SoulBlazer Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I never thought anyone would be interested in this, but a friend recently encouraged me to at least post something here about this and see if anyone has any interest. I've mentioned this a couple times but never really told anyone in depth about it or talked much about it -- again, cause I didn't think anyone would care. Back in the late 80's to early 90's, I was the person mainly responsible for 'helping' to decide what NES games a popular local video rental place carried. My Mom was made the manager of the store in 1985 and in 1988 when the NES really started taking off (and I was 12 at the time) she told me her boss (the owner) thought it was a good idea that they follow Blockbusters example and start renting NES games. Not know anything about it, she came to me for help. I basically picked out the entire stock that store should carry based on my own experience, what my friends liked, what Nintendo Power said, and so on. I also picked out new games for the store as they came in, did all the photocopying for the manuals, selected a 'instruction cheat sheet' for the games when that was no longer allowed, cleaned the games on a regular basis, and other things. This went on for several years, and it continued into SNES days also. Finally I went to college in 1994 and the next year my Mom moved south with my Dad and someone else took over as manager. I imagine they expanded into PlayStation and other games. The store finally closed in 2010. Not only was it great being able to get any game I wanted anytime I wanted it for free -- as long as it wasn't out -- it also made me the envy of all my friends, cause of that and the fact that I got my hands on new games. It was also VERY helpful in deciding which games to ask for for Christmas, as they were expensive. I believe at the peak the store had about 60-70 NES games and 20-30 SNES ones. So, I'm just putting this out here. If anyone would like to interview me for a podcast, or ask me questions in a e-mail format, or want me to write up a long detailed article about it, please let me know either here or in PM. I think I had a pretty unique experience that not many other kids had, and I'd love to share about that time period. Thanks! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 If you wrote a story I would read it. I like those kinds of stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I would fit this into my podcast schedule, if you made it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Yes please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 I would fit this into my podcast schedule, if you made it Is it easier if I recorded this and just sent it, or some kind of interview? Where is your podcast at? I'd love to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 If you wrote a story I would read it. I like those kinds of stories. Sure, I'd rather do something in a podcast format, but I'll write this down at some point also. Thanks for the vote of confidence guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Is it easier if I recorded this and just sent it, or some kind of interview? Where is your podcast at? I'd love to check it out. I tried podcasting for a while... I really enjoyed the process, but my material wasn't conducive to a long-term weekly format. So no, I don't have a podcast I could offer you anymore. By my comment, I meant that I listen to a lot of podcasts, and Knowing what yours would be about, I'd be happy to add it to the mix. I have a lot of fond memories surrounding video rentals, so this would appeal to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Invader Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Totally interested. That's a great story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 Oh! Okay. Well, I'll have to think about what format I want to do this in and then work on it over the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Months later, I'm pleased to report I finally DID tell this story -- in podcast form! Please listen and let me know what you think. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/153291-2-worthy-video-game-podcasts/page-97?do=findComment&comment=3119309 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Nice, imagine being hands on and the first with video games, that's awesome. So did they stock SMS and Genesis games too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Nice, imagine being hands on and the first with video games, that's awesome. So did they stock SMS and Genesis games too? No, in the US the Sega Master system had a very small market share and we weren't interested in doing that....there was no money to be made. As for Genesis, we had talked about it both when the system came out in 89 and again in 91 when the store started to rent SNES games and decided both times against it. Part of it was just the fact that I didn't have a Genesis, so I wasn't as familiar with the games like I was with the NES and SNES. But also Blockbuster and all the other stores jumped on renting Genesis games out and didn't have much in terms of the SNES, so it seemed like a good business move to get a large selection of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Great story. Have many great memories of an era long gone by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akator Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 No, in the US the Sega Master system had a very small market share and we weren't interested in doing that....there was no money to be made. As for Genesis, we had talked about it both when the system came out in 89 and again in 91 when the store started to rent SNES games and decided both times against it. Part of it was just the fact that I didn't have a Genesis, so I wasn't as familiar with the games like I was with the NES and SNES. But also Blockbuster and all the other stores jumped on renting Genesis games out and didn't have much in terms of the SNES, so it seemed like a good business move to get a large selection of them. The US market share for SMS wasn't *that* small. I saw SMS games available for rental in 87-88. Sure, NES rentals were easier to find and continued for longer. My local stores that carred SMS rentals replaced those with Genesis by 1992. The stores that previously only carried NES games also had Genesis rentals. I saw this everywhere I visited up and down the US East Coast. Between 1990-95 I rented Genesis games in Rhode Island, NYC, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. I had a much more difficult time renting SNES games. By the time I started seeing more SNES, I was also seeing PlayStation and Saturn rentals. I was looking to rent a SNES game when I saw Ridge Racer on PSX at a Blockbuster. I didn't rent Genesis or SNES games again after that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 Well, then, we did things differently. You're right that no one was renting SNES games, which is one reason we focused on that...and we charged more for it also. Not as much as Blockbuster, but as I recall it was $3 a night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akator Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Well, then, we did things differently. You're right that no one was renting SNES games, which is one reason we focused on that...and we charged more for it also. Not as much as Blockbuster, but as I recall it was $3 a night. Wow, that was definitely on the low end of what I remember experiencing with game rentals It was usually around $5-10 the first night, 2 nights for old stuff, then $2-3 each additional night Your store must have been very popular Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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