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* YourHeadASplode: Occasionally, he mimes this when he's especially confused by something. The best example would have to be at the end of his ''Rambo'' review, when he ''falls out of his chair''.
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* TheWorfEffect: Even though the Nerd has survived some of the worst games ever made, he still refuses to play one game - ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' on the Atari 2600. It's ''that'' bad.
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* IdiotSavant: An inanimate example with the Power Glove. Besides being completely useless with every other game, it helped the Nerd [[BeyondTheImpossible land the plane in Top Gun and aided him in beating Dark Link in Zelda 2]], much to the Nerd's astonishment.
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** "You know what's bullshit?" Of course eventually followed up with: "That's bullshit!"
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** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow#In_popular_culture Apparently]], you can synch up the first half of DarkSideOfTheMoon with the "WizardOfOz" episode, in reference to "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow Dark Side of the Rainbow]]".
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** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow#In_popular_culture [[http://cinemassacre.com/2008/08/04/dark-side-of-the-nerd/ Apparently]], you can synch up the first half of DarkSideOfTheMoon with the "WizardOfOz" episode, in reference to "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow Dark Side of the Rainbow]]".
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** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow#In_popular_culture Apparently]], you can synch up the first half of DarkSideOfTheMoon with the "WizardOfOz" episode, in reference to "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow Dark Side of the Rainbow]]".
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two episodes added
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!2012
* SonicTheHedgehog Memories
* DoubleDragon Memories
* SonicTheHedgehog Memories
* DoubleDragon Memories
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* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Angry Nerds Love Their Mamas:]] In the ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' review, it's not the SHIT PUKE that pissed the Nerd off about the possessed cartridge in the first place. It's the line ''"[[TheExorcist Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!]]"''
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* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Angry Nerds Love Their Mamas:]] In the ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' review, it's not the SHIT PUKE that pissed the Nerd off about the possessed cartridge in the first place. It's the line ''"[[TheExorcist ''"[[Film/TheExorcist Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!]]"''
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* SciFiGhetto: [[invoked]] James discusses this in his Monster Mania movies, mentioning how ''TheExorcist'' was nominated for (and received) awards, saying it was one of the few pure horror movies to do so.
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* SciFiGhetto: [[invoked]] James discusses this in his Monster Mania movies, mentioning how ''TheExorcist'' ''Film/TheExorcist'' was nominated for (and received) awards, saying it was one of the few pure horror movies to do so.
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* ShapedLikeItself:
--->"'Milon's Secret Castle'. If you don't know who Milon is...well, he's the guy from 'Milon's Secret Castle'."
--->"'Milon's Secret Castle'. If you don't know who Milon is...well, he's the guy from 'Milon's Secret Castle'."
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--> "Bottom line, have X, ''goddamn it!''"
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--> YMMV: "Bottom line, have X, ''goddamn it!''"
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--> "Bottom line, have X, ''goddamn it!''"
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Putting the show definition first.
JamesRolfe is the [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/category/avgn/ Angry Video Game Nerd]], formerly Angry Nintendo Nerd before he stopped focusing on just the NES (and realized he couldn't [[TheMerch sell T-shirts]] with someone else's trademark on them), a misanthropic, foul-mouthed, chronically ill-tempered gaming geek with a predilection for Rolling Rock beer who plays weird, old, and, more often than not, NintendoHard games, some of them with the worst FakeDifficulty imaginable. We're talking truly ''terrible'' here. ''Epic'' SnarkBait. "The Nerd" holds a specific torch of hate towards [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]], especially ones published by LJN Toys, which he sees as manipulating hopeful and oblivious kids into buying complete trash.
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JamesRolfe is the [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/category/avgn/ Angry Video Game Nerd]], formerly Angry Nintendo Nerd before he stopped focusing on just the NES (and realized he couldn't [[TheMerch sell T-shirts]] with someone else's trademark on them), a misanthropic, foul-mouthed, chronically ill-tempered gaming geek with a predilection for Rolling Rock beer who plays weird, old, and, more often than not, NintendoHard games, some of them with the worst FakeDifficulty imaginable. We're talking truly ''terrible'' here. ''Epic'' SnarkBait. "The Nerd" holds a specific torch of hate towards [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]], especially ones published by LJN Toys, which he sees as manipulating hopeful and oblivious kids into buying complete trash.
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* OriginsIssue: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mupyfGBE0Y The Anger Begins video.]]
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* OriginsIssue: OriginsEpisode: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mupyfGBE0Y The Anger Begins video.]]
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* ''IndianaJones'' Trilogy
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* ''IndianaJones'' ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' Trilogy
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** The recovery of Mecha Death Christ by Nazis in 1933, [[StupidJetpackHitler its upgrade to Super Mecha Death Christ]] in [[hottip:1942:Hitler was looking for [[IndianaJones the Lost Ark of the Coventant]] because he wanted to mount it atop SMDC to combine the powers of God! Probably the most insane weapon to have ever been conceived!]] (not to be confused with Super ''Music/{{Megadeth}}'' Christ), and its killing of AdolfHitler in 1944, the same year it was defeated and then recovered by the U.S. military;
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** The recovery of Mecha Death Christ by Nazis in 1933, [[StupidJetpackHitler its upgrade to Super Mecha Death Christ]] in [[hottip:1942:Hitler was looking for [[IndianaJones [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk the Lost Ark of the Coventant]] because he wanted to mount it atop SMDC to combine the powers of God! Probably the most insane weapon to have ever been conceived!]] (not to be confused with Super ''Music/{{Megadeth}}'' Christ), and its killing of AdolfHitler in 1944, the same year it was defeated and then recovered by the U.S. military;
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** Parodied with a line in his ''Dracula'' video.
-->"Oh eff--I mean fuck!"
-->"Oh eff--I mean fuck!"
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** During one of the many fights in the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' review, the Nerd says, [[{{Commando}} "BullSHIT!"]]
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** During one of the many fights in the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' review, the Nerd says, [[{{Commando}} [[Film/{{Commando}} "BullSHIT!"]]
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Moved \"Foe Yay\" to the YMMV tab.
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* FoeYay: With WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic.
** In the behind the scenes of the TGWTG Anniversary Brawl, the Nerd and the Critic are angrily exchanging insults when one the other reviewers says [[GetARoom "make out!"]], causing everybody to crack up.
** In the behind the scenes of the TGWTG Anniversary Brawl, the Nerd and the Critic are angrily exchanging insults when one the other reviewers says [[GetARoom "make out!"]], causing everybody to crack up.
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The AVGN had a long and violent "rivalry" with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic that came to a head with a BattleRoyaleWithCheese in October 2008, and another in May 2009, this time a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with his guitar guy in the fray. See the Critic's page for more details (and TGWTGYearOneBrawl for said crossover). In RealLife, Rolfe and Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) are good friends and Rolfe has even guested in several other WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses projects, including [[TheCameo Cameos]] in [[{{Kickassia}} both of the site's]] [[SuburbanKnights subsequent anniversary specials]].
to:
The AVGN had a long and violent "rivalry" with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic that came to a head with a BattleRoyaleWithCheese in October 2008, and another in May 2009, this time a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with his guitar guy in the fray. See the Critic's page for more details (and TGWTGYearOneBrawl for said crossover). In RealLife, Rolfe and Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) are good friends and Rolfe has even guested in several other WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses projects, including [[TheCameo Cameos]] in [[{{Kickassia}} both of the site's]] [[SuburbanKnights subsequent anniversary specials]].
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* CrossOver: With WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. Repeatedly. And every instance of it is ''epic''.
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* CrossOver: With WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. Repeatedly. And every instance of it is ''epic''.
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* DeusExMachina: Literal case during his battle with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic. The Critic begins channeling the power of Satan, and the Nerd is helpless, until Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:B.C.]] 4.0 Beta shows up.
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* DeusExMachina: Literal case during his battle with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic.WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic. The Critic begins channeling the power of Satan, and the Nerd is helpless, until Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:B.C.]] 4.0 Beta shows up.
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* EnemyMine: He has joined forces with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic to review ''The Making of TMNT: Coming Out Of Their Shells'' as they both are ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' fans. Sure, they technically became allies at the TGWTG Brawl, but still...
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* EnemyMine: He has joined forces with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic to review ''The Making of TMNT: Coming Out Of Their Shells'' as they both are ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' fans. Sure, they technically became allies at the TGWTG Brawl, but still...
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* FoeYay: With WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic.
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* FoeYay: With WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic.WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic.
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** The surprise appearance of the self-upgraded Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] 4.0 Beta after AVGN encounters Satan possessing a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge in 2008, and again in the same year during the battle between AVGN and the WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic where Satan intervenes to assist NC; in both cases Satan was defeated;
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** The surprise appearance of the self-upgraded Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] 4.0 Beta after AVGN encounters Satan possessing a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge in 2008, and again in the same year during the battle between AVGN and the WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic where Satan intervenes to assist NC; in both cases Satan was defeated;
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--> or... [[WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses "whichever version you happen to be at the moment"]].
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--> or... [[WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses [[Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses "whichever version you happen to be at the moment"]].
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* TheRival: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic may view the Nerd as his WorthyOpponent, but the surly Nerd isn't anywhere near as generous in return.
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* TheRival: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic may view the Nerd as his WorthyOpponent, but the surly Nerd isn't anywhere near as generous in return.
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* SitcomArchNemesis: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic. Also, Mike Matei ([[BoardJames Motherfucker Mike]]), who often plays characters who get into fights with The Nerd.
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* SitcomArchNemesis: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic.WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic. Also, Mike Matei ([[BoardJames Motherfucker Mike]]), who often plays characters who get into fights with The Nerd.
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* SuperpowerLottery: The Nerd can shoot fireballs, clone himself, fly into space, [[FrickinLaserBeams fire lasers]] [[EyeBeams out of his eyes]], and summon [[CrystalDragonJesus Super Mecha Death Christ 2000]]. Many of his videos feature him beating up a character from the reviewed game. And that's when he's ''not'' wearing his [[SuperMode NES suit]]. Seriously, WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic is lucky to be alive. [[spoiler:Or undead, or whatever.]]
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* SuperpowerLottery: The Nerd can shoot fireballs, clone himself, fly into space, [[FrickinLaserBeams fire lasers]] [[EyeBeams out of his eyes]], and summon [[CrystalDragonJesus Super Mecha Death Christ 2000]]. Many of his videos feature him beating up a character from the reviewed game. And that's when he's ''not'' wearing his [[SuperMode NES suit]]. Seriously, WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic is lucky to be alive. [[spoiler:Or undead, or whatever.]]
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** In his "Best of Godzillathon" compilation he adds the M. Bison OF COURSE! from ''Film/StreetFighter: The Movie'' in response to his comment about aliens always wanting to take over the world. WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic tells him to knock it off after stealing his joke.
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** In his "Best of Godzillathon" compilation he adds the M. Bison OF COURSE! from ''Film/StreetFighter: The Movie'' in response to his comment about aliens always wanting to take over the world. WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic tells him to knock it off after stealing his joke.
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It\'s bad writing but it\'s not redundant.
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** In his ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' review:
--> '''Nerd''': And you know what pisses me off? Every time you fall down, you have to walk through the entire room all over again. All the enemies come back, so you have to fight everybody all over again.
--> '''Nerd''': And you know what pisses me off? Every time you fall down, you have to walk through the entire room all over again. All the enemies come back, so you have to fight everybody all over again.
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-->"[[color:purple:Purple]] for "Putrid Gameplay", [[color:blue:Blue]] for "Bad Musical Abominations", [[color:green:Green]] for "Graphical Farts and Garlic", [[color:yellow:Yellow]] for "Piss-Poor Lack of Loyalty to Source Material", [[color:orange:Orange]] for "Orange you a fucking idiot!", and [[color:red:Red]] for "High-stress Anger-Inducing Masochism"!"
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-->"[[color:purple:Purple]] for "Putrid Gameplay", [[color:blue:Blue]] for "Bad Musical Abominations", [[color:green:Green]] for "Graphical Farts and Garlic", [[color:yellow:Yellow]] for "Piss-Poor Lack of Loyalty to Source Material", [[color:orange:Orange]] for "Orange you a fucking idiot!", and [[color:red:Red]] for "High-stress Anger-Inducing Masochism"!"Masochism"! Put that all together, and you have all the colors of the shit-rainbow! [[SarcasmMode Hooray LJN."]]
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--> Possessed cartridge: "Your mother sucks cocks in hell!"
--> Nerd: "...[[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas the fuck did you just say?]]"
--> Possessed cartridge: "I said, '''''your mother sucks cocks in hell!!!'''''"
--> Nerd: "...[[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas the fuck did you just say?]]"
--> Possessed cartridge: "I said, '''''your mother sucks cocks in hell!!!'''''"
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* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: In the ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' review, it's not the SHIT PUKE that pissed the Nerd off about the possessed cartridge in the first place. It's the line ''"[[TheExorcist Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!]]"''
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* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Angry Nerds Love Their Mamas:]] In the ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' review, it's not the SHIT PUKE that pissed the Nerd off about the possessed cartridge in the first place. It's the line ''"[[TheExorcist Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!]]"''
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* StaggeredZoom: On the LJN logo during his ''Terminator'' review.
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* WilhelmScream: The Nerd gets one courtesy of [[CrystalDragonJesus Super Mecha Death Christ 2000]] for swearing in ''The Wizard and Mario Bros. 3'' review. What makes it more amusing was that Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 was swearing more than The Nerd.
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** In his review of the ''IndependenceDay'' video game, he thought that he should be doing something better with his time than play the game, such as playing with dog turds. Later, when he reviewed ''Ricky 1'', he complained about being harassed by The Nostalgia Critic, and asks, "Don't you think I have ''enough'' videos to make?! That I have nothing better to do than, y'know, play with dog turds?"
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** In his review of the ''IndependenceDay'' video game, he thought that he should be doing something better with his time than play playing the game, such as playing with dog turds. Later, when he reviewed ''Ricky 1'', he complained about being harassed by The Nostalgia Critic, and asks, "Don't you think I have ''enough'' videos to make?! That I have nothing better to do than, y'know, play with dog turds?"
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** In his review of the ''IndependenceDay'' video game, he thought that he should be doing something better with his time than play the game, such as playing with dog turds. Later, when he reviewed ''Ricky 1'', he complained about being harassed by The Nostalgia Critic, and asks, "Don't you think I have ''enough'' videos to make?! That I have nothing better to do than, y'know, play with dog turds?"
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* OverlyLongGag: The Intro to the Sega CD Video. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eH3vYbdGo&feature=related See it for yourself]]
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* OverlyLongGag: The Intro to the Sega CD Video.Video; you hear the ''entire'' theme song instead of just the first verse and the chorus as usual, and there's a longer montage of previous Nerd videos to match. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eH3vYbdGo&feature=related See it for yourself]]
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** At one time in his ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' review, the Nerd mistakenly calls John and Jane "[[HarsherInHindsight John and]] ''[[HarsherInHindsight Kate]]''", which could be a shout-out to the controversial TV show ''JonAndKatePlusEight''.
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** At one time in his ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' review, the Nerd mistakenly calls John and Jane "[[HarsherInHindsight John and]] ''[[HarsherInHindsight Kate]]''", which could be a shout-out to the controversial TV show ''JonAndKatePlusEight''. [[invoked]]
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Added the \"Jon and Kate\" pun reference.
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** At one time in his ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' review, the Nerd mistakenly calls John and Jane "[[HarsherInHindsight John and]] ''[[HarsherInHindsight Kate]]''", which could be a shout-out to the controversial TV show ''JonAndKatePlusEight''.
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* {{Padding}}: A lot of the Atari 5200 review is just him trying to set the system up.
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* {{Padding}}: In-universe: A lot of the Atari 5200 review is just him trying to set the system up.
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* PoesLaw: A surprising amount of viewers mistake the Nerd for a legitimate reviewer.
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%% Due to this Work's nature as a review show, there is a high presence of otherwise YMMV tropes. Read the entry before moving it, to make sure it truly is YMMV within the context.
[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l_4c865c3baad03bd55f93aaa92a8cecc9_3025.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:'''''[[AtomicFBomb AAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSS!!!]]''''']]
->''[[NostalgiaFilter He's gonna take you back to the past]],\\
[[CausticCritic To play the shitty games]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment that suck ass]]\\
[[RefugeInVulgarity He'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in his ear]]\\
[[GrossoutShow He'd rather eat the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk]] [[INeedAFreakingDrink and down it with beer]]\\
[[UnstoppableRage He's the angriest gamer you've ever heard.]]\\
[[{{Nintendo}} He's the Angry Nintendo Nerd]]\\
[[{{Atari}} He's the Angry Atari]] [[{{Sega}} Sega Nerd]]\\
[[TitleDrop He's the Angry Video Game Nerd]]''
-->--[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qorFHyOVSsc The Nerd's theme song]]
[[NintendoEntertainmentSystem The Nintendo Entertainment System]] was a landmark in the history of video gaming - it was the first Japanese console to make a splash in the US, the first console released after TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, and the first console that most members of Generation Y have [[OlderThanTheNES firsthand memories]] of playing. During its lifespan of nearly a decade, the console introduced now-classic characters like [[SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[TheLegendOfZelda Link]], and VideoGame/MegaMan, saw video games shift from [[ExcusePlot thinly veiled excuses to kill bad guys]] to complex plots, and produced scores of truly great games, some of which remain classics to this day.
[[SturgeonsLaw But it also produced some real stinkers]], and ''that's'' where the Angry Video Game Nerd comes in.
JamesRolfe is the [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/category/avgn/ Angry Video Game Nerd]], formerly Angry Nintendo Nerd before he stopped focusing on just the NES (and realized he couldn't [[TheMerch sell T-shirts]] with someone else's trademark on them), a misanthropic, foul-mouthed, chronically ill-tempered gaming geek with a predilection for Rolling Rock beer who plays weird, old, and, more often than not, NintendoHard games, some of them with the worst FakeDifficulty imaginable. We're talking truly ''terrible'' here. ''Epic'' SnarkBait. "The Nerd" holds a specific torch of hate towards [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]], especially ones published by LJN Toys, which he sees as manipulating hopeful and oblivious kids into buying complete trash.
His reviews inevitably spiral downward into a barely-coherent rant peppered liberally with [[ClusterFBomb Cluster F-Bombs]] and scatological references culminating in a violent frothing rage that puts the Comicbook/IncredibleHulk to shame. The Nerd gets frequent unwanted visits from the stars of the games he plays, from BugsBunny to [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]].
Note, however, that a handful of episodes are not so much about a single shitty game as they are about a certain console or accessory (there are even a few that aren't about video games at all). Aside from giving reviews, the Nerd has also given a bit of video game history, such as a summary of the infamous ConsoleWars.
When he isn't getting his nerd on, JamesRolfe maintains a website at [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/new/index.php Cinemassacre.com]] where he showcases various other ventures, including his own independent films and an annual "Monster Madness" feature each October counting down to Halloween.
The AVGN had a long and violent "rivalry" with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic that came to a head with a BattleRoyaleWithCheese in October 2008, and another in May 2009, this time a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with his guitar guy in the fray. See the Critic's page for more details (and TGWTGYearOneBrawl for said crossover). In RealLife, Rolfe and Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) are good friends and Rolfe has even guested in several other WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses projects, including [[TheCameo Cameos]] in [[{{Kickassia}} both of the site's]] [[SuburbanKnights subsequent anniversary specials]].
In 2010, he announced he will cut back on episodes doing approximately only one a month for the time being, releasing each around the first Wednesday of each month. Previously he had a new one every 2-3 weeks. In September he announced his intention to make an Angry Video Game Nerd ''[[http://www.cinemassacre.com/2010/09/23/future-plans-avgn-the-movie/ movie]]!''. In 2011, he announced that due to pre-production on the Nerd movie, he will be scaling back production on videos further, to videos that are about as long as his early YouTube ones.
[[folder: Episodes]]
!2004
* ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Castlevania II: Simon's Quest]]''
* ''[[TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde]]''
!2006
* ''Film/TheKarateKid''
* ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit''
* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' (and ''Back to the Future Part II & III'')
* Toilet Video (video made for ScrewAttack's Toilet Tuesday series parodying the {{Nintendo 64}} Kid)
* ''M.C. Kids ''
* ''Wally Bear and the No! Gang''
* ''VideoGame/{{DuckTales}}'' (technically a Video Game Vault review and not an actual AVGN episode, though he's in character as The Nerd)
* ''Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu''
* ''Film/TopGun'' (and ''Top Gun: The Second Mission'')
* ''DoubleDragon III: The Sacred Stones''
* ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th''
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet''
* The Power Glove
* Chronologically Confused about Bad Movie and Video Game Sequel Titles
* ''Film/{{Rocky}}''
* [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] Games
** ''Bible Adventures''
** ''Bible Buffet''
** ''Super Noah's Ark 3D''
** ''Spiritual Warfare''
** ''King of Kings: The Early Years''
!2007
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles III'' (Movie Review)
* {{Atari 5200}}
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}''
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' Follow-Up
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' on Atari 2600
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' on Sega Master System
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' Conclusion
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}} II ''
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' on Sega Genesis
* ''{{Spider-Man}}''
** ''Spider-Man''
** ''Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six''
** ''The Amazing Spider-Man ''
** ''Spider-Man 2''
* [[OtherSegaSystems Sega CD]]
* [[OtherSegaSystems Sega 32x]]
* ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer''
* ''Film/DieHard''
* ''IndependenceDay''
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** ''The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants''
** ''The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World''
* ''BugsBunny's Birthday Blowout''
* Atari Porn(o)
** ''Custer's Revenge''
** ''Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em''
** ''Bachelorette Party''
** ''Bachelor Party''
** ''Gigolo''
** ''Philly Flasher''
** ''Cathouse Blues''
** ''Knight on the Town''
** ''Jungle Fever''
* NintendoPower
* ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily Fester's Quest]]''
* ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre''
* ''Film/{{Halloween}}''
* ''[[VideoGame/DragonsLair Dragon's Lair]]''
* AChristmasCarol Part 1
** ''HomeAlone 2: Lost in New York''
* AChristmasCarol Part 2
** ''ShaqFu''
** ''FarCry Vengeance''
** ''SuperMonkeyBall: Banana Blitz ''
** ''[[RhythmGame Boogie]]''
!2008
* Chronologically Confused about ''TheLegendOfZelda'' Timeline
* ''{{Rambo}}''
* VirtualBoy
* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''
* Double Vision Part 1 - {{Intellivision}}
* Double Vision Part 2 - {{Colecovision}}
* ''Film/TheWizard'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''
* NES Accessories
* ''IndianaJones'' Trilogy
* ''StarTrek''
* ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}''
* ''{{Superman 64}}'' (And ''Superman: Man of Steel'' on {{Commodore 64}})
* ''{{Batman}}'' Part 1
* ''{{Batman}}'' Part 2
* ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers''
* ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}''
* ''Film/DickTracy''
* ''{{Dracula}}''
* ''{{Frankenstein}}''
* [=CDi=] Part 1 (''VideoGame/HotelMario'')
* [=CDi=] Part 2 (''[[TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon]]'')
* [=CDi=] Part 3 (''[[TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure]]'')
* Bible Games 2
** ''Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land''
** ''Noah's Ark''
** ''Joshua''
** ''Menace Beach''
** ''Sunday Funday''
** ''Moses the Exodus''
** ''David and Goliath''
** ''The Story of Samson''
!2009
* ''[[Music/MichaelJackson Michael Jackson's]] {{Moonwalker}}''
* ''[[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]]''
* AtariJaguar Part 1
* AtariJaguar Part 2
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''
* [[MagnavoxOdyssey The Odyssey]]
* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}''
* ''[[Film/{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]''
* ''[[Film/{{Terminator}} Terminator 2]]''
* ''{{Transformers}}''
* ''[[VideoGame/MarioIsMissing Mario Is Missing!]]'' (and ''Mario's Time Machine'')
* ''[[VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]''
* ''BugsBunny's Crazy Castle''
* ''Super {{Pitfall}}''
* ''{{Godzilla}}''
* ''Film/WaynesWorld''
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 1 (''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'')
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 2 (''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Castlevania II: Simon's Quest]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse]]'')
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 3 (''SuperCastlevaniaIV'', ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Castlevania: Dracula X]]'', and ''{{Castlevania 64}}'')
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 4 (''CastlevaniaBloodlines'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Castlevania: Symphony of the Night]]'')
* ''Little Red Hood''
* ''Winter Games''
!2010
* ''StreetFighter 2010''
* ''Hydlide''
* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''
* ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}''
* ''{{Pong}}'' Consoles
* ''{{Action 52}}''
* ''[[{{Action 52}} Cheetahmen]]''
* Game Glitches
* ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]''
* Nintendo Days Re-Revisited + ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' Trilogy (includes re-reviews of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', ''Film/TopGun'', and ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'')
* ''[[TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde]]'' re-review
* ''Lester the Unlikely''
* Holiday Memories
* Christmas Special 2010 (''[[HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas How The Nerd Stole Christmas]]'')
!2011
* ''Day Dreamin' Davey''
* ''StarWars''
** ''Star Wars: The Arcade Game''
** ''Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back'' on Atari 2600
** ''Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle''
** ''Star Wars: Jedi Arena''
** ''Star Wars on Famicom''
** ''Star Wars''
** ''Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back''
** ''SuperStarWars''
*** ''Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back''
*** ''Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi''
** ''{{Star Wars|ExpandedUniverse}}: ShadowsOfTheEmpire''
* ROB The Robot
* {{S|tevenSpielberg}}pielberg Games (includes reviews of ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}'', ''Film/{{Hook}}'', and some ''JurassicPark'' games)
* The Making of The Angry Video Game Nerd (includes a review of the video game adaptation of {{Barbie}})
* ''NinjaBaseballBatMan''
* ''Kid Kool''
* ''NintendoWorldChampionships''
* ''DarkCastle'' on Sega Genesis and Phillips CD-i
* ''{{Contra}}'' Memories
* Bible Games 3
** ''King James Bible''
** ''Adam & Eve''
** ''Spiritual Warfare'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Joshua'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Bible Adventures'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Flight to Egypt''
[[/folder]]
----
!!The AVGN provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-D]]
* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Uncle]]: Uncle Crunch[=/=][[DoNotCallMePaul Paw]] in ''The Wizard of Oz 3''.
* AccentuateTheNegative: Played straight. Many viewers forget that he deliberately accentuated the negative in his review of ''Castlevania II: Simon's Quest'', as pointed out on Cinemassacre's FAQ, because it was meant to be a ''caricature'' of easily-angered gamers.
** Played straight up with ''NinjaGaiden''. However, the review was done this way not to emphasize how bad of a game it was, but rather how hard and challenging it was. He did the same thing with ''VideoGame/{{Zelda II|TheAdventureOfLink}}''.
** And when he reviewed ''StreetFighter 2010'' he stated that if you get past it [[InNameOnly having nothing]] [[DolledUpInstallment to do with]] any other part of the ''StreetFighter'' series, limited controls, and an [[DisappointingLastLevel impossibly difficult]] last stage, it's actually a pretty decent game. He tends to point this out a lot, playing the trope straight.
** Note that The Nerd doesn't always do this. He generally gives quite a lot of slack to SoOkayItsAverage [[invoked]] or SoBadItsGood games, more than most {{Caustic Critic}}s would, and he occasionally does whole episodes on games he loves like ''{{Castlevania}}'' and homages like ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}''. He will also often include games that appear in the same series as the real bad ones, and often they get some praise. This is both for completion and comparison, since often it will serve to let you know there is no excuse for the company that made it. Examples include his ''Godzilla'' review and ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' re-review.
** The Nerd unwittingly [[TemptingFate tempts fate]] with regard to this while the Joker is forcing him to play ''Batman: Return of the Joker''. After complaining about the game at length, the Nerd comments that it's actually a decent game overall, just an excessively hard one. So the Joker decides to make him play the much worse Game Boy and Genesis adaptations of the game, driving the Nerd over the edge.
** There are also instances where he is obviously looking for something to make fun of.
** Flat out stated in his Colecovision review:
--> '''Nerd''': Now, I know we mainly focused on the shitty aspects, but lemme tell ya: ''That's'' the name of the game.
* ActorRoleConfusion: Some fans seem to believe that the Nerd and his creator James Rolfe are supposed to be the same person, when the Nerd is just a character and James is an actor.
-->'''James Rolfe''': It’s funny how people usually see videos on YouTube and take them at face value. The same people probably believe that I go around in real life, wearing a white pressed shirt, stuffed with pens in the pocket, and saying “fuck” all the time and talking about buffaloes taking diarrhea dumps.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In his review of ''Ricky 1'', you can hear him holding back laughter when he mentions the scene that parodies ''TheGodfather'' is the closest the film comes to being funny. He was also amused by the Mr. Smithers ghost in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart vs. The World]]''.
** Despite talking about how much he hates the "Help, I'm a turtle and I can't get up!" line in the third ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' movie, the Nerd has a hard time controlling his laughter.
*** "I mean, come on! It's not funny!" *laughs* "Okay, I'm back!"
** During the "Daydreamin' Davey" review, he laughs at the "vultures shitting exploding bloody diarrhea" in the Western level.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Often.
** On Winter Games: "This is a blizzard of '''balls!'''"
** During his Star Trek review: "You're relieved to finally start walking around and doing stuff, but only then do you realize how ''astronomically'' '''ass''' this game is!"
** The Game Graphic Glitch Gremlin
* AdjustingYourGlasses: In the Action 52 episode, the Nerd does this by the bridge, just after he takes out a calculator from his front pocket to determine the price that each of the 52 games would have if sold separately. The whole gesture actually makes him look, well, [[NerdGlasses more nerdy]].
* AdultChild: The AVGN is basically a grown man who takes shitty video games [[SeriousBusiness seriously]].
* AgonyOfTheFeet: The Atari 5200 episode.
* AIIsACrapshoot: The Nerd is convinced that the Atari Jaguar CD is sentient, and purposefully preventing you from playing it.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: In one episode, the Nerd jokingly suggests the idea of a ''LethalWeapon'' game where Riggs's powerups are dog biscuits. This really does happen in the SuperNintendo game based on the movies.
* AncientGrome: The Nerd's [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/708928 review]] of the NES game ''Day Dreamin' Davey'' has him keep mislabeling a few stages of Ancient Greece as "Ancient Rome", even though they show Hades' lair and Mt. Olympus.
* {{Angrish}}: A staple of his reviews. Notably, Part I of his ''Castlevania'' marathon has him devolve into it mid-sentence just talking to the camera.
-->If all you had to do was whip the walls when you were hungry and...if this wall would break, and... ''if there was a fuckin' pork chop in this wall, I would '''SO''' eat it''!
** James' tantrum during the Scrooge special.
-->HUMBUG! BAH agabaggablughraghablugga-- '''''HELL!!'''''
* AntiHero: The Nerd is generally pleasant to most people until they turn out to be less than wholesome themselves, refrains from killing a defeated Klingon and has fought against Satan with Jesus on multiple occasions. Then again, he is a coarse, foul mouthed rage-a-holic who brutally beat up and decapitated Bugs Bunny (Though he certainly had it coming) roughly making him a Type III.
* AppliedMathematics: Chronologically Confused features the Nerd in front of a board filled with nonsensical equations and formulae, including at points a Triforce and a drawing of Mario.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: He LOVES this trope.
** On the ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' NES game:
---> '''AVGN''':"It [[{{Spoonerism}} sucking fucks]], it fucking sucks, it fucking blows, it's a piece of shit... and ''I don't like it''."
*** He says something similar when talking about the radar in the IndependenceDay episode... "It's too small, it makes no fuckin' sense, and... I don't like it."
** From the ''Deadly Towers'' review:
---> This game is a chicken-lickin'-finger-fuckin' son of a bitch! This game is BALL CIDER! The assholians bow down to this piece of shit! In other words, the game sucks.
** Here is the biggest ClusterFBomb in the whole series, in the Power Glove review:
---> "Now you're playing with power." (Pause) Now you're playing with fuckin' shit! You're better off fuckin' shit than fuckin' with this fucked up shit! Fuck this shit! You don't know shit about how fuckin' shitty this fuckin' shit is! It's so bad it sucks! It's so fuckin' suck it fucks! And I...can't take it anymore.
** Another one, from Superman 64 when he fails to complete a stage in time:
---> "Fuck! Ass! Bitch! Cunt! Fart!"
