Who was lucky enough to have TG16 rentals in your area?

[Gentlegamer]

My local mom and pop rented TG-16.

They rented systems, too. I wish I could go back in time and rent OBEY at least once instead of Genesis.

[InfraMan]

We had a bunch of local mom & pop stores back in the heyday of video rentals, but only one of them (creatively named Video 1) ever carried Turbo stuff. I think I was one of the only people who rented the system and games more than once, because the owner actually contacted me when they decided to stop carrying it, to see if I wanted to buy any of it.

I ended up picking up the TG-16 system and all of the accessories they had, along with most of their games for about $70. He'd even kept the boxes and manuals separate, so that was a really good day for me. It's just too bad they didn't carry CD stuff too...

I still have that original system, even though I don't really use it anymore (region modded DUO-R for the win)... there are so many happy memories attached to it that I just can't bring myself to part with it.

[WoodyXP]

TG-16 was nowhere to be seen in rental stores where I lived (Western, NY).  I don't think many people knew or cared about it.

[blueraven]

There was a store called VideoMaxx in Madison, WI that was either renting Turbo or Duo games, and they went out of buisness when the LD got replaced by DVD's. I remember the owner in a rage as he was liquidating his inventory.

[MattJ]

I don't even remember seeing Laserdiscs in rental shops. Though I do remember some places having Beta tapes since we had a Beta player and recorder at home, but that was around 1988~89.

[GohanX]

My local place growing up was called Game Masters, and they did indeed have hucard rentals. I don't remember seeing cds other than Fighting Street. I kept hoping they would get a used system in at some point but they never did. Eventually they sold everything off, long before I got a system.

[shawnji]

I lived in Podunk, Arkansas; so the one time I saw a Turbografx was at a mall across the state when we were visiting friends of my parents.  I had no idea it was worth a damn at the time because, although it was a demo unit, some wise guy had put Sherlock Holmes in...  I have a vague memory of poking at it for a couple minutes and then walking away disinterested.  I highly regret it now. 

You'd think I would eventually happen upon one again, given that we'd later move to Hot Springs, where there was an extremely prolific collector / game store owner; but nope, I didn't rediscover the system until I moved to Japan for the 2nd time in 2009.  I couldn't believe that I was still playing NES (and occasionally renting a SNES or Genesis) when I could have been playing games like Ys I&II.  I'd kill to go back in time and be able to experience it when it was new. 

I was the right age, just in the wrong geographic location.

[EvilEvoIX]

In NJ we had every system available for rental.  I myself rented the VB when it came out.  It was at Blockbuster.

[grolt]

I still have at least one TurboChip with "Superior Video" written on the back.

We had a Superior Video way up in Northern Canada where I grew up and they carried TG-16 games. I never really saw any rented out, but they stocked them close to launch and had most of the early library. Up to that point they only carried NES games and must have really bought in big with NEC. After a couple years they liquidated all their games and I picked up the majority of them for $5 a pop. It was my gateway into the system, since I never had a TG back when they were renting the games. I ended up getting World Court Tennis, Deep Blue, Boxy Boy, Fantasy Zone, Ordyne, Davis Cup Tennis and Parasol Stars all from them. Here's a picture of the Superior Video sticker:



Is yours similar?

[Elder]

Never had any rental outlets around me that had Turbo games.  Shame because it would have allowed me to try way more games that way.

[kosko99]

Turbo didn't even exist in my country lol.
Would have been nice to see those around...

[gekioh]

I didn't have my own TG-16 yet back than but I remember when I was a kid there was a couple of places in my town that had TG16 games for rental. Alligator Video and Syd's Video both on lancaster. I think the local Albertson's Grocery store in my area may have had some too for a short while at least. I vaguely remember looking at the back of the box for Bonk's Revenge inside an Albertson's. Could have been another grocery store but Im pretty sure it was Albertsons.

