Back in the Blockbuster days, I had this epic experience with Final Fantasy Tactics. I loved the series already, but Tactics was a whole new type of game for me. I couldn’t finish it before the rental was due, and since we couldn’t find a copy to buy, I just kept renting it every week for about two months straight until we finally got one. It’s hands down my favorite game and I’ve beaten it many times since. What about you? Were there games you re-rented constantly because you couldn’t put them down or just didn’t finish? Share your Blockbuster rental stories!
5 Answers
Spyro the Dragon was my Blockbuster staple. We rented it so much the store even offered to sell us the copy at a discount. I later got the Reignited Trilogy, but nothing beats the memories of that original cartridge.
I totally get the frustration with Zelda: A Link to the Past. I rented it like five times, but one time someone deleted my save and I was beyond bummed. Aside from that, I’d rent other RPGs like Breath of Fire on SNES or Suikoden on PS1 multiple times from local spots. The saves back then were so precious!
Right? Losing a save was like losing a whole chunk of your week. Good times though!
Yeah, can’t believe how attached we all got to those save files. I lost my FF6 save after 70 hours and it hurt so bad.
Pokemon Snap was my absolute go-to for re-renting. The game was just so chill and fun to start fresh but also cool when your save stuck around. Blockbuster even used to do those photo prints of your Pokemon pictures, which was such a rad little touch I miss now.
Same! I loved those photo prints, it felt like actual souvenirs from the game.
Finding a save still intact when you re-rented was like finding money in your old jacket pocket nowadays.
Driver 3 was the one I just couldn’t stop playing. Obsessed with that game. Also, shout out to Turok 2 on N64—those levels were huge and confusing but I loved the challenge.
Driv3r! That was tough but so rewarding once you got the hang of it.
Earthbound had me renting the game multiple times and switching between save files when mine got overwritten. The funniest part was beating the game on someone else’s file with the name ‘jermy maggot’ in the credits—I thought it was just a weird version of Jeremy. Classic childhood confusion.
Earthbound’s box art and the weird scratch ‘n sniff guide made it too memorable. I finally bought it when I found it in a random store and finished it years later—wasn’t cheap though!
I had a friend who rented it all the time, but I luckily got it for my birthday around then. We’d play it slow so we could compare progress and talk about it forever.