Most of the good LPers out there are fun to watch for their skill at playing and/or their entertaining commentary, but I can't think of any who have cultivated as funny or likeable a persona as Raocow. His stream-of-consciousness rambling is simultaneously hilarious and soothing, and his sunny disposition always brings me back for more. He's even built up a surprisingly expansive continuity of in-jokes and characters—Football Charlie, Demo the cyclops-girl, Black Plague, and of course, Yoshi, the much-abused green freak of nature, all of which reached apotheosis in the epic ROM hackA Super Mario Thing.
The worst I can say about Raocow is that it's sometimes frustrating when he gets stuck at a single point for several minutes and loses his cool (mostly when playing unfairly hard Japanese Super Mario World ROM hacks), but these moments are rare.
As a word of warning, his first several LPs are not very good. In fact, they're terrible, bereft of the fun persona he'd later develop and leaning WAY too hard on cheating via save-states and rewinds. His gameplay is sloppy and there's no sense of tension when he can instantly undo any mistake (excuse me, "demo"). The commentary is dull and lifeless. I'd recommend watching his second LP of the first VIP Mario hack as the point at which his skill and commentary reach their current standards.
If I were to recommend a "greatest hits" of Raocow's LPs, it would include the above-mentioned ASMT and his second set of play-throughs of the VIP Mario series, An Untitled Story, VVVVVV, Mushroom Kingdom Meltdown, and of course, cat planet.
In summation: That Raocow, man, he's a thing and he's pretty great. Solid A+ entertainment.
Weird and Wonderful
Not gonna lie, Raocow is my favorite Lets Player.
Most of the good LPers out there are fun to watch for their skill at playing and/or their entertaining commentary, but I can't think of any who have cultivated as funny or likeable a persona as Raocow. His stream-of-consciousness rambling is simultaneously hilarious and soothing, and his sunny disposition always brings me back for more. He's even built up a surprisingly expansive continuity of in-jokes and characters—Football Charlie, Demo the cyclops-girl, Black Plague, and of course, Yoshi, the much-abused green freak of nature, all of which reached apotheosis in the epic ROM hack A Super Mario Thing.
The worst I can say about Raocow is that it's sometimes frustrating when he gets stuck at a single point for several minutes and loses his cool (mostly when playing unfairly hard Japanese Super Mario World ROM hacks), but these moments are rare.
As a word of warning, his first several LPs are not very good. In fact, they're terrible, bereft of the fun persona he'd later develop and leaning WAY too hard on cheating via save-states and rewinds. His gameplay is sloppy and there's no sense of tension when he can instantly undo any mistake (excuse me, "demo"). The commentary is dull and lifeless. I'd recommend watching his second LP of the first VIP Mario hack as the point at which his skill and commentary reach their current standards.
If I were to recommend a "greatest hits" of Raocow's LPs, it would include the above-mentioned ASMT and his second set of play-throughs of the VIP Mario series, An Untitled Story, VVVVVV, Mushroom Kingdom Meltdown, and of course, cat planet.
In summation: That Raocow, man, he's a thing and he's pretty great. Solid A+ entertainment.