[RyuHayabusa]

I was fortunate enough to have a rental shop that sold all their TG-16 stuff for dirt cheap when they went out of business. I bought 2 TG16s for $10 each and 8 or 9 games for $5 each. Bloody Wolf, R-Type, Splatterhouse, Legendary Axe, Tiger Road, Vigilante, Double Dungeons, Alien Crush, maybe one or two more I can remember if I got then or later.

[Dicer]

Had a place downtown that rented turbo and NeoGeo, was pretty awesome...

[BigusSchmuck]

I believe Blockbuster over in Yakima WA had Turbo games for rent, but at the time I got my Duo in 94 those were long gone.

[JoeQuaker]

Huh. I don't recall any store ever carrying NEC stuff around the NC/SC area. I remember one store having Sega Master system stuff when most others only had NES but that was it.

[jelloslug]

There was a Phar-Mor in my town that rented TG-16 games.

[wilykat]

There was only one store that has TG-16 games and it was a 20 minutes drive.  So if my parents were to go to Canton area Meijer, it was a rare opportunity to go for video rental.  until they screwed me a year later claiming I broke a game for Genesis.  They said it didn't work when I returned and they claimed I somehow cracked the board so I was out some $50.  When I got home and did some cleaning, it worked fine. The crack was only on the ground plane. I guess the crack formed from too many kids slamming the cart in and I guess the store (which went out of business a few months later) were idiot for not considering dirty connector.

There was only 1 other store of interest, in north part of Flint off Corunna rd there was an used game seller but they closed a few years later. There wasn't any local source of TG-16 (rental or used sale) until Disc Replay came in west side near Toys R Us and Buffalo Wild Wings.

[Warbucks]

I don't remember seeing any Turbo rentals growing up.
Come to think of it, I was the only kid who had one growing up.

[GoldenWheels]

Turbo Rentals? Never even saw them. 

I was happy to have ONE friend who had a Turbo Express. That was the entirety of my childhood turbo experience.

[JoeQuaker]

I was happy to have ONE friend who had a Turbo Express. That was the entirety of my childhood turbo experience.

I owned a Turbo Express before some *person* stole it when I was a teenager.

[grendelrt]

None of my friends had a turbo growing up.  One of my friends did rent one and bloody wolf from a movie rental store.  He told me how awesome bloody wolf was and I tried to rent it but none of the stores near us rented turbo games.  Sucked so bad haha. 

[ginoscope]

There were no turbo rental stores that I knew of in the early 90s in the Dallas area.  Sucked because no one I knew had a turbo so I was limited in what I could play.  We did have an awesome import store that had a lot of the PC Engine CD games but they were so expensive at the time.  I only ever got Dracula X for $99 lol.

Around the time the super cd and Lord of Thunder came out I had some friends that got a turbo duo and finally got to trade around and play more stuff.

[EvilEvoIX]

I was happy to have ONE friend who had a Turbo Express. That was the entirety of my childhood turbo experience.

I owned a Turbo Express before some *person* stole it when I was a teenager.

Same here.  So sad.

[Groover]

I didn't have TG16 rentals but I had my best friend that had one. Also he kind of was spoiled for a time and had tons of toys and video games. I remember going to his house all the time and watching Police Academy videos pausing to play TG16 games and playing Thundercats.

[wilykat]

Playing Thundercats? You mean on VCR or did I miss Thundercats game on TG16?

[johnnykonami]

I bet he meant just playing with the action figures, those were pretty popular for Thundercats as I recall.  There was a Commodore 64 game, I think.

[Gentlegamer]

I had a Thundercats sticker book.

The 80s really was the best decade.

[wilykat]

Ditto.

Voltron, Robotech (although I prefer original Macross nowday), G1 Transformers, many more shows, and so many toys that bought the government's wrath claiming the TV series were really 30 minutes commercial for toys.  And the classic LEGO Space sets (the original blue and gray, like Benny's Spaceship)

Oh yeah movies like Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, 2 of the Star Wars, Wrath of Khan, Last Starfighter, Neverending Story (which sadly has ended after about 110 minutes) and too many others.

