It’s 1998. It’s Friday night and you just walked into Blockbuster to rent a game for the weekend.

[SolVanderlyn]

What game catches your eye? Is it the cover that sells it? Or did something on the back of the box convince you? Or perhaps you knew about beforehand, arriving in pursuit of a specific game...

I was ten in 98. I should have rented Metal Gear Solid but I was high on JRPG fumes back then and didn't think that "army game" looked cool.

My answer is Parasite Eve. My best friend at the time had been talking about it at school nonstop, so, naturally, I was curious. Still one of my favorite games to this day, and also still a wholly unique game in my opinion. A survival horror RPG hybrid, that's a sequel to a Japanese sci-fi novel, that's also made by Squaresoft in its prime. Now that's a killer cocktail.

 

[rude]

There were barely any good games made before 2000, so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

 

[zoltek]

There were barely any good games made before 2000, so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

How rude!

 

[TheSix]

There were barely any good games made before 2000, so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

What the hell is this

 

[NPVinny]

There were barely any good games made before 2000, so probably nothing.

Click to shrink...

Well, that's a take

 

[Jawmuncher]

I'll rent this so I have access to all of the content already.

 

[Couleurs]

I was pretty obsessed with game magazines in the 90s, so I had a good sense of what was reviewing well, and which ones were garbage to avoid.

 

[Labyrinthe]

Zelda OOT, being my first Zelda game ever.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I was getting most of my gaming news from magazines by then, so covers weren't really making me pick up games at that point. I think the big think back then was hoping that whatever you rented actually played since it seemed damn near impossible to rent a game that didn't looking like someone intentionally scratched the back of the disc severely.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Rogue Squadron on Nintendo 64!

 

[Tangled Up in Blue]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

 

[EggmaniMN]

In 1998 we were in a true golden era of gaming. Tekken 3 or Xenogears probably. Toppest top tier.

 

[toilet_sandpaper]

Mega Man X for the 521st time of course

 

[Spring-Loaded]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 59126]

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

Probably FIFA98 lol.

 

[Deleted member 17207]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

Is this bannable or?

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

 

[Boy]

Zelda oot, because i loved zelda link to the past.

 

[Arklite]

 

[Ra]

1998, definitely renting an Armored Core disc

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

Pokémon stadium

 

[Hieroph]

I'll rent this so I have access to all of the content already.

Click to shrink...

Saves on the actual physical media, that's the good stuff.

 

[SecondNature]

That digimon game on ps1

or twisted metal

 

[SolVanderlyn]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

If this is bait there is some Zoomer out there unironically agreeing with this. You are feeding that monster's twisted psyche!

 

[Yoss]

NFL Blitz

 

[Sheng Long]

Metal Gear Solid and XenoGears baby!

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

Metal Gear Solid. Then having to bruteforce through every codex frequency to be able to save, because the assholes at VideoEzy didn't copy the back of the CD case.

Edit: no it was Meryl on the CD case, not Mei Ling.

 

[imbarkus]

I'm 27. I'm reading NextGen and EGM. Maybe... Play? GMR? My kids are babies and my brothers-in-laws ask me for game recommendations lol

 

[plan9]

In '98? That'd probably be N64 with Mario64 and/or Banjo Kazooie. Good times.

I remember renting Yoshis Story as well. Times.

 

[BasilZero]

Me: Cant wait to get "Insert game"
Clerk: Sir, this is not Hollywood Video.

 

[Speevy]

Who grabbed all the quarters in your home to RUN down the street to rent a game in 1988?

That's right, you young whippersnappers. 1988.

The game could have been anything. It didn't matter.

 

[blame space]

depends, am i having friends over?

 

[TheAggroCraig]

1998 I didn't have my N64 until Christmas that year, so I guess I'd be playing on SNES and Genesis still... hell I don't even know what I would've picked up.

 

[blame space]

me: holy shit they finally have it!

*gets home*










my n64:

 

[turbobrick]

Well, assuming its January 1998 as its January now, I'd only be able to rent ps1 games as I didn't have an N64 at this point. Probably would have rented something like NFS 2, Resident Evil, Jumping Flash 2, Jet Moto 2, or something like that.

 

[Slick Butter]

i was baby so idk

 

[JLP101]

I rented Body Harvest for the N64 :) Surprisingly its worth a lot of money now.

 

[Novocaine]

This motherfucker of a game. So many good times

 

[Dr. Monkey]

 

[Acido]

Crash Bandicoot. But I didn't play it in 1998, more like in 2003. In 1998 I was 6 and we were too poor for videogames, there wasn't even a blockbuster in my town lol

 

[New Donker]

I looked at the big games that released in 97 and 98 and I remember owning more of these games. I guess my brother and I really cleaned up with odd jobs to buy what we wanted.
I do remember renting a few at that time like Diddy Kong racing and Bushido Blade

 

[xXJonoXx]

Goldeneye 007

 

[Deleted member 2620]

probably this:

game still rules

 

[Lant_War]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

wrong

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Id be a baby so i probably wouldnt be playing any games

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

In 1998 I distinctly remember renting the original Tomb Raider from Blockbuster. It was the very first 3D game I ever played that wasn't Bubsy 3D. I got up to Lost Valley in the rental period then made sure the full game was bought as it was incredible.

 

[ignata]

Also a new avid magazine reader at the time and early internet. Wasn't it n64.com? The one that later became IGN? I also remember a fan site about Symphony of the Night that sold me on a PS1. I lived in an ultra rural area so Blockbuster came about 20 minutes away and around 2000 so at this point it was West Coast Video. I rented more PS1 games than any console in my life due to the uh...backuppable nature of the format. So yes, magazines and internet let me know what all was what before going to a rental place.

 

[D.Lo]

There were barely any good games made before 2000 (outside of arcade titles), so probably nothing. Maybe some crappy N64 game.

Click to shrink...

How to derail a thread with one bad zoomer take

 

[MrBS]

Would have been Final Fantasy VIII. Game rentals in the 90s were awesome, particularly in cartridge days when games were much more expensive. I only owned a couple games that I got from birthdays or Christmas back then. I played any number of games I never would have otherwise thanks to rentals.