I recently thought of this while responding to a comment in my Mario RPG thread. It's time to come clean. I remember renting Earthbound and other games and the save files would be named stuff like "PLEASE DON'T DELETE". On Earthbound I think all 3 slots were filled so I had to delete one, but it was still shitty because I had no idea how to play and didn't make it much past the beginning. So I erased someones weeks or maybe months or progress just to start a new game and not even make it out of Onett.
But that isn't the worst part. I seem to remember that I'd delete all the saves sometimes just to be a little asshole. I can't recall what other games there were besides Earthbound but I'm pretty sure there were a few. Man that is such a shithead thing to do! There were people who probably put tons of time into the game. Maybe they played it with their brother or another family member and it was a fun thing for them to do together. Their parents wouldn't buy them the game so they had to rent it. Then one day they rent it and load it up and see their save is gone just because I was a fucking jerk! I wouldn't be surprised if I caused some kids to cry when they rented the game and saw their save was gone. If I had just deleted it so I could start a new game because the saves were full that would be one thing. Even if I didn't get how the game worked and didn't make it far. I rented it so I should be able to start a new game and see how it is. But deleting all of them just because is just nasty.
I actually feel bad about it looking back. I'd do shit like that back then and I have no idea why. If I could find the people who's saves I deleted I would legit apologize to them now. I probably ruined the game for them. I remember some of them being pretty far into the game. After all that progress got lost they probably weren't going to start all over especially on a rental cartridge where it could just happen again. Or maybe it was good for some of them? Maybe when they saw the save was deleted they were able to convince their parents to buy them their own copy. Maybe they held onto it until recently and sold it for $1,000 and invested that money and became a millionaire! Hey....it could happen But more than likely I cause some kids to be very sad.
Did anything like this ever happen to you? I doubt any of you were the kind of people to maliciously delete save files but did you ever have a game you rented frequently with a save file that ended up getting deleted?
I sent a few games back with completed saves.
Secret of Mana, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Rogue Squadron all come instantly to mind, who cares if someone deletes them? What's far more likely is some other kid taking credit for MY awesome video game playing abilities.
If anything, I was an asshole for NOT deleting my saves. Back in the day you were a dick if you didn't rewind tapes, the principal is the same with a game. Usually I would delete a save if the game wasn't finished, though.
I've never understood why people are so precious about their save games being deleted... How shit are the games you're playing that you're upset starting over?
70 hours into a GOOD RPG and now I have to play it again? Not an issue.
4000 hours into any good racing game ever? OH DARN IT, now I'll have to play more of this good game, OH SHUCKS!!!
Maybe people should play more good games...
It's a rental game, once you've taken it back to the store your save isn't yours anymore. The next person to rent the game can do what they want with it.
But more than likely I cause some kids to be very sad. 
