The Angry Video Game Nerd

[Henry B 50]

I've linked to these videos before, but I believe this man deserves his own thread.

James Rolfe, a.k.a. the Angry Video Game Nerd

The Angry Video Game Nerd (Angry Nintendo Nerd until 2007) is an amateur filmmaker with a lot of talent. Typically, he will draw a terrible, old Nintendo game from his collection and review it with such exaggerated rage and obscenity that it's impossible not to double up laughing. He's made forty-one videos, so there's a lot to go through. I recommend watching them chronologically. If you want to see just one, see

.

AVGN features a hilarious theme song (which you should buy; it's only 99 cents) and a variety of "guest stars" from films and television series. There's a lot to appreciate in the acting (Jersey accent!) and filmmaking. Rolfe's sense of cinematography and editing is dead on.

I wasted half my summer laughing my ass off at the absurdity of these videos. Here's your chance!

[John Crichton 4]

I always though Top Gun was a good game. And I had no problems landing on the carrier. <_<

[AI 0]

Yeah he's pretty funny.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Great, now I'm addicted.

[AI 0]

I started in a simple way, the way of the common man, but I too, became addicted to the way in which this man made manifest.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

This is fantastic!

[John Crichton 4]

I watched a whole mess of videos last night, probably more tonight. I think we've found a new king of creative swearing. The most impressive thing is that he's actually finishing these games, I've played most of them but never made it very far. Of course that could just be his Game Genie at work.

"Shit soup!!"

[Henry B 50]

There are a couple reviews where he actually does use his Game Genie, and with good reason. You'll have to see the final level of Ghostbusters to believe it.

You make a good point, though. He doesn't seem to be great at games - shitty games, anyway.

Oh, and whether or not you liked the Top Gun review, check out Power Glove (an all around amazing video with his very best "creative swearing") and Independence Day for things worse than Top Gun.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Now I feel like pulling out my old Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Megadrive and giving them a go. Thankfully, most of my games aren't as shitty as the ones he reviews.

NES Games I have:

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters - this game was awesome, though he'd probably find a few reasons to bash it.

Die Hard - great, I was able to beat this one.

Batman - geh, not bad, but I couldn't make it past the second boss.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch - follows the movie really well, but bloody hell, I can't past stage four!

Star Wars - it's bad, really bad, how I even get off Tatooine, I have no idea.

[Red 75]

I've seen his rant about Ninja Turtles III. Does this kid have anything better to do?

[John Crichton 4]

I've seen his rant about Ninja Turtles III. Does this kid have anything better to do?

He's older than you are, son.

I've just about made it through the whole batch and for the most part I'm loving it. I really enjoyed the stuff with Freddy and Jason, but the Home Alone/Christmas bit was ambitious but a bit lacking. The reviews themselves are nearly always priceless.

"You touch the ceiling, you die. You touch the floor, you die. Move to the left, you die. Move to the right, you die. You die, you die, you die, you die, you die die die die die die die die die die die die."

Shitpickle.

[Henry B 50]

"Oh God.

"Oh GOD!

"Let me ask a question. What do you get when you take a movie that's ASS, and you make it into a game? You get a piece of shit! Now, if you get a piece of ass, that's a good thing, but if you get a piece of shit, you don't want that! And this, of course, is Independence Day for the Playstation. I don't even want to talk about this. It's making me sick. Making me SICK!"

[Wojo 2,453]

That guy's review of Duck Tales is pretty funny. That game is my all time favorite NES game because it's the only one I ever beat, and I had down to a science. I figured out where every treasure and power-up was, how to sequence the levels so I didn't prevent myself from finding all the treasures. I never noticed those were his nephews in the mine carts, I thought they were rocks. What a cruel cruel uncle.By the way, has anyone seen The Irate Gamer's videos before? They're over at YouTube.Here is Temple of Doom, which is pure shit:

I want to know who came first, did one rip off the other, or are they just two bored guys poking foul-mouthed fun at all the classic old games, and since the library is so large, it doesn't matter.

Angry Video Game Nerd earns my vote!

In his review of Independence Day, in the intro sequence, after Spiderman webslings a game and they sing "he downs it with beer," the Angry Nerd downs two bottles of Rolling Rock! That used to be brewed in Latrobe, PA, about 30 miles from my house. It got bought by corporate beer and is being bottled elsewhere, but seeing the distinctive green bottles, instead of mainstream like Budweiser or Miller, is frikkin' sweet!

