A few days ago I saw some people posting online about the latest sale of used GameFly games and decided to check it out while eating lunch. Now, I have not thought so much about GameFly for a long time, so my curiosity about how GameFly is in this time prevailed and I decided to explore GameFly’s website. I quickly stumbled upon an old, remote part of the place where, in the year 2022, our lord, you can still rent PS2, Xbox and GameCube titles as if it were 2004. But even stranger than that is what titles make up GameFly’s small, hidden library of old games.
Oh, and people still rent them too!
I was once a GameFly customer. As a younger teenager, GameFly was amazing. I had very little money and lots of time to play games. With the service that lets you rent games by mail for a monthly fee, I was able to play dozens of games in a year and not have to spend hundreds of dollars to do so. But when I was growing up, starting to make money and moving to digital game purchases, Gamefly became unnecessary, so I ended my subscription.
But just because I left GameFly to die, does not mean it did. And today, in 2022, almost 20 years after it began, GameFly is still running. So when I went through the site’s offerings, I was curious if it still had some old PS2, Xbox, or GameCube games available. And it did, but the selection was surprising.
E.g, here are all … two of the Xbox games you can currently rent at GameFly from May 17, 2022.
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I can not even begin to imagine who in 2022 wants to play one of these games via an old Xbox, but they are here and patiently waiting for someone, anyone, to rent them. I think, Marvel Imperfects is a wild game coming from another era of superhero scammers. Maybe someone wants to relive the nervous and violent days of 2005 on an old Xbox. Who am I to judge? However, I would judge anyone who rents Full spectrum warrior on Xbox when the game is over can be played on PC and even have some mods for it.
Upstairs in the PS2 section, things are only slightly better, as GameFly offers a larger and even stranger selection of games for Sony’s once popular home console.
I was asked by Kotaku’s own Luke Plunkett to point it out Rugby 2004 is apparently very good. So maybe someone else at GameFly agrees and keeps a copy, just in case. As for the other games, it’s a surprising mix of real bangers and headscratchers. E.g, Max Payne 2 is (probably) the best game in the trilogy and plays great on the console. Good choice! On the backside, NHL 2001 and 2002 probably not so iconic. They certainly do not have as many slow motion main shots, that’s for sure. And sorry to everyone out there who wants to play Jak and Daxter trilogy, as GameFly currently only has the third game in the series, Jak 3.
I say at the moment because, and it was a surprise to discover, it seems like people are actually renting these old games from GameFly in 2022. Seriously.
I discovered this by accident while looking at what GameFly offers GameCube owners. Originally, when I first looked at the selection yesterday, it was not a game library, but instead just one game: Looney Tunes back in action. I laughed, took a screenshot and shared with my colleague Kotaku writers a stupid idea to write a blog about all this. (They laughed too and agreed that it was a good idea. That’s the way it is with half of Kotaku‘s content is scheduled.)
But today, as I was writing this blog, I looked again at the GameCube section for a better screenshot and discovered something peculiar. Looks like someone just returned Mario Superstar Baseball for GameCube after renting it indefinitely.
I can not ask GameFly to share this customer’s information with me. I understand that. But if you’re reading this and you’re the person who rented that game (or other old PS2 / GameCube titles for that matter) in 2022, please contact me or leave a comment below explaining why. I suppose there must be a reason besides that it’s fun or weird to do. I would love to know.
Now, if you will excuse me, I will try to rent a copy of The incredible on PS2.