What was your favorite retail store for buying video games back in the day?
>>721021931babbages and the used vidya store i used to work at (the boss was a douche, tho)
for me it's
>>721021931Target, GameStop, and GameCrazy were the places my mom would drive me to when she would buy me a video game. I miss those days.
>>721021931Does anyone remember renting games for cheap from grocery stores? It's been so long that I barely remember, maybe it was a fever dream.
>>721021931sears
blockbuster kind of sucked though. The one near me just chucked all their used games in a bin near the front of the store.I mean sure, you could get discounted games and some good deals, but they had those blockbuster stickers on the cartridges which left residue when you tried to take them off, and other games they didn't even come in the original boxes, it was just disks in blockbuster branded boxes that had "NOT FOR RESALE" on them and not the official boxart and everything. I still have copies of gamecube and PS2 games I bought at blockbuster that are in blockbuster game cases. N64 games too with those stickers they put on them.
>>721022485i still buy physical games, especially if it's a new release since I can re-sell it after I play it and basically play a brand new $70 for $20 after I sell it on ebay
>>721022554they rented them at some convenience stores, one in my hometown still does which is fucked up
>>721021931All honesty, I was here more than a decade before this BX was created, but my memories of>buying video games>back in the daywas always at AAFES shopping centers on USAF military installations."Back in the day" was 30 years ago, when I was 10-years-old...
>>721021931lived rural so walmart one town over was the only option for a while. sometime during the 7th gen we got a walmart and that became the new one. when i lived in the city later, best buy was the one who always had a zillion copies of everything and did midnight releases etc
>walk into a compusa>a wall of geforce cards>a wall of radeon cards>a wall of voodoo cards>aisles upon aisles of games>pcs and consoles existing in consumerist harmonythey went to shit on their own, but for one brief childhood they were the best
>Electronics BoutiqueThe staff were cool back when they weren't being forced to get you to sign up for shit. They let me and some friends I met at the mall arcade get hands on with a new Dreamcast system they got in for a demo kiosk. Got to play Power Stone really early. >BabbagesCarried import stuff like Pro-Action Replays and shit. I also found a copy of Radiant Silvergun for $40>K-martHad midnight launches for consoles and only a handful of people were usually there. Could get hard to find shit there but this was before scalpers.
>>721021931fry'sbecause i could look at games. then go look the displays of motherboards, then go look at music cds, then go to the home theater department and do the thx demo.
>>721021931
>>721021931Gamestop I guess. I liked Rhino but Gamestop bought them. I bought GTA IV at Hollywood Video.
>>721022554I remember renting My Pet Monster movie and Brain games from my local HEB
>>721025918>Not the superior GamestationGAME was only good for brand new releases. Gamestation had much better deals, more retro stuff (4 PS1 games for £20) and the staff knew their stuff.
Electronics Boutique (later GAME) in Ireland. Back in the days of bix box PC games, carpted floors, branded playable demo stations etc.Also Smyths Toy Stores, which was where I first played Crash 3 and my folks got me Yoshi's Island IIRC
BestBuy is trash core compared to the greatness that was FutureShop.
>>721022554yes, grocery store used to have nintendo rentals. the problem was the grocery store that did it was further away than the video store and their return time was awkward, so video factory was better.
>>721021931It certainly wasn't RadioShack. I worked there and we only had like 4 games in stock at any given time.
>>721023253>Fingerhut use to sell shit from their catalogs for an huge up price They must have made a crazy amount of money off people
>>721021931I liked gamestop, I didn't get games often, but I got castlevania order of ecclesia and fallout 3 there
>>721021931I think it may have been Sears, it's been far too long for me to remember when I started going to Gamestop
>>721021931EB but pic related was near and dear to me, too. Bought my first CD there, and my first Final Fantasy game (Mystic Quest)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZOQ8sLO-vU
>>721026945more like Rapers. Shit looks sketchy as fuck.
>>721026815Beat me to it, Zellers was nice. Probably the only corporate owned store I really feel any sense of nostalgia for. Fuck target for buying them out and ruining a good thing we had going.
