History YMMV / ExtraCredits

** Perhaps the biggest is in their transgaming episode where they say that the Pokémon [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} anime]] acts as a tutorial for the games and even claim Pokémon in the show function the same as in the games. If you said this to anyone who both plays the games and watches the show, you'd most likely get a look of confusion since the show regularly [[NewRulesAsThePlotDemands ignored the game rules]] to better fit the narrative as early as the Kanto arc. It might be true in a very general sense (weakening Pokémon to catch with the ball, utilizing ElementalRockPaperScissors), but hardly fits in the specific implementations.

** Extra Credits' reputation has been tarnished by their defense of RevenueEnhancingDevices used by publishers. Following the scandal caused by ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'''s infamous loot box progression, Extra Credits released several videos defending the inclusion of loot boxes and freemium economies in $60 games, claiming that they provide player agency and support developers. Many fans eviscerated their arguments by pointing out these mechanics involve the same tactics used by casinos like the Sunk Cost Fallacy and Skinner Boxes, designed to be predatory and target the gambling-vulnerable for exploitation. Furthermore, their justification that these monetization schemes support developers have been undermined by mass layoffs and poor working conditions of employees. Even worse is that their defense comes off as hypocritical since they've previously criticized video game industry for using exploitative monetization schemes.

*** The episode is predicated on the misguided implication that Louis the Pious foolishly and arbitrarily divided his empire among his three sons and thereby set the stage for a millennium of Franco-German conflict in an {{Anvilicious}} DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything of the Treaty of Westphalia or the Sykes-Picot Agreement. In reality, however, the borders they show only coalesced after Louis the Pious' death when his two younger sons, Charles and Louis, [[EnemyMine joined forces]] against their elder brother Emperor Lothar in a bloody CivilWar that succeeded in [[BalkanizeMe carving off the (existing) Frankish and Teutonic halves]] for Charles and Louis but didn't completely destroy Lothar, who kept the leftovers. Thus Middle Francia didn't cause conflict by being "haphazard" (as it's described half-a-dozen times) but rather was made haphazard by conflict.
*** They note that, "We often criticize primogeniture as it [...] [[HeirClubForMen leaves women out entirely]]". Technically, primogeniture only denotes preference by birth order while gender is a separate set of criteria. The British monarchy, for instance, recently adopted "''absolute'' primogeniture", which favours the first-born child regardless of gender.

* SeasonalRot: After James Portnow's departure, the ''Extra Credits'' videos became less and less cohesive, utilizing a rotating cast of guest writers without a strong central creative or intellectual identity to anchor them or tie them together, as the ''Extra History'' episodes became more and more popular in their place. Nowadays, the ''Extra Credits'' channel proper is only likely to get a lot of press when a controversial and/or unpopular episode draws a lot of criticism, and the idea that the series is a shadow of its formal self is more common than not in the fanbase.

* SeasonalRot: After James Portnoy's departure, the ''Extra Credits'' videos became less and less cohesive, utilizing a rotating cast of guest writers without a strong central creative or intellectual identity to anchor them or tie them together, as the ''Extra History'' episodes became more and more popular in their place. Nowadays, the ''Extra Credits'' channel proper is only likely to get a lot of press when a controversial and/or unpopular episode draws a lot of criticism, and the idea that the series is a shadow of its formal self is more common than not in the fanbase.

** Their "Evil Races are Bad Game Design" video used ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' as an example to push their idea that having evil races is bad for the setting and game experience while being immoral, but only reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the ''40K'' setting as a whole. Everyone in the 40K universe is evil to one extent or another, with the "kindest" faction/race willing to exterminate anyone who doesn't join their central creed. Virtually everyone in the galaxy wants humanity dead or its plaything, even the main human faction is designed to be explicitly evil, which makes the example of it being a bad setting fall apart since everyone in the setting is designed to be bad in some way.

** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design - Bioessentialism and Worldbuilding" has a similar reputation to the above for much of the same reasons, such as hypocrisy regarding generalizing fictional species (i.e. Orcs) as evil, while at the same time generalizing people as evil based on the uniform they wear.
*** Also, ExtraCredits latched onto the (at the time of the video rather recent) bandwagon of the claim that evil races supposedly are a stand-in for real-life ethnicities, and how depicting the former as irredeemably evil would have tangible negative consequences in real life for the latter. Considering that analogies like these are made nigh-exclusively by those who critize them in the first place, it begs the question what it says about the people who suspect racist dog-whistles behind everything if they're the only ones hearing them.