*** Before that, there was also the NES Accessories episode in which he shouts "FUCK!" in place of the word "FIRE!" with the Konami Laserscope, and he also thinks he can say anything besides "FUCK!", like for example "ASS!":
----> "SHIT! BITCH! CUNT! FUCK! FART!"
** Another much more subtle example appears at the end of his ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' review, where, unlike many of his rants where he states what disgusting things he would rather do than play that particular game, he merely says "I'd rather eat raw eggs".
** Actually, he does say "I'd rather take a bath in elephant feces" before the 'raw eggs' remark.
*** Also in the ''Rocky'' review:
---->"It's a bunch of putrid anal shit coming out of a rhinoceros's asshole. It fucks up the ass, shits out the mouth, piss out the mouth, dookie out the ears, diarrhea out the dick, shits for the birds. The control for this game is ''poo-poo''".
** His obscure enemy roll call for ''Wolverine'' (NES).
--->"It's time for the enemy roll call: We have green rotary dial telephones, {{Silver Surfer}}s in flying wheelchairs, Silver Surfers air-guitaring, John [=McClane=] from ''Film/DieHard'', {{the Grim Reaper}} throwing skulls, [[FrankensteinsMonster Frankenstein monsters]] wearing metal masks with visors like Geordi from ''{{Star Trek|TheNextGeneration}}'', and bubbles."
** In the "Making Of" video, James remarks that he has a lot of AVGN shirts, and why.
--> '''James Rolfe''': "As you can see, I have plenty of Nerd shirts because they get fucked up all the time. Bloodstains, shit-stains, missing buttons."
* ArtEvolution: Mike Matei's title cards. Pointed out in the episode in which the Nerd re-visit his earliest videos, he comments on how even the title card from the Top Gun episode was crappy, just to have it replaced in that moment with a dramatically better one.
--> '''AVGN''':"Oh, okay. That's way better".
* AssShove: The Bat-Nerd does it to the Joker, with all the Batman games reviewed. (Except the Good one.)
* [[IncrediblyLamePun "Ass"]] [[AsTheGoodBookSays the Good Book Says]]: In "Bible Games 3", when the Nerd types out the word "ass" in the Game Boy's ''The King James Version'', and the results got in a list of passages with the word "ass", the following passages he reads are:
** Genesis 44:13[[hottip:*: which is about eleven of Jacob's sons tearing off their clothes and reloading their donkeys before returning to Egypt]];
** Luke 13:15[[hottip:*: which is about Jesus rebuking the synagogue officials for telling him not to heal on the sabbath day, saying to them, "Does not each one of you untie your ox or your ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?"]];
** 1 Samuel 12:3[[hottip:*: about Samuel asking the Israelites whether he has committed any sins or not]];
** Exodus 22:9[[hottip:*: about a person handing an animal to another, and the animal dying or being stolen or maimed without anyone addressing the fact, although the next passage (22:10) has said giver swear an oath that he did not harm anyone else's property, and the owner may accept the oath]];
** Luke 14:5[[hottip:*: about Jesus asking the scribes and Pharisees if one among them would not help their ox or ass [[{{Bowdlerise}} (although "ass" is replaced with the word "son" in most modern versions of the Bible)]] out of the cistern on the sabbath day]];
** John 12:14[[hottip:*: about Jesus finding an ass' colt and sitting upon it before riding in triumph to Jerusalem on what is now Palm Sunday]];
** 2 Peter 2:16[[hottip:*: about St. Peter retelling the story about how Balaam got a rebuke for his crime via a mute donkey that spoke with a human voice and restraining his madness (although Balaam is not portrayed in a bad light in Numbers 22, which is soon to follow, and the words "dumb ass" are replaced by "mute beast" in modern versions of the Bible)]];
** Numbers 22:21[[hottip:*: about the same Balaam riding off to Balak with the princes of Moab on God's command]];
** Genesis 42:27[[hottip:*: about one of Jacob's sons opening a bag to feed his donkey when he is surprised to find money in the mouth of the bag]];
** 1 Kings 13:28[[hottip:*: about a prophet finding the servant of God lying dead on the road, with both the lion and the unharmed donkey standing next to his corpse]];
** and Numbers 22:22[[hottip:*: about the angels of God standing on the road to Balak to make a sneak attack on Balaam as he was riding on his donkey (as mentioned before in the passage preceding it, 22:21), which the Lord possessed to make it talk to Balaam]].
---> '''AVGN''': Ooh I'm going to hell.
* AtomicFBomb: The sheer intensity of the way he screams "FUUUUCK!" after seeing and playing the Godzilla games that he always wanted to play as a child, but which were released after his video game-playing prime had passed, is almost scary; it helps that the famous Godzilla roar was mixed into the scream.
** Another one was when he ordered a custom Atari 5200 controller when he couldn't use the originals, only to discover it wouldn't fit in the controller ports.
* AudioErotica: In his NES Days Re-Revisited episode, the Nerd decides to call the phone number in the ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' game, only to find that what used to be a recorded message giving tips for the game is now a sex hotline. AudioErotica indeed.
* AuthorAppeal: It sure seems like The Nerd has an odd obsession with animal diarrhea...
** James Rolfe loves horror movies and this fact is clearly evident in the extra work he puts into Halloween-themed AVGN episodes and Cinemassacre updates.
* AwesomeYetPractical: "It's a Nintoaster, and yes it works!"
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The 100th episode starts with the Nerd monologuing about how he have come to hate videogames thanks to shitty games, and how he wished humanity wouldn't have invented them in the first place. [[spoiler: After going berserk, R.O.B. tries to get rid of all the videogames, replacing them with Gyromite and Stack-up, proclaiming that shitty games would no longer exist thanks to this. It's then that the Nerd realizes that he actually enjoyed the time playing all those games and battle R.O.B. to stop him.]]
* BerserkButton: This is what he's known for!
** Excessively long passwords, and [[DamnYouMuscleMemory using any other key besides A to jump]] are his two main ones.
** Games without the pause features, such as {{Ghostbusters}} 2 on NES.
** Seeing the LJN logo on a game cartridge has also caused him to snap.
** ''GoddamnedBats!''[[invoked]]
** The Medusa Heads in ''Castlevania'' have reportedly given him a pathological hatred of wavy lines.
** Movie sequels that [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo don't follow a logical numbering system]].
** Games with '''[[CheckPointStarvation NO CONTINUES!?!?]]''' after you die. Turned UpToEleven if the game combines this with OneHitKill or only having one life throughout the entire game.
** Game cartridges with no end labels.
** In ''Batman Part I'', when he explains the utterly ridiculous controls of BatmanForever, which was designed with the Mortal Kombat engine. He actually seems to have strained his voice by the end of the review.
** AC adapters with built-in prongs (which tend to preclude the usage of the two adjacent sockets) also greatly annoy him, as seen in the Sega 32X and Dracula reviews. Related to this, ancient consoles which force the player to make use of an RF connector box for television hookups as opposed to just plugging a cable into a much simpler coaxial converter.
** Loading times. His annoyance with them is most pronounced in the ''Superman'' (Commodore) and ''Zelda's Adventure'' reviews.
*** Also seen in the ''Batman Forever'' review, which ironically was a cartridge game.
--> '''Nerd''': ...Whenever you access a new part of the game, it says "Hold On". Hold on for what? It has to fucking ''load''?!
** Overly cryptic puzzles, such as in ''[[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]]''.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: The Nerd ends up [[spoiler: getting strangled by PatTheNESPunk after destroying the Nintendo World Championship cartridges.]]
* BeyondTheImpossible: In his Nintendo Days Revisited review, the Nerd plays ''Top Gun'' again. It appears as if he is about to actually land the plane, but instead the plane '''flies out of the TV and out the window.'''
** Long before that, he finally landed the plane with the '''''Power Glove'''''.
*** In the same vein as the ''Top Gun'' plane exiting the TV, in his ''Star Wars'' review, the boss's life bar in one of the ''Super Star Wars'' games is so long that it exits the TV and keeps expanding.
** He coins the world's strongest expletive just to describe a set of games. It's so strong that both the audio track and his mouth are censored. Consider what ''[[CountryMatters does]]'' get through and...
* BigStupidDoodooHead: Despite his generous use of swear words and scatological similes, he sometimes ends up using these instead.
-->'''AVGN:''' ...I got more... You're a '''poopy-head!'''
* BileFascination: [[{{In-Universe}} It's]] {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d early on that the Nerd subjecting himself to horrible games is entirely a torment of his own making, but after the Christmas Carol parody episode, he decides that he can't handle only playing good games and goes right back to bad ones.
** And in the R.O.B. episode, after he gets beaten to within an inch of his life and R.O.B. is in the process of destroying all games except the two it was programmed for, instead of thinking about the good games he's played, he flashes back to all the horrible piles of digital crap he'd reviewed, gathers his HeroicResolve, and shouts, "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! WON'T! FUCKING! HAVE IT!]]"
* BladderOfSteel: Discussed in his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZfq-IPlLF8 review]] of the NES version of ''{{Ghostbusters}} II'':
-->'''AVGN:''' I mean, if you have to answer the phone, or take a shit, it's like, "Tough shit if you gotta take a shit!" You gotta take a quick shit! You gotta have turbo turds! I'm trying to play the game, I've got shit stains in my pants, and an answering machine that says "Sorry, I'm playing Ghostbusters 2 on Nintendo." What a selfish game. Bottom line, '''have a fucking pause button, god damn it!'''
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The AVGN lampshades this in his review of the NES version of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
-->"Man, these translations suck. Couldn't they just get anyone to proofread this shitload of fuck?"
* BodyHorror[=/=]UncannyValley: The thoroughly glitched boxers on Rocky for PS2 were either FUCKING ''SCARY'' or funny as hell.
* BoozeFlamethrower: At the end of the Rambo episode.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: After seeing the newer Godzilla games, the AVGN laments that he was born too early and instead had to grow up with the games he had just previously reviewed.
* BoundAndGagged: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVtwVXMPBY8 Every]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p713bNaO4A now]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvtk5toGJg and]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvs6JDSBqoE then]].
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Spoofed in the ''{{Action 52}}'' review's "TV Version" clip:
-->'''AVGN:''' "Whoever came up with this is an ass[[[ThisTropeIsBleep bleep]]]!... Ass!... Hole?... Ass[bleep]! [[SarcasmMode Television makes a lot of sense.]]"
** In the crossover episode with CaptainS, the Nerd foul language gets toned down to fit with the G-rated, Saturday morning cartoon feeling of the show. It gets lampshaded at the end when all the characters get scandalized when he says "Merry [[[ThisTropeIsBleep bleep]]] Christmas!"
* BreakingTheFourthWall: He offers the controller to the viewer in his ''Dragon's Lair'' review.
* BreakingTheReviewersWall: Sometimes he gets into fights with characters from the games, and in a few rare occasions, enters the game he's reviewing.
* BrickJoke:
** The mail on his Street Fighter 2010 review.
** Leatherface and the bicycle in the ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' review.
** Mentions of "the Poopie Man" in the ''Halloween'' review.
* CallBack:
** In the Pitfall episode there's an small call back to The Crazy Castle episode:
--> '''AVGN:''' That would be like the Easter Eggs were full of diarrhea and the Easter Bunny was shitting all over your face... but I had enough with bunnies and shit lately...
** There's a Call Back to the Super Mario Bros. 3/The Wizard episode in the Game Glitches episode:
--> '''AVGN:''' Moving on to Mario 3, The Glitch Gremlin usually stays away from this one. Yeah, it's a little too crowded with demonic possessions.
** In the out takes of the Nintendo World Championship episode, Pat mocks the Nerd about how he's a better gamer than him, making reference to many of the Nerd's failures from past episodes, including [[RunningGag his inability to land the plane in Top Gun.]]
** From his Star Wars games review: "And what's this? The program engineer shows his face? I wish it was Fred Fuchs!" (referencing his "Bram Stoker's Dracula" review)
*** And before that, he mentions Fred Fuchs in his review of Winter Games: "Who programmed this thing?? Maybe it was Fred Fuchs!"
** In his second "Bible Games" review, the Nerd ends the review by looking at BIBLE GAMES... [[ItGotWorse on CD-i!]] Much later, in his Dark Castle review, he ended the review the same way.
*** In the same episode, the Nerd sarcastically utters that the cartoonish dragon seen in the Genesis version of ''Dark Castle'' will give him nightmares, likely a reference to James Rolfe's own short autobiographical film ''The Dragon in my Dreams''.
** In his re-visit of the ''Back to the Future'' game, he said he was experiencing deja vu because he stuck the game cartridge in the Nintoaster. In his first ''Back to the Future'' review, he stuck the cartridge in an actual toaster.
** The Nerd has tried to land the plane in ''Top Gun'' four times: Initially in his ''Top Gun'' review, again in his Power Glove review (ironically, the only time he landed it successfully), again in the NES Accessories video when he used the U-Force. And finally, he revisited the game during his ''Back to the Future'' re-review, and once again tried to land the plane. This time, the plane exited his TV and flew out of the basement.
** In his ''Silver Surfer'' review, the Nerd says that just thinking about the game makes him feel like having an anal evacuation. He says the same thing about the Power Pad in his NES Accessories review.
** In his ''[=McKids=]'' review, he comments that the character can walk on water. Then he asks, "Who does he think he is: Jesus Christ?" He asks the same thing in his ''Rambo'' review.
* TheCameo: Shit Pickle turned up due to his similarity to the enemies in ''{{Action 52}}'' 's "Ooze".
** Richard Daluz, creator of James' "Nintoaster", appears in voiceover in the Atari Jaguar video, discussing his attempts to fix the Jaguar CD that James had sent him.
** The AVGN has a small cameo in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6krCnZFXuM Cinevore's music video parody '''Piece of Meat''']]
* CaptainErsatz: The LoonyFan from ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' review is based on Chop-Top from ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2''.
** The man who sells him the games is based on Alfredo (the gas station owner) from ''Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III'', and even sings the same song at one point.
* CaptainObvious: When criticizing the Virtual Boy's size for a portable system, he remarks, "My ass is portable!"
* CasualDangerDialog: When looking at the JurassicPark game for the CDi, he notices that the mini-game where you're being chased by a T-Rex doesn't show any hands on the steering wheel. He guesses that the driver either has their hand on the bottom of the wheel or is steering with their knee, and then goes on to note that the driver must be pretty casual about the situation to steer like that, and imagines them doing this on a cell phone at the same time.
-->'''Nerd as Driver(on cellphone)''': Hey, I'm stoppin' at Dunkin Donuts, you want me to pick up a coffee? What's that? Oh, just some fuckin' T-Rex behind me. Yeah, what an asshole.
* {{Catchphrase}}:
--> [[WhatWereYouThinking "What were they THINKING?!"]]
--> [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "I am DEAD. FUCKING. SERIOUS."]]
--> "What a shit load of fuck."
--> "It's like puking on a pile of shit!"
--> "Let's pop this fucker in!"
--> "Let's play some shitty games!"
--> "...and I don't like it." Usually said at the end of a long angry rant.
--> "I would rather (do something involving animal shit) than play this game!"
--> "It sucks monkey fuck!"
--> "What a piece of shit!"
--> "What a joke!"
--> '''''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98MuGxsLplA&feature=related ASS!]]"'''''
--> "Fuck. Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUUUCK!" as seen [[http://youtu.be/t9nxIUhZCCw?t=7m59s here]] and [[http://youtu.be/1dJXgJ1c4vY?t=3m7s here]].
** When he reviews something and it doesn't work, he sometimes says "What's the most important aspect about any game? Well, [[CaptainObvious being able to fucking play it!]]"
** Super Mecha Death Christ: [[ClusterFBomb FUCKERS!!!!!!]]
** when the game he's reviewing has a CDI port "Time to flick the shit switch turn up the diarrhea dial it's X on CDI"
* CausticCritic: Note that this is very much [[MeanCharacterNiceActor just the Nerd's exaggerated persona]] - when JamesRolfe reviews media as himself, he's actually more generous than most Internet critics. He is apparently rather soft spoken, which comes as a shock to people used to him as the AVGN. Contrast with TheHappyVideoGameNerd, who inverts James' concept and even has gotten James' seal of approval -- by subscribing to Happy's YouTube account.
** Taken UpToEleven in his review of Ghostbusters for the Sega Genesis, when he declares that the world is coming to an end due to him liking the game.
** You'll also notice that a lot of his videos where he tries to be more informative have him be more...well, out-of-character.
* TheChewToy: Half the fun is simply watching the Nerd suffer and become increasingly unhinged over the course of the video.
* ChirpingCrickets: In the Action 52 episode, when he tries to play Alfred and the Fettuc (for the second time) the game never loads and the Nerd is left only with a dark screen and the sound of crickets.
* ChristmasEpisode: "Bible Games" (2006), "An Angry Nerd Christmas Carol", "Bible Games" (2008), "Winter Games", and "How the Nerd Stole Christmas".
* ClipShow: Part of the December 2010 episode is a recap of all the previous Christmastime episodes.
* CloningBlues: None of them want to play ''NightmareOnElmStreet'' with him. Though you can hardly blame them.
** The Nerdy Turd is cloned from the Nerd's feces.
* ClusterFBomb: Doesn't even begin to describe him.
** In the third CD-i segment, he literally drops some F-Bombs - [[VisualPun as in Zelda-esque bombs with "F" imprinted on them]] - ([[LampshadeHanging as he described it]]), while shouting... [[CaptainObvious "FUCK!"]] for each bomb.
*** Also, after his LaughingMad sequence for ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon'', he flips off both middle fingers and clucks like the Cluster F-Bomb Chicken.
** There's his exploration of various NES accessories, one of which was a headset Zapper with voice activation. He then found out that he didn't have to shout "Fire!" to make it shoot. HilarityEnsues as he goes on into a literal PrecisionFStrike.
-->"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kBMscW_dVg I just shot down a duck, by saying fuck.]]"
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience:
-->"[[color:purple:Purple]] for "Putrid Gameplay", [[color:blue:Blue]] for "Bad Musical Abominations", [[color:green:Green]] for "Graphical Farts and Garlic", [[color:yellow:Yellow]] for "Piss-Poor Lack of Loyalty to Source Material", [[color:orange:Orange]] for "Orange you a fucking idiot!", and [[color:red:Red]] for "High-stress Anger-Inducing Masochism"!"
** FunWithAcronyms: Or, if you prefer, '''L'''aughing '''J'''oking '''N'''umbnuts.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Instead of an ironically cruel death, [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Kreuger]] forces the Nerd to play [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames his NES game]]. (Though Freddy did try to kill him when he took a shit on the cartridge.)
* CoolPet: Boo/Death Kitty, his pet black cat. Just see the Atari Jaguar review.
--> '''AVGN''': "Yeah! That's the REAL Jaguar!"
* CompilationRerelease: The first two episodes were re-released as "Bad NES Games" together with various other shorts in the "Shorts" tape of the "Cinemassacre Gold Collection".
* [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Complaining about Games You Don't Like]]: Pretty much the whole point of his videos.
** Even more so in another of Rolfe's series, ''You Know What's Bullshit'', though there it's more "Complaining About Pet Peeves", such as shoelaces, the post office not having much pens and pennies, which actually made the news.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: No surprise this happens a lot since a great part of the games he reviews are full of terrible FakeDifficulty.
--> '''AVGN''': The game cheats. That's all there is to it. '''The game fucking cheats.'''
* ContinuityNod: The Nerd mentions "Fred Fuchs" from his ''Dracula'' review in his ''Winter Games'' review.
** When the couch gets destroyed in the Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle review, the Guitar Guy comes out from under the wreckage. He's been there apparently since the beginning of the series, though you only learn about this in the Battletoads review.
* CosmicRetcon: The [=Y2K=] bug caused the events of his earlier "Wizard of Oz 3" video to be wiped from existence. This is referenced in ''The History Of Super Mecha Death Christ''.
* CoversAlwaysLie:
** In his ''Little Red Hood'' review, he points out that even though the title character is shown kicking a {{Mook|s}} on the cover, you cannot kick your enemies in the game.
** In the Cheetahmen review's opening theme song movie, The Nerd plays the SNES game ''Phalanx'', a space shooter. He then looks closely at the cover of the game, which has an old southern man with a banjo. He looks to the camera, confused. (Yes, this is real; the publishers did this hoping it would grab people's attention).
* CoverVersion: His ''NintendoPower'' review features Kyle Justin performing a cover of the Nintendo Power jingle and the beginning of his "Double Vision" ({{Colecovision}} & {{Intellivision}}) review, Kyle does a cover of Music/{{Foreigner}}'s "Double Vision." The Angry Video Game Nerd's theme has also been covered and remixed by fans of the series countless times in nearly every single genre of music.
* CreatorThumbprint:
** Rolfe is a huge fan of the horror genre, and it shows in his annual Halloween specials, dedicating daily updates on his Cinemassacre site to surprisingly thorough horror movie history.
** He's also a fan of the Godzilla films as well.
** His Castlevania marathon has him start by mentioning it as one of his favorite franchises.
* CrossOver: With WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. Repeatedly. And every instance of it is ''epic''.
** With [[TheNewAdventuresOfCaptainS Captain S]], in a Christmas special of said series.
** With PatTheNESPunk, for a review of the ultra-rare ''NES World Championship'' cartridge.
* CrossPoppingVeins: In his logo. The shape also suggests a game controller's directional pad.
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* CrucifiedHeroShot: James lying bloodied and charred from his fight with R.O.B. --With the trademark white shirt, of course.
* CulturedBadass: For a guy who spends all day playing old video games and swearing like a sailor he has a surprisingly in-depth knowledge of Scottish folklore, recounting the meeting of St. Columba and the Loch Ness monster in the history of Super Mecha Death Christ. Though in his version the monster was Satan and Death Christ drove him off.
* CurbStompBattle: Both of the fights between the Nerd and Bugs Bunny. Bugs is the first to get his ass kicked, but he later comes back in the Crazy Castle review to exact his rabbit revenge.
* CurseCutShort: From the ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}'' section of his {{S|tevenSpielberg}}pielberg movie games review: "Smile, you son of a- Mmmmm!"
* CutAndPasteEnvironments: A major complaint he has in his review of ''{{Action 52}}'', in which he gets annoyed very quickly at the quantity of Space Shooters which are basically the same. Reaches the level of "{{Why Did It Have to Be|Snakes}} [[RecycledINSPACE Space?]]"
** Also shows up in his re-review of BackToTheFuture (NES).
--> '''Nerd''': The rest of the street stages are all the same, except they change the color. No effort. Time is money. Don't design another stage; just change the color, and kids will think it's different. Do they think we're idiots?
* CuteKitten: His black cat Boo, a.k.a. "Death Kitty" has made a few appearances:
** In the second part of the Atari Jaguar episode, the Nerd is attacked by the Atari Jaguar logo. He thus summons Death Kitty to fight it, and proves quite {{Badass}}.
** In the NES accessories episode, it plays with the screen for a few seconds, as well as defacing the Power Pad when the Nerd references what pets can do to it. The Nerd also attempts to use him to control the Roll'n Rocker, only for Boo to walk off it 5 seconds later.
** AVGN [[{{Animorphism}} turns into Boo]] at the end of his {{Moonwalker}} review.
** His white cat, Little Yeti, is used to torture the Nostalgia Critic into submission in the Final Battle behind-the-scenes.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The episode in which "the guitar guy" (Kyle Justin) who sings the Nerd's ThemeSong helps review ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}''.
* DecisionDarts: The 100th Episode (R.O.B.) reveals that the Nerd takes a pen out of his pocket protector and randomly hurls it at his wall of games to determine his next review.
* {{Defictionalization}}: There are a couple of episodes in which he casually mentions names of fake ridiculous games, this has caused some fans to actually google those games causing some curious results:
** In his review of Shaq Fu, he mentions FullHouse Tournament Fighter. Later, someone on [=YouTube=] submmited the supposely intro of the game, and recently he even submmited a whole battle between Uncle Jesse and Joey.
** In the review of Kid Kool, he mentions the game [[InspectorGadget "Doctor Claw's Dump and Pump"]], there are already a couple of fake YouTube videos claiming to be the intro of the game to mislead the people that actually try to Google it.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: ''Fester's Quest'', apart from the game footage.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment
-->'''Nerd:''' They just cut out the logo with cheap paper and they glued it on...with glue.
** In his ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' review:
--> '''Nerd''': And you know what pisses me off? Every time you fall down, you have to walk through the entire room all over again. All the enemies come back, so you have to fight everybody all over again.
* DerailedFairyTale: ''Red Riding Hood'' has an interesting take on the children's classic.
-->"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Little Red Riding Hood. She liked to jump in the air and whistle out her vagina. She kicked at trees until [[SesameStreet Big Bird]]'s ballsack would appear. --what, that's not the story?"
* DeusExMachina: Literal case during his battle with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic. The Critic begins channeling the power of Satan, and the Nerd is helpless, until Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:B.C.]] 4.0 Beta shows up.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In his revisit of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', The Nerd (who himself has been transformed into Hyde) is so pissed off by the game that he goes and digs up the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson.
** It then gets subverted when Stevenson's skeleton rises up and says 'Fuck you!' to the Nerd and foils his revenge. May count as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} for some.
* TheDogShotFirst: Mercilessly mocked in the intro to Nintendo Days Revisited. "Jason Voorhees shot first".
* DontExplainTheJoke: In his "Star Wars" review:
--> '''Obi Wan''': Luke, choose the force!
--> '''Nerd''': Get it? Instead of "use the force", it's "choose the force", [[SarcasmMode that's clever]].
* DoubleStandard: In his Atari Porn review, the Nerd calls a woman who bangs a lot of guys a "whore", while he calls a guy who bangs a lot of women a "stud".
* DoubleTake: Mistakingly beating ''Zelda II'' by wearing the Power Glove on his hand.
* DownerEnding: In his ''NinjaGaiden'' review, he and his ninja mentor ultimately give up trying to defeat the FinalBoss.
* DrivenToSuicide: Following the Dracula reviews, the Angry Vampire Game Nerd begs the sun to "vanquish" him.
* DuckSeasonRabbitSeason: Done in the review of ''The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2''.
* DuctTapeForEverything: The Nerd deals with the Virtual Boy's unwieldy design by duct-taping it to his head.
* DudeWheresMyReward: At the end of the Captain S crossover, the Nerd merrily announces "Merry [bleep] Christmas!", shocking everybody with his language, he ends up being sent back to his home and receives the Home Alone 2 cartridge from Santa Claus as a punishment for being foul-mouthed, [[UngratefulBastard ignoring the fact that the Nerd just helped Captain S to save him and Christmas from the Game Genie]]. In the [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol Christmas Carol episode]], it turns out receiving that game was the last straw that caused the Nerd go Scrooge. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job, Santa.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:E-H]]
* EasterEgg: [[http://cinemassacre.com/2008/08/04/dark-side-of-the-nerd/ You can sync the episode of the review of the Wizard of Oz SNES game with Pink Floyd's'''Dark Side of the Moon''' album]]. Done in purpose as a reference to the urban legend that the Wizard of Oz movie could be synced to the album.
* EdutainmentShow: His reviews actually fall into this category, when you think about it. You may learn something you never knew about an old console or game, while being entertained at the same time.
** Many of his more recent episodes (2010 and beyond normally) were a little more like a documentary.
* EnemyMine: He has joined forces with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic to review ''The Making of TMNT: Coming Out Of Their Shells'' as they both are ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' fans. Sure, they technically became allies at the TGWTG Brawl, but still...
* EnforcedMethodActing: Several times, those are genuine reactions, and sometimes James thinks they were so good that they're worth putting into the final take. Gameplaywise, he shows that he's actually playing the game and that he wasn't staging them. If it's a new game he's never played before (Namely ''Dragon's Lair''), some of those are his actual thoughts.
** Subverted in a couple of his early videos. He admits in his 'Making an AVGN episode' documentary that in his ''Karate Kid'' video he was intentionally walking into the enemies.
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* EpisodeTitleCard: All drawn by Mike Matei, and all featuring a caricature of the Nerd.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His very first words:
-->'''Angry Video Game Nerd:''' This game sucks.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: In the ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' review, it's not the SHIT PUKE that pissed the Nerd off about the possessed cartridge in the first place. It's the line ''"[[TheExorcist Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!]]"''
* [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Vulgarity Has Standards]]: During the Bible Games episode, the nerd shows us one of his limits (though he had said the first sentence straight in an earlier review, so he was probably trying to make up for that).
-->'''Nerd:''' You would rather listen to your own infant child puking to death. That is, choking on his own puke chunks...[[DudeNotFunny That's disgusting, I apologize.]]
** He also apologizes for something he says in his Indiana Jones review. "I'd rather drink buffalo shizz! That's a combination of shit and jizz. Yeah, that's foul. I apologize."
* EveryEpisodeEnding: Not ''all'' of them, but it often involves destroying the cartridge of the game reviewed.
* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: InUniverse: Parodied at the end of his Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde review remake.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He is a nerd, he often gets angry, the show is about video games.
--> "To play the game, you need the ''GameBoy''. Here's the game, that's the boy, this is the Game Boy."
** Shit Pickle. He's a pickle, and he's got a big (well, relative to his size) dollop of shit on his head.
** Also the Nerdy Turd, a large turd with the Nerd's face on it. Created for the Magnavox Odyssey review. [[TheUnintelligible The only sound it makes is fart noises.]]
** "Hey, you like my new invention? I call it the "Gyromite Controller". ..It plays Gyromite."
** The Nerd lampshades this in "How the Nerd Stole Christmas":
--->''VideoGame/{{Ballz}}'' is an aptly-named travesty on SNES\\
That makes no sense and is a cockamamie butt-brained mess!
* ExpositoryThemeTune
* EyeScream: When confronted by Michael Myers, the Nerd jabs the joysticks of a pair of Atari controllers through the eye holes of his mask, [[ImplacableMan evidently to little effect]].
* TheFaceless: Mike Matei, who always wears some form of costume or makeup ([[spoiler:That is, until ''BoardJames'', where Matei becomes ''Motherfucker Mike'']]).
** Freddy Kreuger's face is covered by shadow or obscured otherwise in the ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' episode. [[spoiler: He looks just like the Nerd.]]
** Initially the Bullshit Man, until TheReveal that he's...ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* FacePalm: The Nerd can't help but do this during ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'' and during his ''Dracula'' review.
* FakeCrossover: The crossover with ''TheNewAdventuresOfCaptainS''.
* FakeDifficulty: The biggest reason why the games the Nerd reviews suck.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: To the nerd, ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is this trope incarnate. Out of a six and a half minute video, exactly one minute and 12 seconds is actually spent playing; the remaining time has the Nerd [[TakeOurWordForIt going on about how horrible it is]], [[INeedAFreakingDrink chugging back his beer several times]], and essentially begging not to have to play it or that the viewer not play it. And it really is that bad.
** Another time, when Jason Voorhees is forcing him to play the ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' NES game and say good things about it, the Nerd at one point gets caught badmouthing it and runs away before Jason pins him in a corner. At first, he pleads for his life...then Jason takes out the cartridge, and the Nerd begs to be killed instead.
* FightSceneFailure:[[invoked]] [[StylisticSuck Intentionally]] used in the ''StarTrek'' review, where a shot show him jump-kicking a wall for no reason, which Kirk actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHCNTELFI8 did once]].
--> "And I am dead fucking serious. Dead. Fucking. Serious." *breaks into laughter as video cuts away*
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Seen in the "Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle" review.
* FireForgedFriends: The Nerd and CaptainS in the crossover Christmas special.
* {{Flanderization}}: Kinda. His earlier reviews (back before his Screwattack partnership) had him act much calmer, with some swear words popped in at times. Now he swears much more often, and he's more over the top angry. Beer drinking was also a one-time action in his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review, now being a staple of his series.
** Another way to put it is that before, he was simply an "Angry Video Game Nerd" who became angry at the constant suckage of the games he played. Now, he's an ''insane'' muthafucka. Compare his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reviews.
* FlashbackCut: Demonstrated in his ''Rambo'' review when he briefly flashed back to a satirical remark he made in his ''Chronologically Confused'' video about what the next Rambo movie might be called.
* FlippingTheBird
* FoeYay: With WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic.
** In the behind the scenes of the TGWTG Anniversary Brawl, the Nerd and the Critic are angrily exchanging insults when one the other reviewers says [[GetARoom "make out!"]], causing everybody to crack up.
