Took a trip to Pinball Wizard in Pelham, NH today
Drove to my 2nd arcade in two days...this time Pinball Wizard in Pelham, NH. Had a heck of a time finding it, this one was off the beaten path and my driving instructions were a bit off, but fuuuuck me was it worth it. I planned on spending about an hour here, and next thing I know it's 5 hours later, I'm the only one left in there and it's Closing Time. I still haven't checked out Funspot in Laconia for myself yet, but for now (any maybe it will be still) this is the best arcade I've ever been to in my life
As if the 100+ pinball machines weren't enough, there's gotta be over 200 videogames from the 80s 90s and 00s. I've never seen so many Nintendo arcade machines right next to each other. Vs Super Mario Bros, NES Playchoice-10, SNES Super System Arcade, and Punch-Out Arcade all literally right next to each other...first time in my life touching any of the four. It might as well have been four Ariana Grande's stacked on top of each other the way it made me react. They even have the Mario pinball machine from the early 90s.
As if the 100+ pinball machines weren't enough, there's gotta be over 200 videogames from the 80s 90s and 00s. I've never seen so many Nintendo arcade machines right next to each other. Vs Super Mario Bros, NES Playchoice-10, SNES Super System Arcade, and Punch-Out Arcade all literally right next to each other...first time in my life touching any of the four. It might as well have been four Ariana Grande's stacked on top of each other the way it made me react. They even have the Mario pinball machine from the early 90s.
On top of all the pinball, put tons of time into Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Nintendo Popeye, Budweiser Tapper, Galaga, Frogger, Robotron 2084, Q*Bert, Pac-Man, Ms Pac Man, Baby Pac Man, Outrun, Super Contra, Smash TV, Terminator 2 Arcade, Street Fighter II, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat I II & III, NFL Blitz, Wayne Gretzkys 3D Hockey, Crazy Taxi, Hydro Thunder, Daytona USA...played Simpsons Arcade co-op with 3 teenage girls whether they wanted me there or not.
I think I found my new 2nd home...
Comments
Glad to hear you had fun man!
Originally posted by: boodead
How did you get that neat panoramic shot of the entire place if you don't mind me asking?
That was shot by someone that works there (a few years ago, they've definitely rearranged/added machines since)
They posted it on reddit. Probably shot with an iPhone.
The only one I know of that has any real arcade machines is one in Tacoma...and it's too far to go to unless it's a special occasion
Originally posted by: rockyyaknow
Been there many times, live 15 min away. I heard however that whole lot was sold to the Phantom Gormet I believe and they are tearing everything down to make something new. I know the movie theater Chunky is moving to Manchester, not sure what's going on with the arcade.
That's too bad to hear, hopefully at worst the arcade will move no further than Manchester (even though that's even further from me) I'd hate to see it disappear or go any further toward the coast.
It's well laid out too.
Been there many times, live 15 min away. I heard however that whole lot was sold to the Phantom Gormet I believe and they are tearing everything down to make something new. I know the movie theater Chunky is moving to Manchester, not sure what's going on with the arcade.
Of course this would happen right when i move within 10 minutes of it! Lame.
Originally posted by: leatherrebel5150
How did new hampshire end up with all the big awesome arcades? I want some around me!
Because we suck for everything else
Originally posted by: xMaGuSx
Originally posted by: rockyyaknow
Been there many times, live 15 min away. I heard however that whole lot was sold to the Phantom Gormet I believe and they are tearing everything down to make something new. I know the movie theater Chunky is moving to Manchester, not sure what's going on with the arcade.
Of course this would happen right when i move within 10 minutes of it! Lame.
mmm I feel the same, Kotaku did an article on this place five years ago and I never had a clue it existed. I go literally the day after I find out about it, and then get told that
I know Chunky's is opening in Manchester in March, but are you sure it's moving from Pelham and that this isn't just a brand new location? Chunky's is a chain after all, the Nashua has been there for ages, I first went over a decade ago. I looked everywhere at all of the Chunky's Facebook pages and it mentioned nothing about the Pelham location closing, just that they were scrambling to remodel the Manchester Lowes into a brand new Chunky's. Sometimes rumors never come to be. Here in Keene we've been rumored to be getting a Super Walmart for over a decade and its never happened.
How did new hampshire end up with all the big awesome arcades? I want some around me!
Because we suck for everything else
Been there many times, live 15 min away. I heard however that whole lot was sold to the Phantom Gormet I believe and they are tearing everything down to make something new. I know the movie theater Chunky is moving to Manchester, not sure what's going on with the arcade.
