AVGN Thread

[thanonyx]

What famous fictional character do you think he's going to get into a fight with next?

 

[Yousef]

What famous fictional character do you think he's going to get into a fight with next?

I wish he fought Batman or sonic.

 

[miguk]

I no longer watch AVGN because it feels soulless, like theres a giant team behind him having him do stuff he has no interest in, and it feels like hes only doing it for the paycheck and to please his remaining audience.

But the early stuff was pure gold. I miss Bad Luck Bootsy being on the show, and I really believe Mike Matei was the brains behind the show, hes the real AVGN in my opinion. And without him, the show will never be the same. I do watch Mike Matei's own channel, its alot simpler, but his jokes still shine, like when he refers to Mega-Man as Mega-Person.

He's most likely not interested because it's obviously repetitive. The humor and the character never evolve, so he's probably noticed after over a decade of doing it that he's functionally closer to a number puncher than the actor he dreamt of being. And yet, there isn't much that can be done with it because he never made an attempt to make it more complex. Closest he got was with the Final Fantasy III (US version of VI on SNES) review (finally something good), but he never built on that.

As mentioned elsewhere, he's middle aged, and he looks weird acting like he's 14. It's even worse in the context that he's been acting 14 for longer than the life of a 14 year old. He's probably well aware of this.

And Mike is not the brains of anything. Nobody who has no idea why saying the N-word like he's trying to resurrect HP Lovecraft and his cat isn't okay can be considered brainy. And continuing to work with him despite that is not a good look for AVGN. (Not that he doesn't have his own scandal...)

 

[Zooey]

And Mike is not the brains of anything. Nobody who has no idea why saying the N-word like he's trying to resurrect HP Lovecraft and his cat isn't okay can be considered brainy. And continuing to work with him despite that is not a good look for AVGN. (Not that he doesn't have his own scandal...)

• Convinced James that the first two videos were funny and to upload them to YouTube.
• Created and managed the Youtube channel himself.
• Gave James access to his game collection, posters, helped him come up with the set and mythos.
• Wrote a lot of the Golden Era stuff with James as well as edited quite a few episodes himself.
• Kept James going when he was ready to let it go around the filming of the movie.
• Incredibly passionate about video games. He knows his stuff.
• Actually gets angry. His real personality is far closer to AVGN than James, for better or for worse.

The above was taken from a discussion surrounding Mike's involvement. Mike has definitely fucked up and had his own controversies and issues though. That's just being human. But a big part of what people love about AVGN was due to Mike's involvement. Like its no coincidence that when the Screenwave guys took over, Mike left, and the channel went to crap. Its only when he,s gone, that people start realizing, "the jokes arent funny anymore, the show feels soulless, these new people feel out of place, its like nobodies played the games."

 

[Yousef]

I unfortunately lack the behind the scene knowledge to comment on any of this, but I really think Mike has a lot of underrated on-screen presence. Joker and bugs bunny were both two of my favorite characters in the whole mythos without a shadow of a doubt.

I think James himself deserves credit as a content creator. I came to appreciate the man behind the camera way more than the actual character (next bit runs the risk of me repeating myself so apologies in advance if I said any of this already) but i love how he incorporates his movie persona into the character.

Since I have a lot of appreciation for James himself, I’m just happy to see him on screen and can still feel passion in his latest episodes and still enjoy them decently.

 

[Zooey]

I unfortunately lack the behind the scene knowledge to comment on any of this, but I really think Mike has a lot of underrated on-screen presence. Joker and bugs bunny were both two of my favorite characters in the whole mythos without a shadow of a doubt.

I think James himself deserves credit as a content creator. I came to appreciate the man behind the camera way more than the actual character (next bit runs the risk of me repeating myself so apologies in advance if I said any of this already) but i love how he incorporates his movie persona into the character.

Since I have a lot of appreciation for James himself, I’m just happy to see him on screen and can still feel passion in his latest episodes and still enjoy them decently.