[Henry B 50]

Irate Gamer is the rip-off. There's not much positive to be said for his reviews except for some nifty graphics and editing.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I can't even access his DuckTales review, must be a dead link. He's also brought out a new review of Halloween for the Atari 2600, but it cut out halfway through, so I never got to see the ending.

[John Crichton 4]

The DuckTales link on his website is out of date.

The new Halloween video was good, and I liked the promise at the end for some simpler, review based videos like the old ones in the near future. The heavy sketch stuff should be saved for special occassions.

[Henry B 50]

I can't even access his DuckTales review, must be a dead link. He's also brought out a new review of Halloween for the Atari 2600, but it cut out halfway through, so I never got to see the ending.

Sounds like you have a problem loading the video (GameTrailers is, admittedly, not the best site). Try loading it in a different format (e.g. Quicktime instead of Flash).

And John, I agree. Things were getting a little out of hand - five or six large production videos in a row.

[Red 75]

I got to admit, he is very entertaining and informed.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

And John, I agree. Things were getting a little out of hand - five or six large production videos in a row.

I like his elaborate videos with the bigger production values. Just the barebones game review would have grown a bit stale after a while, but they're still funny.

[Henry B 50]

New video: Dragon's Lair

Awesome video done in the traditional style. The rant at the end kicks some major ass. And even better...

The DVD is out!

The only downside to this is that he had to remove some copyrighted movie clips and music (which were quite important to the Back to the Future and Rocky reviews), but he's included some new scenes, original score for the Halloween videos, and a ton of bonus features. Yeah, this is totally on my Christmas wish list.

[John Crichton 4]

Nice, I'm all for the return to the classic, simple videos. For a bit there all the death shots were reminding me of my all time favorite Nerd moment so far: the "you die" montage from Silver Surfer.

I might have to fork out for that DVD too. Much easier than watching online, especially since the switch to Gametrailers.

[Red 75]

That was classic. I was afraid he would insult the original Dragon's Lair, which is a great game, but instead he went for the crappy NES one.

The best rant I've seen is at the end of the Ninja Turtles I review.

[Henry B 50]

Its might shall never be matched.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Power Glove" are also excellent, however.

[Red 75]

Indeed.

"I'd rather drink diarrhea vomited out of a buffalo's anus!!!"

[John Crichton 4]

They're really good, but I'm also quite partial to Back to the Future and Ghostbusters myself.

"Leave me alone! I'm trying to collect clocks!"

[Henry B 50]

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!

[Red 75]

The review itself was pretty good, but I'm not too keen on the other stuff in part two. It's good for a laugh, but I prefer the reviews.

[John Crichton 4]

Hopefully he'll work a review into part 2. I was looking closely at the game that fell off the shelf thinking that might be it.

As for part 1, the usual fun stuff. There's not much to say as it's all stuff we've seen before by now, but I mean that in a good way.

[Henry B 50]

Yeah, I remember reading or hearing that he's going to review Double Dragon on Sega.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Thats funny stuff.

[John Crichton 4]

I finally got around to watching part 2 of the Christmas episode. There are reviews. Hoo boy, are there reviews. In fact I'd probably say that was his best "special occasion" video yet. And if the tease at the end is truly what the next one is going to be, we're all in for a treat.

[Red 75]

I'm glad reviews were included. They are the real treats.

[John Crichton 4]

Oh dear God in heaven. The Angry Video Game Nerd chimes in on...

The Zelda timeline debate!

John- who was very torn on which thread to put this in

[Henry B 50]

For a twenty minute video with hardly any Nerd acting, this was quite good.

"So now, any speculation of Nintendo ever making a sequel to Zelda II is deader than ****. They can't even make a sequel that follows in consecutive order. Instead, they just keep going back, and then maybe taking a small step up again, and then back again! We have a sequel to the original, a prequel to the original, a sequel to the prequel, a prequel to the prequel, and a sequel to the young Link of the prequel's prequel. WHAT THE ****?"

[Red 75]

Good video. The confusion about the timeline is a great video game subject, and The Nerd tackling it was fun and informative (even though he didn't really come to any conclusions).

[John Crichton 4]

(even though he didn't really come to any conclusions).

Who can?

I actually posted the link before I watched the video (friggin Gametrailers, I have to let half the video load before watching so there's no "buffer pause" in the middle). It was Angry-lite but still a good summation of it all with some typical Nerd comments, though he didn't delve into the two timeline mess very much.

