Category: Gaming Personalities

Kickassia Does Not Kick Ass

So for the past day or so, I’ve been leaving some comments on Asalieri’s YouTube channel. A good majority of these comments pertain to Kickassia, a six-part miniseries produced by website That Guy With The Glasses which serves as their second anniversary event. Anyway, I realized that as much as I was expressing my thoughts and reply to a couple comments, I was taking it a bit too far with my endless spamming of comments. While it engaged some replies, ultimately it isn’t fair to anyone and especially to Asalieri that I use his channel as a place to vent my disappointment on a video that he has nothing to do with.

As a matter of fact, I received a PM suggesting I do a video review of Kickassia as opposed to continually post endless ramblings. I don’t intend on doing that (I posted a perfectly simple five word review that says all), but I do want to make up for the trouble I might have caused. Therefore, I sent Asalieri a PM a short while ago apologizing for the recent behavior and told him that I won’t be beating the dead horse anymore. It’s just not worth the trouble.
(2023 Update: For the record, Asalieri had replied back and wondered what the fuss was all about since he was in agreement with my feelings that Kickassia wasn’t any good. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t bothered with an apology, since it was a complete waste of time and others have done much worse.)
Now that we got that out of the way… for anyone who absolutely needs to know my thoughts on the recent six-part borefest known as Kickassia, I present my thoughts on the project (hint: the title should give you a pretty good idea). I’m not going to call it a review because it’s more like a rambling, but I guess it could pass as one.

Continue reading “Kickassia Does Not Kick Ass”

Shot at the AVGN And Clones

YouTuber Asalieri thinks Nostalgia Critic jumped the shark and after a few more posts, I somehow came up with this reply (split into two bits but lovingly re-assembled for your reading displeasure… and yes, this is how I actually feel and not some attempt to be a dick):

I pretty much gave up on NC months ago due to general lack of interest. I mean, you can only watch him pull Big-Lipped Alligator Moments so many times before it gets boring. That, and I’ve been slowly veering away from anyone clinging to the ridiculous “angry reviewer” gimmick like it’s gold or something. It’s sad seeing these guys attempt to be angry by screaming their lungs out and using colorful analogies that make no sense whatsoever. There’s a difference between being angry and being ridiculous. And a good majority of these “angry reviewers” tend to be ridiculous… and yes, that includes the internet darling, AVGN.

I also don’t care for any attempts at adding “narratives” or “storylines” to a review – not strictly a Critic thing, but it’s something common with most of the TGWTG. That’s what really turns me off over the constant crossovers and obligatory masturbatory meme fillers. What’s the point of these storylines other than to distract from the review or utter pretense of a review? It’s ridiculous. If they want to do storylines, they should keep them separate from the reviews… or don’t do them at all. I kind of expect this act of stupidity from the Bores, not from anyone remotely competent.

TWO walls of text… wonder how many people will bother to read through this?

By the way, flame shields are up. Red Alert. Arm the photon torpedoes.

VIDEO COMMENTARY #01 – Contra 4 by the Angry Pissed Off Game Guy Who Ate Siberia


(2021 Update: Due to changing Youtube algorithms, the old Youtube embed has been replaced with a newer Youtube embed.)


Now I’m going to admit that I’m not the greatest Contra player ever. If anything, I’m rather mediocre at the titles, barely able to make it through the halfway point. For the most part, I was able to beat Contra 4 on a fluke (on Normal) and had more fun with the challenges than the main game. But even with that said, Contra 4 has all the solid makings of an exciting adrenaline rush due to its hyper difficulty and classic arcade gameplay that has made the series a classic franchise.

I’m certainly not going to make a video and say that the game sucks.

Of course, because Contra games tend to be difficult (as is the case with most old-school Konami titles, actually), they tend to be fodder for would-be angry game reviewers who simply don’t know any better. Perhaps the most jarring example would be a YouTube video by a user Vib-something, but posted under the name sizzler07. You might have seen this video as some kid calling himself the Angry Nerd XD or something and complaining about how he can’t beat the first level. It’s really, really, REALLY sad.