James plays the main character role perfectly. I think some of it is,

James - more of a film guy than a gamer
Mike - more of a gamer than a film guy

In a show about games, you need both kinds of people. I still miss Bootsy alot, and Kyle Justin (the guy who does the theme song), but to me James + Mike is like the dreamteam.

 

[Gorse]

The Angry Video Game Nerd was a really big deal for me growing up.

I started watching it when I was 10 years old on the old Cinemassacre website (I remember when the Batman episode was uploaded), and from then on I was hooked. I think my first episode was either M.C. Kids or part 1 of the Ghostbusters trilogy. The show was just fucking hilarious to me as a kid – I constantly laughed my head off at just how creative James got with this swears, and I actually really did learn a lot about retro gaming from it! It probably heavily influenced at least some of games I'm interested in, and some of the other internet content I like to watch.

Once I got my friends into it, we were off, and we watched every new episode as soon as they came out (on Thursday afternoons at GameTrailers and/or Screwattack). We'd constantly discuss the show at school – did you like the newest episode? What game is he going to do next!? We were far, far too young to be watching it, but that's what made it so good.

After I'd seen every AVGN episode (about four trillion times each), I got into Rolfe's other work, and loved that, too. Outside of AVGN, the original run of You Know What's Bullshit? and the original series of Board James were also massive successes with me. (The Mr. Bucket, Shark Attack, and Dream Phone episodes of Board James might just be my favourite things Rolfe ever put out. Me and my friends fucking lost our minds when we saw each of them, and I personally must have seen the entire series a million times over – pound for pound, I like it as much as AVGN.)

Up until about 2011 or so, I also kept up with Monster Madness every year – the Godzillathon in particular introduced me to that series, and I think some of those episodes are way better than the movies they're about. I remember one day in October 2008, when I had the day off from school, where, after playing with my friends all morning outside, I excitedly rushed home to catch the latest episode as soon as it was uploaded. That was far more than half my life ago. I also fucking love, love, love Rolfe's most obscure series, Monkey Cheez – me and my friends quoted it constantly in school and had several in-jokes based around it. All that shit still makes me laugh my head off.

I also read the Cinemassacre blog back in the day, and it was actually really good! That was back when James was getting invited to E3 and conventions and stuff, so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on, like, newly-released DS games. (I actually bought Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story on his recommendation.) Of course, his crossover with the Nostalgia Critic introduced me to that world, too, and that's a whoooole other chapter of my life.

I stopped watching AVGN after James switched to an HD camera, which I think began with the Winter Sports episode. Like other posters in this thread have mentioned, the magic died in about 2012 or 2013. I never saw the movie, never really watched James and Mike Mondays, and have only seen a scant few AVGN episodes past that point – none of them really seemed that good. (I did like The Town with No Name and Amiga CD ones, however... Are those both seriously SIX years old!?) I actually listened to a few episodes of the Cinemassacre podcast (including the Doug Walker one), but they were pretty poor. All the fatsos James surrounded himself with really seemed like they were sucking the life out of him.

My final interaction with the Cinemassacre brand was listening to the audiobook of Rolfe's biography, A Movie Making Nerd, at the end of 2022. Made a nice coda to that part of my life, I thought. It was really weird... the AVGN is only discussed in, like, a fifth of the book, and the rest of it is essentially a lead-up to a major embarrassment he had in college. (Which was certainly interesting, don't get me wrong.) There's also a detailed description of James' reaction to 9/11, which was an odd inclusion, and a very bizarre passage about Donald Trump where James outright calls him a "horrible man" – that caught me completely off-guard, and I'm about 95% sure his wife (who edited the book) made him put it in.

James kind of comes off as an egotist in the book. He seems to think he's some incredible auteur filmmaker, and he has a little paddy on about people who reacted negatively to the AVGN movie. He certainly is a respectable individual (well, heh heh, I'd say he was about 15+ years ago), but, at least in the book, he seemed pretty self-aggrandizing. If that's really him, then, wow... I was very surprised. It's definitely worth a read, but don't expect a ton of actual Cinemassacre internet video stuff.

