View Full Version : The Official Angry Video Game Nerd Discussion Thread
Urzu402
12-13-2014, 03:09 AM
To the people who don't really like the AVGN how do you guys feel about Jontron?
JSoup
12-13-2014, 05:39 AM
To the people who don't really like the AVGN how do you guys feel about Jontron?
I feel the same about both of them.
When they are good, they are pretty damn good.
When they are bad, they are unwatchable.
Alpha2099
12-13-2014, 11:38 AM
I happen to like both of them. I only recently started watching Jontron, but I do find him very funny. His 'stream of consciousness' style appeals to me, largely because it separates him from AVGN. Jontron also goes the extra mile in doing a lot more with visual cues to make the viewer laugh, whereas AVGN's humor resides mostly in dialogue. But don't get me wrong, Jontron also has some great lines of his own.
JSoup
12-13-2014, 07:15 PM
To be honest, I like JohnTron's non-gaming stuff more. His Halloween episodes on Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark are amazing.
The Adventurer
12-13-2014, 08:03 PM
To the people who don't really like the AVGN how do you guys feel about Jontron?
I like JonTron a bit more. Don't get me wrong, I like James Rolfe a lot, but there''s a sort of stiffness to his acting. And sometimes, especially on the Monday Mike & James Plays he doesn't come off as knowledgable about video games as you'd hope. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but guys like JonTron, ProJarad, PBG, Cadicarus, and EgoRapture just come off as more passionate about video game history. And their onscreen personas feel more natural then the Nerd.
But they are all consistently entertaining. And these Shitmas episodes have been great so far.
Jorpho
12-18-2014, 01:01 AM
Oh yes, a very endearing little set of episodes.
What do you think is in the big box? It would have to be kind of obscure if it's not something he's covered before. A Pippin, maybe?
Alpha2099
12-18-2014, 01:12 AM
Oh yes, a very endearing little set of episodes.
What do you think is in the big box? It would have to be kind of obscure if it's not something he's covered before. A Pippin, maybe?
I'm betting it's a crappy plug-and-play console, similar to what JonTron recently reviewed.
ZeroCool
12-21-2014, 06:31 PM
These videos aren't funny neither interesting. Especially when its only 4 minutes long. This and his Beetlejuice video has been a total bust for me.
JSoup
12-21-2014, 07:19 PM
I'm finding them interesting enough.
I'm not expecting the moon here, just a few minutes of interesting commentary while I eat my lunch.
Alpha2099
12-21-2014, 10:27 PM
I'm getting some enjoyment out of them. Some are hit-and-miss but in general I'm liking it.
Urzu402
12-21-2014, 11:19 PM
The latest one (Universal Studios Theme Park) is over 10 minutes, I'm guessing the last one is going to be longer also. With this latest one I already knew what he was going to say about it because a while ago they did a video where James and Mike played it.
Greg2600
02-02-2015, 04:26 PM
Uh oh, prepare for a run on PCE-CD Dracula X by AVGN fanboys! As if there are any available in the first place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_QPcgKvQLU
rkotm
03-26-2015, 04:46 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_aXcH1zDEE
Episode 134:Hong Kong 97
Not even a released game, kind of a waste, waited 3 months for a meh episode..
Alpha2099
03-26-2015, 04:54 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_aXcH1zDEE
Episode 134:Hong Kong 97
Not even a released game, kind of a waste, waited 3 months for a meh episode..
Doing this once in a while is okay, but my concern is that eventually, he's going to run out of truly bad games to review and this is going to become the norm. Until it becomes a trend, I'm not about to call this a "jump the shark" moment.
retroguy
03-26-2015, 05:16 PM
What did you expect? He finally reviewed ET, his constant avoidance of which formed the only thing resembling an ongoing plot with this series, and even made getting to the actual review an awesome, epic, feature-length story. How would you suggest he top that? Any regular episode he does now, by definition, is going to seem lesser by comparison. I actually thought this was one of the better episodes he's done in awhile.
Alpha2099
03-26-2015, 06:08 PM
Honestly, I thought it was very funny up until he started actually playing the game. The build-up and his reading of the intro screen were hilarious. The game itself was just so poorly made that there was really no way even he could make it funny. And his attempt at the end to make this Da Vinci Code-esque conspiracy about 1997 felt forced. So I'd say the first half of the video was quite good, but the second half was flat.