But we’re not touching that today.

No, the one we’re going to be looking at is a review of Contra 4 by a large man who calls himself the Pissed Off Angry Video Gamer or something. His most famous video seems to be his Nintendo Gamecube review, where he smashes a Wavebird controller and cooks his Shitcube in a microwave. Yeah, in addition to that and his Shitbox 360 review (where he shot Cheetohs or something), he also did this.

Unfortunately, the horrendousness of this video review is so utterly heinous that a text format could NOT do this thing justice. Therefore, in the spirit of Asalieri’s Reviewing A Reviewer videos, I decided to go ahead and do a commentary/review/critique/rambling/whatever video in regards to the POAVGer’s opus.

A Double Dose of TMNT (NES) Angry Reviews + A Bonus Rant

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game was one of four NES games that I got for my 10th birthday, the others being Super Mario Bros. 3, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, and The Punisher. And although the game was crazy difficult – the damn dam had me for a good long while before I stopped being stupid – I always enjoyed the heck out of that game. Even in more recent years when I re-purchased the game at a flea market, I still think that despite some of its flaws, it’s still a solid action game with a nice attempt at non-linear explorational gameplay. I also like the ability to swap between the four Turtles, as each play somewhat differently and have their uses… although admittedly, you’ll mostly be using Leonardo and Donatello due to their long-range weapons. But still, it’s a fun little game and I enjoyed this more than the two arcade-inspired sequels on the same system.

I never understood the hate towards the game recently. Wasn’t this high on the Nintendo Power charts for a good long while when the game was relatively new? What could have happened between then and now that has caused the game to garner such unnecessary and unwarranted hatred?

Oh right. The Angry Video Game Nerd said it was bad and people are basically sheep and agreed with him. And while I’ll admit that I found some of his videos funny and somewhat informative, the first time I saw this “review” back in 2006, I was pretty pissed off that he would trash a pretty good game. Some of the complaints he conveyed require suspension of ignorance (a term coined by former Yt reviewer Undercoverfilmer that was used in regards to his SF2010 video). And there are a couple points that, while are admittedly good points, can also be applied to a number of other games that can be considered good. But I guess because those games are more popular, those “flaws” can be overlooked, right?

Since this is essentially a response to what is laughingly called a review, I guess I can call this a counter-review; commenting on certain points while providing some additional points on the game. And you know what? I’ll even bring up some points from a “review” of the same game by Chris “The Irate Gamer” Bores… a review that most have noted to be suspiciously equavalent to the AVGN’s review, but has a couple points that can also be considered pretty stupid as well.

Oh… before anyone gets any ideas on starting the usual fanboy wars in the comments, don’t bother. I’ll be watching the comments like a hawk. There are many other places to fan that shit out – this isn’t one of them. With that said…

*For the sake of this posting, I will only be focusing on IG’s TMNT1 review and not the mini-reviews of the TMNT sequels. Those aren’t relevant to this posting.

Continue reading “A Double Dose of TMNT (NES) Angry Reviews + A Bonus Rant”

Why Are We Doing The Irate Gamer’s Tetris episode?

“Why? Why Tetris? I’m not kidding when I say everyone and their grandmother have played this game. How can you even review Tetris?”

-Batdan, Irate Gamer Sucks

I should probably note that I was going to hold this off until much later, but since this was the only grumble grumble that was remotely finished. I figured that I post this one. Hopefully, the next one will not be a Chris Bores-related diatribe, because he’s not the only person whose reviews I have issues with. In fact, there’s another one that involves a game that both he and some other guy (rhymes with wolfe) has done… but that’s another story.

So yeah, we’re looking at IG’s Tetris review.

