May 2004 is the month that marks the 20th anniversary of James Rolfe’s Bad NES Games: Simon’s Quest video that was produced back in 2004, which pretty much gave birth to the Angry Nintendo/Video Game Nerd. I’ve been trying to nail an exact date on when it first appeared or came to fruition, but have uncovered many conflicting results. Youtube says one thing (though to be fair, they didn’t start up until 2005 and both Bad NES Games videos were uploaded in 2006, so that didn’t help.) The Cinemassacre website says another while the Cinemassacre wiki says something else entirely. So I’ve been trying to nail the exact date and came up empty… so we may as well call this the month of Nerd, even though I’m not going spend a whole month celebrating Nerd… this one post and the subsequent video reviews will have to suffice.
Besides, I’d much rather May be the month of Nerd than the day of Star Wars… because at the very least, the chances of a good Nerd episode these days is more likely than whatever crapshoot comes out of the Disney+ camp.
Case in point, the Nerd did post a new episode earlier this week as he plays other Castlevania titles and ponders if they’re better than Super Castlevania IV. I liked the video, it was more reflective and introspective than the usual Nerd stuff, and makes one of the better Nerd episodes that I’ve seen in years. I will certainly preach to the choir and say that it was a far better outing than the last episode where he was reacting to some weird furry hentai game with a horse… what even the fuck was that crap?
Naturally, as is often the case with these things, his conclusion has brought up a bunch of controversy and questioning of James Rolfe’s Castlevania fandom because he prefers [REDACTED] over this and that, to which I say… kindly fuck off. If Rolfe prefers [REDACTED] over your no. 1 pick for greatest Vania EVAR or some bullshit like that, that doesn’t make him any less of a fan than Joe Schmoe hugging their Alucard inflatables while wetting themselves over someone putting their beloved Symphony or Rondo on the [REDACTED] IGA pedestal. I hate to break it to you, but not everyone is going to agree on which Vania is the best. People can enjoy the same things for different reasons and it doesn’t make them any less of a fan of said things because they don’t meet with your lofty standards of fandom.
If you’re offended over someone saying your favorite game isn’t their favorite game or that your best game isn’t their best game… then maybe the problem is with you and not them. Like what you like and let others like what they like. No need to be a c**t about it.
Same thing with the Nerd himself. I feel that his recent stuff isn’t up to the standards of his first few years’ worth of videos, but others could feel differently. I can question why people enjoy that stuff, but I’m not going to begrudge anyone for still following his stuff. If anything, I applaud the man for still maintaining a strong following after all these years. Sure, he has his ups and downs, but the man is still going today after all these years long after his contemporaries had dropped off the face of the Earth. Regardless of what you think of the content as of late, that kind of longevity is to be commended and I tip my hat off to him for lasting as long as he has.
I know some people are expecting some sort of long, drawn-out commemorative essay on the Nerd and his impact and such, but I honestly don’t have much to say about the guy. I don’t watch his content as much as I used to, I’ve sort of moved on from that whole angry reviewing phase unless I’m revisiting old Armake21 videos because those still hold up, and when it comes to influences, I’m more influenced by the likes of Classic Game Room, Ashens, and a couple others than the Nerd himself. With that said, however, the fact that the guy is still going after all this time… again, not everyone tends to last that long doing the same thing over and over. He’s still doing Nerd. He still has a following. And that’s a feather in his cap that no one can take away.
So yeah… happy 20th, AVGN… even though technically you weren’t called that until eighteen years ago, but now we’re arguing semantics… or maybe we’ll just have another anniversary celebration or something. Who knows? Anyway, here’s to another 20 years of bad games.
dtm666 