The Birth of Video Game Rentals

Somewhere around the mid to late 80's the Nintendo NES system made its way into the household and the Atari was now left behind. PONG must have had a smile on his face to finally see some company and a chance to say, "How's it feel?"

Super Mario & Duck Hunt was the standard game that came along with the NES System. A new craze was beginning to take place and Video Rental Stores jumped on board with the ability to rent games to its members.

For the most part we only purchased a few games and elected drop a few dollars for a few days of rented game play, then we just returne the game for another selection. About this time we had found a game for rent called Tecmo Bowl, a really cool Football game for its time.

Tecmo Super Bowl was released around the early 90's and my brother had full claim to the NES and it went with him when he moved out. I really liked playing the game, so around the mid 90's I purchased my own NES game system and a copy of Tecmo Super Bowl. The Super Nintendo was already out and prices had dropped on the original NES, besides I was stuck playing the games I loved. I also purchased a few other games for the NES, but I really gave the NES a work out from playing season after season, with the Oakland Raiders... Go, Bo Jackson, GO... Touch Down!!!

About this time a really good friend of mine purchased the Sega Genesis as a gift for me. I have to say that was a really great gift and the game Sonic the Hedgehog was now released in the home. I purchased a few additional games for the Sega and enjoyed that system too.

For awhile I'd switch back and forth between the NES and Sega. It all depended on the game I wanted to play at that time.

The gaming world was about to change in multiple ways again and Sony was about to release a new console and take a huge market share chunk for itself. The NES still remained an overall favorite of mine, but the gamer in me was about to change towards a new platform once again.