Of course this would happen right when i move within 10 minutes of it! Lame.
mmm I feel the same, Kotaku did an article on this place five years ago and I never had a clue it existed. I go literally the day after I find out about it, and then get told that
I know Chunky's is opening in Manchester in March, but are you sure it's moving from Pelham and that this isn't just a brand new location? Chunky's is a chain after all, the Nashua has been there for ages, I first went over a decade ago. I looked everywhere at all of the Chunky's Facebook pages and it mentioned nothing about the Pelham location closing, just that they were scrambling to remodel the Manchester Lowes into a brand new Chunky's. Sometimes rumors never come to be. Here in Keene we've been rumored to be getting a Super Walmart for over a decade and its never happened.
Not entirely sure what the deal is, just read and heard from someone that the Phantom Gormet bought that place and is doing something with it. But haven't heard much about it. Think the Chunkys move is a relocation, but I hope not I like the Pelham location.
That place is fantastic. I met up with dra600n, MrMark and BeaglePuss (with MinusWorlds joining in later) and it was a great time (and great way to spend money).
We capped off the night at that sketchy Chinese restaurant with the shittiest cocktails I've ever had haha!
Great night. Definitely plan on heading ove with Minusworld, dra600n, Magus, and any other NAer in the areas when I can. If you ever come back to the east coast AJ, we'll save you a seat!
Originally posted by: MrMark0673
We capped off the night at that sketchy Chinese restaurant with the shittiest cocktails I've ever had haha!
Great night. Definitely plan on heading ove with Minusworld, dra600n, Magus, and any other NAer in the areas when I can. If you ever come back to the east coast AJ, we'll save you a seat!
Didn't I order the beer instead? I can't remember. But man that place was sketchy as hell. Still had a blast though! And like I said, my end game is to be back in New England so we'll see what happens! Even still, if I do visit, I will hit you guys up and we'll figure something out.
That place is fantastic. I met up with dra600n, MrMark and BeaglePuss (with MinusWorlds joining in later) and it was a great time (and great way to spend money).
We capped off the night at that sketchy Chinese restaurant with the shittiest cocktails I've ever had haha!
Great night. Definitely plan on heading ove with Minusworld, dra600n, Magus, and any other NAer in the areas when I can. If you ever come back to the east coast AJ, we'll save you a seat!
Yup, place rules. Great pics! FunSpot is incredible, I've been dozens of times. I'm only about 25 minutes away. I need to hit it up soon! I'd love to meet up with some NA-ers. We should plan a NA FunSpot meet up or something.
That place is fantastic. I met up with dra600n, MrMark and BeaglePuss (with MinusWorlds joining in later) and it was a great time (and great way to spend money).
We capped off the night at that sketchy Chinese restaurant with the shittiest cocktails I've ever had haha!
Great night. Definitely plan on heading ove with Minusworld, dra600n, Magus, and any other NAer in the areas when I can. If you ever come back to the east coast AJ, we'll save you a seat!
Yup, place rules. Great pics! FunSpot is incredible, I've been dozens of times. I'm only about 25 minutes away. I need to hit it up soon! I'd love to meet up with some NA-ers. We should plan a NA FunSpot meet up or something.
I'm super in!
I'd like to pop up there in April when I'm home.
I forgot to mention it, but it was glaringly obvious that Donkey Kong only has the first and fourth stages at Pinball Wizard. Is that because they have it switched this way, or were there really cabinets that only had 2 stages? The cabinet has all of the classic "jumpman" artwork.
OT, but Donkey Kong is a bit weird. Did you rescue Pauline? You will be greeted by the elevator stage after beating the second barrel. BTW, there are two arcade ROM versions released in Japan and North America. These have different stage layouts and cannot be swapped using DIP switches...
1=barrel
2=cement or "pies"
3=elevator
4=rivets
Japan version:
1,2,3,4 repeat
US version:
Loop 1: 1,4
Loop 2: 1,3,4
Loop 3: 1,2,3,4
Loop 4: 1,2,1,3,4
Loop 5 & up: 1,2,1,3,1,4 (there are actual cutscene animations for 150m with six DKs stacked on top of each other!)
The cement factory doesn't show up until loop 3 in the US version and many players never get that far. At least some players who played the NES version bitd probably weren't even aware the cement stage existed. Also if you're good enough, later in the game every other stage is the barrels. That said, I vastly prefer the Japanese layout when playing on MAME...
Does Donkey Kong Jr go 1,4 then 1,2,3,4 or does it do the same as Donkey Kong? DK Jr I'm not nearly as good at in the arcade, I still haven't been able to get to the "Go To Mario's Hideout" cutscene after 4 days of attempts.
Another thing about NES DK (and DK "Pie Foundry" or "Complete Edition") is you can hang out at the top of a ladder with Mario's head one pixel below the floor and the barrels will pass over his head every time in the NES version. Doing this in the arcade version is literally suicide. It's almost a guarantee that on the arcade version, any barrel passing overhead will follow down whatever ladder Mario is perched on and kill him.