History WebVideo / MattMcMuscles

* ''The Worst Fighting Game:'' After playing the dreadful [=PlayStation=] FightingGame ''Criticom'', Matt reviews bad fighting games on a quest to find a one that’s even worse than ''Criticom'', one dud at a time. ''Criticom'' was officially dethroned by ''Expect No Mercy'', but Matt vows to keep searching for something even worse.

** Matt points this out as to what contributed to ''VideoGame/MarvelNemesisRiseOfTheImperfects''[='=] failure as it released the same day as ''VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan'' and ''VideoGame/XMenLegendsIIRiseOfApocalypse'', with ''VideoGame/MortalKombatShaolinMonks'', ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'', ''VideoGame/BurnoutParadise'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaidenBlack'' earlier.

* CoolVsAwesome: Deconstructed. ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse'' was birthed from the idea that the hype that two [[Franchise/MortalKombat popular]] [[Franchise/TheDCU franchises]] would result in significantly larger sales than the previous ''Mortal Kombat'' games. In practice, the clashing tones would cause a multitude of problems as the developers had to tone down the violence to meet DC Comics' requests. This resulted in criticism from fans and critics that the end result is lackluster in execution, especially with how Fatalities and [[ThouShaltNotKill Heroic Brutalities]] were handled, and it only resulted in marginally better sales than the past few entries, which didn't save Midway from their inevitable demise.

* ''The Mediocre Spider-Matt'': Matt plays one of the ''many'' Franchise/SpiderMan video games.

** ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2022'' is particularly depressing as not only did the game seemingly sell under expectations, but a business deal that holding company Embracer Group needed to stay afloat, after expanding too quickly via numerous acquisitions, suddenely fell through. As a result, the developers, Volition, was laid-off to recoup costs and the prospects of being bought by another company looks rather grim.

* ContinuityReboot: One of the many problems that helped wreck ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2022'' and its creator Creator/VolitionInc: While the game was initially meant to be a SoftReboot dealing with one of the endings of ''VideoGame/SaintsRow4'', it was ultimately decided to create a new cast of characters, ultimately meaning that time and resources were needed for world building. Furthermore, the attempt to go back to the franchise's roots instead pushed them back into the crazy superhero-esque styles of the later games.

** Matt points this out as to what contributed to ''VideoGame/MarvelNemesisRiseOfTheImperfects''[='=] failure as it released the same day as ''VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan'' and ''VideoGame/XMenLegendsIIRiseOfApocalypse'', with ''VideoGame/MortalKombatShaolinMonks'', ''VideoGame/SlyIIIHonorAmongThieves'', ''VideoGame/BurnoutParadise'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaidenBlack'' earlier.

* BTeamSequel: A frequently discussed reason on ''Wha Happen'' as to why games end up going through troubled development, where the original developers or studios move on to other projects, with a publisher searching for someone else to take up the reins. While this has resulted in classics that managed to stand out such as ''Metroid Prime'', there have been just as many games that were covered that didn't earn the same critical or commercial acclaim. Examples include Yuke's being dropped from the development of ''WWE 2K20'' in favor of Visual Concepts, or Creator/TravellersTales developing ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' after Creator/NaughtyDog's departure from the series. [[invoked]]

** For the ''[[Manga/DragonBallZ Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu]]'' episode of ''The Worst Fighting Game'', both Creator/KaiserNeko and [=Takahata101=] of Creator/TeamFourStar [[RoleReprise reprise their roles as Nappa and Future Trunks]] from ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' to point out how much better (if only a little bit) the game would be with voice clips.%%InUniverse

** ''VideoGame/AlienResurrection'''s dual analog control scheme was frequently cited as one of its strongest negatives, with reviews calling it difficult to get used to. Such a control scheme would eventually become the standard for the first-person shooter genre, especially after ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' would [[TropeCodifier popularize it.]]

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: While talking about ''EA's'' tasteless sin-themed marketing stunt for ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', Matt admits that the Gluttoney part (where the company delivered cakes shaped like severed limbs to journalists) to be kinda funny.

* NonIndicativeName: Matt makes his displeasure know of ''Deadly Arts'' not involving anything "Deadly" in it.

** In various episodes of ''Wha Happun?'', Matt reacts with a variation as he expresses disbelief at a more bizarre detail of his current subject (such as ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' having a Game Boy Color version, or Creator/{{Todd McFarlane}} being the lead artist behind ''Videogame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning''). He often emphasizes his surprise by speaking off-mic or audibly ruffling through notes.

--->'''George Broussard:''' "Take-Two needs to STFU. We don't want Take-Two saying stupid-ass things in public for the sole reason of helping out their stock. Its our time and our money that we are spending on the game, so either we're absolutely stupid and clueless, or we believe in what we are working on."\\

** During the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: Reforged'' episode of ''Wha Happun?'', he talks about the unprofessional CGI on the infamous ''"Reforged"'' version of Arthas and Illidan's duel, comparing it to something people would see in a mobile game. Matt then takes this opportunity to take a jab at ''Raid: Shadow Legends'' with a fake sponsorship... with the whole duel cutscene in question playing over it.

