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Old 03-05-2017, 05:56 PM   #1
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How do you feel about the Angry Video Game Nerd?

You know, the character James Rolfe has been playing for over a decade now(holy crap, time flies!).

I found out AVGN's videos completely by accident one day on youtube back in mid-late 2006 or so while looking for TMNT related stuff. Saw that there was a video review of the TMNT NES game by him. Took me a few weeks to finally check it out. One day I just realised "well it has a shi*ton of views, so there's gotta be something interesting about it, so I eventually decided to check it out and... well I didn't like it much at first because I wasn't expecting him to suddenly start cussing like a sailor in it. I guess the name ANGRY Nintendo Nerd should have been enough of a hint for me, but hey come on now, that style of reviewing games didn't get popular until James Rolfe hit it big.

Anyway, I decided to check his channel some days later. Up until then, his latest episode was Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street. So he already had a dozen or so episodes. I watched all of his older episodes on one weekend and laughed my ass off to them. I was going through the height of my "being a teenager sucks!" phase, being 15-16 years old at the time so his videos helped me give a good uplift.

Then, some months later he joins GameTrailers. His videos start to look more professional and polished, and tbh it's hard ot go back to his older episodes nowadays. They give you too much of a "Nerd living in his parents basement" vibe... which is ironic considering he used ot film on his own room/living room back in his old place while nowadays his gaming room is actually IN the basement. I'd honestly never have guessed, though.

Favourite episodes... oh man. From the top of my head: Dick Tracy, Die Hard, Silver Surfer, Action 52 + Cheetahmen, Dark Castle, Ghostbusters Trilogy, Top Gun,, Coleco and Intelivision, Sega CD, Batman two parter and Superman 64 are all hilarious. They're probably my most watched episodes of his. I think his "prime" was from around episode 44 to episode 91. Pretty much every episode of his was gold in this bracket.

As for his movie... I didn't expect a masterpiece but wasn't a big fan. I'm happy he finally got his big screen film but didn't care about the supporting cast(giving him some random guy as his cameraman, really?).

I'm yet to play "his" official game. I gotta do that someday.

Anyway, I can't believe I've been watching his stuff for over a decade now. Never would I've thought that he'd still be doing this stint in 2017. I find his videos very informative and I really admire his passion for games and such. He seems like a genuinely nice fellow and wish him nothing but success. Although I wonder how long he's gonna keep on doing this. He's set the bar too high(or too low...) now. He's already reviewed the likes of ET, Big Rigs, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, etc. Unless he starts venturing into obscure PS1 and PS2 games there really isn't much left for him to do now as far as reviewing older crappy games goes. He's already reviewed most of the popular requests afaik.

So, what do you think about him? Like him? Dislike him?

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Old 03-05-2017, 06:05 PM   #2
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I've been a fan since just about the very beginning. I support everything Cinemassacre does. Good dudes, good content. No shilling, no narcissism, no politics, just entertainment.

I pledged to the AVGN movie's funding campaign a while back & got a signed photo of The Nerd for doing so. It proudly hangs in my room alongside the one I got from Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters garb, seemed fitting they go together. Didn't care much for the movie itself, to be honest. The special effects & general plot were great, but the supporting cast ruined it for me. Couldn't f**king stand his two sidekicks. Still amusing, though, & I'm glad I supported it.

Mike shouted me out in a few of his streams which really made my day each time it happened, he also once drew Krang in Mario Paint by my request.

The two AVGN Adventures games are MAAAAAD GOOD. Highly recommended. Frustratingly difficult at times, but in a fun way.
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Old 03-05-2017, 06:11 PM   #3
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I've been a fan since just about the very beginning. I support everything Cinemassacre does. Good dudes, good content. No shilling, no narcissism, no politics, just entertainment.

I pledged to the AVGN movie's funding campaign a while back & got a signed photo of The Nerd for doing so. It proudly hangs in my room alongside the one I got from Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters garb, seemed fitting they go together.

Mike shouted me out in a few of his streams which really made my day each time it happened, he once drew Krang in Mario Paint during a stream by my request.

The two AVGN Adventures games are MAAAAAD GOOD. Highly recommended. Frustratingly difficult at time, but in a fun way.
Wait there's two official AVGN games? Are both available on the Nintendo eShop and/or in Steam? I know the first one is.

