Fun fact: When my mom went into labor my parents still drove by blockbuster to return their movies. To this day my mom still doesnt understand why that was important to her.
I had this on my speakers while my mom was eating lunch nearby, and she thought the story pacing was very cohesive/engaging plus she remembers enduring the "checking all nearby blockbusters within miles for a certain game" with us back in the day. She was highly entertained and laughing during this. This was a wonderful piece of content, content man
Back when cartridges held your saved data, the old school Blockbuster strategy if you wanted to make sure you could continue to rent the same copy, was to mark the generic Blockbuster cases with a marker. This was the only way I was able to get 120 stars in Mario 64 the summer of 97, cause I didn't own the game. PS1 Blockbuster era was crazy cause you could finally keep your saved data for everything you played.
I remember renting Mario Galaxy 2 from a Family Video! One of the best games I had ever played when I was young. We returned the game, and once I got it for Christmas, I could pick up right where I left off! Thank goodness for internal storage!
My blockbuster tale isn’t horrifying, but when I was 4 my family went to the local blockbuster and when we were leaving my dad walked straight into the glass doors like a dumbass, and we’ve never let him live it down.
Oh man, when our movie rental place went out, it was so bittersweet. On one hand, couldn't rent movies and video games. On the other, they were getting rid of their stock and selling them cheap
10:54 I feel like there are few experiences as universal as hearing your parent come home and realizing you haven’t done what you were supposed to then scrambling around trying to do as much as you can to say “I started it”
Gotta fact check you bro. Worst spot in MD is undeniably Dundalk. When your biggest tourist attraction is a waste water treatment plant known only for smelling unbearably disgusting and resembling a couple of giant golden eggs you know your town really needs some love
These stories remind me of the time my dad forgot about renting me the fun game _"The Sims: Bustin Out"_ and had to eventually buy it. He was *NOT* a happy camper
This gathering of stories is pulling my brain back all the way back to my childhood (I’m only a year older than Coney). I forgot how mindblowingly exciting seeing Earthworm Jim 2 for the first time as a kid, and I definitely remember being in SHOCK with seeing Mario 64 demo booths at stores. The one I remember most was seeing a demo for PilotWings 64 at a Barnes & Noble. It was so BEAUTIFUL and COLORFUL, even in comparison to Mario 64.
Blockbuster had this summer movie program where you paid like $10 a month and you could just always have one movie checked out. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights my dad and I would go swap the last movie we watched for a new one and then go to the local CVS and buy movie snacks since neither of us knew how to cook well. Good times.
It's nice to hear the Mario 64 Blockbuster story in its full form, and it's interesting to learn Coney's history with Chameleon Twist 2, after hearing you mentioned it a bit in the past. Plus the storytelling was immaculate. And your mom does rule.
I'm only 20 years old and I remember entering Blockbusters all the live long day when I was like around 5 to 9 years old. It broke my heart when they all began to close down out of nowhere (to me). Luckily, it turns out there's ONE BLOCKBUSTER LEFT! In Bend, Oregon. And I'mma head there one day.
I just wanna know how Coney remembers these anecdotes so fondly. I’m younger than Coney and I wouldn’t be able to remember my childhood this detailed. More like bits of it
The game renting from Blockbuster was awesome. My grandma used to rent me Wii games for a week at a time, and it introduced me to so many new games like Mario Super Sluggers
I loved BlockBuster. Yeah it was flawed, but it holds a special place in my heart. I remember when I was 6 years old*, my family went to BlockBuster. While we were there I wandered into the games aisle by accident, and I saw Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for Nintendo Wii on the shelf. As a kid, I loved Star Wars, so I asked my mom if we could rent it. That was the first game I ever felt compelled to play through to the end. I was so sad when we had to return the game that I actually asked my mom if we could rent it again. It wasn’t my first video game or anything, nor is it my favorite game, but that moment is something I’ll never forget as long as I live. R.I.P. BlockBuster :(
I experienced the same thing with the joystick, but on a different console. I thought the joystick on the PSP was a speaker. So I was playing Midnight club 3: dub edition on the PSP, but I could not turn. Only by fiddling around with it was I able to turn, but I can't imagine doing that as a kid at the store while your Mom is begging you to leave. I still have the Psp and that game. Cool video man. Made me more thankful for my mom because she too also goes above and beyond for me. The ending got me when you said he returned the 1080 snowboard game.
I remember walking into a blockbuster when I was really young and when Netflix was still a baby program that sent things by mail. And look at Netflix now, starting the streaming service revolution where you can watch anything you want, whenever you want all on the same program.
Blockbuster was where i discovered my favorite Sonic game, Sonic Unleashed, as a kid. Blockbuster actually lasted so much longer than most typically remember, but its still a shame that it disappeared
Earthworm jim is one of my favorite games even to this day. I loved the hd version on the 360 because I could finally force my friends to play it and got them to enjoy it
I miss game displays like that n64 one, I don't go to game stores very often anymore so they're of no use to me. But kids these days won't get the joy of walking into a blockbuster, or a gamestop, and seeing a new console or game just available to play. The ultimate ones were the ones in Walmarts, got to play for like an hour while my parents wandered the store, the only time I've ever actually been excited to get groceries. I feel like I haven't seen em at all since the Wii U era and even then they weren't very common
If there's 3 things I remember about going into a BlockBuster: 1) Renting *(more often than not buying/stealing)* Movies and Videogames 2) Popcorn and candy everywhere 3) Buying Yu-Gi-Oh booster packs To this day I still have games that I bought from Blockbuster with the sticker on them. Great stories Coney.
Blockbuster was nuts, i remember getting my mom to rent "the alien game" and her thinking it was from hit movie Monsters vs Aliens, it was destroy all humans, my 11 year old self had an absolute blast with the crude humor. Also i got like 3 free ps2 games because they went out of business while i was renting them.
Going to blockbuster was a pilgrimage, it wasn't the best maybe but no greater joy will ever exist of renting movies and games, so many games and having the greatest summers.
God, I remember the Blockbuster that was in my old hometown of Howell New Jersey. An 8 minute walk from my house loaded with cool movies and games. Also the snack selection at Blockbuster was fuckin Fire. Was not brought up in the video, but should be mentioned here.
The relatively short period of time when you had to go physically into a store to purchase/rent movies was harrowing, and I'm glad that people in the next generation don't have to go through it
Y'know, funnily enough, me and my dad when I was like, a little little kid, maybe 5 or 6 at the time, and we got a copy of Punch out wii, and blockbuster shut down before we could ever return it, so we just kept it, and now it's collecting dust at my cousin's home
I dont remember playing video games inside blockbuster I just remember if you bought used video games at blockbuster that was a horrible idea because since the games were rented all the time some disc's end up in horrible condition
See every other weekend for me when I was at my dad's house we would go to usually not blockbuster but a local store called WOW video. They had so many games and rent 2 get 1 free. My brother and I would each pick one and then agree on a 3rd. Good times.