One day... maybe even already... we'll forget James, and AVGN, and Cinemassacre, and everything he's contributed to internet video culture. I liked online videos back when they were more like professionally-produced TV shows instead of video essays, but that era is long gone, and I strongly doubt it'll ever come back. At the very least, I can say that the first 100 episodes of AVGN, and every other Cinemassacre video released during that timeframe, are crucial parts of me.

My favourite AVGN episodes, in no particular order, are:

• Action 52 + Cheetahmen
• The Ghostbusters Trilogy
• Both parts of Double Vision
• Atari Jaguar
• Halloween (Atari 2600)
• Dick Tracy [This one should be on everyone's list.]
• Sega CD and Sega 32X
• Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout
• Virtual Boy

Also, during summer 2020, me and some college buddies had a little wager: whoever could beat the web version of Deadly Danger Dungeon first would get a round of beers bought for him when quarantine was lifted. I, of course, won that challenge, but all my friends moved away before I could get my beer. And finally, if you've never seen it – even if you've never seen any of James' work – you really should watch The Dragon in My Dreams, which is just a phenomenally-touching video... Easily one of the best pieces of Internet content I've ever seen, and perhaps Rolfe's unsung masterpiece.

Cowabunga? Cowa-fucking-piece-of-dog-shit.

 

[Yousef]

The Angry Video Game Nerd was a really big deal for me growing up.

I started watching it when I was 10 years old on the old Cinemassacre website (I remember when the Batman episode was uploaded), and from then on I was hooked. I think my first episode was either M.C. Kids or part 1 of the Ghostbusters trilogy. The show was just fucking hilarious to me as a kid – I constantly laughed my head off at just how creative James got with this swears, and I actually really did learn a lot about retro gaming from it! It probably heavily influenced at least some of games I'm interested in, and some of the other internet content I like to watch.

Once I got my friends into it, we were off, and we watched every new episode as soon as they came out (on Thursday afternoons at GameTrailers and/or Screwattack). We'd constantly discuss the show at school – did you like the newest episode? What game is he going to do next!? We were far, far too young to be watching it, but that's what made it so good.

After I'd seen every AVGN episode (about four trillion times each), I got into Rolfe's other work, and loved that, too. Outside of AVGN, the original run of You Know What's Bullshit? and the original series of Board James were also massive successes with me. (The Mr. Bucket, Shark Attack, and Dream Phone episodes of Board James might just be my favourite things Rolfe ever put out. Me and my friends fucking lost our minds when we saw each of them, and I personally must have seen the entire series a million times over – pound for pound, I like it as much as AVGN.)

Up until about 2011 or so, I also kept up with Monster Madness every year – the Godzillathon in particular introduced me to that series, and I think some of those episodes are way better than the movies they're about. I remember one day in October 2008, when I had the day off from school, where, after playing with my friends all morning outside, I excitedly rushed home to catch the latest episode as soon as it was uploaded. That was far more than half my life ago. I also fucking love, love, love Rolfe's most obscure series, Monkey Cheez – me and my friends quoted it constantly in school and had several in-jokes based around it. All that shit still makes me laugh my head off.

I also read the Cinemassacre blog back in the day, and it was actually really good! That was back when James was getting invited to E3 and conventions and stuff, so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on, like, newly-released DS games. (I actually bought Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story on his recommendation.) Of course, his crossover with the Nostalgic Critic introduced me to that world, too, and that's a whoooole other chapter of my life.

I stopped watching AVGN after James switched to an HD camera, which I think began with the Winter Sports episode. Like other posters in this thread have mentioned, the magic died in about 2012 or 2013. I never saw the movie, never really watched James and Mike Mondays, and have only seen a scant few AVGN episodes past that point – none of them really seemed that good. (I did like The Town with No Name and Amiga CD ones, however... Are those both seriously SIX years old!?) I actually listened to a few episodes of the Cinemassacre podcast (including the Doug Walker one), but they were pretty poor. All the fatsos James surrounded himself with really seemed like they were sucking the life out of him.

