James Rolfe / James D. Rolfe / Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) / Rex Viper and Cinemassacre / Screenwave - Now with not much grieving about a 41-year old man still making videos on YouTube. We're the balls on the dick.

[Exbein]

View attachment 2836623
Everyone else: taking picture
Bimmy: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

wow, Bimmy is playing games with his friends when his family got covid, what an asshole!!

 

[Aquafag]

wow, Bimmy is playing games with his friends when his family got covid, what an asshole!!
View attachment 2837133

Looks like little Bimmy might be a bit of a liar...

 

[babadook]

Should've taken the 15th booster shot my guy

 

[BrunoMattei]

Best and worst episode of the good years and the bad years. For the record, I think the Zombie era officially began when he reviewed Sanic 06. Even though Screenwave got involved with the making of episodes before the Sanic 06 two-parter that particular episode is when it felt out of place when James reviewed a game.

Best of golden age:

Ikari Warriors. One of the funniest episodes of the golden age. Picking a best episode was hard.

Honorable mentions: Dick Tracy and Milo's Secret Castle. I never played either game as a kid but James frustrations at getting stuck so early perfectly summarized that experience where you rent a game and it sucks or you get stuck on the first level and cannot go further and boom, there goes your weekend. I had that experience with Nightshade on the NES, Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge on NES and Alien 3 on SNES. Another honorable mention is for the Paperboy episode because I've always hated that game and James' review was incredibly cathartic. Fuck Paperboy.

Worst of golden Age:

Nintendo World Championship. You could see the big gag coming a mile away, the episode is horribly overlong, unfunny, and Pat is fucking AIDS. There's a good chunk of people that hate the Toxic Crusaders episode which surprised me but I guess some people just don't like Lloyd?

Best of Zombie:

Majora's Mask. Aside from the opening sketch it's great. The Earthbound one was equally good. Picking a best episode during this era was NOT hard.

Honorable mentions: Incredible Crash Dummies. I never played the game but the overview on the Crash Dummies fad hit the nostalgia receptors of my brain because I did have the toys and even remember the CGI cartoon that only lasted one episode. Game Boy Accessories is another great one and I think this episode was good because James fully worked on it before Screenwave stepped in.

Worst of Zombie: This was NOT fucking easy because there were so fucking many. Life of Black Tiger is my pick because it is so outside of his wheel spokes and it shows plus it's horribly unfunny. I've been a fan since 2006 and I still have never finished watching this one particular episode. Keep in mind that I like Gilbert Gottfried too.

Honorable mentions: the Shrek episode, Sega Game Gear VHS Tapes, Fear & Loathing in Vegas Stakes (If Hunter S. Thompson were still alive I am sure he would murder James), Legend of Kage, Episode 200 three part shitacular, The Immortal, Superman 64 Returns, Sanic 06 two-parter, Polybius. Some people liked the Polybius episode and I just don't get it. These episodes were so bad that I couldn't watch them without skipping through. I still have never finished the Vegas Stakes episode.

 

[Smug Chuckler]

There's a good chunk of people that hate the Toxic Crusaders episode which surprised me but I guess some people just don't like Lloyd?

No, it was because James had little time to make a video with Lloyd so the episode was quickly written and made, also it didn't help that James wasn't in character and burst out laughing sometimes. It was a decent video but a shitty avgn episode. It would be much better as a James and Mike Plays with Lloyd as a special guest.

 

[Bob Loblaw Law Blog]

Golden Era
Best - one of my faves is plumbers don't wear ties...those reactions to the absurdity of the "game" make it golden
Worst - Deadly Towers...moreso because in theory the "fans" writing the episode sounds like a novel idea...in execution...eh

Zombie

Best - Earthbound. You could see some genuine reactions, and he seemed like he really enjoyed it overall (also cause I''ve been an EB fan since I rented it back in 96, then bought it w/ bday money later that year)
Worst - that jurassic park one. He didn't give one less of a fuck...nerd shirt is barely buttoned or ironed for the one scene he's in...rest is his narration with outside shots you know he wasn't here for.