** Their "Evil Races are Bad Game Design" video used ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' as an example to push their idea that having evil races is bad for the setting and game experience while being immoral, but only reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the ''40K'' setting as a whole. Everyone in the 40K universe is evil to one extent or another, with the "kindest" faction/race willing to exterminate anyone who doesn't join their central creed. Virtually everyone in the galaxy wants humanity dead or its plaything, even the main human faction is designed to be morally gray, which makes the example of it being a bad setting fall apart since everyone in the setting is designed to be bad in some way.

** Their "Evil Races are Bad Game Design" video used ''Warhammer 40,000'' as an example to push their idea that having evil races is bad for the setting and game experience while being immoral, but only reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of 40K as a whole. Everyone in the 40K universe is evil to one extent or another, with the 'kindest' faction/race willing to exterminate anyone who doesn't join their central creed. Virtually everyone in the galaxy wants humanity dead or its plaything, and starting a moral conundrum on whether such races/factions truly deserve extermination is folly.

* SeasonalRot: As pointed out by OvershadowedByControversy, many viewers believe that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer viable as an AnalysisChannel, due to the research failures becoming more common in their videos, which was only worsened with the departure of James Portnow, with many believing that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer what it used to be. Notably, perhaps due to the much better reception that ''Extra History'' got, most of the ''Extra Credits'' team decided to favor the ''History'' section rather than the original as a result of all this. Their video game videos now tend to garner immense backlash, ranging from arguing that games need to be more expensive/have more micro-transactions, to coming across as MoralGuardians on how video games should present topics and ideas, leaving many yo feel the channel has declined into being a shell of its former self.

** "Stop normalizing Nazis" may be their most controversial video yet. The message is intended to be that making Nazis one of the teams in a co-op shooter makes them come across as less "terrible, racist fascists" and more "generic bad guys", and that this might cause people to treat Nazis as just a catchy buzzword, instead of ''actual Nazis''. Unfortunately, the message was delivered in a very narmy way that made it seem like just playing as a fictional Nazi would turn you into a real fascist.
** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design - Bioessentialism and Worldbuilding" was yet another video that received widespread mockery and rebuttals across youtube. One of the biggest criticisms of this video by far are the UnfortunateImplications of associating evil fictitious races with real-world racial groups, [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad followed closely by the sheer ridiculousness in trying to make a moral and racial controversy out of game NPCs]].

* SeasonalRot: As pointed out by OvershadowedByControversy, many viewers believe that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer viable as an AnalysisChannel, due to the research failures becoming more common in their videos, which was only worsened with the departure of James Portnow, with many believing that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer what it used to be. Notably, perhaps due to the much better reception that ''Extra History'' got, most of the ''Extra Credits'' team decided to favor the ''History'' section rather than the original as a result of all this.

** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design" also received overwhelmingly negative reception by viewers. Aside from taking the long-ridiculed and refuted position that making evil fictional races in a setting is racist, the video's attempt to denounce racism in gaming backfired due to associating evil fictional NPC races with real-world minorities. Others pointed out how laughable it would be to take the video's advice and try being kind to monstrous entities like demons and tyranids.

* SeasonalRot: As pointed out by OvershadowedByControversy, many viewers believe that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer viable as an AnalysisChannel, due to the research failures becoming more common in their videos, which was only worsened with the departure of James Portnow, with many believing that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer what it used to be. Notably, perhaps due to the much better reception that ''Extra History'' got, most of the ''Extra Credits'' team decided to favor the ''History'' section rather than the original as a result of all this. Others believe the channel is becoming a textbook example of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad following their 'Stop Normalizing Nazis' and 'Bioessentialism' videos.

** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design - Bioessentialism and Worldbuilding" also received overwhelmingly negative reception
by viewers. Aside from taking the long-ridiculed and refuted position that making evil fictional races in a setting is racist, the video's attempt to denounce racism in gaming backfired due to associating evil fictional NPC races with real-world minorities. Others pointed out how laughable it would be to take the video's advice and try being kind to monstrous entities like demons and tyranids.

* SeasonalRot: As pointed out by OvershadowedByControversy, many viewers believe that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer viable as an AnalysisChannel, due to the research failures becoming more common in their videos, which was only worsened with the departure of James Portnow, with many believing that ''Extra Credits'' is no longer what it used to be. Notably, perhaps due to the much better reception that ''Extra History'' got, most of the ''Extra Credits'' team decided to favor the ''History'' section rather than the original as a result of all this.
* SequelDisplacement: Gradually, the ''Extra History'' videos have crept above ''Extra Credits'' in terms of viewership, with ''Extra History'' episodes now receiving 2-3 times the views of the preceding ''Extra Credits'' video. This trend is only bucked when a particular ''Extra Credits'' episode handles more controversial or recent topics. Others believe the channel is becoming a textbook example of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad following their 'Stop Normalizing Nazis' and 'Bioessentialism' videos.

