History YMMV / TheAngryVideoGamenerd

** Mike Matei and Kyle Justin, whose guest appearances get heat from viewers who prefer Rolfe to go solo and focus entirely on the games themselves. Kyle got this especially bad with the ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'' episode from those who didn't like his style of music and singing, and Mike for his [[SpotlightStealingSquad screen-hogging disruptions]] of the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' reviews.

** In his review of the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' game for the NES, one of the power ups you can buy is a "Ghost Vacuum." Essentially, a ghost trap that is on top of the car that sucks up ghosts during driving sequences. During the first fight at the start of Film/GhostbustersFrozenEmpire what do they use to capture the snake ghost? A drone ghost trap that uses a vacuum-like vortex to suck up the ghost!

** In the ''UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar'' review, The Nerd is attacked by Skylar and later the Atari Jaguar ''logo'' for seemingly no reason. After both of their defeats, this is never brought up again.

** The ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' episode ends with the Nerd demanding that the fourth and final game, ''Airworld'', must be finished to complete the saga that was CutShort by UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. On November 11, 2022, the Nerd's wish finally came true, as ''Airworld'' is included as part of [[https://www.atari.com/games/50th-celebration/ Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration]] CompilationRerelease.

** His ''UsefulNotes/SegaCD'' video earned some backlash from people who genuinely enjoyed the system, even though he qualified that he didn't think the system was ''terrible'' per se (certainly not when compared to the 32X), and that most of the non-FMV games were generally pretty decent, although he contended that said games didn't have much that couldn't be done with the regular Sega Genesis. Several reviewers have even posted "rebuttals" on Youtube.
** He panned the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]] port of ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast1988'' in his 2010 Christmas video, and not soon later people began complaining.

** His review of ''Ride/UniversalStudios Theme Parks Adventure'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGamecube, in which he bashed Universal for authorizing the "shitty exploitation to promote the theme park," got some renewed attention after Creator/{{Universal}} secured the theme park rights to Nintendo's intellectual property just six months after the review was posted.

** During the Christmas Carol episode, the Future Nerd says that the Platform/{{Wii}} was revolutionary for its time, but in retrospect was "like a baby's toy." While the comparison was a ShoutOut to ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', it does uncannily prefigure the less-charitable views that certain modern gamers now have towards the Wii, seeing it as something innovative for the time, but plagued by overly simplistic games.

** In the ''Virtual Boy'' review the Nerd remarks at the end how "nobody gives a shit about Virtual Reality anymore" which stopped being true in TheNewTens once VR systems like the Platform/OculusRift, Platform/HTCVive and Platform/PlaystationVR came out.

** His movie costing $5 to rent or $10 to buy via Vimeo. One group says that since it was crowdfunded whoever donated ought to receive the movie for free; a portion goes further and says it should be free for everyone like his episodes. Others argued that James isn't obligated to give anyone any special treatment.

** The ending of his ''VideoGame/{{Polybius}}'' video; more specifically, ending the episode with multiple {{jump scare}}s. Some fans feel that James saving them for the very end of the review made them all the more effective, citing how James himself hates how carelessly they're used in big-budget horror movies, while others feel that the inclusion of them at all were just a cheap grab at scaring the viewer compared to the build-up throughout the rest of the video.

** The Chronologically Confused video on ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has drawn a lot of debate from the fans. Some saw it as a fine video, not out of the unusual compared to other Chronologically Confused videos and appreciated that James focused on a more modern game for a change. Others thought it was really out of place, believing it deviates ''too'' far from what the Nerd was known for and saw it as a quick cash grab only made for the then-upcoming release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. Not helping matters is James in the narrations admitting that he’s ''never played the games before''. Done again with another video covering ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' also admitting having never have played the games before, but doing a few weeks of research. Add that being a blatant quick cash grab being a sponsored video for the newly released mobile game, ''VideoGame/DragonQuestTact''.

** Some feel his review on ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' made some poor or misinformed complaints about things that can be avoided or adapted to. For example, he claims you have to do the ''entire'' Great Bay Temple dungeon again if you reset time[[note]]All dungeons in the game are designed so that the dungeon item serves as a checkpoint of sorts. Once you get the dungeon item, you can just continue from that point on future attempts[[/note]], and saying that if you miss the heart container after defeating a boss, you have to beat the boss again.[[note]]You only have to beat the boss again should you go back in time. If you go back to the temple's boss room before doing this, you can easily pick the heart up.[[/note]] Some also felt that he should have gathered that the blue portal would take him out of the dungeon after having done so three times already; the Nerd himself said he did this instinctively [[DamnYouMuscleMemory because the portal was the closer object this time.]]

** The Pong Consoles episode uses an UsefulNotes/Xbox360 with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' as an example of modern console gaming at the end.

** During the Christmas Carol episode, the Future Nerd says that the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} was revolutionary for its time, but in retrospect was "like a baby's toy." While the comparison was a ShoutOut to ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', it does uncannily prefigure the less-charitable views that certain modern gamers now have towards the Wii, seeing it as something innovative for the time, but plagued by overly simplistic games.

** In the ''Virtual Boy'' review the Nerd remarks at the end how "nobody gives a shit about Virtual Reality anymore" which stopped being true in TheNewTens once VR systems like the Platform/OculusRift, Platform/HTCVive and UsefulNotes/PlaystationVR came out.

