Petrae
Member
Me too. Such a great time to be a video game fan.
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90's Toys R Us Holiday Ad
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
Me too. Such a great time to be a video game fan.
I have one. I wanted one for years after seeing the picture on the side of my cousins' PSX box. The twin sticks looked so cool. Finally found one in a Funcoland in the early 2000's. They're actually not bad. They're fairly well made and feel solid. The sticks are pretty responsive and comfortable too.
As for compatibiilty, it had a switch like the Dualshock that allowed you to toggle between analog or digital modes. Digital worked with pretty much everything as the sticks functioned like d-pads. Analog only worked properly for compatible games. A number flying games supported analog. I know there were some non-flying games that were compatible as well, but the only one I can remember off the top of my head is Mechwarrior 2. IIRC, Mechwarrior used the sticks similar to a modern FPS (or Virtual On): one was for moving and the other was for aiming.
That's right kids. Dad gives you the cool shit mom doesn't want you to have.
I love this thread, so many memories. I haven't thought about those Toys R Us game slips that you had to go to the security room and pick the game up after you paid at the register. Memories.....
vatstep
This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
My mom's family lives in the Holyoke area, so when I was a kid and would visit the area, a trip to the mall was always a highlight. I was there a while back for the first time in about 15 years and it felt so small and archaic compared to the palace it used to appear as. I think it was one of the biggest malls in the country at one point.
Also, why are people waxing nostalgic about KB Toys? Didn't they only go out of business a few years ago? Child World, now that place was the shit.
Sony had that price point on lockdown. I've always felt the best business strategy was to make consumers feel like they are getting a good value. Take away buyers remorse from the psychological impact. Do this as opposed to trying to balance the most you can possibly charge and get away with for something.
CountAntonius
Member
As a kid gzming magazines were my videogames. Buying one made me so happy and I'd probably look at it for months reading the reviews, previews and looking at the pics over and over. I'd probaly only get one or two games a year so these things were gold.
I loved the old anti-theft ticket system they had at Toys R Us. Instead of physical games available to take to the register, they would have 5x3 paper tickets attached to the shelf for each copy of a game they had in stock. You'd take the ticket up to the register and they'd have this room up in front where you'd turn that in for the actual copy of the game.
For some reason, walking up to the front with that ticket made the anticipation even higher.
For some reason, walking up to the front with that ticket made the anticipation even higher.
Petrae
Member
Oh, wow. Child World. There used to be one in Springfield, MA across the street from the Eastfield Mall. I didn't go in there much, though.
there had to be something more to it. It's a SNES game...
it has to be like..extra modes, even maybe a secret unlockable pac man original game?
It can't just be..vanilla Ms. Pac-man right?!??!?
I know a Toys R Us that still does that. They still have the slips you get from the wall and have to take to a room behind a big glass window where you can see all the games. I rarely got to go to Toys R Us when I was a kid because it was so far away, but when I did, I always liked to go up to where they kept the games and see what they really had.
sixteen-bit
Member
That's interesting. Where is this?
DigitalDevil
Member
Nostalgia-GAF 2014 meet up. We'll all go take pictures of ourselves against the security window.
It won't be weird at all.
Lots of youngins on GAF. And you guys complain about 60 dollar games
FF3US was 80 bucks. Virtua Racing was 100 bucks.
And these games had much smaller budgets and staff.
People are cheap as hell is real issue.
Chip N Chance
Member
This is proof that nostalgia will always outweigh pure functionality. If the 90's had game boxes that you took to the register and then in the 2000's switched to white tickets with numbers on them, people would be pissed. Dont get me wrong, i have great memorys of the tickets, but it really was obtrusive.
One of my memories of the tickets was going to get Earth Worm Jim and they had completely run out of the tickets. I was so sad when the little clear holder was empty. So on our way out we walked through the registers and i saw a Earth Worm Jim slip sitting on one of the empty closed registers. One of my fondest TRU memories.