* FollowTheLeader: Inspired a glut of profanity-filled internet video game reviews, with TheIrateGamer being among the most prominent.
** He also has some imitators in other countries, like [[JoueurDuGrenier Le Joueur Du Grenier]] ("The Attic Gamer") in France.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Nerd mentions Richard Daluz's Nintoaster in passing during his review of the Atari Jaguar CD. It is the console he plays ''Action52'' on in THAT video.
** Also overlaps with BrickJoke: [[spoiler: In his earlier review of the BackToTheFuture games: he stuffs the cartridge in a toaster.]] This overlap was lampshaded.
** In the Making Of special, when James demonstrates how he has hooked up so many consoles to a single TV, he uses the CD-I as the example and shows us how he activates it, but adds "[[TemptingFate I don't know why I'd ever want to play CD-I again.]]" Guess what console he uses in the ''Dark Castle'' review?
* FountainOfExpies: He got a lot of them!
* FrankensteinsMonster: The "Franken-Nerd".
* FreakOut: The Nerd goes completely fucking loco at the end of the Dick Tracy review. He starts ''screaming'' about the NintendoHard aspect of the game, coming closer and closer to the screen, screams, starts drinking beer like crazy (''wetting his clothes'' in the process), starts shouting muffled nonsense while pushing his face into ''a pillow'', [[ClusterFBomb a brief montage of him screaming "FUCK" in various parts of his house follows]], and even then, he pierces the cartridge with a drill. ''[[ButWaitTheresMore Then]]'' he looks at the cartridge, spinning because he wasn't holding it and it was still on the drill, [[NightmareFuel with a demented stare]], at that, and the screen ''finally'' cuts to black as he destroys it with his hammer. ''While the cartridge is spinning''.
** It's been noted the sheer ire of this particular FreakOut concerning ''Dick Tracy'' was because this was one of the few games the Nerd owns that he hasn't been able to beat for over 20 years and actually harbors [[SincerityMode sincere animosity for]]. Projecting real-life frustration via the Nerd persona equals one of his most ''batshit insane'' rants ever in the series.
** Done again in his second revisit of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. After too much time playing the game (and, arguably, too much liquor), the Nerd goes [[HulkingOut on a rage-blinded mission]] with a cape, top hat, and a cane to dig up Robert Louis Stevenson's grave for making the book that inspired the game; after the skeleton somehow comes back to life, proclaiming it's the devil and commanding the Nerd to play the game some more, [[AllJustADream the Nerd wakes up]] with the game still in the toaster-turned-NES. He has an {{e|urekaMoment}}piphany...
* FridgeBrilliance:[[invoked]] The Nerd has an extreme case of this himself when he revisits ''Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde''. Toward the end of the review, he begins to think it is actually a clever game, as [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory it makes sense that Jekyll's weapon doesn't hurt people since he symbolizes good, how you get a game over when Hyde physically passes Jekyll since in that instance it would mean evil triumphs over good, and many other bits of symbolism in the game.]] Of course, even after realizing this stuff, he still hates the game for being awful.
** His "evidence" for VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 being possessed had to take forever to come up with, and it's truly a spectacle of nerd theory-dom.
** He doesn't use his 'Beat-a-Game button' on the original Ninja Gaiden, but on Ninja Gaiden 2 instead. Why? Because he never beat the first one so he wouldn't be able to use footage of the ending cutscenes.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: WordOfGod says the Rolling Rock bottles are actually filled with water. Justified because James shoots the footage in the morning and doesn't want to drink alcohol that early.
** In the 'Spiderman' episode, you can see that it [[http://youtu.be/omW1E7rv7IM?t=3m30s is indeed water in the bottle]] (as Spidey tips it away claiming it to be 'corporate bullshit' and 'Shit Rock'), although this might be purely because of the nature of this shot; who the hell would actually tip perfectly good beer away like that?
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the Winter Games review, the Nerd eventually goes on a rant about how the control setup is essentially [[PacManFever frantic mashing of random buttons]]. He does an example of this while saying so, facing the camera and using the controller plugged into the NES behind him. Viewers looking past him during this moment will notice the figure skater in the game doing several (relatively) impressive moves; all of which the Nerd previously noted he couldn't do when he was ''trying''.
** Much the same happens when he tries to beat Zelda II with the Power Glove. The Nerd is busy talking about the NintendoHard nature of the game and the shittiness of the Power Glove while lamenting how he's never been able to beat the game. All the while behind him, Shadow Link is handily defeated by the Power Glove's random movements, something he was never able to do when he actually tried his hardest.
* FutureLoser: During the 2007 ''A Christmas Carol'' parody, the Nerd sees his future self playing various shitty Wii games and [[spoiler:the future Nerd eventually has a heart attack while playing Boogie to the tune of "[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Walking]] [[Music/KatrinaAndTheWaves on Sunshine]]"]].
* GenrePopularizer: Of the "angry video game reviewing" kind, if you're not going to call those others copycats.
* GenreSavvy: The Nerd created a FrankensteinsMonster, but also added a way to shut it off.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: All the time, but there are particularly plenty of examples in his ''[[VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]'' review:
--> '''AVGN''': There's ''dogs applauding''!! I didn't even know that dogs were fucking watching!!
--> '''AVGN''': [[HeroicBSOD Bu... th... uh... wha...]] A fucking ''chicken mask''?! ...An '''[[BigLippedAlligatorMoment UPSIDE DOWN FUCKING CHICKEN MASK!]]'''
--> '''AVGN''': WHY IS IT NOW JUST A HEAD OF A PANDA?!
* TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation: JamesRolfe is an admitted fan of vintage animation, to the point where even goes out of his way to ''collect the original prints of those cartoons and watch them at home with his own movie projector.''
* GoodAngelBadAngel: Used in a few examples in his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEXpsDB2XQ review]] of ''[[{{Pitfall}} Super Pitfall]]'' when an angel and a devil fight over Harry's body every time an enemy kills him. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Even funnier is that when Harry falls into spikes at one scene, the game would freeze up while the angel and devil are hovering for a few seconds before Harry finally "dies".]]
* AGoodNameForARockBand: "Cunt-thrust", inspired by the ladies who "restore Link's health", so to speak, in ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]''.
* GoshDangItToHeck: In the crossover with CaptainS, the Nerd's foul language got humorously toned down.
-->'''AVGN:''' Home Alone in the Nintendo Entertaiment System, ''what a buttload of crud''.
* GrammarNazi: James does this to the credits for the NES ''Ghostbusters'' game. Though in fairness to James, those were really obvious errors and deserved to be corrected.
* GratuitousGerman: Slips into this during his ''DeadlyTowers'' video ([[FourthWallMailSlot the one where everything was written by the fans]]).
--> "Well, I gave that a try..."
* GrossoutShow
* GuestFighter: Bugs Bunny, who intrudes the Nerd's reality just to kick the crap out of him.
** The Nerd and Kyle Justin were the guest characters (...and Ma-Ti from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'') that were not part of the TGWTG.com crew that appeared in the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover Anniversary Team Brawl]].
* GuiltyPleasures: According to his review of "The Making of TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour," he had a cassette of the tour, which he would listen to all the time, but is ashamed to admit it.
** He also admits to liking "TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze" as a guilty pleasure, despite (or perhaps because of) thinking it's cornier than the first movie.
* TheGump: As ''The History of Super Mecha Death Christ'' reveals, Super Mecha Death Christ has had an influence in history from its first chronological appearance in 2000 [[AC:b.c.]], where the prototype spontaneously appeared after the events of ''[[ReturnToOz The Wizard of Oz 3: Dorothy Goes to Hell]]'' (one of James' earlier videos) and was subsequently destroyed by the cavemen, the vikings, and the Egyptosaurus. Notable appearances in history include:
** The discovery of the prototype [=SMDC2K=]'s remains in Stonehenge (where Mechahenge was built the next morning but vanished mysteriously at sunset) in 900 [[AC:b.c.]];
** The construction of Mecha Death Christ by Prince Vlad Dracula in 1476 [[AC:a.d.]] after being haunted by visions of Death Christ (who aided St. [[hottip:Columba: Columbo]] in defeating Satan in the Loch Ness 911 years prior), which eventually went on a berserk killing spree and ultimately beheaded Dracula before heading off to whereabouts unknown;
** The recovery of Mecha Death Christ by Nazis in 1933, [[StupidJetpackHitler its upgrade to Super Mecha Death Christ]] in [[hottip:1942:Hitler was looking for [[IndianaJones the Lost Ark of the Coventant]] because he wanted to mount it atop SMDC to combine the powers of God! Probably the most insane weapon to have ever been conceived!]] (not to be confused with Super ''Music/{{Megadeth}}'' Christ), and its killing of AdolfHitler in 1944, the same year it was defeated and then recovered by the U.S. military;
** The reconstruction out of the same parts a year later into Super Mecha Death Christ version 2, complete with new weapons, electromechanical interface, capability of flying, and voice synthesis (however, all it could do was shout out German swears);
** The completion of version 3, which was given a test flight in 1947 in a desert near Roswell, New Mexico, where it was mistaken for a UFO;
** The malfunction of version 4 (which was built in 1955 out of a red Chevrolet) on its first test run;
** Version 5 (built in 1960), which, despite being capable of employing laser physics, suffered the same fate as the previous one;
** The completion of Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 in 1962 with stealth flight, which escaped detection, and flew off to an unknown location, only to be found 40 years later washed up on the shore of Maldives Island (up until then, the U.S. military dropped the SMDC project, and instead focused on what eventually became the Nighthawk), and rebuilt in 2004 into SMDC 2000 II;
** The discovery in 1972 by the NASA astronauts of what was presumed to be the remnants of [=SMDC2K=], which was really the scrap metal from the [=SMDC2K=] prototype. They subsequently flew it back to Earth for testing;
** The creation of Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] from the prototype in 1981, with laser, grenade, and machine gun cannons, and the upper body being mounted on a task for extreme combat;
** The release of Film/RoboCop in 1987, which ripped off the model of the protoype of the [=SMDC2K=];
** The completion of [=SMDC2K=] [[AC:b.c.]] version 2.0 in 1989, with a ray gun equipped to its chest, and the ability to blast laser beams from its eyes;
** The builiding of [=SMDC2K=] [[AC:b.c.]] version 2.5 in 1997, which was updated with a new voice synthesis (but it could only scream in rage); it was abducted by Satan the next year, and reprogrammed for world domination;
** The rampage of the automated robofied powertronic cyberbot Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]], version 3.0 Beta ([[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]) in the land of Oz under the control of Satan in 1999.
** Its [[CriticalExistenceFailure existence failure]] at the beginning of 2000, in which the [=Y2K=] bug caused the year 99 to 0, thus causing the space-time continuum to reset itself, which turned SMDC into [[FountainOfYouth Baby Christ]] (obviously, [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter not an evildoer]]) who generated a force field that deflected the world-blower-upper bomb it fired into the air as SMDC and redirected it to Hell and it blew up Lucifer instead, sent the SMDC prototype to 2000 [[AC:B.C.]][[hottip:*:Because this model was labeled as 2000 '''''B.C''''', it denies its existence in the present time]], prevented the building of version 3.0 Beta, and because Baby Christ was in Oz, it made no sense for him to be in the Bible, so without Jesus, there'd be no New Testament, and Satan would have nothing better to do than sit around and stick his pitchfork up his ass, [[TheOmen his son Damien]] would be playing croquet with the angels, dogs and cats would be rolling around in the mud, and Dorothy would be reincarnated as a pig taking a shit up the side of a barn (In short, the [=Y2K=] bug resulted in a StableTimeLoop, and the events in Oz no longer exist);
** The take-over of SMDC 2000 II by Satan, yet again, after it was rebuilt, only to be intercepted by [=SMDC2K=] [[AC:b.c.]] version 3.1, who shows up out of nowhere, destroys it in the confrontation, and sends Satan back into Hell;
** The surprise appearance of the self-upgraded Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] 4.0 Beta after AVGN encounters Satan possessing a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge in 2008, and again in the same year during the battle between AVGN and the WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic where Satan intervenes to assist NC; in both cases Satan was defeated;
** The final appearance of Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] (whatever version it happened to be at the moment) to date in 2009 in a pitched battle between the forces of gamers and critics, in which he did combat with [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Giant]] [[KillerRobot Robotic]] DonkeyKong [[KungFuJesus Jesus]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Riding a]] [[Series/{{Lost}} Puff of Smoke]], culminating in a nuclear blast in the middle of Chicago; Neither have been seen since.
*** The moral of this story: Good ''always'' prevails over evil, no matter how corruptive.
* SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike: The main purpose overall of his ''SuperMarioBros 3'' and ''{{Castlevania}}'' series reviews. This is especially prevalent for ''Super {{Castlevania}} IV'', since he had criticisms for the other games, but that game garnered nothing but praise.
* HairTriggerTemper: Our man.
* HalloweenEpisode: Once a year. For the first few years, two videos per year.
* HarsherInHindsight: [[invoked]] At the beginning of his review for the ''Film/DieHard'' game, he acknowledges this about the cover art for the game, which depicts the Nakatomi Building, which is lit in such a way that it ''greatly'' resembles the Twin Towers, ablaze.
* HehHehYouSaidX: "It's my duty -- heh, "doodie"..."
** In the [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/724633 third Bible Games review]], when he types in the word "ASS" in the Game Boy video game ''The King James Version'' and a list of passages with the word "ass" shows up, one of them having the words "[[HaveAGayOldTime dumb ass]]":
--->Heh heh heh, it says "dumbass" in the Bible.
* HelloInsertNameHere: "ASSSSSSS", naturally.
** Sometimes he lampshades the name entry problem in the ''Winter Games'' episode:
--->"The name entry screen is a disaster. You can't move the cursor up or down. It only goes left and right. Isn't that fun?! Not to mention, they only let you spell four-letter words, which I could think of plenty, but how many names would have less than four letters? If you tried to add a fifth letter, it goes back and replaces the first letter, then you gotta figure out how to start over. When it reaches the last letter, why couldn't it just stop?! The simplest thing to do is to type in all A's, then go left once to get to the end button. Because, why put in a name anyway? It's not like the game is gonna save it. But if it did, I guarantee [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments most of the high scores will belong to "AAAA"]]. [[invoked]] The point is, how hard is it to program something as simple as a name entry screen? If they can't even get that right, then WOAH! Wait 'til you see the game!"
* HeroicBSOD:
** Happens briefly in part 2 of the Zelda CD-i reviews, upon seeing the infamous "You've kiiiilled meee!" "Good!" cut scene exchange.
** Also the end of the his ''Rambo'' game review.
** Ninja Gaiden did this to a Ninja Master!
** The ''{{Action 52}}'' review has various degrees of this, with probably the best example being his stunned silence during the clip of "Timewarp Tickers".
** Happens yet again with his Star Wars episode, this time as a result of Darth Vader's transformation into a scorpion when he's reviewing the Famicom version of Star Wars (1987).
* HilariousOuttakes: Try to watch the "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle" outtakes and not laugh from watching James repeatedly laugh himself silly trying to say a convoluted scatological rant.
** There's also a video entirely made up of outtakes from his ''Ninja Gaiden'' episode. Kevin Finn (the ninja mentor) improvises when they forget a line or something unexpected happens, all without missing a beat.
** Occasionally, James will stick an outtake during or after the credits, such as ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' review where James kept cracking up at Mike Matei's Cowardly Lion, or James cracking up at Kyle Justin's "There are ''no'' other couches to go behind!" in the ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' review, or this gem from ''Castlevania'' Part 2:
--> '''Nerd''': This game is like playing shit tennis with an orangutan while having a hyena's head up your ass... ({{Beat}}) or ''your'' head up ''its'' ass! (laughs)
* HissBeforeFleeing: The Nerd himself does literally this at the Nostalgia Critic before running away at one point during the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover TGWTG Team Brawl]].
* HollywoodNerd: When he's not on the verge of a homicidal rampage, he's rather attractive.
* {{Homage}}: As seen below, the 2010 ChristmasEpisode pays tribute to DrSeuss' HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas.
* HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas: The 2010 ChristmasEpisode.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Criticizing the physical state some games he receives from other people and stores:
-->"I would never do this, I take good care of my games!"
-->([[DescriptionCut Cut to his over-the-top destruction of the Dick Tracy game.]])
** In the ''Wizard of Oz'' review, he says "Hey man, did you just swear!?" to the Cowardly Lion.
** Once the Nerd introduces the Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 BC 4.0 Beta (Bitch), said robot blasts him while shouting "WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!!"
*** He did this in response to the Nerd going "Holy shit!" which suggests that he's pretty fine with vulgarity, but will not stand for blasphemy.
** When discussing the fourth ''Film/{{Friday the 13th}}'' film he asks, in response to the actions of Corey Feldman's eccentric character, who on earth puts on a mask to play a video game. Cut to existing footage of the Nerd playing Batman games in a Batman mask.
** While reviewing ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse]]'', the Nerd proclaims that he won't be using Game Genie because [[EarnYourHappyEnding he wants to beat the game legitimately]]. Cue the Nerd using an [[CheatCode Extra Life code]].
** After a torturous run of ''Super Pitfall'', followed by a [[AWinnerIsYou lame ending]], the game has the audacity to offer a "[[NewGamePlus Second Quest]]":
-->"What kind of masochist would you have to be to beat this game more than once? If you did it ''one time'', what would you have to prove to do it again? You'd have to be some kind of fucking idiot!" [resumes playing]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:I-L]]
* IceCreamKoan: The Ninja Master (Kevin Finn) improvised many of these for the Ninja [[hottip:Gayden: Gaiden]] episode, and they were so random that they ended up being cut.
--> '''Ninja Master''': A hummingbird with no song will never... be a pop star.
--> '''Ninja Master''': A cherry blossom, that gets eaten by a possum, isn't that awesome.
--> '''Ninja Master''': A wren... that looks like a hen... is more a hen than a wren.
--> '''Ninja Master''': ...If you want to catch the moon in a net, you must get a net required for the bigness of the jump.
* IfYouTauntHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: During one exchange with the Nostalgia Critic. For the longest time, he appeared to be taking the high road for a change...
* IgnoredEpiphany: Done for comedic effect. In the Star Trek game review, the Nerd is about to destroy another game he doesn't like. He then decides not to, thinking that maybe the game designers did the best they could. The guest character says, "By sparing the shitty game, you have shown the advanced trait of mercy!" The Nerd replies, "[[VerbThis Mercy this]], motherfucker!" and kills him for no reason. The Nerd goes back to physically attacking bad games in later reviews.
** In the Christmas special, he found out that the future is not going to be good for him as he ended up being a FutureLoser who plays terrible [[NintendoWii Wii]] games. It turned out to be a dream and then he played ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and realized how good the game was. He decides to just play good games before he said "fuck it" and starts playing terrible games again, starting with the VirtualBoy.
* IGotARock: When he unveils a childhood halloween tape of his (He dressed as DickTracy.).
** Instead of candy, the Nerd gives a shitty Atari game (and an Atari 2600) to one of the children that come trick-or-treating to his house, after taking a crap in the other kid's bag.
* ImagineSpot: Both {{Pat|TheNESPunk}} and the Nerd daydream about how awesome it would be if they had the two Nintendo World Championships cartridges for themselves.
* ImGoingToHellForThis: The Nerd's response to him looking up the word "ass" in a Game Boy version of the text of the King James Bible and laughing at the results.
* IncrediblyLamePun:
** He had called out the Who Framed Roger Rabbit game for using a cheetah\cheater pun.
** His reaction to "Lights! Camera! Action 52!".
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Zig-zagged: he drinks so much [[ProductPlacement Rolling Rock]] that the impact generally associated with the trope is lost, but he will also drink hard liquor (in one case, an entire bottle of what appears to be scotch) on the rare occasion that beer alone won't do. And in the Transformers episode, he drank [[ItMakesSenseInContext hot sauce,]] but not for the same reason-- it was endorsed by a world-champion gamer, and thus he was trying to use it as a performance enhancer.
* InfiniteOneUps: Subverted in the ''Film/{{Terminator}}'' review. The Nerd is so fed up with constantly [[GameOver losing all of his lives]] that he decides to take action. Finding a location where Terminators infinitely spawn, the Nerd clamps a wrench down on the "Fire" button to rack up points and lives while he can go do other things. He comes back to the game the next morning to find that [[spoiler: the extra life counter maxes out at six.]]
* InsistentTerminology: In the ''Haloween'' review. ''It's not chocolate, nor is it poop, it's '''shit!'''''
* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: In the ''NinjaGaiden'' review, he gets help from a ninja master who helps him progress in the game.
* InstantHomeDelivery: In one episode he orders an Atari controller and then goes outside and has it thrown in his face.
* InsultToRocks: You thought ''Godzilla'' for the NES was bad? "(''Godzilla 2'') is an ''insult'' to the first game!"
** "Why does Darth Vader turn into a fucking scorpion? That didn't even happen '''in the Special Editions!!'''"
* InterfaceScrew: The Glitch special spoofed, discussed, and [[DeconstructiveParody deconstructed this trope for the sake of humor]], in that order.
* InTheStyleOf: At a few other times in "How the Nerd Stole Christmas!", the Nerd talks out in rhymes, which is more like rapping them in the style of Music/{{Eminem}}.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:Hammertime!]] in the ''TMNT 3'' review.
* ItemGet: Parodied in the ''Legend of Zelda [=CD-i=]'' episode, when the Nerd pulls out ''Zelda's Adventure'' in a pose to the music that is played when Link pulls out the Master Sword in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]''.
* IThoughtItMeant: When ROB asks for his gyros, The AVGN makes him a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_%28food%29 gyro]].
* {{It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY}}: ""[[WelcomeToCorneria I AM ERROR.]]" Well, maybe that's just his name? Maybe it's pronounced "Ear-oar."
* IWantMyJetpack: The Nerd comments on this in the Street Fighter 2010 episode.
-->'''AVGN: '''It's crazy! Remember how futuristic the year 2000 seemed? My whole childhood, it seemed like every movie, every video game, it was always 2000... it sounded so high-tech and far away. But now, fuck that! It's the 10 year anniversary of the year 2000! ''(Back to the Future's 2015 footage)'' In five years, we're gonna have flying cars, and hoverboards and self-lacing shoes... It better happen, otherwise they should have make it the year 3000. If they ever made it 2100, we'd all be dead. It wouldn't make any difference anyway. Better be a mystery than to be wrong.
* TheJimmyHartVersion:
** The Nerd's theme is this for "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
** In the DVD version of the ''Rocky'' review, he uses a Jimmy Hart version of ''Gonna Fly Now'', due to copyright issues.
** The Nerd notes how the main music in ''Hydlide'' is the ''IndianaJones'' theme with just a few notes changed. In fact the ''only'' other piece of music is just a similarly altered bit ''of a different part of the Indiana Jones theme''
** "How the Nerd Stole Christmas" features a sound-alike to "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from ''Theatre/TheNutcracker''.
* JumpScare: PlayedForLaughs in the Nintendo Power video. '''''AAASSSSS!'''''
* KatanasAreBetter: [[spoiler:For slicing a videotape in half.]]
* KindheartedCatLover: He includes Boo/Death Kitty in a number of videos, and has posted at least one picture of Yeti, his white cat, sitting with him at the computer. (Keep in mind James' actual personality - not his Nerd persona - for the "kind-hearted" part.)
* KungFuJesus: Super Mecha Death Christ, bitch.
** That's Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:B.C.]] Version 4.0 Beta, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]!
--> or... [[WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses "whichever version you happen to be at the moment"]].
--> '''Super Mecha Death Christ''': ''[[HypocriticalHumor WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!!!]]''
* LargeHam: The Nerd in rage mode. Sometimes, even silently, like the {{Kaiju}} impersonation in the ''Godzilla'' episode.
** Mike Matei, in all of his appearances.
* LaughingMad: Mike Matei's rendition of the Joker. He makes Caesar Romero look a paragon of restraint.
** Playing ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon" reduces The Nerd to this state.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Variations of the opening theme appears elsewhere in the videos from time to time.
* LetsMockTheMonsters: All the time.
* LimitedWardrobe:
** Lampshaded in the ''Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout'' episode, showing his wardrobe containing only white shirts.
** Averted a few times: He wore an Atari coat for ''Winter Games'' and the ''Star Wars'' episode. And let's not forget the Halloween episodes, specifically the {{Dracula}} ep, wherein he wore a black-and-red cape reminiscent of said Count.
* LoonyFan: The evil hippie in the ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' episode.
* [[LukeIAmYourFather Luke, I Am Your Brother]]: The Critic tries to pull this off when the Nerd corners him during the Final Battle.
-->'''AVGN:''' Then surely you know the name of our mother?
-->'''Nostalgia Critic:''' eh... Of course I know the name of our mother! it's... Ee...liza...? *The Nerd puts the Super Scope on his head* Oh, can't blame me for trying!
* LuddWasRight: We failed in our existence when we were cursed with the technology to invent such horrible mind-rotting catastrophes! We were better off in the fucking medieval times! I wish I was just sitting on a riverbed [[GoodOldWays playing with FUCKING ROCKS!]]
* LyricalDissonance: Arguably the main theme.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-P]]
* MadScientist: The Nerd is slowly but surely getting there. His resume already includes a video game-playing Frankenstein and a sapient poop clone.
* ManipulativeEditing: Averted; but you can see that he actually ''does'' do this in the ''{{Castlevania 64}}'' video. He claims that there is no freaking music; and then proceeds to tell you to listen ''on an outdoor stage'' where there is no music. His claim makes less sense later on; since he shows a lot of the stage he got stuck on when he was youger and it ''clearly has audible music''.
* ManlyTears: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kc3JqVIIJA Cinemassacre 300 The Dragon In My Dreams]] video may cause this.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: The nerd is violent, foul-mouthed, and has an incredibly short temper, whereas James Rolfe is by accounts very pleasant and even claims to enjoy some of the games the nerd lambastes.
** Subverted with Mike. He is often a nice person... when you talk about something you share interest with him on. Bring up a topic like, say, TheMillenniumAgeOfAnimation and you'll set off his BerserkButton.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: In his review of ''{{Independence Day}}'':
--->'''AVGN''':"What do you get when you take a movie that's ass, [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames and make it into a game.]] You get a piece of shit. [[AllMenArePerverts Now if you get a piece of ass, that's a good thing,]] but if you get a [[CaptainObvious piece of shit, you don't want that!"]]
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] The Nerd acknowledges that Noah -- despite being an old man -- is strong enough to pick up five cows and horses over his head without any problems, and that he can run with all of them without getting tired and even run faster than the screen can scroll.
--> '''AVGN:''' Noah, man, nobody fucks with him. Not even ChuckNorris.
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%% Audience reactions of Memetic Badass go in the YMMV tag.
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* MercyInvincibility: You'll notice he points out ''why'' this trope is needed.
%%
%%MisBlamed goes on YMMV page.
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* {{Mid-Review Sketch Show}}: About 50% of his premise is about this trope, usually involving the many ways in which he can destroy the games he reviews, or the characters who appear in them.
* MilestoneCelebration: The 100th episode features the Nerd reviewing the Robot series, ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''... [[spoiler: and saving the world from a superpowered R.O.B.]]
** And the 75th featured the return of Bugs Bunny as the Nerd reviewed the ''Crazy Castle'' games.
* MindScrew: Describing ''VideoGame/AttackOfTheMutantPenguins''. It was even worse when he tried to describe his own [[BeyondTheImpossible even more screwy game]] until he mimed his brain being blown up and [[INeedAFreakingDrink drank some beer]].
* MockGuffin: James eagerly rips through a package for his "rare" copy of ''Nintendo World Championships'' (NES) ...only to discover that it's a cheaply-made reproduction cartridge. [[spoiler:Then, after he's already let Pat the NES Punk have all the games, it turns out there's a real one in the box too.]]
* TheMoralSubstitute: The Nerd devoted three episodes to trashing Christian games.
* MostAnnoyingSound: [[invoked]] He has had a few unfortunate experiences:
** The most flagrant one was in his review of ''Cybermorph'' on the Atari Jaguar episode:
---> '''Floating green head''':"Where did YOU learn to fly? Where did YOU learn to fly? Where did YOU learn to fly?".
*** Also turns into an unfortunate non-musical {{Ear Worm}} [[invoked]] to the Nerd since he couldn't be able to get it out of his head after a while.
* TheMovie: Currently in the planning stages, and will apparently contain the long-awaited [[VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial Atari E.T.]] review.
* {{MST}}:
** Since ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' 3DO game has barely any gameplay to speak of, the Nerd ends up doing this for a review of that "game." And [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments it is awesome]].
** The Sega CD review has elements of this too in the FMV sections.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Everything from shooting a 32X with a bow and arrow and setting it on fire to fighting off a ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' cartridge possessed by Satan.
** "I just killed a duck with a piano!" / "I just shot down a duck by saying "fuck!""
** "I'm drinking ''ROLLING ROCK!'' On THE ROLL & ROCKER!!"
** [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/61988 The episode]] about ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' is surprisingly stirring, with the Nerd treating the Swordquest contest as less of a promotional thing and more of an actual adventure. It even comes complete with an orchestral version of the Nerd's theme tune. Ironically, he makes a joke in the review itself about the game making an overly-dramatic (almost explosive) sound effect for ''walking through a door''.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Mocked by The Nerd when he reviewed games involving Frankenstein. One of the games includes an enemy called "Dark Warrior", prompting him to sarcastically call it scary and then suggest alternate names such as "Death Guy" or "Mr. Kill".
* NameThatUnfoldsLikeLotusBlossom: The full version of the theme song refers to him as the "Angry {{Atari}} {{Amiga}} [[PhilipsCDi CD-i]] {{Colecovision}} {{Intellivision}} {{Sega}} NeoGeo TurboGrafx16 [[MagnavoxOdyssey Odyssey]] [[ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]] {{Commodore|64}} {{Nintendo}} Nerd".
* NarmCharm: [[invoked]] His words, not ours; "Despite all the shitty things in this game, this ["FREDDY'S[[TradeSnark ™]] COMING!"] screen is ''so'' cheesy, that it's just awesome!"
* NauseaFuel: [[invoked]] The Nerd himself mentions things that make him nauseous when he reviews things. For example, in [=McKids=] and Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout, he commented how the screen effects made him wanna throw up. In his NintendoPower review, he talked about how disgusting some of the ads were, such as one that showed a jar full of toenail clippings and another that showed a barf bag. He also mentioned that one ad was so gross that he stapled the page shut so he didn't have to see it.
** This turned out to just be the toenail clipping ad (you can see the issue number of the magazine AVGN stapled.)
* NeverLiveItDown: The Nerd deploys this [[{{In-universe}} himself]]:
** "Kill all babies?!"
** Fred Fuchs.
** "'''One guy?! NO CONTINUES!!!?'''"
* NeverSayDie: Its notable aversion in ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d heavily.
* NeverTrustATitle: In his review for ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'', he pointed out how you can't even trust the title when it shows John wearing a tie (although the title of the game does not mean "The plumber in this game wears a tie" but "Plumbers are not supposed to wear ties").
** "He's a plumber, and I don't see him wearing a tie." *cut to John wearing a tie* "''What the fuck?!''"
* NietzscheWannabe: Hinted at in the ''Lester the Unlikely'' review.
-->''It's all gonna be dust anyway.''
* NostalgiaFilter: Averted so hard it's not even funny.
** Not always, though. The Nerd gets pretty wistful about pop and videogame culture from the mid 80's to early 90's. Watching how the (genuinely) good memories of the past get mangled by [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames bad videogame adaptations]] is half of the fun.
** Outright inverted in his review of various ''{{Godzilla}}'' games, when he wished he was born later because the ones or the {{Xbox}} and PS2 were monumentally better than the ones on the NES, SNES, or Game Boy.
* NoExportForYou: [[invoked]]
** His disappointment to learn that the {{Godzilla}} FightingGame that he just wanted never came out stateside, instead getting the lame Godzilla games he grew up with until the games for the [=XBox=] and [=PlayStation=] 2 came in:
--> '''AVGN''': "[[MadnessMantra Only in Japan... Only in Japan...]]"
** He admits this is probably a ''good'' thing in his {{Transformers}} review, as the Famicom-only TF side-scroller is truly awful.
** In the ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture Back to the Future trilogy]]'' review, he was pissed off that the ''Back to the Future'' [[SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SFC]] game didn't leave Japan, and that instead we had three crappy games. Two of them distributed by ''[[TheProblemWithLicensedGames LJN]]'' nonetheless.