>>721026732Remember when Hollywood Videos had a Game Crazy right next to their stores?
>>721021931GameStop back when they still sold PS1 & PS2 games
>>721022413Just wanted you to know I also remember Ames. I think I got Bionicle there.
Used to have a Family Video and Blockbuster close to me that I used to go to with my dad on weekends back in the day. Both have since been shut down sadly.
>it's coming up to Xmas, the new Argos catalogue just came out and it's finally your turn to flick to the back where the games pages areWhat you picking out lads
>>721026815I fucking miss Zellers so much. That and Future Shop.
>>721021931Media Markt, I loved browsing the vidya shelves without a specific goal in mind. My only knowledge of new games came from magazines back then.
My mall had two Gamestops for whatever reason. One on the bottom floor, and one on the top floor near where the food court and AMC movie theaters were. Not sure if they're still there.
>>721027153Why, Pilotwings 64, of course. Nintendo might be gay as fuck these days, but that game and Wing Commander left me with a love for flying games
>>721027108we had more blockbusters and they were usually in their own parking lot, I rented spyro enter the dragonfly and I was so mad
>>721027342I am old enough to have owned an original BRICK™ but god fucking damn the GBP was sexy looking.
I remember when Sonic Unleashed first came out and they put a giant cutout of Sonic on the wall when you first entered so the first thing you'd see was Sonic. Good times.
I used to go to the local Buybacks and CD Warehouse. I miss those places so fucking much, especially CD Warehouse, that place always stunk of incense.
>>721027449Gameboy Pockets are nice but running off AAAs kind of sucked. AAs were much easier to find in remotes and radios.
>>721027453I worked at a Blockbuster as assistant manager for a few years before I quit (and they closed down a few years after that) and I remember always having to set that stuff up on Monday night (it was called POP). Some customers would want to keep it when the promos were done and if an employee didn't want it, I'd save it for them. I wonder how much of that stuff, if any, survives at random people's houses all these years later.
>>721028017>tfw you were the one to whip out your GOLD N64 controller to whip the lads at Smash or Goldeneye with
>>721027694They had a Gex cutout hanging year round. I hope someone got to keep it after they shut down.
>>721022485Whenever I bought from gamestop there was like a 50% chance the game didn't work and I'd have to return it
>>721026815Always amazes me how inviting American/Canadian stores look. Really comfy too. Unlike German stores
>>721022413still have an Ames wheelbarrow
>>721021931Is that on the set of the new Fallout tv show?
>>721022554Yep, my local grocery store had a better selection than my BlockbusterEarthbound (with manual!), Lufia 2, Harvest Moon, Tactics Ogre (PS1)would get a game and a fresh chocolate chip cookie from the bakery
>>721021931A mom and pop shop at the corner back in the day. They used to offer solid sales. Then gamestop took over, around 2000s, all the local shops either relocated or disappeared overnight. After that it was gamestop where I got my games, well, also Kmart, Walmart, and sometimes Bestbuy. Blockbuster was another place, though it was mainly to try out games over the weekend when I didn't want to buy 'em. Prices were good for Blockbuster, rentals were nice, if you beat the game over the weekend and returnee you usually didn't pay much. Though I think gamefly, where you rent games through mail, as well as Netflix, killed blockbuster.These days though I mostly pirate my shit and only buy on steam if I like the game.
>>721021931As a kid there was a local vidya store in a strip mall that mostly sold used games, most of the customers were kids without much money. When I was older there was Electronics Boutique in the mall and the staff was pretty cool.
>>721028904>bestest fur dickD'oh!schland
>>721028017Sexy GB Pocket.
>>721029198Still looks as comfy and inviting as it did back then
>>721022157Babbages was great, listen to this anon.
>>721029613I just noticed that screen on the left side of the window display is showing the 3Dfx 60fps vs 30fps demo that they used to market the Voodoo2. Even then, poors were assblasted about the very idea that you'd need more than 30fps.
>>721029198This. I have find memories of browsing the C64 section w/ my dad, occasionally wandering to the Amiga games to drool over the graphics.
