Let me do a small, worthless contribution:
When the 16bit era started, "play by time" became a very common business at the game rental stores, since the Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and the Neo where uber expensive here in Brazil.
Of course, the Neo was something that distinguished a store from the competitors: the first games I played on the Neo were Burning Fight (or "that game like Final Fight", as it was known), Cyberlip, and later Fatal Fury - that was a big sucess since it was a "SF2"-like game. People crowded the stores to see the someone playing. Some of those stores would rent you the whole console + games for a weekend, but it would cost an arm and a leg.
At that time, Neo stuff were all imported. Later the MVS came, bringing World Heroes and Samurai Shodown, when SNK got officially represented in Brazil - that's why several older carts have the Portuguese language option