When did Blockbuster start renting video games?

[Anthony1]

I'm trying to think back to when Blockbuster first started to rent Video Games. Actually, I don't know when Blockbuster or Hollywood Video first opened their rental stores. Maybe when they first opened, they started renting video games immediately.

The earliest games that I remember at Blockbuster were Sega Genesis and SNES carts. They might have had a small selection of the most popular and recent NES carts as well. I don't ever remember the TurboGrafx-16 being rented.

Did Blockbuster ever rent Jaguar or 3DO? I don't think they did. I know that they rented 32X for a little while, and of course Saturn for a little while. They also rented Virtual Boy. Of course they rented the original Playstation and Nintendo 64.

It's kinda werid that now we have this huge rental industry in Video Games, and in the days of the NES, really only Mom and Pop video stores and Grocery stores rented any games, and mostly it was just a small selection of the most popular NES games.

During the Genesis and SNES era is when renting games started to become the norm.

[dojosky]

Blockbuster Video has been renting games as early as 1988-1989 or earlier they had nes, sms in the beginning then later on snes genesis (i heard from a friend still hard to believe but some rented neo geo stuff) and basically almost all popular systems (they did rent jaguar,3do games and systems .. even cd-i, 32x, virtual boy stuff as well ... ) hope that helps =)

[DigitalSpace]

I remember Nintendo either taking or threatening to take Blockbuster to court over photocopying NES manuals. I'm sure somebody here knows more of the story than I do.

Oh, and mom and pop stores didn't just rent the popular NES titles. For example, I've noticed that quite a few Action 52 finds have been made in old video stores. But then again, you can thank Active enterprises themselves for that, as I believe part of their marketing strategy was based around selling carts to video rental stores.

[FlufflePuff]

Never had a Blockbuster where I grew up, but Family Video defiinately had a great selection of NES games back in the day. They had this little tiny store in my town which was close to 1/4 games, 1/2 VHS, and 1/4 porn. Great place for the whole family!

[tholly]

i know my blockbuster had nes....i dont know about anything before that though

[Anthony1]

None of the blockbusters in Sacramento, CA ever rented 3DO or Jaguar or CD-I. Man that would have been sweet if they did.


The systems that I know for sure were rented:

Genesis
SNES
Sega CD
32X
Saturn
Playstation
Virtual Boy
N64
DC


I'm pretty sure they rented NES carts, I just don't remember that for sure. I seriously doubt they rented TG-16 or TG-16 CD or even Sega Master System. At least on a Nationwide scale.

[Stark]

I can remember renting SMS games from them and I believe NES as well.

[PhoeniX]

I remember Nintendo either taking or threatening to take Blockbuster to court over photocopying NES manuals. I'm sure somebody here knows more of the story than I do.

They did! First nintendo tried to sue Blockbuster for renting their games in the first place, this of course was patently absurd. When Nintendo realized they couldn't stop the rentals they changed stategy to stop blockbuster from "illegally" making photocopies of the game manuals, which are copyrighted. I don't believe either suit came to fruition, as both don't seem to be available on Lexis-Nexis, suffice it to say that regardless of any out of court settlement Blockbuster was forced to stop xeroxing instruction manuals.

[SoulBlazer]

Actually, Blockbuster DID lose that suit and had to stop copying manuals. My Mom who managed a video store had to change policies as well. After that she bought some labels from a company with short instructions and stuck them on the inside of the rental cases. Good enough in most cases.

[digitalpress]

We didn't even have a local Blockbuster until 2001.

We did, however, have two local rental places, both of which had a great selection of NES games, right up to present (though one of the places folded when Blockbuster's move in plans were revealed). I don't think they rented games out prior to that. NES was the first I remember seeing, but they had a LOT of stuff. I would buy their "old" titles when shelf space was an issue for them

[Quickclaw]

I have Super Spy Hunter with the Blockbuster tag still affixed.

[EnemyZero]

I dont remember blockbuster, i was more of a hollywood video guy...but i remember when i was little my local hollywood video, had a pretty big section for nes and sms..i remember i bought my powerglove there used for 15 bucks :P and they also rented out all the obscure consoles

[rolenta]

We didn't even have a local Blockbuster until 2001.

Are you serious Joe? We've had Blockbusters by me since at least 1990 and I'm not that far from you.

[NintendoMan]

We didn't even have a local Blockbuster until 2001.

We did, however, have two local rental places, both of which had a great selection of NES games, right up to present (though one of the places folded when Blockbuster's move in plans were revealed). I don't think they rented games out prior to that. NES was the first I remember seeing, but they had a LOT of stuff. I would buy their "old" titles when shelf space was an issue for them

The same thing happened around here. In my town we had two local rental places. But when a Blockbuster came in in about 2000, one of them folded (Which I had been going there to rent my horror, wrestling, and games) and am just waiting for the other one to close. I have been renting from these places ever since I was about 7 or 8 years old.

I personally hate Blockbuster though. Not really just because they are the "Big" guys when it comes to video rentals, and just like Wal-Marts that close all the "little" guys out of business, but they have lost a total of 2 movies, and 3 games, ALL of which I did return. It cost me about $100+ to replace those damn things , THAT THEY SOMEHOW LOST! I mean people do make mistakes, but 5 times? I have NEVER had a problem anywhere else. So that's why I don't rent from Blockbuster anymore. There are plenty of other places to rent from around here.

[NintendoMan]

I dont remember blockbuster, i was more of a hollywood video guy...but i remember when i was little my local hollywood video, had a pretty big section for nes and sms..i remember i bought my powerglove there used for 15 bucks :P and they also rented out all the obscure consoles

This is off topic here, but does anyone know of much the PowerGlove retailed here in the US right when it came out???

I have always wanted to know this. I love my power glove, but don't use it very much. I have the manual, but never remember how to set everything up.

[allsport11]

Yeah, the Blockbuster here in Jersey located near me has had rental games since the SMS/NES days. The mom and pop stores have had game rentals here since the 2600 days. Used to love those days, renting the more "mature" titles for $.99 and being only ten or eleven years old.

[Dobie]

Blockbuster was OK to rent from, especially in the NES days, but once the SNES came around, I ended up at Hastings more often in the early '90s. I liked them because they were cheaper, but also because I was a PC gamer... and Hastings rented PC games! I used to rent them, install them, and then take the disks back. Gosh I miss that. That HAD to cut in to their software sales big time. I think they realized what they were doing, because they eventually stopped. Right around the time Quake 2 came out, if i remember correctly.

Edit: grammar

[pixelsnpolygons]

Well, I know when they started renting where I live - 1994, as that is when my town got Blockbuster. I lived in Australia then, though. The biggest video store - Video Ezy - used to rent NES and Master System games long before that... as did the other video stores I went to.

[digitalpress]

We didn't even have a local Blockbuster until 2001.

Are you serious Joe? We've had Blockbusters by me since at least 1990 and I'm not that far from you.

I wouldn't lie about a thing like that... and I love my local Blockbuster

[rolenta]

We didn't even have a local Blockbuster until 2001.

Are you serious Joe? We've had Blockbusters by me since at least 1990 and I'm not that far from you.

I wouldn't lie about a thing like that... and I love my local Blockbuster :)

Oh I believe you. I'm just surprised that it took Blockbuster ten years to get to you since you're only a scant twenty miles from me.