There's also the obilgatory Saturday morning cartoons, the only time in a week that was worth getting up before noon.    (cable, satellite, and a number of 24-hours cartoon channels killed Saturday morning concept)

VCR was godsend when my family got it because it meant I can catch shows that aired before I could get off school bus.

My little brother and I RP'd Thundercats quite often.

[esteban]

Answer: No.

[Moosehead]

I lived in a small town in Atlantic Canada with a population of 1000 or so. There were two major convenience stores that rented games and movies. One of them had SNES/Genesis/TG16 games until about '98 or '99. The owner rented systems as well. A lifeline for a boy in a one horse town because I could buy junk food, magazines, comics, rent games and movies all in one place. The RadioShack half an hour away had the TG16 kiosk until '95 or '96.

[Gredler]

I lived in a small town in Atlantic Canada with a population of 1000 or so. There were two major convenience stores that rented games and movies. One of them had SNES/Genesis/TG16 games until about '98 or '99. The owner rented systems as well. A lifeline for a boy in a one horse town because I could buy junk food, magazines, comics, rent games and movies all in one place. The RadioShack half an hour away had the TG16 kiosk until '95 or '96.

Rad first post, welcome!

I wish I could've rented more TG games, we had NES and Genesis, then SNES, but never TG 16

[Anthony1]

Back in 1991, for about a 7 month period  I lived relatively close to Ventura Blvd in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles.

I used to take the Bus to GamesExpress on Ventura Blvd and rent a PC Engine converter and PC Engine games. They had a deal where you could rent a converter and 3 games for 3 days for $15 or something like that. Of course, they had USA TG-16 games as well. I could rent those for a good deal as well, but I was mostly getting the PC Engine games just cause they seemed so exotic to me at the time.

Die Hard Game Club, the original store, was also located on Ventura Blvd, in the completely opposite direction as Games Express. I went to the Die Hard Game Club store one time, but unfortunately it was closed when I got there.. Never did end up going back during my 7 month stay.

[esteban]

I lived in a small town in Atlantic Canada with a population of 1000 or so. There were two major convenience stores that rented games and movies. One of them had SNES/Genesis/TG16 games until about '98 or '99. The owner rented systems as well. A lifeline for a boy in a one horse town because I could buy junk food, magazines, comics, rent games and movies all in one place. The RadioShack half an hour away had the TG16 kiosk until '95 or '96.

Rad first post, welcome!

I wish I could've rented more TG games, we had NES and Genesis, then SNES, but never TG 16

Agreed, that's an intriguing first post.

I know I would probably go crazy in a small, rural (?) area...but I love the thought of folks renting out TG-16 stuff in an "isolated" place.

It seems entirely appropriate, to be honest.

Back in 1991, for about a 7 month period  I lived relatively close to Ventura Blvd in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles.

I used to take the Bus to GamesExpress on Ventura Blvd and rent a PC Engine converter and PC Engine games. They had a deal where you could rent a converter and 3 games for 3 days for $15 or something like that. Of course, they had USA TG-16 games as well. I could rent those for a good deal as well, but I was mostly getting the PC Engine games just cause they seemed so exotic to me at the time.

Die Hard Game Club, the original store, was also located on Ventura Blvd, in the completely opposite direction as Games Express. I went to the Die Hard Game Club store one time, but unfortunately it was closed when I got there.. Never did end up going back during my 7 month stay.

Ha! I vaguely remember that area but never connected it to video game stores.

[dallaspattern]

I grew up in the Yukon Territory and there were two places that rented out TG games, a local video store and good ol' Radio Shack. Many a Friday afternoon spent in that radio shack choosing a game for the weekend or ordering something to buy. I still remember Bonk's Revenge coming in... I was so stoked that I'd brought my Express down so I didn't have to wait to bring it home to play it. I also remember the video store blowing out all there games in 96 or so, and buying Gunboat and Impossimole for $5. Whoops.

