Angry Video Game Nerd

For the record, I would love it if the Nerd tackled more Playstation 1 games. There's a wealth of material out there.

(If it counts, he also reviewed Mortal Kombat Mythologies, even though he mostly focused on the N64 version)

New AVGN: Planet of the Apes (Playstation)! Happy 4th!

Saw his latest episode. Love the ending bit

Something tells me that "red pill" thing is like that "nitro" bit from his Castlevania Part 3 video.

Something I've been wondering lately is why James' video footage seems lower quality. Here's a video of the game that's from 2011 and yet the footage is pretty crystal clear compared to James' footage which is dark and kinda blurry.

If I had to guess, he's probably recording from a signal with composite cables, as opposed to on a PS 3 with HDMI or using an emulator which would increase the resolution.

James lists his top 10 AVGN episodes.

Dang, it's tough to pick my own top ten. Maybe I'll try later.

Pay attention to the spelling of number 9.

Talk about Magnum Opus Dissonance.

5 of those episodes I think are excellent, the other 5.... meh.

The "Ninja Gaiden" episode for example, while I have no doubt in my mind it was a difficult episode to do because of the editing, choreography, etc. But I always found that to be kind of a "meh" episode.

Also, never really liked the Super Mario Bros. 3 episode, primarily because he really didn't spend much time discussing the game and went headlong into the "product of the devil" aspect too quickly. That said, the episode does contain one of my all-time fav AVGN moments: The part where small Mario enters a pipe, only to get killed by a Koopa Troopa on the other side.

Some episodes not featured in the list that I always enjoyed include the Game Glitches episode, Action 52/Cheetah Men, Zelda II, the first Ghostbusters episode, the Sonic '06 episode, and the Super Pitfall episode.

He can't really spend much time talking about how good SMB 3 is...it ain't his thing.

I thought the SMB 3 review was just fine- he loves the game but still found stuff to complain about ("Come on, MOVE YOUR ASS!"), so it still fit the tone. It was similar to the Nintendo Power retrospective in that sense. Plus the sequence where he finds the devil in literally every part of the game is still one of my favorite AVGN moments.

All right, I'm going to try my hand at my own personal top ten.
10: Paperboy: Just a lot of funny observations about the game, and acting out some of the hypotheticals ("Can you break a window by throwing a paper at it?") was great for a change of scenery.

9: Nintendo World Championships: A nice change of pace to see the Nerd interacting with a fellow game geek, and the ending is classic.

8: Toxic Crusaders: I'm kinda surprised this wasn't on James's own list, seeing as how he got to meet one of his movie icons. Of course, Lloyd Kaufman stole the show in this one, with so many quotable lines.

7: Back to the Future Re-Revisited: Episodes like this are what make AVGN stand out from all the knock-offs out there: James has enough humility to admit when he didn't give his all previously, and corrects his mistakes. Consider this a nice companion piece to the classic episodes that feature these games.

6: Action 52/Cheetahmen: Lumping them both together for obvious reasons. It's a pretty comprehensive double review of some truly terrible games (though the Genesis version less so).

5: Plumbers Don't Wear Ties: Kind of an obvious choice, but it still boggles my mind how this game actually exists. The Nerd's reactions to the weirdness/blatant cheapness are what make this video fun. "A fuckin' chicken mask!"

4: Atari Jaguar 1 & 2: The first part does a good job of explaining video game history, and the second part has Death Kitty chasing the Jaguar cube and a failed attempt at getting the Jaguar CD to work.

3: Batman Part 2: Mike Matei as The Joker. Nuff said.

2: Power Glove: Succeeds because he tried a ton of games, and each one showed something different. It was enjoyable to see just what would come next for a peripheral that sure didn't make games any easier.

1: TMNT 3 Movie Review: A hilarious skewering of a So Bad, It's Good /So Bad Its Horrible movie (depending on your POV), and he brings up some valid points, especially the part about kids' expectations on getting to see fan favorites on the big screen, only to have their hopes crushed. The samurai sword/"IT'S HAMMERTIME!" finale is one of the great "media destruction" moments.

edited 6th Aug '17 3:00:48 PM by speedyboris

Re: 4: Atari Jaguar 1 & 2: The first part does a good job of explaining video game history, and the second part has Death Kitty chasing the Jaguar cube and a failed attempt at getting the Jaguar CD to work.

Don't forget this gem:

'Where did YOU learn to fly? Where did YOU learn to fly? Where did YOU learn to fly?'

New AVGN! Game Boy Accessories.

Part of me feels like all this bolted on stuff was envy over the GB being black and white. We loved the GB because it was simple, inexpensive (relatively) and the batteries didn't die in the time it took to use the restroom.

Just be you Gameboy. Color and advancements to the Switch came naturally.

edited 15th Aug '17 9:08:43 AM by Beatman1

I liked the ending of the GBA Accessories video. The Nerd's freakout and conspiracy endings are always gems

I watched an Ashens video covering the same topic. Most of the addons there were mentioned here.

x2 The ending didn't do much for me. My favorite part was: "Who would name their company STD?!"

So, apparently that Gameboy camera thing can swivel around, as mentioned in the You Tube comments. I'm not sure how it could, the camera itself looks stationary. I don't blame James for not realizing that.

The one that still gets me is the huge enhancer. You add 5 pounds to the Game Boy, putting it in the center of this giant lit up brick, but it's still a Game Boy. Screen is the same.

I wonder if we're still in a "Planet of the Apes" timeline, or if The Nerd fixed all that and we just didn't see it.

Probably an oversight, but I wonder if anyone at Cinemassacre realizes that the "Gameboy Accessories" epsisode hasn't been added to the AVGN episode list yet.

Needing money to feed his shitty game addiction, the Nerd plays Treasure Master to win a $10,000 prize offered on the back.

It goes about as well as you'd expect.

edited 20th Sep '17 1:18:20 PM by Beatman1

That game actually doesn't look too bad, aside from the Guide Dang It! moments.

Still, I appreciated that this episode was more grounded in tone, it came off like one of the earlier episodes.

Talk about a "Shaggy Dog" Story .... that anyone could see coming a mile away.

Yeah, the ending wasn't anything special- James calling an old phone number and getting an unexpected result was done much better in "Back to the Future Re-Revisited".

Also, being a fan of the Follin Bros., kinda disapointed that the Nerd didn't namedrop Tim & Geoff Follin, only referring to him as "the same guy who did Silver Surfer". Double disappointed that he didn't mention that the title screen is a remix of the Starsky & Hutch theme.

Other than those nitpicks, good episode.

edited 22nd Sep '17 6:56:02 AM by speedyboris

Not a Nerd video, but thought this would generate discussion: Top 10 Popular Films I Don't Love. Agree with most of the choices on here- "The Big Lebowski" in particular I never got the cult following for.

I like "Pulp Fiction" a lot more than he does, though.