Tetris is perhaps one of the most popular casual games ever made and we have Soviet Russia to thank for such a thing (and this isn’t a knock on its creator, Alexey Pajitnov, who really is Russian. The game was once called the Soviet Mind Game by Tengen.) What is there to complain about in Tetris? Well, Irate Gamer is going to guide us through this and I’m going to inquire about some stuff and ignore the pointless skits… all except two. You’ll know it when I see it.

Continue reading “Why Are We Doing The Irate Gamer’s Tetris episode?”

Mega Man 9 Hates You, But What About 10?

Source: http://www.giantbomb.com/news/mega-man-9-hates-me/306/

A clip of Giant Bomb writer Jeff Gerstmann reactions at failing at Mega Man 9 before beating Galaxy Man and declaring himself king of the world. Makes me wonder how he’ll handle Mega Man 10, which is supposed to be out today on WiiWare.

(2023 Update: The page itself is still active on GiantBomb, but I have trouble loading up the video. Probably an issue on my end. I’ll leave the link up for you to try out. Maybe you’ll have better luck than me.)

Running Thoughts On… The Irate Gamer’s Super Mario Bros. 2 episode

Something a little new that I want to try and this is partly inspired by another blog that I’ve recently come across a month or so ago. Now you’re most likely aware of the concept of the angry video game reviewer; a guy who takes an old game or whatnot and swear constantly while “reviewing” the game. It’s a concept that was popularized by James Rolfe a.k.a. the Angry Nintendo Nerd, now known as the Angry Video Game Nerd.

Now, as with any popular fad, many others would jump on the bandwagon and do the same thing the Nerd did. Some did well and made their own name, while others didn’t. Of all of these Me-Too reviews, one of these have earned a certain amount of infamy for his content and that person is the subject of today’s initial project.

Chris Bores. Also known as the Irate Gamer.

Now I’m not going to dwell on the whole plagiarism deal. Most people have already made up their minds and I’m not going to throw my two cents in there. It’s beating a dead horse and that horse is really starting to stink up the joint. Putting aside the alleged copying, when you get right down to it, Irate Gamer episodes tend to be inaccurate in regards to certain details. The most evident of this would be his recent “History of Video Games” in which a great deal of his information is flat out wrong.

Now this is not going to be one of those Anti-Irate Gamer summaries (there’s already a good blog serving that role) and it isn’t going to be an overview for the most part. This is just some thoughts I’ve had while watching his videos, along with any additional information I can provide, either through my own personal experiences or from other notable sites with significant information on a particular subject matter.

So without further delay, today’s dissociative post will be concerning IG’s “review” of Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES. SMB2 was originally released in Japan as a very different game called Doki Doki Panic for the Famicom Disk System, featuring different characters and a couple other elements. Japan did get a real SMB2, which was essentially Super Mario Bros. with a couple minor additions and rock-hard difficulty. When it came time to bring SMB2 over to North America, a decision was then made to convert that Doki Doki game into the SMB2 we all know and love… or loathe in some cases.

Now I’m going to go on a record and say that SMB2 isn’t exactly a favorite of mine. In fact, there was a time when I absolutely hated this game… or at least, that’s what I kept telling myself and anyone else who would listen. I don’t know why I did because when I first played the game, I liked it just fine. Was it outside influence perhaps or pressure to get in with the cool kids because they all hated that game due to its dubious origins? I don’t know, but there was a period where I didn’t really like this game. However, playing it recently, most of that hate or intense dislike seemed to have been forgotten, and I consider this to be a great game considering its unique history.

One thing is certain: my brief hatred for this game had nothing to do with the Irate Gamer’s video, which was just wrong on a number of levels. So without further adue, here’re my thoughts when watching the Irate episode.

Continue reading “Running Thoughts On… The Irate Gamer’s Super Mario Bros. 2 episode”

An Underwhelming Effort, Mr. Bores

I wrote this brief blurb on my other site, under DTM Blog Post #1189

This was my thoughts on Chris “Irate Gamer” Bores’ then-latest entry into his long-running (read: takes forever for him to put out) History Of Video Games series. Note the part at the end where I’d say that I’d ignore him to the foreseeable future and think about how long that stuck… not that long, I’m afraid.