And yeah, I also like Cinemassacre's extra stuff and I've never felt dirty aobut giving their videos clicks. They seem like genuinely good guys. They're just like us, but managed to find a way to show the world their passion for games, comics, movies, etc. Plus, they listen to the fans, and give us what we want often. They don't give off a corporate vibe at all.

That's cool of Mike to do that for you. Tbh, I always found Mike to be someone I'd get annoyed with after a while. His humour in the James and Mike Mondays videos can be a bit cringeworthty and annoying at times. Oh well, his job is drawing episode cards and he certainly is more talented at it than I ever will be. I guess, as an artist, you've been inspired by his work before?
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Old 03-05-2017, 06:25 PM   #4
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Yeah, a sequel came out last year & it's even better than the first. Both are on Steam, I know the first was in the 3DS e-shop, not sure about the second.

It's all dope. Some of James' material is really informative, the guy knows his stuff. & when he doesn't, he does thorough research. Very respectable. Whenever they do wanna push something, like a DVD collection or whatever, it's always a separate "commercial" video, & there's no begging or whatever, it's just a "Hey, this exists, here's where you can get it, thank you!" sorta thing.

I get that, Mike's kind of humor isn't for everyone. It's immature & full of innuendo, but it's organic for him, so I find it amusing. He just naturally goes there, it's not put on to try & sound funny, it's just his personality (for better or worse). I identify with him a bit. I don't have any particular thoughts about his art, he's decent though.
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Old 03-05-2017, 06:30 PM   #5
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Yeah, a sequel came out last year & it's even better than the first. Both are on Steam, I know the first was in the 3DS e-shop, not sure about the second.

It's all dope. Some of James' material is really informative, the guy knows his stuff. & when he doesn't, he does thorough research. Very respectable. Whenever they do wanna push something, like a DVD collection or whatever, it's always a separate "commercial" video, & there's no begging or whatever, it's just a "Hey, this exists, here's where you can get it, thank you!" sorta thing.

I get that, Mike's kind of humor isn't for everyone. It's immature & full of innuendo, but it's organic for him, so I find it amusing. He just naturally goes there, it's not put on to try & sound funny, it's just his personality (for better or worse). I identify with him a bit. I don't have any particular thoughts about his art, he's decent though.
The video where I got the most annoyed at Mike was in the Pilotwings 64 video. You know the part where they play the cannonball mini-game and he starts mimicking the characters' screaming as they get fired? That part really grated my nerves
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Old 03-05-2017, 06:31 PM   #6
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He's much better than all the youtube wannabe's who came after him, like Angry Joe and all those other guys.

In a way he was sort of a pioneer for all the youtube videogame players. He had his videos on his own site before he put them to youtube, and then it paved the way for all these people who came after him.
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Old 03-05-2017, 06:38 PM   #7
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He's much better than all the youtube wannabe's who came after him, like Angry Joe and all those other guys.

In a way he was sort of a pioneer for all the youtube videogame players. He had his videos on his own site before he put them to youtube, and then it paved the way for all these people who came after him.
By "his videos" you mean his AVGN episodes? Because his firt one is form 2004, but naturally since youtube still wasn't around in 2004, he only uploaded it onto it a couple of years later. He never meant his video game reviews to become a series. His dream has always been directing actual movies. Horror ones, in particular, from what I gather. He then made Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde as a follow up to Simon's Quest and then made Karate Kid, which was originally meant to be his dead last video game review. Funny how things turn out, eh?

I remember lots of "angry gamers" popping out at the time such as Armake, Monoxide, Spoony and the Irate gamer(f*ck that guy). Although there was one guy who was a subversion of that trend, The Happy Video Game Nerd.

Armake was big for a while but I dunno if he still does this stuff. And I remember reading screwattack's forums back in 2006-2007 and him being a member there. He was upset of all the hate he was getting at the time, because, for a while, anyone who reviewed games was accused of ripping off the nerd, even though Armake did his Ghostbusters review BEFORE James did his. Yet many AVGN fanboys were bashing Armake accusing him of ripping James Rolfe off.

I remember Spoony's debut episode, which was the Adventure's of Bayou Billy... never thought he'd become as big as he is nowadays. I'm guessing Pat the NES Punk also showed up around that time. I find Pat a bit too awkward for my taste, though.

Anyway, doesn't Nostalgia Critic pre-date the Nerd?
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Old 03-06-2017, 06:33 PM   #8
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I like James Rolfe. He seems so humble and hated all the hate he got regarding his stance on the newer Ghostbuster film and why he didn’t have an interest in seeing it and that he wasn’t going to review it, despite many people requesting it. I also didn’t know his daughter had been sick. What was her ailment?

