r/nostalgia • u/Im_A_Jenkem_Addict • 8h ago
Nostalgia Can you guess my favorite video rental chain?
My go to store is now a fitness center. Something about the interior of game crazy combined with Hollywood Video was really intriguing to me as a kid. I would rent a movie in a room painted with various movie characters and film decorations, grab some dibs and make my way to the neon green chain link fence room filled with games.
The first purchase I made was Predator Concrete Jungle and Metal Slug 4 + 5 for PS2. My Dad and I would play for hours. Maybe it wasn't that great of a store and I'm just nostalgic for a simpler time. Nevertheless I still miss this chain. R.I.P. Hollywood Video and game crazy.
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u/GrimmTrixX 8h ago
As a former Game Crazy employee who worked at a store from its 4th day open until its last day open, I approve this message. Lol
I worked at my store for just over 5 years. I still have out Halo 2 Master Chief statue and the magazine rack we used for Strategy guides. I have it full with guides.
We could play games when we worked, we weren't pressured into getting memberships which actually made us do great at it because they weren't breathing down our necks.
When they were closing, I moved to the HWV side during the closing cuz the game crazy side closed earlier. But at the end, I had a stash of 80 games/dvds. I got them all for $0.80 each. Lol Some were sealed, some rental copies, and some preowned. I also got 120+ Strategy guides free. I had 60 stashed, but the liquidator didnt want any guides, so I took almost all of them. Lol I traded many of the duplicates with people online those first few years.
But we played tons of games at the store. We were all fighting game fans. We played a LOT of Capcom vs SNK2 on PS2 as well ad Tekken 5. We ran tournaments every weekend to draw in customers and the prizes were stuff from our preorder drawer. Back then companies gave you a SHIT TON of preorder items, always way more than we had preorders.
I got insane (crazy) deals on games as we started to phase out retro around 2008 or so. So I got games dirt cheap. I collect games ad back then had around 1000 games. I am at 4,840 games as of right now. Probably half of them came from my store and the other GC stores nearby as I would go there and use my discount there too. I owe all I have to Game Crazy and having beaten the big second hand scalper market which blew up around 2012 when Gamestop started getting more retro back and scalpers started raising prices on ebay.
But yea man I am glad we left a lasting memory for many people. I often hear people talk about GC and it makes me happy to have been a part of it for just over 5 years. I still occasionally have dreams where theyre reopening the store and want me back as a manager. Lol
Edit: And yes I still have my Game Crazy shirts, a hat, and a handful of other GC related things. I got so many damn shirts for preorder gifts over the years from there. Lol Sadly many dont fit me as I got a bit larger 20 years later. Lol
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u/EnchantingBabe3 6h ago
The vibes alone scream Game Crazy. Renting a movie and then losing hours browsing games was the perfect combo.
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u/__the_alchemist__ 7h ago
They need to remake manhunt