JSoup
03-26-2015, 06:41 PM
but my concern is that eventually, he's going to run out of truly bad games to review
Realistically won't happen, as there are plenty of shit games across all systems. What will probably happen is there will be a lack of thing to say about most of these bad games beyond "this isn't good, poopy ass fuck".
Greg2600
03-26-2015, 06:51 PM
This wasn't a true SFC game, it was basically a homebrew, created by someone who obviously weren't happy about China reclaiming Hong Kong. Kind of clever how at the end James went through a whole goof on the year 1997. Not worth reviewing, but I'm sure he was bombarded with requests for this crud and felt the need to cover it.
SparTonberry
03-26-2015, 10:22 PM
I have to say it's amazing James could even make 12 minutes of content over such a piece of junk.
That's longer than the entire content of the game.
Assuming it was ever sold and wasn't some demo-scene thing.
Gameguy
03-26-2015, 11:17 PM
I'm a bit surprised he can still be making videos like these after 10 years of doing it, usually things like this would get stale and boring by this point. It's kind of how I feel about his later videos personally.
Guntz
03-27-2015, 02:44 AM
I thought it was a good episode. My favorite part is right at the end where he culminates his conspiracy theory with basically calling the game "fucking shit".
But yeah I also think the concept of this being a true SFC game should have been tossed out. If the game was never released on cartridges and only distributed through piracy channels, then it's not fair to compare it against real retail games.
I thought it was a mediocre episode. There's so many official, awful, common games that he has never reviewed, or even talked about. He really should do M.U.S.C.L.E. for the NES.
Alpha2099
03-27-2015, 06:48 PM
I thought it was a mediocre episode. There's so many official, awful, common games that he has never reviewed, or even talked about.
This is kinda how I feel. To me, you should only do unreleased homebrew-type games if you have absolutely nothing else to talk about. You know that those kind of games are going to be bad already, so there isn't really much point in discussing them. And as it was pointed out earlier, it's highly unlikely that he'd ever run out of bad games to discuss, so I don't see much of a reason to cover a game like this, except that the fans kept asking him about it.
ZeroCool
03-28-2015, 04:47 AM
Another lackluster episode. At least it cured my insomnia. Good Night everyone.-_-
YoshiM
03-28-2015, 11:11 AM
Lessee....he got a LOT of requests apparently to review this "game". So why not? The fans asked and they received, even if some of you disagree with his choice.
I never really watched the AVGN episodes until recently and I find some of them humorous, as with this one. I'm glad he didn't pound a lot of swearing as to me it detracts from the overall presentation.
Real retail game or not, homebrew or not-it was bad. I did like the end how it all wrapped with 97-very clever how he was able to pull that pop culture together.
Alpha2099
03-28-2015, 11:43 AM
Lessee....he got a LOT of requests apparently to review this "game". So why not? The fans asked and they received, even if some of you disagree with his choice.
Sometimes, giving the client exactly what they ask for isn't always the best idea.
YoshiM
03-28-2015, 07:26 PM
Sometimes, giving the client exactly what they ask for isn't always the best idea.
Not the best idea for who, exactly? I may not have the best eye for such things as you, nor be as worldly, but what's wrong with the chestnut he shared? In your grand wisdom, how did he be at fault for putting together such a production, which is what you seem to be insinuating with the whole "not the best idea".
It's a show, for entertainment. All anyobe lost was time. Some of you make it sound like AVGN made a bad career choice in making this particular video.
Enjoy it, don't enjoy it, move on or stay tuned.
Gentlegamer
03-28-2015, 08:47 PM
I'm guessing Rolfe knocked this one out as a fan request while he makes a more involved full episode in the meantime.
retroguy
03-28-2015, 08:53 PM
Not the best idea for who, exactly? I may not have the best eye for such things as you, nor be as worldly, but what's wrong with the chestnut he shared? In your grand wisdom, how did he be at fault for putting together such a production, which is what you seem to be insinuating with the whole "not the best idea".
It's a show, for entertainment. All anyobe lost was time. Some of you make it sound like AVGN made a bad career choice in making this particular video.
Enjoy it, don't enjoy it, move on or stay tuned.