** Their "Evil Races are Bad Game Design" video used Warhammer40K as an example to push their idea that having evil races is bad for the setting and game experience while being immoral, but only reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of 40K as a whole. Everyone in the 40K universe is evil to one extent or another, with the 'kindest' faction/race willing to exterminate anyone who doesn't join their central creed. Virtually everyone in the galaxy wants humanity dead or its plaything, and starting a moral conundrum on whether such races/factions truly deserve extermination is folly.

** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design - Bioessentialism and Worldbuilding" was yet another video that received widespread mockery and rebuttals by other youtubers. One of the biggest criticisms of this video by far are the UnfortunateImplications of associating evil fictitious races with real-world racial groups, [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad followed closely by the sheer ridiculousness in trying to turn game NPCs from fictitious species into a racial issue]].

** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design - Bioessentialism and Worldbuilding" was yet another video that received widespread mockery and rebuttals by other youtubers. One of the biggest criticisms of this video is the UnfortunateImplications that have been brought up by many, including in the comments: associating evil fictitious races with real-world racial groups.

** "Evil Races are Bad Game Design - Bioessentialism and Worldbuilding" was yet another video that received widespread mockery and rebuttals by other youtubers.

* SequelDisplacement: Gradually, the ''Extra History'' videos have crept above ''Extra Credits'' in terms of viewership, with ''Extra History'' episodes now receiving 2-3 times the views of the preceding ''Extra Credits'' video. This trend is only bucked when a particular ''Extra Credits'' episode handles more controversial or recent topics.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Suleiman the Magnificent in his ''Extra History'' series was portrayed with a sympathetic light, largely thanks to his nature as the POV character of the series. Many viewers, however, pointed out that Suleiman's troubles were largely brought about by his HairTriggerTemper, and that murdering his best friend, two of his sons, (thus leaving the Ottoman Empire in the hands of [[SketchySuccessor Selim II]]), and unintentionally sowing the seeds for his empire's decline made him too unlikeable a protagonist (Although it should be noted that Suleiman’s wife was the one who convinced her husband to commit those actions as she hated Ibrahim Pasha and wanted her son, Selim II, to be Sultan and saw the others as rivals, she is just as much to blame as her husband.

** That said, Extra Credits actually encourage people calling them out on such inconsistencies, and have made a few episodes apologizing for research failures (most noticeable in the Extra History segments). However they uphold their actions, as they are pleased to see people willing to do the research to prove them wrong, which is the entire point of their videos as springboards for exploration, rather than a bible to live by.

** One of the numerous criticisms people had for the "Stop Normalizing Nazis" video was that they referred to the Iron Cross as a Nazi symbol and said that the idea of it ''not'' inspiring instant revulsion in a person on sight is dangerous. The Iron Cross was indeed used by the Nazis, but only because it's a German military symbol that both predated the Nazis and is still used by the German army to this day. [[CriticalResearchFailure For double the facepalm potential]], ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' (which was one of the games featured in the episode) doesn't even use the Iron Cross as a stand-in for the swastika, but rather the ''Balkenkreuz''.

*** Despite what Dan might have you believe about every last soldier in the Nazi military being Nazis and German, not all of them were Nazis or even German. The Nazis had plenty of formations made up of non-German conscripts and auxiliaries that fought under their command including [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Liberation_Army White Russians]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Volunteer_Corps_(World_War_II Serbians]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Volunteer_Battalion_of_the_Waffen-SS Finns]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenische_Legion Armenians]]. And even more than this, it is a well-known fact that Hitler made an effort to [[https://timeline.com/nazis-muslim-extremists-ss-6824aee281d2 recruit Muslims]] [[https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2016/03/26/muslims-in-the-ss-i/ from Eastern European ethnic groups like Albanians, Tatars and Bosniaks into the Schutzstaffel's ranks]].

*** Despite what Dan might have you believe about every last soldier in the Nazi military being Nazis and German, not all of them were Nazis or even German. The Nazis had plenty of formations made up of non-German conscripts and auxiliaries that fought under their command including [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Liberation_Army White Russians]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Volunteer_Corps_(World_War_II Serbians]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Volunteer_Battalion_of_the_Waffen-SS Finns]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenische_Legion Armenians]]. And even more than this, it is a well-known fact that Hitler made an effort to [[https://timeline.com/nazis-muslim-extremists-ss-6824aee281d2 recruit Muslims from countries with Islamised Slavic populations into the Schutzstaffel's ranks]].