[NYGiantFan]

Good stuff.  I grew up in a typical small town, but we had 3-4 video stores close by that all carried a good selection of games to rent.

However, I never remember seeing Turbo games.  When Blockbuster finally opened a store the Turbografx was dying.

One poster mentioned a sell off of games for cheap when the store closed.   Gosh how I wished I could have taken advantage of those in my area.

I always wonder where Bubble Bath Babes, Hot Slots, Peek a Boo Poker ended up.  All 3 were available to rent and I remember knowing they were "adult" themed games but not having a clue what each game really was.  The video store had just a white box with the title of each game and tags to pull off to take to the counter.

The teenager in me kept trying to figure out how I could rent these to see some animated tits.

[HailingTheThings]

Good stuff.  I grew up in a typical small town, but we had 3-4 video stores close by that all carried a good selection of games to rent.

However, I never remember seeing Turbo games.  When Blockbuster finally opened a store the Turbografx was dying.

One poster mentioned a sell off of games for cheap when the store closed.   Gosh how I wished I could have taken advantage of those in my area.

I always wonder where Bubble Bath Babes, Hot Slots, Peek a Boo Poker ended up.  All 3 were available to rent and I remember knowing they were "adult" themed games but not having a clue what each game really was.  The video store had just a white box with the title of each game and tags to pull off to take to the counter.

The teenager in me kept trying to figure out how I could rent these to see some animated tits.

Had a local Video Master that had those adult NES games for rent. I only remember because as soon as I picked one up, my big brother would snatch it out of my hand and stare at it... Until whatever parental figure we were with found out and scolded us. lol Same thing with adult anime on VHS. haha

[shabba]

To the original question, the local Blockbuster Video rented them in my little Georgia town for a number of years. It fed my TG love until the mid 90's.

On a different note, when the TG was beginning to head south, the local K&B toys placed a huge closeout bin outside its storefront in the mall. My best friend and I would go through the bin and pick out whatever games were cool, mainly the few TG games that were left. I had a copy of Might and Magic 3 and Beyond Shadowgate for many years that I paid about $20 a piece for. That bin also contained a boat load of SNES games that were poor sellers and at ridiculous prices. We bought a few and took them across the street to K-mart to return. Since K-mart at the time, like Wal-Mart, didn't require a receipt, we would buy games for $5-10 bucks and get back $30-50 because K-mart was still over pricing their stuff. We must have done this for an entire year until the K&B closed. Another game in that lot I picked? Earthbound. Wish I still had them all...

[ParanoiaDragon]

Back in 1991, for about a 7 month period  I lived relatively close to Ventura Blvd in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles.

I used to take the Bus to GamesExpress on Ventura Blvd and rent a PC Engine converter and PC Engine games. They had a deal where you could rent a converter and 3 games for 3 days for $15 or something like that. Of course, they had USA TG-16 games as well. I could rent those for a good deal as well, but I was mostly getting the PC Engine games just cause they seemed so exotic to me at the time.

Die Hard Game Club, the original store, was also located on Ventura Blvd, in the completely opposite direction as Games Express. I went to the Die Hard Game Club store one time, but unfortunately it was closed when I got there.. Never did end up going back during my 7 month stay.

Twice a year, my family & I would go to religious conventions at the old dome building(previously known as the Valley Music Center owned by Bob Hope) at 20600 Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills. 
http://sanfernandovalleyblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/back-to-future-series-2-valley-music.html

So a few times, at the end of the day after the convention, I got my parents to take me there.  I bought Browning there, of all things, as well as the PCE version of Terraforming.  I recall seeing the Ys Anime on Jp VHS up on the shelves, & just, tons & tons of PCE games.