My final interaction with the Cinemassacre brand was listening to the audiobook of Rolfe's biography, A Movie Making Nerd, at the end of 2022. Made a nice coda to that part of my life, I thought. It was really weird... the AVGN is only discussed in, like, a fifth of the book, and the rest of it is essentially a lead-up to a major embarrassment he had in college. (Which was certainly interesting, don't get me wrong.) There's also a detailed description of James' reaction to 9/11, which was an odd inclusion, and a very bizarre passage about Donald Trump where James outright calls him a "horrible man" – that caught me completely off-guard, and I'm about 95% sure his wife (who edited the book) made him put it in.

James kind of comes off as an egotist in the book. He seems to think he's some incredible auteur filmmaker, and he has a little paddy on about people who reacted negatively to the AVGN movie. He certainly is a respectable individual (well, heh heh, I'd say he was about 15+ years ago), but, at least in the book, he seemed pretty self-aggrandizing. If that's really him, then, wow... I was very surprised. It's definitely worth a read, but don't expect a ton of actual Cinemassacre internet video stuff.

One day... maybe even already... we'll forget James, and AVGN, and Cinemassacre, and everything he's contributed to internet video culture. I liked online videos back when they were more like professionally-produced TV shows instead of video essays, but that era is long gone, and I strongly doubt it'll ever come back. At the very least, I can say that the first 100 episodes of AVGN, and every other Cinemassacre video released during that timeframe, are crucial parts of me.

My favourite AVGN episodes, in no particular order, are:

• Action 52 + Cheetahmen
• The Ghostbusters Trilogy
• Both parts of Double Vision
• Atari Jaguar
• Halloween (Atari 2600)
• Dick Tracy [This one should be on everyone's list.]
• Sega CD and Sega 32X
• Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout
• Virtual Boy

And, if you've never seen it – even if you've never seen any of James' work – you really should watch The Dragon in my Dreams, which is just a phenomenally-touching video... Easily one of the best pieces of Internet content I've ever seen.

Cowabunga? Cowa-fucking-piece-of-dog-shit.

Wtf this is like a play-by-play exact replica of my childhood it’s genuinely terrifying
Only obvious difference is I still watch him (which I already pointed out)
I’m really glad I wasn’t the only one who branched out to James’s other stuff!
However I must agree on the quality of his spin-off shows after the “switch”. I only ever revisit him for avgn and the other dude I mentioned a few days ago.

I believe this is where I stopped watching cinamassacre. It was… 8 years ago??? Wow. This is at the tail end of James being the head honcho of everything if I’m not wrong… before silvermania took over.

By the by, good time to mention. I don’t like silvermania :(
My opinions on james were solely that of the man himself. The discussion here geared against him, so I stuck my neck out for him.
But I don’t like silvermania :)
If the discussion was more against them, then I’d agree. They’re the ones that sucked out all the fun. Before they came, James wasn’t doing anything wrong and I feel it’s not fair to point fingers at him (speaking in a general sense).

Good read! Always nice to find another Godzillathon fan!

 

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

What the fuck happened to Guitar Guy and the rock theme!? "Play the shitty games that suck ass" just doesn't feel the same without him.

I'd rather shove an entire Atari 7800 up my ass, shit it out onto an Atari Jaguar while trying to plug in a Sega Genesis with all the add-ons, while every toxic twitter post in the history of mankind is piped into my ear holes with headphones made out of steel and toenails, while dying from an overdose of caffeine and Sudafed while a hippo takes a shit on my keyboard, all at the same time, than listen to whatever the fuck you call the current theme song!

 

[medisinn]

I think the first, I dunno, 100-ish episodes of AVGN still hold up super well. The anger doesn't feel forced like it does in later episodes. Nowadays he yells for the sake of seeming angry, even though his insight is often more entertaining. He still has an inspired episode here or there, Deja Vu was pretty good, and the one spoofing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was great. I think it's just how he pays the bills now. Mike was the inspiration for the character, and I get why Mike is problematic, but without his chaotic energy there's just something lost in the equation. There's something charming about friends collaborating in an amateur way to make something, it's a bummer that he wouldn't or couldn't stick with that formula.