* [[NoAnimalsWereHarmed No Video Games Were Harmed]]: At the [[TheStinger very very end]] of the Nintendo World Championships review, [[spoiler: James shows that the two ultra rare video games he destroyed in the episode were replicas, and the originals are unharmed.]]
* NotCompletelyUseless: The Power Glove. He beat Zelda 2 without even ''REALIZING IT'' when he turned his head away from the screen to look at the camera. In the original review for the glove, he actually had better luck landing on the carrier in TopGun with it.
* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer:
--> "I am ''dead fucking serious''."
** From the Game Glitches episode, "All game glitches shown on this video were real." Considering what the [[Film/{{Rocky}} last game]] in that review was like...
* {{Nutty Squirrel}}s: Lampshaded in one part of ''Bible Adventures'' in the "Bible Games" review.
* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo[=/=]MarketBasedTitle: The nerd gives [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVzPCY2T-g a long diatribe]] about this topic.
* OffhandBackhand: To ''Bugs Bunny''.
* OldMediaAreEvil: He's delivered a couple of jabs at television.
** Averted, though, in that JamesRolfe is an avid fan of films from the early period of cinema.
* OneWingedAngel: After the Nerd [[spoiler:decapitates BugsBunny,]] he reveals his true form - that of [[spoiler: WoodyWoodpecker]].
** Darth Vader in the Star Wars episode turns into "a fucking. SCORPION!" Cue AVGN going insane.
* OpeningShoutOut: Invoked in the Angry Nerd ChristmasCarol.
* OriginsIssue: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mupyfGBE0Y The Anger Begins video.]]
* OverlyLongGag: The Intro to the Sega CD Video. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eH3vYbdGo&feature=related See it for yourself]]
** From the Ninja Gaiden outtakes:
--> '''Kevin Finn, a.k.a. The Ninja Sensei''': Normally they say, Ninja [[{{It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY}} ''Gai(Gay)-den'']].
* PacManFever: Played intentionally when the nerd tries to figure out how to use newer console's controllers. Otherwise averted, wherein shots of him with a gamepad usually have him pressing the buttons slowly and methodically. In his ''Winter Games'' review, he does a LampshadeHanging, saying that people that perform random ButtonMashing pretending to play video games are playing that game.
** During the crossover Brawl with TGWTG, the Nerd is seen playing a Nintendo DS, with the music from ''[[SuperMarioBros Mario]]'', and sound effects from ''Pac-Man'' and ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}''.
* {{Padding}}: A lot of the Atari 5200 review is just him trying to set the system up.
* PaintingTheFourthWall: In the intro of the series we see the Nerd playing games while Kyle Justin appears in the background singing the theme song with a guitar, then the song ends and the real episode starts, but in the Battletoads review after the song ends, the Nerd starts talking to the audience while Kyle is still visible in the background. Kyle sits down by the Nerd side, and it's then that he notices Kyle presence and abruptly interrups his monologue.
-->'''AVGN:''' Who the fuck are you?
-->'''Kyle:''' I'm the guitar guy... *the Nerd looks utterly confused* ...that sings your theme song?... from behind the couch?
* PasswordSave: He's [[BerserkButton noted]] that some of these are longer than others, for example, his first review where ''Castlevania 2'' requires five 4-character sections inputted for a single password, with boring letters and numbers that can sometimes be confused for one another.
* ThePenIsMightier: Sometimes the Nerd had thrown his pens as a threat, in the Team Brawl he actually throws one of his pens as a weapon. Lampshaded in the first response to the Critic with an small [[NoteFromEd disclaimer.]]
-->'''AVGN:''' Yeah, I got pens, and I'm not afraid to use them.
-->'''IT'S SATIRICAL''' Nobody throws pens. I mean yes the pen is mightier than the sword, but that's just an expression meaning the communication is more effective than brutality.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: One is discovered during the ''{{Action 52}}'' review.
-->'''AVGN:''' Number 9 - "Alfredo", or... "Alfred and the Fettuc". Yeah, "Fettuc"! You never heard of "Fettuc"?
* PetPeeveTrope: [[{{In-universe}} He has them,]] [[UpToEleven except more so...]]
** CheckPointStarvation: The Nerd absolutely ''detests'' this. It was his biggest complaint toward the DickTracy {{NES}} game.
** DamnYouMuscleMemory: Quite a BerserkButton for him.
** FakeDifficulty
** GuideDangIt: ''Really'' winds him up. Put some of this into your game and The Nerd WILL stop the review for several minutes to rip into the fact. As he points out several times, it's a justified complaint since most of the games he reviews were made back when walkthroughs and guides were not as easily available as they are today.
** MercyInvincibility, when absent.
** NintendoHard
** NoDeathRun: Oh, SO MUCH.
** ObstructiveForeground: Especially combined with enemies, powerups, or collectibles that are already small and difficult to see.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: The two kids that the Nerd has to babysit in the "Halloween" review end up beating the living crap out of Michael Myers.
* PlatformHell: This is how he presents ''NinjaGaiden''.
* PokemonSpeak: Shit Pickle.
* {{Portmanteau}}: "I'd rather drink buffalo shizz! That's a combination of shit and jizz. Yeah, that's foul. I apologize."
* PrecisionFStrike. Strongly averted. [[ClusterFBomb He swears in all directions.]] Innocents take cover. He does make one when playing the Xbox / Playstation 2 ''Godzilla'' fighting games, realizing that he was born too early to enjoy ''Godzilla'' games that perfectly paid homage to the films.
** Done literally in one episode, in which he found our that shouting "FUCK!" into his headset during a shooting game plugged the target. Lampshaded shortly afterwards.
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: [[invoked]] About half of the video games the Nerd reviews are Licensed Games. He always tries to have a sense of optimism about the game [[HopeSpot even though he knows that it's doomed in the end]]. He's been burned so many times by LJN-published games, though that this trope has devolved into {{X-Pac Heat}}. He's given some respect to the arcade and Genesis X-Men games, as well as the NES Batman game and the SNES Batman Returns.
* ProductPlacement: The Nintoaster. And yes, it works.
* PublicServiceAnnouncement: Randomly thrown in the Hydlide episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' There's no skill involved, you never know wheter or not you're hitting a monster or the monster's hitting you. It's just as random as rolling a dice or playing the lottery, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose... but I guess it's better than using drugs or [[HypocriticalHumor alcohol]], because with drugs and alcohol (specially drugs) you always lose.
** This PSA is a quote from a film that is referenced in a number of AVGN reviews.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Seeing just how much he can continually outdo himself in emphasis while shouting "You know what's bullshit?!" and "It's Cinemassacre's Monster Madness!" is pretty damned impressive.
--> '''They made. A [[{{Action 52}} Cheetahmen]]. Sequel!'''
** During the "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" review: "It's NOT. FUCKING. NIGHT!"
** During the Superman 64 review:
--> '''Look at this! LOOK AT THIS! HOW CAN I GET STUCK WHEN THERE IS SO. MUCH. ROOM??!!!'''
** From the Dark Castle episode:
--> "I got Dark Castle on C...D.........'''I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'''" (fire erupts all around him)
* PunctuatedPounding: The Nerd does this to BugsBunny during his review of ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout''.
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[[folder:Q-T]]
* ReadTheFreakingManual: As mentioned on the page; he was mistaken by the controls on ''Film/TopGun'' and kept thinking that he was supposed to press the controls.
** Likewise; a couple of his complaints could be rebutted by this trope; but it's actually justified why he can't do this because for a lot of the games he has, he doesn't ''have'' the manual. In order to obtain a lot of his games he has to buy them second-hand; and if you buy a cartridge game second-hand nowadays, you're ''lucky'' if it comes with a manual.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: James has stated he ''would'' review BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing, but he doesn't have a PC to play it on (using a Mac). His general rule that he can only play games he owns falls under this as well.
* ReallyDeadMontage: With R.O.B. on a rampage, a dying James reflects on all the shitty games he'll no longer have to play.
** Subverted and defied at the last second before the montage finished.
* RearrangeTheSong: On some clips, he uses a remix of his theme tune.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In his "Wii Salute" video, The Nerd provided voices and characterizations to various game systems, most notably the Genesis and the Super NES. After Genesis gloated in vain about his supposedly superior hardware (even though it undermined its points by introducing all sorts of add-ons like the Sega CD and 32x), Super NES finally got fed up and delivered this:
--> '''Super NES''': 32-bit, my ass! What's wrong with you?! You say [=CD=]s are the next big thing, but then you switch back to cartridges? You say you're more powerful than me, but then why do you need all these extra add-ons? What are you gonna do next? Add something else on top?
--> '''Sega Genesis''': Uh, yeah. (a second 32X is added onto the first 32X)
--> '''Super NES''': OK, go ahead, keep stacking shit on top. You've already needed like three power adaptors to run that colossal mess you've made. Look at you: You're a fucking disaster.
* RecordNeedleScratch: Heard in his "Indiana Jones" review when he compares "The Last Crusade" movie's plot to the video game's.
** In the Zelda II episode, when he gets surprised by the fact that people ask him to review the game, when he actually believes it's a good game.
* RefugeInAudacity ''and'' RefugeInVulgarity: Oh yes.
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* RhymesOnADime: His 2010 ChristmasEpisode is this, along with a {{homage}} to ''HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' as stated before.
* TheRival: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic may view the Nerd as his WorthyOpponent, but the surly Nerd isn't anywhere near as generous in return.
* RoarBeforeBeating: The Nerd literally roars like a lion as a BattleCry during the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover TGWTG Team Brawl]].
* RousingSpeech: The Nerds delivers a kickass one to the team of gamers during the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover TGWTG Team Brawl]].
-->'''AVGN''': "We're not going to fight with our hearts, we're going to fight with our balls! Now sound off like you got a pair!"
* RuleOfSeven: In his review of ''Kid Kool'' (whose full name is ''Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs''), the Nerd says that the game has a story that says that the king has a terminal illness, and that Kid Kool has to find the aptly named Seven Wonder Herbs.
-->'''AVGN:''' Yeah, I bet the game designers were smoking seven different herbs.
** That is not all. In addition to these seven herbs, he says that the game has "seven horrible design flaws", which are called "SevenDeadlySins"; and he even has a name for these flaws as follows:
*** 1. Not Being Able to Go Back -- "One-Way Bullshit"
*** 2. Running Too Fast -- "Two-Gear Diarrhea"
*** 3. Jump Control -- "Jump Fuckness"
*** 4. Skipping Over Water -- "Topside Aquatic Ass"
*** 5. Vertical Scrolling -- "Air Suspension Shit Lift"
*** 6. Invisible Items -- "Inviso-Bitch"
*** 7. Having to Drop Down -- "Free-Falling Fuckballs"
* RuleOfSymbolism: He realized [[spoiler: the [[TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde Doctor Jekyll & Mr. Hyde]] game was this during his re-visit episode.]] [[MoodWhiplash That or it]] just fucking sucks.
* RunningGag: Among others:
** Whenever he encounters a strange game mechanic, he uses the first ''SuperMarioBrothers'' game as an example to show how ridiculous that mechanic would be (e.g. only being able to jump ''or'' run).
** He used ''Super Mario World'', ''{{Contra}}'', plus ''TheLegendOfZelda'' and'' Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link'' a couple of times as well.
** Does the game have some sort of [[FakeDifficulty crippling gameplay]] or [[LogicalFallacies logic flaw]]? Bank on him comparing it to ''Simon's Quest''. Lampshaded in his Castlevania I review.
** His inability to succeed at "Top Gun."
** His flipping out over games made by LJN.
** His hate for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES.
** He's also mentioned 'Fred Fuchs' a few times.
** CDI games are now introduced with "flick the shit switch, turn up the diarrhea dial"
* SadisticChoice: Invoked on him by [[Film/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]]. Jason has the Nerd cornered and is prepared to kill him, while he pleads, "Don't kill me!" Jason then holds up a copy of [[VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}} the Friday the 13th NES game]]. The nerd, still scared out of his wits, says, "Kill me!"
* SarcasmMode: Enforced in ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' review: If he said anything negative about the game, [[spoiler:Jason Voorhees would threaten to kill him. However, he did not understand sarcasm.]]
* SavingChristmas: The subject $ of the aforementioned FakeCrossover with ''Captain S''.
* SchmuckBait: The easiest way to die in ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}'' (NES) is to go near the ocean floor -- where the power-ups inevitably drift.
-->"You gotta tell that ocean floor to '''go fuck itself!!''' I don't '''want''' your starfish and crabs!! ...Asshole."
** You'd be forgiven for googling [[InspectorGadget Dr. Claw's]] Dump n' Pump or FullHouse Tournament Fighter, considering how he casually mentions these fake games during his reviews and even shows convincing (but false) cartridges.
* SciFiGhetto: [[invoked]] James discusses this in his Monster Mania movies, mentioning how ''TheExorcist'' was nominated for (and received) awards, saying it was one of the few pure horror movies to do so.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: His AlternativeCharacterInterpretation for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales Scrooge [=McDuck=]]].
-->"[''VideoGame/{{DuckTales}}'' for NES] stars multibillion-dollar rich fuck Scrooge [=McDuck=] on an intercontinental quest to become even richer. Now, imagine flying into someone else's country, killing them with a cane and then taking all their treasure. Well, he's [[MemeticBadass Scrooge McDuck]], and I guess he can do whatever the fuck he wants."
** He also notes that Scrooge is perfectly content to bail out of a speeding minecart, leaving [[PowerupMount Huey, Duey and Louie]] to fall into a pit and die.
* SequelEscalation: In the ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' review, he says that if they made a sequel, its GameOver screen should be [[UpToEleven even worse than the original]], and makes one up himself.
** In the ''Lester the Unlikely'' review, he hypothesizes what the sequels would be like, making the protagonist (and then even the cartridge itself) more incompetent each time.
* SequelHook:
** A parody of this appears at the end of his NES accessories review. R.O.B. the robot shows up in the background as the Nerd says that the viewer probably knows what is coming up next... but is saying this while putting on an IndianaJones hat. He then reviews ''Indiana Jones'' games in the following episode.
** Two of his 2006 reviews foreshadow what will happen next. At the end of his ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' review we see him about to be attacked by Freddy, whose game is next. At the end of the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' review he magically acquired a Power Glove, and sure enough ends up reviewing the glove afterward.
** During his battle against the possesed Mario Bros 3, he wears his [[PoweredArmor Armor made of NES accesories]]. At the end of the battle, Super-Mecha-Death-Christ asks him "What the fuck is that shit?", the Nerd looks at his armor "This shit?" and announces to the audience "I'll tell you all about it". The next episode was of course about NES accesories.
** His 2010 reviews have had a couple sequel hooks. The ''Action 52'' review ended right before The Nerd started playing ''Cheetahmen''; guess what the next review was. And the ending to his ''Back to the Future'' review suggests he will revisit ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' next time.
** The Christmas crossover with CaptainS ends with Santa Claus punishing the Nerd for being foul-mouthed by giving him the Home Alone 2 cartridge for Christmas. The AVGN's Christmas Carol 2-part episode starts with the Nerd reviewing that game.
** The episode about Superman NES games ends with the Nerd announcing that the next game is the so long awaited Superman 64 review.
*** Which he teased with a little in the following episode when he said he'll be reviewing Superman... [[IThoughtItMeant On Commodore 64]].
---> "Oh, wait; you meant... Aw come on, you really want me to play ''that''?!"
** The Spielberg games episode ends with the Nerd refusing to even touch the infamous Atari E.T. game, but a sign announces "To be continued...in the AVGN movie".
* ShoutOut:
** [[Film/TheKarateKid Wax on, wax off!]] With Q-tip! Sai!
** [[MortalKombat Toasty!]]
** [[ThisIsSpinalTap "The question is, how much more black could this be? And the answer is, none."]] He's made a few Spinal Tap references before. Including "Like Sewer Shark, for this game I only have a two word review, Shit Shark."
*** And in Dragon's Lair when he says the bat kills you in 11 hits, [[UpToEleven why 10 when it can take 11?]]
** [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/2010/02/10/american-movie-quotes-referenced-by-avgn-2/ Numerous ones]] to one of his favourite films, ''American Movie''.
** He said in his VideoGame/NinjaGaiden video that [[Film/WaynesWorld he'd like to find whoever programmed such an unfairly difficult game and rip his still beating heart out of his ass so he could see how cold and black it is before he dies]].
*** This exact clip from the movie is used in his Wayne's World review.
*** Only in that case, he said he'd rather hurl.
** Hmm, the illustration at the end of the Back to the Future Re-Revisited surely reminds Music/{{Metallica}} fans of [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AHwyJkVQyk0/SzQtubnoywI/AAAAAAAAACk/ViECtYbRypA/s1600/GarageDaysMetallica.jpg something else re-revisited.]]
** "It's time to wrap things up! It got something to blow the lid off the crap barrel! Time to flick the shit switch, turn up the diarrhea dial, it's Bible games on CD-i!! Yeah-ha-ha! [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} We're living on the edge!]] More like [[Music/BonJovi living on a prayer!]]"
** When reviewing Atari and NES light gun games he said, [[{{Ghostbusters}} "Aw, man, I thought it was gonna be He-Man!"]] at the Atari ''He-Man'' game and, [[Film/BackToTheFuture "You mean you gotta use your hands?! That's like a baby's toy!"]] when reviewing ''Wild Gunman''.
** In the ''Batman'' review, the Nerd ends up getting in a fight with the Joker. This uses copious amounts of sound effect bubbles, like in the Adam West series, but there's another one when they use the sound effect "BIFF!", which is immediately followed by the UnsoundEffect "[[Film/BackToTheFuture MARTY!]]"
** In the ''Fester's Quest'' review, AVGN says, "You were expecting, uh, maybe, uh, the ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Ninja Turtles]]''?" (which is a nod to the quote from ''[[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III]]'', "You were expecting ''Series/TheAddamsFamily''?")
** During one of the many fights in the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' review, the Nerd says, [[{{Commando}} "BullSHIT!"]]
** The scene at the beginning of the Sega CD review is a shout-out/parody of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQRcinZYH8 the 1993 Sega CD commercial with the angry black guy]].
* ShownTheirWork: He ''does'' actually do extensive research on titles and game consoles.
* SincerityMode: After spending nearly the entire review of ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' for NES in SarcasmMode, when he comes to commenting on how it had the best Game Over screen ever (considering it flew in the face of Nintendo's then-dominant NeverSayDie policy), he had to add that he was actually being serious. Dead fucking serious.
* SirSwearsALot: Who else but the man himself?
* SitcomArchNemesis: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic. Also, Mike Matei ([[BoardJames Motherfucker Mike]]), who often plays characters who get into fights with The Nerd.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** His occasional "Chronologically Confused" segments, which feature a much less angry and scatological Nerd complaining about {{oddly named sequel|2ElectricBoogaloo}}s and [[MarketBasedTitle media being named differently in different countries]].
** His more educational segues when he talks about old neglected consoles and trivia about games' source material (particularly [[AuthorAppeal horror movies and Looney Tunes cartoons]]).
** Episode 102 is a making-of documentary which shows how James goes through the process of making an AVGN episode, ending on a three minute review of ''Barbie'' for the NES.
** ''AVGN Special: Contra Memories'' features James Rolfe recalling the first time he beat Contra.
* SomeoneHasToDoIt: In a couple of occasions he has claimed this is the reason he plays shitty games, as a warning to other gamers to avoid them.
* SongParody: [[HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas "You're a Mean One, Mr. Nerd".]]
* SophisticatedAsHell: The Nerd could go from talking logically to swearing like a sailor.
** The spiel at the end of the second Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review has to be his biggest example of this.
** From the Godzilla episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' The better way to sum this up is to recite a very famous quote from Wiliam Shakespeare: Fuck it!
** Especially prevalent in the Star Trek review, parodying the series.
-->'''AVGN:''' To begin with, the music and the graphics are quite good. But my senses indicated a large deposit of bullshit.
* SoundEffectBleep:
** In the Godzilla video games' review, as a rare use that [[TheUnreveal Unreveals]] a new curse word.
** Used at the end of his crossover with ''Captain S'', using the "Mario dies" sound effect from ''SuperMarioBros''.
** Used in his ''{{Action 52}}'' review when he showed what a TV version of his review would be like when he gets bleeped for saying asshole. Obviously this was parodied:
--> '''Nerd:''' Whoever came up with this game is an ass$#&%! ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall (looks at the screen)]]'' Ass. Hole? Ass$#&%! ''(shakes head)'' [[SarcasmMode Television makes a lot of sense.]]
* SoundtrackDissonance: The Nerd lampshades this while playing ''[[VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D Super 3D Noah's Ark]]'' and listening to some upbeat music:
-->"Wow, that's great. Just what you need, some really upbeat music to go along with Noah getting murdered by a bunch of fucking goats."
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* SpinOff: BoardJames; started out as the Nerd doing a review of a board game, then diverged into a distinct character after the first review proved popular.
* SpitTake: In the ''Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout'' review.
* SpockSpeak: Done intentionally in the ''StarTrek'' review.
* SpoilerOpening: Averted. Many of the opening sequences actually depict stuff that The Nerd has actually ''not'' covered yet. Such as him with large Neo Geo cartrdiges in 2006. Not to mention, he is also shown in a video playing "Phalanx", as well as having a game box dropping down on them.
* {{Squee}}: Being the collectors they are, Pat and the Nerd had their moment of this when they realize they have a gold Nintendo World Championships cartridge.
* StockFootage: Used in some of his reviews as a CallBack to a previous review. An example is showing footage from his [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Simon's Quest]] review in Super Pitfall or Milon's Secret Castle.
* StunnedSilence: Not as frequent as some of his other reactions, but they do happen. Typically with his [[JawDrop mouth agape.]] [[WordOfGod James has said]] these are his favorite moments in the AVGN videos.
* SuperpowerLottery: The Nerd can shoot fireballs, clone himself, fly into space, [[FrickinLaserBeams fire lasers]] [[EyeBeams out of his eyes]], and summon [[CrystalDragonJesus Super Mecha Death Christ 2000]]. Many of his videos feature him beating up a character from the reviewed game. And that's when he's ''not'' wearing his [[SuperMode NES suit]]. Seriously, WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic is lucky to be alive. [[spoiler:Or undead, or whatever.]]
* SuperSerum: He uses Billy Mitchell's Hot Sauce to give himself sufficient gaming powers to beat the ultra-NintendoHard Famicom ''{{Transformers}}'' game.
* SwordOverHead: The Nerd grapples with his urge to vaporize ''Star Trek'' (NES) with his phaser. Uncharacteristically, he spares it.
* TakeOurWordForIt: The Nerd is so angry at the end of the ''Godzilla'' episode that he has to invent a new swear word, which is bleeped out.
-->'''Nerd''': Oh yeah, it's that bad.
* TakeThat:
** The opening to the Winter Games review, which is a MythologyGag to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYb3o8irBQM this]]:
--> '''AVGN''':"Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, you know what? Everybody, happy holidays, and if you have a problem with happy holidays, then happy shut-the-fuck-up."
** In his "Best of Godzillathon" compilation he adds the M. Bison OF COURSE! from ''Film/StreetFighter: The Movie'' in response to his comment about aliens always wanting to take over the world. WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic tells him to knock it off after stealing his joke.
** The Nerd's suggested changes at the beginning of the Nintendo Re-revisited[[hottip:*:The original videos revisit his childhood, and the new reviews are redoing these revisits. This is why the official titles say these are re-revisits.]]/Back to the Future trilogy review video reference the changes made to the StarWars films (especially ''ANewHope''[[hottip:*:PlanarShockwave and TheDogShotFirst]] and ''ReturnOfTheJedi''[[hottip:*:A dancing sequence]]).
** In his ''StarWars'' Games retrospective, he makes fun of players who use cheat devices and emulator save states to remove the difficulty of hard games with his invention, the ''Beat a Game Button.'' For added measure, when he rants at his games that they should all consider themselves beat now that he has the button... the [[TheDarkSide imperial march theme]] plays.
** Sega's questionable business practices are exaggerated in the Console Wars video.
--> '''Super NES''': Why don't you just make a completely new system?!
--> '''Genesis''': Fine, I will: Sega Neptune.
--> '''Super NES''': Really. Well aren't you coming out with the Sega Saturn?
--> '''Genesis''': Yeah, we're hurrying it along.
--> '''SuperNES''': Then what about the Neptune?
--> '''Genesis''': Uh, that? It's cancelled.
--> '''Super NES''': Too many systems, huh?
--> '''Genesis''': Uh... [[LameComeback fuck you.]]
--> '''Super NES''': Fuck ''you''! Try making some games next time!
* TakingYouWithMe: The end of his ''Crazy Castle'' review.
* TalkingPoo: The Nerdy Turd (which allegedly is cloned from his own fecal matter) in his Odyssey review. It doesn't really talk (it farts) but same system.
* ATasteOfTheLash: The punishment of the ''Dark Castle'' cartridge and CD.
* TheTeaser: Many episodes have this kind of intro before the theme song:
** His look at Nintendo Power starts silently with a pile of magazines, when The Nerd [[JumpScare jumps out]] and screams "ASS!"
** The first [=CDi=] episode features a scene where The Nerd shows off a stuffed Donkey Kong figure.
** His review of [[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]] features pre-title gameplay footage of the character getting killed by lightning and The Nerd replying with "Fuck."
** ''[[VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]'' episode features a scene from the game.
** The Zelda [=CDi=] episodes feature animated sequences from the games (and the Nerd reaction to them).
** The Pong consoles episode starts with him playing Pong by himself.
** The Action 52 episode starts with the Nintoaster.
** The Wayne's World episode starts with the intro from the SNES version of the game.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The Nerd's analogue TV can't tune into TV signals any more.
** And the reason he still owns an analogue TV is because certain games--such as those that use a light gun--interface strangely with a flat panel.
* TemptingFate: The ending of the ''Winter Games'' review begins with a listing of safety tips for handling the cartridge. He follows through all of them, albeit substituting the contents of his hip flask for a cleaning solvent.
** This exchange from "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties":
-->'''AVGN:''' Why is all of this necessary? Do we really need to see their whole daily routine? Changing clothes, lifting weights, [[CuteKitten playing with cats]], trying on more clothes, playing air guitar with a plunger? Oh, so is [John] a plumber? Well, the game's called "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties", so I guess it makes sense. He's a plumber, and I don't see him wearing a tie-
-->''Cue shot of John wearing a tie.''
-->'''AVGN''': What the fuck?? You can't even trust the damn title!
** {{Lampshaded}} and deconstructed by AVGN in "Atari Porn":
--->'''AVGN:''' Can you imagine just sitting around, minding your own business and all of a sudden, some naked chick breaks in and starts humping the crap out of you?
--->''(looks expectantly at the door, but nothing happens)''
--->'''AVGN:''' You know, that's really not fair. I get Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger and Spider-Man, Bugs Bunny, but no naked chick. Fuck this shit.
* [[ThatsAllFolks That's All, Fucks!]]
* ThemeTuneCameo: Played for laughs with the ''Christmas Carol'' ghost, who announces he's going to "Take [the Nerd] back to the past!" The Nerd stares skeptically and retorts, ""To play the shitty games that suck ass"? No thanks."
** Also in the Captain S crossover, sort of:
-->'''Captain S:''' You must be the angriest guy I ever heard.
-->'''AVGN:''' Well, I'm the Angry Video Game Nerd. that's kind of my thing.
* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: Subverted at one point while reviewing the plot of a pornographic game and remarking how weird it would be if a chick came into the room and started humping the crap out of you... and it didn't happen.
-->'''AVGN''': You know, thats no fair. I mean I get [[Film/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]], [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]], {{Bugs Bunny}}, {{Spider-Man}}, but no naked chick.
* ThisCannotBe: The Glitch Gremlin gets one of these when the Nerd manages to beat one of the later bosses of ''VideoGame/MegaMan 5''... ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome even though the boss' key attacks were made invisible by a glitch]]''.
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Should this surprise anyone he uses this trope?
* ThisLoserIsYou:
** There's an understated but undeniable theme in many of the Nerd's reviews that the character sometimes regrets all of the time spent playing videogames, calling the time "wasted childhood". Sometimes it makes you wonder.
--> '''AVGN:'''"You're dead. Your friends are dead. Your family's dead. Your fucking pets are being skinned alive. Your mom's a fucking whore. You suck at life. The whole world hates you. You're going to hell. Live with it. Game over."
** Then there's the Power Glove in his eponymous review part 3 of his first Halloween special as the Nerd.
--> '''AVGN:''' "The only kids who own this (the Power Glove) were usually the richer ones who thought they were cool. Well, they're not cool. I'm not cool either. Look at me, you think I'm cool? I got a fucking glove on my hand. I'm trying to play a fucking game with it. I look like an idiot with a fistful of shit!" * Cue in for his pistol gesture towards his hand that comes down to his middle finger.*
** From his review of [[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]]:
--> '''AVGN:''' "This is the kind of game, that you'd rent for the weekend. You'd play for about five minutes. Get stuck. And then, your whole weekend is wasted!"
** From his review of The Terminator on NES:
--> '''AVGN:''' "[[AmericanMovie Is this what you want to do with your life? Putting wrenches on controllers... it's senseless! But that's what happens, man."]]
** During his "Karate Kid" review:
--> '''AVGN''': "I hate this game, but why am I playing it? Well, that's the question everyone has asked themselves, and they all have the same reason. Because you're angry and you want to win. You want to beat the Nintendo, but the cold fact is that nobody cares but you".
** When he starts playing the Ghostbusters game, after explaining how many expectations he had for that game when he was a child:
--> '''AVGN:''' "This is it, this Ghostbusters on Nintendo. This is my wasted childhood you're looking at..."
** From the conclusion of Simpsons episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' "I just wanted to point out that for a game titled Bart vs The World, there really isn't a lot of the world in the game. No shit, right? Just Egypt, China, the North Pole and Hollywood, pretty fucking educational, right? When I was eleven years old, my whole world was videogames, just locked up in my room playing Bart vs the Space Mutants and all this crap. I wasted all my time on this shit, I want it back. It ruined my life."
** From the Nintendo Days Revisited episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' "Jeez, I could do something much more productive with my time. I could learn a new foreign language. I could study microbiology. I could train Siberian tigers. Instead, I'm degenerating my brain cells into 8-bit pixels!"
** His monologue in the R.O.B. episode:
--> '''AVGN:''' "Fucking video games. We wasted so many hours of human life with this vile crap. We failed in our existance when we were cursed with the technology to invent such horrible mind rotting catastrophes. We were better in the fucking medieval times. I wish we were just sitting on the riverbank playing with fucking rocks!"
** Even in his Godzillathon video there's a similar theme:
--> '''James:''' "There's nothing more sad than a grown man all alone, wailing in his sorrows, watching Godzilla's Revenge. Let alone making a video about it."
** He points out that ''Lester the Unlikely'' really doesn't work because of this trope, and it makes [[FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]] look badass.
* ThisTropeIsBleep: Discussed in the Action52 review:
--> Whoever made this game is an ass****! Ass! ...Hole? ...Ass****! ...[[SarcasmMode Television makes a lot of sense.]]
* TitleMontage: The opening song is often accompanied by clips from the series, and occasionally not (such as AVGN holding up "Mischief Makers"). The clips change with most every video, which is pretty neat.
** The TitleMontage is averted in certain videos; for example, [=CDi=] Part 1 merely features the camera panning over the massive amount of video game memorabilia he owns.
* ToiletHumour: Used fairly frequently, mostly in reference to feces, and particularly diarrhea.
* TookALevelInBadass: Bugs Bunny when he returns to force the Nerd to play the ''Crazy Castle'' games. Rather than a punching bag, he gives the Nerd just as bad a beating, and he even takes a shit on his head.
* TotallyRadical: Upon playing ''The Adventures of Dr. Franken", The Nerd imitates the on-screen character by putting sunglasses on the Franken-Nerd.
-->"Frankenstein's ''coooool.''" [cue beatbox music]
** From the Atari Jaguar episode there's this line (And at the end of the credits of the episode there's the ''Super Cool Version'' of this same line, as an outtake):
--->'''AVGN:''' Check part 2, and we'll actually play some Jaguar games... or if you wanna be cool, you say ''Let's play some Jag!''
* [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Trademark Favorite Drink]]: Rolling Rock beer. Sometimes switches to Yuengling.