>>721029735I was one of those poors. I didn't even know until this year that the tinny ass music from the PC speaker was not in fact that actual game music. I mostly did SNES and Genesis in that era Still love my Gold Box games, though.
>>721026421>game had two stores at the shopping center>gamestation had one at the far side of the citysimply not worth the trip 99% of the time
>>721029989>I didn't even know until this year that the tinny ass music from the PC speaker was not in fact that actual game musickek me too. I saw this video and realized how much my lack of soundcard had held me back. I was too young to know any better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R14XeuTXwaU
>>721026517Hell ya cuz
>>721021931microcenterI guess it had stores in canada but there was one in anchorage. good selection and nearer to me than kb toys or toys r us or walmart or gamestop
oh eventually I stopped going to microcenter and went to compusa because I went more into pc games
>>721021931I never got games retail. I'd always get them from local used game sellers.
>>721021931Probably Gamestop. Circuit City was cool too. Toys R Us was for drooling over Legos, like those big Hydronauts or Adventurers sets you never got.
I MISS FRYSI WANT TO GO BACK TO INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE/FRYS
>>721031367Was it Fry's where every store had its own special stone in front?
>>721031439don't know about that, but a lot of the Fry's were themed. That one, the San Diego one, was not but it was still kino
>>721031367i actually worked at frysfucking horrific management that worked us to the bone
>>721031807my friend worked there too and said it was ass. Still comfy for the shopper in the 2000-2015 era. I didn't go there the last 10 years because it was run down, empty shelves, and horrible employees.
>>721022413Ames was fairly big in New England. I remember getting my Gameboy Color there. Sadly the mall it my ames was anchored to fell apart after it went bankrupt in 2002.
>>721022413https://www.amesfanclub.com/
this is where the Gay Stop I used to go to was. The whole place has been empty and condemned for like 6 years now. Fucking Gay Stop
>>721022554Holy shit I remember this. Back in the 90s in Illiois you could do this. I remember the rent service was in large section next to the check outs.
>>721021931>be younger>EB game at some mall (before it became Gamestop)>they had a small magazine section>there was a book, not sure if unnofficial, featuring digimon cards, like a collection of entire set>everytime i visited EB games by then now Gamestop i just went straight to that magazine.>never dared to buy it (not sure why, it never came to my head doing so)>next time i visit, it closedi still regret not buying it when i had the chance and i don't even remember the cover of said magazine
>>721032834like a catalog, or actual cards in sleeves?
Microplay was awesome. The one at the big mall where I grew always had tonnes of other kids shooting the shit and all the employees loved talking shop.
>>721032614lmao I thought this was in some shithole arabian country, but turns out it's in San Diego, why do americans let their cities go to waste?
>>721033519I mean, it's private land. The gov can't just rip it away from the owner. The mall died a sloooow death for a lot of reasons (it's in the middle of the downtown area so parking is shit, traffic is shit, they built a park there that became Homeless Land™) and someone bought it in 2020 and COVID shit all over their plans. The firm is now going through bankruptcy and someone will buy it since it's primo fucking land like the Empty Lot in Yakuza 0, but for now it's just an empty waste of space.Pretty ridiculous, it's literally in the middle of downtown
>>721030293>>721029989I went to a PC shop in the early 90s and an employee showed me Eye of the Beholder intro on a Sound Blaster. Literally blew my fucking mind. A Sound Blaster was too expensive for me though and I just coped with an Adlib instead. Same music quality but missing sound effects like speech in Dune 2.
>>721034260I am still laughing that there were actual soundtracks and music I never knew about it.
rip fry's
Are there any old recordings of people playing games on release from the 80s/90s/2000s for the first time?
>>721034542they had the coolest themed storefronts
>>721022413GYATT DAYAUM
>>721026389>hebgod bless texas
Buy?
>>721024903I remember going there when I was not even old enough to understand computers... my dad bought some blackjack or poker or something game, cant remember the name. You could pick an avatar though and I think one was an alien>also picked up star wars dark forces>would watch him play either poker or that for hours on end after workwhere I got a bunch of educational games too, a bunch of the super solver ones
>>721035026sorry lad, the Favela Nostalgia thread is on /int/
>>721026846>Where? The Wherehouse!Dam, are you the only one besides me who remembers this place. I got all kinds of stuff there too.I would get a lot of stuff from a store called "Best" though.