To a certain extent, though, he has a point. The final version of Frozen is extremely different from the film the animators actually wanted to do because the executives demanded that they overhaul it and change everything, even going so far as to replace the director. The animators responded by giving the executives exactly the movie they wanted and look how crappy it is. By contrast, those same executives completely ignored Tangled and just let the animators do their thing and it's arguably the best Disney film of the last ten years. There's a lesson in that.
JSoup
03-28-2015, 09:56 PM
To a certain extent, though, he has a point. The final version of Frozen is extremely different from the film the animators actually wanted to do because the executives demanded that they overhaul it and change everything, even going so far as to replace the director. The animators responded by giving the executives exactly the movie they wanted and look how crappy it is. By contrast, those same executives completely ignored Tangled and just let the animators do their thing and it's arguably the best Disney film of the last ten years. There's a lesson in that.
Yet "crappy" Frozen is one of the highest grossing animated films of all times, and Tangled did sort of ok-ish.
There's a lesson in that too.
retroguy
03-28-2015, 11:11 PM
The lesson, presumably, being that executives know what will sell. Fair enough, but just because something sells that doesn't automatically make it good and just because something fails that doesn't automatically mean it's bad. I understand that Disney needed a moneymaker after the spectacular and very expensive failure of John Carter (which really should have done better given it was an impressive entry in a generally profitable genre), but that's no excuse for bad storytelling. To paraphrase Shigeru Miyamoto, "A delayed film is eventually good, but a bad film is bad forever".
YoshiM
03-29-2015, 03:36 AM
To a certain extent, though, he has a point. The final version of Frozen is extremely different from the film the animators actually wanted to do because the executives demanded that they overhaul it and change everything, even going so far as to replace the director. The animators responded by giving the executives exactly the movie they wanted and look how crappy it is. By contrast, those same executives completely ignored Tangled and just let the animators do their thing and it's arguably the best Disney film of the last ten years. There's a lesson in that.
Buuut.....how does this relate to the AVGN episode in question? Not even the same ballpark. The animators, who were charged and paid to make the film, wanted to do one thing, the executives that control the money wanted something else. AVGN got requests from subscribers/fans to look at this game, he did it, released it free of charge with no strings by his viewer base of his content. Done.
I'm going on the reactions here on DP over this which makes me scratch my head as to why these reactions are so pointedly negative. It's a web show- doesn't need the analysis, debate and counterpoint on his choice of game content like you get on some Fox news show.
JSoup
03-29-2015, 03:53 AM
I'm going on the reactions here on DP over this which makes me scratch my head as to why these reactions are so pointedly negative.
Cause it's DP. We tend to harp on the negative around here more than other forums.
rkotm
05-13-2015, 10:29 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3cewR_sMYI
Darkwiiing Duck! (Let's get serious)
A Tg16 episode
Alpha2099
05-15-2015, 03:32 PM
I liked this episode. The quickie reviews at the beginning were funny because of how bored he was trying to act, and the main event made me laugh in a couple of spots. The safe dropping on him while he waited to make the platform jump was great.
Gentlegamer
05-15-2015, 03:51 PM
I liked this episode. The quickie reviews at the beginning were funny because of how bored he was trying to act, and the main event made me laugh in a couple of spots. The safe dropping on him while he waited to make the platform jump was great.
TurboGrafx-16 really is the higher energy video game system!
OldSchoolGamer
07-29-2015, 03:58 AM
It finally happened, he checks out the weird game SEAMAN for DREAMCAST lol
http://cinemassacre.com/2015/07/28/avgn-seaman-for-dreamcast/
sfchakan
07-30-2015, 01:01 AM
Mixed on Seaman episode. I don't think it came out that well overall.
Alpha2099
07-30-2015, 04:38 AM
I thought it was pretty good. There were several parts that made me laugh a lot. It may not be one of his all-time best, but compared to some other recent ones, I think it was fine.
ZeroCool
07-30-2015, 12:20 PM
One of the most boring episodes. At this point I just hope for an average one.
Alpha2099
07-30-2015, 02:55 PM
One of the most boring episodes. At this point I just hope for an average one.