* {{Tradesnark}}: In the ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' review, the Nerd notes that the trademark in the "FREDDY'S™ COMING!" message ruins things for him.
* TrainingFromHell: He receives this while trying to beat NinjaGaiden. [[NintendoHard It]] [[ScrappyLevel doesn't]] [[FakeDifficulty help]].
* TrainingMontage: In the ''NinjaGaiden'' episode.
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: "It's a beginner's trap!" There's a ladder at the start of Super Pitfall which drops you into a room filled with spikes.
-->You know, [[SarcasmMode I'm disappointed]]. Couldn't there have been lava ''on top of'' the spikes? With fire sharks swimming in it? Couldn't there be ''more'' spikes [[DeathInAllDirections coming in from the sides ready to close in squash me while stabbing me at the same time? How 'bout some laser cannons or upside-down volcanoes?]]
** An earlier review of ''Die Hard'' showed that John [=McClane=] will happily oblige if you tell him to walk through an exterior window of the building, which just leads to a fall to his death.
* TrulySingleParent: To the Nerdy Turd.
* {{Tsundere}}: In his own words (from the IndependenceDay for {{PlayStation}} review):
--> '''AVGN''': ''TopGun'' may be a piece of shit, but at least it has a nostalgia factor to it. It's a piece of shit I might have some affection for.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:U-Z]]
* UnfortunateNames: Poor Fred Fuchs.
** Combined with FunWithAcronyms during the "How the Nerd Stole Christmas!" episode:
--->''S.C.A.T.'' stands for "Special Cybernetic Attack Team",\\
But "the droppings of carnivorous mammals" is what the word "scat" really means! \\
It's as close as you can get\\
To a Nintendo game called ''S.H.I.T.''!
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Guess who.
* UnusualEuphemism: The Nerd is fond of using "ass" in place of other profanities, such as "What the ass?" or "Son of an ass!" Not that he isn't willing to use legitimate swears, of course...
* UpToEleven: In his "Dragon's Lair" review, he found it odd that most of the time, you die in one hit, yet the bat only takes away one unit of health, and eleven hits from a bat will kill you. "Why ten, when it can take eleven?"
* UranusIsShowing: "Sonic boom to the Moon and hadouken up Uranus!"
* VerbThis: At the end of the ''StarTrek'' review:
-->'''Metron''': By sparing that shitty game, you have demonstrated the advanced restraint of mercy.\\
'''AVGN''': Mercy ''this'', motherfucker! ''[shoots the Metron]''
* VideoReviewShow: He is so prominent in this domain that almost anyone else who attempts to do this has a high chance of getting a TheyCopiedItSoItSucks reception. The spin-off series ''BoardJames'' differs from the main series in that it lies far on the "Show" end of the scale.
* ViewersAreMorons: Notes this in ''Back to the Future'' Re-Revisited when most of the levels are the same running stage only colored differently. "Do they think we're idiots?"
* VisualPun: During the ''StarTrek'' episode when a Klingon attacks. He asks "You want [[StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Genesis]]?" *holds up a SegaGenesis* "You can have Genesis."
** In the Action52 review, he says "This game is shitting me." Cut to a picture of the Action 52 cartridge with the Nerd coming out of the back of it, while fart noises play.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving:
-->No more shitty games... [...] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments I WON'T HAVE IT!]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: R.O.B. wants to turn all games into Gyromite and Stack-Up because the Video Game Crash of 1983 was a result of the market being oversaturated by shitty games. He tells the Nerd that in this new world, all the things he came to hate about games would be gone.
* WhatIsThisX: In the Game Glitch episode, the Nerd is distracted by [[ScrewySquirrel the Glitch Gremlin]] messing up Rocky Balboa (Bug-Eyed Balboa) and Spider Rico (Spider Rico with no jaw) on the ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' [=PS2=] game:
-->'''AVGN:''' They're like zombies! What is this, "Rocky: The Undead Edition"? You are really one sick fuck, you know that?
** In the Pong episode:
--->'''AVGN:''' "You get 4 different kinds of ''{{Pong}}'', like... what the hell is this, ''Reverse Pong''? Okay... Oh, ''now'' what's this? ''Asshole Pong''? That's not fair!"
* [[WhatWereYouThinking What Were They THINKING?!]]
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: If you only know Rolfe as the Angry Video Game Nerd, even seeing him {{corps|ing}}e during outtakes can be endearing, if not a little jarring.
* WhosOnFirst: James and Mike do a variation with [[http://cinemassacre.com/2011/05/06/whats-the-movie/ What's the Movie?]]
* AWorldwidePunomenon:
** On the 3DO JurassicPark games:
--> '''AVGN''': "Does it suck? You bet ''Jur ass ic'' sucks!"
* * WorkingTitle: The first two episodes were labeled in the "Shorts" tape of the "Cinemassacre Gold Collection" as "Bad NES Games".
* {{X-Pac Heat}}: [[invoked]] The AVGN's unceasing hatred for LJN, aka The Rainbow of Death. [[AdaptationDecay They've]] [[FakeDifficulty earned]] [[TheyJustDidntCare this]] [[InkStainAdaptation prejudice]] [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames for several]] [[PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage reasons]]. (But they ''are'' just the publishers of the games.)
* YankTheDogsChain: The Castlevania 1 review is rare in that it shows the Nerd actually ''enjoying'' a game for once. But then he gets knocked backwards off a platform, and the [[OhCrap smile begins to fade...]]
-->'''AVGN''': Well...[[NintendoHard never said it would be easy!]]
** The Nerd is ecstatic at the beginning of the Nintendo World Championships episode, as he believes he has purchased a box of games containing one of the incredibly rare original cartridges which would normally be unimaginably expensive. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a dime-a-dozen reproduction cart.]] [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope But at the bottom of the box, however...]]]]
** At the end of the first ''Terminator'' review, the Nerd said that they've gotten some really bad Terminator games out of the way, so from here on out, the Terminator games should improve in quality. But then he looks at the front of the ''Terminator 2'' NES cartridge, where [[LJNToys LJN's logo]] is shown, and gets a [[ItGotWorse horrified look]].
* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: The 2007 Holiday special. He didn't learn a shit.
* YouBastard: Parodied. He calls his audience sick bastards for wanting to watch more of his review about Atari Pornography, [[HypocrisyNod with full awareness that he's even more sick for actually owning the games]].
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: The Nerd seems to use the word "asshole" as referring to an idiot, rather than [[{{Jerkass}} its more common meaning]]. For example, in his Virtual Boy review, he states that no one would want to wear the console in public because "you look like an asshole".
* YourMom:
** In his ''DieHard'' review, as he's grunting insults while trying to punch out a villain after running out of bullets, he blurts out "Your mother!"
** In the game glitches episode, after the Glitch Gremlin messes up the graphics, making the game difficult to make out, the Nerd tells the Gremlin "It's ugly... like your mom!"
** The possessed NES during his Super Mario Bros. 3 review constantly said "Your mother!" after revealing itself.
** Also during one of his [[FakeDifficulty many deaths]] in his ''Silver Surfer'' review:
--> "Aw fuck! Your mother!"
** During his Dick Tracy review, he grunts "ugh, your mother!" while trying to grab a seemingly unreachable clue.
** In the ''NinjaGaiden'' episode, when he fails at one part in the game:
--> "Ugh, your mother!!!"
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: In the "BugsBunny's Crazy Castle" episode, [[spoiler:just when the Nerd thinks he has beaten Bugs Bunny into submission, an IrisOut starts occurring, about to signify the end, but Bugs pops the iris back open, indicating that he's not done yet, and the episode still continues]].
** In the ''{{Transformers}}'' review, the Nerd is about to end it shortly after defeating Megatron, until the game reveals that there is one more stage to get through.
* ZerothLawRebellion: [[spoiler: R.O.B.]] sought to recreate {{the Great Video Game Crash of 1983}} and replace all games with [[spoiler: Gyromite and Stack-Up]], the only games he was programmed to play.
[[/folder]]
----
->[[ThatsAllFolks Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all, fucks!]]
----
[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l_4c865c3baad03bd55f93aaa92a8cecc9_3025.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:'''''[[AtomicFBomb AAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSS!!!]]''''']]
->''[[NostalgiaFilter He's gonna take you back to the past]],\\
[[CausticCritic To play the shitty games]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment that suck ass]]\\
[[RefugeInVulgarity He'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in his ear]]\\
[[GrossoutShow He'd rather eat the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk]] [[INeedAFreakingDrink and down it with beer]]\\
[[UnstoppableRage He's the angriest gamer you've ever heard.]]\\
[[{{Nintendo}} He's the Angry Nintendo Nerd]]\\
[[{{Atari}} He's the Angry Atari]] [[{{Sega}} Sega Nerd]]\\
[[TitleDrop He's the Angry Video Game Nerd]]''
-->--[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qorFHyOVSsc The Nerd's theme song]]
[[NintendoEntertainmentSystem The Nintendo Entertainment System]] was a landmark in the history of video gaming - it was the first Japanese console to make a splash in the US, the first console released after TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, and the first console that most members of Generation Y have [[OlderThanTheNES firsthand memories]] of playing. During its lifespan of nearly a decade, the console introduced now-classic characters like [[SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[TheLegendOfZelda Link]], and VideoGame/MegaMan, saw video games shift from [[ExcusePlot thinly veiled excuses to kill bad guys]] to complex plots, and produced scores of truly great games, some of which remain classics to this day.
[[SturgeonsLaw But it also produced some real stinkers]], and ''that's'' where the Angry Video Game Nerd comes in.
JamesRolfe is the [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/category/avgn/ Angry Video Game Nerd]], formerly Angry Nintendo Nerd before he stopped focusing on just the NES (and realized he couldn't [[TheMerch sell T-shirts]] with someone else's trademark on them), a misanthropic, foul-mouthed, chronically ill-tempered gaming geek with a predilection for Rolling Rock beer who plays weird, old, and, more often than not, NintendoHard games, some of them with the worst FakeDifficulty imaginable. We're talking truly ''terrible'' here. ''Epic'' SnarkBait. "The Nerd" holds a specific torch of hate towards [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]], especially ones published by LJN Toys, which he sees as manipulating hopeful and oblivious kids into buying complete trash.
His reviews inevitably spiral downward into a barely-coherent rant peppered liberally with [[ClusterFBomb Cluster F-Bombs]] and scatological references culminating in a violent frothing rage that puts the Comicbook/IncredibleHulk to shame. The Nerd gets frequent unwanted visits from the stars of the games he plays, from BugsBunny to [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]].
Note, however, that a handful of episodes are not so much about a single shitty game as they are about a certain console or accessory (there are even a few that aren't about video games at all). Aside from giving reviews, the Nerd has also given a bit of video game history, such as a summary of the infamous ConsoleWars.
When he isn't getting his nerd on, JamesRolfe maintains a website at [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/new/index.php Cinemassacre.com]] where he showcases various other ventures, including his own independent films and an annual "Monster Madness" feature each October counting down to Halloween.
The AVGN had a long and violent "rivalry" with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic that came to a head with a BattleRoyaleWithCheese in October 2008, and another in May 2009, this time a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with his guitar guy in the fray. See the Critic's page for more details (and TGWTGYearOneBrawl for said crossover). In RealLife, Rolfe and Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) are good friends and Rolfe has even guested in several other WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses projects, including [[TheCameo Cameos]] in [[{{Kickassia}} both of the site's]] [[SuburbanKnights subsequent anniversary specials]].
In 2010, he announced he will cut back on episodes doing approximately only one a month for the time being, releasing each around the first Wednesday of each month. Previously he had a new one every 2-3 weeks. In September he announced his intention to make an Angry Video Game Nerd ''[[http://www.cinemassacre.com/2010/09/23/future-plans-avgn-the-movie/ movie]]!''. In 2011, he announced that due to pre-production on the Nerd movie, he will be scaling back production on videos further, to videos that are about as long as his early YouTube ones.
[[folder: Episodes]]
!2004
* ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Castlevania II: Simon's Quest]]''
* ''[[TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde]]''
!2006
* ''Film/TheKarateKid''
* ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit''
* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' (and ''Back to the Future Part II & III'')
* Toilet Video (video made for ScrewAttack's Toilet Tuesday series parodying the {{Nintendo 64}} Kid)
* ''M.C. Kids ''
* ''Wally Bear and the No! Gang''
* ''VideoGame/{{DuckTales}}'' (technically a Video Game Vault review and not an actual AVGN episode, though he's in character as The Nerd)
* ''Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu''
* ''Film/TopGun'' (and ''Top Gun: The Second Mission'')
* ''DoubleDragon III: The Sacred Stones''
* ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th''
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet''
* The Power Glove
* Chronologically Confused about Bad Movie and Video Game Sequel Titles
* ''Film/{{Rocky}}''
* [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] Games
** ''Bible Adventures''
** ''Bible Buffet''
** ''Super Noah's Ark 3D''
** ''Spiritual Warfare''
** ''King of Kings: The Early Years''
!2007
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles III'' (Movie Review)
* {{Atari 5200}}
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}''
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' Follow-Up
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' on Atari 2600
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' on Sega Master System
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' Conclusion
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}} II ''
** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' on Sega Genesis
* ''{{Spider-Man}}''
** ''Spider-Man''
** ''Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six''
** ''The Amazing Spider-Man ''
** ''Spider-Man 2''
* [[OtherSegaSystems Sega CD]]
* [[OtherSegaSystems Sega 32x]]
* ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer''
* ''Film/DieHard''
* ''IndependenceDay''
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** ''The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants''
** ''The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World''
* ''BugsBunny's Birthday Blowout''
* Atari Porn(o)
** ''Custer's Revenge''
** ''Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em''
** ''Bachelorette Party''
** ''Bachelor Party''
** ''Gigolo''
** ''Philly Flasher''
** ''Cathouse Blues''
** ''Knight on the Town''
** ''Jungle Fever''
* NintendoPower
* ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily Fester's Quest]]''
* ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre''
* ''Film/{{Halloween}}''
* ''[[VideoGame/DragonsLair Dragon's Lair]]''
* AChristmasCarol Part 1
** ''HomeAlone 2: Lost in New York''
* AChristmasCarol Part 2
** ''ShaqFu''
** ''FarCry Vengeance''
** ''SuperMonkeyBall: Banana Blitz ''
** ''[[RhythmGame Boogie]]''
!2008
* Chronologically Confused about ''TheLegendOfZelda'' Timeline
* ''{{Rambo}}''
* VirtualBoy
* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''
* Double Vision Part 1 - {{Intellivision}}
* Double Vision Part 2 - {{Colecovision}}
* ''Film/TheWizard'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''
* NES Accessories
* ''IndianaJones'' Trilogy
* ''StarTrek''
* ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}''
* ''{{Superman 64}}'' (And ''Superman: Man of Steel'' on {{Commodore 64}})
* ''{{Batman}}'' Part 1
* ''{{Batman}}'' Part 2
* ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers''
* ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}''
* ''Film/DickTracy''
* ''{{Dracula}}''
* ''{{Frankenstein}}''
* [=CDi=] Part 1 (''VideoGame/HotelMario'')
* [=CDi=] Part 2 (''[[TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon]]'')
* [=CDi=] Part 3 (''[[TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure]]'')
* Bible Games 2
** ''Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land''
** ''Noah's Ark''
** ''Joshua''
** ''Menace Beach''
** ''Sunday Funday''
** ''Moses the Exodus''
** ''David and Goliath''
** ''The Story of Samson''
!2009
* ''[[Music/MichaelJackson Michael Jackson's]] {{Moonwalker}}''
* ''[[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]]''
* AtariJaguar Part 1
* AtariJaguar Part 2
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''
* [[MagnavoxOdyssey The Odyssey]]
* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}''
* ''[[Film/{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]''
* ''[[Film/{{Terminator}} Terminator 2]]''
* ''{{Transformers}}''
* ''[[VideoGame/MarioIsMissing Mario Is Missing!]]'' (and ''Mario's Time Machine'')
* ''[[VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]''
* ''BugsBunny's Crazy Castle''
* ''Super {{Pitfall}}''
* ''{{Godzilla}}''
* ''Film/WaynesWorld''
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 1 (''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'')
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 2 (''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Castlevania II: Simon's Quest]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse]]'')
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 3 (''SuperCastlevaniaIV'', ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Castlevania: Dracula X]]'', and ''{{Castlevania 64}}'')
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' Part 4 (''CastlevaniaBloodlines'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Castlevania: Symphony of the Night]]'')
* ''Little Red Hood''
* ''Winter Games''
!2010
* ''StreetFighter 2010''
* ''Hydlide''
* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''
* ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}''
* ''{{Pong}}'' Consoles
* ''{{Action 52}}''
* ''[[{{Action 52}} Cheetahmen]]''
* Game Glitches
* ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]''
* Nintendo Days Re-Revisited + ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' Trilogy (includes re-reviews of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', ''Film/TopGun'', and ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'')
* ''[[TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde]]'' re-review
* ''Lester the Unlikely''
* Holiday Memories
* Christmas Special 2010 (''[[HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas How The Nerd Stole Christmas]]'')
!2011
* ''Day Dreamin' Davey''
* ''StarWars''
** ''Star Wars: The Arcade Game''
** ''Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back'' on Atari 2600
** ''Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle''
** ''Star Wars: Jedi Arena''
** ''Star Wars on Famicom''
** ''Star Wars''
** ''Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back''
** ''SuperStarWars''
*** ''Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back''
*** ''Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi''
** ''{{Star Wars|ExpandedUniverse}}: ShadowsOfTheEmpire''
* ROB The Robot
* {{S|tevenSpielberg}}pielberg Games (includes reviews of ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}'', ''Film/{{Hook}}'', and some ''JurassicPark'' games)
* The Making of The Angry Video Game Nerd (includes a review of the video game adaptation of {{Barbie}})
* ''NinjaBaseballBatMan''
* ''Kid Kool''
* ''NintendoWorldChampionships''
* ''DarkCastle'' on Sega Genesis and Phillips CD-i
* ''{{Contra}}'' Memories
* Bible Games 3
** ''King James Bible''
** ''Adam & Eve''
** ''Spiritual Warfare'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Joshua'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Bible Adventures'' on Sega Genesis
** ''Flight to Egypt''
[[/folder]]
----
!!The AVGN provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-D]]
* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Uncle]]: Uncle Crunch[=/=][[DoNotCallMePaul Paw]] in ''The Wizard of Oz 3''.
* AccentuateTheNegative: Played straight. Many viewers forget that he deliberately accentuated the negative in his review of ''Castlevania II: Simon's Quest'', as pointed out on Cinemassacre's FAQ, because it was meant to be a ''caricature'' of easily-angered gamers.
** Played straight up with ''NinjaGaiden''. However, the review was done this way not to emphasize how bad of a game it was, but rather how hard and challenging it was. He did the same thing with ''VideoGame/{{Zelda II|TheAdventureOfLink}}''.
** And when he reviewed ''StreetFighter 2010'' he stated that if you get past it [[InNameOnly having nothing]] [[DolledUpInstallment to do with]] any other part of the ''StreetFighter'' series, limited controls, and an [[DisappointingLastLevel impossibly difficult]] last stage, it's actually a pretty decent game. He tends to point this out a lot, playing the trope straight.
** Note that The Nerd doesn't always do this. He generally gives quite a lot of slack to SoOkayItsAverage [[invoked]] or SoBadItsGood games, more than most {{Caustic Critic}}s would, and he occasionally does whole episodes on games he loves like ''{{Castlevania}}'' and homages like ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}''. He will also often include games that appear in the same series as the real bad ones, and often they get some praise. This is both for completion and comparison, since often it will serve to let you know there is no excuse for the company that made it. Examples include his ''Godzilla'' review and ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' re-review.
** The Nerd unwittingly [[TemptingFate tempts fate]] with regard to this while the Joker is forcing him to play ''Batman: Return of the Joker''. After complaining about the game at length, the Nerd comments that it's actually a decent game overall, just an excessively hard one. So the Joker decides to make him play the much worse Game Boy and Genesis adaptations of the game, driving the Nerd over the edge.
** There are also instances where he is obviously looking for something to make fun of.
** Flat out stated in his Colecovision review:
--> '''Nerd''': Now, I know we mainly focused on the shitty aspects, but lemme tell ya: ''That's'' the name of the game.
* ActorRoleConfusion: Some fans seem to believe that the Nerd and his creator James Rolfe are supposed to be the same person, when the Nerd is just a character and James is an actor.
-->'''James Rolfe''': It’s funny how people usually see videos on YouTube and take them at face value. The same people probably believe that I go around in real life, wearing a white pressed shirt, stuffed with pens in the pocket, and saying “fuck” all the time and talking about buffaloes taking diarrhea dumps.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In his review of ''Ricky 1'', you can hear him holding back laughter when he mentions the scene that parodies ''TheGodfather'' is the closest the film comes to being funny. He was also amused by the Mr. Smithers ghost in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart vs. The World]]''.
** Despite talking about how much he hates the "Help, I'm a turtle and I can't get up!" line in the third ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' movie, the Nerd has a hard time controlling his laughter.
*** "I mean, come on! It's not funny!" *laughs* "Okay, I'm back!"
** During the "Daydreamin' Davey" review, he laughs at the "vultures shitting exploding bloody diarrhea" in the Western level.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Often.
** On Winter Games: "This is a blizzard of '''balls!'''"
** During his Star Trek review: "You're relieved to finally start walking around and doing stuff, but only then do you realize how ''astronomically'' '''ass''' this game is!"
** The Game Graphic Glitch Gremlin
* AdjustingYourGlasses: In the Action 52 episode, the Nerd does this by the bridge, just after he takes out a calculator from his front pocket to determine the price that each of the 52 games would have if sold separately. The whole gesture actually makes him look, well, [[NerdGlasses more nerdy]].
* AdultChild: The AVGN is basically a grown man who takes shitty video games [[SeriousBusiness seriously]].
* AgonyOfTheFeet: The Atari 5200 episode.
* AIIsACrapshoot: The Nerd is convinced that the Atari Jaguar CD is sentient, and purposefully preventing you from playing it.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: In one episode, the Nerd jokingly suggests the idea of a ''LethalWeapon'' game where Riggs's powerups are dog biscuits. This really does happen in the SuperNintendo game based on the movies.
* AncientGrome: The Nerd's [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/708928 review]] of the NES game ''Day Dreamin' Davey'' has him keep mislabeling a few stages of Ancient Greece as "Ancient Rome", even though they show Hades' lair and Mt. Olympus.
* {{Angrish}}: A staple of his reviews. Notably, Part I of his ''Castlevania'' marathon has him devolve into it mid-sentence just talking to the camera.
-->If all you had to do was whip the walls when you were hungry and...if this wall would break, and... ''if there was a fuckin' pork chop in this wall, I would '''SO''' eat it''!
** James' tantrum during the Scrooge special.
-->HUMBUG! BAH agabaggablughraghablugga-- '''''HELL!!'''''
* AntiHero: The Nerd is generally pleasant to most people until they turn out to be less than wholesome themselves, refrains from killing a defeated Klingon and has fought against Satan with Jesus on multiple occasions. Then again, he is a coarse, foul mouthed rage-a-holic who brutally beat up and decapitated Bugs Bunny (Though he certainly had it coming) roughly making him a Type III.
* AppliedMathematics: Chronologically Confused features the Nerd in front of a board filled with nonsensical equations and formulae, including at points a Triforce and a drawing of Mario.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: He LOVES this trope.
** On the ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' NES game:
---> '''AVGN''':"It [[{{Spoonerism}} sucking fucks]], it fucking sucks, it fucking blows, it's a piece of shit... and ''I don't like it''."
*** He says something similar when talking about the radar in the IndependenceDay episode... "It's too small, it makes no fuckin' sense, and... I don't like it."
** From the ''Deadly Towers'' review:
---> This game is a chicken-lickin'-finger-fuckin' son of a bitch! This game is BALL CIDER! The assholians bow down to this piece of shit! In other words, the game sucks.
** Here is the biggest ClusterFBomb in the whole series, in the Power Glove review:
---> "Now you're playing with power." (Pause) Now you're playing with fuckin' shit! You're better off fuckin' shit than fuckin' with this fucked up shit! Fuck this shit! You don't know shit about how fuckin' shitty this fuckin' shit is! It's so bad it sucks! It's so fuckin' suck it fucks! And I...can't take it anymore.
** Another one, from Superman 64 when he fails to complete a stage in time:
---> "Fuck! Ass! Bitch! Cunt! Fart!"
*** Before that, there was also the NES Accessories episode in which he shouts "FUCK!" in place of the word "FIRE!" with the Konami Laserscope, and he also thinks he can say anything besides "FUCK!", like for example "ASS!":
----> "SHIT! BITCH! CUNT! FUCK! FART!"
** Another much more subtle example appears at the end of his ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' review, where, unlike many of his rants where he states what disgusting things he would rather do than play that particular game, he merely says "I'd rather eat raw eggs".
** Actually, he does say "I'd rather take a bath in elephant feces" before the 'raw eggs' remark.
*** Also in the ''Rocky'' review:
---->"It's a bunch of putrid anal shit coming out of a rhinoceros's asshole. It fucks up the ass, shits out the mouth, piss out the mouth, dookie out the ears, diarrhea out the dick, shits for the birds. The control for this game is ''poo-poo''".
** His obscure enemy roll call for ''Wolverine'' (NES).
--->"It's time for the enemy roll call: We have green rotary dial telephones, {{Silver Surfer}}s in flying wheelchairs, Silver Surfers air-guitaring, John [=McClane=] from ''Film/DieHard'', {{the Grim Reaper}} throwing skulls, [[FrankensteinsMonster Frankenstein monsters]] wearing metal masks with visors like Geordi from ''{{Star Trek|TheNextGeneration}}'', and bubbles."
** In the "Making Of" video, James remarks that he has a lot of AVGN shirts, and why.
--> '''James Rolfe''': "As you can see, I have plenty of Nerd shirts because they get fucked up all the time. Bloodstains, shit-stains, missing buttons."
* ArtEvolution: Mike Matei's title cards. Pointed out in the episode in which the Nerd re-visit his earliest videos, he comments on how even the title card from the Top Gun episode was crappy, just to have it replaced in that moment with a dramatically better one.
--> '''AVGN''':"Oh, okay. That's way better".
* AssShove: The Bat-Nerd does it to the Joker, with all the Batman games reviewed. (Except the Good one.)
* [[IncrediblyLamePun "Ass"]] [[AsTheGoodBookSays the Good Book Says]]: In "Bible Games 3", when the Nerd types out the word "ass" in the Game Boy's ''The King James Version'', and the results got in a list of passages with the word "ass", the following passages he reads are:
** Genesis 44:13[[hottip:*: which is about eleven of Jacob's sons tearing off their clothes and reloading their donkeys before returning to Egypt]];
** Luke 13:15[[hottip:*: which is about Jesus rebuking the synagogue officials for telling him not to heal on the sabbath day, saying to them, "Does not each one of you untie your ox or your ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?"]];
** 1 Samuel 12:3[[hottip:*: about Samuel asking the Israelites whether he has committed any sins or not]];
** Exodus 22:9[[hottip:*: about a person handing an animal to another, and the animal dying or being stolen or maimed without anyone addressing the fact, although the next passage (22:10) has said giver swear an oath that he did not harm anyone else's property, and the owner may accept the oath]];
** Luke 14:5[[hottip:*: about Jesus asking the scribes and Pharisees if one among them would not help their ox or ass [[{{Bowdlerise}} (although "ass" is replaced with the word "son" in most modern versions of the Bible)]] out of the cistern on the sabbath day]];
** John 12:14[[hottip:*: about Jesus finding an ass' colt and sitting upon it before riding in triumph to Jerusalem on what is now Palm Sunday]];
** 2 Peter 2:16[[hottip:*: about St. Peter retelling the story about how Balaam got a rebuke for his crime via a mute donkey that spoke with a human voice and restraining his madness (although Balaam is not portrayed in a bad light in Numbers 22, which is soon to follow, and the words "dumb ass" are replaced by "mute beast" in modern versions of the Bible)]];
** Numbers 22:21[[hottip:*: about the same Balaam riding off to Balak with the princes of Moab on God's command]];
** Genesis 42:27[[hottip:*: about one of Jacob's sons opening a bag to feed his donkey when he is surprised to find money in the mouth of the bag]];
** 1 Kings 13:28[[hottip:*: about a prophet finding the servant of God lying dead on the road, with both the lion and the unharmed donkey standing next to his corpse]];
** and Numbers 22:22[[hottip:*: about the angels of God standing on the road to Balak to make a sneak attack on Balaam as he was riding on his donkey (as mentioned before in the passage preceding it, 22:21), which the Lord possessed to make it talk to Balaam]].
---> '''AVGN''': Ooh I'm going to hell.
* AtomicFBomb: The sheer intensity of the way he screams "FUUUUCK!" after seeing and playing the Godzilla games that he always wanted to play as a child, but which were released after his video game-playing prime had passed, is almost scary; it helps that the famous Godzilla roar was mixed into the scream.
** Another one was when he ordered a custom Atari 5200 controller when he couldn't use the originals, only to discover it wouldn't fit in the controller ports.
* AudioErotica: In his NES Days Re-Revisited episode, the Nerd decides to call the phone number in the ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' game, only to find that what used to be a recorded message giving tips for the game is now a sex hotline. AudioErotica indeed.
* AuthorAppeal: It sure seems like The Nerd has an odd obsession with animal diarrhea...
** James Rolfe loves horror movies and this fact is clearly evident in the extra work he puts into Halloween-themed AVGN episodes and Cinemassacre updates.
* AwesomeYetPractical: "It's a Nintoaster, and yes it works!"
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The 100th episode starts with the Nerd monologuing about how he have come to hate videogames thanks to shitty games, and how he wished humanity wouldn't have invented them in the first place. [[spoiler: After going berserk, R.O.B. tries to get rid of all the videogames, replacing them with Gyromite and Stack-up, proclaiming that shitty games would no longer exist thanks to this. It's then that the Nerd realizes that he actually enjoyed the time playing all those games and battle R.O.B. to stop him.]]
* BerserkButton: This is what he's known for!
** Excessively long passwords, and [[DamnYouMuscleMemory using any other key besides A to jump]] are his two main ones.
** Games without the pause features, such as {{Ghostbusters}} 2 on NES.
** Seeing the LJN logo on a game cartridge has also caused him to snap.
** ''GoddamnedBats!''[[invoked]]
** The Medusa Heads in ''Castlevania'' have reportedly given him a pathological hatred of wavy lines.
** Movie sequels that [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo don't follow a logical numbering system]].
** Games with '''[[CheckPointStarvation NO CONTINUES!?!?]]''' after you die. Turned UpToEleven if the game combines this with OneHitKill or only having one life throughout the entire game.
** Game cartridges with no end labels.
** In ''Batman Part I'', when he explains the utterly ridiculous controls of BatmanForever, which was designed with the Mortal Kombat engine. He actually seems to have strained his voice by the end of the review.
** AC adapters with built-in prongs (which tend to preclude the usage of the two adjacent sockets) also greatly annoy him, as seen in the Sega 32X and Dracula reviews. Related to this, ancient consoles which force the player to make use of an RF connector box for television hookups as opposed to just plugging a cable into a much simpler coaxial converter.
** Loading times. His annoyance with them is most pronounced in the ''Superman'' (Commodore) and ''Zelda's Adventure'' reviews.
*** Also seen in the ''Batman Forever'' review, which ironically was a cartridge game.
--> '''Nerd''': ...Whenever you access a new part of the game, it says "Hold On". Hold on for what? It has to fucking ''load''?!
** Overly cryptic puzzles, such as in ''[[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]]''.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: The Nerd ends up [[spoiler: getting strangled by PatTheNESPunk after destroying the Nintendo World Championship cartridges.]]
* BeyondTheImpossible: In his Nintendo Days Revisited review, the Nerd plays ''Top Gun'' again. It appears as if he is about to actually land the plane, but instead the plane '''flies out of the TV and out the window.'''
** Long before that, he finally landed the plane with the '''''Power Glove'''''.
*** In the same vein as the ''Top Gun'' plane exiting the TV, in his ''Star Wars'' review, the boss's life bar in one of the ''Super Star Wars'' games is so long that it exits the TV and keeps expanding.
** He coins the world's strongest expletive just to describe a set of games. It's so strong that both the audio track and his mouth are censored. Consider what ''[[CountryMatters does]]'' get through and...