I think everything started going downhill when he focused on the movie. I'm glad he got to make it, and that I got to see it in an advance screening at PAX Prime 2013 or whatever year it was, but man, it was...not good. And then you add in bringing in Screenwave, and yeah, it just became another brand. Once you remove the connection James or Mike has to the stuff from the past, it's just another channel really.

Has anyone seen the Folding Ideas video, I Don't Know James Rolfe? I think it's overly harsh, but it does make some good points. It certainly seems like James has his own way of seeing and doing things in an often narrow-minded and antiquated way, and is not as open to change or refinement as most people would be. It's probably to his own peril, but that's also what makes him him at the same time. If he did things exactly like everyone else does he would just be the same as them.

I watched James and Mike Mondays at the time, but since then I've ignored all the side stuff and just tune in whenever there's a new episode. Sometimes they are decent, sometimes okay, and only once was one so cringe I couldn't finish the episode(the one with the mobile horse romance game). AVGN still more or less feels like a bastion of Old Youtube, so I appreciate him for that, I just don't think the character has anything left to offer. Episode 200 was pretty limp and built up to nothing, but I don't think that would have been a bad time for the character to bow out. We'll always have those old episodes. I put them on often at night for something to listen to when I try to sleep, and I have the first 6 seasons on DVD, which have served me very well during various moves when I didn't have internet for a few days and needed something to watch.

And for the record, I am a Shitpickle fan

 

[Gorse]

Has anyone seen the Folding Ideas video, I Don't Know James Rolfe?

Yeah, I saw it, and I thought it kinda sucked. The guy who runs that channel really seems like a sneery jerk, and he just made some base-level observations that anyone with a brain (and/or who wasn't part of r/TheCinemassacreTruth) would have immediately understood was implicit. That he recreated James' studio was a cute gag, but it honestly just seemed like a bit of clickbait to me... frankly, I would have preferred if he'd been a lot harsher, if just for the entertainment value alone.

If I were trapped in an elevator with one of the two, I'd pick James over Beardy Magoo any day of the week.

 

[Yousef]

Yeah, I saw it, and I thought it kinda sucked. The guy who runs that channel really seems like a sneery jerk, and he just made some base-level observations that anyone with a brain (and/or who wasn't part of r/TheCinemassacreTruth) would have immediately understood was implicit. That he recreated James' studio was a cute gag, but it honestly just seemed like a bit of clickbait to me... frankly, I would have preferred if he'd been a lot harsher, if just for the entertainment value alone.

If I were trapped in an elevator with one of the two, I'd pick James over Beardy Magoo any day of the week.

Dunking on r/TheCinemassacreTruth, love to see it

 

[medisinn]

Yeah, I saw it, and I thought it kinda sucked. The guy who runs that channel really seems like a sneery jerk, and he just made some base-level observations that anyone with a brain (and/or who wasn't part of r/TheCinemassacreTruth) would have immediately understood was implicit. That he recreated James' studio was a cute gag, but it honestly just seemed like a bit of clickbait to me... frankly, I would have preferred if he'd been a lot harsher, if just for the entertainment value alone.

If I were trapped in an elevator with one of the two, I'd pick James over Beardy Magoo any day of the week.

I like a lot of his other videos, but I do agree. He honed in on a couple things way too much, like the homemade camera setup. I don't think it's blind dislike, just the sort of criticism someone who considers themself an auteur would have against someone else in the arts. I just don't think it was ultimately helpful, which feels different than the other Folding Ideas videos I've seen. It doesn't really lead anywhere, which I think is part of the intention, but it also didn't work for me.

 

[Zooey]

The Folding Ideas vid was nice in that it gave me a lengthy description of what James' autobiography was about, without having to actually read it myself. Dont get me wrong, AVGN is one of my favorite things, but I dont think his strength is in writing a compelling autobiography.

