The Angry Video Game Nerd

This guy is garbage. He forgets everything. isn't good at what he is playing and the guy that is great Mike Matai.. He's actually great. This guy lied to people about being a nerd because he's garbage in playing video games but has the nerd persona to make you think he did.. Trash.

He's actually good at describing what he doesn't like about a game, even if what he's arguing can be pretty stupid. His humor mostly comes from his profanity laden wordplay which, while one-note, is extremely quotable and even occasionally funny. He's also improved over the years, becoming more humble and making reviews that rely less on character and more on personal insight, for better or worse. I'd say I generally like his content, even if it runs the gamut in quality.

Once the 800 pound gorilla of the YouTube gaming scene, since surpassed in subscribers by a few others. But the first 100-ish episodes of AVGN are basically the most rewatchable stuff in the history of YouTube in my opinion. It’s been somewhat downhill since and the last couple years fairly mediocre. But a nostalgic favorite always.

I thank the pop culture gods every day for Mr. James Rolfe. His original and creative antics focus on nostalgia, gamers, and cinephiles in a way that has never truly been matched imo. Though he runs the risk of tarnishing his legacy the longer he continues to phone it in, today's endless parade of social media influencers owe a lot to the Fuckin' Nerd.

There was a palpable feeling of novelty when I first stumbled upon the AVGN in my gaming-centric youth, and a fair bit of nostalgia remained for years until I came across the series again. I started devouring them with pure pleasure and joy, and even though the swearing and the forced lowly jokes don't hit the same notes for me as when I was a kid, the reviews are great and the show is very, very entertaining. It gets tiring and repetitive after a while, but then the Nerd upgraded it. /s 12

It's hard to really recommend this show since it's appeal is pretty niche, but underneath his "Nerd" character, James Rolfe actually has a pretty strong critical voice and an innate and deeper understanding of video game mechanics and dynamics than the crudeness of the comedy suggests. I kinda hate it when he tries to make dramatic bits and some of earlier episodes have aged pretty badly, but nowadays it's pretty much the only webseries I look forward to watching, and that means something.

This is a rough one. The first 10 or so seasons are pure grade A classic internet cinema history. James basically gave birth to the entire genre of video game reviews. But while he was working on the AVGN movie, something happened. Something terrible. I'm pretty sure he lost his spark. It was all downhill from there. Sure, there's some good episodes after Season 10, but for the most part... it's a sharp decline. Especially once ScreenWave fully took over.

Endearing, and has a sincerity missing from the shameless ripoffs that followed.

Has a charm that certainly doesn't come from any quality of writing as the Nerd character is extremely one-note. Whatever humor there is tends to be derived from the game that is featured, which makes the episode quality highly variable. Nowadays I'd rather watch James & Mike Mondays but there are still some occasional glimmers of hilarity, like the recent Hong Kong 97 episode.

Unlike the Nostalgic Critic, the AVGN hasn't changed his formula too much, and perhaps that's for the best. Easy and enjoyable to watch, especially when hungover or after a harsh day at work, the AVGN delves into plenty of old-school games I've never heard of (but are likely franchise based, like movie tie-ins) and shows what awful dreck there was in this period, complementing his reviews with an ever-changing assortment of four letter words.