History LetsPlay / Slowbeef

In 2007, Website/SomethingAwful user ''slowbeef'', whose real name is Michael Sawyer, posted a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA1kIBwGhrk video]] of him playing ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' with commentary over it and called it LetsPlay. Numerous adapted this term for this kind of video. [[note]]Despite often being credited as the ur-father of the entire Let's Play phenomenon , slowbeef himself downplays this role and notes that he at the most just made the term popular. Filming gameplay with commentary dates back to the VHS era. ''Screenshot'' [=LPs=] on the Let's Play Archive have dated back to at least a year before he started out.[[/note]] In 2008, he along with fellow Something Awful user Diabetus created WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}, a Website/YouTube account in which the two [[{{MST}} make fun of the worst LPs out there,]] for which he has gained an even bigger following than his Let's Plays, which he still continues to do. Retsupurae also spawned a spinoff called ''Webcam Ward'', in which the same principle is applied to non-gaming Website/YouTube videos.

slowbeef's [=LPs=] can be found [[http://bd.baldurk.org/all/default/A/slowbeef here]], [[https://www.youtube.com/user/slowbeef here]], and [[http://lparchive.org/search/slowbeef#results here]]. See also LetsPlay/{{Diabetus}}, who guest stars in many of his videos (and vice-versa sometimes).

** During his LetsPlay of ''[[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Revenge of Shinobi]]'' for the Hard Games Thread on Website/SomethingAwful, whenever he came across something particularly lawyer baiting, Slowbeef would claim to have an email from Sega's lawyer claiming that said something is not what it appears to be ripping off, such as the picture of Joe Musashi on the title screen not being Creator/SonnyChiba from Kage No Gundan or the flamethrower guys not being Franchise/{{Rambo}} (even if they had the license, he's bald in later versions), and the Round 4 boss not being either Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger or TheIncredibleHulk even if he's a robot and turns green. Played with in two letters which apologizes for a poor representation of the state of Detroit, and another which asks people not to LetsPlay ''VideoGame/ShiningForce''. Averted when he fights Web-Bat, the boss of Round 6, where said letter claims it IS SpiderMan (Since Sega had the license to make Spidey games at the time.) but the guy he turns into is certainly not Franchise/{{Batman}} (And later revisions changed him to Manga/{{Devilman}} anyway.) and the dinosaur boss of Round 7 IS Franchise/{{Godzilla}} ("Fuck it, it IS Godzilla.")

* OffscreenInertia: [[{{In-universe}} Slowbeef and Diabetus use]], as a RunningJoke, the idea that Ridley is still falling down the hole in which Samus fought him. Over a month later, when Samus fights Ridley again near the end of the game, they immediately conclude that Ridley ''just'' stopped falling, and the arena where she fights him just happens to be the end of the very, very long chute that Ridley's been falling down the entire game.

** During his LetsPlay of ''[[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Revenge of Shinobi]]'' for the Hard Games Thread on Website/SomethingAwful, whenever he came across something particularly lawyer baiting, Slowbeef would claim to have an email from Sega's lawyer claiming that said something is not what it appears to be ripping off, such as the picture of Joe Musashi on the title screen not being Creator/SonnyChiba from Kage No Gundan or the flamethrower guys not being {{Rambo}} (even if they had the license, he's bald in later versions), and the Round 4 boss not being either Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger or TheIncredibleHulk even if he's a robot and turns green. Played with in two letters which apologizes for a poor representation of the state of Detroit, and another which asks people not to LetsPlay ''VideoGame/ShiningForce''. Averted when he fights Web-Bat, the boss of Round 6, where said letter claims it IS SpiderMan (Since Sega had the license to make Spidey games at the time.) but the guy he turns into is certainly not Franchise/{{Batman}} (And later revisions changed him to Manga/{{Devilman}} anyway.) and the dinosaur boss of Round 7 IS Franchise/{{Godzilla}} ("Fuck it, it IS Godzilla.")

* BiasSteamroller: He'd freely admitted to having a bias against the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' games. This was ultimately undone after he played ''Subterranean Animism'' as one of his Patreon goals.
-->'''slowbeef:''' ''(after defeating [[ThatOneBoss Yuugi Hoshiguma]])'' Oh my God, that was '''''AWESOME!'''''' ...Alright, no. That did it, I'm turned around, ''Touhou'''s awesome.

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime Trilogy''

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When [[TheAce Vicas]] first made an appearance in a ''MetroidPrime'' video, he got slowbeef past a point he had spent about half the previous video being stuck at.
** In the first ''MetroidPrime'' video, slowbeef somehow gets stuck in ''one of the first rooms in the game.''

* EvenTheDogIsAshamed: A minor RunningGag in the DeadToRights LP has Shadow being embarrassed by Jack's terrible one-liners.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the ''DeadToRights: Retribution'' LP, after arresting [[spoiler:Julian Temple]], Slowbeef remarks: "Grant City's under martial law, right? So what are we gonna do? Go to the police station, kill everyone in it, and throw him in an empty jail cell?" No points for guessing what happens in the very next chapter.