Does anyone remember the console aisle with just clear cases that displayed the systems as if they were on an E3 show floor? It was a long aisle with clear cases that you could see through to the other side of the aisle, with all the consoles out on display. Im guessing they had tickets under them as well, but i don't remember.
One of my memories of the tickets was going to get Earth Worm Jim and they had completely run out of the tickets. I was so sad when the little clear holder was empty. So on our way out we walked through the registers and i saw a Earth Worm Jim slip sitting on one of the empty closed registers. One of my fondest TRU memories.
Does anyone remember the console aisle with just clear cases that displayed the systems as if they were on an E3 show floor? It was a long aisle with clear cases that you could see through to the other side of the aisle, with all the consoles out on display. Im guessing they had tickets under them as well, but i don't remember.
Bog
Junior Ace
Yeah, that was the best. They had everything displayed, too, so it was the one time you'd get to see the oddball systems.
sixteen-bit
Member
darthvargi
Member
I know of one in Big Flats, NY (Elmira, NY). We still have to take our tickets up to the register, buy the game, and then go to the window and wait lol. I love it actually. Clearance and launch games for consoles/handhelds are the only games left out to buy off the floor. Usually a week after launch the console games go to tickets too.
Sectorseven
Member
I remember looking at the oddball systems like 3DO and there would never be any slips left, and I was always thinking "who is buying this thing?" In reality they probably just never bothered restocking.
superNESjoe
Member
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
I played Star Fox 64 for the first time on one of these. That feeling of using the Rumble Pak for the first time, it's something that younger gamers just don't understand having never played without force feedback. Star Fox 64 felt incredible because of it.
Sickness702
Member
I remember playing demos of the Sega Megadrive in store, and asking the shop assistants for help whenever I got stuck.
None of them actually did. ;_;
I remember when magazines used to come with Playstation Demo discs.
Those stations became a bit of a joke by 1999/2000, though. When the timer would expire Mario would exclaim "thank you for playing Nintendo 64...who's next?", but there was never anyone in front of it. Poor N64 kiosk.Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
"It'sa me MARRIO! Thank your playing Nintendo 64 - who's next?"
xBladeM6x
Member
What you said. I still remember seeing Mario 64 for the first time when I was 5, and that was the year it came out. It was probably the first time I felt complete astonishment.
xBladeM6x
Member
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
Mario voice, "Thank You for playing Nintendo 64 , who's next?"
I was the asshole that hogged those thing even when it timed out because i was so amazed by Mario 64.
KDash31987
Member
It does have extra content, yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms._Pac-Man#Ports
"The Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and NES versions, by Tengen, and the Super NES version, by Williams Electronics, took a few liberties. They featured four different sets of mazes: the original arcade mazes, bigger mazes, smaller mazes, and "strange" mazes. There was also a Pac-Booster option that let players make Ms. Pac-Man move much faster. All of these versions also allowed two people to play simultaneously, with player 2 as Pac-Man, either cooperatively or competitively. The game also ended at level 32, at which point an intermission that did not occur in the original game took place, where Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man say good bye. The Mega Drive/Genesis version of the game sold more than one million copies in the United States."
I have the Genesis version. It's pretty good. It seems to have issues with the six button controller, though...
Hell yeah! Some friends of mine and I played it on the Super GameBoy for a while the last time I hung out with them a few months ago at my younger brother's place. Tons of fun.
jconsolmagno
Member
Correct. I remember paying 79.99 for it, got that and NBA JAM for my birthday one year with $100 bill.
Lots of youngins on GAF. And you guys complain about 60 dollar games
FF3US was 80 bucks. Virtua Racing was 100 bucks.
And these games had much smaller budgets and staff.
It was a different time in gaming. Tech and economic landscapes were different. I for one won't go over $50 and even that's pushing it alittle.
This is why I chuckle whenever gamers complain about current-gen prices.
Just going by inflation, the price of games would be around $100. And for anyone saying "Cartridges were expensive!" well, yes they were. Yet game budgets are magnitudes larger than they used to be as a counter to that.
JadedWriter
Member
Why did Ultimate MK 3 cost so god damn much?