So yeah, I like his Nerd videos and was watching his videos when he was still the Angry Nintendo Nerd. Not sure what my first video was, but I did find him entertaining. My fav Nerd eps tend to focus around eps on actual gaming systems, like the Sega CD/32X and the Atari Jaguar are a couple of examples. I also like how he gives information on what he may review, so yeah.

I watch his other stuff too, occasionally. One thing he used to have on his site years ago, was this type of history of Batman thing…onscreen stuff, which included information about the 1940s serials. Wish it was still there. It was very well-informed, imo.

Let’s see, the only negative about his nerd persona is the gross-out humor, which I’ve never been particularly a fan of in general. Even as a kid, I couldn’t tolerate stuff like Ren & Stimpy after a certain point because it was too gross for me. One review, that I know of, that I have never been able to get through, is his Toxic Avenger one. It was too crude for my tastes I guess.

Oh, one review that comes to mind that I do find pretty hilarious, mainly because the game actually exists, is the Hong Kong 97 review. IMO, that wasn’t the AVGN, that was just James being James. lol
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Old 03-06-2017, 07:57 PM   #9
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I'm with you man, I love the episodes about consoles or accessories.
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Old 04-17-2017, 03:23 PM   #10
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It's hard to imagine would Youtube would be like without AVGN. He's one of the pioneers, and definately one of the 'good guys'.

He did a lot of TMNT coverage in his early videos, as well. I remember he did a few in-depth videos of the Fred Wolf cartoon, and a video or two covering the Turtles' pop culture boom.

I wonder what he thinks of the current Turtles' output?
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Old 04-17-2017, 03:56 PM   #11
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I like his short horror film reviews, especially the Top 40 Sh*tty Shark Movies. That was his best countdown video by far.
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Old 04-20-2017, 10:32 PM   #12
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The new video is about Sonic the Hedgehog 2006...When AVGN started that game was a current gen game.
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Old 03-06-2017, 08:04 PM   #13
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I like James Rolfe. He seems so humble and hated all the hate he got regarding his stance on the newer Ghostbuster film and why he didn’t have an interest in seeing it and that he wasn’t going to review it, despite many people requesting it. I also didn’t know his daughter had been sick. What was her ailment?

So yeah, I like his Nerd videos and was watching his videos when he was still the Angry Nintendo Nerd. Not sure what my first video was, but I did find him entertaining. My fav Nerd eps tend to focus around eps on actual gaming systems, like the Sega CD/32X and the Atari Jaguar are a couple of examples. I also like how he gives information on what he may review, so yeah.

I watch his other stuff too, occasionally. One thing he used to have on his site years ago, was this type of history of Batman thing…onscreen stuff, which included information about the 1940s serials. Wish it was still there. It was very well-informed, imo.

Let’s see, the only negative about his nerd persona is the gross-out humor, which I’ve never been particularly a fan of in general. Even as a kid, I couldn’t tolerate stuff like Ren & Stimpy after a certain point because it was too gross for me. One review, that I know of, that I have never been able to get through, is his Toxic Avenger one. It was too crude for my tastes I guess.

Oh, one review that comes to mind that I do find pretty hilarious, mainly because the game actually exists, is the Hong Kong 97 review. IMO, that wasn’t the AVGN, that was just James being James. lol
The onyl instance I remember James getting some flack was in that time where he and Mike promoted someone else's kickstarter campaign or wtv it was and that guy turned out to be a scammer in the end. I dunno, it was some years ago already and I never bothered to research much about that controversy. Someone else enlighten me, please.

Well I didn't watch the newer Ghostbusters either. Doesn't appeal me. I wonder how James felt about Bay Turtles tho. James really likes the Turtles but, from what I gather, he's pretty much a FW and movie fan only.
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Old 03-06-2017, 08:26 PM   #14
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I'm with you man, I love the episodes about consoles or accessories.
Yeah, I always find those interesting. For instance, I remembered the 32x, but didn’t know anyone who had one. It was crazy that Sega even released it so close to the launch of the Sega Saturn.
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The onyl instance I remember James getting some flack was in that time where he and Mike promoted someone else's kickstarter campaign or wtv it was and that guy turned out to be a scammer in the end. I dunno, it was some years ago already and I never bothered to research much about that controversy. Someone else enlighten me, please.