** Shadow in ''DeadToRights'', thanks to being a teleporting OneHitKill attack that steals the victim's weapon. slowbeef and Diabetus end up playing him up as even more badass and doing most of the work and thinking for Slate while he just bumbles around and shoots random henchman.

** From the DeadToRights LP:

slowbeef's [=LPs=] can be found [[http://bd.baldurk.org/all/default/A/slowbeef here,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/user/slowbeef here,]] and [[http://lparchive.org/search/slowbeef#results here.]] See also LetsPlay/{{Diabetus}}, who guest stars in many of his videos (and vice-versa sometimes).

* ''Videogame/HeavyRain'' (with his wife ShiddyKat)

* ''VideoGame/Gradius'' Journey (Series playthrough; Patreon goal)

* ''VideoGame/Cuphead''

* ''VideoGame/CaveStory + Hard Mode'' (streamed)
* ''VideoGame/RoomBreak'' (streamed)

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' (streamed; cancelled then finished for WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}})
* ''Videogame/{{Psychonauts}}'' (streamed)

* ''Videogame/PokemonFireRed'' Nuzlocke Run (streamed)
* ''Videogame/DemonsSouls'' (streamed)
* ''Videogame/{{Undertale}}'' Genocide run (streamed)
* ''Videogame/AlienIsolation'' (streamed)
* ''Videogame/HeavyRain'' (streamed along with his wife "Shiddy Kat")
* ''VideoGame/{{Furi}}'' (streamed)
* ''VideoGame/AnotherMetroid2Remake'' (streamed)
* ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' (streamed)
* ''VideoGame/Mother3'' (streamed)
* ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'' (streamed)

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: He and Diabetus spend the aftermath of ''Dead to Rights: Retribution'' Chapter 9 imagining possible sequels, going from mundane crossovers to a BloodierAndGorier version of ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1''.

* XMeetsY: He and Diabetus spend the aftermath of ''Dead to Rights: Retribution'' Chapter 9 imagining possible sequels, going from mundane crossovers to a BloodierAndGorier version of ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[{{InUniverse}} He is fond of doing it]]. Many of these examples are from the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series.
** Ridley seems to be the favorite target of slowbeef and co-commentators. He's a forum {{troll}}, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' fan, mall cop, [[RailEnthusiast train engineer and enthusiast]], sitcom star, overworked voice actor, rock collector, owner of his own hotel/resort/casino, guest commentator Vicas's boss, General Ironicus' fiancee, and [[LetsPlay/FreelanceAstronauts Ferr's]] grandmother -- all with a screechy {{Joisey}} accent.
** The Lava Clam (FanNickname of the Puddle Spore in ''Metroid Prime'') [[invoked]] is an {{Expy}} of [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Eeyore]].
** From ''Metroid Prime 2'':
*** Amorbis is three WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}-voiced light-show performers who take MesACrowd to annoying extremes.
*** Chykka is... [[SubvertedTrope well...]]
---->'''slowbeef:''' [[DespairEventHorizon Do I have to make a funny voice for this boss?]] [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent Hey, I'm Chykka. I'm terrible.]]
*** Rezbit, 'Vinnie the Virus', is a huge nerd until you ''make him angry''.
---->'''Diabetus:''' I'm Vinnie the Virus! I've got a shield, oooh. I represent the future of technology. ''(disables Samus' Power Suit)'' '''DON'T FUCK WITH VINNIE THE VIRUS.'''
*** The Quad enemies in Sanctuary Fortress are ballerinas.
** In the ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' [[GameMod Justin]] [[{{Stripperiffic}} Bailey]] LP, Samus is a ValleyGirl/Stripper, Crocomire an {{Otaku}} shut-in, Draygon an OverprotectiveDad/adulterer and Ridley is a forum troll who's also into online dating.
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', Adam is a GiverOfLameNames.
** During the LP of ''Dead to Rights'', he said that this was how "Slate Views the World" when the [=NPCs=] were all named "Target".
** In the ''Dead to Rights: Retribution'' LP, slowbeef interprets Shadow as a demon dog who can teleport, and Jack as an UnreliableNarrator telling his story in every single detail to Faith.

** During his LetsPlay of [[{{Shinobi}} Revenge of Shinobi]] for the Hard Games Thread on Website/SomethingAwful, whenever he came across something particularly lawyer baiting, Slowbeef would claim to have an email from Sega's lawyer claiming that said something is not what it appears to be ripping off, such as the picture of Joe Musashi on the title screen not being Creator/SonnyChiba from Kage No Gundan or the flamethrower guys not being {{Rambo}} (even if they had the license, he's bald in later versions), and the Round 4 boss not being either Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger or TheIncredibleHulk even if he's a robot and turns green. Played with in two letters which apologizes for a poor representation of the state of Detroit, and another which asks people not to LetsPlay ''VideoGame/ShiningForce''. Averted when he fights Web-Bat, the boss of Round 6, where said letter claims it IS SpiderMan (Since Sega had the license to make Spidey games at the time.) but the guy he turns into is certainly not Franchise/{{Batman}} (And later revisions changed him to Manga/{{Devilman}} anyway.) and the dinosaur boss of Round 7 IS Franchise/{{Godzilla}} ("Fuck it, it IS Godzilla.")

