The Angry Video Game Nerd (abbreviated as
AVGN, occasionally shortened to
The
Nerd) is the character of a series of
farcical retrogaming video
reviews by
James D. Rolfe. The
show generally revolves around retro game reviews that involve
bitter
rant against particularly
low-quality or poorly designed video games. The series began as a
feature on
YouTube, and later joined
ScrewAttack Entertainment, which would
later have three of its features, including the AVGN, transferred
to
GameTrailers exclusively. The show
was formerly known as
The Angry Nintendo
Nerd, a title that was abandoned to avoid legal
issues due to the
Nintendo trademark, and
because the show started reviewing games on other consoles.
The
Nerd character is an ill-tempered and
foul-mouthed video
game fanatic.
He derives comic
appeal from excessive and inventive use of profanity, frequent displays of explicit gestures, and heavy consumption of
beer, particularly Rolling Rock or
Yuengling
. A particular characteristic, which has
become something of a trademark of his character, is for him to
describe, in great detail, extremely repulsive and painful, usually
firmly
scatological acts, and to claim
that he would rather endure them than to play the game that he is
reviewing. Varying amounts of
physical
comedy are mixed into the verbal abuses.
History
He first started to do reviews as a child in the late 80s to the
early 90s, but did not really take off until he made a short review
of the
NES game
Castlevania II:
Simon's Quest in 2004. Rolfe decided to make another video
which was supposed to be the last, because
Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde was his most hated game. At the time, he was drinking
the beer
Rolling Rock, and this became
a trait of The Nerd, so he decided to use it in later videos. The
videos were produced and published on Cinemassacre.com. In 2006,
the videos were put on YouTube under the name of "Angry Nintendo
Nerd". He later changed the name to "Angry Video Game Nerd" to
prevent
trademark issues. Along with the
name change, the Nerd soon diversified, reviewing games on other
platforms such as the
Atari 2600,
Super Nintendo,
Sega Master System,
Sega Genesis,
Virtual
Boy,
Atari 5200, and
PlayStation, when he reviewed
Independence Day on it. Along
with reviewing games, some episodes have featured other video
game-related items, such as the
Power
Glove, the
U-Force and other NES
accessories, movie reviews of
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
III and
The
Wizard, and a tribute to
Nintendo Power. He also references video
game culture in a reenactment of the retro console wars in one
video in a
Wii tribute.
Rolfe has stated on his website that the first videos he made were
"just a joke" and he had no intention on making them public,
instead showing them only to friends. After two years passed, Mike
Matei suggested he put it online. They soon did, and since then,
his reviews have become increasingly popular and have developed a
large
fanbase. Rolfe's videos grew longer,
soon turning into an actual series complete with title cards, an
intro song and official merchandise, hats, two versions of
t-shirts, and the AVGN Volume 1 DVD (2004~2006 episodes), followed
by the Volume 2 DVD (2007 episodes), and the soon to be released
Volume 3 DVD (2008 episodes), which is expected sometime this
Fall.
After his fourth online review on YouTube,
ScrewAttack invited him to have his own section
on their website and has since been employed by
MTV Networks'
GameTrailers.com. Since then, new videos are
GameTrailers exclusives with Rolfe posting episodes on his YouTube
account over a year after its original GameTrailers release.
Rolfe's YouTube account was suspended on
May
19 2008, due to an alleged copyright claim
by GameTrailers on his trailer for the reviews of the
Spider-Man games. Ironically, GameTrailers'
YouTube account was also suspended on the same day due to a
copyright claim allegedly by its own company. Rolfe's account was
reinstated the following day, with GameTrailers claiming confusion
over which videos their staff should have reported.
Popularity
YouTube
The Angry Video Game Nerd show originated on YouTube under the
JamesNintendoNerd Channel, where it was known
as the Angry Nintendo Nerd show until November 15, 2006. The show
was aired entirely on YouTube until James Rolfe joined with
Gametrailers, after which the YouTube account was used only for
trailers and miscellaneous videos. On July 25, 2008, older episodes
that were exclusive only to Gametrailers started being gradually
uploaded to the JamesNintendoNerd Channel for the YouTube
subscribers.
