[dogbowl | 150]

Last that I recall specifically was Rygar for the NES, but picking one up on a Friday night was a regular weekend activity for a while back in the day.

 

I also remember purchasing an "exclusive" copy of Indy Jones & infernal machine for the N64 from a Blockbuster (roughly '96 ish)

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

Easy. Mario Galaxy 2. I remember renting it summer 2010 and thinking $15 for a week was nuts. That I just should've bought it instead. Then when I heard that Block Buster declared bankruptcy that year it make complete sense. The store probably closed like 2 months after I returned the game. 

[NostalgicMachine | 236]

5 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Easy. Mario Galaxy 2. I remember renting it summer 2010 and thinking $15 for a week was nuts. That I just should've bought it instead. Then when I heard that Block Buster declared bankruptcy that year it make complete sense. The store probably closed like 2 months after I returned the game. 

I was drawing a blank honestly, then your post reminded me I did in fact rent Super Mario Sunshine for the GC like 17 years ago.

[Abelardo | 154]

Hard to say, definitely SNES era, we didn't rent as much SNES compared to the NES but I remember a handful of rentals, rented Sim City at least a couple of times, probably Pilotwings, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 for some reason, Chavez boxing (obviously we had to check it out), some other time we rented Super Metroid, and probably our last rental was Super Mario RPG, I'm likely forgetting about some other rentals and my brothers probably kept renting, but personally I gave up renting because it became really difficult to rent super popular games like Mortal Kombat 2/3 and Killer Instinct, they were just never available at the height of the fighting game craze.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

Hm. HM.

I’m thinking it’s something dumb like Ready 2 Rumble Boxing for the Dreamcast. 

[AstralSoul | 502]

I'm 95% sure it was Boom Box on Wii. I rented NES, SNES, and N64 games a TON back then because my family never bought me games as a kid so I got to rent a lot instead. But by GameCube era I started working and buying my own games so I pretty much stopped renting at that point. Except the one time I had just got a Wii, Twilight Princess and Excite Truck, I played the crap out of those games and wanted something to play but didn't want to buy anything and rented Boom Blox which was fun but was glad I didn't buy it. If memory serves me right, I never rented anything else after that.

[B.A. | 1,139]

Ogre Battle 64 from Blockbuster. 

[360collector | 289]

Never rented a game

[koifish | 556]

I'd guess I have one of the latest examples, I rented Splatoon from what was the only local video rental store still open. It cost 20 dollars for a 3 day rental, which in retrospect didn't make much sense because I could have just bought the game. I don't remember why I did it, but at least Splatoon was awesome.

Having read some other posts, I was reminded that Gamefly exists. So, while my example is not the most recent, it is probably the most recent from a physical location.

Also, in my hometown the library has a program to lend out video games. I was last there in 2019 and it was still serving discs, mostly for xbox 360, ps3, wii, and wii u.

[koifish | 556]

On 7/9/2022 at 1:45 PM, fox said:

Kind of crazy to think some people haven't rented a game since the N64.  Y'all just went out and blindly bought every game you wanted to try in the last 20+ years?
 

Lately I don't even buy 'em! I've far too many to worry about new releases. Usually I'm just buying something if it's convenient, like ultimate chicken horse on PC so that I can play online.

[NostalgicMachine | 236]

It certainly wasn't the last game I ever rented, but I DO remember renting Super Smash Brothers on the N64 after a doctor's visit, when it was more or less brand new. That was an exciting era!

[LifeGame | 760]

I have a feeling it was Cybernator on SNES

[Kill Trevor | 3]

Probably Demon's Souls on PS3, absolutely hated it. Eventually came back to it years later and loved it

[themisfit138 | 523]

Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance 2 on Xbox.  That is the last one I remember renting anyways. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by themisfit138