>>721035748https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xD85_fgOw
>>721031807I did too and I agree the management were just sales people who made money and go duped into being managment. It was fun closing because the computer guys would black music and the tv guys would power back, but the place was so big that neither could hear the other.
Everything died due to online shopping and shareholders draining the shit out of everything. Private equiddy = death.
>>721025185Fry's was a magical placeWhat was your local store like? Mine was like a museum of computing because it was the Sunnyvale one which is fitting for the birthplace of modern computing
>>721035970
>>721021931This place was the shit. They had a huge selection of comics, magazines and books as well as movies, anime and games. Lots of cool toys and figures for sale, too.I'd always get some of their imported Japanese snacks whenever my family took me there to rent games in the 2000s, those little chocolate biscuit mushrooms from Meiji.My hometown hasn't had a dedicated bookstore ever since it closed down.
>>721029128Yeah that was the building they used for the part where Lucy has to go into a Super Duper Mart and almost gets organ harvested by Mr. HandyPretty sure the logos are shooped on
>>721024123got my first ever video game from the kadena bx. it was pokemon red fyi, just to make you feel even older.
>>721036393I knew it looked familiar! Thanks bro!
I used to buy all my vidya from Walmart and Gamestop. 2008 had most game stores near my area close. Most Gamestops near me fully closed. Walmart is still there but their game selection has been shrinking. Best Buy fully removed their games outside of PS5. I mostly use Amazon and a localized store chain. The localized store chain are absolute jews with vidya has they put no discounts on anything, they still have a launch day Xbox One for 300 dollars and charging full price for games that released years ago. I have mostly used Amazon in the past 5 years, they are much better than physical stores with discounts. Gamestop's website is good too as they house many 5 dollar games for certain consoles, but most of the time it's their shitty ass disc container which looks awful on the shelf.
>>721024903rip Fry's could actually go to a store and get the best GPU available for cheap right from the wallnow you gotta get put on a list and become a slave to the shipping companies and incompetent delivery people
>>721027694I used to have this one, was my prized posession
>>721036592>could actually go to a store and get the best GPU available for cheap right from the wallGOD those were the days
I grew up in Atlanta, so I was pretty spoiled for choice.>Suncoast, Sam Goody, FYE in the malls>Hastings out where my aunt and uncle lived>Media Play, which was what Hastings wanted to be when it grew up>Funcoland and Software, etc.>Toys R' Us and Super Target when that was a brand new thing>anime shops that imported shit, but also sold fad toys like Crazy BonesAnd of course, the dingy one-off shops that sold other nerd shit. Funcoland was probably my favorite. The store manager wanted to fuck my older sister like crazy, so I ended up with a lot of free goods whenever she took me.
>>721038772Sam Goody was expensive but I bought my first music there. It was a single (one track cassette tape) of Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything For Love because I was too poor for the CD and didn't have a CD player.Good times.
Media Play was hella goodI only remembered they existed though when I played through Complex: Expedition and there is inexplicably a Media Play in the mall section of the game
>>721039087Sam Goody was good if all you had was big box stores, but it definitely lost out to the other media spots. Suncoast was good, but FYE was probably the best as it gave stores the most freedom in their ordering. The one where I lived in Florida had some crazy shit, like imported CDs, a huge anime section when they were still doing that "$40 for a DVD with two episodes" bullshit, and a cult movie selection that would make Arrow Video seethe with jealousy. The game section was nothing special though, which is kind of the point of the thread.
>>721026421>Gamestationgod i miss it so much
>>721021931Electronics Boutique, which became EB Games, which became FUCKING GAMESTOP
>>721031420>Circuit City used to be right next to the Hobby Lobby.>Would browse around there for an hour and play the game demo kiosks until my mom was done shopping for craft stuff.God I miss those days.
