I originally discovered The Angry Video Game Nerd over at Screw Attack, where his episodes grew in popularity from his creation in 2006 almost over night. As a loyal fan, “The Angry Video Game Nerd” has offered some of the funniest and most clever reviews of some of the worst video games ever created, and with creator James Rolfe’s love for film, and film making, the episodes are a pop culture fan’s dream. Here are five great episodes from the Nerd you should watch before the movie.
Links included in the titles.
5. Action 52 / Cheetahmen
The Nerd comes across one of the more infamous unlicensed NES game cartridges ever made. For two hundred dollars back in 1991, you could have a cartridge that offers you 52 whole games in one! And guess what? They’re all really awful, glitchy, unplayable wastes of time. And money. The nerd endures these wastes of bits with good humor, coming across fifty two titles, most of which are half assed side scrolling space shooters, and badly developed platformers. The episode continues in his review of “Cheetahmen,” the mythical game in the cartridge that somehow managed to become even more popular than the product it was delivered in. Likely because it was accompanied with a spin off comic book, and plans for an action figure line. There are apparently big plans for the game that never panned out, or ended up failing disastrously before it even gained momentum. The game is so monumentally broke, it’s compelling. And it spawned two sequels, no less.
4. Toxic Crusaders
In one of the best episodes of the series by far, James Rolfe as the nerd teams up with Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman to play the video game “Toxic Crusaders.” It’s the really bad game based on the G rated cartoon based on Troma’s ultra violent movie series. Yes, that happened. Kaufman is here in full silliness, just as we like him, playing the terrible game with the Nerd, and pondering on how his cult classic movie became such a confusing difficult video game. If you can appreciate Kaufman’s lunacy, he brings it here in full force. And you’d have to be insane not to love Mr. Kaufman’s lunacy.
3. Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties
The infamous 3DO game is a glorified slide show that features some of the most surreal imagery ever put to screen. Trying to pass itself off as a game, the moronic interactive romantic comedy asks players to endure ten minutes of bad acting, horrible editing, and softcore erotica, all for a stupid “Choose your own Adventure” game. Sans the adventure. The Nerd’s experience through this terrible experience is not only hysterical but really helps emphasize how utterly surreal the “video game” for the system is.
2. Nintendo World Championships
Until the Nerd had him on, I was sadly not familiar with Pat Contri, also known as Pat the NES Punk. In the first time I’d ever seen him, he appears in a hilarious crossover with the Nerd to battle over a mythical valuable NES cartridge. In the episode reviewing the legendary cartridge, the nerd invites Pat over to consider giving him his copy for a box of NES cartridges, unaware the box holds the almost priceless golden master cartridge. The two do battle over possession of the item, resulting in some fun segments, including a very funny surprise ending. The episode cemented me as a fan of Pat the NES Punk, to boot.
1. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Re-Revisited
Though “E.T” is the Nerd’s most requested game, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is now synonymous with the Nerd’s fury and rage in regards to bad games. So much so that it’s brought up quite often whenever there’s a video featuring Rolfe out of the Nerd character. Most recently Rolfe and friend Mike Matei staged a group video with other great online gaming personalities to see who among them can go further in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” without losing to its impossible game play. Though the Nerd reviewed this early in his series, Nerd creator Rolfe stages a longer, more elaborate video where he confronts the idiotic game play, and impossible foes, all the while drinking himself unconscious.