No break, this time. It’s not that long of a piece anyway.

So the Irate Gamer, after months of delay due to hard drive failures and other excuses, has finally uploaded the second part of his “History of video Games” series… which is just a review of the Magnavox Odyssey… and it’s supposedly split into two parts. Now I’ve seen the episode and… yes, it seems like I’m falling asleep.

You know what? I try to give the guy a chance. I really do. Despite all the bad rap he gets, I figure I give him a chance and hope he somehow redeems himself. Sure, people call him a knock-off and a plagiarist… and sure, he gets a good chunk of his information wrong, but even after all that, I was willing to give him a chance in hopes that maybe, just maybe he’d produce a product that goes beyond the usual sloppy servings he had uploaded as of late.

Guess what? It hasn’t happened.

Maybe it’s just me… but isn’t the point of a “History Of…” to touch on important events in a timely manner? I’d figure it’d be the best thing to do and easy to mock up. So why am I getting reviews of Space War (not even the actual version, but a random Flash version) and Computer Space when they should just be significant footnotes in the story? Why am I getting a review of the Magnavox Odyssey when it’s supposed to be a historical retrospect? And why, for the love of God, are we getting TWO PARTS of this?! Just discuss the console a bit and move on! This is supposed to be a HISTORY RETROSPECT!

It should be noted that the Angry Video Game Nerd already did a review (2011 Update: more of a general overview than a review) of the Magnavox Odyssey and he only took ten minutes to review most of the necessary components outside of the light gun, which he demonstrated its use by shooting at the TV. Now there’s probably more to the Odyssey than that, but the Nerd’s review was advertised as that… a review. (2011 Update: again, more of an overview than a review… and I could have done without the stupid Nerd Terd or whatever it’s supposed to be called.)

Now, I’m not going to declare myself a hater or anything like that – but I am simply going to ignore the man for the foreseeable future. Until he can produce something that is actually worth my time, I’m not going to bother anymore. (2011 Update: said ignoring was ignored.)

Sorry, Chris. But you fail.

(2011 Update: To be fair, later installments did drop the “review” format and just go through various items and games quickly… the accuracy of the information is questionable, but this series is mostly harmless and if anything, has sometimes inspired me to look up some of the historical points online.)

The Nerd Pool Dried Up

Anyone who has bet on the next AVGN episode being GI Joe-related to tie-in with the new movie has just lost those bets. James Rolfe a.k.a. Nerd Boy has announced that no such episode is planned. In all honesty, I’m sort of glad he isn’t going ahead with an episode. Not only are we spared another tie-in episode (and he adknowledges this too), but also we are spared from the Nerd to trying to be angry about a couple GI Joe games that are actually pretty good.

Rolfe listed three games that he’s played through in prep for the video: an Atari 2600 game (already reviewed and loathed by Classic Game Room HD) and two NES titles (one of which is reviewed on ScrewAttack’s Video Game Vault series.) I haven’t played the Atari game, but I did play the NES titles at one point and I thought they were pretty good games. So definitely a good move to ix-nay on the GI Joe episode.

Wait ten years when he decides to review the current crop of games based on the new movie.

boycotting youtbe… because tolstoy said it was a good idea…

Change of plan apparently… YouTube has policy changes and Tolstoy is pissed and planning a boycott today by avoiding YouTube and Google. Interestingly enough, it has to do with swearing.

That’s sort of like the self-imposed exile I’ve put myself in from Fanfiction.net (um… the first exile, long before I posted anything on the site) for their policy change on adult content and fanfics featuring real people. I suppose there will never be a site that is suitable for a couple of neat fics I had written; both of them featuring Jason Frank beating the crap out of Tommy for being such a poorly developed character who went from martial artist to dinosaur doctor… or vice versa.

P.S. That fic doesn’t actually exist. Such a concept is stupid, anyway.