** In ''The Worst Fighting Game'' episode featuring ''Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22'', Matt constantly refers towards ''Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budoten'', the Sega Saturn UpdatedRerelease of ''[=UB22=]'' as this, constantly belittling the former for the flaws that ''Shin Budoten'' fixed and a sign of the CreatorsApathy held for its release in the States.

* BTeamSequel: A frequently discussed reason on ''Wha Happen'' as to why games end up going through troubled development, where the original developers or studios move on to other projects, with a publisher searching for someone else to take up the reins. While this has resulted in classics that managed to stand out such as ''Metroid Prime'', there have been just as many games that were covered that didn't earn the same critical or commercial acclaim. Examples include Yuke's being dropped from the development of ''WWE 2K20'' in favor of Visual Concepts, or Creator/TravellersTales developing ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' after Creator/NaughtyDog's departure from the series.%%InUniverse

** ''VideoGame/SonicXTreme'' is an especially bitter case, as the development team spent months in grueling crunch time to the point of endangering their own health only for the game to never be released, leaving nothing to show for their hard work and the Sega Saturn without a main draw, [[ShootTheShaggyDog effectively dooming the console and spelling the beginning of the end for Sega as a first-party company]]. To add insult to injury, ''X-Treme'''s lead designer Chris Senn would eventually get another shot at a Sonic game…[[YankTheDogsChain in the form of the disastrous]] ''VideoGame/SonicBoom: Rise of Lyric''.

-->[[{{Troll}} Deal with it]].

** In various episodes of ''Wha Happun?'', Matt reacts with a variation as he expresses disbelief at a more bizarre detail of his current subject (such as ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' having a Game Boy Color version, or [[Creator/ToddMcFarlane Todd McFarlane]] being the lead artist behind ''Videogame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning''). He often emphasizes his surprise by speaking off-mic or audibly ruffling through notes.

* NoPronunciationGuide: In the Flophouse Plays videos focusing on 24 Sega Genesis games he never played, he stumbles over the title of the game ''Mazin Saga'', pronouncing it as “MAY-zen” rather than “MAH-zen”.

* SimpleYetAwesome: ''Whu Happen?'' delved into how a relatively simple tweak saved ''VideoGame/AlienResurrection''. After a tumultuous development where, like ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', it missed the film's release by several years, the third-person shooter ([[RunningGag which was the style at the time]]) was nearing completion when the developers at Argonaut Games were struggling with two big issues. Their rendering technique was taxing the system to where they were struggling with various technical issues, and as a result, had to limit the enemy AI to basically bumrush the player in low numbers, which made the game not scary. However, they had implemented a first-person view and control scheme when crawling through vents and realized they could apply it to the entire game, which benefitted the build in three ways: they didn't have to throw out their existing work (which had already happened), it would amp up the game's difficulty and scare factor with a first-person perspective limiting what players could see, and the game's technical performance improved with less to display. As a bonus, the game helped revolutionize the now-standard dual-analog control scheme for console FPS games.
* SoBadItsGood: Invoked in the ''VideoGame/HumanKillingMachine'' episode of ''The Worst Fighting Game'', as justification for not considering it the worst fighting game ever made. He notes that while the game fails on just about every qualitative level (controls like crap, graphically subpar, poorly designed, laden with FakeDifficulty, feature-barren even by the standards of its time, an ObviousBeta to the point that the final boss's sprites are broken), he still had a great time with it because it failed on so many levels that it became entertaining, comparing it to ''Film/TheRoom'' and the works of Creator/NeilBreen. It helped that the game's AllStereotypeCast mixed with random animal fights made for great mockery material, and that the story behind its development (it's a DivorcedInstallment sequel to a low-quality ''port'' of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterI'', making it a kind of unofficial alternative ''Street Fighter II'') was genuinely fascinating. That said, it didn't save it from being labeled as the game to come closest so far to dethroning ''Criticom''. Indeed, when discussing ''Expect No Mercy'', he explains that the big thing that kept it out of being the worst was that it was made in ''1988'', when fighting games were in its infancy, where ''Expect No Mercy'' was made in ''1996'', where it ''had'' no excuse.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: What ultimately resulted in ''[[VideoGame/DefJamSeries Def Jam: Icon]]'', ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', and ''VideoGame/{{Ninja Gaiden 3|2012}}'' (2012) getting episodes dedicated to them. While none of these games faced serious issues during development, were made precisely as the developers intended, and are competently made games from a ''technical'' standpoint, they're are so incredibly far removed from what their respective series are known for that they were received poorly by fans.%%InUniverse
* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: The reason why ''VideoGame/TheMastersFighter'' ended up being discussed on ''The Worst Fighting Game''. It had shamelessly traced several sprites from various Fighting Games in the '90s, including ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'', ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'', and ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. The game's mechanics are also borrowed from SNK's franchise, but were not properly balanced, making the game an unplayable mess. Of the roster of UsefulNotes/{{plagiari|sm}}zed characters, only Gamp seems to be an original creation (with the editor of the Episode theorizing that Gamp was copied from Dee Jay from ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers]]''). %%InUniverse

** The opening intro / music video for Atari's ''Fight For Life'' has a disclaimer that the footage had not been edited in any way.