* BigStupidDoodooHead: Despite his generous use of swear words and scatological similes, he sometimes ends up using these instead.
-->'''AVGN:''' ...I got more... You're a '''poopy-head!'''
* BileFascination: [[{{In-Universe}} It's]] {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d early on that the Nerd subjecting himself to horrible games is entirely a torment of his own making, but after the Christmas Carol parody episode, he decides that he can't handle only playing good games and goes right back to bad ones.
** And in the R.O.B. episode, after he gets beaten to within an inch of his life and R.O.B. is in the process of destroying all games except the two it was programmed for, instead of thinking about the good games he's played, he flashes back to all the horrible piles of digital crap he'd reviewed, gathers his HeroicResolve, and shouts, "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! WON'T! FUCKING! HAVE IT!]]"
* BladderOfSteel: Discussed in his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZfq-IPlLF8 review]] of the NES version of ''{{Ghostbusters}} II'':
-->'''AVGN:''' I mean, if you have to answer the phone, or take a shit, it's like, "Tough shit if you gotta take a shit!" You gotta take a quick shit! You gotta have turbo turds! I'm trying to play the game, I've got shit stains in my pants, and an answering machine that says "Sorry, I'm playing Ghostbusters 2 on Nintendo." What a selfish game. Bottom line, '''have a fucking pause button, god damn it!'''
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The AVGN lampshades this in his review of the NES version of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
-->"Man, these translations suck. Couldn't they just get anyone to proofread this shitload of fuck?"
* BodyHorror[=/=]UncannyValley: The thoroughly glitched boxers on Rocky for PS2 were either FUCKING ''SCARY'' or funny as hell.
* BoozeFlamethrower: At the end of the Rambo episode.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: After seeing the newer Godzilla games, the AVGN laments that he was born too early and instead had to grow up with the games he had just previously reviewed.
* BoundAndGagged: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVtwVXMPBY8 Every]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p713bNaO4A now]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvtk5toGJg and]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvs6JDSBqoE then]].
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Spoofed in the ''{{Action 52}}'' review's "TV Version" clip:
-->'''AVGN:''' "Whoever came up with this is an ass[[[ThisTropeIsBleep bleep]]]!... Ass!... Hole?... Ass[bleep]! [[SarcasmMode Television makes a lot of sense.]]"
** In the crossover episode with CaptainS, the Nerd foul language gets toned down to fit with the G-rated, Saturday morning cartoon feeling of the show. It gets lampshaded at the end when all the characters get scandalized when he says "Merry [[[ThisTropeIsBleep bleep]]] Christmas!"
* BreakingTheFourthWall: He offers the controller to the viewer in his ''Dragon's Lair'' review.
* BreakingTheReviewersWall: Sometimes he gets into fights with characters from the games, and in a few rare occasions, enters the game he's reviewing.
* BrickJoke:
** The mail on his Street Fighter 2010 review.
** Leatherface and the bicycle in the ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' review.
** Mentions of "the Poopie Man" in the ''Halloween'' review.
* CallBack:
** In the Pitfall episode there's an small call back to The Crazy Castle episode:
--> '''AVGN:''' That would be like the Easter Eggs were full of diarrhea and the Easter Bunny was shitting all over your face... but I had enough with bunnies and shit lately...
** There's a Call Back to the Super Mario Bros. 3/The Wizard episode in the Game Glitches episode:
--> '''AVGN:''' Moving on to Mario 3, The Glitch Gremlin usually stays away from this one. Yeah, it's a little too crowded with demonic possessions.
** In the out takes of the Nintendo World Championship episode, Pat mocks the Nerd about how he's a better gamer than him, making reference to many of the Nerd's failures from past episodes, including [[RunningGag his inability to land the plane in Top Gun.]]
** From his Star Wars games review: "And what's this? The program engineer shows his face? I wish it was Fred Fuchs!" (referencing his "Bram Stoker's Dracula" review)
*** And before that, he mentions Fred Fuchs in his review of Winter Games: "Who programmed this thing?? Maybe it was Fred Fuchs!"
** In his second "Bible Games" review, the Nerd ends the review by looking at BIBLE GAMES... [[ItGotWorse on CD-i!]] Much later, in his Dark Castle review, he ended the review the same way.
*** In the same episode, the Nerd sarcastically utters that the cartoonish dragon seen in the Genesis version of ''Dark Castle'' will give him nightmares, likely a reference to James Rolfe's own short autobiographical film ''The Dragon in my Dreams''.
** In his re-visit of the ''Back to the Future'' game, he said he was experiencing deja vu because he stuck the game cartridge in the Nintoaster. In his first ''Back to the Future'' review, he stuck the cartridge in an actual toaster.
** The Nerd has tried to land the plane in ''Top Gun'' four times: Initially in his ''Top Gun'' review, again in his Power Glove review (ironically, the only time he landed it successfully), again in the NES Accessories video when he used the U-Force. And finally, he revisited the game during his ''Back to the Future'' re-review, and once again tried to land the plane. This time, the plane exited his TV and flew out of the basement.
** In his ''Silver Surfer'' review, the Nerd says that just thinking about the game makes him feel like having an anal evacuation. He says the same thing about the Power Pad in his NES Accessories review.
** In his ''[=McKids=]'' review, he comments that the character can walk on water. Then he asks, "Who does he think he is: Jesus Christ?" He asks the same thing in his ''Rambo'' review.
* TheCameo: Shit Pickle turned up due to his similarity to the enemies in ''{{Action 52}}'' 's "Ooze".
** Richard Daluz, creator of James' "Nintoaster", appears in voiceover in the Atari Jaguar video, discussing his attempts to fix the Jaguar CD that James had sent him.
** The AVGN has a small cameo in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6krCnZFXuM Cinevore's music video parody '''Piece of Meat''']]
* CaptainErsatz: The LoonyFan from ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' review is based on Chop-Top from ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2''.
** The man who sells him the games is based on Alfredo (the gas station owner) from ''Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III'', and even sings the same song at one point.
* CaptainObvious: When criticizing the Virtual Boy's size for a portable system, he remarks, "My ass is portable!"
* CasualDangerDialog: When looking at the JurassicPark game for the CDi, he notices that the mini-game where you're being chased by a T-Rex doesn't show any hands on the steering wheel. He guesses that the driver either has their hand on the bottom of the wheel or is steering with their knee, and then goes on to note that the driver must be pretty casual about the situation to steer like that, and imagines them doing this on a cell phone at the same time.
-->'''Nerd as Driver(on cellphone)''': Hey, I'm stoppin' at Dunkin Donuts, you want me to pick up a coffee? What's that? Oh, just some fuckin' T-Rex behind me. Yeah, what an asshole.
* {{Catchphrase}}:
--> [[WhatWereYouThinking "What were they THINKING?!"]]
--> [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "I am DEAD. FUCKING. SERIOUS."]]
--> "What a shit load of fuck."
--> "It's like puking on a pile of shit!"
--> "Let's pop this fucker in!"
--> "Let's play some shitty games!"
--> "...and I don't like it." Usually said at the end of a long angry rant.
--> "I would rather (do something involving animal shit) than play this game!"
--> "It sucks monkey fuck!"
--> "What a piece of shit!"
--> "What a joke!"
--> '''''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98MuGxsLplA&feature=related ASS!]]"'''''
--> "Fuck. Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUUUCK!" as seen [[http://youtu.be/t9nxIUhZCCw?t=7m59s here]] and [[http://youtu.be/1dJXgJ1c4vY?t=3m7s here]].
** When he reviews something and it doesn't work, he sometimes says "What's the most important aspect about any game? Well, [[CaptainObvious being able to fucking play it!]]"
** Super Mecha Death Christ: [[ClusterFBomb FUCKERS!!!!!!]]
** when the game he's reviewing has a CDI port "Time to flick the shit switch turn up the diarrhea dial it's X on CDI"
* CausticCritic: Note that this is very much [[MeanCharacterNiceActor just the Nerd's exaggerated persona]] - when JamesRolfe reviews media as himself, he's actually more generous than most Internet critics. He is apparently rather soft spoken, which comes as a shock to people used to him as the AVGN. Contrast with TheHappyVideoGameNerd, who inverts James' concept and even has gotten James' seal of approval -- by subscribing to Happy's YouTube account.
** Taken UpToEleven in his review of Ghostbusters for the Sega Genesis, when he declares that the world is coming to an end due to him liking the game.
** You'll also notice that a lot of his videos where he tries to be more informative have him be more...well, out-of-character.
* TheChewToy: Half the fun is simply watching the Nerd suffer and become increasingly unhinged over the course of the video.
* ChirpingCrickets: In the Action 52 episode, when he tries to play Alfred and the Fettuc (for the second time) the game never loads and the Nerd is left only with a dark screen and the sound of crickets.
* ChristmasEpisode: "Bible Games" (2006), "An Angry Nerd Christmas Carol", "Bible Games" (2008), "Winter Games", and "How the Nerd Stole Christmas".
* ClipShow: Part of the December 2010 episode is a recap of all the previous Christmastime episodes.
* CloningBlues: None of them want to play ''NightmareOnElmStreet'' with him. Though you can hardly blame them.
** The Nerdy Turd is cloned from the Nerd's feces.
* ClusterFBomb: Doesn't even begin to describe him.
** In the third CD-i segment, he literally drops some F-Bombs - [[VisualPun as in Zelda-esque bombs with "F" imprinted on them]] - ([[LampshadeHanging as he described it]]), while shouting... [[CaptainObvious "FUCK!"]] for each bomb.
*** Also, after his LaughingMad sequence for ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon'', he flips off both middle fingers and clucks like the Cluster F-Bomb Chicken.
** There's his exploration of various NES accessories, one of which was a headset Zapper with voice activation. He then found out that he didn't have to shout "Fire!" to make it shoot. HilarityEnsues as he goes on into a literal PrecisionFStrike.
-->"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kBMscW_dVg I just shot down a duck, by saying fuck.]]"
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience:
-->"[[color:purple:Purple]] for "Putrid Gameplay", [[color:blue:Blue]] for "Bad Musical Abominations", [[color:green:Green]] for "Graphical Farts and Garlic", [[color:yellow:Yellow]] for "Piss-Poor Lack of Loyalty to Source Material", [[color:orange:Orange]] for "Orange you a fucking idiot!", and [[color:red:Red]] for "High-stress Anger-Inducing Masochism"!"
** FunWithAcronyms: Or, if you prefer, '''L'''aughing '''J'''oking '''N'''umbnuts.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Instead of an ironically cruel death, [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Kreuger]] forces the Nerd to play [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames his NES game]]. (Though Freddy did try to kill him when he took a shit on the cartridge.)
* CoolPet: Boo/Death Kitty, his pet black cat. Just see the Atari Jaguar review.
--> '''AVGN''': "Yeah! That's the REAL Jaguar!"
* CompilationRerelease: The first two episodes were re-released as "Bad NES Games" together with various other shorts in the "Shorts" tape of the "Cinemassacre Gold Collection".
* [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Complaining about Games You Don't Like]]: Pretty much the whole point of his videos.
** Even more so in another of Rolfe's series, ''You Know What's Bullshit'', though there it's more "Complaining About Pet Peeves", such as shoelaces, the post office not having much pens and pennies, which actually made the news.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: No surprise this happens a lot since a great part of the games he reviews are full of terrible FakeDifficulty.
--> '''AVGN''': The game cheats. That's all there is to it. '''The game fucking cheats.'''
* ContinuityNod: The Nerd mentions "Fred Fuchs" from his ''Dracula'' review in his ''Winter Games'' review.
** When the couch gets destroyed in the Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle review, the Guitar Guy comes out from under the wreckage. He's been there apparently since the beginning of the series, though you only learn about this in the Battletoads review.
* CosmicRetcon: The [=Y2K=] bug caused the events of his earlier "Wizard of Oz 3" video to be wiped from existence. This is referenced in ''The History Of Super Mecha Death Christ''.
* CoversAlwaysLie:
** In his ''Little Red Hood'' review, he points out that even though the title character is shown kicking a {{Mook|s}} on the cover, you cannot kick your enemies in the game.
** In the Cheetahmen review's opening theme song movie, The Nerd plays the SNES game ''Phalanx'', a space shooter. He then looks closely at the cover of the game, which has an old southern man with a banjo. He looks to the camera, confused. (Yes, this is real; the publishers did this hoping it would grab people's attention).
* CoverVersion: His ''NintendoPower'' review features Kyle Justin performing a cover of the Nintendo Power jingle and the beginning of his "Double Vision" ({{Colecovision}} & {{Intellivision}}) review, Kyle does a cover of Music/{{Foreigner}}'s "Double Vision." The Angry Video Game Nerd's theme has also been covered and remixed by fans of the series countless times in nearly every single genre of music.
* CreatorThumbprint:
** Rolfe is a huge fan of the horror genre, and it shows in his annual Halloween specials, dedicating daily updates on his Cinemassacre site to surprisingly thorough horror movie history.
** He's also a fan of the Godzilla films as well.
** His Castlevania marathon has him start by mentioning it as one of his favorite franchises.
* CrossOver: With WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. Repeatedly. And every instance of it is ''epic''.
** With [[TheNewAdventuresOfCaptainS Captain S]], in a Christmas special of said series.
** With PatTheNESPunk, for a review of the ultra-rare ''NES World Championship'' cartridge.
* CrossPoppingVeins: In his logo. The shape also suggests a game controller's directional pad.
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%%Crowning Moments go on the Funny/Awesome etc tabs
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* CrucifiedHeroShot: James lying bloodied and charred from his fight with R.O.B. --With the trademark white shirt, of course.
* CulturedBadass: For a guy who spends all day playing old video games and swearing like a sailor he has a surprisingly in-depth knowledge of Scottish folklore, recounting the meeting of St. Columba and the Loch Ness monster in the history of Super Mecha Death Christ. Though in his version the monster was Satan and Death Christ drove him off.
* CurbStompBattle: Both of the fights between the Nerd and Bugs Bunny. Bugs is the first to get his ass kicked, but he later comes back in the Crazy Castle review to exact his rabbit revenge.
* CurseCutShort: From the ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}'' section of his {{S|tevenSpielberg}}pielberg movie games review: "Smile, you son of a- Mmmmm!"
* CutAndPasteEnvironments: A major complaint he has in his review of ''{{Action 52}}'', in which he gets annoyed very quickly at the quantity of Space Shooters which are basically the same. Reaches the level of "{{Why Did It Have to Be|Snakes}} [[RecycledINSPACE Space?]]"
** Also shows up in his re-review of BackToTheFuture (NES).
--> '''Nerd''': The rest of the street stages are all the same, except they change the color. No effort. Time is money. Don't design another stage; just change the color, and kids will think it's different. Do they think we're idiots?
* CuteKitten: His black cat Boo, a.k.a. "Death Kitty" has made a few appearances:
** In the second part of the Atari Jaguar episode, the Nerd is attacked by the Atari Jaguar logo. He thus summons Death Kitty to fight it, and proves quite {{Badass}}.
** In the NES accessories episode, it plays with the screen for a few seconds, as well as defacing the Power Pad when the Nerd references what pets can do to it. The Nerd also attempts to use him to control the Roll'n Rocker, only for Boo to walk off it 5 seconds later.
** AVGN [[{{Animorphism}} turns into Boo]] at the end of his {{Moonwalker}} review.
** His white cat, Little Yeti, is used to torture the Nostalgia Critic into submission in the Final Battle behind-the-scenes.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The episode in which "the guitar guy" (Kyle Justin) who sings the Nerd's ThemeSong helps review ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}''.
* DecisionDarts: The 100th Episode (R.O.B.) reveals that the Nerd takes a pen out of his pocket protector and randomly hurls it at his wall of games to determine his next review.
* {{Defictionalization}}: There are a couple of episodes in which he casually mentions names of fake ridiculous games, this has caused some fans to actually google those games causing some curious results:
** In his review of Shaq Fu, he mentions FullHouse Tournament Fighter. Later, someone on [=YouTube=] submmited the supposely intro of the game, and recently he even submmited a whole battle between Uncle Jesse and Joey.
** In the review of Kid Kool, he mentions the game [[InspectorGadget "Doctor Claw's Dump and Pump"]], there are already a couple of fake YouTube videos claiming to be the intro of the game to mislead the people that actually try to Google it.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: ''Fester's Quest'', apart from the game footage.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment
-->'''Nerd:''' They just cut out the logo with cheap paper and they glued it on...with glue.
** In his ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' review:
--> '''Nerd''': And you know what pisses me off? Every time you fall down, you have to walk through the entire room all over again. All the enemies come back, so you have to fight everybody all over again.
* DerailedFairyTale: ''Red Riding Hood'' has an interesting take on the children's classic.
-->"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Little Red Riding Hood. She liked to jump in the air and whistle out her vagina. She kicked at trees until [[SesameStreet Big Bird]]'s ballsack would appear. --what, that's not the story?"
* DeusExMachina: Literal case during his battle with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic. The Critic begins channeling the power of Satan, and the Nerd is helpless, until Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:B.C.]] 4.0 Beta shows up.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In his revisit of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', The Nerd (who himself has been transformed into Hyde) is so pissed off by the game that he goes and digs up the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson.
** It then gets subverted when Stevenson's skeleton rises up and says 'Fuck you!' to the Nerd and foils his revenge. May count as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} for some.
* TheDogShotFirst: Mercilessly mocked in the intro to Nintendo Days Revisited. "Jason Voorhees shot first".
* DontExplainTheJoke: In his "Star Wars" review:
--> '''Obi Wan''': Luke, choose the force!
--> '''Nerd''': Get it? Instead of "use the force", it's "choose the force", [[SarcasmMode that's clever]].
* DoubleStandard: In his Atari Porn review, the Nerd calls a woman who bangs a lot of guys a "whore", while he calls a guy who bangs a lot of women a "stud".
* DoubleTake: Mistakingly beating ''Zelda II'' by wearing the Power Glove on his hand.
* DownerEnding: In his ''NinjaGaiden'' review, he and his ninja mentor ultimately give up trying to defeat the FinalBoss.
* DrivenToSuicide: Following the Dracula reviews, the Angry Vampire Game Nerd begs the sun to "vanquish" him.
* DuckSeasonRabbitSeason: Done in the review of ''The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2''.
* DuctTapeForEverything: The Nerd deals with the Virtual Boy's unwieldy design by duct-taping it to his head.
* DudeWheresMyReward: At the end of the Captain S crossover, the Nerd merrily announces "Merry [bleep] Christmas!", shocking everybody with his language, he ends up being sent back to his home and receives the Home Alone 2 cartridge from Santa Claus as a punishment for being foul-mouthed, [[UngratefulBastard ignoring the fact that the Nerd just helped Captain S to save him and Christmas from the Game Genie]]. In the [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol Christmas Carol episode]], it turns out receiving that game was the last straw that caused the Nerd go Scrooge. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job, Santa.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:E-H]]
* EasterEgg: [[http://cinemassacre.com/2008/08/04/dark-side-of-the-nerd/ You can sync the episode of the review of the Wizard of Oz SNES game with Pink Floyd's'''Dark Side of the Moon''' album]]. Done in purpose as a reference to the urban legend that the Wizard of Oz movie could be synced to the album.
* EdutainmentShow: His reviews actually fall into this category, when you think about it. You may learn something you never knew about an old console or game, while being entertained at the same time.
** Many of his more recent episodes (2010 and beyond normally) were a little more like a documentary.
* EnemyMine: He has joined forces with WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic to review ''The Making of TMNT: Coming Out Of Their Shells'' as they both are ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' fans. Sure, they technically became allies at the TGWTG Brawl, but still...
* EnforcedMethodActing: Several times, those are genuine reactions, and sometimes James thinks they were so good that they're worth putting into the final take. Gameplaywise, he shows that he's actually playing the game and that he wasn't staging them. If it's a new game he's never played before (Namely ''Dragon's Lair''), some of those are his actual thoughts.
** Subverted in a couple of his early videos. He admits in his 'Making an AVGN episode' documentary that in his ''Karate Kid'' video he was intentionally walking into the enemies.
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* EpisodeTitleCard: All drawn by Mike Matei, and all featuring a caricature of the Nerd.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His very first words:
-->'''Angry Video Game Nerd:''' This game sucks.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: In the ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' review, it's not the SHIT PUKE that pissed the Nerd off about the possessed cartridge in the first place. It's the line ''"[[TheExorcist Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!]]"''
* [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Vulgarity Has Standards]]: During the Bible Games episode, the nerd shows us one of his limits (though he had said the first sentence straight in an earlier review, so he was probably trying to make up for that).
-->'''Nerd:''' You would rather listen to your own infant child puking to death. That is, choking on his own puke chunks...[[DudeNotFunny That's disgusting, I apologize.]]
** He also apologizes for something he says in his Indiana Jones review. "I'd rather drink buffalo shizz! That's a combination of shit and jizz. Yeah, that's foul. I apologize."
* EveryEpisodeEnding: Not ''all'' of them, but it often involves destroying the cartridge of the game reviewed.
* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: InUniverse: Parodied at the end of his Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde review remake.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He is a nerd, he often gets angry, the show is about video games.
--> "To play the game, you need the ''GameBoy''. Here's the game, that's the boy, this is the Game Boy."
** Shit Pickle. He's a pickle, and he's got a big (well, relative to his size) dollop of shit on his head.
** Also the Nerdy Turd, a large turd with the Nerd's face on it. Created for the Magnavox Odyssey review. [[TheUnintelligible The only sound it makes is fart noises.]]
** "Hey, you like my new invention? I call it the "Gyromite Controller". ..It plays Gyromite."
** The Nerd lampshades this in "How the Nerd Stole Christmas":
--->''VideoGame/{{Ballz}}'' is an aptly-named travesty on SNES\\
That makes no sense and is a cockamamie butt-brained mess!
* ExpositoryThemeTune
* EyeScream: When confronted by Michael Myers, the Nerd jabs the joysticks of a pair of Atari controllers through the eye holes of his mask, [[ImplacableMan evidently to little effect]].
* TheFaceless: Mike Matei, who always wears some form of costume or makeup ([[spoiler:That is, until ''BoardJames'', where Matei becomes ''Motherfucker Mike'']]).
** Freddy Kreuger's face is covered by shadow or obscured otherwise in the ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' episode. [[spoiler: He looks just like the Nerd.]]
** Initially the Bullshit Man, until TheReveal that he's...ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* FacePalm: The Nerd can't help but do this during ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'' and during his ''Dracula'' review.
* FakeCrossover: The crossover with ''TheNewAdventuresOfCaptainS''.
* FakeDifficulty: The biggest reason why the games the Nerd reviews suck.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: To the nerd, ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is this trope incarnate. Out of a six and a half minute video, exactly one minute and 12 seconds is actually spent playing; the remaining time has the Nerd [[TakeOurWordForIt going on about how horrible it is]], [[INeedAFreakingDrink chugging back his beer several times]], and essentially begging not to have to play it or that the viewer not play it. And it really is that bad.
** Another time, when Jason Voorhees is forcing him to play the ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' NES game and say good things about it, the Nerd at one point gets caught badmouthing it and runs away before Jason pins him in a corner. At first, he pleads for his life...then Jason takes out the cartridge, and the Nerd begs to be killed instead.
* FightSceneFailure:[[invoked]] [[StylisticSuck Intentionally]] used in the ''StarTrek'' review, where a shot show him jump-kicking a wall for no reason, which Kirk actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHCNTELFI8 did once]].
--> "And I am dead fucking serious. Dead. Fucking. Serious." *breaks into laughter as video cuts away*
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Seen in the "Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle" review.
* FireForgedFriends: The Nerd and CaptainS in the crossover Christmas special.
* {{Flanderization}}: Kinda. His earlier reviews (back before his Screwattack partnership) had him act much calmer, with some swear words popped in at times. Now he swears much more often, and he's more over the top angry. Beer drinking was also a one-time action in his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review, now being a staple of his series.
** Another way to put it is that before, he was simply an "Angry Video Game Nerd" who became angry at the constant suckage of the games he played. Now, he's an ''insane'' muthafucka. Compare his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reviews.
* FlashbackCut: Demonstrated in his ''Rambo'' review when he briefly flashed back to a satirical remark he made in his ''Chronologically Confused'' video about what the next Rambo movie might be called.
* FlippingTheBird
* FoeYay: With WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic.
** In the behind the scenes of the TGWTG Anniversary Brawl, the Nerd and the Critic are angrily exchanging insults when one the other reviewers says [[GetARoom "make out!"]], causing everybody to crack up.
* FollowTheLeader: Inspired a glut of profanity-filled internet video game reviews, with TheIrateGamer being among the most prominent.
** He also has some imitators in other countries, like [[JoueurDuGrenier Le Joueur Du Grenier]] ("The Attic Gamer") in France.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Nerd mentions Richard Daluz's Nintoaster in passing during his review of the Atari Jaguar CD. It is the console he plays ''Action52'' on in THAT video.
** Also overlaps with BrickJoke: [[spoiler: In his earlier review of the BackToTheFuture games: he stuffs the cartridge in a toaster.]] This overlap was lampshaded.
** In the Making Of special, when James demonstrates how he has hooked up so many consoles to a single TV, he uses the CD-I as the example and shows us how he activates it, but adds "[[TemptingFate I don't know why I'd ever want to play CD-I again.]]" Guess what console he uses in the ''Dark Castle'' review?
* FountainOfExpies: He got a lot of them!
* FrankensteinsMonster: The "Franken-Nerd".
* FreakOut: The Nerd goes completely fucking loco at the end of the Dick Tracy review. He starts ''screaming'' about the NintendoHard aspect of the game, coming closer and closer to the screen, screams, starts drinking beer like crazy (''wetting his clothes'' in the process), starts shouting muffled nonsense while pushing his face into ''a pillow'', [[ClusterFBomb a brief montage of him screaming "FUCK" in various parts of his house follows]], and even then, he pierces the cartridge with a drill. ''[[ButWaitTheresMore Then]]'' he looks at the cartridge, spinning because he wasn't holding it and it was still on the drill, [[NightmareFuel with a demented stare]], at that, and the screen ''finally'' cuts to black as he destroys it with his hammer. ''While the cartridge is spinning''.
** It's been noted the sheer ire of this particular FreakOut concerning ''Dick Tracy'' was because this was one of the few games the Nerd owns that he hasn't been able to beat for over 20 years and actually harbors [[SincerityMode sincere animosity for]]. Projecting real-life frustration via the Nerd persona equals one of his most ''batshit insane'' rants ever in the series.
** Done again in his second revisit of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. After too much time playing the game (and, arguably, too much liquor), the Nerd goes [[HulkingOut on a rage-blinded mission]] with a cape, top hat, and a cane to dig up Robert Louis Stevenson's grave for making the book that inspired the game; after the skeleton somehow comes back to life, proclaiming it's the devil and commanding the Nerd to play the game some more, [[AllJustADream the Nerd wakes up]] with the game still in the toaster-turned-NES. He has an {{e|urekaMoment}}piphany...
* FridgeBrilliance:[[invoked]] The Nerd has an extreme case of this himself when he revisits ''Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde''. Toward the end of the review, he begins to think it is actually a clever game, as [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory it makes sense that Jekyll's weapon doesn't hurt people since he symbolizes good, how you get a game over when Hyde physically passes Jekyll since in that instance it would mean evil triumphs over good, and many other bits of symbolism in the game.]] Of course, even after realizing this stuff, he still hates the game for being awful.
** His "evidence" for VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 being possessed had to take forever to come up with, and it's truly a spectacle of nerd theory-dom.
** He doesn't use his 'Beat-a-Game button' on the original Ninja Gaiden, but on Ninja Gaiden 2 instead. Why? Because he never beat the first one so he wouldn't be able to use footage of the ending cutscenes.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: WordOfGod says the Rolling Rock bottles are actually filled with water. Justified because James shoots the footage in the morning and doesn't want to drink alcohol that early.
** In the 'Spiderman' episode, you can see that it [[http://youtu.be/omW1E7rv7IM?t=3m30s is indeed water in the bottle]] (as Spidey tips it away claiming it to be 'corporate bullshit' and 'Shit Rock'), although this might be purely because of the nature of this shot; who the hell would actually tip perfectly good beer away like that?
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the Winter Games review, the Nerd eventually goes on a rant about how the control setup is essentially [[PacManFever frantic mashing of random buttons]]. He does an example of this while saying so, facing the camera and using the controller plugged into the NES behind him. Viewers looking past him during this moment will notice the figure skater in the game doing several (relatively) impressive moves; all of which the Nerd previously noted he couldn't do when he was ''trying''.
** Much the same happens when he tries to beat Zelda II with the Power Glove. The Nerd is busy talking about the NintendoHard nature of the game and the shittiness of the Power Glove while lamenting how he's never been able to beat the game. All the while behind him, Shadow Link is handily defeated by the Power Glove's random movements, something he was never able to do when he actually tried his hardest.
* FutureLoser: During the 2007 ''A Christmas Carol'' parody, the Nerd sees his future self playing various shitty Wii games and [[spoiler:the future Nerd eventually has a heart attack while playing Boogie to the tune of "[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Walking]] [[Music/KatrinaAndTheWaves on Sunshine]]"]].
* GenrePopularizer: Of the "angry video game reviewing" kind, if you're not going to call those others copycats.
* GenreSavvy: The Nerd created a FrankensteinsMonster, but also added a way to shut it off.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: All the time, but there are particularly plenty of examples in his ''[[VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]'' review:
--> '''AVGN''': There's ''dogs applauding''!! I didn't even know that dogs were fucking watching!!
--> '''AVGN''': [[HeroicBSOD Bu... th... uh... wha...]] A fucking ''chicken mask''?! ...An '''[[BigLippedAlligatorMoment UPSIDE DOWN FUCKING CHICKEN MASK!]]'''
--> '''AVGN''': WHY IS IT NOW JUST A HEAD OF A PANDA?!
* TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation: JamesRolfe is an admitted fan of vintage animation, to the point where even goes out of his way to ''collect the original prints of those cartoons and watch them at home with his own movie projector.''
* GoodAngelBadAngel: Used in a few examples in his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEXpsDB2XQ review]] of ''[[{{Pitfall}} Super Pitfall]]'' when an angel and a devil fight over Harry's body every time an enemy kills him. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Even funnier is that when Harry falls into spikes at one scene, the game would freeze up while the angel and devil are hovering for a few seconds before Harry finally "dies".]]
* AGoodNameForARockBand: "Cunt-thrust", inspired by the ladies who "restore Link's health", so to speak, in ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]''.
* GoshDangItToHeck: In the crossover with CaptainS, the Nerd's foul language got humorously toned down.
-->'''AVGN:''' Home Alone in the Nintendo Entertaiment System, ''what a buttload of crud''.
* GrammarNazi: James does this to the credits for the NES ''Ghostbusters'' game. Though in fairness to James, those were really obvious errors and deserved to be corrected.
* GratuitousGerman: Slips into this during his ''DeadlyTowers'' video ([[FourthWallMailSlot the one where everything was written by the fans]]).
--> "Well, I gave that a try..."
* GrossoutShow
* GuestFighter: Bugs Bunny, who intrudes the Nerd's reality just to kick the crap out of him.
** The Nerd and Kyle Justin were the guest characters (...and Ma-Ti from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'') that were not part of the TGWTG.com crew that appeared in the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover Anniversary Team Brawl]].
* GuiltyPleasures: According to his review of "The Making of TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour," he had a cassette of the tour, which he would listen to all the time, but is ashamed to admit it.
** He also admits to liking "TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze" as a guilty pleasure, despite (or perhaps because of) thinking it's cornier than the first movie.