Opie and Anthony Radio Show
On August 8, 2007, Rolfe's character gained mainstream attention
when his videos were featured on the nationally syndicated radio
show
Opie and Anthony. Opie &
Anthony found his obscenity-laced tirades against poorly made video
games quite humorous, and took notice of one of their own Whip 'em
Out Wednesdays (WOW) promotional stickers being featured quite
prominently in several of Rolfe's videos. Since then, additional
videos have been played occasionally on the show. Rolfe was later
interviewed by Opie and Anthony on January 9, 2008. Rolfe would go
on to host a show on Opie and Anthony's
XM Satellite Radio (now Sirius/XM)
channel for their "Saturday Night Virus" block of shows, but has
done only one show so far and has not returned since.
Spike TV
The Angry Video Game Nerd was featured during an episode of
Spike TV's
Game Head during the week of November 25,
2007. The spot included clips of some of his previous reviews such
as
Die Hard.
Since 2008, Spike TV entered into a partnership with Rolfe's
company CineMassacre to create reviews for a wide variety of
movies. Rolfe has reviewed a number of movies to date including:
Maximum Overdrive,
Gremlins, and
The Shining.
Show
Episodes
Special guests
Occasionally, "special guests" based on famous film and television
characters make appearances. These guests often provide additional
commentary on the games and mock the Nerd's anguish, becoming
increasingly foul mouthed and derisive as the episodes progress.
Most of the characters are played by Mike Matei, who also
illustrates the show's title cards. His roles include
Freddy Krueger (twice),
Bugs Bunny (twice),
Jason Voorhees,
Leatherface,
Chop Top,
Michael Myers, the
Cowardly Lion, a
Klingon, a
Metron, the
Joker,
Frankenstein's monster, and Bugs'
form of
Woody Woodpecker.
Freddy Krueger is played by James Rolfe with
Matei taking on the role when both were in frame. Also, Kyle Justin
played both
Spider-Man and
Cousin Itt in separate episodes, which were
accompanied by him performing the theme songs from
Spider-Man and
The Addams Family, with reworked
lyrics. Justin was also featured in the Battletoads and second Bugs
Bunny (Crazy Castle) episodes as himself.
Some episodes have a basic storyline inspired by the plot of the
game or movie being reviewed. In these cases, guests are used to
play the episode-specific characters. In the
Halloween review,
Michael Mulvey and Lil' Liam Mulvey, wearing
Optimus Prime and
Swamp
Thing costumes, respectively, play the parts of the neighbor's
Trick-or-treaters. Nicole Mulvey
plays the neighbor. In
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre review,
Jimmy Jim Slugg appears as the hillbilly.
In The Nerd's take on
A Christmas
Carol, Stuttering Craig and Handsome Tom, co-founders of
ScrewAttack, appear as the
Ghost of Christmas Past and the
Ghost of Christmas
Present, respectively. A
Dracula sprite from
Castlevania II: Simon's
Quest represents the
Ghost of Christmas Yet to
Come.
Music
The Angry Video Game Nerd theme song was composed by independent
musician Kyle Justin. The lyrics were the work of both Justin and
Rolfe. Some of the lyrics come from comments made by Rolfe in his
review of
Back to the Future.
The original version of the theme song, which refers to the titular
character as the "Angry Nintendo Nerd," features only an
acoustic guitar. The second recording is
similar to the original but features a more refined performance and
an extra lyric at the end referring to the "Angry Video Game Nerd."
This version of the theme song was used in the Sega Master System
Rocky review, quickly displaced by the third version, then
used again in the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and
Bugs
Bunny Crazy Castle review. The third version, which debuted in
the "Atari 5200" video, features an overdriven electric guitar and
drum set. This version significantly expands on the original song,
adding more verses, choruses, and new music. However, a pared-down
version, similar in structure to the second version of the theme
song, is normally used. The full version is only featured in the
Sega CD review and on the DVD
set.
The theme song has been covered by fans in genres from
heavy metal to
chiptune. Rolfe occasionally features a vocal or
instrumental cover of the theme song in lieu of the original
version in the main titles or end titles of a video. The
cover by
Dustin Aßmuteit is featured as an extra on the first DVD
set.
In addition to the Angry Video Game Nerd theme song, several songs
have been parodied and performed by Kyle Justin in Angry Video Game
Nerd episodes, including "
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"
(both "Bible Games" episodes), the
Spider-Man theme song ("Spider-Man"),
and the
Addams Family theme song
("Fester's Quest"). "Nintendo Power" features a cover of the theme
song from
Nintendo Power commercials,
while the
Intellivision and the
ColecoVision reviews feature a cover of
Foreigner's "
Double Vision".
