:: Nintendo Bulk Buy - THIS IS IT- *including POPEYE Road Trip'* ::

[DarthNuno]

INTRODUCTION


[Click on the book!]

...and less than 4 months later... THIS IS IT  



Tuesday, 24th of August  2010...wake up at 5h15am... post-road trip check-up  



At this time, I do not have any car! I'm waiting a new to one to come, and the one I temporarily have is too small for a road trip! So I'm waiting for Remy to pick me up with his car. Because I'm not really sure the cabinet I'm going to bring back will totally fit his car, I prepare stuff fror wrapping the cabinet, just in case a part of it must be out of the car trunk :



'Almost' on time   Here's Remy with his brand new car    



... only 2938 km cycled! This road trip will be a good test for that car. 6h22am... let's go...



Less than 500 km one way... not to bad, but I wouldn't call that a huge road trip (in term of distance of course )  



To bend the rules, I won't drive to start this road trip   I'll have some opportunities like for example... reading a mag'    



...or taking funny pictures   :



On the way, and interesting sign   Should we take this one    


 
Strange, my navigation car system drive us ... in the middle of the Belgian town called 'Liège' ? Do I made a mistake during its programming? ... strange...



Hey... a BUCK ROGERS truck?   ? ...no ... wait... BOCK Roger?    



Welcome in Germany!



Germany is a kind of heaven for Hamburgers fans like Remy and I ... We both have a vision now    



Holy Jesus! It's only 8:28... and should we already stop now for eating??? Yeah Dude  



At this early hour of the day, let's hope we'll find a kind of 'breakfast' formula or something  

But but...

What?

No one to serve us?

What does it mean? Closed?

NNNNNNoooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!



NNNNNNoooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!



So we decide to NOT take a breakfast with something different   Back on the road, and let's hope to find an other one... OPEN  

Crossing the Rhine...



The Rhine (Dutch: Rijn; French: Rhin; German: Rhein; Italian: Reno; Latin: Rhenus; Romansh: Rain) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at about 1,232 km (766 mi),[2][3] with an average discharge of more than 2,000 m3/s (71,000 cu ft/s). (c) Wikipedia

Can I call this a 'Super Structure' (do you love National Geography Chanel by the way? I love it   ) :



Hey Remy, do you see what will come in 450 meters    



It's still very early, but we do NOT want to eat something else... even for breakfast  



YYYESSSS !!!!



YYYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSS !!!



That's the way I'm loving Germany... but also for ecological choices like for example ...........AAAAAHHHHHHHH    



MMhhhhh... I mean more something like this    



On few highway segments... NO SPEED LIMIT..  I'm not at all a speed fan, but I know Remy would like at least on time here ... so on a very safe portion (no other cars around, straight line), I give him my go for just one time (don't try this at home!)  



11H13 AM ... HERE WE ARE    



I recognize that place! Yes... 5 years ago I was here for one my holy Graal ... Dragon's Lair!!!  



 

[DarthNuno]

After a nice welcome with Paul, let's see what we are waiting for more than three months ... Holy Jesus!!! This is really it    



Awesome feeling... I'm walking among all these Nintendo cabinets  



...while Remy, not an arcade collector, has some fun    



I can tell you this is not a picture from an US arcade warehouse...    



Yes Remy, I know... Terminator is your favorite movie    



I was waiting this moment...    



Ok, now I have a lot of work! I've to get all the informations regarding these cabinets for the 'Nintendo Bulk Buy' members...

Of course I'm also here for one cabinet, but first let's finish the business part with Paul...



I'm here for this one... POPEYE    



A Nintendo among the Nintendos  



Popeye behind the Paul's 50's truck    I love this picture... I love the truck ... and I love like Olivia Popeye    



Few weeks before, that cabinet was in USA... and now, this cabinet see the European light    



Let's load the cab in the Remy's Ford Focus  



Arghhh!!! Cannot close the trunk   Why??? This Nintendo cabinet is not so tall???



Ok, it's because of this part of the car  



Fortunately, it can be removed    



It's ok now, let protect the cabinet...



Holy smoke  



...we are at Paul's place since... more than 3h30! A 'little' bit longer than expected   ... but it was great! Paul 'and the team' are very nice & kind people. It was a real pleasure to be here! And guess what? Even after 3h30 spent here, I even didn't visit the place, I mean there are also Jukebox, pinballs, and a lot of interesting stuff here... but we spent all that time in conversations, and it was great!    

[DarthNuno]

Now it's really time to leave the place....

