Our Trip to the Fun N Games Arcade

Episode 91 featured our trip to the Fun N Games arcade at Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ, a week before it shut down. In addition to audio, we also recorded video of the arcade.

Although Fun N Games is part of the mall, the entrance is on the outside. There was a table set up with small TVs and people playing Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike for the Sega Dreamcast. There was also:

an air hockey table near the entrance

a basketball free throw game in the back corner

racing games:
Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Indy 500, Initial D Ver. 3, Midnight: Maximum Tune 2, etc.

light gun games:
Crisis Zone, The House of the Dead III, Police Trainer 2, Silent Scope EX, Time Crisis 3, Time Crisis 4, etc.

rhythm games:
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme Plus, DrumMania 10th Mix, In the Groove 2, etc.

one-on-one fighting games:
Capcom Vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Street Fighter Anniversary Edition, etc.

pinball machines:
The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Simpsons Pinball Party

and other games:
Beach Head 2002, Derby Owners Club: World Edition, The Grid, Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga, Virtua Tennis 2, etc.

икони

Replacing the Infamously Blinking Nintendo 72 Pin Connector

If you’ve followed the classic gaming scene at all, or more likely, remember the Famous Nintendo Entertainment System……..Undoubtedly you remember the blinking screen when inserting a game and pressing the power button. Remember the solution back then? Blow onto the cartridge connector, maybe even spit in it! Well, the real solution was some type of cleaning solution and a Q-tip to clean the connectors. Even then, my 20 year old NES has gotten too annoying to use. I can’t play a game without cleaning it first, games which were originally mine and would not be dirty.

Modern Age Solution? The equally infamous 72-Pin Replacement “ZIF” connector. That’s right, just $4 bucks plus shipping, and I’ve got a new connector. To replace it?
Follow these directions: http://www.jandar.net/nes72pin/

Here’s my image via camera phone….

NES 72 Pin Connector change-out

Wasn’t too hard….result? Well, almost all games now work on the first shot, no more blinking. Catch? Of course there is! Paunch curse and all. Try to get the game out of the system! You need Hulk Hogan’s 52 inch pythons, it’s that stuck in there. I think it gets looser with time, I hope. My thumb is in pain.

Episode 93: Monday, January 14, 2008

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 093

We’re back!

In this episode:

  • bidding on old video games on eBay.com,
  • the San Francisco Rush series,
  • Sega in the 1990s (the Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, etc.),
  • the pronunciation of Uranus,
  • giant camcorders in the 1980s,
  • tiny new digital camcorders,
  • longer episodes of The Paunch Stevenson Show,
  • the unreliability of 5.25″ floppy disks,
  • old video game controllers with telephone keypads on them,
  • the Coleco Telstar Arcade from 1977,
  • light guns (the NES Zapper, Wii Zapper, SNES Super Scope, and Genesis Menacer),
  • the Sega Activator,
  • deceptive toy commercials,
  • pointless toys (Shrinky Dinks, Lite-Brite, wrestling figures, etc.),
  • creative toys (the Etch A Sketch Animator and the Fisher-Price PXL-2000),
  • live action role-playing (G.I. Joe, The Transformers, etc.),
  • our review of Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown (2007),
  • shopworn books at Barnes & Noble,
  • The Dark Knight (2008) trailer,
  • the Rambo (2008) trailer,
  • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007),
  • the upcoming movie Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (2009),
  • Still Crazy (1998) starring Billy Connolly and Bill Nighy,
  • Read-Along Adventures (www.readalongadventures.com),
  • the Lame Idiot of 2007 (Michael Bay),
  • and director Uwe Boll.

Download this episode:
110.5 minute MP3 file – 50.6 MB (right-click to save)

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Episode 91: Monday, November 19, 2007

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 091

The Paunch Stevenson Show trip to the Fun N Games arcade!

In this episode:

  • driving through Newark, NJ, while listening to William Shatner’s music,
  • a Larry David moment on the PATH,
  • old handicapped drivers on the highway,
  • the Curb Your Enthusiasm season finale,
  • our Larry David and Jeff Garlin impersonations,
  • our visit to the Fun N Games arcade at Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ, before it shut down,
  • the upcoming video game Ghostbusters III,
  • Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre,
  • children’s birthday parties at McDonald’s and Burger King,
  • the Treasure Troll doll fad in the early 1990s,
  • Elmo,
  • Teddy Ruxpin,
  • The Secret City Adventures starring Commander Mark,
  • Shirt Tales and The Smurfs,
  • the abundance of karate schools in Belleville, NJ,
  • the Biography channel,
  • Rickel Home Centers,
  • Home Depot,
  • stupid job interviewers,
  • employment agencies,
  • the current season of Saturday Night Live only lasting four episodes,
  • and the Broadway stagehand strike.

Our Trip to the Fun N Games Arcade

Download this episode:
45 minute MP3 file – 20.6 MB (right-click to save)

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Episode 90: Monday, November 12, 2007

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 090

We talk with special guest Frank Edward Nora from The Overnightscape podcast (www.theovernightscape.com)!

In this episode:

  • the end of analog broadcast TV on February 17, 2009,
  • 2008 U.S. Presidential candidate Ron Paul,
  • the Republican Party’s obsession with terrorism,
  • $100 per barrel of oil,
  • 24 minute podcast episodes,
  • old 74 minute CD-R discs,
  • transferring old VHS video tapes to DVDs,
  • the ridiculous Beanie Babies fad in the late 1990s,
  • storing photos,
  • history in the future,
  • albums being released on USB flash drives in England,
  • iTunes digital release cards at Starbucks,
  • the loudness war and horrible audio CD mastering,
  • a get-rich-quick scheme for record companies,
  • the Fun N Games arcade in Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ, shutting down,
  • Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) computer software,
  • the video game Red Earth (known as Warzard in Japan) by Capcom,
  • reading bad novels in high school (The Good Earth, The Chocolate War, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, etc.),
  • David Copperfield’s current FBI investigation,
  • Frank’s review of Bee Movie (2007) starring Jerry Seinfeld,
  • the Writers Guild of America strike,
  • Late Show with David Letterman,
  • TV interviews via satellite,
  • Heroes season 2,
  • the online video revolution,
  • podcasting and online audio,
  • Frank’s attempt at a premium podcast (Anything But Monday),
  • and Frank’s upcoming secret project.

Download this episode:
64 minute MP3 file – 29.3 MB (right-click to save)

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