Apparently this has been his emergency stand-by video for a while, if you read the news on his website he's been sick since Christmas which has delayed production of the new video. Which, if the tease at the end of the Christmas one is correct, will be one of only two big mistakes I can ever remember Nintendo making: the Virtual Boy. (the other one being keeping the N64 cartridge based rather than switching to discs)

[Henry B 50]

Using cartridges with the N64 was a critical mistake?

You know, I've often heard that the N64 didn't do so well, but it's all I remember from childhood. I suppose it was eventually overtaken by the Playstation, but for a time it was king.

[John Crichton 4]

I remember the Playstation being #1 pretty much the whole time, I was in high school at the time and worked in the local Toys R Us's video game section for two straight Christmases and from what I remember it wasn't a total blowout, but it was definately advantage Sony.

There's two main reasons I think it was a mistake: One is cost, as N64 carts were usually $60-70 at release, while PS discs were a more reasonable $40-50. The other is storage space. I've read, for example, that Square packed up the FF franchise and went over to Sony for no other reason than the discs had more storage space, and you could have multiple discs for one game.

Of course there were other factors too, I remember the 64 as a fairly weak console infested by endless Pokemon clones while lacking "serious" games. Honestly the GameCube was only marginally better IMO. But that could be my childhood memories working, as I'll always say the SNES was the greatest console ever.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Nintendo seems to be plagued by this kiddie image, even though most of the major franchises seem to be available for the GC. I wouldn't call stuff like Soul Calibur, F-Zero or Resident Evil kiddie games. But I guess the prominence of "cutesy" characters (like the Nintendo originals) and their prominence on Nintendo consoles versus the lack of that genre on the other systems gives them a more "serious" look, thus making them more popular about so-called (by themselves) serious gamers.

[John Crichton 4]

I'm totally with you on that Marian. Something I forgot to mention was the lack of 3rd party support which forced Nintendo to push out a lot of games from the homegrown franchises, which basically is, as you said, a cutsey characters image regardless of the game content itself. It didn't help at the time that Metriod skipped over the 64 and didn't appear again until the GC.

[Red 75]

as I'll always say the SNES was the greatest console ever.

Quite possibly.

I don't understand how one can say the N64 failed when it had truly classic games. Sure, it was bogged down considerably with crap, but the greatness in it overshadowed it. The Gamecube (while being underrated) was a definite step down from the 64.

Although, I can see how the N64 was the beginning of Nintendo's fall from being the industry's biggest player.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I understand why the concept of cartridges affected the N64, but without them we wouldn't have games the likes of Majora's Mask and Conker's Bad Fur Day, which were able to store extra memory in the cartridges and avoid the limitations of CDs at the time. I wouldn't trade those games for all the sales in the world. Hopefully Nintendo has that same attitude.

[John Crichton 4]

I don't understand how one can say the N64 failed when it had truly classic games. Sure, it was bogged down considerably with crap, but the greatness in it overshadowed it. The Gamecube (while being underrated) was a definite step down from the 64.

And I see the GameCube as a step up from the 64. Probably just a generational thing.

Although, I can see how the N64 was the beginning of Nintendo's fall from being the industry's biggest player.

Until the got back there with Wii.

John- who's still never gotten into Majora's Mask

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

John- who's still never gotten into Majora's Mask

Well, it definitely fell short of the impossible standard set by its precursor. I never finished the sequel, but it was pretty fun.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I found Majora superior to Ocarina in many ways. For one thing, its originality. Instead of retelling the Zelda story again (save the princess, beat Ganon with the help of the sages) it took a completely new approach and included the best sub-plot in the series: Anju and Kafei.

The music is also spectacular, as I've often repeated here. Probably my favourite Zelda score. Kondo described it as a kind of "chinese opera". Makes me wish that he'd write one based on the story.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

it took a completely new approach and included the best sub-plot in the series: Anju and Kafei.

I loved that storyline! Took me forever to complete it.

[Red 75]

Majora is a great game and the most underrated in the series. It's isn't the best (or better than Ocarina) but it makes you feel for the characters like few others.

[Quintus 5,399]

Been a fan since last spring or so. The best episode so far is the one he did on one of those crappy old Atari machines. The one where he has a bit of trouble plugging it in - I've been there soooo many times. The Ninja Turtles episode is hilarious too. "Wait, I only had to walk over it?!"

[Red 75]

The new Rambo review is up:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29877.html?type=flv

[John Crichton 4]

New Nerd video up tomorrow, the 20th. Watch this space.

John- betting on the long awaited Virtual Boy send up