 

[Pickle Dick]

Nintendo World Championship. You could see the big gag coming a mile away, the episode is horribly overlong, unfunny, and Pat is fucking AIDS.

As I've said, that episode was pretty much the prototype for how the average worst episode of zombie AVGN would play out nowadays, and back then with this episode you couldn't even use the excuse that it was primarily Screenwave's fault

As for my personal best and worst episodes of golden age/zombie AVGN:

Best golden age episode: Castlevania - The four-parter that easily demonstrated how easy it is for James to adequately review games when he puts the passion into it. The fact Castlevania is a horror game franchise helped a lot out, as James was able to make allusions to other horror franchises outside of just Castlevania (i.e. Dracula)

Worst golden age episode: E.T. - A game that should've been reviewed long before the movie was ever made, but because it was reviewed as part of the movie, it's practically radioactive for me to watch

Best zombie episode: Commodore 64 - Easily the most competent episode of 2021 AVGN, being both amazingly informative and very funny at the same time (if only that Golden Girls game actually existed...)

Worst zombie episode: Sega Game Gear tapes - Very vapid and dull, the point of no return for zombie AVGN (if none of the "worst" episodes of the year or before 2021 was the point of no return). In retrospect, it could've been a whole lot better if he'd also review other promo tapes for video games/systems/accessories (sort of like how he could've reviewed more Shrek games than the Fairy Tale Freakdown game)

 

[Wraith]

We're at a point in history where we talk about zombie episodes with this lad.
I can honestly say we need a game for the Genesis or SNES called, "Zombies Ate My You Tubers".

 

[Pissmaster]

There's a good chunk of people that hate the Toxic Crusaders episode which surprised me but I guess some people just don't like Lloyd?

Lol, that's me. I didn't know who Lloyd Kaufman was at the time, so I hated that episode. He came off really childish and obnoxious (even within the AVGN context), and it felt like James was so head-over-heels that he'd actually suck him off if he asked. Way later on, I found out who Lloyd Kaufman was and that he's actually a very accomplished filmmaker, and not just some schlocky hack that worked on a single thing like 40 years ago, and... well, kinda felt bad. In retrospect, I'd say the onus sort of fell on James for never really giving this guy a proper introduction to those of us out of the loop. I'm sure James figured Kaufman needed no introduction, but this is a show focused on video games, and I'm well rooted in the part of the venn diagram of people who like video games, but don't know what Troma is. Lloyd Kaufman seems like a very nice, incredibly creative person. Someone I'd love to sit down and talk to for hours. But, James did a stellar job of making him come off like an obnoxious asshole. Great work, dumbass.

apparently today's also Lloyd Kaufman's birthday so happy birthday to him

 

[misterduckford]

Best and worst episode of the good years and the bad years. For the record, I think the Zombie era officially began when he reviewed Sanic 06. Even though Screenwave got involved with the making of episodes before the Sanic 06 two-parter that particular episode is when it felt out of place when James reviewed a game.

Best of golden age:

Ikari Warriors. One of the funniest episodes of the golden age. Picking a best episode was hard.

Honorable mentions: Dick Tracy and Milo's Secret Castle. I never played either game as a kid but James frustrations at getting stuck so early perfectly summarized that experience where you rent a game and it sucks or you get stuck on the first level and cannot go further and boom, there goes your weekend. I had that experience with Nightshade on the NES, Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge on NES and Alien 3 on SNES. Another honorable mention is for the Paperboy episode because I've always hated that game and James' review was incredibly cathartic. Fuck Paperboy.

Worst of golden Age:

Nintendo World Championship. You could see the big gag coming a mile away, the episode is horribly overlong, unfunny, and Pat is fucking AIDS. There's a good chunk of people that hate the Toxic Crusaders episode which surprised me but I guess some people just don't like Lloyd?