Here's nice 'encounters' during the way back :



BMW M6? Never heard about this one before ...

Hey, this pick up... not too back the inscription    



A White Knight    



What would be the purpose of this? :



Remy? Did you see what's coming ?    



We only had breakfast so far...I know we are hungry but... do you thing we should do it again...here?  



Yeah baby yeah ! Let's order    



See the size of this one?  



My kingdom for a Burger King! Why??? Why??? Why there's no BK in Belgium, Luxembourg or even France? It's so good    



Remy's nap    



Strange, on the way back of this road trip, the nav' car system drives us in Luxembourg... It wasn't the case this morning?! But no panic, the number of km / time to drive looks approx the same  



And finally in Belgium... we've missed the Belgium border, but I can tell you it's very close    



...and here we are!!! Road trip over!  



13h53 on the road, 944 km driven... and 3 countries     Belgium > Germany > Luxembourg > Belgium

Because it's not my car, I've to unload the cabinet now  



By the way, you can see on that picture the shitty blue car I got for my garage while I'm waiting my brand new car  
Ok, but what's important now, it's the POPEYE! Not too bad isn't it    



No more place in the Nuno's Lair 1 and 2 ... so no other choice than putting that cab inside the house  
See Popeye & Brutus moving the game... picture by Olivia    



On location   Far more beautiful than a Popeye handeld  



Ok, I'll examine the game in a dedicated topic, so it's all for now regarding this road trip  

ps for all the readers : If you need price/list of games available/pictures or other information/request about Paul's place, do not use this 'Road Trip' topic..but check this topic. Thanks.


EPILOGUE

I would to thanks all the members of this 'Nintendo Bulk Buy' :

Gyruss, Ronald Reagan, AtariMania, Muerto, Thwocker & SuperUlly

Thanks to all of you for your patience, your 'gentleman' attitude, your flexibility and your understand regarding all the questions, risks to take, keeping your engagements regarding the deal done initially from day one of this adventure!
Being 'smart' during all the process help us to finally have what we were looking for... a Nintendo cabinet   I hope you al with be happy with your cabinets  

Of course, I would like thanks Paul for the same reasons, but also for his professionalism during all the steps of this 'almost 4 months' story. After a such positive story, I'm sure we'll make business again with him! Once again... THANK YOU Paul  

 

[Muerto]

Thanks for the great report Bruno!!!!

Hmmm, a very nice BMW! - but i think it´s nearly 2 years old (the M6)


I think it´s like a bearing for a windmill??

[Belike]

Very nice cab in great condition and also a great memory for me from my childhood, I've never been able to complete the 3rd level, where you have to build that ladder to Olivia.

[ckong]

Nice Roadtrip Bruno, and Popeye seems to be in grat shape. Too bad that you didn't have time to see the pinballs and jukebozes, Paul has an amazing 'collection'. 

Paul brought in so many Nintendo cabs, that prices in the USA must surely rise.   

[level42]

Very nice cab in great condition and also a great memory for me from my childhood, I've never been able to complete the 3rd level, where you have to build that ladder to Olivia.

I did, but only on my Atari 600XL

I love Popeye. It's an underrated game IMHO. Did you guys know that DK actually was meant to be a Popeye themed game ? But King Features didn't want to do the deal in the end. Much later, when they saw the success of Nintendo, they clearly changed their mind.....so....what if DK would have been Bluto, Pauline would have been Olive and Mario Popeye ......would we now be playing Super Popeye Galaxy 2 ? 
Somehow, I doubt it....things sometimes seem to happen for a reason.....

Congrats Bruno ! And a wonderful roadtrip again

[scr33n]

Awesome roadtrip Bruno ... nice pictures and story .... congrats !!!! 

[falcon NL]

*still droowling at the pictures

Seems like a handsome cab you got there!

*jealous!

[Ronald Reagan]

good road trip report!
your cab looks really fresh! Popeye rules, it has one of the nicest Bezels ever I think
 

[aganim]

My dream..... 

Congratulation for this catch...

[joeks]

Congrats on the nice cabinet! I would love to have one too.

[gyruss]

What a beautiful machine, congrats, it seems to be in pretty good state!! 

[atarimania]

Nice cab  and great report (as usual ) Is it working ?

[Etienne MacGyver]

Remy? Did you see what's coming ?    

Great trip Bruno !
thanx for sharing the story,

ps the place you guys eat burgerking on the way back, reminds me of the pickup place from my roadtrip for my DK table 

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