 

[Zerpina]

The Folding Ideas vid was nice in that it gave me a lengthy description of what James' autobiography was about, without having to actually read it myself. Dont get me wrong, AVGN is one of my favorite things, but I dont think his strength is in writing a compelling autobiography.

Oh, you know it would be on Par with Ashens Fifty-Thousand Shades of Grey

 

[dr grim]

i found his latest videos released a few month ago were quite nice. i only watch the " classic avgn " videos though, not all the side things like neighbors nerds..

 

[Lee__Kanker]

That’s truly fascinating. Sounds like had a lot of artistic integrity behind him. This is a really nice story.

He's very passionate about donald duck comics too, iirc he has some sort of arts degree

 

[Yousef]

He's very passionae about donald duck comics too, iirc he has some sort of arts degree

He collected like, all of Spider-Man too? Don’t remember.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

He collected like, all of Spider-Man too? Don’t remember.

Haven't heard of that one but it wouldnt surprise me since he reviewed a lot of spidey stuff, he has a huge dvd collection too

Also this video still impresses me

He made a technical breakdown of it on his blog

My TMNT Mario Paint Animation, A Retrospective – Mike Matei Blog – Mike Matei

www.mikematei.com

 

[ciro64]

About the Folding Ideas, I really liked that last bit where he impersonates the nerd with the doll. It comes down to a comfy, inconsequential, informal and spontaneous review just like the way James specifically does it. I think that's the core appeal of AVGN, beneath the anger and the skits.

As for his book, I only read the first half but it was an entertaining read. As someone who doesn't read books I appreciate the simple writing style. Call it ego-driven if you will, I think it's a very genuine expression of his experiences regardless, especially considering that he wrote it over the span of his life. That whole college saga could be made into an engaging drama movie.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

About the Folding Ideas, I really liked that last bit where he impersonates the nerd with the doll. It comes down to a comfy, inconsequential, informal and spontaneous review just like the way James specifically does it. I think that's the core appeal of AVGN, beneath the anger and the skits.

As for his book, I only read the first half but it was an entertaining read. As someone who doesn't read books I appreciate the simple writing style. Call it ego-driven if you will, I think it's a veru genuine expression of his experiences regardless, specially considering that he wrote it over the span of his life. That whole college saga could be made into an engaging drama movie.

I dont get why he did that video when he's never been a fan


I really like how unpretentious and down to earth his cinemassacre monster madness reviews are, especially the ones from the late 00s

This one too

 

[Yousef]

Haven't heard of that one but it wouldnt surprise me since he reviewed a lot of spidey stuff, he has a huge dvd collection too

Also this video still impresses me

He made a technical breakdown of it on his blog

My TMNT Mario Paint Animation, A Retrospective – Mike Matei Blog – Mike Matei

www.mikematei.com

If you haven’t already, you should look into his full game walkthroughs. He plays a lot of the avgn games to completion. I advice you watch this one.

“It’s satisfying when you overcome the game’s shittyness”

 

[Lee__Kanker]

If you haven’t already, you should look into his full game walkthroughs. He plays a lot of the avgn games to completion. I advice you watch this one.

“It’s satisfying when you overcome the game’s shittyness”

Hahaha, I think I will I only watched him attempt Recca on the famicom
Did he play the NTSC or Pal version? It turns out the ntsc version is far slower because of a technical fuckup

 

[Zooey]

“It’s satisfying when you overcome the game’s shittyness”

I dont know how Mike even has the patience to play that. Even when i was 12 i would've thrown that game out the window and went back to playing Kickle Cubicle.

 

[Yousef]

I dont know how Mike even has the patience to play that. Even when when i was 12 i would've thrown that game out the window and went back to playing Kickle Cubicle.

The best part is that he made that a series. Two series in fact. One on his channel, the other were on James’. They both have different games played. I linked the one that people are less likely to find. The transitional period of Cinemassacre (aka 2015-2017) has a plethora of underrated vids