Best of Zombie:

Majora's Mask. Aside from the opening sketch it's great. The Earthbound one was equally good. Picking a best episode during this era was NOT hard.

Honorable mentions: Incredible Crash Dummies. I never played the game but the overview on the Crash Dummies fad hit the nostalgia receptors of my brain because I did have the toys and even remember the CGI cartoon that only lasted one episode. Game Boy Accessories is another great one and I think this episode was good because James fully worked on it before Screenwave stepped in.

Worst of Zombie: This was NOT fucking easy because there were so fucking many. Life of Black Tiger is my pick because it is so outside of his wheel spokes and it shows plus it's horribly unfunny. I've been a fan since 2006 and I still have never finished watching this one particular episode. Keep in mind that I like Gilbert Gottfried too.

Honorable mentions: the Shrek episode, Sega Game Gear VHS Tapes, Fear & Loathing in Vegas Stakes (If Hunter S. Thompson were still alive I am sure he would murder James), Legend of Kage, Episode 200 three part shitacular, The Immortal, Superman 64 Returns, Sanic 06 two-parter, Polybius. Some people liked the Polybius episode and I just don't get it. These episodes were so bad that I couldn't watch them without skipping through. I still have never finished the Vegas Stakes episode.

I am such a Fear and Loathing guy I won't even watch their sodomization of it. You're almost normie-tier, James, don't pretend this even appeals to you.

 

[The Cunting Death]

I flat out refuse to watch the Shrek episode.

 

[Pickle Dick]

I flat out refuse to watch the Shrek episode.

It would’ve been a more tolerable episode if either

A. The episode focused on more Shrek games than that one run of the mill fighting game based on Shrek

or

B. Given how half the episode is basically about how films were watched on gaming devices back then, the episode could’ve focused on that instead of Shrek altogether

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

View attachment 2836669

Reverse the sides and flip James. you have that Soyface meme.

 

[BlueKirbo]

I didnt know this thread was a thing until now
but heres a video i made about Mike matei leaving

 

[There Is Light At The End]

The worst episode so far for me is fear and loathing. I didn't bother to finish it

 

[thegooddoctor]

Oh boy another compilation video?? Do you agree with the list despite what a lacklustre year it was for AVGN?

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Some people liked the Polybius episode and I just don't get it. These episodes were so bad that I couldn't watch them without skipping through.

That's because Polybius was made in the same line as the urban myth itself.
Not explaining the game, make AVGN losing his mind every time he's playing. I'm gonna be honest, that episode is one of the most experimental things James has done so far (at least in the AVGN brand).
That episode is one of the things which show actually James more than a movie-b director rather than a retro gaming critic.

 

[Robotic Richard Simmons]

That's because Polybius was made in the same line as the urban myth itself.
Not explaining the game, make AVGN losing his mind every time he's playing. I'm gonna be honest, that episode is one of the most experimental things James has done so far (at least in the AVGN brand).
That episode is one of the things which show actually James more than a movie-b director rather than a retro gaming critic.

It's a pseudo experimental film school-like project. He tries to act like he's David Lynch in the 70s but it just comes across as pretentious and insulting to anyone who knows anything about film. For example when he did a video where he did one continuous take but at the end of the day was it fun to watch? Not really. It was nothing more than a pretentious bragging right to him. I've never once gone back and rewatched anything post the first 100.

 

[Shieldman]

Ryan, the Big Boss of Screenwave himself, embraces the "Electrons move through reality" meme and I must admit it got a chuckle out of me.

Edit: Here's his original line

 

[Robotic Richard Simmons]

Ryan, the Big Boss of Screenwave himself, embraces the "Electrons move through reality" meme and I must admit it got a chuckle out of me.

Sounds like a burnout that thinks he's a physicist because he watched a few videos on it while high.