I could probably understand where you're coming from, but what episodes are you comparing it to? In terms of recent episodes, I thought 'Hong Kong 97' was a clunker, but 'Darkwing Duck' was entertaining, and as I said earlier, this one wasn't half-bad. If you're comparing it to 'Sega CD' or 'Milon's Secret Castle', then I can understand that this one isn't as good as those.
ZeroCool
07-30-2015, 06:29 PM
I could probably understand where you're coming from, but what episodes are you comparing it to? In terms of recent episodes, I thought 'Hong Kong 97' was a clunker, but 'Darkwing Duck' was entertaining, and as I said earlier, this one wasn't half-bad. If you're comparing it to 'Sega CD' or 'Milon's Secret Castle', then I can understand that this one isn't as good as those.
At this point I don't compare it to his heyday. I'm just comparing it to his recent, if you want to call it that. He had a 7 day Christmas thing last year. That was alright. The other recent episodes had some parts of it which was somewhat entertaining although I didn't like it. But this one was just flat. Especially the ending. But if his fans eat it up, which most of them do by reading the comments then ok.
Edmond Dantes
07-30-2015, 11:16 PM
Wincing at "Sega CD" being called a "good" episode. That was the first that revealed his Nintendo fanboy bias (well, besides the revisionist history known as "Wii Salute") and mostly just parroted the same myths that have haunted the Sega CD for generations.
Mind you, the 32X episode was pretty good.
But for me AVGN was good when it felt like it was actually about the games and not the player.
JSoup
07-31-2015, 02:54 AM
I tend to gauge how good or bad an episode is based on my enjoyment of it.
And my enjoyment based on how much it entertained me for the 20 or so minutes it takes to eat my lunch.
On those criteria, I've found most AVGN episodes good.
Niku-Sama
07-31-2015, 04:13 AM
Death by seaman. Such a terrible way to go
Daria
07-31-2015, 08:57 AM
I tend to gauge how good or bad an episode is based on my enjoyment of it.
And my enjoyment based on how much it entertained me for the 20 or so minutes it takes to eat my lunch.
On those criteria, I've found most AVGN episodes good.
People on this site have been complaining that he's jumped the shark since he was still the Angry Nintendo Nerd. His videos have their ups and downs, but so do studio produced tv shows. I find that his videos make me laugh more often than not.
Jorpho
08-03-2015, 09:19 PM
Seaman is up. Not bad at all.
http://cinemassacre.com/2015/07/28/avgn-seaman-for-dreamcast/
Seaman is up. Not bad at all.
http://cinemassacre.com/2015/07/28/avgn-seaman-for-dreamcast/
It went up last week, and has been discussed for the last ten posts. :)
jperryss
08-04-2015, 10:08 AM
Not his funniest video, but definitely one of his most creative.
That game looks creepy as hell.
Jorpho
08-04-2015, 07:16 PM
It went up last week, and has been discussed for the last ten posts. :)Oops. I was away, and thought Daria's post (and the quote therein) was about his previous video.
Th3 hoff
08-06-2015, 10:49 AM
Mixed on Seaman episode. I don't think it came out that well overall.
It's ok but i miss the old days. You know : star trek, batman , spiderman bugs bunny etc.
I Always look back at the old reviews and wonder where it went wrong.
Alpha2099
08-06-2015, 01:08 PM
It's ok but i miss the old days. You know : star trek, batman , spiderman bugs bunny etc.
I Always look back at the old reviews and wonder where it went wrong.
It hasn't "gone wrong," it's just changed. That happens with any long-running program. Sometimes the changes are subtle and gradual, until one day you realize it doesn't have the same feel as when you started watching. But change is a good thing; if it were always the same, we'd be complaining about how boring and stale things have gotten.
mailman187666
08-06-2015, 03:24 PM
I liked his latest board james episode of the Full House/Urkle games. I like how they make it out to have a creepy backstory. They are goofy, but they make me laugh while on lunch break.
JSoup
11-07-2015, 05:13 PM
New episode about a week ago. The Crow movie games.
http://cinemassacre.com/2015/10/30/the-crow-angry-video-game-nerd/
Alpha2099
11-07-2015, 05:48 PM
New episode about a week ago. The Crow movie games.
http://cinemassacre.com/2015/10/30/the-crow-angry-video-game-nerd/
I liked it. Nice to see him move into Saturn territory. I imagine that eventually he'll start doing more reviews from the 32-bit era so that his well doesn't dry up.