** At the end of the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy episode (released in early 2008), he states that "nobody really gives a shit about virtual reality anymore." Clearly, he wasn't anticipating the ''huge'' comeback virtual reality would make ten years later.
** Toward the end of "How the Nerd Stole Christmas", the Nerd brought back "The notorious and nifty, and the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 3}}s, / The UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}s, and Nintendo UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}s." As of the 2020's, however, all these consoles were superceded by the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

** In the ''Virtual Boy'' review the Nerd remarks at the end how "nobody gives a shit about Virtual Reality anymore" which stopped being true in TheNewTens once VR systems like the UsefulNotes/OculusRift, UsefulNotes/HTCVive and UsefulNotes/PlaystationVR came out.

** In the third part of his coverage of bad ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' video games, he rants about how Hollywood can make pointless sequels to any movie imaginable, yet ''Ghostbusters 3'' has yet to happen. Fast forward to 2019 and Sony has confirmed that ''[[Film/Ghostbusters3 Ghostbusters 3]]'' is set for a 2021 release.

** The Chronologically Confused video on ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has drawn a lot of debate from the fans. Some saw it as a fine video, not out of the unusual compared to other Chronologically Confused videos and appreciated that James focused on a more modern game for a change. Others thought it was really out of place, believing it deviates ''too'' far from what the Nerd was known for and saw it as a quick cash grab only made for the then-upcoming release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. Not helping matters is James in the narrations admitting that he’s ''never played the games before''.

* {{Misblamed}}:

* OlderThanTheyThink: The fake Sega CD ad at the beginning of the Sega CD review. To younger viewers, it may seem like something silly James made up, but he was actually re-enacting a [[https://youtu.be/HCQRcinZYH8 real ad.]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: When the show debuted in 2006 and 2007, the premise seemed like a fresh style of reviewing. However, in the immediate midst of its success, it seems that every reviewer has tried to replicate the style, and while there are some good takes on it, there are others that aren't. This can make plenty of viewers later on wonder what was so special about the original run of episodes, ignoring that this show basically invented the entire format. Also, in 2006-7, James wasn't as informative, something seen as essential in review shows heavily influenced by it today. His 2010 and above videos were trying to be a little more educational.

* MisaimedFandom: The Nerd [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] [[CausticCritic the "angry reviewer"]] genre, where reviewers would get [[AccentuateTheNegative disproportionately upset at flaws of a work of fiction]]. The Nerd's comedy, as originally planned by James, was that the SeriousBusiness is what made it funny. For many years, many "angry reviewers" would blur the line between their real personas and "characters", and sometimes openly express extreme emotions over a show or game.

** He panned the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]] port of ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast'' in his 2010 Christmas video, and not soon later people began complaining.

** Some feel his review on ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' made some poor or misinformed complaints about things that can be avoided or adapted to. For example, he claims you have to do the ''entire'' Great Bay Temple dungeon again if you reset time[[note]]The dungeon is designed so that once you get the Ice Arrow you can skip much of it[[/note]], and saying that if you miss the heart container after defeating a boss, you have to beat the boss again.[[note]]You only have to beat the boss again should you go back in time. If you go back to the temple before doing this, you can easily pick the heart up. Some also felt that he should have gathered that the blue portal would take him out of the dungeon after having done so three times already; the Nerd himself said he did this instinctively [[DamnYouMuscleMemory because the portal was the closer object this time.]][[/note]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** When reviewing ''Jack Bros.'' for the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy, the AVGN never touches on how the three titular Bros. are actually demons from the ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, with Jack Frost being its central mascot. While ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'' were still in the realm of CultClassic in the west before the series exploded in popularity in the 2010s, a lot of his mostly western viewers were left in the dark about the greater significance these three characters had, the video never touching on the greater franchise they were a part of. But to be fair the version of the game he was looking at was in Japanese (due to the U.S. version being expensive and rare) so it's not surprising James didn't make the connection.
** The Nerd was all set to review ''VideoGame/CoolSpot'' and ''VideoGame/YoNoid'' at the beginning of the ''Pepsiman'' episode but was forced to review ''Pepsiman'' instead. It would've been interesting to hear what the Nerd had to say about those two games.
** As mentioned on a ''WebVideo/JamesAndMikeMondays'' episode, James wishes that the ''Batman & Robin'' UsefulNotes/PlayStation game could've been part of the ''Batman'' two-part review back in 2008, but he and Mike didn't know about it back then.
** A missed opportunity is on the ''Robocop'' episode, where he doesn't cover the Xbox version (though it also came out on PC and other consoles overseas), a notoriously bad game made by the same people who made ''VideoGame/Superman64''.
** The ''Shrek'' episode only reviews the Game Boy Color fighting game ''Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown'' before launching into a parody of ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' mostly built out of old ''Shrek'' memes, when the movie series inspired many other unworthy games, most notably the one based on the first movie that was an Xbox launch title (and got a later port for the [=GameCube=]).
** In the ''Terminator 1'' episode some people were disappointed that James didn't look at the Sega Genesis game by "Virgin"(who also did the Sega CD version that James enjoyed) as it's considered one of the better Terminator games.

** "You'd rather listen to your only infant child '''puking to death'''. That is, choking on its own puke chunks." ''({{beat}})'' "[[ThatCameOutWrong That's disgusting. I apologize.]]" [[HarsherInHindsight This line becomes even harder to listen to knowing that as an infant, James' daughter experienced some complications after being born that required her to visit the hospital frequently for the next three years.]]

* TheWoobie: Kyle Justin managed to become one in mere minutes, on the same episode where it justifies his [[ADayInTheLimelight day before the camera]].