>>721041365Not in Canada, EB Games is back in the great white north
There was one place called Play"n"Trade that I loved visiting while my mom went grocery shopping, but after I hit my teenage years they turned into just another retro games shop with overpriced as hell games and comparatively little new games, then they had to shut down cause they lost sales after a bunch of people got mad that they refused to honor a kid coming in with like 50 or so 5$ coupons to get a bunch of shit, that was also where the failed Target was that was up for only a few years and half that area is now a vacant lot
>>721021931toys r us, the r zone was for badass gamers like me
>>721026815>banned this guy for racismJanny fragility.
>>721021931In the late 90s, when CDs had made game prices reasonable again, I bought stuff from Toys R Us frequently enough they sent me free copies of their demo disks.
>>721021931Blockbuster and Hollywood Video; also Best Buy when it opened in town a bit later on. You all know the story:>parents and/or aunt (babysitter) go to get a movie>"Anon, you can go pick out one game!"
>>721021931Babbage's or Slackers
>>721038772I move to Atlanta from Augusta. Augusta had 2 malls, but Regency Mall lost tenants and fell into disrepair after some girl got kidnapped in the parking lot and she was raped and murdered.Augusta Mall had Babbages, Suncoast, and Sam Goody. The latter two barely had video games ever. Babbages was also a 90s addition. Before that, you had to go to computer shops and look at the piss poor selection they carried next to the word processing programs.
i used to rent games and movies from here every friday
I can't believe that these threads actually make some of the users here mad.
>>721049634they're usually just dumb anecdotes from when anons were kids so they're typically quite shit
>tfw it took a week to buy Paper Mario 64 because it was sold out everywhere
>>721049720Why is that shit?
>>721038772>SuncoastI fucking loved just looking at all the movie and anime covers. And looking at all the cool figures and shit at the back of the store. The workers were always so chill too.
>>721049754Fuck Circuit City.
>>721049870I was just talking about divx yesterday. It was a really weird idea, the worst parts of renting and streaming, but you also had to buy the physical disc. I hope whoever dreamed that shit up is getting peed on as we speak.
>>721051429I could see the thought process the manufacturers had. It was renting and buying combined. You bought the disc for $4, same as renting, and you had the option of unlocking unlimited viewing if you wanted. It's just that dvds became cheaper faster than anyone anticipated.
>>721022554My local gas station had some, though limited selection
>>721021931we used to be a country
>>721021931Hastings for me. It had pretty much everything I loved as a kid. Music, movies, books, and games. I still miss it everyday.
>outmogged all the other electronics stores.
>>721056076>died a slower death than all the other storesWhen we the last time you went to a Best Buy? They're just showrooms for appliances and Apple shit at this point. Props to them for being more dynamic than literally every competitor, but I wouldn't say it's the same as living.
The only memories I have of buying games is the intense regret of walking out of gamestop selling 6 games for like 20 dollars off of one. >why didn't you just not trade them inBecause I was a gullible child and felt bad for having my mom drive me all the way to the mall and having the clerk take like 8 minutes punching things in while a line is forming behind me.
>>721026756fucking hell i forgot gametraders existed
>>721056076Best Buy is weird. I barely see anyone go there and yet they're still in business. Theres one nearby me that gets mogged by the Walmart nearby constantly and yet it hasn't gone out of business. Must be some laundering scheme going on.
>>721057223NTA but sometimes I still go there when I need some peripheral and I can't be assed to wait a week for shipping.
>>721057686Surely you don't mean the Best Buy in Chula Vista right? Haha because that'd make us pretty close haha
>>721057784nta but now I know where you live, C Streeter.
>>721057810woah woah im not THAT close I'm closer to the tacos that are always packed well into the AM
Know toys is where my parents paid over 40 dollars for daddy's konquest. I downloaded it years ago in under a minute.
>>721057948El Gordo? I live in Downtown SD now but I grew up in CV. I miss it. The Tilt in the mall was the shit.
>>721058213Yeah somewhere around there in CV's my place. Grew up around here too. >>721032614 This mall was the best, as a kid I used to straight up get lost in there with all the fucky half-levels and weird stairs, it was honestly fantastic to just spend an afternoon in window shopping.