* TheGump: As ''The History of Super Mecha Death Christ'' reveals, Super Mecha Death Christ has had an influence in history from its first chronological appearance in 2000 [[AC:b.c.]], where the prototype spontaneously appeared after the events of ''[[ReturnToOz The Wizard of Oz 3: Dorothy Goes to Hell]]'' (one of James' earlier videos) and was subsequently destroyed by the cavemen, the vikings, and the Egyptosaurus. Notable appearances in history include:
** The discovery of the prototype [=SMDC2K=]'s remains in Stonehenge (where Mechahenge was built the next morning but vanished mysteriously at sunset) in 900 [[AC:b.c.]];
** The construction of Mecha Death Christ by Prince Vlad Dracula in 1476 [[AC:a.d.]] after being haunted by visions of Death Christ (who aided St. [[hottip:Columba: Columbo]] in defeating Satan in the Loch Ness 911 years prior), which eventually went on a berserk killing spree and ultimately beheaded Dracula before heading off to whereabouts unknown;
** The recovery of Mecha Death Christ by Nazis in 1933, [[StupidJetpackHitler its upgrade to Super Mecha Death Christ]] in [[hottip:1942:Hitler was looking for [[IndianaJones the Lost Ark of the Coventant]] because he wanted to mount it atop SMDC to combine the powers of God! Probably the most insane weapon to have ever been conceived!]] (not to be confused with Super ''Music/{{Megadeth}}'' Christ), and its killing of AdolfHitler in 1944, the same year it was defeated and then recovered by the U.S. military;
** The reconstruction out of the same parts a year later into Super Mecha Death Christ version 2, complete with new weapons, electromechanical interface, capability of flying, and voice synthesis (however, all it could do was shout out German swears);
** The completion of version 3, which was given a test flight in 1947 in a desert near Roswell, New Mexico, where it was mistaken for a UFO;
** The malfunction of version 4 (which was built in 1955 out of a red Chevrolet) on its first test run;
** Version 5 (built in 1960), which, despite being capable of employing laser physics, suffered the same fate as the previous one;
** The completion of Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 in 1962 with stealth flight, which escaped detection, and flew off to an unknown location, only to be found 40 years later washed up on the shore of Maldives Island (up until then, the U.S. military dropped the SMDC project, and instead focused on what eventually became the Nighthawk), and rebuilt in 2004 into SMDC 2000 II;
** The discovery in 1972 by the NASA astronauts of what was presumed to be the remnants of [=SMDC2K=], which was really the scrap metal from the [=SMDC2K=] prototype. They subsequently flew it back to Earth for testing;
** The creation of Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] from the prototype in 1981, with laser, grenade, and machine gun cannons, and the upper body being mounted on a task for extreme combat;
** The release of Film/RoboCop in 1987, which ripped off the model of the protoype of the [=SMDC2K=];
** The completion of [=SMDC2K=] [[AC:b.c.]] version 2.0 in 1989, with a ray gun equipped to its chest, and the ability to blast laser beams from its eyes;
** The builiding of [=SMDC2K=] [[AC:b.c.]] version 2.5 in 1997, which was updated with a new voice synthesis (but it could only scream in rage); it was abducted by Satan the next year, and reprogrammed for world domination;
** The rampage of the automated robofied powertronic cyberbot Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]], version 3.0 Beta ([[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]) in the land of Oz under the control of Satan in 1999.
** Its [[CriticalExistenceFailure existence failure]] at the beginning of 2000, in which the [=Y2K=] bug caused the year 99 to 0, thus causing the space-time continuum to reset itself, which turned SMDC into [[FountainOfYouth Baby Christ]] (obviously, [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter not an evildoer]]) who generated a force field that deflected the world-blower-upper bomb it fired into the air as SMDC and redirected it to Hell and it blew up Lucifer instead, sent the SMDC prototype to 2000 [[AC:B.C.]][[hottip:*:Because this model was labeled as 2000 '''''B.C''''', it denies its existence in the present time]], prevented the building of version 3.0 Beta, and because Baby Christ was in Oz, it made no sense for him to be in the Bible, so without Jesus, there'd be no New Testament, and Satan would have nothing better to do than sit around and stick his pitchfork up his ass, [[TheOmen his son Damien]] would be playing croquet with the angels, dogs and cats would be rolling around in the mud, and Dorothy would be reincarnated as a pig taking a shit up the side of a barn (In short, the [=Y2K=] bug resulted in a StableTimeLoop, and the events in Oz no longer exist);
** The take-over of SMDC 2000 II by Satan, yet again, after it was rebuilt, only to be intercepted by [=SMDC2K=] [[AC:b.c.]] version 3.1, who shows up out of nowhere, destroys it in the confrontation, and sends Satan back into Hell;
** The surprise appearance of the self-upgraded Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] 4.0 Beta after AVGN encounters Satan possessing a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge in 2008, and again in the same year during the battle between AVGN and the WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic where Satan intervenes to assist NC; in both cases Satan was defeated;
** The final appearance of Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:b.c.]] (whatever version it happened to be at the moment) to date in 2009 in a pitched battle between the forces of gamers and critics, in which he did combat with [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Giant]] [[KillerRobot Robotic]] DonkeyKong [[KungFuJesus Jesus]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Riding a]] [[Series/{{Lost}} Puff of Smoke]], culminating in a nuclear blast in the middle of Chicago; Neither have been seen since.
*** The moral of this story: Good ''always'' prevails over evil, no matter how corruptive.
* SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike: The main purpose overall of his ''SuperMarioBros 3'' and ''{{Castlevania}}'' series reviews. This is especially prevalent for ''Super {{Castlevania}} IV'', since he had criticisms for the other games, but that game garnered nothing but praise.
* HairTriggerTemper: Our man.
* HalloweenEpisode: Once a year. For the first few years, two videos per year.
* HarsherInHindsight: [[invoked]] At the beginning of his review for the ''Film/DieHard'' game, he acknowledges this about the cover art for the game, which depicts the Nakatomi Building, which is lit in such a way that it ''greatly'' resembles the Twin Towers, ablaze.
* HehHehYouSaidX: "It's my duty -- heh, "doodie"..."
** In the [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/724633 third Bible Games review]], when he types in the word "ASS" in the Game Boy video game ''The King James Version'' and a list of passages with the word "ass" shows up, one of them having the words "[[HaveAGayOldTime dumb ass]]":
--->Heh heh heh, it says "dumbass" in the Bible.
* HelloInsertNameHere: "ASSSSSSS", naturally.
** Sometimes he lampshades the name entry problem in the ''Winter Games'' episode:
--->"The name entry screen is a disaster. You can't move the cursor up or down. It only goes left and right. Isn't that fun?! Not to mention, they only let you spell four-letter words, which I could think of plenty, but how many names would have less than four letters? If you tried to add a fifth letter, it goes back and replaces the first letter, then you gotta figure out how to start over. When it reaches the last letter, why couldn't it just stop?! The simplest thing to do is to type in all A's, then go left once to get to the end button. Because, why put in a name anyway? It's not like the game is gonna save it. But if it did, I guarantee [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments most of the high scores will belong to "AAAA"]]. [[invoked]] The point is, how hard is it to program something as simple as a name entry screen? If they can't even get that right, then WOAH! Wait 'til you see the game!"
* HeroicBSOD:
** Happens briefly in part 2 of the Zelda CD-i reviews, upon seeing the infamous "You've kiiiilled meee!" "Good!" cut scene exchange.
** Also the end of the his ''Rambo'' game review.
** Ninja Gaiden did this to a Ninja Master!
** The ''{{Action 52}}'' review has various degrees of this, with probably the best example being his stunned silence during the clip of "Timewarp Tickers".
** Happens yet again with his Star Wars episode, this time as a result of Darth Vader's transformation into a scorpion when he's reviewing the Famicom version of Star Wars (1987).
* HilariousOuttakes: Try to watch the "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle" outtakes and not laugh from watching James repeatedly laugh himself silly trying to say a convoluted scatological rant.
** There's also a video entirely made up of outtakes from his ''Ninja Gaiden'' episode. Kevin Finn (the ninja mentor) improvises when they forget a line or something unexpected happens, all without missing a beat.
** Occasionally, James will stick an outtake during or after the credits, such as ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' review where James kept cracking up at Mike Matei's Cowardly Lion, or James cracking up at Kyle Justin's "There are ''no'' other couches to go behind!" in the ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' review, or this gem from ''Castlevania'' Part 2:
--> '''Nerd''': This game is like playing shit tennis with an orangutan while having a hyena's head up your ass... ({{Beat}}) or ''your'' head up ''its'' ass! (laughs)
* HissBeforeFleeing: The Nerd himself does literally this at the Nostalgia Critic before running away at one point during the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover TGWTG Team Brawl]].
* HollywoodNerd: When he's not on the verge of a homicidal rampage, he's rather attractive.
* {{Homage}}: As seen below, the 2010 ChristmasEpisode pays tribute to DrSeuss' HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas.
* HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas: The 2010 ChristmasEpisode.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Criticizing the physical state some games he receives from other people and stores:
-->"I would never do this, I take good care of my games!"
-->([[DescriptionCut Cut to his over-the-top destruction of the Dick Tracy game.]])
** In the ''Wizard of Oz'' review, he says "Hey man, did you just swear!?" to the Cowardly Lion.
** Once the Nerd introduces the Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 BC 4.0 Beta (Bitch), said robot blasts him while shouting "WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!!"
*** He did this in response to the Nerd going "Holy shit!" which suggests that he's pretty fine with vulgarity, but will not stand for blasphemy.
** When discussing the fourth ''Film/{{Friday the 13th}}'' film he asks, in response to the actions of Corey Feldman's eccentric character, who on earth puts on a mask to play a video game. Cut to existing footage of the Nerd playing Batman games in a Batman mask.
** While reviewing ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse]]'', the Nerd proclaims that he won't be using Game Genie because [[EarnYourHappyEnding he wants to beat the game legitimately]]. Cue the Nerd using an [[CheatCode Extra Life code]].
** After a torturous run of ''Super Pitfall'', followed by a [[AWinnerIsYou lame ending]], the game has the audacity to offer a "[[NewGamePlus Second Quest]]":
-->"What kind of masochist would you have to be to beat this game more than once? If you did it ''one time'', what would you have to prove to do it again? You'd have to be some kind of fucking idiot!" [resumes playing]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:I-L]]
* IceCreamKoan: The Ninja Master (Kevin Finn) improvised many of these for the Ninja [[hottip:Gayden: Gaiden]] episode, and they were so random that they ended up being cut.
--> '''Ninja Master''': A hummingbird with no song will never... be a pop star.
--> '''Ninja Master''': A cherry blossom, that gets eaten by a possum, isn't that awesome.
--> '''Ninja Master''': A wren... that looks like a hen... is more a hen than a wren.
--> '''Ninja Master''': ...If you want to catch the moon in a net, you must get a net required for the bigness of the jump.
* IfYouTauntHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: During one exchange with the Nostalgia Critic. For the longest time, he appeared to be taking the high road for a change...
* IgnoredEpiphany: Done for comedic effect. In the Star Trek game review, the Nerd is about to destroy another game he doesn't like. He then decides not to, thinking that maybe the game designers did the best they could. The guest character says, "By sparing the shitty game, you have shown the advanced trait of mercy!" The Nerd replies, "[[VerbThis Mercy this]], motherfucker!" and kills him for no reason. The Nerd goes back to physically attacking bad games in later reviews.
** In the Christmas special, he found out that the future is not going to be good for him as he ended up being a FutureLoser who plays terrible [[NintendoWii Wii]] games. It turned out to be a dream and then he played ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and realized how good the game was. He decides to just play good games before he said "fuck it" and starts playing terrible games again, starting with the VirtualBoy.
* IGotARock: When he unveils a childhood halloween tape of his (He dressed as DickTracy.).
** Instead of candy, the Nerd gives a shitty Atari game (and an Atari 2600) to one of the children that come trick-or-treating to his house, after taking a crap in the other kid's bag.
* ImagineSpot: Both {{Pat|TheNESPunk}} and the Nerd daydream about how awesome it would be if they had the two Nintendo World Championships cartridges for themselves.
* ImGoingToHellForThis: The Nerd's response to him looking up the word "ass" in a Game Boy version of the text of the King James Bible and laughing at the results.
* IncrediblyLamePun:
** He had called out the Who Framed Roger Rabbit game for using a cheetah\cheater pun.
** His reaction to "Lights! Camera! Action 52!".
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Zig-zagged: he drinks so much [[ProductPlacement Rolling Rock]] that the impact generally associated with the trope is lost, but he will also drink hard liquor (in one case, an entire bottle of what appears to be scotch) on the rare occasion that beer alone won't do. And in the Transformers episode, he drank [[ItMakesSenseInContext hot sauce,]] but not for the same reason-- it was endorsed by a world-champion gamer, and thus he was trying to use it as a performance enhancer.
* InfiniteOneUps: Subverted in the ''Film/{{Terminator}}'' review. The Nerd is so fed up with constantly [[GameOver losing all of his lives]] that he decides to take action. Finding a location where Terminators infinitely spawn, the Nerd clamps a wrench down on the "Fire" button to rack up points and lives while he can go do other things. He comes back to the game the next morning to find that [[spoiler: the extra life counter maxes out at six.]]
* InsistentTerminology: In the ''Haloween'' review. ''It's not chocolate, nor is it poop, it's '''shit!'''''
* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: In the ''NinjaGaiden'' review, he gets help from a ninja master who helps him progress in the game.
* InstantHomeDelivery: In one episode he orders an Atari controller and then goes outside and has it thrown in his face.
* InsultToRocks: You thought ''Godzilla'' for the NES was bad? "(''Godzilla 2'') is an ''insult'' to the first game!"
** "Why does Darth Vader turn into a fucking scorpion? That didn't even happen '''in the Special Editions!!'''"
* InterfaceScrew: The Glitch special spoofed, discussed, and [[DeconstructiveParody deconstructed this trope for the sake of humor]], in that order.
* InTheStyleOf: At a few other times in "How the Nerd Stole Christmas!", the Nerd talks out in rhymes, which is more like rapping them in the style of Music/{{Eminem}}.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:Hammertime!]] in the ''TMNT 3'' review.
* ItemGet: Parodied in the ''Legend of Zelda [=CD-i=]'' episode, when the Nerd pulls out ''Zelda's Adventure'' in a pose to the music that is played when Link pulls out the Master Sword in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]''.
* IThoughtItMeant: When ROB asks for his gyros, The AVGN makes him a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_%28food%29 gyro]].
* {{It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY}}: ""[[WelcomeToCorneria I AM ERROR.]]" Well, maybe that's just his name? Maybe it's pronounced "Ear-oar."
* IWantMyJetpack: The Nerd comments on this in the Street Fighter 2010 episode.
-->'''AVGN: '''It's crazy! Remember how futuristic the year 2000 seemed? My whole childhood, it seemed like every movie, every video game, it was always 2000... it sounded so high-tech and far away. But now, fuck that! It's the 10 year anniversary of the year 2000! ''(Back to the Future's 2015 footage)'' In five years, we're gonna have flying cars, and hoverboards and self-lacing shoes... It better happen, otherwise they should have make it the year 3000. If they ever made it 2100, we'd all be dead. It wouldn't make any difference anyway. Better be a mystery than to be wrong.
* TheJimmyHartVersion:
** The Nerd's theme is this for "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
** In the DVD version of the ''Rocky'' review, he uses a Jimmy Hart version of ''Gonna Fly Now'', due to copyright issues.
** The Nerd notes how the main music in ''Hydlide'' is the ''IndianaJones'' theme with just a few notes changed. In fact the ''only'' other piece of music is just a similarly altered bit ''of a different part of the Indiana Jones theme''
** "How the Nerd Stole Christmas" features a sound-alike to "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from ''Theatre/TheNutcracker''.
* JumpScare: PlayedForLaughs in the Nintendo Power video. '''''AAASSSSS!'''''
* KatanasAreBetter: [[spoiler:For slicing a videotape in half.]]
* KindheartedCatLover: He includes Boo/Death Kitty in a number of videos, and has posted at least one picture of Yeti, his white cat, sitting with him at the computer. (Keep in mind James' actual personality - not his Nerd persona - for the "kind-hearted" part.)
* KungFuJesus: Super Mecha Death Christ, bitch.
** That's Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 [[AC:B.C.]] Version 4.0 Beta, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]!
--> or... [[WebOriginal/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses "whichever version you happen to be at the moment"]].
--> '''Super Mecha Death Christ''': ''[[HypocriticalHumor WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!!!]]''
* LargeHam: The Nerd in rage mode. Sometimes, even silently, like the {{Kaiju}} impersonation in the ''Godzilla'' episode.
** Mike Matei, in all of his appearances.
* LaughingMad: Mike Matei's rendition of the Joker. He makes Caesar Romero look a paragon of restraint.
** Playing ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon" reduces The Nerd to this state.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Variations of the opening theme appears elsewhere in the videos from time to time.
* LetsMockTheMonsters: All the time.
* LimitedWardrobe:
** Lampshaded in the ''Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout'' episode, showing his wardrobe containing only white shirts.
** Averted a few times: He wore an Atari coat for ''Winter Games'' and the ''Star Wars'' episode. And let's not forget the Halloween episodes, specifically the {{Dracula}} ep, wherein he wore a black-and-red cape reminiscent of said Count.
* LoonyFan: The evil hippie in the ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' episode.
* [[LukeIAmYourFather Luke, I Am Your Brother]]: The Critic tries to pull this off when the Nerd corners him during the Final Battle.
-->'''AVGN:''' Then surely you know the name of our mother?
-->'''Nostalgia Critic:''' eh... Of course I know the name of our mother! it's... Ee...liza...? *The Nerd puts the Super Scope on his head* Oh, can't blame me for trying!
* LuddWasRight: We failed in our existence when we were cursed with the technology to invent such horrible mind-rotting catastrophes! We were better off in the fucking medieval times! I wish I was just sitting on a riverbed [[GoodOldWays playing with FUCKING ROCKS!]]
* LyricalDissonance: Arguably the main theme.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-P]]
* MadScientist: The Nerd is slowly but surely getting there. His resume already includes a video game-playing Frankenstein and a sapient poop clone.
* ManipulativeEditing: Averted; but you can see that he actually ''does'' do this in the ''{{Castlevania 64}}'' video. He claims that there is no freaking music; and then proceeds to tell you to listen ''on an outdoor stage'' where there is no music. His claim makes less sense later on; since he shows a lot of the stage he got stuck on when he was youger and it ''clearly has audible music''.
* ManlyTears: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kc3JqVIIJA Cinemassacre 300 The Dragon In My Dreams]] video may cause this.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: The nerd is violent, foul-mouthed, and has an incredibly short temper, whereas James Rolfe is by accounts very pleasant and even claims to enjoy some of the games the nerd lambastes.
** Subverted with Mike. He is often a nice person... when you talk about something you share interest with him on. Bring up a topic like, say, TheMillenniumAgeOfAnimation and you'll set off his BerserkButton.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: In his review of ''{{Independence Day}}'':
--->'''AVGN''':"What do you get when you take a movie that's ass, [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames and make it into a game.]] You get a piece of shit. [[AllMenArePerverts Now if you get a piece of ass, that's a good thing,]] but if you get a [[CaptainObvious piece of shit, you don't want that!"]]
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] The Nerd acknowledges that Noah -- despite being an old man -- is strong enough to pick up five cows and horses over his head without any problems, and that he can run with all of them without getting tired and even run faster than the screen can scroll.
--> '''AVGN:''' Noah, man, nobody fucks with him. Not even ChuckNorris.
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* MercyInvincibility: You'll notice he points out ''why'' this trope is needed.
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* {{Mid-Review Sketch Show}}: About 50% of his premise is about this trope, usually involving the many ways in which he can destroy the games he reviews, or the characters who appear in them.
* MilestoneCelebration: The 100th episode features the Nerd reviewing the Robot series, ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''... [[spoiler: and saving the world from a superpowered R.O.B.]]
** And the 75th featured the return of Bugs Bunny as the Nerd reviewed the ''Crazy Castle'' games.
* MindScrew: Describing ''VideoGame/AttackOfTheMutantPenguins''. It was even worse when he tried to describe his own [[BeyondTheImpossible even more screwy game]] until he mimed his brain being blown up and [[INeedAFreakingDrink drank some beer]].
* MockGuffin: James eagerly rips through a package for his "rare" copy of ''Nintendo World Championships'' (NES) ...only to discover that it's a cheaply-made reproduction cartridge. [[spoiler:Then, after he's already let Pat the NES Punk have all the games, it turns out there's a real one in the box too.]]
* TheMoralSubstitute: The Nerd devoted three episodes to trashing Christian games.
* MostAnnoyingSound: [[invoked]] He has had a few unfortunate experiences:
** The most flagrant one was in his review of ''Cybermorph'' on the Atari Jaguar episode:
---> '''Floating green head''':"Where did YOU learn to fly? Where did YOU learn to fly? Where did YOU learn to fly?".
*** Also turns into an unfortunate non-musical {{Ear Worm}} [[invoked]] to the Nerd since he couldn't be able to get it out of his head after a while.
* TheMovie: Currently in the planning stages, and will apparently contain the long-awaited [[VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial Atari E.T.]] review.
* {{MST}}:
** Since ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' 3DO game has barely any gameplay to speak of, the Nerd ends up doing this for a review of that "game." And [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments it is awesome]].
** The Sega CD review has elements of this too in the FMV sections.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Everything from shooting a 32X with a bow and arrow and setting it on fire to fighting off a ''SuperMarioBros. 3'' cartridge possessed by Satan.
** "I just killed a duck with a piano!" / "I just shot down a duck by saying "fuck!""
** "I'm drinking ''ROLLING ROCK!'' On THE ROLL & ROCKER!!"
** [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/61988 The episode]] about ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' is surprisingly stirring, with the Nerd treating the Swordquest contest as less of a promotional thing and more of an actual adventure. It even comes complete with an orchestral version of the Nerd's theme tune. Ironically, he makes a joke in the review itself about the game making an overly-dramatic (almost explosive) sound effect for ''walking through a door''.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Mocked by The Nerd when he reviewed games involving Frankenstein. One of the games includes an enemy called "Dark Warrior", prompting him to sarcastically call it scary and then suggest alternate names such as "Death Guy" or "Mr. Kill".
* NameThatUnfoldsLikeLotusBlossom: The full version of the theme song refers to him as the "Angry {{Atari}} {{Amiga}} [[PhilipsCDi CD-i]] {{Colecovision}} {{Intellivision}} {{Sega}} NeoGeo TurboGrafx16 [[MagnavoxOdyssey Odyssey]] [[ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]] {{Commodore|64}} {{Nintendo}} Nerd".
* NarmCharm: [[invoked]] His words, not ours; "Despite all the shitty things in this game, this ["FREDDY'S[[TradeSnark ™]] COMING!"] screen is ''so'' cheesy, that it's just awesome!"
* NauseaFuel: [[invoked]] The Nerd himself mentions things that make him nauseous when he reviews things. For example, in [=McKids=] and Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout, he commented how the screen effects made him wanna throw up. In his NintendoPower review, he talked about how disgusting some of the ads were, such as one that showed a jar full of toenail clippings and another that showed a barf bag. He also mentioned that one ad was so gross that he stapled the page shut so he didn't have to see it.
** This turned out to just be the toenail clipping ad (you can see the issue number of the magazine AVGN stapled.)
* NeverLiveItDown: The Nerd deploys this [[{{In-universe}} himself]]:
** "Kill all babies?!"
** Fred Fuchs.
** "'''One guy?! NO CONTINUES!!!?'''"
* NeverSayDie: Its notable aversion in ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d heavily.
* NeverTrustATitle: In his review for ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'', he pointed out how you can't even trust the title when it shows John wearing a tie (although the title of the game does not mean "The plumber in this game wears a tie" but "Plumbers are not supposed to wear ties").
** "He's a plumber, and I don't see him wearing a tie." *cut to John wearing a tie* "''What the fuck?!''"
* NietzscheWannabe: Hinted at in the ''Lester the Unlikely'' review.
-->''It's all gonna be dust anyway.''
* NostalgiaFilter: Averted so hard it's not even funny.
** Not always, though. The Nerd gets pretty wistful about pop and videogame culture from the mid 80's to early 90's. Watching how the (genuinely) good memories of the past get mangled by [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames bad videogame adaptations]] is half of the fun.
** Outright inverted in his review of various ''{{Godzilla}}'' games, when he wished he was born later because the ones or the {{Xbox}} and PS2 were monumentally better than the ones on the NES, SNES, or Game Boy.
* NoExportForYou: [[invoked]]
** His disappointment to learn that the {{Godzilla}} FightingGame that he just wanted never came out stateside, instead getting the lame Godzilla games he grew up with until the games for the [=XBox=] and [=PlayStation=] 2 came in:
--> '''AVGN''': "[[MadnessMantra Only in Japan... Only in Japan...]]"
** He admits this is probably a ''good'' thing in his {{Transformers}} review, as the Famicom-only TF side-scroller is truly awful.
** In the ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture Back to the Future trilogy]]'' review, he was pissed off that the ''Back to the Future'' [[SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SFC]] game didn't leave Japan, and that instead we had three crappy games. Two of them distributed by ''[[TheProblemWithLicensedGames LJN]]'' nonetheless.
* [[NoAnimalsWereHarmed No Video Games Were Harmed]]: At the [[TheStinger very very end]] of the Nintendo World Championships review, [[spoiler: James shows that the two ultra rare video games he destroyed in the episode were replicas, and the originals are unharmed.]]
* NotCompletelyUseless: The Power Glove. He beat Zelda 2 without even ''REALIZING IT'' when he turned his head away from the screen to look at the camera. In the original review for the glove, he actually had better luck landing on the carrier in TopGun with it.
* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer:
--> "I am ''dead fucking serious''."
** From the Game Glitches episode, "All game glitches shown on this video were real." Considering what the [[Film/{{Rocky}} last game]] in that review was like...
* {{Nutty Squirrel}}s: Lampshaded in one part of ''Bible Adventures'' in the "Bible Games" review.
* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo[=/=]MarketBasedTitle: The nerd gives [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVzPCY2T-g a long diatribe]] about this topic.
* OffhandBackhand: To ''Bugs Bunny''.
* OldMediaAreEvil: He's delivered a couple of jabs at television.
** Averted, though, in that JamesRolfe is an avid fan of films from the early period of cinema.
* OneWingedAngel: After the Nerd [[spoiler:decapitates BugsBunny,]] he reveals his true form - that of [[spoiler: WoodyWoodpecker]].
** Darth Vader in the Star Wars episode turns into "a fucking. SCORPION!" Cue AVGN going insane.
* OpeningShoutOut: Invoked in the Angry Nerd ChristmasCarol.
* OriginsIssue: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mupyfGBE0Y The Anger Begins video.]]
* OverlyLongGag: The Intro to the Sega CD Video. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eH3vYbdGo&feature=related See it for yourself]]
** From the Ninja Gaiden outtakes:
--> '''Kevin Finn, a.k.a. The Ninja Sensei''': Normally they say, Ninja [[{{It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY}} ''Gai(Gay)-den'']].
* PacManFever: Played intentionally when the nerd tries to figure out how to use newer console's controllers. Otherwise averted, wherein shots of him with a gamepad usually have him pressing the buttons slowly and methodically. In his ''Winter Games'' review, he does a LampshadeHanging, saying that people that perform random ButtonMashing pretending to play video games are playing that game.
** During the crossover Brawl with TGWTG, the Nerd is seen playing a Nintendo DS, with the music from ''[[SuperMarioBros Mario]]'', and sound effects from ''Pac-Man'' and ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}''.
* {{Padding}}: A lot of the Atari 5200 review is just him trying to set the system up.
* PaintingTheFourthWall: In the intro of the series we see the Nerd playing games while Kyle Justin appears in the background singing the theme song with a guitar, then the song ends and the real episode starts, but in the Battletoads review after the song ends, the Nerd starts talking to the audience while Kyle is still visible in the background. Kyle sits down by the Nerd side, and it's then that he notices Kyle presence and abruptly interrups his monologue.
-->'''AVGN:''' Who the fuck are you?
-->'''Kyle:''' I'm the guitar guy... *the Nerd looks utterly confused* ...that sings your theme song?... from behind the couch?
* PasswordSave: He's [[BerserkButton noted]] that some of these are longer than others, for example, his first review where ''Castlevania 2'' requires five 4-character sections inputted for a single password, with boring letters and numbers that can sometimes be confused for one another.
* ThePenIsMightier: Sometimes the Nerd had thrown his pens as a threat, in the Team Brawl he actually throws one of his pens as a weapon. Lampshaded in the first response to the Critic with an small [[NoteFromEd disclaimer.]]
-->'''AVGN:''' Yeah, I got pens, and I'm not afraid to use them.
-->'''IT'S SATIRICAL''' Nobody throws pens. I mean yes the pen is mightier than the sword, but that's just an expression meaning the communication is more effective than brutality.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: One is discovered during the ''{{Action 52}}'' review.
-->'''AVGN:''' Number 9 - "Alfredo", or... "Alfred and the Fettuc". Yeah, "Fettuc"! You never heard of "Fettuc"?
* PetPeeveTrope: [[{{In-universe}} He has them,]] [[UpToEleven except more so...]]
** CheckPointStarvation: The Nerd absolutely ''detests'' this. It was his biggest complaint toward the DickTracy {{NES}} game.
** DamnYouMuscleMemory: Quite a BerserkButton for him.
** FakeDifficulty
** GuideDangIt: ''Really'' winds him up. Put some of this into your game and The Nerd WILL stop the review for several minutes to rip into the fact. As he points out several times, it's a justified complaint since most of the games he reviews were made back when walkthroughs and guides were not as easily available as they are today.
** MercyInvincibility, when absent.
** NintendoHard
** NoDeathRun: Oh, SO MUCH.
** ObstructiveForeground: Especially combined with enemies, powerups, or collectibles that are already small and difficult to see.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: The two kids that the Nerd has to babysit in the "Halloween" review end up beating the living crap out of Michael Myers.
* PlatformHell: This is how he presents ''NinjaGaiden''.
* PokemonSpeak: Shit Pickle.
* {{Portmanteau}}: "I'd rather drink buffalo shizz! That's a combination of shit and jizz. Yeah, that's foul. I apologize."
* PrecisionFStrike. Strongly averted. [[ClusterFBomb He swears in all directions.]] Innocents take cover. He does make one when playing the Xbox / Playstation 2 ''Godzilla'' fighting games, realizing that he was born too early to enjoy ''Godzilla'' games that perfectly paid homage to the films.
** Done literally in one episode, in which he found our that shouting "FUCK!" into his headset during a shooting game plugged the target. Lampshaded shortly afterwards.
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: [[invoked]] About half of the video games the Nerd reviews are Licensed Games. He always tries to have a sense of optimism about the game [[HopeSpot even though he knows that it's doomed in the end]]. He's been burned so many times by LJN-published games, though that this trope has devolved into {{X-Pac Heat}}. He's given some respect to the arcade and Genesis X-Men games, as well as the NES Batman game and the SNES Batman Returns.
* ProductPlacement: The Nintoaster. And yes, it works.
* PublicServiceAnnouncement: Randomly thrown in the Hydlide episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' There's no skill involved, you never know wheter or not you're hitting a monster or the monster's hitting you. It's just as random as rolling a dice or playing the lottery, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose... but I guess it's better than using drugs or [[HypocriticalHumor alcohol]], because with drugs and alcohol (specially drugs) you always lose.
** This PSA is a quote from a film that is referenced in a number of AVGN reviews.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Seeing just how much he can continually outdo himself in emphasis while shouting "You know what's bullshit?!" and "It's Cinemassacre's Monster Madness!" is pretty damned impressive.
--> '''They made. A [[{{Action 52}} Cheetahmen]]. Sequel!'''
** During the "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" review: "It's NOT. FUCKING. NIGHT!"
** During the Superman 64 review:
--> '''Look at this! LOOK AT THIS! HOW CAN I GET STUCK WHEN THERE IS SO. MUCH. ROOM??!!!'''
** From the Dark Castle episode:
--> "I got Dark Castle on C...D.........'''I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'''" (fire erupts all around him)
* PunctuatedPounding: The Nerd does this to BugsBunny during his review of ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Q-T]]
* ReadTheFreakingManual: As mentioned on the page; he was mistaken by the controls on ''Film/TopGun'' and kept thinking that he was supposed to press the controls.
** Likewise; a couple of his complaints could be rebutted by this trope; but it's actually justified why he can't do this because for a lot of the games he has, he doesn't ''have'' the manual. In order to obtain a lot of his games he has to buy them second-hand; and if you buy a cartridge game second-hand nowadays, you're ''lucky'' if it comes with a manual.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: James has stated he ''would'' review BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing, but he doesn't have a PC to play it on (using a Mac). His general rule that he can only play games he owns falls under this as well.
* ReallyDeadMontage: With R.O.B. on a rampage, a dying James reflects on all the shitty games he'll no longer have to play.