Well I didn't watch the newer Ghostbusters either. Doesn't appeal me. I wonder how James felt about Bay Turtles tho. James really likes the Turtles but, from what I gather, he's pretty much a FW and movie fan only.
Last year, he made a video telling his fans that he wasn’t going to watch or review the 2016 Ghostbusters film and gave reasons why he wasn’t going to see it. People pretty much called him sexist, was attacked by Sony, and stuff like that and it even made the actual news. The majority of what he said was the main reason why I had no interest in seeing it. The thing is, he didn’t mention gender at all, practically. He compared it to the Force Awakens and was pretty much saying that he would prefer a pass the torch type set up, like Star Wars did with the Force Awakens. That’s what I wanted.

As for the Bay Turtle films, he’s seen them. As a matter of fact, he did two crossovers with the Nostalgia Critic as the AVGN for both films. The second crossover was between him, Nostalgia Critic, and Black Nerd.
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Old 03-06-2017, 08:44 PM   #15
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Yeah, I always find those interesting. For instance, I remembered the 32x, but didn’t know anyone who had one. It was crazy that Sega even released it so close to the launch of the Sega Saturn.
Last year, he made a video telling his fans that he wasn’t going to watch or review the 2016 Ghostbusters film and gave reasons why he wasn’t going to see it. People pretty much called him sexist, was attacked by Sony, and stuff like that and it even made the actual news. The majority of what he said was the main reason why I had no interest in seeing it. The thing is, he didn’t mention gender at all, practically. He compared it to the Force Awakens and was pretty much saying that he would prefer a pass the torch type set up, like Star Wars did with the Force Awakens. That’s what I wanted.

As for the Bay Turtle films, he’s seen them. As a matter of fact, he did two crossovers with the Nostalgia Critic as the AVGN for both films. The second crossover was between him, Nostalgia Critic, and Black Nerd.
So I just finished watching his video where he talks about the Ghostbusters movie and... it's totally sensible. Really? That video of his generated a lot of backlash? Wow people get butthurt so easily nowadays.

And yes, the idea behind this new Ghostbusters movie was ridiculous from the start. As if anyone asked for it in the first place. I wouldn't want to watch a Sailor Moon anime with an entirely male cast either.

Does this mean we might see an all-female TMNT movie one day? Now that would kill this forum for good.
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Old 03-06-2017, 10:01 PM   #16
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If he had no interest seeing it that's fine but to make a video just to say "I refuse to see it etc..." was obviously just done to hate on it.

Out of everything he's reviewed Ghostbusters '16 is the one thing he refuses?

He even posted a DVD review of the cartoon the day the movie released. I mean come on.

It takes more effort to show you're ignoring something than it is to just ignore it.

I liked the movie but I would have preferred he make fun of it in a review instead acting all dumb. He did both Turtles movies.
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Old 06-20-2017, 12:26 PM   #17
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I like when he talks memories of older consoles, like NES and Super NES.
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Old 10-22-2017, 05:01 PM   #18
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He released two new game reviewing episodes recently. And is currently doing a Halloween special on a game called Polybius. One video per day. let's see where this goes.
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Old 10-22-2017, 05:05 PM   #19
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He's alright, if a bit too repetitive for my taste
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Old 10-22-2017, 05:21 PM   #20
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He's alright, if a bit too repetitive for my taste
Tbh he's been doing this since 2006... or well 2004. He knows this and notice how he hasn't done much AVGN related stuff in the last few years? Most of his channel these days consists of him playing games with Mike Matei and other guys. There was also Board James and You Know What's BS series. And also videos where he talks about movies and such.

Perhaps he is focusing more on his film making career... but he seems to have been regaining his love for the AVGN character lately again.

I don't think he is a s popular as he used to be. Many people who were watching him back in 2006-2009 no longer care for him. He was one of the pioneers in the YT gaming community but has been bested or even surpassed in popularity by other game reviewers that came a long in the current decade such as Angry Joe and JonTron. I don't care for those two guys, but can't deny their fame and popularity. Also, when AVGN became a well-known internet persona, social media was not what it is today. And James isn't the type of person who is constantly on twitter and such voicing his opinions and getting into drama. he's a bit more of a low profile, as low profile as a "celebrity" can be, that is. Plus he has a wife and two daughters. He has an actual life.

I wonder if he'll ever retire the Nerd character. How has his movie career been doing so far? his AVGN film was a letdown tbh.
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