The scores for Angry Video Game Nerd episodes are culled from a
variety of sources, including film soundtracks, television
soundtracks, and pop music. Some episodes, including "Friday the
13th" (DVD version only), "Nightmare on Elm Street" (DVD version
only), "Rocky" (DVD version only), "Texas Chainsaw Massacre,"
"Halloween", and "An Angry Nerd Christmas Carol" have necessitated
the composition of original scores. Musician Chris Holland has
contributed several rock songs, including covers of the opening
song from
Mickey's
Christmas Carol by
Irwin
Kostal, the "
Theme from
Star Trek" by
Alexander
Courage, and the march from
Superman by
John Williams.
Animated characters
The show also makes use of original animated characters to add
commentary or advance an episode-specific plot. The review of
Master Chu and the
Drunkard Hu uses a character called "Shit Pickle" to comment on
the game play. In the
Wizard/
Super Mario Bros. 3 review, the Nerd calls upon the "Super
Mecha Death Christ 2000 B.C 4.0 Beta" to assist in the destruction
of a demonically possessed
Super
Mario Bros. 3 cartridge.
This character is a combination of
Jesus,
robotic components, assorted weapons, and a tank. Both Shit Pickle
and Super Mecha Death Christ are originally from Rolfe's film "The
Wizard of Oz 3: Dorothy Goes to Hell" and are voiced by James Rolfe
and created by Mike Matei. Rolfe explained on his website that
Super Mecha Death Christ was created as a spoof on the numerous
Mecha-characters found in the
Godzilla movies, such as
Mechagodzilla. During his review of the
Magnavox Odyssey, a character
called "The Nerdy Turd" (who is a clone made from the Nerd's
feces) is introduced.
DVD
On November 18, 2007, the first AVGN
DVD set was
released. It includes all of the episodes up to the first
Bible
Games episode. Some material, such as movie clips from
Back to the Future and
Rocky, were removed to avoid
copyright infringement and replaced with new material. The DVD
includes extended versions of the "Wally Bear and the NO Gang!" and
"Rocky" reviews as well as an original documentary, deleted scenes,
and most of the videos posted exclusively on
ScrewAttack.com. In all, the DVD set contains
approximately three hours and 15 minutes of content.
According to Rolfe, the initial pressing of the DVD sold out in
less than a week. In addition, there were 100 DVDs sold with James
Rolfe's autograph on the front cover.
Around November 15, 2008, the second AVGN DVD set, which spans
three discs was released. It includes the GameTrailers.com episodes
from the Atari 5200 review to
An Angry Nerd Christmas
Carol as well as a scene from the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
III review, the trailers posted on YouTube, commentaries,
outtakes (from the 2007 videos as well as some from 2008), and
other material.
The Volume 3 DVD is expected to come out some time during the Fall
of 2009, as announced by James in the FAQ section of
Cinemassacre.com
Related media
CNN's "News to Me" featured the penny
rant
You Know What's Bullshit?
"You Know What's Bullshit?" is a series of short videos in which
Rolfe (The Bullshit Man) angrily complains about seemingly
inconsequential problems in a style similar to that of the Angry
Video Game Nerd. Topics have included
security labels,
temperature,
pennies,
shoelaces,
printers, hotel
TVs,
movies about penguins,
DVDs, sequel titles, people who keep their
Christmas decorations up even after Christmas is
over, and the fact that
bagels have an
excessive amount (to him, that is) of cream cheese on them.On
December 12,
2007,
Rolfe's "You Know What's Bullshit?" penny rant was featured on
CNN's "News to Me" segment. The most recent
video was released on Cinemassacre.com on July 12, 2009.
Board James
In April 2009, James Rolfe began to review various board games from
his childhood, as of July 3, 2009, there have been 4 episodes:
References
- JamesNintendoNerd channel description
- "The Wizard of Oz 3: Dorothy Goes to Hell" at
YouTube.com
- http://www.cinemassacre.com/new/?page_id=1174
External links
The Nerd fighting alongside "Super
Mecha Death Christ 2000 B.C 4.0 Beta" in The
Wizard & Super Mario Bros 3
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