** Whenever the show tackles a particularly infamous piece that was heavily requested, Matt tends to [[InterruptedCatchphrase cut off his opening spiel]] and give an exasperated "It's time. To talk. About X."

** At the end of the ''Fight For Life'' episode of ''The Worst Fighting Game'', when he mentions where to request new games to try, he mentions his Twitter handle before saying adding in that it might not be there by the time the viewer saw the episode, referencing the social media's tumelous problems throughout November 2022.

* UrExample: Per Matt's research into the entire ''Franchise/DoubleDragon'' franchise on ''Wha Happun?'', he figures that 1990s ''Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone'' is the first, if not one of the first examples of ''[[BribingYourWayToVictory in-game microtransactions]]''. The arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'' had shops that allowed player to buy extra lives, health, weapons, special movies, and new playable characters, but each one required inserting another quarter into the machine to buy them. The negative feedback from American players was so fierce that the entire shop mechanic was removed from the Japanese cabinets before they were released a few months later.

** WebVideo/Civvie11, tends to appear for short cameos regarding FPS games based in 80s and 90s video game culture, like ''VideoGame/{{Doom 2016}}''.

* CripplingOverspecialization: The Creator/MidwayGames episode of ''Wha Happun'' showcases how Midway's overreliance on arcade game revenue at the expense of developing console-originated [=IPs=] like what Capcom did during the 80s and 90s contributed to their demise, as when the arcade scene in the west declined due to advances in console hardware and increasing production values blowing arcade games out of the water, Midway was just too late to enter the console game scene, as ascendant publishers like EA, Activision, Ubisoft and Take-Two overshadowed the company. When Midway ''did'' try to enter the AAA game industry, all of their efforts amounted in miserable failures that finished the company off.

* RepressedMemories: In ''The Worst Fighting Game'' of ''Expect No Mercy'', Matt explained that he bought the game for Windows 95 back in the 90's and enjoyed playing those fighting games instead of more mainstream games like ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' or ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''. As he analyzes the game more and more, it occurs to him that he had blocked out just how horrible the game actually was.

* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: The reason why ''VideoGame/TheMastersFighter'' ended up being discussed on ''The Worst Fighting Game''. It had shamelessly traced several sprites from various Fighting Games in the 90s, including ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'', ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' and ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. The game's mechanics are also borrowed from SNK's franchise, but were not properly balanced, making the game an unplayable mess. Of the roster of UsefulNotes/{{plagiari|sm}}zed characters, only Gamp seems to be an original creation (with the editor of the Episode theorizing that Gamp was copied from Dee Jay from ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers]]''). %%InUniverse
* UrExample: Per Matt's research into the entire ''Franchise/DoubleDragon'' franchise on ''Wha Happun?'', he figures that 1990's ''Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone'' is the first, if not one of the first examples of ''[[BribingYourWayToVictory in-game microtransactions]]''. The arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'' had shops that allowed player to buy extra lives, health, weapons, special movies, and new playable characters, but each one required inserting another quarter into the machine to buy them. The negative feedback from American players was so fierce that the entire shop mechanic was removed from the Japanese cabinets before they were released a few months later.

** UsefulNotes/NintendoGamecube used a set of smaller disks that, while holding more space than normal [=CD-ROMs=] (~1.8 GB compared to ~760 MB), held less space than DVD-ROM disks (~4.7 GB). However, Nintendo dismissed DVD-ROM disks as being a fad that wouldn't last long. Sadly, this actually damaged the Gamecube as while the special disks prevented piracy, it limited what could be put on the disks.

* SimpleYetAwesome: ''Whu Happen?'' delved into how a relatively simple tweak saved ''VideoGame/AlienResurrection''. After a tumultuous development where, like ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', it missed the film's release by several years, the third-person shooter ([[RunningGag which was the style at the time]]) was nearing completion when the developers at Argonaut Games were struggling with two big issues. Their rendering technique was taxing the system to where they were struggling with various technical issues, and as a result, had to limit the enemy AI to basically bumrush the player in low numbers, which made the game not scary. However, they had implemented a first-person view and control scheme when crawling through vents and realized they could apply it to the entire game, which benefitted the build in three ways: they didn't have to throw out their existing work (which had already happened), it would amp up the game's difficulty and scare factor with a first-person perspective limiting what players could see, and the game's technical performance improved with less to display. As a bonus, the game helped revolutionize the now-standard dual-analog control scheme for console FPS games.