JSoup
11-07-2015, 08:09 PM
I've said this before, but the chances of the well drying up any time soon are pretty low. Considering how much he's done, including the holiday episodes that just had one line each for a handful of games, he's nowhere near reached the bottom of the NES barrel, so say nothing of every other system. I mean, there are over 2300 PS1 games and over 2400 PS2 games. Assuming he can acquire, if only for a night, even a fraction of either number, he's essentially got years worth of material left.
sfchakan
11-08-2015, 12:33 AM
New episode about a week ago. The Crow movie games.
http://cinemassacre.com/2015/10/30/the-crow-angry-video-game-nerd/
Lame, boring review of a boring game.
I wish he'd just slow down and release higher quality videos as often as possible.
Tron 2.0
11-08-2015, 07:57 AM
Lame, boring review of a boring game.
I wish he'd just slow down and release higher quality videos as often as possible.
Agreed i wasn't really entertain by his latest video.
Alpha2099
11-08-2015, 09:26 AM
I wish he'd just slow down and release higher quality videos as often as possible.
I'm pretty sure releasing more videos at higher quality is the opposite of slowing down.
I've said this before, but the chances of the well drying up any time soon are pretty low. Considering how much he's done, including the holiday episodes that just had one line each for a handful of games, he's nowhere near reached the bottom of the NES barrel, so say nothing of every other system. I mean, there are over 2300 PS1 games and over 2400 PS2 games. Assuming he can acquire, if only for a night, even a fraction of either number, he's essentially got years worth of material left.
Let's say that the NES, PS1, and PS2 each have 200 bad games. Let's also say he ups the ante and reviews one bad game per month. Just 120 games would take 10 years. All 600 would take him 50 years, which would put him into his 80's. So yeah, you are 100% correct. :)
sfchakan
11-08-2015, 11:42 PM
... or he could stop when he doesn't enjoy doing it enough to justify the work. Are we past that point now, though?
The Adventurer
11-09-2015, 12:10 AM
If he didn't enjoy it he wouldn't keep making them.
PizzaKat
11-09-2015, 01:05 AM
This episode wasn't funny but pretty boring. I did enjoy one of his Board James of video games, that one felt more like an AVGN episode of the past.
Tron 2.0
11-09-2015, 05:35 AM
This episode wasn't funny but pretty boring. I did enjoy one of his Board James of video games, that one felt more like an AVGN episode of the past.
Which is the weird thing about it.The latest board games video was good but the quality for the avgn is awful as of late.
sfchakan
11-09-2015, 01:39 PM
I'd wager he's been having more fun with Board James. They've been doing all sorts of crazy shit with that series the past few years.
JSoup
11-09-2015, 05:09 PM
It seems like he's having an easier time with James & Mike Monday. Takes little editing, can be done on a whim without disrupting his family and it seems to be well received by fans.
Gentlegamer
11-10-2015, 12:42 AM
Board James is the new AVGN in that it gets the production qualities the old nerd videos used to get.
JSoup
12-26-2015, 05:45 PM
So, new episode:
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: SubZero (N64): http://cinemassacre.com/2015/12/22/mortal-kombat-mythologies-sub-zero-n64-angry-video-game-nerd/
Edit: If you saw the other two links I had, sorry, they weren't labeled as James & Mike Monday episodes.
PizzaKat
12-27-2015, 02:39 AM
Sub Zeros scream when he fell was the best part
Gentlegamer
12-27-2015, 12:15 PM
I rented the PlayStation version back in the day. Along with the cheesy FMV, you have to play it like Dragon's Lair and laugh at all the ridiculous deaths.
OldSchoolGamer
04-08-2016, 03:22 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3iEn5rzMnw
Niku-Sama
04-08-2016, 07:16 AM
I love the part with the music and how he's doing it like the old commercials
Greg2600
04-09-2016, 01:05 PM
Wow, really impressed with the effort on this one! Had a great story, and the visual effects were great. A
JSoup
04-14-2016, 12:24 AM
And he's having an auction as well. Talks about his daughter too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xWMugmUs94
Greg2600
04-14-2016, 06:27 PM
A very moving story from the Nerd, hope the auction does really well!