** Subverted and defied at the last second before the montage finished.
* RearrangeTheSong: On some clips, he uses a remix of his theme tune.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In his "Wii Salute" video, The Nerd provided voices and characterizations to various game systems, most notably the Genesis and the Super NES. After Genesis gloated in vain about his supposedly superior hardware (even though it undermined its points by introducing all sorts of add-ons like the Sega CD and 32x), Super NES finally got fed up and delivered this:
--> '''Super NES''': 32-bit, my ass! What's wrong with you?! You say [=CD=]s are the next big thing, but then you switch back to cartridges? You say you're more powerful than me, but then why do you need all these extra add-ons? What are you gonna do next? Add something else on top?
--> '''Sega Genesis''': Uh, yeah. (a second 32X is added onto the first 32X)
--> '''Super NES''': OK, go ahead, keep stacking shit on top. You've already needed like three power adaptors to run that colossal mess you've made. Look at you: You're a fucking disaster.
* RecordNeedleScratch: Heard in his "Indiana Jones" review when he compares "The Last Crusade" movie's plot to the video game's.
** In the Zelda II episode, when he gets surprised by the fact that people ask him to review the game, when he actually believes it's a good game.
* RefugeInAudacity ''and'' RefugeInVulgarity: Oh yes.
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* RhymesOnADime: His 2010 ChristmasEpisode is this, along with a {{homage}} to ''HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' as stated before.
* TheRival: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic may view the Nerd as his WorthyOpponent, but the surly Nerd isn't anywhere near as generous in return.
* RoarBeforeBeating: The Nerd literally roars like a lion as a BattleCry during the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover TGWTG Team Brawl]].
* RousingSpeech: The Nerds delivers a kickass one to the team of gamers during the [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover TGWTG Team Brawl]].
-->'''AVGN''': "We're not going to fight with our hearts, we're going to fight with our balls! Now sound off like you got a pair!"
* RuleOfSeven: In his review of ''Kid Kool'' (whose full name is ''Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs''), the Nerd says that the game has a story that says that the king has a terminal illness, and that Kid Kool has to find the aptly named Seven Wonder Herbs.
-->'''AVGN:''' Yeah, I bet the game designers were smoking seven different herbs.
** That is not all. In addition to these seven herbs, he says that the game has "seven horrible design flaws", which are called "SevenDeadlySins"; and he even has a name for these flaws as follows:
*** 1. Not Being Able to Go Back -- "One-Way Bullshit"
*** 2. Running Too Fast -- "Two-Gear Diarrhea"
*** 3. Jump Control -- "Jump Fuckness"
*** 4. Skipping Over Water -- "Topside Aquatic Ass"
*** 5. Vertical Scrolling -- "Air Suspension Shit Lift"
*** 6. Invisible Items -- "Inviso-Bitch"
*** 7. Having to Drop Down -- "Free-Falling Fuckballs"
* RuleOfSymbolism: He realized [[spoiler: the [[TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde Doctor Jekyll & Mr. Hyde]] game was this during his re-visit episode.]] [[MoodWhiplash That or it]] just fucking sucks.
* RunningGag: Among others:
** Whenever he encounters a strange game mechanic, he uses the first ''SuperMarioBrothers'' game as an example to show how ridiculous that mechanic would be (e.g. only being able to jump ''or'' run).
** He used ''Super Mario World'', ''{{Contra}}'', plus ''TheLegendOfZelda'' and'' Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link'' a couple of times as well.
** Does the game have some sort of [[FakeDifficulty crippling gameplay]] or [[LogicalFallacies logic flaw]]? Bank on him comparing it to ''Simon's Quest''. Lampshaded in his Castlevania I review.
** His inability to succeed at "Top Gun."
** His flipping out over games made by LJN.
** His hate for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES.
** He's also mentioned 'Fred Fuchs' a few times.
** CDI games are now introduced with "flick the shit switch, turn up the diarrhea dial"
* SadisticChoice: Invoked on him by [[Film/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]]. Jason has the Nerd cornered and is prepared to kill him, while he pleads, "Don't kill me!" Jason then holds up a copy of [[VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}} the Friday the 13th NES game]]. The nerd, still scared out of his wits, says, "Kill me!"
* SarcasmMode: Enforced in ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' review: If he said anything negative about the game, [[spoiler:Jason Voorhees would threaten to kill him. However, he did not understand sarcasm.]]
* SavingChristmas: The subject $ of the aforementioned FakeCrossover with ''Captain S''.
* SchmuckBait: The easiest way to die in ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}'' (NES) is to go near the ocean floor -- where the power-ups inevitably drift.
-->"You gotta tell that ocean floor to '''go fuck itself!!''' I don't '''want''' your starfish and crabs!! ...Asshole."
** You'd be forgiven for googling [[InspectorGadget Dr. Claw's]] Dump n' Pump or FullHouse Tournament Fighter, considering how he casually mentions these fake games during his reviews and even shows convincing (but false) cartridges.
* SciFiGhetto: [[invoked]] James discusses this in his Monster Mania movies, mentioning how ''TheExorcist'' was nominated for (and received) awards, saying it was one of the few pure horror movies to do so.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: His AlternativeCharacterInterpretation for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales Scrooge [=McDuck=]]].
-->"[''VideoGame/{{DuckTales}}'' for NES] stars multibillion-dollar rich fuck Scrooge [=McDuck=] on an intercontinental quest to become even richer. Now, imagine flying into someone else's country, killing them with a cane and then taking all their treasure. Well, he's [[MemeticBadass Scrooge McDuck]], and I guess he can do whatever the fuck he wants."
** He also notes that Scrooge is perfectly content to bail out of a speeding minecart, leaving [[PowerupMount Huey, Duey and Louie]] to fall into a pit and die.
* SequelEscalation: In the ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' review, he says that if they made a sequel, its GameOver screen should be [[UpToEleven even worse than the original]], and makes one up himself.
** In the ''Lester the Unlikely'' review, he hypothesizes what the sequels would be like, making the protagonist (and then even the cartridge itself) more incompetent each time.
* SequelHook:
** A parody of this appears at the end of his NES accessories review. R.O.B. the robot shows up in the background as the Nerd says that the viewer probably knows what is coming up next... but is saying this while putting on an IndianaJones hat. He then reviews ''Indiana Jones'' games in the following episode.
** Two of his 2006 reviews foreshadow what will happen next. At the end of his ''VideoGame/{{Friday the 13th}}'' review we see him about to be attacked by Freddy, whose game is next. At the end of the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' review he magically acquired a Power Glove, and sure enough ends up reviewing the glove afterward.
** During his battle against the possesed Mario Bros 3, he wears his [[PoweredArmor Armor made of NES accesories]]. At the end of the battle, Super-Mecha-Death-Christ asks him "What the fuck is that shit?", the Nerd looks at his armor "This shit?" and announces to the audience "I'll tell you all about it". The next episode was of course about NES accesories.
** His 2010 reviews have had a couple sequel hooks. The ''Action 52'' review ended right before The Nerd started playing ''Cheetahmen''; guess what the next review was. And the ending to his ''Back to the Future'' review suggests he will revisit ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' next time.
** The Christmas crossover with CaptainS ends with Santa Claus punishing the Nerd for being foul-mouthed by giving him the Home Alone 2 cartridge for Christmas. The AVGN's Christmas Carol 2-part episode starts with the Nerd reviewing that game.
** The episode about Superman NES games ends with the Nerd announcing that the next game is the so long awaited Superman 64 review.
*** Which he teased with a little in the following episode when he said he'll be reviewing Superman... [[IThoughtItMeant On Commodore 64]].
---> "Oh, wait; you meant... Aw come on, you really want me to play ''that''?!"
** The Spielberg games episode ends with the Nerd refusing to even touch the infamous Atari E.T. game, but a sign announces "To be continued...in the AVGN movie".
* ShoutOut:
** [[Film/TheKarateKid Wax on, wax off!]] With Q-tip! Sai!
** [[MortalKombat Toasty!]]
** [[ThisIsSpinalTap "The question is, how much more black could this be? And the answer is, none."]] He's made a few Spinal Tap references before. Including "Like Sewer Shark, for this game I only have a two word review, Shit Shark."
*** And in Dragon's Lair when he says the bat kills you in 11 hits, [[UpToEleven why 10 when it can take 11?]]
** [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/2010/02/10/american-movie-quotes-referenced-by-avgn-2/ Numerous ones]] to one of his favourite films, ''American Movie''.
** He said in his VideoGame/NinjaGaiden video that [[Film/WaynesWorld he'd like to find whoever programmed such an unfairly difficult game and rip his still beating heart out of his ass so he could see how cold and black it is before he dies]].
*** This exact clip from the movie is used in his Wayne's World review.
*** Only in that case, he said he'd rather hurl.
** Hmm, the illustration at the end of the Back to the Future Re-Revisited surely reminds Music/{{Metallica}} fans of [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AHwyJkVQyk0/SzQtubnoywI/AAAAAAAAACk/ViECtYbRypA/s1600/GarageDaysMetallica.jpg something else re-revisited.]]
** "It's time to wrap things up! It got something to blow the lid off the crap barrel! Time to flick the shit switch, turn up the diarrhea dial, it's Bible games on CD-i!! Yeah-ha-ha! [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} We're living on the edge!]] More like [[Music/BonJovi living on a prayer!]]"
** When reviewing Atari and NES light gun games he said, [[{{Ghostbusters}} "Aw, man, I thought it was gonna be He-Man!"]] at the Atari ''He-Man'' game and, [[Film/BackToTheFuture "You mean you gotta use your hands?! That's like a baby's toy!"]] when reviewing ''Wild Gunman''.
** In the ''Batman'' review, the Nerd ends up getting in a fight with the Joker. This uses copious amounts of sound effect bubbles, like in the Adam West series, but there's another one when they use the sound effect "BIFF!", which is immediately followed by the UnsoundEffect "[[Film/BackToTheFuture MARTY!]]"
** In the ''Fester's Quest'' review, AVGN says, "You were expecting, uh, maybe, uh, the ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Ninja Turtles]]''?" (which is a nod to the quote from ''[[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III]]'', "You were expecting ''Series/TheAddamsFamily''?")
** During one of the many fights in the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' review, the Nerd says, [[{{Commando}} "BullSHIT!"]]
** The scene at the beginning of the Sega CD review is a shout-out/parody of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQRcinZYH8 the 1993 Sega CD commercial with the angry black guy]].
* ShownTheirWork: He ''does'' actually do extensive research on titles and game consoles.
* SincerityMode: After spending nearly the entire review of ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' for NES in SarcasmMode, when he comes to commenting on how it had the best Game Over screen ever (considering it flew in the face of Nintendo's then-dominant NeverSayDie policy), he had to add that he was actually being serious. Dead fucking serious.
* SirSwearsALot: Who else but the man himself?
* SitcomArchNemesis: WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic. Also, Mike Matei ([[BoardJames Motherfucker Mike]]), who often plays characters who get into fights with The Nerd.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** His occasional "Chronologically Confused" segments, which feature a much less angry and scatological Nerd complaining about {{oddly named sequel|2ElectricBoogaloo}}s and [[MarketBasedTitle media being named differently in different countries]].
** His more educational segues when he talks about old neglected consoles and trivia about games' source material (particularly [[AuthorAppeal horror movies and Looney Tunes cartoons]]).
** Episode 102 is a making-of documentary which shows how James goes through the process of making an AVGN episode, ending on a three minute review of ''Barbie'' for the NES.
** ''AVGN Special: Contra Memories'' features James Rolfe recalling the first time he beat Contra.
* SomeoneHasToDoIt: In a couple of occasions he has claimed this is the reason he plays shitty games, as a warning to other gamers to avoid them.
* SongParody: [[HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas "You're a Mean One, Mr. Nerd".]]
* SophisticatedAsHell: The Nerd could go from talking logically to swearing like a sailor.
** The spiel at the end of the second Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review has to be his biggest example of this.
** From the Godzilla episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' The better way to sum this up is to recite a very famous quote from Wiliam Shakespeare: Fuck it!
** Especially prevalent in the Star Trek review, parodying the series.
-->'''AVGN:''' To begin with, the music and the graphics are quite good. But my senses indicated a large deposit of bullshit.
* SoundEffectBleep:
** In the Godzilla video games' review, as a rare use that [[TheUnreveal Unreveals]] a new curse word.
** Used at the end of his crossover with ''Captain S'', using the "Mario dies" sound effect from ''SuperMarioBros''.
** Used in his ''{{Action 52}}'' review when he showed what a TV version of his review would be like when he gets bleeped for saying asshole. Obviously this was parodied:
--> '''Nerd:''' Whoever came up with this game is an ass$#&%! ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall (looks at the screen)]]'' Ass. Hole? Ass$#&%! ''(shakes head)'' [[SarcasmMode Television makes a lot of sense.]]
* SoundtrackDissonance: The Nerd lampshades this while playing ''[[VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D Super 3D Noah's Ark]]'' and listening to some upbeat music:
-->"Wow, that's great. Just what you need, some really upbeat music to go along with Noah getting murdered by a bunch of fucking goats."
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* SpinOff: BoardJames; started out as the Nerd doing a review of a board game, then diverged into a distinct character after the first review proved popular.
* SpitTake: In the ''Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout'' review.
* SpockSpeak: Done intentionally in the ''StarTrek'' review.
* SpoilerOpening: Averted. Many of the opening sequences actually depict stuff that The Nerd has actually ''not'' covered yet. Such as him with large Neo Geo cartrdiges in 2006. Not to mention, he is also shown in a video playing "Phalanx", as well as having a game box dropping down on them.
* {{Squee}}: Being the collectors they are, Pat and the Nerd had their moment of this when they realize they have a gold Nintendo World Championships cartridge.
* StockFootage: Used in some of his reviews as a CallBack to a previous review. An example is showing footage from his [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Simon's Quest]] review in Super Pitfall or Milon's Secret Castle.
* StunnedSilence: Not as frequent as some of his other reactions, but they do happen. Typically with his [[JawDrop mouth agape.]] [[WordOfGod James has said]] these are his favorite moments in the AVGN videos.
* SuperpowerLottery: The Nerd can shoot fireballs, clone himself, fly into space, [[FrickinLaserBeams fire lasers]] [[EyeBeams out of his eyes]], and summon [[CrystalDragonJesus Super Mecha Death Christ 2000]]. Many of his videos feature him beating up a character from the reviewed game. And that's when he's ''not'' wearing his [[SuperMode NES suit]]. Seriously, WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic is lucky to be alive. [[spoiler:Or undead, or whatever.]]
* SuperSerum: He uses Billy Mitchell's Hot Sauce to give himself sufficient gaming powers to beat the ultra-NintendoHard Famicom ''{{Transformers}}'' game.
* SwordOverHead: The Nerd grapples with his urge to vaporize ''Star Trek'' (NES) with his phaser. Uncharacteristically, he spares it.
* TakeOurWordForIt: The Nerd is so angry at the end of the ''Godzilla'' episode that he has to invent a new swear word, which is bleeped out.
-->'''Nerd''': Oh yeah, it's that bad.
* TakeThat:
** The opening to the Winter Games review, which is a MythologyGag to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYb3o8irBQM this]]:
--> '''AVGN''':"Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, you know what? Everybody, happy holidays, and if you have a problem with happy holidays, then happy shut-the-fuck-up."
** In his "Best of Godzillathon" compilation he adds the M. Bison OF COURSE! from ''Film/StreetFighter: The Movie'' in response to his comment about aliens always wanting to take over the world. WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic tells him to knock it off after stealing his joke.
** The Nerd's suggested changes at the beginning of the Nintendo Re-revisited[[hottip:*:The original videos revisit his childhood, and the new reviews are redoing these revisits. This is why the official titles say these are re-revisits.]]/Back to the Future trilogy review video reference the changes made to the StarWars films (especially ''ANewHope''[[hottip:*:PlanarShockwave and TheDogShotFirst]] and ''ReturnOfTheJedi''[[hottip:*:A dancing sequence]]).
** In his ''StarWars'' Games retrospective, he makes fun of players who use cheat devices and emulator save states to remove the difficulty of hard games with his invention, the ''Beat a Game Button.'' For added measure, when he rants at his games that they should all consider themselves beat now that he has the button... the [[TheDarkSide imperial march theme]] plays.
** Sega's questionable business practices are exaggerated in the Console Wars video.
--> '''Super NES''': Why don't you just make a completely new system?!
--> '''Genesis''': Fine, I will: Sega Neptune.
--> '''Super NES''': Really. Well aren't you coming out with the Sega Saturn?
--> '''Genesis''': Yeah, we're hurrying it along.
--> '''SuperNES''': Then what about the Neptune?
--> '''Genesis''': Uh, that? It's cancelled.
--> '''Super NES''': Too many systems, huh?
--> '''Genesis''': Uh... [[LameComeback fuck you.]]
--> '''Super NES''': Fuck ''you''! Try making some games next time!
* TakingYouWithMe: The end of his ''Crazy Castle'' review.
* TalkingPoo: The Nerdy Turd (which allegedly is cloned from his own fecal matter) in his Odyssey review. It doesn't really talk (it farts) but same system.
* ATasteOfTheLash: The punishment of the ''Dark Castle'' cartridge and CD.
* TheTeaser: Many episodes have this kind of intro before the theme song:
** His look at Nintendo Power starts silently with a pile of magazines, when The Nerd [[JumpScare jumps out]] and screams "ASS!"
** The first [=CDi=] episode features a scene where The Nerd shows off a stuffed Donkey Kong figure.
** His review of [[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]] features pre-title gameplay footage of the character getting killed by lightning and The Nerd replying with "Fuck."
** ''[[VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]'' episode features a scene from the game.
** The Zelda [=CDi=] episodes feature animated sequences from the games (and the Nerd reaction to them).
** The Pong consoles episode starts with him playing Pong by himself.
** The Action 52 episode starts with the Nintoaster.
** The Wayne's World episode starts with the intro from the SNES version of the game.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The Nerd's analogue TV can't tune into TV signals any more.
** And the reason he still owns an analogue TV is because certain games--such as those that use a light gun--interface strangely with a flat panel.
* TemptingFate: The ending of the ''Winter Games'' review begins with a listing of safety tips for handling the cartridge. He follows through all of them, albeit substituting the contents of his hip flask for a cleaning solvent.
** This exchange from "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties":
-->'''AVGN:''' Why is all of this necessary? Do we really need to see their whole daily routine? Changing clothes, lifting weights, [[CuteKitten playing with cats]], trying on more clothes, playing air guitar with a plunger? Oh, so is [John] a plumber? Well, the game's called "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties", so I guess it makes sense. He's a plumber, and I don't see him wearing a tie-
-->''Cue shot of John wearing a tie.''
-->'''AVGN''': What the fuck?? You can't even trust the damn title!
** {{Lampshaded}} and deconstructed by AVGN in "Atari Porn":
--->'''AVGN:''' Can you imagine just sitting around, minding your own business and all of a sudden, some naked chick breaks in and starts humping the crap out of you?
--->''(looks expectantly at the door, but nothing happens)''
--->'''AVGN:''' You know, that's really not fair. I get Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger and Spider-Man, Bugs Bunny, but no naked chick. Fuck this shit.
* [[ThatsAllFolks That's All, Fucks!]]
* ThemeTuneCameo: Played for laughs with the ''Christmas Carol'' ghost, who announces he's going to "Take [the Nerd] back to the past!" The Nerd stares skeptically and retorts, ""To play the shitty games that suck ass"? No thanks."
** Also in the Captain S crossover, sort of:
-->'''Captain S:''' You must be the angriest guy I ever heard.
-->'''AVGN:''' Well, I'm the Angry Video Game Nerd. that's kind of my thing.
* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: Subverted at one point while reviewing the plot of a pornographic game and remarking how weird it would be if a chick came into the room and started humping the crap out of you... and it didn't happen.
-->'''AVGN''': You know, thats no fair. I mean I get [[Film/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]], [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]], {{Bugs Bunny}}, {{Spider-Man}}, but no naked chick.
* ThisCannotBe: The Glitch Gremlin gets one of these when the Nerd manages to beat one of the later bosses of ''VideoGame/MegaMan 5''... ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome even though the boss' key attacks were made invisible by a glitch]]''.
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Should this surprise anyone he uses this trope?
* ThisLoserIsYou:
** There's an understated but undeniable theme in many of the Nerd's reviews that the character sometimes regrets all of the time spent playing videogames, calling the time "wasted childhood". Sometimes it makes you wonder.
--> '''AVGN:'''"You're dead. Your friends are dead. Your family's dead. Your fucking pets are being skinned alive. Your mom's a fucking whore. You suck at life. The whole world hates you. You're going to hell. Live with it. Game over."
** Then there's the Power Glove in his eponymous review part 3 of his first Halloween special as the Nerd.
--> '''AVGN:''' "The only kids who own this (the Power Glove) were usually the richer ones who thought they were cool. Well, they're not cool. I'm not cool either. Look at me, you think I'm cool? I got a fucking glove on my hand. I'm trying to play a fucking game with it. I look like an idiot with a fistful of shit!" * Cue in for his pistol gesture towards his hand that comes down to his middle finger.*
** From his review of [[VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle Milon's Secret Castle]]:
--> '''AVGN:''' "This is the kind of game, that you'd rent for the weekend. You'd play for about five minutes. Get stuck. And then, your whole weekend is wasted!"
** From his review of The Terminator on NES:
--> '''AVGN:''' "[[AmericanMovie Is this what you want to do with your life? Putting wrenches on controllers... it's senseless! But that's what happens, man."]]
** During his "Karate Kid" review:
--> '''AVGN''': "I hate this game, but why am I playing it? Well, that's the question everyone has asked themselves, and they all have the same reason. Because you're angry and you want to win. You want to beat the Nintendo, but the cold fact is that nobody cares but you".
** When he starts playing the Ghostbusters game, after explaining how many expectations he had for that game when he was a child:
--> '''AVGN:''' "This is it, this Ghostbusters on Nintendo. This is my wasted childhood you're looking at..."
** From the conclusion of Simpsons episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' "I just wanted to point out that for a game titled Bart vs The World, there really isn't a lot of the world in the game. No shit, right? Just Egypt, China, the North Pole and Hollywood, pretty fucking educational, right? When I was eleven years old, my whole world was videogames, just locked up in my room playing Bart vs the Space Mutants and all this crap. I wasted all my time on this shit, I want it back. It ruined my life."
** From the Nintendo Days Revisited episode:
-->'''AVGN:''' "Jeez, I could do something much more productive with my time. I could learn a new foreign language. I could study microbiology. I could train Siberian tigers. Instead, I'm degenerating my brain cells into 8-bit pixels!"
** His monologue in the R.O.B. episode:
--> '''AVGN:''' "Fucking video games. We wasted so many hours of human life with this vile crap. We failed in our existance when we were cursed with the technology to invent such horrible mind rotting catastrophes. We were better in the fucking medieval times. I wish we were just sitting on the riverbank playing with fucking rocks!"
** Even in his Godzillathon video there's a similar theme:
--> '''James:''' "There's nothing more sad than a grown man all alone, wailing in his sorrows, watching Godzilla's Revenge. Let alone making a video about it."
** He points out that ''Lester the Unlikely'' really doesn't work because of this trope, and it makes [[FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]] look badass.
* ThisTropeIsBleep: Discussed in the Action52 review:
--> Whoever made this game is an ass****! Ass! ...Hole? ...Ass****! ...[[SarcasmMode Television makes a lot of sense.]]
* TitleMontage: The opening song is often accompanied by clips from the series, and occasionally not (such as AVGN holding up "Mischief Makers"). The clips change with most every video, which is pretty neat.
** The TitleMontage is averted in certain videos; for example, [=CDi=] Part 1 merely features the camera panning over the massive amount of video game memorabilia he owns.
* ToiletHumour: Used fairly frequently, mostly in reference to feces, and particularly diarrhea.
* TookALevelInBadass: Bugs Bunny when he returns to force the Nerd to play the ''Crazy Castle'' games. Rather than a punching bag, he gives the Nerd just as bad a beating, and he even takes a shit on his head.
* TotallyRadical: Upon playing ''The Adventures of Dr. Franken", The Nerd imitates the on-screen character by putting sunglasses on the Franken-Nerd.
-->"Frankenstein's ''coooool.''" [cue beatbox music]
** From the Atari Jaguar episode there's this line (And at the end of the credits of the episode there's the ''Super Cool Version'' of this same line, as an outtake):
--->'''AVGN:''' Check part 2, and we'll actually play some Jaguar games... or if you wanna be cool, you say ''Let's play some Jag!''
* [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Trademark Favorite Drink]]: Rolling Rock beer. Sometimes switches to Yuengling.
* {{Tradesnark}}: In the ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' review, the Nerd notes that the trademark in the "FREDDY'S™ COMING!" message ruins things for him.
* TrainingFromHell: He receives this while trying to beat NinjaGaiden. [[NintendoHard It]] [[ScrappyLevel doesn't]] [[FakeDifficulty help]].
* TrainingMontage: In the ''NinjaGaiden'' episode.
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: "It's a beginner's trap!" There's a ladder at the start of Super Pitfall which drops you into a room filled with spikes.
-->You know, [[SarcasmMode I'm disappointed]]. Couldn't there have been lava ''on top of'' the spikes? With fire sharks swimming in it? Couldn't there be ''more'' spikes [[DeathInAllDirections coming in from the sides ready to close in squash me while stabbing me at the same time? How 'bout some laser cannons or upside-down volcanoes?]]
** An earlier review of ''Die Hard'' showed that John [=McClane=] will happily oblige if you tell him to walk through an exterior window of the building, which just leads to a fall to his death.
* TrulySingleParent: To the Nerdy Turd.
* {{Tsundere}}: In his own words (from the IndependenceDay for {{PlayStation}} review):
--> '''AVGN''': ''TopGun'' may be a piece of shit, but at least it has a nostalgia factor to it. It's a piece of shit I might have some affection for.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:U-Z]]
* UnfortunateNames: Poor Fred Fuchs.
** Combined with FunWithAcronyms during the "How the Nerd Stole Christmas!" episode:
--->''S.C.A.T.'' stands for "Special Cybernetic Attack Team",\\
But "the droppings of carnivorous mammals" is what the word "scat" really means! \\
It's as close as you can get\\
To a Nintendo game called ''S.H.I.T.''!
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Guess who.
* UnusualEuphemism: The Nerd is fond of using "ass" in place of other profanities, such as "What the ass?" or "Son of an ass!" Not that he isn't willing to use legitimate swears, of course...
* UpToEleven: In his "Dragon's Lair" review, he found it odd that most of the time, you die in one hit, yet the bat only takes away one unit of health, and eleven hits from a bat will kill you. "Why ten, when it can take eleven?"
* UranusIsShowing: "Sonic boom to the Moon and hadouken up Uranus!"
* VerbThis: At the end of the ''StarTrek'' review:
-->'''Metron''': By sparing that shitty game, you have demonstrated the advanced restraint of mercy.\\
'''AVGN''': Mercy ''this'', motherfucker! ''[shoots the Metron]''
* VideoReviewShow: He is so prominent in this domain that almost anyone else who attempts to do this has a high chance of getting a TheyCopiedItSoItSucks reception. The spin-off series ''BoardJames'' differs from the main series in that it lies far on the "Show" end of the scale.
* ViewersAreMorons: Notes this in ''Back to the Future'' Re-Revisited when most of the levels are the same running stage only colored differently. "Do they think we're idiots?"
* VisualPun: During the ''StarTrek'' episode when a Klingon attacks. He asks "You want [[StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Genesis]]?" *holds up a SegaGenesis* "You can have Genesis."
** In the Action52 review, he says "This game is shitting me." Cut to a picture of the Action 52 cartridge with the Nerd coming out of the back of it, while fart noises play.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving:
-->No more shitty games... [...] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments I WON'T HAVE IT!]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: R.O.B. wants to turn all games into Gyromite and Stack-Up because the Video Game Crash of 1983 was a result of the market being oversaturated by shitty games. He tells the Nerd that in this new world, all the things he came to hate about games would be gone.
* WhatIsThisX: In the Game Glitch episode, the Nerd is distracted by [[ScrewySquirrel the Glitch Gremlin]] messing up Rocky Balboa (Bug-Eyed Balboa) and Spider Rico (Spider Rico with no jaw) on the ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' [=PS2=] game:
-->'''AVGN:''' They're like zombies! What is this, "Rocky: The Undead Edition"? You are really one sick fuck, you know that?
** In the Pong episode:
--->'''AVGN:''' "You get 4 different kinds of ''{{Pong}}'', like... what the hell is this, ''Reverse Pong''? Okay... Oh, ''now'' what's this? ''Asshole Pong''? That's not fair!"
* [[WhatWereYouThinking What Were They THINKING?!]]
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: If you only know Rolfe as the Angry Video Game Nerd, even seeing him {{corps|ing}}e during outtakes can be endearing, if not a little jarring.
* WhosOnFirst: James and Mike do a variation with [[http://cinemassacre.com/2011/05/06/whats-the-movie/ What's the Movie?]]
* AWorldwidePunomenon:
** On the 3DO JurassicPark games:
--> '''AVGN''': "Does it suck? You bet ''Jur ass ic'' sucks!"
* * WorkingTitle: The first two episodes were labeled in the "Shorts" tape of the "Cinemassacre Gold Collection" as "Bad NES Games".
* {{X-Pac Heat}}: [[invoked]] The AVGN's unceasing hatred for LJN, aka The Rainbow of Death. [[AdaptationDecay They've]] [[FakeDifficulty earned]] [[TheyJustDidntCare this]] [[InkStainAdaptation prejudice]] [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames for several]] [[PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage reasons]]. (But they ''are'' just the publishers of the games.)
* YankTheDogsChain: The Castlevania 1 review is rare in that it shows the Nerd actually ''enjoying'' a game for once. But then he gets knocked backwards off a platform, and the [[OhCrap smile begins to fade...]]
-->'''AVGN''': Well...[[NintendoHard never said it would be easy!]]
** The Nerd is ecstatic at the beginning of the Nintendo World Championships episode, as he believes he has purchased a box of games containing one of the incredibly rare original cartridges which would normally be unimaginably expensive. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a dime-a-dozen reproduction cart.]] [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope But at the bottom of the box, however...]]]]
** At the end of the first ''Terminator'' review, the Nerd said that they've gotten some really bad Terminator games out of the way, so from here on out, the Terminator games should improve in quality. But then he looks at the front of the ''Terminator 2'' NES cartridge, where [[LJNToys LJN's logo]] is shown, and gets a [[ItGotWorse horrified look]].
* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: The 2007 Holiday special. He didn't learn a shit.
* YouBastard: Parodied. He calls his audience sick bastards for wanting to watch more of his review about Atari Pornography, [[HypocrisyNod with full awareness that he's even more sick for actually owning the games]].
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: The Nerd seems to use the word "asshole" as referring to an idiot, rather than [[{{Jerkass}} its more common meaning]]. For example, in his Virtual Boy review, he states that no one would want to wear the console in public because "you look like an asshole".
* YourMom:
** In his ''DieHard'' review, as he's grunting insults while trying to punch out a villain after running out of bullets, he blurts out "Your mother!"
** In the game glitches episode, after the Glitch Gremlin messes up the graphics, making the game difficult to make out, the Nerd tells the Gremlin "It's ugly... like your mom!"
** The possessed NES during his Super Mario Bros. 3 review constantly said "Your mother!" after revealing itself.
** Also during one of his [[FakeDifficulty many deaths]] in his ''Silver Surfer'' review:
--> "Aw fuck! Your mother!"
** During his Dick Tracy review, he grunts "ugh, your mother!" while trying to grab a seemingly unreachable clue.
** In the ''NinjaGaiden'' episode, when he fails at one part in the game:
--> "Ugh, your mother!!!"
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: In the "BugsBunny's Crazy Castle" episode, [[spoiler:just when the Nerd thinks he has beaten Bugs Bunny into submission, an IrisOut starts occurring, about to signify the end, but Bugs pops the iris back open, indicating that he's not done yet, and the episode still continues]].
** In the ''{{Transformers}}'' review, the Nerd is about to end it shortly after defeating Megatron, until the game reveals that there is one more stage to get through.
* ZerothLawRebellion: [[spoiler: R.O.B.]] sought to recreate {{the Great Video Game Crash of 1983}} and replace all games with [[spoiler: Gyromite and Stack-Up]], the only games he was programmed to play.
[[/folder]]
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->[[ThatsAllFolks Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all, fucks!]]
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