** During his LetsPlay of [[{{Shinobi}} Revenge of Shinobi]] for the Hard Games Thread on Website/SomethingAwful, whenever he came across something particularly lawyer baiting, Slowbeef would claim to have an email from Sega's lawyer claiming that said something is not what it appears to be ripping off, such as the picture of Joe Musashi on the title screen not being Creator/SonnyChiba from Kage No Gundan or the flamethrower guys not being {{Rambo}} (even if they had the license, he's bald in later versions), and the Round 4 boss not being either Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger or TheIncredibleHulk even if he's a robot and turns green. Played with in two letters which apologizes for a poor representation of the state of Detroit, and another which asks people not to LetsPlay ShiningForce. Averted when he fights Web-Bat, the boss of Round 6, where said letter claims it IS SpiderMan (Since Sega had the license to make Spidey games at the time.) but the guy he turns into is certainly not Franchise/{{Batman}} (And later revisions changed him to Manga/{{Devilman}} anyway.) and the dinosaur boss of Round 7 IS Franchise/{{Godzilla}} ("Fuck it, it IS Godzilla.")

In 2007, Website/SomethingAwful user ''slowbeef'', whose real name is Michael Sawyer, posted a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA1kIBwGhrk video]] of him playing ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' with commentary over it and called it LetsPlay. Numerous adapted this term for this kind of videos. [[note]]Despite often being credited as the ur-father of the entire LetsPlay phenomenon , slowbeef himself downplays this role and notes that he at the most just made the term popular. Filming gameplay with commentary dates back to the VHS era. ''screenshot'' LP's on the Let's Play Archive have dated back to at least a year before he started out.[[/note]] In 2008, he along with fellow Something Awful user Diabetus created WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}, a Website/YouTube account in which the two [[{{MST}} make fun of the worst LPs out there,]] for which he has gained an even bigger following than his Let's Plays, which he still continues to do. Retsupurae also spawned a spinoff called ''Webcam Ward'', in which the same principle is applied to non-gaming Website/YouTube videos.

slowbeef's {{Lets Play}}s can be found [[http://bd.baldurk.org/all/default/A/slowbeef here,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/user/slowbeef here,]] and [[http://lparchive.org/search/slowbeef#results here.]] See also LetsPlay/{{Diabetus}}, who guest stars in many of his videos (and vice-versa sometimes).

!!Slowbeef's {{Lets Play}}s provide examples of:

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[{{In-Universe}} He is fond of doing it]]. Many of these examples are from the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series.
** Ridley seems to be the favorite target of slowbeef and co-commentators. He's [[{{Troll}} a forum troll]], ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' fan, mall cop, [[RailEnthusiast train engineer and enthusiast]], sitcom star, overworked voice actor, rock collector, owner of his own hotel/resort/casino, guest commentator Vicas's boss, General Ironicus' fiancee, and [[LetsPlay/FreelanceAstronauts Ferr's]] grandmother -- all with a screechy {{Joisey}} accent.

* BiasSteamroller: He freely admits to having a bias against the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' games.
** Ultimately undone after he plays ''Subterranean Animism'' as one of his Patreon goals.
-->'''slowbeef:''' ''(After defeating [[ThatOneBoss Yuugi Hoshiguma]])'' Oh my God, that was '''''AWESOME!''''''...Alright, no. That did it, I'm turned around, ''Touhou'''s awesome.
* BigGood: For the Let's Play Community, as he was the one to bring the concept to life.

** According to slowbeef, Ridley's catchphrase is "It's a livin'!" In ''Prime 3'' it became "[[OffscreenInertia Still fallin'.]]" ''Metroid Fusion'' turned it into, "[[HumanPopsicle Freezin' my balls off here!]]"

* ''VideoGame/{{Policenauts}}'' (screenshot)

In 2007, Website/SomethingAwful user '''slowbeef''', whose real name is '''Michael Sawyer''', posted a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA1kIBwGhrk video]] of him playing ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' with commentary over it and called it LetsPlay. Numerous adapted this term for this kind of videos. [[note]]Despite often being credited as the ur-father of the entire LetsPlay phenomenon , slowbeef himself downplays this role and notes that he at the most just made the term popular. Filming gameplay with commentary dates back to the VHS era. ''screenshot'' LP's on the Let's Play Archive have dated back to at least a year before he started out.[[/note]] In 2008, he along with fellow Something Awful user Diabetus created WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}, a Website/YouTube account in which the two [[{{MST}} make fun of the worst LPs out there,]] for which he has gained an even bigger following than his Let's Plays, which he still continues to do. Retsupurae also spawned a spinoff called ''Webcam Ward'', in which the same principle is applied to non-gaming Website/YouTube videos.

!!Games slowbeef has Let's Played:

* ''[=RoomBreak=]'' (streamed)