Buying Games Like It's 1989

[kingoffighters]

Phantasy Star 4 was $100 I thought? I bought it when TRU was clearing them out for $20. I remember getting Phantasy Star 1 for $70. I think the guy charged me more than MSRP since he is a small shop and I didn't want to take a long bus ride just to get a game. Plus, he rented out pornos to me, not too many people would do that to a 12 yr old. Memories.

[YellerDog]

F-Zero GX blows them both away if you like cinemas with men in tights.

But it's nonetheless a good game in its own right.

[Port]

UN Squadron? Sim City? Gradius III? I remember those being the only other games at WalMart.

I think it was Sim City, but I swear I got that later than right when I got the system.

[Othello Harrington]

I remember buying River City Ransom based on the box alone, that was the biggest TRU win of all time for me.

[SamuraiMoogle]

Best game memory would have to be getting a Nes with Zapper Mario/Duckhunt and Mario 2 and the first TMNT game. Best X-mas ever! Pretty much only got games for Xmas and Birthdays, sometimes a game on Easter. Got Castlevania 3 for Xmas with a bunch of other games I cant remember. Also use to be able to rent games for $1 a night at the local video store. Rented all kinds of shit. We'd use the excuse of we'd be quiet and leave you alone all night if you give us some money to rent a game to the parents. Worked all the time.

Best gaming was always done in the winter. I remember walking through a crazy snow storm with my brother and best friend to go buy Final Fantasy 3 at Shopko. We could walk down the middle of the busiest street in the city because there was so much snow. Froze my ass off lots of times to walk to the arcade and play MK 2, Killer Instinct, SuperSF2. Best game rental ever would have to be on X-mas break going and finding Secret of Mana. Too bad stupid moogle village season shit got us stuck!

This time of the year kicks ass and I dont think I would have as many fun memories without videogames.

[Othello Harrington]

Kinda moving ahead, but playing Golden Eye for the first time vs 3 other players was the shit for a non-pc gamer like me at the time.

[SamuraiMoogle]

Kinda moving ahead, but playing Golden Eye for the first time vs 3 other players was the shit for a non-pc gamer like me at the time.

Fuck yeah. I think my friends and I played that once a week for 2 years straight.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

I'm 31, and my brother is 8 years older than I.
Anyhow, when I was four, a friend of the family gave us a Super Pong. My brother and I spent hours playing that thing. (I still have it, but it no longer keeps track of score). When I was seven, my brother got an Intellivision, but we never got many games for that, though Demon Attack was one that we did get, and that remains a favorite to this day.
I didn't get my own system until I was in the fourth grade. There's a story behind it, but I've posted it before. Anyhow, I got a Sega Master System with Hang On/Safari Hunt and Thunderblade.
I didn't get many games, maybe four a year; but like most kids whether the game sucked or not, you learned to like it because that was all you were going to get. I avidly read EGM and Computer Games and Videogame Entertainment and for the most part their reviews never lead me astray. I was big into the arcades back then, so stuff like Shinobi, Double Dragon, R-Type, and even Space Harrier were sure bets. That is one thing looking back at the SMS that I really appreciate, that unlike some systems, I don't recall ever picking up an arcade port and being let down.
It wasn't long until most places were clearing the SMS games out, and even then I don't think I had any games that I outright hated. There were games like Shanghai and Wanted that I didn't like at first, but really dug the more I played them.
As the system was dying, I picked up quite a few games on the cheap. The SMS and Turbografx were the last systems where I religiously played every game I got until I beat it.
I eventually picked up a Genesis and SNES, and they were the beginning of me buying games just to buy games. It's been a downward spiral ever since.

[Rumpy]

I remember going to the arcade when Virtua Fighter came out. Those were some good times. I almost passed out when I saw the MKII cabinet.

[SpoDaddy]

There was nothing quite like that joy you got when you bought the $10 NES game at Toys R Us or Child World and it turned out to be fun. I remember getting Captain Skyhawk for $10 (all I could afford at the time) and having a blast with it. Fester's Quest was another clearance bin gem, perhaps my all time greatest clearance bin gem. I got Zombies Ate My Neighbors for $14 a month after release but that doesn't really count because I'd already rented it and loved it.